Root Recovery Image and Loading New ROMS on ROOTED Eris

[bdg4891]

Hey all,

So I have a ROOTED Eris (checked positively using terminal emulator) running a 2.1v3 ROM. What I'd like to do is eventually get to the 2.1 OTA ROM.

Earlier I downloaded ROM Manager which, after some searching gave me some problems other people have been having. I can't flash to the ClockworkMod recovery image as it gives me a "Error occurred while attempting to run privileged commands!" message. I tried reinstalling, fixing permissions etc. all with the same results.

So now i'm trying to flash Amon's recovery image instead using Terminal Emulator and the command line:

su
flash_image recovery /sdcard/file_name_here.img

only to yield the message that the file could not be found or something. I'm on a mac and I saw another way on here that involves running commands from your computer to your phone using the skd. I started to do that only to run into a "permission denied" when attempting the first "adb" command line.


Am I missing something? I'm trying to read and re-read as closely as I can. I'm not entirely comfortable with this whole process but I'm trying to take the time to really understand it and i'm still having difficulties.

 

[bdg4891]

Basically, If I want to get a custom Recovery Image on my phone so I can load custom ROMS with ease.

Right now, if I were to boot into my phone's present Recovery, I would get the little Android guy next to a /!\ .. :/

 

[T2noob]

Do it through fastboot its a lot easier

1. Download the Recovery file from down below.

2. Move the recovery.img file to your \tools\ directory of your Android SDK.

3. Open up a command prompt and go to your tools directory, and execute these commands:

         WINDOWS USERS

        From your tools directory in the sdk do the following command

       adb reboot bootloader

        You will have FASTBOOT highlighted in red like it is here

        Now on your computer do the following

        Fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img

        Ok after that completes pull the battery then power back up with Vol Up + Power to enter recovery

 

[bdg4891]

I tried this last night and it yielded

<waiting for device> on my PC for around 15-20 minutes before i pulled the battery.

 

[Kikamau]

T2, thank you so much for the fastboot tip. I was pulling my hair out trying to load a recovery image...now I'm flashing roms!

 

[hallstevenson]

When you type "su" and hit enter, what does your command prompt symbol show ?

Is "USB Debugging" enabled on your phone ?

Are you following the steps here, http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-eris/53963-guide-stock-1-5-latest-root-2-1-a.html ?

 

[T2noob]

T2, thank you so much for the fastboot tip. I was pulling my hair out trying to load a recovery image...now I'm flashing roms!

Glad to see It helped you out If you ever have questions feel free to pm.

 

[mexiken]

I got an error when flashing:

C:\Android\tools>fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img
sending 'recovery' (3834 KB)... FAILED (remote: not allow)

Any idea why it said that ????

I should note, CWM is already installed. Was trying to install RA since I'm having flashing issues with ROMS, and basically have a non working phone at the moment (it won't boot into the OS)

 

[scotty85]

I got an error when flashing:

C:\Android\tools>fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img
sending 'recovery' (3834 KB)... FAILED (remote: not allow)

Any idea why it said that ????

I should note, CWM is already installed. Was trying to install RA since I'm having flashing issues with ROMS, and basically have a non working phone at the moment (it won't boot into the OS)

holy old threads batman!

are you unable to boot into CWM? if so,simply flash a different rom to get your phone back.

if not,are you still able to get into hboot? you could prolly flash the PB00IMG file via hboot to get a working phone back. you could then re-root using the "universal rooting for dummies" method listed here. this will get you a rooted phone with Amon_RAs recovery image installed.

there are possibly other ways,and im sure doogald,EU1,or scary alien will be along shortly to describe them.

once you get it figured out,id advise against using clockwork or rom magager in the future

 

[mexiken]

holy old threads batman!

are you unable to boot into CWM? if so,simply flash a different rom to get your phone back.

if not,are you still able to get into hboot? you could prolly flash the PB00IMG file via hboot to get a working phone back. you could then re-root using the "universal rooting for dummies" method listed here. this will get you a rooted phone with Amon_RAs recovery image installed.

there are possibly other ways,and im sure doogald,EU1,or scary alien will be along shortly to describe them.

once you get it figured out,id advise against using clockwork or rom magager in the future

I can get into CWM, but I can't flash anything. I've tried 3 different ROMS (downloaded multiple times on different browsers, in case that was the issue) and no dice. They all fail at one line or another.

