Njd4

Hi..

Apologies for the length of this post...

Im eager to take the plunge and install a custom ROM on my rooted HTC 2.1 stock GSM hero but am having problems booting into ANY custom recovery and don't want to attempt to install a custom ROM until this problem is sorted..

I rooted my hero with Universal Androot v1.6.2 beta 5 and it seemed to root fine, I have superuser permisions in my programs menu, I can use rooted apps like SetCPU and titanium backup etc so I installed ROM manager and installed clockworkMod recovery 2.5.0.1 but when I try to go into recovery by holding home and power key it just comes up with the screen with the black phone icon with the red exclamation mark in the triangle..

Sometimes if I press up arrow and power key it will then take me into a screen which says Android system recovery <2e> with an error message at the bottom of the screen.. E:Can't open /cache/recovery/command.

So i use the reboot option to get me out of it.

.... And Sometimes the up arrow and power wont get me out of the screen with the red exclamation mark so I have no option but to pull the battery (and every time I think it'll brick my phone).

I'm assuming the recovery image hasn't taken..

I have googled and have seen loads of people with the same problem but none of the solutions I've found seem to work for me.

I have tried flashing RA recovery v1.7.0.1 from within ROM Manager and that worked once and allowed me to do a nandroid backup but now I can't even get into that, it just takes me to the same screen with the red exclamation mark..

ROM Manager reports that my current recovery is indeed RA v1.7.0.1 but it still wont work.

I have over 5 Gb free on my SD card so I don't think that is the issue (some forums have given that as an answer to others with the same problem).

I have also tried installing RA recovery using Terminal Emulator with the command:-

$ Su
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img

(Where the image file is in the root of my sd card)

But again I still can't get into the recovery ROM.

I am desperate to try some of these new custom ROM's but don't want to chance it if I can't even get my hero into recovery, just in case I don't like the ROM or in case things go pear shaped and I need to restore my phone..

Any advice is much appreciated!!

Slug

A very wise decision.

It seems quite common for CWN to not "stick", for want of a better term, on the first attempt. Usually reflashing from ROM Manager does the trick.

That sounds as if the stock recovery has somehow restored itself... strange.

Try reflashing via ROM Manager. If that doesn't work I'd advise using ADB from the desktop, but that requires the Android SDK so better the easy option first!

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Deech

I thought ADB had been removed from the core of the SDK? I have a zip of it and the usb drivers somewhere mainly because I similar isssues.

Slug

ADB and associated files are now part of the "Program Tools" package, but you still need the SDK installed to retrieve it. I'm pretty sure that you only require adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, AdbWinUsbApi.dll and fastboot.exe (plus the USB drivers for the device) to have the necessary tools for rooting.

Hmm, I feel an experiment coming on....

Deech

He he he

I got need adb and the usb drivers to get android commander going, only grabbed
adb.exe
AdbWinApi.dll
AdbWinUsbApi.dll

to make it work which some kind soul had packaged in a zip file and hosted on megaupload or similar
http://www1070.megaupload.com/files/e0bc1714c8bfd4d58dd936d1e14d9415/ADB.zip

Last edited by Deech; February 5th, 2011 at 09:35 AM. Reason: found the link in downloads history..all praise firefox :)

Slug

Nice work there, Deech.

I've just done something similar here, using the USB drivers from the most recent HTC Sync 3.0 package, in 32-bit XP and 64-bit Win7 flavours. It's only 2.5MB in size so once I've added a brief README I'll upload it here and make it available as an attachment in case that d/l link expire

edit: ADB.ZIP available via my public Dropbox

Last edited by Slug; February 6th, 2011 at 03:15 PM.

Njd4

Thanks for the info..




I did read that ClockworkMod recovery doesn't always stick first time so I did try it a few times and also tried going between that and RA recovery a few times but neither seemed to stick more than the once..

With each, the ROM seems to have gone again after a reboot..

Do you think it has anything to do with using the Universal Androot when I rooted?

