Database Info

[Q] Please Help! Important! Unrooting Question

hey guys,
bought my samsung captivate two days ago and i love it. from reading all the posts about how rooting is awesome i finally took the plunge and rooted my phone with the one click root program. followed the directions to the teeth, everything went fine. even went as far as downloading clockwork and backing up my rom.
few hours later, im totally blown that i rooted my phone. i realized i threw away my warranty.
is there ANY way to unroot the phone and make it totally stock and make it seem like the phone was never altered? i read some answers of "yeah" and some answers of "once your rooted, you can't get back" (i remember reading about an article about how some android phones like the nexus one, once you root theres no going back period). the program i used had a unroot button but im not sure if that would wipe everything away to factory settings and erase all traces of the root.
i know im effing stupid for not thinking it threw. but hey, its good that i came to my senses before i loaded up an os.
to be clear, my phone is just rooted. nothing else. im not running cognitive rom or anything. its running the stock samsung 2.1.
so can anyone PLEASE PLEASE help me solve this problem?
im a total noob when it comes to android.
it took me 20 minutes doing that one click from reading the directions over and over again lol.
i need some step by step directions for stupid people

okay, so i followed the directions to unroot. the programs that were installed when i rooted seemed to have disappear. to be extra sure, i reformatted my sd card and than factory restored the phone (from settings/privacy). quick question though, after i pressed "factory reset" my phone rebooted and than for a quick second i saw the same screen i saw when i rooted (the black screen with the yellow font? looked like a system command prompt i guess). it came on for a sec and than disappeared and it booted regularly. did that happen because i did a factory reset or did that happen because im still rooted?
wtf is wrong with me. i just want my unrooted captivate back (and my warranty lol)

odin to stock with master clear.

There's a thread under android development something with "stock rom" that should restore your phone back to factory.

If you did all of that then you are definitely back to stock now & theres no way of detecting your phone was rooted. You could of gotten away with just using one click to unroot. Thats all I did when I returned mine after a week because my gps never worked at all. I dont think they even did anything to check if it was rooted or anything. Hows your gps on the new one by the way? Mines still bad but at least it sees some satellites now. My old one had a hardware problem where gps wouldn't do anything at all.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

When you use odin to flash back to stock does that restore the AT&T bloatware as well? Or should I use TiB when I first get the phone to get the bloatware back on?
Thanks,
JOe K.

After trying to exchange my phone for another phone (thinking the GPS is a hardware issue) I had rooted and flashed a custom rom. I reverted back using ODIN master clear and ODIN 2.1 rom (Which puts bloatware and everything on it) and there's no way to detect it. The only time it will truly void your warranty (I believe) if you go into the store with a custom rom or if you go into the store with a bricked phone and they figure out you were modifying your phone.

thanks for the answers guys! why is it that you cant "unroot" a nexus one? i heard they'll always be able to tell if your rooted once you do it.

[Q] Doubts about unlocking bootloader and rooting

Hi guys,
I've been playing around with my Nexus S for about 3 weeks and I've decided to root it, but I have some question, I've been searching the answers in older posts but it's not quite clear yet, hope you can help me.
When I unlocked the bootloader, what kind of data will be wiped? It's just the SD card or also all the apps I've already downloaded? what about SMS, pictures and videos?
Is there anyway I can backup that data considering I haven't root it yet???
Thanks in advance.

dont do it man. i just got my phone yesterday at 1 pm and its now 12am and its bricked by lack of support from the cummunity. i studyied and studied 4 around 10 hours. then bricked my device. and i have a good idea i wont be getting a replacement this time

LINKSLOVESANDROID said:
dont do it man. i just got my phone yesterday at 1 pm and its now 12am and its bricked by lack of support from the cummunity. i studyied and studied 4 around 10 hours. then bricked my device. and i have a good idea i wont be getting a replacement this time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol what? its nobodys fault but your own. all the resources are available, just because somebody isnt responding to your threads and holding your hand to restore a nandriod backup doesnt make it a "lack of a community".. and your phone isn't bricked, it can be recovered but you are too close-minded and cant install Clockwork Recovery / get drivers working
The data that will be wiped are most likely your SMS/settings/etc. This is standard procedure. And its something you'll go through a lot when you are using custom ROMs.

