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Root Undoing stuff

G

glennj

Well-Known Member
I have been watching and learning, but am still a bit unsure...

I can root and unroot the D3 using Pete's one-click tool (which appears to be an ADB script), as per the Excellently Useful sticky thread. I even sent Pete some beer money cause he deserves it. If I root, then unroot, I can be back to a perfectly stock phone if I am careful to undo any changes I made that required root while rooted. I understand rooting, its just Linux afterall...

Next I would want to remove bloatware. A good reason to root, eh ? I could move bloat apps to the sd-ext and remember where it all came from and its permissions and put it all back with Root Explorer, which I done bought. I got no problems with that either. I understand all that needs to be done before un-rooting.

Then, though, things get interesting...

I would like to check out some of the 2nd-init style ROMs, particularly Steel Droid3. Being that we still have a locked boot ROM (boo...Verizon), the ROMs that can be implemented will necessarily be limited in significant ways (no over-clock-ranting), but still... that is where I et confused and worried.

I got lotz of apps installed. Sure, most are Amazon FAotD apps, a few are bought cheap, some from Google, a few from, um, "other" sources (like FM Radio) but whatever...would I lose them if I ROM'd the phone? Most are Ap2SD'd to the phone's internal SD memory, if that matters.

If I do lose them from ROM'ing, I can put them back without buying them again, right? If I can find copies, anyway?

ROM'ing would not affect any possible tethering-related radio hack someone might potentially have done to a phone, possibly, right?

OK...so, I install Koush's and Hashcode's mutual appreciation ClockWorkMod, so I can afterwards do something called a Nandroid back-up, I guess to my external 32gig SD card (thanks to DealADay). Not sure what that gets me, except a way using Power+M to recover a bricked phone via BP Tools...? and the abiilty to install 2nd-Init ROMs like SteelDroid. Good-good...that's the idea, but then I worry I am stuck.

At this point, to return to an OTA'able stock D3, I have to restore via the Nandroid backup I made, or flask with a OTA sbf, right. If I flash back with the OTA-based sbf I have a nice clean phone, unactivated and with only stock apps and no root. Back to storefront condition. No apps, no contacts, maybe still a radio hack... The Nandroid backup can only be restored via CWM Using BPTools, or maybe using something called Fastboot (?), but in any case, wouldn't it restore the phone to have CWM already installed, and of course the phone rooted ? Can I get back to stock from there ? Can I "un-ClockWorkMod" and then un-root ?

Hey, this was long, and a pain to read thru, but I typed it using only the D3 hardware keyboard...so help me figure these things out, please ? :-)

Glenn
 
would I lose them if I ROM'd the phone?

Using SteelDroid, No



ROM'ing would not affect any possible tethering-related radio hack someone might potentially have done to a phone, possibly, right?

Nope, Even with a ROM the Radio hack is still working



Not sure what that gets me, except a way using Power+M to recover a bricked phone via BP Tools...

It gives you that and MORE, lets say you Flash SteelDroid and don't like it... Restore the backup and there ya go! good as new. Lets say you get a bad app and it deletes all the apps you love. Restore and good as new!



maybe using something called Fastboot (?)

Backups can not be restored with Fastboot (to my know-how)



wouldn't it restore the phone to have CWM already installed, and of course the phone rooted ?
CWM, most likely yes. Root, Of course



Can I get back to stock from there ? Can I "un-ClockWorkMod" and then un-root ?

Yes and Yes




so help me figure these things out, please ? No problem!

Dont be affraid to Ask more question is you need to or I missed some! :D
 
DeadChex said:
wouldn't it restore the phone to have CWM already installed, and of course the phone rooted ?
CWM, most likely yes. Root, Of course



Can I get back to stock from there ? Can I "un-ClockWorkMod" and then un-root ?

Yes and Yes
Click to expand...

So much help already !

I understand you say I can un-ClockWorkMod, great, but how ? Is ClockWorkMod just a program, an APK I can install and then uninstall once I have root access ?

Since you get to it via Power+M and BPTools, I was thinking it would have to be pretty low-level, like a ROM change itself.

