Root Stuck in HBOOT ... can't access recovery

[elwray]

I was using CM7.1 and having some force closes, so I decided to do a factory reset. Big problem apparently...

Phone was stuck in boot loop and would not boot into recovery, just HBOOT. When trying to enter recovery from HBOOT, it just restarts into HBOOT again.

Tried following instructions here:

How to downgrade back to 1.00 radio and .77 HBOOT for the OTA (S-OFF ONLY!!!) - xda-developers.

To start over again from scratch ... no dice.

Any ideas on how to get clockworkmod recovery back on through HBOOT? Or any suggestions???

Thanks.

 

[scotty85]

Are you s-off? If so simply download a PB31IMG of clockwork and flash it in hboot.

I dint read your link,but if you've downgraded to the 77 hboot,you'll prolly want to upgrade back to .92

 

[sdrawkcab25]

I also wouldn't follow that thread if you have an slcd incredible, you'll be stuck with a useless (but recoverable) phone.

If you want to start from scratch, you want to follow this thread
http://androidforums.com/incredible-all-things-root/181255-how-return-stock-gingerbread.html

Do NOT go back to s-on

 

[elwray]

Yeah, I wasn't in such a tight spot as I thought - once I flashed CWM5.0.2.0 via HBOOT as PB31IMG.zip all was well, more or less.

Two big problems I had were first - the recovery is hosted on the clockwork site as a .img file, which in my daze of phone-panic and super late night jitters I didn't realize until the 3rd or 4th time that the bootloader didn't recognize any PB31IMG.zip's in there.

Then once I got the recovery in, I forgot you have to navigate with the trackball - I was using the power button, which was just giving me a blank icon >_<.

Quite scary there for a moment though.

I am currently using HBOOT .77 and the early 1.0.x.x radio now due to that first "downgrade" I tried foolishly. I'll bump those back up to current versions now.


EDIT: in case this comes up in a search down the road - be sure to make a nandroid backup before flashing the newer version of HBOOT. It's in almost all of the instructions, but what I didn't realize is that it is not just there to provide a "backup" in case something goes wrong - you need to restore the backup after flashing the new HBOOT or it will not boot. I figured since I had no data on the phone I could skip that step since I had nothing worthwhile to backup, but I ended up having to flash a ROM via recovery to get it to boot.