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.
Hi guys,
There are threads on this and I have taken a look. Most solutions to this issue (apparently a radio file that is incompatible with certain devices rolled out with the 2.3.6 update) require a flash (radio, rom etc.).
My phone is unrooted and since I still have the return policy, I don't want to disrupt too much and spend too much time rooting/unrooting just to get it to work.
I'd like to try either a radio flash or a full wipe back to 2.3.5 or 2.3.4 in order to see if this is actually a hardware defect, or a software issue as above.
Can anyone advise on whether or not it will be possible to do a full wipe back to 2.3.5 or earlier without having a rooted phone?
I tried the other thread on flashing the radio but I believe it is not possible without root access.
I apologize for the noob thread, but I could not find an answer to this problem specifically for those with unrooted phones..
Thank you.
Hi there,
There's no way to return to an older version with stock recovery. You would need to root and install a custom recovery. Then you will be able to rollback to the older version of the update.
Since you don't want to do that, the only option is to return the device and get another.
Root is extremelly easy with SuperOneClickRoot (just in case you're afraid of loose too much time on this).
Thanks for the prompt reply.
I guess I was just grasping at straws.
I was following a guid eon nexus hacks for rooting and the process seems relatively quick and painless... would I need superuser installed if all I'm doing is the recovery tools for now?
Its not the rooting part I'm worried with, or the unrooting as there's guides for those (and its quite a simple process) its just the possibility of something messing up along the way
Actually the fastboot unlock and recovery install is pretty painless. Just make sure you have the correct custom recovery for your phone model.
You don't need superuser if you're just running the recovery and have all the roms you will need in you phone's "sdcard"
Fair, I guess if all I'm doing is unlocking fastboot and then am able to "relock" it, it is relatively painless.
This might be a very stupid question and it is a bit OT but since you're active in this thread for the moment, customer recovery... I am a bit at a loss on how to retrieve that from? I was merely hoping that by unlocking fast boot, I can just "flash" in a radio file, but I assume I should backup those radio files first...
You are correct. Just flash the correct radio and you're good to go.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I have upgraded to 4.0.3 and its really slow and bugy, so I desided to downgrade, but this is what happens when I try to go into recovery, please help.
Phone is all stock, not rooted or anything...
http://youtu.be/0B1qNWH0xtw
Yes, this is normal. Your phone is an i9023, the backlight doesn't turn on with new recovery, you can see it if you use a strong torch/lamp at the correct angle, and yes it is all there and functioning (just no backlight).
I believe recovery will give you an error if you try and downgrade though. You'll need to root/unlock bootloader and use CWM before you can do that. You can happily lock the bootloader afterward.
Also, you might be happier with ICS if you do a factory reset, and maybe even reflash ICS. This can solve some problems.
Thank you very much Harbb, any suggestions which way to root is the best and easiest for Nexus S?
..
I'd go the bootloader method. This gives you full access to the system which will allow you to throw in the su command in /system/bin, or just allows you to install and backup any rom you'd like. Only thing is it is "obviously" unlocked and wipes EVERYTHING but the OS (that is, sdcard and ALL personal data and settings).
Of course you can relock it any time you want though, for warranty purposes. Easiest and most thorough walkthrough (from my limited scouring) is here. Has a video too
Just note, for ICS you want the latest superuser zip, not the one provided.
Thanks guys, will try something now.
I'm kind of new to the whole rooting thing. However, I managed to root the Unlock the bootloader, install the recovery and then root it. However when I tried to install a ROM the phone when off after I had wiped the old OS. So at the moment I am stuck in limbo, all the phone does is flash, any ideas? Thanks.
Waggy2014 said:
I'm kind of new to the whole rooting thing. However, I managed to root the Unlock the bootloader, install the recovery and then root it. However when I tried to install a ROM the phone when off after I had wiped the old OS. So at the moment I am stuck in limbo, all the phone does is flash, any ideas? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to post in the emergency thread for this.
Someone will chime in I am sure. From what little I know, I would try using the RUU (ROM update utility) to restore the phone.
Before you do that, wait a little while and maybe someone else will post with some other method. The RUU will hopefully restore your phone to stock.
I'm trying to do that now buy it just wont boot up so I can't run the program
Hello i'm new in here and i think this is an awesome forum
Anyway, i'm willing to root my phone but i just don't want to reach the point where my phone got Hard Brick or useless. So how long does rooted phone live? Would it only take a months? because i can read some topics in other forums that their phone got bricked. Why is that happening? Is that normal? And how to avoid soft brick or hard brick? I will not be downloading some Rooted Apps if i root my phone. I just want to use this Wifikill app, dsploit and etc. but i will not be flashing customized ROM or themes. So would it still "soft brick or hard brick" my phone?
Thanks !!!!
Rooting isn't dangerous if you're careful
Hi there, I'm not sure what you mean by "how long does a rooted phone live", but I'll try to answer as best as I can.
Rooted phones 'live' as long as a non-rooted phone, the only risk of rooting a phone is the flashing part. For todays rooting methodes it's actually hard to hardbrick a phone, espescially when you just follow the steps provided by the rooting process.
Hardbricking a phone means that you messed up the flashing soo badly that there is no way to recover the phone. I actually tried on purpose to hardbrick an old SGS3 and even when I removed the USB cable while flashing the recovery, I was still able to revive the phone.
Softbricking however is much more common, but actually quite easy to revive from. All you need to un-brick the device includes having ADB/FastBoot on your PC or access to the recovery.
This way you can allways reflash the recovery or ROM if this gets corrupted.
You'll need a custom recovery to root your phone. You can brick your device if you pick the wrong recovery, but this is easy to check. Always match up the modelnumer of your phone with the one for the recovery.
After the rom has been installed, you'll need to flash the SuperSU zip to succesfully root your device and after that, you're all set.
So, bottomline is: as long as you make sure your phone is fully charged, and your PC won't randomly shutdown (that's why I always flash from a laptop). There is no way you can mess up.
For the lifetime of your phone: If you aren't planning on overclocking, you don't have to worry about shortening the lifetime of the device.
If you're going to root, always make a backup of your data, just in case something does go wrong!
For the apps you're mentioning: Just make sure you use those apps on your own network!
Flashing
So you mean flashing is the most common reason that bricks your phone? What if i want to play games, listens to music, texting or calling, does it brick your phone(soft or hard?)? And is it possible for the unrooted phone to be brick bit by bit if you keep on flashing wrong recovery file? I hope you can answer all my questions
No it's not possible to brick your phone by playing games, music ect. Flashing (Writing another recovery or updating your ROM) is the one and only way to brick your device.
If you flash the wrong recovery image to your device, it will be bricked. It 'should' be fixable in most cases.
The question about unrooted phones... Well, you can flash an custom recovery on your phone and get it bricked that way, but there is no need to flash another recovery if you're not going to root the device afterwards.
So just to clarify, you're not going to brick your device by normal use, rooted or not. The bricking part is when you're installing the recovery and root. When you succesfully rooted your device, there is no way you can brick it, until you're going to install another ROM on your device.
The worst thing that could happen with installing another ROM is getting stuck in a bootloop, but that can be fixed by going into the recovery and reflash(or install, if you prefer that term) the ROM. Unless it's the first time you're installing a custom ROM, in that case you will be stuck in a bootloop because you'll need to wipe the data, system and cache partition before installing a ROM. This prevents getting in a bootloop after installing a new ROM
Thanks !
Ok so i think i will root my phone tomorrow Im not in a purpose of installing custom ROM or kernel. I just want to use apps like dsploit or wifikill and it needs a proper root access. So its all clear and now i understand how bricky part happen. THANKS !