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Root Thunderbolt Root/Unroot Thread

Howdy folks, great thread and I'm hoping someone might have an idea for me. The USb port my TBolt seems to have failed in some way, any computer I plug it into now says the USB device is damaged and unrecognized, or multiple drives start appearing and disappearing in my computer. Only sometimes the phone even realizes it is plugged into a computer, sometimes it freezes completely and requires a battery pull Tested with several cables and pcs.

So, now I'm hoping to unroot it so I can hopefully get it fixed. Problem is I can't use the USB connection at all, is there an alternative method of doing this?
 
Not that I am aware of, good thing (if you really want to think of it that way) is a borked up USB slot is not covered under warranty so you will have to get an insurance replacement and they don't care if you are rooted or not.

Welcome to Android Forums XanthReturns!
 
Yeahha said:
Not that I am aware of, good thing (if you really want to think of it that way) is a borked up USB slot is not covered under warranty so you will have to get an insurance replacement and they don't care if you are rooted or not.

Welcome to Android Forums XanthReturns!
Click to expand...

The warranty doesn't cover even if it isn't physically broken? It just no longer works properly, fortunately it still charges, though when I plugged it in just now it started loading random apps :/

And thanks for the welcome :)
 
Yeah the warranty won't cover it, I assume it is because they figure if it quit working it was due to the user not doing "safely remove hardware" properly or some BS like that so the insurance is the only way you can get that fixed unless you feel like doing it yourself or getting some shop to try to fix it. Sorry I couldn't tell you any better news.
 
I have been following the tutorial but when it displays "Rebooting to fastboot..." it just sits there (hours at this point). My thunderbolt says it is in fastboot with the pink Revolutionary at the top and s-off but nothing happens from there. Should I stop the revolutionary program and reboot my phone or what should I do from here in order to gain root?
 
If you have the revolutionary hboot,all you need to do is install recovery,then flash superuser in recovery.

You can run revolutionary again to install clockwork,or install it manually.

Superuser is available on revokutionarys info page,or the first post in this thread :)
 
scotty85 said:
If you have the revolutionary hboot,all you need to do is install recovery,then flash superuser in recovery.

You can run revolutionary again to install clockwork,or install it manually.

Superuser is available on revokutionarys info page,or the first post in this thread :)
Click to expand...

How do I do I download and install the clockworkmod recovery manually? Every time I rerun the revolutionary program it gets stuck after rebooting my phone to fastboot (successfully downloaded clockworkmod recovery).
 
in a nutshell:
-the recovery downloads are linked in in the 2nd post of this thread
-download the one you want to use(prolly stick with the newest clockwork or Amon for now)
-make sure your sd card is formatted FAT32
-rename your download PG05IMG and place on the root of the sd
-boot into hboot(power off,then volume down/power)
-allow the update when asked.
-boot and immediately remove or rename PG05IMG. place the superuser.zip on the sd
boot to recovery and falsh it(boot to hboot,select recovery)

more detailed instructions to "flash in hboot" will be in the "how to" sticky thread at the top of the page :)
 
oops nevermind pulled battery and tried it again and worked like a charm ! thanks scotty !!! this made me a hesitant stock user go root finally ! and it was easy just like the video every excited to now install roms and what not lol
 
Hi Scotty and crew,

Very informative thread -- thanks for all of the efforts and very detailed posts. I've been reading and searching for several days and finally took the plunge on rooting my TBolt w/ the Revolutionary method (thanks for posting the video!) this AM. Very straightforward.

I was one of the (un)lucky folks who ended up with the OTA update to 2.11.605.3 software (pre-root). I didn't notice the voicemail notification everyone's been annoyed by as I don't get too many VMs ... except for a few new VMs that I just noticed when I checked my VM manually to listen to a saved message. I noticed this **after** I'd rooted the phone earlier this morning.

It also looks like there will be an update to 2.11.605.5 soon enough which will resolve some bugs, including the VM notification issue (saw a link on AndroidPolice earlier today). Given that I'm now Revolutionary-rooted but would like to be able to obtain the 605.5 update, would my best bet involve waiting for someone to put together a stock, rooted ROM of that version and then flash it to my phone? As I'm understanding, taking an OTA update now that my phone is rooted from Revolutionary would be like playing with fire. Since Revolutionary modifies the HBOOT and installs ClockworkMod recovery, the OTA won't work b/c it would be expecting a different HBOOT (the one I had to start was 1.04.0000, Revolutionary gave me 6.04.1002). Is that right?

