Newcomers please read me, a helpful little guide

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neidlinger

Senior Member
Aug 30, 2010
2,365
444
Cincinnati
While I'm seeing an influx of new comers to the MyTouch4G section, most likely due to newer phones coming out and picking these up cheap.

I'd like to remind you of a couple of things prior to just jumping in and rooting your phone.

Disclaimer: i am not a mod or an admin, just a humble "helper outer"


First Things First.
Rooting one's phone is not to be taken lightly. When you root your phone to are basically giving your self SU access to the /system files of your phone. While this allows for GREAT expansion of the devices capabilities, you need to under stand that it can also brick your device in a heart beat. I know a guy who lives in St.Louis who said all he did was flash a custom font, via an application, on his rooted droid 2 and it bricked. You need to read, and understand what you are getting into. Because when the rubber meets the road you are the only one who can save your phone.


Secondly and just as important as anything else else.
please install the ADB drivers at a minimum. TrueBlue_Drew has put together a very simple walk-through with video for this http://bit.ly/q7MP9t. Please take the time to learn the basic commands and what they do.


Third, and this can prevent some headaches down the road
please go and check which eMMC chipset you have. Our phones where made in two different places, and have two different Chip set serial numbers. One of them is problematic and one of them is pretty safe. Please take time to verify which chipset you have prior to flashing anything. And yes it can be done without root access [http://bit.ly/y2zmdr]. Please see this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=858996

Fourth, and this is where the rubbers meets the road.
A)
You need to decide which root method is for you. There are two different proven methods out there. One is known as the root.sh method. This is the simplest method. the long and short of it is this. You download a packet, extract a folder to your SD Cards root directory. Then you download, install and run a program called VISIONary. after you do that you enter a simple command or two to run the script in the extracted folder. you can find that method here root.sh method now this method will work to turn your phone into a rooted s-off phone. and is super easy i used this method to root my phone with s-off before i even left the T-Mobile store when i bought the devices. However it only turns off the security flags. IF you flash the PD15IMG to return to a stock fashion it will remove all SU rights.

B)
the second method is a bit more entailed but completely removes the security flags. IT's called ./gfree method. Now you need to be careful because this will root a phone with a bad eMMC chipset. Meaning it will be easier for you to brick your device. If that happens you own a 200-500 USD paper weight. And as of currently there is no sure fire way to recover from it. you can find more on that method here ./gfree rooting method.

c)
ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE STOCK 2.3.4 (GINGERBREAD) ROM
you must downgrade to 2.2.1 before you can root your phone.
Please see this link http://bit.ly/rugejM.

d)
if you do not know what you are doing i would advise against the OneClickRoot for rooting ANY phone. It's a simple path to enable someone with no knowledge to root their device.

We are glad you have chosen to make XDA your source for all of your hacker needs. But please take some time and read and study prior to doing anything. We'd hate to see you root and brick your phone because you over looked something.

the Q&A section is used for just that Questions and Answers
the Accessory section is for just that Accessories devoted to the HTC Glacier
the Development Section is just that a section where you can find ROMS, Kernels, hacker, and PC/Mac/Linux guides
the App section is just that a place for us to talk about add ons and applications
everything else falls under the general section.

hope you enjoy your stay here.
 
Last edited:

CoNsPiRiSiZe

Senior Member
Jul 14, 2010
1,964
343
Roseville
Thanks for this. So your saying not to root at all if you have the "bad" chipset?

Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium
 

smooth3d

Senior Member
Apr 24, 2009
171
20
Tulsa Ok
Thank you this is very helpful! I just got replacement mt4g due to the bad emmc chip failing and it had the 2.3.4 on it. And it was a pain finding all the info plus the bad info people was giving out to root my phone. So now all new and replacement mt4g's are shipping with 2.3.4 on them, my mother just got a free mt4g and it had 2.3.4 already on it.
 

jigajay

Senior Member
Feb 28, 2011
347
23
Brooklyn N.Y
Thanks for this. So your saying not to root at all if you have the "bad" chipset?

Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium

If it does go bad there is good chance you can exchange it just don't tell them anything about you rooted the phone. I sent my phone in rooted with S off with a different problem and had no problem getting an exchange now I have this 2.3.4 which is not too bad but still figuring out the downgrade process I miss all the privileges with being rooted.
 

saranhai

Inactive Recognized Developer
Mar 5, 2011
5,059
3,286
Nowhere
If it does go bad there is good chance you can exchange it just don't tell them anything about you rooted the phone. I sent my phone in rooted with S off with a different problem and had no problem getting an exchange now I have this 2.3.4 which is not too bad but still figuring out the downgrade process I miss all the privileges with being rooted.

+1 on replacing with no problem.

Sent from the HTC Glacier Sense 3.0 using XDA premium app
 
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Reactions: CoNsPiRiSiZe

Salvy

Member
Sep 19, 2010
44
6
Great guide! It helped me with several questions I had, I was even able to check if I had a bad eMMC, I'm lucky I have the good one \o/
My phone came with 2.3.4, I really want to root to remove all the junk that comes preinstalled.

