What are the risks of rooting? - Hero, G2 Touch Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey Guys, I'm new to Android. Had my G2 Touch on T-mobile for less than 7 days, not had time to play with it as such but so far so good.
I've read post after post in regard to 'rooting' It's clear that the advantages far out weighs the disadvantages but I would like to know what the risks are.
Apart from the odd 'lag' my phone seems to be fine. My main disappointment is not being able to store apps on the SD card and the other obvious one is the lack of Bluetooth capabilities. I believe rooting would correct this?
So far I have a perfect running phone. My concern is if I decide to root the phone, are there any risks and can I unroot afterwards
Thanks in advance and any feedback would be appreciated.

As far as I've read. (Havent rooted mine yet)
That if you don't do it correctly, you risk bricking your phone.
Ofc. you lose your warrenty.
But I think there is some good things out there for rooted phones. Market hack for people like me, unable to access pay-apps. And Apps2SD....

Siggaard said:
As far as I've read. (Havent rooted mine yet)
That if you don't do it correctly, you risk bricking your phone.
Ofc. you lose your warrenty.
But I think there is some good things out there for rooted phones. Market hack for people like me, unable to access pay-apps. And Apps2SD....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Siggaard,
I'll hold out for now and wait for the next software update.

Related

We need a non "official" way to root the nexus one

If you root your nexus via the "official" way, you're screwed if you have a hardware failure, because the warranty is null and void. We need to figure out a way to root that is similar to how we rooted the MyTouch and G1.
My suspicion is that the "official" unlock isn't in the spl. I think it is more like a sim unlock.
I think we should just leave it alone and learn how to root the G1 way. That way, if we have a hardware problem, we can revert the dang phone to factory specs.
Any ideas? I think a gold card may be a could place to start.
This message was deleted by its author
Given that Swetland has said the HTC should honour the hardware warranty if the flaw isn't causable by rooting, and even suggested that you message him if you get such things refused I think that most of us are pretty happy with that, certainly many of the main devs are.
Not that I'm suggesting you shouldn't do what you want to, just pointing out that you're unlikely to get the support that the G1 root had
This message was deleted by its author
t4tav said:
Plus, I would like to see a "non" official way. That way we are still not giving up our warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been stated the HTC should honor the Hardware warranty.
If you are rooting, for any reason whatsoever, you are voiding your software warranty. And that's correct - you are well off the reservation and you should only root if you are aware of the risks and know what you are doing.
There is absolutely no reason you should expect to have your software warranty honored after you root.
While I can understand the desire for a sneaky backdoor root, it's really not to our advantage for such a thing to exist. Google managed to shipped this phone roootable out of the box. That is simply wonderful for the various people producing ROMs, it makes the phone a blast for hackers, it will spurn some serious innovation (and has done so already.) All good.
If people start backdoor rooting and making warranty claims, all of that may be spoiled and we may end up with a Nexus Two that is simply completely locked down.
Not good.
This message was deleted by its author
DebauchedSloth said:
It's been stated the HTC should honor the Hardware warranty.
If you are rooting, for any reason whatsoever, you are voiding your software warranty. And that's correct - you are well off the reservation and you should only root if you are aware of the risks and know what you are doing.
There is absolutely no reason you should expect to have your software warranty honored after you root.
While I can understand the desire for a sneaky backdoor root, it's really not to our advantage for such a thing to exist. Google managed to shipped this phone roootable out of the box. That is simply wonderful for the various people producing ROMs, it makes the phone a blast for hackers, it will spurn some serious innovation (and has done so already.) All good.
If people start backdoor rooting and making warranty claims, all of that may be spoiled and we may end up with a Nexus Two that is simply completely locked down.
Not good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with you. Look at the Droid Eris, for as long as it has been out, they are just starting to get an exploit that is working. They do not even have root yet.
I personally think that the people that most want to root without an unlocked bootloader are the people that will mess their phone by not understanding what they are doing to it fully. As stated above, you should be able to get your phone fixed if you have obvious defects that are not related to software.
While I think it would be interesting to have an alternative method to rooting, at the same time, I would view it as detrimental to what is trying to be done with this phone.
Just my small $0.01 (its not a full rant, trust me)
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at first i thought it just a software, in any platform if you do anything to the software it will be ok, and the warranty still available like iphone or WM devices.
we need do small hacking to make this work, i don't know why xda-developer doesn't have any hacker, it should be easy.
This message was deleted by its author
