got G2 in a trade and it has villianrom on it, help - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

so i just traded my vibrant to a G2, i thought it has the original firmware so i can learn to flash it myself but turn out it has Villianrom on it,
now i dont know where to start, i see alot about radio and such
please help me out where should i start if i want to flash a different rom so that i am not gonna brick my phone
thanks

Well, either you can return it to stock via the wiki's method and re-root to do it yourself, or you can just install ROM manger and flash a new ROM. There are rooted versions of the stock ROM, as well as many many others. Check the dev section for the listing.

So apparently I can't post url links yet as I don't have enough "quality posts" but you need to go to androidpolice dot com and search under the tutorial section for "complete-guide-how-to-flash-a-custom-rom-to-your-android-phone-with-rom-manager-full-backup-restore" posted on 5-8-10. This post contains all the pertinent information to answering your questions.

astriaos said:
So apparently I can't post url links yet as I don't have enough "quality posts" but you need to go to androidpolice dot com and search under the tutorial section for "complete-guide-how-to-flash-a-custom-rom-to-your-android-phone-with-rom-manager-full-backup-restore" posted on 5-8-10. This post contains all the pertinent information to answering your questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or he can visit the XDA G2/DZ Wiki and stay on the best forum ever

Download ROM Manager if not already installed.. Download a rom of your liking, go to the g2 development sectionbof this forum and browse till you find a good one.. gingervillain 1.5 is stable, I'm on fire and ice rom, its much more stable.. I don't recommend full sense at all.. you can also download a rom straight from rom manager
Check to see if there are any back-ups in rom manager and delete it to free up memory..
Install rom using manager than login to ur gmail account at the set up so its 100% yours and not the guy you traded with!
Have fun, learning how to do it urself doesn't matter as it takes 10 seconds to do anyway with a chance of bricking.. the guy you traded with not only saved you 10 seconds but also a risk of messing up your phone, some noobs never make it past the htc white screen.

melodicjunkie said:
Download ROM Manager if not already installed.. Download a rom of your liking, go to the g2 development sectionbof this forum and browse till you find a good one.. gingervillain 1.5 is stable, I'm on fire and ice rom, its much more stable.. I don't recommend full sense at all.. you can also download a rom straight from rom manager
Check to see if there are any back-ups in rom manager and delete it to free up memory..
Install rom using manager than login to ur gmail account at the set up so its 100% yours and not the guy you traded with!
Have fun, learning how to do it urself doesn't matter as it takes 10 seconds to do anyway with a chance of bricking.. the guy you traded with not only saved you 10 seconds but also a risk of messing up your phone, some noobs never make it past the htc white screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. Rooting can be the difficult and potentially frustrating part. Flashing new roms is a sinch. One thing you should always keep in mind when flashing:
-ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP. When in Clockwork Recovery (you can get to this by going in to ROM manager and selecting "boot into recovery", go down to the "backups and restore" section, and click backup. Simple as that. Doing this every time you are going to make any change, whether it's flashing to a new ROM or just flashing a theme or something simple like that, will save you time, stress and headache if you need to revert back to what was working.
Personally I prefer the GingerMex roms over anything else. They are Gingerbread roms (Android 2.3) that are based on Cyanogenmod 7.

martonikaj said:
Or he can visit the XDA G2/DZ Wiki and stay on the best forum ever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While this is very true, I found the wiki convoluted and difficult to understand when I was initially starting on my adventure of smartphone ownership and modification. While these forums are excellent in many ways, often posters assume you have done a large amount of fundamental research on terms, procedures, and have studied things like adb, or that you will automatically know to turn off usb debugging when connecting to a computer and doing a rom swap.
All of these things ultimately made me shy away from relying on xda as my sole information provider as lets face it: this place can be a daunting mess to those who have not, or are unwilling to put in the time to unraveling the often ill punctuated morass.

Check out meXdroid rom when u want a good themed rom
meXdroid Ghost Chilli

Super easy. Make sure you have ROM Manager installed (it's free on the market if not).
Now, open ROM Manager and the first option is to flash ClockworkMod recovery - do that.
Now, you can either download one of the ROMs included in ROM Manager in the 'Download New ROMs' area, or you can browse the development forum for a rom that you want to try. For that, just download the .zip file and put it on the root of your memory card.
If you downloaded through ROM Manager, it'll pop up and ask if you want to backup and if you want to wipe. Choose yes to both, and ROM Manager will automatically boot into recovery (the orange text) and perform a nandroid backup of your phone, wipe the necessary partitions, and then install the ROM that you downloaded. SUPER easy.
If you downloaded a zip file, it's still easy - open ROM Manager, and choose the 'Install zip from sdcard'. Browse to the zip file on your sdcard, and from there it'll be the same - select yes to backup and wipe and ROM Manager will do the rest.
ROM Manager is just a GUI for the recovery - you could also just boot into recovery (there's an option in ROM Manager to do this) and manually wipe the various partitions and create a backup, and then install the zip, but why should you click so many times when you can let the software do it for you?

thanks guys, i updated it to lastest villian its good so far, ill try some other roms that you guys recommended soon, thanks again for the help