There are complete instructions for rooting, unrooting and unbricking your phone. It's all here in the forums, and many other places, you just have to look and learn. I read for two weeks before I unlocked and loaded a ROM into my NS.
If you don't have a need to root your phone I wouldn't do it just because you can. I wanted to run the Voodoo app so I had to root and load a ROM. It took a little while but it was painless and I liked learning about the Android system.
You do have to backup your app and your SD, but that was the easy part.

It's close to impossible to brick a nexus device. They purposely come with totally open boot loaders specifically for that purpose!

RogerPodacter said:
It's close to impossible to brick a nexus device. They purposely come with totally open boot loaders specifically for that purpose!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its not only Nexus devices but like I said people are using the term brick wrong. with these new phones coming out, a lot of them are hard to brick.
if you're phone is able to get into recovery/start/download mode (odin not popular but still an option)/bootloader then its not bricked.
if its unable to start in any form or way.. its considered a brick. please stop using the term in its wrong definition.
"brick" describes a device that cannot function in any capacity (such as a device with damaged firmware)
In the strictest sense of the term, bricking must imply that software error has rendered the device completely unrecoverable without some hardware replacement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_(electronics)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I think guys you have lost focus about my question, it's not about how to root (there is a lot of info about), it's about what kind of data will be wiped and how to back it up
Netconn said:
You do have to backup your app and your SD, but that was the easy part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the best way to do it? It's there an app or I have to day it by myself?

Make a nandroid backup first and foremost! Use Titanium Backup to make a backup of all your apps. If you want a backup of your sms, go sms pro really does a great job of that. Dont forget your contacts as well! Then copy your sd card and place it on the hard drive of your computer. When you unlock the bootloader, it does wipe your sd card. Once your unlocked and rooted, you should be able to restore everything once you replace the copy of your sd card back on the phone. Coming over from a Vibrant, I was nervous about rooting the phone but its an easy process. Just take your time and do lots of reading! Hope this helps!

Thenx, but I still have one doubt, if I haven't root my phone yet, will nandroid or titanium work?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Woops..yeah, your right there. Too quick to reply. I followed this method here..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=895545
and had no problems. Once you get unlocked/rooted and clockwork recovery, then you can make the fore mentioned backups. Export your contacts to the sd card then copy the sd card to the hard drive of your computer before unlocking the boot loader. I do not think apps get affected during the sd wipe unless you have them stored there.

zephiK said:
its not only Nexus devices but like I said people are using the term brick wrong. with these new phones coming out, a lot of them are hard to brick.
if you're phone is able to get into recovery/start/download mode (odin not popular but still an option)/bootloader then its not bricked.
if its unable to start in any form or way.. its considered a brick. please stop using the term in its wrong definition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i followed the instructions to flash gri74 back to stock and my phone wont turn on, wont goto any mode, wont read that its hookedup to my pc
isnt that what we call a brick? ive had issues on a galaxy s with this game issue. htc devices i can fly through the root procedure but i got this 1 rooted, tried reflashing to stock and the phone wont turn on at all.
may i suggest a noob proof guide|? i postted 1 in the htc desire forum and people love it. yesterday i returned a moto xoom because ti was overheating , got a nexus s and 2day il b returning that because it wont turn on. can any1 help me think of a good idea i can tell the future shop return people?

kmhil said:
I think guys you have lost focus about my question, it's not about how to root (there is a lot of info about), it's about what kind of data will be wiped and how to back it up
What's the best way to do it? It's there an app or I have to day it by myself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are forced to lose your data to initially root your device. then after that point, you can always create backups and never lose data again while you switch between ROMs and flashing etc. but i think to initially root, you have to lose everything. not the sd card though.

