Please help! How regain Root w/unlocked phone with a broken microUSB port?

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

So for the past year I've had a grand ol' time playing with assorted ROMs and now I've run into a problem I can't fix. First, I'm 95% certain the microUSB on the bottom of my N1 is shot. It will still charge the phone, but cannot connect via Windows/ADB/Superboot or anything. I've tried different cables, different computers, different USB ports and different OSs... still cannot get any computer to recognize device. I'm not paying $200 for HTC to fix this (broken USB ports are not covered

)... so here's where I stand:

I installed the Clockwork RomManager to try to DL and install ROMs more easily. It didn't work, it was unable to install anything, and it screwed up my original Amon_RA recovery. So then both means of flashing new ROMs were totally dead. Reluctantly, with no other choice (that I knew of) I reverted back to stock recovery and stock FRG83.

With the Stock ROM I lost Root privileges. And with the stock recovery program (the one with blue writing) I am entirely unable to flash ANY of the common rooted ROMs. I renamed a whole bunch (Cyanogen, Enomther, Rodriguez etc.) to the correct update.zip, but the stock recovery image refuses to flash any of them. It always fails on the Verification stage.

So I can't flash a rooted ROM via the stock recovery program, and I can't use ADB/Superboot/Fastboot to root the device via USB. How can I regain root? Are there any rooted ROMs that are certain to work with the stock recovery image program? Any other ways?

Since all my data is backed up with Titanium, I really need Root to get my life back! Thanks for any ideas!

cmstlist · Jan 4, 2011

If you're still on FRG83 (and not FRG83D), you may still be able to root on-device using Visionary, but I'm not sure which version of Visionary to counsel you to try.

If your USB port is broken, how are you charging it?

Which HBOOT version do you have? If none of the on-device methods are working, could you try the PASSIMG for FRF91 and roll back? Universal AndRoot and z4root should work on that build. From there if you want to re-upgrade and keep root, you'll need to take the pre-rooted update.zip format for custom recovery rather than the OTA.

KAwAtA · Jan 4, 2011

Doesn't sound like it's broken... Weird. And you're 100% sure you have the drivers and everything installed on the computer?

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

Hi cmstlistand thanks for your advice.

I am now on FRG83D. I looked for Visionary in the market but didn't see it there.

The strange thing about the broken USB is that I'm still able to charge through it without any problems. This is why I'm only 95% sure it's broken... seems very odd that the wires for charging would still be making contact while the others wouldn't. (Please see in my OP all the things I've tried to get it to connect to a computer... certainly open to new ideas if I've missed any.)

I just checked and my HBOOT is version 0.35.0017. I'd be willing to "try the PASSIMG for FRF91" as you suggest. Would I just find the stock FRF91 and rename it PASSIMG and hold down volume down while powering on? Does that sound like my best option?

Thanks again!

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

KAwAtA said:
Doesn't sound like it's broken... Weird. And you're 100% sure you have the drivers and everything installed on the computer?

Sadly, no. I'd say I'm 95% certain...

The thing is I've tried to connect on my desktop PC with W7 64-bit, my XP laptop and another PC with Linux (Ubuntu and Kubuntu) all to no avail.

Here's what I've done on my main PC (Win7 64bit) to try and connect the N1 (which, btw, connected just fine a few months ago, albeit to a different W7 install). The problem might still be in here, and not in the hardware, so I'm open to any ideas.

1. Whenever I connect I get the "USB Device not Recognized" alert in the taskbar.Clicking on that alert yields no actionable information.

2. The Device Manager shows the exclamation mark by unidentified USB device. Uninstalling, Disabling and attempting to manually update the driver from within the Device Manager all have no effect. Windows says I already have the most current drivers.

3. Tried the USBDeview program. It's supposed to "show all hidden and previously installed usb drivers on your computer." It shows nothing related to HTC or Nexus or Google.

