Root Scottys noob friendly root guide-start to finish

[jlipps]

Thank you Scotty......still having problems. When I try to flash latest RUU I get error message where the last line reads as (bad)

Can't find another latest RUU to download so am going to try the .10 rather than .12 and see what happens....tried a couple times and get the same message:

E: Can't open /sdcard/PH98IMG.zip
(bad)

Installation aborted.

AND same thing using the following:

E: Can't open/sdcard/RUU_Vigor_3.14.605.10_PH89IMG.zip (bad)


AND my phone looks like this if this helps diagnose the problem:

*** LOCKED ***
VIGOR PVT SHIP S-OFF RL
HBOOT-2.11.0000
RADIO-0.95.00.1118r/0.95.00.1223r
OpenDSP-v10.6.0.7611.00.0919
eMMC-boot
Oct 6, 2011 15:43:22


OK, tried to run RUU from my PC and am not having any luck, can't get command prompt to recognize phone....flashed GB firmware patch and Newts XxX ICS latest and phone is on and working now for about 20 minutes???? not sure what I am doing at this point

 

[Mr. Boom]

Mine says tampered above the unlocked. What does that mean?

 

[scotty85]

Thank you Scotty......still having problems. When I try to flash latest RUU I get error message where the last line reads as (bad)

Can't find another latest RUU to download so am going to try the .10 rather than .12 and see what happens....tried a couple times and get the same message:

E: Can't open /sdcard/PH98IMG.zip
(bad)

Installation aborted.

AND same thing using the following:

E: Can't open/sdcard/RUU_Vigor_3.14.605.10_PH89IMG.zip (bad)


AND my phone looks like this if this helps diagnose the problem:

*** LOCKED ***
VIGOR PVT SHIP S-OFF RL
HBOOT-2.11.0000
RADIO-0.95.00.1118r/0.95.00.1223r
OpenDSP-v10.6.0.7611.00.0919
eMMC-boot
Oct 6, 2011 15:43:22


OK, tried to run RUU from my PC and am not having any luck, can't get command prompt to recognize phone....flashed GB firmware patch and Newts XxX ICS latest and phone is on and working now for about 20 minutes???? not sure what I am doing at this point

those errors are consistent with a PH98IMG that has been attemted to flash in recovery rather than hboot

youll need to rename the whole thing to PH98IMG,and place it on the root of your sd. boot to hboot,it should find and check the file asn ask you to update. its a lengthly process so be patient,give it time. dont interupt it while its actually flashing,and make sure your charged to 100% before starting.

on the command prompt, make sure you have usb debugging enabled. in ICS its under developer options. try different ports on the pc and different cables. somethings a reboot of phone and/or pc will help. you have installed drivers and used this pc with your phone before?

Mine says tampered above the unlocked. What does that mean?

it means you have unlocked,and at some point,installed a custom recovery. its your phones way of tattle-tailing that you have messed with your phones software.

no,you cant get rid of it,its there to stay. at least as long as you want to remain rooted.

i *think* running an ruu,then staying relocked,it wont be there,but its been awhile since ive been s-on im pretty sure tampered was off after the ruu,and poped back up as soon as i re-unlocked.

it doesnt affect the phones operation,so dont worry too much about it

 

[jlipps]

thanks again Scotty, I will have to try this again tomorrow...but I am not quite clear on your instructions since I am still lame after coming from Eris:

I used your root instructions and recall putting PH89IMG on c drive...do I need to delete old IMGs before starting this process?

Is this whole process done via PC?

When you say place on root of sd do you mean external sd card or internal phone storage(whatever that is called)?

How to boot to Hboot rather than recovery?

 

[jarvill8]

Hey Scotty,

Here is my situation. I rooted my phone and left the stock ROM. I did this to freeze/remove bloatware. When I saw that the OTA ICS came out I decided to download it, however, after I downloaded the firmware that would prepare my phone to install the software and rebooted, I got the error when powering back up....red triangle with exclamation point. I read from another person on another forum who was having a similar situation and he was told to just factory reset his phone and that he could update after that, so that is what I did. Well now I have the same problem but worse. I'm with a stock ROM on Gingerbread and cannot update it to ICS. Can you help me out with this problem.

P.S. I did not restore any of the bloatware. I immediately did the factory reset without thinking twice and now I realize that it might have been a mistake.

Thanks,

John

 

[scotty85]

thanks again Scotty, I will have to try this again tomorrow...but I am not quite clear on your instructions since I am still lame after coming from Eris:

I used your root instructions and recall putting PH89IMG on c drive...do I need to delete old IMGs before starting this process?

