[Q] Help with downgrade and/or re-unlock, possible flash new OS - Desire 816 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi, total noob to Android hacking and rooting here...
I'm in the US and have the HTC Desire 816 (710c) on Virgin Mobile. Really wishing I'd done better research about the Desire 816 and VM before buying this phone. It's a great phone except for the small HD. I didn't realize just how many headaches that small HD--and Virgin's tight-fisted grip regarding their unlock policy--would cause me!
Forgive the length of this, but I'm hoping more detail as to what I've done/tried will help find the right solution...
I was doing fine on KitKat and for some reason decided I wanted to upgrade to Lollipop--mistake number 1! I first installed the update over KitKat but had some issues. Nothing major, but I figured something was definitely wonky when I noticed the basic stock web browser was gone--not that I really use it, just wanted to test something with it. (I was having an issue in Habit Browser, didn't realize 'til later that it was because I had my download folder setting on external SD card. While that worked in KK, it didn't in LP.) So, I did a backup...or THOUGHT I did. HTC Backup app was supposed to have been backing up my phone every day to Drive...turns out, it wasn't, despite notifications that it was working. So, anyway... I went ahead and factory reset the phone and reinstalled Lollipop. UGH! An even bigger mistake. Over 6 GB of the HD gone, just from stock LP!
Then I thought maybe if I unlocked the phone, I could delete most of the junk, even still using the stock OS. I followed the directions on HTCDev and although the proper screen appeared on the phone and asked me if I wanted to unlock, and I replied yes, it didn't work at first. The phone rebooted and everything was the same. Reboot checker confirmed failure.
So, as I was ready to try to narrow down my list of previously installed apps to absolute essentials due to the reduced disk space, I thought to see if there was a a way to revert to KitKat. I followed the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/general/ruu-t2952058. I tried the RUU .exe first. It failed, telling me I needed to get the correct RUU and try again. However, HTC's website does NOT show any KK downloads for Virgin Mobile USA for this device. More on that in a moment...
I also tried the flashing via SD card method. It also failed. I thought, what the heck, I'll try steps 3 and 4 of the SD card method, flashing the stock recovery and lock the bootloader, even though I thought my device was locked. Well, I guess I didn't notice when I went into fastboot that the device indeed HAD at some point unlocked, after all.
After those steps, I now had the following show up:
*** Software Status: Modified ***
*** RELOCKED ***
SECURITY ALERT!
I tried flashing the ROM.zip from SD card method again. It failed spectacularly, saying something about about a large file (some of the text was beyond the edges of the screen, so I couldn't read all of it. There was also an instruction to press power to reboot. The phone went back into fast boot screen with red highlighted "!! Image Update FAIL !!" Mind you, this was with the SD card now removed. I did manage to get the phone to boot normally again, back to stock Lollipop.
Now I thought I would try flashing the WWE KK download from HTCDev. Well, I didn't get the large image fail message, but it did fail saying that it was not the right image.
I tried unlocking the phone again, via the instructions at HTCDev. Didn't work. Thought I would try the ROM.zip file from the thread here at XDA one more time. Same fail message as before, same behavior of phone getting stuck on flashboot screen with red error message on initial attempt to reboot the device. I do notice now that although phone status is still modified and relocked, the security alert message is gone.
Can anyone help? I just want KitKat back so I can reload all my previous apps! (or possibly a good KK equivalent non-stock ROM, once I get the phone unlocked again? I have no idea which one though, being a noob :/ )
Thanks!

witchywoman said:
So, as I was ready to try to narrow down my list of previously installed apps to absolute essentials due to the reduced disk space, I thought to see if there was a a way to revert to KitKat. I followed the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/general/ruu-t2952058. I tried the RUU .exe first. It failed, telling me I needed to get the correct RUU and try again. However, HTC's website does NOT show any KK downloads for Virgin Mobile USA for this device. More on that in a moment...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That ruu file should work it's the vm usa last kitkat version. You need to follow the directions unroot and relock phone. But depending on what you did to the phone that was non standard you might also need to wipe or format internal data before running the ruu.
I think you can:
1) unroot then boot into recovery(twrp)
2) wipe phone/format data.
3) Boot directly from twrp to bootloader so you can get to fastboot usb.
4) Flash stock recovery from your PC.
5) Relock bootloader then run the ruu.exe.
All the other stuff you did afterwards should not be necessary.

