unrEVOked. The good, the bad, the ugly

[conski]

I rooted with unrevoked.. i asked a ton of questions afterwards but before i did it i read instructions to the tee and followed them to a T. I have no problems at all. I flashed the current radios and have flashed any rom i wanted with no problems.. except for CM6 but with some noob questions i figured it out and continue to have no problems with my phone.

i feel like the people who dont read anything about their phones and this method of rooting are the ones who have the problems but that just might be my OPP... youd be a fool to use unrevoked forever though i feel

i know next time i root im gonna try it the old fashioned way just for the learning experiance.
have to admit though.. without this site and asking questions i never wouldve done it in the first place.. the good thing about AC is these people (the ones who know what their talking about) arent a bunch of jackass's and will answer your question.. which is a hell of alot better then XDA where youll just be torn to shreds.

 

[27scoob]

Hey guys, the mods cleaned the thread up a lot, there was a bunch of useless posts and what not. Anyway... 27scoob, to answer your question a few posts back, read my original post about the pros and cons (pg 4 i think) and it was quoted again recently.

I have had personal experience. The BIGGEST issue I had was that when I couldn't figure out why I could not boot into recovery... that was just it, no one could figure it out. I did everything right that unrevoked indicated I do. I downloaded the program for mac, rooted my phone, performed back ups, downloaded ROM manager and install clockworkmod on my phone, and the whole 9 yards. What happened...? I would boot my phone into recovery, and for about 15 minutes, no lie, it stayed on the white htc evo 4g screen. I timed it, then pulled the battery. Not once did I boot into recovery while rooted with unrevoked. It was stressful, and a nightmare not knowing what I had installed onto my phone.

The whole root process is supposed to involve flashing this, downloading that, inserting this here, rebooting, restarting, wiping, etc. Not plugging in the phone, pressing a root button and viola.

I am very happy your root has been successful and continues to be. I hope the best for you and that you get to experience 4G as well, I was lucky enough to twice, in Nashville and DC.

In addition to this, unrevoked forever claims to never lose root. They encourage users to do this, but what about when you have a mechanical failure on the phone (speaker clicking, kickstand flimsy, lose this, failed that... they wont do anything for you with a rooted phone. If you can never go back to stock, you can never undo what you've done. Its rooter beware.

Again, sharing my knowledge, experience, opinion, and chainsaw humor.

Thanks for your input but you are not completely correct I recently took my EVO to the local Sprint store because the screen was becomin unresponsive . I gave them the phone rooted with Unrevoked Forever S-off they checked the phone out and replaced the screen on my phone . You could brush up on your Unrevoke Knowledge as there is a way to reverse the Unrevoked Foever now if you so choose. Also I have stated that I have rooted and unrooted my phone with Unrevoked 1 , 3.2.1 , and Unrevoked Forever and have used other root methods just to see it done. No problems . I would think it would be correct to say that every time you flash S ROM it is as you say " Rooter Beware " . From the rest of you post I gather nothing is wrong with your phone and it is fine and Unrevoked did not destroy your phone ...

 

[Mustachio]

I rooted with Unrevoked 3.2 and everything has gone swimmingly. I'm not the kind who likes to flash a new ROM every day, but I've tried two or three and everything still works great. I'll probably try a few more eventually.

There's nothing wrong with Unrevoked....it's not for everyone, but then, rooting the hard way isn't for everyone either.

Remember...even an expert hacker doesn't always feel like hacking every new toy that comes along. There's only 24 hours in day.

Let's just try not to be elitist, eh?

 

[truslide]

Thanks for your input but you are not completely correct I recently took my EVO to the local Sprint store because the screen was becomin unresponsive . I gave them the phone rooted with Unrevoked Forever S-off they checked the phone out and replaced the screen on my phone . You could brush up on your Unrevoke Knowledge as there is a way to reverse the Unrevoked Foever now if you so choose. Also I have stated that I have rooted and unrooted my phone with Unrevoked 1 , 3.2.1 , and Unrevoked Forever and have used other root methods just to see it done. No problems . I would think it would be correct to say that every time you flash S ROM it is as you say " Rooter Beware " . From the rest of you post I gather nothing is wrong with your phone and it is fine and Unrevoked did not destroy your phone ...

