Root Stuck in boot-up screen.

[kloroformkandi]

My Droid Eris is stuck on the boot up screen [droids skating].
I googled the problem and every one else with the same problem says that they just installed a rom or something.
I haven't installed anything recently on my phone.
My battery had been low, so when I hit the power button to view my phone, I was presented with the boot-up screen.
Thinking it had died, I plugged it in and left it only to find that it would not load past the same screen.

I have taken the battery out and replaced it multiple times to no avail.

I would really appreciate some help, but I don't want to end up having to wipe my phone. [Although I heard that wiping the phone only deletes any apps and doesn't wipe out any photos, contacts, etc, which is what I don't want to lose]

 

[doogald]

Just to clarify, have you left it plugged in for several hours to charge the battery without trying to power it on, and it still comes up only to skating Androids?

 

[kloroformkandi]

Yes I left it plugged in over night without touching it, when I woke up it still won't turn on correctly.

 

[kloroformkandi]

I found that some one said rooting their phone fixed the problem, so I am trying to do that [Feel free to move this to the rooting forum if need be].

I am following this tutorial, except when he says to scroll down and click the HPUSB option, I don't have that.
How To: Root the HTC Droid Eris (Unrevoked Method) - TheUnlockrTheUnlockr

In fact, I can't bring up my phone on my computer at all.
[I think my phone is automatically on charge only :/ My computer identifies it, I just can't bring up the device itself]
Is there a method of rooting where I can use my SD card?

 

[doogald]

I found that some one said rooting their phone fixed the problem, so I am trying to do that [Feel free to move this to the rooting forum if need be].

I am following this tutorial, except when he says to scroll down and click the HPUSB option, I don't have that.
How To: Root the HTC Droid Eris (Unrevoked Method) - TheUnlockrTheUnlockr

In fact, I can't bring up my phone on my computer at all.
[I think my phone is automatically on charge only :/ My computer identifies it, I just can't bring up the device itself]
Is there a method of rooting where I can use my SD card?

That's good, because the unRevoked method is not a good method for the eris.

I'd try wiping data with the stock Recovery, doing a hard reset. The instructions are here: Hard Reset HTC Droid Eris

If you are still ready to root the phone, post back and I will show you the two best methods.

 

[kloroformkandi]

Will a hard reset delete absolutely everything, like photos and contacts?
If not I will do that, but completely wiping my phone is my last resort.

I would like to root if I can to avoid wiping everything, but as I said I don't think I will be able to since I can't open my phone on my computer.

*edit*
Actually, scratch that. I'm dumb. It only deletes phone storage and not SD storage, right? lol

 

[doogald]

Will a hard reset delete absolutely everything, like photos and contacts?
If not I will do that, but completely wiping my phone is my last resort.

I would like to root if I can to avoid wiping everything, but as I said I don't think I will be able to since I can't open my phone on my computer.

Photos are stored on your SD card, and a hard reset does not erase anything on the SD card.

There are two sorts of contacts on the Eris - Google contacts and Phone contacts. Google contacts are synced with your Google account and will resync after a hard reset. Phone contacts, however, are stored only on the phone and will be lost after a hard reset.

If you see your contacts on a PC browser at https://www.google.com/contacts/#contacts they will sync with the phone after you set up your Google account on the phone.

 

[kloroformkandi]

Okay I will just do a hard reset then and hope it works.
I already know I can retrieve my contacts from my google account, I've had to do that before.

 

[kloroformkandi]

Hard reset didn't help so I would like to try rooting again :/

 

[doogald]

Hard reset didn't help so I would like to try rooting again :/

Ok, that's too bad. It would have been easier to root with a working phone.

Let's start with this: can you tell me the HBOOT version number? When you start the phone from power down while holding VolDn, it starts in HBOOT, and the version is in the second line. It should be either 1.46.0000, 1.47.0000, or 1.49.0000.

By the way, power down the phone ASAP after finding this out. HBOOT drains the battery pretty quickly.

 

[kloroformkandi]

Hboot 1.49.0000

 

[kloroformkandi]

.....

 

[doogald]

Sorry, big weekend. My kid is graduating and we're loaded with family...

 

[kloroformkandi]

I understand, but help asap would be nice, or some one else who can help me. I would just like to know if I can fix my phone by rooting as soon as possible so I can get a new one if not.

[Sorry not trying to sound rude.. >.<]

 

[doogald]

I understand, but help asap would be nice, or some one else who can help me. I would just like to know if I can fix my phone by rooting as soon as possible so I can get a new one if not.

[Sorry not trying to sound rude.. >.<]

Ok, I think that the instructions for going forward are here: Announcement: Do You have a Soft-Bricked Eris? - xda-developers

I'm going to quote it:

Take your time, and read and understand this whole post before you begin.