LINKSLOVESANDROID said:
i followed the instructions to flash gri74 back to stock and my phone wont turn on, wont goto any mode, wont read that its hookedup to my pc
isnt that what we call a brick? ive had issues on a galaxy s with this game issue. htc devices i can fly through the root procedure but i got this 1 rooted, tried reflashing to stock and the phone wont turn on at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do keep in mind, we don't have an i9020 or an i9023, we have an i9020A So the instruction out there all need to take that into considerations. I rooted mine fine with no "Bricking" I had to follow the instruction for the i9023, but it worked. I figure it took me all of 1 minute to root my phone. Admitedly, the "One click root" for the Galaxy series was easier.
I try to make it a point to never be the "First" person to do something on their phone. Much safer that way.
I also find it very unusual that you've managed to brick two phones, I've also had the pleasure of owning the telus fascinate, and not once did i get it bricked, I tried Bionics, CM7, Darky's and a bunch of other ones. Just never mess with the boot loader. When you went back to stock, did you make sure it was a stock ROM for the I9020A?
Have you tried connecting the USB to a computer, holding the volume up (or in the case of the galaxy, both up and down) While powering on the device? I've had to use that a few times to recover my galaxy (Thank you odin!!).
Now in regards to the OP, I would recommend using a program like Ti to back everything up, unlock the bootloader then restore from Ti, it's a little more hassel, but you can pretty much keep your settings and data. Personally, i rooted my phone before configuring a single thing on it.

kmhil said:
Thenx, but I still have one doubt, if I haven't root my phone yet, will nandroid or titanium work?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is no way to make a good backup without rooting.
basically yes, you will lose all your settings
there are a few apps you can use to backup your apk before unlocing/rooting the phone.
look for App admin on market https://market.android.com/details?id=az.mecid.appadmin&feature=search_result
the stuff backed to SD does not get wiped
only the internal storage stuff

LINKSLOVESANDROID said:
dont do it man. i just got my phone yesterday at 1 pm and its now 12am and its bricked by lack of support from the cummunity. i studyied and studied 4 around 10 hours. then bricked my device. and i have a good idea i wont be getting a replacement this time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i took about 12 minutes total to unlock my bootloader, flash clockwork, and flash a custom rom. its not difficult if you pay attention to what you read. youre phone is not bricked. btw, i read your threads. if you werent so demanding, i would have helped. use the pdanet website the next time you need to install the proper driver, and follow the directions that they give you.

When I unlocked I used Astro to back up my apps, I turned on the Google data sync to back up my contacts and I did a back up of my SD on my computer.
When the unlock and recovery was done NS asked for my Google account then it restored all my contacts, Astro restored all my apps and I restored my files from my computer. A few steps but not difficult at all.
You will have to redo your accounts and data, and maybe an app or two won't load but the market will show them installed, just reinstall any that didn't.
Make sure you follow the directions properly in the forum. I had to use two computers to get it to work, but it did work and nothing was damaged.
With all that said.... This was the first time I have ever owned or altered an Android phone. Sure I was nervous... Now I'm hooked.. haha
I wound up using NSCollab .17 so far so good..

First thing I did when I got my phone was fastboot oem unlock.
Even if you don't want to root, use another ROM. Fastboot unlock it so your data doesn't get wiped.
If your hardware and everything seems okay, then flash Clockwork Recovery and do a nandroid backup so you can restore to pre-flashing point if you need it for OEM purposes.
Afterwards, go crazy and flash like theres no tomorrow and find something that you'll like.
And agreed with simms. You've made so made so many threads about this. I would help you step by step but I've been busy so I can't do that anymore. But if you search, you'll find about two or three threads where I did help somebody get their phone to a working state.
The basic idea is... if your phone doesn't boot but you can get to recovery.
- Download a ROM or Nandroid backup
- Install USB drivers
- Fastboot oem unlock (if you haven't)
- fastboot flash recovery recovery.img (or whatever the recovery.img is named) should be in /sdk/tools
- reboot into recovery (adb reboot recovery)
- mount and storage: mount USB, put the nandroid backup or ROM onto phone
- nandroid restore or flash a ROM (wipe factory,dalvik,cache --> flash ROM (if its CM7.. flash gapps afterwards)
- reboot
your phone boots. alternatively, you can use Odin but thats not a popular method but the choice is available if you wish to go towards that approach

in the worse worse possible case scenario there is always ODIN to the rescue

Why did you guys wait at all?
Once i got the phone i immediately plugged it into my computer and rooted it.

