Develop Bugs

[Q] Newb question: How do you flash custom ROMS

I rooted my EVO running stock Froyo last night with Unrevoked 3.2. It worked flawlessly and phone is experiencing no problems. Now i'm all excited to run the custom ROMS but kind of confused as how the flashing of the custom ROMS works. Do I have to wipe out the entire contents of my SD card everytime I want to run a custom ROM? I only have the 8gig card. I was under the assumption that I could save my current stock setup and download and flash into a custom ROM and revert back to the stock rooted setup when I wanted. I downloaded a program called ROM Manager v2.0.2.6 but unsure how to use it. Looks like a 1-click solution to loading custom ROMs but I dont want it to wipe out my phone. Can someone please help me to understand the steps to take to load a custom ROM? I was thinking of trying out Fresh or something similar which still has HTC Sense in it. Feel free to message me on here. Thanks in advance.....

lostsoul1977 said:
Do I have to wipe out the entire contents of my SD card everytime I want to run a custom ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
I'm not sure about using ROM manager, perhaps somebody else can help with that.
The process is simple...
Connect your EVO to your PC and enable disk drive.
Transfer the ROM zip to the root of your sd card (if your computer mounts as drive F: ... just transfer to F:\)
Eject/disable disk drive
Boot into recovery (turn device off, hold volume down and power button at same time until you see your hboot screen, choose recovery)
Perform a nandroid backup (just in case you need to get back to where you are)
Perform wipe
Use recovery option to flash zip from sdcard
Select the ROM zip
Those are the quick and dirty instructions, I'm a newb with this stuff, I've had my EVO for 2 weeks and I've not had a single problem. I had CM6 on it and I just flashed Fresh 3.2 to test that out and test 4G this weekend.

I would advise doing a Nandroid backup of your current setup. Then go the development section and choose a rom that suits you. Each developer normally will tell you how to go about flashing there rom.
Basically you would need to go into recovery and choose the flash from zip...

ok first no you dont have to erase your sd card every time you flash a rom.
you should however do a factory dalvik and cache wipe. this will erase all settings yuo previously had and will uninstall all apps.
to combat this you can use programs like Titanium back up to back up all your apps. (system settings are not recommended to be blind restored as they can cause issues between roms)
You can also make a back up of your stock rom you have now to do this through rom manager simply make sure you have the latest clockwork recovery flashed (very top button in rom manager) then go down to where it says back up rom click it and it will do the rest. This is recommended before you do anything.
once you ahve your nand back up (the back up through rom manager) and have your apps backed up through something like titanium back up. place the rom yuo want to flash on your sd card and follow these steps.
boot into recovery (either through rom manager or by powering down the phone and then holding vol down and power until it launches the boot loader and select recovery)
select wipe data/factory reset
select wipe cache partition
Select install zip from sd
select choose zip rom sd
scroll to and select the rom you moved to the sd card
select yes and let it do its thing once done select reboot phone.
It will take a little extra time the first time it boots up vs normal jsut let it sit and it should after a while boot into the custom rom.
or follow link
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=How+do+you+flash+a+custom+rom+on+an+evo

video assistance

Thanks everyone! I'm running titanium backup at the moment and backing up the entire system. I had ROM Manager do a backup of my stock ROM last night, so I think i'm good. ROM Manager also downloads ROMs for me and sets them to load at boot up. Most of the ROMS suggest doing a full wipe?

a full wipe jsut means factory/data cache and dalvik which is basically wiping all info on the phone itself. the sd card however doesnt need to be wiped

i installed baked1.7 and all loaded smoothly. I'm assuming I now have to re-download titanium backup to restore my apps and all?
Also, i'm finding no info on how to load the wimax update and the htc radio update files and the custom kernels for baked1.7

lostsoul1977 said:
Also, i'm finding no info on how to load the wimax update and the htc radio update files for baked1.7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Load those updates onto the root of your sd card. Get quickboot from the market to easily boot into recovery mode. Or you can power off, then hold vol down while powering on to get into bootloader and select recovery. Flash zip file and select those files. Reboot and your wimax/radio should be updated.

Noob needs Help??????

Hey all,
I have a new HTC Evo that I installed Unrevoked 3 root program....no problems installing it.....So I downloaded and installer ROM manager and then ROM manger premium.....no problem there either, backed up the phone and everything seems to be good......tried to add Rom's in zip file from SD card and keep coming up with Abort errors.....clockwork is running fine to my knowledge...
read a few threads and add in Unrevoked forever....Installed with no problems....but I still can't get any Rom's to run properly with the abort errors.....
does the SD card file have to be a certain type of file name???? and thing would be a huge help.....I am pretty sure all the software is working good.......I just can't get this to work.....I have been test it with a few different ROM'S......AND STILL NO LUCK
Thanks in advance..........

i would check to see if the file didnt accidentaly got renamed with double .zip.zip at the end. also make sure there are no spaces in the name, redownload the rom with pc not rom manager, put it in the root of sd card, go into recovery manuallly, wipe and try to flash

so root of the SD card meaning not in another file.....just drag it over to the card itself in its own file??? I downloaded the ROM originally from this website....a few different ones and no luck....

yes all you do download then drag and drop to the sd card not inside any folder, do the wipes(if using clockwork recovery wipe data, cache and the go to advance and wipe dalvik cache also) then go to flash zip from sd card, look for your zip and select it wait then reboot, first time will take a while 5 to 10 minutes is reasonable, then once booted let it settle for a couple of minutes, go thru the setup process and reboot again to finish settling everything. make sure you have a full battery in case you run into any issues you dont want your phone dying while flashing anything

Do yourself a favor and get Amon Ra recovery and stop using ROM Manager.

