Must I unroot to update to 1.4?

[StarsonDT]

I'm still at 1.1 and currently rooted using autonooter. I'm trying to update to 1.4, but it's not happening. Must I unroot?

[roustabout]

You probably have to if you can't get the install to run on your rooted device.  Rooted devices are all over the place in terms of the /boot partition - lots of folks install Clockwork to /boot and once you do so, you can't apply a BN update.    

Install Titanium first, back up your apps, then restore to stock and install the update.

Re-root with manual nooter and reinstall Titanium, you should be able to reinstall your apps and settings.

 There's a manual nooter guide at

http://nookworks.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-want-to-root-my-nc.html

The Android market may be in trouble on a rooted 1.4.1, still early in the process, though.  

[StarsonDT]

To restore to stock, do I deregister it, or do I 8 loop reboot kinda thing?

[roustabout]

You need to restore /boot, /system and /data all to stock.

Best way to be sure, IMO, is reflash with a clean 1.2 installer:

http://nookworks.blogspot.com/2011/05/clean-12-install.html

8 failed boots wipes /system;  erase and deregister wipes /data, but neither wipes /boot.   

[drmom73]

I thought you were supposed to format /data, /system, and /cache but not /boot.  It's been a while, maybe I'm wrong????

Brooke

[roustabout]

The flashable 1.2 image restores /data, /system and /boot to stock state.

The problem with a device that's been rooted is that it's very easy to modify /boot, and once modified, that blocks the BN updates from successfully installing.  It's actually more of a problem for updates than a modified /system, it turns out. 

It doesn't block them from trying, though, which is kind of annoying and yet kind of useful -- if you have not installed recovery or an overclock kernel, the update will take, at least in some circumstances. 

Normally, you wouldn't have any need to format /boot and would not want to, since you do need it to boot with. 

[UndeadPoet]

So, do we think that these manual nooter processes will work on 1.4.1?

[DeanGibson Distinguished Bibliophile]

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UndeadPoet wrote:

So, do we think that these manual nooter processes will work on 1.4.1?

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At present, the 4-5.18 manual nooter successfully roots the device and installs the Android Market and related Google apps, but the Market does not (yet) work.  Of course, you can side load any app you want.

[roustabout]

In my hands, a manually rooted Nook Color running 1.4 cannot use either the Android market OR the BN bookshop.

Since the BN bookshop is the main reason a lot of folks favor the internal root, I would recommend against rooting for now. 

[StarsonDT]

roustabout:

I followed your instructions for unrooting and it worked fine. Update went fine. But one thing that surprised me was after doing this: all of the books, documents and music files that were on the internal memory were still there. Everything was accessable. Is this normal?

Also, I unrooted, updated to 1.41, and installed my n2a card. I was surprised that the music files and book covers that I thought had been deleted during the unroot/update process were also available/accessable when booting to Android. Again, is this normal?

BTW, thanks for the help!

[roustabout]

So, the key parititions are (very approximately):

/boot- very specific boot files

/system - core of the operating system

/data - OS controlled;  where programs and more live

/media - user controlled;  where sideloads live

Media is generally not formatted by an update, to avoid lynch mobs. 

/data and /media have some really interesting contingencies built in.  If your device runs with a 1g /data and a 5g /media, the B &N downloads area lives on /media, and won't be reformatted. 

The "new" partitioning, to allow more room for programs, resized the partitions to 5g for /data and 1g for /media.  It also puts a folder into /data, at /data/media/B&N Downloads, which contains your BN content.  

Again to avoid lynch mobs, unless you choose to erase and deregister, /data won't be formatted.  An update shouldn't force you to reinstall of your apps, unless of course the update is from Microsoft

The flashable 1.2 I link to is based on a 1.2 update file.  It hadn't occurred to me, to be honest, but yes, it makes sense that sideloads and downloads would be left alone.  I don't have a speculation on the n2a card behavior, but it probably relates to the same thing - probably n2a is looking at /media for its files.