t4tav said:
I think I got that :/
(Removed my idea - We need a passimg.nbh)
However, I am really holding out on someone from HTC or Google saying that all hardware faults will be covered even if the bootloader is unlocked.
As soon as that happens I will root my nexus
Edit - The other reason for (personally) look for another root method is that if you unlock the bootloader now, It wipes the system, all the apps and all the settings. I to be honest, I can't really be bothered to reinstall all of them, considering that the Market doesn't seem to track what I install/un-install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
Like one of the above posters said everybody saying theres no need because they SHOULD replace hardware defects...I called HTC (haven't rooted) and asked them if I can repair hardware defects on a unlocked bootloader. The response "There is no warrenty if you have unlocked the bootloader."
This message was deleted by its author
t4tav said:
I think I got that :/
(Removed my idea - We need a passimg.nbh)
However, I am really holding out on someone from HTC or Google saying that all hardware faults will be covered even if the bootloader is unlocked.
As soon as that happens I will root my nexus
Edit - The other reason for (personally) look for another root method is that if you unlock the bootloader now, It wipes the system, all the apps and all the settings. I to be honest, I can't really be bothered to reinstall all of them, considering that the Market doesn't seem to track what I install/un-install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are afraid to wipe then you shouldnt root your phone. i garranty that you WILL be wiping your phone many times in the future. i must have wiped my g1 more than 30 times and the nexus one 6 or 7 times already. but dont worry, there are always free backup apps like titanium backup
The Nexus is not like the G1 or mytouch in any way to root the Nexus is Different than any Htc Phone. The Porcessor is not the mt3g or g1. so to try to root it like the mytouch or g1 may bring more problems. Note No mather how you root it the warranty is still void unless you unroot it to send it back in.
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t4tav said:
I must of wiped my G1 atleast 20+ times. I've also flashed around 20 Custom roms too (Since JF Rom's were all the rage).
I've found that mybackup works well. So I may purchase that. My Nexus is now happily rooted and running extremely fast
I'm not scared of wiping, it's just sometimes it can get sore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive used backup for root users for ages(it seems like it). i seriously recommend you try titanium backup, it backs private apps up also.
simms22 said:
ive used backup for root users for ages(it seems like it). i seriously recommend you try titanium backup, it backs private apps up also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium seems to work well
Anyways, Let's move this topic back on track
That's my motivation
kingskidd268 said:
The Nexus is not like the G1 or mytouch in any way to root the Nexus is Different than any Htc Phone. The Porcessor is not the mt3g or g1. so to try to root it like the mytouch or g1 may bring more problems. Note No mather how you root it the warranty is still void unless you unroot it to send it back in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We should have a way to "unroot."
I can see the other side to this too. If some yahoo roots their phone, then overclocks it to 2ghz or something and fries it... that SHOULDN'T be covered by warranty.
On the other hand, if I'm running one of cyanogen's roms and the speaker goes out, it should be covered.
Personally, if I fried a ROM because I overclocked it or something like that, I would NEVER send it in for warranty work. I would only send it in if the problem was clearly the manufacturer's.
Just my 2 cents
t4tav said:
Edit - The other reason for (personally) look for another root method is that if you unlock the bootloader now, It wipes the system, all the apps and all the settings. I to be honest, I can't really be bothered to reinstall all of them, considering that the Market doesn't seem to track what I install/un-install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be very clear, this behavior (data wipe on unlock) is intentional. Otherwise if your phone is lost or stolen, it would be trivial for somebody to unlock it, boot a custom kernel, and copy your contacts, email, etc from internal flash.
The Market should restore your installed apps automatically, and Settings Backup should be able to restore the bulk of your settings.
This message was deleted by its author

To root or not to root?

i thought i read somewhere that if we rooted there could be a chance it would affect the lte when it rolls out. any credence to this?
im tip toeing on rooting or not for the obvious reasons.
dunno if i should or not, development is still kinda early.
im also aware of the nfc google wallet reset before hand. little things like that scare me if i root and months down the road find out some features have been trashed because of it. thanks for any clarification.
bamp. lol 232 views? dis real life?
I haven't heard anything about it messing up LTE. I did root my phone the moment I got home, but I have yet to unlock it.
I haven't even ran Wallet yet either, so I'm not worried about that (although I do know that if I do use it that you have to wipe data from the app before flashing new ROMs). Wallet did ask me for root and I give it the big F-U and noticed that when I reboot my phone I'll see a message on my phone saying it was denied root access (again, I haven't even opened the app yet so I'm not worried about it bricking the chip)

