Develop Bugs

Root: Newbie's questions about upgrading & updating

Hi everyone,
I'm a newbie to the community of everything rooting and post rooting. I have recently rooted my N7 2013 running 4.2.2 and flashed TWRP recovery/SuperUser by Chainfire/AOSP PA 4Beta ROM.
While I now understands how to update the ROM and how to get out of a bootloop and other similar rooting circumstances, I need help understanding the procedures involved in the below scenario :-
Should Android get an incremental or a major update,
1. Should I first update the Stock ROM followed by reflashing the custom ROM or just wait for the custom ROM to release their compatible update?
2. Should the Superuser have an update, that does have to be updated from Play Store or the update needs to be flashed? Also, does TWRP needs to be updated if there's an update because I have heard that some ROMs are compatible with recoveries from a specific versions? Is this true?
3. Is updating radios really necessary? Will updating the radios cause it to malfunction? What is the procedure if this needs to be done?
4. What do I do if I wish to chuck the custom ROM and return to stock ROM or what is called un-rooting?
If there's something I missed out on asking but needs to be done, please point me in that direction as well!
Thanks
Regards
Karthik
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Prerequisites for installing custom roms - Hardware / Software

I have Hyperdrive installed and the only important prerequisite was it had to be the sm-p600 model which I have but other roms mention firmware base eg xxucnh3, xxcng, xxucn. For my phone (htc one m8) the prerequisites are much stricter and complex eg you have to have the right android version , the right radio, the right model and its variants, the right custom recovery version and type, the right base firmware and then only if you have s-off to change it. One piece of advice I got was that I could only load roms up to the current android version 4.4.3 (Australia) for my phone but not above. They also said that the only way to upgrade to 5.0 was returning to stock using OTA's unless you have s-off and convert your phone. Its this comparison between what's necessary to run my phone's roms and tablet's roms that's got my head spinning.
So my questions ..........
1. Will any rom written for my sm-p600 work regardless of android version, firmware base and country?
2. When lollipop comes out can I simply wait for a rom to be updated and load that or do I need to return to stock and wait for OTAs

1. For your first question any rom for the p600 or p601(3g version) that has an Android version at or higher then 4.3 you can flash safely. Anything below 4.3 you will brick your device, KNOX restriction.
2. No, you cannot take ota updates from Samsung, but you can flash updates from Sammobile.com for any updates for your devices. You are more likely to get android lollipop sooner if you flash a custom rom.
Here is a useful link on the root: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2490805
Sent from my SM-P600 using XDA Free mobile app

That clears it up, thanks.
I read most of the pages of that thread before I installed my first custom rom. Rooting, roming etc is so much easier on Samsung. I've read 100s of pages on the HTC forums and boy it's way more complicated.

[Q] [q] Bell OTA + Lollipop + Custom Roms

Hey! I've been spending hours reverting my rom to stock and doing my OTAs to get to lollipop.
My phone is a Bell M8 with S-ON. I am currently up to 4.4.4 and about to do the Lollipop update. I am aware I should do sunshine on 4.4.3 but am broke right now so was just thinking of waiting until it works on Lollipop.
That being said, the current Bell OTA for Lollipop is version 4.20.666.1 (awesome numbers btw) and most roms say I need firmware 4.16.x.x.
My question is, will those roms work properly on this firmware? Or should I go back to 4.4.3 and use sunshine (I am impatient and want lollipop now, but stock roms suck.)
Thanks for the help!
edit: I found this advice in a rom thread
In future Rom releases, you may stick with your region’s firmware as long as that firmware is from the current released base, such as 5.0.1, 5.0.2, etc.
Firmware flashing is not required for every Rom update. Most of the time it is best to remain on your phone’s native firmware for best signal reception, battery life, and overall performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does that mean as long as the rom is the same version 5.0.x that I should be fine?

Ya you should be fine tuning that firmware with the Rom... Can I ask you to also please upload the ota for us ...I've been looking for it all around

danial.aw said:
Ya you should be fine tuning that firmware with the Rom... Can I ask you to also please upload the ota for us ...I've been looking for it all around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do I find it I haven't update yet.. I'd you can tell me where it is located I can extract and upload it.

I have a TWRP backup of it. Would that work or probably not since the firmware isn't there.

Kernel Questions

I apologize if this is explained elsewhere, did a search but not coming up with much:
I'm somewhat new to Android rooting. I have a Verizon M8 that was on 4.4.4. I installed Sunshine 3.02, got root no problem, TWRP installed with no issues, SU installed fine. I tried to run a few of the Lollipop ROMs but they would not run, I jut got returned to TWRP. (Some, like ViperOneM8 run fine). According to a post in another thread, I also need to update the kernel to get it to work with these newer ROMs.
My question is: what now? There's a section on XDA for Kernels but they all appear to be custom kernels, the ROM I want to use (Android Revolution) says that using the stock kernel is best. How do I find these kernels and how do I figure out which one to use?
Anyone willing to give me the short version of when I would need a new kernel and why?
Thanks for any help!

You need to update to Lollipop firmware.
You should also make sure you stick to ROMs that specifically support the Verizon variant (if you are not doing so already) as its a CDMA variant, which is different hardware from most other (GSM) versions.

[Q] Can custom rom's firmware base be different then what my phone came with?

Hi everyone, enjoying my awesome M9 like everyone else =D
and its time to move on to the custom rom goodness.
I can't seem to find an answer to the question. (maybe its too obvious? coming from s3)
Mine is a M9 (hong kong), with 1.32.708.15 (s-On) and all the custom roms are 1.32.401.17 based.
Is it safe to Flash it?
This is the only info i managed to find at the ARHD 5.0 OP with regards to the question.
"- If your current firmware version doesn't match ROM firmware version, wiping data inside AROMA is highly recommended!"
Would be nice if I can get some confirmation from you guys.

Yes it is fine right now since it is the same base. Get soff while you can so flashing firmware in the future is easy. Remember always backup first. Use twrp 2864

ratratrat said:
Hi everyone, enjoying my awesome M9 like everyone else =D
and its time to move on to the custom rom goodness.
I can't seem to find an answer to the question. (maybe its too obvious? coming from s3)
Mine is a M9 (hong kong), with 1.32.708.15 (s-On) and all the custom roms are 1.32.401.17 based.
Is it safe to Flash it?
This is the only info i managed to find at the ARHD 5.0 OP with regards to the question.
"- If your current firmware version doesn't match ROM firmware version, wiping data inside AROMA is highly recommended!"
Would be nice if I can get some confirmation from you guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this on the M8 before, I had problems with the wifi and it took ages to boot until I found out that my firmware is old and different from the rom.
Anyway, I did what you are trying to do yesterday, (firmware 15/ rom 17) for a couple of minutes, didnt find any problems.
Before you flash any ROM, BACKUP your system and move it to your PC and use the latest TWRP

Thats good to hear! I'm gonna give it a try once i'm back in town! Thx!

Please Help me!
I have a HTC (M9) Verizon, and base is 1.33.605.15, it is advisable to downgrade the base to 1.32.401.17?? (for install customs roms with this base)

Fito_Tito said:
I have a HTC (M9) Verizon, and base is 1.33.605.15, it is advisable to downgrade the base to 1.32.401.17?? (for install customs roms with this base)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ONLY. use firmware for your phone. if you flash a gsm firmware on a cdma phone you are asking for trouble, big time.