[International / GSM] [HOW TO] Root the GSM/HSPA+ Samsung Galaxy Nexus

[scary alien]

Not that I would know, I only used your root-method, wich installs superroot?
Everything else was still the stock-rom

And the link was a google-search for a download... first hit... if it's only a driverpackage I obviosly haven't found it

Wasn't there a way to install the update while keeping the root?

Well, that's weird...simply having the root (/system/bin/su and /system/app/Superuser.apk) file present should not cause an OTA to fail to install.

What exactly did you see when it tried to install and when it failed? (if you can remember)

Can you do another check for system update?

The update.zip file (although its likely not named that way) is likely still / already present in your /cache directory, so it wouldn't need to be re-downloaded by the device.

 

[PhinPhin]

Well, that's weird...simply having the root (/system/bin/su and /system/app/Superuser.apk) file present should not cause an OTA to fail to install.

What exactly did you see when it tried to install and when it failed? (if you can remember)

Can you do another check for system update?

The update.zip file (although its likely not named that way) is likely still / already present in your /cache directory, so it wouldn't need to be re-downloaded by the device.

it showed the green android lying with an open hatch an red x inside... waited 45minutes but nothing happend, then I pulled the battery out... did boot the normal way after that luckily.

Oh and manual check for updates under "settings - phone-info - systemupdates" doesn't show an update... it says the system is uptodate... still running 4.0.2

And /cache seems to be empty, if the "/cache" is the right directory that the ES File Explorer shows...

 

[scary alien]

it showed the green android lying with an open hatch an red x inside... waited 45minutes but nothing happend, then I pulled the battery out... did boot the normal way after that luckily.

Oh and manual check for updates under "settings - phone-info - systemupdates" doesn't show an update... it says the system is uptodate... still running 4.0.2

And /cache seems to be empty, if the "/cache" is the right directory that the ES File Explorer shows...

Thanks!

Yeah, /cache is the right place, but not having the same model of phone or having it in-hand, I don't know for sure what the file would be called.

Here's a link that looks similar to your issue (no magic answers, though):

OTA update 4.0.2 to 4.0.4 update fails

Also, this thread: OTA to a newer build of 4.0.4 failed re-iterates that you need a stock recovery installed in order for the OTA to successfully apply.

Can you install my Android Root Toolkit app (free in the Market) and use the "Identify Current Recovery" function and let me know what it says?

Thanks!

 

[PhinPhin]

Thanks!

Yeah, /cache is the right place, but not having the same model of phone or having it in-hand, I don't know for sure what the file would be called.

Here's a link that looks similar to your issue (no magic answers, though):

OTA update 4.0.2 to 4.0.4 update fails

Also, this thread: OTA to a newer build of 4.0.4 failed re-iterates that you need a stock recovery installed in order for the OTA to successfully apply.

Can you install my Android Root Toolkit app (free in the Market) and use the "Identify Current Recovery" function and let me know what it says?

Thanks!

I can't I only get an error wich says I should try it later again if I try to download any app from the Store.... I hope the update killed not something important. Tried already the obvious stuff, uninstalled the Storeupdates, stopped it, cleared its cache... nothing. Phonerestart doesn't help, too... both on wifi and 3G/EDGE. Man, and I thought staying on the stockrom would keep me away from this crap...

Btw. sorry: its the android with the red triangle with an "!" in it. dunno why I thought it was a cross The Update begins normal (standing android with that moving thing) but then after 40% or so I get to see the fail-android. VolUp+VolDown+power also doesn't bring me to the recovery at this point

 

[PhinPhin]

Good news first, looks like that it was Google's fault... maybe the servers of the Store have been offline or so. No it works again.

First, here's a picture of the update-error-androidbot:

And here the Android Root Kit:

And I noticed how basic the stock-recoverymode is...

 

[scary alien]

PhinPhin,

Okay, just to double-check, have you used the "Identify Current Recovery" feature to display which recovery you have installed (I'm expecting it to say its the stock 4.0.2 recovery, but it would be good to confirm)?

Lemme know .

 

[PhinPhin]

PhinPhin,

Okay, just to double-check, have you used the "Identify Current Recovery" feature to display which recovery you have installed (I'm expecting it to say its the stock 4.0.2 recovery, but it would be good to confirm)?

Lemme know .

