OUTDATED[Guide] Setting up/using adb/fastboot-unlock, flash custom recovery & root

[okantomi]

scsa20 was able to help me out. It was something so stupid and simple. I'm such a noob at this. You rock scsa20! Since you don't drink beer, I'll send you some milk and cookies.

Will you share? Info on the fix, not milk and cookies!

 

[cfh]

I have a wifi XOOM, running 3.2.

I have the android SDK on my windows machine.
I wanted to test things out before I went into the root process.
I set USB bugging on the XOOM.
I then connected my XOOM to the PC and did an "adb devices"
It showed the device. So far, so good.
I then tried "fastboot devices" and nothing showed up!
I even tried "fastboot reboot" and nothing happened

Thinking that maybe my windows machine had a problem
I repeated the same process on my MAC with exactly
the same results. Any thoughts?

Do I physically have to put my XOOM in fastboot mode
in order for the fastboot command to recognize my device?

Thanks.

 

[andybites]

hi - never unlocked before. xoom told me there was an update so i clicked ok. Phone then decided it wanted to goto fastboot mode everytime it started, through resetting i can get it to boot normally -which it does, however as soon as it boots it says "shutting down" and reboots to fastboot.

Figured the best way way to flash a new image - so i followed the guide -(typed fastboot oem unlock at the cmd prompt) got to the "to proceed with **unlocking** your device" etc.. screen, however the hardware buttons do not seem to do anything to change the cancel to agree (or wahtever it should say) - the only way i can escape that screen is to hold power and the up volume button.

I've tried rebooting a whole bunch of times, pressing the down button while booting to access the recovery menu- but nothing seems to happen.

I'm at a loss as to what i should do next?

 

[Chobasco5]

lovemydroid what did scsa20 give you as advise because im having the same problems

 

[scsa20]

Will you share? Info on the fix, not milk and cookies!

lovemydroid what did scsa20 give you as advise because im having the same problems

Pretty much what the problem was is that he wasn't in the right directory when he typed in the fastboot flash command (he was under his user profile directory and not the directory where the recovery image is located). Once I got it to the directory the flash went through with no problems.

I have a wifi XOOM, running 3.2.

I have the android SDK on my windows machine.
I wanted to test things out before I went into the root process.
I set USB bugging on the XOOM.
I then connected my XOOM to the PC and did an "adb devices"
It showed the device. So far, so good.
I then tried "fastboot devices" and nothing showed up!
I even tried "fastboot reboot" and nothing happened

Thinking that maybe my windows machine had a problem
I repeated the same process on my MAC with exactly
the same results. Any thoughts?

Do I physically have to put my XOOM in fastboot mode
in order for the fastboot command to recognize my device?

Thanks.

The fastboot command line is only good when your device is in the bootloader (with fastboot protocol like the XOOM uses when it goes into the bootloader).

The reason why is because fastboot is designed to write images to partitions of your device and other nifty features that you cannot do when the device is actually turned on (it'll corrupt the partition if you tried). You use adb everywhere else because is safer and everything you need doesn't required to use of the fastboot protocol other then just in the bootloader itself.

(gez, I hope I was clear on the explication)

In any case, if you want a fast way to enter the bootloader, look no further then simply typing in adb reboot bootloader while the XOOM is powered in, this will put you right into the bootloader =3

 

[cfh]

Thanks, scsa20

My actions come from okantomi's step 2.3
which says "Test that ADB and FASTBOOT works."
In that step, okantomi suggests to use a command
window and type in 'adb devices'
This worked fine for me as I stated.
okantomi however, does not give any example
to test if fastboot works. So I looked around
and found the a manual page on fastboot
and it looked like 'fastboot devices' would
be a good test. In fact, I did read some
comments from people explaining what
one should expect as output from that command.
So when I did not get anything ... I was worried.

Since my post I found a wiki for fastboot:
(do to the rules I can't post that link)
From there, I read:
"Other devices such as the Nexus S and
the Motorola Xoom ship with fastboot
disabled by default but can be enabled by
running the "oem unlock" command."
This explains a lot! Why the need to
unlock the xoom and perhaps why my
fastboot is not doing anything (since
I have not unlocked my xoom yet).