Related

[Q] Need help flashing ROM - Desire

Ok, basically I discovered cyanogen 7 about a week ago and was pure ''
well since then I have gone from knowing nothing at all to having a rooted 2.2 (stock rom) GSM desire (A8181 - whatever that actually means), S -ON
I rooted with unrevoked and have clockworkmod 2.something.
now from what i understand I need to S -OFF so that I can use a program (run on the phone from ROM manager) to upgrade clockwork to 3.x then (correct me if i'm wrong, I'm a total noob dont forget xD) I can use ROM manager to download CM7 and instal all on the phone?
is that right? if not could someone please correct me
I've done a NANDroid backup
i think thats all i want to say :')
I get confused when browsing forums because people talk about things, especially abbreviations, that mean nothing to me xD
Thanks for the help guys
spears93 said:
Ok, basically I discovered cyanogen 7 about a week ago and was pure ''
well since then I have gone from knowing nothing at all to having a rooted 2.2 (stock rom) GSM desire (A8181 - whatever that actually means), S -ON
I rooted with unrevoked and have clockworkmod 2.something.
now from what i understand I need to S -OFF so that I can use a program (run on the phone from ROM manager) to upgrade clockwork to 3.x then (correct me if i'm wrong, I'm a total noob dont forget xD) I can use ROM manager to download CM7 and instal all on the phone?
is that right? if not could someone please correct me
I've done a NANDroid backup
i think thats all i want to say :')
I get confused when browsing forums because people talk about things, especially abbreviations, that mean nothing to me xD
Thanks for the help guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not an expert on the S-OFF side of things but ive been flashing various ROMS without ever needing to S-OFF.
Been using LeeDroid and now GingerVillain (and tried a few more along the way).
For info the GingerVillain has CM7 stuff in it and is pretty stable. Once you have flashed GingerVillain once it has its own setup for flashing updates/patches etc.
But you are right to always take a nandroid backup first. the one time i forgot my flash screwed up
wilbur-force said:
not an expert on the S-OFF side of things but ive been flashing various ROMS without ever needing to S-OFF.
Been using LeeDroid and now GingerVillain (and tried a few more along the way).
For info the GingerVillain has CM7 stuff in it and is pretty stable. Once you have flashed GingerVillain once it has its own setup for flashing updates/patches etc.
But you are right to always take a nandroid backup first. the one time i forgot my flash screwed up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's sound advice because I'm not set on cyanogen however I don't know how I'd go about flashing GingerVillain :')
And how sure are you it's alright with S-ON because I don't like the sound of a £250 paperweight
thanks though
well ive never changed my S status .....
Download ROM Manager from the Market. Make sure you install clockworkmod recovery (using ROM Manager). Backup current ROM (using ROM Manager). Download GingerVillain latest version. Flash ROM from SD card (using ROM Manager)
Any future updates to GingerVillain you can use the 'Villain Setup' utility that you will find in your app list once the Flash is complete.
If its your first ever flash be aware that you should make sure the battery level is high, and that it may take several minutes (so dont panic !)
As long as you backup first everything should be fine (although there is always some risk).
Once you have finished your first Flash it will seem like you were worried about nothing
Oh ... and if you would prefer to stay with Froyo the LeeDroid ROM has a very good A2SD version
that sounds.... easy
thanks
and ROM manager says i already have CwM 2.5.0.7 -- so thats all cool, yeah?
Will my NANDroid backup count or shall I just do it again in ROM manager?
and I'm guessing I can download GV from within ROM manager?
sorry to ask all the newb questions but i'd rather be sure lol
Ive never bothered downloading ROMs from within ROM Manager but I believe you can.
As for the backup Id copy your existing backup to your PC and do another. You can never have too many backups
The backup will be in a sub folder on your SD card in a 'clockworkmod' directory.
oh ... and it generally is easy its just summing up courage for the first one.
Might be worth using titanium backup or my backup pro to take a copy of your apps if you dont want to lose where you have got to on Angry Birds etc
you can then restore them to your new ROM
Thanks
my phone is off to charge quicker at the minute then i'll give it a shot
one last question to be extra annoying
if i can't download GV within ROM man.
..could you provide a download link for me to manually slap in on my SD please
Seriously though, I'm really grateful!
They are all under the Desire Android dev sub forum.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=880465
FINALLY about to do it and I've just thought..
Im on clockwork 2.x
don't i need 3.x for ext4 which makes gingerbread more stable?
also, ROM manager didn't have GV so i downloaded the zip from the link you gave me and extracted it to the root of my SD
rom manager doesnt find the image file, only the 3 folders
..and i feel really stupid :')
[edit 5 mins later]
NOT unzipping it was a better idea, its working now
...my excuse is that im learning
Good thing it worked for you. Some users have reported a host of problems flashing ROMs from ROM Manager. I'd advice you to do it the tried-and-tested old way: through Recovery (which in your case is ClockworkMod).
If you decide to repartition, ROM Manager can do that too, but that's not too advisable either, as some have reported problems with that method, and ROM Manager only allows up to 512Mb partitions, if I remember right.
funny that ^
ROM manager ended up leaving me on the white screen with the green HTC logo untill i pulled the battery
i did it through recovery and it worked a charm
just went through ALL of the settings and i LOVE it
there are a few things i dont like but i'm yet to try different themes etc yet
I'm a happy bunny!
Glad you managed the Flash OK
Never experienced any problems with ROM Manager myself ....
Thing is, now you have recovery and a nadroid backup you are fairly safe. Anything goes wrong you can recover to a previous image from recovery
I always keep a nadroid on my SD card just in case
Of course if you try S-OFF and all sorts of HBOOT changes then you expose yourself to more risk apparently so be careful.
Happy Flashing
oh ... and if you are on GingerVillain go to the Villain Setup and flash the adfree add on. For me it always takes 2 attempts to work, which is strange, but adfree is great
and on GingerVillain you also might want to flash the 'new market' add-on too ...
.... and then there are the Kernels to try too
A week from now you will wonder what you were worried about and will be flashing daily
wilbur-force said:
Glad you managed the Flash OK
Never experienced any problems with ROM Manager myself ....
Thing is, now you have recovery and a nadroid backup you are fairly safe. Anything goes wrong you can recover to a previous image from recovery
I always keep a nadroid on my SD card just in case
Of course if you try S-OFF and all sorts of HBOOT changes then you expose yourself to more risk apparently so be careful.
Happy Flashing
oh ... and if you are on GingerVillain go to the Villain Setup and flash the adfree add on. For me it always takes 2 attempts to work, which is strange, but adfree is great
and on GingerVillain you also might want to flash the 'new market' add-on too ...
.... and then there are the Kernels to try too
A week from now you will wonder what you were worried about and will be flashing daily
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm already wondering it
I though last night (well, 4.20 this morning) that I might bite the bullet and try flashing cyanogen
-which i did with sucess
then downloaded the google add on pack and added that
I felt all happy like
onr of my friends did his hero at the same time too because he was interested when i showed him
I think for now I'll keep cyanogen, but i've left it in note form: no homescreens properly set up, very few apps etc, until i find a ROM that I really like the look of
I'll keep ginger in mind though, especially as i hadn't tried the stuff you mentioned above
Hi there,
Saw the thread and thought i could help you with some information.
S-ON/OFF refers to Signature Verification on or off. S-ON stops things that the phone manufactuer do not want changed. It is totally separate to Root access to android. The main advantage of turning S-OFF is that you can change the size of the partitions on the device to give you more space for you apps. Basically playing around here can be dangerous if you are not aware of what it's actually doing at all times.
The great news is that as you have already discovered, you definately don't need to play with S-OFF to flash ROMs. Just root access and a recovery. The ClockworkMod 2.0.5.7 that comes with the Unrevoked root method should is fine for flashing all ROMs from ROM manager or by booting into recovery. But if any of your ROM instructions call for later versions you can just store the later version zip on your SD and use the older recovery to flash the newer version. It will be usable until your phone re-boots. You can't flash the image of the new recovery without S-OFF
Glad to have you experimenting in the community. I think this sort of stuff is exactly why Android is excellent. Apple hate that people Jailbreak their phones but Google openly encourage this development!
Thanks Jimmy
I flashed GV again (because i'm getting a bit carried away now ;D) and tried to install new market, adfree and a 3d desire bootlogo. I've got debugging and unknown apps enabled but it says there is a problem downloading?
Any idea why?
hmmmm.... not seen that one. Have you tried wifi and 3G ? whats the exact message ?
Did you wipe between flashes ? you dont normally need to do this when flashing updates (eg gingervillain 2.0 to 2.1) but when flashing between different ROMs (eg CM to GV) then you should do a full wipe ....
jimmytheflea said:
Hi there,
Saw the thread and thought i could help you with some information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great summary! I definitely recommend s-off as I found it as easy as root.
I have close to 300mb free on internal and usually over 200mb free ram.
You can also change the HTC quietly brilliant (should be "loudly" if you ask me!) splash screen after s-off, and write to any of your device partitions, including /system and /data while booted, saving some time using advanced for certain tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
spears93 said:
Thanks Jimmy
I flashed GV again (because i'm getting a bit carried away now ;D) and tried to install new market, adfree and a 3d desire bootlogo. I've got debugging and unknown apps enabled but it says there is a problem downloading?
Any idea why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that just the market message telling you there is a problem downloading?
My best guess is that there is a setting in GV that allows direct install to the SD-ext partition for apps. Do you have an EXT2/3/4 partition on your SD card?
When ROMs talk about A2SD, Data2EXT and Data2SD the EXT partition is required.
have a look at the blog for the Starburst ROM for desire for a great tutorial (can't post an external link in here)
It is for a specific ROM but the process is the same. I would recommend using EXT3 because it is the most compatible with ROMS.
See how you go with that.

Ox's noob corner (work in progress)- everything you need to get started right here

