[Q] S-OFF through Engineering HBOOT? - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm thinking of rooting my G2 once I get a solid weekend to work on it. The gfree method looks like the safest, so I'm going to try that way. I was just wondering what are the benefits of flashing the Engineering HBOOT and getting S-OFF?
Also, on another note my GPS has been taking up to 10 mins to get a lock while my old G1 was almost immediate. Would rooting help this issue or do you guys think it's a hardware problem?

Also do you have any roms to recommend?
Sent from my stock G2

The ENG HBOOT will be helpful if you ever run into issues getting phone to boot into recovery (i.e. enables fastboot flash).
As for GPS, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1028405

Related

[Q] Should I Upgrade SPL?

Hello all.
I rooted my G2 using the gfree method and all went well(I have S-Off). It was much easier then the process for my G1.
Current setup
HBOOT-0.82.0000
RADIO 26.03.02.26_M
Cyanogenmod 6.1.1
So my question is should I bother to update my bootloader? A friend of mine with a similar setup said I should upgrade but what additional functionality would I get? Anyway I hope this does not seem like a stupid question.
The Eng HBoot gives you fastboot capabilities. That's about it. If you don't really use fastboot, then there is no reason to flash it.
Thank you for the reply but Im confused.
When I go into the boot loader it says fastboot and it shows up if I do 'fastboot devices' from the command prompt. I thought that meant I have fastboot capabilities? Or am I misunderstanding something?
If you have the stock bootloader, you don't have privileges like "fastboot flash" capabilities. It will show up with "fastboot device" because you have the phone in fastboot. It's like in adb, doing "adb devices" will show it up, even if you don't have superuser privileges.
Hope that clears things up a bit.
Ok now I understand. Thank you for your patience.
Looking back on the root instruction on the cyanogen site now I see the section referring to replacing the bootloader.
Now I hear alot about flashing the wrong radio and bootloader versions. How do I know for sure the file on the cyanogen site (0.76.2000) is the correct one?
That's the one that I have on my G2
Side note. I was looking at the wiki on XDA and it has the Eng HBoot for the G2 listed as 0.84.2000 and the DZ HBoot as 0.76.2000 that are hyperlinked to download.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those two supposed to be switched? My G2 has 0.76.2000, which is what I used when I first achieved perma root using the rage method before gfree. This is also listed on the CM wiki. I am by no means an expert, but I thought the two HBoot's were not interchangeable between the two devices.
Anyone care to chime in on this to share some light? I would hate to start a thread for this question of mine to be answered.
Yes I noticed the same thing. XDA has 84.2000 and CM has 76.2000. Relevent links posted below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wik...Z.2FG2.2FDHD.29_-_OPTIONAL_and_UNNECESSARY.21
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=TMobile_G2:_Rooting
tazz, what radio version do you have? Id like to update my radio as well, hopefully it will clear up some issues.
My radio version is the one dumped from the RUU_Vision_Hutch_AUS_1.85.861.3_Radio_12.28h.60.14 0f_26.06.02.27_M_release.
It's found in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=959488
The instructions to flash with fastboot are there, as well as an update.zip, so you should have no problems there.
Regarding the engineering hboot;
The ONLY known brick was made by scotty2 by playing with hboot commands that are only available in the engineering hboot. In other words, it allows you more freedom to control the device, but at the expense of potentially REALLY f-ing it up if you mess with things that you don't understand.
With a radio s-off phone, you can save the phone from literally anything, even without the engineering hboot. As a matter of safety, the engineering hboot is *not required*. In terms of convenience, it is nice, as long as you don't go playing with things you don't understand.
Tazz. Thank you for the info. but should I upgrade the SPL before that installing that radio?
If you want to upgrade the radio through fastboot then yeah, you need to upgrade the spl first.
Otherwise, you can just update the radio through the update.zip in bootloader the pc10img.zip way, then you can do the spl upgrade.
Its really a personal preference.
Sent from my thumbs
tazz9690 said:
Side note. I was looking at the wiki on XDA and it has the Eng HBoot for the G2 listed as 0.84.2000 and the DZ HBoot as 0.76.2000 that are hyperlinked to download.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those two supposed to be switched? My G2 has 0.76.2000, which is what I used when I first achieved perma root using the rage method before gfree. This is also listed on the CM wiki. I am by no means an expert, but I thought the two HBoot's were not interchangeable between the two devices.
Anyone care to chime in on this to share some light? I would hate to start a thread for this question of mine to be answered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
santaclaws said:
Yes I noticed the same thing. XDA has 84.2000 and CM has 76.2000.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were right I updated the XDA Wiki to reflect the correct info on the ENG. Hboot for the G2 which is 0.76.2000 and the DZ which is 0.84.2000. Good Catch.
joemm said:
You were right I updated the XDA Wiki to reflect the correct info on the ENG. Hboot for the G2 which is 0.76.2000 and the DZ which is 0.84.2000. Good Catch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're a good man joemm. Thanks for fixing things.
I went ahead and upgraded to the Eng hboot. No Brick. Yay!
tazz. occasionally my phone loses data connectivity. i can still make phone calls but no data. i notice if i kill the radio process internet works after the signal comes back. do you think an update to my radio would help this issue?
Yeah it could help it. I upgraded my radio and I get better data reception now than I did with the older radio version that I had.
I had the same problem, where I would have to reboot the phone to regain data. It still happens once in a blue moon, but not like it did before.
At least I am not the only one having that issue. Its a bit annoying.
The only "solution" I found was to make a simple gscript to kill all radio processes. Its quicker then a reboot. Not sure if killing the radio process has any negative effect but the phone seems fine after.
I just leave the shortcut on the desktop and use it whenever I need it.
dhkr234 said:
Regarding the engineering hboot;
The ONLY known brick was made by scotty2 by playing with hboot commands that are only available in the engineering hboot. In other words, it allows you more freedom to control the device, but at the expense of potentially REALLY f-ing it up if you mess with things that you don't understand.
With a radio s-off phone, you can save the phone from literally anything, even without the engineering hboot. As a matter of safety, the engineering hboot is *not required*. In terms of convenience, it is nice, as long as you don't go playing with things you don't understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info here, I had been searching this forum for at least 2 days now, looking for information on the eng-hboot and was it needed or not.
Being new to all this, could this eng-hboot vs hboot be on the wiki somewhere? My thoughts are that once I got my phone rooted and backed up I was trying to figure out what the next step was before flashing any ROM. I really don't want to mess up my phone.
From what I gather the main thing with the eng hboot is that it lets you do the fastboot commands.
and apparently it has other stuff that can also brick your phone lol

