A few questions before rooting... - T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII

A few questions before rooting... - T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII

I am going to root my phone and have a few questions before I do. I am coming from a sensation and with the htc I only had 1 way to root so are any of the methods better or worse than others? I was planning on using to root injected stock rom method.
Secondly, I've read and still don't understand, could somebody explain the loss of imei to me? Htc doesn't have anything like that so I am confused about the backup of it?
Finally, could somebody suggest a good starting point for a rom and kernel combo? Unlike my htc I'm pretty happy with the stock rom sped and battery. I mainly want to tweak the looks of things a little, maybe a new battery icon and moving the clock position.

Best way to root is the video in my signature (use my files, too). It's easier and faster than the way you describe. I wish people would forget that stupid flash counter exists. It's not like we can't reset it.
Loss of IMEI very rarely happens when you flash. But, once you flash CM10, just run the terminal emulator that comes with it: su > reboot nvbackup. Now your IMEI is backed up, and you are protected against possible, but unlikely, loss. I've flashed every day for two months and never lost mine.
Rom: Why use ICS when you can use JB? IMO, the sole reason to use an ICS build is wifi calling. Use CM10. Use the stock CM kernel. CM doesn't have center clock (AOKP does), but IMO, CM is the better of the two. A lot of people like to flash custom kernels. They usually provide marginally better battery life, overclocking/undervolting, etc. I feel that none of these are necessary. There is an additional problem that the 3rd party kernels always lag behind CM's kernel merges, also. This typically results bootloops. So make sure the kernel you flash (if you do), is compatible with the newest CM build.

No the method does not matter, root is root. Read about them and use the one you are comfortable with.
Yes, HTC does have IMEI. All GSM phones do. It is basically the serial number your phone uses to connect to the network. All you have to do is follow the instructions in one of the threads to back it up.
For stock based ROMs on ICS, I like Wanamlite.

Aerowinder said:
Best way to root is the video in my signature (use my files, too). It's easier and faster than the way you describe. I wish people would forget that stupid flash counter exists. It's not like we can't reset it.
Loss of IMEI very rarely happens when you flash. But, once you flash CM10, just run the terminal emulator that comes with it: su > reboot nvbackup. Now your IMEI is backed up, and you are protected against possible, but unlikely, loss. I've flashed every day for two months and never lost mine.
Rom: Why use ICS when you can use JB? IMO, the sole reason to use an ICS build is wifi calling. Use CM10. Use the stock CM kernel. CM doesn't have center clock (AOKP does), but IMO, CM is the better of the two. A lot of people like to flash custom kernels. They usually provide marginally better battery life, overclocking/undervolting, etc. I feel that none of these are necessary. There is an additional problem that the 3rd party kernels always lag behind CM's kernel merges, also. This typically results bootloops. So make sure the kernel you flash (if you do), is compatible with the newest CM build.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, CM10 wasn't officially supported with the htc so it never really worked great, but it looks like the M version is pretty smooth and ironed out so I'll definitely try that. I guess a lot of the threads I've read were early ones from before the flash counter could be reset, I thought it was a bigger deal than it seems like it is. I'll try your sig's root method. Oh yeah, wifi calling doesn't work for me right now with the stock rom so losing it isn't a big deal at all.
joshnichols189 said:
No the method does not matter, root is root. Read about them and use the one you are comfortable with.
Yes, HTC does have IMEI. All GSM phones do. It is basically the serial number your phone uses to connect to the network. All you have to do is follow the instructions in one of the threads to back it up.
For stock based ROMs on ICS, I like Wanamlite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't saying HTC doesn't have imei, I was saying in a year of having it and before with the G2 I never once read any threads about people "losing" it, so I wanted to know what makes the s3 different.

That was SOOOO much easier than the sensation was. The senny took me over an hour, I had to learn adb and had to check and recheck a ton of commands before entering each to make sure I didn't brick anything. This was fast and easy, but now I can't seem to get into twrp recovery? Every time I try vol up/home/power it boots into what I'm assuming is the standard stock recovery?

My signature has an explanation for that.

Thanks again, I don't understand why but I installed cwm touch and it worked and then used goo manager to install twrp again and now it works fine. I know there's a whole thread about twrp but what do you like and why?

I stopped using TWRP because the keyboard (at least at the time) didn't work properly. It would close for no reason, making me retype the file names. Took me 5-6 times once, for this file name: CM10-XXXX. 9 characters. Would just keep closing and resetting the characters I had already typed. I've heard the new version, 2.3, has some pretty bad bugs, but I haven't used it, so can't confirm. Developer is currently fixing said problems. I also find the slide-to-continue gimmick to be ridiculous. I will say, however, that flash-queuing is a good idea.
I won't even discuss CWM because we have CWM Touch. The layout is nonsensical. Everything seems to be in random order, no dividers to make things easier to read, no prompt on fix permissions. Other than that, it's great. It allows you to delete stock recovery, and it keeps root for you when you flash OTA files with it.
CWM Touch is what I use, and will continue to use until something better shows up.

One more question, is there a way to double check once I've done the su/nvbackup using terminal emulator, or should I just assume that if the phone rebooted after running that command that it was successful?

When you reboot with that command, you will see blue text at the top left corner of the screen, like when you are going into recovery. It says it's copying modemst1 and modemst2 to fsb and backup. Yes, the names are incorrect, but you get the idea.

Related

[Q] Root Question: No OTA updates done; Best ROM and method?

Hi--I am a generally technically adept Evo owner who would like to root to a Froyo custom ROM, but I've never had to root anything before. I've read threads meant to act as guides (like those linked in the sticky thread), but there seems like so much I don't understand. I know these are simple questions, but my searching didn't really help. I'd be really grateful if anyone had any helpful answers.
Question 1: Does anyone have any recommendations for the best custom ROM that will have these features?:
Froyo (of course)
SenseUI (I prefer it, but have nothing against stock Android)
Ability to restore my apps (via Titanium Backup, I assume)
Unlocked wifi tethering (via app or Froyo's in-built capability)
Unlocked FPS (I have a Novatec panel)
Same or better camera/video capabilities as stock SenseUI (i.e., nothing broken at least)
My current software: Stock Evo, no OTA updates applied, with Superuser Unrevoked permissions.
(That is, I have not applied any OTA updates since I bought it, June 11th. I'm running 2.1-update1, version 1.32.651.6. I did the Unrevoked 1-click "root" that in fact only gave me Superuser permissions (the Unrevoked that was first released, not the Unrevoked2 or 3 updates). I.e., I can use the wifi tether and Titanium Backup, and I've backed up my apps/settings with it.)
Question 2: Can anyone tell me in a simplest method to safely root and install the custom ROM, considering I have no OTA updates and unrevoked superuser permissions?
Specifically, I've read guides that list 3 steps (gaining root permissions, unlocking NAND, gaining "full" root), but I still have a lot of questions:
What does it mean to "flash a recovery"?
[*]When do I have to manually install radio updates, and how do I know which ones I need?
[*]If I decide I'd rather go back to stock, ever, can I do that?
[*]What is the likelihood of a brick, and can I repair a brick?
[*]Can Titanium Backup really restore all my apps after I do a full wipe and root? (just to calm my anxiety, please...)
The best guide I've seen is the "IDIOT-PROOF" root guide, at thread 701004 (sorry, new user restriction, can't post links), but I don't know if it's still current. That also seems more complex than SimpleRoot (also don't know if it's current).
I think I'm looking for the simplest root method with the least possibility of screwing everything up. (It pains me to say it, but a brainless iPhone-like "slide-to-jailbreak" method would be great.)
Sorry for the newbie questions. If anyone has any advice/answers, I'd be glad to hear them!

Well best bet for you is probably going to be either the one click simpleroot, you can go to simpleroot.com its there for download. Of course it depends on exactly what software version you are on. As far as your rom choice there is no rom that offers all of those things, probably closest will be stock rooted 2.2, then you can either live with the 30fps restriction or flash a custome kernel and live with 3mp camera .... you're choice. the recovery is a program that the phone boots into that has nothing to do with the rom at all, with this you can select several operation to make on the rom. You need recovery because you cant modify the rom when you are booted in the rom. Anyway this is all a very basic explanation. My recommendation would be to follow toasts part 1 then part 2 to root and unlock nand. (unlocking nand allows writing and writing to the system area of the rom while booted into the rom) then you will be all set to flash any rom you like. feel free to pm if you need more info As far as knowing what you need I would recommend starting with netarchy's stock rooted 2.2 odexed version. In his post he will tell you flash rom then radio then wimax, all of these files are included there in the post. Then as you learn you can switch between roms to explore what each one can do for you and decide which you like best. Yes Titanium backuop will work with this.

For me and I have flashed every rom lol. Daily driver would have to be the fastest and stabliest rom which is in my opinion Caulkins v1.02 froyo. Use simple root for 1.32. Then use the flash recovery and pick ra recovery.

ifly4vamerica said:
As far as your rom choice there is no rom that offers all of those things, probably closest will be stock rooted 2.2, then you can either live with the 30fps restriction or flash a custome kernel and live with 3mp camera .... you're choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? How about a ROM with, say, just 2.2 + SenseUI, with all the standard features, and wifi tether enabled?
Thanks for the advice, by the way, both of you.