Sorry, forgot that Here:

Btw. looks like I can now install apps again, maybe it was a temp failure of the Google-servers... Update still fails, though.

 

[scary alien]

PhinPhin,

Yeah, I don't know now--since we've verified you've got the stock 4.0.2 recovery, there's no reason that I can discern for the OTA to fail...

I'm not sure what to tell you at this point...

 

[PhinPhin]

PhinPhin,

Yeah, I don't know now--since we've verified you've got the stock 4.0.2 recovery, there's no reason that I can discern for the OTA to fail...

I'm not sure what to tell you at this point...

I'm so lucky I'm just too annoyed to again set the whole phone up by hand to make a hardreset...

I can't log the stuff going on on the phone while the update fails, or? Even not via USB (like oldschool-serialconsoles)?

EDIT: damn, now I noticed I replied in the wrong thread obviosly! I used the other method you mentioned here: http://androidforums.com/verizon-ga...oot-un-root-without-unlocking-bootloader.html

Does that change anything?

 

[scary alien]

I'm so lucky I'm just too annoyed to again set the whole phone up by hand to make a hardreset...

I can't log the stuff going on on the phone while the update fails, or? Even not via USB (like oldschool-serialconsoles)?

EDIT: damn, now I noticed I replied in the wrong thread obviosly! I used the other method you mentioned here: http://androidforums.com/verizon-ga...oot-un-root-without-unlocking-bootloader.html

Does that change anything?

I don't know of any way to monitor the stock recovery while it tries to apply the OTA (there's no adb access from the stock recovery to hook into).

LOL--I knew / remember you from the other thread [its no big deal ].

Rooting via that method is very unintrusive--you're only inserting the su binary and the Superuser.apk file--nothing else. So, that should not interfere with you receiving or being able to successfully install an impending OTA.

If you do get another message about an update--tell it to install later, and then examine the file that was hopefully downloaded in your /cache partition. It should be a relatively small file (37MB or so) and we'd be able to examine the installation script inside it to see what its looking for.

Other than that, I'm not sure how to have you proceed (I'd suggest manually installing the OTA yourself, but I'm guessing you'd run into the very same issues that you already are...).

 

[PhinPhin]

Other than that, I'm not sure how to have you proceed (I'd suggest manually installing the OTA yourself, but I'm guessing you'd run into the very same issues that you already are...).

Okay, how I install it myself? The recovery is stock, so no choice for starting the update manually... or does the stock-recovery only shows the update-option if an *update*.zip is in /cache?

 

[scary alien]

Okay, how I install it myself? The recovery is stock, so no choice for starting the update manually... or does the stock-recovery only shows the update-option if an *update*.zip is in /cache?

Its the stock recovery that does the update.

The update.zip file (won't actually be called that on download) contains a whole series of assert checks that verifies that your device is the right model, O/S version, and that the various key files on the system that it wants to patch are present and match what's expected.

Can you post a screenshot of your Settings -> About phone screen (i.e., not the phone number subscreen, but the one with the Android version, Baseband version, Kernel version, Build Number, etc.).

 

[PhinPhin]

FINALLY I got the update into the phone... factoryreset + OTA didn't work, too:

succeded with fastboot... it didn't work earlier, maybe it was the USB3.0 port... connected to the USB2.0 port it worked. Gah...

Still funny, stock-rom + stock-OTA update failed... wtf...

now 4.0.4 runs... 80 apps to download (and many to configure, arg)

 

[scary alien]

Ah, so you are good now, right?

The status error 7 is a checksum failed issue-bad download (I believe)...so why don't they say that, LOL.

Good to hear you are finally on 4.0.4.

Cheers!

 

[PhinPhin]

Yup, Thank you! :]

I just wonder why, even die manual downloaded file gave that error... can't be a broken file on their server, else everyone would had encountered that.... weird.

 

[Josefius]

I have the same issue as this guy in this thread you locked:
http://androidforums.com/internatio...3-3-0-3-2-gaining-root-access-fail-error.html

I only found it out when trying to update su, I didn't notice a failure when rooting. Was this issue resolved? Any ideas would be great. Thanks I'm using stock 4.0.4.