I wonder if unrooting and re-rooting would help?.. I must admit i've not tried that yet!

I'm not really sure what this ADB is (just had a quick google for it but still not too sure) so if you could upload this Slug (plus any links to any instructions on installing a custom recovery via this method), then that would be very much appreciated!

Then I can look forward to installing a custom ROM and hopefully putting a bit more Uuumph into my hero !



Thanks again to all for your replies!

Slug

I shouldn't think so; many others have used it and it's worked.

Do you definitely have root i.e. no error messages when you run TiBackup?

That's a bit drastic.... a 'last resort' measure.

It's a DOS binary that let's you interact with Android via your PC's command-line interface. I've got the archived files ready to go up but am experiencing problems uploading to the site right now.

Btw, there's a flashable ZIP version available in this post. Copy it and recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img to your sdcard, then re-run the terminal commands to flash Amon_RA:

Once (hopefully) in the recovery, scroll down and select Flash zip from sdcard, select recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1-update.zip and confirm.
When complete, select Power off then try booting back into recovery by holding down HOME while powering on. Fingers crossed, it will have worked....

Xyro

PCs have the Command Prompt program for doing command line work, and Linux/Android have the Terminal, which is just the same. ADB is a program that lets you send commands from command prompt on your PC to the phone's terminal, just because it's more convenient.

I think I've heard of this before, although I can't exactly remember how people fixed it. I don't know if I'm making this up, but I think it stops being rewritten once you put a custom ROM on there. One visit to the recovery screen is sufficient anyway, even if the problem persisted. But if the custom ROM wouldn't boot you'd have to hope the custom recovery is still there to fall back on, so it's a risk.

__________________

C.Glucose

Hi all,

I'm having the same problem.

I tried going into the Terminal Emulator, and followed the first part of Slug's suggestion.

What I got:

export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$ $su
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
# reboot recovery
not permited!
#

Any ideas?

Oh and yes, I renamed the .img file when the sd card was connected to the PC so it would read recovery.img...

Last edited by Slug; February 6th, 2011 at 03:31 PM.

Slug

Did you see confirmation that it had written the recovery.img?

Hmm, that should work regardless. You may have to try the ADB route, I'm afraid.

C.Glucose

No confirmation, no. Just another hash tag.

Right. Bummer.

What is the easiest way to do the ADB route? Is there a clear, concise guide?

Thanks for your replies so far

Njd4

What the heck??

Now titanium backup says it can't get root access even though I've used it before!

I've gone back into universal androot and unrooted then re-rooted and setCPU, quick app cache cleaner (root access) works and I can install rom manager (all of which I think only work with root access?) Yet titanium backup still says it can't get root access!!

Also, I too never got a confirmation to indicate that the recovery rom flashing was successful using terminal emulator, it just took me back to the # and I just assumed it was done, so maybe it didn't!

Thanks for the upload and the extra info but I've not tried them yet as I'm now not even sure I'm properly rooted!?

Slug

Thinking back on it, I could be wrong about the write confirmation in the terminal. I know you see a "reading.../writing..." msg in the adb shell - maybe not on the handset.

For TiBackup, try the Problems? button to d/l a known-good version of Busybox. That's all I can think of being a problem right now, if other apps indicate that they're seeing root. What apps are listed as having root in Superuser Permissions?

That ADB.ZIP I uploaded has basic setup instructions enclosed. If you run "adb devices" with your handset connected to the PC and it returns a deviceID e.g. HTxxxxxxxxxx then you're good to go. If rooted "adb shell" should put you at the $ prompt. Enter "su" and you should see #. "Exit" will return you to the DOS prompt, btw.

If you want to go further, you can find instructions on flashing the Amon_RA recovery via fastboot + adb on the first page of this thread. This requires that the *.img file is in the same folder on your PC as adb.exe and will 'push' the file to /sdcard. If you already have it there then ignore the "adb push...." step but the .img file is still required in the PC folder for the "fastboot...." part.

