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Root [Virgin Mobile/Sprint] VM LS720V8 - Updating, Rooting, and Unbricking

Well I am running my ROM and still no update notifications, BUT I will be working on updating my ROM to the latest ZV8 update for anyone who wants that.

In my experience though, I have not had an issue getting root on ZV8.
 
So, I got the notification to update to v8 today. I am v7 rooted with Towelroot and used Link2SD and AParted to solve my space issue. I love my phone now...

I'm thinking about ignoring the update message, but I fear that some day I'll accidentally hit Update Now. My options:
1) Use stumproot to "root", even tho I know it won't be completely rooted. Will Link2SD and AParted still work? i.e. will my linked apps still work? Will I not be able to move new apps over? Or had Link2SD done the hard work while the phone was REALLY rooted?

2) Should I be proactive and unroot with Stump, update to v8, then re-root? If I go this route, what happens to my linked data and saved app data (games) from earlier? Do I need to change anything or cross my fingers and pray?

Thx
 
macgoddess said:
Hey, gherkaul, I'm interested to know what you would have said if he had replied...

Right after installing cwmt recovery, I made a nandroid backup. Then I used the zv7 upgrade to update from zv6 to zv7. Hoping for a simpler way...

Thanks.
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Hi macgoddess, I did not give your question my full attention, sorry I've been jumping back and forth.

I wanted to know because you can restore just the data and sd-ext (Link2SD) partitions from a backup after updating. The update deals only with the OS, not the data or sd-ext partitions. This means it's possible to restore data or sd-ext from an older firmware version backup. Thus getting all 'your' stuff back if you do use the unbrick method. Hope that answer the question. :D
 
xclusive36 said:
I haven't updated it yet. Did you want me to un-root then update and then re-root? or did you want me to just update and then re-root?
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Try the rooted method first. I'd like to know if you get the false Stump reading of root after the update.
 
gherkaul said:
Try the rooted method first. I'd like to know if you get the false Stump reading of root after the update.
Click to expand...

It says I'm rooted but if I open up SuperSu, it says there is no su binary installed. It may be rooted but without that su binary added, it can't perform super user duties.
 
xclusive36 said:
It says I'm rooted but if I open up SuperSu, it says there is no su binary installed. It may be rooted but without that su binary added, it can't perform super user duties.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured would happen. So Stump does have a bug. I'm not sure what sets the flag in Stump but it seems the User must un-root first. Without a re-root option Stump is useless. No Stump, no root...*chuckle*. Thanks for confirming. I'm going to try with twrp next. Who knows, maybe it doesn't happen with twrp. I'll post my results.
 
gherkaul said:
That's what I figured would happen. So Stump does have a bug. I'm not sure what sets the flag in Stump but it seems the User must un-root first. Without a re-root option Stump is useless. No Stump, no root...*chuckle*. Thanks for confirming. I'm going to try with twrp next. Who knows, maybe it doesn't happen with twrp. I'll post my results.
Click to expand...

I see that the su binary is still in /system/xbin I can't remove it without root access. I see that's why it says it's rooted. We do need to remove root first. Grrr
 
Same results with twrp. I was hoping twrp would somehow retain root since su is still there...I don't know. Well at least we have a better understanding of what works for what scenario. :D
 
Is there any way to downgrade back to v7 from v8? v8 removed root and stump root won't install. It gives a parse error.

Edit: I will try the soft unbrick using LGFT
 
ken314 said:
Is there any way to downgrade back to v7 from v8? v8 removed root and stump root won't install. It gives a parse error.

Edit: I will try the soft unbrick using LGFT
Click to expand...

That's all you can do at this point. Which ever FW you choose to use. After you flash and root, go here and use FOTAkill.apk to stop any future update notifications. It was made by Team CyanogenMod years ago for their roms but several members have been testing it with success on stock roms as well. Good luck.
 
all you need to do is modify the update zip script file and comment out the lines that update the aboot and boot partitions. essentially running the older kernel after that and then you can reroot using the previous method. or after running the update in twrp manually install my OC kernel then you can reroot using motochopper.
 
gherkaul said:
That's all you can do at this point. Which ever FW you choose to use. After you flash and root, go here and use FOTAkill.apk to stop any future update notifications. It was made by Team CyanogenMod years ago for their roms but several members have been testing it with success on stock roms as well. Good luck.
Click to expand...

I'm on zv7, rooted with towelroot, Link2Sd, and removed some bloat ware. I've tried installing TWRP, unrooting with SuperSu, and then running the FOTA a couple of times. It keeps failing. Someone said that would happen. I'm going to put FOTAkill.apk on and see how that works.

There was a mention of using TWRP or CWMT to install the update but I didn't get any link in the comment. Could somebody repost it?
 
Thanks for the link Sandix. I reread my post and I wasn't supper clear, the joys of trying to figure this stuff out after a long day.

I already have the TWRP and CWMT zips. Xclusive mentioned a thread that had instructions for using TWRP or CWMT to install the stock zv8 but I don't see anylink in his comment.
 
Thanks xclusive. After reading that thread I'm just going to sit on v7 with FOTAkill until an update comes that actually does something helpful.
 
I did the full unroot in Super SU, but not sure if it worked. How long should that normally take to complete? It was like less than 2 seconds and then the app quit. I rebooted and tried running busybox which said the phone is not properly rooted so I guess it maybe worked.
 
toronado455 said:
I did the full unroot in Super SU, but not sure if it worked. How long should that normally take to complete? It was like less than 2 seconds and then the app quit. I rebooted and tried running busybox which said the phone is not properly rooted so I guess it maybe worked.
Click to expand...

I personally never done it, but it sounds like it worked
 
nobreak1970 said:
Without the modded roms this just turns into a pain in the ass.
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Yeah, it's a shame that the people developing these updates are really only doing it to cripple the phone more. What happened to getting kitkat??? Ugh. :hmmmm2::dontknow:

Without these custom roms and the dev community, our phones would be a little more than those fake kids toy phones. Kitkat would fix our app storage problem, since it supports apps on the SD completely. All we can do is hope we can emulate the swap completely and change where the data mounts.
 
My F3 was acting weird and I didn't know what was wrong with it but my keyboard wasn't working right so I went to force stop it but then my touch screen wasn't responding correctly so I rebooted and it was at the LG bootanimation for 5 mins. I removed the battery to turn it off and was able to get in recovery mode to reflash the V8 stock ROM. I didnt know what to make of it so I just posting it here
 
Kasenomateru said:
My F3 was acting weird and I didn't know what was wrong with it but my keyboard wasn't working right so I went to force stop it but then my touch screen wasn't responding correctly so I rebooted and it was at the LG bootanimation for 5 mins. I removed the battery to turn it off and was able to get in recovery mode to reflash the V8 stock ROM. I didnt know what to make of it so I just posting it here
Click to expand...

Yeah, the keyboard for this phone is an AOSP and has a lot of bugs still being fixed. That's why LG included Swype, as an alternative.
 
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