[Q] Possible to Update G2 Radio without Eng HBOOT, Root, SuperCID or S-OFF ?

I have a colleague that is on her 3rd G2 exchange (after my suggestion of her to get it after coming from a BlackBerry) and they have all suffered from the same condition of chronic dropped calls within the first 10 seconds of the call on about 50% of all calls. I've got a Nexus One which never experiences that in the same geographic location (we work in the same office) so I'm pretty sure its not the signal strength in the area that's the cause - we both get full bars on HSPA. I'm thinking as a last resort before she throws in the towel and gets a BB Bold instead to try to update her phone's radio to solve this issue for her.
So, she has absolutely no interest in custom ROMs, rooting, voiding her warranty or anything else that is above the scope of a "normal" phone user. I'd like to try out a new radio version or two on her G2 in the least invasive way possible.
What is the minimum amount of modification needed to be able to flash a radio update?
Radio S-OFF?
Super-CID?
Engineering HBOOT (0.76.2000) ?
Or, is it possible to update the radio without doing any of these?
I'm absolutely confident that I can do any and all of those things but just want to spend as little of my time doing this for her and want it to remain as close to stock as possible for her.
Thanks!
joemm, the OP of the of the [RADIO][ZIP]- HTC VISION RADIO's (PC10IMG.zip Update Files) thread has PM'd me this reply for anyone else wanting to know this information for themselves:
You would have to root her phone and either superCID or ENG. Hboot.
2 ways:
Root + SuperCID - you can use my PC10IMG zip files to flash the radio.
Root + ENG. Hboot- you would use terminal on your comupter to push the radio.img to your phone in fastboot mode. In order to use fastboot you need the ENG. Hboot.
Either way requires root S-Off which voids her warranty, but there are methods to unroot and return to stock S-on in the forum. Also remember there are always risks involved when rooting, so make sure she's aware of them and still wants you to try this for her. Good Luck.

Updating HBoot WITHOUT S-OFF... How??

