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Root Help!? Just bought an Evo 4G off of Ebay and I think it is rooted??

N

Nathan2112

Well-Known Member
Just like the title said I bought an EVO 4G off of ebay... I think it is rooted because it has an app called root explorer and some others like that. It also does not have HTC Sense on it, it has something else that I don't know what is. My question is how do I get this root or Rom off of my phone? I don't really know anything about rooting so I probably won't know what your talking about.. but any help would be great. Thanks
 
Nathan2112 said:
Just like the title said I bought an EVO 4G off of ebay... I think it is rooted because it has an app called root explorer and some others like that. It also does not have HTC Sense on it, it has something else that I don't know what is. My question is how do I get this root or Rom off of my phone? I don't really know anything about rooting so I probably won't know what your talking about.. but any help would be great. Thanks
Click to expand...

Well first off, go into settings> about phone> software and there should be something on there that tells you what ROM your on.

Chances are you are rooted. Hopefully a guide can move this thread over to the all things root section where you will get more help.

I would suggest putting a sense-based ROM on the phone. I would also take this opportunity to put an "upgraded" ROM with sense 2.1+30 and some other goodies like hacked hotspot on there.

I am speaking of MikG:
MikG v3.11 [3/9/2012]

Basically download it and put it on your SD card.
Pull the battery from the phone.
Put it back in
Hold Volume + Power Down
This will bring you to your H-boot screen.
Select recovery

Can you tell us what the recovery screen says in the bottom left corner? Should mention either amon ra or clockworkmod. Hopefully you have amon ra. If you dont, I would suggest switching to amon ra recovery before doing anything else. Instructions (for anything you ever need) can be found here:
http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all...ooting-dummies-guide-gingerbread-edition.html
speaking of recovery i would really recommend that everyone switch to amon ra 2.3. it is a much better recovery then clockwork mod. you can get the recovery here:PC36IMG RA 2.3.zip
here are the instructions:
1.download the file.
2.rename the file by erasing the "_RA_2.3" part of the name so that it is only named PC36IMG. make sure not to add ".zip" to the name as windows hides extensions.
3.transfer the file to the root (that means not in any folder) of the sd card.
4.power off (you most likely need to uncheck fastboot. settings/apps/uncheck fastboot.) then press and hold power+vol down.
5.hboot should see the file and select yes to update.
6.select no to reboot because we want to go into recovery and make a nandroid backup.
7.select recovery.
8.select backup and restore and select backup
9. select the first three and wimax. the other partitions do not need to be backed up. always keep one nandroid backup with wimax keys backed up on your computer.
10.now you can reboot.
11.using a file manager of some sort or even through your computer via usb, you should rename or delete the PC36IMG file on your card. otherwise you will be asked to update every time you go to the hboot screen. you do not need that file any more.

Once you have Amon Ra on the phone get back into recovery and select wipe. You are going to want to wipe everything listed EXCEPT for the SD card 2 times each. Make sure to wipe SD-android.secure and SD-EXT. Just dont wipe teh SD card itself.

Following that you back out to the main recovery menu and select flash zip from sd card THen choose zip from SD card and select the MIkG file you put on the SD card.

This will install MikG and reboot the phone for you when it completes.


Congrats!
 
welcome to the forums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
moved you to the rooting section

first before we can suggest anything lets get some info from you.

what is your hboot and if you have s-on or s-off.

so power off the phone (make sure fastboot is disabled, settings>apps>uncheck fastboot) then press and hold power+vol down. this will take you to the bootloader screen. at the top is the info we need. report back with what you find and we can go from there.
 
Will any of this take my phone out of service with Sprint? I will hold down the power button plus the volume down in a little bit but what should I look for to tell you on this forum? Also can I do a factory reset on it? The guy sold it to me but didn't delete any of his stuff so I was wondering will a factory reset mess anything up since it is rooted? Thanks
 
Nathan2112 said:
Will any of this take my phone out of service with Sprint? I will hold down the power button plus the volume down in a little bit but what should I look for to tell you on this forum? Also can I do a factory reset on it? The guy sold it to me but didn't delete any of his stuff so I was wondering will a factory reset mess anything up since it is rooted? Thanks
Click to expand...

nope factory reset basically just wipes the data off your phone. when you get to the bootloader all we really need is what hboot version you have it should be either hboot 2.10, hboot 2.16 or hboot 2.18. and also if you have s-on or s-off as well. once we get that info then we can point you in the right direction better.
 
ocnbrze said:
nope factory reset basically just wipes the data off your phone. when you get to the bootloader all we really need is what hboot version you have it should be either hboot 2.10, hboot 2.16 or hboot 2.18. and also if you have s-on or s-off as well. once we get that info then we can point you in the right direction better.
Click to expand...

