S-Off cans and can'ts - One (M7) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

As we now have two s-off exploits and there appears to be a little confusion in the forum about what this actually gives to us, I think it would be a good time to produce a clear article regarding what we can and can't do now with our device and the difference between the two exploits. If nothing else, this may prevent many hard bricked devices.
.....Although I consider myself reasonably knowledgable, I am still one who is somewhat confused. Can I install any RUU? Can I install any firmware? Can I flash a h-boot? Will I still get ota updates........
I, and I am sure many others, would really appreciate it if somebody who really knows about these things could find the time to produce such an article for the masses here.

Hold your horses, bob. S-OFF preventing hard bricked devices? If anything S-OFF is the thing leading to hard bricked devices.

Theshawty said:
Hold your horses, bob. S-OFF preventing hard bricked devices? If anything S-OFF is the thing leading to hard bricked devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps I wasn't very clear. I meant that without clear understanding people with s-off may easily hard brick there devices hence the need for clear cans and can'ts, dos and don'ts so that people don't do anything silly (fatal).

Related

Getting a G1 tomorrow

Hi, I'm buying a G1 tomorrow, and i just have a few questions. Is it worth rooting??? and what are the Pros and Cons of rooting the G1??
Yes its worth rooting. Everything is pro and no cons. To much stuff to list.
oooo ok. I heard that if you hacked it, you will lose the warranty for the phone. is that true???
Its well worth it to have a rooted g1. Tethering, theming, audio hack, etc.
Just make sure you go through the required reading and educate yourself before you just dive in. There are TONS of great threads and tutorials around here if you search.
The hardest part is deciding which ROM you want! There are lots of those as well.
You can always revert back to stock firmware if you need to.
Tr1n1Jay said:
oooo ok. I heard that if you hacked it, you will lose the warranty for the phone. is that true???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just don't call T-Mobile up and tell them you did that. There is no way for them to find out. Many people have gotten replacement phones while having root.
I got a replacement on a bricked G1 that was stuck on a custom bootscreen.. Blatant evidence of tinkering. T-mobile never said a word.
Ok, thank you guys. Soo that implies that it doesnt do anything to your warranty. And how can i avoid the phone from bricking???
follow this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=442480
IMO the two most important steps is making sure you have a PVT board, and making sure to flash the new Radio before flashing the new SPL.
EDIT: the only way to truly "brick" your phone is to mess up when flashing the Radio/SPL. that is one of the most common misnomers in this forum. the G1 is impossible to brick when flashing ROMs. this is why I say the two most important steps are verifying you have a PVT board and the sequence of flashing radio/spl.
Tr1n1Jay said:
Ok, thank you guys. Soo that implies that it doesnt do anything to your warranty. And how can i avoid the phone from bricking???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tr1n1Jay said:
Ok, thank you guys. Soo that implies that it doesnt do anything to your warranty. And how can i avoid the phone from bricking???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does invalidate your warranty in theory, but if you don't tell them they don't seem to check for it. I got my girlfriend to phone up and put on her best ditzy voice.. they never even asked her about rooting lol.
The main cause of bricking is flashing the 'special' spl without first flashing the new radio rom.. which is well documented all over the place.. ergo, the main cause if bricking is not reading things properly. Don't become a statistic.