===================

Currently, none of this matters, because using PetesMotorolaRootTools v1.06 via my Win7-32bit system on my Droid3 with the OTA installed (via the OTA) fails to be able to push su, so I cannot proceed.

Here's what Pete's script says:

SEARCHING FOR THE PHONE (connect it now if you haven't yet)... found!
Running exploit step 1 of 3 (setting up symlink)... done!
Rebooting your phone... done!
Running exploit step 2 of 3 (modifying local.prop)... done!
Rebooting your phone... done!
Running exploit step 3 of 3 (adding su, busybox, and superuser.apk)... FAIL!

ERROR: we have root, but couldn't push su

Try un-rooting first, then running root.


Cannot get it to work, and Root Checker agrees that I don't have root access, Superuser.apk is not installed, /system/bin/su directory does not exist, no BusyBox file installed (of course), etcetra.

Motorola_End_User_Driver_Installation_5.2.0_32bit.msi is installed on my Win7 system.

So, I cannot get root via Pete's One-Click. Wow...sad...I made sure I was in usb debug mode and charge-only, had the and did everything like it says to in the Sticky.

Any ideas, friends ?

Glenn
 
glennj said:
Motorola_End_User_Driver_Installation_5.2.0_32bit.msi is installed on my Win7 system.

So, I cannot get root via Pete's One-Click. Wow...sad...I made sure I was in usb debug mode and charge-only, had the and did everything like it says to in the Sticky.

Any ideas, friends ?

Glenn
Click to expand...

This may be a stupid question, but are you sure that you have a 32bit system? Also, are you using the OEM cable? The root tool is great and there must be some kink somewhere that you can't get root.

On a side note...I wonder who will get the phone I mailed back due to a broken space bar? It has the hacked radio. I'm going to make someone's day with free WiFi tethering for life. :P
 
This may be a stupid question, but are you sure that you have a 32bit system?

Not a stupid question at all, but I am running 32-bit Win7. Had to install it myself for reasons having to do with my work.

Also, are you using the OEM cable?

Yep. Phone is recognized no problem. Cable has the green&black tags.
ECOMOTO !

The root tool is great and there must be some kink somewhere that you can't get root.

Sure is, but it could not transfer in the files it needed to...a lot of people of the XDA forums reported very similar problems at the same point in Pete's script, but I never saw any resolution. I think I maybe remember there being something about it needing to be run from a directory one down from C:\, maybe that is the problem, a pathing issue. Will check.

I've been reading through the ADB log of Pete's script and it looks like the exploit just didn't work and su could not be run due to permissions being wrong. Here's a part of the script log:

shell@cdma_solana:/$ su
su: permission denied
shell@cdma_solana:/$ /system/xbin/su
/system/xbin/su: not found
shell@cdma_solana:/$ mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
mount: Operation not permitted
exit

On a side note...I wonder who will get the phone I mailed back due to a broken space bar? It has the hacked radio. I'm going to make someone's day with free WiFi tethering for life. :P

Sure...I bet Verizon will catch them and terminate their grandfathered unlimited data contract. :-)

Glenn
 
I keep trying to root with PetesOneClick 1.06 like in the Sticky.

It gets to the point of trying to copy in the su, busybox and superuser.apk stuff and then fails. Here is what it says at that point. This is after several attempts to root using the steps, and un-rooting when it failed here before trying again. This time I did not go through the un-root step, just tried again to root the phone and this is what it said, indicating where things failed:

SEARCHING FOR THE PHONE (connect it now if you haven't yet)... found!
Phone is already ADB-temporary rooted, skipped to step 3.
Running exploit step 3 of 3 (adding su, busybox, and superuser.apk)... FAIL!

ERROR: we have root, but couldn't push su

Try un-rooting first, then running root.

Un-rooting first, then running Root My Phone gain doesn't get any further than Step 3 either. Tried several times. Maybe I can finish this by hand or something ?

Glenn
 
HA !


Did it by hand using ADB.

Figured out what Pete's ADB script was trying to do and did it all step at a time by hand.

Now I have root access to my Droid3.

