Root Universal Eris Root for Dummies!

[Bob Cat]

Just picked up another eris from a friend for free. I'm about to root it and use it for a test phone.

Quick question. Since the test phone doesn't have service how can I get gscript lite and estrongs file manager from the market. Can I get it on the computer somehow and move it to the phone. Better yet, can I put the two apps on my phone's sd card then put my sd card into my test phone so it will have the apps needed to root.

 

[caarterr]

Awwww yea everything worked and i now have gingerbread up and running! thank you for making this an easy experience for a 1st time rooter!

 

[scary alien]

Quick question. Since the test phone doesn't have service how can I get gscript lite and estrongs file manager from the market. Can I get it on the computer somehow and move it to the phone. Better yet, can I put the two apps on my phone's sd card then put my sd card into my test phone so it will have the apps needed to root.

BC,

You should be able to connect to the Market via a wi-fi signal to pull-down your apps. My Eris has not been connected to 3G since July 15th, 2010 , but that hasn't stopped me (insert maniacal laugh here) .

If you had to, you could grab the .apk files for those apps and transfer and install them manually. Let me know if you have questions about that or have to resort to that.

Cheers!

 

[Bob Cat]

BC,

You should be able to connect to the Market via a wi-fi signal to pull-down your apps. My Eris has not been connected to 3G since July 15th, 2010 , but that hasn't stopped me (insert maniacal laugh here) .

If you had to, you could grab the .apk files for those apps and transfer and install them manually. Let me know if you have questions about that or have to resort to that.

Cheers!

Well Scary I don't have an available wi-fi so it looks like the .apk route so all help is much appreciated.

 

[scary alien]

Well Scary I don't have an available wi-fi so it looks like the .apk route so all help is much appreciated.

What, you don't have access to an already rooted Eris that just might have a wi-fi tething app available and installed?

Word of warning...you will need to have the Android SDK installed and at least "adb" connectivity with your phone.

Not a problem...okay, lemme find the details on what you need for these two .apks...

Okay, let's grab the .apk files from your other phone first. You'll find them in the /data/app directory (at least that's where they are on my X). You can search for them with "busybox find / filename.apk 2> /dev/null" (without the double-quotes, of course).

Okay, it looks like EStrongs .apk is called com.estrongs.android.pop-1.apk and Gscript Lite is called nl.rogro.GScriptLite.apk.

Copy these files to your /sdcard via something like the Android Terminal Emulator (free in the Market) or using the Android SDK's "adb shell":

$ su
# cd /data/app
# cp com.estrongs.android.pop-1.apk /sdcard/estrongs.apk
# cp nl.rogro.GScriptLite.apk /sdcard/gscriptlite.apk
# exit
$ exit

Now, either copy the files to your C:\ drive (PC) via the USB cable, or use the Android SDK's adb commands:

c:\sdk> adb pull /sdcard/estrongs.apk estrongs.apk
c:\sdk> adb pull /sdcard/gscriptlite.apk gscriptlite.apk

Now, disconnect from your old phone and connect your "new" (test) one.

Okay, after you've connected your test phone up to your PC, go back into the Windows/DOS prompt where your SDK's adb utility (and you .apk files) are located. You can install them directly from here:

c:\sdk> adb install estrongs.apk
c:\sdk> adb install gscriptlite.apk

Ugh...is this useful? I could keep going, but I don't want to go too far...

How's this so far?

 

[Bob Cat]

What, you don't have access to an already rooted Eris that just might have a wi-fi tething app available and installed?

Word of warning...you will need to have the Android SDK installed and at least "adb" connectivity with your phone.

Not a problem...okay, lemme find the details on what you need for these two .apks...

Okay, let's grab the .apk files from your other phone first. You'll find them in the /data/app directory (at least that's where they are on my X). You can search for them with "busybox find / filename.apk 2> /dev/null" (without the double-quotes, of course).

