if HTC allows downgrading the bootloader so I can install a custom rom after I make the mistake of taking an OTA update from ATT. With the S4 this wasn't possible. but since this is my first android phone, I was wondering if it was Samsung trying to keep the device "secure" or ATT forcing these companies to keep their bootloaders locked.
some_douchebag said:
if HTC allows downgrading the bootloader so I can install a custom rom after I make the mistake of taking an OTA update from ATT. With the S4 this wasn't possible. but since this is my first android phone, I was wondering if it was Samsung trying to keep the device "secure" or ATT forcing these companies to keep their bootloaders locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you unlock the boot loader no update can relock it. HTC offers a lot more freedom than samsung, but at the price of no warranty. So if you unlock it and shatter your screen, don't be upset like other people when htc will not warranty it. As long as you have a custom recovery, your phone cannot even physically take an ota update so nothing to worry about either way.
The Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act is in place for us consumers for this reason. The company has to prove that any modification you did, is the cause of the trouble. So if you unlock your bootloader, root, etc, then crack your screen, as the poster above mentioned, the company can not void your warranty since what you did has nothing to do with cracking your screen.
This was huge for me when I modified my car and I found this here on XDA after doing more searching
http://www.xda-developers.com/xda-tv-2/your-warranty-is-not-void-xda-tv/
Oh and yeah,,if you are outside the US, it wont work lol
some_douchebag said:
if HTC allows downgrading the bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That depends on what you mean by "allow". You cannot downgrade the bootloader by any "official" means. You will fail version check when you try to install, as you can "normally" only flash a equal or great version number hboot.
But if you are s-off, version check is bypassed, and any hboot version can be flashed.
Similar to a previous response, my advice would be to unlock the bootloader (required if you want to flash custom ROMs anyway) and S-off the phone soon after you get it. Neither of those can be changed by any OTA.
Also, accepting OTA is not recommended on a modded phone, anyway. Whatever came in the update will usually get posted in a stock rooted form in the Development forum, and/or incorporated into custom ROMs, often within days of the OTA rolling out. And OTA will not install on a modded phone (stock recovery needs to be present). OTAs also may plug existing s-off or other exploit; preventing you from doing them if you haven't already (but as mentioned, can't make the phone s-on again). Moral of the story, I strongly recommend against OTA on any modded phone.
Some of these terms/concepts are HTC specific, so may be a bit confusing for you. I would suggest reading up on these forums, if you aren't familiar with s-off, HTC's bootloader unlock process, etc.
Related
I'm 99.9% sold on the Amaze, I will probably be ordering this weekend.
One niggling doubt is the s-off issue. I see that it hasn't been achieved yet, though you can unlock the bootloader via the HTC.com dev code, and that allows perma-rooting and Custom Roms to be installed.
My questions are:
What would S-off achieve? Would there be more impressive roms that use the space and/or resources from /system or somewhere else that can't be touched without S-off? Is a CM 9 possible for the Amaze without S-off? In the CM forums, the "last" word so far is that it hasn't been included on the official list because "it doesn't even have S-off yet".
Is there a difference warranty-wise? I understand the _possible_ implication of asking HTC for the code, they have you in some database that says you unlocked the bootloader. But as for the device itself, is one undoable and the other not?
I understand that flashing kernels would be harder without s-off because it would have to be done via adb, I think I understood. This is no big deal in itself.
Finally: if you unlock the bootloader via the HTC code, and weeks or months down the road an exploit is found to gain S-Off, are you hosed because you used the code and didn't wait?
I'd like to know so I can make my decision before getting the phone. If it's very disadvantageous to use the code rather than wait for S-off, for one reason or another, then I'd have to decide if I can live with only temp-rooting the device.
I am not going to use it on T-Mobile, I'm in Venezuela and will use it with my carrier here, so the unnecessary bloat will be even more of an annoyance, because on top of it sucking, it won't even work; so it would be important for me to at least root to get rid of it.
