Root Deeply Confused

[hyperblau]

Hi all, I've had my Evo for about a week. Even before I got it I lurked here for information. Here's my situation: The day I bought it I rooted the phone with Simple Root. That seemed to work, "su" works in terminal, etc. However, I'm a little unclear about what Simple Root actually did. Does it install a custom recovery? Because my phone doesn't seem to have one. I want to experiment with different roms, so I downloaded Rom Manager and tried to flash clockworkmod. When I do this, I get a permission error. This seems odd since the phone is ostensibly "rooted". Everywhere I look for information I find piles of it, all unorganized, and most contradictory. I'm hoping that someone here can point me to a source of information that would tell me: 1)Just what state my phone is really in. Am I running a rooted stock rom? Do I have a custom recovery installed? Is NAND unlocked? 2)What I should do from here to be able to use Rom Manager like everyone else and change roms at will. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[tsipa]

Hi all, I've had my Evo for about a week. Even before I got it I lurked here for information. Here's my situation: The day I bought it I rooted the phone with Simple Root. That seemed to work, "su" works in terminal, etc. However, I'm a little unclear about what Simple Root actually did. Does it install a custom recovery? Because my phone doesn't seem to have one. I want to experiment with different roms, so I downloaded Rom Manager and tried to flash clockworkmod. When I do this, I get a permission error. This seems odd since the phone is ostensibly "rooted". Everywhere I look for information I find piles of it, all unorganized, and most contradictory. I'm hoping that someone here can point me to a source of information that would tell me: 1)Just what state my phone is really in. Am I running a rooted stock rom? Do I have a custom recovery installed? Is NAND unlocked? 2)What I should do from here to be able to use Rom Manager like everyone else and change roms at will. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Simple Root allows you to flash a custom recovery, no need for ROM Manager... I believe it is located under the extras tab.

I think ROM Manager will only allow you to flash an alternate recovery only if you already have a custom one...

 

[novox77]

Assuming your Simpleroot correctly finished, you have:

a rooted stock filesystem (presence of the superuser)
an engineering bootloader with NAND unlocked.

Simpleroot fully roots your phone, but the step to flash a custom recovery has traditionally been a separate process. Depends on which version of Simpleroot you used: 4-click or the recent 1-click. In the 1-click version, flashing the recovery is the 2nd button on the Simpleroot UI. In the older version, the recovery flash was hidden in the "Extras" tab. You should be flashing a custom recovery no matter which Simpleroot you use.

To use ROM Manager, your recovery image needs to be clockworkmod. I believe simpleroot gives you this as an option.

As for why ROM Manager is giving you that error... When you open ROM Manager, you should have seen a popup window appear, asking you for superuser access. If you did NOT get that popup, something is wrong. You have to give the app su access; otherwise it can't perform root-required actions.

I know you already did the "su" test from adb shell, but check your app drawer for the "superuser permissions" icon. If it's not there, something is not quite right with your root. You can try rebooting your phone; I had to do this once for the icon to appear. You might also try uninstalling and reinstalling ROM Manager.

Keep us posted

 

[hyperblau]

Thanks for the quick replies. I did use the newest version of simpleroot. Also, while some new apps showed up that seem to be related to root, the "superuser permissions" icon is nowhere to be found. Should I try to re-do the simpleroot? Edit: Also, I have rebooted many times since the root procedure, so unfortunately that didn't help for my case. Edit2: " Note: Its recommended to flash a custom ROM. Reason I say this is because for whatever reason, the eng-image doesnt allow proper SU permission!!", found on the program description page for simpleroot: [Program] SimpleRoot .1 ---- 3 Click Root w/ nand unlock!! - xda-developers Could this be the issue?

