[Q] Pete's Unroot + Factory Reset = Stock Bionic? - Motorola Droid Bionic

I'm preparing to exchange my Droid Bionic because of issues with hardware and responsiveness. I one-click rooted the phone and also modified the Hotspot to enable it using a SQL editor.
I wanted to get my Bionic back into fresh-out-of-the-factory conditions. I used Pete's Unroot tool and also did a factory reset. Is this enough to pass any checks Verizon can do to void my warranty? Or will I have to use RSD Lite to reinstall the firmware?
Thanks in advance.

if you didn't delete anything then yeah it's good.

I think the worst I did was freeze apps. I didn't unfreeze any of them before I unrooted and did a factory reset, but I double-checked and they're all back and working (e.g., VZW Navigator, Blockbuster, etc.).
I just want to make sure that when Verizon gets this and they're doing their inspection, a directory doesn't appear that has extra files in it, the firmware seems modified, or anything else that could indicate the firmware was tampered with.

a factory reset doesn't wipe the SD card right?
fine. i meant the SD-ext you stupid phone
you might have rootish directories/files hanging around there...unless i'm wrong

Truly you should just do the rsdlite restore. Minus the download time, it takes like 7 minutes. And it is completely stock.

Thanks for the info. I ran the RSDLite restore on my phone. I started freaking out at first - my phone went from booting up and being ready to be delivered back to Verizon, to not even getting to the Motorola logo during boot-up. I thought I bricked my phone because RSD kept failing. I read through some posts, and it apparently RSD is successful after repeating the steps over and over and over and over and over... again.
Anyway, I ran RSD with the full Bionic restore possibly 100 times. After 2 hours, it was successful. I re-checked the settings and apps and everything was okay (I had read some people were missing the camera app, but mine was there and working). The phone was good-to-go (hopefully). If I get a huge bill from Verizon, I'll update this post in the next 2-3 months (*knock on wood*).

Related

[Q] New update fails

Hopefully you guys know there is a software fix out from at&t and samsung that fixes gps problems and etc...
goes without saying you can't just straight update if you're rooted. That's where i'm stuck.
Before i touched anything, it would get to 50% and reboot, says the update was not applied.
Then I tried "unrooting" even though it said it was unrooted, and apps requiring SU backed this up saying my phone was unrooted.
Then during the update, it stops even sooner at "preparing".
So... how do we get around this without doing the master clear with odin3???
I DON'T want to lose all my data. I'm too lazy.
Mine said failed at 100%. I def got the jh7 update though. My phone was unable to reboot into recovery using the three button method. Now I can. My phone was rooted with stock rom.
Mine is rooted with the Voodoo fix and it failed during the update (I was at work so don't know at what step during the update).
Will have to do the voodoo-lag unfix - restore back to factory defaults and try it again..
Unless of course someone pops out a tweaked ROM before then!
check out this thread, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=789546 so we can get everyone with this issue together in one thread

[Q] Do I need to unroot after factory reset?

Here's the deal: I rooted my DROID 2 Global using Pete's Motorola Root Tools in order to perform a full backup (using MyBackupPro) as I was having what looked to be a possible HW issue and didn't want to lose App data. The backup went well.
I inadvertently did a factory reset without unrooting first. When I try to unroot now, I get an error message saying, "ERROR /restore/ backup doesn't exist or is incomplete!" The Tool says there are links to the files I needs but I cannot find them.
So I think I may be stuck in a strange state - but I don't have enough knowledge to know for sure. I have seen other threads talk about similar issues but after using different rooting tools and/or different phones. I want to get back to a state where I can now call my carrier to discuss the HW issue (the touchscreen flips out and randomly and on it's own starts registering touches/keystrokes.)
On top of this, for some reason, I can't log into my Google account from my phone to start the process of doing a data/app restore and I'm don't know if this is related to factory-reset-after-rooted state or something else.
Any and all advice is appreciated.
Here's what I learned....
After trying some more and fiddling, here is what I found.
A factory reset does not unroot. (Obvious to experts, but not so to newbies perhaps. The key observation: the "superuser" app was still installed.)
You can unroot after a factory reset. Not sure why it didn't work at first - perhaps I used the wrong options (the toolkit works with multiple Motorola phones - for non-DROID 3, do NOT say "yes" to restore /system/app; the instructions are clear on this.)
It took several times, but it was successful. Pete's Motorola Root Tools are quite good. Thanks.
BTW, the account issue I had was unrelated to rooting - I use Google 2-Step Authentication, but after the factory reset, the authentication app and credentials were lost. Had to disable 2-Step Authentication on the website to get by this.
Overall a good learning experience....
-Tim

What IS the scoop on "check for update is not available"?