Is this whole process done via PC?

When you say place on root of sd do you mean external sd card or internal phone storage(whatever that is called)?

How to boot to Hboot rather than recovery?

well,first let us backtrack a little,and make sure what file yours using. if youre using an android police leak,then it is a .zip file that will need flashed in hboot.(if youve gotten it somewhere else,may want to give me a link)

-rename it to PH98IMG
-place on root of external sd card
-uncheck "fastboot" in settings/power
-power off
-hold vol down,then power,hold both till you see a white screen with colored letters(this is hboot)
-if your file is named correctly,and your sd card is formatted FAT32,then youll see status bars as hboot finds,unpacks,then checks the file. then it will ask to update. tell it yes

*when it starts going thru the list its updateing,do not interupt it for any reason. if you drop it and it spits out the battery while flashing hboot or a radio,your phone may be unrecoverable. so sit it down gently somewhere and let it do its thing

PH98IMG files can be flashed from the PC using fastboot,but for the sake of not confusing you further with more directions, well save that for another day. the above is prolly the most straightforward way to falsh the ruu

Hey Scotty,

Here is my situation. I rooted my phone and left the stock ROM. I did this to freeze/remove bloatware. When I saw that the OTA ICS came out I decided to download it, however, after I downloaded the firmware that would prepare my phone to install the software and rebooted, I got the error when powering back up....red triangle with exclamation point. I read from another person on another forum who was having a similar situation and he was told to just factory reset his phone and that he could update after that, so that is what I did. Well now I have the same problem but worse. I'm with a stock ROM on Gingerbread and cannot update it to ICS. Can you help me out with this problem.

P.S. I did not restore any of the bloatware. I immediately did the factory reset without thinking twice and now I realize that it might have been a mistake.

Thanks,

John

if you dont have a backup,your data is allready gone,just relock and run the .12 ruu: [Exclusive Download] HTC Rezound Ice Cream Sandwich RUU For Final OTA (3.14.605.12)

if you have a backup,you can relock,run the 2.01.605.11 ruu,reunlock,and restore your data. if you haavent deleted any apps,you should be fine. my phone OTAed with frozen apps,its just when theyre missing that it causes prollems.

the key things for recieveing an OTA,or applying the factory updates( http://androidforums.com/rezound-al...-manually-update-ics-without-losing-data.html ) are:
-being on correct firmware(confirmed by havng hboot 2.11)
-have a very mildly modded,to completely stock rom that is the correct software(2.01.605.11) (no deleted apps)
-have the stock recovery

 

[TheAtheistReverend]

Looking to wipe properly. I heard you say Scotty that the stock recovery wipes better than the other recoveries somehow. Has anyone ever mad a script or flashable zip to run that wipes properly? There was one made for the DInc2 once over on the MikMik forums that I used for a long time. It was nice.
If that is true about the recoveries not wiping properly/completely can we beg someone with the know-how to write us that zip?

 

[otisjr921]

ok i have followed your steps on how to unlock and i need some help with my next step. im totally new at this but im wanting to root, tired of being stock

 

[jlipps]

making progress but can't reinstall recovery...after failing trying to flash recovery via phone I wen back to drawing board and tried using your "flash permanent recovery" instructions and get stuck here:

my device is recognized when I type "fastboot devices" but when typing "fastboot flash recovery recovery-ra-3.15-gnm.img" I get this:

error: cannot load 'recovery-ra-3.15-gnm.img'

Please advise when you have a chance, thank you!

 

[otisjr921]

im completely new at this but i has the same issue and my problem was i loaded my phone in bootloader and didnt click fastboot on my cell phone but after i did it went thru fine.

Now i have evrything done unlocked, and got the new recovery on it, but i can not get root access for some reason. Im on the new ics and im not sure whats the last step to root. HELP

 

[scotty85]

Looking to wipe properly. I heard you say Scotty that the stock recovery wipes better than the other recoveries somehow. Has anyone ever mad a script or flashable zip to run that wipes properly? There was one made for the DInc2 once over on the MikMik forums that I used for a long time. It was nice.
If that is true about the recoveries not wiping properly/completely can we beg someone with the know-how to write us that zip?

i didnt say the custom recoveries we use dont wipe properly.

what i said was that the stock recovery is able to wipe areas of the phone that the custom recovery cannot. when wiping cache/data/dalvik/boot/system our custom recoveries do just fine. when we need something specialized,then we can easily put the stock recovery in place

zips like "superwipe" are a gimmic and are just wiping each partition multiple times. they came about after someone started telling folks to wipe each thing2,3,4,5 times. rest assured that wiping partitions is not like sweeping crumbs off the counter where you will need multiple passes,a simple single data/cache/dalvik wipe is fine,unless a rom dev specifically instructs you to also wipe boot and system.

