Need service to root?

gogomouse1 · January 16th, 2013, 01:55 PM

Okay- I'm a total "Root Noob"- right now, I have no service on my Triumph, but I still use it for Facebook, games, maps, google, etc. through wi-fi.
I stopped paying on my account for financial reasons, and I have a free flip phone from my job to make calls.

But I want to start using my Triumph again, but not until I root it. Can I do this, even though I have no service?(I still download apps over wi-fi) I'm worried that even if the root appears successful, how can I tell before I re-establish service- or is this not an issue?

I'm only looking to update to 2.3, and remove bloatware, not push it to the max with major mods or overclocking.

thIsgUy20 · January 16th, 2013, 02:00 PM

yea you can root without service but if you decide to activate later i dont believe you can activate on a rooted and custom rom. i dont have service and im rooted

ben1122a · January 16th, 2013, 02:09 PM

The only problem foreseeable problem is activating your phone again. When it comes down to rooting, it should NEVER conflict with you having a connection or not. The only problem you will have is once you update to 2.3. As you may or may not know, you will be unable to activate/reactivate your phone from a custom rom. However, you could get a jump start on using it anyway. Here's how I would do it.

1. Root your phone. Install Titanium backup and backup EVERYTHING. Keep the apk on your sd card.
2. Root your phone and install CWM.
4. Make a nandroid backup.
3. Flash your chosen rom.
4. Install titanium backup and restore all your apps.
5. When the time comes to reactivate your phone, Make a nandroid backup of your ROM build in cwm.
6. do a factory wipe and partion /data and /system
7. Restore your first backup of your STOCK.
8. Activate phone
9. Return to CWM. factory reset, wipe data and system.
10. Restore rom.
11. Enjoy your not-complete-shite phone.

If you need any help with CWM, flashing roms, which roms to choose, troubleshooting, or any of that, try the All things Root sticky
hope this helps.

chilz · January 16th, 2013, 02:58 PM

u may be making this more complicated then need be ok so has ur account been off more then 2 months if not then root and rom and when ready call and say reactivate my phone bue beyosd the 2 month time frame follow others instructions once ur phone is active on the network if ur account is not deleted when u re activate it will be on the same phone

nwaves · January 16th, 2013, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben1122a

The only problem foreseeable problem is activating your phone again. When it comes down to rooting, it should NEVER conflict with you having a connection or not. The only problem you will have is once you update to 2.3. As you may or may not know, you will be unable to activate/reactivate your phone from a custom rom. However, you could get a jump start on using it anyway. Here's how I would do it.

1. Root your phone. Install Titanium backup and backup EVERYTHING. Keep the apk on your sd card.
2. Root your phone and install CWM.
4. Make a nandroid backup.
3. Flash your chosen rom.
4. Install titanium backup and restore all your apps.
5. When the time comes to reactivate your phone, Make a nandroid backup of your ROM build in cwm.
6. do a factory wipe and partion /data and /system
7. Restore your first backup of your STOCK.
8. Activate phone
9. Return to CWM. factory reset, wipe data and system.
10. Restore rom.
11. Enjoy your not-complete-shite phone.

If you need any help with CWM, flashing roms, which roms to choose, troubleshooting, or any of that, try the All things Root sticky
hope this helps.

Flashing apps backed up with Ti on Froyo to Gingerbread is a sure way to run into troubles.

Easiest way for him is to root, install CWM, make a nandroid of his stock ROM and then flash CM7. If/When he decides to get service back, he can make a nandroid backup of the CM7, then wipe it and recover the Stock ROM, activate the phone and then flash the CM7 nandroid back.

rebel69ization · January 16th, 2013, 04:21 PM

You don't have to root, just install cwm recovery then you can put any rom you want on your device. All custom roms are already rooted so no need for that

keisukehonda · January 16th, 2013, 04:29 PM

Install CWM and make a backup; if you need to activate your phone later just restore the backup, activate it, and install any ROM you please.

gogomouse1 · January 16th, 2013, 07:05 PM

Thanks everyone.

Yes, it'll be more than two months by the time I get it activated again-and I'm waiting on a charger & 2 extra batteries I ordered from Amazon anyway.

I guess I'll just wait until I get the service back on (with a new number obviously) and go from there. Thanks for all the suggestions.