pcjunky: The phone is currently relocked. I'm not 100% sure about unrooted, but I think it is. Like I said, when it was unlocked before I didn't even realize it, and I didn't really do anything unusual with it. The phone still had stock Lollipop on it and I just changed some stock settings and preferences.
Also, as I said, I am a total noob. I don't know what you mean about twrp and booting into that to wipe the drive and then from that. I'm sure there is info about that on this site somewhere, but it might be quicker if you (or someone) could explain it briefly, or point me in the right direction.
Updating to answer my own question in this reply. You're telling me to use a custom recovery but I never installed one. So.... currently searching to see how to do that.

I don't know if it's worth you time to learn how to go back to Kitkat. There should be howto's in the general forum for most everything you need. But I think the free memory difference between Kitkat and Lollipop is almost 1GB. 4.04GB free versus 3.14GB free. If you make sure all your apps that support being moved to SD card are moved and your storage settings for supported items uses the SD card you might be able to save enough space to get by until you decide to switch phones.
Twrp is a custom recovery and backup/restore tool you can do a search to learn about it, but you might not need it. The HTC backup is OS specific and it only saves apps and data not system files. So your HTC backup under Kitkat won't restore over Lollipop. If you had installed Twrp and and made a backup of Kitkat before you installed Lollipop you could restore your kitkat backup over Lollipop.
If you still want to try to get back to kitkat you can try to reset your phone(In theory relocking your phone should do that but it wont hurt) before you run the ruu file.

pcjunky said:
I don't know if it's worth you time to learn how to go back to Kitkat. There should be howto's in the general forum for most everything you need. But I think the free memory difference between Kitkat and Lollipop is almost 1GB. 4.04GB free versus 3.14GB free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's interesting to note that my phone used ~ 4.8 GB when it was new with KK installed. After the Lollipop upgrade, it was using well over 6 GB with just the stock OS, HTC apps and Virgin apps on it. Obviously, that was unacceptable, and it's what got me started on this whole quest. :silly: However, after flashing a custom recover image, rather than the stock recovery I used previously, the stock installation is using 4.97 GB, so I think I should be good to go with that.
If you make sure all your apps that support being moved to SD card are moved and your storage settings for supported items uses the SD card you might be able to save enough space to get by until you decide to switch phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always have used the SD card as much as was supported. Switching phones is not an option for me as I have a rather limited income and the Desire was an investment. Thus another reason I embarked on trying to make these changes.
Twrp is a custom recovery and backup/restore tool you can do a search to learn about it, but you might not need it. The HTC backup is OS specific and it only saves apps and data not system files. So your HTC backup under Kitkat won't restore over Lollipop. If you had installed Twrp and and made a backup of Kitkat before you installed Lollipop you could restore your kitkat backup over Lollipop.
If you still want to try to get back to kitkat you can try to reset your phone(In theory relocking your phone should do that but it wont hurt) before you run the ruu file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as I said above, the stock/OME installation now, before uninstalling whatever junk it will let me, is using only 4.97 GB, so I should be fine with that.
Thanks for your efforts to help me out with this. :good:

I'm glad you got it to a workable point. It's possible to go back to Kitkat, but I personally wouldn't do it because it gives you better battery life.
From time to time you should check apps under settings and swipe left to see the apps on sd card. Sometimes new app updates will support being moved to sd card or an updated version of an app will need to be moved over to the sd card.

