Root Root around boot error

[yaler4]

A couple weeks ago my ERIS ran out of battery before I could charge it (nothing unusual). But after fully charging it, it would not boot up -- stuck on 3 skating droids. I talked with tech support who pointed me to my local retail/service center who said there's nothing to do but drop another $400 on a new phone.

I've been using an old back up phone, but I read somewhere that you may be able to root the phone and bypass whatever corruption is preventing the phone from booting normally.

I have the PB00IMG.zip on an SD card, but when I try to start the phone from HBOOT, it doesn't find the file. It cycles through the list of PB... but does nothing else. I'm currently showing S-ON and HBOOT-1.49.

Any thoughts? Or is this a fool's errand?

 

[doogald]

A couple weeks ago my ERIS ran out of battery before I could charge it (nothing unusual). But after fully charging it, it would not boot up -- stuck on 3 skating droids. I talked with tech support who pointed me to my local retail/service center who said there's nothing to do but drop another $400 on a new phone.

I've been using an old back up phone, but I read somewhere that you may be able to root the phone and bypass whatever corruption is preventing the phone from booting normally.

I have the PB00IMG.zip on an SD card, but when I try to start the phone from HBOOT, it doesn't find the file. It cycles through the list of PB... but does nothing else. I'm currently showing S-ON and HBOOT-1.49.

Any thoughts? Or is this a fool's errand?

Before you do anything else, the best thing to do is to try starting while holding VolDn and the Send key. This is the key combo to do a factory reset and, if it works, will prompt you to press the trackball to complete the factory reset. It's rather dangerous to try flashing things with the phone in this state.

Saying that, which PB00IMG.zip file did you use? Is it the leak V3, or the rooted image, or something else? Are you 100% sure that the file is called PB00IMG.zip (and not, for example, PB00IMG.zip.zip, as Windows, by default, rather unhelpfully "hides" file extensions of known file types - i.e., try turning that setting off, if it is on.) Also, the PB00IMG.zip file must not be in a folder on the SD card. Lastly, if you have renamed this file, those are zeroes in the file name, not the letter o.

 

[scotty85]

first,wich PB00IMG are you using? make sure you are using the "root rom" so that it gives you the s-off bootloader. using one of the leaks may be a bad idea.

second,there are 2 reasons an IMG file is not found,period. its one of these 2 things:
1)sd card is not formated to FAT32
2)file is not appropriately named (PB00IMG.zip)

a common error with number 2 is to manually name "PB00IMG.zip" when using a windows machine,wich will automatically add,and hide,the extension. in other words it may be named "PB00IMG.zip.zip" if using windows,just rename to "PB00MG",and make sure its on the root of the sd card"(not inside a file)

also,seems ive heard of anotehr couple situations like this,where the prollem simply turned out to be a bad battery. might stop by a store and have them put one it it and see if it turns on.

 

[yaler4]

doogald: I had tried the reset with the with tech support which failed. I also tried another battery at my local store... It was not a battery issue.

The problem I originally posted was due to the original file being downloaded to a "download" file on my sd card. I moved it the the root folder and retried and got a little farther...

It found the file and started to process the update with the blue status bar on the right. But it all led to another error message:

"Main Version is older! Update Fail! Do you want to reboot the device?"

As to the version of the PB00IMG, I'm not sure... I downloaded it from theunlockr.com at this link: How To: Root the HTC Droid Eris (and Get Android 2.1)(Updated ? 06.11.2010) | TheUnlockr. The file is named properly, no additional extensions.

Any other suggestions from here?

 

[doogald]

doogald: I had tried the reset with the with tech support which failed. I also tried another battery at my local store... It was not a battery issue.

That was definitely the first step.

The problem I originally posted was due to the original file being downloaded to a "download" file on my sd card. I moved it the the root folder and retried and got a little farther...

It found the file and started to process the update with the blue status bar on the right. But it all led to another error message:

"Main Version is older! Update Fail! Do you want to reboot the device?"

Yep, this is expected with the 1.49.0000 bootloader. This may mean nothing to you, but this was the same reason why the people who rooted the phone with the leaked ROMs in early 2010 found that they could not root their phones when they tried to with this rooted image.

As to the version of the PB00IMG, I'm not sure... I downloaded it from theunlockr.com at this link: How To: Root the HTC Droid Eris (and Get Android 2.1)(Updated ? 06.11.2010) | TheUnlockr. The file is named properly, no additional extensions.

Based on that page, I assume that it was the rooted PB00IMG.zip.

Well, I think that you have come to the right place. We can at least take a shot at getting you going again.

Assuming that you have a Windows PC, I think the next best step is to try installing the leak V3 RUU. You can find it here, along with a bunch of other important files that we may need along the way: [HTC ROMs] Consolidated HTC Eris RUU/OTA/ROM URLs - xda-developers

Download the one called RUU_Desire_C_Verizon_WWE_2.36.605.1_release_signed _with_driver.exe, found under "[ 2.36.605.1 ] a.k.a. "Leak-V3" (or MR3/"Official" RUU) - (Eclair/2.1)". Connect the Eris (while powered on) to the PC by USB, run that utility. Report back if you have success, or, if there are any errors, let us know what they are. If there are errors, don't let that discourage you, yet; there are further steps to try.