It's either that...... or get an (gulp) iPhone

just kidding! I love android. I was talking with a co-worker that tried to jailbreak his iPhone, he now has a $300 paperweight.

chilz · January 16th, 2013, 07:16 PM

well just for root access u dont need anything but gingerbreak so if its for an app of sort that requires root just get ginger break and click root phone will reboot then all done

ben1122a · January 16th, 2013, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwaves

Flashing apps backed up with Ti on Froyo to Gingerbread is a sure way to run into troubles.

Easiest way for him is to root, install CWM, make a nandroid of his stock ROM and then flash CM7. If/When he decides to get service back, he can make a nandroid backup of the CM7, then wipe it and recover the Stock ROM, activate the phone and then flash the CM7 nandroid back.

Speaking from personal experience, I had no trouble backing up/restoring my 70+apps when I upgrade to GB. May be different from other people, but it worked just fine for me.

gogomouse1 · January 23rd, 2013, 05:00 PM

AAARRRGH.
I give up. I bought a charger and extra batteries from a seller on Amazon, and the piece of junk just doesn't work. My phone's charging port won't work with any cord I've tried.

I'm just going to cut my losses on this thing..... which sucks, I really do love my Triumph, and was looking forward to rooting and upgrading it.

Well, if anyone wants three extra batteries cheap (two 1600 mh replacements plus the original) let me know.

thIsgUy20 · January 23rd, 2013, 06:20 PM

So u gonna get a replacement? Virgin mobile don't really ask no questions. I just tell them I already took the battery out and everything cause that's they solution for everything. So I say that and they send me a replacement

chilz · January 23rd, 2013, 06:29 PM

tell them in these exact words WTF MY CHARGING PORT IS BAD FIX IT they will if u are under warrenty and u might get lucky and get the newer triumphs i have mine overclocked at 1.9 and not a problem yet

keisukehonda · January 23rd, 2013, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gogomouse1

AAARRRGH.
I give up. I bought a charger and extra batteries from a seller on Amazon, and the piece of junk just doesn't work. My phone's charging port won't work with any cord I've tried.

I'm just going to cut my losses on this thing..... which sucks, I really do love my Triumph, and was looking forward to rooting and upgrading it.

Well, if anyone wants three extra batteries cheap (two 1600 mh replacements plus the original) let me know.

So your phone won't turn on even after charging the battery through the external charger and swapping in the charged battery into your phone? I recently ran into the same issue as you where my charging port no longer worked, but the method of charging the batteries through the external charger from Amazon and swapping batteries as needed has worked flawlessly for me thus far.

gogomouse1 · January 30th, 2013, 10:09 PM

No- that POS charger from Amazon doesn't work, all it does is drain the batteries.
I guess I'm just going to get a new VM phone- one that is already running 4.0

gogomouse1 · January 31st, 2013, 03:14 PM

Okay, I just got off the phone with VM, they're sending me a new phone. Well, actually a refurbished phone, since I only have three weeks left on my warranty.
I'll probably get a new phone soon anyway..... but I really do like the Triumph.
Once I do the mods and upgrades I'll decide if I'm going to get a new one.
Thanks to everyone's help and input.

rebel69ization · February 2nd, 2013, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chilz

tell them in these exact words WTF MY CHARGING PORT IS BAD FIX IT they will if u are under warrenty and u might get lucky and get the newer triumphs i have mine overclocked at 1.9 and not a problem yet

Yeah I bought mine (used) on eBay used and it broke down. Virgin sent me one brand new in the box. I have had no problems whatsoever.

gogomouse1 · February 2nd, 2013, 08:35 AM

Well, I got a replacement used phone in the mail- it took less than 24 hours to get here- that's the good news.
The bad news- that piece of crap battery & charger I got off Amazon didn't work- and I think it ruined my original Motorola battery too -yes, I'm sure I shouldn't have put THAT one in the charger, but when the replacement one didn't work, I figured I had nothing to lose at that point.
So now the new phone can't charge any of the batteries- well, as of 12 hours charging, nothing yet- so I'm going to send both phones back to VM, and just ask for something else. I love the Triumph- but it's just not worth the trouble anymore... and the worst part? Until I get the situation fixed, I'm going to have to use my ex's old phone- an HTC Wildfire S- what a piece of crap that thing is!
Well, off to the Wildfire root page.....
Thanks to everyone that gave me advice and input, I'll let y'all know how everything works out.