First time rooting, help :)

Ok, so ive only had the phone a few days and it seems to get the most out of my phone i should root it, what id like to know is the easiest way without messing up my phone,
i know very little about rooting etc thats why ive been so hesitant but if someone could give me a basic run down on what to do without messing up my phone that would be nice.
my 64GB card should be here this morning so i may as well do it once ive got that in ?
thanks.
Mike_EVO said:
Ok, so ive only had the phone a few days and it seems to get the most out of my phone i should root it, what id like to know is the easiest way without messing up my phone,
i know very little about rooting etc thats why ive been so hesitant but if someone could give me a basic run down on what to do without messing up my phone that would be nice.
my 64GB card should be here this morning so i may as well do it once ive got that in ?
thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at the sticky threads here..
You can follow me on Twitter - @NotSo1nter3stin
Mike_EVO said:
Ok, so ive only had the phone a few days and it seems to get the most out of my phone i should root it, what id like to know is the easiest way without messing up my phone,
i know very little about rooting etc thats why ive been so hesitant but if someone could give me a basic run down on what to do without messing up my phone that would be nice.
my 64GB card should be here this morning so i may as well do it once ive got that in ?
thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mike - I have PM'd you some help. Note I am unclear if you are GSM/cdma and whether you have updated with OTA to ICS from GB.
Good luck.
I need Help
Bandee2 said:
Mike - I have PM'd you some help. Note I am unclear if you are GSM/cdma and whether you have updated with OTA to ICS from GB.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you help me too i just converted from IOS to Android and im not happy with the Stock OS.Ive tried everything and even the HTCdev.Btw its CDMA
Hi Mike, Welcome to the thread.
As a new rooter to the 3d and a long time rooter of the EVO (original) I have to say I'm finding that this is much more intimidating than it really is.
Check out this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1813818
It was a very well thought out thread and worked smoothly. The hardest part was the wire trick and I'll be honest the most intimidating. It took me 5x before I got the timing correct with how quickly I touched the ground. Outside of that it was simple.
It's true the EVO 3d is somewhat of a pickle when it comes to gaining s-off. Just a bunch of tedious steps. But its all worth it once you gain it. At least you won't have to deal with the headache of unlocked s-on.
Jsparta26 said:
It's true the EVO 3d is somewhat of a pickle when it comes to gaining s-off. Just a bunch of tedious steps. But its all worth it once you gain it. At least you won't have to deal with the headache of unlocked s-on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am unlocked S-on and use EXT4 Touch recovery with "smart flash" It seems to work just as if you are s-off...
I mainly deal with Samsung phones as I own an S2, I was looking into rooting my fiancee's Evo 3D to run an app to unlock contact photos for handcent, but it does seem pretty tedious to root them from the searching I've done here, unlike Odin in the Samsung world. Is there a particularly painless way to root the 3D but preserve data? Cause I doubt she'll want me to wipe it just for that, heh.
deltax20a said:
I mainly deal with Samsung phones as I own an S2, I was looking into rooting my fiancee's Evo 3D to run an app to unlock contact photos for handcent, but it does seem pretty tedious to root them from the searching I've done here, unlike Odin in the Samsung world. Is there a particularly painless way to root the 3D but preserve data? Cause I doubt she'll want me to wipe it just for that, heh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately there isn't, since you have to either HTC unlock the bootloader, which resets the phone, or flash an RUU (stock ROM) to go straight to S-OFF. Since you are not starting with root, you might want to try MyBackup from the Play Store which doesn't require root for the basic backup to save as much as you can, then root (and optionally S-OFF) and restore from the backup on the SD card.
I've recently opened a thread in the General Forum to make it easier for Sprint users to get root, and optionally S-OFF, but there's no such thing as a one click root for the Evo 3D. I tried one that was posted in the General Forum a couple of weeks ago but it didn't work on our device.
ramjet73

[Q] How dangerous is rooting/flashing on this phone?