Hi all,
So long story short, I lost my Sensation in Thailand and am holding off buying a new phone until the One XL is released. In the mean time, I'm trying to recondition my Desire. It is rooted, but doesn't have S-Off. It is running HBoot 0.80.0000.
I want to flash a Data++ Hboot, as the low storage space warnings used to drive me crazy!
I want to use Revolutionary to obtain S-Off. but it only supports HBoot 0.93.0001 and upwards. I have no idea how to update my HBoot without having S-Off.
Tried the alpharev iso method, (which doesn't seem to care about the HBoot version) but it fails at step 3 (seems to boot loop). Thankfully it didn't brick!
So my question is:
How can I get S-Off?
Cheers.
Did you tried to flash the official 2.3 GB and then S-OFF?
It should change your hboot to 1.02.0001.
k3lcior said:
Did you tried to flash the official 2.3 GB and then S-OFF?
It should change your hboot to 1.02.0001.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This seems like the most logical answer.
Download this http://www.htcdev.com/process/legal_download/152
Then use revolutionary.
You'll only need the Data++ HBoot if the ROM you intend to use requires it. Make sure you pick the ROM you want first and flash the HBoot that applies to it, otherwise you'll have to flash downgrade and flash new Hboot all over again, making more work for yourself.
Thanks for the feedback all.
Ended up having to give up cos the phone keeps randomly boot looping. Sometimes it will boot, other times it reboots as soon as sense loads and then goes into a reboot loop.
I somehow managed to flash a stock ROM and remove root, yet it still randomly boot loops, so I'm suspecting it's hardware related, which totally sucks!
Would you agree with this assessment? If not, what else could be causing it to randomly reboot?
Cheers!
Try underclocking the phone's CPU and try it again. Also, try flashing to Cyanogenmod 7.1 ROM, run that on my Desire and I have no stability issues, unlike older ROMs.
stephendt0 said:
Try underclocking the phone's CPU and try it again. Also, try flashing to Cyanogenmod 7.1 ROM, run that on my Desire and I have no stability issues, unlike older ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doubt it'd help. Boot cycling happens outside of the actual ROM.
An update on the S-Off process...
I successfully flashed the Gingerbread ROM and then got S-Off using Revolutionary. I flashed the Data++ HBoot and then flashed Leedroid HD v3.3.3-R5 Data++ build. Worked first boot and I was able to install a few apps and work the phone. Rebooted to see what would happen and then got boot loops (sometimes got as far as displaying the unlock screen before restarting but often rebooted whilst displaying the custom Leedroid boot animation).
Seems If I leave it off for a while it will successfully boot off a cold start, but once it's been on a while it boot loops. Overheating CPU??
If this is not hardware related, I'm out of troubleshooting ideas...
At this point, the phone is well and truly out of warranty, so I'm happy to tinker with it. Would it be worth taking it apart? Is it possible to add thermal paste to the CPU?
Would love some suggestions!

How to tell which root method you used?

