(Just realized I posted this originally in the wrong section... Forgive me for overlooking this section. If any moderator could be kind enough to delete the old thread here I'd appreciate it.)
Hi there. Long time visitor, first time poster here.
I bought the Z1 Compact about 4 months ago and I have had a great time with it. Unlocked the BL and flashed CM11 about a week after I got it.
Now I'm not clueless when it comes to phones but I know I probably screwed things up on the way. I have a question to you Z1C pros:
When I unlocked the BL, I didn't backup my DRM keys. (Stupid of me, agreed.) And now I'm paying the price with sub-par noise reduction and terrible night shots with the camera. While I don't consider myself a photographer I do like to take a good photo every now and then. What I want to ask is if there's some way to return to a firmware that has DRM keys/TA partition with it so I can restore decent camera functionality? And if so... is it possible to back those up and restore them after installing a custom ROM, or do they only work on Stock Sony firmwares?
Some other questions might come to my mind as the time goes; will post here if they do.
Best regards, and thanks for reading.
Well, haste was never good idea.
Of everything what I have read here on xda-developers - DRM keys are like virginity.
Once lost - there's no way to get them back.
Related
What a great question! I'm so glad you asked!
I recently gave in and got my bootloader unlocked on my Verizon R800x, just so I could see what all the hoopla was about. After a few days of analysis, I've already been able to draw some conclusions that I hope new seekers will find useful.
There are several things to know when making a decision like this one.
1. What model of Xperia Play am I rocking? Not all Xperia Plays are created equal. There is the data connection to consider. If you are in most of the world outside of the US, you probably have a carrier that uses GSM for data. So does AT&T and Sprint in the US. Because it is so common, there are lots of Custom ROMS and kernels, unlocking the bootloader is easy, and many people are experienced in supporting GSM. But you're a Verizon Wireless customer? - sorry, you use a CDMA connection, which means your choices are much more limited, unlocking the bootloader is more of a challenge, and people tend to laugh at you!
2. Do I want to use the phone primarily for gaming with that sweet gamepad and not-so-sweet touchpads? Do I really depend on my phone to be 100% useable at all times? Better stick with ROMs and kernels based off of stock. No need to even know what a bootloader is!
3. Or, screw the games, I wanna be big, bad and bold, on the bleeding edge of technology! Well then, plan on furthering your techie education! You're going to be learning all kinds of fun and interesting terms, like soft brick, hard brick, adb, fastboot, flashing , RAM, ROM, push, root and boot - after awhile it all starts sounding like a naughty little party is going on in your phone! Hey, Baby! I got yer bootloader right here, know wut I'm sayin?
How about some do's and don'ts?
DON'T post a question on how to root, unlock the bootloader, install coolappofthemoment.apk or what does any of these terms mean without doing a little research on your own first. Chances are, someone else asked it at least once, probably a million times, and the only responses you're likely to get are "GEEZE, READ THE BLOODY FORUMS, YA N00B!!!"
DO use Google, search the forums, and actually READ the threads that seem relevant to your question. Yes, you will read a more than a few posts like "Does this work yet?", "I don't like the color of...", "MemberX is a troll!", but interspersed in there is quite a bit of information that you may benefit from and often you will find your answer much more quickly than posting a question and waiting for a valid response.
DON'T be afraid of rooting your phone but...
DO be aware that your warranty may (will) be affected by modifying your phone.
DON'T remove anything preinstalled by the service provider until you...
DO a Nandroid Backup first. (There's a term you will want to explore further. Hint: Look into CWM Custom Recovery.)
DON'Tuninstall system apps right away. Instead freeze them (OOOH another term you might want to learn. Hint: Titanium Backup among other apps.) Once you are comfortable with restoring your Nandroid Backup, you understand what the app does, and you experience no issues freezing it, then you can remove it if you want to free up some internal storage space.
DO pay attention to who the developers are for different projects, as well as frequent posters with actual useful contributions. You can tell who they are by the phrase "The Following 9 million Users Say Thank You to UltraDev For This Useful Post:" These are the people you want to make your bestest friends.
WOW !! Who knew there was so much to learn !!! Can't I just skip all that and charge blindly ahead??? I have one word for you. BRICK !!! OK, I have another word for you:
DON'T!!!
After trying the few kernels and Custom ROMs available to me (Yes, I am a lucky Verizon customer), I decided that, for me, it's fun to be able to juggle razors (Get It? Be on the BLEEDING EDGE???), but since some of the things I like to do with my phone are not yet working with the latest and greatest, I'm better off sticking with a customized stock configuration. The great thing is, I can always try the newer stuff and then go back to the "safe" setup.
Oh yeah! I almost forgot! There is one more DO for you, and it's extremely important!
DO click that Thanks button when someone posts a project or information that you find useful. We all want to know our efforts are appreciated, right? RIGHT?????? <<Taps his foot and looks pointedly at the Thanks button>>
Your post reminded me of Excel, of Excel Saga's fame. For that you carved a little nostalgia hole in my rocky heart.
