I have done a lot of reading her about rooting and updating my TF300. After getting a headspinning amount of information, I'd like someone to verify what I think I know.
I have a TF300, stock ROM, no root, running US .17. I have not received any updates after going to Settings/about tab/update and pressing the update button (I get "no updates found') I have cleared DM and CM client and rebooted several times, but no updates are found. I have tried on several WiFI networks I have access to.
1. I should be able to root using one of several one click methods I have found here, correct?
2. Once rooted and root keeper is installed, I should be able to update to .29 and keep root, correct?
3. A manual update to US .29, once rooted, will cause me to lose root, correct?
4. Will I receive Over The Air update once rooted? If not, how can I update to US .29 without losing root?
5. Is this the best path to take, or is there another path that would be easier for a newb like me (I know just enough about Android to be dangerous)? What I mean by another path is, should I manually update to US .29 and wait for a one click solution to come out later, all the while enjoying the new update.
6. All this is to fix some lag issues I have with all browsers....Tried Stock, Dolphin, Firefox, Opera...all the same. Some FC and others just hang for up to 30 seconds, even in Performance mode (With only one tab open!) So this will "FIX" those lag issues, correct?
Thank you for your time
If you're still on .17, root with sparkyroot, save it with ota rootkeeper, update to .29 (if it isn't there, they've been posted in many places on the forums), and restore root. As for fixing lag issues, it depends on what you do, rooting alone won't change anything, but you can try out the different tweaks available.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
Missed a couple of your questions, yes, you will still receive ota updates if you're rooted, as long as you don't unlock the bootloader. This is the easiest way to root too, all you need to do is follow sparkyroot's instructions and back up your root.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
One question always leads to another
Thank you! But of course, I now have just a few more questions.
I do understand rooting alone will not help me with my lag issues. I'm hoping the update to .29 will. I am not a power user, but I would like the option open to me later to install ROMs, hence why I want to root now.
1. I thought I had to unlock bootloader to root. With sparkyroot I do not?
2. Since I have not unlocked bootloader, will rooting alone void my warranty? I thinking not since I should be able to unroot with no trace, correct?
3. I thought, (or read somewhere here, I think) that if I do a MANUAL install, I would lose root and be unable to regain it. If I get an update PUSHED to me by ASUS, Ill be able to regain root with rootkeeper. Is that correct?
I'd like to thank everyone here, by the way, for all the information I have gotten in my 30 days of owning this tablet and lurking here.
Throb1231 said:
Thank you! But of course, I now have just a few more questions.
I do understand rooting alone will not help me with my lag issues. I'm hoping the update to .29 will. I am not a power user, but I would like the option open to me later to install ROMs, hence why I want to root now.
1. I thought I had to unlock bootloader to root. With sparkyroot I do not?
2. Since I have not unlocked bootloader, will rooting alone void my warranty? I thinking not since I should be able to unroot with no trace, correct?
3. I thought, (or read somewhere here, I think) that if I do a MANUAL install, I would lose root and be unable to regain it. If I get an update PUSHED to me by ASUS, Ill be able to regain root with rootkeeper. Is that correct?
I'd like to thank everyone here, by the way, for all the information I have gotten in my 30 days of owning this tablet and lurking here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to unlock for root. They are completely unrelated. Just update manually and use THIS THREAD to root .29. There's even a one-click tool like you wanted. Don't forget to press Thanks for miloj.
Oh, and after you've updated to .29 and rooted; don't forget to use OTA rootkeeper to backup root.
If Asus releases a new update it may save your root.
EndlessDissent said:
No need to unlock for root. They are completely unrelated. Just update manually and use THIS THREAD to root .29. There's even a one-click tool like you wanted. Don't forget to press Thanks for miloj.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's still on the .17 software, so no need to do that. Just use the sparkyroot method, backup with rootkeeper and then update.
Edit to add that no, rooting will not void the warranty, just unroot before you need to send it back.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
Yeah, he's still on .17, but he's not getting the OTA prompt. He wants to manually upgrade, and you can't restore root after a manual upgrade, so my advice still stands.
Thank you both! Rooted with Sparky root and backed up with OTA rootsaver. Now I have downloaded the .29 update from ASUS webpage and installed. It says I have lost root.
I tried to restore root with OTA and it says SU restored, however it does not show that I have root access. Tring to use Titanium BU also shows I do not have root.
