Rooting and Unrooting for dummies

so i had my last thunderbolt rooted my screen broke so i took it to sprint i unrooted it of course and it was one of the first one so they just gave me a new one in store i went to root this one and the samething that happened to others on the secont time it is suppose to boot in the bootloader it  does a regular reboot then when i turn it of and take it to hboot and do it it starts but says internal error misc cant be found i downloaded the driver right and updated it and htc sync isnt on my computer whats the deal

Any difference between the free and paid versions of ROM Manager?

Most comments didn't really help distinguish...

Great site and thanks to everyone who contributes - I have a question about Rooting using the method linked in the first post.  I am embarrassed to say I keep getting stuck because when I plug my Thunderbolt in, it appears that Unrevoked 3 doesn't recognize it's plugged in.  I'm on Windows and I did the Hboot step to get the Bootloader Interface.

I haven't put any Thunderbolt software on my computer - is that part of the problem?  Whenever I plug the phone in it asks to do a software update, and I just cancel out.  I get the popup box saying it recognized an Android, but then *poof* - it looks like it disappears??

Any advice for someone stuck before step 1 even starts??

Thanks

so can someone put up a updated pc36im, i tryed to unroot by the way the droid demos does it got my soff to son but when i got to update my phone todat i get a small andriod with a ! above his head, so im guessing i didnt fully unroot anyone please hrlp, im seriously getting pissed i even rooted to begin with if i new it was this comolicated to unroot

I just cant get it to work... Ive gone through the entire process several times to make sure im not missing anything. I downloaded the drivers and unrevoked, made sure it was on charge only and turned my debugging on. Unrevoked runs through the entire process then gets to the end and says waiting for root.... then nothing. It will sit there like that all day. I get into my apps list and there are a few "new" apps that I for sure didnt download, but no superuser app so i know the root didnt go through. Idk what else to do? any ideas?

its says android version 2.2....? I just realized that all the extra icons came from the most recent update that was sent out, but is that update the reason why i cant root?

One confusing thing is they mention -
◄●If you have used Unrevoked forever, start here●►
Then say -
If you have NOT used Unrevoked Forever, skip to the instructions below.
Then repeat much further down -
◄●If you have used Unrevoked forever, start here●►

I've not rooted yet - just looking into it so I know what I'm getting into, and for sure that I can easily get out of it - but this is extremely confusing.


If you need a little more guidance, follow these instructions.
◄●If you have used Unrevoked forever, start here●►
Make sure you have downloaded the files linked above. Do not extract them
Connect your phone to your computer via USB and change to "Disk Drive" by dragging down from the notification bar.
If you have NOT used Unrevoked Forever, skip to the instructions below. If you have, transfer unrevoked-forever-son.zip to the root of your sdcard. Do NOT transfer the PC36IMG yet. It'll only cause a hassle and make this take longer.
Once complete, power off the phone
reboot into the recovery by holding VOL DOWN + POWER until it boots to the white screen. Then select RECOVERY.
Depending on what recovery you're using, you need to flash a zip. Select the unrevoked-foreverson.zip that you just transferred and complete the flash.
When complete, power off the phone. Reboot into the bootloader by holding VOL DOWN + POWER until it boots to the white screen. If it says S-ON at the top, select RECOVERY and skip to step 9. If it says S-OFF, repeat steps 5-7 Until it does.
◄●If you have used Unrevoked forever, start here●►
Power off the phone and reboot into the recovery by holding VOL DOWN + POWER until it boots to the white screen. Then select RECOVERY.
Connect via USB. There is an option for this in both Amon RA and Clockwork.
Transfer the PC36IMG.zip to the root of your sdcard.
EJECT THE PHONE FROM THE COMPUTER and then turn off USB in Recovery
Power off the phone and reboot into the bootloader by holding VOL DOWN + POWER until it boots to the white screen.
It should check the PC36IMG.zip and then ask you YES/NO to apply the update. Press VOL UP for YES
Once complete, Press VOL UP to reboot.
You are now unrooted!
djR3Z
Site Admin
 

Thanks for the unrooting help, but one question. If i unroot my HTC Thunderbolt, will I have to re-activate it with sprint?
 


Thanks