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Root [Merit] zte merit root cwm rom no pc needed for root

napalm6283

Newbie
Dec 31, 2012
19
8
I am not responsible for any problems that you may encounter with this method.
Please understand this is at your own risk. i did not write any of the files i just hunted them down, was tired of my merit being plain jane.

clockwork mod is a recovery program that has a few more options than factory recovery.


This is a proven method of rooting the zte merit z990g
from straighttalk with no pc. All from the handset. It is proven to work
on many of these android phones.Below will be links to all files that you
will need to dL for this task. I will also attach a deodexed stock merit rom.
I recommend using this big time. Before doing anything enable usb debugging, and
Unknown sources in development. settings/applications/development

What you want to do is download the update.zip and store it to the root of the sdcard.
this file location should read sdcard/update.zip. this will give you a nonroot version of
cwm6.0.3.5. how to load up cwm you hold power, volume up, and menu button(3 slashes)
until the factory recovery starts about 10-15 seconds. using the volume down go to
the wipe/factory reset and press the back button (to the right of the home button)
soon you will notice cwm popin up. go to install zip from sdcard using the vulume up
and/or down and to select with the power button. install the file down below that will
root the z990g. after install is successful reboot the phone. if superuser is not
in the app drawer then go to play store and download it. i am using superuser3.1.3 i believe. i do not know if supersu works with this method. superuser has been successful 100% of the time.

The recovery.img is for the full root verion of cwm. This you will need a pc to do.
connect the merit to pc with drivers installed. Mine installed off of the phone.
DO NOT ENABLE USB MODE. open cmd prompt on pc. i have done this on xp and win7 pc's.
no propblems on either. in the cmd prompt box type the following without quotations.

"adb shell"

"su"

"flash_image recovery/sdcard/recovery.img"

"reboot recovery"

after all of this you should be able to boot straight to cwm without the use
for the update.zip method. if the phone does not automatically reboot it should be
fine. i had one that didnt, and one that did. just reboot it yourself.

Go ahead and make 2 backups of your rom now. go into cwm, using the volume to navigate
and power to select.

now if you want to go ahead and install deodexed rom to save space and make apps
less dependent on each other. i did this using a pc. simply download deodexed zip file
down below. using pc unzip the file to desktop.phone may be connected to pc and be
in usb mode. once the file is on the desktop you will need to highlight the folder.do
not put the folder in the backup file, only the contents. you can copy them to the
backup folder of clockworkmod folder located on the root of the sdcard. delete the contents of one of the backup folders.
place the unzipped contents into the hollow backup folder.

the name of the folder will be a date and time in
24 hr format. you may rename the file too. that way they are easier to locate. do this
by single clicking the folder while you are in the backup folder. or right clicking and
renaming. after the contents are all in the folder you just named it should be in this
location. sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/***the name u made*** now disable usd mode when
the file is setup. shut off the phone and restart into cwm. wipe data/factory rest,
wipe cache, and in the advanced menu clear dalviche cache. now go into the backup and
restore and restore the file you named. after it is done reboot the device. you will
now be completely out of the box new. you wont notice much to change except that you do
not have a odex of each app taking up space on your already limited storage.
just download superuser from play store and it should still be rooted. if not just
go back into cwm and run the root zip again.

now i will have another rom download link to a deodexed clean rom. bloatware removed
(orkut, docs to go, etc) it also has a ics feel to it. its not the best but it seems to
be liked by most of my friends with the device. i do not know if this will work for the
AT&T Avail. just because of the os diference. if it does work for someone with an Avail
plz let me know. Thank You Hope i have helped all of you that were needing this info.
to delete bloarware- after root download
root explorer lite. it is the black folder with
the android guy on it. this is the best file explorer in my opinion. now go into the
system folder and the app folder should be the one at the very top. open it. these are all your apps. most of the bloat apps can be deleted without problems. if for some reason a message pops up saying force close. simply get the phone to shut off. between force closes hold the power button letting the power options menu to pop up. then press power off. after it shuts down power back on.. it will be running fine. to delete the apps long press the app u want to delete. when the options menu pops up select delete. press ok. then the app is history. if ur rom is odex u may delete the odex file as well. DO NOT DELETE EMAIL APP. it is tied to ur camera somehow. if it is removed ur camera will not work. these are all my tips and tricks to the straighttalk zte merit z990g. good luck and let me know about any fails or successes plz.



MegaCloud - nate wilson wants to share a file with you root link

MegaCloud - nate wilson wants to share a file with you update.zip link

MegaCloud - nate wilson wants to share a file with you recovery.img link


deodexed rom link


Best easy root zte merit, cwm download
 
this method of rooting is just taking an su update.zip file from the developers of superuser and trying to use it to get root.

the problem is that it will work sometimes, and then other times it will not work, simply because the edify scripting is incorrect in the updater-script

this isn't a fool-proof root method so to speak.
 
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This has worked everytime i have tried it with multiple merit phones. I wouldnt have posted it if it was a 50 50 shot of root..

i realize this.

i'm just telling you from experience that it is not a 100% guaranteed every time to work to gain root. the att avail will reject the root 50% of the time with the edify scripting errors that are present in updater-script. some models of the merit will do the same although they are rarer.

it was after many rewrites that i finally fixed the scripting errors that cause this to happen.
 
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Edit - Disregard I r teh newb
So, I am attempting this method of root because of my handsets issue with USB connectivity-- simply put, I cannot enter usb mode-- it charges via usb but will not allow data transfer or anything of the sort-- my computer simply does not seem to recognize it.

Anyway back to the issue

I have downloaded both the root.zip, and update.zip, and stored them to the root directory of my sd card. I put the sd card back into the phone, mounted it.. and now the phone is on and I am attempting to start the recovery, by holding the Power+Volume Up+Menu key and it is doing nothing whatsoever.. After a few seconds the options to enter airplane mode, silent mode, or power down comes up,, and at one point it beeped at me, then vibrated but I'm fairly certain that's because the volume got changed..

So please, what am I doing wrong? I am pressing the combination of buttons at the exact same time, and the phone is powered on while trying attempting this.. Is that incorrect procedure?
 
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I have tried the same process again, however choosing the root.zip to install this time.. and According to rootchecker I do indeed have root access!

Thank you very much for this simple process =)

Might I make 1 reccomendation, however? Your original post, the instructions are not quite clear.. One thing in particular threw me off...

"go to install zip from sdcard using the vulume up
and/or down and to select with the power button. install the file down below that will
root the z990g"

By default it wants to install from the Update.zip, which I realized after reading three or four times.. that was the incorrect procedure, But maybe you should specify the file name rather than saying "the file that will root" etc.. But hey that's just one newbs opinion. Anyway, Thanks again for this process!
 
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