Well everyone the dinc2 community has treated me well but I have moved on to the htc rezound please do not hesitate to still pm questions though I'm hoping I can find a volunteer to take over this thread. I'll miss you guys cuz for the most part it was a very mature forum and ill pop in once in awhile to say hello. Good luck if anyone would like to give back to this community and take over this thread pm and ill pm a mod. god bless
I thought it maybe fun to have a light and humorous side to this also so everyone keep your eyes out for funny posts that can make our quote of the day:
if you guys see any posts that make you chuckle pm me and I will put it here and credit you for finding it
Anyone looking to root your incredible2 that is on 2.3.4 with the.98 hboot please see here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1298990 then after your hboot is downgraded follow the instructions on rivera82falcons thread,linked below
hey guys I'm attempting to get a thread started to get all the basic info out to the newcomers that they will need to start there modding a flashing journey. I'm also hoping this will help cut down on the repetitive questions and useless posts mucking up our forums. This is and always will be a work in progress, so this is just a start there will be much more info added as time goes on.
First thing if your not rooted yet everything you need to know is in this thread by rivera82falcon http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1219246
Next up is how to flash a custom rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1263756 by AgalychnisCallidryas
Another thing is the gingerbread ruu. If your phone comes with froyo I would reccommend following the directions on this page before trying to root because unrevoked is becoming increasingly harder to find. Also this can get you out of some pretty sticky situations if you mess up badly enough: http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...8-605-4-same-as-the-official-gingerbread-ota/
wanna try a different radio? Head over to gu1dry's thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1134451
Its my opinion that every flasher should have adb setup on their computer, it will bail you out of a bootloop, tell you why its happening and do all kinds of other awesome stuff. here is an excellent thread from nephron to get you on your way, its from another phones forums but everything except the drivers apply to us, obviously install the correct drivers for your phone: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=532719
for those of you who use aosp roms, just about everyone prefers the miui camera over the aosp stock one and here it is with instructions. Thanks pacerguydon: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=17691395&postcount=11
if your market is missing apps, check this out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1275574 thanks knipp
those of you who want to learn java and general scripting here is a few good tutorials that artvandelay440 dug up:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=17691710&postcount=13
for the up and coming themers here is where to get brut.alls apktool:http://code.google.com/p/android-apktool/ if anyone can find me a good noob friendly tutorial for apktool let me know and I'll post it.
tommytomato created a fantastic super tool called android utility, you can decompile apks sign them and do all kinds of good stuff. Really the ultimate themeing tool: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1167623 if your thinking of doing mods and themes of your own you should check this out, tommy is a modding master and extremely helpful to new themers
wanna changer your splash screen or boot animation? Have a look at 06stangs thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1161543
if your running an aosp rom you can change the carrier label here's how: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1221882 thanks to artvandelay440
running a sense rom? Go here for a new lockring: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1260128 thanks to jwhetstone02
our friend knipp21 has started modding miui lockscreens check it out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1288566
before getting my incredible2 I had an inspire, the one thing I missed about the inspire was 4ext recovery,well now we have it. Big thanks to madmaxx80 for the awesome recovery: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1267540
here is a great tool for undervolting, it provides an easy to use gui, please read up on the pros and cons of undervolting before attempting and remember you must have a kernel that supports undervolting to use this. It will not work on the stock kernel. Thanks to chad0989 for this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1190004
here is setcpu a tool for overclocking, your kernel must support overclocking and this should not be used in conjunction with any other overclocking apps. Thanks to coolbho3000 for this, and please guys consider purchasing the donate version of this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=505419
here is a very educational thread similar to this one, its from the thunderbolt forums but most of the info applies to us as well. Its a very well put together thread and super informative. I reccommend you guys check it out because its a good read. Big thanks to loonatik78 for putting it together: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=16695064#post16695064
another thing I would like to stress to the new people, xda has a thanks button, and now you can even use it right from the xda app, don't be greedy with it guys if someone helps you click thanks.
I would like this thread to become a community effort, if there is anything you guys feel should be here dont hesitate to let me know. This is my small effort to give back to a community that gave me so much so I will gladly try to answer any and all questions in an effort to keep our forums clean. No matter how stupid you think the question may be pm me and I'll try to help. I may not always have your answer but will most likely be able to point you in the right direction. see post three for frequently asked questions
Pm me for any and all questions as well.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
this q and a section will be a work in progress as well. If anyone has suggestions for questions that you think should be here, by all means let me know.
Q: I think I bricked my phone what should I do?
A: calm down 99 percent of the time people think they are bricked they really aren't. If your device shows any sign of life your chances are good that your ok. If you can access hboot by holding volume down and power while the device is off your in good shape you can still flash the ruu and get back to stock.
Q: I put the ruu on my sdcard but hboot cannot find it
A: when flashing anything from hboot it must be named exactly PG32IMG.zip and yes it is case sensitive. Also if you have to rename the file, if doing it on a computer be careful because a computer will automatically add a .zip to the end of it and hboot will not recognize it.
Q: I flashed a kernel a now my "insert issue here" don't work
A: did you flash an aosp kernel on a sense Rom or vice versa? If so things will not work as they should always make sure the kernel you are flashing is compatible with your Rom.
Q: will sense apps and widgets work on aosp roms?
A: short answer is no
Q: my phone is stuck in a bootloop what should I do?
A: some time in your flashing career you will encounter a bootloop, there are a couple of ways to fix this number one is start adb (which every Rom flasher should have set up in my opinion) and type adb reboot recovery and hit enter then once in recovery you can reflash and try again. Your other option is to pop the battery out, put it back in then hold volume down and power to get into the bootloader once there select recovery. If you can not navigate in the bootloader that means the PG32IMG.zip is on your sdcard still. Remove that and it will let you navigate the bootloader. If you have no way to remove that .zip pop out your sdcard boot into bootloader select recovery then pop your card back in.
Q: what is the best Rom out there?
A: there is none its all a matter of opinion. Just a warning, don't start a new thread asking this question you will be flamed into oblivion and the mods will lock it. I've seen it a million times
Q: I just flashed an aosp Rom (miui, cm7, omgb) why is my earpiece volume so low?
A: as of now this is a known issue for our aosp Roms, the tiamat kernel is said to fix it.
this is the start of my q and a and it is far from complete, if you think there is something important that is not here by all means let me know.
Ok guys here is some basic terms you should be familiar with before rooting and flashing
1. Flash or flashing, basically just means to install something from recovery or bootloader
2. Rom- the word rom is kind of an outdated term (read only memory) because we can in fact write to it, nonetheless a rom in the simplest of terms is basically your operating system.
3. Kernel- the kernel is the heart of your o.s. It basically communicates with your software and hardware, wifi and processor speed are a few examples of things your kernel controls among many other things. Sense kernels should not be used on aosp roms and vice versa things will not work as they should.
4. Overclocking- to increase your processors stock speed to increase performance
5. Underclocking- pretty self explanatory underclocking is used to help save battery
6. Undervolting- to decrease your voltage to save battery. Undervolting is a slightly controversial topic some people swear by it and others say it can actually decrease your battery life. Undervolting can cause stability issues so educateyourself before attempting.
7. Radio- basically the software that works with your hardware to give you your signal and mobile network, on other phones they are also reffered to as modems
8. Aosp- android open source project, aosp roms are roms built from the original google source code, some examples of these are cm7, miui, omgb, these are typically lightweight roms that you can customize yourself, they are preffered by many users because of the great battery life and performance
