Root An Eris Challenge - Boot loop with no PB00IMG.zip file?!

[Jaydencell]

Okay, I've scavenged the forums for some answers, and so far nothing has worked, so I figure I'll challenge anyone who might be able to answer this one:

My Droid Eris started a boot loop about 2 days ago (the usual complaint - the skateboarding droids, the htc logo, then verizon and htc endless loop). I went to do a soft reset, removed the battery, did a hard reset, nothing works - but here's the kicker - when it loads the fastboot/recovery/clear storage/simlock screen, it says that my file PB00IMG.zip is the wrong image and jumps off the screen within 2 seconds as it loads. I cannot get my computer to mount either - it does not always recognize it, and when it does, it will not let me in to the SD card to overwrite another one. Periodically, it even gives me a lovely phone with red triangle and an exclamation point.

If I had to guess, I'm assuming that that file is the core to me booting the OS (which is still the stock OS at this point)...but somehow it is not working. Or maybe its more than just that...

I'm not really sure what to go into next - I know more about playing with registry errors on a desktop than phone software - but I'm willing to tinker and learn.

I'm open to any ideas since I have a backup phone temporarily while I make it the 7 days to my next upgrade, but would really like to get this one working if I can. I can't send it in to verizon, since they are saying that it is "water damaged" (even though it has never touched water!) and want to charge me 90 dollars for a refurbished one.

 

[doogald]

You could try getting an micros-SD card USB reader for your PC, pull the SD from the phone, mount it to your PC and recopy the PB00IMG.zip file back over. Use the 2.1v3 leak ROM.

 

[Jaydencell]

Looks like intelligent minds think alike - about 10 minutes after I posted I thought of getting the adapter from the mart down the street (about 10 bucks well spent, methinks). I'm going to try the download and see what I come up with. After I install this file, I should be at least operational...right? or will I need to continue with the leak ROM?

 

[doogald]

Well, after you install the leak ROM, assuming it works and you don't actually have a damaged phone, it will ask you to authenticate the phone in first boot. It should also prompt to install the OTA update from August at some point.

The possibility exists, though, that your phone has a hardware problem. But, try that PB00IMG file, and the instructions that detail the process are here: http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/51383-upgrading-2-1-tutorial.html

 

[erisuser1]

The behavior of the boot loop that you described indicates that the phone has successfully booted the kernel but is experiencing a fault in one of the later Android subsystems. If you had previously enabled USB debugging, it is feasible (but impractical to do via a message board) to examine the debugging output to determine if a correction can be made by using adb.

The other thing that I notice about your post is the mention of the stock recovery boot splash screen (the image with the triangle). That suggests that your phone is not currently rooted; is that correct?

The PB00IMG.zip file is not "necessary for the operation of the phone" - the only time it is used is when you are attempting to replace the phones' software. If the HBOOT skips past it "in two seconds", that means that it is not even present, or so horribly truncated that it is only 1% of the size that it is supposed to be. In any event, it has nothing to do with the bootloop behavior.

Here is a long shot - since your phone appears to be unrooted, what happens if you attempt to start it in "Safe Mode"? (Power the phone up by holding down the trackball and pressing the End/Power button) If it doesn't boot-loop, do a factory reset.

The other option that you have - since your phone seems to be unrooted - is to use the stock recovery boot to perform the factory reset. in this case, you power the phone on by pressing and holding Vol-Up and End/Power until the screen comes on; after about 8-10 seconds you will see that splash screen with the triangle, and if you (again) press the Vol-Up+End/Power combination (briefly this time!), you should be presented with the "Recovery <2e>" menu, and you can do a factory reset from there.

Either one of those should prevent the need for you to fool around with flashing a ROM.

eu1

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[Jaydencell]

Okay, lots of great info here...let me see if I can shed some light not only for us, but to others that may be reading this post...

1) In my haste and excitement to see if this little experiment worked, I did root the phone in order to bypass the loop, possibly not the way anyone would expect.My limited knowledge led to the assumption that if I followed the steps to root my previously un-rooted phone, I could essentially use the file as an override to the loop - just like a recovery disk in a computer can override the startup function. It worked, and it may just be a case of luck that installing the image fixed something else. I'll run with it, and thanks to you, doogaid, for all your input earlier.

2)After reading your post eu1, you really made me ponder what caused this error in this phone to begin with. I did try launching it in safe mode, and it would loop still. I did read up on trying your tactic for the internal reset, but that wasn't cooperating either... which really leads me to ask more questions about what might have caused this. Here's a related quandary - since this is just a computer made phone size, wouldn't it just be easier to put a copy of the card in a safe place, like a hard drive, then recopy the info to an SD card in the event the original becomes corrupt, thereby saving all files, folders and such without much commotion?