[A] I can't boot into recovery or bootloader OMG! - G1 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Okay if like the title states you can't boot into recovery or bootloader...you are bricked. Nothing you can do about it AS OF YET. Best thing to do is report to your carrier that you recieved an OTA update and after you rebooted your phone wouldn't boot up. I posted this because well first of all most of the threads are questions and I'm sure half of them pertain to bricked g1s.
If you CAN boot into recovery or bootloader but you DO bootloop you are NOT bricked. It's what we refer to as a "soft-brick". It's mostly fixed by a wipe or a reflash of the ROM. In the newer Hero ROMS or ROMS that require the new spl and rely heavily on the sdcard, wiping the ext2/3/4 partitions of your sdcard and linux-swap if available will most likely fix any boot loop problem.
Hope this cleared up alot of things for people. Really hope that this post will prevent people from cluttering the Dream Q&A section with countless threads on their bricked or "soft-bricked" phones.
Thank-you for your time.

Related

Guide updated above

The Guide "STOCK-2-CYANOGEN" has been updated to include 4.1.999.
Post 2 also has instructions to upgrade from CM4.1.11.1 or earlier to CM4.1.999 as well as upgrading from CM4.1.99 to CM4.1.999.
If you have root already and CM Recovery 1.4 then you can use post 2. If you have not rooted your phone then use post 1.
Fingerlickin stays busy.
hey supreme, I noticed you spending alot of time in the dream section. Any common problems we can add to the guide?
I just been seein more about 1.6 stuff of people gettin stuck, I think some people just loaded the wrong htc recovery. Also maybe add the clear dalvik-cache commands. Also maybe add how to back up the ext partition since I've been seeing more and more of that. I know there's more I've been seein alot of lately but I need to drink another cup of coffee and get my thoughts together. I'll get my thoughts together and let you know.
A lot of people actually booted off of the HTC recovery, which ended up replacing their recovery image with the stock one. Put emphasis on not booting before applying the Cyanogen update.
Also, please make note that the update will not work properly with AmonRa's recovery image. It gives the status 7 error when flashing the HTC Recovery ROM. Using Cyanogen's 1.4 recovery solves the problem (they can flash back to AmonRa after they are done)

[Q] Post SBF Questions

A few weeks ago I rooted my X and ran the manual deodex method posted on the site. Phone ran great, I installed clockwork recovery and made a few backups. after installing a rom and not being able to get back into the recovery, I had to flash the phone with the 2.2 full SBF. This leads to my questions
1. After I SBF'd I was able to recover my applications and my data was all on the SD card. however I have a few applications that when run will close and give me an error message stating that the "application unexpectedly quit" I can duplicate the issue most when attempting to search the a forum through the XDA application. I am sure I failed to wipe data and cache before I recovered the stock OS, could this be the cause, any ideas?
2. I have re-rooted my phone but I have a question about deodexing again. I understand that motorola is in the early stages of working on an update to fix reported issues with 2.2, I also believe that they will use this opportunity to update the bootloader version. is there a way to disable the OTA updates? I am concerned about bricking my phone if an update is release and I am deodexed, what is the worst that could happen?
Sorry for the post, I am technically inclined but am still learning the android OS, any help is very much appreciated.
If you run a rom either aosp or blur you can avoid the ota that's end only way I know to avoid it
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
thanks for the response, I read a few places that clockwork recovery blocks OTA updates from installing, but I am having a hard time nailing down a definitive answer.
From what I understand Droid X SBF files do not wipe data like other phones. I recently had to SBF but kept getting stuck looping at the droid eye. I booted into recovery and did a factory reset and all worked out just fine. I know it's not your exact problem but it still might be worth it to try.
As for not getting OTA updates other than doing a custom ROM I can't help you there, sorry.

