[Droid Incredible General] dreamersipaq:
Guys,

I've been struggling with root for the past 4 days. I tried EVERYTHING. I want to point out a few things for people. I am pretty sure a new way will be released soon, but here is for all those who can't wait. :)

1) It's okay if you have 2 USB drives in recovery vs. the ADB Composite/Bootloader interface. Mine was rooted with the two drives

2) I don't think HTC Sync vs. Android drives matter, but I rooted mine with BOTH installed, but HTC drivers loading during the process

a) You DO! need the Google/Android drivers modified to Include the Incredible

3) Maybe the USB Connection timing does work for some, but when I rooted mine my phone was connected to the PC during the entire time.

4) The MicroSD card definitely matters, but from my experience you can get in using any card. I've been able to recreate it using the Sandisk 2GB card, a Maxell 4 GB card, and a non-branded 128 MB card

5) The TRICK is timing, and using the same process over and over while SLIGHTLY changing the timing. I've been able to recreate ADB in Recovery after about 2 - 3 tries to get the timing right every time using different cards. The trick is to the have the sdcard read and have the size recognized right after adb is recognized by the bootloader. If you've played around with dmesg you know what I'm talking about. The recognition HAS to be read by recovery exactly as the screen is changed from the white HTC screen to the black screen with red triangle.

So HOW do you do this?

Here is how I recreate it:

1) Plug in your phone to your computer while the phone is running normally. I had my wifi, bt OFF, though the phone was NOT in Airplane mode. SYNC and GPS were left ON. Make sure that the debugging is checked, and that the connection is set to Drive. You want to be able to access both your sdcard and phone storage on your pc.

2) Start the "adb shell" loop on your PC (the first time you do this, it'll go right into the "$" since your phone is booted normally. This checks to make sure that your drivers are working.... this will only work the 1st time)

3) pull the battery(still plugged into usb), eject your MicroSD card, put battery back in.

ps: my memory card is formatted in FAT32 1024 block. It was freshly formatted, blank with nothing on it

4) On the phone, boot into Hboot (Vol- and Pwr) and highlight recovery (hit Vol - once)

5) Ok, here is the meat: Open a clock on your PC, and watch the seconds hand. You're going to repeat steps 3 - 5 (this step) incrementing time. So at this second, your phone has recovery highlighted, it's plugged into usb, and your sd card is ejected. Now you're going to hit the power button to start recovery and you're going to insert the SD card in this manner:

You start recovery the instance the second hand lands on what ever second you want to start on. your first SD insert is going to be at 0 seconds. i.e. you're going to insert the SD card at the same time you hit the power button. Wait for ~ 10 seconds after the second pc chime (i.e. after the black triangle screen starts, this is the 2nd chime, the one that means that a connection has been recognized). If you don't get the magical error that you want. You're going to increase your insert time by 1/3 to 1/2 of a second depending on how paranoid you are. So, if you don't get the error you want:

Repeat step 3, 4.

This time on step 5.... you're going to insert your SD approx 1/3 - 1/2 of a second after you press the power button. If it fails, rinse/repeat (redo steps 3-5).

My SD cards ranged between 5.5 - 7.5 seconds.... so watching the clock, DON'T GUESS. I got that magical error inserting the SD Card into the phone anywhere between 5.5 - 7.5 seconds after I hit the PWR button to go into recovery. For best results use the same card every time. Took me about a half hour to get the timing right. Remember, I never pulled the usb cord during any of this, just the sd card. It's pulled out while battery is out, and put in sometime during recovery loading. God I hope this helps someone, and I didn't just waste my time writing this!

Thanks to everyone who got us root. If you get that error... DO NOT exit out of loop or close the command prompt. just follow the ton of instructions out there. I followed the instructions to root on some website.... maybe sodpit ?

[UPDATE]:

This is what I followed after getting the error we're all looking for. I recommend reading the whole thing though, even if you follow my method to break into recovery:

http://sodpit.com/inc/#4b

[UPDATE 2]

If you read the sodpit tutorial... there is a new payload that seems to allow you to install/delete apps from /system/app without having to be in Recovery. Trying... Nevermind, you can only backup apps w/o recovery.

[UPDATE 3]

Just to clarify:

This method isn't about popping in and out. Personally, I think that can damage your sdcard port. It's about inserting the card at the right time. When you hit the power button to go into recovery, that's 0. (0 seconds from when you hit power). If that doesn't work, you increase the time interval by 1/3 to a 1/2 second. So when you do the procedure the second time you're going to insert your sd card 1/3 to 1/2 second AFTER you hit power. If that doesn't work, redo and increase time again. Eventually, you'll either get the error you're looking for or get to about 12 seconds, at which time you have to restart at 0.

I'll be honest, it took me going from 0 to 12, 2 times before I hit the right time and got in. Took about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. My card throws the error between 7 and 8 seconds after I hit the power button. I know this now, and can recreate the error every time on 1 to 2 tries.

So far it seems like that there are two camps. The first camp gets the error somewhere between 2 to 5 seconds depending on card, and the second camp seem to be always between 7 and 8 seconds (rarely 6)..... if you read the replies of this thread, people have been listing the seconds and times. See if you can find your card in one of these replies.

Also, I recommend that you reformat your MicroSD to FAT 32, 1024 bytes and make sure that it's blank with nothing on it.

I hope this helps.