I could brush up my knowledge. I haven't been reading up on Unrevoked since I got rid of it. You just never know what your going to get when you walk into Sprint. They could be kind and help as they did in your situation, or they could try to blame the problem on the fact that you rooted. Even tho root is a software hack, root gives you the ability to OC and UC, which we know increases the temp of the battery, and they could reach to the stars to give a reason why they'll want you to pay out of pocket. These are all "they could do this"scenarios.

As I said numerous times, you guys are probably smarter than I have been, and read something or did something I did not or over looked. Every member I talked to and worked with couldn't figure out why I could not get into recovery mode. this is why unrevoked is not liked by members, its so hard to figure out what went wrong when trying to help new users.

The "rooter beware" comment could pertain to a ROM, but... the I would think a user would notice something with a ROM more than they would with unseen/unknown codes being input into the phone (unrevoked or any kind our software that doesn't reveal method or source codes).

For everyone who reads this thread and has attempted or successfully rooted with unrevoked, I commend you because you have done what I cannot and I hope you will not encounter an issue. I hope it continues to work for you and the unrevoked dev team will support you when it comes to OTA updates, and everything else.

I'm glad this post has received such feedback and people are handling this well.

 

[Jerzyiroc]

I rooted with Unrevoked 3.2 and everything has gone swimmingly. I'm not the kind who likes to flash a new ROM every day, but I've tried two or three and everything still works great. I'll probably try a few more eventually.

There's nothing wrong with Unrevoked....it's not for everyone, but then, rooting the hard way isn't for everyone either.

Remember...even an expert hacker doesn't always feel like hacking every new toy that comes along. There's only 24 hours in day.

Let's just try not to be elitist, eh?

Nobody is being an "elitist". The fact of the matter is more people end up with issues after using unrevoked than not. We're actually as far from being elitist as possible.. We're CHOOSING to help people out. The biggest reason why we don't like unrevoked is because it's so hard to help people with issues after using unrevoked.. Hows that an elitist mentality? We do our best to tell people to do it the RIGHT way so that way one, they learn, and two, if they have an issue we CAN HELP THEM. That's NOT being an elitist at all. We're trying to look out for people and we're being called elitist. That's the second funniest thing I heard all day. Would be the funniest if it wasn't so far from the truth. You know what would make us elitist? If someone posted a thread about an issue they were having after using unrevoked and 1000 thread views later there's not one response. THAT would be very elitist of us. Instead we try and help as much as we can. But we will at the same time make it very clear about our views of unrevoked...

Nobody has a gun to our heads and is telling us to help ANYONE. I've been on workers comp recovering from my knee surgery since June 7th.. I can easily spend 10 hours a day playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 or playing with my dog or doing the dishes (i actually need to do them.. damn -_-) but instead I spend more time on this forum than any other website. I spend literally HOURS on this forum... Why? Because I WANT to. I was up til literally almost 6 in the morning the other night helping truslide out going step by step with the rooting process in the sticky... And I was up til late as hell for the previous I believe 3 nights before that too trying to help him out... Complete stranger... Only knew through online for what? 3-4 days? But I did it anyway. Because I'm that kind of dude. And I'd do it again.. I find it pretty amusing but also ridiculous at the same time to call a bunch of people that volunteer their time to help other people out with NOTHING in return other than a thanks or maybe a thanks button click once in a while "elitist".....

 

[truslide]

+1
...to the infinite.

We're a community, bottom line. If we can't help our community, we're useless. Unrevoked doesn't allow us to understand their process, rendering us useless to others. The other root methods allow us to function as a community.

 

[d3xn2o]

Jerzy I kinda am an Elitist... Says so in my Sig... Just Sayin'


But yes I agree... Unless we can function as a community we will be lost as a group...

