Root Restoring stock nandroid backup on HTC one m8 with S-ON

[them8guy]

since i got a new htc one m8 , it came with the latest update installed that is 4.4.3 , i followed all the steps and got my phone rooted , unlocked boot loader ,custom TWRP recovery, but could not gain s-off , as it said device patched by HTc, so for unrooting the M8 we need to restore the nandroid backup which was uploaded on XDA, NOTE: the online nandroid backup on XDA is not mine . so as to get back the unrooted stock, my question is can i still flash the nandroid backup with S-on as it will then be 4.4.2 and i can then s-off , as i want to flash the latest Viperone m8 rom , or could i just flash the previous versions of viperone which are android 4.4.2 and then get my s-off and yes to be on the safe side i have backed up my current stock with TWRP. Please help fast , i don't want to brick my phone




the thread from which ill be getting the 4.4.2 backup

 

[Paul25]

since i got a new htc one m8 , it came with the latest update installed that is 4.4.3 , i followed all the steps and got my phone rooted , unlocked boot loader ,custom TWRP recovery, but could not gain s-off , as it said device patched by HTc, so for unrooting the M8 we need to restore the nandroid backup which was uploaded on XDA, NOTE: the online nandroid backup on XDA is not mine . so as to get back the unrooted stock, my question is can i still flash the nandroid backup with S-on as it will then be 4.4.2 and i can then s-off , as i want to flash the latest Viperone m8 rom , or could i just flash the previous versions of viperone which are android 4.4.2 and then get my s-off and yes to be on the safe side i have backed up my current stock with TWRP. Please help fast , i don't want to brick my phone





the thread from which ill be getting the 4.4.2 backup

S on will not stop you flashing a rom. Just download viper put it on your phones memory then flash it. Have you tried both S off methods

 

[them8guy]

S on will not stop you flashing a rom. Just download viper put it on your phones memory then flash it. Have you tried both S off methods

no i have only tried the firewater method i dont wan to waste 25$ , besides the venom ROM might cause some problem dont you think ? but will the flashing backup cause the problem and people say i need to flash the boot.img before and after i didnt get the part exactly , could you explain it please ?

 

[EarlyMon]

I've moved this to the root section.

Allow me to save you a lot of trouble -

Firewater is NOT going to work if you go back using a nandroid backup or rom install of anything.

Despite how the Firewater message looks to you - and I know how it looks, it says -

There's absolutely nothing that you can do to "un-patch" or "un-OTA" it so that Firewater will work.

Sorry - nothing.

And even if you could - and you can't - Firewater didn't even work consistently with two identical M8's - ChiefXYZ and I, along with many others, proved that.

If you want s-off, you have to go with Sunshine.

There's no third way.

Hope this helps, welcome to the forums!

 

[EarlyMon]

no i have only tried the firewater method i dont wan to waste 25$ , besides the venom ROM might cause some problem dont you think ? but will the flashing backup cause the problem and people say i need to flash the boot.img before and after i didnt get the part exactly , could you explain it please ?

It's easy to flash roms when s-on.

First, flash the rom.

The boot.img might come along OK.

You're on 4.4.3 now, if you flash ViperOneM8 2.3.0 it won't matter if the boot.img comes along or not, it uses the same one that you already have.

However, flashing the boot.img is easy.

Take the rom zip file, unzip it on your pc and extract the boot.img

Move or copy it to where you have adb and fastboot installed.

Make sure that the fastboot option is NOT checked in your main Power settings.

Power up phone while holding the volume down button, you'll see the hboot screen.

Plug your phone into your pc, you'll see the phone screen say FASTBOOT USB.

Open a command window where you have adb and fastboot installed, and the boot.img copied.

In the command window say -

fastboot flash boot boot.img

Then reboot, you're done.

If you want to try older roms and flashing their boot.img files to see if I'm right about Firewater, ok, it's good practice for flashing the boot.img and you'll find that Firewater isn't going to work for yourself.
You'll probably want to bookmark this for boot.img flashing if you decide to not use Sunshine.

But s-off is a lot easier.

PS - Notice that I said to flash the boot.img after the rom. Regardless of what people have said, I'm right about that too.

 

[them8guy]

It's easy to flash roms when s-on.

First, flash the rom.

The boot.img might come along OK.

You're on 4.4.3 now, if you flash ViperOneM8 2.3.0 it won't matter if the boot.img comes along or not, it uses the same one that you already have.

However, flashing the boot.img is easy.