Hi guys, after waiting all day, the courier finally dropped off my awesome S3, then I had to run to the local Optus shop to have my simcard snipped, I'm loving the phone..... But I'm not the biggest fan of touchwiz, have no need for the bloaty apps, and it seems slower than it should be considering the specs, so I'm itching to root this baby and install an AOSP or AOKP rom. But I'm still undecided whether or not I want to keep this, or sell it and get the Nexus 4, so I really really can't afford to brick this phone, it's a very expensive piece of hardware and I just got it. So realistically and honestly, how dangerous is rooting/flashing on this phone? I do have rooting and flashing experience on multiple phones, and also have bricking experience on multiple phones. From my understanding because of "Download mode" the chances of hard bricking are pretty low and getting out of a softboot is pretty easy, I've heard some things about people losing IMEI numbers, how can I avoid that?
JDogg1329 said:
Hi guys, after waiting all day, the courier finally dropped off my awesome S3, then I had to run to the local Optus shop to have my simcard snipped, I'm loving the phone..... But I'm not the biggest fan of touchwiz, have no need for the bloaty apps, and it seems slower than it should be considering the specs, so I'm itching to root this baby and install an AOSP or AOKP rom. But I'm still undecided whether or not I want to keep this, or sell it and get the Nexus 4, so I really really can't afford to brick this phone, it's a very expensive piece of hardware and I just got it. So realistically and honestly, how dangerous is rooting/flashing on this phone? I do have rooting and flashing experience on multiple phones, and also have bricking experience on multiple phones. From my understanding because of "Download mode" the chances of hard bricking are pretty low and getting out of a softboot is pretty easy, I've heard some things about people losing IMEI numbers, how can I avoid that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very dangerous if you do not know what you're doing. Very simple if you take the time to read and follow instructions. I'm not a technical guy or that good with computers but I spent a lot of time reading and finally decided to take a stab at rooting. My S3 is the 4th phone i rooted.
swift2fly said:
very dangerous if you do not know what you're doing. Very simple if you take the time to read and follow instructions. I'm not a technical guy or that good with computers but I spent a lot of time reading and finally decided to take a stab at rooting. My S3 is the 4th phone i rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what I'm doing in general, never rooted an S3 specifically, have rooted a Desire Z, Atrix 2, and Galaxy S. So I've been around the block a few times when it comes to rooting and flashing, I had 3 Desire Z's with bad EMMC chips, they bricked even without me flashing anything, the first one had no warranty so I had to buy another out of pocket that's why I'm so paranoid. I might just keep it stock for another week or two, do some more reading, then when I finally flash a silky smooth bloatless rom I can enjoy it even more.
JDogg1329 said:
I know what I'm doing in general, never rooted an S3 specifically, have rooted a Desire Z, Atrix 2, and Galaxy S. So I've been around the block a few times when it comes to rooting and flashing, I had 3 Desire Z's with bad EMMC chips, they bricked even without me flashing anything, the first one had no warranty so I had to buy another out of pocket that's why I'm so paranoid. I might just keep it stock for another week or two, do some more reading, then when I finally flash a silky smooth bloatless rom I can enjoy it even more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in that case it's very simple. I rooted 3 S3s using the same process and all were a success. I didn't bother to wait to root my phone. My wife bought me this phone for my bday and the same day I opened the box was the same day I rooted it. I hate touchwiz and i hate bloat.
swift2fly said:
in that case it's very simple. I rooted 3 S3s using the same process and all were a success. I didn't bother to wait to root my phone. My wife bought me this phone for my bday and the same day I opened the box was the same day I rooted it. I hate touchwiz and i hate bloat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What methods do you recommend since you've done it 3 times already?
JDogg1329 said:
What methods do you recommend since you've done it 3 times already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CF-Root
Sent from my GT-I9300
Hally79 said:
CF-Root
Sent from my GT-I9300
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my reading I've gathered that there is CF-Root and then the S3 Toolkit. For CF-Root do you recommend the auto one or the latest supported cf-root.
Use the cf root if you want root+ recovery, auto root for just root
It is very straight forward to do and safe as long as you read instructions
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1695238
[03.07.2012] CF-Root 6.4 - SuperSU+CWM5.5+CWMManager
slaphead20 said:
Use the cf root if you want root+ recovery, auto root for just root
It is very straight forward to do and safe as long as you read instructions
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1695238
[03.07.2012] CF-Root 6.4 - SuperSU+CWM5.5+CWMManager
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for the help and recommendation mate, seems like a nice and simple rooting method, it's pretty late and I need to be up early tonight so I best not do it right now and risk screwing something up due to sore eyes. If I do it tomorrow I'll update the thread with how I went .
JDogg1329 said:
What methods do you recommend since you've done it 3 times already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use mac and rooted all the phones on mac. this is the method i used:
http://galaxys3root.com/galaxy-s3-root/how-to-root-galaxy-s3-on-mac-osx/
very easy.
Easiest phone to root i've ever known.
Get the toolkit. That is literally it.
Follow the on screen instructions and download a custom rom for your model.
If you fail at this then your a doughnut.
Rooting FTW
Rooting is really good and it is not dangerous in my opinion. So you should go for it.