I am in desperate need of unrooting my phone now, but due to it being almost 2 years that I've owned this phone I can't remember how I rooted it in the beginning. Any way to figure this out?
Need to know your Hboot version and radio, and also is the phone S-ON or S-OFF (power off, then volume down and power buttons simultaeously).
HBOOT-2.18.0001
RADIO-2.15.00.12.19
Phone is S-OFF
Thanks for your help.
On a side note, my phone is in an infinite boot loop that only loads to the white evo screen, I can't flash custom recoveries, roms, or RUU. I think the problem is the fact that it says LOCKED in the pink label at the top of my bootloader. I tried using the command fastboot oem lock and it says it's already locked and doesn't unlock it or anything of the sort. If you know any way to aid my problem I thank you for the help.
Most infinite bootloops are never fixed, however;
The best advice that I can give you right now is to download these two files.
http://downloads.unrevoked.com/HTCDriver3.0.0.007.exe
http://goo.im/stock/supersonic/ruu/...15.00.12.19_NV_2.33_release_234563_signed.exe
Connect your phone to your computer, then boot into your bootloader and click on FASTBOOT. The phone should be in FASTBOOT USB. Install the HTCDrivers exe file to your computer. Then try to run the RUU file with the phone still in FASTBOOT USB.
If that doesn't work, then the phone may already be permanently bricked. Interestingly, the phone was rooted nearly 2 years ago, but you have the latest everything. I hope you did not do that with OTA updates.
Thanks shortyydoggg, unfortunately I've tried that method with those exact files already and had no such luck. My last resort is that if I can change the LOCKED pink label to RELOCKED or UNLOCKED, I'll be able to flash through the bootloader again, and temporarily use my phone once more until i can get the EVO LTE. Also, there is basically no way to tell now which root method I used?
Yea, Unlocking the bootloader was going to be my other suggestion after trying the RUU. It's not much else you can do after that.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
Ya the RUU unfortunately goes through successfully but then the phone restarts again. I can't help but feel this is all because my bootloader says LOCKED. The problem now is fastboot oem lock command doesn't work for me, and says the phone is locked and doesn't change the label to RELOCKED or anything else like it should? Do you know why this command isn't unlocking my bootloader or any other commands or ways to do this?
djs415 said:
Ya the RUU unfortunately goes through successfully but then the phone restarts again. I can't help but feel this is all because my bootloader says LOCKED. The problem now is fastboot oem lock command doesn't work for me, and says the phone is locked and doesn't change the label to RELOCKED or anything else like it should? Do you know why this command isn't unlocking my bootloader or any other commands or ways to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the wrong command. You need to go to the htcdev site (www.htcdev.com), register, and unlock the bootloader. Since you're already S-OFF, have you tried running a PC36IMG file for a custom RECOVERY. You might not need to be unlocked to do that.
I'm almost positive I tried to flash a custom recovery through the bootloader and it didn't work... however, you were right and my bootloader is now unlocked so THANK YOU! Will post back after flashing the recovery you attached.
To answer your previous question about which root method you used, unrevoked-forever was used at some point to S-OFF the phone, since you are on Hboot 2.18 and still S-OFF and not on the old Engineering S-OFF Hboot. Whether the phone was rooted with Unrevoked, Toast Method 2, Simple Root or AutoRoot, there is no exact way to tell right now, but it can be guesstimated that it might have been Unrevoked.
Now for the confusion if you dare to read:
AutoRoot is Toast Method 1, unrevoked-forever, and a custom ROM inside a program, and Simple Root is Toast Method 1 and a custom ROM inside a program along with the engineering S-OFF bootloader. Unrevoked is uh, Unrevoked and Unrevoked forever inside a program. Toast method 2 is just a custom ROM flashed along with the same S-OFF bootloader as SimpleRoot. If you used Toast Method 2, then you did everything AutoRoot did in order to S-OFF the phone. You just needed unrevoked-forever to keep it S-OFF for any other and your bootloader. Toast Method 1 alone does not S-OFF the phone. If you used SimpleRoot, which does not use unrevoked-forever, you needed unrevoked-forever at some point again to keep the phone S-OFF on any other Hboot (your 2.18). So again, you would have done everything AutoRoot did.
So that brings it down to AutoRoot and Unrevoked, since everything else you did is the same thing that AutoRoot does. Since you rooted nearly 2 years ago, and Unrevoked-forever is inside AutoRoot, AutoRoot has to be newer than unrevoked-forever to contain it inside its program. Also Unrevoked is newer than AutoRoot and already contained Unrevoked-forever. So the likely-hood that you used Unrevoked is very great, but not for sure. It is also the easier method and the one that nearly everyone else used at that time.
Somehow, still no luck. Flashed that file you linked and it goes through successfully, asks to reboot and then back to white screen boot loop. How can this be possible at this point, with the bootloader unlocked it goes through with the process but the actual writing of the data seems to fail. Trying the RUU one last time now that it is unlocked, but if this doesn't work I'm stumped.
I thought the whole beauty of the the bootloader, and more importantly being able to reach it, was that it meant your phone couldn't be bricked. Last try, will report back.
Bootloader unlocked, RUU flashed this time through PC. Nothing, and completely out of ideas here.
Shortydoggs been doing a lot of help around here for similar situations. There have been cases (maybe a dozen I've seen) where people get into a situation like yours where bootloader is accessible , but that is about it. And from what I've read, in those cases, when the phone tries to boot, it does 4 or 5 short vibrates before going back to bootloader.
Your situation is also strange in that, you rooted 2yrs ago, but don't have S-off, a locked bootloader. Hboot 2.18, which is the latest but is unlockable thru HTC dev, but no S-off available for it yet. And your radios are latest, too (mostly irrelevant).
First there was toasts root for baseband 1.37 (which downgraded you to 1.17 with eng hboot to get s-off before bringing you back up to 1.37). Then there was simple root by jiqqaman, which worked for people who took the baseband 1.47 OTA. Then when froyo came out, anyone who took that OTA (baseband 3.25, or 3.26, I forget) had to wait for unrevoked to be developed. I think hboot at that point was 2.08 and 2.10. Unrevoked forever worked on that, and gave you S-off.
I know none of that info helps you necessarily. It's just puzzling how you rooted 2yrs ago, bit have the latest hboot with S-on. Maybe you didn't finish toasts part 2 S-off guide, then sometime recently updated your radio and hboot? No. You need S-off to flash radio. Were you recently on a stock rooted ROM and took an OTA (is that even possible) when you were still S-on (from not finishing toasts guide)?
Sorry, I know it's not a lot of help. Just trying to figure out how things could not match up so much, and if that's how you ended up in this situation (that could be helpful info for others). I hope you don't have the bootloop of death and can get it sorted. Between shortydogg and captain throwback, I HAVE seen some phones saved.
sent from 2yr old Evo on ICS
Yea, I'm not going to waste your time any further. There's not much else to do.
Ya unfortunately I'm quite confused myself... however, if this information helps you at all... For starters, I have S-OFF and until recently (2 weeks or so since my phone started acting up like this) I was running a ROM perfectly fine until one day it restarted into this never ending boot loop. I'm not sure how my HBOOT is the most up to date, seeing as I was always very careful not to do something stupid like change my HBOOT for no reason. The interesting thing is that I had never seen that pink label before on my bootloader saying unlocked or locked OOW until the problem started occuring 2 weeks ago.
Also something I'm realizing... are you telling me that the HBOOT I have does not have S-OFF yet, and therefore you can't flash roms or custom recoveries... but my bootloader still says I am S-OFF. So the problem is I am S-OFF for the most recent HBOOT which can't be changed to S-OFF yet? Could downgrading hboots work?
He did not realize that you were S-OFF. Your phone is set to stay S-OFF regardless of what Hboot you have or how that Hboot usually comes.
Also, your phone appears to have a hardware, and not software issue, so, changing Hboots, might not hurt to try, but may not help much. In case I'm wrong, do not try anything below Hboot 2.10. Here is one for 2.16.
What rom were you running up until the time the bootloops started happening? This sounds alot like the cyanogen mod bootloop of death which no one has ever fixed I believe.
I believe I was using some version of SOS or a sense rom, but I'm leaning more towards SOS.
Just tried using that HBOOT thought it's still not working. Would going to the engineering hboot make any difference?
What could be the hardware problem causing this?
I see that shortydogg is in here taking good care of you .
The bottom line is, if you can't flash/get into recovery from HBOOT, you're probably in an unrecoverable situation.
It's unclear after my review of the thread, but you have tried flashing a recovery through HBOOT using a PC36IMG.zip file, right? And then after flashing, you choose not to reboot, but to boot into Recovery?
If you can get into recovery, then we can resolve your issue (if in fact it is software related).
If the problem is bad NAND blocks on your recovery or boot partitions, then there's nothing that can be done.
Also, the watermark on your bootloader (LOCKED, UNLOCKED, etc) has nothing to do with your issue. That's just connected to the version you were running. As long as you're S-OFF, that's irrelevant.