I'm sorry if this is obvious -- just feel a lot more comfortable moving forward if I can explain it correctly in my own words. Helps me reinforce that I understand what's what, and also what's the right way to do things.

Thanks in advance for your time!
J.
 
This is not an obvious question but it is a commonly asked question.

Did you install a custom recovery when you rooted? If so,you will need to re-install a stock recovery.

It is the recovery,not the hboot,that prevents OTAs.

Rest assured,as long as you have a stock recovery,you will receive the ota just fine. The revolutionary hboot will not hinder it at all. :)
 
scotty85 said:
This is not an obvious question but it is a commonly asked question.

Did you install a custom recovery when you rooted? If so,you will need to re-install a stock recovery.

It is the recovery,not the hboot,that prevents OTAs.

Rest assured,as long as you have a stock recovery,you will receive the ota just fine. The revolutionary hboot will not hinder it at all. :)
Click to expand...

Ah, OK, that makes sense. Thank you for clarifying. I **did** install the Revolutionary ClockworkMod recovery (booted into recovery and verified -- it's their version 4.0.1.4). So, I'll need to then re-install the stock recovery for the TBolt/GB version? (Sorry, I'm just trying to talk out what makes sense -- will definitely search about that).

So the HBOOT is like BIOS in that it lets you get to recovery or actually load up the ROM? Poor analogy perhaps.

Assuming I got back to stock recovery, I could then take the OTA to 605.5, re-root and include the CWM recovery. Right?

Thanks again for your time!
J.
 
jones4725 said:
Ah, OK, that makes sense. Thank you for clarifying. I **did** install the Revolutionary ClockworkMod recovery (booted into recovery and verified -- it's their version 4.0.1.4). So, I'll need to then re-install the stock recovery for the TBolt/GB version? (Sorry, I'm just trying to talk out what makes sense -- will definitely search about that).
Click to expand...

you are correct. :) if you click on the link in the 2nd post,it will take you to a thread containing download links for recoveries,hboots,and radios. scroll down to the recoveries post and download the one for your firmware(2.11.605.3). make sure you verify its integrity by checking the md5 sum and comparing it to the one listed. once youve verified its the same,just rename PG05IMG and flash it in hboot like you do a radio or any other recovery.

you dont need to do anything else. the OTA will wipe out your superuser binary so you wont have root access,but it wont hurt anything. there is no need to completely unroot in order to take the OTA.

jones4725 said:
So the HBOOT is like BIOS in that it lets you get to recovery or actually load up the ROM? Poor analogy perhaps.
Click to expand...
HBOOT and FASTBOOT are parts of the phones bootloader. HBOOT is simply the interface between the bootloader and the user that lets you flash roms,recoveries,etc. in the form of PG05IMG files. FASTBOOT is the interface between user and bootloader that lets you push,change,and modify the phones partitions and firmware via a command window on your PC. there are some other options in both screens to get to recovery,power down,reboot,etc.

since you seem to know about computers,you know that without a bootloader nothing will get loaded,and the hardware is more or less a paperweight :eek: this is one reason i reccomend leaving the revolutionary hboot in place. it doesnt interefere with OTAs or any other normal phone operations,and since its "patched"(makes it like an engineering hboot) it has a bigger range of available fastboot commands,wich can be extremely useful in a recovery situation where there are no recovery,and no bootable OS. in other words,if you did brick it there is a muc greater chance it can be recovered.

its not worth the risk that comes along with re-writing your bootloader just to be stock s-on. there is absolutely no advantage whatsoever.

the only reason the revolutionary hboot should ever be attempted to remove,is if the device is otherwise broken and needs to be returned to stock for a warrantly claim. in my humble opinion,anyway ;)

jones4725 said:
Assuming I got back to stock recovery, I could then take the OTA to 605.5, re-root and include the CWM recovery. Right?

