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Root ROOTING For Dummies

Rambler358 said:
LOL, yes I'm already rooted (stock ROM/kernal) with Unrevoked 3.21 and was thinking about un-rooting and just going back to stock. I only use 3 root apps anyway - Titanium backup, a screen capture and a reboot app. And ever since I updated my profile and PRL (after rooting), I rarely seem to get 4G service anymore, where I was getting it previously.

But I'm hesitant about un-rooting, because I didn't want to lose my apps and associated data. So with that said, is it possible to backup my apps and data with Titanium backup, un-root back to stock, and then restore my apps and data from TB using the Z4root app?
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I don't see anything wrong with that. It should work okay. To be honest, though, you might find it more of a pain than anything else only having soft root. Especially when you have to rerun it after every reboot. As far as 4g is concerned, though, I can't say if unrooting will fix the problem or not. Updating your profile and PRL shouldn't have made 4g worse. It must be something else. Is it just not working, or does it connect sometimes and just not get as good of a signal?
 
akazabam said:
To be honest, though, you might find it more of a pain than anything else only having soft root. Especially when you have to rerun it after every reboot.
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Well, the thing is I don't use those root apps that often anyway. Oh, WiFi tether was another app I've used - but again, not very often. And it's not like I reboot a lot either, so I don't think I'd mind the minor inconvenience.

As far as 4g is concerned, though, I can't say if unrooting will fix the problem or not. Updating your profile and PRL shouldn't have made 4g worse. It must be something else. Is it just not working, or does it connect sometimes and just not get as good of a signal?
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I do connect to 4G sometimes now, but it's just not as consistant as it was. It could be my area's signal perhaps, but I think it'd get better instead of worse. :confused:

Still, I think I'd just be more comfortable with a stock phone - for OTA updates, and if I should accidently drop it and need to replace it. It would suck having the replacement warranty voided, by Sprint finding out the phone was rooted.
 
wrapkgb said:
I sure am... Man for only being an alpha release, it sure is stable! I suggest you try it out and see what gingerbread is all about! :)
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Where is it? Checked their site, rom manager and their wiki page. Is it a nightly build? Now I'm excited!!!
 
Can any one give me a good sence ROM an Kernel they can recommend that helps the battery last longer. i would like to just try em all out but i just dont have the time
 
BlakeK92 said:
Can any one give me a good sence ROM an Kernel they can recommend that helps the battery last longer. i would like to just try em all out but i just dont have the time
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Did you try the stop_talking-ROM and stop_texting-kernal?

LOL, sorry couldn't resist. ;)
 
BlakeK92 said:
Can any one give me a good sence ROM an Kernel they can recommend that helps the battery last longer. i would like to just try em all out but i just dont have the time
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Rom - calkuins evio 1.7.6
Kernel - netarchy toastmod 4.2.1 cfs bfq less smartass
Calkuins Roms aren't available through rom manager so u will have to put on ur SD and flash it. Great colored icons too but I'm loving pure Google with CM. Also I'm running adw ex which is so worth the 4 bones. Also calk provides a zip file to remove sense from your phone.
 
mikevo said:
Rom - calkuins evio 1.7.6
Kernel - netarchy toastmod 4.2.1 cfs bfq less smartass
Calkuins Roms aren't available through rom manager so u will have to put on ur SD and flash it. Great colored icons too but I'm loving pure Google with CM. Also I'm running adw ex which is so worth the 4 bones. Also calk provides a zip file to remove sense from your phone.
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I apperciate it fool. Im just trying to find that one rom/kernel that keeps my fone going from 7am to 6pm with heavy usage, without charging. im flashing them both now thanks
 
Installed the PC36IMG file and flashed it but did not flash the S-ON file since I plan on rerooting. I now get the recovery menu and was able to do a backup. I attempted unrevoked 3.32 again but got the same message "failed to get root, is your firmware too new?". Is this a problem with the phone or drivers?
 