[Q] rooting nexus one

hey guys i just got my nexus one 2.3.3
im confused what 2 do first
root, unlock bootloader
what 2 do first?
and i preffer to do all these things WITHOUT adb, bcoz adb never works with me
You can't unlock bootloader without ADB (or actually without fastboot, but if you can't get ADB to work, then you probably won't be able to get fastboot to work - since they work the same way).
My suggestion is - do nothing. At least until you'll be able to follow one of the guides and get ADB and fastboot to work. Then you can decide yourself, whether you want the bootloader unlocked or not, and how will rooting benefit you.
what are the benefits of unlocked bootloader?
i just wanted it to get it rooted and flash CM7 on it
It has been discussed a lot, please search to get A LOT of answers.
In a very short version, the benefits are:
Safe radio updates (using fastboot)
Ability to flash whatever you want whenever you want - which is, permanent ability to have root access, regardless of the currently used OS.
but is it possible to flash CM7 rom without unlocking bootloader?
whenever i boot my nexus one, there is this little lock icon on the bottem that is "unlocked"
is my bootloader unlocked?
shiyou said:
but is it possible to flash CM7 rom without unlocking bootloader?
whenever i boot my nexus one, there is this little lock icon on the bottem that is "unlocked"
is my bootloader unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there's lock icon at the bottom of boot splash screen, it means the bootloader is already unlocked. Is it used one?
yes its used, i guess that guy alrdy unlocked it for me
another problem
i have serius wifi issue, its different from the other wifi problem
if i connect to my wifi its authenticating, then disabled
i dont even go to sleep its just says disabled after authenticating, i tried reconecctint but same things happens again...
i installed wifi fixer but that doesnt work either
also, my 3g drops after 4 sec and i cant get it to work afterwards
Flash a new ROM, wipe your data, and try.
Repeat.
If the problems will still persist - they're in HW and you can't do anything about them.
i tried factory reset but didnt work...
This is exactly the reason why I suggest not touching your phone.
You either don't understand what exactly I'm guiding you to do, or don't understand the difference between various maintenance/repair operations. Flashing a new ROM and wiping user data from custom recovery ISN'T the same as doing "factory reset" from within already-installed ROM. Flashing 2 ROMs with different base (for example, lightly modified stock and CM7, or CM7 and MIUI, etc) introduces enough difference on the SW size to (almost) make sure that any problem which persists in both new ROMs, is coming from HW.
In any case, I suggest either waiting for someone with much more patience than myself (which isn't hard - patience isn't one of my strengths) to explain you some basics that you're not willing to learn yourself by reading, reading and some more reading, or to give your phone to someone who knows what he's doing.
dude....
i rooted and flashed many roms b4, this isnt my first android phone
i just got confused data wipe with factory reset....
Ok well now I need to know if you have a custom recovery, if so then just 5X wipe plus 3X system wipe and flash a new ROM, if not then do you have root access if not I'll walk you through the process.
shiyou
You are in good hands with Dude
Couple points:
Don't use Clockwork Mod 3.+ as recovery--which seems to be your next step--get a lower version
I prefer Amon_Ra 2.2.1 for my recovery
BACKUP phone (NANDROID) as soon as you get the recovery
Look thru Cyanogen thread from OP page and last few dozen pages
Cyanogen flashes a little differnet with having to flash gapps separate and flashing Dark Tremor's a2sd after each Nightly flash
i know how 2 root,flash,wipe, nandroid and all
i did it many times b4
i think i wont use nightly builds, but a stable? or RC?
which should i take?
How about cm7.1 RC1 that is the latest version of cyanogen mod.
rugmankc said:
shiyou
You are in good hands with Dude
Couple points:
Don't use Clockwork Mod 3.+ as recovery--which seems to be your next step--get a lower version
I prefer Amon_Ra 2.2.1 for my recovery
BACKUP phone (NANDROID) as soon as you get the recovery
Look thru Cyanogen thread from OP page and last few dozen pages
Cyanogen flashes a little differnet with having to flash gapps separate and flashing Dark Tremor's a2sd after each Nightly flash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why not clockwork recovery 3? the cyanogenmod rc1 states that i need that?
should i use gingerbeak? im on 2.2.3 and install the recovery afterwards?
ok i rooted it with gingerbreak and flashed clockworkmod recovery on it
after that i went into recovery and couldnt find nandroid backup so i rebooted again
i tried to make a backup via rom manager and it ended up with a "!" icon
i tried to go into recovery again and again i got the "!" icon
I don't know anything about Gingerbreak
But, on CWMod 3.+, it has been unstable for a lot of people--I don't recommend it
If you have Rom Manager--flash something like 2.5.1.4??
Still recommend Amon_Ra
I am not sure, but if you get the exclamation, you may not be rooted
If you are experienced at flashing, I would as another poster suggested--get to know your phone and study hard info from the Rom threads you want to try before trying.
What color was recovery--did it say ClockWork
I don't think you will see the name Nandroid in Clockwork--just Clockwork backups
A couple more suggestions, if you want
Back up sd card regularly--you will lose it on occasion--if you need to reformat it, use sdformatter outside of phone
Partition sdcard with zero swap
Wipe all (data/caches) multiple times before flashing new rom, including System