gogomouse1 · February 14th, 2013, 07:53 PM

Ok, an update. Virgin is sending me yet another refurbed Triumph- complete with a battery charger and battery. Since my one year warranty was almost up, they wouldn't give me any other phone besides a Triumph.
If it works, I'll be more than happy, I do love the Triumph, the only bad thing about that phone (compared to any other two year-old android phone) is the battery life- but I now have a stash of like five batteries....

dsmryder · February 14th, 2013, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gogomouse1

Ok, an update. Virgin is sending me yet another refurbed Triumph- complete with a battery charger and battery. Since my one year warranty was almost up, they wouldn't give me any other phone besides a Triumph.
If it works, I'll be more than happy, I do love the Triumph, the only bad thing about that phone (compared to any other two year-old android phone) is the battery life- but I now have a stash of like five batteries....

Well, I hope this one works out for you. Maybe you can enjoy some Ice Cream Sandwiches with us.

OverByter · February 21st, 2013, 06:52 AM

When I had my Triumph I went through 6 class a replacements in a little over 2 months, even after speaking with someone with Sprints Executive Escalations board I was told that there's no way to switch to a different phone, even if it's cheaper. At one point I actually had 4 of them sitting on my dresser, they're the only carrier that I know of that doesn't require either the defective phone back first or at least take your credit card number before cross shipping.

OB

gogomouse1 · February 28th, 2013, 11:57 PM

So I sent the two phones back and waited.
And waited.
I called VM last Saturday, and the representitive was nice, but of absolutely no help to me.
I called again Tuesday, and the rep told me yes, they did receive something from me, but she couldn't tell what. But nothing had been sent out, including any kind of notification. She got it going, and the phone was here in two days.
(sigh)
They were supposed to send me a new charger and battery, but all I got was a refurbed phone. Fine. I have the like four batteries laying around..... two original Motorola, and the two that I bought with that cheap-ass charger from Amazon. Well, I guess trying to charge the original batteries in that crappy Chinese charger was NOT a good idea.... the Motorola batteries were no good.... but the Amazon ones worked just fine. ..

So- I finally have a working Triumph again. UGH- after three months of using a flip-phone, or that God-awful HTC Wildfire S (the "S" stands for "s**t"), I'm happy. I'm going to leave it alone for a week or so, then start plotting my root. Like I've said- I'm basically clueless about rooting and whatnot, so I'll study everything first... after finally getting a working Triumph, I'm almost hesitant to mess with it now.... but it's comforting to know that it's not a phone that "bricks" easily.
As always, I'll post updates. Thanks to everyone for the help and advice.

gogomouse1 · April 2nd, 2013, 11:18 PM

Okay- final update in this thread.
So VM sent me the second replacement phone, just as my original one-year warranty was expiring. They promised me a refurb phone with a new battery and charger- but all they sent me was the phone- no battery, no charger. But luckily, I had those replacement batteries that I bought on Amazon, and plenty of old charging cords laying around.
And you know what- this Triumph worked smoother than the original one that I paid $300 for a year ago. But a few weeks after I got the phone up and running, VM called and said they never got the two other phones (my original and the first replacement) that I sent in together, and they were threatening to shut off my service if I didn't return the phones ASAP.
Well, after two days of arguing with them,and going from sales to tech departments back and forth, it turns out they had the phones after all!

Now for the good news- after I gave the Battery charger a one star rating on Amazon.com, the manufacturer contacted me and offered me a new one, or a refund- I took the refund, and thanked them, without those batteries I'd be screwed. The cheap charger fried the stock Triumph batteries, and they wouldn't take a charge. So I still have two working batteries.

And FINALLY, today, I successfully rooted my phone with CM7!!!!!

I have to admit, I was nervous about doing it, especially after not having a decent phone for a while. It went okay, except that one of the root guides here didn't mention about installing the gapps first- but the second try worked perfectly- and I'm in love with the Triumph all over again.
Now I need to learn how to take advantage of what the mod can do. I've already got the wifi tethering working, and I'm looking forward to see what else I can do now.
Thanks to everyone that gave me advice!