yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Streak 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] treylemkn:
Hey everybody! I recently exchanged my black streak for a shiny new white one. I was last running Steve's 1.6.1 on my black streak but am running the stock 318 build with performance tweak.

I used google navigation for the first time today on the new streak. It took about 5 minutes to finally get a lock, where I was getting a lock instantly on my old black streak.

Hardware or software issue? Are there any hacks to increase GPS lock speed? Anyone else having similar GPS lock problems on the stock build?
[Droid X General] wad3g:
This was posted on Droid Life.

Are our ROM developer's going to be able to use this to do some cool stuff with this?

I'm just curious.

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/01/27/download-honeycomb-sdk-android-3-0-system-dump/#more-24902
[Droid X General] SysAdmin-X:
I'm guessing they may be able to pull some app builds out of it, and some images...but I don't know that the X will run 3.0 without a kernel update... Just a guess.
[Nexus S General] ravidavi:
Worked perfectly. I used fastboot from my Mac (outlined in the stickied Mac Root thread). Root checker verifies that I have root.

And by the way, my phone and I are both root/ROM cherry. First android phone, first time rooter. Will work up the guts to flash a ROM soon, but of course there's no chance of doing THAT without unlocking the bootloader. :)

Thanks to all involved in this!
[Nexus S General] blackdem0n:
yeah! good work! ;)
[Nexus S General] Anderdroid:
Srsly. Awsom.

Someone sticky this....
[Nexus S General] cmstlist:
Question: When you do the fastboot boot command, does that overwrite the stock recovery with Clockwork? Or is it just booting into the recovery img without actually flashing it?

I would think this method also gives you a way to back up before unlocking the bootloader.

1) fastboot boot into Clockwork as described here

2) Full nandroid backup from Clockwork

3) Mount "SD" from Clockwork over USB, copy everything to computer (since it wipes everything)

4) Go back and unlock the bootloader as usual, resulting in a full wipe

5) Flash Clockwork Recovery again through whichever method

6) Mount "SD" from Clockwork over USB, copy the backup back to phone

7) Restore nandroid

And now you've unlocked the bootloader without amnesia =)

Are you sure you need to unlock the bootloader to flash a ROM? Now that you have root, try installing ROM Manager from the Market, and see if it lets you flash custom recovery with bootloader still locked. If so, then yes you can install a ROM!

Also, the fact that you're able to boot into Clockwork using "fastboot boot" - that also means you can install a ROM .zip file right from there.
[Nexus S General] nitsuajd:
"fastboot boot" only launches the recovery no unlock needed. "fastboot flash" flash the recovery

;)
[Nexus S General] ravidavi:
It worked! Here's the process I used, starting from a completely unmodded Nexus S.

1: Use the method detailed here to gain root access without unlocking the bootloader.

2: Using a root-enabled file explorer (I used Super Manager), rename install-recovery.sh (in /etc) to install-recovery.sh.old . You'll need to remount as r/w to do this. NOTE: You don't *have* to do this step, but if you don't, then you can only use clockwork once after which it will be erased on reboot.

3: Using ROM Manager, install Clockwork Recovery.

4: Pleasure yourself, because your bootloader is still locked and nothing was erased.

I have yet to try actually flashing a custom ROM. Does this mean that it can also be done without unlocking bootloader?
[Nexus S General] ravidavi:
Well damn, whaddaya know. I just flashed MoDaCo r10 without unlocking the bootloader, and without losing any personal data on /sdcard. :D

I figure someone at XDA should like this.

Pretty much followed distortedloop's advice. Starting from a fully stock Nexus S with Android 2.3.2 (GRH78C):

* Root using the method on this thread.

* Rename install-recovery.su to install-recovery-old.su. (in /bin)

* Install Clockwork Recovery from ROM Manager.

* Download whatever ROM you want (compatible with Clockwork), rename to update.zip, and copy to sdcard.

* Reboot into Clockwork.

* Wipe cache, reset to factory (IF REQUIRED BY NEW ROM). This was my first install of MoDaCo, and that requires it. This step does NOT erase your personal files on sdcard, just all android-related files.

* Install update.zip from Clockwork.

