Root Unlocking Bootloader howto...

[skinlab]

This is the guide i followed. Thanks to Kuma82.. He was the one that wrote this.I followed it to a T and i had no issues..
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I didn't have a hard time, but then again I've studied my ass off, and I knew how to fix all problems that popped up. My advice to you is read all the threads about unlocking the bootloader. The video is good but it doesn't break it down enough.
Let me tell you about everything that can go wrong and how to fix it
Problems
1. After flashing the euro kdz your phone won't boot past the logo.
Okay, this problem will make things harder(but do able), because you have to hard reset the device by pressing/holding the vol (-) + home + power (let go of power button when the lg logo comes up)
Plus after a hard reset all data will be wiped and you will have to enable USB debugging on the wonky touch screen.
The chance of this happening is rare because you are not coming from a custom ROM.

2. After flashing you get a security error (or an error during the flashing process).
Now this one sucks because you will need to fastboot and flash the ice cream u-boot. Then put the phone in the s/w upgrade mode and perform the offline flash again.
I had this happen to me once, while flashing the wind kdz. Messing with fastboot is not hard but it takes time to understand it. Get familiar with it first before trying to unlock. I'll send you a link with some more info.

3.After flashing the euro kdz you find out you don't have root.
Sometimes rooting fails (dam computers)
Now I had this happen to me after flashing euro kdz (so no cwm) but I wasn't really worried about that because I had a signal and I could make/receive calls. I had a signal because when I was flashing I swapped out the euro radio (p760.fls) with the metropcs one (lgms769.fls)
Note: you have to extract the radio from the metro kdz and rename it to p760.fls
When flashing replace the 11th bin (with hex edited 11th bin for 20b) & the radio (from metro renamed).
Another thing don't rush the unlock. I waited about 3 to 4 hours before trying, plus I took a couple of calls on the 20b kdz. And I was on wifi.
I flashed the euro kdz at work and when I got home I turned on WiFi and waited another hour.
I'm not to sure about what the video says about turning off and flashing the radio.
When the unlock first came out, the instructions were to not turn off the device before unlocking.


When I flashed the euro kdz I was on the metropcs ROM.
This is what I recommend and did.
Enable USB debugging, show all touches, & allow install from unknown sources.
Leave your phone on normally(don't put it in s/w mode) and flash the euro kdz and hopefully no problems.
After waiting a couple of hours try the unlock command with Adb on your PC.
If all goes good the phone will take you to an inverted unlock screen, just press the volume up (make sure you press the Up button!)
This will take you to the official fastboot (but it's inverted), now in fastboot flash the cwm recovery image.
In cwm flash the touch screen fix and restore a backup.
Another thing make your own backup with the locked bl cwm (just in case you have to erase all data) make backup on external SD. Another thing, Lol ,make sure the backup is good, try to restore it. I have had several corrupted backups with cwm.

I know it's a lot to learn, but then again you want to be prepared.
Think of it like a final exam, Lol and you won't go wrong.
If you get lost just holla at me.

 

[skinlab]

Other tid bits of info......

You don't need to flash any x or u partitions, just make sure USB debugging, show touches, and allow install from unknown sources are enabled. When you run the offline flash program, don't put your phone in the s/w upgrade mode (leave it turned on normally). Another thing, when flashing and swapping out the 11th bin (FOR THE V20B kdz), also swap out the radio(change/rename the extracted metro radio lgms769.fls to p760.fls. That's what I did. Or just follow the video, but I wouldn't do it that way.
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You only need to flash the x and u partitions(for ice p769) if you get a security error. The jellybean versions don't work(running offline flash tool) when starting off at the s/w upgrade mode. Jellybean only works if the phone is turned on normally.
However, the ice cream (u-boot) works when starting off at the s/w upgrade mode.
That's why you have to flash (in fastboot) the x (you really don't need to flash this partition but lelus has it setup to flash both) and u-boot when the phone doesn't turn on properly.

 

[sammyz]

Ok so
1) don't reboot at all?
2) u need cell signal?
3) we need root for what? To fix touch screen? I'm just trying to figure out what exactly gets the phone to show the confirmation screen. Once I figure out what gets the phone to show that, I can test various things to make it show again while only certain partitions are flashed.

 

[skinlab]

Ok so
1) don't reboot at all?
2) u need cell signal?
3) we need root for what? To fix touch screen? I'm just trying to figure out what exactly gets the phone to show the confirmation screen. Once I figure out what gets the phone to show that, I can test various things to make it show again while only certain partitions are flashed.

Dude, get to the point where you are waiting to put the adb unlock shit in... I will help you.. You helped me last time..

 

[skinlab]

Has this tut even helped anyone?

 

[mario0318]

To be honest, I haven't bothered trying to unlock bootloader until there's a more clear consensus on how to go about it. I know it's been done by a few folks, but I'm less confident about it with this phone at this stage than when I got the Optimus M. I suppose it's a matter of time.

 

[mathamp]

To be honest, I haven't bothered trying to unlock bootloader until there's a more clear consensus on how to go about it. I know it's been done by a few folks, but I'm less confident about it with this phone at this stage than when I got the Optimus M. I suppose it's a matter of time.

My thoughts exactly. I was one of the first buyers of the LG Esteem, and ended up selling the phone after waiting a very long time for the community to figure things out. I like my L9, but I feel that due to the complicated nature of unlocking the boot loader (for most), I may pass on attempting this in favor of waiting for an even easier method. Also, because I believe our SIMs are simply re-branded T-Mobile SIMs, I may actually jump ship in a month or two and snag a T-Mobile Galaxy device (refurb/used) with additional community and OEM support.

Rooting was fun, and I actually kind of enjoy LG's various tools for their devices, but for now I actually need this phone to be a phone, whether it has the latest Android version or not. After a couple wipes working out my own mistakes during the journey, I think I'm going to sit back and watch.

 

[mario0318]

My thoughts exactly. I was one of the first buyers of the LG Esteem, and ended up selling the phone after waiting a very long time for the community to figure things out. I like my L9, but I feel that due to the complicated nature of unlocking the boot loader (for most), I may pass on attempting this in favor of waiting for an even easier method. Also, because I believe our SIMs are simply re-branded T-Mobile SIMs, I may actually jump ship in a month or two and snag a T-Mobile Galaxy device (refurb/used) with additional community and OEM support.

Rooting was fun, and I actually kind of enjoy LG's various tools for their devices, but for now I actually need this phone to be a phone, whether it has the latest Android version or not. After a couple wipes working out my own mistakes during the journey, I think I'm going to sit back and watch.

Same. The phone does great and 4.2 is smart enough for what I need compared to Android 2.0 and the LG OM. I just recently learned about Xposed Framework though, and it may be a neat alternative to Cyanogenmod or any other ROM in the meantime. The LG L9 is supported, but the only issue is since my bootloader isn't unlocked, there's no way for me to back up nandroid in case anything goes wrong. But perhaps with Titanium Backup I could backup all my apps and settings and try it out anyway, and just restore that after a stock wipe if anything goes wrong.