Related

Desire Issues

I have been passed a HTC Desire to try and fix after a friend of mine ran into issues trying to put Froyo on it. It was originally with Virgin (Virgin boot screen) but was not locked as other sims were usable.
I've tried various different methods to get it up and running but suspect something he has done with his attempts has caused serious issues - also he is not all that clued up and cannot remember exactly what he did - he did mention that RUU update failed, and also an image he had tried to flash from his sd card had got part way through and then locked up on the radio update.
With the original sim and memory card in, the phone will constantly reboot or just stick at the HTC logo. Take the memory and sim cards out, the phone will boot but system wont launch properly so cant get into settings to enable debugging so I can access the device via ADB. I can get to the fastboot screen, and to the Vol Down-Power screen on start, but if I select recovery it stays on HTC logo and goes nowhere.
I have managed to get HBOOT downgraded to 0.8, but when trying to put on original Virgin RUU it says the main version is older (probably because I'm trying to install an older version over a newer one). The stock Froyo RUU fails and tells me wrong HBOOT and sometimes gives a CID error. Although the phone is not locked, I suspect it will still need a goldcard, but cant create one as I cant get ADB access to the phone.
Sorry if this is a bit of a mess but at work and trying to take calls as well as write this and fix the darned phone. I;m not unfamiliar with methods used to get the phone rooted, but not well up on troubleshooting or working around these issues I have.
Any help would be appreciated.
You should be able to restore it by installing this RUU with a working goldcard:
http://shipped-roms.com/shipped/Bra...3.00.32U_5.09.00.20_release_140022_signed.exe
If you get a CID error your goldcard isn't working. There should be no version error with this.
Thanks for the reply....however how can I create a goldcard when I cant get the phone to a point where I can get my pc to recognise it? All the goldcard methods I have seen/tried involve having the usb plugged in and debugging enabled - cant get to that stage as phone wont boot - reboot loop most of the time and when I do occassionally get to the os it doesnt last, it will reboot after a few seconds. Anything else I could do? Or, could I use the card in other phone and create the goldcard in that and transfer over? I do have my own working Desire handset.
Don't know much about this but have read that a goldcard is unique to the SD card not the phone so you could create one on your phone and then use it in your mates. Also, from what I've read it would be worthwhile wiping your mates SD card (make sure he's not added a partition to it), copying a Rom to it, and try to install it using Rom manager (or whatever recovery program which was used to root the phone)
Ok, I used my own phone to sort out the goldcard and currently trying that out now...will keep you posted. Just started the RUU Stock Froyo and seems to have got further so far. Wish me luck!
Mmmmm....ok the RUU worked, but when it restarted (with original goldcard/memory card in, it kept rebooting. It did start once, got to initial setup then promptly rebooted. I swapped out the memory card (no sim in at all by the way at any point up to now) to my own card and after one final reboot it did start up. It doesnt seem stable at all with the original memory card, and still not entirely stable with my card. Could this be a phone fault? Im assuming if the RUU got through all its stages then all areas and files on the phone have been updated correctly and are all correct? Could past failures at updates etc have caused an issue elsewhere?
Have you wiped the various caches? As far as I can make out you need to make sure everything is wiped. I read a post on the OpenDesire thread which suggested that clockworkrom, if that is the recovery program you have installed, may not wipe one of the caches (possibly the dalvik cache) correctly. They recommended another recovery program called something like AmonRu. Although I can't really help you it might be worthwhile saying how the phone was rooted.
Ok, none of this was to root the phone. It was to debrand and put on the HTC Desire Froyo build. Not a custom rom, the standard RUU.
As far as I was aware, an RUU restore of the phone would wipe the appropiate caches, but correct me if I'm wrong. The phone now starts with the standard HTC startup and sound and for all intents and purposes is working, but just cant explain the random reboots. These seem to be worse with the 8GB card that my mate gave me with it. Although, after trying mine and putting the original one back in it seems to have stayed stable up to now. I'm beginning to wonder if there may be an issue with the memory card slot - another swap of the memory card again will probably trigger the reboots once more.
We will see how it goes anyway.
You've got a hardware fault. The RUU will completely reflash the phone, so if it flashed successfully but is still rebooting randomly, it can't be software.
Your probably right. Just started to try and do a downgrade, and after putting the PB99.IMG file on the gold card I made earlier, then starting the downgrade I noticed it stuck at about 98% on the radio update (second item in the list). I'm going to leave it a while to see if I get an error but I suspect it will not move or do anything.
Having gone through this process before on my own handset, I know it doesn't take anywhere near this long. Thing that confuses me though is that the RUU process I went through before went through with no issues - so why would that be able to successfully install a radio update and not this downgrade process? Anyone else had this happen to them?
Update: Ok, leaving this now as I've exhausted all avenues and its obvious the phone is not going to play ball. On another RUU flash it failed (and looking at the logs it was at the radio section and mentioned a partition update failure). A subsequent RUU flash was successful, so at least I've got it back to stock (although it doesnt stay booted long enough to even get the initial setup wizard done now). Passing it back to my friend tomorrow and hope he can get a warranty repair. Just a shame I couldn't get it back to the Virgin firmware. Thanks all those that helped anyway, much appreciated.