ScaryBugThing said:
Hi--I am a generally technically adept Evo owner who would like to root to a Froyo custom ROM, but I've never had to root anything before. I've read threads meant to act as guides (like those linked in the sticky thread), but there seems like so much I don't understand. I know these are simple questions, but my searching didn't really help. I'd be really grateful if anyone had any helpful answers.
Question 1: Does anyone have any recommendations for the best custom ROM that will have these features?:
Froyo (of course)
SenseUI (I prefer it, but have nothing against stock Android)
Ability to restore my apps (via Titanium Backup, I assume)
Unlocked wifi tethering (via app or Froyo's in-built capability)
Unlocked FPS (I have a Novatec panel)
Same or better camera/video capabilities as stock SenseUI (i.e., nothing broken at least)
My current software: Stock Evo, no OTA updates applied, with Superuser Unrevoked permissions.
(That is, I have not applied any OTA updates since I bought it, June 11th. I'm running 2.1-update1, version 1.32.651.6. I did the Unrevoked 1-click "root" that in fact only gave me Superuser permissions (the Unrevoked that was first released, not the Unrevoked2 or 3 updates). I.e., I can use the wifi tether and Titanium Backup, and I've backed up my apps/settings with it.)
Question 2: Can anyone tell me in a simplest method to safely root and install the custom ROM, considering I have no OTA updates and unrevoked superuser permissions?
Specifically, I've read guides that list 3 steps (gaining root permissions, unlocking NAND, gaining "full" root), but I still have a lot of questions:
What does it mean to "flash a recovery"?
[*]When do I have to manually install radio updates, and how do I know which ones I need?
[*]If I decide I'd rather go back to stock, ever, can I do that?
[*]What is the likelihood of a brick, and can I repair a brick?
[*]Can Titanium Backup really restore all my apps after I do a full wipe and root? (just to calm my anxiety, please...)
The best guide I've seen is the "IDIOT-PROOF" root guide, at thread 701004 (sorry, new user restriction, can't post links), but I don't know if it's still current. That also seems more complex than SimpleRoot (also don't know if it's current).
I think I'm looking for the simplest root method with the least possibility of screwing everything up. (It pains me to say it, but a brainless iPhone-like "slide-to-jailbreak" method would be great.)
Sorry for the newbie questions. If anyone has any advice/answers, I'd be glad to hear them!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to suggest something before you actually move forward. I usually back up with MyBackup and with Titanium backup. I am completely rooted and nand unlocked but something i've seen Titanium for some reason after i grant it superuser tell me my phone isn't rooted on different roms, also i have seen Mybackup crash the sense and try to reboot it over and over in a loop. Luckily I did a Nandroid restore to a more stable setup. Some of the other forum members here are more likely than not less new to the process than myself, but I thought i had covered everything and when i did simple root, I was on 1.47, with the factory reset and everything lost my data... luckily it wasn't a lot or important. I just thought i'd let you know that it is not a bad thing to have a zipped backup of all of your apks+data, and your contacts with both programs before you go ahead. Hope that possibly can steer you out of trouble if one of them fails to perform as it should. Best of luck.

Exohart said:
I'd like to suggest something before you actually move forward. I usually back up with MyBackup and with Titanium backup. ... Hope that possibly can steer you out of trouble if one of them fails to perform as it should. Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, thanks for the tip.

You can get a rooted stock 2.2 ROM, odexed or deodexed. Then you can install a wifi tether app. Personally, I use Fresh 3.1.0.1, I don't notice any differences in general to stock, but you should probably just try different ROMs out and see which one you like. It's easy to switch around.
See this for ROMs.
As for rooting, You can use Simple Root, but I highly suggest doing it yourself using toast's or TheBiles' guides. You learn a lot and it's the same thing as using Simple Root, but you can deal with problems better (although I didn't have any issues when I did mine).
See here for guides.
There is a lot of info on how to get around any issues you have, so be sure to search if you do run into trouble.
And if you need the files for rooting, check here.

Awesome response, SilverZero, thanks! I'm starting to feel comfortable with the rooting procedure.
I think the difficulty I have in choosing a ROM is that many ROM threads don't list conclusively whether a feature works or not. So, for instance, I presume that the Fresh ROM has a fully working camera (8MP/720P with all settings), but I've read other ROM threads that talk about downgraded camera bugs, so I am not sure if I should assume things work fine. Conversely, I think wifi tethering doesn't work, since it *seems* to suggest it isn't working, but doesn't flat-out say so...
I don't suppose some source exists somewhere that lists/compares all of these ROMs' features in a table format, listing whether they work or not, or are downgraded? Having something like that in a central, often-updated location would be incredibly useful...

I used toast's method for rooting, and havent had any problems whatsoever. All I had to do after that, was install the new RA recovery image ( was more current ).
Is this the simplest way? probably not. But, i perfer doing the method with the most manual work. Automated processes tend to scare me, 'oh, our mod does steps 1 through 19 all at once'... well, thats fine, but what happens when it fails half way through? Toast's method, while a bit involved, is pretty simple, and if something happens, you can go "hey, when i do this command <whatever>, it does this, helps?!".
as for your 'questions 2s'
1: Are you sure you dont mean, flash from recovery? recovery is where you do all of your flashing, do your nandroid backups, and wiping. theres 3 ways to get there ( once your rooted/nand unlocked ).. volume -, and power while the phone is off, hold it til you get the menu. use quickboot ( a feature of damagecontrol mod ), or use adb using a command prompt on windows ( adb reboot recovery ).
2: Most people install radio updates when they go to change to new roms. The reason being, 2.2 'code' is based around having a certain radio version, and for things like 4g, and good 3g signal, you need to match.
personally, every time i go to install a new rom, i verify what the most recent radio version is out there, and install it ( same with wimax )
3: Once you are fully rooted, there are walktrhoughs for 'starting over / going back to stock'.. but I would just use one of the rooted stock images, as it gives you the ability to change your mind. for instance, right now 2.2 isnt rootable, so if you changed your mind after switching back to it, your kind of screwed. I'm not sure if the engineering image you install for root would go away if you reverted to stock/root though, as have never tried.
4: as long as you have the phone rooted, any 'bricking' that i have caused ( boot loops, power turning off on boot, etc ), were easily recoverable by just booting into recovery and reflashing. the only way I could see bricking in a totally bad way, would be if you somehow messed up the rooting process and corrupted the bootloader in such a way it couldnt recover. Otherwise, i have yet to see a rom that will flash / change your bootloader or recovery image, so it shouldnt be an issue.
5: It can, but i've seen issues where backing up stuff from a 2.1 rom, and installing a 2.2, causes weird issues. its safer to just redownload them if you are using a 2.2 rom. Another benefit of 2.2, is now google backs up your app selection you had installed, so when you wipe / flash a new rom, it auto-reinstalls all your apps you had from before ( it doesnt backup your settings though, just the applications themselves ).

ScaryBugThing said:
Awesome response, SilverZero, thanks! I'm starting to feel comfortable with the rooting procedure.
I think the difficulty I have in choosing a ROM is that many ROM threads don't list conclusively whether a feature works or not. So, for instance, I presume that the Fresh ROM has a fully working camera (8MP/720P with all settings), but I've read other ROM threads that talk about downgraded camera bugs, so I am not sure if I should assume things work fine. Conversely, I think wifi tethering doesn't work, since it *seems* to suggest it isn't working, but doesn't flat-out say so...
I don't suppose some source exists somewhere that lists/compares all of these ROMs' features in a table format, listing whether they work or not, or are downgraded? Having something like that in a central, often-updated location would be incredibly useful...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a project that one user is putting together comparing different ROMs.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Aguc0npJCrWxdEFyU2NRNG1jNnRkY2trdXBsYlJLdWc&hl=en#gid=0

imiddlet said:
I used toast's method for rooting, ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thank you for taking the time--you really answered all of my questions.
SilverZero said:
Here's a project that one user is putting together comparing different ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greeeeat. Exactly what I was looking for.
You guys are awesome--I think I know what I need to know now, and in the next few days I will probably try rooting and installing Fresh Evo or BakedSnack. I'll update once I know how it went!

Urg...Well, I did the manual root method. Everything went fine through the initial root (using the classic method by toastcfh), and through the manual recovery mode where I made a nandroid backup.
Then, in recovery mode, I attempted to flash the latest Fresh Evo 3.1.0.1. It gave me no error messages, and I rebooted.
Now, it is stuck on an infinite reboot at the Fresh Evo ("FRESH!!!") bootup animation. It just keeps running that animation, never loading up. I've let that animation run about 15 times before I had to pull the battery to make it stop. Any time I try to boot the phone, I am stuck at that infinite reboot/load sequence.
The only thing I could do was hold Vol- while powering up to get into the bootloader and redo my stock root. I redid the Fresh Evo install, and it still just keeps rebooting for 10 minutes, before I pull the battery. I'll try Baked Snack next, but I don't want to press my luck with too many flashes... Any ideas anyone?

ScaryBugThing said:
Urg...Well, I did the manual root method. Everything went fine through the initial root (using the classic method by toastcfh), and through the manual recovery mode where I made a nandroid backup.
Then, in recovery mode, I attempted to flash the latest Fresh Evo 3.1.0.1. It gave me no error messages, and I rebooted.
Now, it is stuck on an infinite reboot at the Fresh Evo ("FRESH!!!") bootup animation. It just keeps running that animation, never loading up. I've let that animation run about 15 times before I had to pull the battery to make it stop. Any time I try to boot the phone, I am stuck at that infinite reboot/load sequence.
Anyone have any advice? Am I screwed?
The only thing I think I can do is hold Vol- while powering up to get into the bootloader and have it check PC36IMG, after which it gives me the same normal root Step 1 option to "Start Update" (Vol+ for yes, Vol- for no). Will this just restore to "stock" root? I'd like to get FreshEvo working somehow...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try doing a full wipe, Data, Dalvik Cache, everything except the SD card. Then try reflashing the ROM. That was how I had to fix mine when it did the same thing.
Also don't forget to update your Radio, WiMax and Recovery if you havent already.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=715485
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6877247&postcount=98
As far as the best ROM is concerned I've been using SteelH's deodexed stock ROM with the netarchy-toastmod kernel and it's been running great. FPS are unlocked, its quick as hell and my battery life is excellent.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=743781
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=719763

xHausx said:
Try doing a full wipe, Data, Dalvik Cache, everything except the SD card. Then try reflashing the ROM. That was how I had to fix mine when it did the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, I did a double-wipe (cache, dalvik cache, and data/factory reset x2) before each of the 3 times I tried to install Fresh Evo. Same infinite reboot loop always.
Then I installed Baked Snack just now. I was able to actually boot (54 fps looks great!) but ROM Manager was giving me an error message about flashing the Recovery replacement, Wifi Tether force closed every time I opened it, and every time I plugged in the USB cable, it would disconnect about 2 seconds later, rendering the phone essentially useless since it wouldn't recharge or accept files in that two seconds.
So now I'm flashing back the stock root image, PC36IMG.zip.
I guess this isn't going very well. If anyone has any advice about these problems I'm having, I'm still in the depths of rooting hell. I appreciate the SteelH suggestions. Maybe I'll try that next. But it's definitely worrying me that every ROM I try has some major problems.