Tried then to go back to Sparkyroot and try again, but to no avail. Do I now have to downgrade back to .17 to gain root because I messed it up, or is there a solution? I was rooted for several hours before the upgrade to .29.
Throb1231 said:
Thank you both! Rooted with Sparky root and backed up with OTA rootsaver. Now I have downloaded the .29 update from ASUS webpage and installed. It says I have lost root.
I tried to restore root with OTA and it says SU restored, however it does not show that I have root access. Tring to use Titanium BU also shows I do not have root.
Tried then to go back to Sparkyroot and try again, but to no avail. Do I now have to downgrade back to .17 to gain root because I messed it up, or is there a solution? I was rooted for several hours before the upgrade to .29.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you need to go to:
h tt p://forum.xda-developers.c om/showthread.php?t=1704209 (sorry for the chopped up link. I can't post links yet)
and root again.
EndlessDissent said:
Yeah, he's still on .17, but he's not getting the OTA prompt. He wants to manually upgrade, and you can't restore root after a manual upgrade, so my advice still stands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, ok. Didn't realize you couldn't restore if you updated manually.
Yes, it is as I thought. Tried Sparkys and miloj's root program and I can not get root. I ran the program twice from my lap top. Driver's for TF300 show installed in Device manager (Windows 7). ASUS sync was installed in laptop and recognized TF300 but the program was not running during root attempt.
When I run Superuser and attempt to update SU binaries, I get "Failed" when it attempts pathway to write update.
Attempted to restore using OTA rootkeeper but all I get is "SU Restored". Check boxes indicate no root.
Any other ideas?
Confirmed I am on .29 from a MANUAL update.
Tried again from home computer. Ran Sparky and miloj program. I get error stating
"failed to copy 'Superuser.apk' to '/data/local/tmp/Superuser.apk' : not a directory"
Tablet reboots and says I should be rooted but obviously not. Superuser not written to tablet
Throb1231 said:
Tried again from home computer. Ran Sparky and miloj program. I get error stating
"failed to copy 'Superuser.apk' to '/data/local/tmp/Superuser.apk' : not a directory"
Tablet reboots and says I should be rooted but obviously not. Superuser not written to tablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you just install Superuser from the market? The su binaries might be there and the app just isn't installing. I may be wrong, not sure how the automated program works, but it can't hurt.
Just tried that. Installs fine but when I try to update binaries, I get error writing to filepath, telling me there is no root. I'm hoping this makes 10 posts for me so I can actually go to Sparky's thread in Dev. forum and ask directly. Thanks for your help tho. Ill still be monitoring here if anyone has a solution
Throb1231 said:
Just tried that. Installs fine but when I try to update binaries, I get error writing to filepath, telling me there is no root. I'm hoping this makes 10 posts for me so I can actually go to Sparky's thread in Dev. forum and ask directly. Thanks for your help tho. Ill still be monitoring here if anyone has a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try manually doing the code from miloj's thread?
While the instructions in his thread are clear, they are way past my level of expertise. I would not attempt it without someone standing next to me. I have not entered code since the 1980's Compute! magazine days.
Throb1231 said:
While the instructions in his thread are clear, they are way past my level of expertise. I would not attempt it without someone standing next to me. I have not entered code since the 1980's Compute! magazine days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I can't think of anything else, you could just use the downgrade method, that's easy enough. The code really is just copy/paste though.
Throb1231 said:
Just tried that. Installs fine but when I try to update binaries, I get error writing to filepath, telling me there is no root. I'm hoping this makes 10 posts for me so I can actually go to Sparky's thread in Dev. forum and ask directly. Thanks for your help tho. Ill still be monitoring here if anyone has a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your problem is not with the superuser apk.
The actual root is when you write an "su" binary to system and makes it executable (there is some access control stuff in between, but it's what's happening in essence).
So - your trouble is not with the installation nor the messages from superuser.apk - it's with the actual rooting method.
Make absolutely sure your adb drivers are working and that you've got the files "debugfs", "su" and the other debugfs file on top of the .bat file, which is the installation script, in the same directory whilst running the .bat file.
Agreed. I posted this in development.
It was surprisingly more difficult to install the drivers correctly than anticipated.
