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[Verizon] Crap - help needed with rooting

Needsdecaf

Needsdecaf

Android Expert
OK, not new to root, so pretty familiar with CWM recovery, etc. Here's my problem.

I should start by saying I am doing this on a Mac. I am pretty new to Mac (one month) so I am a little uncomfortable, but not terribly so.

I unlocked the boot loader using the instructions shown above. No issues there.

Next I downloaded the su.zip file and the CMW recovery 5.5.0.4-toro.img file.

When I look in finder, the su file isn't called "su.zip". It's just a folder called su. OK.

I boot into fast boot mode. I flash CWM recovery and no issues there. I boot into recovery and see the familiar CWM recovery menu. This is where things start to go awry.

I try to push the su.zip folder over to the phone using adb. I got an error that it cannot find the file so I try the second command. Still no dice. I try it again, after re-naming the file to su.zip in finder. This time it appears to push over saying 8 files transferred.

Now the real trouble.

I go to flash the su.zip root package so I select "install update from sd card" and look through the files. su.zip is not there. Oooookay. So I go back and attempt to reboot the phone. Nothing. I press the power button and the phone goes dark. Press again, I'm back at the menu. Pressing the power button will not reboot the phone.

Battery pull.

Re-boot into fastboot mode.

Try to boot into recovery. Get the "dead droid" image with the exclamation point over his chest.

Battery pull.

Reboot standard. Phone starts.

Reboot into fast boot.

Re-flash the CWM recovery.

Boot into recovery.

Still have the issue. Cannot find su.zip even though I pushed it again successfully, and cannot restart out of CWM.

Another battery pull.

Reboot standard, phone starts.

Reboot into fast boot.

Try to re-boot into recovery and it's broken again.

OK, so what am I doing wrong here...
 
Edit: did it again and it still cannot find su.zip. However, at least this time it let me boot out of CWM and boot up. Progress.

Never mind. Re-booted and tried to get into recovery....and got the dead droid again.

Grrrr.
 
The phone is overwriting recovery upon boot which is why you are getting the dead droid recovery after a reboot.

If the phone boots into the OS you could just download the su.zip on the phone then fastboot to flash recovery and boot into recovery then find the su.zip on the SD.

Otherwise make sure the su.zip is in the folder you are trying to push it from on the cpu.
 
I also think I heard the same issue from another Mac user...Mac machines apparently auto-unzip .zip files, which is clearly what you don't want in this case.

Try downloading the su.zip file directly from your phone and placing / moving it to your /sdcard folder just as if you were going to push it with adb.

I've also seen the black screen that you experienced in ClockworkMod...there's definitely some minor stability issues with CWM at times going wonky. Usually its when I move from menu to menu and back-up a menu.

When it hangs, I just do an adb reboot recovery from the command line to re-launch CWM.

Also, see this post http://androidforums.com/galaxy-nexus-all-things-root/470831-how-all-things-root-samsung-galaxy-nexus.html#post3712027 in the section titled "Flashed custom recovery won't "stick"?" to tell you how to make it stick once you are finally rooted.

You'll get there...just a couple of little issues :).

Cheers!
 
Yeahha said:
The phone is overwriting recovery upon boot which is why you are getting the dead droid recovery after a reboot.

If the phone boots into the OS you could just download the su.zip on the phone then fastboot to flash recovery and boot into recovery then find the su.zip on the SD.

Otherwise make sure the su.zip is in the folder you are trying to push it from on the cpu.
Click to expand...

OK, that makes sense.

So I copied it over to the folder. I brought over the original file called SU (containing 3 files: META-INF folder, system folder, and superuser-3.0.7-efgh-signed.zip). I also brought over the one I renamed as su.zip. Reflashed recovery, went to install update and found two files one called su.zip and one called su.zip/.

Tried to flash su.zip/ and asked if I wanted to install any of the files inside. No good. Tried to install su.zip and got an error that it could not load: "Can't open /sdcard/su.zip
(bad)
Installation aborted.

Hmm, now what?
 
Needsdecaf said:
OK, that makes sense.

So I copied it over to the folder. I brought over the original file called SU (containing 3 files: META-INF folder, system folder, and superuser-3.0.7-efgh-signed.zip). I also brought over the one I renamed as su.zip. Reflashed recovery, went to install update and found two files one called su.zip and one called su.zip/.

Tried to flash su.zip/ and asked if I wanted to install any of the files inside. No good. Tried to install su.zip and got an error that it could not load: "Can't open /sdcard/su.zip
(bad)
Installation aborted.

Hmm, now what?
Click to expand...

Needsdecaf,

See my post above (we just cross-posted, LOL).

The issue is a pristine su.zip file needs to be pushed / placed on the SD card on your phone without your Mac auto-unpacking it. You can't re-pack it yourself from Windows or the Mac (I had to do it on a Linux box to get the .zip format just right).

(I'll have to update my notes re. this Mac auto-unpack issue...).

Cheers!
 
OK, so CWM apparently didn't "stick". Following the instructions now that you've posted above. Fingers crossed.
 
OK, so I think I got it working. Flashed CWM recovery after re-naming the file, and got the weird "black" screen with just the CWM logo. Battery pulled, rebooted into recovery and it worked fine. Did this two more times and I can successfully get in and out of CWM recovery without issue.

Now...which rom, lol.
 
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