If you don't see 2.X dont worry, the rooting process usually changes your H-boot version. That would just be one more piece of info to verify your rooted.

If you are able to get into recovery and have S-OFF you are rooted.


Following the steps I detailed above will wipe all his information off the phone and put a new ROM on for you.
 
When I hold the power button and volume button down, what do I do from there? How do I find the information that you guys need?
 
Okay I will do it in a little bit when I am near my phone, should I take a picture of it or just tell you the information you need?
 
Okay so now I have the phone and can open the loader but what should I tell you/ what do I need to do once I am in it?
 
Nathan2112 said:
Okay so now I have the phone and can open the loader but what should I tell you/ what do I need to do once I am in it?
Click to expand...
Can you take/post a picture of what it says on the screen? If not, just type out everything it says at the top of the bootloader screen.
 
I posted some pictures of what came up
 

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Nathan2112 said:
I posted some pictures of what came up
Click to expand...
Excellent. Looks like your NAND is unlocked with Revolutionary.

Ok, at that point, choose the "BOOTLOADER" option. Then, when the menu changes (it'll go through some checking for files, you can just let it go. Then it'll get back to the HBOOT menu), choose the option that says "RECOVERY", and let us know what happens when the device reboots.

We're checking to see if you already have a custom recovery installed.
 
What does that do? Can it harm my phone? Also I keep getting this force close message since I did that saying something weird when I go to the homescreen, it hasnt done it since I opened that booter but is there a fix ?
 
Nathan2112 said:
What does that do? Can it harm my phone? Also I keep getting this force close message since I did that saying something weird when I go to the homescreen, it hasnt done it since I opened that booter but is there a fix ?
Click to expand...
None of the things we're asking you to do will affect how your device works. The Bootloader and Recovery are separate from the Android OS (they physically reside in separate partitions).

First, let's go back to the Bootloader and try to get into recovery, and then we can address whatever issues you're having in Android.

Don't worry; we're all here to help, and won't suggest anything that'll harm your device :).
 
Nathan, if it puts your mind at ease, just take a deep breath and listen to what these guys are telling you. Believe me, I've been on these forums for nearly two years and you are lucky enough to have two of the best of the best working with you. They won't steer you wrong. Just listen to what they are asking and do exactly what they are asking you to do.
 
Okay I am in recovery and it says reboot, apply update from sd, wipe data/factory reset, wipe cach partition, install zip from sd card, back up and restore, mounts and storage, advanced and power off. It is ClockworkMod Recovery v5.0.2.2
 
Nathan2112 said:
Okay I am in recovery and it says reboot, apply update from sd, wipe data/factory reset, wipe cach partition, install zip from sd card, back up and restore, mounts and storage, advanced and power off. It is ClockworkMod Recovery v5.0.2.2
Click to expand...
Ok, that's your custom recovery. Now, I would recommend you follow the instructions that Rxpert gave you in the 2nd post of the thread.

Now that we know you have a custom recovery and that you're S-OFF, we would recommend that you change your recovery to Amon RA's, and then flash an up to date custom ROM (MikG 3.1). You should be able to do everything you need to do without even booting back into Android (as long as you're at a computer).
 
I am on my Computer now but I dont think I will be able to do that, is there anyway that I can just take off the root with out doing all of that? I would like to take off the root and then re-root it later once I know a little bit more about rooting because I truly have no idea what it is really talking about. So can I just take off the root?
 
Nathan2112 said:
I am on my Computer now but I dont think I will be able to do that, is there anyway that I can just take off the root with out doing all of that? I would like to take off the root and then re-root it later once I know a little bit more about rooting because I truly have no idea what it is really talking about. So can I just take off the root?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately unrooting isn't that simple a process. In fact, it's about as simple as installing a custom recovery & ROM.

Besides that, re-rooting, depending on what updates your device receives, can be even more difficult, if not impossible, as future updates occur (impossible isn't likely, though).

Here's the easiest thing you can do, which will unroot you and remove your custom recovery, but leave your NAND unlocked for future "possibilities".

First, make sure you've installed HTC Sync.

Then, download this file: Dev-Host.org - The Ultimate Free File Hosting / File Sharing Service

That's the latest stock OS (ROM) for the EVO 4G. It's a ROM Update Utility (RUU) that runs on your computer, and it will update your device to Android 2.3.5.

You will need to enable USB Debugging in Android for it to work (Settings -> Applications -> Development, check USB Debugging). Once you've installed HTC Sync, and enabled USB Debugging, when you connect your device to the computer, it should detect it and install the necessary drivers. Then you can run the RUU to update your device. This will also perform a factory reset, which will remove any data.
 
You never really want to un-root just to re-root later. HTC is making things harder and harder to root your phones.

Once, its rooted, keep it rooted. We can get you back to a stock sense based ROM if you follow my directions in the 2nd post.
 
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