ScaryBugThing said:
Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, I did a double-wipe (cache, dalvik cache, and data/factory reset x2) before each of the 3 times I tried to install Fresh Evo. Same infinite reboot loop always.
Then I installed Baked Snack just now. I was able to actually boot (54 fps looks great!) but ROM Manager was giving me an error message about flashing the Recovery replacement, Wifi Tether forced close every time I opened it, and every time I plugged in the USB cable, it would disconnect about 2 seconds later, rendering the phone essentially useless since it wouldn't recharge or accept files in that two seconds.
So now I'm flashing back the stock root image, PC36IMG.zip.
I guess this isn't going very well. If anyone has any advice about these problems I'm having, I'm still in the depths of rooting hell. I appreciate the SteelH suggestions. Maybe I'll try that next. But it's definitely worrying me that every ROM I try has some major problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you're using clockwork try switching to Amon-RA. That may be whats doing it

xHausx said:
if you're using clockwork try switching to Amon-RA. That may be whats doing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion and the very fast responses. I'll give Amon-RA a shot, if I can install it. (note: I didn't use Rom Manager to install any actual ROMs here--it was just what I was about to begin using.)
Sorry if I have so many questions, but: What is the best method to flash Amon-RA recovery? Rom Manager seemed easy because you could simply download the program, run it, and choose an option in the settings menu to replace the stock Recovery.
For Amon-RA, there are two options--fastboot, and adb. I only have a vague idea of what these are and how to make them work.
As an UPDATE: I installed SteelH's ROM, and it booted, but it definitely didn't have 54 fps on mine (clearly 30 fps, Novatec panel FWIW), and I had the same problem with the USB cable disconnecting 2 seconds after plugging it in. I of course wiped everything before installing.
So I'm trying to figure out if I did something wrong in my original root--though it seemed to work fine. Could a locked NAND be causing these problems?

ScaryBugThing said:
Thanks for the suggestion and the very fast responses. I'll give Amon-RA a shot, if I can install it. (note: I didn't use Rom Manager to install any actual ROMs here--it was just what I was about to begin using.)
Sorry if I have so many questions, but: What is the best method to flash Amon-RA recovery? Rom Manager seemed easy because you could simply download the program, run it, and choose an option in the settings menu to replace the stock Recovery.
For Amon-RA, there are two options--fastboot, and adb. I only have a vague idea of what these are and how to make them work.
As an UPDATE: I installed SteelH's ROM, and it booted, but it definitely didn't have 54 fps on mine (clearly 30 fps, Novatec panel FWIW), and I had the same problem with the USB cable disconnecting 2 seconds after plugging it in. I of course wiped everything before installing.
So I'm trying to figure out if I did something wrong in my original root--though it seemed to work fine. Could a locked NAND be causing these problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the fastboot method earlier and it was a piece of cake. Just move the recovery to the Tools folder for the SDK, put your phone in fastboot mode and copy paste the two lines in a cmd prompt to install it. I was bored reading through the recovery thread I linked to earlier and apparently clockwork is not wiping properly, others were also having problems with Fresh because of it.
For the FPS fix that is done in the kernel so you would need to flash a custom one.

xHausx said:
I used the fastboot method earlier and it was a piece of cake. Just move the recovery to the Tools folder for the SDK, put your phone in fastboot mode and copy paste the two lines in a cmd prompt to install it. I was bored reading through the recovery thread I linked to earlier and apparently clockwork is not wiping properly, others were also having problems with Fresh because of it.
For the FPS fix that is done in the kernel so you would need to flash a custom one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to do as instructed. I rebooted into Fastboot mode on my phone, verified the device was seen by fastboot on my PC, then entered:
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-evo-v1.7.0.1.img
sending 'recovery' (5032 KB)... OKAY [ 1.406s]
writing 'recovery'... INFOsignature checking...
FAILED (remote: signature verify fail)
finished. total time: 2.094s
I tried to redownload the file, but the same result occurred.
EDIT: I was able to flash the Amon-RA recovery, going back to toast's instructions. I don't know why it wasn't flashed before...
I'm also not sure that my wiping the data is the problem--I wiped factory settings/cache/dalvik cache each time using only the stock recovery. I think my mentioning Rom Manager might have suggested I used that program to wipe my data, but I haven't done so...
Anyway, I appreciate the help. This is tough for me--I can't seem to get anything to work.
EDIT2: Problems solved! Indeed, I had not properly unlocked NAND. I redid the toast NAND unlock steps, and Fresh Evo installed on the first try!
My only remaining question: how do I flash a kernel? I simply flash a ROM and then the kernel? I think Fresh Evo is great, but fps2d is still showing me locked at 30 fps.
EDIT3: I think I found the answer. Flash it like any other ROM from zip. (Doing it with Netarchy's Kernel 4.0.3: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=719763 )
(Probably looks silly reading me answer my own questions, but I thought it was better to look stupid if it might help a future beginner like me.)

Just my oppinion simpleroot never really worked for me and ive read bad things about unrevoked so just follow toasts method to rooting it is very simple and straight forward, as for rom i prefer baked snack themed version it is by far the most sexy rom i have seen it uses manups theme and u can enhance it even more, its very stable and has no fps cap on it, as well as both cameras work and video recording works, im not sure if blue tooth has been fixed yet and am not sure if 4g works because i dont have it where i live try it out and tell me what u think.

So...Everything works! A couple of final notes in case it ever helps anyone in the future:
Note 1: The call part of the phone was not working well at all. I could send and receive calls, and hear the other party, but the audio was very noisy and the other party didn't hear my voice when I talk.
I tried to update PRL and Profile, but I got an error code 1012: "The profile update could not be completed. Please try again later. If the problem persists, you may need to contact customer service. Error code:1012"
I thought the problem might be me overwriting some system files with Titanium Backup (though I was careful). But when I tried wiping factory settings/cache/dalvik cache, and rebooted, still the same problems. Ultimately, it turned out simply that Sprint's servers were down, so I couldn't update my profile/PRL. I finally was able to update the Profile and PRL (now 60669) when they came back up, and everything seems to be working.
Note 2: I realized too late that I lost all of my visual voicemails. I don't think there's a way to restore them, and I don't know if there's any way to back them up. But something to think about if you've racked up a fair amount of downloaded visual voicemails.
Thanks everyone for your help.

[Ask Your Questions Here] Questions & Answers for Epic 4G Users

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE WIKI
I have decided to open a Questions and Answers thread on this section of the forum. This is a good way to keep the number of new threads with questions down to a minimum, which will make new threads essentially for people that are contributing to the Samsung Epic 4G. This includes, but is not limited to, people that are providing the following:
- Roms & Kitchens
- Programs & Apps
- Fixes & Tweaks
- Skins & Themes
- Tips & Tricks
I would like to request the help from other members to keep the thread in order and in check. This will have the added side effect of creating an ever self updating knowledge base that will far extend the content of the Wiki. This will in turn save us from having to answer the same question a billion times...
Please refer to the Wiki first before asking any questions though! It can be located here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S/SPH-D700
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE WIKI

Any idea when the OTA push for2.2 will start?

jg187211 said:
Any idea when the OTA push for2.2 will start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, we don't have anyone in the community who has inside access to that information. Some of our members are affiliated with Sprint, and so have slightly more reliable rumors, but even their sources have thus far been wrong if they quoted a specific date...
So I hope you understand that I'm not being a jerk when I say, we won't know until it actually happens (and this will probably always be the case)
That being said, this most recent leak (DK28) seems stable so far IMO, so it could potentially become our official update

ok im a total noob to all this stuff. i followed the guide to update my epic to 2.2. the problem is, that the camera, gallery, and a couple other apps dont work. Can someone help me? Should i go back to 2.1, if so, how do i do that?

EDIT: Angry rant removed, thanks to the mods for a quick response (and to the member who's post was removed: no hard feelings, I hope you understand)
Just remember to read before posting, to make sure your post will be relevant and not redundant
jayzn210 said:
ok im a total noob to all this stuff. i followed the guide to update my epic to 2.2. the problem is, that the camera, gallery, and a couple other apps dont work. Can someone help me? Should i go back to 2.1, if so, how do i do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whenever flashing a ROM using either recovery, it's always a good idea to wipe the phone (as in factory reset - I'm not referring to wiping the cache or the dalvik cache, although both steps are also usually recommended)
If you used the odin method described in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861213
then you might have flashed the wrong tar - DK05 and DK17 both had the camera problem, make sure you have the DK28 file.
If you have the right tar, then you could have an incomplete download... I doubt that though, when that happened to me, my phone wouldn't boot at all. But you might want to redownload the tar just to be sure (double check the filesize after it finishes and before you flash, if it seems too small then it messed up again)
That's the best general advice I can offer, but if you'd like to provide more details about the method you used (especially a link to the guide you used, if it isn't the one I provided), someone here might be able to identify where you're going wrong

i followed the instructions from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861213. i didnt use odin, i just used the .zip method. it took me a lot of tries cause i kept getting errors. the second mirror link worked for me, but like i said, my camera, gps, gallery and some other apps dont work.
oh and everytime i try to flash again, i get the error.

It sounds like you're either starting from the wrong rom or not wiping the phone before flashing the zip. All of the zip updates I have seen require you to start from DI18 stock (root an clockwork seem to be okay in my experience, all other mods must be removed) - if you have installed any custom roms, your best bet is to follow the odin method using the stock DI18 tar - so you may as well just skip the zip methodand odin to the stock DK28 tar
And you absolutely must wipe the phone (again, factory reset - I suspect many people are just wiping the cache and/or the dalvik cache).
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Odin flashing
I've got a quick question. I'm looking to move to a build using the DK28 information release and it requires that I update the pit and modem files on my phone using Odin. Do I need to flash a 2.2 rom right away or am I safe to boot into my current rom first?