Get amon RA 2.3 recovery and then start flashing roms via recovery instead of rom manager. To get to recovery u can one...power off phone and hold down volume down button and press power, two...after installing a custom rom and then hold power down and select reboot alot of the roms have the option to reboot into recovery, or three...download quickboot from market and use that to reboot into recovery. Once there u can wipe parts of ur phone and also flash roms and mods and u can put the roms or mods anywhere on ur SD card. Also don't forget to make a new nandroid and a single nandroid of ur wimax keys

Ok,
So I installed amon RA 2.3 recovery ....everything went fine, Now my screens are green instead of the orange like they were....my super user icon went from ninja to skull and crossbones....and I also downloaded quickboot from the market................ and made a nandroid backup
So I went in to recovery, selected the option for zip on SD card, selected file and looks like it went with no errors.....rebooted my phone and nothing.....the rom was for a green clock app......the phone just looks stock trim

Awelshhooligan said:
Ok,
So I installed amon RA 2.3 recovery ....everything went fine, Now my screens are green instead of the orange like they were....my super user icon went from ninja to skull and crossbones....and I also downloaded quickboot from the market................ and made a nandroid backup
So I went in to recovery, selected the option for zip on SD card, selected file and looks like it went with no errors.....rebooted my phone and nothing.....the rom was for a green clock app......the phone just looks stock trim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those mods can be tricky. Open the modded zip up on ur computer and see the name of the app. U can do the same thing with ur phone if u dl astro or file exployer or root exployer from the market. Go to system then apps and find that app and delete it. The try reflashing the mod via recovery. Uve done everything right its just some apps don't change for some reason
Also don't forget to wipe dalvik cache and cache before and after flashing something

The other thing is that some user made mods use the original framework.res which will change the way your phone is themed or how it "looks"

Golden rules:
1. Always do a nandroid backup before making big changes to your device.
2. Always wipe cache & dalvik manually from within recovery BEFORE flashing any mods.
3. Make sure the mod you are flashing is designed to be used with the particular rom you have installed. All mods are NOT compatible with all roms.
4. If you've screwed up and had not made a nandroid backup before screwing up, go into recovery, wipe EVERYTHING in the wipe menu EXCEPT the SD card and start over.
posting & replying via the XDA Premium app.

clockworkmod suddently won't install zip

I've been using clockworkmod on my gsm GN for the past few weeks with no problems. Now suddently when I choose install zip from sd card and select the zip I want to flash the screen goes black and after 2 seconds it comes back to main menu.
I doesn't work with any zips even ones I flashed a few days ago.
Anyone knows how to fix this?
EDIT: I just tried used ROM manager to reflash CWM and after reboot I tried to install the zip in ROM manager. The phone rebooted but didn't come back on. I had to do a battery pull.
EDIT 2: Full data wipe didn't help. restored NANDROID for now.

So I deleted everything off /sdcard with root explorer and then it worked
deleting only the clockworkmod folder didn't work.

I think CWM screwed me

I should be able to flash a backup I made with CWM recovery in CWM recovery, correct? Or would I have to adb push it?
I moved to 4.2.1 but not a fan of it at this point and want to go back using a backup (4.1.2) I made with CWM, but it won't flash. So at this point I'm trying to save my photos, notes, texts, and my titanium backup of apps and do a complete wipe using wugs (unroot/relock then reroot/unlock). Or should I be able to get away with just doing a format on my sdcard/system/cache/data and data/media (options in CWM)? Since going to 4.2.1 I have also lost a significant amount of free space.
BTW I have tried TWRP before and went back because I didn't like the layout but damn if your recovery can't even handle its own backups what the hell is it good for? TWRP here I come again.

you know it moves everything to a folder called 0 on the internal memory, right...?

