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Root Can't do a factory reset on my rooted phone

A.Nonymous

Extreme Android User
Jun 7, 2010
7,058
970
Not sure if this is because of the ROM I'm using or because I'm rooted, but I can't do a factory reset on my phone. If I try it, the phone reboots and locks into a boot loop. I can pull the battery, but then it boot loops again. I've basically got to boot into recovery mode and reflash a usuable rom or backup to get the phone working again. Is this because I'm rooted or is this because of the ROM I'm using (Skyraider)?
 
Not sure if this is because of the ROM I'm using or because I'm rooted, but I can't do a factory reset on my phone. If I try it, the phone reboots and locks into a boot loop. I can pull the battery, but then it boot loops again. I've basically got to boot into recovery mode and reflash a usuable rom or backup to get the phone working again. Is this because I'm rooted or is this because of the ROM I'm using (Skyraider)?

Are you performing the factory wipe from within the phone or within clockwork mod (or amon)? If within the phone I would just do it through clockwork. You have backed up right?
 
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Are you performing the factory wipe from within the phone or within clockwork mod (or amon)? If within the phone I would just do it through clockwork. You have backed up right?

Both. Both have the same result. I've got it backed up as I was experimenting with an app that remotely wipes the phone. The app puts the phone in a boot loop which makes it useless to anyone who has it, but it's not exactly the behavior I was looking for.
 
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Both. Both have the same result. I've got it backed up as I was experimenting with an app that remotely wipes the phone. The app puts the phone in a boot loop which makes it useless to anyone who has it, but it's not exactly the behavior I was looking for.

hmm interesting. So you can restore to a usable backup I understand. A backup you had prior to installing this app? Is there something within this app where you have gone online and set something up like an account? If so could you get rid of this then try your factory reset within your usable backup? Does this make sense? I confuse myself sometimes :D
 
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I think I'm not being clear so let me see if I can state this better. I go into menu >> Settings >> Sd & phone storage >> factory reset and do a factory reset. The phone reboots and boot loops. I then have to boot into factory recovery mode and reload a backup or flash a new ROM altogether.

If I boot into recovery mode and do a factory reset, the same thing happens. The phone boots to the load screen over and over again.

I want to be able to do a factory reset and have a phone right out of the box. I will admit that the prospect of completely toasting my phone remotely to the point where it's unusable is a appealing though. However, if I get a buggy app or something and have to do a factory reset, I don't want to have to find a usable rom or backup image just to get basic function of my phone back. I want it to boot and then I can load my backup software and go from there.

The app isn't the problem. The factory reset is a problem. Any time I do a factory reset whether I initiate it manually or from the app, I get this issue.
 
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I think I'm not being clear so let me see if I can state this better. I go into menu >> Settings >> Sd & phone storage >> factory reset and do a factory reset. The phone reboots and boot loops. I then have to boot into factory recovery mode and reload a backup or flash a new ROM altogether.

If I boot into recovery mode and do a factory reset, the same thing happens. The phone boots to the load screen over and over again.

I want to be able to do a factory reset and have a phone right out of the box. I will admit that the prospect of completely toasting my phone remotely to the point where it's unusable is a appealing though. However, if I get a buggy app or something and have to do a factory reset, I don't want to have to find a usable rom or backup image just to get basic function of my phone back. I want it to boot and then I can load my backup software and go from there.

OK I think I understand. Bear with me here....sounds like you want to be able to get the phone back to an OTB state like how you received it originally. Therefor unrooted with s-on

It bootloops because your doing a wipe and then not loading a ROM. When you wipe it there is no image that it can boot too because you are rooted...it's not like doing a factory reset with a stock phone.

Am I on track or just off on a tangent?
 
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Kind of. This is what I want. Let's say you have a phone that's not rooted. You've got 20 bazillion apps on it, it's configured the way you want it. You do a factory reset. It boots up and you've lost all your apps and it's asking you to walk through the setup wizard again. This is what I'm looking for. I don't care if it's still rooted, I don't care if it's still S-off. I just want to basically wipe all apps and all of my data off the phone like a factory reset does to an unrooted phone. Does that make sense?
 
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Honestly I must be missing something. Just make a backup when you have your phone in a working condition you like and if you break something just restore it. I maintain two roms updated the way I like them and swap roms whenever I feel like it. As you add apps delete the old backup and make a new one.

