Root Problems getting into Recovery..

[Njd4]

Hi..

Apologies for the length of this post...

Im eager to take the plunge and install a custom ROM on my rooted HTC 2.1 stock GSM hero but am having problems booting into ANY custom recovery and don't want to attempt to install a custom ROM until this problem is sorted..

I rooted my hero with Universal Androot v1.6.2 beta 5 and it seemed to root fine, I have superuser permisions in my programs menu, I can use rooted apps like SetCPU and titanium backup etc so I installed ROM manager and installed clockworkMod recovery 2.5.0.1 but when I try to go into recovery by holding home and power key it just comes up with the screen with the black phone icon with the red exclamation mark in the triangle..

Sometimes if I press up arrow and power key it will then take me into a screen which says Android system recovery <2e> with an error message at the bottom of the screen.. E:Can't open /cache/recovery/command.

So i use the reboot option to get me out of it.

.... And Sometimes the up arrow and power wont get me out of the screen with the red exclamation mark so I have no option but to pull the battery (and every time I think it'll brick my phone).

I'm assuming the recovery image hasn't taken..

I have googled and have seen loads of people with the same problem but none of the solutions I've found seem to work for me.

I have tried flashing RA recovery v1.7.0.1 from within ROM Manager and that worked once and allowed me to do a nandroid backup but now I can't even get into that, it just takes me to the same screen with the red exclamation mark..

ROM Manager reports that my current recovery is indeed RA v1.7.0.1 but it still wont work.

I have over 5 Gb free on my SD card so I don't think that is the issue (some forums have given that as an answer to others with the same problem).

I have also tried installing RA recovery using Terminal Emulator with the command:-

$ Su
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img

(Where the image file is in the root of my sd card)

But again I still can't get into the recovery ROM.

I am desperate to try some of these new custom ROM's but don't want to chance it if I can't even get my hero into recovery, just in case I don't like the ROM or in case things go pear shaped and I need to restore my phone..

Any advice is much appreciated!!

 

[Slug]

don't want to attempt to install a custom ROM until this problem is sorted..

A very wise decision.

I [...] installed clockworkMod recovery 2.5.0.1 but when I try to go into recovery by holding home and power key it just comes up with the screen with the black phone icon with the red exclamation mark in the triangle..

It seems quite common for CWN to not "stick", for want of a better term, on the first attempt. Usually reflashing from ROM Manager does the trick.

I have tried flashing RA recovery v1.7.0.1 from within ROM Manager and that worked once and allowed me to do a nandroid backup but now I can't even get into that, it just takes me to the same screen with the red exclamation mark.

That sounds as if the stock recovery has somehow restored itself... strange.

Any advice is much appreciated!!

Try reflashing via ROM Manager. If that doesn't work I'd advise using ADB from the desktop, but that requires the Android SDK so better the easy option first!

 

[Deech]

I thought ADB had been removed from the core of the SDK? I have a zip of it and the usb drivers somewhere mainly because I similar isssues.

 

[Slug]

I thought ADB had been removed from the core of the SDK?

ADB and associated files are now part of the "Program Tools" package, but you still need the SDK installed to retrieve it. I'm pretty sure that you only require adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, AdbWinUsbApi.dll and fastboot.exe (plus the USB drivers for the device) to have the necessary tools for rooting.

Hmm, I feel an experiment coming on....

 

[Deech]

He he he

I got need adb and the usb drivers to get android commander going, only grabbed
adb.exe
AdbWinApi.dll
AdbWinUsbApi.dll

to make it work which some kind soul had packaged in a zip file and hosted on megaupload or similar
http://www1070.megaupload.com/files/e0bc1714c8bfd4d58dd936d1e14d9415/ADB.zip

 

[Slug]

Nice work there, Deech.

I've just done something similar here, using the USB drivers from the most recent HTC Sync 3.0 package, in 32-bit XP and 64-bit Win7 flavours. It's only 2.5MB in size so once I've added a brief README I'll upload it here and make it available as an attachment in case that d/l link expire

edit: ADB.ZIP available via my public Dropbox

 

[Njd4]

Thanks for the info..




I did read that ClockworkMod recovery doesn't always stick first time so I did try it a few times and also tried going between that and RA recovery a few times but neither seemed to stick more than the once..

With each, the ROM seems to have gone again after a reboot..

Do you think it has anything to do with using the Universal Androot when I rooted?

I wonder if unrooting and re-rooting would help?.. I must admit i've not tried that yet!

I'm not really sure what this ADB is (just had a quick google for it but still not too sure) so if you could upload this Slug (plus any links to any instructions on installing a custom recovery via this method), then that would be very much appreciated!

