I'll let scary alien answer the question you posed - I probably could do it but I would have to go back and reread everything scary posted first.
FWIW, the entire trackball assembly can be easily replaced. Recently I tried repairing a digitizer on a broken Eris, and was surprised to discover that the trackball assembly has no electronics at all: it has 4 little rollers on each corner which hover over 4 corresponding sensors on the motherboard. I'm not 100 percent sure what the mechanism is, but I suspect the sensors are magnetic sensors (not optical).
Anyhow, the trackball assembly just sits in a little cavity above the motherboard and will fall out in one piece if you disassemble the phone. ( Just follow the online youtube instructions for disassembling as if you were going to repair the digitizer, but of course don't actually muck with the screen.)
If I had to hazard a guess, and I will - I'd bet that 99 percent of trackball failures are due to gumming up of the trackball assembly with finger jam or toe jam. Once you have the trackball assembly out of the phone, you could soak the whole trackball assembly in rubbing alcohol (for instance). Just make sure it is thoroughly dried out before you reassemble the phone.
Or you could swap 1 in from a "parts" phone, but it is probably worth while to try the cleaning method first.
cheers and happy travels,
eu1
__________________
Please don't send me PMs - post your questions so others may benefit from any answers given.
Last edited by erisuser1; September 11th, 2011 at 02:05 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to erisuser1 For This Useful Post:
Basically, just what I have running for now, GSB and the original Amon_Ra... figured if I made hers a clone of mine I could take some chances I wouldn't normally take. But, I tend to proceed with caution.
Guess I could always just take a shot with the script... it's not like it'll cause Global Themal Nuclear War if it's not compatible right? (fingers crossed)
In retrospect... I could have saved myself a heap of time if I'd just put the trackball optional recovery on hers from the get go. New work schedule - sleep deprived.
Since you've got GSB, you'll need to be aware that there's no native "mkdir" command provided in the shell that GSB implements, so you'll need to tweak the script to prefix the "mkdir" reference with a busybox invocation (i.e., "mkdir" becomes "busybox mkdir" in order for the script to work.
Just search for "GSB" in the first post and you'll see the references to this issue and work-around.
Gscript is really pretty simple, so you might actually spend more time trying to get the scripts to work under Script Manager, LOL.
Lemme know if you have any questions or issues... I'll be around...(might be in and out, but I'll be back on this evening, too).
It would help roscuthiii (or anyone else) since its got pics and everything and re-enforces your post, too.
Cheers!
No, I'll take a look - thanks.
I've never actually had any trackball problems, but inspection of the trackball assembly when I had an Eris apart seems like it is unlikely to be damaged by soaking it for a couple minutes in rubbing alcohol - afterward you can roll it around on a piece of paper, or spin the ball in four directions to see if each of the little "rollers" in each corner are turning as they should. That would allow you to (perhaps) repair a wonky trackball without ordering parts or buying a "for parts" Eris off of eBay. The only specialized tool that is really needed is a Torx screwdriver, size T5. (The case opener tool can be replaced with any thin, stiff piece of plastic - one of the vids on YouTube a guy is using a guitar pick).
But, back on topic - How about a "Scenario 6" to replace some of the portability complications of "Scenario 3"?
You could work on this in your copious spare time
Basic idea: drop a signed zip file (via a root-privileged script w/ GscriptLite or other script-launcher) into /cache, and then drop a command file ( /cache/recovery/command ) which has a single line for Amon_RA to execute. (See this XDA post).
Then, do a "reboot recovery" from within GscriptLite.
The only "portability issues" from (rooted) ROM to ROM would be whether or not the /system/bin/reboot (or /system/xbin/reboot) honors the command-line argument "recovery".
As for creating the signed .zip file, you could expunge everything from one of my "FlashBack" ROM .zips except for the "flash_image" binary, and the corresponding usage of the same from within META-INF/com/google/android/update-script. (Replace the recovery image in the zip with your trackball-optional version, re-sign, and blam - you are done!).
That would require that different rooted ROMs only support the "cat", "echo", commands and "reboot recovery", e.g. I am assuming the last bit is fairly universal - but you know what they say about assuming.
Oooo, thanks eu1, I've always wanted to mess with a flashable .zip file and the "reboot recovery" tip is one I've know about (through you, of course), but never made that connection that this could be used as a vehicle for doing this sort of thing.
I'll certainly put these things on the pile of things to look into (Scotty's left me alone for a couple of weeks now, LOL--he must be busy with his ThunderBolt stuff ).
Device(s): A Condemned Droid Eris -Yep, Gingerbread on an Eris.
EOL'd my ass...
Oh, and a Droid Razr Maxx too
Thanks: 22
Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts
I humbly bow before your Eris knowledge scary and eu1.
__________________
Our Google, who art in Mountain View, Open Source be thy name, your Custom ROM come, your flash be done, on Phandroid as it is in XDA. Give us this day our daily Gingerbread, and forgive us our Rooting, as we have forgiven our Boot Loaders. And lead us not into iOS, but deliver us from iTunes.
The Following User Says Thank You to roscuthiii For This Useful Post:
The HTC Droid Eris launched for Verizon Wireless on November 6th in part as the carrier's first Android Phone. However it was overshadowed by the other member of the inaugural Verizon Droid duo - the Motorola Droid. The Droid Eris might look fa... Read More
).