No, that doesn't work. Here's the thing. Let's say I'm 1500 miles from home on business or vacation or whatever. The phone starts acting buggy. I decide I want to just do a factory reset on it. I figure once I get home I'll reload my apps, but I'm at the point where I just need a functioning phone and a factory reset should give me that. However when I do the reset, I'm stuck with a non functioning brick. I do regular backups of my phone, but my problem is what to do if I have to do a factory reset on my phone and I don't have a backup saved on the memory stick. Worst case scenario I should have to re-install all my apps manually and re-configure everything from scratch. I don't even have that option now.
 
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Kind of. This is what I want. Let's say you have a phone that's not rooted. You've got 20 bazillion apps on it, it's configured the way you want it. You do a factory reset. It boots up and you've lost all your apps and it's asking you to walk through the setup wizard again. This is what I'm looking for. I don't care if it's still rooted, I don't care if it's still S-off. I just want to basically wipe all apps and all of my data off the phone like a factory reset does to an unrooted phone. Does that make sense?

Yes it makes sense. This is what will happen if you do a factory wipe on a stock unrooted phone. It will revert to it's stock state of the stock ROM. This will also happen if you do a factory wipe on a rooted phone BUT also flash a new ROM.

You are rooted and doing a factory wipe, but your not flashing a new ROM/image therefore the bootloop. Then you flash a backup and voila your back to one of your backups and you don't have to go through the setup wizard. Flash a new ROM and/or a ROM you've used before (not a backup) and you'll go through the setup wizard again.

If you want to go back to the stock OTB unrooted ROM you'll have to unroot and find a copy of it (xda) and flash it.

I'm fairly new to all this hope someone will correct me if I am wrong, but this is how I understand it. Hope I've been of some help.
 
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No, that doesn't work. Here's the thing. Let's say I'm 1500 miles from home on business or vacation or whatever. The phone starts acting buggy. I decide I want to just do a factory reset on it. I figure once I get home I'll reload my apps, but I'm at the point where I just need a functioning phone and a factory reset should give me that. However when I do the reset, I'm stuck with a non functioning brick. I do regular backups of my phone, but my problem is what to do if I have to do a factory reset on my phone and I don't have a backup saved on the memory stick. Worst case scenario I should have to re-install all my apps manually and re-configure everything from scratch. I don't even have that option now.

Keep a ROM that you like and know is reliable on your SD card so you can flash it at will when you come to the situation you've explained.

I might also add to use Titanium Backup app and make backups of the apps and data within that you deem important so you can restore them after a new ROM flash.
 
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Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly. Let's say I have an unrooted phone. If I do a factory reset it basically does the following:

Wipes all data from the phone.
Re-images the phone with the stock rom.

Now, with a rooted phone running a custom rom if I do a factory reset it does this:

Wipes the data from the phone.
Leaves the phone with no rom at all.

Is that correct? If so, is there away to designate what ROM gets re-flashed to the phone and have it get reflashed automatically?
 
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Just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly. Let's say I have an unrooted phone. If I do a factory reset it basically does the following:

Wipes all data from the phone.
Re-images the phone with the stock rom.

Now, with a rooted phone running a custom rom if I do a factory reset it does this:

Wipes the data from the phone.
Leaves the phone with no rom at all.

Is that correct? If so, is there away to designate what ROM gets re-flashed to the phone and have it get reflashed automatically?

Yes this is how I understand it, but nothing stopping me from being wrong :p. I've never done a wipe then just reboot my phone....I've always followed with a new ROM flash.

I don't know the answer to your 2nd question sorry. Hoping one or two of the rooting guru's will join in here and be able to offer some assistance :)
 
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Yes this is how I understand it, but nothing stopping me from being wrong :p. I've never done a wipe then just reboot my phone....I've always followed with a new ROM flash.

I don't know the answer to your 2nd question sorry. Hoping one or two of the rooting guru's will join in here and be able to offer some assistance :)

When you do a factory reset it wipes all the data and cache but leaves boot and system. There is no re-flashing of anything in a factory reset.

Sounds to me like the OP's problem is his recovery and trying to use the stock factory reset with an after market recovery. Are you using clockwork recovery? You cannot use the phones booted menu system factory reset or the bootloader factory reset if you are using clockwork recovery.

You want to boot to recovery and select wipe/data factory reset in clockwork.
 
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When you do a factory reset it wipes all the data and cache but leaves boot and system. There is no re-flashing of anything in a factory reset.

Sounds to me like the OP's problem is his recovery and trying to use the stock factory reset with an after market recovery. Are you using clockwork recovery? You cannot use the phones booted menu system factory reset or the bootloader factory reset if you are using clockwork recovery.

