[HTC Rezound] DroidTemplar:
S-Off Success

Thanks to the developers, forum moderators, forum members for the gift of S-Off.

If my experience can help;

As recommended, I read and learned for several days from others and collected what I considered important info into a cheat sheet. I went from noob with a stock off the shelf Rezound to noob with S-Off in 4 hours. The first 2 hours were spent getting a Win7x32 setup with Android SDK r19, killing PDANet and killing HTC sync, preparing the Rezound by a factory reset, getting unlock bin from HTC, fastbooting unlock bin, fastbooting Amon Ra 3.15, and using Amon Ra to set SU for root. Used a spare 16GB microSD Class 4 for the nand backup.

I choose the paper clip method. I reshaped the paper clip into a U shape, and sanded the ends of the clip to get clean conductive metal surface and a flat surface for better chance of contact. I had to adjust the U shape so that the pin 1 clip end was a straight right angle to the phone and the ground clip end was positioned over the ground pin. I tried both the ground pin and USB ground shield tricks but my luck happened when using the ground pin.

I got all of the needed files in c:\android, started cmd in Win+R, and did a “fastboot devices” to verify the phone was connected and listed under the “fastboot devices” command. Set properties on ControlBear to Run As Administrator. Took a deep breath then made the leap. I had to rerun ControlBear almost a dozen times before it worked its way to displaying the wire trick prompt. When peeking at the display, I was seeing the black screen and green arrow. With one exception for a battery pull to clean up the Rezound, I did not do anything else other than doubleclick ControlBear to rerun ControlBear. Each time I ran ControlBear, ControlBear made it a little further along into the expected prompts. In the middle of the series of ControlBear reruns, ControlBear did say it could not recognize the device. I did a battery pull on the Rezound and the Rezound booted into FastBoot. ControlBear picked up where it left off. With each rerun of ControlBear I would see more of the reported prompts.

When you see the error code 667377, you are almost there if you can get past the wire trick. I think like others that there are several factors at work in the timing. The developers say that the exploit is based on the stock ROM. That means that the 1.75 seconds occurs in a specific place in the running code. Anything that changes when the 1.75 second code executes will change the 1.75 second timing. Custom ROMs, apps running, cpu throttle apps or anything else affecting when the processor gets to the special code, maybe affecting the variations in timing results. My stock Rezound already had the stock ROM, but I did a factory reset to set my Rezound as close a possible to what this trick was developed for. Noticed that some successes did occur after the stock RUU, maybe coincidence, not always necessary since others have had success without being stock. But it may improve the odds if you are looking for it being easier.

After a dozen reruns of ControlBear, the process had progressed where I started seeing the do the wire trick prompt. ControlBear prompts many times but will eventual give up and check the phone. This is when you will see the error code and no success. After two failed attempts, I decided to remove the SIM card so it would not interfere (maybe just coincidence). The third attempt succeeded. I hit it on the second ‘do wire trick’ prompt. Unlike the other times, ControlBear begin checking the phone only after two wire trick prompts. ControlBear finished the process, asked about permission for the hboot update, I said yes, and the phone booted normally with no missing data. During the successful attempt, I did change from a double tap to a double brush stroke on the ground pin while holding pin 1 wire steady and straight.

The now S-Off phone is locked with Amon Ra 3.15 still loaded.

Suggestions,

If using Windows and x64 not working for you, try to use an x32 version,

After installing SDK r18, still need to run SDK Manager to update to r19 and load all files,

Use fastboot devices to make sure your phone is connected,

Use a paper clip reshaped and ends sanded,

Use stock ROM cleaned by factory reset,

Pull SIM card,

Make sure you are using the correct ControlBear release for your GB or ICS.

Set ControlBear properties Compatibility to ‘Run this program as an administrator’,

Only need to rerun ControlBear to continue pushing the progress a little further along,

When getting the wire trick prompt, use brushstroke if tap is not working for you,

Had PDANet installed but killed (some people have said the PDANet drivers were helpful, maybe coincidence)

Thoughts,

Like others have said, can be unsettling during the process, but very satisfying when successful.

Noticed that my 4G reception is much better with whatever new software was loaded during the process. Noticed hboot changed from 2.10 to 2.11.

Exploit may be fixed with May 9th RUU, so I plan to repeat the success with the remaining Rezounds before the next RUU.

As reported by others, success can be had without parts of this, but if a different way is not working, maybe these suggestions may help.

---------- Post added at 11:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 AM ----------

Normal. You are part way down the path. Keep rerunning ControlBear to finish the journey.