Unrevoked does break this and doesn't allow people like us who have battled though the worst of it to help out

 

[lowetax]

+1
...to the infinite.

We're a community, bottom line. If we can't help our community, we're useless. Unrevoked doesn't allow us to understand their process, rendering us useless to others. The other root methods allow us to function as a community.

so how can you tell which method was used to root ?

what do you look for ?

 

[truslide]

Well, we can't tell which method was used to root, only the user knows that. BUT... there might be a way, I just don't know. The root method could also be determined if someone knows how to read the source code, I'm sure that the developers include something in the source code, but with Unrevoked people can't even see the source code.

What we look for when we use a root method is a definitive way of ENSURING root, not determining root. Determining root can be done by installing TERMINAL EMULATOR, running the program, and typing in SU. If you get a # your rooted.

The problem I had with unrevoked is that when I ran TERMINAL EMULATOR and did SU I got a # but I could not load into bootloader and run recovery. This didn't make sense, TO ANYONE. Typically if you get a # you're fully rooted, and can perform a nandroid backup.

To be honest, it's safe to safe that if someone believes that they've rooted, and something isn't functioning properly then they used the unrevoked method.

Other root methods typically have errors during the root process, not after. This is because the step by step "long way" root method ensures you do everything properly, or it gets kicked back saying error, and you'll have to start over or repeat the step you missed.

As far as telling which method was used to root, that's information only the user has, because they chose the method and should know which it is.

Usually the tell tale signs of root are...
1. S-off (in boot loader)
2. # on Terminal Emulator
3. Use of ROM manager
4. Successful backup with Titanium Backup
5. Boot into recovery and perform a nandroid backup

 

[trooper54]

I just to be clear with what the problem people in this thread have with unrevoked.

I for one think its an amzing tool. And my highest praise for the unrevoked team for being able to root so many devices in such a short period o time. And for further offering updates to said rooting programs after manufactures and providers block them.

That being said, the above is also true for simple root, and any other imaginable one click rooting program.


And it is for the last statement that I have serious issues with these methods. The whole concept of a one click method, bypasses a good protion of importang knowlege that users who want to root need to know.

What we know these programs to do, in essence is to bypass security verifications to be able to flash a version of the stock os, and changing the hboot, that allows for super user privlages. Further processes include unlocking nand, and flashing new recovery immages. (Please correct me if anything I have said is incorrect)

Now the original root method for the evo, required users to manually flash a rooted image, therough the bootloader. Then useres would unlock nand, and flasha custom recovery. This allowed for flashing roms, making and resoring nand backups. This was done through the adb.

When gbhil posted these instructions, he broke it up into 3 or 4 seperate posts in one thread, and it was intimdating to say the least.

However after users finished rooting themselves, or had some one help them along the way much like I did, (thank you beezy and rufflez, you taught me everything I needed know), one would have the knowlege to then build on the skills they learned.

The skills would not have to be manifested later in the form of making roms, or customizations to the os. They wouldn't even need to be used to trouble shoot and fix problems users have. But what these skills absolutely teach rooters, is how to ask good specific questions.

If you look at gbhils thread, the questions are of the form "the adb comand is out putting an error when I try to do this action" or "the bootleader seems to fail upon loading such and such". The answeres to these questions caan be answered directly, and the steps take up to that point can be analized and corrected if need be. The questions however in the unrevoked thread are of the form, " I pressed the button and nothing happend" or and combination of "I don't have root" or do "I have true root". How does one diagnose that, or fix that? " re-download the files and try again", "check the drivers"? We can't even give those useres adb comands to check because many don't even know how to open a promt in the tools directory to get adb access.


Now if we're hating unrevoked because they don't tell us how they magically put in the adb commands (which common guys there are only a few ways), or that they don't share the super secret loophole they found, (which they don't have to), that's one thing. But I think the frustration is misdirected at only the unrevoked, when we should really be striving to convice new rooters that the method that goes to basic priciples, should be the best way to root.

/rant.