Hope this is of some help. I'm off to bed.

C.Glucose

Hi Slug,

Downloaded your .zip file but when reading the readme, I realised I have HTC Sync installed already (plus I downloaded Android SDK earlier).

I've gone ahead and extracted some files ADB to its own folder, as Deech mentioned earlier, just

adb.exe
AdbWinApi.dll
AdbWinUsbApi.dll

Is that all I need?

Which connection type should I select on the phone - HTC Sync or Disk Drive?

I'd assume disk drive...

Cheers Slug, really appreciated.

Slug

In that case you'll also have the USB drivers in place so ignore that part of my destructions.

Copy my fastboot.exe into the same folder too, as it's required.

This is where I'm at a loss, as I haven't used Sense on the Hero for a long time. Is there a "Charge only" option? If not, try simply not selecting anything and just run the "adb devices" command. The required device driver is loaded when the USB connection is detected, so the device itself isn't required to do anything. If the "devices" query returns the deviceID then everything's working and you can proceed with the fastboot procedure.

Deech

yes there is a Charge Only option in Sense

I never bothered with fastboot as I was wanting to run Android Commander that needs ADB path setting etc

Right time to sort out netbook ready for work

C.Glucose

Right, connected my HTC Hero.

Where do I start? What program do I use - command prompt?

C.Glucose

Right! Opened cmd, entered a few things.

adb devices
adb server is out of date. killing...
*daemon started successfully*
List of devices attached
HT********** device

adb shell
$ su
su
Permission denied
$

So ... I guess this means superuser access is denied??

Strange. Any ideas?

Slug

Did you miss a request for permissions from the Superuser Permissions app? Try again, but if nothing appears on the handset then it looks as if your root wasn't successful.

C.Glucose

Tried again, but no joy. Permission denied again.

Right. How do I go about uninstalling all the programs and their data, or is it not important to remove all the data?

I believe Androot has an unroot feature, am I correct?

Should I try some other method of rooting after all this?

Thanks guys

Slug

Which programs?

I've never used it, but I believe someone else said that it does.

By all accounts this method should work. I'd love to know what's giving the problem.

Can you confirm your device has the Orange 2.1-update1 firmware? I'm tempted to flash my own back to 2.73.xx.xx (1.5), install the OTAs then try re-rooting just to see what (if anything) is going on. I hate mysteries!

C.Glucose

I meant the programs and data used for rooting. E.g. Universal Androot, Terminal Emulator, BusyBox Installer, Rom manager, Titanium Backup.

The reason I asked was that if I wanted to try re-rooting, do I have to unroot first, deleting all the data from the previous rooting, or is it not important?

Yep, my phone has the Orange UK 2.1-update1 firmware.

Deech

Try re-installing the universal androot and see what happens from there

C.Glucose

Seems to be working...at least I'm into amon_ra's recovery.

Strange.

One thing that might have been the problem:

In this guide:

http://androidforums.com/hero-all-things-root/162947-htc-hero-gsm-rooting-guide-updated-13-06-gmt-12-oct-10-a.html

This paragraph:
Installing a recovery image:
- Install 'ROM Manager' from the market (the free version is fine).
- Launch RM and pick the first option to flash clockwork. The superuser permissions app should pop up and you should click allow. Let it finish and reboot.
Note: If the SU permissions app doesn't pop up, make sure you have 'USB Debugging' enabled in your phone's settings.
- Launch RM again and pick the bottom option, to flash amon ra.
- The phone will reboot when done, at which point you need to turn it off again. This step didn't happen. So I manually restarted the system. Then turned it off. (Would this have made a difference?)
- Boot by holding Home + Power, at which point amon ra should appear.

Xyro

Been a while since I wrote that guide, but I yeah I think the app would reboot the phone for you every time it flashed a recovery menu. So the fact it wasn't rebooting on it's own would be a sign that the flashing wasn't working, rather than the reason it wasn't flashing, if you see what I mean.

