Trying to avoid any pitfalls with OTA 4.5.608

[bvjens31]

Ok so instead of going through countless posts for a couple hours, I thought I'd have better luck just making a post since my situation might be somewhat unique. I'll explain what I've done to my phone, and what I'd like to do to my phone. I have a Droid 2 Global with stock ROM, system version 2.4.330.A956.Verizon.en.US. I have rooted with z4root. I did this so I could rename all the bloatware APKs to BAKs instead, so they are prevented from loading at startup. Phone has been running well for the most part, since I got it back in March. Now I see that there is an OTA update (guessing it's finally gingerbread??).

I have heard a few different things on what to do in this situation. I realize that I probably need to unroot. Will unrooting inside the z4root app be sufficient? Also, what should I do with my renamed APKs? Should I rename them all back to APK before I unroot? Or will the OTA simply install any APKs that it doesn't already see?

Just wanted some expert advice before I clicked the install button. Will answer any other questions as soon as I can, I'll be on here for a while. Thanks.

 

[silver6054]

Ok so instead of going through countless posts for a couple hours, I thought I'd have better luck just making a post since my situation might be somewhat unique. I'll explain what I've done to my phone, and what I'd like to do to my phone. I have a Droid 2 Global with stock ROM, system version 2.4.330.A956.Verizon.en.US. I have rooted with z4root. I did this so I could rename all the bloatware APKs to BAKs instead, so they are prevented from loading at startup. Phone has been running well for the most part, since I got it back in March. Now I see that there is an OTA update (guessing it's finally gingerbread??).

I have heard a few different things on what to do in this situation. I realize that I probably need to unroot. Will unrooting inside the z4root app be sufficient? Also, what should I do with my renamed APKs? Should I rename them all back to APK before I unroot? Or will the OTA simply install any APKs that it doesn't already see?

Just wanted some expert advice before I clicked the install button. Will answer any other questions as soon as I can, I'll be on here for a while. Thanks.

What do you imagine might be somewhat unique about this! There are tons of posts about this, I would encourage to search so you can learn more. But the basic answers are:

1) You absolutely must restore the APKs to their original state. The update files expect a totally stock system and will fail if files are missing. It may not actually require every file, but in general you don't know which ones it plans to update, so, revert to stock.
2) Unroot with Z4 is OK. If you installed bootstrapper you might run into issues though. Check nearby posts to see what to do in this case!

Searching is good so that you don't have to post: "Help!!!! My Update Failed, what do i do???" and, once you succeed "I tried to root with Z4root and it hangs" (for example)

 

[bvjens31]

Well sorry, I was under the impression that most people root so they can install bootstrapper and a custom ROM. Whereas I kept stock ROM and just renamed APKs. So I figured it would be tough to find posts about my situation.

I will get into ADB and rename the BAKs back to APK and reboot a couple times to make sure they all load up OK. Then I'll unroot with z4root and reboot a couple more times. Then I'll give the OTA a shot. I can't think of anything else that I've done to the phone that would affect the OTA in a negative way. Root and renames are all that I have done.

Do you think I'll be able to root/rename after the update similar to how I did it before? Or will the new software require different methods? I will probably need to brush up on some posts regarding gingerbread a little more. Thank you for the response.

 

[silver6054]

Well sorry, I was under the impression that most people root so they can install bootstrapper and a custom ROM. Whereas I kept stock ROM and just renamed APKs. So I figured it would be tough to find posts about my situation.

I will get into ADB and rename the BAKs back to APK and reboot a couple times to make sure they all load up OK. Then I'll unroot with z4root and reboot a couple more times. Then I'll give the OTA a shot. I can't think of anything else that I've done to the phone that would affect the OTA in a negative way. Root and renames are all that I have done.

Do you think I'll be able to root/rename after the update similar to how I did it before? Or will the new software require different methods? I will probably need to brush up on some posts regarding gingerbread a little more. Thank you for the response.

If you didn't install bootstrapper, and all you did was freeze bloatware, the update may well go through. If it doesn't, that can be fixed.

Once you successfully update, you can root, but not with Z4root, which is Froyo-specific. Look for Droid 3 root, or Pete's One Click Root in this forum. (The method was developed for the Droid 3 but works on the Droid 2 Global and many other phones).