Tr1n1Jay said:
Ok, thank you guys. Soo that implies that it doesnt do anything to your warranty. And how can i avoid the phone from bricking???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read, read, read. Read then reread. Make sure you understand what you are reading before you try. There are guides here to help you with everything. Just make sure to use the search button before you ask questions.
ok. i hacked a lot of things, but every device is different, soo i do have some experience. I was just curious about the warranty part. but thanks for the advice.
Tr1n1Jay said:
ok. i hacked a lot of things, but every device is different, soo i do have some experience. I was just curious about the warranty part. but thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just don't worry about the warranty, they won't know. Did you ever worry about the warranty on other things you hacked.
im just wondering if anyone has had to pay for their repair after being found out about rooting. also is their any warranty to cover bricks?
M..N said:
im just wondering if anyone has had to pay for their repair after being found out about rooting. also is their any warranty to cover bricks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is really no way for T-Mobil (or HTC for that matter) to know that you have rooted your phone. If you bought your phone from T-Mobil, the warranty will cover it as long as you tell them that you didn't do anything to brick your phone. Don't mention rooting, hacking or anything like that. Simply let them walk you through the recovery process and when that fails, they will send you a refurbished phone per the warranty. If you didn't buy your phone from T-Mobil, you can send it to HTC for repair but again, don't mention anything about rooting or hacking. HTC will charge you if you send them your phone and they discover it was only soft bricked (ie bootlooping on the android screen and not the G1 screen). This would be proof positive that you were tinkering around. Bottom line is: never mention rooting, hacking, custom ROMS etc, and make sure you know that your phone is truly bricked BEFORE you send it in. As stated all around this site, there are only a handful of ways to truly brick your G1.
If you want a foolproof way of covering a potential bricked phone, buy the insurance policy from T-Mobil. The deductible to get a new G1 if something happens is usually around $100 but thats cheaper than buying a new phone.
ok thanks does that insurance policy cover bricked phones and do you know if it is available in the uk
If its truly bricked they wont know any of the modifications you made to it except your splash screen (The first thing you see when you turn on the phone) If you don't change that you should be fine. For anything else, you can always flash the DREAIMG.nbh file and it will be returnable
Is there any insurance from htc I can get to cover bricks
You can always take the safer route and not flash any ROM that requires Haykuro's SPL aka DangerSPL if you are not confident on the entire process. Just go with HardSPL and either JesusFreke's or Cyanogen's ROMs. That being said, you can still brick your device if you didn't follow the instructions carefully but at the very least, it is not as risky as using Haykuro's SPL.
And as usual, before you make any modifications, read read and reread all the threads about the particular ROM that you're attempting to flash. Spend a day combing the threads and have a mental image of the steps you'd have to perform before flashing
Ok I'm looking to flash the cyanogen rom with eng spl but I'm wondering what do I do if I brick my phone?
M..N said:
Ok I'm looking to flash the cyanogen rom with eng spl but I'm wondering what do I do if I brick my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You turn it into a paper weight or a coaster.