KaiXXV said:
I've got a quick question. I'm looking to move to a build using the DK28 information release and it requires that I update the pit and modem files on my phone using Odin. Do I need to flash a 2.2 rom right away or am I safe to boot into my current rom first?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you doing the strictly odin method (full froyo in a tar file)? Or an update.zip?
The odin method *should* include the modem and everything (and you use the updated pit in the same process) - you'll have to read the particular thread that you got the download link from, but I haven't noticed any odin tar files that required the modem separately
For the update.zip method, I don't know if it matters whether you flash the modem before or after applying the zip through recovery - I don't think either one overwrites the other, but that's a part of the process I can only guess about. But regardless of when you odin flash the modem, that's when you'll use the new pit file (the same as the odin-only method above).
As far as I know, the primary difference is that the update.zip doesn't inherently overwrite user data (but you'll probably have broken programs that FC all the time, which means a wipe is necessary, making this somewhat null). I prefer the odin method because it is a fresh flash of the entire system (I usually let it repartition as well - no one else has posted about that feature so I have no idea if it's a fluke that it hasn't given me problems)
Hope that helps

which is the best
so i have updated to dk28 froyo 2.2 i like battery life and performance can anyone offer info on which is the best rom for me or just some insight on which rom is the best overall

How do I stop running applications from starting every time I restart my phone?? I have the start up auditor but for some reason everytime I restart my phone the apps I have disabled keep restarting themselves and I have to go into the running programs and disable them manually. WTH?? Doesnt programs constantly running in the background kill the battery life?? How do I disable apps from starting?

youngpro83 said:
How do I stop running applications from starting every time I restart my phone?? I have the start up auditor but for some reason everytime I restart my phone the apps I have disabled keep restarting themselves and I have to go into the running programs and disable them manually. WTH?? Doesnt programs constantly running in the background kill the battery life?? How do I disable apps from starting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How I understand it, especially with Froyo, you shouldn't have to kill programs in the background, if said 'background' process or service is working normal or efficiently. I still kill the DRM process when I reboot my phone, and not sure if it's still causing drain issues.
Also (someone else confirm this), I believe that constantly 'killing' certain background processes actually uses MORE battery, since it has to constantly restart itself. I've had a much more stable device *not* using auto killers, and just sniping one here and there that I know to cause drain.
Some reading material on GC, tho, in regards to memory management

Ignore me!

devo52 said:
so i have updated to dk28 froyo 2.2 i like battery life and performance can anyone offer info on which is the best rom for me or just some insight on which rom is the best overall
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of it is personal preference - this early in the game, the primary differences between the roms are going to be mostly cosmetic. So for now, the best advice I can offer is to try each of them and decide which theme you like. Regardless of how you upgraded, you had to use odin, so you have succeeded at the most difficult step of the process - and odin can bring your phone back to life if something goes wrong, so it's an invaluable skill to have.
In the meantime, keep watching the threads (quietly, unless you have a question that hasn't been asked already - we're working on cleaning up the forum to make it easier for everyone to find answers... but I digress...)
It's too early to be sure of any of the fixes out there - we have at least three separate fixes for the GPS issues; some people find success with one, others with another, and a lucky few don't need the fixes at all... so in summary, we can't say which is better or worse just yet, stay tuned and decide whether you want to experiment on the bleeding edge, or wait for these things to be stable and thoroughly tested.
And if you have any doubts, just stick with the stock DK28 for now

tl;dr, questions in BOLD.
Okay, after spending the entire night scouring the internet/this forum and starting from absolutely zero-knowledge about the Android OS, I managed to update my Epic to 2.2, and root the phone. Now, I'm kinda stuck as far as customization goes. I see all these cool skins and battery life mods and stuff, but they don't exactly offer any steps as to how to install them. Since I don't exactly know what file-types do what, I'm kinda shooting blindly at trying to update/install something "custom" onto the phone. So, my question(s) is/are:
What does the ROM do?
What does the ROOT do?
I know the root basically "unlocks" your phone, but that's all I know. The process of customizing the phone still remains a mystery. (that's the problem with following step-by-step instructions, rather than actually knowing what you're doing.)
I also don't understand the purpose of flashing a phone. Flashing, in my experience is to update something, like say a BIOS. But that sets the system back to square 1 as far as all settings go, in this particular example.
If I flash, with say Odin, after having updated to DK28 and "rooting," won't this make all the "customization" that I've done prior basically 'null' because I've just flashed the phone into a blank-state?
Sorry if these are questions easily answered by searching, but I just spent my entire sleep-cycle trying to find the answers to these questions, and managed to only get so far. I look forward to the answers On another note, I am now EXTREEEEMELY pleased with my phone. Before this evening, I was just the regular, old run-of-the-mill enduser. I liked the cool built-in customizations and all the apps and what not, but never dreamed of being able to customize my phone to THIS EXTENT. So, now it's something I'm very interested in doing..it makes my phone truly mine.

zdavidi said:
What does the ROM do?
What does the ROOT do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you see the link to the Wiki in the original post of this thread? That's where I started when I first got here, it helped me understand the basics.
zdavidi said:
If I flash, with say Odin, after having updated to DK28 and "rooting," won't this make all the "customization" that I've done prior basically 'null' because I've just flashed the phone into a blank-state?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on what you flashed with Odin. If you only flash a modem file, then your customizations and apps are untouched. If you flash an entire ROM in "tarball" form then not only does it re-write the modem but it also overwrites all user data. Think of the latter as resetting the phone to stock and works even if you cannot boot up.

When can we expect a custom Kernel with netfilters for wifi tethering?

n00b question.
If an SDK version is released (say, like, Gingerbread today), does that mean chefs could take it and cook up a ROM for ANY phone (say, like, the Epic)? Or do they need something else to do that?

Remove Touchwiz Launcher (consequences?)
Hey-- I'm using Quantum 2.0.0 ROM, and I never use the touchwiz launcher. Does anyone know if it's safe to just remove the apk? (TouchWiz30Launcher.apk) or is there other functionality tied to it?
I use LauncherPro, fyi.

Please forgive my ignorance... I've searched the forums, looked at the wiki...
I use titanium backup and am now running the DK27 froyo build by noobnl. My question... How do I restore my e-mail accounts to the phone everytime without having to re-type them in? I've been flashing a rom every other day on average since I got the phone and it's getting REALLY old.

A new guy's stupid questions:

Please be patient with me, I'm new to the entire smartphone era.
I've spent the last week or so scouring these forums deciding what I can and cannot do with my brand new Epic. What I unfortunately was unable to find were directions put into laymans terms as exactly how to properly flash your phone (I am still even unsure as to the correct terminology for many things). When I read the wiki and the forums I'm lost about a paragraph in.
It would be incredibly appreciated if any of you had tips for a new person to these forums and to this lifestyle itself. I'd love to know how to properly modify my phone without breaking it (and not feel like I'm reading a medical dictionary). When/if I do mod my phone, I'd like to know how to go about restoring it should I for whatever reason need to take it in to the extremely... helpful.. Sprint store here in my area. I'm pretty quick to learn and as I said, I'd really love if someone willing to be patient with me would explain to me the ins and outs I would need to know to take advantage of my phones capabilities.

Well most roms now use ext4 filesystem instead of RFS (default) so you have to install Clockwork Mod 3 which will auto convert it
CWM3 directions:
Download Here
On phone go to applications -> development -> usb debugging (turn on)
plug phone into usb port, run the run.bat from the CWM folder (it might say something like restart server and wait for phone to reconnect i generally just close the window and run the run.bat again then it'll mount as r/w and install)
Then after your phone reboots transfer any ec05 ext4 rom to your sdcard, i suggest This one.
After that turn off your phone completely.
Hold volume down, camera button, power. This will boot into clockworkmod.
CWM will backup all data, format, then restore the data... it'll take a few minutes.
Now if you want to start fresh click wipe data / wipe cache and also go to advanced/wipe dalvic cache. If you want to keep all your apps just proceed to the next step
go to Install from sdcard, browse sdcard for the rom.zip, select it, let it do its magic, after its done go back to the main menu, reboot system, and you're done
EDIT: Cwm controls -> volume up/down to naviage, Power = back, Camera = select. I think you can also use the keyboard arrows and stuff but i find it easier using the buttons

I think you should start him with cw2.5 instead of 3.0. 3.0 will brick his phone unless he is ready to flash a rom right alway!!

Those directions are much easier to follow.
What are the negatives to doing this to your phone (besides the ultimate brick)? Would doing this allow me to give my phone the ability to hotspot it?
How would I go about restoring it should I not like Syndicate and wish to return to stock?

OmegaMateria said:
Those directions are much easier to follow.
What are the negatives to doing this to your phone (besides the ultimate brick)? Would doing this allow me to give my phone the ability to hotspot it?
How would I go about restoring it should I not like Syndicate and wish to return to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I was you I wouldn't be in such a rush to flash a rom. Root first and take from there. It took me a whole month to flash a rom before I felt comfortable with the terminology. Catch up on some reading first

hi I also am still new to this even though i flashed my phone at least a 100 times and got my buddys epic rooted i followed this forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=798067. they did a great job with links to get cwm2.5 and also the adb files. so when you root your phone the computer will find your phone. One thing that did keep me held up for a while was when you have your phone in debug mode. connect the phone to the usb. but do not press connect on your phone. hope this helps some. I spent about 3 long days reading and gathering everything before trying and like a day and a half trying.

shook187 said:
If I was you I wouldn't be in such a rush to flash a rom. Root first and take from there. It took me a whole month to flash a rom before I felt comfortable with the terminology. Catch up on some reading first
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're probably very right.
What permissions does rooting get me? To root my phone I should use clockwork or something different? If so, you suggested 3.0 and someone else 2.5. Opinions on both for a newbie?

shook187 said:
I think you should start him with cw2.5 instead of 3.0. 3.0 will brick his phone unless he is ready to flash a rom right alway!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No such thing will occur. He might get it into a position of where he can only use odin but certainly not a brick. I have heard of only 1 person bricking their phone in 6 mths and that was a dev cuz he was messing with the bootloader. Jump in at your own pace.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

OmegaMateria said:
You're probably very right.
What permissions does rooting get me? To root my phone I should use clockwork or something different? If so, you suggested 3.0 and someone else 2.5. Opinions on both for a newbie?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never suggested 3.0, I would do 2.5. 3.0 Requires you to flash a rom cause it won't boot without a rom. If you use 3.0 without flushing a rom, you'll get stuck at the samsung screen.

shook187 said:
I never suggested 3.0, I would do 2.5. 3.0 Requires you to flash a rom cause it won't boot without a rom. If you use 3.0 without flushing a rom, you'll get stuck at the samsung screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, my mistake!!
I'll check out 2.5. Anything I should know about rooting in general?