For those noobs like me, here's a step-by-step for installing the drivers before running the root method.
http://transformerprimeroot.com/tra...all-transformer-prime-usb-drivers-on-windows/
Please note that before using the step-by-step guide above, I also had to put the tf300 in Camera Mount to even get the "“ASUS Android Composite ADB Interface" option to show up in Device Manager.
Once you get this far, you can manually update the driver (found in the sparkym3 "Drivers" folder from the download) via the step-by-step.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using XDA
(FYI, this is my first android device so i'm a noob to this world, but I have some experience in the iphone jbreaking)
SITUATION: Ok, so I picked up a TF300 US model, with ICS 9.4.3.17 on it. Reading up all over the forums for help and did the following: used sparky's guide and used the Sparkyroot.apk tool, along with Superused.apk and VoodooOTArootkeeper, and it worked great! Thanks to the "Allaboutandroids dotcom" youtube user guide.
My plan is to stay on stock OS. I do NOT want to unlock. (keep warranty and such)
I'm into retro gaming mostly and I don't think I need custom ROMS to enjoy most apps. I would like to moderately overclock the CPU, if that's available without unlocking.
THREE QUESTIONS:
1. So i'm reading that to do the future updates and eventually JBean, that I need to let it do the OTA (that's the tablet requesting to update without me manually selecting it right?) and I will lose root, but SHOULD be able to restore it, without unlocking correct?
2. HOW/WHERE is my root backed up to and how can I extract it to my PC, in case I need to copy it back over after an update. (I have a microsd card in the tf300 as well)
3. Before I do an OTA update, should I do anything?
4. Can I somehow just jump to the latest JB update, or does the tablet need to do incremental updates starting with 9.4.3.18 (or whatever is after .17)
Thanks again for any advice forum people. Regarding question 3. I hear people saying I need to do stuff in Voodoo AND/OR install SuperSU. (Not just Superuser.apk
Great forum and helped my decision to get one of these. Just hoping now I can get my wife to stop nagging me for not getting a 2.5X as $$$ iPad! (under $250 for NEW TF300 16gb. Yay!)
So just as an update, I ran root checker and everything is good and in green. I have superuser installed but NOT SuperSU (I guess it's one or the other but not both, and i'm not sure what the difference is between them)
But when I go to update superuser binaries, it fails at the first step (downloading manifest) every time. I have shut down/restarted so that's not it.
I also ran superuser update fixer 1.2, and it says that everything is fine.
I read that binaries should be updated before allowing an OS update so any thoughts on next steps? The goal is to get jellybean up and running and NOT permanently lose my root. (while still keeping the bootloader unlocked, which it currently is)
I've hooked it up via usb to laptop and gone to the googleplay store and found superuser (in case I had a old version) but it always states "This application is not compatible with your TF300 device" and refuses to install it that way. Could try hunting on the net for a loose .apk version of it, if that's what I need.
Thanks!
Just get supersu (a lot more reliable than superuser) and run it right after installing, it will update the binaries. Then make sure your root is backed up with ota rootkeeper. Once you have done those things you can update through the notification on the pad. I'm not sure if the updates are incremental, but they might be, so just in case between each update restore root with ota rootkeeper run supersu and reboot before going to next update, also always make sure your root is backed up. Good luck, once you are on jb there's no way on getting rooted without unlocking as of yet, so I repeat myself make sure your root is backed up wit ota rootkeeper and you have supersu before updating.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2
jgaf said:
Just get supersu (a lot more reliable than superuser) and run it right after installing, it will update the binaries. Then make sure your root is backed up with ota rootkeeper. Once you have done those things you can update through the notification on the pad. I'm not sure if the updates are incremental, but they might be, so just in case between each update restore root with ota rootkeeper run supersu and reboot before going to next update, also always make sure your root is backed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks jgaf for the help!
So when I do the "backup" with rootkeeper, it's actually 'saving' the root but temporarily turning it off right? And doing an update doesn't wipe my device, so rootkeeper SHOULD be there correct? So to do a system update (when I click on the bottom right and see the brightness adjust and enable wifi, etc, there is a message saying a system update is available. That is the OTA update correct? Before I do that, I need to run rootkeeper and click the "temp save root", and it basically turns off root access but saves it from being wiped off with the new update right?
I've read that some people say to activate some optional "prevent root loss due to update" feature on Superuser. Does supersu have/need that?