I have a question, if I used the root.sh method (which seems the safest), after downgrading of course. If I flash a rooted stock 2.3.4 ROM http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1264704

Would I loose my S-OFF? Also to install the ClockworkMod recovery, is it the same way as other phones? ex can I just install it using the ROM manager?
Also is it really necessary to flash the engineering bootloader?

thanks for this great tutorial!
 
Last edited:

neidlinger

Senior Member
Aug 30, 2010
2,365
444
Cincinnati
Would I loose my S-OFF? Also to install the ClockworkMod recovery, is it the same way as other phones? ex can I just install it using the ROM manager?
Also is it really necessary to flash the engineering bootloader?

thanks for this great tutorial!

Once you have s-off, you will keep s-off until you manually turn it to s-on. So to answer your question.

No if you flash the rooted 2.3.4 of the stock OS you will keep s-off.

Yes you can flash it via the recovery image, without any problems. Just make sure to do a back up first.

It's not really needed, but encouraged as you can flash specific sections of the OS, or recovery image if needed.
 
Last edited:

Salvy

Member
Sep 19, 2010
44
6
Thank you very much for your help!
Everything went smoothly, now I'm in 2.3.4 rooted with bloat and ad free ^_^

The root.sh method didn't work for me though, but gfree worked like a charm (was kind of scared using it, but since I already checked my eMMC was good, I went ahead and worked perfectly!)

Thanks for your help!
 

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    While I'm seeing an influx of new comers to the MyTouch4G section, most likely due to newer phones coming out and picking these up cheap.

    I'd like to remind you of a couple of things prior to just jumping in and rooting your phone.

    Disclaimer: i am not a mod or an admin, just a humble "helper outer"


    First Things First.
    Rooting one's phone is not to be taken lightly. When you root your phone to are basically giving your self SU access to the /system files of your phone. While this allows for GREAT expansion of the devices capabilities, you need to under stand that it can also brick your device in a heart beat. I know a guy who lives in St.Louis who said all he did was flash a custom font, via an application, on his rooted droid 2 and it bricked. You need to read, and understand what you are getting into. Because when the rubber meets the road you are the only one who can save your phone.


    Secondly and just as important as anything else else.
    please install the ADB drivers at a minimum. TrueBlue_Drew has put together a very simple walk-through with video for this http://bit.ly/q7MP9t. Please take the time to learn the basic commands and what they do.


    Third, and this can prevent some headaches down the road
    please go and check which eMMC chipset you have. Our phones where made in two different places, and have two different Chip set serial numbers. One of them is problematic and one of them is pretty safe. Please take time to verify which chipset you have prior to flashing anything. And yes it can be done without root access [http://bit.ly/y2zmdr]. Please see this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=858996

    Fourth, and this is where the rubbers meets the road.
    A)
    You need to decide which root method is for you. There are two different proven methods out there. One is known as the root.sh method. This is the simplest method. the long and short of it is this. You download a packet, extract a folder to your SD Cards root directory. Then you download, install and run a program called VISIONary. after you do that you enter a simple command or two to run the script in the extracted folder. you can find that method here root.sh method now this method will work to turn your phone into a rooted s-off phone. and is super easy i used this method to root my phone with s-off before i even left the T-Mobile store when i bought the devices. However it only turns off the security flags. IF you flash the PD15IMG to return to a stock fashion it will remove all SU rights.

    B)
    the second method is a bit more entailed but completely removes the security flags. IT's called ./gfree method. Now you need to be careful because this will root a phone with a bad eMMC chipset. Meaning it will be easier for you to brick your device. If that happens you own a 200-500 USD paper weight. And as of currently there is no sure fire way to recover from it. you can find more on that method here ./gfree rooting method.

    c)
    ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE STOCK 2.3.4 (GINGERBREAD) ROM
    you must downgrade to 2.2.1 before you can root your phone.
    Please see this link http://bit.ly/rugejM.

    d)
    if you do not know what you are doing i would advise against the OneClickRoot for rooting ANY phone. It's a simple path to enable someone with no knowledge to root their device.

    We are glad you have chosen to make XDA your source for all of your hacker needs. But please take some time and read and study prior to doing anything. We'd hate to see you root and brick your phone because you over looked something.

    the Q&A section is used for just that Questions and Answers
    the Accessory section is for just that Accessories devoted to the HTC Glacier
    the Development Section is just that a section where you can find ROMS, Kernels, hacker, and PC/Mac/Linux guides
    the App section is just that a place for us to talk about add ons and applications
    everything else falls under the general section.

    hope you enjoy your stay here.
    5
    Finally, and i wanted to post this separately

    please do not be afraid of the search button or Google. Chances are if you've encountered a problem, or have a question. Someone has already asked it, or solved it.


    Please watch this

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmvCpR45LKA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    1
    If it does go bad there is good chance you can exchange it just don't tell them anything about you rooted the phone. I sent my phone in rooted with S off with a different problem and had no problem getting an exchange now I have this 2.3.4 which is not too bad but still figuring out the downgrade process I miss all the privileges with being rooted.

    +1 on replacing with no problem.

    Sent from the HTC Glacier Sense 3.0 using XDA premium app