OmegaMateria said:
Sorry, my mistake!!
I'll check out 2.5. Anything I should know about rooting in general?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main thing which you already mention is the free wireless tether.

CWM 2.5.5 = the RFS root method. You can use it to install EC05 roms that have RFS support
It allows you to run programs with superuser... such as wifi tether, wireless tether, titanium backup, root explorer... thats about it for the basic user
If you want tweaks/fixes what you want is a custom rom... most all will have
Call log fix (remove the sms notifications from in your call log), Kernel fixes/updates/added features, deodexed, zipaligned, custom boot animations, voodoo audio/color, custom touchwiz, etc..
You wont brick your phone regardless, but if you do it exactly as i typed you wont have any problems either . The reason you want to put a rom on your sdcard before you boot into CWM3 is so you can flash a compatible rom that has a ext4 kernel...
EDIT: and regarding the negatives, well you wont brick your phone unless say your battery dies as you flash it... The ext4 non-journaled will actually make your phone last longer over the RFS system. The only thing I can think of is the root method removes the Free HD games and Asphalt 5 Demo which the official OTA updates check for when u get them. Doesn't matter though because you can update your rom through CWM anyways lol.
About positives, atleast for me: Longer battery life, faster phone, less annoying bugs, sexy look, custom boot/shutdown, free wifi tether/wired tether, automatic backups set every night at 5am.

I went straight to cwm 3.0.0.6 as a noob but I must have read 1000 posts in various forums regarding root, the file system(s), custom software/ROMs/kernels. The key is read post after post about where others have had issues until you no longer come accross any new issues. Then you know what you are getting into. Just remeber, glitches can occur and during flashing, there are writes that have no error checking and sometimes require a reflash at best and a system restore at worst. It comes with the territory. It is unlikely you will brick your device as long as you are careful to follow insructions, although the reality is (no matter how many times you hear how safe it is) that there is a very very slight chance that a glitch while using software such as odin could send you back to the Sprint store for a new one. Its exceedingly rare, though.
The small risk was worth getting the phone that I wanted originally - instant responsivness, access to every customization and dev. level control of the hardware (free tethering!) - everything runs better - games,browsers,vids (look better and sound better), music sounds better, etc. Etc. There are some seriously talented devs. here. If you decide to take the plunge, check out k0's ACS Frozen ROM and mysteryEmotionz (sp?) Theme(s). When you go from stock to those, you can't help but wonder WTF sprint and samsung are thinking. Yeah, its that good.
Good luck!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

blu9987 said:
CWM 2.5.5 = the RFS root method. You can use it to install EC05 roms that have RFS support
It allows you to run programs with superuser... such as wifi tether, wireless tether, titanium backup, root explorer... thats about it for the basic user
If you want tweaks/fixes what you want is a custom rom... most all will have
Call log fix (remove the sms notifications from in your call log), Kernel fixes/updates/added features, deodexed, zipaligned, custom boot animations, voodoo audio/color, custom touchwiz, etc..
You wont brick your phone regardless, but if you do it exactly as i typed you wont have any problems either . The reason you want to put a rom on your sdcard before you boot into CWM3 is so you can flash a compatible rom that has a ext4 kernel...
EDIT: and regarding the negatives, well you wont brick your phone unless say your battery dies as you flash it... The ext4 non-journaled will actually make your phone last longer over the RFS system. The only thing I can think of is the root method removes the Free HD games and Asphalt 5 Demo which the official OTA updates check for when u get them. Doesn't matter though because you can update your rom through CWM anyways lol.
About positives, atleast for me: Longer battery life, faster phone, less annoying bugs, sexy look, custom boot/shutdown, free wifi tether/wired tether, automatic backups set every night at 5am.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went into the run.bat file in the one click root and removed the 2 lines that give the command to delete the free hd games demo and asphalt 5 demo. Ran the one click root, and I still have those 2 installed on my phone. Beats having to reinstall them again in the future and preventing an update because of the missing apps.

Tirregius said:
I went straight to cwm 3.0.0.6 as a noob but I must have read 1000 posts in various forums regarding root, the file system(s), custom software/ROMs/kernels. The key is read post after post about where others have had issues until you no longer come accross any new issues. Then you know what you are getting into. Just remeber, glitches can occur and during flashing, there are writes that have no error checking and sometimes require a reflash at best and a system restore at worst. It comes with the territory. It is unlikely you will brick your device as long as you are careful to follow insructions, although the reality is (no matter how many times you hear how safe it is) that there is a very very slight chance that a glitch while using software such as odin could send you back to the Sprint store for a new one. Its exceedingly rare, though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've spent the entire week when not at work reading about it to see if it's worth it. I have a hard time following the directions I find though because they're normally written for experienced folks and not beginners.
Apart from Rooting it (as explained very well earlier) I still have no clue about flashing, how it works, or how to do it. Nor do I want to just fiddle around with it and break it. I can't find a good guide on ODIN or backing up that I can understand comfortably enough to risk flashing my phone so I'm kindof at a loss.

Go on YouTube and search "randyshear". He has step by step videos for pretty much everything. Makes it easy
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

OmegaMateria said:
Yeah I've spent the entire week when not at work reading about it to see if it's worth it. I have a hard time following the directions I find though because they're normally written for experienced folks and not beginners.
Apart from Rooting it (as explained very well earlier) I still have no clue about flashing, how it works, or how to do it. Nor do I want to just fiddle around with it and break it. I can't find a good guide on ODIN or backing up that I can understand comfortably enough to risk flashing my phone so I'm kindof at a loss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was the same way and to some degree still am. What I did was read and read. I read the WIKI several times realizing that a lot of it was written for someone more experienced than I. I also read how to restore a bricked device and return to stock a few times. I installed everything to return to stock on my PC so if I had a failure I already had my path back to working stock. I went to CM 2 just to get some experience. Then I went for it to CM 3 and Syndicate 1.0 and have been incredibly happy that I did.
Also know that terms like brick are used a lot but is then followed up with my phone will do this or that. In the definitions a brick is literally as good as a brick for a phone. The term is used way too much incorrectly so don't let that scare you. You will see when reading that there are only a few things to do if there is a problem. Frequently you will read to re download the files or use a different cable or USB port. If you keep reading you will become more comfortable with your ability to find the answers if there is a problem because there are people on here that seem to take great joy in helping people like you and I out and they have the experience and knowledge to help.

Trust me ... keep reading and searching and you will start to put the pieces together. Don't be discouraged. If you are really interested in this stuff, you WILL get there.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Definitely agree with JohnCorleone, Randyshear has a ton of very good youtube vids. Helpful with rooting also with picking a ROM. Just to add my two-cents. The "epic cookbook" http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=967014...Helped me over and over again. alot of info, without alot of scavenging throughout threads. Good luck

There is no need to flash a rom right off the bat. Rooting with one click will give you a good jumping point. I would one click root to cw3 let it convert to ext4 then do a backup. Use titanium backup to remove all the junk bloatware.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

which of the custom ROMs are you liking best?

I've been following the ROM dev daily but I've been stuck in the hospital and not been able to flash any of them yet.
I'm getting out today and plan on checking one out asap and am curious as to which one I should go with.
I would appreciate any feedback on them that you can provide!!

scott0 said:
I've been following the ROM dev daily but I've been stuck in the hospital and not been able to flash any of them yet.
I'm getting out today and plan on checking one out asap and am curious as to which one I should go with.
I would appreciate any feedback on them that you can provide!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am still running rooted stock. One of the ROMs that had K9 Mail wouldn't work for me on Exchange 2K10. You could also look at the # of posts in each of the threads, that may ID where most of the peeps are headed.
I really wanted to say that I hope you are doing better. My phone haxoring started with a long hospital stay back during the Razor days.
I do like LG's native e-mail client. Only Samsung's e-mail client is better.

scott0 said:
I've been following the ROM dev daily but I've been stuck in the hospital and not been able to flash any of them yet.
I'm getting out today and plan on checking one out asap and am curious as to which one I should go with.
I would appreciate any feedback on them that you can provide!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I currently only used the Domination HD ROM, and it has its goods n bads.
the Goods:
1) Lag is virtually gone! Phone runs really smooth and fast, with almost no stuttering.
2) Some extra visual improvements, like the Roboto Fonts and ICS wallpapers included (although it didn't show up on mine for some reason)
3) ICS sounds/notifications
the Bads:
1) Video Recording (camcorder) is borked as for now. You cannot record a video, the app just freezes at 00:00:00
2) Bootup time is significantly longer (might be closer to 2-3 min bootup time) but someone said that it might be due to the deodexing of files in the phone.
3) the claimed Bravia Engine and Xloud features implemented in the ROM just cannot be seen/heard. Supposedly it is there and running, but to some, nothing looks any different than the usual HD look of the phone and the sound is no louder than default. So those 2 features either are not working or just not noticeable enough.
That's my small review on the Domination HD ROM. I might have missed something and if I did, hopefully the next person will add to it.