4. I tried manually installing the USB drivers from here.

5. I installed & uninstalled & reinstalled the Android SDK thinking that might fix the USB issue. It didn't.

6. Tried running W7 in Safe Mode and without firewall/anti-virus.

7. Tried three different cables on all of the USB ports on my PC.

All throughout... it's always "USB Device not Recognized"

cmstlist · Jan 4, 2011

There should be some PASSIMG files you can try at Shipped ROMs. Usually it's a ZIP inside of another ZIP, so you have to extract the inner file first and rename it PASSIMG.zip.

Visionary is not on the Market anymore, nor are most other rooting apps. You'll have to search for them on the web. So far I don't know of any apps that root FRG83D on-device.

danger-rat · Jan 4, 2011

Install pdanet on your pc, and try again. It's an easy way to update the drivers.
The sdk has changed with the gingerbread release, and you have to reload the drivers, etc...

Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

danger-rat said:
Install pdanet on your pc, and try again. It's an easy way to update the drivers.
The sdk has changed with the gingerbread release, and you have to reload the drivers, etc...

I'd actually tried that before and forgot to mention it. So I just tried it again and no dice. At the point where you plug in your phone, I get the Device Not Recognized immediately in the taskbar. In Device Manager, there is no "Android Devices" category.

cmstlist said:
There should be some PASSIMG files you can try at Shipped ROMs. Usually it's a ZIP inside of another ZIP, so you have to extract the inner file first and rename it PASSIMG.zip.

Visionary is not on the Market anymore, nor are most other rooting apps. You'll have to search for them on the web. So far I don't know of any apps that root FRG83D on-device.

I tried the FRF81 from that site and yes it was a zip inside a zip. Renamed it to PASSIMG... but the installation failed at the verification stage.

Thanks for everyone's help so far. I'm totally at a loss with this thing. I don't even know if this is a software or hardware issue. All I know is that I'm dangerously close to driving a railroad spike through the screen.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated!

Ozymandias88 · Jan 4, 2011

JohnHenrySDM said:
I'd actually tried that before and forgot to mention it. So I just tried it again and no dice. At the point where you plug in your phone, I get the Device Not Recognized immediately in the taskbar. In Device Manager, there is no "Android Devices" category.

I tried the FRF81 from that site and yes it was a zip inside a zip. Renamed it to PASSIMG... but the installation failed at the verification stage.

Thanks for everyone's help so far. I'm totally at a loss with this thing. I don't even know if this is a software or hardware issue. All I know is that I'm dangerously close to driving a railroad spike through the screen.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated!

If a passimg isn't working it's possible your on FRG33 or something else that doesn't like them. Just use visionary to root like suggested it's been taken down from the market so you'll have to find it here

cmstlist · Jan 4, 2011

Ozymandias88 said:
If a passimg isn't working it's possible your on FRG33 or something else that doesn't like them. Just use visionary to root like suggested it's been taken down from the market so you'll have to find it here

Visionary does not work on FRG83D, which is what the OP has. Thus my suggestion to try downgrading.

If you're on the newer HBOOT, try the KT_KR release of FRF91 (rootable with Universal Androot or z4root), or try FRG33 (rootable with Visionary). Both are available as PASSIMG files.

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

That's correct I have FRG83D so Visionary will not work.

Thanks for the suggestions Cmstlist.

Any advice on where to find the KT_KR release of FRF91? I'm searching as we speak, but not finding much...
EDIT: Never mind, just found it here Link. Downloading it now, I'll report back soon.

Thanks Again.

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

Ok I just DLd KT_KR release of FRF91, renamed it to PASSIMG, copied to root of SD card, rebooted holding volume down. Phone finds and starts to load PASSIMG but then I get the "Main Version is Older! Update fail!" error.

I'll look for and try the FRG33 PASSIMG next, but I'm pretty certain I'll get the same error.

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

Ok just tried FRG33 I found HERE.
It didn't work, but it didn't work in a different way.

HBOOT finds PASSIMG.zip and loads it (blue bar at top right). After loading it says (Checking... PASSIMG.zip) Then it stays there for a few seconds, and then just jumps back to the original HBOOT screen. There's no error message.

I guess where I'm confused now is that I currently have the newest version (FRG83D) installed. So won't all other PASSIMG files be older and therefore result in one of the above errors?

