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Root Eris gets official booloader unlock support (*yawn*)

Can someone please explain the significance of this. I have 2 rooted Eris'

It would basically allow you to more easily recover / restore your phone should something "bad" happen to it (like bad memory blocks, a boot loop that wipes don't fix, etc.).

Having the unlocked bootloader allows you to use the fastboot utility to flash new software (recovery, system images, etc.) to get you going again.

When it locked, your options are severely limited.

Cheers!
 
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I've gone through the process to get the bootloader and will install it later, just to see what happens. Of course, I already have the S-OFF bootloader, so I may have to go back to the S-ON to see a difference.

Cool!

If the details / process isn't too lengthy or verbose, please let us know. I'm curious about what they tell and provide you (small, bootable .zip file, etc.?).

I briefly visited the HTC site but halted when I that they wanted us to sign-up via email.

Thanks!
 
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Cool!

If the details / process isn't too lengthy or verbose, please let us know. I'm curious about what they tell and provide you (small, bootable .zip file, etc.?).

I briefly visited the HTC site but halted when I that they wanted us to sign-up via email.

Thanks!

I can tell you what I know so far: they deliver an RUU file that's about 6 MB in size. Right now I'm getting ready - look for the HTC Sync windows drivers, start up windows on my Mac, get the Eris ready (I may try going back to the S-ON bootloader first), etc.
 
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So far, it's frustrating. I am back to HBOOT 1.49.0000 S-ON with Flashback21_v2, so everything is stock. Right now the RUU for the update (which specifically tells you will replace the bootloader) is not working, with the message that a software update will be delivered to the phone soon that will allow the RUU to run. Checking for software updates fails.

I am now going to try to re-root and install Flashback21_v1 (so, as of July 2010 OTA), which I did by mistake about an hour ago, and have it install a system update OTA to get it current and see if the bootloader installs. I may also try installing the 1.47.0000 booloader if this still doesn't work. I'll keep y'all posted.
 
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Still no go. I'm now going to try to get an older bootloader on and see what happens.

Attached is the error message in the RUU for the new bootloader.
 

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Wow, did I have to shake off some cobwebs. I did get 1.47.0000 on, finally, with the latest OTA. Still no go for the new bootloader, though.

I'm going to give up for a while. Also, try to figure out how to get the S-OFF bootloader back on.

Cool and thanks for the update...

Probably the easiest way to regain S-OFF would be to flash the base root ROM...

I seem to remember when I did some mirror-testing of an issue a member was having and I put my phone back to the 2.1 leak state, I did have to flash jcase's misc image, too.

Lemme know if you need some files or help...its been a while for me, too, though ;).

Cheers!
 
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youll need to be on current firmware(at least the radio and bootloader) to get the hboot to give you an unlock token.

i would advise against doing this,since the eris only has s-off with an eng hboot. ive unlocked and used the htcdev hboot on several s-off phones,and have messed with it quite a bit on my rezound.

a big prollem with htcdev on other devices is that you cannot write to the boot partition from recovery. in order to flash new roms,you must flash the rom in recovery,and if it contains a different kernel that is neccessary,you must seperately flash that in fastboot.

its certainly better than nothing,but compared to s-off,or even "normal" s-on flashing on the eris,its a PITA.

i could be wrong... it may be that unlocked s-on flashing will work the same as it does with 1.47 or 1.49 hboot s-on,but if its not...

be aware that you may be stuck with that hboot forever :eek: the cdma evo 3d guys still have not found a way to downgrade back to s-offable software,and my experiences with it on the incredible were that it remained in place even after downgrading to eclair wich uses a completely different hboot than froyo or GB. we were lucky on the incredible and got an older version of unrevoked to turn the secureflag off with the htcdev locked hboot in place. with the eris this wont be an option,and even changing the misc image and flashing the root rom may not bring the 1.49.2000 eng hboot back.