Then I can look forward to installing a custom ROM and hopefully putting a bit more Uuumph into my hero !



Thanks again to all for your replies!

 

[Slug]

With each, the ROM Recovery seems to have gone again after a reboot..

Do you think it has anything to do with using the Universal Androot when I rooted?

I shouldn't think so; many others have used it and it's worked.

Do you definitely have root i.e. no error messages when you run TiBackup?

I wonder if unrooting and re-rooting would help?.. I must admit i've not tried that yet!

That's a bit drastic.... a 'last resort' measure.

I'm not really sure what this ADB is (just had a quick google for it but still not too sure)

It's a DOS binary that let's you interact with Android via your PC's command-line interface. I've got the archived files ready to go up but am experiencing problems uploading to the site right now.

Btw, there's a flashable ZIP version available in this post. Copy it and recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img to your sdcard, then re-run the terminal commands to flash Amon_RA:

$su
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1.img
#reboot recovery

Once (hopefully) in the recovery, scroll down and select Flash zip from sdcard, select recovery-RA-hero-v1.7.0.1-update.zip and confirm.
When complete, select Power off then try booting back into recovery by holding down HOME while powering on. Fingers crossed, it will have worked....

 

[Xyro]

PCs have the Command Prompt program for doing command line work, and Linux/Android have the Terminal, which is just the same. ADB is a program that lets you send commands from command prompt on your PC to the phone's terminal, just because it's more convenient.

I think I've heard of this before, although I can't exactly remember how people fixed it. I don't know if I'm making this up, but I think it stops being rewritten once you put a custom ROM on there. One visit to the recovery screen is sufficient anyway, even if the problem persisted. But if the custom ROM wouldn't boot you'd have to hope the custom recovery is still there to fall back on, so it's a risk.

 

[C.Glucose]

Hi all,

I'm having the same problem.

I tried going into the Terminal Emulator, and followed the first part of Slug's suggestion.

What I got:

export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$ $su
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
# reboot recovery
not permited!
#

Any ideas?

Oh and yes, I renamed the .img file when the sd card was connected to the PC so it would read recovery.img...

 

[Slug]

$ $su
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img

Did you see confirmation that it had written the recovery.img?

# reboot recovery
not permited!
#

Hmm, that should work regardless. You may have to try the ADB route, I'm afraid.

 

[C.Glucose]

Did you see confirmation that it had written the recovery.img?



Hmm, that should work regardless. You may have to try the ADB route, I'm afraid.

No confirmation, no. Just another hash tag.

Right. Bummer.

What is the easiest way to do the ADB route? Is there a clear, concise guide?

Thanks for your replies so far

 

[Njd4]

What the heck??

Now titanium backup says it can't get root access even though I've used it before!

I've gone back into universal androot and unrooted then re-rooted and setCPU, quick app cache cleaner (root access) works and I can install rom manager (all of which I think only work with root access?) Yet titanium backup still says it can't get root access!!

Also, I too never got a confirmation to indicate that the recovery rom flashing was successful using terminal emulator, it just took me back to the # and I just assumed it was done, so maybe it didn't!

Thanks for the upload and the extra info but I've not tried them yet as I'm now not even sure I'm properly rooted!?

 

[Slug]

Thinking back on it, I could be wrong about the write confirmation in the terminal. I know you see a "reading.../writing..." msg in the adb shell - maybe not on the handset.

For TiBackup, try the Problems? button to d/l a known-good version of Busybox. That's all I can think of being a problem right now, if other apps indicate that they're seeing root. What apps are listed as having root in Superuser Permissions?

That ADB.ZIP I uploaded has basic setup instructions enclosed. If you run "adb devices" with your handset connected to the PC and it returns a deviceID e.g. HTxxxxxxxxxx then you're good to go. If rooted "adb shell" should put you at the $ prompt. Enter "su" and you should see #. "Exit" will return you to the DOS prompt, btw.

If you want to go further, you can find instructions on flashing the Amon_RA recovery via fastboot + adb on the first page of this thread. This requires that the *.img file is in the same folder on your PC as adb.exe and will 'push' the file to /sdcard. If you already have it there then ignore the "adb push...." step but the .img file is still required in the PC folder for the "fastboot...." part.

Hope this is of some help. I'm off to bed.

 

[C.Glucose]

That ADB.ZIP I uploaded has basic setup instructions enclosed. If you run "adb devices" with your handset connected to the PC and it returns a deviceID e.g. HTxxxxxxxxxx then you're good to go. If rooted "adb shell" should put you at the $ prompt. Enter "su" and you should see #. "Exit" will return you to the DOS prompt, btw.