Droid 4 running OTA GB 2.3.6 here in W. San Jose, CA
I get "check for update is not available at this time.". For many days now. LTE and Wifi (LTE is almost instant and Wifi takes 5 seconds or so).
I've looked at a zillion posts about "check for update is not available" and none have a definitive explanation. -- and all of them are from a couple of months ago or earlier. Didn't find anything recent.
I understand that the intended meaning of the message is that you can't connect to the update server.
I've read dozens of "solutions" but each one of them didn't work for somebody else so I've got to assume it was just coincidence -- resetting the phone, factory reset, renaming files, and so on. I *have* network connectivity. Data works great. Apparently I'm not able to connect to the update server? That shouldn't have anything to do with rooted or not, frozen or deleted apps, safestrap, etc. Fail to update once you get the download, sure. But I am expecting to be able to connect to the server.
Anybody know for sure?
I could imagine that the connect request might contain info identifying my particular phone model or ESN (would expect software version checks to be exchanged after connecting though). Something like that.
How does VZW roll out the updates? is it strictly by geographic region? or blocks of ESN? or what?
I have the "official" OTA download from here but figured if I side loaded it I might get out of sync or cut off from future OTAs? Failed to find a definitive answer on that too .
#eliot# from dialer then restart and try again... let us know
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 01:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:29 AM ----------
dbreezy187 said:
#eliot# from dialer then restart and try again... let us know
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will check in with Motorola's server btw kinda busy sorry for no further info
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
Nope.
That's one of the myriad ones I read about (didn't recognize it right away though 'cause the post I saw it in had it in numbers instead of letters). One guy said it worked for him and the next guy said it didn't.
If you haven't tried it, as soon as you type in the final '#' you get a popup that says "Log Checkin initiated". So it does *something*but it didn't change my Check for update is not available... maybe whatever it is supposed to do never got into the server either.
lol, reminded me that I used to have a comprehensive list of all those codes for my Treo. Now I got yet another mission
[edit] dahaha, "there's an app for that". https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cx.makaveli.androidsecretcodes&hl=en
Other then that Matt had to push the up date to them.. I believe on one post he actually said to get back to stock 100% wipe cache partition then he pushed the ota to said device... he was really nice about the being rooted over there... the forum is closed now so I can't check for more info.. id post over at Motorola owners forum
Sent from my DROID4 using xda app-developers app
I'll give it a bit more soak time I guess. I will try side loading the update before resetting/wiping. Reset/wipe will be my last resort. First choice is OTA.
Part of what prompted my post is that I'm unclear if the phased rollout is complete.
Is it the case that EVERYONE with a Verizon Droid 4 who is going to get the notification should have gotten it by now? Or is VZW still in the middle of the phased roll out for the Droid 4's? Got to wondering since googling for the Unavailable message only returned results that were at least a couple of months old. I figured it's possible that server access was/is part of the phasing mechanism but, then again, expected to find constant posting about that if it was. It seems that the mechanism of the roll out and the schedule is also a well kept super secret.
are you rooted? I had that same problem for days before I realized unrooting will fix that. Despite what a lot of trusted posters have said here and other forums, having root and no other changes will cause that. I used voodoo ota rootkeeper (free on market) to unroot and I had the OTA installed within 10 minutes (downloaded over wifi). it is recommended you update your binaries in your superuser app before using rootkeeper.
if you're not rooted then this doesn't apply.
---------- Post added at 02:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:50 PM ----------
one more note, the stock recovery on the D4 after ICS update now tracks whether you are or you were rooted. Unrooting your phone no longer hides the fact that you were at some point rooted if a service rep goes into the stock recovery screens. this has been reported on other phones earlier in the year, now also true for D4.
No effect.
I've tried all combinations.
I've used the D4 utility only to root and install safestrap ( and used safestrap only to do a backup. nothing else)
Routine goes like this:
- in safestrap: uninstall recovery