9. Sense roms- these are roms based on an original htc rom, sense is th ui that htc adds to android, sense roms have many nice apps and widgets, and usually are packed with eyecandy, however many people say that sense it a resource hog and needs a lot more ram to run than aosp roms
10. Port- a port is a rom or theme originally made for another device but made to work with ours
11. Wipe- it is usually recommended to wipe before flashing a rom, but not always mandatory, read the forum of the rom your flashing to see if a wipe is recommended or not. Some roms will wipe data automatically some will not. A wipe is just basically giving you a clean start like when you first got the device and is done in the recovery menu. When in doubt wipe, you will run into less issues.
12. Ruu- an ruu is a stock signed rom that is flashed in hboot, an ruu is your get out of jail free card, if you mess your phone up too bad an ruu will bring your device back to its stock state
13. Hboot_ this is basically your bootloader from hboot you can enter recovery, do a factory reset, and flash an ruu, a radio, and other things not flashable in recovery
there is some more basic definitions that I overlooked, see post 28 by artvandelay440
How about some basic definitions? Sense, AOSP, Rosie, kernel, recovery, md5 sum, etc.
How, when, and why to wipe.
How to perform a battery calibration.
Don't restore system data when moving to a different ROM or updating to a new framework.
ontophantoms said:
How about some basic definitions? Sense, AOSP, Rosie, kernel, recovery, md5 sum, etc.
How, when, and why to wipe.
How to perform a battery calibration.
Don't restore system data when moving to a different ROM or updating to a new framework.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes good idea. Definitely will do. I also plan to add a miscellaneous goodies section including commonly used apps like miui camera. And links to kernels and other good stuff. Like I said this thread is a wip I just wanted to get a start on it tonight. I'm not at home now and I'm doing this on my touchpad so its quite tedious. Will work on it a lot more tomorrow. Thanks for the input
Love this idea for a thread. I know this will be a stop that noobs and even seasoned vets will make. Thanks for taking the time to put something like this together!
Thanks for setting this up!
It's really helpful to us newcomers, who inevitably ask a question that will annoy the seasoned members. There is so much info buried in threads with many pages that it's hard to read it all and not overlook something along the way.
Having all the start-up info, and maybe a list of well-known bugs for each rom, in one place will be great!
Woot! Got a sticky!
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
+1 For the best idea ever. Great job.
I think you should spice it up a bit I'll add more later lol. Good thread guys.
For the first post you can start it like this:
Rooting your phone (Achieving S-OFF)
Please read and re-read rivera82falcons execellent write up located here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1219246
Flashing a custom ROM to your device
Please read AgalychnisCallidryas thread on how to manually flash a ROM located here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1263756
Please note that you don't need to back up every user app with titanium backup, some people only like to backup apps that have data, such as games.
It's also important not to back up system apps (apps that came with the phone). Restoring those apps may cause system failure.
Setting up ADB
Nephron has a full set of instructions on how to set up ADB, you can find the thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=532719
Finding the ROM that's right for you
This is one of those threads that may be sensitive to some. I find that finding the best ROM depends on your tastes. When ROMs are released they generally have bugs. Some may be deal breakers, like not having MMS working, or something small like not having a particular tweak installed or an application force closing. You really have to download the ROM and take it for a test drive.
Read through the threads on feedback. Generally, if you see the same bug being mentioned it probably is plagued through every ROM install.
GSM functionality of the phone is important to some, but not most. Generally, if you download a ROM that's based off of the original ROM it should work fine. But if you are downloading a port from another device expect that feature not to work.
Don't be afraid to flash a ROM. The worst that can happen is it will throw your phone into a soft brick (bootloop). Simple way to fix it is restore a backup you made or flash a ROM that you know is solid.
Creating a backup (nandroid) of your device
Your phone at this point must be rooted, and the ROM you are running has to be rooted.
Get Rom Manager from the market. Install the latest recovery that it prompts you with - If you've already installed clockwork mod then proceed.
In ROM Manager:
1. Scroll down to Backup Current ROM
2. Name it what you like, like backup_09192011
3. Let it back up. The more data you have the longer it takes.
In recovery: (You cannot assign names in recovery)
1. Boot into recovery
2. Go to backup and restore
3. Choose backup
To restore a nandroid backup - Wiping data, cache, and dalvik isn't necessary.
1. Boot into recovery
2. Go to backup and restore
3. Choose restore
Useful Applications:
http://androidcommander.com/ great for deleting or replacing apps on the fly. Windows interface, simple to use.
Here are a few more additions:
Replacement camera app for those that don't like to use the stock camera that came with CM 7 or other AOSP Roms.
This Click me Miui camera app works great, just remember to go into the camera settings after installing and select 8mp as the picture size. It can be installed as either a separate camera app or as a replacement to the stock camera.
To install as a add on, just install the apk as a you would any other app. Download to your sd card and install.
To replace the stock camera app, rename the downloaded apk to "camera" (without the quotes) and using root explorer (make sure and select R/W) move the renamed apk to system/app and replace the stock camera apk (first though, make a copy of the stock camera app and add .bak onto the end and store this copy on your sd card, I make a folder named storage so I know where my .bak files are at).
Now that the camera apk is in the system/app folder, the permissions and ownership will need to be changed.
Long press on the camera apk and in the popup menu select permissions,
You will want to change it to look like this:
Read Write Execute
Owner x x
Group x
Others x
After changing the permissions, scroll to the bottom of the popup menu and select "change owner"
You will want to change the ownership so that it reads"
Owner 0 - root
group 0 - root
Select OK and your done. Reboot and you will know have the Miui camera installed.
Wallpapers:
Click me
More to follow later.
Awesome guys keep em coming. I didnt expect this thread to explode so quickly great job guys. Anyonr tutorials or info you guys add i will link to in the op. I will typically update the thread every night around midnight eastern time. Thanks guys.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
I always see lots of beginning android users who want to learn Java/xml/whatever to begin building. I made a list of some coding tutorials-they might be of some help to a newcomer who wants to learn.
JavaScript for Android:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL34F010EEF9D45FB8
General Introduction to learning Android development:
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/index.html
General Coding:
http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercise/0
From around XDA:
making your own boot animations: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1096068
ADB workshop and guide, including edited path variables: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=9959449
How to decompile/edit/sign/recompile apks with APK Manager:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695701
how to use APK Edit (apk tool with custom GUI): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=890199
Editing with NinePatch (.9.png) images: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192207
Great thanks!
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
Add how to change boot animations and splash screens? (my thread)
Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk
Sure will thanks
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
oxlong27 said:
Sure will thanks
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe the how to on hulu? I dont think many use it...but it won't take up too much space right and the how to for renting movies from the market (posted somewhere as changing permissions to mu from Su temporarily)
But seriously this is a great job. I didn't expect all this lol. I'm glad we are trying to save our community.
I came to the Eris and it already had a community. We built this one and it needed some leadership. Way to take charge bro
Unlike the Eris all our devs would rather have their own site and that's ok. But ppl haven't been mature about it. I like the devs like tazz and the way he does things. Just the way I am lol.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
I never expected it to take off like this either, but im definately glad everyone likes this and will continue to work hard on it thanks again guys. Will update tonight with links to your suggestion
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
Another thing.
Some questions would be answered of you tried it yourself.
Like "how does this app work" open the darn thing and find put...if you're still lost in the sauce come ask here. Please research and try yourself first.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
knipp21 said:
Another thing.
Some questions would be answered of you tried it yourself.
Like "how does this app work" open the darn thing and find put...if you're still lost in the sauce come ask here. Please research and try yourself first.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes very good point knipp I want this thread to be informative and educational not a hand holding experience. I have no problem helping anyone that is willing to help themselves but it makes my skin crawl when I see a post that says “wanna root someone please give me detailed instructions" and I have seen a lot of them.