I'm sorry if my questions are too expansive, I picked up bits and pieces of information in other posts, but none of them answered these questions clearly. Thank you very much to all those who can help me answer them.
el_ochito said:
I'm 99.9% sold on the Amaze, I will probably be ordering this weekend.
One niggling doubt is the s-off issue. I see that it hasn't been achieved yet, though you can unlock the bootloader via the HTC.com dev code, and that allows perma-rooting and Custom Roms to be installed.
My questions are:
What would S-off achieve? Would there be more impressive roms that use the space and/or resources from /system or somewhere else that can't be touched without S-off? Is a CM 9 possible for the Amaze without S-off? In the CM forums, the "last" word so far is that it hasn't been included on the official list because "it doesn't even have S-off yet".
Is there a difference warranty-wise? I understand the _possible_ implication of asking HTC for the code, they have you in some database that says you unlocked the bootloader. But as for the device itself, is one undoable and the other not?
I understand that flashing kernels would be harder without s-off because it would have to be done via adb, I think I understood. This is no big deal in itself.
Finally: if you unlock the bootloader via the HTC code, and weeks or months down the road an exploit is found to gain S-Off, are you hosed because you used the code and didn't wait?
I'd like to know so I can make my decision before getting the phone. If it's very disadvantageous to use the code rather than wait for S-off, for one reason or another, then I'd have to decide if I can live with only temp-rooting the device.
I am not going to use it on T-Mobile, I'm in Venezuela and will use it with my carrier here, so the unnecessary bloat will be even more of an annoyance, because on top of it sucking, it won't even work; so it would be important for me to at least root to get rid of it.
I'm sorry if my questions are too expansive, I picked up bits and pieces of information in other posts, but none of them answered these questions clearly. Thank you very much to all those who can help me answer them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know where to start with all of your questions but I will do my best.
The difference between S-OFF and Unlocked bootloader is that with S-OFF you can flash anything including a radio and supposedly it would give us the ability to update the kernel by recovery. With an unlocked bootloader we cannot update the radio or kernel but can pretty much change everything else. An unlocked bootloader is required to root your device and remove all the bloat that you don't like. You can temp root the device to remove that bloatware however they will re-appear after a reboot. It has been under some debate if in fact using the unlock_code.bin file provided by htcdev is going to void your warranty if your device would require servicing. If it's vital to know that information then call HTC to inquire before unlocking.
Regarding CM9, it is possible but slightly inconvenient since CM9 would almost certainly require a different kernel and since we cannot flash kernels by recovery it would have to be done in a very certain order. Is it currently in the works? To my understanding, yes! Any idea when you can see it as a download here in the forums? Not at this time. Check back daily because things change frequently!
Thanks a lot for your response, Binary. I see you have an Amaze and have indeed unlocked its bootloader, so I guess the real question would be: when and if s-off is achieved, will you be able to do it even though you've already unlocked the bootloader with the .bin file?
Warranty would be terribly hard for me to take advantage of anyways after the initial check. If I don't RMA the unit, then I'm pretty much gambling on the fact that it will work well no matter what, since sending it back to the US from Venezuela would be a major PITA, so I don't really care much about voiding it.
el_ochito said:
Thanks a lot for your response, Binary. I see you have an Amaze and have indeed unlocked its bootloader, so I guess the real question would be: when and if s-off is achieved, will you be able to do it even though you've already unlocked the bootloader with the .bin file?
Warranty would be terribly hard for me to take advantage of anyways after the initial check. If I don't RMA the unit, then I'm pretty much gambling on the fact that it will work well no matter what, since sending it back to the US from Venezuela would be a major PITA, so I don't really care much about voiding it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no reason that having an unlocked bootloader will interfere with being able to obtain s-off in the future because we can always relock the bootloader when (or if) it comes down to it.
Binary100100 said:
I don't know where to start with all of your questions but I will do my best.