[Q] HTC Hero looping on the boot screen. How can this be fixed?

Phone: HTC Hero, CDMA
Carrier: Sprint
While others have reported of this problem, the solutions that worked for them dont work for me. Im really stuck.
I know, its an old and slow phone, but I was hoping to go to CM7 to get better performance out of it. Well, I must have done something wrong in the process. My current android version is 2.1-update1. I used z4root to root it and used the clockworkmod ROM manager to install a recent nightly after backing-up my current ROM. Installing the nightly failed, something to do with the zip, but my phone had already been wiped and rebooted in default factory mode. I tried doing the install again with the same nightly and a more recent one, but it kept failing due to a problem with the zips. After one of the reboots, the OS just wouldnt load; seems to be looping on the 'HTC quietly brilliant' screen. I am able to boot in recovery mode, but cant figure out how to get past this looping issue.
Ive tried booting using the back-up I created with no luck. Ive even tried going through the RUU process (cant post a link cause Im a new member here), which results in an error message stating that theres an incorrect bootloader.
I did figure out that I was trying to install CM7 using the wrong zip; had the GSM version. Ive tried installing CM7 with the correct zip, but, after reboot, it loops at the animation with the android on the skateboard and the blue arrow around it. Not sure what it means that the two different OSs loop at, what looks like, the same points.
I probably did something wrong, but Im hoping somebody with a better understanding of all thats involved can let me know if there is any way for me to fix this. Thanks in advance for the help.
grins1 said:
Phone: HTC Hero, CDMA
Carrier: Sprint
While others have reported of this problem, the solutions that worked for them dont work for me. Im really stuck.
I know, its an old and slow phone, but I was hoping to go to CM7 to get better performance out of it. Well, I must have done something wrong in the process. My current android version is 2.1-update1. I used z4root to root it and used the clockworkmod ROM manager to install a recent nightly after backing-up my current ROM. Installing the nightly failed, something to do with the zip, but my phone had already been wiped and rebooted in default factory mode. I tried doing the install again with the same nightly and a more recent one, but it kept failing due to a problem with the zips. After one of the reboots, the OS just wouldnt load; seems to be looping on the 'HTC quietly brilliant' screen. I am able to boot in recovery mode, but cant figure out how to get past this looping issue.
Ive tried booting using the back-up I created with no luck. Ive even tried going through the RUU process (cant post a link cause Im a new member here), which results in an error message stating that theres an incorrect bootloader.
I did figure out that I was trying to install CM7 using the wrong zip; had the GSM version. Ive tried installing CM7 with the correct zip, but, after reboot, it loops at the animation with the android on the skateboard and the blue arrow around it. Not sure what it means that the two different OSs loop at, what looks like, the same points.
I probably did something wrong, but Im hoping somebody with a better understanding of all thats involved can let me know if there is any way for me to fix this. Thanks in advance for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I *think* your error, in general, was using a bunch of "easy" one click methods and not properly learning (READING) about what the proper steps are. Here is my advice (assuming you are still rooted) -
1.boot into recovery (power off phone, hold home button, press power)
2.wipe data/factory reset
3.mounts/storage - wipe system and boot
4.restore nand backup OR flash ROM/gapps (from the same thread)
5.reboot, and be patient, bootup could take 5-10 minutes.
Good Luck.
You are the man (or woman)! I believe the formatting of system and boot is what did it. Really appreciate the help.
grins1 said:
You are the man (or woman)! I believe the formatting of system and boot is what did it. Really appreciate the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is important, as Il Duce said, that you definitely do a good amount of reading when you want to get involved in rooting your phone. You are opening yourself up to some great innovation and fun, but you can also cause yourself a lot of headaches.
Recovery is your friend. If you can get into that, at least you know things are ok. I like to wipe (or format) system, data, cache, and boot 3x just to make sure that clockwork recovery cleaned everything and there are no dingleberries from the last rom I was using.
Flashing the correct type of rom is even more important. Don't flash a gsm rom to a cdma phone and NEVER flash a gsm radio to a cdma phone. Once you delve into the reading aspect of XDA, you will see that is the sure way to brick your phone.
Some roms take longer than others to boot up. Let it run its course. Sometimes it will reboot right after installing. At some point, you might want to make a nandroid of the new rom you are running and go back to your stock (2.1 update 1) and update your PRL, baseband, etc. (if you haven't done an update in a while).
Have fun, that is the most important part and we seem to have a lot of it here in HeroC XDA land.
You know, I put in a fair share of reading about how to update the ROM on my phone and I was under the impression that it would be fairly simple. I figured that since this has been done for quite a while and all these tools have been developed, I wouldnt need to know what happens on the back end during a root or ROM install.
But I did get myself into a bind that I wasnt able to figure out on my own. And with the help of this forum, I was able to get past my problem. Im glad to say I now have a phone that is functioning very smoothly with CM7 and the apps I need.
Next step for me is figuring out how to save my apps to the SD card so that I can install from there if/when I update my ROM in the future.
Thanks again for the help!
Get titanium backup FTW.
BANG! from my shooter...