Okay, it looks like EStrongs .apk is called com.estrongs.android.pop-1.apk and Gscript Lite is called nl.rogro.GScriptLite.apk.

Copy these files to your /sdcard via something like the Android Terminal Emulator (free in the Market) or using the Android SDK's "adb shell":

$ su
# cd /data/app
# cp com.estrongs.android.pop-1.apk /sdcard/estrongs.apk
# cp nl.rogro.GScriptLite.apk /sdcard/gscriptlite.apk
# exit
$ exit

Now, either copy the files to your C:\ drive (PC) via the USB cable, or use the Android SDK's adb commands:

c:\sdk> adb pull /sdcard/estrongs.apk estrongs.apk
c:\sdk> adb pull /sdcard/gscriptlite.apk gscriptlite.apk

Now, disconnect from your old phone and connect your "new" (test) one.

Okay, after you've connected your test phone up to your PC, go back into the Windows/DOS prompt where your SDK's adb utility (and you .apk files) are located. You can install them directly from here:

c:\sdk> adb install estrongs.apk
c:\sdk> adb install gscriptlite.apk

Ugh...is this useful? I could keep going, but I don't want to go too far...

How's this so far?

Ok Scary it's gonna take me a few minutes to digest all of that. I do have wireless tethering and tried that but the (test) phone didn't pick up the wi-fi. Why won't it pick up the signal from my phone.

 

[scary alien]

Ok Scary it's gonna take me a few minutes to digest all of that. I do have wireless tethering and tried that but the (test) phone didn't pick up the wi-fi. Why won't it pick up the signal from my phone.

I'm not sure... I just tried tethering my Eris running GSB 1.6 to my Droid X (my X was running the Wireless Tether app v2.0.7) and it connected just fine (I briefly searched the Market to test it out).

Hope its not a stock Android O/S issue...I'm not a router/tethering expert, so I hope its not a "ad hoc" issue, etc. that I really don't understand, lol. Not sure I can debug that one for you (did you try a "re-scan" of your wi-fi networks in Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Wi-Fi settings)?

Cheers!

 

[Bob Cat]

I didn't think anything of it before but the other day I was showing someone my rooted phone and was telling him of the wireless wifi and his D2 didn't show a wifi connection and the (test) phone doesn't show a connection but I use my wireless tether on my laptop all the time. Is it maybe a security setting keeping something other than my laptop from connecting.

 

[kenn]

Thanks ErisUser1 -- I went through your process and installed xtrSense5.0.1!

Thanks for the help... you rock.

 

[Bob Cat]

Thanks ErisUser1 -- I went through your process and installed xtrSense5.0.1!

Thanks for the help... you rock.

Congratulations and welcome to the root world.

 

[JLM]

Hi,

This is my first attempt to root and...hopefully...tether my Droid Eris.

Firmware version 2.1
Software number 2.41.605.6

I followed the steps above, but every time I try to flash any of the ROMs I downloaded, I get the following result:
-----------------------
Install from sdcard...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
E: Wrong digest:
system/lib/libsurfaceflinger.s
o
E:Verification failed

Installation aborted
------------------------

I've tried Bugless Beast (file name FRG83DV0621.zip) and PlainJaneT2 (I already deleted the file so I don't have the file name), but get the same results.

I downloaded the ROM(s) to the phone and used EStrongs File Explorer to move the ROM(s) to the SDCard.

Am I using bad .zips? If so, do you have links to good ones? Or, have I just screwed up where I've located them?

Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[erisuser1]

Hi,

This is my first attempt to root and...hopefully...tether my Droid Eris.

Firmware version 2.1
Software number 2.41.605.6

I followed the steps above, but every time I try to flash any of the ROMs I downloaded, I get the following result:
-----------------------
Install from sdcard...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
E: Wrong digest:
system/lib/libsurfaceflinger.s
o
E:Verification failed

Installation aborted
------------------------

I've tried Bugless Beast (file name FRG83DV0621.zip) and PlainJaneT2 (I already deleted the file so I don't have the file name), but get the same results.