Tests for brick.

I'm pretty sure my phone is bricked. But are they any ways to test to make sure this is true? Like pressing any buttons as the phone boots up to see if I get a response?
ste1164 said:
I'm pretty sure my phone is bricked. But are they any ways to test to make sure this is true? Like pressing any buttons as the phone boots up to see if I get a response?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn off phone. Hold the camera button in while pressing power.
If you get to fastboot, you're not bricked.
No fastboot, bricked.
If camara and power and home and power dont work, you still have blue light mode. Turn it on by holding down the trackball and power, and the blue led will turn on. To my knowledge, 2 people have sufficient JTAG knowledge to unbrick phones through blue light mode. That's probably worthless to you because you don't know where they live thought =p
JTAG is pretty common across many electronic devices, i know of way more than 2 people who know how/ what their doing. i have JTAG recovered many routers, and other electronics. a special adaptor for the PC will make it MUCH easier, however its still not easy. the information is out there, and it obviously do able. id probably feel somewhat comfortable doing it, but fortuantly its not nessicary
mejorguille said:
To my knowledge, 2 people have sufficient JTAG knowledge to unbrick phones through blue light mode. That's probably worthless to you because you don't know where they live thought =p
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is both inaccurate as well as extremely insulting. Just because YOU are incompetent does NOT mean that others are as well.
ive also read a few posts that XDA member EZTERRY has been known to JTAG phones (for compensation of course) send him a PM (no more than one, remember we all have lives outside of the interwebs right??????) but hes in Canada, and it will involve shipping your phione
lbcoder said:
That is both inaccurate as well as extremely insulting. Just because YOU are incompetent does NOT mean that others are as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry if I was being ignorant or insulting, I guess you can't see sarcasm easily online=p I know JTAG can be done on more then just our phones, but as far as I know only ezterrty has been able to completely unbrick a DREAM, and I think I read about another person in the thread that was able to do the same. And I love how you always use caps in your posts, it makes me feel like if your screaming at me lol.
mejorguille said:
Sorry if I was being ignorant or insulting, I guess you can't see sarcasm easily online=p I know JTAG can be done on more then just our phones, but as far as I know only ezterrty has been able to completely unbrick a DREAM, and I think I read about another person in the thread that was able to do the same. And I love how you always use caps in your posts, it makes me feel like if your screaming at me lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sigh* You completely contradicted yourself in this post.
and because ezterry is the only one who has advertised that he has fixed it doesnt mean that there arent others.... and theres probably a good precentage of us that would be able to succesfully do it if the situation were to arise.... i personally dont have a bricked Dream, wont brick it on purpose to try it, and dont feel like buying a used one off ebay.... someone send me a free one... i'll prove this guy wrong... :rollseyes:
it just boils down to the fact that only a very few dreams were bricked because we didnt know what we were doing.... most bricks occurred after the reason was discovered, and people were to dumb to read some instructions... therefore the likelihood that anyone with a bricked dream at this point has it as a result of their own stupidity..... that reduces the likelihood that said individual would have the sufficient skills to JTAG and unbrick their device seeing as they didnt have sufficient skills (or patience) to read some damn instructions....