- in settings->applications->manage applications: safestrap -> force close, clear data, uninstall
- in ES File Explorer: delete /system/bin/logwrapper
- in ES File Explorer: rename /system/bin/logwrapper.bin -> /system/bin/logwrapper
- power off, reboot
- in Titanium Backup: clear filters (ALL)
- in Titanium Backup: unfreeze all user and system apps
(the only "system" bloatware I've removed was uninstallable through the normal settings->applications -- I did not use TI for that)
- in OTA Rootkeeper: delete su backup
- in superuser: update su binary
- in OTA Rootkeeper: Protect root
- in OTA Rootkeeper: temp un-root
- power off, reboot
Try to check for updates with 4G LTE (i have great reception) - fails in a second or less
Try to check for updates with WiFi - fails but it takes 5 seconds or a little longer for a response/popup
Since you installed Safestrap you can't install the OTA update anyway, so not much of a bother that you can't get it pushed to you It'd fail trying to install as OTA updates require the stock recovery.
Root does not affect it. My wife's Droid 4 was rooted (by me) and many system apps frozen and the OTA was pushed to her the same day the SOAK testers were scheduled to get it (she was not part of the SOAK test, though I was). My sisters Droid 4 was rooted as well and she got the OTA pushed to her and installed a week or so later,
You'll have to uninstall the recovery Safestrap installs, and uninstall Safestrap. You'll also have to edit some files (logwrapper.bin or something like that).
for the ota
sbf 217 4.0.4 with rsd
SBF
http://sbf.droid-developers.org/cdma_maserati/VRZ_XT894_6.7.2-180_DR4-16_M2-37_1FF.xml.zip
rsd
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1348587
dont forget to install the motorola driver first and enable debugging mode in development in your settings
i think they are here https://motorola-global-portal.cust...e-can-i-obtain-the-usb-drivers-for-my-device?
UPDATE: (lengthy with fairy tale ending)
Management summary: I am now on the OTA ICS (acquired over the air). following a wipe/factory reset
Called *611 tech support yesterday afternoon.
Got someone that sounded like they were located on this continent AND proficient. Always a good sign when they ask what the problem is right after getting your name instead of insisting on the 5 minute scripted generic question and answer form. Stated my problem was related to the system update for my Droid 4 and that I had been getting "check for update is not available..." for a few days now. My questions were "is that expected/normal?", "I understand roll outs are phased. What is the date the roll out is expected to be complete? -- last group has been notified or can pull it?", "If the persistent 'check unavailable' message is indicative of a problem then do they have possible fixes/known problem?".
He checked for the dates and said they expect to have completed the roll out by the end of September -- all Droid 4s should have it or have it available to them by the end of September. That the "check unavailable" did not necessarily indicate a problem but that it was not "normally expected" and more likely indicative of a problem on my end since it was persistent over that length of time. I said I felt better knowing they were still in the phased roll out and maybe I should just wait a while. We tried a soft reset (vol- and power) with no effect. He said he was afraid the next step would be to try a factory reset and advised I wait a while to see if the condition cleared. Went on to say that one effect/risk of the factory reset was that, if there was a software/system problem with GB preventing the OTA check it might also effect the factory reset -- if the phone had a problem coming up it might just pull the ICS update in order to come up from the reset. (Nice! he didn't just assume I would be OK with that following a reset). That I decided to wait I should definitely call back if it didn't resolve in 2 weeks. -- OK, that was a pleasantly refreshing encounter with tech support.
So I figured, fine, I haven't really tested a restore/recovery with Titanium backup and I've never gone through a factory reset so maybe now was the time. Had 2 alternatives. I could try using the D4 utility recovery using the official (same as the OTA) zip I have on my sd card or try the wipe/factory reset and see if OTA started working.
My thoughts (due to lack of any knowledge):
- Apparently once you get on ICS there is no reversion to GB (at least the actual kernel).
- Likely they have history at Galactic Headquarters of OTA and/or physical upgrades at factory or service centers for a particular phone.
- Obviously they check the phone's system version when you connect to the OTA server. Have to in order to determine if you even need an update. Additionally they would probably check if the version the phone reports is the version they expect it to be on -- I would, for technical and support reasons.