No idea why the OneClickRoot failed, but its not necessary...its just a script and we have ADB and the exploit and as I said before:

Its Just Linux Afterall !


Glenn
 
Glad you figured it out. Too bad you had to do it the tough way. :P I think the location of the file issue deals with applying an SBF. I had this issue and it would not SBF unless the .xml file was directly in my C: drive.
 
Now I am stuck again.

I installed the Droid 3 bootstrap following the Sticky instructions exactly:

Installing CWM custom recovery and Making a Nandroid Backup:

Now that it is available, the very very first thing you need to download the DROID 3 Bootstrap (Download Link) and install it.

This reported success, and I powered down the phone.

Reboot into recovery and create a Nandroid backup. This will create an escape root for you if you mess something up.

I "rebooted into recovery" by holding down M key on the keyboard and hitting the power button. Some text menu came up and down at the bottom of the list was BP Tools. I scrolled down with the minus rocker and selected BPTools with the plus rocker. No Clockmod recovery. Phone booted normally.

I cannot get anything to come up on reboot with M held down that looks lie ClockWorkMod. I guess I have broken the phone. No idea what to do next.

The instructions in the sticky just did not work, so far, on ANY or the steps I have tried. The file I downloaded from the "Droid 3 Bootstrap" download link in the Sticky has installed a weird app called Droid3Bootstrapper that has a rather evil looking white skull with a bloody red backdrop. Two buttons and no menu, "BootStrap Recovery" and "Reboot Recovery".

Clicking "Bootstrap Recovery" reports "Success", after a note from Superuser saying its been granted Superuser permissions. That's all. If I then click "Reboot Recovery" the phone restarts as iff from a power off, and ClockwordMod Recovery v5.0.3.6 comes up and I can make a (Nandroid ?) backup to the internal SD memory. (not my external SD chip, so its kind of pointless, isn't it ?)


What should I do ? Since I cannot access ClockWorkMod from M+Power -> BPTools, I am scared to flash a ROM like Steel Droid, because if it Bootloops I'm out a phone and they are expensive.

I am ready to lose all my apps at this point, wipe the phone, and start from the OTA via a file on one of the SD storages (prefereably the external one, if that's possible.) I am willing to lose root and go back to the original factory shipped contents, if that is still possible.

Phone current boots and runs, but seems slower and hangy and has started rebooting on its own. I am sorry I messed with it and just want now to get back to pure stock. Any chance of that ?

Glenn
 
Are you using HashCodes' Modified CWM? I, too, had a lot of errors with his version either booting normally or causing boot loops. I would install correctly then either attempt to boot into CWM via the app or Power+M, and would often get no where. I went back to Koush's older version of CWM and have had nothing but satisfaction with it. Granted it lacks a few features such as the progress bar, I feel it's faster and is more reliable than Hash's version. I downloaded it by Googling "Droid 3 Bootstrapper", it has a green app icon once installed. Make sure to remove any previous boot strap apps before installing a new one, too.
 
redsox985 said:
Are you using HashCodes' Modified CWM? I, too, had a lot of errors with his version either booting normally or causing boot loops. I would install correctly then either attempt to boot into CWM via the app or Power+M, and would often get no where.
Click to expand...

I just don't know. It is the one I downloaded from the Sticky instructions.

Could you check ? its the stickied link, http://dl.dropbox.com/12084540/Droid3Bootstrap.apk and is 3,058K in size. When installed it has an icon that looks like a scary red android skill on a grey background. Inside the app, when run, it looks just like the illustrations on this page:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.koushikdutta.droid3.bootstrap

and its says its version 1.0.0.4 - should I uninstall it, buy the $2.99 version from that same web page Android store entry, and install that one ? Is it different from the one in the Sticky Post link which was free ???

redsox985 said:
I went back to Koush's older version of CWM and have had nothing but satisfaction with it. Granted it lacks a few features such as the progress bar, I feel it's faster and is more reliable than Hash's version. I downloaded it by Googling "Droid 3 Bootstrapper", it has a green app icon once installed. Make sure to remove any previous boot strap apps before installing a new one, too.
Click to expand...