Once you have root, yes, you can move/rename the bloatware apks. There is a different set of apps than under Froyo. You probably want to keep the Yahoo apps as they seem to be needed for contacts to work (although some report otherwise).

 

[tgambitg]

Well sorry, I was under the impression that most people root so they can install bootstrapper and a custom ROM. Whereas I kept stock ROM and just renamed APKs. So I figured it would be tough to find posts about my situation.

I will get into ADB and rename the BAKs back to APK and reboot a couple times to make sure they all load up OK. Then I'll unroot with z4root and reboot a couple more times. Then I'll give the OTA a shot. I can't think of anything else that I've done to the phone that would affect the OTA in a negative way. Root and renames are all that I have done.

Do you think I'll be able to root/rename after the update similar to how I did it before? Or will the new software require different methods? I will probably need to brush up on some posts regarding gingerbread a little more. Thank you for the response.

Just for future reference, it is better to Freeze apps with a program like Titanium Backup than it is to rename the APKs....

 

[bvjens31]

Just for future reference, it is better to Freeze apps with a program like Titanium Backup than it is to rename the APKs....

Thanks gambit I'll give that a try. I think I purchased that app back when I had my Droid1, so hopefully I can still pull it off market.

Thanks guys

 

[bvjens31]

Just got all BAKs renamed back to APK. Damn that seemed pretty old-school. Def gonna try titanium backup freeze next time. I didn't jot down any unmount commands for ADB from last time though, so hopefully just typing 'exit' all the way out of cmd is OK. Gonna reboot a couple times and make sure all the bloatware apps load up. Then I'll unroot. Then try OTA and post back here, in case it will help anyone else out.

 

[bvjens31]

I chose to Install. Phone powered off and the install got about 25% of the way and then phone rebooted. When phone came back on, it said the update failed. Time to venture out to other posts and see what the dillyo is. -.-

 

[tgambitg]

I chose to Install. Phone powered off and the install got about 25% of the way and then phone rebooted. When phone came back on, it said the update failed. Time to venture out to other posts and see what the dillyo is. -.-

try the update again, but when it boots into recovery to update, hit the vol+/vol- keys together, it should show you an error.

 

[bvjens31]

Tried the update again, and held down vol keys when it rebooted and all I see is "Bootloader D0.11 Battery OK, OK to Program, Connect USB Data Cable". Only thing I can do is power it down to reboot, then it tries to install the update...gets about 1/3 the way through then the <!> comes up and it reboots without applying update. Are you saying there's a way I can see the error message of why the update failed? I'm not seeing any error. Am I not hitting vol keys at correct time? Thanks.

 

[tgambitg]

Tried the update again, and held down vol keys when it rebooted and all I see is "Bootloader D0.11 Battery OK, OK to Program, Connect USB Data Cable". Only thing I can do is power it down to reboot, then it tries to install the update...gets about 1/3 the way through then the <!> comes up and it reboots without applying update. Are you saying there's a way I can see the error message of why the update failed? I'm not seeing any error. Am I not hitting vol keys at correct time? Thanks.

sorry, I wasn't clear on when to hit the buttons... you need to hit them AFTER getting into recovery, when the Triangle and ! are on the screen...

 

[bvjens31]

Ok I will try. But that icon is only visible for a second or 2 before phone reboots. What else is odd, is that I have to download the entire update again. I would think that it'd already be in the correct location so it would be detected and just allow me to try to install.

 

[tgambitg]

Ok I will try. But that icon is only visible for a second or 2 before phone reboots. What else is odd, is that I have to download the entire update again. I would think that it'd already be in the correct location so it would be detected and just allow me to try to install.

it deletes the update after rebooting. regardless of whether it went through or not.

 

[bvjens31]

So just so I'm clear....when the update is going through, and the little droid guy is on the screen with the progress bar....and as soon as the <!> comes up, I have to hold both vol keys down, and that will show me an error console?

 

[tgambitg]

So just so I'm clear....when the update is going through, and the little droid guy is on the screen with the progress bar....and as soon as the <!> comes up, I have to hold both vol keys down, and that will show me an error console?

It will just show the text of the update, and show you the error. but yes, that is essentially correct.