[Q] Bricked my Nexus S, help :(

OK so I followed a youtube video tutorial on rooting,and I think it's the boot.img that messed everything up. It would boot up before but it was stuck on the Google screen, the OS didn't load. So I found a GRH78 or something Nandroid backup and ran that, but the capacative buttons don't work, the screen isn't calibrated correctly and the phone radio isn't correct either. Then I remembered my Nexus S was the newer GT-I9023 GRI54 and I need a GRI54 NANDROID stock backup (which I can't seem to find!)
Guys, what do you suggest I do at this point? I can't revert to stock (I've been trying)
I just got this Nexus S and have been spending hours trying to restore firmwares, finding it online, but now I know I need the GRI54 Android 2.3.3 backup, and if anyone has that I'd be super happy
I really need help

you most likely need the 9023 method of rooting
see the stickied guides

I fixed it. I downloaded a GT-I9023 GRI45 firmware file off of somewhere here (<3 xda forums) it wasn't a nandroid backup, but I used the clockworkmod to install it and surprisingly, it booted up again. (of course, I had the crappy 2.1 installed before so maybe this acted as an 'update' and fixed all the problems, but anyways it works smooth now as it did before )
I knew I could figure it out.

Not to be an ass, but I think there's a lot of difference between bricking a phone and being unable to boot. You've never bricked your phone, since you could still switch ROMs by using the Recovery.
This is a misleading title. Bricking is when you just can't enter not even the bootloader/Recovery.

you are 100% right
unfortunately many people keep getting those 2 terms confused, and use it inappropriately
every body needs to chip in and help newbies learn the correct terminology.
thank you
boolean22 said:
Not to be an ass, but I think there's a lot of difference between bricking a phone and being unable to boot. You've never bricked your phone, since you could still switch ROMs by using the Recovery.
This is a misleading title. Bricking is when you just can't enter not even the bootloader/Recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Looks like I've managed to act and look like a fool...
I tried to root my Nexus S with Superboot, unaware that it was version-specific (I should have known that ). To make a long story short, I tried to root my phone with Superboot which is written for android 2.3.3, while I'm running 2.3.4.
The phone can get to fastboot/recovery, but won't boot. I googled to find how revert to a stock 2.3.3 or 2.3.4, but somehow did not find what I was looking for.
Phone was vanilla, I hadn't installed anything specific on it besides twitter, FB, etc.
From a powered-off phone, how would I manage to revert to a clean phone ?
Thanks for your help, people.
-- Jeff
<EDIT:
All the solutions I've seen required CWM or similar, and a rooted phone. Since my problems started because I wanted to root my NS, I figured that I was out of luck for a while, and a non-working phone was out of question.
I went at my retailer and managed to get a new phone free of charge I *****-footed around the fact I was installing an unsupported (by the carrier) update/app, the clerk wasn't very familiar with the NS so it went well with them and they gave me a new phone
/EDIT>

Possible to use backup on a different inspire?

Is it possible to use a backup file created on a different HTC Inspire. Ended up completely bricking mine (won't turn on, charge, or anything). Going to take it back to the store and get a new one. Are you able to use a backup that I had from this (dead) phone I have now onto the new one or is that a bad idea?
I guess what I'm asking is - are backups tied to hardware in any way?