The difference between S-OFF and Unlocked bootloader is that with S-OFF you can flash anything including a radio and supposedly it would give us the ability to update the kernel by recovery. With an unlocked bootloader we cannot update the radio or kernel but can pretty much change everything else. An unlocked bootloader is required to root your device and remove all the bloat that you don't like. You can temp root the device to remove that bloatware however they will re-appear after a reboot. It has been under some debate if in fact using the unlock_code.bin file provided by htcdev is going to void your warranty if your device would require servicing. If it's vital to know that information then call HTC to inquire before unlocking.
Regarding CM9, it is possible but slightly inconvenient since CM9 would almost certainly require a different kernel and since we cannot flash kernels by recovery it would have to be done in a very certain order. Is it currently in the works? To my understanding, yes! Any idea when you can see it as a download here in the forums? Not at this time. Check back daily because things change frequently!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your words helped me a lot. I was thinking about the diff between s-on/off and lock.unlock bootloader for long. Thanks so much
So I discovered a slight gap on certain edges of my One, which I got a week ago, and want to return it to AT&T for one that hopefully has no issues, but I've rooted, unlocked the bootloader, and flashed CM 10.1 on there. I searched through google and the forums here on XDA to find a method to relock the bootloader and go back to stock, but my search was fruitless. Apparently something called an RUU was needed? And according to the last post in this thread, that isn't available.
Is the RUU available now? Or is it currently impossible to relock the bootloader?
If so, would I be able to pull off just flashing the stock ROM back onto the phone and bringing it into AT&T? I feel like the only way they would realize something was different with the phone would be if they rebooted it, as I highly doubt most of the people in that store could even get into the bootloader screen. They had trouble syncing my google account.
Unless, of course, they send it back to the manufacturer and then THEY say that the warranty is voided because of the unlocked bootloader... but I don't know if they go through all that trouble in this situation?
Thanks for the help.
CAC1291 said:
So I discovered a slight gap on certain edges of my One, which I got a week ago, and want to return it to AT&T for one that hopefully has no issues, but I've rooted, unlocked the bootloader, and flashed CM 10.1 on there. I searched through google and the forums here on XDA to find a method to relock the bootloader and go back to stock, but my search was fruitless. Apparently something called an RUU was needed? And according to the last post in this thread, that isn't available.
Is the RUU available now? Or is it currently impossible to relock the bootloader?
If so, would I be able to pull off just flashing the stock ROM back onto the phone and bringing it into AT&T? I feel like the only way they would realize something was different with the phone would be if they rebooted it, as I highly doubt most of the people in that store could even get into the bootloader screen. They had trouble syncing my google account.
Unless, of course, they send it back to the manufacturer and then THEY say that the warranty is voided because of the unlocked bootloader... but I don't know if they go through all that trouble in this situation?
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a quick and easy way, just boot into fast boot and cmd "fastboot oem lock"
The only problem with that is that if they DO boot into the bootlaoder, it will say "RELOCKED" instead of "LOCKED"
The longer way, is to S-OFF (find it in the international forum) and then follow instructions there to put the "LOCKED" text back.
CAC1291 said:
So I discovered a slight gap on certain edges of my One, which I got a week ago, and want to return it to AT&T for one that hopefully has no issues, but I've rooted, unlocked the bootloader, and flashed CM 10.1 on there. I searched through google and the forums here on XDA to find a method to relock the bootloader and go back to stock, but my search was fruitless. Apparently something called an RUU was needed? And according to the last post in this thread, that isn't available.
Is the RUU available now? Or is it currently impossible to relock the bootloader?
If so, would I be able to pull off just flashing the stock ROM back onto the phone and bringing it into AT&T? I feel like the only way they would realize something was different with the phone would be if they rebooted it, as I highly doubt most of the people in that store could even get into the bootloader screen. They had trouble syncing my google account.
Unless, of course, they send it back to the manufacturer and then THEY say that the warranty is voided because of the unlocked bootloader... but I don't know if they go through all that trouble in this situation?