That's going to be very useful, and you had me laughing for 10 mins with the bootloader thing
Sent from my Xperia Play using Tapatalk
Ok, so I was one of the lucky few with a gen2 device that was not getting the ICS update. I tried to scan for the update probably 50 times yesterday with no luck. After seeing that others where having the same problem I got frustrated, I flashed the update Zeronull posted in the developers forums. Worked great.
My question is now what exactly is to be gained from the whole process of rooting/unlocking/loading CM9, and some custom roms. I am not new to hacking hardware/software, but I am fairly new to android so I don't really understand what I am gaining from the gamble.
My tab is mainly a family device so there is some added risk with my 4 year old, and wife having root access to my tab. Not sure that is a great idea or not. So once I decide if I want/need CM9 how secure is it from the rest of the family bricking it after the fact?
The only thing in the developers side that really catches my eye is cossix swap mod. I am surprised no one has rolled that into a rom yet. Anyways, if that is all I am really looking to gain is the CM9 path worth it for me?
Basically after re-reading this I am just fairly clueless about CM9. Can anyone with some experience clue a brother in? What is it exactly that I am missing?
Thanks,
I hate to bump my on post, but I was hoping to get a few opinions on this before I let it die.
Okay, I just recently got the S3 after having an HTC hero for years that was unceremoniously killed by mother nature on a ride home that took me through a torrential downpour on a motorcycle.
My little hero was rooted and running cyanogenmod 7.2 however i haven't messed with modifying any phone or such since that one or more advanced than that.
I know there are tons of threads with how Tos on rooting the s3 and such. But, I have noticed in a few of them they mention "tripping a flash counter". Does the method shown by qbking trip it or not, and what is the significance of this?
Something else I'm noticing being mentioned in various threads are Kernels. To be honest I don't know what they are and haven't found a thread explaining them. So what do they do what is their significance? etc etc
Thanks in advance for any help and I'm sorry if these have been answered before somewhere I'm not seeing. But I think it's better to ask and get answers from the experts and be sure before moving forward with modifying my brand new phone. Especially since the guys at my local sprint store root and modify their phones so they know what to look for in case something were to happen.
Before I answer your questions, I just wanted to thank you for reading up a lot prior to asking and trying to find the answer on your own. Also, your questions were clear and concise, which is becoming more rare on this site (and others).
Ok, as far as the trip counter goes, it shouldn't matter if you trip it. Samsung is a lot more developer-friendly than HTC is, so there's no locked boot loader (on the s3) and there's no real big deal with tripping the counter. You can use triangle away to remove the trip, but it shouldn't matter. I believe qbking's method well trip it.
Kernals are a bit more difficult to explain, but if you're familiar with drivers for Windows, I think the concept is similar. The android os is not designed to communicate with every piece of hardware out there. The kernals are there to act as the translator between the "generic" language of android and the specific language of the specific hardware that's used in the phone. So when android asks for the GPS, all it had to do is call upon the GPS. The kernel is the one that translates that and gives directions to the specific piece of hardware (in this case, the GPS). The main advantage of custom kernals is that they can also relate the processor speed, which can either boost performance or save battery life, depending on your preferences and settings.
There is a thread in general that talks a lot about the ktoonsez Kendall and the various settings that people have used. I've found it a good primer on kernals and how the different governors work.
After all that, have fun flashing!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Tuvan03 said:
Okay, I just recently got the S3 after having an HTC hero for years that was unceremoniously killed by mother nature on a ride home that took me through a torrential downpour on a motorcycle.
My little hero was rooted and running cyanogenmod 7.2 however i haven't messed with modifying any phone or such since that one or more advanced than that.
I know there are tons of threads with how Tos on rooting the s3 and such. But, I have noticed in a few of them they mention "tripping a flash counter". Does the method shown by qbking trip it or not, and what is the significance of this?
Something else I'm noticing being mentioned in various threads are Kernels. To be honest I don't know what they are and haven't found a thread explaining them. So what do they do what is their significance? etc etc
Thanks in advance for any help and I'm sorry if these have been answered before somewhere I'm not seeing. But I think it's better to ask and get answers from the experts and be sure before moving forward with modifying my brand new phone. Especially since the guys at my local sprint store root and modify their phones so they know what to look for in case something were to happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would suggest checking out THIS THREAD
topherk said:
Before I answer your questions, I just wanted to thank you for reading up a lot prior to asking and trying to find the answer on your own. Also, your questions were clear and concise, which is becoming more rare on this site (and others).
Ok, as far as the trip counter goes, it shouldn't matter if you trip it. Samsung is a lot more developer-friendly than HTC is, so there's no locked boot loader (on the s3) and there's no real big deal with tripping the counter. You can use triangle away to remove the trip, but it shouldn't matter. I believe qbking's method well trip it.
Kernals are a bit more difficult to explain, but if you're familiar with drivers for Windows, I think the concept is similar. The android os is not designed to communicate with every piece of hardware out there. The kernals are there to act as the translator between the "generic" language of android and the specific language of the specific hardware that's used in the phone. So when android asks for the GPS, all it had to do is call upon the GPS. The kernel is the one that translates that and gives directions to the specific piece of hardware (in this case, the GPS). The main advantage of custom kernals is that they can also relate the processor speed, which can either boost performance or save battery life, depending on your preferences and settings.