So now you have access to amon ra and it doesn't disappear when you reboot? That means you're ready to go

C.Glucose

Whaddya know, so far it seems VillainRom has installed fine!

Well. That was unexpected.

Thanks guys, hopefully I won't be back on this problem for a while

I reinstalled Universal Androot, i.e. put new version on the card and ran through Linda File Manager. It said I was already rooted but I asked to re-root anyway.

Used ROM manager to flash alternate, then switched off and restarted in amon_ra recovery mode.

Now seems okay.

Thanks everyone!

Njd4

... Alas this didn't work for me..

I Used Universal Androot to unroot then re-root my phone which got titanium backup working again,

Then I used adb on my PC to try slugs suggestion of:-

$su
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img
#reboot recovery

which DID get me into RA recovery!

So I tried Slug's:-

"Once (hopefully) in the recovery, scroll down and select Flash zip from sdcard, select recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1-update.zip and confirm.
When complete, select Power off then try booting back into recovery by holding down HOME while powering on"

But alas, this just brought me back to the screen with the phone and the red exclamation mark in the triangle so I used up arrow and power and it took me to the same old Android system recovery <2e> screen..



I then attempted the fastboot method but after the initial:-

"adb shell reboot bootloader" command it went to a screen on my Hero with the android skateboarders on but gives me the following errors:-

"fastboot boot recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img - gives me a downloading 'boot.img' FAILED <remote: not allow> error..

adb shell mount /sdcard - gives me a error:device not found error..

So I couldn't continue with the rest:-

adb push recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img /sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img
adb shell flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img
adb shell reboot"

So can you tell me what I'm doing wrong and how to enter the remaining lines of this code?

Many thanks!

Last edited by Njd4; February 7th, 2011 at 04:31 PM. Reason: added error messages received in adb...

Slug

Hmm, "fastboot boot <recovery filename>" isn't working for me either.... I'm getting a "Cannot load <recovery filename>" error. That's on an already-rooted device too, which is odd.

One thing; when you ran UniversalAndroot, did you specify the correct Superuser version i.e. 2.0-2.2?

This thread at XDA gives a step-by-step walkthrough as well as containing a few possible solutions for recovery-flashing problems.

Njd4

Thanks Slug..

I've edited my previous post with the error messages I'm receiving when trying the fastboot method but have been googling all evening and still haven't found a solution that works..

I did specify the correct superuser version in Universal Androot.

And i've tried a couple of suggestions from your other link supplied but still no luck !

Slug

Rats! indeed.

I guess you could try unrooting with Androot, doing a factory reset and then trying again to see if that makes a difference. That will of course wipe all your user-space apps as well as contacts etc, but is preferable to my only other suggestion right now, which is a ROM downgrade to 2.73.405.5.

edit: that <remote: not allow> confirms my fear.... the bloody bootloader is locked!

Last edited by Slug; February 7th, 2011 at 06:00 PM.

Njd4

Oh..

Does that mean it's a no go ?



And why on my phone? when so many other people must have the same phone from Orange?

I tried un-rooting and did a factory reset but alas it still didn't work...

Just spent the last few hours re-configuring all my apps!

LOL

Phones alot quicker though since the factory reset!

Every cloud and all that !

Slug

No, it just means that you may have to downgrade to a pre-2.1 firmware to root.

That I don't yet understand. Trouble is, the Hero's been around for so long now, and gone through so many updates, that details tend to get lost. I've seen some references to a locked bl after some updates elsewhere but I didn't think it applied to the Orange firmware.

Ain't that the truth?!?

Confirm your current firmware build, will ya? I think I'll see if I can RUU the 2.73.61.66 onto mine and see how it goes.

Xyro

Hmm. Random thought here, how did you install 2.1 Njd4? Apparently, if you installed 2.1 from a RUU.exe rather than via the Over-The-Air update you can't root your phone.

I haven't heard anybody mention the 2.1 RUUs here, but I just thought I'd ask.

Njd4

Hi.