[REF][GUIDE] The Noob Helper - basic info about your sgs3 and flashing

Basic concepts, how-to'sThis thread is a work in progress. If you would like to contribute information or have ideas for what should be added please PM me.
Disclaimer "just because i am trying to be helpful does not make me responsible for anything that you do to your phone. playing with any of this stuff could destroy your phone"
I am not a dev, but I have been flashing on Samsung phones since the international S2 came out. I also spend a ton of time reading the forums and researching what I don't know. I would like to give back to the community in some way and I hope that this post can help the noobs not brick their devices, as well as keep them from being overly annoying to the members and developers here by posting in the wrong places and asking dumb questions.
Some basic rules if you are a noob and don't want to turn your phone into a brick.
1. be patient. don't be the first or even the tenth person to flash anything. wait until you see others using whatever Rom or kernel with success.
2. If you have any doubts about what you are doing, read more. don't flash.
3. make sure you are in the forum for your device, not some similar or related device.
Some basic rules for these forums
1. If you have a question, the first thing to do is look it up yourself. that means searching the forums first, then searching Google.
2. If after searching you can't find an answer, then post in the q&a forum
3. don't report bugs unless you are using an intact version of whatever Rom, if you have changed kernels, installed a ton of apps etc it probably isn't a bug, it's a bad combo or its you.
4. don't report bugs unless you are 150% sure that no one has reported it yet.
5. if you report a bug, make sure you can duplicate it first, then get a logcat of the problem so you can help (see below for logcat info)
Why flash?
by flashing your device you can make your phone act differently, look different, and enable new or disabled options. you could ,for example:
enable native tethering
enable call recording
change the look of your phone
add custom toggle buttons
overclock or undervolt
increase battery life
etc..
Kernel vs Rom vs Recovery vs Modem
Kernel is the layer between the phone hardware and the rom. it controls things like Wi-Fi power, touch sensitivity, possible range of screen brightness, phone logging, and processor max and min speed. kernel must be designed not only for your device but also for the type of rom you are using (Sammy rom or Aosp) some kernels support all roms, others are specific.
Rom is the operating system of your phone. there are three main categories of roms.
roms that are based off of the Samsung stock rom (Sammy rom)
roms that are based off of Android open source project aka AOSP (AOSP, AOKP)
roms based off of the miui project (these used to be a branch of AOSP but recently they have also used Sammy base for miui)
recovery is a partition that you can access at boot by holding down a combination of keys. (volume up and home button in the case of our sgs3) every phone has recovery stock but it doesn't do much. you can replace stock with clockwork mod recovery which is extremely useful for flashing all kinds of things and making backups before you do. There are other alternative recoveries besides clockwork but that seems to be the most common. TWRP is also gaining popularity these days, especially on the sgs3. You can easily switch between recoveries and or upgrade your current recovery. All that needs to happen is for a new image to be flashed onto the recovery partition. See the rooting guide for more info on how to flash a custom recovery.
modem is a file that controls the cell radio of the phone. helps determine what frequencies to use and settings for a particular network. It is important when flashing a radio that you flash a radio that is for the AT&T sgs3 as flashing the radio from another carrier has been known to cause problems with the IMEI
Methods for flashing files - Odin vs mobile Odin vs. clockworkmod(cwm) vs adb
Odin is the internal Samsung tool for flashing. I believe it only exists on Windows platform. This tool is mostly used to initially flash an insecure kernel or rooted kernel, OR to return to completely stock rom. This tool can effect your flash counter (see below). Files for flashing in odin generally should end in .tar or .tar.md5 although sometimes they come zipped and the tar is inside the zip. Read more about Odin before using it as it can easily break your phone. !!!as a general rule make sure you never check the "partition" checkbox EVER!!!
Mobile Odin is a phone based version of Odin made by the very talented developer Chainfire. It can be installed on a rooted phone and used to flash the same .tar based files as the desktop version. Mobile odin has a few advantages. 1 you can use it from your phone. 2 it does NOT effect the flash counter on your phone, 3 it can auto root a stock rom (nice if you want to try out a brand new update that has not been rooted yet)
clockworkmod(cwm) is recovery based tool that can make backups of your entire phone, flash new roms, kernels etc.., and do many other useful tasks. Once you have this on your phone my guess is that most of your flashing will be done through this tool. The files for flashing through clockworkmod are .zip files. Clockworkmod will NOT effect your flash counter.
ADB is the android develpment bridge. It allows for command line interface with your phone through it's debugging options. ADB can do most anything as I understand it. In my several years of flashing I have only had to use it once, and i could have waited for someone to come up with another solution. In general as a noob i recommend you stay away from ADB.
open source vs Samsung based roms vs miui
Open Source Roms such as AOSP/AOKP are built using Google's open source android code as a base. The developers then add functionality specific to the device. The advantages of these builds are that they often have tons of options built in to the rom that change the behavior and look of the phone. They usually allow you to change the toggles in your notification pull down, change the battery display, make all kinds of adjustments to sounds, vibration etc... Some people also prefer the "vanilla" android look and feel. These roms often provide "bleeding edge" concepts, design, and modifications. The Disadvantages of these roms is that some of the hardware coding is done closed source by the phone manufacturers, which means that things like bluetooth, camera, video recording, and MHL video out often don't work or take much longer to get working by the developers. Basically anything that relies on the Samsung framework will not work in an open source build. This means Svoice, Snote, and the Samsung camera app will not work.
Samsung based roms are taken from the Samsung original phone software and modified by the developer. Usually, these roms are modified in order to be faster and to make changes to some of the features. Expect to see changes to the stock rom like: debloated (ATT and samsung software removed), de-odexed (explained later), enable tethering, unlimited sms recipients, added notification toggles, etc. Most of these changes are made to: make the phone faster, improve battery life, make the phone easier to theme. The advantage of these roms is that they still use the Samsung framework so all the proprietary stuff like camera, bluetooth, MHL still work, the disadvantage is that they will never be as customisable as open source roms.
MIUI is a rom that focuses on theming. Official MIUI (Chinese) gets updated weekly on Friday and then there are lots of miui developers who adapt it to other languanges and make some tweaks to it. MIUI can be built from AOSP source or Samsung source and depending will have different features. The first MIUI rom for our phone just appeared in these forums and it is based off of AOSP. MIUI has a unique look and is also highly customizable through theming. There are tons of themes available for download through the rom itself and you can mix and match any part of any theme you want. This includes icons, lockscreen style, etc.. Some people criticize while others praise MIUI for being very "iphone like". This is because the icons look more iphone like and there is no app drawer in the MIUI launcher. However, you can still use any launcher you like within MIUI.
odexed vs de-odexed
odexed is how the phone comes stock from Samsung. Odexed means that system files and apps are split into two pieces and kept in different places on the phone. This is done to speed things up a bit. However, it makes it harder to theme the phone because the apps are split up. Most custom roms choose to de-odex (basically regroup the files back into one) so that custom themers can make themes more easily for the phone.
download mode and recovery mode how to access
(Copied from mskip and his toolkit thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1746665)
How to get into Download Mode (For Odin)
1. Unplug the USB cable.
2. Shut down the phone.
3. Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME DOWN' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for about 2 seconds until a WARNING! Screen appears. Press the 'VOLUME UP' button to enter Download Mode.
How to get into Recovery Mode
1. Unplug the USB cable.
2. Shut down the phone.
3. Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME UP' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for about 5 seconds to enter Recovery Mode.
STEP BY STEP how to flash your phone for the first time
A. get root
first off, you need to gain access to the root of your phone. there are several ways to do this (thanks to all the talented devs).
I recommend using mrRobinson's method as it will not trip the flash counter on your phone.
1. you will need to have odin from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1722686 remember to hit the thanks button, download and install odin.​
2. Kies (on Windows, not on your phone), Samsung's sync program, can interfere with Odin. Either make sure Kies is closed and close it out of background processes using the task manager in windows...or better yet, uninstall it completely.​3. make sure you have the proper samsung drivers installed. you can get the USB drivers directly from Samsung here: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/SGH-I747MBBATT​
4. you need to download the right image from mrRobinson's thread. to find out which one hit the menu key from your home screen, select system settings, select about phone at the bottom, and look for the build. it should be either UCALEM or UCALG1. Once you know, go to mrRobinson's thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426 download the matching image, and dont forget to thank him.​
STEPS 5-7 COPIED FROM mrRobinson's THREAD
5. Extract the .tar file from the .7z file you just downloaded from the thread in step 4​6. Put your phone into download mode (see how above)​
7. Start Odin, connect your phone to your PC, you should see the box under ID:COM change color to show your device is connected. click on PDA and select the .tar file you just extracted. Hit the start button and wait for the file to flash to your phone. When done your phone will reboot automatically. One word of warning about Odin: DO NOT TOUCH THE CHECKBOXES!!! WHATEVER YOU DO>>DONT TOUCH THE RE-PARTITION CHECKBOX!!!!​B. installing clockworkmod
the next step is to get a working clockworkmod recovery on your phone instead of the default recovery. Again, there are many ways to do this and there are several different versions of CWM recovery available. I recommend using the one from Rom Manager as it seems to be compatible with most roms. Note that currently most versions of CWM can only see your internal SD card and not your external if you have one.
1. Go to the Google play store and download Rom Manager (https://play.google.com/store/apps/...anager&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd)​2. Open Rom Manager app, flash clockworkmod recovery (first option), choose the appropriate phone..in this case galaxy s3 att, grant it superuser privileges, it should say install successful. ​NOTE: some users have reported not seeing the S3 ATT in the list of devices in Rom Manager...this is a bug and hopefully will be fixed. It may be that you need the purchased version instead of the free version for it to work? Not sure why this is but if it gives you trouble there are other ways to flash a recovery image. The next easiest way once rooted is to use the tool in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1746665 from there you can flash both cwm or twrp whichever you prefer. Alternatively you could also use goo manager to flash TWRP link to goo here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.s0up.goomanager&hl=en