Files Needed:

Collect all the files you will need, get them on to the root folder of your SD card, and verify their MD5 signatures (the copy that makes it to your SD card, not the copy on your computer) :

"rom.zip" - the 1.51.0000 bootloader install payload - here **
MD5: daab6bcbe78c41938a95c4963c5c44e8

custom recovery - either Amon_RA's ("recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img"), or scary alien's trackball-free derivatives here (e.g. the New 1.7.1 version)

"ErisMiscReset_v0.9.zip" here

"MTD_Inspect_v0.9.zip" here

"ErisMTDNuke_v0.9.zip" here (also, please see disclaimer here)

"Eris_RootROM_v2.19.605.1_PB00IMG.zip" from shipped-roms.com. Note that this (also) is renamed to PB00IMG.zip at the appropriate time. **

A custom (dev) ROM, or even a fully stock ROM such as the HTC Eris March 2011 OTA Stock ROM - v2.41.605.6


Installation Method:

Note:

A less thorough method than what is described here, but shorter, is reported here. Even though I built the "ErisMTDNuke_v0.9.zip" repair tool, I do not advocate using it unless it is confirmed to be absolutely necessary. Moreover, in almost every case, having the Eris S-OFF bootloader on a rooted phone is an advantage, and (also) having the "misc" partition "MainVer" value reset back to a low value after fooling with RUUs or PB00IMG.zip installs is a good idea to prevent future disasters. The short method does not document either of these two steps.

Note #2: In any of these procedures, it is important to do so with A FULLY CHARGED PHONE. Do not let the phone sit idle for long periods of time in HBOOT, FASTBOOT, or RUU modes - even with the Eris plugged in to a USB port, in those modes it will discharge very rapidly - about two hours or so. That little green light is your friend.


- get fastboot on a PC working and communicating with the phone in its' current state (with the phone in fastboot mode or RUU mode). Doubtful if I will reply to inquiries about Windows and driver installs - it's covered in gory detail all over the place. Same goes with getting a copy of "fastboot.exe" for windows. (Google is your friend).

- Install the "rom.zip" file for the 1.51.0000 bootloader, (Rename to PB00IMG.zip and install it by booting the phone into HBOOT mode**)

- register with htcdev.com for unlocking this new Eris bootloader & follow the bootloader unlocking instructions (you can skip downloading & running the RUU, as you have installed the bootloader already)

- create a zip file with a custom recovery image in it (named "recovery.img"), and an "android-info.txt" file with MainVer set to 2.42.0000 (see step #3 of this XDA post).

- using fastboot and the phone in RUU mode, flash this zip file ("fastboot flash zip zipfilename.zip") Again, see step #3 of the link above.

- power off the phone and boot into the custom recovery and flash the ErisMiscReset_v0.9.zip file (watch for any errors - stop if you see errors!).

- in the same recovery session flash the MTD_Inspect_v0.9.zip file and determine if you have massive (bad block) corruption in any of /boot, /system, or /data. (See instructions here)

- If the above mentioned partitions only have one or two bad blocks, skip the next step.

- Flash (in recovery) ErisMTDNuke_v0.9.zip

- Re-lock the 1.51.0000 bootloader (phone in fastboot mode) with "fastboot oem lock"

- Flash the Eris Root ROM (from shipped-roms.com), using the HBOOT+PB00IMG.zip install method. The objective of this step is primarily to get rid of the 1.51.0000 bootloader, and install the 1.49.2000 S-OFF bootloader. Note this will stomp on your custom recovery (unless you use the battery pull trick), but that's OK.**

- get the custom recovery back onto the phone - using either the standard Eris rooting tools (Dummies or One-Click), or simply flash it using fastboot (e.g. "fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img")

- one last time: in the custom recovery, flash the ErisMiscReset_v0.9.zip file

- Install a ROM and be happy.


** after using any PB00IMG.zip file, it is a really good idea to rename it ASAP, so that you don't accidentally re-install it by inadvertently powering up the phone in HBOOT mode.


bftb0

If you have any questions about this, ask away. It looks daunting, as there are a lot of drudge-looking steps, but it's better to ask first than get stuck in the middle.

As listed early in those steps, make sure that the battery is well-charged.

 

[kloroformkandi]

Wow that is all kind of confusing to me..

But first off, I am already having a problem.
I was collecting the files listed and when I try to open custom recovery, I just get "unspecified error"

 

[doogald]

Wow that is all kind of confusing to me..

But first off, I am already having a problem.
I was collecting the files listed and when I try to open custom recovery, I just get "unspecified error"

You don't have to open that file - just download it.

You can directly download it from here: https://sites.google.com/site/scary...-v1.6.2-trackball-optional.img?attredirects=0

That link will download the file called "recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2-trackball-optional.img". Save it in your downloads folder (or you can create a custom folder to store all of those files.)

