Help Disable OTA without Rooting a HTC Thunderbolt? (Firmware 1.13.605.7)

[aethyrprime]

Just as the name of the thread implies is there an ability to block OTA updates without rooting a phone. I have a service agreement and don't feel like violating that but do not want any of the OTA's. Any help would be appreciated thanks.

 

[johnlgalt]

Moved here for better exposure to TBolt owners

 

[Yeahha]

The only way to not get the notifications for an OTA would be root and flash a custom rom or accept the OTA, otherwise you will be pestered by it until you accept it.

 

[dragonsamus]

Also, some people were getting the update applied without them doing it.

 

[scotty85]

why would you not want to OTA? newer firmware is most always better.

if its the usual reason(i dont want to give up my free hotspot),IMO not accepting the OTAs in order to keep it is every bit as dishonest as rooting and installing a root only tether app.

just my 2 cents.

and no,there is no way to stop it,that i know of that doesnt involve being rooted.

 

[Yeahha]

Question for the OP. What part of your service agreement do you have that rooting would violate?

 

[scotty85]

Question for the OP. What part of your service agreement do you have that rooting would violate?

i erased my first response that came to mind im curious to hear this answer as well

 

[aethyrprime]

From what I understand if I rooted my phone my product replacement plan would not be valid. I've had 4 dead thunderbolts from the factory so far.. being on my 5th I don't think it is worth the risk of not being able to get it replaced should it have a major failure like the last 4. First when patched to 1.6 began crashing non stop and shutting itself off without warning and not coming back on. The second came prepatched to 1.6 and had the same problem. The third had a bad speaker and the 4th was the only droid out of 3 in a room that could not get a 4g signal. At this point I simply don't want anything beyond the first patch seeing as they sent me this old firmware version and of the 4 phones before this one only the first worked at all reliably before being patched.

Age old saying.. if it ain't broke don't try to fix it. I simply do not want nor care about anything in the newer patches. Zero real improvements and the wifi tethering causes a crash every time you restart the phone without turning it off in 1.7 (I have had such a bad experience with Verizon that they gave me a free month of the wifi tethering which is how I have learned it crashes in 1.7 I never intend to let them extort 30$/mo from me for such a thing).

I've read of all the advantages of rooting but it just seems to risky seeing as if my phone can't be replaced and dies.. I cannot afford to get a new one.

 

[aethyrprime]

Also, some people were getting the update applied without them doing it.

This is part of the problem. It keeps trying to sneak the patch on me when I am not looking. I shut it off when I sleep and keep a close eye on it all day to make sure it doesn't patch. I just want the damn thing disabled. I am utterly sick of Verizon and HTC at this point and close to wishing I bought I-Phone which I hate.

 

[Yeahha]

The reboot issue was resolved with the firmware update in July. That would have resolved the issues you had with 2 of your phones. The speaker issue wouldn't have been resolved without a replacement. It sounds like you had a radio issue with the one that wouldn't get 4g. So out of your 4 phones and 3 issues you have had 3 of the phone would have been helped by either getting the firmware update in july or rooting and installing a non-custom rom and/or updated radio. Please keep us informed as to how long you can avoid your OTA as from what I understand they will start to prompt you to update every time you use your phone and can automatically start overnight in some cases. I would suggest going into airplane mode overnight or to 2g only and don't be suprised when you wake up the phone one day and it be rebooting and installing your OTA.

Just to try to help out on what will likely be a future thread unless you root there is no way to roll back to an older version of the firmware If you do decide to root we are here to help or if you have any other questions. Sorry we couldn't really help out with this but you are going to have to live with those notification.

Edit: You actually seem like a prime person for rooting seeing how much control you want over the device

 

[aethyrprime]

The reboot issue was resolved with the firmware update in July. That would have resolved the issues you had with 2 of your phones. The speaker issue wouldn't have been resolved without a replacement. It sounds like you had a radio issue with the one that wouldn't get 4g. So out of your 4 phones and 3 issues you have had 3 of the phone would have been helped by either getting the firmware update in july or rooting and installing a non-custom rom and/or updated radio. Please keep us informed as to how long you can avoid your OTA as from what I understand they will start to prompt you to update every time you use your phone and can automatically start overnight in some cases. I would suggest going into airplane mode overnight or to 2g only and don't be suprised when you wake up the phone one day and it be rebooting and installing your OTA.

Just to try to help out on what will likely be a future thread unless you root there is no way to roll back to an older version of the firmware If you do decide to root we are here to help or if you have any other questions. Sorry we couldn't really help out with this but you are going to have to live with those notification.

Edit: You actually seem like a prime person for rooting seeing how much control you want over the device

The question is.. Will rooting be detectable by Verizon in the event that I have to send this phone back to them at some point? If not then I suppose the revolution patch/process for rooting is my best course for getting my phone rooted?

Also what is with the custom rom/custom radio? I am having a totally different nightmare with Verizon now. The area I just moved had a data outage about 3 days ago and when it returned 3 of 3 Thunderbolts are having "Highly erratic data swapping and loss". Where basically all 3 phones are constantly swapping from no data to 1x to 3g to no data to 4g to no data and so on.. By constantly I mean I counted as many as 8 swaps in 20 seconds. This is a 4g coverage area.