im pretty sure that someone originally started saying to do multiple wipes in hopes that new rooters would then at least do it once

ok i have followed your steps on how to unlock and i need some help with my next step. im totally new at this but im wanting to root, tired of being stock

move on to step 2?

making progress but can't reinstall recovery...after failing trying to flash recovery via phone I wen back to drawing board and tried using your "flash permanent recovery" instructions and get stuck here:

my device is recognized when I type "fastboot devices" but when typing "fastboot flash recovery recovery-ra-3.15-gnm.img" I get this:

error: cannot load 'recovery-ra-3.15-gnm.img'

Please advise when you have a chance, thank you!

that error is because the stock,locked hboot does not allow the remote flashing. youll need to install recovery as a PH98IMG file in hboot,or youll need to install a jpbear hboot to regain the fastboot boot and fastboot flash commands.

this thread has the info you need: http://androidforums.com/rezound-all-things-root/594463-root-stock-ics-s-off.html particularly post 6

im completely new at this but i has the same issue and my problem was i loaded my phone in bootloader and didnt click fastboot on my cell phone but after i did it went thru fine.

Now i have evrything done unlocked, and got the new recovery on it, but i can not get root access for some reason. Im on the new ics and im not sure whats the last step to root. HELP

step 3?

in all seriousness,you are not giving me enuff info to even offer any advice. i dont know what youve done,what you havent,and what prollems youve had.

the last step is to flash the superuser root files in recovery.here is the superuser you need for ICS(also located in the OP): [16.07.2012] SuperSU v0.94 - xda-developers

 

[brizzad505]

Ok, following Scottys directions, I got it to a point where ai was able to unlock, and load the temp recovery. I backed the phone up. rebooted. (I assume when you reboot it averts back to the stock recovery)

The part im confused about is the superuser part. After I rebooted post backup, I downloaded and installed superSU from the market and when i try to run the app it says:

"Thers is no SU binary installed and superSU cant ijnstall it. This is a problem"

What am I missing? My phone is still unlocked because i can disable the verizon apps.

 

[brizzad505]

NEVERMIND!!! I was not clear on the whole binary files dur to the XDA websites suggestion that superSU will handle the binarys. When I reread Scottys post and looked at the recovery rom again, I realized what scotty was asking me to do. Install the zip file download from within the recovery ROM. Duh. ;-)

Anyway, Thanks Scotty, you rock man. This whole site rocks. You guided me from a bloated Verizon Stock with all sorts of crap software to a lean mean Android machine. Thanks again brother.

 

[TheAtheistReverend]

i didnt say the custom recoveries we use dont wipe properly.

what i said was that the stock recovery is able to wipe areas of the phone that the custom recovery cannot. when wiping cache/data/dalvik/boot/system our custom recoveries do just fine. when we need something specialized,then we can easily put the stock recovery in place

zips like "superwipe" are a gimmic and are just wiping each partition multiple times. they came about after someone started telling folks to wipe each thing2,3,4,5 times. rest assured that wiping partitions is not like sweeping crumbs off the counter where you will need multiple passes,a simple single data/cache/dalvik wipe is fine,unless a rom dev specifically instructs you to also wipe boot and system.

im pretty sure that someone originally started saying to do multiple wipes in hopes that new rooters would then at least do it once
...

I remember the multi-wipe talk back on the Eris. I did it for a long time
But I finally realized I didn't need to. I thought the super-wipe scripts were just an easy all in one wipe script that just made sure all necessary partitions were wiped so we users wouldn't forget one.

Thanks again for the info! You da man, as they say

 

[HTCRezound]

So let me start by saying I really appreciate the effort you have put into this and helping other people.

I am stuck in the RUU mode trying to relock the phone so I can accept the new OTA preparing for ice cream sandwhich. When I entered fastboot oem rebootRUU it brought me to a black screen with "HTC" in the center. I tried to move to the next step and this is what I get

c:\mini-adb_vigor>fastboot flash zip RUU-2.01.605.11-mini.zip
error: cannot load 'RUU-2.01.605.11-mini.zip'

I'm not sure what to do from here. I don't want to reset my phone in fear that it will make it worse. I tried to google ways to exit RUU mode and came up short. I rooted my phone a couple months back using this guide which is my first experience rooting phones. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

***EDIT*** I flashed the recovery again to get out of the RUU mode. I am assuming that I don't have the zip file I am trying to flash.