The one I have has a progress bar and a Red Android Skull with "Xrecovery" underneath, but the app when run looks identical to the screenshots on the URL I posted above, which I got from your Google search and which costs $2.99.

Really confused now. Two apps with the same name by two different developers one free (from the Sticky link) and one $2.99 from the Android Market, one with a red skull icon and one with a green icon and no progress bar during backups.

Then there is Rom Manager also by Koush and I have that too, the free version and it runs. When I "Flash ClockWorkMod Recovery" with ROM Manager v4.7.0.5 free, it downloads and doesn't complain about installing (via Superuser) Latest Recovery: ClockworkMod 5.0.2.6 fro Droid3

Rebooting into ClockWorkMod Recovery then, from the button below, works and I can -backup and restore and such from there fine, but no M+Power Button access via BPTools selection just a normal boot at that point.

Glenn
 
glennj said:
Rebooting into ClockWorkMod Recovery then, from the button below, works and I can -backup and restore and such from there fine, but no M+Power Button access via BPTools selection just a normal boot at that point.

Glenn
Click to expand...

The "tweaked" version allows you access to CWM from either Rom manager, the boostrap app, or from BPtools.

Remove the current bootstrap as you would any other app, and install the 'tweaked' version provided by hashcode (bottom of page):

Hash of Codes: Android Downloads

or directly from here: http://goo.gl/b4b6L:

This one is free, but I know Hash would appreciate your donations at:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/w...63663d3faee8db2b24f7b84f1819390b7e2d9283d70f1
 
ndoren said:
The "tweaked" version allows you access to CWM from either Rom manager, the boostrap app, or from BPtools.

Remove the current bootstrap as you would any other app, and install the 'tweaked' version provided by hashcode (bottom of page):

Hash of Codes: Android Downloads

or directly from here: http://goo.gl/b4b6L:
Click to expand...

That nailed it. I removed the Droid3Bootstrap version 1.0.0.4 that I downloaded from the link on the Sticky thred, and installed the one from your link above and clicked on (which is 1.0.0.5). Now, after clicking on "Bootstrap Recovery" once within the app, every time I reboot with M+Power I get a chance to select BPTools and ClockWorkMod comes up !!! SO happy ! :D

Thank you ndoren :)

Any thoughts on what the Nandroid backup reported as it was working ?

Backing up system...
Backing up data...
No /sdcard/.android_secure found. Skipping backup of applications on external storage.
Backing up cache...
No sd-ext found. Skipping backup of sd-ext.
Generating md5 sum...

Backup complete!

The dark red text seems to be saying it did not back up the internal SD memory card contents, which is where I have moved the big chunks of most of my installed apps. If this is the case, restoring this backup to an otherwise wiped phone would not restore the moved parts of any of my apps and they would no longer run, right ?

The blue text below that seems to be saying that my 32-gig external SD chip is not yet mounted at this point in the boot process. There is nothing on there but some pictures and stuff like that, so no big deal, but it would be nice if Nandroid would store the backup on there and be able to restore from there. Will I be able to restore a backup from internal SD storage if the phone gets bricked to the point where I have to go through BPTools to run ClockWorkMod Recovery ? I won't then be able to read from the SD-EXT chip, right, and ClockWorkMod cannot mount it, so if the backup is not already on the internal SD chip when the phone bricks, no restore would be possible?

This one is free, but I know Hash would appreciate your donations at:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/w...63663d3faee8db2b24f7b84f1819390b7e2d9283d70f1
Click to expand...

Absolutely. You link doesn't work for me though, PayPal errors out. I donated via the PayPal link on HashCode's website though. Couple of 6-packs of Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA !

Glenn
 
If i remember correctly, during a back up it will say no sd-ext, when therereally is one. I also think the backups are auto saved to the ext sdcard. On the android secure thing, every backup and recovery ive done errors out on that one, but ive had no problems with the errors

Technicly, you can recover a softbrick of android itself, just so long as your internal memory is hoesed

(Sorry if im wrong, ive moved on to a diffrent bootstrapper)
 
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