A lot of the following is probably overkill but what I'd do is...
1. Backup everything I wanted to keep when in Android 4.2.1 onto my PC (Nandroid backups, photos, music, etc.)
2. Flash the factory 4.1.2 image
3. Boot up to make sure it's working
4. Restore nandroid in CWM
Chances are there are easier ways of doing this but I'd be happy knowing that is 100% right then have the potential for it going wrong

derekwilkinson said:
you know it moves everything to a folder called 0 on the internal memory, right...?
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Click to collapse
Bud I have tried to flash it out of every folder I have access to in CWM Recovery
The folder's I have tried, after choosing install zip from sdcard:
sdcard/0/clockworkmod/backup/ - 4 backups in here but wont flash any of them - says no files found when I try to flash one
sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/ - can actually see 2 backups in here (ones I don't want, just wanted to see where they were placed in 4.2)
sdcard/legacy/ - no files found
But stupid me did just realize the CWM backups I have been creating aren't zips? So I need to figure out how to get to sdcard/clockworkmod/backup and place my backup folders here. So I will be able to see them when I choose Backup and Restore - Restore

CWM can't see the backups in the '0' folder, it stores them on /data/media (or is it /media/data??) so unless you have a file manager with root access you won't get them back

EddyOS said:
CWM can't see the backups in the '0' folder, it stores them on /data/media (or is it /media/data??) so unless you have a file manager with root access you won't get them back
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Click to collapse
My my my you are the man. It looks like it is data/media/clockworkmod/backups.
I am going to try to Restore my latest 4.1.2 nandroid tonight, after I had a chance to back every thing up, but I'm guessing it's going to keep the current file structure though.

The best way to upgrade to 4.2.1 from 4.1.2 is
1.Flash all factory images from fastboot apart from recovery,@ recovery step flash twrp 2.3.3.0 and you are all set to no '/0' bug,
2. Downgrade to 4.1.2 ? Flash factory images of 4.1.2 , just keep the recovery as twrp 2.3.3.0, at present it is the best possible recovery for maguro for handling the '/0' bug , it doesnot delete the layout file.
And restoring nandroids in between the versions can make every file very clumsy, take some time and flash stock images to get rid of that.

BaMaDuDe87 said:
My my my you are the man. It looks like it is data/media/clockworkmod/backups.
I am going to try to Restore my latest 4.1.2 nandroid tonight, after I had a chance to back every thing up, but I'm guessing it's going to keep the current file structure though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After downgrading you will still have the /0/ folder with all data. So many apps wont recognize that the backups are there available to be restored. You can just point to the "new" backup location that now exists in the /0/ directory.
Example: Titanium backup will tell you there is no restore data unless you go into preference and point it to the right folder in /0/.
Example 2: Nova launcher will not see the backups. Manually move them via Root explorer or similar from the /0/data/ to the /data/
..and so on.

I guess I will be flashing the factory image then.
1. Backup everything I need/want (photos, notes, sms, and grab latest copy of titanium backup folder)
2. Format system/cache/sdcard just because
3. fastboot - factory image (4.1.2)
4. Phone should still be unlocked/rooted (on current bootloader/radios correct?)
5. fastboot - twrp
5. Restore everything else
Or use Wugs to take back to stock, then fastboot unlock, root, add CWM recovery might be the easier way at this point. Restore nandroid and everything else. Then add TWRP and remove CWM.
Sorry trying to talk this out with you guys and wrap my head around what I am in for. I know it's not hard, just frustrating to think I could possibly lose some things.

Better Recovery TWRP
BaMaDuDe87 said:
I guess I will be flashing the factory image then.
1. Backup everything I need/want (photos, notes, sms, and grab latest copy of titanium backup folder)
2. Format system/cache/sdcard just because
3. fastboot - factory image (4.1.2)
4. Phone should still be unlocked/rooted (on current bootloader/radios correct?)
5. fastboot - twrp
5. Restore everything else
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to be bossy but the latest version of TWRP seems to do a better job handling user folder /0. Its also touchscreen and [email protected]$$ so there is really no comparison....:highfive:

Yea I tried it, thought I was more comfortable with CWM and this bit me in the ass, so TWRP it is when I get everything straightened out

How to Re-install and Restore a CWM recovery file?

I was experimenting with the xposed framework and got stuck in a boot loop after restarting for a second time to install some more modules. The safe mode booting didn't work and neither did the included restore zip file for getting out of it. I tried to restore from the backup on the phone, but it already had the xposed framework in it and it got into a boot loop too!
I tried to adb sideload the backups that I made, and that didn't work either.
I keep backups, made from CWM Recovery, and I pull these to my computer using a WiFi file explorer. (I don't have enough storage to keep two alternative backups so I always have the second stored on my computer)
Anyway, I cant seem to get the restore file that I uploaded to my computer (a restore image) to reload on to my phone and restore. I have attempted to transfer it back to the phone into the folder it came from, but the file wont flash as a zip and it doesn't show up to be restored if I select the restore feature. (BTW-The restores have plenty of SD room to restore on, that isn't the issue)
I realize that the WiFI File Explorer that I use may be zipping the files, so shouldn't I be able to "install zip" in CWM recovery and it restores the image? (apparently not, can you explain why, and what I can do?)
Can I get access to the mnt/shell/emulated/clockworkmod/backup/ to put the file there to be restored again?
Or,.. How do I put the restore file on my phone (in the correct place) to be restored again?
Is my problem being caused by where I am pulling/pushing the file from(mnt/shell/emulated/clockworkmod/backup/)?
What am I missing/doing wrong?
Nexus 4
CM11 installer version xnpq08q
Rooted Unlocked
CWM Recovery