* Continue self-pleasuring ... you now have a custom rom without touching your bootloader or wiping your personal sdcard data.

Maybe it's just because I'm a noob here, but it seems to me that this is a BIG deal. All root/ROM installation methods that I've seen so far have required an unlocked bootloader. This seems to be the first time a Nexus S has been unlocked and custom-ROM'd without unlocking the bootloader and wiping the entire /sdcard.

Ravi
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
Yeah, it's pretty clear that the unlock the bootloader step isn't necessary for most of what we want to do. Just a habit from earlier devices, perhaps?

What's really odd is now we have to wonder what's the purpose of the oem unlock erasing your sdcard? Speculation was that it was a security feature to keep people from accessing your data if they stole your phone; they couldn't flash something on the phone to get access, but clearly they can. Fastboot into a custom recovery and you own the phone.

Perhaps this is a security hole Google will try to fix some day?

At any rate, I wish we'd discovered this sooner, it would have saved several people some grief in having to lose saved games (Angry Birds!) when they finally decided to root.
[Nexus S General] ravidavi:
You say "for most of what we want to do." Could you think of a case where you would need to unlock it now? It's now shown to be unnecessary for rooting and installing custom recovery/ROM.

Is there any way to get the word out? This thread isn't stickied, and all the stickied threads on rooting & custom ROMs currently assert that you have to unlock the bootloader.

Ravi
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
I'm thinking that something like Superboot might need to have the bootloader unlocked, since it replaces the boot image, right? But I'm not sure.

There's only a page and a half of posts in the development section right now, so it's not likely to disappear any time soon, but you could ask a mod (theimpaler747 is ours) via PM to sticky it. I thought about asking myself, but seemed a bit tacky to ask for my own thread.

Meanwhile, I'd been linking people to various posts I'd made in other threads suggesting this might work, but once inakipaz and shrivelfig confirmed it, I'm just now pointing people here. I just hope people see this before wiping their phones unnecessarily. :eek:

Really, the other guides should just be updated to skip the oem unlock step. That's really the only different thing we're doing here. :cool:
[Nexus S General] AllGamer:
i'm just waiting for more people "newbies" to confirm this actually works for them, before making it a sticky
[Nexus S General] cmstlist:
In theory if you really really screw up your phone, you might need fastboot flash in order to recover it. But if fastboot also lets you boot into an img recovery... then you still have a recovery route that doesn't require unlocking.
[Nexus S General] qreffie:
I know it's a noob question and all since all you're doing is flashing a custom recovery but will you still be able to get OTA updates after doing this as well?
[Nexus S General] mazodude:
yes because you still have the original recovery installed
[Nexus S General] shrivelfig:
This would be my guess.

But how? Is it possible to plug this with just a software update? Time will show, I guess.

This (security hole) should also make it possible to do perfect out-of-the-box OS backups. And restores. The problem is that nobody's going to do a backup without playing with their shiny new toy first. :D
[Nexus S General] cmstlist:
I can confirm that the Nexus One does not allow this "fastboot boot" on a locked bootloader. Maybe this was just an oversight?

It is entirely possible to plug this with a software update: Samsung/Google could issue a signed update that includes a bootloader upgrade. This has been done many times by HTC for example.
[Nexus S General] chaval:
I can confirm that this method works, without unlocking the BL or erasing the SD part.
[Nexus S General] Star Shadow:
This is pretty cool. I wish I new about this before I unlocked the bootloader days after I received my phone. I too wonder if this was intentional or an oversite. Google did want this phone to be for developers, but like other's said, this is also a bit of a security hole. The wiping of the sd card on unlock would protect the person if the phone was stolen, like if there was confidential corporate stuff on there. Even if you password protect your phone, someone could fastboot clockwork, mount the sd card and retrieve all the information that was on there.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
It's also been done by Samsung with some versions of the Galaxy S line (some of the "leaked" roms, and even one official kies push (IIRC) changed the bootloader, causing people the ability to use 3 button mode for Odin access, and causing others to lose it.
[Nexus S General] AtomicPC:
I'm a newbie and am trying this method. The one single hangup I had about rooting was that all my data was lost. I've only had the phone for about 3 weeks but in all that time I've got loads of apps and stuff on it. Some that I felt I needed from my G1 phone. The most I've done on a phone was flash the update. I'll report back if it works.