ive run htcdev on my s off merge,inc,wildfire,inspire and incredible 2. when combined with s-off,there is benefits of it since gives extra fastboot commands. sort of a "half-engineering" bootloader :D

i wouldnt risk it,tho,without a gameplan to get rid of it if you find boot is no longer writable via recovery. all the crazy stuff yall have seen me do to my lil buddy,no way ill flash an htcdev hboot on him!

may want to look thru this thread before continuing to try and get htcdev to work: http://androidforums.com/incredible-all-things-root/495687-htc-dev-unlock-problems.html we dowgraded from GB to froyo,and then from GB to eclair,and the 1.02.0000 hboot would not allow itself to be replaced with the older hboots :eek:

my 2 cents,anyway,for what theyre worth :)
 
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youll need to be on current firmware(at least the radio and bootloader) to get the hboot to give you an unlock token.

i would advise against doing this,since the eris only has s-off with an eng hboot. ive unlocked and used the htcdev hboot on several s-off phones,and have messed with it quite a bit on my rezound.

The Eris appears to be different from other HTC phones - you do not get an unlock token - they ship an RUU with a full bootloader (which appears to be 1.51.0000, though I don't know if it's S-OFF yet).
 
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Cool!

If the details / process isn't too lengthy or verbose, please let us know. I'm curious about what they tell and provide you (small, bootable .zip file, etc.?).

I briefly visited the HTC site but halted when I that they wanted us to sign-up via email.

Thanks!
scary,its not unlike unlocking the gnex,with exception that you need to get a token to flash instead of the simple command "fastboot oem unlock"

in a nutshell:
-you update your hboot to one that has support locked s-on
-get identifier token (fastboot oem get identifier token)
-submit identifier token to htc(paste into the box on their website)
-recieve an unlock token in email that is unique to your phone
-flash unlock token (fastboot flash unlock-code.bin)
-select "yes unlock bootloader" on phone screen. phone does a factory reset and reboots.

from here you can fastboot flash a recovery,and flash root files in recovery.

you can also flash recovery,boot,and system images in hboot,but with an s-on device the info on the android info text document is now important :eek: mainversion on the text document must be equal to or greater than main version of your phone. i dont even bother with PxxxIMG files hardly anymore,unless i have to. "fastboot flash or fastboot boot is alot easier.

while it is unlocked it IS still s-on and doing certain security checks.

last thing of importance with htcdev is that its only unlocking system,boot,and recovery. you cant change hboots or radios. at least on other devices,since the eris can flash radios in recovery,i guess its possible it may act differently than what im used to on the rezound.
 
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The Eris appears to be different from other HTC phones - you do not get an unlock token - they ship an RUU with a full bootloader (which appears to be 1.51.0000, though I don't know if it's S-OFF yet).

im gonna check it out right now :) tho id still caution you against flashing it. let someone else be the guinea pig on this one ;)

edit: i selected eris,downloaded the hboot RUU,and proceded... steps 1-10 look identical to every other phone ive htcdev unlocked.

the RUU is only the new hboot that contains unlock support. here is rom.zip if you want to take a look: http://www.mediafire.com/?ary5l92a7aztpm4

i still am afraid the new hboot may make it a pain for you to flash roms,and even restore backups that contain different kernels,and you may not be able to get rid of it after.
 
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I'm not going to flash it. I really don't care all that much - this is not my phone anymore - but apparently EU1 has a spare and I wonder if he will try to flash it to see what it gives.

Based on what I have seen so far, I assume that this is S-ON for sure. It doesn't look like HTC are giving any phones S-OFF support. I'm not sure why they are bothering with the Eris, since the Eris is well known to be very rootable, without a blocked boot image, etc., even with the existing S-ON bootloaders.
 
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Ok, finally back to 1.49.2000 S-OFF with the trackball optional recovery with the phone running unrooted stock, to see if they actually do deliver an OTA for the bootloader update. I'll check the phone every once in a while, though I'm out of town all next week, so if nothing hits by Sunday night it'll be a while before I check.
 
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Where are you getting the info about an ota? The ruu updates the bootloader,then an unlock code unlocks it.

