can you do incremental updates on rooted stock? - Nexus 5X Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I run rooted stock. I just generally like it.
One problem (well two actually) I have is everytime there is an update, which is monthly now i guess, I Have to basically return my phone to complete stock, install the update then re root. I lose everything and have to pretty much set everything back up including my tethering edit.
What I would like to know is if there is a simple way to update without doing this every time.
I was avoiding going to roms simply because you are also at the mercy of the rom dev to update when there is one anyway and installing roms this go around have gotten kind of tedious with the bootloader, radio, vendor img etc etc.
On a side note I noticed that every time I run a TWRP backup in my phone my free space goes to near nothing. I have a 32g phone and the img is 8 gigs. Yet after I do it there seems to be like 16 gigs used.
A while ago someone else said TWRP my be copying the img or creating a mirror, duplicate but I ended up restoring my phone and got my space back so never really delved further into it.
Thanks

Section 9 in this guide (http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/guides-how-to-guides-beginners-t3206930)

I used this app for the March security update. Both data and root survived. http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/paid-software/flashfire-t3075433/page270

Related

Android update!

Disclaimer: This worked on my phone. I am not responsible if your phone turns into an expensive brick.
I know this isn't quite the update everyone was waiting for I managed to pull the 2.3.6 OTA files. I also managed to figure out how to flash them. Turns out CWM 5 offers root adb access, everything we need to update and root this phone. Note I tried CWM 6 but it said "possible loss of root" so apparently CWM 6 likes to reside on an already rooted phone.
Note this is not the most elegant solution. The most elegant would be a signed update.zip. The second most elegant would be something flashable with CWM or Odin. Too bad I don't know how to do those. I do know how to do this.
The first thing to do is make sure you are on the AT&T stock firmware. It doesn't matter if you've already flashed something else. No need to wipe cache or factory reset or anything (although if you run into problems you should try to do that step). Download it from samfirmware.com. Flash it with Odin. This will put you on stock 2.3.5. Even if you were already on 2.3.6, or rooted, or on Rogers, this will work. After the flash, boot the phone normally, wait a minute or so, and shut it down.
Now for the fun part. AT&T will not push the OTA to a non AT&T customer. The flash will also not work with a modified phone (hence the reflash to stock). How to gain root access to manually flash the OTA? If we install root, it will not install. If we install CWM, we will not have the stock recovery which is required to process the OTA. So...
How about this? We install CWM 5. You can find it here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1458153
Then we adb into the phone, and push the OTA files, and then reflash the stock recovery over CWM, and then manually reboot into OTA mode. That sounds crazy... crazy enough to work.
After you've flashed CWM, reboot into it and make sure your phone is still connected to your computer. We won't actually be using CWM, just the root access it provides over adb. Unzip the two zip files below (why use external hosting, I can store zips up to 11 MB on here) into a folder and run fota.bat. Ooo and ahh over your Gingerbread.
But what about root? Well, I posted in another thread a complicated method for rooting 2.3.6 using the root access from CWM, but how about easy? Boot your phone into 2.3.6 and let it sit for a minute or so, and shut it down. Reboot into Odin mode, and reflash CWM over the stock recovery (again). Copy the Superuser zip from the folder you made earlier to your SD card. Flash this with CWM. This is the beta of Superuser 3.2, courtesy of Rom Manager. Download the stericson busybox app from the Market if you want busybox as well.
This was a fun way to kill a weekend
Throws a signature verification failed error.
Try again with the new method
Had a few mild scares. After flashing CWM on stock, it refused to boot into it but after 3 tries and my screen acting up upon boot, it finally booted into CWM. Launched the bat file and it went well. Upon booting up and entering the update process, it froze up at 74% and refused to continue. Rebooted the phone and it once again entered the update process and this time it managed to finish. Phone rebooted and after checking "About phone", my phone is on 2.3.6 stock. When you initially provided the OTA files and the sig check failed, I had a good feeling this would be the only other way to do it as I tried to sign it and it also failed. Thanks for taking the time to post all of this.
Why go to 2.3.6? It´s better than 2.3.5 customized?
Better question: we're getting ICS within the month, so why bother with 2.3.6 when you can just upgrade to 4.x.x when it comes down?
-Ara
AraDreamer said:
Better question: we're getting ICS within the month, so why bother with 2.3.6 when you can just upgrade to 4.x.x when it comes down?
-Ara
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because there are some people who will want to stick with 2.3.5/6 . He made this so that those who do, can update to 2.3.6 even when they aren't with AT&T, almost hassle free.
narume said:
Had a few mild scares. After flashing CWM on stock, it refused to boot into it but after 3 tries and my screen acting up upon boot, it finally booted into CWM. Launched the bat file and it went well. Upon booting up and entering the update process, it froze up at 74% and refused to continue. Rebooted the phone and it once again entered the update process and this time it managed to finish. Phone rebooted and after checking "About phone", my phone is on 2.3.6 stock. When you initially provided the OTA files and the sig check failed, I had a good feeling this would be the only other way to do it as I tried to sign it and it also failed. Thanks for taking the time to post all of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I was testing this, I saw that behavior if you didn't completely boot up the phone between steps (ie, flash stock firmware, boot phone, flash CWM, boot phone). I don't know what would cause it otherwise. Glad to see your phone made it.
narume said:
Because there are some people who will want to stick with 2.3.5/6 . He made this so that those who do, can update to 2.3.6 even when they aren't with AT&T, almost hassle free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I did it because I've owned this phone for exactly two weeks and discovered all the available ROMs are based on 2.3.5 even though 2.3.6 has been out since December. CWMR with root has been out since January, and since then nobody else has rooted 2.3.6 or found a way to flash it. And I thought, it couldn't be that hard? And even more amazed when I discovered CWMR comes with root out of the box, without even touching /system. The only other missing piece was the stock recovery, which also wasn't out in the wild. 3 birds for one stone
On a side note, if you want to do some cleaning after the OTA and you decide to root, you can delete /cache/fota and /data/fota safely.
Nardholio said:
Actually I did it because I've owned this phone for exactly two weeks and discovered all the available ROMs are based on 2.3.5 even though 2.3.6 has been out since December. CWMR with root has been out since January, and since then nobody else has rooted 2.3.6 or found a way to flash it. And I thought, it couldn't be that hard? And even more amazed when I discovered CWMR comes with root out of the box, without even touching /system. The only other missing piece was the stock recovery, which also wasn't out in the wild. 3 birds for one stone
On a side note, if you want to do some cleaning after the OTA and you decide to root, you can delete /cache/fota and /data/fota safely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I see. Well, still, being able to flash to 2.3.6 is nice because if anyone ever decides to stick with 2.3.6 they can easily flash the update now. Maybe more people like you will pop up and start pushing out more useful content like this for the Glide so it won't be a dead area of development anymore.