I get an error in the SDK when using fastboot.

fastboot.exe - Unable To Locate Component

This application has failed to start because AdbWinApi.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.

I'm sure it's an error from the SDK but not sure how to fix it. I did have a couple of things corrupted from the Google SDK but it installed and updated. I do not however see emulator.exe and that was one of the things corrupted.
[Nexus S General] shrivelfig:
You need adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll from android-sdk_r07. I think those files are floating around in a thread or two here.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
Try following the first steps from AllGamer's guide to rooting; just the parts where you're installing the sdk and making sure your phone works. Make sure you don't do the fastboot oem unlock part!

I'm not a Windows user, but I've seen many posts around the net and here where people with issues getting the phone to talk just install the pda-net files.
[Nexus S General] AtomicPC:
Works! Had a little trouble I'll post about. The error I mentioned above. I put adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll found in my ...\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools dir and I put it in the ...\tools dir. Still no dice, but there was a hiccup with PDANet where it was trying to connect to the phone while in fastboot mode. I stopped PDANet from running and it ran fastboot just fine.

I'm not a total newbie when it comes to computers, but I'm no super user. I ran Linux exclusively for about 6 years so I am familiar with commandline stuff. I did just pop my Android root cherry though. (Pretty painless...)
[Nexus S General] partenov:
Works perfect on my Nexus S!

Thnaks!
[Nexus S General] footboydog:
Working on my Nexus S. Unfortunately, adb remount throws a "permission denied" error. I have to use adb shell, su and then mount but that's just a minor annoyance.
[Nexus S General] Jonathon Grigg:
If anyone is having any troubles with understanding exactly how to do this, you can refer to the new part 2 in my complete and thorough tutorial on how to use this method. It will NOT wipe your data, as stated in this thread. All credit goes to inakipaz and shrivelfig and distortedloop for the original guide, I only added more info to make it easier.
[Nexus S General] EthanExplosion:
This worked awesome for after i relocked my bootloader. Thanks!
[Nexus S General] chaval:
Simple question here.

I have rooted my NS using this method, can I "boot" into a custom recovery and backup/wipe/flash custom kernels/roms?

As if i had a custom recovery flashed?
[Nexus S General] ravidavi:
Good question! I never tried just "fastboot boot" into recovery for the purpose of flashing a ROM (just did that for the initial rooting). However, I don't see why you couldn't ... try it out! :)

On a side note, if you don't rename the install-recovery.sh file, then Android will automatically replace a flashed custom recovery with the stock one at each reboot. So there should be no problem flashing Clockwork Recovery even if you want to use it just once. It's actually easier that way IMO, because you don't have to use a computer at all to "fastboot boot" every time you wanna use Clockwork.

Ravi
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
Once you're rooted you should be able to use ROM Manager from the Market to boot into Clockwork, but I agree, I'd just rather have Clockwork full time.
[Nexus S General] chaval:
Backing up and flashing custom roms/kernels works with this method.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
Thanks for the confirmation!

It's really looking like there's no reason to do the oem unlock at all...
[Nexus S General] jamiemac1977:
Thanks for the help rooting via adb (my first adb usage) ....Coming from my galaxy tab (first android) it's a handy guide as i have only used ODIN previously.

Appreciate the concise guide ....now lets see what this thing can do ^^
[Nexus S General] stennett:
Sorry for the noob question.(thought i'd get that out the way with first)

Does this mean I can root my phone using this method, then use a programe like Mybackup Pro to back everything up, then do the oem unlock (causing me to loose my data) then simply use mybackup pro to restore everything exactly as it was beforehand. This is my first android device and I'm very new to this kind of stuff however cant wait to flash my first rom ! But I don't want to have to go though the trouble of loosing app data, contatcts, messages, apps, wallpapers settings ect....

Thank you in advance.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
Yes, I believe that would work. I haven't tested it, but there's no theoretical reason it wouldn't work. Once you can run a root backup app, you're solid on your data backup.