And last, if I switch from Superuser to SuperSU, how do I safely switch over? Do I delete Superuser, and then download/install superSU, or install both on the device and then do some kinda remove or update?
I read that by doing the update methods you decscibed, I can basically keep my root on jellybean without being unlocked. (but it's tricky and some users lose the root regardless) Guess there's not one 100% "rooted and locked" foolproof method yet.
So far this method is working but i've only had one OTA update offered and that bumped it from .17 - .30. So that's not JellyBean yet. Hopefully the rootkeeper and supersu reapplying method will continue to work like this. Thanks!
You don't really need to temp unroot for updates, just make sure that everything is checked in rootkeeper. Sorry I took so long to answer, but those switching from superuser to supersu you need to install supersu and run it before removing superuser.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2
So I originally rooted my s3 with the GS3_debugfs-root_r2.7z method, flashed CWM and unlocked my bootloader. Since then i have flashed several roms and all was well until a couple days ago when i decided to restore my first backup in order to retrieve some data. I was still on G7 and kept getting the notification of the HE update. Even though I excepted the OTA and let it fail in CWM i kept get getting the notice almost every time i turn on my phone. I was getting so annoyed with it that i decided to flash a rom with HE in hopes that that would stop the OTA. In this whole process of restoring my backup my bootloader must have locked and when i flashed the rom I got stock on that "unauthorized software, contact Verizon screen". It freaked me out when i couldn't boot into recovery.
I followed the whole Odin, root66 method and was able to save my phone...phew... but have a couple questions now.
1) my phone has the superuser app and it shows that it cannot be uninstalled, like a system app but yet root checker says i am not rooted? Why is this.
2) Would installing supersu and updating binaries get me rooted again?
3) This one is just for curiosity..The message when i soft bricked my phone said you have unauthorized software and to go see a Verizon store. Would they really have been able help me or just tell me i am SOL
ps. Thank you to the XDA community for sharing instructions like the one i used to save my phone.
microdot said:
1) my phone has the superuser app and it shows that it cannot be uninstalled, like a system app but yet root checker says i am not rooted? Why is this.
2) Would installing supersu and updating binaries get me rooted again?
3) This one is just for curiosity..The message when i soft bricked my phone said you have unauthorized software and to go see a Verizon store. Would they really have been able help me or just tell me i am SOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2: That could work, but so should loading the default SU and updating binaries.
3: They would not have been likely to help you, and may have even voided your warranty.
Going to a store would have yielded a bunch of head scratching and them telling you to file an insurance claim.
In the future if you want to block ota's freeze sdm and fwupdate in titanium.
Ok I searched the forums trying to see if anybody else as seen this issue.
I have unlocked bootloader, rooted, stock system.
When I take the OTA 9.30/9.18. I temp unrooted with Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper > install OTA> then re-root the phone, no problems restoring root and able to run root apps that where already in Superuser app "Allow" list. Problem is if I try to run any new apps that request root they report back that my device is not rooted?
Su is in system/bin. I have come up with the same results twice on 2 different phones. If I take the phone back to 9.20 with root I can add new apps to Superuser "allow" list then take the OTA up to 9.30 and the newly added apps will work.
Edit: it seems to happen only after I update the SU Binaries, tried it on Superuser and SuperSU same results
Any one else seeing this? or is it just me.
SaddleTramp said:
Ok I searched the forums trying to see if anybody else as seen this issue.
I have unlocked bootloader, rooted, stock system.
When I take the OTA 9.30/9.18. I temp unrooted with Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper > install OTA> then re-root the phone, no problems restoring root and able to run root apps that where already in Superuser app "Allow" list. Problem is if I try to run any new apps that request root they report back that my device is not rooted?
Su is in system/bin. I have come up with the same results twice on 2 different phones. If I take the phone back to 9.20 with root I can add new apps to Superuser "allow" list then take the OTA up to 9.30 and the newly added apps will work.
Edit: it seems to happen only after I update the SU Binaries, tried it on Superuser and SuperSU same results
Any one else seeing this? or is it just me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I updated my phone same as you and kept root but can't test your issue until I get home later where the phone is.
What you could try is re-rooting with the unlocked boot loader method explained on the razr forum (link to the post is in one of the recent help/root threads here).
I know I kept root, but am interested to see if I have the same issue as you. This is the first I have seen it reported.