My phone is reporting a firmware version of 2.1-update 1 with a build number of 3.35.61.2 CL 196735 release-keys.

I updated from 1.5 via the OTA 2 part update process. Never previously rooted nor installed any previous custom recoveries or rom's.

Regards.

Slug

All copied, thanks.

I'm going to attempt the same i.e. reflash the official Orange firmware and (hopefully) install the OTA updates to get me to the same version. Then I'll try rooting with Androot, installing ROM Manager and flashing CWM just as you did. I'm just waiting for a nandroid backup to complete then I'll swap the 8GB sdcard for the 2GB that came with the handset to ensure there are no traces of previously-installed apps remaining.

Last edited by Slug; February 9th, 2011 at 03:10 PM.

Njd4

Blimey!

Cheers Slug!

Now that's what I call.. going the extra mile!

Slug

The way I look at it is, an accepted method for rooting isn't working so it's in all our interests to find out why. If I can successfully reroot then at least we have a baseline to work from. If I can't.... well, we're still in the dark but as my Hero is no longer my main handset it's not the end of the world if I lock myself out.

Slug

Phew, reflash accomplished! No problem (surprisingly) running the RUU with Elelinux 7.0.0 installed.

Firmware: 2.1-update1
Software #: 3.35.61.2 CL196735 release-keys.
Baseband: 63.18.55.06PU_6.35.15.14 (identical to that in use previously)
Hboot: 1.76.0007 (CVT SHIP S-ON)

Now to try rooting it....

update:
This is interesting..... no, really it is.

1. Installed OI File Manager and used it to install Universal Androot from /sdcard
2. Ran Universal Androot, selected the "2.0-2.2" option and got confirmation of root
3. Installed Root Explorer (an old favourite) and rebooted
4. After restart, opened Root Explorer; got SU Permissions pop-up, checked "Allow always", now had access to all file systems
5. Rebooted
6. Opened RE. Saw notification that it was allowed su permissions. Root is persistent.
7. Installed ROM Manager (free)
8. Opened ROM Manager and selected "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery". Checked "Allow always" when asked by SU Permissions. Flash was confirmed
9. Powered off
10. Rebooted into recovery with HOME + POWER.... saw stock recovery image!
11. Pulled battery, rebooted as normal
12. Opened ROM Manager and reflashed CWM. Selected "Reboot into recovery"
13. Success... now at ClockworkMod Recovery menu!
14. Rebooted system from CWM
15. Powered off
16. Rebooted into recovery with HOME + POWER.... saw stock recovery image!
17. Going to fetch last cold beer from fridge and have a think

update #2:
CRACKED IT!!!!

The answer has been staring me in the face all along but I'd overlooked it.

See the comprehensive guide in the XDA Hero Develpment forum here by btdag, and scroll down to "*Useful information" and "***solution 3". Doh!

If you have a working ADB setup, run the following from the Windows command prompt before flashing your alternate recovery:

Alternately, use a root-aware file manager such as Root Explorer to simply delete the install-recovery.sh file (file system must be made r/w).

Once this has been done, flash your recovery and it will persist after reboot.

Last edited by Slug; February 9th, 2011 at 06:28 PM.

Njd4

Well thanks for trying!

At least I know I wasn't doing anything silly!



Weirdly I got RA recovery to last for 2 reboots tonight and clockworkmods for 3!

A new record!

Alas it didn't last..

But did you get the screen with the phone with the triangle and red exclamation Mark at any stage? Because I still get this EVERY time it looses whichever custom recovery and it's only after I press up Arrow and power that I THEN see the stock recovery..

... with that annoying "E:Can't open cache /recovery/command" error..

Xyro

The triangle and exclamation mark are the background to the stock recovery image as far as I remember:



The screen you're referring to, is it white? It sounds like fastboot/flashboot:



And 'E:Can't open cache /recovery/command' is usually a sign that the phone is looking for the stock recovery menu to flash an update, but can't find it... Strange.

Last edited by Xyro; February 9th, 2011 at 06:32 PM.