I'd recommend Titanium Pro (paid version) over MyBackup Pro. I think it's cheaper than MyBackup, plus it offers a lot more useful root features than MyBackup.

Also, what specifically do you want to do with an unlocked bootloader? Seems you can do just about anything you want with a locked one if you boot CW recovery and root via this method.
[Nexus S General] jamiemac1977:
I've never used the other backup mentioned and have only been on android since Novembers the 2nd 2010 (one day after uk tablet release lol)... But i can say Titanium is freakin awesome and has saved my ass alot allready!!

Not one bug or glitch yet either ... worth the money ;)
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
Also, wouldn't be a bad idea to run a "nandroid" backup from within Clockwork recovery after you've rooted. This will put a full system image backup on your sdcard. Copy it over to your laptop for safe-keeping in case you ever want to go back to a stock (but rooted) version of the phone.

I should mention that in the first post, shouldn't I?
[Nexus S General] Jonathon Grigg:
Yes it probably is a good idea to mention something like that (: rather helpful to have IMO.
[Nexus S General] stennett:
cheers for the quick responce's.

@ distortedloop

All I want to do at this current stage is install a custom Kernel with the voodoo sound improvments, to get me started at least, as I'm more than happy with stock rom.

Only thing stopping me is having to reset everything up, e.g app settings wall paper settings ,re-downloading everything. Thanks again.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
It's always a good idea to run a nandroid of your phone before messing with anything like that, but a custom kernel should not affect your phone's app settings and the like. You're flashing a boot.img, not a system image.

I think you're on solid ground if you just got into fastboot and then "fastboot flash boot boot.img" (replace boot.img with the path and name of the file you're flashing.

If it's a clockwork flashable kernel, then flash the clockwork recovery, boot into clockwork from fastboot directly, flash the kernel via clockwork's menus.

Not even sure you'd need to root, but not sure why anyone wouldn't want to.

Again, I ALWAYS recommend you have a nandroid backup of your entire system safely copied away to your laptop before messing with new kernels or new roms...just to be safe.
[Nexus S General] chaval:
Strange, after flashing Clockwork from Rom manager, I still have Clockwork after multiple boots.

install-recovery.sh is there but it wont flash the original recovery?

(Solved: Had to restore a backup with the original recovery)
[Nexus S General] suhas_sm:
Got root access :) Method works.

Did it for the first time :)

Was I supposed to take backup of the orignal recovery ? While getting access to the root have I flashed clockrecovery over the orginal one ?
[Nexus S General] stennett:
Used this method today! I have rooted my first android phone. Can anyone point me in the direction of how to install a stock kernel with the voodoo sound improvments please? was thinking netarchy one, but which ones stock not OC?

Thanks in advance.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
No, not necessary.

Unless you break the /etc/install-recovery.sh file by renaming it, the stock recovery will be flashed to your phone from a backup already on the device every time you make a normal boot of the phone.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
There should be instructions on how to install whichever one you want in the thread for that kernel. If not, good idea to ask in that thread.

There's two basic ways to flash a kernel that I know of:

fastboot flash boot boot.img (boot.img is whatever kernel you're flashing)

clockwork method - put the zip file of the kernel in your sdcard, boot to clockwork, select install update from zip, navigate to the kernel, select it and apply. Let the update zip run and reboot.

Netarchy kernels appear to take the flash from recovery method...

By the way...RUN A NANDROID of your system from the clockwork backup and restore menu before flashing anything new...better safe than sorry!
[Nexus S General] alvintc:
Scrub that... re-installed using PDANet driver and it worked :)

Okay.. so I must be missing something. When I issue fastboot, it simply sits on <waiting for device>

In my device manager I can see the problem is probably the unknown Android 1.0 device sitting there.

Now here's the weird bit. With the phone booted I can run adb & it finds the phone. Obviously when in bootloader my machine is not seeing the phone.

I'm running W7x 64... any suggestions?
[Nexus S General] leonlmf:
this is a good way to root the phone. is it possible and save using this way to flash custom rom?
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
The only advantage to this method is if you didn't root the phone out of the box and have data you can't or don't want to lose on the phone.