Tappin G2 Style
SaddleTramp said:
Ok I searched the forums trying to see if anybody else as seen this issue.
I have unlocked bootloader, rooted, stock system.
When I take the OTA 9.30/9.18. I temp unrooted with Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper > install OTA> then re-root the phone, no problems restoring root and able to run root apps that where already in Superuser app "Allow" list. Problem is if I try to run any new apps that request root they report back that my device is not rooted?
Su is in system/bin. I have come up with the same results twice on 2 different phones. If I take the phone back to 9.20 with root I can add new apps to Superuser "allow" list then take the OTA up to 9.30 and the newly added apps will work.
Edit: it seems to happen only after I update the SU Binaries, tried it on Superuser and SuperSU same results
Any one else seeing this? or is it just me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as it turns out, i am in the same boat as you, no root for new apps. odd situation.
Apologize in advance if this is intuitively obvious to other but after searching and reading a better part of the day, I can't figure it out...
In any case...I rooted my 4.1.2 phone a while back with the casual root. Didn't unlock the bootloader or install a custom recovery, just rooted. So that puts busybox and supersu on my phone. Later on, I installed a custom sound thing to get some decent volume out of this thing.
Now I tried taking the OTA and it failed. I thought it would just wipe out the root stuff and be on it's merry way (like other devices I've had in the past). So, I used the one touch unroot in SuperSu and tried again. Still failed. And it still showed me busybox in the app drawer.
So, here's my question...
Do I need to remove my custom volume thing as well as do the unroot?
And do I need to uninstall busybox before doing the unroot via supersu? Or do i just go to the apps and install it there after the SuperSu unroot?
And, if none of those work right, do I fall back to flashing 4.1.2 directly - or maybe better to flash 4.3 directly? I plan on using saferoot once I'm up to 4.3.
If anyone can help me sort this out, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm rerooted for the moment.
Thanks!
doncaruana said:
Apologize in advance if this is intuitively obvious to other but after searching and reading a better part of the day, I can't figure it out...
In any case...I rooted my 4.1.2 phone a while back with the casual root. Didn't unlock the bootloader or install a custom recovery, just rooted. So that puts busybox and supersu on my phone. Later on, I installed a custom sound thing to get some decent volume out of this thing.
Now I tried taking the OTA and it failed. I thought it would just wipe out the root stuff and be on it's merry way (like other devices I've had in the past). So, I used the one touch unroot in SuperSu and tried again. Still failed. And it still showed me busybox in the app drawer.
So, here's my question...
Do I need to remove my custom volume thing as well as do the unroot?
And do I need to uninstall busybox before doing the unroot via supersu? Or do i just go to the apps and install it there after the SuperSu unroot?
And, if none of those work right, do I fall back to flashing 4.1.2 directly - or maybe better to flash 4.3 directly? I plan on using saferoot once I'm up to 4.3.
If anyone can help me sort this out, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm rerooted for the moment.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OTA will look for any rooted app and fail so you best bet is just Odin the full 4.3 then root with saferoot. This is you also have a nice clean install.
buhohitr said:
OTA will look for any rooted app and fail so you best bet is just Odin the full 4.3 then root with saferoot. This is you also have a nice clean install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Been a looong time since I messed with Odin...this will just be firmware - no data or store apps will be touched, right?
doncaruana said:
Thanks!
Been a looong time since I messed with Odin...this will just be firmware - no data or store apps will be touched, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but flashing the full firmware will wipe everything bring it back to factory stock phone, so you need to backup all your stuff.
Well, just to share with everyone, I did not flash back to stock. For a number of reasons, that wasn't really an option.
My first step was removing viper4android. That actually got rid of the "custom" screen with the open lock on boot.
Then I uninstalled busybox from within itself. Unfortunately, as noted elsewhere, that leaves several hundred symlinks in xbin, so I removed all of those (I was only left with dexdump and su there). After that, I actually uninstalled busybox via the app manager.
Then I used the unroot option in supersu to clean up the rest and remove it.
At this point, I should be completely unrooted, but still got the 402 error when failing to upgrade with the OTA.
So...I plugged the phone in and ran the software upgrade assistant that shows up on the "CD" that presents itself from the phone when you plug it in to USB to the computer. And, actually, that successfully completed the upgrade to 4.3!
Haven't embarked on re-rooting yet (using saferoot) but that's the plan at least.