[GUIDE] How To Root/Unroot The Thunderbolt with Revolutionary

[JamesHMT]

please dont worry about wiping. You will have to wipe it to load a ROM anyways. If you dont plan on loading a custom ROM please remember to follow the steps to remove the update files for VZW so you dont end up with the triangle thingy...

I understand that I will be wiping it to install roms. However I believe that once rooted I would be able to do a full backup on contacts and data and then install it on the new roms (correct)? As far as I know there is no program to backup the whole phone unless you are rooted.

Also what triangle thingy are you referring to? I am in debate to or not to... That is the question.


EDIT:
Also. When I root my phone, does it wipe my sd card? Will my pictures and stuff like that remain on my card or hows that work? I the only thing I lose my contacts and my application data?

 

[z71kris]

I understand that I will be wiping it to install roms. However I believe that once rooted I would be able to do a full backup on contacts and data and then install it on the new roms (correct)? As far as I know there is no program to backup the whole phone unless you are rooted.

Also what triangle thingy are you referring to? I am in debate to or not to... That is the question.


EDIT:
Also. When I root my phone, does it wipe my sd card? Will my pictures and stuff like that remain on my card or hows that work? I the only thing I lose my contacts and my application data?

SD card will remain. That triangle thing is when people root and leave stock ROM and get an update pushed to their phone and it soft bricks it. As for backing up, no itdoes not work that way. You would have to have titanium Backup installed to save app data and what not after rooting. Your contacts you can backup to Gmail or make a backup yousekf from you contacts list.
sent from my infected thunderbolt

 

[Spacemaker24]

Is there a link to the latest instructional video or rooting program for the TB? I want to root this weekend but have no idea where to start.

Thanks.

 

[ddurena20]

hi, after i put in my beta key, it goes to zerging root. It then says failed to get root. what could be going wrong?

 

[lec666]

hi, after i put in my beta key, it goes to zerging root. It then says failed to get root. what could be going wrong?

If your current firmware is 2.11.605.9 then you need to downgrade to 2.11.605.5
I had the exact same issue. After the downgrade I followed the video and the
whole procedure went very easily.

 

[stratejaket]

Yep so basically there is no way yet to keep your files that are on your system storage like you could with the root method in the OP. Downgrading will wipe your data. If you choose to downgrade to root, and you don't choose a custom rom or completely disable the software updates your phone will stop at angry andy when it tries to update.

 

[JamesHMT]

If you choose to downgrade to root, and you don't choose a custom rom or completely disable the software updates your phone will stop at angry andy when it tries to update.

I assume this is the soft brick mentioned a couple posts back and I thought that rooting this method is much harder to brick and does not brick for a pushed OTA update? or an accidental update either for that matter.

Please can someone clarify?
I am contemplating rooting and losing data and would like o know before i go forward with it.

 

[baltes]

used this method to root, kept everything stock, just wanted the freedom to get rid of bloatware
OTA came out and everything went wrong
every night as I slept my phone would download the update, reboot, and get stuck
I would wake up frantically trying to figure out what time it is (waaay to dependant on my phone) and all I would see is a triangle containing an exclamation point, and a little android...laughing at me I swear
seriously though if i pulled the battery and turned the phone back on, a few moments later it would restart and go back to that same screen, the only way to keep my phone on and functioning longer than 2 mintes was to clear the cache, however at night when I was asleep it would happen all over again
was feeling lucky, called vzw support, they said "we need to send you a new phone immediately"
so if this happens to you and you need a new tbolt for cosmetic reasons...idk it worked for me at least lol
if they end up having a problem once they get it back then it must have been a fluke with the OTA system, the tbolt (luckily?) has been so buggy with OTA's that they didn't question it with me
and yes, i unrooted before i sent it back

 

[stratejaket]

I assume this is the soft brick mentioned a couple posts back and I thought that rooting this method is much harder to brick and does not brick for a pushed OTA update? or an accidental update either for that matter.

Please can someone clarify?
I am contemplating rooting and losing data and would like o know before i go forward with it.

I can't explain why, but it will soft brick when an ota is pushed. I've had 2 of them that I have rooted for friends that when the ota pushed they woke up in the morning to the blue ! angry andy. It is easy to fix when it does, wiping cache in recovery allows it to boot. But it will show the update failed and it will be pushed again sometime. There are plenty of posts explaining how to prevent OTA updates so you can just update what you choose.
If you really prefer to remain stock rooted, another option is to just download a stock rooted rom.