Take the rom zip file, unzip it on your pc and extract the boot.img

Move or copy it to where you have adb and fastboot installed.

Make sure that the fastboot option is NOT checked in your main Power settings.

Power up phone while holding the volume down button, you'll see the hboot screen.

Plug your phone into your pc, you'll see the phone screen say FASTBOOT USB.

Open a command window where you have adb and fastboot installed, and the boot.img copied.

In the command window say -

fastboot flash boot boot.img

Then reboot, you're done.

If you want to try older roms and flashing their boot.img files to see if I'm right about Firewater, ok, it's good practice for flashing the boot.img and you'll find that Firewater isn't going to work for yourself.
You'll probably want to bookmark this for boot.img flashing if you decide to not use Sunshine.

But s-off is a lot easier.

PS - Notice that I said to flash the boot.img after the rom. Regardless of what people have said, I'm right about that too.

Thanks everyone for helping me , and besides do I have to flash the boot.img after flashing the ROM or before and do I have to do this every time I get the OTA from TeamVenom??, and will installing a new Rom decrease my RAM , just asking cause my friends told me it will

 

[Yatezy]

It may decrease your RAM usage but that's because it may debloat your phone BUT don't worry about RAM. Android loves using all its RAM, it's designed to do it and from what I can see this phone multitasks better than anything I've owned!

It destroys my old S3, my 3GS and makes mince meat of my iPad Air.

Also from what EM is saying you don't need to flash the boot.img if you go with ViperOne 2.3.0 as it is already a 4.4.3 ROM.

He has just provided instructions if you need to flash a boot.img file :thumb:

 

[EarlyMon]

Thanks everyone for helping me , and besides do I have to flash the boot.img after flashing the ROM or before and do I have to do this every time I get the OTA from TeamVenom??, and will installing a new Rom decrease my RAM , just asking cause my friends told me it will

Look at my PS that you quoted - if s-on, you flash it after the rom, not before. Or look at the beginning of my post where it says, first flash the rom. Not sure how I could have been any clearer about that.

You only have to flash it when you change kernels, and that's when HTC does (and the rom you're on includes the change) or the rom devs have changed the kernel or ramdisk, or you decide to change rom types.

Tell your friends to join up here so we can help them understand how ram works, they're not getting it.

As stated so well above, stop obsessing about ram. This isn't Windows and this isn't an iPhone. It's Android.

It has always had built-in memory management.

That's controlled by parameter inputs that you can see.

If two roms use the same control values, then they're going to use ram the same exact way.

And because this isn't Windows or iOS, it's not something that you're going to run out and control unless you don't believe us and want to do things to reduce your performance and battery life.

And don't take this the wrong way - but if you read the answers you're getting carefully, you're going to have less chance of screwing up your phone.

 

[RayvenUK]

I have the same issue. My phone has just updated to andriod version 4.4.3 and now nothing will download or update from the play store. It displays the downloading bar but it never moves. It has now been trying to download the update to twitter for over 2 hours. I have tried removing previously installed updates and this hasn't worked. With other software I have even uninstalled it and now it won't download those either, neither will it download anything new!!

I have cleared the play store ata and cache.
I have deleted the google account and signed back in.
I have even set up a second account.

I tried rebooting the phone, rebooting the router, nothing works. I can still connect to the wireless and surf the web, pick up and send emails, etc.

As a last resort I backed everything up and reset the phone back to factory default. It still won't download anything.

Can anyone help?

 

[EarlyMon]

I have the same issue. My phone has just updated to andriod version 4.4.3 and now nothing will download or update from the play store. It displays the downloading bar but it never moves. It has now been trying to download the update to twitter for over 2 hours. I have tried removing previously installed updates and this hasn't worked. With other software I have even uninstalled it and now it won't download those either, neither will it download anything new!!

I have cleared the play store ata and cache.
I have deleted the google account and signed back in.
I have even set up a second account.

I tried rebooting the phone, rebooting the router, nothing works. I can still connect to the wireless and surf the web, pick up and send emails, etc.

As a last resort I backed everything up and reset the phone back to factory default. It still won't download anything.

Can anyone help?

Just to be sure - are you rooted?

 

[RayvenUK]

Phone is not rooted or unlocked

 

[RayvenUK]

Sorted it.
Was getting worried as the HTC backup wouldn't successfully backup, and after restoring the phone back to factory defaults it would not restore.
Managed to restore the phone to the previous version of Android and then reapplied the update again. This time everything came back. I can only assume that something happened during the upgrade process.