C. Test out your new recovery and make a backup of your phone
1. turn your phone off, then turn it back on while holding the Volume UP and home key. (more detailed instructions above) You should see Clockworkmod Recovery at the top.​2. Use your volume keys to navigate to the backup option and select backup, then wait for it to complete. You now have a backup of your phone you can restore to at any time.​
D. downloading and flashing a new rom
now its time to decide what rom to flash. when choosing a rom read the first post of the thread (the OP) carefully and take time to read through most if not all of the thread. At the very least go read the last 10 pages of the thread so you are familiar with any current issues people may be having. Once you have picked a rom:
1. Download the rom you want to try​2. Make sure that the rom ends up on your internal SD card and that you know where it is​3. Get into CWM recovery​4. As a general rule it's a good idea to wipe data/ factory reset from CWM recovery (this will wipe all your data on the phone except any photos/videos you may have taken)​5. It is also good practice to wipe cache from CWM recovery​6. Lastly, from the advanced menu in CWM choose to wipe Dalvik cache​7. now go back out to the main recovery screen and choose "install .zip from SD Card" option and navigate to your rom, select it and confirm​note that a new rom may take longer to boot the first time.
Flashing "dirty" vs flashing "clean"
Clean
Doing a clean install of a rom means erasing or formatting all the data from the previous rom before you flash the new one. This is the prefered way to flash a rom to ensure that it will run smoothly. It is necessary if you are switching from one rom type to another (CM to Samsung base). In order to do a clean flash you need to boot into recovery and select the following options: wipe user data (this wipes all apps and personal data, but not your photos/videos), wipe cache, advanced>wipe dalvik cache, storage/mounts>format system. This will ensure that no trace of the former rom is left on the phone. Beware that at this point your phone will not boot until you install a new rom. I suggest using titanium backup to backup apps and smsbackup+ for texts to make getting your new rom configured easy.
Dirty
Doing a dirty install means just flashing a new rom right over the top of the old one without wiping any data. The advantage to this is that you don't lose any apps or account info. The disadvantage is that you open up the possibility for problems. Generally you only want to flash this way if you are upgrading a rom (CM10 nightly to the next nightly, or from one samsung based rom to another). If you decide to flash over the top and have any issues, you should not report bugs, but try flashing clean first.
backing up IMEI
There have been some issues with people losing their imei number when flashing roms. *It appears to be limited to the old imei software version 2 but the evidence is not yet conclusive. *If you lose your imei, you will not be able to connect properly to the data network. *Luckily some devs have figured out how to re-inject an imei number into our phone and get it working again. *It is certainly a good idea to back up your imei info before flashing just to be on the safe side. *There seems to be two main threads dealing with backing up and restoring your imei. *you can check them out here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801997
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1804117
huge thanks go out to these devs for figuring this out!! as always make sure you thank them.
I have yet to try either of these methods out myself so if one seems much easier or clearer please let me know.
tethering (for stock Samsung based rom)
you can use a mod to enable wifi tethering from your phone to up to ten other devices and share your data connection. If you are running a custom rom you probably already have this enabled and don't need it. It is already included in any AOSP roms also.
Make sure that you use the version of the mod that is for your software version number (UCLEM or UCLG1 see beginning of rooting guide to figure out which one you are on).
The original mod for UCLEM is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1732262
The mod for UCLG1 is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1768826
The Flash Counter
The flash counter is an internal counter that ticks every time you install a non-samsung firmware through Odin. This allows Samsung or AT&T to see if the phone has been flashed with custom roms. custom recoveries such as Clockworkmod and TWRP as well as the mobile version of Odin DO NOT change the counter. Only flashing non-Samsung files through the desktop version of Odin does. You can see your flash counter when you enter download mode on your phone. Luckily, Chainfire has developed an app that allows this counter to be reset, so there is really little concern anymore about having the counter trip. If you do need to send your phone in for repairs, you will want to reset the counter and then flash an unmodified stock rom through odin to get your phone back to factory state.
Link to Chainfire's app through this post here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1800878
Logcat
Logcat is a way to access the android system log for everything that is going on behind the scenes. This tool is used to help developers pinpoint problems in a rom. If you want to actually be helpful to a dev when reporting a bug, you should really learn to use this tool. I am no expert on logcat but you can find some good information in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1726238
APN settings
This is the apn that comes on stock at&t phone. It allows you to connect to LTE as well as hspa+
Name: ATT PTA
APN: pta
MMSC: http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS Proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 410
Auth: none
APN type: default,mms,supl,hipri
NOTES BELOW ARE COMING SECTIONS. Feel free to pm me questions you would like to see answered or suggestions for other info:
theming
unlocking sim
returning to stock
What info is stored in each area: system, data, cache etc...
Looks good.
Stuck
FNM
I now know more about Android OS! Thanks for the info.
Good thread! In your step by step guide I suggest you add installing adb and adb basics. IMO, this is essential for anyone flashing, has bailed me out of trouble on more than one occasion.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using XDA Premium HD app
MORE ! MORE ! Very nice work thanks, this is shedding some lights on the terms we see floating around
excellent information, much appreciated, so what is de-odexed and odexed? thanks again!!
I got my s3 when it first shipped, and soft bricked it a month later. Even if you do everything right, it can still mess up. So waiting for a USB jig to come in the mail since my homebrew jig didnt work or I hard bricked my phone... Be warned...
Very helpful thread, thanks a lot!
Thanks for this guide!! Very helpful. Coming from a very different phone, everything about the S3 is foreign to me! Could you maybe talk about backing up nv stuff and imei?? I know there's another thread that explains it, but, this being the noob helper, I think it'd be good for anyone new to this phone.
Thanks
Thank you for making this! I'm sure this will help a lot of people out. I've flashed quite a few times and having a guide like this is definitely helpful.
I sure hope I had this guide when I flashed for the first time a few days ago, but at the time you only had part 1 done and the guide had not been completed yet. Glad to see it finished and it'll definitely help out others.
mods
Thanks for all the invaluable info on flashing ROMs. I've been a BB user for years so Android is still new to me. I'm looking into rooting and trying out some custom roms, but I had a question. When it comes to Mods can you just add those individually?
I want to use Team Sonic's FreeGS3 Rom mainly due to it's Sony Bravia engine Mod and the Awesome Beats Mod (or at least when they get it working on apps other than Google Music). However, they don't have a fully supported Rom for AT&T just yet.
Trying to have the best of both worlds....I may just need to try out something else and wait for the full ATT version.
This is a great thread you've created OP. However, I'm a tad confused. You mention in the guide that Kies interferes with Odin and you say to close and close it out of the backround, but you also mention "better yet, uninstall it completely." One of the reasons I'm rooting my new phone is to be able to delete this bloatware. Are you implying this is possible without first rooting the phone?
Thanks a lot in advance, this is very helpful.
jroyjohnson said:
Thanks for all the invaluable info on flashing ROMs. I've been a BB user for years so Android is still new to me. I'm looking into rooting and trying out some custom roms, but I had a question. When it comes to Mods can you just add those individually?
I want to use Team Sonic's FreeGS3 Rom mainly due to it's Sony Bravia engine Mod and the Awesome Beats Mod (or at least when they get it working on apps other than Google Music). However, they don't have a fully supported Rom for AT&T just yet.
Trying to have the best of both worlds....I may just need to try out something else and wait for the full ATT version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would wait to flash any ROM that isn't specifically for your device. However you may be able to flash the mods you want like the bravia mod on top of an att ROM. You need to find the original post for the mods you want, and do some research to see what they require and if anyone has used them successfully. Be extra careful of mods written for the international version of the phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
omi__ said:
This is a great thread you've created OP. However, I'm a tad confused. You mention in the guide that Kies interferes with Odin and you say to close and close it out of the backround, but you also mention "better yet, uninstall it completely." One of the reasons I'm rooting my new phone is to be able to delete this bloatware. Are you implying this is possible without first rooting the phone?
Thanks a lot in advance, this is very helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see why you are confused. I am referring to kies on your windows PC. (If you installed it at some point) Not the version that runs on the phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
OP, are you sure you can install CWM through ROM Manager after rooting? I remember trying to do this on my SGS2 last year and my phone soft bricked. Tried it twice, and still soft bricked.
Why not just use Robinson's method?
ComradeNF said:
OP, are you sure you can install CWM through ROM Manager after rooting? I remember trying to do this on my SGS2 last year and my phone soft bricked. Tried it twice, and still soft bricked.
Why not just use Robinson's method?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested it out myself and it works fine. I figured this was the easiest way to get it done and not have to get adb up and running. Also, the official cwm is supported by all the new roms like cm10 and some other recoveries have had issues flashing those roms.
Thanks for putting this together! Very Helpful!
One question, you say flash CWM , first in list choose Galaxy S3 ATT, when i open Rom Manager and choose Flash i don't have the S3 for a choice ?I have Galaxy Note, Skyrocket and T-Mobile Galaxy S2, no S3....
Cholerabob said:
One question, you say flash CWM , first in list choose Galaxy S3 ATT, when i open Rom Manager and choose Flash i don't have the S3 for a choice ?I have Galaxy Note, Skyrocket and T-Mobile Galaxy S2, no S3....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try scrolling down the list
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Some questions on rooting and flashing a new rom