If you want to go further, you can find instructions on flashing the Amon_RA recovery via fastboot + adb on the first page of this thread. This requires that the *.img file is in the same folder on your PC as adb.exe and will 'push' the file to /sdcard. If you already have it there then ignore the "adb push...." step but the .img file is still required in the PC folder for the "fastboot...." part.

Hi Slug,

Downloaded your .zip file but when reading the readme, I realised I have HTC Sync installed already (plus I downloaded Android SDK earlier).

I've gone ahead and extracted some files ADB to its own folder, as Deech mentioned earlier, just

adb.exe
AdbWinApi.dll
AdbWinUsbApi.dll

Is that all I need?

Which connection type should I select on the phone - HTC Sync or Disk Drive?

I'd assume disk drive...

Cheers Slug, really appreciated.

 

[Slug]

I have HTC Sync installed already

In that case you'll also have the USB drivers in place so ignore that part of my destructions.

adb.exe
AdbWinApi.dll
AdbWinUsbApi.dll

Is that all I need?

Copy my fastboot.exe into the same folder too, as it's required.

Which connection type should I select on the phone - HTC Sync or Disk Drive?

This is where I'm at a loss, as I haven't used Sense on the Hero for a long time. Is there a "Charge only" option? If not, try simply not selecting anything and just run the "adb devices" command. The required device driver is loaded when the USB connection is detected, so the device itself isn't required to do anything. If the "devices" query returns the deviceID then everything's working and you can proceed with the fastboot procedure.

 

[Deech]

yes there is a Charge Only option in Sense

I never bothered with fastboot as I was wanting to run Android Commander that needs ADB path setting etc

Right time to sort out netbook ready for work

 

[C.Glucose]

Right, connected my HTC Hero.

Where do I start? What program do I use - command prompt?

 

[C.Glucose]

Right! Opened cmd, entered a few things.

adb devices
adb server is out of date. killing...
*daemon started successfully*
List of devices attached
HT********** device

adb shell
$ su
su
Permission denied
$

So ... I guess this means superuser access is denied??

Strange. Any ideas?

 

[Slug]

adb shell
$ su
su
Permission denied
$

So ... I guess this means superuser access is denied??

Strange. Any ideas?

Did you miss a request for permissions from the Superuser Permissions app? Try again, but if nothing appears on the handset then it looks as if your root wasn't successful.

 

[C.Glucose]

Tried again, but no joy. Permission denied again.

Right. How do I go about uninstalling all the programs and their data, or is it not important to remove all the data?

I believe Androot has an unroot feature, am I correct?

Should I try some other method of rooting after all this?

Thanks guys

 

[Slug]

How do I go about uninstalling all the programs and their data, or is it not important to remove all the data?

Which programs?

I believe Androot has an unroot feature, am I correct?

I've never used it, but I believe someone else said that it does.

Should I try some other method of rooting after all this?

By all accounts this method should work. I'd love to know what's giving the problem.

Can you confirm your device has the Orange 2.1-update1 firmware? I'm tempted to flash my own back to 2.73.xx.xx (1.5), install the OTAs then try re-rooting just to see what (if anything) is going on. I hate mysteries!

 

[C.Glucose]

I meant the programs and data used for rooting. E.g. Universal Androot, Terminal Emulator, BusyBox Installer, Rom manager, Titanium Backup.

The reason I asked was that if I wanted to try re-rooting, do I have to unroot first, deleting all the data from the previous rooting, or is it not important?

Yep, my phone has the Orange UK 2.1-update1 firmware.

 

[Deech]

Try re-installing the universal androot and see what happens from there

 

[C.Glucose]

Seems to be working...at least I'm into amon_ra's recovery.

Strange.

One thing that might have been the problem:

In this guide:

http://androidforums.com/hero-all-t...ting-guide-updated-13-06-gmt-12-oct-10-a.html

This paragraph:
Installing a recovery image:
- Install 'ROM Manager' from the market (the free version is fine).
- Launch RM and pick the first option to flash clockwork. The superuser permissions app should pop up and you should click allow. Let it finish and reboot.
Note: If the SU permissions app doesn't pop up, make sure you have 'USB Debugging' enabled in your phone's settings.
- Launch RM again and pick the bottom option, to flash amon ra.
- The phone will reboot when done, at which point you need to turn it off again. This step didn't happen. So I manually restarted the system. Then turned it off. (Would this have made a difference?)
- Boot by holding Home + Power, at which point amon ra should appear.