 

[tsipa]

Hi all, I've had my Evo for about a week. Even before I got it I lurked here for information. Here's my situation: The day I bought it I rooted the phone with Simple Root. That seemed to work, "su" works in terminal, etc. However, I'm a little unclear about what Simple Root actually did. Does it install a custom recovery? Because my phone doesn't seem to have one. I want to experiment with different roms, so I downloaded Rom Manager and tried to flash clockworkmod. When I do this, I get a permission error. This seems odd since the phone is ostensibly "rooted". Everywhere I look for information I find piles of it, all unorganized, and most contradictory. I'm hoping that someone here can point me to a source of information that would tell me: 1)Just what state my phone is really in. Am I running a rooted stock rom? Do I have a custom recovery installed? Is NAND unlocked? 2)What I should do from here to be able to use Rom Manager like everyone else and change roms at will. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I remember reading that the ROM that you are left with after you finish rooting does not have proper SU Permissions. If that is that case, you will need to flash a custom recovery (I recommend Amon's RA since Clockwork has issues with wiping) and then flash a custom ROM to give you SU.

 

[tsipa]

Thanks for the quick replies. I did use the newest version of simpleroot. Also, while some new apps showed up that seem to be related to root, the "superuser permissions" icon is nowhere to be found. Should I try to re-do the simpleroot? Edit: Also, I have rebooted many times since the root procedure, so unfortunately that didn't help for my case.

Yes this is exactly what I was talking about! Rebooting will not help and you dont need to re-root because you are already fully rooted. Just flash the recovery and then a custom ROM of your choosing. You should be good after...

 

[hyperblau]

Okay, so that could be the issue after all. Now my question is how I can know what recovery I already have? I clearly don't have clockworkmod, so is it possible that simpleroot installed amon RA already? Edit: okay, so I just used simpleroot to flash recovery again. My phone rebooted into...clockworkmod. So I guess it would be prudent to nandroid. After that, I find a custom ROM to use and put it on the sdcard, then head back into clockworkmod, right?

 

[tsipa]

Okay, so that could be the issue after all. Now my question is how I can know what recovery I already have? I clearly don't have clockworkmod, so is it possible that simpleroot installed amon RA already?

When Simple Root installs a custom recovery, it asks you which one you want to flash. If you never selected the recovery that you want, then its safe to say you do not have it. If you are using one click, then it is the second button. If you are using 3 click, it is in the extras tab.

 

[novox77]

Okay, so that could be the issue after all. Now my question is how I can know what recovery I already have? I clearly don't have clockworkmod, so is it possible that simpleroot installed amon RA already? Edit: okay, so I just used simpleroot to flash recovery again. My phone rebooted into...clockworkmod. So I guess it would be prudent to nandroid. After that, I find a custom ROM to use and put it on the sdcard, then head back into clockworkmod, right?

Doesn't matter what you currently have. Use simpleroot to flash over the existing image. Choose clockworkmod if it gives you the option. You can switch recovery images at any time.

If flashing the recovery doesn't fix your issues, you should do this:
How to start over: Fully rooted stock 1.47.651.1 in one shot (no adb!) - xda-developers

That will manually apply su again on a stock OS. Also included in this package is the engineering bootloader, Amon RA custom recovery, and stock kernel and 2.1 Android + Sense.

 

[tsipa]

Okay, so that could be the issue after all. Now my question is how I can know what recovery I already have? I clearly don't have clockworkmod, so is it possible that simpleroot installed amon RA already? Edit: okay, so I just used simpleroot to flash recovery again. My phone rebooted into...clockworkmod. So I guess it would be prudent to nandroid. After that, I find a custom ROM to use and put it on the sdcard, then head back into clockworkmod, right?

Yes, do a NAND backup, wipe data/dalvik, then select "install file from sd card" to install the custom ROM.

Don't forget to flash the radios as well if you are planning to go to a custom 2.2 ROM.

 

[hyperblau]

Thanks again for all of the replies. Tsipia: I looked high and low and can find no "extras" tab. Also, it never prompted me to choose. Not sure what's going on there. Novox: Backing up with nandroid, then I'll be re-booting. If I understand you correctly, I should test Rom Manager again now that I've re-flashed the recovery. If it still doesn't work, I should follow the instructions you listed.