I just want to note that you should understand that they phone may not be recoverable and we will give you the best advice for recovering it. At this point, though, you have an unusable phone, so ... let's try that first.

 

[scotty85]

Just so Im on the same page... he will run via the installer,not as a PB00IMG, correct?

Also... how does a phone go from a working device to an unrecoverable brick simply from the battery dieing?

 

[scary alien]

Guys,

Just wanted to throw a couple of ideas, comments out there.

FYI, the TheUnlockr link that the OP provided originally had one of the 2.1 leak ROMs on their site instead of the 2.1 base root ROM eek for people wanting to root...eu1 discovered this and they eventually fixed this, but the damage had apparently been done to several folks that trusted that site.

Also, the OP hasn't mentioned if he was using ROM manager / ClockworkMod (vs. Amon_RA custom recovery)... I would think that might be some useful information to have up-front when we see "suspicious" behavior from an apparently innocuous condition like a fully-drained battery.

Just my two-cents...

Cheers!

 

[yaler4]

I was not previously rooted. I am now attempting to root because of the problem ive had thru normal use of my phone...

I ran the utility and it caused my windows 7 computer to crash. My computer will now not start up at all. It attempts to run Startup Repair but cannot repair.

Needless to say, my phone is still not working.

 

[scary alien]

I was not previously rooted. I am now attempting to root because of the problem ive had thru normal use of my phone...

I ran the utility and it caused my windows 7 computer to crash. My computer will now not start up at all. It attempts to run Startup Repair but cannot repair.

Needless to say, my phone is still not working.

Ahh...good to know. I thought that since you posted in the root sub-forum and kind of inferred from your posts that you were probably rooted.

Using the RUU that doogald mentioned is probably your best bet at this time (crashed computer notwithstanding ). I've only run the RUU once (not fully to completion since I wasn't wiping my phone), but I don't think there's anything special about it that would have caused your computer to crash...

 

[yaler4]

I think I'm going to have to put a halt to my endeavors to restore the functionality of my ERIS. After the crash, I had to restore my computer to factory settings (losing a lot of info).

I do not blame any of the posters for this... I'm sure the process should run fine. But since I'm only 3 months out from my upgrade, I guess I'll just bury my ERIS.

Thanks to everyone who posted suggestions.

 

[scary alien]

I think I'm going to have to put a halt to my endeavors to restore the functionality of my ERIS. After the crash, I had to restore my computer to factory settings (losing a lot of info).

I do not blame any of the posters for this... I'm sure the process should run fine. But since I'm only 3 months out from my upgrade, I guess I'll just bury my ERIS.

Thanks to everyone who posted suggestions.

Well, if you ever decided to try to resurrect it, I'm sure there'll still be some of us here .

Its just kind of the nature of corresponding via forum posts that makes this a sometimes long, drawn-out process. Its hard to exchange all of the salient information that might get you up and running faster (unless your name is erisuser1, that is ) piecemeal like we have to.

We'll be here if you need us.

Cheers!

 

[doogald]

Sorry that it didn't work out, and definitely sorry that the RUU utility did that to your computer. Definitely not cool.

 

[doogald]

Based on that page, I assume that it was the rooted PB00IMG.zip.

Just a note that I checked the MD5 hash of that file on unlockr.com and it is, in fact, the "root" PB00IMG file.

 

[scotty85]

I think I'm going to have to put a halt to my endeavors to restore the functionality of my ERIS. After the crash, I had to restore my computer to factory settings (losing a lot of info).

I do not blame any of the posters for this... I'm sure the process should run fine. But since I'm only 3 months out from my upgrade, I guess I'll just bury my ERIS.

Thanks to everyone who posted suggestions.

What are your plans for the Eris? If you're willing to pay the shipping,I'd offer to try and resurrect it for you if you'd like to send it to me

 

[scary alien]

What are your plans for the Eris? If you're willing to pay the shipping,I'd offer to try and resurrect it for you if you'd like to send it to me

Heck, I'll pay for the shipping if that'll keep Scotty busy from posting new threads about cool stuff he wants to try out on his Eris... [not bad stuff, mind you...just stuff that only eu1 sits around and thinks about ].

(this would undoubtely result in more of these interesting thread though ).

I love you, Scotty, but you make me hurt my brain sometimes .

You and the "gang" of us that still hang around here are what makes me keep checking these threads each day.

Cheers!

 

[scotty85]

I love you, Scotty, but you make me hurt my brain sometimes .

whaaa



in all seriousness,scary,thats the reason i still come around also. besides using my lil buddy for various(possibly inappropriate ) experiments,folks here is good people

to the OP,if youre at all interested in this,ill pay the shipping to me. that way theres no real risk involved. if it works,(or you just want the non working phone back) you can pay the shipping back.

i was actually thinkin earlier today that i need to try and get this installer thing,and use it to flash some ruus on my lil buddy so i can see how it works.

in light of this recent event,do you yall think i should use xp or windows 7 if im going to do that? my PC has 2 hard drives and dual boots id prefer to use 7 unless there are some potential incompatability issues?