I will try the hboot method shortly and report back.

Note: I was a bit weary of Amon's method since I've used CWM on my D1 and Fascinate without issue. Guess its different with the Eris'

 

[scotty85]

I can get into CWM, but I can't flash anything. I've tried 3 different ROMS (downloaded multiple times on different browsers, in case that was the issue) and no dice. They all fail at one line or another.

I will try the hboot method shortly and report back.

Note: I was a bit weary of Amon's method since I've used CWM on my D1 and Fascinate without issue. Guess its different with the Eris'

alot of folks use clockwork on other phones without issue,but i do read about enuff mishap i dont use clockwork on my incredible either. i do use it on my droid 1,but there are alternatives there also.

at any rate,youre right- the eris is a little different. very few(if any) of us use anything other than Amon_Ra.

and i would not use rom manager... on ANY phone! my 2 cents,for what theyre worth

 

[doogald]

I actually use ROM Manager most of the time now, though I run it by flashing from Amon's, rather than running it as the recovery image.

To mexiken, are you verifying the downloads by checking the md5 signatures (or doing a JAR verify)? Scary Alien makes a great tool for this, called AFV: https://market.android.com/details?id=sa.afv&feature=search_result

Scary has also created an alternate version of Amon's Recovery that does not require the trackball, and you can find install instructions here, in the first post. You are scenario three. http://androidforums.com/eris-all-t...2-custom-recovery-trackball-not-required.html

Do you have the S-OFF bootloader? I believe that you need that in order to successfully use fastboot.

Lastly, as long as you are absolutely sure that you are verifying your downloads, you can turn off signing verification in Clockwork, as, in my experience, it always seems to fail for me when that is activated, even when I know that they are properly signed. Again, be absolutely sure that your downloads are complete before trying to flash with Clockwork.

 

[erisuser1]

mexiken,

fastboot only gives the "remote not allow" message if you have a S -ON bootloader. Flashing stuff with fastboot is a privileged operation that is only possible when the (Eris) 1.49.2000 S-OFF bootloader is installed on the phone.

The symptoms you are describing might be due to a flash memory corruption problem which seems to only effect ClockworkMod recovery users on the Eris. If that is the case, there are two things you should be aware of:

- your phone is presently in a state where things could get much worse rapidly (particularly if you were to flash any of the "leak" PB00IMG.zip files.) No doubt you are eager to get your phone running again, but you need to proceed with caution right now.

- there is a simple fix available, but it is a little bit extreme, and should not be used unless we are very sure that the symptoms you describe are in fact caused by the particular corruption I am thinking of.

So, please answer the following questions as best as you can:

1) When you boot into ClockworkMod, what version # is indicated on the screen?
2) Are you validating the file length (exact byte count) or performing md5 checks of the ROM files before you try flashing them? (By default, ClockworkMod does not verify ROM signatures as it should. )
3) Do any of the errors occur when the boot image is being flashed?
4) If the answer to Q3 above is no, what happens if you try and flash a modestly-sized ROM such as CELB 4.3?

If you could provide a little more detail about the errors you see, that would be helpful; "fail at one line or another" is pretty vague.

eu1

 

[scotty85]

i am a little confused... my phone had the 1.47.2000 S-ON bootloader,and i used a PB00IMG file to change it to the 1.49.2000 S-OFF.

couldnt he simply update with that particular file in order to get his phone back and end up with S-OFF in the process? or am i getting ahead and this is the simple fix youre refering to?

i dont want to add confusion to the OPs situation,just trying to understand what is going on to further my own knowledge

 

[scotty85]

I actually use ROM Manager most of the time now, though I run it by flashing from Amon's, rather than running it as the recovery image.

im not sure what you mean here... i personally avoid rom manager like the plauge,lol,after reading some of the issues its caused people in the D1 and DINC forums.

ive come across some folks who like to use it for everything(backups,flashing,etc.) and ive seen people only use it to download,then use recovery to backup,wipe and flash.

i guess using it only for downloads isnt terribly unsafe,but i still prefer to use my PC and transfer to the phone via usb. maybe im stubborn cause download to pc/flash in recovery is the way i learned it but ive flashed ALOT of roms on my 3 phones and have never had an issue,so i feel theres a pretty slim margin of error hthat way.