SnoopDawg said:
I am still running rooted stock. One of the ROMs that had K9 Mail wouldn't work for me on Exchange 2K10. You could also look at the # of posts in each of the threads, that may ID where most of the peeps are headed.
I really wanted to say that I hope you are doing better. My phone haxoring started with a long hospital stay back during the Razor days.
I do like LG's native e-mail client. Only Samsung's e-mail client is better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey thanks Amigo! I hope all is well with you now as well.
I took your advice and flashed the kernalpan1c ROM and am checking it out now.
aquariuz23 said:
I currently only used the Domination HD ROM, and it has its goods n bads.
the Goods:
1) Lag is virtually gone! Phone runs really smooth and fast, with almost no stuttering.
2) Some extra visual improvements, like the Roboto Fonts and ICS wallpapers included (although it didn't show up on mine for some reason)
3) ICS sounds/notifications
the Bads:
1) Video Recording (camcorder) is borked as for now. You cannot record a video, the app just freezes at 00:00:00
2) Bootup time is significantly longer (might be closer to 2-3 min bootup time) but someone said that it might be due to the deodexing of files in the phone.
3) the claimed Bravia Engine and Xloud features implemented in the ROM just cannot be seen/heard. Supposedly it is there and running, but to some, nothing looks any different than the usual HD look of the phone and the sound is no louder than default. So those 2 features either are not working or just not noticeable enough.
That's my small review on the Domination HD ROM. I might have missed something and if I did, hopefully the next person will add to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
super, Thank you eh. nice. I really want to try this one too. I got the impression from following the thread that the video cam issue can't be resolved. Perhaps I read it wrong, I will go back through the posts. I too want that vid cam on this phone. But I am very curious about that Bravia engine and Xloud and if/how much they make a difference on my device.
I am liking the kernalpani1c ROM, it does seem smooth, I uninstalled the GO launcher, sticking with Zeam after comparing the 2 with the new ROM, Zeam is noticeably faster & smoother for me.
The best thing about the custom ROMs for me is I had to use Malninion's unbricking method to fix this phone several weeks ago which uses the SU640, now I am back to the proper one.
I think I'll check out that Domination ROM next.

scott0 said:
hey thanks Amigo! I hope all is well with you now as well.
I took your advice and flashed the kernalpan1c ROM and am checking it out now.
super, Thank you eh. nice. I really want to try this one too. I got the impression from following the thread that the video cam issue can't be resolved. Perhaps I read it wrong, I will go back through the posts. I too want that vid cam on this phone. But I am very curious about that Bravia engine and Xloud and if/how much they make a difference on my device.
I am liking the kernalpani1c ROM, it does seem smooth, I uninstalled the GO launcher, sticking with Zeam after comparing the 2 with the new ROM, Zeam is noticeably faster & smoother for me.
The best thing about the custom ROMs for me is I had to use Malninion's unbricking method to fix this phone several weeks ago which uses the SU640, now I am back to the proper one.
I think I'll check out that Domination ROM next.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might switch to kernelpanic's rom next week or so when I have the time to start fresh. I'm gonna format the /data partition so it will a be clean slate.
Well, like i've mentioned, me and some others don't really see any difference either the bravia engine or Xloud is doing to the phone. The image quality on the phone is the same, and the loudness is just as loud as stock. Shrugs, it might just be me I dont know lol. Feel free to try it and let us know what you think about it

aquariuz23 said:
I might switch to kernelpanic's rom next week or so when I have the time to start fresh. I'm gonna format the /data partition so it will a be clean slate.
Well, like i've mentioned, me and some others don't really see any difference either the bravia engine or Xloud is doing to the phone. The image quality on the phone is the same, and the loudness is just as loud as stock. Shrugs, it might just be me I dont know lol. Feel free to try it and let us know what you think about it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering about the clean slate starting fresh myself, does that make a difference?
I went to get the other ROMs and such but noticed their instructions were different than kernalpan1c, they did not state to clear caches and wipe system, etc so I stopped there.
so a question- it's safe and correct to always do the following 2 steps when flashing any ROM
3. Format /system in Mounts and Storage
4. Then "wipe cache partition" and "advanced > wipe dalvik cache"
thanks for the inputs

aquariuz23 said:
3) the claimed Bravia Engine and Xloud features implemented in the ROM just cannot be seen/heard. Supposedly it is there and running, but to some, nothing looks any different than the usual HD look of the phone and the sound is no louder than default. So those 2 features either are not working or just not noticeable enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why on earth would anybody need some st1nk'n bravia engine while there already is lg mobile engine in stock ROM? ther U go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD3GSzOBuUo

scott0 said:
I was wondering about the clean slate starting fresh myself, does that make a difference?
I went to get the other ROMs and such but noticed their instructions were different than kernalpan1c, they did not state to clear caches and wipe system, etc so I stopped there.
so a question- it's safe and correct to always do the following 2 steps when flashing any ROM
3. Format /system in Mounts and Storage
4. Then "wipe cache partition" and "advanced > wipe dalvik cache"
thanks for the inputs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far from what I have followed, the 2 steps you've mentioned are safe to follow. The only thing they've all mentioned is: "DO NOT WIPE/FORMAT /Data Partition" Just making it big, bold and bright so you don't miss it LOL. Kernelpanic figured out that it is some kind of a glitch in CWM that causes data corruption when you wipe/format the /Data partition.
Domination's ROM also states to wipe /system and dalvik cache, it's a standard thing i'm guessing. The only reason I want to start from a clean slate is that I don't want any bugs or system clash when I flash a new ROM over an existing ROM, so I think wiping /data will be essential.
Btw, Kernelpanic has suggested that if you do need to wipe /data, to please first flash back LG's default recovery using the image you've backed up prior to flashing CWM on the phone, and then formatting the phone back to factory settings using it. When factory reset is complete (which means /data is also wiped), you can then flash back CWM and then flash the new ROM.
Hopefully this will help you decide on your steps. Again, wiping /data is not necessary at all, it's just an option that technically should be done but right now is not so safe to do. Be careful and as always, we are not responsible for a gorgeous brick on your desk lol.
---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:58 PM ----------
Billy Madison said:
why on earth would anybody need some st1nk'n bravia engine while there already is lg mobile engine in stock ROM? ther U go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD3GSzOBuUo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like that commercial lol. That is very informative and interesting to watch. Very true wat you said about the Bravia engine. Tbh, like I previously mentioned, I do not see any benefit of the Bravia engine on this phone, and definitely not the Xloud feature. Thus, I'm thinking of trying another ROM that has all capabilities functioning, thus the Camcorder.
Just wondering, if you truly can replace the "visual engine (e.g. LG's engine with Bravia Engine), could that be the reason why the camcorder won't work? It's kinda weird that the camera works but the recording function doesnt.

well,
i flashed the domination ROM and it installed, I poked around and decided I needed the video camera, so shut down, booted in to CWM and flashed the other ROM, it said it installed, i rebooted it would not open, stuck on boot, so i shutdown, booted into cwm and restored the 1st ROM but now i am stuck on a boot loop and cannot access cwm.
derp.
update: flashed the su640 ROM so I am back in biz, gotta root and flash CWM.
so i guess this is a fresh flash after all!
i'm at 32% batt, superoneclick does not want to root atm , letting it charge a bit and will try to reroot.

scott0 said:
well,
i flashed the domination ROM and it installed, I poked around and decided I needed the video camera, so shut down, booted in to CWM and flashed the other ROM, it said it installed, i rebooted it would not open, stuck on boot, so i shutdown, booted into cwm and restored the 1st ROM but now i am stuck on a boot loop and cannot access cwm.
derp.
update: flashed the su640 ROM so I am back in biz, gotta root and flash CWM.
so i guess this is a fresh flash after all!
i'm at 32% batt, superoneclick does not want to root atm , letting it charge a bit and will try to reroot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's what I feared, that when flashing another ROM over existing rom and not deleting /data might give an error. Which other Rom were you attempting to flash over Domination?

aquariuz23 said:
Yeah, that's what I feared, that when flashing another ROM over existing rom and not deleting /data might give an error. Which other Rom were you attempting to flash over Domination?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
was trying to flash the RebelRom after the Domination. the switch from kernalpanic to domination went fine but the switch from Domination to Rebel FUBARed the phone, same exact steps followed. it also messes up the phone where a restore does not work then cwm is not accessible.
yup, serious issue that is not pointed out very well anywhere. the phone was ruined. in fact it's now stuck on the su640 ROM rooted but not recognized by adb so no su access, adb shell command returns a dollar sign and stalls, and the su640 wireless issue means no internet access on the phone so I can't get terminal emulator on it to move img files in to place.
ATT is sending me a replacement under the warranty.
my opinion atm on the custom CWM and the available ROMs is the ROI is not there.
The Roms don't perform any better than a rooted and debloated stocker IMO to justify the risk it takes checking them out.

scott0 said:
was trying to flash the RebelRom after the Domination. the switch from kernalpanic to domination went fine but the switch from Domination to Rebel FUBARed the phone, same exact steps followed. it also messes up the phone where a restore does not work then cwm is not accessible.
yup, serious issue that is not pointed out very well anywhere. the phone was ruined. in fact it's now stuck on the su640 ROM rooted but not recognized by adb so no su access, adb shell command returns a dollar sign and stalls, and the su640 wireless issue means no internet access on the phone so I can't get terminal emulator on it to move img files in to place.
ATT is sending me a replacement under the warranty.
my opinion atm on the custom CWM and the available ROMs is the ROI is not there.
The Roms don't perform any better than a rooted and debloated stocker IMO to justify the risk it takes checking them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, seems like there is still some figuring out to do. A lot of the troubles keep pointing to CWM. What did you tell AT&T to get them to send you a warranted phone?