I downloaded the ROM(s) to the phone and used EStrongs File Explorer to move the ROM(s) to the SDCard.

Am I using bad .zips? If so, do you have links to good ones? Or, have I just screwed up where I've located them?

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Most likely cause is that you are truncating/corrupting the downloaded file(s) when you transfer the files to the SD card. This usually happens due to failure to use the "safely remove hardware" control on the PC before you toggle off the "mount" control on the phone.

Search this forum for "MD5" and "AFV" for some background material and an app that will allow you to check ROM files after you download them.


eu1

 

[JLM]

Thank you for your response, but I didn't use the PC. Your original post stated it could all be done from the phone itself. Using the phone, I downloaded the .zip ROM and then, following the instructions to unpack Gscript Lite, used ES File Manager to move the .zip for the ROM onto the SDCard.

Everything up until I tried to flash the ROM worked just as you advertised, screen shots and all (by the way, thank you very much for those).

 

[scary alien]

Thank you for your response, but I didn't use the PC. Your original post stated it could all be done from the phone itself. Using the phone, I downloaded the .zip ROM and then, following the instructions to unpack Gscript Lite, used ES File Manager to move the .zip for the ROM onto the SDCard.

Everything up until I tried to flash the ROM worked just as you advertised, screen shots and all (by the way, thank you very much for those).

JLM,

Actually, after writing what appears below, I re-read your post and realized that you are probably trying to flash a ROM (Bugless Beast) that was built (I believe) for the original Moto Droid.

You'll need to select a ROM from somewhere specifically Eris-related like here:

Droid Eris Android Development - xda-developers

Some very good 2.1 ROMs from here include xtrROM or xtrSense. Froyo 2.2 ROMs are also available as well as some fairly recent, very good GingerBread ROMs. Be sure to read all of the installation instructions provided by the ROM developer.

Here's what I originally wrote:

You still could have had an incomplete download of the ROM... Did you verify its size and MD5 checksum to ensure that you got it all?

You can do this with either my app, AFV (Android File Verifier) (free in the Market, via select file, long-press filename, select MD5 Checksum), or Astro File Manager (long-press filename, select Details, wait a few seconds for the MD5 sum to be calculated).

Then, compare this value with the published MD5 checksum from the dev's ROM thread.

Good luck!

 

[doogald]

Thank you for your response, but I didn't use the PC. Your original post stated it could all be done from the phone itself. Using the phone, I downloaded the .zip ROM and then, following the instructions to unpack Gscript Lite, used ES File Manager to move the .zip for the ROM onto the SDCard.

Everything up until I tried to flash the ROM worked just as you advertised, screen shots and all (by the way, thank you very much for those).

It may still be a truncated download. Scary Alien wrote a useful app called AFV (in the market). Install that, browse to the .zip file that you downloaded, long-press on the .zip file. If the developer provided the MD5 hash for the file, use the menu to calculate that and compare with what the developer reports it should be. If there is no known MD5, choose the option to verify JAR - if it passes that, it should install just fine.

If it does not pass JAR or the MD5 does not match, delete what you downloaded and try again.

[edit] link to AFV: https://market.android.com/details?id=sa.afv&feature=search_result

 

[erisuser1]

Thank you for your response, but I didn't use the PC. Your original post stated it could all be done from the phone itself. Using the phone, I downloaded the .zip ROM and then, following the instructions to unpack Gscript Lite, used ES File Manager to move the .zip for the ROM onto the SDCard.

Everything up until I tried to flash the ROM worked just as you advertised, screen shots and all (by the way, thank you very much for those).

Well, no matter how you get a ROM file on to your phone, it's an extremely good idea to check the downloaded file to see if the copy you downloaded is exactly identical to what the dev published.

Based on what you report; the most likely problem is that the .zip file you are using is "short" - it didn't download completely.

At a minimum, you should check to see if the size of the file is exactly the size that the developer reported it to be; an even better idea is to compute the MD5 signature of the file, and compare that checksum to what the developer reported.