 

[musashiasano]

Hello, a big root noob here. I am having a ton of trouble... my phone was great until I decided to try and root it. After rooting to revolutionary I started having issues where the phone would automatically reboot into recovery. Not sure why that suddenly happened when it had been working just fine for a few week prior. So from there I tried installing (or flashing, whatever you call it) CM7. This was successful but not without problems. My GPS stopped working. So now I am trying to unroot the phone and just... go back to normal. I tried to use the method listed starting from; "Putting current stock firmware and s-on back onto the phone". But it didn't work... I seem to still be in CM7 and still can't get GPS to access. I tried using apps like faster fix and gps status as well but to no avail. I just want my phone back in working condition... please help!

 

[stratejaket]

Download the 605.9 RUU rename the file to PG05IMG.zip and place on the root of your sdcard.
Power down your device, take the battery out. Boot the phone by holding the volume down + power. That will take you to Hboot after it scans your sdcard it will ask if you want to update. Select yes. Once that flashes you will be stock rooted with the latest software.

 

[lec666]

Download the 605.9 RUU rename the file to PG05IMG.zip and place on the root of your sdcard.
Power down your device, take the battery out. Boot the phone by holding the volume down + power. That will take you to Hboot after it scans your sdcard it will ask if you want to update. Select yes. Once that flashes you will be stock rooted with the latest software.

Will this update wipe the bolt ?

 

[DroidJay3]

Please help!! I downloaded the 0.4pre4 zip file onto my Windows 7 computer but when I go to unzip the folder, nothing shows in the unzipped folder?? What am I doing wrong. I am by no means new to unzipping files either. Its really frustrating as I want to root my Bolt. Can someone please help!

Thank you all

 

[SnowKing2521]

I rooted my phone, and checked it with the root checker, everything was fine, it lasted about an hour, now it keeps powering itself off and, what looks like it tries to update something. a little blue progress bar shows up with a box pointing to a blue little andriod. Then a triangle with a "!" pops up with the little blue andriod. What's wrong? Thanks for the help.

 

[wsmc831]

Read this thread, and others...it's an update being pushed by verizon to close the holes exploited in this rooting method.

It's been going on for a couple weeks now, and there is plenty if information on it, you simply need to search and read.

 

[MrHyde03]

Hey all,
Not new to rooting, but having come from a Optimus V that requires very little to root and flash custom ROMs, this is much different.

I just got my bolt a few days ago. When I walked out of the store, it updated to 2.11.605.9.

If I run this method of root with *.9, will it still root properly? I don't want to brick it!

 

[z71kris]

no right now you have to downgrade to 605.5 with an ruu, look back a few pages in this thread and you will find a link for that RUU. Just load that RUU and then root right away to avoid having it load the update again, and then flash a custom ROM so it does try to update your rooted stock software. BAMF or InfectedROM(my prefered ROM, infectedrom.com) are two great choices that work awesomely on the bolt!

 

[shaunree23]

OMGGGGGG thank u so much u saved me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[randy885]

I've been trying this for a few hours now but keep getting the same error message below when I try to enter the BETA key. Any advice? Thanks. (Asterisks put in for obvious reasons)

=============================================
| Revolutionary S-OFF & Recovery Tool 0.4pre4 |
=============================================
Brought to you by AlphaRev & unrEVOked.

Waiting for device...
Found your device: ADR6400L (mecha-1.04.0000, Android: 2.3.4, ROM version: 2.11.
605.9)

This is a beta release and requires a beta release key.
Please visit: Revolutionary for more information.

Enter beta key [ serial: HT15CS****** ]: JE8oDUPXjw******
Beta key accepted - thank you for participating!

Zerging Root... this might take a minute or so.. Failed to get Root!
Press (almost) any key to exit.

 

[MrHyde03]

no right now you have to downgrade to 605.5 with an ruu, look back a few pages in this thread and you will find a link for that RUU. Just load that RUU and then root right away to avoid having it load the update again, and then flash a custom ROM so it does try to update your rooted stock software. BAMF or InfectedROM(my prefered ROM, infectedrom.com) are two great choices that work awesomely on the bolt!

Ok cool. Thanks.
Another question, a few pages back I saw someone tell another guy to flash 605.9 ruu after rooting, thus keeping the phone rooted/stock. Is this safe?

And how would I go about flashing back to 605.5. Put the file on my SDCard. I know to hold pwr / vol down to get the the boot menu but from there where do i go?