[Q] New OS update bricked my Fire. Any quick fixes?

My rooted KF got bricked by the new OS update that was released last night. It boots as normal, gets to the locker screen, and whether you unlock it or not, reboots about 15 seconds later to a screen showing the Android guy and an exclamation point in a yellow triangle. Then, if you start touching the screen, 4 buttons will show up on the side, up/down, select, and back... but they do nothing. Reboot again and it takes me to TWRP.
I know how to wipe my KF and reinstall everything, but I was hoping that someone might know of a fix for this. Especially because I just got a new computer and am still in the process of getting my normal apps installed, let alone Android SDKs that I use once in a blue moon. Plus, I have a few games that I would rather not lose my progress on.
BTW, I rooted my dad's KF the exact same way as mine and his just lost root access with the update, everything else is fine. Kinda weird.
TIA
What OS update? Your new computer will not need sdk. Also you will not escape having to wipe if something has gone amuck, unless you get lucky to be able to flash the prior system to revert the defect. You could just flash modaco http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1439916 no more losing root from OTA`S. You may also get lucky and be able to flash modaco if you`re on rooted stock or previously rooted stock 6.3.1 without wiping.
Thepooch said:
What OS update? Your new computer will not need sdk. Also you will not escape having to wipe if something has gone amuck, unless you get lucky to be able to flash the prior system to revert the defect. You could just flash modaco http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1439916 no more losing root from OTA`S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About 3am last night, I found my KF bricked after just using it about 30 minutes before (the wifi was on and it was hooked up to the charger). Today, I checked on my dad's KF and he has his wifi turned off. I turned it on and it instantly rebooted to just a "command line" screen saying that it was installing an update. Took about 10 minutes and then rebooted and worked fine, except that it was unrooted. I read somewhere in the Amazon Forums today that they did roll out an update and plan on spending 2 weeks doing it to keep from bogging down their network. Granted, their Software Update page doesn't say anything about it yet.
BTW, thanks for the other info, I'll have to check it out. Sounds like I'll have to wipe it (or at least restore from a 2-3 month old backup and see how the update goes again). But that's cool that I won't need to install the Android SDK.
Explains why some are instantly being unrooted or like in your case bricked strange thing is that it doesn`t change the system version it`s still 6.3.1 figures that Amazon would pull something like this.
Hey, I did manage to find a quick fix!
In the recovery mode, I decided to try using the Fix Permissions option. Still had the same problem.
I then just used the Clear Cache option and my KF was back up and running... and still rooted.
The only issue I have found so far is that I had to change the permission to allow changing the wallpaper, just uncheck the "write" permissions, (which was probably reset by the Fix Permissions option I ran). Other than that 2 second fix, everything is fine.
Granted, I'm waiting for Amazon to do an auto-check for some file that was in the cache that told it that it had installed the latest upgrade, and since I wiped that, it may install it again. If it does, I'll post it in this thread that my quick fix didn't work. But so far so good.
It turns out that my quick fix is only a temp fix.
Twice tonight I had to clear the cache again via the recovery menu. The first time it happened, I had just finished reading and hit the power button to put it in sleep mode, which caused it to instantly reboot and then do the same thing as I mentioned above. It boots up, and within 5 second of getting the locker screen, whether you unlock it or not, it starts shutting down and reboots ending up with the screen in the attached pic (those dots are just dust that appear super bright for some weird reason because you can't see them except in the pic).
So I cleared the cache again, everything was fine, and then about an hour later I found it sitting on that screen again. Clearing the cache fixed it again, but obvious this is a reoccurring problem.