[Q] Rooting the Galaxy S4 on 4.3 with VROOT - Is it safe yet?

I'm very sad to admit that I updated from 4.2.2 to 4.3 on my Verizon Galaxy S4 and lost root. I made the terrible assumption that someone would root 4.3 quickly after release, but didn't want to wait to see the updates. So far, the only two solutions are:
1. Root on 4.2.2 and upgrade through this method
2. Use VROOT to root stock 4.3
This thread and this article both make me VERY wary of using VROOT, but this seems to be the only option once you do the OTA update.
Has there been any additional investigation into VROOT? Is it safe to use again, or is it a lost cause?
As of right now, that is the only option that I am aware of. I am no dev, but I have been tinkering with my phones for quite some time. I personally have not encountered a single ill effect from using vroot. There is a script which completely wipes it off your phone and installs the supersu app. Ultimately, it is up to you...I did it and I'd do it again. No ill effects what so ever and it's been a few weeks-nothing wonky to report.
bjoostema said:
As of right now, that is the only option that I am aware of. I am no dev, but I have been tinkering with my phones for quite some time. I personally have not encountered a single ill effect from using vroot. There is a script which completely wipes it off your phone and installs the supersu app. Ultimately, it is up to you...I did it and I'd do it again. No ill effects what so ever and it's been a few weeks-nothing wonky to report.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really on the fence... My fear is that I don't want to compromise my Google Account, since my whole life goes through that thing. Did you find that hidden app was installed after using VROOT?
Why is there yet another thread asking the SAME question about rooting MJ7??????
Read the other threads...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47566483
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2535416
thethotbot said:
I'm really on the fence... My fear is that I don't want to compromise my Google Account, since my whole life goes through that thing. Did you find that hidden app was installed after using VROOT?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a single thing was different on my phone. There were even some folks who ran an md5 checksum on all apps and reported that nothing was altered what so ever on any system level. I understand your concern, it took me a couple weeks before finally doing it. I really weighed it out and decided that root was important to me. Also, a good dev on the forums did it with no ill effects. I have faith in him and thus far, nothing has happened. I don't want to push you into it though. I don't even worry about it anymore since the script wipes all traces of the chinese superuser app off the phone.
bjoostema said:
Not a single thing was different on my phone. There were even some folks who ran an md5 checksum on all apps and reported that nothing was altered what so ever on any system level. I understand your concern, it took me a couple weeks before finally doing it. I really weighed it out and decided that root was important to me. Also, a good dev on the forums did it with no ill effects. I have faith in him and thus far, nothing has happened. I don't want to push you into it though. I don't even worry about it anymore since the script wipes all traces of the chinese superuser app off the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same thing. My life runs through my google account and I was very weary. I dont see anything strange occurring and ran malware scans on both the PC and phone and didnt find any trojans. I am assuming it is safe with the removal script posted on Rootjunky.com
I'm going for it.
Alright.... I just did it. I used Sandboxie on my computer to temporarily install the Chinese program (just to be safe), and everything on my phone now looks like it's fine. I'll keep a close eye on my accounts, and have enabled Two Step Authorization on my Google Account. I'll still be super bummed out if it ends up VROOT is collecting personal data, but I just couldn't bring myself to wait for root any longer.
I'm curious to know if the developers of vroot have removed the data mining features from the more recent versions?

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