Bricking: What to know before you explore your device.

This thread was previous titled "How To Brick Your Phone" but because of confusion over the intent of the thread I decided to change the title.
I'm not sure if this would be helpful for everyone but I know some would benefit from knowing how one can brick their phone*. It may help early explorers to know what areas of their phone are for more seasoned SU's and what areas they can explore safely. So, if you know of a way to brick your device, please list it and give some detail leading up to the point of bricking**.
And if you have bricked your phone, please share your experience so that others do not follow in your steps.
* Please list ways to brick your phone other than using physical materials and not ways that are malicious in nature.
** Keep in mind, this thread is not intended for anyone to use as a way to defraud your carrier. The methods outlined are to serve as a warning on certain parts of the device to steer clear from (as a young learner) and to help people feel more comfortable exploring their phone's SU side.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Most commonly talked about way; flash a GSM radio to the CDMA Hero.
Austin3600 said:
Most commonly talked about way; flash a GSM radio to the CDMA Hero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for this. It's the only way I've ever heard of someone truly "bricking" their phone.
Re: How to brick your phone.
This is the most common way I've heard of as well. Can a radio baseband be included in a custom ROM or is this something that has to always be flashed OVER a ROM?
The xda-wiki has a great section listing various radios that are for CDMA Heros. Anyone have the link? I'm on my phone at the moment.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
run over it with a truck then pay the 100 bucks to get a new one.
gunnyman said:
run over it with a truck then pay the 100 bucks to get a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. I would say even a medium-size car could do the trick. Unless you have Ghost Armor.
This thread is offensive
There are plenty of ways to render your phone useless, but why?
Unless you're trying to defraud Asurion into getting a new device...
ridiculous
nebenezer said:
This thread is offensive
There are plenty of ways to render your phone useless, but why?
Unless you're trying to defraud Asurion into getting a new device...
ridiculous
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the intention was to make a list of things to avoid, rather than a list of things to try.
ethereal45 said:
I believe the intention was to make a list of things to avoid, rather than a list of things to try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh, that makes sense.
In that case I would suggest the OP change the thread title to "How to NOT brick your phone"
A list of things to avoid is simply another way of saying "a list of things to do."
The right information in the wrong persons hands.
nebenezer said:
Ahhh, that makes sense.
In that case I would suggest the OP change the thread title to "How to NOT brick your phone"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not going to change the thread title. The intention was to pose the question so people could STAY AWAY from those areas (ethereal45 hit the nail on the head). I'm not sure if there is anyone out there sincerely looking to brick their device. This idea is a bit ridiculous and if you're reading that into this thread you're clearly not seeing the ironic nature of the title Gunnyman's comment was completely sarcastic and funny (at least that's the way I took it in my reply...we're not trying to defraud anyone). But in all reality, no one is going to intentionally brick their phone. If they do, they've got issues larger than this forum can fix.
The intention is the opposite of what you're thinking. Just wanting to know what roads to avoid so that we don't brick our devices. I'm very fresh to this world and it can seem intimidating, so I thought this thread could help ease some of that anxiety.
joshuaharp said:
I'm not going to change the thread title. The intention was to pose the question so people could STAY AWAY from those areas (ethereal45 hit the nail on the head). I'm not sure if there is anyone out there sincerely looking to brick their device. This idea is a bit ridiculous and if you're reading that into this thread you're clearly not seeing the ironic nature of the title Gunnyman's comment was completely sarcastic and funny (at least that's the way I took it in my reply...we're not trying to defraud anyone). But in all reality, no one is going to intentionally brick their phone. If they do, they've got issues larger than this forum can fix.
The intention is the opposite of what you're thinking. Just wanting to know what roads to avoid so that we don't brick our devices. I'm very fresh to this world and it can seem intimidating, so I thought this thread could help ease some of that anxiety.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is like posting a very detailed guide on how to break into a computer, and then saying it's so people can prevent.
Sure, some people will use it for what it's intended, but there are people who will misuse it because there's something they don't like about their Hero, and want to get a refurb or new phone or something.
abcdfv said:
This is like posting a very detailed guide on how to break into a computer, and then saying it's so people can prevent.
Sure, some people will use it for what it's intended, but there are people who will misuse it because there's something they don't like about their Hero, and want to get a refurb or new phone or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find this VERY hard to believe. If someone is wanting to defraud their carrier and get a refurbished phone, do you think they will look online for how to 'brick' their root device? I doubt it. Why not just throw it in a pool or run over it with their car?
It's more like a help to not overheat your car. What are ways that you can overheat your car. No radiator fluid, running A/C through the mountains, etc. This is to give people a help on things to avoid. Sure, if someone has a desperate desire to overheat their car, they can follow the instructions and overheat it. But that's up to them.
I find that as I'm exploring the deeper side of my device, I'm constantly thinking thoughts like "wonder if doing this will brick my phone" and so I don't usually explore very far, because of this fear (and my wife and my conscience won't allow me to defraud Sprint, run over my phone and get a replacement). I'm just trying to be cautious that's all and wondering if there are any other ways (non-physical and non-malicious) to brick your device other than flashing a GSM Radio on a CDMA phone.