2nd EDIT I loaded the "miniRUU2.1.605.11.zip" and everything seems to be working. Updating to ICS now.

 

[otisjr921]

ok i apologize for not giving the correct information but thanks to your guide i found my problem and i have gained root access on my rezound. Thanks a lot. My last thing is im looking for some cool themes for the stock ics with sense 3.6, im not wanting to do any roms or anything, i wanna stay on the stock rom but just with some real cool flashable themes...once again thanks scotty85 your guide was perfect.

 

[scotty85]

So let me start by saying I really appreciate the effort you have put into this and helping other people.

I am stuck in the RUU mode trying to relock the phone so I can accept the new OTA preparing for ice cream sandwhich. When I entered fastboot oem rebootRUU it brought me to a black screen with "HTC" in the center. I tried to move to the next step and this is what I get

c:\mini-adb_vigor>fastboot flash zip RUU-2.01.605.11-mini.zip
error: cannot load 'RUU-2.01.605.11-mini.zip'

I'm not sure what to do from here. I don't want to reset my phone in fear that it will make it worse. I tried to google ways to exit RUU mode and came up short. I rooted my phone a couple months back using this guide which is my first experience rooting phones. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

***EDIT*** I flashed the recovery again to get out of the RUU mode. I am assuming that I don't have the zip file I am trying to flash.

2nd EDIT I loaded the "miniRUU2.1.605.11.zip" and everything seems to be working. Updating to ICS now.

sorry about that,it was my fault you had trouble,but not having the correct name in the command line i had changed it a couple times trying to get it to work originally. im surprised its taken this long to come up,lol. i will change that right now,while im thinkin about it...

glad you figured it out.

in the future if you need to get out of RUU mode,all you need to do to get back to fastboot is fastboot reboot-bootloader

 

[scotty85]

NEVERMIND!!! I was not clear on the whole binary files dur to the XDA websites suggestion that superSU will handle the binarys. When I reread Scottys post and looked at the recovery rom again, I realized what scotty was asking me to do. Install the zip file download from within the recovery ROM. Duh. ;-)

Anyway, Thanks Scotty, you rock man. This whole site rocks. You guided me from a bloated Verizon Stock with all sorts of crap software to a lean mean Android machine. Thanks again brother.

anytime in your defense the xda post definately does lead you to believe that you could simply download it from the market. if you have the app and binary installed,you prolly can update it that way,but definately need to flash it in recovery the first time

glad you got it

I remember the multi-wipe talk back on the Eris. I did it for a long time
But I finally realized I didn't need to. I thought the super-wipe scripts were just an easy all in one wipe script that just made sure all necessary partitions were wiped so we users wouldn't forget one.

Thanks again for the info! You da man, as they say

yes,thats basically what the superwipe scripts are doing. one flash to make sure tings are wiped,and i believe they are doing each partition multiple times(at least thats my impressions)

theres defaintely nothing wrong with superwipes if folks want to use them
but manual single wipes are just as good!

ok i apologize for not giving the correct information but thanks to your guide i found my problem and i have gained root access on my rezound. Thanks a lot. My last thing is im looking for some cool themes for the stock ics with sense 3.6, im not wanting to do any roms or anything, i wanna stay on the stock rom but just with some real cool flashable themes...once again thanks scotty85 your guide was perfect.

thats quite all right,its hard to know what info you need to get the answer to the question you have when your first starting out. im glad you got it figured out :smokingsomb:

check out the themes and apps section on xda for themes: Rezound Themes and Apps - xda-developers

tho im not sure how many will work with the stock,odex rom.

one bit of advice: definately make backups before flashing the themes in case you dont like them,or something goes wrong. youll want to have a good,working,stock backup

 

[jlipps]

got hboot figured out, thanks

 

[HTCRezound]

sorry about that,it was my fault you had trouble,but not having the correct name in the command line i had changed it a couple times trying to get it to work originally. im surprised its taken this long to come up,lol. i will change that right now,while im thinkin about it...

glad you figured it out.

in the future if you need to get out of RUU mode,all you need to do to get back to fastboot is fastboot reboot-bootloader

No worries, just took a little longer to figure it out. So another question I have is about the backup I made when doing the RUU guide to unroot. How do I load it back. My understanding is that it would be a recovery I could flash back but I don't really know what I am doing, lol. I found a file in the phone called nandroid with two files in it with dates of my first root and last night. My assumption is that these are my backups but I'm not sure exactly what to do. Instead of just trying random things I'll wait till I hear back from you. Thanks again for your help. I know you are going to be flooded with more questions due to the latest OTA.