[Q] root help

hey i just got a droid incredible from my sister (not going to use it as a phone) and i would like to root it and flash a custom ROM, im sorta know about rooting and flashing but i keep looking for ways to root this phone and its way difficult for me. i am not about to use adb or android sdk for some reason they never work with methods for my other phones. not sure how to get to recovery just goes to a hboot screen which i see is normal. a lot of the links are broken on methods to root i see that unrevoked dosent work with 2.3.4. and im really frustrated with this phone. it has 2.3.4. S-ON and hboot 1.0.7 i don't know how to do the radio stuff please help.
Trozzul said:
hey i just got a droid incredible from my sister (not going to use it as a phone) and i would like to root it and flash a custom ROM, im sorta know about rooting and flashing but i keep looking for ways to root this phone and its way difficult for me. i am not about to use adb or android sdk for some reason they never work with methods for my other phones. not sure how to get to recovery just goes to a hboot screen which i see is normal. a lot of the links are broken on methods to root i see that unrevoked dosent work with 2.3.4. and im really frustrated with this phone. it has 2.3.4. S-ON and hboot 1.0.7 i don't know how to do the radio stuff please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way to root 2.3.4 is to unlock your bootloader using htcdev unlock, then use fastboot (an android sdk program) to flash a custom recovery. Once you have the recovery installed, you can flash a rom of your choosing. There are no one click options available since the inc got gingerbread. It requires a bunch of steps, but isnt all that hard. Here is a working guide if you decide to take the plunge. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1506258. Note that you do not need s-off to flash a rom, but you do need s-off to flash radios, hboots, and splash screens.
Deleted. Stupid post by Stupid me

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