[Q] Need some direction...

Hey guys. I'm pretty tech savy when it comes to computers and all, but for some reason all this "root", "radio", etc. is all mish mosh to me. I'm pretty sure I have my phone rooted (followed a tutorial). I just got the prompt for froyo from Verizon, and I read somewhere i shouldn't install it from Verizon if my phone was rooted. What I want is to just reset my phone without the root, and be able to install 2.2 just as if I never rooted my phone, because I know I'm going to screw something up that's going to end up costing me. So any help??
you sound like me a few months ago
The OTA will update your OS to 2.2 and will update your radio along with alot of other things.
If you hold optical button and power at the same time (after the phone is off) it will boot to the Hboot screen. on the top of that screen you will see S-ON. This is the security toggle for the phone. I cant tell you what or why it does what it does. but it essentially makes its so you cant flash custom roms without rooting. Before you update your phone to the OTA, you want to google "unrevoked3" . download it, and run it. This will give you the Clock Work Recovery which will load instead of the phones built in recovery console. as soon as you do that, then you run "unrevoked forever" this will set the phone to S-OFF.
once you get S-OFF. Revert your phone back to stock by updating with a stock pb31gm.zip (you should be able to find that all over). this will make your phone stock again (by removing the root you did to it by running unrevoked3) but keep the S-oFF setting.
so by the end of the process you will be totally stock, no root, and have S-OFF. then boot up, install OTA, and then load the update with clock work recovery and you will be all set.
its all kinda confusing if you dont read along the forums. but once you get it, its pretty simple.
Another poster in another thread already addressed this. here it is in simplistic form
use google to look up anything you dont understand.
Assuming you have a truly stock Incredible (meaning you didn't force any third party roms or leaked radios), then you follow this order:
1. Unrevoked Flash/Recovery - Adds Clockwork Mod and Superuser permissions to your phone
2. Unrevoked Forever - Adds S-OFF functionality, which means that the HBOOT startup will no longer check for updates that are signed with HTC's super secret signature... Meaning you can flash anything to the phone.
3. Flash Original Stock Recovery - Removes the Clockwork Mod recovery console. Since you have S-OFF, you can return CWM to the phone whenever you damn well please. The original stock recovery is necessary for the OTA to commence, because it is developed to rely on the stock recovery console.
4. Wait for OTA
5. Upon receiving OTA, flash Clockwork Mod to the phone via HBOOT (using a PB31IMG.zip containing it)
6. Flash the root payload via Clockword Mod recovery console.
7. Go to bed and make love to your wife after beating on your chest in victory like tarzan.
8. Reboot phone, bask in Official Froyo coupled with Superuser permissions.
9. Download the busybox installer from the market and install busybox to the system.
10. Make love to your wife again.
Keyboards said:
Hey guys. I'm pretty tech savy when it comes to computers and all, but for some reason all this "root", "radio", etc. is all mish mosh to me. I'm pretty sure I have my phone rooted (followed a tutorial). I just got the prompt for froyo from Verizon, and I read somewhere i shouldn't install it from Verizon if my phone was rooted. What I want is to just reset my phone without the root, and be able to install 2.2 just as if I never rooted my phone, because I know I'm going to screw something up that's going to end up costing me. So any help??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt read your post all the way before i responded... sorry
since you are rooted already, just get unrevoked forever to get S-off.
your rooted and you got the OTA , so that answers some questions for people right there, there has been much confusion about rooted phones will get the update. I guess you did
People say not to update because it will remove your root and not allow you to re-root. By flashing S-OFF you can re-root anytime you please because the phones security check is off.
The problem is, you need root to get S-off. If you flash first, with S-ON you wont be able to re-root to get S-off, make sense? lol. At this point in the game you can only get S-off while using 2.1. if you got to 2.2 with s-on your stuck for a while with no root.
If that doesnt matter to you, then dont worry about it
If you only rooted your phone and did nothing else, you can safely apply the update. Doing so will remove root.
If you installed a custom recovery you will wanted to install the stock recovery before doing the upgrade.
If you plan on keeping root you will need to install unrevoked forever to enable security off (S-OFF) before starting the upgrade process.
Hope that helps a little anyway.
I never did anything to the phone after the root. The only thing that changed on the phone was superuser was put on my app screen, and I don't even know what that does. I don't care for root that much anymore, it sounded cool, but I'm not the kind of person who knows how to use it to it's full potential. So all I have to do is hit install now on the 2.2 from Verizon and I should be good to go?
Keyboards said:
I never did anything to the phone after the root. The only thing that changed on the phone was superuser was put on my app screen, and I don't even know what that does. I don't care for root that much anymore, it sounded cool, but I'm not the kind of person who knows how to use it to it's full potential. So all I have to do is hit install now on the 2.2 from Verizon and I should be good to go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well you will have to run a stock pb31img.zip to remove the clockwork recovery , or the update will fail
lemme look around and see if i can find you a stock image. 1 sec
