[Other SmartWatches] FreeFly:
rebooting into recovery

First, I'm just posting this in case someone else finds themselves stuck like I was, the information here is actually elsewhere, but I struggled to piece it together and was really stuck, thought I was going to have to send my MotoACTV back to the factory, but now I'm happily back working!!

I have been trying to get the latest stock image (battery performance in the latest image is much better than any previous), rooted, and the Play Store loaded so I can get runkeeper installed.

After some trial and error I was re-imaging back to CEnnis91's stock image for the third time, to try a different version of google apps. Something went wrong with the imaging process (I now know what, but will get to that) and after flashing the stock image using the CMRecovery it didn't boot, just booted back into CMRecovery. Puzzled, I rebooted into fastboot and tried to flash from there, but it didn't work. I wound up leaving the MotoACTV in fastboot mode while searching on my computer for the answer (plugged into a wall power supply). I hadn't been searching for the solution for very long before I realized my MotoACTV was getting hot. VERY HOT. I ran to the freezer and grabbed an ice pack and put the MotoACTV on it, but it was too late. Black, wouldn't boot, nothing.

Thought I had cooked it.

After fiddling with it for a while, plugged into my laptop, I did get it to boot, but it would only go to CMRecovery. No matter what. Only now when I tried to go back to fastboot it would tell me it couldn't fastboot because the battery was too low, but couldn't charge the battery because it couldn't get past CMRecovery.

I have been trying to figure this out for nearly a week.

I made a Factory Cable which was very tricky since only 4 wires were connected to the micro USB cable I was sacrificing. But I took a single strand of a copper cable and carefully scraped away the plastic shielding above the 4th connector and managed to solder it just well enough to connect it to #1. Connecting this to my laptop allowed me to get fastboot to work (bypassing the battery restriction), but no matter what I still could only get it to boot into CMRecovery. :crying:

The answer, was to erase the misc partition. Somewhere along the way I had run a command to find and flash image files and had inadvertenly flashed the misc partition. CEnnis91 does cover this (briefly) in his ROM FAQ, but I didn't make the connection between CMRecovery and his "stuck in recovery" comment (neither did Google, so I don't feel so bad). :rolleyes:

Anyway, fastboot erase misc, reflash the stock images, and I'm back in business booting a real ROM and my battery is charging as I type. :cool:

Hope this helps someone else.

If you want to see a picture of my (ugly) Factory Cable I'm happy to post it.

Two critical lessons, though:

First, don't flash the misc.img. Unless that's how you're going to root the device and you mean it.

Second, and MOST IMPORTANT: If something goes wrong don't leave your MotoACTV in recovery or fastboot mode while you Google the solution. Your battery is draining like crazy even if it's plugged in and if it runs out you will either be: 1) SOL, 2) making a Factory Cable, or 3) buying a Factory Cable (and waiting for shipment from China)