 

[jarvill8]

if you dont have a backup,your data is allready gone,just relock and run the .12 ruu: [Exclusive Download] HTC Rezound Ice Cream Sandwich RUU For Final OTA (3.14.605.12)

if you have a backup,you can relock,run the 2.01.605.11 ruu,reunlock,and restore your data. if you haavent deleted any apps,you should be fine. my phone OTAed with frozen apps,its just when theyre missing that it causes prollems.

the key things for recieveing an OTA,or applying the factory updates( http://androidforums.com/rezound-al...-manually-update-ics-without-losing-data.html ) are:
-being on correct firmware(confirmed by havng hboot 2.11)
-have a very mildly modded,to completely stock rom that is the correct software(2.01.605.11) (no deleted apps)
-have the stock recovery

Hey Scotty,

Thanks for the input. However, I relocked my phone and still got an error. I'm guessing it's because I'm missing apps. Can I get the apps back on my phone and if so, are there any prominent ones that I must have? Any additional help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John

 

[scotty85]

Hey Scotty,

Thanks for the input. However, I relocked my phone and still got an error. I'm guessing it's because I'm missing apps. Can I get the apps back on my phone and if so, are there any prominent ones that I must have? Any additional help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John

if you have a nandroid with all the apps installed,you can restore it.

otherwise,you can run a full or partial RUU to restore the system partition(and therefore the missing apps) and get the stock recovery back if needed. more info here: http://androidforums.com/rezound-al...-manually-update-ics-without-losing-data.html

you can reunlock to use recovery or run the mini ruu. being unlocked does not matter as far as the OTA is concerned. what you need is:
-mildly modded to completely stock rom with all system apps/files present
-stock recovery
-most current firmware and software(hboot 2.11,build 2.01.605.11)

 

[scotty85]

Hey Scotty,
I tried to install a new ROM on my HTC Rezound, now I am getting the "can't mount the recovery Error" Now when I try to method #1) "mini RUU" method to unroot(my prefered method) I cannot get passed the adb devices step. I tried to do the method #2)"full ruu" method to unroot and get cannot get through the recovery.

Is there anything that can be done?

Please help....


Thanks,

Georg

im not sure what you are trying to do. are you trying to flash a rom or ruu in the stock recovery?

try and give me some more details what youre doing,and what youve done. if youre using a cmd window,copy everything in it,and paste it here. to copy,right click,click mark,highlight everything in white,then hit enter.

you might also read thru this for directions on flashing roms or resatoring backups with s-on: http://androidforums.com/rezound-all-things-root/587430-s-want-flash-roms-read.html

 

[gab1127]

I'm trying to installl a Clean Rom 4.5 on my rooted Rezound. Right now, the phone will not doing anything but boot to htc white splash screen. When I boot into Hboot I get Unlocked
Vigor PVT Ship S-ON RL
HBOOT-2.11.0000
cMMC-boot
Oct 6 2011, 15:43:22

I am able to fastboot but when I try to do recovery the phone reboots to a blank white HTC screen and just hangs.

So right now I can't do anything. When I do fastboot and connect to my pc via usb I'm not able to connect.

C:\Users\Georg>cd c:\mini-adb_vigor

c:\mini-adb_vigor>adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached


c:\mini-adb_vigor>


c:\mini-adb_vigor>adb reboot bootloader
error: device not found

c:\mini-adb_vigor>

So what would be my next step.

 

[scotty85]

your phone is not booting becasue you havent installed the kernel.

what you need to is launch recovery from fastboot(fastboot boot recoveryname.img) and then reflash the rom. there are directions on how fastboot booting the recovery in the thread i linked,and in the OP(step 2,flash a temporary recovery)

since you arent able to boot,you can pull the battery,boot to hboot via vol down/power,then select fastboot from the hboot menu with the power button and vol rocker.

you wont be able to use adb commands,they are only for use in the booted,running OS. skip the adb commands,and pick up the directions at fastboot devices

once youre recovery is running,you can select usb storage to move tings on and off the sd card if you need to. you can reflash your rom,or alternately,restore a backup.

prior to any flashing or restoring make sure you wipe:
-data/factory reset
-cache
-dalvik cache

then flash or restore.

if you opt to flash cleanrom again,note that you will need to flash the old firmeare patch immediately after flashing the rom.

download it here: http://www.androidfilehost.com/main/-Support_Files-/SuperChilPil/Old_Firmware_Patch.zip

so,again,your basic steps will be:
-open cmd window
-manually put phone in fastboot and plug it in
-launch recovery
-wipe
-flash rom
-flash firmware patch
-reboot

(or restore a backup in place of flashing the rom and firmware patch)

hope that gets you back on track