joshuaharp said:
I'm not sure if there is anyone out there sincerely looking to brick their device. This idea is a bit ridiculous and if you're reading that into this thread you're clearly not seeing the ironic nature of the title Gunnyman's comment was completely sarcastic and funny (at least that's the way I took it in my reply...we're not trying to defraud anyone). But in all reality, no one is going to intentionally brick their phone. If they do, they've got issues larger than this forum can fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If thats's how I read it? That's what you said... "How to brick your phone".
You might be surprised how many people do intentionally brick their phones. You might also be surprised (if you did just a LITTLE bit of searching) how many threads have been closed because people are openly trying to find out how to brick their phones with the intention of avoiding the $100 replacement charge.
joshuaharp said:
The intention is the opposite of what you're thinking. Just wanting to know what roads to avoid so that we don't brick our devices. I'm very fresh to this world and it can seem intimidating, so I thought this thread could help ease some of that anxiety.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's the intention then I don't understand why you mislabeled the thread.
There are only 2 ways I know of to brick a CDMA Hero. They are very, very easily avoidable. You almost have to go out of your way to brick a CDMA Hero and if you READ about what you are doing to your phone before you do it you will easily avoid it. And for that matter, as long as you make nandroid backups, forget bricking, it's hard even just to lose whatever info might be important to you.
That's fine though, whatever floats yer boat. I am well aware of how to AVOID bricking my phone so I'll leave your thread alone now.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=672131&highlight=brick
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=663949&highlight=brick
Just to list two.
nebenezer said:
If thats's how I read it? That's what you said... "How to brick your phone".
You might be surprised how many people do intentionally brick their phones. You might also be surprised (if you did just a LITTLE bit of searching) how many threads have been closed because people are openly trying to find out how to brick their phones with the intention of avoiding the $100 replacement charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, how am I going to find closed threads? Don't they remove them? I really didn't know people search on how to brick their phones with this intention. It seems asinine to me. I hope the mods don't think that's my intention, because I've described it pretty clearly and have even updated the description to be extra clear.
If that's the intention then I don't understand why you mislabeled the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because a thread that says "How to not brick your phone" is a complete waste of time (which this thread is quickly becoming). There are way more ways to NOT brick your phone than to brick it.
There are only 2 ways I know of to brick a CDMA Hero. They are very, very easily avoidable. You almost have to go out of your way to brick a CDMA Hero and if you READ about what you are doing to your phone before you do it you will easily avoid it. And for that matter, as long as you make nandroid backups, forget bricking, it's hard even just to lose whatever info might be important to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are the two ways?! I only know of one for the CDMA Hero (GSM Radio flashing to CDMA phone). This is what I'm talking about. You have information that I've been unable to find. Please share.
When you're learning about rooting your device and someone says "this procedure may brick your phone" your mind wonders, what is it about this procedure that may cause my phone to become an invaluable paperweight? That's what I'm after. From a previous forum, I learned that radios are something to be extra careful with. So, that got my mind wondering, what other areas should I be looking out for.
While I agree with the purpose of this thread, the title is a little confusing.
However, On a different phone (HTC Kaiser) there was an android port that I was interested in. I managed to brick that phone by running the sudo rm code in Terminal Emulator. While I don't know if it will brick a Hero it did brick the poor Kaiser. As it was an AT&T phone I had no use for it anymore and thought I'd give the command a try just to see the consequences.
mbobino said:
While I agree with the purpose of this thread, the title is a little confusing.
However, On a different phone (HTC Kaiser) there was an android port that I was interested in. I managed to brick that phone by running the sudo rm code in Terminal Emulator. While I don't know if it will brick a Hero it did brick the poor Kaiser. As it was an AT&T phone I had no use for it anymore and thought I'd give the command a try just to see the consequences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that would brick it, as we could still access the recovery partition to nandroid back.
Re: How to brick your phone.
While I agree with the purpose of this thread, the title is a little confusing.
However, On a different phone (HTC Kaiser) there was an android port that I was interested in. I managed to brick that phone by running the sudo rm code in Terminal Emulator. While I don't know if it will brick a Hero it did brick the poor Kaiser. As it was an AT&T phone I had no use for it anymore and thought I'd give the command a try just to see the consequences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is good to know. What would I be doing to have to use this command?
Thread name: Will probably change when I have computer access. I honestly didn't realize people search forums to intentionally brick their devices. I've been proven wrong on that one
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
mbobino said:
while i agree with the purpose of this thread, the title is a little confusing.
However, on a different phone (htc kaiser) there was an android port that i was interested in. I managed to brick that phone by running the sudo rm code in terminal emulator. While i don't know if it will brick a hero it did brick the poor kaiser. As it was an at&t phone i had no use for it anymore and thought i'd give the command a try just to see the consequences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code:
sudo rm ~/
lol