here it is
http://d01.megashares.com/index.php?d01=CHoQD3B
once you get it downloaded, you need to rename it to PB31IMG.zip, place it on the root of your SD card (meaning dump it on the sd card , not in a folder on the SD card)
hold optical button and power button until you get the hboot screen
with "bootloader" selected hit the power button to select it
the phone will look for the PB31IMG.zip file and load it. wait a few min and when it asks you to reboot, say yes. It may or may not ask you to update again , if it does, say yes, if not let it reboot the phone.
once that is done, run the OTA update you got and your all set.
doing this will retain your stock image, and remove root. THIS WILL WIPE YOUR PHONE. so if you have anything you wanna save do it before you proceed
msticlaru said:
doing this will retain your stock image, and remove root. THIS WILL WIPE YOUR PHONE. so if you have anything you wanna save do it before you proceed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. Will my Market history remain?? Meaning if I bought an app, I can just redownload it??
Keyboards said:
Thank you. Will my Market history remain?? Meaning if I bought an app, I can just redownload it??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup, anything you bought is saved to your google account. you just open the market, hit menu, and then hit "downloaded" and its all there
msticlaru said:
yup, anything you bought is saved to your google account. you just open the market, hit menu, and then hit "downloaded" and its all there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great, thanks again. I'm going to give it a shot now.
Keyboards said:
That's great, thanks again. I'm going to give it a shot now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I did it and it looks like it's going smooth! One thing I noticed is that after I formatted my card to FAT32, it said my capacity was only 200MB? Is this normal?
It's a 16GB card.
Keyboards said:
Ok I did it and it looks like it's going smooth! One thing I noticed is that after I formatted my card to FAT32, it said my capacity was only 200MB? Is this normal?
It's a 16GB card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
interesting... windows says its 200mb or the phone does? see what it says after the update. Maybe it created a 200mb partition?
msticlaru said:
interesting... windows says its 200mb or the phone does? see what it says after the update. Maybe it created a 200mb partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone also says 200MB. Phone is back to stock and ready to roll. Still haven't recieved a prompt for froyo yet, checked about phone, still running 2.1 update 1.
Keyboards said:
Phone also says 200MB. Phone is back to stock and ready to roll. Still haven't recieved a prompt for froyo yet, checked about phone, still running 2.1 update 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think i read somewhere that when you don't accept the update it will wait like 20 min or so before it prompts you again. I don't know the exact time limit tho. you could do the *228 update just to make sure its registered right. i don't really know if that will help push the update or not.. but may as well do it.
as far as the card. after the update try formating it again. kinda of an odd issue. could try googling it
msticlaru said:
I think i read somewhere that when you don't accept the update it will wait like 20 min or so before it prompts you again. I don't know the exact time limit tho. you could do the *228 update just to make sure its registered right. i don't really know if that will help push the update or not.. but may as well do it.
as far as the card. after the update try formating it again. kinda of an odd issue. could try googling it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still no prompt. Restarted, did *228, nothing. This card problem is also an issue now. It's showing only 200MB on Mac, PC, and the Incredible.
Keyboards said:
Still no prompt. Restarted, did *228, nothing. This card problem is also an issue now. It's showing only 200MB on Mac, PC, and the Incredible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as not getting the prompt, you got me. I cant pretend to know how verizon does their business. Their website says if you ignore the update, it will continue to big you until you get it.
As far as the memory card goes. Thats not really a phone issue. My experience with formatting memory cards stops at the format. Never had it format it wrong. If it was happening to me, i would format it again with a format tool. I dont know your experience when it comes to troubleshooting problems like this. I would start by using multiple format tools on my PC, you said you have a mac, you can try formatting it with the mac. It seems like a simple fix, as it was reporting the right size prior to the format.
Did you format it in windows? did you just right click on it and hit "format" ? try using the disc management built into windows. It should show you the total size of the disc formatted or not. Its possible it somehow was formated as a 200MB partition. if that happened, then you have a 200MB logical partition, and the rest is unformatted and therefor un readable by anything other than a disc management type tool.
depending on your Operating System, your mileage will vary, but google how to open "disc management" for your OS. Stick the SD card in your card reader, then use the tools in disc management to format it to the correct size.
hope that helps.
Also, check your phone. settings > about phone > system information. Ensure you are running 2.1 update 1. and baseband 1.x. If you are, then its a waiting game. also, in the same screen click on "system update" and see if it has an update available. if not... you can always call verizon and play dumb. "ya i got the update, but i had to reboot my phone, when it booted back up i didnt have the update anymore!" see if maybe they can push it to you.
if all else fails you can load the RUU manually.