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get S-OFF, I was able to remove TAMPERED and change my UNLOCKED to LOCKED. You can also flash a modded HBoot that will take the red letters away and change the text from S-OFF to S-ON this will allow it to look like you never touched a thing
To get S-OFF I recommend http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2314582
To mod your HBoot go through the post from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2316726 (to download the HBOOT and here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1786498 to download the tool to create the modified HBOOT
But to let you know, I have returned 2 HTC Ones with unlocked bootloaders and AT&T did not say anything. Just flash the stock rom, make sure fastboot in enabled and leave it booted to the set up screen. Above is for if you want to be thorough and make sure you cover all your bases.
I recently unlocked my bootloader and rooted my phone. I installed TWRP and flashed a couple of custom roms ( GPE & Revolution HD ) I decided i want to go back to stock. I understand so far i gotta unroot, flash stock rom and re lock bootloader. I read something about RUU files. Any one have suggestion or help how i go about this? Again, i have AT&T varient, currently on Revolution HD Rom
Famous22 said:
I recently unlocked my bootloader and rooted my phone. I installed TWRP and flashed a couple of custom roms ( GPE & Revolution HD ) I decided i want to go back to stock. I understand so far i gotta unroot, flash stock rom and re lock bootloader. I read something about RUU files. Any one have suggestion or help how i go about this? Again, i have AT&T varient, currently on Revolution HD Rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is currently no RUU available as of right now. I think the best you can do for now is to a TWRP restore. There is a stock rooted TWRP in the Android Dev forum. Although this won't un-root you, its closest to stock that you will get. For the future, always make a backup before you root and then you won't have to worry
TheEmpyre said:
There is currently no RUU available as of right now. I think the best you can do for now is to a TWRP restore. There is a stock rooted TWRP in the Android Dev forum. Although this won't un-root you, its closest to stock that you will get. For the future, always make a backup before you root and then you won't have to worry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just ordered my device and still waiting on it to be delivered. I'm already debating on whether or not to root as I've never owned an android phone that i didn't root. From what i understand, the bootloader needs to be unlocked, then s-off, flash recovery and then root. Now, if i'm to do a nandroid of the stock ROM before I root, will I be able to lock the bootloader again, nandroid and s-on in case I need to utilize the warranty? Also, will any warranty bits show up or a tampered flag or any other problem arise that'll indicate it's been farked with? Is there a way to undo those flags? Thanks in advance to TheEmpyre or whomever else can shed some light on this.
EDIT: If the s-off is the only step that will trip the flag, is it possible to leave S, er, ON?
brianray14 said:
I just ordered my device and still waiting on it to be delivered. I'm already debating on whether or not to root as I've never owned an android phone that i didn't root. From what i understand, the bootloader needs to be unlocked, then s-off, flash recovery and then root. Now, if i'm to do a nandroid of the stock ROM before I root, will I be able to lock the bootloader again, nandroid and s-on in case I need to utilize the warranty? Also, will any warranty bits show up or a tampered flag or any other problem arise that'll indicate it's been farked with? Is there a way to undo those flags? Thanks in advance to TheEmpyre or whomever else can shed some light on this.
EDIT: If the s-off is the only step that will trip the flag, is it possible to leave S, er, ON?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocking the bootloader trips a flag. When you relock it gets rid of one flag but trips the relocked flag. Soff can get rid of all flags but you have to leave it soff. Turning it back on throws a security flag.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
If you are current AT&T customer, and can go through them for warranty, they do not care in the least whether you are bootloader unlocked, rooted, s-off, etc.
I know AT&T written policy says otherwise (they have the right refuse warranty on modded phones) but in reality they cherish you paying that nice monthly bill every month over the modest cost of a refurb phone.
I've come over from the One X (EVITA) forum, and there were many (possibly dozens) of report from XDA users successfully returning their devices for warranty with bootloader RELOCKED, UNLOCKED, and in some cases even with custom ROMs installed! And I haven't seen any reports otherwise (AT&T denying warranty due to modded phone).
If you are not a current AT&T customer, and have to go through HTC, that is a different story.
But if you are an AT&T customer, my personal opinion is that you do not need to care about being able to return to stock, tripping flags, etc. Just mod away.
redpoint73 said:
If you are current AT&T customer, and can go through them for warranty, they do not care in the least whether you are bootloader unlocked, rooted, s-off, etc.