- So maybe if I went to ICS myself it might remove me from the OTA path for future updates. Not a big deal in my mind but, heh, why eliminate alternatives if you don't have to.
* reinstall safestrap and do a backup
* uninstall safestrap (uninstall recovery, uninstall safestrap apk, delete logwrapper and rename logwrapper.bin to logwrapper)
* unfreeze everything with Ti
* batch backup all user apps with Ti
* batch backup (green and yellow) system data with Ti
* temp un-root with Voodoo
* wipe/factory reset
It comes up in GB
(lot of activity follows which I didn't write down and can't quite remember)
Basically I waited for some market activity and whatnot to die down and tried update. Immediately said update available!
Cancelled that, got Ti (pro) back from the market, batch restored missing apps.
I have eset security (i don't know... I have it on my PCs so I figured I'd stick it on my phone too. Not that I think there is much in the way of virus for android yet). Eset has an urgent notification that it wants to be added as an administrator for the device so it can protect itself from installation of counterfeit Eset. I understand that but I'm wondering if maybe Eset maybe had something to do with my fail to connect to OTA. Probably not but that's the only thing that presented itself after the reset that looked like it could have been related.
OTA again to download the update -- deferred update after download.
Oh wait, forgot to batch restore system data. Did that, checked for sms messages. All good so I triggered the update.
Holy crap!!! I forgot to temp un-root! Figured the worst thing I could do was try to abort anything and just let it run and expect the update to fail.
It didn't fail. It completed just fine?
I go through the new phone screens far enough to sign into my google account.
Bunch of market update activity.
Restore missing apps with Ti
Restore system data with Ti
Then it strikes me that, sure enough, I'm still rooted. I did not restore root anywhere after the update.
I was rooted before the update (by accident) and still rooted after the update... Whats up with that?
So at the moment I'm a happy camper.
All my apps seem to have been effortlessly restored.
All my app settings seem to be intact.
All my system data seems to be intact with no migration issues.
I'm still (magically) rooted without doing anything.
standard101 said:
[/COLOR]one more note, the stock recovery on the D4 after ICS update now tracks whether you are or you were rooted. Unrooting your phone no longer hides the fact that you were at some point rooted if a service rep goes into the stock recovery screens. this has been reported on other phones earlier in the year, now also true for D4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am going to have to disagree with this. I was rooted and flashed. Ran the download and the install failed. I then did a factory reset (lost my flash and root as expected) and immediately ran the download. Install went off without a hitch. I even had a support rep from verizon and motorola on the phone during the install when i was doing it because i was so mad about the slow download. They were watching the install once it was done because they both stated that everything on my phone "looked good".
YeeP said:
I am going to have to disagree with this. I was rooted and flashed. Ran the download and the install failed. I then did a factory reset (lost my flash and root as expected) and immediately ran the download. Install went off without a hitch. I even had a support rep from verizon and motorola on the phone during the install when i was doing it because i was so mad about the slow download. They were watching the install once it was done because they both stated that everything on my phone "looked good".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that's what he was saying.
After you go to ICS it tracks (displayed in the recovery screen) if you are or were rooted.
Go into recovery and you will see a yellow "qe 0/0" left of the android.
ge 0/0 -- are not rooted/never been rooted
ge 0/1 -- are not rooted/been rooted sometime prior
ge 1/1 -- are rooted/been rooted
No idea if this was tracked before but not displayed in recovery. I suspect it was. On GB they were checking system files on boot and logging differences (I think I read they were comparing system file CRCs?). The list was getting logged to a qer...something log file (I forgot the file name and where it's at). I verified that. On my rooted GB there were mostly /xbin files and a couple of others listed in the log.
Now on ICS my recovery screen shows "qe 1/1".
Oddly enough I did a factory reset, forgot to temp un-root and my root persisted through the OTA update just fine. No idea why.
Since my root persisted through the update I was not able to check before re-rooting to see if it displayed "qe 0/0". My guess is this was always logged/stored and they just added the display to the recovery screen. I would find it almost inconceivable this information (and other) was not written to NVRAM since day one. Basic support/diagnosis information.

