Trying to root my G4 - Stuck in download mode

[Skooby_Snacks]

I've been wanting to root my G4 for a while now and found a tutorial on the XDA forums but I need a little assistance.

//forum.xda-developers.com/g4/orig-development/root-tmo-vzw-intl-variants-soon-root-lg-t3164765

<cannot post link here, see above.>

I downloaded all the necessary tools and followed the steps in that tutorial and I'm now at the step where you have to put the phone into download mode. It's now just sitting here doing nothing -- stuck at 0 % for the past several minutes. After scratching my head I realized that I needed to install the LG G4 drivers on my laptop (Verizon version). It was never mentioned anywhere in the tutorial when the drivers needed to be installed so I didn't know. Anyways, I did that, rebooted my laptop and tried it again. NOTTA. Download mode, still stuck at 0% and phone isn't doing anything at all.

The tutorial says I need to save the 4.6 GB image file in the root of the internal SD card for this work correctly. I'm pretty sure i have the image in the correct location. Maybe one of you experts can verify that. See screenshot here:


Just before I started all this rooting business, the phone was nagging me about an "update" so of course I took the update *derp*. (bad move) Before: V98611A. Now it's at 13B

Do I need to find a new image? If that's the case, I'd much prefer to revert back to 11A if possible. I'm new to modding/rooting so I didn't think that the image I downloaded would be incompatible with my new phone post update status.

Really irked that I applied that update before rooting because now it seems i night need to find an image specifically for the 13B version. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[LeoRex]

How long did you wait after running the 'dd' command? The OEM phones are tricky.... but did you go back and double check each command and make sure the response was the one expected? If you don't hit the right diag port or command, you might be out of luck for that run.

(I rooted my wife's T-Mobile G4 using this method, and it was a little whacky... and I am a well travelled ROM flasher.)

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

How long did you wait after running the 'dd' command? The OEM phones are tricky.... but did you go back and double check each command and make sure the response was the one expected? If you don't hit the right diag port or command, you might be out of luck for that run.

(I rooted my wife's T-Mobile G4 using this method, and it was a little whacky... and I am a well travelled ROM flasher.)

Uh...what? You mean i was supposed to run the dd command BEFORE putting the phone into the download mode? That so called low effort root is really pissing me off... either I'm an exceptionally poor reader or that tute was poorly written! Just exactly when are you supposed to issue the dd command??

 

[icstars989]

Go here on page 7. You need the rooted 13B image since you took the update. Taking the update to 13b wasn't a bad move, its the move you had to make. However if you were rooted on 11a you had to KDZ back to stock 11a before doing the update.

 

[icstars989]

Just another note, there is no going back to 11a without an 11a system img that you had to make prior to updating to 13b. Just take your time and read through everything carefully. It sounds like you're moving in the right direction you just need that rooted 13b image and not the 11a from your picture.

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

icstars989, many thanks for the link to the 13B image. Downloading now and will report back later (hopefully with success).

by the way, what does "kdz back to stock" mean? sorry for all the questions - again, i'm just a newb at this.

 

[LeoRex]

That so called low effort root is really pissing me off...

Low effort is comparative. Just because it is the easiest method doesn't make it easy. As you can imagine with this write up, because LG screwed with Android's stock 'fastboot' method... which is SUBSTANTIALLY easier to manage than the crap they load into phones from LG and Samsung.

The steps are a little bit tricky... and you have to bounce back and forth between two posts.

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

I downloaded the new 13B (rooted) image and same as before. Phone is stuck on 0% in download mode not doing a single thing. I am obviously missing something here. In that original tute I referenced, it says in step #5:

#5. On the page you opened in step 2, follow steps 1,2,3,6,7,8,and 9 on that page only, then come back here.

OK so obviously, it's telling me to skip 4 & 5, continue with 6, 7, 8, and 9. Well I've done this exactly and now methinks the author screwed up? why would it tell me to skip 4 & 5? With the phone not doing a single thing in download mode, maybe I have to do those 2 steps as well for this to work. The other possibility is perhaps the filename is incorrect. After I extracted the RAR contents, it gave me the following file - was I supposed to rename it before copying it to my phone???

rootedsystem.img

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

one more note. i've ruled out the possibility of a corrupt download. Verified the MD5 and the hash sum is exactly the same.

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

oh jesus....nevermind. I just realized that it's supposed to remain at 0% until you issue the dd command towards the end. I thought that progress bar was supposed to move along as soon as the download mode was initiated. Sorry - guys.

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

OK - i am seriously not getting this. I issued the dd command to flash the rooted image and after a few seconds, it returned me back to the # sign. The tute says to type 'leave' in the command shell, and the phone is STILL NOT doing anything at all. (progress bar still at 0%). What the heck am I missing here?

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

OK it looks like I'm finally rooted....(maybe). My phone never rebooted after I issued the 'leave' command and the progress bar never moved past 0. (what gives??)

After waiting a couple of minutes, I unplugged the USB cable and the only way I could get out of the download mode was to pull out the battery and put it back in. I crossed my fingers and started up the phone again. Back at the home screen now and the looked through my apps. That stupid NFL app that came pre-installed is now gone (hooray). Looks like I'm rooted but still not convinced everything went correctly. That progress bar never once moved past 0%!

How do you verify if you are rooted or not? Perhaps a simple command you can issue?

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

Crappy moment here. My Verizon message+ app is gone and all the text messages on my phone are completely GONE. (Ugh...) I had a feeling something didn't go properly.

Atleast my phone is booted up and i'm able to send & receive phone calls so that's 1 good thing.

 

[Skooby_Snacks]

Final update: I went to the google play store and re-installed the VZW message+ app. Lo & behold after installing, all my previous text messages came back. (yipee).

I'd still like to know if there's a way to verify if i'm really rooted on this phone or not.

 

[anon(782252)]

Is SuperSu installed? If not, you aren't rooted. You can verify root with a root checker or by running an app that requests root and see if it will run.

 

[anon(782252)]

Also, the progress bar should always stay at 0%. However, the dd command should take at least 1 or 2 minutes. If you get a # within a few seconds, nothing happened.

 

[icstars989]

Everything you described is just as it should be. It should have remained at 0, when finished type leave and unplug the usb cable. It's a debloated image file, so many stock and vzw apps will be missing. Anything you're looking for would be in the play store. Im glad you got it all figured out.

 

[Allen Brandt]

There are a few free apps in the store that can verify you are rooted or not

 

[LeoRex]

You should have an app called SuperSU... Run it