I know AT&T written policy says otherwise (they have the right refuse warranty on modded phones) but in reality they cherish you paying that nice monthly bill every month over the modest cost of a refurb phone.
I've come over from the One X (EVITA) forum, and there were many (possibly dozens) of report from XDA users successfully returning their devices for warranty with bootloader RELOCKED, UNLOCKED, and in some cases even with custom ROMs installed! And I haven't seen any reports otherwise (AT&T denying warranty due to modded phone).
If you are not a current AT&T customer, and have to go through HTC, that is a different story.
But if you are an AT&T customer, my personal opinion is that you do not need to care about being able to return to stock, tripping flags, etc. Just mod away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can second this. I just had to replace my m8 because the speakers were crackling like crazy, my bootloader showed relocked and they told me straight up that they didn't care about that as long as it was a hardware problem and not a software problem and replaced it on the spot.
I was under the impression that if you were in your first year of owning the device that faulty hardware would be covered under HTC's factory warranty and not AT&T?
brianray14 said:
I was under the impression that if you were in your first year of owning the device that faulty hardware would be covered under HTC's factory warranty and not AT&T?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at the return info, I can see where the confusion might come from. It says "Return directly to manufacturer" for 15 days or more:
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/returnpolicy.html#fbid=KMGdewZyG_f
But AFAIK, all warranty returns go to AT&T when you work through their warranty department. You send them your defective phone, and they send you a refurb. I haven't had to go through this process myself, but this is what has been reported many times on XDA and other forums.
Any update on this how to lock bootloader for HTC M8 AT&T with 4.4.3 InsertCoin 4.1.1 Rom S-On of course.
How do I lock the bootloader in order to upgrade to stock 4.4.4?
im2c0ol said:
Any update on this how to lock bootloader for HTC M8 AT&T with 4.4.3 InsertCoin 4.1.1 Rom S-On of course.
How do I lock the bootloader in order to upgrade to stock 4.4.4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No "update" on this issue is required. The process has been the same for a couple years or more. Further, you've posted the same/similar question to multiple places, and its been answered already in multiple places.
Connect phone to computer in fastboot mode.
Open command prompt, and type: fastboot OEM lock
From there, you can run the RUU.
I just bought a new at&t HTC One (M8) and I'd like to have a fresh stock backup in case of return/warranty problems. I'd like to make this myself so I can ensure that I'll be able to put the exact software that came with my phone back if need be. Also I'd just like to know how to do this in general. What I've found via search has been for rooted phones or different brands. Is it possible to use ADB or any other tool to do this? I guess I'm confused because I see posts for flashing back to stock. How do devs get these stock roms? If someone could point me to a good guide/tutorial it would be much appreciated.
Not without a rooted device or an unsecure [email protected] backup...there is an ruu posted for the 1.58.502.1, thats as close to being a backup without altering the phone in anyway
As long as you are a current account holder, AT&T does not give a crap what software is on your phone, bootloader unlocked, even a custom ROM installed in regards to warranty service based on many reports on XDA.
If you are still wondering about returning to stock, as mentioned in the above, your version (AT&T) if fortunate enough to have a 1.58 RUU. The ROM Update Utility is a useful means of installing a full stock image (ROM, radio, recovery, etc.) via connection to a PC.
But it can still be determined the bootloader is unlocked, no matter what you do to the phone to return it to stock. Your IMEI is tracked by HTCDev.com when you unlock the bootloader. But again, as long as you go through AT&T for warranty service (highly recommended for this reason) they don't care if the phone is modded.
I believe the stock ROMs you mention are system dumps done after bootloader unlock.
