[Sony Xperia T, TL, TX, V] pfhastie:
Hi there

First of all thank you so much for replying. These forums are quite daunting at times and it is good to know someone with some clout is listening. Apologies again for going into yet more detail, but it should help me reach a resolution sooner rather than later.

As re the bootloader, I was under the impression that DooMLoRD's Easy Rooting Toolkit 17 would root my stock Xperia T while leaving the bootloader untouched - that is to say locked (as far as I am aware) - should I wish to revert the rooting process at a later date. Now, I obviously lost root somewhere along the line, but has the bootloader also been changed to unlocked? I don't know, but I wouldn't imagine so, so I can only assume it is still locked.

I have recharged my phone ready to make some fresh attempts at this, but to confirm the current state of my Windows 7 connection, I can only connect to the PC in fastboot (with the blue light turned on after connecting to the machine while pressing volume down). There is definitely an issue with some aspect of the drivers since the Sony ADB Device is recognised as working in Device Manager as soon as I connect the phone, however the bothersome Sony Ericsson Seehcri Control Device is also present with a yellow exclamation mark indicating a problem.

Now, whether this is actually affecting my use of the Android Flash Tool 0.9.13.0 and the other flash tools, I can't actually say. When I open the Android Flash Tool with the phone connected, the two options available to me are flashmode or fast boot mode. When I try to use the flashmode with the (as far as I am aware) Xperia T stock firmware LT30P_9.1.A.1.141_PL.ftf, I simply cannot connect in flashmode when prompted. I am asked to remove the phone then reattach it, but no green light ever shows indicating flashmode, only the blue light indicating fast boot mode. When I try to use fast boot mode on the other hand, firstly I am not sure which of the various methods to use - I have of course tried them all, and also I should say both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Flash Tool - but when I do, I am always told that the device needs to be rooted first.

Now, this may have something to do with the kernels/firmware/ROMs that I am using (there's no question all the variations confuse me a little) as I assumed it simply wasn't possible to flash via fastboot yet further reading suggests that it should be possible to flash a stock kernel without root access. The kernels/firmware I have tried are: stock-7.0.A.3.223-twrp-2.3.3.0.elf; 15102012.img; Sony Xperia T Kernel (Stock) With CWM602; Sony Xperia T Kernel (Stock) With TWRP2500. So perhaps I am not using the correct firmware or kernel (I would like to try the LT30P_9.1.A.1.141_PL.ftf, but cannot see an option to do so via fast boot mode). If this is the case and I am able to identify the correct kernel, then perhaps this "device must be rooted first" notification would no longer happen and the state of the ADB drivers would be largely irrelevant.

On the other hand if the flash tool in fast boot mode is always going to ask me to root first, wouldn't it make more sense to focus my attention on being able to connect to DooMLoRD's Easy Rooting Toolkit 17 in order to root the device so I can then use the Flash Tool in fast boot mode without any further issues. But that being the case, perhaps I should focus on working out what is happening with the problem Sony Ericsson Seehcri Control Device in Device Manager. Perhaps when that is resolved I will be able to connect to any of the available flash tools.

As far as ROMs and Recovery Environments are concerned, I truly appreciate your advice - and believe me when I resolve this problem I will be sure to run through my rooting plans BEFORE executing them on these very forums - but for now I need to focus on flashing the phone back to stock or somehow connecting the phone to one of the Sony Flash Tools.

Thanks again for your patience and assistance so far and I look forward any more ideas now I have provided a bit more detail.

My sanity hangs in the balance!