You can use scary alien's free market app "AFV" (Android File Verifier) to compute MD5 checksum... and some other things, too: read on.

Some Eris devs fail to publish file size and MD5 signatures when they publish their ROMs; honestly the only reason they fail to do that is a lack of experience.

But, all is not lost if they fail to provide that information... because the ROM files are signed, you can perform a signature verification (the very thing which is failing when you try to install) using that AFV app - it is called "jar verification" in that app.

That won't prove that it is the same file that the developer published, but it will prove that the file is intact, and will pass the verification check that the custom recovery performs. This is useful, because you can check this before booting into the custom recovery.

eu1

 

[doogald]

Holy mackerel, we need a notification when we are all posting on the same thread at the same time.

And, yes, BuglessBeast also sounded unfamiliar to me, but PlainJane is familiar.

 

[scary alien]

^^^ lol to us all! (at least we were consistent, eh? )

 

[polizi212]

Bit the bullet on Sunday evening and rooted my phone with this method. Now I really do hate myself for waiting so long because it was super easy. I am now running Etrasense 5.0 and couldn't be happier with my Eris. Sure its not the latest greatest phone but none of the new ones feel as good in my hands as my trusty Eris! HTC needs to pay attention here we want a phone with good speed and features just not the size of a Tablet pc!. EU1 is the man for this procedure on rooting!!!

 

[Bob Cat]

Welcome to the rooting world.

 

[polizi212]

Welcome to the rooting world.

Had I not sat on the darn fence so long I could have been happier with my phone way sooner!!! Now to look at other roms and see what I can find!!!

 

[Bob Cat]

Had I not sat on the darn fence so long I could have been happier with my phone way sooner!!! Now to look at other roms and see what I can find!!!

Happy hunting.

 

[JLM]

Thank you for all the replies. The ROM type was the problem. I downloaded XTRSense and it ran beautifully

My only problem was that it ditched my address book. I synced it before I wiped, but it didn't like it, or I screwed it up...or something. But, I was able to fat finger all of that back in and go out and redownload my apps.

I'm now able to tether my wife's laptop and my Kindle when out and about.

Thanks eu1 for the very easy instructions and thanks again to everyone that replied to get me up and running.

Cheers.

 

[erisuser1]

My only problem was that it ditched my address book. I synced it before I wiped, but it didn't like it, or I screwed it up...or something. But, I was able to fat finger all of that back in and go out and redownload my apps.

One of the things that is not immediately obvious to new rooters - which might cause you to say "Doh!" once you realize it - is the benefit of Nandroid backups. Here's a good example:

- You Root your phone and immediately make a Nandroid backup, just like the instructions tell you to do.
- You Install a new ROM, and suddenly realize (let's say) "Whoa, I had a bunch of phone-only contacts (or SMS messages, bookmarks, etc) which are gone now! Rats!".

But, in fact, they are not "gone". Here's what you do.

You've already started setting up the new ROM, and you don't want to throw away that effort, so:

0) Make sure your phone is well charged.

1) Boot into recovery and make a Nandroid of the (new) ROM.

2) Restore the first Nandroid backup, and reboot. Voila! All that stuff you thought was gone is in the old ROM.

3) Download from the market the appropriate apps for making backups of the stuff you want to save - there are apps for making backups of contacts, apps for bookmarks, apps for SMS messages, et cetera. (Use search on this site; Google is your friend). Obviously, you should prefer apps which make their backups onto the SD card.

4) Boot into recovery again, and this time restore the new Nandroid backup.

5) Boot up into the restored (new) ROM, and download the backup/restore apps from the market, and restore the data from the old ROM into the new ROM.


eu1

 

[JLM]

Wow! Okay then. Thanks for the tips.

I'll try that. I guess it won't hurt to do it even though I already restored the contacts and downloaded the missing apps. It'll be good practice

I guess when they say "There's an app for that" they really mean it LOL.