I am very curious as to rooting, just cautious as to the long term repercussions.

Is there a "best rom for Thunderbolt"? And I've heard that say a program like Barnacle tether or some other app would give me wifi tethering without being extorted $$ for a built in hardware feature that costs Verizon nothing. My main use of my phone is as a tethering device. It was why I purchased it originally.

Also a foot note, the two phones that had issues with 1.6 were sent back before 1.7 was released. Thanks for all your help. I appreciate it. The whole concept of rooting my phone has me nervous.. and not because lack tech savviness simply because it seems lately I've felt like I had a midas touch to electronics so just don't want to end up with a brick I can't afford to replace. My main workstation for high end 3D animation and modelling recently bit the bullet and I am trying to save up enough to replace a workstation class machine.. >.<

 

[Yeahha]

I knew the issues you had with 1.6 were before 1.7. Yes revolutionary is the best rooting method by far it is very easy and almost fool proof. As to best rom that depends on the person some people like sense roms others like AOSP roms basically best rom is just a matter of opinion. You can get tethering programs that would allow you to tether without vzw knowing. If you had to return for warranty replacement you can almost always go back to stock where it looks like you were never rooted, in fact recently a guy was able to return to stock with a phone with half the screen out and volume keys not working. The phone was physically damaged not due to rooting. Network connectivity issue may be helped by rooting depending what the issues are, if it is because vzw's network is being wonky there is nothing you can do on your end that would fix that, some of the leaked radios for the bolt work much better than the current stock radio for keeping signal and staying on 4g

 

[aethyrprime]

I knew the issues you had with 1.6 were before 1.7. Yes revolutionary is the best rooting method by far it is very easy and almost fool proof. As to best rom that depends on the person some people like sense roms others like AOSP roms basically best rom is just a matter of opinion. You can get tethering programs that would allow you to tether without vzw knowing. If you had to return for warranty replacement you can almost always go back to stock where it looks like you were never rooted, in fact recently a guy was able to return to stock with a phone with half the screen out and volume keys not working. The phone was physically damaged not due to rooting. Network connectivity issue may be helped by rooting depending what the issues are, if it is because vzw's network is being wonky there is nothing you can do on your end that would fix that, some of the leaked radios for the bolt work much better than the current stock radio for keeping signal and staying on 4g

Is there a key difference between the ROMs? I am most concerned with speed and stability over glitz and glam. Thanks again for your help.. I have kept my new 1.14 phone without the battery and using the older phone till I can either resolve the issue or break down and root. I know that the newer the firmware the harder the root or so they are trying to make it. So I figure rather deal with a weak radio than risk getting ninja'patched to 1.6/1.7 before I solve this issue. If it is as simple as the video I watched regarding the revolution patch for rooting then it does seem quite idiot proof. It's just a matter of where to go from there.

I just wish Verizon/Google was not such a greedy company making life difficult for end users. Any smaller company pulling the shenanigans they are would be reported to the BBB and put out of business before you could bat an eye. I am one of the lucky ones that got my unlimited data plan just before they discontinued it and am grand fathered in so trying to make the most of it I can.

 

[Yeahha]

Sorry for the double post but I'm on my phone so I can't see what I am replying to. Custom roms are versions of the OS made by devs based either on leaked updates from HTC or the android open source code by Google. The radios you can flash when rooted are from the leaked updates from HTC they have fixes for the crappy handoff between networks the bolt has stock and are better at staying on 4g when available instead of falling back to 3g. IMO vzw should have pushed out some radio only updates for the bolt as well as firmware updates

 

[aethyrprime]

Sorry for the double post but I'm on my phone so I can't see what I am replying to. Custom roms are versions of the OS made by devs based either on leaked updates from HTC or the android open source code by Google. The radios you can flash when rooted are from the leaked updates from HTC they have fixes for the crappy handoff between networks the bolt has stock and are better at staying on 4g when available instead of falling back to 3g. IMO vzw should have pushed out some radio only updates for the bolt as well as firmware updates

Is it possible you could point me in the direction of a comparison of the features of the various ROMs/Radios best for a Thunderbolt and associated download links? I'd like to get all my stuff downloaded and ready so I know exactly where I am going with this process before I begin. As long as in the long run my wifi-tethering works and my signal is strong it will serve it's intended purpose for me. Thanks again.

PS Your avatar looks like a cartoon version of me.. !

 

[Yeahha]

For feature by feature comparisons for each rom that is a difficult task, really what I would recommend is trying one to see of you like it maybe see what features you like then try a different one to compare. Most the roms in active development are very stable. If this is your first android phone I would recommend a sense rom to start with as it will be the most like stock. Once you get the feel for flashing a rom then you can make a backup and try out another. I can't really say what a good sense rom is because I run AOSP roms almost exclusively but there are guys in our root community that would be able to give you a good idea where to start. If you have used a nexus device, the Droid 1, or one of T-Mobile's g phones then you know what AOSP is like and may like AOSP more.