Well this is just crazy

I have owned and rooted and installed ROMS on several devices. But I must say this device is crazy. I wish I would have done some research before hand. It seems HTC has to be by far the worst android phones out. First to unlock a bootloader is stupid long and way too long of a process. Then in order to get a recovery or flash a ROM seems to be bricking peoples phone left and right..I mean really? And to top it off Cant find a straight forward guide anywhere. Bout to just take a sledgehammer to this POS..sorry for venting..
Get the hansoon 2000 toolkit its way easy and don't take long to do anything imo .
savagehax said:
I have owned and rooted and installed ROMS on several devices. But I must say this device is crazy. I wish I would have done some research before hand. It seems HTC has to be by far the worst android phones out. First to unlock a bootloader is stupid long and way too long of a process. Then in order to get a recovery or flash a ROM seems to be bricking peoples phone left and right..I mean really? And to top it off Cant find a straight forward guide anywhere. Bout to just take a sledgehammer to this POS..sorry for venting..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, return prick mode on!!!!!
If you had rooted before and understood what you are doing you would have done the research FIRST
3rd sticky in the development section is:
[SUPERGUIDE] ICS-Root-Flash-Stock
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1416836 since you might have trouble finding a sticky at the top of the list.
and to prevent some further issues here are other related stickies:
[INDEX]HTC Vivid / Velocity / Raider [ROM's/Kernel's/Recovery's/Guide's](September12)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1486024
[TOOL] HTC Vivid All-In-One Toolkit V2.2 [6-7-2012] [PERM ROOT] [Noob-Proof]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1498003
Lastly, as I am sure you have noticed the Noob-proof tag. If people make something idiot proof, the world must produce a bigger idiot to keep the balance.
Number 1 cause of bricked phones, afaik, is insufficient research, preparation, failure to RTFM and user error. so far htc has the easiest method I have come across, what is so hard about pasting a code into a website, then pasting what it put out into the phone?
Sorry man, probably wouldnt have been a prick but there is a sticky with SUPERGUIDE in caps just like that.
Are there easier devices out there to root & ROM? Sure. Is this one THAT bad? I don't think so. In less that one hour you can go from out of the box to custom everything (hboot, recovery, ROM, kernel, splash screen) and S-OFF.
Read the guide linked above and see what steps you need to do. Really, if you're used to working with other devices (and thus are familiar with flashing and adb, fastboot etc) the only off-putting part IMO is the wire trick, and even that only took me 1--15 minutes, and that was screwing it up at least a dozen times first.
It seems to me that a lot of the experienced users out there have trouble with this phone just because it's not exactly the same procedure as their last one... Take a few minutes to read the guides (at least to establish the flow and ORDER of the steps you need to pull off... I mean you don't need to read every step about using fastboot if you already know how) and you should be fine.
All the tools used on this phone as mentioned in these threads work fine, as many many other people have made them work. The only variable is the user.
I had the same feelings about this phone (was an impulse buy on Kijiji at $150)... and I was quite put off by the S-OFF process, until I actually did it and realized a shaved monkey could figure it out.

S-OFF

Has anyone read this article: http://androidspin.com/2013/05/01/htc-one-s-off-achieved-htc-users-can-now-rejoice-as-well/
how long do you think until this is possible for all end users?
Firstly, this is posted in the wrong section. Don't post in this section of the forum.
Secondly, this is old news.
Third, you have to pay for them to open up your device and s-off it. As the article says, if you pay for s-off, you dont deserve it.
Sent from my HTC One
Sounds like JTAG
thats been posted before i dont think it will help devs here as thats been done via jtag
It's my understanding that S-Off is an unneeded feature as far as this community goes. It only allows one to flash unsigned things that the developers here don't work on, such as radios. A regular bootloader unlock is all that's needed for the huge majority.
I would still like S-off just bc the freedom of flashing whatever RUU we want. considering AT&T is still non existent which is ridiculous . but hell no I would not open up my phone to get it. if that's the kind of Jtag there talking about... it will come in time I am sure
I'm sorry for posting in the wrong area & was not aware that this is old news, as i only recently aquired my HTC ONE and was not up to scratch with what was happening!
daddioj said:
I would still like S-off just bc the freedom of flashing whatever RUU we want. considering AT&T is still non existent which is ridiculous . but hell no I would not open up my phone to get it. if that's the kind of Jtag there talking about... it will come in time I am sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, the latest jumponitbear for HTC phones have depended on a "wire trick", where one took off the battery cover and shorted two wires together at the same time as running the software hack. Since our One is a fixed battery, we may never see S-Off.

Categories

Resources