There is a thread in general that talks a lot about the ktoonsez Kendall and the various settings that people have used. I've found it a good primer on kernals and how the different governors work.
After all that, have fun flashing!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help and the info. As far as the kernel thing goes i must admit i feel stupid now, esp being a computer science major, granted I'm just beginning toward my degree however for some reason i just didn't put two and two together. My excuse is that it was late at night/early in the morning heh , that being said please excuse me while i go bang my head against a wall to see if i can jump start my brain.
I guess now the only thing left to do is watch the video again/download the files and root the sucker and go from there.
Thanks again for the info and guess i need to read the FAQ a bit more rather than skimming through
We're here to help! I'm glad you're understanding it better now, even with the couple of horrible autocorrect mistakes I had in the post.
Hope you enjoy all the custom roms out there, I always enjoy trying out a new one.
Peace,
Topher
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Dear Sirs,
please forgive me for asking this, but from two days of searching on this forum I still cannot answer myself this.. (seems im not asking myself the right questions)
I have been an i-device user, but with a need for an 8inch tab i also decided its about time to try out some android awesomeness. Luckily as it seems LG offers this perfect size of 8.3" and a possibility of a pure android system. Since im from europe i can only find a stock LG version (non-GPA) which i really do not want. Imho, a crime much like cutting a nice glass of whisky with some coke. So the question is:
Can i buy the LGA version and transform it into a GPA version, without voiding my warranty? (Possibility to revert?) How hard is this to do, and what would be the best way?
Appreciate your time&effort,
Alexander
oldfashioned1912 said:
Dear Sirs,
please forgive me for asking this, but from two days of searching on this forum I still cannot answer myself this.. (seems im not asking myself the right questions)
Alexander
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Conversion from a 500 to a 510 is currently not a known white or black magic incantation. The voodoo involved seems to be a few minor hardware differences that results in no wifi or bluetooth working when people attempt the switch.
Your fellow magic-users do appreciate it if you search first... However the proper search incantation must have eluded you in this case!
(hopefully you found this funny, as it was meant to be, and yes I even answered your question)
The closest you can get with a 500 is picking a rom that stays close to AOSP...
Thanks! A true gentleman and indeed quite amusing, life is better with a grain of satire I realise this must have been discussed before, but as a novice to this world, obviously my quarries had indeed been weak. In my defense though, there is a tonne of misinformation out there on the great webs.
So something like this would be the best bet?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g-pad-83/development/rom-android-5-0-lollipop-lrx21m-t2941207
And is there also a bulletproof way to restore to the original LGA state in case one needs to claim warranty?
oldfashioned1912 said:
So something like this would be the best bet?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g-pad-83/development/rom-android-5-0-lollipop-lrx21m-t2941207
And is there also a bulletproof way to restore to the original LGA state in case one needs to claim warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize for the late reply... I typically run CM12 myself I do not have direct experience with the rom you specified here.
You can restore the tablet to the factory condition. I just did it myself last night. I'll see if I can find the thread that documents the method that I use and add it to this post.
The approach that I use (and just used again last night) is detailed here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2471370
Those instructions are for the G2 however I have used that app on both my G3 and my V500 to get them back to pure stock. If you have never plugged your tablet into your computer when it is in download mode, it will take a while for the drivers to install. Once they are installed you should not have to type anything in (if the program is prompting you for information you have not got it right yet). The instructions for the factory reset and download mode entry are not the correct key combinations, but otherwise the procedure does work...
Superb! Thanks alot. As you can see from my signature i have gone ahead an got myself one of theese. Im loving it in every way (except he doesnt wanna jive with airplay all to well), but once decluttered, the lg rom is not that bad. Knowing i can restore everything back, calms my mind about trying rooting and stuff. I heard even airplay can work better once rooted..
Sent from my LG-V500 using XDA Free mobile app
Hey all, have an att LG Opt G Pro... love the phone but would love to be able to get rid of allot of that att junk I don't really use or want. Was wondering exactly what the advantages are and what all I can do once it is rooted. Where do you get apps to use... I assume they are not on the playstore are they.... apk's for rooted phones, are they up there....
What are the chances of bricking the phone, still have a year on contract so would hate to pay for phone i could not use... maybe should get insurance first lol.... see my deli-ma, would like to get the advice of other att users on the lg g pro and how much fun and better it has made their phone... what kinds of things they have done with it and changed etc etc etc... these kinds of things would be very useful...
currently it was running 20h I think it was, last three on build number. i have not updated since 2014, should I try and update first or does it matter...
any and all advice greatly appreciated... searched around but did not see a sticky with advantages of rooting listed... that would be a great sticky.... this is the beginning of this journey and i appreciate positive feedback... i realize there are many who are experts and probly weery of noobs like me... just remember once, a long, long, time ago, you were noob too lol...
thanks everyone.... i appreciate it...
the bot
oh one of biggest questions i forgot, was going to use this one click site to root, is it ok and safe: seemed pretty easy but before I try it I thought I better ask the experts....
http://www.oneclickroot.com/device/lg-optimus-g-pro/