I did not root using revolutionary but have talked to many people who did and really the only issues I see is people putting the beta key in wrong (solved with copy/paste) and the drivers not being installed that need to be (if you run into that we can help you find the right drivers)

PS it should be a cartoon version of me maybe we are twins

 

[Yeahha]

http://androidforums.com/thunderbolt-all-things-root/

Here is the root section for the bolt the stickys have info about the radios and links to rom threads

 

[aethyrprime]

For feature by feature comparisons for each rom that is a difficult task, really what I would recommend is trying one to see of you like it maybe see what features you like then try a different one to compare. Most the roms in active development are very stable. If this is your first android phone I would recommend a sense rom to start with as it will be the most like stock. Once you get the feel for flashing a rom then you can make a backup and try out another. I can't really say what a good sense rom is because I run AOSP roms almost exclusively but there are guys in our root community that would be able to give you a good idea where to start. If you have used a nexus device, the Droid 1, or one of T-Mobile's g phones then you know what AOSP is like and may like AOSP more.

I did not root using revolutionary but have talked to many people who did and really the only issues I see is people putting the beta key in wrong (solved with copy/paste) and the drivers not being installed that need to be (if you run into that we can help you find the right drivers)

PS it should be a cartoon version of me maybe we are twins

Ah. That's the answer I was looking for.. So Sense is essentially similar to what I have and AOSP is like the Droid 1 by Motorola (iirc). My friend had a Droid 1 so I am familiar with it. I used his a bit before purchasing my own. He was the one to convince me it was worth it. Before that I had avoided smart phones in general.

I am pretty sure I won't have an issue with the root process after watching a video I found here for the revolution. So now just a matter of reading through the links to the ROMs you posted above. Holy S*** there's a ton lol.. (I'll probably try the Sense first as you recommend).

On another note, is there anything I need to be aware of in the firmware topic? If my main reasons for avoiding newer firmware versions is addressed with the custom ROM then I have no aversions to getting the newer update. Is there a best order to dealing with Firmware updates? Before/after or is it included as part of the root/rom process?

Also does rooting your phone allow you to disable the forced (911 GPS) that comes stock in the Thunderbolt? I never liked that I could not disable it like the Motorola Droid 1 could. Or is that part of the Sense vs AOSP choice?

On the bright side at least I can finally uninstall that god forsaken red headed step child of an App "Blockbuster" which I have never and will never use that keeps begging for an update it will never get. Only time I even touched that program was to give it a 1 star and malicious ranking on Google Market.. lol

PS maybe we are ! lol Thanks for everything.. I hope this topic can help others out who may have the same fears/questions I have regarding rooting and OTAs.

 

[scotty85]

only thing i have to add is that since you have a history of returning phones and one of your primary concerns is being able to unroot if you need to make another warranty claim,is that you should read thru the unroot procedure here: http://androidforums.com/thunderbolt-all-things-root/402115-thunderbolt-rooting-methods-updated.html

while rooting with revolutionary is super fast and easy,it does come with a permanent patched hboot that will remain in place until you purposefully remove it. its good for all things-keeps you safe if an OTA is applied,an ruu is flashed,etc. and ensures that youll always be able to easily re-root.

however,with that security comes a slightly more complex method of removal. im sure the creators will eventually release an s-on tool,but for now the only means of removal are ADB and fastboot commands. let us know if have any questions on it.

good luck on your rooting adventure

 

[Yeahha]

Flashing a custom rom should stop those notifications. And the fixes that were included in those updates have been included in the custom roms as well.

I don't think you can turn off Emergency 911 mode.

 

[aethyrprime]

Thanks to you both. I was surprised by how quickly and how thorough you were in helping me with my rooting concerns. I am looking through the various ROMs and Mods trying to decide which is best for me to start with. The camera quality seems to be an issue in the AOSP compared to the sense so I will probably not go senseless in this process. I am going to be trying my first root attempt hopefully later on this evening after I am done collecting the information and files necessary to pull it off smoothly.

 

[aethyrprime]

XDA Forums:

Sorry, your IP address is blocked from registration. The reason is: Sorry, to prevent spam and abuse, we do not allow registrations from a Verizon Wireless IP.

Ouch.. not cool at all..

 

[Yeahha]

Thanks to you both. I was surprised by how quickly and how thorough you were in helping me with my rooting concerns. I am looking through the various ROMs and Mods trying to decide which is best for me to start with. The camera quality seems to be an issue in the AOSP compared to the sense so I will probably not go senseless in this process. I am going to be trying my first root attempt hopefully later on this evening after I am done collecting the information and files necessary to pull it off smoothly.

Glad we could help you.

XDA Forums:

Sorry, your IP address is blocked from registration. The reason is: Sorry, to prevent spam and abuse, we do not allow registrations from a Verizon Wireless IP.

Ouch.. not cool at all..

That is the best error I think I have ever seen, and I am almost 100% sure I signed up for XDA on my phone. Try downloading the XDA app and using it to sign up.