 

[scary alien]

I have the same issue as this guy in this thread you locked:
http://androidforums.com/internatio...3-3-0-3-2-gaining-root-access-fail-error.html

I only found it out when trying to update su, I didn't notice a failure when rooting. Was this issue resolved? Any ideas would be great. Thanks I'm using stock 4.0.4.

Yep, the solution there was to use the new su.zip file that seems to work better on 4.0.4:

http://www.box.com/s/jvcf196j7x8f8vrc9cyt

Flash it from ClockworkMod and you should be good-to-go!

Cheers!

 

[rowntreerob]

downloaded the su.zip from the link
used CWM to flash the zip

reboot twice
OS =4.0.4

get a shell

find su - not found

why don't i have an 'su' file in either /sys/bin or in /sys/xbin at this point?

the only thing i can think of is that i never got rid of /system/recovery-from-boot.p

invoking CWM using

fastboot boot \recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.2-maguro.img

so CWM is on the PC, not on the phone...

details of /system/bin... /xbin below

C:\i\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>adb shell ls -l /system/xbin
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 59456 2012-02-06 21:26 dexdump
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-05-14 09:51 su -> /system/bin/su

C:\i\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>adb shell ls -l /system/bin/s*
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 5528 2012-02-06 21:26 schedtest
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 schedtop -> toolbox
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 5760 2012-05-09 21:14 screencap
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 34820 2012-02-06 21:26 screenshot
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 14056 2012-02-06 21:26 sdcard
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 42552 2012-02-06 21:26 sdptool
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 173 2012-02-06 21:26 send_bug
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 sendevent -> toolbox
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 5588 2012-05-09 21:14 sensorservice
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 9988 2012-05-09 21:14 service
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 10080 2012-02-06 21:26 servicemanager
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 setconsole -> toolbox
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 setprop -> toolbox
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 5716 2012-02-06 21:26 setup_fs
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 sh -> mksh
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 9732 2012-02-06 21:26 simg2img
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 sleep -> toolbox
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 9672 2012-02-06 21:26 smc_pa_ctrl
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 smd -> toolbox
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 start -> toolbox
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 stop -> toolbox
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-05-14 11:07 su -> /system/xbin/su
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 5588 2012-05-09 21:14 surfaceflinger
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 192 2012-02-06 21:26 svc
lrwxr-xr-x root shell 2012-02-07 09:59 sync -> toolbox
-rwxr-xr-x root shell 5568 2012-05-09 21:14 system_server

 

[scary alien]

downloaded the su.zip from the link
used CWM to flash the zip

reboot twice
OS =4.0.4

get a shell

find su - not found

why don't i have an 'su' file in either /sys/bin or in /sys/xbin at this point?

details of /system/bin... /xbin below

Welcome to the AndroidForums, rowntreerob .

Did you grab the newer su.zip that's mentioned in the CWM flashing instructions in the first post that works better for 4.0.4:

su.zip that work's for 4.0.4

Try flashing that version--it should work much better for you.

Cheers!

 

[rowntreerob]

Welcome to the AndroidForums, rowntreerob .


su.zip that work's for 4.0.4

Try flashing that version--it should work much better for you.

Cheers!

Yes. that is the su version that i download. CWM flash looks to be fine.
However, as soon as i reboot from CWM, i go to /system/xbin and there is NO SU there!


i tried adb push of the su , but i cannot do any chmods in order to get 755 so its executable.

env below looks odd to me???

the zip file has /system/xbin/su

but the symlink on my system is as follows:

ls -l /system/xbin
-rwxr-xr-x root     shell       59456 2012-02-06 21:26 dexdump
lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2012-05-14 09:51 su -> /system/bin/su

above does not look correct?

the flash will put su in /system/xbin

the symbolic in /system/xbin points to /system/bin

there is no su in /system/bin on my system

AND
after the flash/reboot, i go to /system/xbin expecting to see 'su' and it is NOT THERE???

 

[scary alien]

Yes. that is the su version that i download. CWM flash looks to be fine.
However, as soon as i reboot from CWM, i go to /system/xbin and there is NO SU there!


i tried adb push of the su , but i cannot do any chmods in order to get 755 so its executable.

env below looks odd to me???

the zip file has /system/xbin/su

but the symlink on my system is as follows:

ls -l /system/xbin
-rwxr-xr-x root     shell       59456 2012-02-06 21:26 dexdump
lrwxrwxrwx root     root              2012-05-14 09:51 su -> /system/bin/su

above does not look correct?

the flash will put su in /system/xbin

the symbolic in /system/xbin points to /system/bin

there is no su in /system/bin on my system

AND
after the flash/reboot, i go to /system/xbin expecting to see 'su' and it is NOT THERE???