 

[kloroformkandi]

Alright.
I'm having trouble finding a working download for fastboot

 

[doogald]

Ugh. It used to be a lot easier to find....

This site has both a download link and instructions for setting up adb and fastboot from the Android SDK here:

How To: Install ADB and Fastboot on your Windows computer for use with your Android phone | dotTech

The download link is http://dottech.org/downloads/adb_fastboot_and_other_tools.zip

You can follow the directions yourself, but basically save that zip file to your hard disk at c:\. Unzipping that file will automatically create a c:\android folder with adb and fastboot.

 

[kloroformkandi]

Okay I think I got them installed..
Now how do I get my phone working with fastboot?

[Sorry I'm needing more details >.< This is all new to me.]

 

[doogald]

Okay I think I got them installed..
Now how do I get my phone working with fastboot?

[Sorry I'm needing more details >.< This is all new to me.]

First of all, I assume that you have Windows. If you are Mac or Linux, speak out.

- You need the HTC driver for the Eris installed first. If you have ever connected the PC to the Eris, it's already there. If not, you need to install this driver: DROID ERIS by HTC - Verizon - Support for HTC Cell Phones

- Usually, you need to set the phone's software to enable USB debugging. You obviously cannot do that, so I think that the next steps are:

- cable the phone to the PC

- start the phone in HBOOT by holding VolDn while you start the phone

- As it will say on the display, press the Send (green call key) to start Fastboot

- If things are cabled right, you should see, in red, FASTBOOT USB. That's probably a good enough sign. However, you can then:

- start a command prompt on your PC (Start->Run->Cmd <Enter>)

- type this command in the command window: cd \android and hit enter

- type the command fastboot devices and hit enter

If things are well, it should return with a code starting with HTCetc, where etc is a series of letters are numbers (and then the word "fastboot").

 

[kloroformkandi]

So far so good.
Now to install the rom.zip?

 

[doogald]

So far so good.
Now to install the rom.zip?

Yes, and you have a choice with this. The instruction above is to rename that rom.zip file to the name PB00IMG.zip (that's letter p letter b zero zero letter i letter m letter g period letter z letter i letter p), copy that file to your SD card, and then restart the phone in HBOOT.

However, you may have a problem: how do you get that file to your SD card without a booting phone? You can do it if you have an external SD card reader (so, take the SD out of your phone, put it in the reader, copy the file over, remove the SD card drive safely from the computer, put the SD card back in the phone, and - whew! - restart the phone in HBOOT.

Luckily, there is another way, and it's in that thread that I linked to above.

xda-developers - View Single Post - Announcement: Do You have a Soft-Bricked Eris?

you can also try flashing it as an RUU,wich eliminates the sd card,and the name of the file from the equation.

place rom.zip(for 1.51 hboot) into the folder containing fastboot and hboot..
-place the phone in fastboot.
-assuming you leave rom.zip named "rom.zip",open a cmd window and enter the following:

fastboot oem rebootRUU

fastboot flash zip rom.zip

it will do some stuff on the screen,then say "finished". then:

fastboot reboot-bootloader

thaT should boot you back into fastboot,where you should see 1.51.0000 locked hboot.

if you get a "failed" error instead of the above results,let us know what that error is and we can hopefully figure out what to do to make the flash work

if you get the 1.51 hboot,next step is to unlock it

So, to condense those instructions down a bit,

- copy that rom.zip file into your c:\android folder (where the "fastboot.exe" file is located)

- do what I listed a couple of posts above (start->run->cmd, then cd\android - you may as well leave this open, if it is not already)

- then do those three fastboot commands in bold above (make sure that they are typed exactly.)

Let's see if that gives you the 1.51.0000 S-ON HBOOT....

 

[kloroformkandi]

It says Locked so I believe it worked.
Next step?

Also, since we are doing this step by step, I have been powering down my phone so the battery stays charged.
Do I need to be starting from the very first step in doing so?

 

[doogald]

It says Locked so I believe it worked.
Next step?

Next step is to unlock the bootloader. You need to start here: Welcome to HTCdev

Click on "Register" at the top to create an account. If that does not log you in, then login with your user id and password at the top and go to this page: HTCdev - Unlock Bootloader

Choose "Droid Eris" from the drop-down, then the button "Begin Unlock Bootloader".

Say yes at the silly popup and then check the two boxes at the next screen of the popup and "Proceed to unlock instructions".

Ignore the first page - click the button at the bottom "Proceed to Step 1".

Do steps 1-4 on the next page. Click "Proceed to Step 5".

Step 5 through 7 you have already done. Go to that command prompt window that you opened before and make sure that it is still in c:\android. Click "Proceed to Step 8" at the bottom.

Follow whatever instructions that come next. You are now at a step beyond where I have been.

Let me/us know if you have any problems.