[Q] I messed up pretty bad, need help please!

Okay so here's what happened, from the beginning:
A long time ago, about a month after the release of the SGS3, I rooted my device. All I wanted was to uninstall bloatware, which I did.
I took some advice from a friend and installed some root-related apps (Titanium Backup, Rom Manager, BusyBox Free, Root Checker Basic, AnTuTu Benchmark, GooManager and TWRP) that I barely used.
Fast forward to today, about an hour or so ago. I had completely forgotten my phone is rooted because all I really did was remove bloatware. Suddenly the thought occurs to me, "I haven't checked for an update in a while!" Again, don't remember my phone is rooted. So I do the software update process, takes about 20 minutes to download the OTA update, then I click continue to install. The phone does its thing, shuts down down to install, starts coming back on, white text at the bottom scrolls with some jargon I am not familiar with, then I see something I recognize: ERROR! (something about md5 files or something rather) "****! I forgot my phone was rooted!" That's when the TWRP UI comes up....
All I can think to do is run the TWRP backup restore, which I backed up as part of the root process months ago. Well, that's complete now and my phone is back to 27 Oct 2012. Not TOO big a deal considering most, but not all, of my data is stored to some cloud (how does that work? I thought water and electronics didn't get along)<---JOKE!. So now I don't really know what to do. I am in the process of using SMS Backup+ to restore all my texts, and am trying to get my apps back up to date. After I get this all done, I still want to run the JellyBean update. As a safe bet, I would like to (if possible) un-root my phone, which requires me to re-install bloatware (?), yada yada yada, and basically return my GS3 back to factory settings so I can install JellyBean the legit way. I would then like to re-root my phone to remove (again) all the bloatware. So, I guess my question to whomever is far more qualified than me (probably 99% of xda forum users) is how can I safely go about doing this without losing (again) all my data? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you VERY much!
Ok. There are several problems here that need to be worked on.
First, I suggest that you get all your apps and data back up to date to "current" as opposed to Oct 27. Once you do that, then boot into TWRP and make a backup and save a copy to your PC as well. That way you will have a current restore point.
Next, the reason you are not able to take the OTA is two-fold. First you have Root and second you have a custom recovery.
**Former is easy to fix. All you need to do is get OTA Rootkeeper from the market and run it. Make a backup of SU and when you are ready to take the OTA, temp delete root through the app, take OTA and the restore Root through the app. Pretty easy.
**The latter issue is with regards to the custom recovery. You will need to find a flashable zip of the stock recovery and flash that (this is after you make your backups of course).
So now you will have an unrooted phone [technically if you use OTA Rootkeeper] with stock recovery. You should be able to take the OTA no problem, restore Root with OTA Rootkeeper and install Goomanager from the market to get TWRP recovery back.
Seem like a lot? Well it is. But then you could always look in the Dev section for a flashable version or mrRobinson's Root66 Odin package which is far esaier that above. Just read the OP.
Well, I am stuck at step one. Now my phone isn't reading my SD card, which is where I would be backing up to as my phone does not have enough free space on internal memory. So I guess I have a new problem that needs a solution, as well as all the other problems.
Still need help guys...
I still need help here. How am I supposed to back up my phone if it's not reading my MicroSD card? Better question, how can I get my phone to read the SD card?
klewis1x said:
I still need help here. How am I supposed to back up my phone if it's not reading my MicroSD card? Better question, how can I get my phone to read the SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to format your micro sdcard on your pc
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
My phone is reading the SD card in certain applications, but not in the ones that matter. Most of my music is on the SD card and there is no problem listening to any of it, but when I go to the storage settings on the phone it tells me to insert an SD card. Same thing when trying to use TWRP to try and back up my phone to the SD card. This is really frustrating...
xedualMCx said:
Try to format your micro sdcard on your pc
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
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That did the trick. Thanks sent your way.