EDIT: Just thought of something else. For both of the above files I needed to rename them myself to PASSIMG. They were originally named Passion_Google_WWE_2.16.1700.1_FRG33_MFG_Shipment_ROM.zip and PASSIMG_Passion_KT_KR_2.15.1010.2_FRF91_release_signed.zip. I was correct in needing to rename them, right? Just want to make sure...

cmstlist · Jan 4, 2011

Yes you'd be correct to extract and rename them.

Usually the main version error relates to HBOOT and not the OS version itself, which is why I was hoping FRG33 would work for you.

Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 4, 2011

I see. Thanks for the info.

Still looking for any new ideas to try if anyone has them.

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 5, 2011

Is there any way I could just revert the phone back to a much earlier build, like ERExx ? Or any way to erase everything, but retain the unlocked state, and then load up a differrent build, one that's software rootable?

Or is it likely that I'm just grasping at straws here?

cmstlist · Jan 5, 2011

Rolling back to a much older built requires a modification to the misc partition to trick the HBOOT check... which you can only accomplish either with root, or over USB via fastboot.

Rooting FRG83D requires adb USB over USB. UNLESS... can you adapt the rageagainstthecage instructions to run them by typing or pasting meticulously into Terminal Emulator? Maybe that could root it.

Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 5, 2011

Hmmm, good idea but I don't think anything involving a terminal emulator is likely to work, at least not with my skill set. I've already tried one other method that relied on terminal, and it failed because I couldn't get SU. Without root, I couldn't get super user permissions, without those, terminal was useless.

I just got off the phone with the insurance company (Asurion). I filed the claim and am now waiting to hear back what my options will be. The guy thought that since the N1 is no longer available, I'd be given a choice between a G2, a Vibrant or a Mytouch (not sure if 3g or4g model). And if I don't want any of those, then I'll just keep my N1.

So, the clock is ticking down! ANY ideas whatsoever are greatly appreciated! I'd much rather keep my N1...

cmstlist · Jan 5, 2011

JohnHenrySDM said:
Hmmm, good idea but I don't think anything involving a terminal emulator is likely to work, at least not with my skill set. I've already tried one other method that relied on terminal, and it failed because I couldn't get SU. Without root, I couldn't get super user permissions, without those, terminal was useless.

I just got off the phone with the insurance company (Asurion). I filed the claim and am now waiting to hear back what my options will be. The guy thought that since the N1 is no longer available, I'd be given a choice between a G2, a Vibrant or a Mytouch (not sure if 3g or4g model). And if I don't want any of those, then I'll just keep my N1.

So, the clock is ticking down! ANY ideas whatsoever are greatly appreciated! I'd much rather keep my N1...

Oops I pressed thanks instead of quote =)

What I was suggesting is that you try looking at the manual instructions for rageagainstthecage and adapting them to Terminal Emulator. Those instructions don't require you to already have root - they *give* you root. But now that I read them over, it seems there's also some adb start/stop/etc commands that I'm not sure you can replicate in Terminal emulator. Back to the drawing board...

If Asurion is willing to give you an MT4G or G2, I say go for it.

Just on a total whim... try booting up your phone without the SD card, or with a different one... does it still fail to recognize over USB?

JohnHenrySDM · Jan 5, 2011

cmstlist said:
Just on a total whim... try booting up your phone without the SD card, or with a different one... does it still fail to recognize over USB?

Ha ha you had me all excited there... first chance to try something new! Alas, no luck. Used the original SD card and tried again without one; still got the exact same Device Not Recognized.

I talked to another rep and they alluded that the MT4G was not going to be an option, but that the 3G probably would. The3G seems inferior, though.

You think the G2 would be a fair trade? How about the HD2 or the Vibrant? Any others come to mind?

Since I'll need to pay a $130 deductible (not to mention the $5 I've been spending every month for the last year) I want to make very, very certain that my new phone is not inferior to my beloved N1.

Thanks again; you've been very generous with the ideas!

Please help! How regain Root w/unlocked phone with a broken microUSB port?

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