Slug

Nope, the silliness was on my part. I should have put two and two together... the symptoms were obvious enough.

See my update a few minutes ago..... we're in business!

Xyro

Ah. So there's a script in /system/ reflashing the stock recovery?

So you could just flash a custom ROM then, since that would wipe out the script. (Your solution is much more elegant though :P). I knew I hadn't imagined that

Slug

Yup, the confusion is mine. Whatever that big red exclamation mark is, it's not the stock recovery. I never saw the latter, only the former which has no menu options. I think it was trying to tell me to stop futzing around.

Woot, fourth reboot into recovery on the trot and it's loading CWM every time. Happy days....

Aye, which should have been bloody obvious to me.

Don't tell anyone, but that was my "final solution" if I ran out of patience. Doing it this way gives the user the choice of retaining the stock 2.1 ROM but with root access and the ability to make full backups with nandroid if they so wish.

p.s. I'm crashing out now.... all this thinking has tired me out. I'll look at documenting the procedure more tidily in the morning, then it can be added to the Rooting Guide so that it can be found easily.

Last edited by Slug; February 9th, 2011 at 06:51 PM.

Njd4

Blimey !!



RA Recovery seems to be holding 3 reboots later !!

Fantastic !!!

I must confess that I originally tried your fix at about 1am last night (I really must get an early night!) via a root explorer app to delete that install-recovery.sh script then installed the custom ROM but the recovery still never stuck..

So I was afraid I was having to give you some bad news !!



But then I've just got home and tried it via adb and it seems to have done the trick !!!



.... So far so good anyway !!

So i'd recommend this be done via adb rather than a root explorer as that didn't work for me.

So Many thanks guys for getting this sorted for me !!

Oh and Xyro..

The screen I got on reboot when holding home & power instead of a custom recovery (or any recovery come to that!) was as below, not the one you uploaded..

Many thanks again to all !!

Now I just have to choose which custom ROM to install!!



Neil.

Attached Images

images.jpg (2.2 KB, 7 views)

Xyro

Oh, weird. That's a new one to me I'm afraid.

As for which ROM, you need to decide on whether you want 2.1/2.2/2.3, whether you want HTC Sense or not and how bleeding edge/stable you want it to be.

That will narrow it down to a manageable number

Deech

errrmmmm I had the same, I just rebooted again and also removed battery too but got same photo....

if that helps to mudy the waters

Slug

If it persists after a cold boot then you're home and dry. Nuking that install-recovery.sh script is the key.... wish I'd pulled it before deleting to have a look and see exactly what it does.

Have you run the commands to delete the above script before flashing the new recovery?

nemesis2911

sorry if i necro'ed this thread and restated the obvious. I was running the same version as slug and was getting constant errors with CWM with regards to flashing a recovery. I tried deleting that install-recovery.sh script and it wasnt there so it couldnt be deleted.

after rooting again, doing everything possible including slaughtering a lamb, i found a different method to go about things which was to add the flash_image function so that i could just use adb to flash the recovery which worked like a charm.

In short- anyone who is having problems flashing a recovery for reasons that cannot be explained, try this

1. use universal androot and get your phone rooted using the method mentioned above
2. get root explorer
3. get this file onto the root of your sd card however you can
http://cyanogen-files.carneeki.net/flash_image.zip
4. using root explorer, copy this file to /system/bin
make sure you enable read write opposed to read only so that it actually pastes
5. once you have pasted the flash_image in the system/bin, click on it and change its permissions (i gave it every permission for safety sake)
6. using your sdk type in adb shell flash_image recovery /sdcard/yourrecoveryimagehere.img

hopefully this works for you guys like it did for me. Im not really any good at stuff like this so ill try my best to answer a question if anyone has one. i just wanted to share my method incase some lost soul is still stuck

Last edited by Slug; March 28th, 2011 at 12:23 PM. Reason: advocating piracy against forum rules

mehulved

Thank you. That worked perfectly.