 

[d3xn2o]

Well, we can't tell which method was used to root, only the user knows that. BUT... there might be a way, I just don't know. The root method could also be determined if someone knows how to read the source code, I'm sure that the developers include something in the source code, but with Unrevoked people can't even see the source code.

What we look for when we use a root method is a definitive way of ENSURING root, not determining root. Determining root can be done by installing TERMINAL EMULATOR, running the program, and typing in SU. If you get a # your rooted.

The problem I had with unrevoked is that when I ran TERMINAL EMULATOR and did SU I got a # but I could not load into bootloader and run recovery. This didn't make sense, TO ANYONE. Typically if you get a # you're fully rooted, and can perform a nandroid backup.

To be honest, it's safe to safe that if someone believes that they've rooted, and something isn't functioning properly then they used the unrevoked method.

Other root methods typically have errors during the root process, not after. This is because the step by step "long way" root method ensures you do everything properly, or it gets kicked back saying error, and you'll have to start over or repeat the step you missed.

As far as telling which method was used to root, that's information only the user has, because they chose the method and should know which it is.

Usually the tell tale signs of root are...
1. S-off (in boot loader)
2. # on Terminal Emulator
3. Use of ROM manager
4. Successful backup with Titanium Backup
5. Boot into recovery and perform a nandroid backup

You can actually have Root and not have Nand Unlocked / Custom recovery

Its how Unrevoked Achieved the Original Unrevoked...

You get the Super user app and all but no Custom Recover

I have my own DIRTY hacking to get around all this though Which i will never realize because I dont want to be at fault for someones attempt at a Dirty Hack you kno?

but Dirty hack is how I have my Evo Running and it works Beautifully

 

[truslide]

^That's awesome, but that's what bothers me, unrevoked is supposed to be a one click method compared to all the other root methods. So essentially, people assume that if they use unrevoked, they'll have the same thing that simpleroot gives you, which is not the case. There are still more steps needed to be done which are not disclosed. At least they weren't to me. Unrevoked should at least include a readme document explaining everything crystal clear.

 

[deparson]

I don't know. I wanted to use Wireless Tether and unrevoked worked just fine for me both at 2.1, 2.2, and the 2.2 /w the OTA update.

Their directions sparse but I was able to perform the root in under 10 min from start to finish including installing the driver and reading the instructions a few times to make sure I understood them.

 

[sasha]

I don't know. I wanted to use Wireless Tether and unrevoked worked just fine for me both at 2.1, 2.2, and the 2.2 /w the OTA update.

Their directions sparse but I was able to perform the root in under 10 min from start to finish including installing the driver and reading the instructions a few times to make sure I understood them.

I agree seems like it works good for everyone who can read, and follow directions properly. I'll be willing to bet over 80% of people having trouble is because of user error.

 

[PedroTheGoat]

This Goat is actually a huge fan of unrEVOked. Otherwise this thread would not exist and my day wouldn't have nearly as many laughs in it.

Plus threads titled "Please help!" Amuse me.

 

[d3xn2o]

This Goat is actually a huge fan of unrEVOked. Otherwise this thread would not exist and my day wouldn't have nearly as many laughs in it.

Plus threads titled "Please help!" Amuse me.

I agree with the lawlz

 

[27scoob]

Wow.... it makes me proud. To see all this love for Unrevoked...

 

[beezy]

I just to be clear with what the problem people in this thread have with unrevoked.

I for one think its an amzing tool. And my highest praise for the unrevoked team for being able to root so many devices in such a short period o time. And for further offering updates to said rooting programs after manufactures and providers block them.

That being said, the above is also true for simple root, and any other imaginable one click rooting program.


And it is for the last statement that I have serious issues with these methods. The whole concept of a one click method, bypasses a good protion of importang knowlege that users who want to root need to know.

What we know these programs to do, in essence is to bypass security verifications to be able to flash a version of the stock os, and changing the hboot, that allows for super user privlages. Further processes include unlocking nand, and flashing new recovery immages. (Please correct me if anything I have said is incorrect)

Now the original root method for the evo, required users to manually flash a rooted image, therough the bootloader. Then useres would unlock nand, and flasha custom recovery. This allowed for flashing roms, making and resoring nand backups. This was done through the adb.

