Root Unable to enter recovery menu

[jim_h]

Hi,

I tried installing OpenDesire 4 on my rooted Desire earlier, which didn't work. I ended up seeing the flashing Android logo on a black screen when trying to boot and can't get past it.

So, as I have a nandroid backup, I figured I could use that to recover. BUT, when I hold the volume down button and boot the phone, it just goes to the HBOOT screen. I cannot get into the recovery menu. If I select recovery from HBOOT, it just goes to a black screen.

I have tried reflashing using unrEVOked3 and the recovery-clockwork-2.5.0.1-bravo-slcd image, but it didn't fix this problem.

I'm in a right flap now. ANY help please?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[SUroot]

Is it a black screen it goes to or does it have an image of a desire with a red triangle? If the latter you have to press vol up and power.

 

[jim_h]

It's just a black screen. I've tried up volume and power and it still takes me to the HBOOT menu.

 

[SUroot]

At the black screen up vol and power takes back to hboot?

 

[jim_h]

No, it doesn't respond. I have to remove the battery to get it to do anything once the black screen is displayed.

 

[jim_h]

I'm also seeing the following flashing up when trying to enter recovery mode:

SD Checking...
Loading...[PB99DIAG.zip]
No Image!
Loading...[PB99DIAG.nhh]
No Image or Wrong Image!
Loading...[PB99IMG.zip]
No Image!
Loading...[PB99IMG.nhh]
No Image or Wrong Image!

 

[SUroot]

Jk had that in thus thread:

http://androidforums.com/desire-all-things-root/176900-issues-after-rooting.html

Not sure how he got past it...

 

[jim_h]

I saw that thread, but it looks like he was able to enter the recovery menu, which I can't do.

I do have a goldcard. Would that be of any use? I'd settle for a working phone with any version of Android on it at this point.

 

[SUroot]

Will have to wait for someone else to answer.unless you can Google the error.

Important thing to remember is don't panic or do anything drastic

 

[jim_h]

Ok, well I appreciate you trying anyway danfrance. Many thanks.

I've spent all afternoon on google trying to fix this, to no avail.

 

[jim_h]

It's FIXED!!!!!

Wow, that was a marathon. I managed to find an RUU for Froyo which has upgraded my Desire to 2.2 and unbranded it, but has also fixed the strange bootloader problem. I have lost root in the process, but I don't care at the moment.

For 12hrs work trawling google and reading dozens of threads and pages on this and the XDA site, I've got my baby back. Phew, that was a scary day! I honestly thought I'd permanently broken my Desire.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

shame :/ i was going to tell you that your problem was the version of unrevoked you were using to root.
you should have been using 3.21 not 3 and the recovery is old.
anyway you are back, if you want to root please makesure you use 3.21 and not 3
also busybox thread, i had titanium backup working with the client busybox on stock rooted 2.2 ruu rom

 

[jim_h]

Rastaman, it's strange the way it happened. Everything was fine when I used unrEVOked3 (Clockwork bravo recovery image for SLCD) to root the phone. It was only when I used ROM Manager to try and install an alternative rom that things went pear shaped.

I haven't got it installed any more, but there was a menu item in ROM Manager to install or flash the latest clockwork. I used it and it asked me for my mobile model, then I think it downloaded a file and said done. Sorry if that's slightly wrong, I can't remember exactly now. Anyway, it's at this point I had the OpenDesire 4 rom on my SD card and selected to install it using ROM Manager. That's when it all died and I couldn't get the phone to boot or enter recovery menu. From what you've said and what I read last night, it seems ROM Manager installed the wrong file for my HBOOT version?

I'm not saying ROM Manager is to blame, but everything seemed to be working fine until I used it.

Next time, I'm just going to use unrEVOked3 to get the correct recovery running, then the recovery menu to install the rom. I should have done that in the first place I guess.

You live and learn!

 

[SUroot]

Although unrevoked and Rom manager both flash clockworkmod, they handle it differently. Can't really use one with the other.

 

[jim_h]

Although unrevoked and Rom manager both flash clockworkmod, they handle it differently. Can't really use one with the other.

Ahh, I didn't know that either! So my using the wrong (old) version of unrEVOked with the incorrect use of ROM Manager resulted in an almost bricked Desire. Crikey, I have been lucky then!

Cheers for the explanation danfrance

 

[Rastaman-FB]

Although unrevoked and Rom manager both flash clockworkmod, they handle it differently. Can't really use one with the other.

thats wrong, unrevoked bundles it but unrevoked is there to give root and su.
after unrevoked is done you are free to flash clockworkmod or any other recovery how you like and it should in theory work as long as the recovery supports what you are doing.

early versions of unrevoked 3 didnt give root perms at nand level so when you flashed certain roms with kernals it could fail
on top of this if you flash a rom from rom manager it doesnt always wipe user cache and system so residual things can be left behind and cause a problem

its likely the main problem was that update.zip from clockwork got removed in the flash process meaning that it couldnt find the recovery image to access it.

 

[SUroot]

Thats odd, when I manually go into clockworkmod using my rom manager flashed one, I have to go into standard recovery then apply update.zip to get into it. I thougth with unrevoked it replaced standard recovery, hence everyone not being able to get into recovery at all...

Thanks for the correction.

 

[jim_h]

So, I'm now running unrooted 2.2 (2.10.405.2) with HBOOT 083, am I "supposed" to be safe using the latest version of unrEVOked (3.21) to root and subsequently just use the new recovery menu to apply roms? Or, something else entirely? I'm not sure which way to do it now.

My aim is to root and have the option to apply various different roms in order to find one I like. What I don't want is to spanner my recovery menu again. Too scary.

 

[teppic74]

The primary purpose of unrevoked3 is to flash custom recovery, not to root. It roots the phone as part of the process. It's not necessary to be rooted to install a custom ROM.

 

[teppic74]

Thats odd, when I manually go into clockworkmod using my rom manager flashed one, I have to go into standard recovery then apply update.zip to get into it. I thougth with unrevoked it replaced standard recovery, hence everyone not being able to get into recovery at all...

Thanks for the correction.

You were right. It replaces recovery, and if you use an old version of the image (as has happened here), you will just get a black screen on an SLCD phone.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

Thats odd, when I manually go into clockworkmod using my rom manager flashed one, I have to go into standard recovery then apply update.zip to get into it. I thougth with unrevoked it replaced standard recovery, hence everyone not being able to get into recovery at all...

Thanks for the correction.

you are correct, it does replace the recovery however when you use rom manager and re flash the recovery to use its features then it reverts it to the old way of using update.zip

 

[teppic74]

ROM Manager doesn't flash recovery, it can't touch it. It simulates it using real recovery. So if your actual recovery (installed by unrevoked3) isn't working, ROM manager won't work either.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

well thats very odd as my collegues device couldnt access clockworkmod via voldown power and it wouldnt load it, just showed an android with an arrow coming out of a box and hitting the floor
he booted back in, went to rom manager it said "in order to use the features you will need to flash the latest clock work mod recovery"
he clicked flash
it worked and he can access recovery via voldown + power

 

[teppic74]

When you use vol down + power you run your actual recovery. From there you can run 'fake' recovery (i.e. what is installed by ROM Manager). That's why you can use ROM manager to run versions of Clockworkmod that don't actually boot for real.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

so you are saying if i reflash the clockworkmod via rom manager it doesnt do anything as i have true recovery via a flashed img it just allows fakeflash.
if i was to remove update.zip it would still work?