[Q] Cant get MB886 into custom recovery

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Nevadadave

Member
May 15, 2011
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Carson City. NV
I have been trying for hours to install a custom recovery in my AT&T Atrix HD (mb886) phone. Every time I go through the flashing process, no matter what recovery I try, and whether I use the stock SDK fastboot or one of alternatives, when I try to boot into recovery, I get an ominous error message about how my bootloader is unlocked, and Motorola and ATT will not honor the warranty, and so on. However - it then always boots into the normal startup. I did try holding down both volume buttons when I cycled the power button, and I briefly (about 5 seconds, maybe?) got what looked like a text-based recovery menu, but then the error message popped up again, and I'm back to ????? is going on.
Any help? I have read a number of article/forums online, but all assume that your recovery is working so you can install a custom ROM. I have done this on a couple of Android tablets in the past, so I know I'm not totally stupid, but I can't seem to get past the AT&T nanny.
How can I fix this?
Android 4.1.1
System 98.4.20.MB886.ATT.en.US
 

audit13

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Jun 4, 2012
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If I remember correctly, I had to rename install-recovery.sh (or something like that) by adding .bak to the end of the filename. Boot into fastboot, flash your recovery, and try to boot into recovery.
 

skeevydude

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Feb 10, 2012
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Hot Springs
I have been trying for hours to install a custom recovery in my AT&T Atrix HD (mb886) phone. Every time I go through the flashing process, no matter what recovery I try, and whether I use the stock SDK fastboot or one of alternatives, when I try to boot into recovery, I get an ominous error message about how my bootloader is unlocked, and Motorola and ATT will not honor the warranty, and so on. However - it then always boots into the normal startup. I did try holding down both volume buttons when I cycled the power button, and I briefly (about 5 seconds, maybe?) got what looked like a text-based recovery menu, but then the error message popped up again, and I'm back to ????? is going on.
Any help? I have read a number of article/forums online, but all assume that your recovery is working so you can install a custom ROM. I have done this on a couple of Android tablets in the past, so I know I'm not totally stupid, but I can't seem to get past the AT&T nanny.
How can I fix this?
Android 4.1.1
System 98.4.20.MB886.ATT.en.US

That warning you see is just the boot logo and can be gotten rid of by flashing a custom logo. Stock Moto boot logos on this platform have two images -- one for locked and another for unlocked bootloaders. It's a non issue and just confirms that the bootloader is unlocked.

You accessed that menu by powering up and holding both volumes and power. Volume down scrolls and volume up selects in there.

To install a custom recovery, boot into fastboot mode and flash it with fastboot. Mythtools, maybe BootMyHD, can do that for you if you don't have moto-fastboot binary or are unable to run "moto-fastboot flash recovery recovery.img" with your phone plugged into a rear usb port in fastboot mode with a terminal/command prompt open to the directory with the recovery image.
 

Nevadadave

Member
May 15, 2011
10
0
Carson City. NV
More questions

audit13, how do I access that file to change the name? I tried again this morning, and after doing the boot to recovery key sequence, I got a menu, and before it went away, I selected boot to recovery, but got the dead android icon. I tried several other options and it just did a normal boot. Still stumped.

skeevydude, I have tried installing a couple of custom recoveries, using fastboot, and when I do, I get a message saying all went well, but when I boot up, it either does the "failed Android" or just boots up normally. I'll try Mythtools and BootMyHD, but it seems that there is something else going on here.
 

skeevydude

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Feb 10, 2012
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Hot Springs
audit13, how do I access that file to change the name? I tried again this morning, and after doing the boot to recovery key sequence, I got a menu, and before it went away, I selected boot to recovery, but got the dead android icon. I tried several other options and it just did a normal boot. Still stumped.

skeevydude, I have tried installing a couple of custom recoveries, using fastboot, and when I do, I get a message saying all went well, but when I boot up, it either does the "failed Android" or just boots up normally. I'll try Mythtools and BootMyHD, but it seems that there is something else going on here.

Maybe something else going on. Are you flashing using the rear usb port of your PC? It really does matter.

To answer the first question about install-recovery, once you're rooted, use Root Explorer or something similar, mount /system as read/write, go to /system/etc, rename the file install-recovery.sh to install-recovery.sh.bak, and reboot.

If you have adb installed on your PC you can do
  • adb root
  • adb shell mount -o remount,rw /system
  • adb shell cp /system/etc/install-recovery.sh /system/etc/install-recovery.sh.bak
  • adb shell rm /system/etc/install-recovery.sh
  • adb reboot
 
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Nevadadave

Member
May 15, 2011
10
0
Carson City. NV
I'll try it and see what happens

Maybe something else going on. Are you flashing using the rear usb port of your PC? It really does matter.