Thanks again for your time!
J.
Click to expand...

you got it. once you take the OTA,you just need to flash clockwork in hboot,like you did the stock recovery,and then reflash the superuser file in recovery and you are back in root business. :cool:
 
Thank you very much, sir. I just downloaded the 2.11.605.3 stock recovery and verified MD5 sum using the md5summer tool against the sum on the link page. Excellent! I
 
you are quite correct,sir :) replacing the recovery will not affect your data at all,it is completely seperate from the rom.

if the rom you have now is a good working one,it never hurts to make a backup. id be inclined to make one before replacing clockwork,in case you want to go back to where you are right now at some point in the future.

also you are quite welcome for the explantions,im glad they were of help to you,and i hope as well folks will find them useful in the future :cool:
 
scotty85 said:
you are quite correct,sir :) replacing the recovery will not affect your data at all,it is completely seperate from the rom.

if the rom you have now is a good working one,it never hurts to make a backup. id be inclined to make one before replacing clockwork,in case you want to go back to where you are right now at some point in the future.

also you are quite welcome for the explantions,im glad they were of help to you,and i hope as well folks will find them useful in the future :cool:
Click to expand...

Hey Scotty, have a question for you. I'm wondering if I've done something wrong? I attempted the stock recovery flash this morning. I verified MD5 sum on the 2.11.605.3-stock-recovery.zip file and it matched what is posted here. I renamed to PG05IMG.zip and placed on the root of the SD card and then rebooted to HBOOT. The phone recognized the PG05IMG.zip file and asked to update, to which I selected yes. The update was applied (so it said) and I rebooted the phone. Booted into the phone w/out an issue and then removed the PG05IMG.zip from the SD card's root.

Just to make sure I had the stock recovery, I rebooted back to HBOOT and selected RECOVERY from the menu. The phone went to a black screen and had a phone icon w/ green arrows circling, then the next screen showed a phone icon w/ the red exclamation and triangle. Nothing happened after that and I let things sit for about five minutes just in case.

Since I couldn't do anything there I pulled the battery and powered the phone back on. Everything came up as expected, since as you outlined, the recovery partition is separate from the OS partition.

Does the red exclamation when I booted into recovery mean that the recovery partition is messed up? I obviously don't want to take the 2.11.605.5 update OTA if there's an issue with recovery. I didn't see the CWM interface, so it looks like it's definitely been overwritten by my flashing. Not having looked at the stock recovery previously, I wasn't sure if this was a real issue or not. What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts whenever you've got a few minutes.
 
No,nothing is messed up. The triangle and ! Are exactly what you should see if you attempt to enter the stock recvery,as it has no user interface whatsoever,its only accessible to the phones firmware.

Pulling the battery is the only way to get out of the recovery screen,so you're fine. :)
 
scotty85 said:
No,nothing is messed up. The triangle and ! Are exactly what you should see if you attempt to enter the stock recvery,as it has no user interface whatsoever,its only accessible to the phones firmware.

Pulling the battery is the only way to get out of the recovery screen,so you're fine. :)
Click to expand...

Excellent, thanks for the confirmation. Lesson learned and noted. Very helpful!
 
So I was wondering if you guys could help me with my scenario of getting back to unrooted.

I didn't use Rev, but I used the Thunderbolt Easy Rooter app with the three step buttons. I am running the omfgb rom and my h-boot is s-off and 1.04.2000.

What is the easiest solution for me?
 
I think you could just use an ruu to get back to stock. I do advise you to wait for Scotty to chime in to say if you need to do anything like change your bootloader first
 
you just need to skip past the directions in the first post about getting the 1.04.2000 eng hboot back,since you allready have it. start at Putting current stock firmware and s-on back onto the phone .

you should follow those directions,being careful to flash the rom first,then the hboot second. attempting to flash an RUU in its entirety overtop of the eng hboot and a custom rom may lead to a security warning(fixable,but will complicate the back to stock process)

once your phone is back on mr2,it will prolly want to OTA to GB,wich is fine.

in a few days(when im sure theyre not going to pull the OTA again ;)) ill change the mr2 files out for GB files. :)
 
Didn't get the Su zip first time through. How do I get back into recovery so I can put it on the SD card? Thanks

Edit: Never mind. I found it. All done.
 
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