You want to boot to recovery and select wipe/data factory reset in clockwork.

Yes that's correct. I'm running the Skyraider ROM. I go into the Menu and bebop through until I find the factory set. This makes the phone boot loop. If I boot the phone into clockwork recovery and do a factory reset it has the same effect. In both cases I have to boot into clockwork and reload from a backup or flash a new ROM altogether.
 
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Yes that's correct. I'm running the Skyraider ROM. I go into the Menu and bebop through until I find the factory set. This makes the phone boot loop. If I boot the phone into clockwork recovery and do a factory reset it has the same effect. In both cases I have to boot into clockwork and reload from a backup or flash a new ROM altogether.

So if you select the option in Clockwork recovery to factory reset and NOT in bootloader it bootloops? You might have to start a thread in a support forum and ask for help because that is just weird! :eek:

Honestly though , I dont know what to tell you. Have you tired advanced menu in clockwork and format system, boot data, and cache and see if that stops the boot loop?
 
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Yes. I think anyway. This is what I'm doing step by step. You can tell me if I'm screwing it up at all.

1. Use Quickboot and pick recovery.
2. From clockwork recovery (2.5.0.5) pick wipe data/factory reset.

The phone will reboot like it should and I'll get a nice boot loop. I've not tried anything under the advanced options.
 
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Yes. I think anyway. This is what I'm doing step by step. You can tell me if I'm screwing it up at all.

1. Use Quickboot and pick recovery.
2. From clockwork recovery (2.5.0.5) pick wipe data/factory reset.

The phone will reboot like it should and I'll get a nice boot loop. I've not tried anything under the advanced options.

What you are doing should work. Its works on mine using MIUI but I have not tried with SkyRaider. I can try for you tonight if it helps. I would suggest trying to format BOOT and or SYSTEM in advanced menu next time you get a boot loop and see if that does the trick. Sorry I dont have the answer :(
 
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Well, it's kind of nice to know that if I remotely nuke my phone and SD card that the person who has my phone has a nice useless brick. They can't use it unless they happen to have a rom or a nandroid back up for a DInc. Even if they do, they've got to put the micro-SD card into their computer and copy the rom or backup to the appropriate place. It's nice to be able to completely nuke the phone. It's not nice if I'm screwing around and accidentally nuke everything.
 
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I have what may be a silly question - are you supposed to be able to reset a rooted DInc using the same procedures as an unrooted one, or must it normally done via clockworkmod recovery? The above discussion is leaving me a bit confused. (I have a rooted DInc, updated to 2.2 via OTA, subsequently rooted by one-click method, S-off, stock ROM, and am currently in discussions with HTC about HTC Sync's not working with my calendar. They're advising a hard reset, and while I doubt very much it'll work, I'm willing to try. Have read the threads on hard resetting, but they mainly refer to unrooted devices. This thread makes me think the situation may be different when rooted.)
 
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I have what may be a silly question - are you supposed to be able to reset a rooted DInc using the same procedures as an unrooted one, or must it normally done via clockworkmod recovery? The above discussion is leaving me a bit confused. (I have a rooted DInc, updated to 2.2 via OTA, subsequently rooted by one-click method, S-off, stock ROM, and am currently in discussions with HTC about HTC Sync's not working with my calendar. They're advising a hard reset, and while I doubt very much it'll work, I'm willing to try. Have read the threads on hard resetting, but they mainly refer to unrooted devices. This thread makes me think the situation may be different when rooted.)

I would have to agree. If I perform a booted factory reset right now on my rooted Incredible it boot loops upon boot just like the OP.
 
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I would have to agree. If I perform a booted factory reset right now on my rooted Incredible it boot loops upon boot just like the OP.
Thanks! And it's the "wipe data/factory reset" option on the ClockworkMod recovery screen I should be using, not the "Factory Reset" option on the previous (HBOOT) screen? I don't want to change ROMs, just wipe my data and go back to stock (well, except for being rooted).

Sorry for all the questions. This almost has me wishing I hadn't rooted, but a certain level of sheer terror will hopefully keep me from doing anything without thinking about it. ;)
 
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I tried a factory reset not too long ago after rooting and upon booting up i got an error telling me Sense could not load or something along those lines and would not boot the phone. It would get stuck on that error. I did a recovery from a backup and then everything went back to normal. I'm starting to think you can't do factory resets on rooted Incs. :thinking:
 
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