Does this make any sense?

 

[okantomi]

Thanks, scsa20

My actions come from okantomi's step 2.3
which says "Test that ADB and FASTBOOT works."
In that step, okantomi suggests to use a command
window and type in 'adb devices'
This worked fine for me as I stated.
okantomi however, does not give any example
to test if fastboot works. So I looked around
and found the a manual page on fastboot
and it looked like 'fastboot devices' would
be a good test. In fact, I did read some
comments from people explaining what
one should expect as output from that command.
So when I did not get anything ... I was worried.

Since my post I found a wiki for fastboot:
(do to the rules I can't post that link)
From there, I read:
"Other devices such as the Nexus S and
the Motorola Xoom ship with fastboot
disabled by default but can be enabled by
running the "oem unlock" command."
This explains a lot! Why the need to
unlock the xoom and perhaps why my
fastboot is not doing anything (since
I have not unlocked my xoom yet).

Does this make any sense?

It makes a lot of sense because sometimes that is all that is wrong...the Xoom hasn't actually been unlocked. If you read through all of the posts in this thread, you will see that nearly every problem with the whole process of rooting and flashing recovery has been covered and resolved by a diverse group of very talented people, and scsa20 is high on that list.

I'm glad you searched for an answer and found it. If you can suggest a way to improve this guide, please make suggestions. It's already pretty long and intimidating...I'm afraid to add too much more, but I agree that it could be more comprehensive and easier to follow.

 

[scsa20]

Thanks, scsa20

My actions come from okantomi's step 2.3
which says "Test that ADB and FASTBOOT works."
In that step, okantomi suggests to use a command
window and type in 'adb devices'
This worked fine for me as I stated.
okantomi however, does not give any example
to test if fastboot works. So I looked around
and found the a manual page on fastboot
and it looked like 'fastboot devices' would
be a good test. In fact, I did read some
comments from people explaining what
one should expect as output from that command.
So when I did not get anything ... I was worried.

Since my post I found a wiki for fastboot:
(do to the rules I can't post that link)
From there, I read:
"Other devices such as the Nexus S and
the Motorola Xoom ship with fastboot
disabled by default but can be enabled by
running the "oem unlock" command."
This explains a lot! Why the need to
unlock the xoom and perhaps why my
fastboot is not doing anything (since
I have not unlocked my xoom yet).

Does this make any sense?

Actually, fastboot isn't disabled (if it was you wouldn't even be able to throw the command fastboot devices and have it listed when you're in the bootloader), the bootloader is locked down but fastboot works but if you try to flash any images at it you'll get a nice lovely error saying it was denied because it's locked. Once you issue the fastboot oem unlock command, you're unlocking the bootloader and allowing yourself to freely flash images to the partition without getting any sort of errors, granted that if you flash something wrong it's on you but hey, that's the whole fun part

 

[DrBarrell]

Nvflash

I followed the instructions but like others I did not get the recovery option after the volume down button during reboot, only Nvflash - fastboot etc

I am able to get into CWM by using adb reboot recovery, but not via the volume down technique on boot. I have read around and it seems to be an issue with using this method on stock firmware.

If I install the 3.1 OTA with CWM installed will it brick the device?
I just want to be able to do this process the proper way, booting into recovery properly in case I screw up a rom flash or something.

Cheers in advance

 

[okantomi]

I followed the instructions but like others I did not get the recovery option after the volume down button during reboot, only Nvflash - fastboot etc

I am able to get into CWM by using adb reboot recovery, but not via the volume down technique on boot. I have read around and it seems to be an issue with using this method on stock firmware.

If I install the 3.1 OTA with CWM installed will it brick the device?
I just want to be able to do this process the proper way, booting into recovery properly in case I screw up a rom flash or something.