 

[erisuser1]

if not,are you still able to get into hboot? you could prolly flash the PB00IMG file via hboot to get a working phone back.

scotty85,

I guess we will see if mexiken reports back in; I hope he doesn't report back in that he now has a brick... that is a very definite possibility (with only one chance of fixing it) if he tried flashing a Leak- v1, -v2, or -v3 PB00IMG.zip file with HBOOT (instead of the ROOT PB00IMG.zip ROM).

So, here's the deal. Rooting the phone so that any software may be installed requires a privileged thread of execution. On the Eris (or most Android phones ), there are exactly three ways of doing this:

- via (a privileged S-ON) bootloader
- via (a custom) recovery
- via the primary OS (which is rooted)

When presented with an Eris that has a locked (S-ON) bootloader, a custom recovery, and an OS that will no longer boot, the only lifeline left on the phone is the recovery - lose that somehow... and the phone is toast.

The additional thing which might be a point of confusion for you is that whenever someone says "Eris" + "Clockwork" + "can't flash any ROMs" - there is a possible fatal pathology occuring.

That pathology is that somehow the Clockwork recovery has done something to either the boot or /system partitions (sometimes both) which marks a huge number of flash memory pages as bad - like bad blocks on a disk drive. The result of this is that ROMs can no longer be flashed, either because the yaffs2 filesystems are so corrupted that they will not mount, or because there is insufficient space to write the ROM file to.

There was a time when it was thought that the Eris HTC bootloaders had some means of resetting this condition when it flashed a PB00IMG.zip ROM file, but appearances now - after several people turned their phones into bricks by attempting a PB00IMG.zip flash - are that this doesn't happen.

What this means is that if you have a phone in this condition, flashing any PB00IMG.zip file will cause some, but not all of the partitions to be correctly over-written. One of them that gets overwritten is the recovery partition - WITH A STOCK RECOVERY. [SIZE=+1]THAT MEANS THAT YOU LOSE YOUR REMAINING LIFELINE.[/SIZE]

So, if you try to "reflash" the phone with any of the Leak -V1, -V2, -V3 ROMs, what can happen is that:

- The bootloader gets overwritten with a S-ON bootloader (bad)
- The recovery gets overwritten with a stock recovery (bad)
- Parts of the OS fail to flash correctly - and so the phone can not boot nor be re-rooted.

That leaves you with a phone with a 1.49.0000 S-ON bootloader, which can not be replaced any longer with the S-OFF bootloader, a stock recovery, and a non-functional OS: basically, a soft-bricked phone with no currently known method of rooting.

So, the moral of this story is:

- [SIZE=+1]Repair techniques should be attempted first in the custom recovery before any other form of flashing is attempted.[/SIZE] The two specific procedures are:

- (first) flashing of the "misc" partition
- (2nd) Repair the MTD (flash memory) partitions "boot", "system" and "userdata"

After that, probably the next thing to do is to install the ROOT PB00IMG.zip ROM, rather than any of the -V1, -V2, or -V3 (Leak) PB00IMG.zip roms.

At that point the phone is repaired and may be re-rooted in the usual ways. AND IN ADDITION, it will have the S-OFF bootloader on it which can be used with the "fastboot" program to install a custom recovery, and effect the same repairs which are described above - should this problem ever re-occur.

The S-OFF bootloader is an excellent backstop against disasters which ClockworkMod seems to occasionally produce on the Eris.

eu1


PS mexiken - if you are reading this, please reply, even if you think your phone might be bricked at this time.

 

[scotty85]

oooh,ouch. i most certainly did not understand the severity of the situation,and can only hope that he caught the warnings before following my bad advice and permantly bricking his phone

 

[erisuser1]

oooh,ouch. i most certainly did not understand the severity of the situation,and can only hope that he caught the warnings before following my bad advice and permantly bricking his phone

Well, I learned of it the same way you did - by handing out the same advice. Unfortunately, because nobody has access to bootloader source code or documentation, the only way to find out about these things is through disasters. The important thing is that once a disaster has struck, to get the word out about how to avoid it.