Kaiser_Beef said:
Damn, seems like there is still some figuring out to do. A lot of the troubles keep pointing to CWM. What did you tell AT&T to get them to send you a warranted phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i told them the phone was stuck on the LG boot screen and it would not turn off entirely. if I hold the power button down long enough the screen would flash off but it would instantly reboot itself again. the phone did finally fully boot to the su640 ROM but no data/internet access. then they had me do a factory reset which failed as well, after the reset the phone would still boot to main screen instead of to the setup screen.
It was a long telephone call. but ultimately I was transferred to the warranty dept, the 1st tech agent filled that warranty person in who then just checked a cople things and then agreed to ship me a replacement expedited, scheduled delivery is Monday.

scott0 said:
was trying to flash the RebelRom after the Domination. the switch from kernalpanic to domination went fine but the switch from Domination to Rebel FUBARed the phone, same exact steps followed. it also messes up the phone where a restore does not work then cwm is not accessible.
yup, serious issue that is not pointed out very well anywhere. the phone was ruined. in fact it's now stuck on the su640 ROM rooted but not recognized by adb so no su access, adb shell command returns a dollar sign and stalls, and the su640 wireless issue means no internet access on the phone so I can't get terminal emulator on it to move img files in to place.
ATT is sending me a replacement under the warranty.
my opinion atm on the custom CWM and the available ROMs is the ROI is not there.
The Roms don't perform any better than a rooted and debloated stocker IMO to justify the risk it takes checking them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So out of all the 3 ROMs you've tried which one did you like the most? Well, of course the rebelrom doesn't count cuz it borked your phone lol. Sorry to hear that though. I had this bad feeling when you mentioned that it froze after flashing that you flashed rebelrom, and yup that's what you did lol. Didn't you read through the thread though? Many of them got stuck in boot loops and not being able to recover after it.

yes, of course I read through the thread. I had the time to read through all the threads many times and did, even jotted notes down. I was fully aware of the risks involved and don't recall *****ing. I am patiently awaiting my replacement phone generously provided by ATT.
my conclusion was that none of the ROMs are worth the risk. The first one doesn't perform any better than a stock phone debloated + a better launcher, the second one has a very long boot time, then performs no better than a debloated stocker minus the video recorder.

scott0 said:
my conclusion was that none of the ROMs are worth the risk. The first one doesn't perform any better than a stock phone debloated + a better launcher, the second one has a very long boot time, then performs no better than a debloated stocker minus the video recorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will say upfront to anyone looking at using my ROM, it is a de-odexed ROM minus bloat, a better launcher, some optimizations (ie ICS app process and system server, build.prop tweaks), and the carrier text removed from the status bar. With that said, de-odexed does run smoother than stock (odexed). CF-Bench scores are for example higher on my ROM than on stock.
We're not going to see dramatic speed improvements past that without custom kernels or CM/AOSP.

scott0 said:
yes, of course I read through the thread. I had the time to read through all the threads many times and did, even jotted notes down. I was fully aware of the risks involved and don't recall *****ing. I am patiently awaiting my replacement phone generously provided by ATT.
my conclusion was that none of the ROMs are worth the risk. The first one doesn't perform any better than a stock phone debloated + a better launcher, the second one has a very long boot time, then performs no better than a debloated stocker minus the video recorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol scott, I never said anywhere that you were *****ing about bricking. I was just wondering why try when you know you have 80% of bricking? But anyways, it's great that you are getting a replacement from AT&T.

Worth rooting?

Hi guys.
Obviously I am new, and noob so this might sound silly, but is it worth rooting?
I mean, I have been having stock Desire Z for, I dunno, almost 2 years, and it's been working perfectly, but since HTC and Google are moving on, leaving me on 2.3 and without any new updates, I was thinking of moving on on my own.
The thing is, I am as noob at rooting as I am in here, and bricking scares the **** out of me. Also, I don't know what ROM to chose, if that is the only thing to chose after rooting. I've stumbled upon cyanogen mod, and there are quite detailed step-by-step description on how to downgrade/root/install CM7, but CM7 looks like crap - I don't like it really.
I do like this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1546915http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1546915 thou,, but since it's still beta, I don't want to end up with half working phone when I need it the most.
So, should I go for it, or stick with my guns?
and thx for replying or even reading :good:

I can't really comment on Sense roms (never cared for them, too bloated in my opinion). But I would prefer either Mimicry 1.3.1 or EliteMod ICS (which I'm using now), in regards to ICS (4.0.*).
Far as guides. Some like the Cyanogenmod one can be 'easier' to read, but the XDA wiki has a lot more information.
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Vision
Since you're on gingerbread now you would go the Desire-Z Gingerbread route for unlocking/exploit before proceeding to root it. (but on the plus side sticking with a Desire-Z hboot will ensure your /system size is big enough to play with the Sense roms).
With ICS some things to keep in mind is that the most common issues tend to be :
1) Camera isn't "fully" working, in some cases like on mimicry and elitemod (or other non-Sense ICS roms), you can take a picture, you can record a video, but usually only with the stock camera app and usually won't have features like 720p recording or special effects.
2) Graphical glitch with the text can happen on an app, although rarely occurs, is easily fixed by closing the app or restarting (tends to stay with one app when it happens).
Those are probably the two most common issue you'll see with just bout every ICS rom out there for DZ/G2.
By the way some of the Sense roms are incorporating the 3.0 kernel from the Virtuous Infinity Preview (Full Sense 4.0), as such they're getting a decent camera with filters, but course there are still some bugs. (Previously Sense 4.0 roms had no camera functionality at all).
Edit
To clarify, even if you use the CM Wiki to unlock/root you do not have to install Cyanogenmod 7.2 afterwards, you can pretty much install any compatible rom once you've gotten it unlocked and running with a custom recovery (though I prefer 4EXT over clockworkmod).

I am sure it is worth ... i was just like u ..satisfied with my GB but i was so curious and so on so i followed this guide: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/HTC_Desire_Z:_Rooting and now iam rooted at the moment iam running Elite ROM ice cream sandwich and its ********* fast .... when you have root and you try new rom you will never want to stop of course there are some risks but I think that if you will have any kind of problem here on XDA is so many great people willing to help you ... my advice is to do it go step by step according to that guide and if you dont understand something just ask here on xda Best of luck....

back in the g1 days a friend of mine rooted his, i was astonished what could be done to phones now adays. i quickly rooted my g1 and began learning a ton about everything mobile, just like many before and after me i was hooked. even if you never found a better rom than stock the learning process is well worth it. even if you dont use most of the new features available to you at least having them is worth it. and unless you dont research/read first, or are mostly stupid/have bad luck, you wont brick your phone. i have rooted 50~60 phones and tablets, maybe more and never had a hard brick, sure when i first started out there was some close calls but with a little common sense you will be fine, also know you are now part a large community eager to help
so follow the xda or cyanogen wiki and downgrade and root your phone, move on to the rom compilation (found in the developers thread here) try a few roms and see what you prefer. you will be happy you did
on and one last point; the best reason to root your phone right when you get it, if there ever is a problem it is much easier to fix a rooted phone with software/firmware problems then an unrooted one. the only drawback could be if you need to send it back for warranty... but how likely is that, and the phone you have now im sure has little/no warranty left
happy flashing!
follow kbeeize's advice on how to root and try a few roms out

PS: One of the major advantages of having a custom recovery, is the ability to perform a backup of your currently installed rom. If you screw something up, you need only go back into recovery Wipe (factory-reset/cache/etc) and restore the backup to get right back to where you were. And you can have several backups too if you were trying out several different roms.
So basically the process of rooting/unlocking offers a safety net once you're up and running, be it in the recovery , or apps like Titanium Backup. Getting there is mainly the intimidating part.

kbeezie said:
Mimicry 1.3.1 or EliteMod ICS (which I'm using now), in regards to ICS (4.0.*).
Far as guides. Some like the Cyanogenmod one can be 'easier' to read, but the XDA wiki has a lot more information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you would recommend EliteMod & Cyanogen guide for starters?
kbeezie said:
Since you're on gingerbread now you would go the Desire-Z Gingerbread route for unlocking/exploit before proceeding to root it. (but on the plus side sticking with a Desire-Z hboot will ensure your /system size is big enough to play with the Sense roms).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhhh... What?
kbeezie said:
With ICS some things to keep in mind is that the most common issues tend to be :
1) Camera isn't "fully" working, in some cases like on mimicry and elitemod (or other non-Sense ICS roms), you can take a picture, you can record a video, but usually only with the stock camera app and usually won't have features like 720p recording or special effects.
2) Graphical glitch with the text can happen on an app, although rarely occurs, is easily fixed by closing the app or restarting (tends to stay with one app when it happens).
Those are probably the two most common issue you'll see with just bout every ICS rom out there for DZ/G2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can deal with that. Really, camera for me is one of the most useless apps. So stock app will do just fine
kbeezie said:
To clarify, even if you use the CM Wiki to unlock/root you do not have to install Cyanogenmod 7.2 afterwards, you can pretty much install any compatible rom once you've gotten it unlocked and running with a custom recovery (though I prefer 4EXT over clockworkmod).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, rooting won't delete everything from my phone, it will just be unlocked, so I could install some ROM apps that would do the rest of the work for me?
jumptoin said:
when you have root and you try new rom you will never want to stop of course there are some risks but I think that if you will have any kind of problem here on XDA is so many great people willing to help you ... my advice is to do it go step by step according to that guide and if you dont understand something just ask here on xda Best of luck....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is changing ROM deleting all my apps, messages etc., and is it doing so every time I change it. I've spent quite a lot of time and care to set the whole thing up, so I don't thing I would swap the ROMs so easily as you say
demkantor said:
back in the g1 days a friend of mine rooted his, i was astonished what could be done to phones now adays. i quickly rooted my g1 and began learning a ton about everything mobile, just like many before and after me i was hooked. even if you never found a better rom than stock the learning process is well worth it. even if you dont use most of the new features available to you at least having them is worth it. and unless you dont research/read first, or are mostly stupid/have bad luck, you wont brick your phone. i have rooted 50~60 phones and tablets, maybe more and never had a hard brick, sure when i first started out there was some close calls but with a little common sense you will be fine, also know you are now part a large community eager to help
so follow the xda or cyanogen wiki and downgrade and root your phone, move on to the rom compilation (found in the developers thread here) try a few roms and see what you prefer. you will be happy you did
on and one last point; the best reason to root your phone right when you get it, if there ever is a problem it is much easier to fix a rooted phone with software/firmware problems then an unrooted one. the only drawback could be if you need to send it back for warranty... but how likely is that, and the phone you have now im sure has little/no warranty left
happy flashing!
follow kbeeize's advice on how to root and try a few roms out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THX! :good:
kbeezie said:
PS: One of the major advantages of having a custom recovery, is the ability to perform a backup of your currently installed rom. If you screw something up, you need only go back into recovery Wipe (factory-reset/cache/etc) and restore the backup to get right back to where you were. And you can have several backups too if you were trying out several different roms.
So basically the process of rooting/unlocking offers a safety net once you're up and running, be it in the recovery , or apps like Titanium Backup. Getting there is mainly the intimidating part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it's like making an image file of the whole windows OS with all the programs preinstalled and restoring it when things go bust?