Got a stupid question and can't find the stupid question section on this forum for the M8 as in the M7 section. But, I have a new phone which I have upgraded to . I am not new to the rooting and switching roms I have done it since the One X, but , can I flash a custom recovery without unlocking the bootloader? Reason is , I use a app called Privacy Star for call blocking and just discovered by means of me having two identical phones except for the color . One has all the OTA's up to Android version 5.0.2 HTC Sense 6.0 the other is straight ouf the box and no updates, software Android 4.4.2 Sense 6.0. The app seems to work fine with 4.4.2 but the app makes the phone ringer silent after a blocked call and it has to be put in recovery and recovered or reboot the phone to get the ringer back. I know that flashing a custom recovery removes the ability to take OTA's and want to keep the phones at 4.4.2 , at least for a day or two. So can I flash a custom recovery such as TWRP without rooting? and RUU the one phone with the updates back to 4.4.2? Make sense? I hope so.
leesumm said:
Got a stupid question and can't find the stupid question section on this forum for the M8 as in the M7 section.
can I flash a custom recovery without unlocking the bootloader? I know that flashing a custom recovery removes the ability to take OTA's and want to keep the phones at 4.4.2 , at least for a day or two. So can I flash a custom recovery such as TWRP without rooting?
and RUU the one phone with the updates back to 4.4.2? Make sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think someone did a "stupid question" thread for this section at one point, long ago. But nobody really used it, it didn't get stickied, and quickly became buried among the other threads.
No, you can't install custom recovery without unlocking the bootloader. But you can restore to stock recovery when/if you want to install an OTA.
You can RUU back to 4.4.2 if you use sunshine ($25) to s-off the phone; which removes the version check, and allows you to "downgrade".
redpoint73 said:
I think someone did a "stupid question" thread for this section at one point, long ago. But nobody really used it, it didn't get stickied, and quickly became buried among the other threads.
No, you can't install custom recovery without unlocking the bootloader. But you can restore to stock recovery when/if you want to install an OTA.
You can RUU back to 4.4.2 if you use sunshine ($25) to s-off the phone; which removes the version check, and allows you to "downgrade".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, wasn't sure and its been a long time since I have messed with a stock phone . I really didn't want to void the warranty just yet as the phone isn't much over 24 old so far and wanted to let it "settle" in before doing any mods on it.
leesumm said:
Thanks, wasn't sure and its been a long time since I have messed with a stock phone . I really didn't want to void the warranty just yet as the phone isn't much over 24 old so far and wanted to let it "settle" in before doing any mods on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want, since the phone has older software (4.4.2) you should be able to temp root and s-off with sunshine ($25) which can also unlock the bootloader without using HTCDev.com. And HTC will therefore not have a record of you unlocking the bootloader. And with s-off, all can be returned to full stock (LOCKED bootloader, s-on, etc.) so HTC would never be any the wiser.
But also note that if you purchased the phone through AT&T, modifying the phone by unlocking the bootloader (root, etc.) does not actually void your warranty. AT&T actually changed their warranty terms a year or 2 ago. The only thing that voids the warranty are physical damage and water damage. There have been numerous reports of folks that successfully got warranty service from AT&T with unlocked bootloaders. But that is just through AT&T. HTC is a whole other story.
redpoint73 said:
If you want, since the phone has older software (4.4.2) you should be able to temp root and s-off with sunshine ($25) which can also unlock the bootloader without using HTCDev.com. And HTC will therefore not have a record of you unlocking the bootloader. And with s-off, all can be returned to full stock (LOCKED bootloader, s-on, etc.) so HTC would never be any the wiser.
But also note that if you purchased the phone through AT&T, modifying the phone by unlocking the bootloader (root, etc.) does not actually void your warranty. AT&T actually changed their warranty terms a year or 2 ago. The only thing that voids the warranty are physical damage and water damage. There have been numerous reports of folks that successfully got warranty service from AT&T with unlocked bootloaders. But that is just through AT&T. HTC is a whole other story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One phone has 4.4.2 software and the other has 5.0.2 software, I didn't catch the newest one soon enough and my wife did the OTA without me knowing it. The only reason I wanted the older software was the fact the app I like has a glitch in it with the newer software update and it silences the ringer . The app works fine on the phone with the 4.4.2 software I just wanted to make sure it didn't update itself