[Q] Bricked Phone...Peculiar Situation

Hey guys,
First off, I've searched far and wide for any help with my problem but it is such a peculiar situation that I have yet to find someone with a similar situation. I expect if I want to ever use my M8 again, I'll need to send it to HTC and pay a few hundred bucks to fix it. But maybe someone here will have an idea that I've missed.
Shortly after getting my M8, I unlocked my device, rooted it and installed a few roms. Everything was fine save for one major thing: no matter which PC I used (and I used MANY - 3 different windows destops, a windows desktop at the office and my Macbook Pro) the device was never able to mount and make the storage accessible. I knew at that point something at some point had gone wrong. I've long preferred to use a wireless file transfer app to send stuff to and from my phone so I wouldn't have to break out all my cables so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I'd make it work.
A few days ago, I decided to try a different rom than what I'd been using for months (HD Revolution - great rom!) and downloaded everything required. I booted to TWRP, wiped the usual stuff and flashed my rom. When I rebooted, I was continually met with a crash as soon as the phone started and was never able to get into the OS. No big deal - this has happened before with other devices, so I didn't sweat it. I simply powered down the phone and tried to get back to recovery. Here's where the problem really kicked in : when attempting to boot to recovery, my phone will bring up the Hboot screen but instantly try to select the first option, thus not allowing me to scroll down to "Recovery". No matter what I do, it brings up the white Hboot screen, automatically selects the first option, gives me some error (I'm at work so I don't have the device in front of me) and tries to boot to the OS. That takes us back to the automatic crash.
Now, I know usually the solution would involve USB and ADB, but like I mentioned at the start of my sad tale, connecting my phone to PC's results either in nothing (Mac) or a "the device has failed" message in Windows. I've tried removing all the phone drivers, reinstalling and using a few toolkit methods - the phone is just never ever detected.
So, that's it. I'm pretty much resigned to sending my phone in and the HTC folks quoted me about $200. I do have a functional phone at the moment so it isn't the worst situation in the world, but if I could fix this I'd be able to using it as my main device again or sell it for a good chunk of change - I just bought it in June.
Sorry for the long read!
As far as the storage issue, never seen that happen before so I'm not sure. When you plug it in to the computer does the phone ask if you want to connect it as a storage device etc?
The bootloader is a very peculiar problem. It almost sounds like you have an img file that its trying to read as soon as you boot into boot loader.
Try to install HTC sync. And make sure the computer has an internet connection when you plug it in via usb.
Try to flash stock recovery fw buddy
Maybe thats problem RUU
Cek mike blg to find all stock recovery fw
After that install custom recovery again
This sounds a little familiar.
In my experience I've found some firmware versions and ROMs very choppy.
I once had a problem with storage too, couldn't send anything over to my phone.
Fortunately I could access recovery, so used ADB sideload and installed another ROM. And went to another firmware and never looked back.
The last 401.6 firmware gave me all sorts of issue.
If you can access fastboot I'd also recommend new firmware 401.7 is working flawlessly for me with ARHD 21.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
I would try putting one of the bootable ruus on your SD card so when it goes to your hboot, it'll read the RUU and install it
Awesome, some interesting suggestions here. Would I be able to somehow update the firmware via an SD card without any input from a computer? I managed to get into Recovery last night somehow (maybe letting the battery totally drain and charging it for a while did something) but plugging in my phone when in recovery still won't mount the storage or be recognized by ADB. Would I somehow be able update my firmware from recovery without the need of ADB'ing from my desktop? I've been looking at ROM threads and stuff and noticed that almost every rom requires new firmware or WiFI/radios other stuff won't work....
I'm at work right now so I'll definitely research this in depth when I get home, but if you guys could guide me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it and maybe buy ya' a beer.
Xavierc123 said:
Awesome, some interesting suggestions here. Would I be able to somehow update the firmware via an SD card without any input from a computer? I managed to get into Recovery last night somehow (maybe letting the battery totally drain and charging it for a while did something) but plugging in my phone when in recovery still won't mount the storage or be recognized by ADB. Would I somehow be able update my firmware from recovery without the need of ADB'ing from my desktop? I've been looking at ROM threads and stuff and noticed that almost every rom requires new firmware or WiFI/radios other stuff won't work....
I'm at work right now so I'll definitely research this in depth when I get home, but if you guys could guide me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it and maybe buy ya' a beer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download a rom that can use the 2.xx firmware. Look around and you should be able to find the roms. There's still plenty out there. Here's a little suggestion, reflash TWRP (or other recovery) through fastboot than grab a SD card and place the rom into the SD card and install the rom using through the use of a SD card. Just remember to do a full wipe before that