Apologies for the delay...am at work and can't really research this at the moment...

Yeah, its definitely strange because the su.zip should be installing the su binary in /system/xbin and then symlink /system/bin to it.

I see that you've listed your /system/xbin/su file above and it looks like its actually pointing to /system/bin/su (i.e., the reverse of what's supposed to happen?).

I'm thinking that you should be able to manually push things via adb like you mentioned (you'd need to use a 06755 value for its permission bits).

Can you flash or soft-boot CWM, mount /system, manually remove any /system/bin/su and /system/xbin/su before you push it, then resecure it (and optionally symlink the other su)?

If you give me a little time to get home, I can detail the exact commands for you then...

Cheers!

 

[rowntreerob]

thank you..

ill try what you said ...

the description you gave should be enough for me to go on for now.

i think the problem may be permissions for chmod the su binary to make it executable.

adb push will put the file out there with rw-rw-r-- permissions and if i dont have authority to chmod in any directory , im stuck.

C:\i\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools>adb shell
shell@android:/ $ su
su
/system/bin/sh: su: not found
127|shell@android:/ $ chmod 06755 /mnt/sdcard/su
chmod 06755 /mnt/sdcard/su
Unable to chmod /mnt/sdcard/su: Operation not permitted

as you can see in the above, im not able to exec su . I can push it fine .

also not able to mount rw ... no permissions ... i dont make sense of this.

 

[scary alien]

Rob,

Are you doing the adb stuff while your phone is booted in ClockworkMod custom recovery?

That's a rooted environment and you'll be able to change anything you want while booted in CWM.

Lemme know if that's the issue.

Cheers!

 

[rowntreerob]

yes.. using "G" softboot and "H", i flashed su.zip then i tried to chmod and had no permissions on the chmod..

while still in CWM after the flash , i chose 'reboot' and used and existing open shell .. maybe i need to open a new cmd shell in windows after the CWM reboot ??

opened new windows CMD immediately after 'reboot' from within CWM and heres what i get:

cd /mnt/sdcard
shell@android:/mnt/sdcard $ chmod 06755 su
chmod 06755 su
Unable to chmod su: Operation not permitted

my bootlog ( demsg.txt ) on pastebin

thank you for all the help.. im headed out for dinner.....

 

[scary alien]

Okay, here's how to manually install the root binaries:

- on your PC, extract the 4.0.4 su.zip file to its own folder

- boot your phone into ClockworkMod custom recovery

- mount /system by choosing mounts and storage, then mount /system

- now, do the following (while your phone is still booted in ClockworkMod custom recovery):

C:\gnex\su-404>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 843C-52A5

Directory of C:\gnex\su-404

02/04/2012 10:53 PM 22,372 su
02/04/2012 10:57 PM 818,836 Superuser.apk
05/14/2012 09:19 PM <DIR> system
2 File(s) 841,208 bytes
4 Dir(s) 298,312,048,640 bytes free

C:\gnex\su-404>adb push su /cache/su
2427 KB/s (22372 bytes in 0.009s)

C:\gnex\su-404>adb push Superuser.apk /cache/Superuser.apk
4253 KB/s (818836 bytes in 0.188s)

C:\gnex\su-404>adb shell
~ # cd /cache
cd /cache
/cache # ls -a -l su Superuser.apk
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 818836 Feb 5 03:57 Superuser.apk
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 22372 Feb 5 03:53 su
/cache # cat su > /system/xbin/su
/cache # cat Superuser.apk > /system/app/Superuser.apk
/cache # chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su
/cache # chmod 0644 /system/app/Superuser.apk
/cache # ls -a -l /system/xbin/su /system/app/Superuser.apk
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 818836 May 15 01:26 /system/app/Superuser.apk
-rwsr-sr-x 1 root root 22372 May 15 01:26 /system/xbin/su
/cache # exit
exit

C:\gnex\su-404>

Next, just reboot your phone and you should have root.

Note, I didn't include any symlinking stuff since that appears to be related to some of your issues.

Cheers!