 

[novox77]

In case you don't know this yet, here's how to boot into the bootloader (and recovery)

Power off your phone by long-pressing the power button. You'll get popup menu that allows you to turn off the phone.

wait a bit, preferably 30 secs to make sure the phone is actually off. it's still shutting down even if the screen goes completely dark.

now, hold power and vol-down together until you see a white screen. If your simpleroot worked correctly, this will be the engineering bootloader (version is 0.76.2) and there will be androids on skateboards on the bottom.

It will scan your sdcard for some files. When it's done, note the menu. 2nd option is RECOVERY. navigate the menu with vol-up and vol-down. Power button to select. If you select RECOVERY, the phone will show you the boot splash screen (white htc EVO 4G screen). Then the recovery image will appear. This is where you can make nandroid backups/restores, which are complete state backups, and where you can flash custom zip files (ROMs) from your SD card.

 

[hyperblau]

Novox: Thanks for the tip. I did know how to get there, but when I choose the "Recovery" menu option, it just sits at the red exclamation point screen and never actually does anything. Thats part of what started my confusion in the first place. Is it necessary to use simpleroot every time I want to get into the custom recovery?

 

[tsipa]

Thanks again for all of the replies. Tsipia: I looked high and low and can find no "extras" tab. Also, it never prompted me to choose. Not sure what's going on there. Novox: Backing up with nandroid, then I'll be re-booting. If I understand you correctly, I should test Rom Manager again now that I've re-flashed the recovery. If it still doesn't work, I should follow the instructions you listed.

Ok, so you have clockworkmod, now you need a custom ROM. Load that up on the root of your SD card and install it through clockwork. ROM manager won't work until you flash the custom ROM because you currently do not have proper SU which it requires to function.

 

[novox77]

Novox: Thanks for the tip. I did know how to get there, but when I choose the "Recovery" menu option, it just sits at the red exclamation point screen and never actually does anything. Thats part of what started my confusion in the first place. Is it necessary to use simpleroot every time I want to get into the custom recovery?

If that's still happening, it sounds like you still need to flash a custom recovery with Simpleroot. Open up the Simpleroot program. Assuming you're using the new 1-click version here:
[Program] Updated: 8-5-10: 1 Click SimpleRoot OTA 1.47.651.1 Edition - xda-developers

then flashing recovery is simply the 2nd button on the UI.

What happens when you try that? any errors?

 

[novox77]

For now, until you get your root/recovery issues straightened out, you should NOT use ROM Manager for anything. It's just throwing another variable into the mess.

 

[tsipa]

Novox: Thanks for the tip. I did know how to get there, but when I choose the "Recovery" menu option, it just sits at the red exclamation point screen and never actually does anything. Thats part of what started my confusion in the first place. Is it necessary to use simpleroot every time I want to get into the custom recovery?

hmm... that shouldnt be happening. Try typing "adb reboot recovery" into CMD.

 

[hyperblau]

Roger to both of you on avoiding rom manager. Novox, that is not the version of simpleroot I used. I am downloading from your link now and will update the program like it says. Also, I just tried to enter Recovery from the bootloader, and this time it took me to clockworkmod like it should. So maybe I don't need to try flashing again? For lack of other information, I just grabbed the 2.2 OTA in your sig, along with the radios. I guess I'll flash that?

 

[novox77]

Roger to both of you on avoiding rom manager. Novox, that is not the version of simpleroot I used. I am downloading from your link now and will update the program like it says. Also, I just tried to enter Recovery from the bootloader, and this time it took me to clockworkmod like it should. So maybe I don't need to try flashing again? For lack of other information, I just grabbed the 2.2 OTA in your sig, along with the radios. I guess I'll flash that?

You might have found one of the older Simpleroots from before the 1.47 OTA update. That actually explains everything. I would re-run simpleroot from the link I provided (first in my sig). Run both buttons. Hopefully, you'll be all set after that.

Verify that your root on 2.1 is fully working before trying to flash the 2.2 stuff from my sig.

 

[hyperblau]

Okay, sounds good. I will run the version of simpleroot from you, then wipe data, then flash the 2.2 update and the radios. Thanks again. Edit: Followed the aforementioned procedure. All seems to be well. Thanks very much to both of you.