Phone has no OS and can't flash roms: SOLVED!

I picked up a sprint htc one m9 today. unfortunately no stock OS and no SD CARD with backup either. I booted into twrp but i can not do anything. everything fails. i tried to flash a rom and its a no go. I am stuck and have no idea what to try after looking for hours.
I have no OS
I can boot into twrp
twrp does not allow me to do anything FAILS on every operation.
zwp1990 said:
I picked up a sprint htc one m9 today. unfortunately no stock OS and no SD CARD with backup either. I booted into twrp but i can not do anything. everything fails. i tried to flash a rom and its a no go. I am stuck and have no idea what to try after looking for hours.
I have no OS
I can boot into twrp
twrp does not allow me to do anything FAILS on every operation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Foremost: ugh. Sorry man - that sucks.
So it sounds like your best option would be to get an sd card and apply a RUU from there. Flippy498's Google Sheet is a great resource for where to get them and how to use them.
You might be able to use the Windows-executable RUU directly from Sprint. I'm pretty sure you'd need to be in download mode when you ran it though. It's not as straightforward as the sd card method, but they're usually my first fallback.
Keep in mind that both of these options are destructive - your phone will be brought to a factory state (stock firmware, recovery) and anything on the phone's internal memory will be wiped.
It might be worth exploring why TWRP keeps failing. If we could solve that, you could install the ROM of your choice and not worry about RUUs. But that's definitely more work and probably not necessary if you're not trying to save anything. Once the RUU has been successfully applied, you can just unlock the bootloader anew, install TWRP, and do whatever you want from there.
Thanks a ton that fixed it!
zwp1990 said:
Thanks a ton that fixed it!
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Wonderful! Enjoy your new phone!
(If you're satisfied with the resolution, the convention in this forum is to mark a thread 'solved' in the title when an issue is resolved. This'll help folks know where to direct their help.)

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