When gbhil posted these instructions, he broke it up into 3 or 4 seperate posts in one thread, and it was intimdating to say the least.

However after users finished rooting themselves, or had some one help them along the way much like I did, (thank you beezy and rufflez, you taught me everything I needed know), one would have the knowlege to then build on the skills they learned.

The skills would not have to be manifested later in the form of making roms, or customizations to the os. They wouldn't even need to be used to trouble shoot and fix problems users have. But what these skills absolutely teach rooters, is how to ask good specific questions.

If you look at gbhils thread, the questions are of the form "the adb comand is out putting an error when I try to do this action" or "the bootleader seems to fail upon loading such and such". The answeres to these questions caan be answered directly, and the steps take up to that point can be analized and corrected if need be. The questions however in the unrevoked thread are of the form, " I pressed the button and nothing happend" or and combination of "I don't have root" or do "I have true root". How does one diagnose that, or fix that? " re-download the files and try again", "check the drivers"? We can't even give those useres adb comands to check because many don't even know how to open a promt in the tools directory to get adb access.


Now if we're hating unrevoked because they don't tell us how they magically put in the adb commands (which common guys there are only a few ways), or that they don't share the super secret loophole they found, (which they don't have to), that's one thing. But I think the frustration is misdirected at only the unrevoked, when we should really be striving to convice new rooters that the method that goes to basic priciples, should be the best way to root.

/rant.

This is one of the best post.(An not cause my names in it.I have to agree with Lj.It is a lot easier to help people that use adb but hey when it comes down to it root however you have to.

 

[truslide]

I was looking at unrevoked's wiki... again... for about the 10th time, and I still don't see where there is all the technical data about how their method works. Compared to what LiquidJesus wrote a few posts back (the long drawn out process) with all the detail... this is what unrevoked provides

and I quote
"unrevoked3 is a tool to flash a custom recovery image to your Android phone. A custom recovery image allows you to perform advanced tasks on the system partition, such as flashing custom ROMs and taking a full backup of your phone (a “nandroid” backup). We recommend installing the custom recovery image for all users who want rooted phones.

It can be obtained from unrevoked3 recovery reflash tool, v3.21.

At this time, unrevoked3 works on all versions of the supported phones, thanks to the exploit discovered by Sebastian Krahmer.

Windows users, please download and install these HBOOT drivers.

unrevoked comes with NO WARRANTY (express or implied), and NO GUARANTEE OF FITNESS for any particular task. Although we have attempted to minimize the risk the best we can, the authors disclaim any chance of damage to your phone. The entire risk of running unrevoked lies with you, the user."

When I did this for my macbook, "this" being exactly what the wiki told me to do, I ran into the problems I mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I'm sure the instructions unrevoked provides work great for window users, but what about for mac users?

I just don't see how unrevoked is a one click method when the truth behind it is that it is not. Maybe unrevoked saves the user time by eliminating the process of pushing all the files... but what about everything else the user has to do... clearly there is more to it, and that information is not clearly stated on the site.

 

[truslide]

I think it's the other way around...

I got NO help from anyone on the unrevoked team because I had no way of contacting them, only donating to them.

AC members were the ones who read my PM's, answered my questions, stayed up till absurd hours of the night trying to diagnose the issue, helped me unroot my phone, helped me root my phone, explained how certain things work, what things were happening while they were happening, helped me flash roms, understand kernels, and everything else under the sun.

Anyone can read a book on astrophysics... but what matters is when someone takes the time to sit down and break things down for you and explain them to you.

That's why Android Central is the #1 Android website.
That's why "most" Android Central members have my respect more than other forum members
That's why Android Central is a community, not an "elitist" or "purist" group.

If anyone are the selfish ones, or the "purist" or the "elitist" it's the ones who put the "donate" button right where the "contact us" button should be