Discussion for - Root, Recovery, and ROm without touching a computer

[KSmithInNY]

........

 

[cognus]

Questions and thanks

Thanks so much for posting the stickys on rooting in the Optimus T bin...
The phone is still a tad new to us T-mobile orphans.... Not a bad phone though, I'm finding.

So I got rooted OK no hitches, but there was one detail not covered that I wanted to ask about: When Z4 runs, it asks if a Temporary, or Permanent root is desired. Not knowing, I picked "Temporary". In this case it does not reboot the system, its just "on" presumably.
Would you please clarify the use of the two modes?

Secondly, I'm trying to do backup now, your Phase II posting.
I do not understand the following opening instruction [cause I'm new to the phone, and novice at linux/droid]:
"Open any field you normally type text into such as a text message and long press in the input field. A menu will ask you to select an input method, you want android"

I don't normally TYPE any text at all so don't know what app I have to follow your instruction. Secondly, why does it matter? I'm just curious...

 

[cognus]

also two ordinary admin questions:
in Term mode, is there a way to set the default font size to bigger???? wow thats tiny on this small screen.... subject to error...

Also, - is there a better keyboard than the default one that I could download for these types of su tasks?

 

[cognus]

Halted at a dangerous place: need help:
I got the first line: "mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock1 /system , CR, $ ... done successfully, then was making some notes on my PC, the screen of the Optimus timed out, locked.. I unlocked and when returning to the TERM screen the soft kbd was gone. I toggled it "ON" somehow... wasn't sure how to do, and when it came up it was non-functional... inputting keys seemed to work but was not printing on the $ line, no txt on the term screen at all. couldn't figure it out so I killed the TERM the hard way.

So, what did
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock1 /system
do?? and what do I do at this point.

i'm skeered! don't want to reboot....

 

[florrain]

You can use the menu button to "reset term" and start over, I found this out when later in the process I skipped a wipe and flashed the rom before i should have, I was able to reset terminal, and go through all the steps (more carefully!!) again with success.

 

[florrain]

you can adjust font size by pressing the menu key while in terminal, I picked the one just below default and it made it legible.

 

[Daughain]

Bump...
Thanks for an excellent tut! The wife just got a T, and I spent a few finding this. I am curious why you specify wiping factory?

Also, for the newbs, $ is still shell. After root, typing 'su' in term should give you #. If you don't have #, you don't have root!

 

[merchant2112]

i have to say thank you for the info on how to do this. Ive had the Optimus t
for a week and bricked my first one trying to do the factory update. it went into emergency mode and locked up. then would only boot to fast boot

nothing i tried could get it back i was unable to get the sdk and adb to talk to it, went into t Mobil store and they gave me a new one after i told them what happened. but now thanks to the tips i feel better having a backup and the ability to restore it.

 

[Funcoot]

Yay, thank you so much for this guide. So if anything goes wrong when I'm using a rom or I want to go back to my old install before I flashed a custom rom, I can just use the NAND recovery?

 

[tktagmedia]

Hi, I'm currently working on rooting my phone, and have just launched Z4Root, and it seems to be stuck at this point (I just see the progress bar continue to churn, but nothing is happening; no reboot, just the progress bar and Z4 screen)..it's been like this for about 10 minutes now..how long does the process usually take?

The phone I'm attempting this on is an Optimus T.

Cheers!

 

[moyer_34]

Hi, I'm currently working on rooting my phone, and have just launched Z4Root, and it seems to be stuck at this point (I just see the progress bar continue to churn, but nothing is happening; no reboot, just the progress bar and Z4 screen)..it's been like this for about 10 minutes now..how long does the process usually take?

The phone I'm attempting this on is an Optimus T.

Cheers!

I used Z4 as well, but it was a matter of a couple minutes before the permanent root rebooted the phone. As an aside, I was unable to get the temporary root to work on this phone with the tool (titanium backup still said i wasn't rooted)

 

[moyer_34]

Yay, thank you so much for this guide. So if anything goes wrong when I'm using a rom or I want to go back to my old install before I flashed a custom rom, I can just use the NAND recovery?

That's the idea of a NAND backup - the ROM is in the state you left it, including SMS, programs, and settings. What I'm not as clear on is what happens to apps on the sd card - anyone know if these are protected if you choose the option that includes ext backup?

 

[moyer_34]

Does anyone know how to extract a copy of the stock kernel from the phone or otherwise back up the stock kernel so that it can be restored later on?

I'm considering flashing the touchscreen fix kernel from Mik_os ([GPL][updated 03.02.2011] Kernel with minimized touchscreen bug - xda-developers). Since I know that a Nandroid backup does NOT backup the kernel, I'm trying to find a way to revert to the stock kernel just in case.

I've done quite a bit of fruitless searching on the subject both in Androidcentral and XDA. Gracious for any pointers to an answer.

(Last and not least, thanks to KSmithInNY for the OP. Fantastic work compiling this)

 

[Feeshie]

Does anyone know how to extract a copy of the stock kernel from the phone or otherwise back up the stock kernel so that it can be restored later on?

I'm considering flashing the touchscreen fix kernel from Mik_os ([GPL][updated 03.02.2011] Kernel with minimized touchscreen bug - xda-developers). Since I know that a Nandroid backup does NOT backup the kernel, I'm trying to find a way to revert to the stock kernel just in case.

I've done quite a bit of fruitless searching on the subject both in Androidcentral and XDA. Gracious for any pointers to an answer.

(Last and not least, thanks to KSmithInNY for the OP. Fantastic work compiling this)

I also need the answer to this. How would I go back to stock if I flash a new kernel?


EDIT: ^^^I read multiple threads on this on XDA and many people said it did backup so I'm just going to go with it.

 

[Feeshie]

I tried Z4Root and my phone doesn't get rooted. It's on 2.2 and z4root has the loading circle for 5mins and then rebooted, but I don't see the SU app and when i go back in z4root it still asks me if I want to root. Anyone know what im doing wrong?

 

[ferperre]

This is my new android I do all the root part good (or that is what i think) but the recovery part when i put all the codes it says, rebt: not found, what i do wrong :S

 

[tlambert642]

I am currently on the "recovery" process and when I type "su" in "Terminal Emulator"
I get "Permission Denied". There is no pop up that asks me to give it permission is it states in the directions.
Please help!

 

[deekim]

Im having same problem.

Im the in the process of rooting my phone.
I got the the point where it asked me to type su in the term and it says
su: permission denied

also, after installing Z4 I never got the Super User app in the application list either

Help please!


all these people with their qustions, this has been up for a couple months and the people who started the post is no where to be found for help. LOL thats great!

 

[deekim]

uninstall z4 to unroot?

 

[tlambert642]

@deekim

I've figured it out, and my phone is lightning fast now!!!
My problem was that there was not enough space on my phone to get the superuser app after Z4 was finished.

I uninstalled a few apps and did all over again, and it worked!
Hope this helps.