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[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>

[Q] Is it safe to assume...

First off, let me apologize for being a NOOB. I hate myself. HOWEVER, I watched the video and I'm following the rules. So go easy...
AFTER having ready TONS and TONS of post and threads, I have still not found a definitive answer to my question.
Is there a copy of the stock ROM (or RUU) for the HTC Doubleshot (aka myTouch 4G Slide) that is readily available?
I have had my phone for about a month and am now wanting to root. I would like to have a stock backup for warranty reasons (obviously). I have never rooted an Android. I have "jailbroke" many iPhones and in the begining I always had a backup just in case. Is this not a possibility right now for the HTC Doubleshot?

XigntCrcmstnc said:
First off, let me apologize for being a NOOB. I hate myself. HOWEVER, I watched the video and I'm following the rules. So go easy...
AFTER having ready TONS and TONS of post and threads, I have still not found a definitive answer to my question.
Is there a copy of the stock ROM (or RUU) for the HTC Doubleshot (aka myTouch 4G Slide) that is readily available?
I have had my phone for about a month and am now wanting to root. I would like to have a stock backup for warranty reasons (obviously). I have never rooted an Android. I have "jailbroke" many iPhones and in the begining I always had a backup just in case. Is this not a possibility right now for the HTC Doubleshot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't hate yourself, everyone starts somewhere. Welcome to android, where a stock, un-rooted device is capable of much more then a jailbroken i-anything.
There are a couple of ways to go about getting a backup - click the link to backup guide in my signature to see how to go about making backups of your data (both through ADB and CWM).
If you want to grab a ROM file from the dev section, supposing you don't have your own backup:
In the dev section:
De-odexed stock repack
Stock - equivalent of a factory reset on a fresh device
And also, Undeadk9 made a stock version that is de-odexed, has root and so forth, check it out:
Stock - rooted, busybox, etc...
Also, once you get from S-ON to S-OFF there really is no way to go back, but it won't have any impact on your warranty or exchange ability if needed.

Thanks. I am looking forward to this. If you are referring to the Stock ROM uploading by UndeadK9 or PaulObrian ( i think those were the names) I have already kind of glanced over those. The DEVs made sure to mention that they weren't 100% stock and It was "flashing" at my own risk. I don't mind this. I am just worried that if I mess up somehow I won't be able to take it back to T-Mobile to get a new one because they will see that it has been rooted... I

The one that is the equivalent of a factory reset on a fresh device is what you would want to use, if you wanted to go back to stock, with an odexed ROM, and all.

Thank you for the help. I am reading the Backup Guide link in your signature right now...

I was following instructions on how to use the Revolutionary Method to root my phone. ALL that I did was download Revolutionary, The HTC Fastboot Drivers and I obtained my beta key from the website. I hooked up my phone on charge only with USB Debugging enabled. The program ran fine and it said successful. The next step was to power down and then do an HBOOT. HOWEVER when I hit selected power down, my phone shut off AND IT WONT TURN BACK ON! Help!
What do I do? Please help me... Did I just BRICK my phone that friggin easily?!?!?! =(... I could cry....

Turn your phone back on it should resume revs picks up where it left off normally. If it doesn't hit power and volume down at the. Same time that will bring you to hboot (skating androids) verify you have s off in the upper right it should say s off. Then reboot.
You should be fine. And if it won't turn on as in power up you may want to check your battery
Sent from my Crack Injected Doubleshot using xda premium

[Q] Manually install OTA system only

Before I begin let me say, I am not suggesting anyone try this, I am simply looking for persons with similar experiences.
I recently had my phone become a brick while trying to flash and RUU with S-On. Luckily it was still under warranty and HTC advised me to send it to them, even though I reside in Jamaica, and the phone was bought from AT&T.
Once i got back the phone however I realized everything was upgraded and I was simply happy to have my phone back after about 3 weeks.
Within hours of receiving it I set out to gain root, unlock the bootloader, and get S-Off, so I could restore all the backups I had made. All in all I lost only a few hours of data thanks to my routine.
After installing the latest CM10.1 (built from source) and installing it, I came to realize, I would need to downgrade the touchpanel, which after my previous ordeal, I was (and still am) a bit skeptical about doing.
So I flashed an RUU and went back to AT&T stock.
After playing around with it a bit I was reminded of why I hated the AT&T stock rom. Wifi hot spot doesnt work by default.
So no for the point of all this....
I downloaded the ota from the thread here on XDA and tried to flash it how I would do it with CM.
This thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2119610 to be specific, v3.17.708.5.
As most people would figure, that didnt quite work out.
So I
extracted the contents of the zip file
restructured the folder contents to resemble the a CM update package
extract the boot.img file to the root of the folder
modified the 'update-script' to remove the assertions and flash the boot.img
Signed it with AutoUpdateCreator
This worked fine and now I am able to use the device as freely as I would like.
My data connection (wifi and H+) seem to 'take a short break' now and then, but I also noticed this while using the stock AT&T rom, but this may all just be in my head...lol
My question is, has anyone else tried this and what issues have you encountered?

i just dont understand why youd do this when flashing an ota the traditional way is much faster..

exad said:
i just dont understand why youd do this when flashing an ota the traditional way is much faster..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was hoping to avoid flashing the radio and other partitions.
Figured it would be safest way to change the os itself.