Cheers in advance

I have just now added some information from poster joe ferreira related to this issue. It is in the section about flashing recovery, a large addition at the bottom. It appears that, unknown to me, several recent OTA updates added files that unless removed, don't allow a proper flashing of CWM recovery. I've been trying to help people get through it, but I didn't know about this problem until just now. The solution is outlined in the guide. I will continue to update if I get additional information.

 

[Talkdj]

I too want to thank you for this very concise guide. Got the 4g Xoom rooted and all is well. One question if I may. Now that it is rooted, I have not put a rom on it yet. Since I'm still on stock how do I get into CWM? Do I have to use ADB everytime?

 

[devianc3]

Just want to thank everyone who contributed to creating this thread and everyone who helped answer questions about the process, they were all very helpful and I'm now happily running moray 2.2 on my xoom. One question I did have though, how important is a nandroid backup I was going to do one before I installed the rom and then all of my apps,but I forgot. Should I still do one?

Thanks, Dev

Sent from my Xoom using xda premium

 

[okantomi]

Just want to thank everyone who contributed to creating this thread and everyone who helped answer questions about the process, they were all very helpful and I'm now happily running moray 2.2 on my xoom. One question I did have though, how important is a nandroid backup I was going to do one before I installed the rom and then all of my apps,but I forgot. Should I still do one?

Thanks, Dev

Sent from my Xoom using xda premium

Once you have successfully flashed CWM recovery, please do a nandroid backup! Do it every time you are going to flash a new rom/kernel. You can rename them by using a file manager (I like Root Explorer) and get rid of old ones that you no longer need. You will be so happy that you backed-up. We all need to restore to an earlier state once in a while.

 

[devianc3]

So should I wipe everything and do a Android now? Or can I do it with custom roms and kernels installed?


---------------------------------------------------
Motorola Xoom Wifi
Bootloader - Unlocked/Rooted
Rom - Team Tiamat 2.2.2 "Moray"
Recovery - Clockworkmod 3.2.0.0 R4c

 

[okantomi]

So should I wipe everything and do a Android now? Or can I do it with custom roms and kernels installed?


---------------------------------------------------
Motorola Xoom Wifi
Bootloader - Unlocked/Rooted
Rom - Team Tiamat 2.2.2 "Moray"
Recovery - Clockworkmod 3.2.0.0 R4c

What is it you're wanting to do? If you are planning to flash a custom rom, do the nandroid before you wipe. That way, if something goes wrong with flashing the rom, or if you just don't like it you can just restore from your nandroid backup and return to your current state.

 

[the-fat-ref]

Just wanted to add my enormous gratitude to all tgat have contributed to this. Bought my Xoom yesterday, decided to take the plunge and root it today to get ad-hoc wifi, and thanks largely to the op, everything went smoothly! THANK YOU!!!!

 

[blurj]

I flashed ICS Nightly Build #21 today. And I just realised that I cant root the system. Since I can't use Titannium Backup. I have copy the universal xoom root zip to the room dic of the external SD card.

Could you help me with that?

 

[blurj]

I have solved this problem by reinstall the rom

 

[okantomi]

I flashed ICS Nightly Build #21 today. And I just realised that I cant root the system. Since I can't use Titannium Backup. I have copy the universal xoom root zip to the room dic of the external SD card.

Could you help me with that?

You have to properly prepare your pc by downloading the needed files and motorola drivers, and then follow all the steps in order

* unlock using fastboot

* flash the CWM recovery image file using fastboot

* flash the Universal Xoom Root zip file from your micro sd card using the newly installed CWM recovery

* flash the rom/kernel of your choice from your micro sdcard after doing a wipe data/factory reset in CWM recovery

You have pretty much all the information you need right here. Read it carefully, go step by step and you will be fine.

 

[jaekidd1012]

I too want to thank you for this very concise guide. Got the 4g Xoom rooted and all is well. One question if I may. Now that it is rooted, I have not put a rom on it yet. Since I'm still on stock how do I get into CWM? Do I have to use ADB everytime?

+1

I'm on a Tiamat ROM and have been wondering the same thing. Do I need to use ADB whenever I need to get into CWM?