OK, so my AT&T Note 2 is almost here (FedEx tried to deliver it ye3sterday when I was at work) so I want to make sure I am ready when it gets here. So some questions:
1 I downloaded Odin and understand how to root the phone but where do I get the file to use with Odin to do the rooting?
2 After rooting, what program do I use to flash a new rom?
3 Is there a sticky thread somewhere with this information that I could read?
4 Is there a good program to import all of my contacts from my old Windows phone? I'm not sure what format they are stored in so that is why I mention that it is a Windows phone.
5 (opinion) What is the best rom for an AT&T Note 2? I plan on adding lots of applications later and I really don't like re-installing things often so I'll probably stick with whichever rom I choose for quite a while.
rogerbacon50 said:
OK, so my AT&T Note 2 is almost here (FedEx tried to deliver it ye3sterday when I was at work) so I want to make sure I am ready when it gets here. So some questions:
1 I downloaded Odin and understand how to root the phone but where do I get the file to use with Odin to do the rooting?
2 After rooting, what program do I use to flash a new rom?
3 Is there a sticky thread somewhere with this information that I could read?
4 Is there a good program to import all of my contacts from my old Windows phone? I'm not sure what format they are stored in so that is why I mention that it is a Windows phone.
5 (opinion) What is the best rom for an AT&T Note 2? I plan on adding lots of applications later and I really don't like re-installing things often so I'll probably stick with whichever rom I choose for quite a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2050297 - Does not require Odin to root. Just save to your phone, make sure Unknown Sources is checked in your phone's settings, run the file to install, run the app, make sure the exploit boxes underneath the "root" section are unchecked, then select root.
2: Download GooManager from the Play Store and run it. In menu, select Install OpenRecoveryScript. Follow the prompts, and it will download and install TWRP (custom recovery) for you. It will ask to reboot.
3: Simply do a search at the top of the forum.
4: Try Samsung Kies first. It should transfer all your contacts from most devices. Do this before installing a new ROM. Then make sure the contacts are saved to GMail's contacts.
5: It depends on preference. Each one have their own features and functionality, and varies on the version of Android it's using. I would research each one and see what entices you if I were you. Some ROMs may even have features of certain apps that you like built-in, enhancing the phone's performance due to the fact that it doesn't require an extra app to do what you want it to do. Most ROMs won't require you to "reinstall" things with each update of the ROM if you're just doing an update.
BlackPhantomX said:
1: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2050297 - Does not require Odin to root. Just save to your phone, make sure Unknown Sources is checked in your phone's settings, run the file to install, run the app, make sure the exploit boxes underneath the "root" section are unchecked, then select root.
2: Download GooManager from the Play Store and run it. In menu, select Install OpenRecoveryScript. Follow the prompts, and it will download and install TWRP (custom recovery) for you. It will ask to reboot.
3: Simply do a search at the top of the forum.
4: Try Samsung Kies first. It should transfer all your contacts from most devices. Do this before installing a new ROM. Then make sure the contacts are saved to GMail's contacts.
5: It depends on preference. Each one have their own features and functionality, and varies on the version of Android it's using. I would research each one and see what entices you if I were you. Some ROMs may even have features of certain apps that you like built-in, enhancing the phone's performance due to the fact that it doesn't require an extra app to do what you want it to do. Most ROMs won't require you to "reinstall" things with each update of the ROM if you're just doing an update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
Maybe I'm making this harder than it needs to be. Looking at some of the roms I notice that some of them say "rooted". If I plan to flash a rooted rom do I have to root first? I assume no, but I thought I should ask.
But to install TWRP I think it has to be rooted and if I use TWRP to flash roms then I guess I'd have to be rooted first even if the rom being flashed is rooted. Now I've confused myself again. I really don't want to turn my $700 phone into a brick by screwing up.
rogerbacon50 said:
Thanks.
Maybe I'm making this harder than it needs to be. Looking at some of the roms I notice that some of them say "rooted". If I plan to flash a rooted rom do I have to root first? I assume no, but I thought I should ask.
But to install TWRP I think it has to be rooted and if I use TWRP to flash roms then I guess I'd have to be rooted first even if the rom being flashed is rooted. Now I've confused myself again. I really don't want to turn my $700 phone into a brick by screwing up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom ROMs always require root because it relies on a custom recovery such as TWRP and CWM. So, in short, unless you want to stay stock, you need to root.
This post should help to greatly simplify things for you. (4th post in the thread) Instructions are referring to the jedi rom but they will work for almost any other rom. I am on clean rom and have tried several others. Everything works great on clean rom. My advice would be to download all the ones you want to try, flash them and try each one for a day or two until you figure out which you like the best, then get your phone set up how you want on that rom. Once you get the one you like perfect, make a nandroid backup and then you can always flash any new roms you want to try and if they don't work for you, you can flash your backup and not have to worry about setting everything up on your phone all over again.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=35726061
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Trust me, the phone is absolutely worth the wait and the money! Also like he said earlier, every ROM is different and my favorite won't necessarily be your favorite, but if you like the look of Stock, I use Jedix8 which has great battery life and performance and some cool extra features. CleanRom also has a great reputation and I'll probably give it a go soon just to see what it's like. PM me if you have other questions or anything at all
BlackPhantomX said:
Custom ROMs always require root because it relies on a custom recovery such as TWRP and CWM. So, in short, unless you want to stay stock, you need to root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
topshelf95 said:
This post should help to greatly simplify things for you. (4th post in the thread) Instructions are referring to the jedi rom but they will work for almost any other rom. I am on clean rom and have tried several others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
badler6545 said:
I use Jedix8 which has great battery life and performance and some cool extra features. CleanRom also has a great reputation and I'll probably give it a go soon just to see what it's like. PM me if you have other questions or anything at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks all. I think I have it all figured out (and thanks to FedEx's stupid delivery policies I've had 3 extra days to think about it).
I have downloaded Odin and a rooted img file from http://galaxynote2root.com/galaxy-note-2-root/how-to-root-galaxy-note-2-easiest-method
It will root and install CWM (although I think I would prefer TWRP from what I've rad.
I've doanloaded both the CleanRom for AT&T and the Jedi roms and will try those out. I think once I get the phone rooted and with hte custom recovery on it the actual flashing of new roms will be comparatively easy.
Well, I got my phone last night and charged it. Today I was able to root it, install TWRP, and flass CleanRom all in under an hour. Thanks to all those who offered help. The only issue I had/have is a lack of internet wit hdefault WAP settings: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=37478407
I've gotten around it using the Cingular settings but download speed is only 1.9MB. That's OK for now as I consider my options: live with it or talk to AT&T and see is something can be done without losing my unlimited plan.
Overall , this was an easy process thanks to the large databse of information here and friendly helpful people. I would encourage anyone who is thinking of doing this to proceed. It is easy once you start.