StipeP said:
So you would recommend EliteMod & Cyanogen guide for starters?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EliteMod ICS isn't really for everyone, something like Andromadus Mimicry would be an easier start if you wanted ICS.
StipeP said:
Uhhh... What?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The T-Mobile G2 hboot (0.76.200) has a /system of ~400MB, /cache of ~200MB and /data of ~1.3GB, but 400MB is not big enough for a Sense rom. So if you were following the cyanogenmod wiki for exploiting/rooting, you would need the Desire-Z Engineering hboot (0.84.2000) which has a /system of ~550MB, /cache ~300MB, /data 1GB. Otherwise you would have to avoid Sense roms or roms that say you need a DesireZ hboot.
Since you said you had a Desire-Z you may not even run across that issue.
StipeP said:
I can deal with that. Really, camera for me is one of the most useless apps. So stock app will do just fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then that's all good then.
StipeP said:
So, rooting won't delete everything from my phone, it will just be unlocked, so I could install some ROM apps that would do the rest of the work for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on how you root, and if your phone needs to be downgraded/exploited. Which most of the time it does (i.e.: to get ENG S-OFF), which will of course erase the existing data on the phone so backups is suggested.
StipeP said:
Is changing ROM deleting all my apps, messages etc., and is it doing so every time I change it. I've spent quite a lot of time and care to set the whole thing up, so I don't thing I would swap the ROMs so easily as you say
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's where root tools like Titanium Backup come in very handy. You can flash a band new rom, open up Titanium Backup, and then restore all your apps along with their settings/etc.
StipeP said:
So it's like making an image file of the whole windows OS with all the programs preinstalled and restoring it when things go bust?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally once you get an initial rom setup, you can do a backup in recovery. If things go bust, you just reboot into recovery, wipe/factory-reset and then restore from the backup which will put the phone at the exact same state as you backed it up.
But yea I guess it's kind of like taking a Ghost image of your hard drive, which is stored on the SD Card at /clockworkmod/backup

Dear StipeP,
Greetings!
I bought my Desire Z, my very first android mobile in April 2010 and since then I was thinking 'O my God! what the **** people are talking about rooting their mobile!!!'. It was not that I was not curious, it was the difficult looking procedure and always lingering fear of bricking my set . At that time, I was a toooooootal noob . Then HTC pushed gingerbread update. All was well before ICE rolled out and some other mobiles were getting it while desire z was no where in line. I decided I should give it a try but still I preferred some 'one click root' methods over the detailed one given at XDA (it seemed too intimidating). But every such method could not root a desire z on android 2.3.3 (they could have when I was on Froyo). Then I finally made my mind to take the bull by horn and started reading as much as possible about rooting the hard way. Finally, I went for the XDA-wiki and also stumbled upon a guy named Strawmetal's wonderful effort of putting all the necessary files and instructions at one place. One night, I sat after dinner just rooted it (though I remembered all possible Gods at some steps like matching the MD5 sums:fingers-crossed. I was so excited that I didn't sleep the whole night!
Now, question was which ROM to install ( I hated to be back on Froyo). I started fiddling with some gingerbread ROMs and then shifted to ICS ROMs. There are problems as mentioned by others. I would mention below some pros and cons (those matter to me) of these ROMs:
1. Gingerbread ROMs are generally quite stable. Some excellent examples are Virtuous Glite v2.01, EliteMod120316 (this is awesome!) etc. I found BeatMod Bliss Sense hybrid to be too heavy (it's a Sense 3.5 ROM).
2. Camera works fine with Gingerbread ROMs generally (It was good in EliteMod120316).
3. ICS ROMs are faster. Even browser there seems faster to.They give a lot of customization options (Rightnow, I'm on EliteMod 120728 and believe me, it would just enthrall you with its beauty and customization options).
4. For me, ability to read Hindi fonts is a bonus and ICS ROMs do this.
5. Regarding Camera on ICS ROMs, it is true that they are not good. But the Camera on EliteMod 120728 is working well. Only you cannot record 720p video:crying.
6. I'm yet to try some other good ROMs like CM9 unofficial so cannot say much about them.
7. One issue that I faced was that I could download from Play Store when using a gingerbread ROM but could not when using ICS ROMs. It was giving "error 403". Finally, resolved that today (of course, with help from others).
One thing that I should mention here is that after rooting and trying some ROMs, I felt frustrated and thought is there any way to go back to stock gingerbread rom without loosing root. Main issues was Camera (I use it a lot). But more I read and kept finding/trying new ROMs, more the desire to revert to gingerbread subsided. Finally, when I got EliteMod 120316, I was more than content. And now am using EliteMod 120728 (an ICS ROM).
Last but not least, I believe that the biggest advantage of rooting my desire z is not ability to run custom ROMs but the learning process and getting an opportunity to mingle with extra-ordinarily helpful XDA-guys.
Now, you have to take a decision about taking the plunge
Best of luck

Right, enough courage; time to get cracking.
I will go process by process, slowly following this: wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Vision
If I get stuck, all my hopes are on you guys.
Wish me luck

StipeP said:
Right, enough courage; time to get cracking.
I will go process by process, slowly following this: wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Vision
If I get stuck, all my hopes are on you guys.
Wish me luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the Best...
p.s.: take your time and better take notes of steps. It would help in bringing clarity. And make sure to copy your commands and outputs from ADB to a notepad. It would be of help if, God forbid, anything goes wrong. If you have already downloaded and setup the ADB, just try the msm_rotator command (adb shell cat /dev/msm_rotator). If you get following output, you are ready to go: /dev/msm_rotator: invalid length

Hi,
Another Android rooting NOOB, but experienced with Linux, including embedded (that's the day job )
Looking to root my HTC Desire Z, as is being discussed here.
From all the threads, it seems you have to downgrade to a very old stock ROM before starting. Several talk about being able to take a backup from Clockwork Recovery after you've rooted the phone in case things go wrong, but obviously by then the existing phone build will be gone.
What I'd really like to be able to do is to take a full backup of the stock Gingerbread setup I've currently got, so that if either (a) things go wrong or (b) I don't like the end result I can get back to where I am now.
None of the threads I've found so far (here, here, here and possibly others, I've been surfing around a lot the last couple of days!) talk about any way of doing this, some talk about using Titanium Backup or MyBackup Root to backup Apps, Call Data, SMS logs etc, but these presumably aren't a full OS backup.
Is there a relatively easy way of doing this from the fre3vo temporary root? Presumably 'dd' against the various /dev/block/mmcXXXX partitions will get most (all?) of the data? Are there sections that aren't available from Android device files as root?
One more (hopefully minor) thing - having worked down the start of this downgrade thread[URL], for now I've skipped the "Changing Version Number to Allow Downgrade and Gaining SuperCID with a Goldcard" section and tried the "Temp-Rooting to Backup" section (from my understanding of these two sections, I don't think anything from the section I skipped is relied upon in the backup section). I seem to find that the /system/bin/su file keeps getting corrupted or deleted. Is this HTC trying to stop me doing this, or is it one of the applications (SuperUser?) trying to protect the file and getting it wrong? In case it's making a difference, I also have Better Terminal Emulator Pro installed, which I'm using the "bash" from for some of the steps, as it has proper Linux auto-complete etc. which makes life easier.
I think I've managed to make a usable backup with MyBackup Root, but obviously can't easily test this without going further.
I'd really like to be as sure as possible that I can get back to where I am now before I start the downgrade to Froyo process...
Thanks in advance for any advice on this
Michael

I am worhtless.
Right now I am downgrading GB folowing CGmod guide wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/HTC_Desire_Z:_Firmware_Downgrade_(Gingerbread), and I am stuch at step 6. On the computer, open terminal and run the following commands:
Erm, what terminal????
btw, I extracted and copied the downloaded files into ADB install folder. That is the right one?

what terminal ? .... u just click start run and type in "cmd" ,,, or find command promt

says: adb is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
I am sorry to bother you, but I would be very grateful

so you downloaded adb from the sdk package right? you need to either change directories in cmd or change the path in enviromental variables
easiest thing to do would be hold shift and right click in the folder adb and files are in and choose open command here. then the path is chosen
also make sure debugging is turned on (in phone)
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

demkantor said:
so you downloaded adb from the sdk package right? you need to either change directories in cmd or change the path in enviromental variables
easiest thing to do would be hold shift and right click in the folder adb and files are in and choose open command here. then the path is chosen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did as you said but still the same problem: adb is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
If only I could post screenshots here for you to see what exactly am I doing (wrong)

what does it say when you open the cmd?
C:/user......?
is that the folder adb.exe is in?
are you using windows 7, vista, xp? mac, linux?
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

demkantor said:
what does it say when you open the cmd?
C:/user......?
is that the folder adb.exe is in?
are you using windows 7, vista, xp? mac, linux?
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have ADV Manager.exe and SDK Manager.exe
No adb.exe
This is what I have downloaded and installed developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
(Win7)

ok, you may need to open sdk and download adb from there, otherwise you can check if you did without knowing it. go to your harddrive (C) and see if there is an android folder or android sdk or something like that, look for I think platform tools in there and see if there is a program called adb
if you can't find this try search in computer
or just open the sdk manager and download the tools in the first chunk, specifically platform tools
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

Here you go.

Develop Bugs

welcome