To answer the first question about install-recovery, once you're rooted, use Root Explorer or something similar, mount /system as read/write, go to /system/etc, rename the file install-recovery.sh to install-recovery.sh.bak, and reboot.

If you have adb installed on your PC you can do
  • adb root
  • adb shell mount -o remount,rw /system
  • adb shell cp /system/etc/install-recovery.sh /system/etc/install-recovery.sh.bak
  • adb shell rm /system/etc/install-recovery.sh
  • adb reboot

OK, I did not know about USB port preference. I'll try it and see what happens. Thanks!
 

Nevadadave

Member
May 15, 2011
10
0
Carson City. NV
No joy

OK, I did not know about USB port preference. I'll try it and see what happens. Thanks!

Well, I tried front and back USB ports, in all cases, adb says "adb can't run as root in production builds". adb sees the phone, but about all I can do is start fastboot, but once there adb doesn't work until I reboot.
I tried running the remount command, but got a message, "Operation not permitted" I'm assuming because I could not root into the phone. Titanium backup shows that the phone is, indeed, rooted.
Stuck again...
 

audit13

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Jun 4, 2012
12,911
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Install Root Explorer, find the file, add .bak to the end, reboot to fastboot, install Philz, boot into recovery.
 

Nevadadave

Member
May 15, 2011
10
0
Carson City. NV
Install Root Explorer, find the file, add .bak to the end, reboot to fastboot, install Philz, boot into recovery.

I tried that, got a "Rename failed". It appears that the file is set to read-only, and the Root Explorer doesn't seem to have a way to change that. I'm open to additional suggestions. I had thought that root access would allow me to do things like change file permissions, but I cannot do this with Root Explorer. Everything I try, I get a message that it can't be done, because the file system is read-only.
At the top of the file list, it says "mounted as r/o, but nothing shows to change that, although I see num,erous web posts that claim that there should be a "R/W" button somewhere.
 

Nevadadave

Member
May 15, 2011
10
0
Carson City. NV
Better luck

Well, I tried front and back USB ports, in all cases, adb says "adb can't run as root in production builds". adb sees the phone, but about all I can do is start fastboot, but once there adb doesn't work until I reboot.
I tried running the remount command, but got a message, "Operation not permitted" I'm assuming because I could not root into the phone. Titanium backup shows that the phone is, indeed, rooted.
Stuck again...

OK, I dropped Root Explorer and loaded ES File Explorer. ES Explorer allowed me to change the file R/W permissions and rename the stock recovery file.
adb would still not allow me to get to root, so I loaded adbd insecure from the Play store, and that gave me root access. I flashed the CWR 6.0.4.4, and so far (fingers crossed) I was able to boot to CWM and I'm backing up my system now. Hopefully, the next update will be to say that I have a new ROM installed...
 

audit13

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Jun 4, 2012
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OK, I dropped Root Explorer and loaded ES File Explorer. ES Explorer allowed me to change the file R/W permissions and rename the stock recovery file.
adb would still not allow me to get to root, so I loaded adbd insecure from the Play store, and that gave me root access. I flashed the CWR 6.0.4.4, and so far (fingers crossed) I was able to boot to CWM and I'm backing up my system now. Hopefully, the next update will be to say that I have a new ROM installed...

All you need to gain r/w access is to click on the ro button to change it to read/write.
 

Nevadadave

Member
May 15, 2011
10
0
Carson City. NV
All you need to gain r/w access is to click on the ro button to change it to read/write.

Audit13 I'm not sure what you mean here. Root Explorer never indicated a "R/O" button or any other way to change permissions, it just kept saying that the file system was write-protected. ES File Explorer was very easily able to change this and allow me to remove the automatic recovery overwrite.
So, at this point, I have Cyanogen 10.2 running on my Atrix HD, and although I have found a few glitches, it is faster and it is now MINE!
 

audit13

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Jun 4, 2012
12,911
5,052
Toronto
Audit13 I'm not sure what you mean here. Root Explorer never indicated a "R/O" button or any other way to change permissions, it just kept saying that the file system was write-protected. ES File Explorer was very easily able to change this and allow me to remove the automatic recovery overwrite.
So, at this point, I have Cyanogen 10.2 running on my Atrix HD, and although I have found a few glitches, it is faster and it is now MINE!

In Root Explorer, You'll see the words "Mounted as r/o". To the right will be a button that says "Mount R/W".

I went with Validus 5.1 over 10.2.
 
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