The first time a data partition is initialized by the system, it writes some hardware specific information to some places based on (I think) the IMEI, but this won't affect the backup/restore or running of the phone. It may, however, become a problem if HTC refurbs your old phone. The two identical ids may cause issues with certain apps like the Market where the ID may be used for purchase identification, etc. I'd recommend restoring the old CWM backup first, then use Titanium Backup to backup only the user apps (no system data), then wipe/factory reset, re-run the HTC setup wizard, then restore your user data from Titanium Backup. That would be almost as good as a full CWM restore and get you 99% back to the way your old phone was.

Easiest thing to do without running into problems in the long run is to re-root and reflash the ROM and do everything from scratch that way you don't have bootloops or FC's or anything that would cause problems and headaches. Hope my .02 cents helped.

Yeah I'm planning to just do a full wipe on it I believe.
Somehow I ended up on the DesireHD forum, ended up thinking I needed the ENG S-off bootloader and what not. And did all of this DesireHD stuff. Ended up not being able to get back into my bootloader at all, at which that point I'm just begging to get back to stock and try again/see what went wrong. It wouldn't write the code in over and hour so I yanked the cord out and it fully bricked it. So that's what went wrong. Here all I needed to do was download the correct radio and go into the bootloader x_x...
What can ATT do about mass-returning phones? This is the third Inspire (first one actually had USB issues when it was unrooted to begin with and wouldn't even connect. Can't root without USB now can we? ), second one is the one this topic is about. What happens if another one gets messed up and I take it back? Worst comes to worst being I'd have to buy the next phone correct?

c1o5ry1991 said:
Yeah I'm planning to just do a full wipe on it I believe.
Somehow I ended up on the DesireHD forum, ended up thinking I needed the ENG S-off bootloader and what not. And did all of this DesireHD stuff. Ended up not being able to get back into my bootloader at all, at which that point I'm just begging to get back to stock and try again/see what went wrong. It wouldn't write the code in over and hour so I yanked the cord out and it fully bricked it. So that's what went wrong. Here all I needed to do was download the correct radio and go into the bootloader x_x...
What can ATT do about mass-returning phones? This is the third Inspire (first one actually had USB issues when it was unrooted to begin with and wouldn't even connect. Can't root without USB now can we? ), second one is the one this topic is about. What happens if another one gets messed up and I take it back? Worst comes to worst being I'd have to buy the next phone correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you put the ENG hboot on the phone, then that's you're problem. Inspires (and possibly DHDs) manufactured after about Aug, 2011 have slightly different hardware that (possibly by design) is NOT compatible with any pre GB (2.47.502.7) hboot.
You should still be able to get it booted eventually (15-20 minutes) then you can restore the correct hboot using instructions here:
http://paste.pocoo.org/show/495273/

Yeah that was the problem. I realized it as soon as I made the mistake beforehand. I already took it back. I want to root this one now but I'm very afraid ATT might do something. What are the chances of me bricking the device now that I actually know what I'm doing? And what can ATT do if i bring the phone back? The most they can do is just say "You have to pay for a new phone now" right?

[Q] cant seem to flash stock recovery

I have an At&t HTC one x, i need to return for a warranty replacement. I rooted and was running viper xl with TWRP recovery. I was able to run the RUU and everything is back to stock but no recovery just goes blank for a little bit and then I get the dreaded red triangle. I have been trying to use Hasoon's all in one kit to no avail. for some reason i cannot get fasboot to work on my computer. so I'm stuck with a phone that I'm a little nervous about sending back. I have searched and can't find a thread that works in my particular situation. Used all my lifelines called friends etc. XDA please help me, I have to go out of town for a week to run a summer camp and don't have anymore time to fool with it!

The screen with red triangle is stock recovery.
Are you going through AT&T for the warranty replacement? If so, AT&T doesn't give a poo whether the phone is stock or not. I have yet to hear a report of warranty service through AT&T being denied for unlocked bootloader, root, or even custom ROM installed on the phone. Of course, returning to stock (or close to stock) is the safest bet. But I wouldn't stress too much over it.