[Trifecta] Jelly Bean Update

This one is pretty straight forward...Especially if you haven't done much modding to your
phone.
If you're stock or close to, you can probably just move the update to the phone sd and use stock recovery to apply update, and you're good to go. If you are already rooted try the OTA RootKeeper app, hopefully it'll work for you. being that it seems to be hit & miss, i'm guessing it didn't work for people that had issues updating, but will work for those whose update goes smooth.
I on the other hand had already rooted and did the GSM hack on mine so I ran into a few issues that I've others have been having too.
Probably the biggest and most common are "system 7" errors. I've realized you get these when the update checks and finds that ICS files have changed, are frozen, gone, etc. and it's a bit harder to diagnose because it keeps changing depending on what's wrong.
For example it had a code then something else and it referrenced my STK.apk file, then I realized when I did the GSM hack I renamed those to Stk.apk.bak & stk.odex.bak as recommended. So I fixed those & tried update again.
Failed this time at build.prop, yep another GSM mod, but I didn't back-up or save orig settings, so I had to find a bionic ICS build.prop and replace it. found it here (will update with link asap).
Tried again, IIRC, this is the time it worked, but only booted to animation loop. This sucked. Tried to use House of Bionic to fix, couldn't get it to work, but ended finding a fix using recovory "AP Fastboot" had to use pc CMD to reinstall preinstall.img & system.img from the HoB ICS FXZ file.
Look HERE. Thanks to ERIC for this, he gives you everything you need. He's also responsible for dead battery workaround I put below.
When you do this, you can't boot phone back up but you can go into stock recovery & re-apply update from sd on your phone. It wipes everything tho, so if you used OTA RootKeeper, it's gone. But you get phone back.
Bottom line...MAKE BACK-ups or save everything you've changed.
If you've heavily modded things on your phone it might be more worth it (easier) to back up & save what you can as far as apps & personal stuff then redo ICS stock, Maybe root & use OTA RootKeeper here, tho I've heard this doesn't always work either (the OTA part), then apply JB update. then re-install / apply what you were able to save / back-up.
So in hindsight I would guess modding anything within the system is what gives you the "system 7" error, and depending on what you did, or maybe someone you bought the phone from already rooted & modded, it can take you all day to fix / replace those files, just do the reflash of the (2) img files & call it a day. This way you can probably avoid the boot loop issue too.
One other thing about the boot loop one...if you wait & wait & wait like I did it KILLS your battery, and you won't be able to use Fastboot.
IF THIS HAPPENS...find an old phone charger or DC plug, like for your computer, clip off the end and line up the positive & negative connections on the battery then push it into the phone so the wires are touching the phone connections too. Be careful what it's putting out tho, I found I had one that the output was 6 (watts i believe) and 300 mah. It worked the trick just fine. you don't want anything to high as you don't want to burn up any circuits. most USB plug phone chargers go around 5 (watts) I believe. just FYI.
Hope this helps someone.
Cheers.

Problems After Cache Partition Clear?

So I recently tried to wipe my cache partition and I was able to perform all the steps successfully. It started wiping but after a few minutes, a bunch of text flashed on the screen. It moved too fast for me to catch it but it was something like "unable to mount......." and a bunch of different stuff. After (receiving no input from me), the "dead android" thing would flash on the screen and then go away very quickly. I was able to get the phone to boot by mashing buttons. What is causing this? I have successfully wiped the cache before and haven't ran into this. I am unrooted, stock, with a locked bl. I have messed around with kingroot before in the past, but I currently don't have it on my phone.
Once I had the same problem, you need to flash phone with stock firmware
blacksn said:
Once I had the same problem, you need to flash phone with stock firmware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am stock with BL locked.
you can reflash stock via RSD Lite.
Kingroot probably messed something up, I've never heard of a cache wipe failing although it does take a long time in the stock recovery. A very easy way to return to 100% factory clean is running the Verizon repair assistant, which can be installed to your PC when the phone is connected by USB.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
SpyderPride said:
Kingroot probably messed something up, I've never heard of a cache wipe failing although it does take a long time in the stock recovery. A very easy way to return to 100% factory clean is running the Verizon repair assistant, which can be installed to your PC when the phone is connected by USB.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm unable to get the Verizon repair assistant to detect my phone. My phone shows up with a adb check but not under the repair assistant. As a side note, I went back and watched RootJunky's video on the original sunshine unlock (the one that required kingroot) and in one of the steps it told him it was unable to mount cache. However, the phone worked fine. Not sure if this has anything to do with my problem, or if repairing anything/flashing/trying to unlock the bootloader will cause any problems.
FrostedWaffle said:
I'm unable to get the Verizon repair assistant to detect my phone. My phone shows up with a adb check but not under the repair assistant. As a side note, I went back and watched RootJunky's video on the original sunshine unlock (the one that required kingroot) and in one of the steps it told him it was unable to mount cache. However, the phone worked fine. Not sure if this has anything to do with my problem, or if repairing anything/flashing/trying to unlock the bootloader will cause any problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Section 0 of this guide should sort you out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-turbo/general/guide-how-to-unlock-bootloader-install-t3292684
Kingroot tries to force itself onto the write-protected system partition. That can make the phone a little angry at times.

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