Nevemrind I am an idiot. O)

Although I do notice that my Radio has slightly differnt numbers than whats listed on the guide but guessing thats no big deal?
 
mustang_fb said:
Installed the PC36IMG file and flashed it but did not flash the S-ON file since I plan on rerooting. I now get the recovery menu and was able to do a backup. I attempted unrevoked 3.32 again but got the same message "failed to get root, is your firmware too new?". Is this a problem with the phone or drivers?
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Sorry, I wasn't too clear in my original post. I just reread it. I was referring to two very different PC36IMG files. The one I linked to (that you flashed) is recovery. That's good; you now have a working recovery image. The second thing I was referring to was unrooting. You'd need to flash the s-on tool, then flash one of the PC36IMG files you can find links to in the OP.

Anyway, you now have a custom recovery, which is good. You can now flash a custom ROM, if you like, but we can troubleshoot what's wrong with the stock one. If I remember correctly, you said you have the superuser app, but when you typed "su" at the terminal, you just got a permission denied error; is that correct? Superuser should prompt you to grant permissions at that point.

sellout007 said:
Nevemrind I am an idiot. O)

Although I do notice that my Radio has slightly differnt numbers than whats listed on the guide but guessing thats no big deal?
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What was your original question? Numbers not matching isn't necessarily a good thing...
 
akazabam said:
Sorry, I wasn't too clear in my original post. I just reread it. I was referring to two very different PC36IMG files. The one I linked to (that you flashed) is recovery. That's good; you now have a working recovery image. The second thing I was referring to was unrooting. You'd need to flash the s-on tool, then flash one of the PC36IMG files you can find links to in the OP.

Anyway, you now have a custom recovery, which is good. You can now flash a custom ROM, if you like, but we can troubleshoot what's wrong with the stock one. If I remember correctly, you said you have the superuser app, but when you typed "su" at the terminal, you just got a permission denied error; is that correct? Superuser should prompt you to grant permissions at that point.

Ok, Basically I am rooted with a working recovery file which is what I was trying to accomplish in the first place and yes I get a permission deny error when typing "su". I also get the same response when opening ROM manager "you must root your phone for ROM manager to function". Seems there is still something not right or missing. Now that the recovery menu is working maybe I should completely unroot then try root again. Would this be the way to go?
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Ok successful root last night. Downloaded the tether app and it works flawlessly! Very excited. Was looking at other apps like Titanium Backup to freeze bloatware and have a few questions. It asks me to check the usb debugging box again ( i unchecked it after the unrevoked3 installed and everything was working). And it also asked me to check/uncheck something else I can't remeber but I felt like it would open my phone to anyone or leave it vulnerable. Is that true?

Also was looking into dl'ing Lookout mobile security, will something like this decrease battery life?
 
mustang_fb said:
Ok, Basically I am rooted with a working recovery file which is what I was trying to accomplish in the first place and yes I get a permission deny error when typing "su". I also get the same response when opening ROM manager "you must root your phone for ROM manager to function". Seems there is still something not right or missing. Now that the recovery menu is working maybe I should completely unroot then try root again. Would this be the way to go?
Click to expand...

You can do that if you like. You must flash the unrevoked s-on tool, then download the appropriate PC36IMG for your hboot version (see the unrooting section in the OP). Keep in mind that it will wipe everything out on your phone. Another option is to flash a custom ROM. If you weren't planning on going to a custom ROM, there are stock rooted ROMs that you can flash from recovery. Let me know if that's what you want, and I will direct you to whichever one will work for your current OTA. Either way, you're going to have to wipe data. Here's the thing with unrevoked. That error you're getting is normally fixed by doing a factory reset and rerunning it. Personally, I would just flash a custom (or stock rooted) ROM. Read the OP for how to flash ROMs if that's what you want to do.

sellout007 said:
Ok successful root last night. Downloaded the tether app and it works flawlessly! Very excited. Was looking at other apps like Titanium Backup to freeze bloatware and have a few questions. It asks me to check the usb debugging box again ( i unchecked it after the unrevoked3 installed and everything was working). And it also asked me to check/uncheck something else I can't remeber but I felt like it would open my phone to anyone or leave it vulnerable. Is that true?

Also was looking into dl'ing Lookout mobile security, will something like this decrease battery life?
Click to expand...