There are reports earlier in the thread that someone who used this method has flashed a custom rom with clockwork recovery, so it's possible, and it appears safe.
[Nexus S General] jgcaap:
this is nice . soon i'll problably have a nexus S :D
[Nexus S General] Androyed:
Can this be implemented in the step-by-step guide? It will be my first time rooting, so a step-by-step guide is very useful!
[Nexus S General] Jonathon Grigg:
I wrote up a complete guide on how tto do exactly that.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=935819

Just make sure you choose the new part 2 because it follows this method. Enjoy!
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
The first post is a step by step guide, other than the installation of the sdk.

Are the steps not clear?
[Nexus S General] Androyed:
I've never rooted before, so the first time it's easier for me if it is explained step by step, and what happens every step. Jonathon's guide is what I was looking for!
[Nexus S General] Jonathon Grigg:
I have some pictures (just not on the XDA thread version) but not that many for the no unlock version. You can still have a look and see if it helps. Links in my post above (:
[Nexus S General] AtomicPC:
Johnathan's guide is a copy pasta of other peoples guides and 130 of his 155 posts are him advertising to use his guide. I think it's disrespectful to the developers who put in the time to write them. Maybe they aren't perfect but he should have brought any clarifying help to the attention of the OP instead of posting it as his own. I know I know... "I credited the author..." but it doesn't make it right.

Sorry mods, I'm not trying to cause trouble. I just believe that if a person should see something that is wrong they should say something.
[Nexus S General] Jonathon Grigg:
First if you are going to diss me you may as well spell my name right. Second I did not copy and paste from any other guide. It may not have occurred to you but there is only so many ways to write a guide. I did not intend for it to replace any other guides but act as a complete reference for people who haven't rooted before and would find it helpful for have extra little details and pictures.

Yes I know I tend to self promote my guide when people ask questions but if you have a look, it suits the question asked.

And finally I wouldn't disrespect the devs at all. Ever. Because without them the Android community would not exist. I believe I am helping them by bringing their work to more people.

/rant

Edit: and for each guide I have sent a pm or posted in the respective thread that the OP is welcome to use any part of my tutorials if they choose. Its not my fault if they choose not to.
[Nexus S General] AtomicPC:
Jonathan I'm not trying to diss you but I realize it came off brash. (And by the way I am a horrible speller, especially with any and all forms of the name John, so I appoligize for spelling it wrong.) And you did copy and paste parts of your guide, it was obvious when you had all the same words in all the same places including parenthisis and click here but no link.

I think your idea is good, but that you went about it in the wrong way. You could have alerted the guys and told them they needed to clarify this or that part. I had trouble with this one and I made sure I posted the trouble I had so that he could clarify the steps.
[Nexus S General] distortedloop:
Did I clarify them? I don't recall. ;)

I don't want to see this thread deteriorate into some bickering over Jonathon's guide. My original guide in this thread had one section that was a direct copy/paste of AllGamer's guide. I credited it and pointed out that it was a direct copy, but in Jonathon's defense, the proper steps are the proper steps, there's only so many ways to present them.
[Nexus S General] Jonathon Grigg:
Ok I think we should just drop this now, no real point in arguing over such a small thing.

Don't worry too much about the name, I get it all the time unfortunately :( as for the copy paste, I should have clarified what I meant. Yes I did copy the version of the guide which I posted in my thread here on XDA however it was straight from the version on my website. You will find it is pretty much the exact same, however the only places it differs are where pictures were (some of them I added info about what should be on the screen). Not all of the links came through and I tried to fix it up as much as I could, but decided that most XDA members would understand how to download the relevant file (or even just look at the top :P ) .

I hope this clears up any misunderstandings so that we can continue helping people with issues about rooting on this thread (: that's all I was trying to do originally.

Edit: and I will also stop mentioning my guide specifically and try to provide the relevant info from it when someone asks a question. I did realise at the time it was probably a bit iffy mentioning it so often :(
[Nexus S General] AtomicPC:
Cool. As long as the op doesn't mind then I shouldn't either. Just so everyone is getting this awesome help.