Rooting WITHOUT unlocking the bootloader?

[Guest ellesshoo]

Since being interested in rooting my N1 I've been googling a lot but it's still somewhat confusing. One of the things that's making me hesitent is the idea of permanently (as of the date of this post) unlocking the phone and thus clearly/visibly voiding the warranty.

I've recently stumbled upon instructions for rooting without unlocking the bootloader? Am I correct in assuming this would make the phone appear (no unlock icon) to be unmodified? Also, does this mean one could fully reverse the rooting process and go back to fully stock google signed roms with OTA updates etc (essentially reverting it back as if it were never modified)?

It would seem this would be preferable to any method involving the unlocking of the bootloader. Are there any disadvantages of this? Any increased risks by NOT unlocking the bootloader? Is there a reason why most people have gone the rout of unlocking the bootloader?

My plan is simply to have root access to run setcpu on the stock FRF91 rom. As of now, I'm not interested in other ROMs (baby steps).

[Guest crawler9]

Since being interested in rooting my N1 I've been googling a lot but it's still somewhat confusing. One of the things that's making me hesitent is the idea of permanently (as of the date of this post) unlocking the phone and thus clearly/visibly voiding the warranty.

I've recently stumbled upon instructions for rooting without unlocking the bootloader? Am I correct in assuming this would make the phone appear (no unlock icon) to be unmodified? Also, does this mean one could fully reverse the rooting process and go back to fully stock google signed roms with OTA updates etc (essentially reverting it back as if it were never modified)?

It would seem this would be preferable to any method involving the unlocking of the bootloader. Are there any disadvantages of this? Any increased risks by NOT unlocking the bootloader? Is there a reason why most people have gone the rout of unlocking the bootloader?

My plan is simply to have root access to run setcpu on the stock FRF91 rom. As of now, I'm not interested in other ROMs (baby steps).

Most people have gone about rooting there phone by unlocking the bootloader because until recently, that was the only option. The guides available for rooting your phone without unlocking the bootloader will work and will not give you any restrictions.

Edit: I forgot to address the most important part of your post. Rooting without unlocking your would make the phone appear unmodified. You could then fully reverse the process and get stock updates OTA, and nobody would ever know you'd rooted your phone in the first place.

Here's the information you'll need:

Chances are you're already on build FRF91. If you're not sure, open "Settings, scroll down to the bottom, choose "About phone" and scroll to the bottom. Under build number it'll say something like FRF91 or FRF85B. If it says FRF91, go to Step 1. If it says anything besides FRF91 or FRF85B go to Step 2. If it says FRF85B, go to Step 3. You'll need to progress in order until you reach the bottom of this list no matter which step is your first.

Step 1. Follow this guide to downgrade your Nexus One to build EPE76.

Step 2. Download the Universal OTA Update To FRF85B. Rename that file "update.zip" (without the quotation marks) and place it on the root of your SD Card. Reboot into recovery mode by turning your phone off and turning it back on while holding the volume down key. You'll boot into a menu that has 4 options. Scroll down to "RECOVERY" using the volume rocker and press the power button. Once you see an android and exclamation point, press and hold the power button and tap the volume up button to bring up the menu. Using the trackball, scroll down to "apply sdcard:update.zip" and click the trackball. Allow your phone to update, then progress to Step 3.

Step 3. Follow this guide to root your phone which is currently on build FRF85B.

Edited July 11, 2010 by crawler9

[Guest MDAC3N1]

People unlock the bootloader because crawler:" because until recently, that was the only option." and it is easier to sort things out if it goes tits up. you can reinstall virtually all aspects of the ROM using fastboot recovery, system, boot etc.

If your determined not to unlock your bootloader you can root without but as a side note i would download the Google Signed Passion ROM from http://shipped-roms.com just incase.

if you need to return to stock you can rename to PASSIMG(.zip) place it on the SD Card and turn phone ON holding Vol Down. this method will work un/locked bootloader because the image is signed by Google.

Thanks

Edited July 13, 2010 by MDAC3N1

[Guest crawler9]

People unlock the bootloader because crawler:" because until recently, that was the only option." and it is easier to sort things out if it goes tits up. you can reinstall virtually all aspects of the ROM using fastboot recovery, system, boot etc.

If your determined not to unlock your bootloader you can root without but as a side note i would download the Google Signed Passion ROM from http://shipped-roms.com just incase.

if you need to return to stock you can rename to PASSIMG(.zip) place it on the SD Card and turn phone ON holding Vol Down. this method will work un/locked bootloader because the image is signed by Google.

Thanks

Not quite true. Google prevents downgrading, even with images signed by it's own company. With a unlocked device, you can flash the original files manually via fastboot flash partition *.img but the passimg method will only give you an error, saying "Failed: Main version is older" or something of the sort. If you want to restore to stock via the passimg method, you will need to get EPE76 stock images in passimg format as that's the only version the bootloader will allow you to use. That fact is true whether or not the device is unlocked. If you wanted to go back further than that with a locked device, you could download a custom repacked version of ERD79 (or other) to flash via Amon Ra (or Clockwork, if you prefer.)

Edited July 13, 2010 by crawler9

[Guest MDAC3N1]

Not quite true. Google prevents downgrading, even with images signed by it's own company. With a unlocked device, you can flash the original files manually via fastboot flash partition *.img but the passimg method will only give you an error, saying "Failed: Main version is older" or something of the sort. If you want to restore to stock via the passimg method, you will need to get EPE76 stock images in passimg format as that's the only version the bootloader will allow you to use. That fact is true whether or not the device is unlocked. If you wanted to go back further than that with a locked device, you could download a custom repacked version of ERD79 (or other) to flash via Amon Ra (or Clockwork, if you prefer.)

I got a N1 from Vodafone UK. I can go back to EPF30 from any ROM using PASSIMG cannot go to EPE76 without fastboot. i get "main version older" think the hboot is a newer version in the EPF30. I thought you had to unlock the bootloader to install a custom recovery to use the repacks?

Thanks

[Guest crawler9]

I got a N1 from Vodafone UK. I can go back to EPF30 from any ROM using PASSIMG cannot go to EPE76 without fastboot. i get "main version older" think the hboot is a newer version in the EPF30. I thought you had to unlock the bootloader to install a custom recovery to use the repacks?

Thanks

Nah if you root without unlocking your bootloader, you can install a new custom recovery from there and use any of the repacks in that recovery while preserving your locked bootloader.

[Guest Michael Spencer Jr.]

Couldn't you flash some things manually using a shell, and downgrade that way without touching the stock bootloader? For example:

su

md5sum /mnt/sdcard/blahblah.img

dd if=/mnt/sdcard/blahblah.img of=/dev/block/mtdblockX bs=512 &