Edit: just looked at your screen shot,apparently you weren't running the most current firmware when you ran the RUU. I can't look right now since I'm on my.phone at wprk,but you'll just need to run the newest ruu we have,and then let the phone ota to most current Rom/firmware.

If you really want to do this,you could install the newest radio from the most recent ota,and then install 1.51 in hboot.

I actually got that same ruu error when I tried to run the ruu on my inc,wich was running froyo instead of gb :)
 
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I'll give it some thought. The chance of it being not reversible is quite high - remember that even in the "from recovery" methods of flashing the Eris hboot, the recovery boot does not actually perform the flashing - it merely stages it for the (existing) bootloader, provides some instructions in the BCB (Boot Control Block), and then reboots the phone - it is always the (pre-existing) bootloader that does the security checks and hboot flashing, if any. This also holds for radio images as well.

To date, the only known methods of changing the Eris bootloader have been:

(1) with a HTC-signed PB00IMG.zip** (crypto method is not publicly known nor hacked)
(2) with an S-OFF bootloader (all security checks turned off) via fastboot

** subject to version number checking performed by the pre-existing bootloader

So... I don't mind losing S-OFF or even hard bricking my spare Eris, but it's hard to see what useful things are gained by doing so (except perhaps figuring out how to rescue a user that accidentally stumbles in to this, or refurbs with 1.51 start showing up).

As long as we contemplate performing risky flashing experiments, maybe there is a way to do it in a way where we gain some additional useful knowledge. For instance, what if we (I) try byte-patching version numbers into older S-ON bootloaders and flashing them to see if we can alter the "main version" checking behavior - if that could be proven to work on older bootloaders, it might also extend to to the 1.51 hboot, which would (in principle) allow a (byte-patched version of) it to be removed with older HTC PB00IMG.zip flashes. That would allow us to flash it for experimentation, but be able to remove it.

Suggestions welcome - put your thinking caps on!

eu1
 
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Where are you getting the info about an ota? The ruu updates the bootloader,then an unlock code unlocks it.

Edit: just looked at your screen shot,apparently you weren't running the most current firmware when you ran the RUU. I can't look right now since I'm on my.phone at wprk,but you'll just need to run the newest ruu we have,and then let the phone ota to most current Rom/firmware.

First, as far as I know, we do not have an RUU for the latest OTA. Based on EU1's list at xda-developers, the latest is the 2.1v3 leak ROM 2.36.605.1, which ended up being the initial 2.1 release.

Anyway, I definitely was on the latest OTA. I ran the bootloader RUU several times:

With the 1.49.0000 S-ON bootloader, all with stock recovery:

- installed Flashback21_v2 (so, as of the March OTA, verified 2.41.605.6)
- installed Flashback21_v1 (so, the July 2010 OTA, verified 2.37.605.4). After going through setup I was prompted for and received the OTA update to bring me to 2.41.605.6

Just to rule out that the 1.49.0000 bootloader was an issue, I then updated back to 1.49.2000 S-OFF and fastboot flashed the 1.47.0000 S-ON bootloader:


- installed Flashback21_v2 (so, as of the March OTA, verified 2.41.605.6, with stock recovery)
- installed Flashback21_v1 (so, the July 2010 OTA, verified 2.37.605.4). This time I was prompted to install the OTA before I could finish the initial setup, so I did so and went through set up again. Verified that the software was 2.41.605.6.

In all four cases, the bootloader RUU failed with the same error message. With the phone on 2.41.605.6 I have not yet received an OTA update message.

I should mention that when you go through the steps to download the RUU, it said that the Droid Eris firmware should be at 2.41.605.6. So, I should have been all set. (Also, I learned that there is a Droid Eris that was sold at a carrier called "MTS - India" that has firmware version 2.42.557.2).

After all of that, I guess I should have looked at the file name of the RUU that was downloaded to see what the bootloader version was going to be; the file name of the RUU is PB0010000_DesireC_VERIZON_WWE_hboot_1.51.0000.exe.
 
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