You can leave usb debugging on, if you want. I don't use lookout, so somebody who does will have to speak to the battery use issue.
 
akazabam said:
I don't see anything wrong with that. It should work okay. To be honest, though, you might find it more of a pain than anything else only having soft root. Especially when you have to rerun it after every reboot. As far as 4g is concerned, though, I can't say if unrooting will fix the problem or not. Updating your profile and PRL shouldn't have made 4g worse. It must be something else. Is it just not working, or does it connect sometimes and just not get as good of a signal?
Click to expand...
I was able to unroot yesterday. Prior to doing so I backed up my apps and data with TB. After the unroot I installed z4root and was able to restore my apps via TB using z4root's Temporary Root option. After getting my device setup back to the way I want it (wallpaper, folders, icons, etc) I tried running the firmware update check, but it says there's no update available? :confused:

I still have HBoot 0.97 and Software v3.29 so I don't know why the system would think there's no update available? On the plus side my 4G is working good again after the unroot which is what I really wanted.

On the down side, z4root is no longer working. When I run it, it says the temporary unroot was completed, but my root apps like TB say my phone isn't rooted. :confused:
 
Rambler358 said:
I was able to unroot yesterday. Prior to doing so I backed up my apps and data with TB. After the unroot I installed z4root and was able to restore my apps via TB using z4root's Temporary Root option. After getting my device setup back to the way I want it (wallpaper, folders, icons, etc) I tried running the firmware update check, but it says there's no update available? :confused:

I still have HBoot 0.97 and Software v3.29 so I don't know why the system would think there's no update available? On the plus side my 4G is working good again after the unroot which is what I really wanted.

On the down side, z4root is no longer working. When I run it, it says the temporary unroot was completed, but my root apps like TB say my phone isn't rooted. :confused:
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1) It's a HTC update, not a firmware update. If you tried HTC update, and it still didn't work, did you try rebooting and checking without temp root? You can always run a RUU. It will wipe out all apps, etc., but it will work.

2) Good to know about 4g. I'll keep that in mind.

3) Do you have the superuser app? I would think you do if it worked at least once. Check superuser for allowed apps. Also, open a terminal emulator and type "su" to see if the prompt changes to #.
 
Have to say, after a ton of hand-wringing and vacillating, I finally took the plunge and rooted. It could not have been easier -- used the mac version, and the program does exactly what it says it's going to do with zero effort on my part.

With that said, it was the detailed instructions in the OP gave me the confidence level to take the plunge and give it a whirl. Thanks so much!
 
akazabam said:
It's a HTC update, not a firmware update. If you tried HTC update, and it still didn't work, did you try rebooting and checking without temp root? You can always run a RUU. It will wipe out all apps, etc., but it will work.
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Ok, I was trying the firmware update first, then the HTC update and neither worked then. Then I rebooted and tried the HTC update first - and that worked! I'm now on the 3.70.651.1 OTA.

Do you have the superuser app? I would think you do if it worked at least once. Check superuser for allowed apps. Also, open a terminal emulator and type "su" to see if the prompt changes to #.
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I checked superuser for allowed apps and TB is in there as allowed. However, terminal is giving me back a permission denied message when I enter SU.

I even just now un-installed z4root, rebooted, re-installed and tried again - still no access. Worked once and that's it. :confused:
 
Rambler358 said:
Ok, I was trying the firmware update first, then the HTC update and neither worked then. Then I rebooted and tried the HTC update first - and that worked! I'm now on the 3.70.651.1 OTA.


I checked superuser for allowed apps and TB is in there as allowed. However, terminal is giving me back a permission denied message when I enter SU.

I even just now un-installed z4root, rebooted, re-installed and tried again - still no access. Worked once and that's it. :confused:
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This is why I'm not a fan of solutions like this. All I can find in the xda thread is a bunch of people with the same problem, but no idea how to fix it. I've never used it. Perhaps consider rerooting either with unrevoked or autoroot now that you have a fresh start.
 
akazabam said:
This is why I'm not a fan of solutions like this. All I can find in the xda thread is a bunch of people with the same problem, but no idea how to fix it. I've never used it. Perhaps consider rerooting either with unrevoked or autoroot now that you have a fresh start.
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Thanks. I've posted in a couple of the XDA forums about the z4root issue, but nothing yet for a resolution. So yeah, I'm considering root again as I really do want full backups, and I thought I'd get that with z4root. :rolleyes: It's just that I have that same fear of voiding my warranty should something happen. :o

What's this new "autoroot" process I'm hearing about in addition to Unrevoked?
 
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