Hopefully if he tried it, he used the ROOT PB00IMG.zip ROM. If not, there are 2 more methods of last resort discussed in this thread on XDA The first of the two (the "SoSicWiTiT root method", which is an attempt to get the S-OFF bootloader onto the phone) is much more likely than the second, but neither are guaranteed).

mexiken, are you still out there?

 

[Bob Cat]

That's a real bummer. I hope you can help him. Wonder why he hasn't chimed back in yet.

 

[mexiken]

Sorry I've been out. I had to be at work at like 730 AM my time, and I just got home.

So long story short, YES, I tried a leaked Hboot image. I jumped on an IRC channel that I found off a jcase thread and some nice guys on there helped me out and suggested that (which I was reading you could do)

And well, just as eu said, good night phone. But this was strange. The flash went through, but the /system flash failed, and the boot write failed I believe.

After that, the phone was literally dead. It didn't turn on, plugging it into a comp did nothing, plugging it into a wall did nothing either, not even the LED light responded.

So, long story short, the phone totally died. But no worries, it was just a spare phone I was trying to flash GB on to play around with cuz I was curious as to the actual changes, and all my real intention was for it to be strictly an mp3 player and MAYBE a light browser (so basically, an iPod touch) since I have bluetooth speakers at home and didn't want to have to sacrifice my phone to listen to music through them.

Thank you guys for responding though, thats amazing that you guys still support in this fashion. Speaks volumes for you guys.

 

[erisuser1]

hey mexiken,

(wow that has the wrong ring to it

Do you know what version of Clockwork was on the phone, or what exactly were the circumstances that took place when the phone first got into trouble? Was the phone pretty well charged when you flashed the PB00IMG.ZIP file?

What you describe (the phone going totally dead after flashing a PB00IMG.zip file) was reported by one other user. And the failure to flash the /system and boot partitions during the flashing is completely symptomatic of the Clockwork- induced troubles. I'm just sorry I didn't see your post earlier today - I think the phone could have been rescued.

Before you completely give up, let's try a few things first. Before each of these trials, pull the battery out of the phone, press all of the buttons one at a time (vol-up, vol-down, send, trackball, end), If you have the phone plugged into a charger or USB, yank that and re-insert it after the battery is replaced.

1) Try to start phone by holding two buttons simultaneously: Send (first), then End. Give it 3 seconds. Anything?
2) Press Three buttons simultaneously: Vol-Down+Send+End. Give it 3 or 4 seconds. Anything?
3) HBOOT start. (I know you've tried it - try it again after a battery pull/replacement) Vol-Down+End
4) Recovery start Vol-Up+End. Anything?

eu1

 

[scotty85]

So, long story short, the phone totally died. But no worries, it was just a spare phone I was trying to flash GB on to play around with cuz I was curious as to the actual changes, and all my real intention was for it to be strictly an mp3 player and MAYBE a light browser (so basically, an iPod touch) since I have bluetooth speakers at home and didn't want to have to sacrifice my phone to listen to music through them.

oooh,im sorry. im glad it was a spare phone you dint care much about,but i still feel bad

 

[mexiken]

hey mexiken,

(wow that has the wrong ring to it

Do you know what version of Clockwork was on the phone, or what exactly were the circumstances that took place when the phone first got into trouble? Was the phone pretty well charged when you flashed the PB00IMG.ZIP file?

What you describe (the phone going totally dead after flashing a PB00IMG.zip file) was reported by one other user. And the failure to flash the /system and boot partitions during the flashing is completely symptomatic of the Clockwork- induced troubles. I'm just sorry I didn't see your post earlier today - I think the phone could have been rescued.

Before you completely give up, let's try a few things first. Before each of these trials, pull the battery out of the phone, press all of the buttons one at a time (vol-up, vol-down, send, trackball, end), If you have the phone plugged into a charger or USB, yank that and re-insert it after the battery is replaced.

1) Try to start phone by holding two buttons simultaneously: Send (first), then End. Give it 3 seconds. Anything?
2) Press Three buttons simultaneously: Vol-Down+Send+End. Give it 3 or 4 seconds. Anything?
3) HBOOT start. (I know you've tried it - try it again after a battery pull/replacement) Vol-Down+End
4) Recovery start Vol-Up+End. Anything?

eu1

I'll grab the phone when I return Thursday and we'll try that then