S3 Rogers - Looking for ROM/info

I have myself a Rogers based S3, that has the stock Jelly Bean OS on it.
Its bogged down, I don't like it anymore.
I have seen the OS on the Nexus unit's and find it to be WAY better (more fluid, more options and much better UI for texting)
Now for the explanation of this thread....
I have NO idea what I'm doing anymore when it comes to this phone. It's not rooted, NO CWM installed.. And i fear i may brick it if i don't know exactly what i'm doing.
That being said, i would like to go to a stock Google OS, or something very close to it.
What are my options? I would like to try and make this as pain free as possible. As far as i can recall, rooting//cwm and Os load on my captivate was really easy... This time around, i am finding way too many "possible" ways of doing everything. I think more or less, i need to be pointed to the right way so i don't get confused.
Anyone willing to toss me a hand on this one :fingers-crossed:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2343223
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4
Please read forum rules before posting
Questions and Help issues go in Q&A and Help section
Thread moved
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saj222 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2343223
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of linking me to something I've already read, how about actually saying something.
I'm finding too many "this might work for rogers, this might not"
Last time i followed a tutorial meant for an AT&T unit, I hard bricked the phone, and ended up tossing it
Sorry if it was in the wrong section before Kenny.
How about me not responding at all next time? I know no one is forcing me but its simple enough to find this info by searching. I understand your hesitance... No one wants an expensive brick.
I'll put something together for you later today unless someone else beats me to it. Deal?
js593 said:
What are my options? I would like to try and make this as pain free as possible. As far as i can recall, rooting//cwm and Os load on my captivate was really easy... This time around, i am finding way too many "possible" ways of doing everything. I think more or less, i need to be pointed to the right way so i don't get confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good thread to read: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1725839
First you need to get root. 2 easy ways here. First one is install a stock rooted ROM with Odin. Look for the Rogers image here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426 Second one is to install CF-Root with Odin, here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1963790 Make sure to get the one for I747M. Second option is faster b/c the zip is way smaller. Now you have stock root.
Next get GooManager https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.s0up.goomanager&hl=en. Run it, press menu and then install open recovery script or something like that. It will install TWRP custom recovery. Now you can flash ROMs. Perform Nandroid backup before commencing flashing.
For a pure Google like experience, give Slimrom or AOKP (Task650) a try. Very stable.
Slim - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2085739
AOKP - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1766684
Dandroid is the latest stock themed to the hilt like Cyanogenmod. Very stable.
Dandroid - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2121506
saj222 said:
Good thread to read: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1725839
First you need to get root. 2 easy ways here. First one is install a stock rooted ROM with Odin. Look for the Rogers image here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426 Second one is to install CF-Root with Odin, here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1963790 Make sure to get the one for I747M. Second option is faster b/c the zip is way smaller. Now you have stock root.
Next get GooManager https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.s0up.goomanager&hl=en. Run it, press menu and then install open recovery script or something like that. It will install TWRP custom recovery. Now you can flash ROMs. Perform Nandroid backup before commencing flashing.
For a pure Google like experience, give Slimrom or AOKP (Task650) a try. Very stable.
Slim - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2085739
AOKP - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1766684
Dandroid is the latest stock themed to the hilt like Cyanogenmod. Very stable.
Dandroid - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2121506
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. I';ll be looking this over and attempting this tonight.
js593 said:
I have myself a Rogers based S3, that has the stock Jelly Bean OS on it.
Its bogged down, I don't like it anymore.
I have seen the OS on the Nexus unit's and find it to be WAY better (more fluid, more options and much better UI for texting)
Now for the explanation of this thread....
I have NO idea what I'm doing anymore when it comes to this phone. It's not rooted, NO CWM installed.. And i fear i may brick it if i don't know exactly what i'm doing.
That being said, i would like to go to a stock Google OS, or something very close to it.
What are my options? I would like to try and make this as pain free as possible. As far as i can recall, rooting//cwm and Os load on my captivate was really easy... This time around, i am finding way too many "possible" ways of doing everything. I think more or less, i need to be pointed to the right way so i don't get confused.
Anyone willing to toss me a hand on this one :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Task650 4.2.2. on my Rogers device and IMO it's the best out there. Never bricked my phone and smooth as butter.
thecoach1999 said:
I'm using Task650 4.2.2. on my Rogers device and IMO it's the best out there. Never bricked my phone and smooth as butter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys.
So i got the phone rooted, and TWRP is installed. I have a NANDROID backup already done, but i'm a little confused on the roms. Could someone help me with this?
Last i recall, the roms were a single file, Ive downloaded the AOKP JB in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1766684 but i'm confused on how to install the rom (as its a .zip file, there's multiple files in the folder....)
Thank in advance!
Edit - I tried to flash the rom anyways, and AOKP one Failed and turned up with an error. It comes up saying "Error executing updater binary in zip "
Edit2 - I just managed to flash Dandroid to the S3, but apps are failing to load everywhere. Unsure if this is something to do with the network or anything, but im also not getting LTE with Rogers.... Play store wont connect either (and i did to the Gapps update...?)
js593 said:
Hey guys.
So i got the phone rooted, and TWRP is installed. I have a NANDROID backup already done, but i'm a little confused on the roms. Could someone help me with this?
Last i recall, the roms were a single file, Ive downloaded the AOKP JB in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1766684 but i'm confused on how to install the rom (as its a .zip file, there's multiple files in the folder....)
Thank in advance!
Edit - I tried to flash the rom anyways, and AOKP one Failed and turned up with an error. It comes up saying "Error executing updater binary in zip "
Edit2 - I just managed to flash Dandroid to the S3, but apps are failing to load everywhere. Unsure if this is something to do with the network or anything, but im also not getting LTE with Rogers.... Play store wont connect either (and i did to the Gapps update...?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before flashing you need to wipe. Data, system, dalvik and cache. Oh and before this put the new ROM files and anything you want to keep like pics on the external sdcard.
Do you have an updated bootloader? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2321310
Try re downloading the AOKP ROM and flash the while thing (the .zip). Then flash the gapps. You may have a bad download the first time.
With non-touchwiz ROMs you need to install the ROM and gapps. Do not install any gapps with dandroid.
saj222 said:
Before flashing you need to wipe. Data, system, dalvik and cache. Oh and before this put the new ROM files and anything you want to keep like pics on the external sdcard.
Do you have an updated bootloader? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2321310
Try re downloading the AOKP ROM and flash the while thing (the .zip). Then flash the gapps. You may have a bad download the first time.
With non-touchwiz ROMs you need to install the ROM and gapps. Do not install any gapps with dandroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe i ran into the issue blindly.
I forgot to update the bootloader before flashing it. Will try again when i get home and report back with anything.
..
fffft said:
If that sorts your issues, then call it done and thank the people that helped you.
The earlier suggestions were good and not to be faulted. However there is more than one way to do most things. So if you are not happy for whatever reason here is a slightly different approach. There are some very stable custom ROMs that are very snappy and have a similar no lag, fluid feel (Google calls this "butter") to them vis a vis the Nexus. So a simple approach to that result would be:
1. Download and install the Samsung S3 V7.0 toolkit (program)
2. Start the toolkit program
Choose "n" when asked if you want to update the program
Choose your phone version. This is probably "53" for you
Choose option #1 from the main menu to install the necessary USB driver to your PC
After the driver is installed, connect your phone to your PC with the Samsung USB cable.
If your phone is currently stable, you can skip steps #3 + 4.
If you are uncertain, then steps #3 + 4 will restore a stock Rogers firmware as a starting point:
3. Go to Samsung updates and download a stock Rogers firmware
4. Install the stock firmware. This is toolkit menu option #8, 4, 2
5. Download the custom Wicked Aroma ROM v10 (main thread here)
6. Copy the Wicked Aroma ROM to your phone. You can do this in windows by going to file manager and drag and drop the Wicked file (leave it zipped) on the "Samsung Mobile MTP Device - Phone/Data" folder icon.
7. Flash the Wicked ROM from "recovery mode"
Ensure that your battery is at least 80% charged. Then turn your phone off and disconnect the USB cable
Push and hold the home button, volume up and power button at the same time until you feel the phone vibrate and see blue text on screen in the upper left hand corner. Then release the buttons.
On the onscreen phone menu, choose wipe (factory reset)
Then choose install and select the Wicked_v10. zip file
The rest of the install will be automated on your phone screen. It will ask you to select a number of options. If you are uncertain, then just leave them at the default settings. Ensure that you leave the wipe cache setting as is when asked. And I'd recommend the stock theme and stock kernel to start. The rest you can leave as is or change to what sounds attractive to you.
Note that the wicked ROM will change your boot splash screen. Most people won't care and it's not that hard to revert if you don't like the logo for some reason. This is the logo that appears for a few seconds when you first power up a phone.
This is a very snappy, pretty much zero lag and stable ROM. I think that you'd like it.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the lengthy reply.
I tried putting the new bootloader on there, and tried re-flashing, but it did the same thing. So, in the mean time i'm going to use the Dandroid rom (didn't install the Gapps) and it seems to be working okay. I just fear a bit as the phone seems to be running much warmer then it usually does....
In the mean time, ill use this one, and see if it makes a difference (it could still be loading all my settings and whatnot, so we'll see what happens. I love the look of this rom though. Very simple, very clean. Exactly what i was looking for. Those samsung stock themes are terrible.... Thanks a bunch for the help people. Greatly appreciate it!
Personal taste varies a lot and there are a lot of themed ROMs on this site. So you should be able to find something that you like. It sounds like you want something snappy and Spartan looking. If you like your results so far, then no need to go any further.
If you end up trying the Wicked ROM, perhaps choose the Miui or Holo launcher and ASOP lock screen options.
There are an endless variety of home screen themes to be discovered. And no way to know what you might like. A few random screen shots:
http://media02.hongkiat.com/cool-android-homescreens/Clood.jpg
http://media02.hongkiat.com/cool-android-homescreens/evening.jpg
http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/jb_holo_launcher.jpg
http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo248/jb-dan/DroidInc/d4281332.jpg
http://mycolorscreen.com/wp-content/uploads/homescreens_2012/270592/KLPOS7.png
http://desktopspotting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Minimal-Android-Home-screen.png
.
Just installed the Wicked rom on my S3. NICE! Need to play with the settings a bit to get it configured the way I like, but a definite keeper.
Very nice job.....Kudos!

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