 

[doogald]

in light of this recent event,do you yall think i should use xp or windows 7 if im going to do that? my PC has 2 hard drives and dual boots id prefer to use 7 unless there are some potential incompatability issues?

XP! Win7 32 bit, if you have that instead.

I could be mistaken about this, but my understanding of the RUU is that it installs the USB drivers to communicate with the Eris as part of the early step. I wonder if that's what unfortunately borked yaler4's PC?

So, Scotty, if you do this, steps, IMHO, would be:

- try to flash the leakv3 RUU. That probably will not work. If it does, though, you're done.

- if that doesn't work, start the RUU. Just before the flash step, replace the "rom.zip" in the temp file, created by the RUU, with the PB00IMG.zip file from the root ROM. This *should* at the very least pop the 1.49.2000 S-OFF bootloader on the phone, allowing fastboot access.

- you probably know the rest, but use fastboot to try to flash Amon_RA. If you can start to Recovery, you're done.

etc.

 

[scotty85]

doogald,gotcha

but im alittle concused by the "xp! win7..." reccomendation. my windows 7 is 32 bit... so you think i should use that over xp?

im still really curious how draining the battery borked the phone... did it have damaged partitions and was simply working because it was on and working? as soon no battery,it forgot all it knew,and no boot?

or more than likely,is it just a random,extremely coincidental hardware failure?

 

[doogald]

Win7 64 bit always worries me for stuff like this - the requirement for signed drivers, etc. I think it's safer for day-to-day, "normal" computing, but when you start attaching devices to it, things can be a PITA.

I have an XP 32 bit VM on my Mac, which is perfect - I can mess it up all that I want and then restore it to a known good in about a minute or so.

 

[erisuser1]

If the phone was in my hands, I would be inclined to attempt an install of the engineering bootloader via the "SoSicWitit" (sp?) RUU backdoor trick.*

If that succeeds, fastboot can be used to soft-boot a recovery, and from there evaluate the health of the various partitions - and then run MTDNuke if it is necessary.

Bad pages in a partition - especially in cramped partitions such as the boot and misc partitions - can feasibly be the root-cause mechanism for flash failures or boot wedging.

eu1

* even if an inappropriate driver install causes a Win 7 (x32/x64) boot failure, a safemode boot followed by a restore-point rollback should correct the problem. I am quite surprised (and saddened) by the OP's experience with his PC... and am left wondering if he/she was given bad advice elsewhere about disaster recovery options. In any event, it would be prudent to manually create a Windows restore point before running the RUU.

 

[scotty85]

i was lookin forward to tryin to resurrect the lil guy,but unfortunately the OP has not responded or PMed... guess he has no interest

at any rate,im still planing to mess with the RUU installer,so i will takey our advice about creating a restore point prior.

as always,thanks for your thots

 

[erisuser1]

i was lookin forward to tryin to resurrect the lil guy,but unfortunately the OP has not responded or PMed... guess he has no interest

at any rate,im still planing to mess with the RUU installer,so i will takey our advice about creating a restore point prior.

as always,thanks for your thots

FWIW, I have done a few dangerous flashing operations on my Eris using a 32-bit Ubuntu VM hosted on a Win7 x64 machine (Oracle Virtualbox), but have never tried running a RUU from a XP x32 VM.

The USB device pass-through from host to guest VM setup is tricky, and even with the Ubuntu VM I saw some behaviors that led me to believe that the pass-through is not as transparent as you would expect.

I wouldn't think twice about attempting to rescue a dead phone by running the RUU under a VM, 'cuz the situation with the phone can't get much worse... but if you are experimenting with a good phone... I think there are dragons lurking.


eu1

 

[Bob Cat]

FWIW, I have done a few dangerous flashing operations on my Eris using a 32-bit Ubuntu VM hosted on a Win7 x64 machine (Oracle Virtualbox), but have never tried running a RUU from a XP x32 VM.

The USB device pass-through from host to guest VM setup is tricky, and even with the Ubuntu VM I saw some behaviors that led me to believe that the pass-through is not as transparent as you would expect.

I wouldn't think twice about attempting to rescue a dead phone by running the RUU under a VM, 'cuz the situation with the phone can't get much worse... but if you are experimenting with a good phone... I think there are dragons lurking.


eu1

I believe I'd leave them looking after the castle.

 

[scotty85]

I believe I'd leave them looking after the castle.

whaaaa

EU1,can bad things happen simply by changing firmware with the RUU installer? thats all i was intending to with it... i didnt think i was attempting anything scary this time

 

[erisuser1]

whaaaa

EU1,can bad things happen simply by changing firmware with the RUU installer? thats all i was intending to with it... i didnt think i was attempting anything scary this time

Sorry - my bad for implying something, but not stating it explicitly: running the RUU from a VM is more dangerous than doing so from a native windows OS. (Because the USB device pass-through to the VM is not completely, 100% transparent.)

Running a RUU from a native Windows machine should be only slightly more dangerous than flashing a PB00IMG.zip file; but that's only because there are more failure modes possible (two devices + a cable, vs. a single device).


eu1