[Q] What can we flash without risking a hardbrick?

May you be saluted,
I just wanted to open a thread that helps people understand what they can flash without risking a hard brick. I know there are several threads concerning this particular problem but no one of them is complete. But before listing some examples I wanna clarify what is meant by saying Hardbrick Softbrick.
Softbrick:
You are able to boot your phone in a state where you can flash software, for example the bootloader.
Under this category goes:
-Flashing boot.img
-Flashing custom roms
-Flashing recovery.img
-Uninstalling system appilications
Hardbrick:
You can't boot into the bootloader and your device can't be recognized by your computer. This means you F***ed up your device!
-Rom Update Utilities, RUUs (especially wrong hboot)
-Bootloader, hboot
Logicalierwise bricks will only result if you flashed a wrong file or something went wrong like you accidentally unplugged your device while flashing. Now maybe I am wrong and this list is definitely not complete so I'd be happy if some of you added a few examples, I'll add them to my post. And finally I don't know what's about flashing RADIOs/Basebands... Can I try them out like boot.img? I mean really flash a **** into this partition?
LibertyMarine said:
May you be saluted,
I just wanted to open a thread that helps people understand what they can flash without risking a hard brick. I know there are several threads concerning this particular problem but no one of them is complete. But before listing some examples I wanna clarify what is meant by saying Hardbrick Softbrick.
Softbrick:
You are able to boot your phone in a state where you can flash software, for example the bootloader.
Under this category goes:
-Flashing boot.img
-Flashing custom roms
-Flashing recovery.img
-Uninstalling system appilications
Hardbrick:
You can't boot into the bootloader and your device can't be recognized by your computer. This means you F***ed up your device!
-Rom Update Utilities, RUUs (especially wrong hboot)
-Bootloader, hboot
Now maybe I am wrong and this list is definitely not complete so I'd be happy if some of you added a few examples, I'll add them to my post. And finally I don't know what's about flashing RADIOs/Basebands... Can I try them out like boot.img? I mean really flash a **** into this partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed a lot on my one, even hboot updates etc. but never had a hardbrick... As long as boot into hboot is possible you can en-brick everything.

Categories

Resources