Anyone have any ideas?
I'm reluctant to do a reinstall yet because I'm afraid I'll just end up with the same problem... along with none of my apps installed.
I have the same issue my temp solution is turn off wifi asap after lock-screen appear, wait abt 1-2 minutes then I can turn on wifi and use as normal.
Everything will fine for few hours. Any permanent solution plz? I remember that it occurred after i update something from Amazon app store, maybe : apps...
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
The permanent solution is to flash another rom preferably modaco if you want the stock experience. Full wipe, your apps can all be redownloaded that is the least of your worries at this point. probably a really good time to upgrade your bootloader and recovery if you haven`t flash both of these zips as zips in twrp if are behind the curve http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30780737&postcount=180 and http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1632375 only get them from where I`m directing you or use smirkit http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1500935.
thanks for your help. This is done with the below solution
1) Copy the update bin file to the /sdcard as update.zip
Download stock ROM : https://s3.amazonaws.com/kindle-fire-updates/update-kindle-6.3.1_D01E_4107920.bin
copy update-kindle-6.3.1_D01E_4107920.bin into Kindle Fire and re-name to update.zip
2) From the main menu of CWM, "Wipe cache from partion" to remove the existing files in the data and cache partitions
3) From the main menu of CWM, press the "Install update.zip" button to flash the stock software onto your device.
no data/application lost accept FFF and CWM
Wiping cache doesn`t remove data in twrp its factory reset that you need to concern yourself with and unfortunately there is data loss. You may have succeeded but others put themselves in a position of needing a factory cable after not properly wiping when flashing stock. This is because the data is what the kindle has a tough time handling after a complete stock flash. Flashing modaco is far safer, truth is that it will leave your recovery and bootloader intact providing a far better safety net if something were to go wrong. Also if you create a backup before you flash if something does go wrong at least you can restore a half crap backup, wipeout recovery and this is no longer possible just saying. I see far more people fail to flash stock than I ever do flashing modaco.
Thanks for the info guys.
Considering the post in the Amazon Forums said this update was being pushed out over a 2 week period, I'm just going to keep my WiFi off (unless needed) and wait until everyone should have received the update and then see how it plays out. Considering it doesn't change the software version number, I'm thinking that this update may be just targeting rooted Fires. And BTW, it appears that the post was removed, because I can't find it again. Maybe they remove any that mention rooting? I just stumbled upon it via a Google search... 99% of the question in their forum are just idiotic.
Directv used to pull this stunt all the time to bust people with hacked cards that allowed them to get all their channels for free (usually a few hours before some big PPV event). They finally completely stopped the ability to hack cards by rolling out parts of their code over a long period of time, a year or so. When the final piece was put in place, the previous parts of their code had already been integrated into the hacked card software, because it appeared safe, and along with upgrading the type of cards they used during that same period of time, pretty much eliminated the ability to cheat Directv. I'm not saying that Amazon is going to those lengths to stop people from rooting their KFs,.. but who knows? It may be costing them too much with people bricking their KFs by trying to root them. Plus, they may also be losing revenue by people getting their free apps (with ads) from the Playstore instead of Amazon. And considering they pretty much sell their Fires for cost, they definitely rely on revenue generated by buying and using things via a stock KF.
BTW, this whole issue had almost perfect timing... I was planning on wiping my KF because it definitely is slower than when I first got it (which was day 1 of its release). I've read that Gingerbread doesn't clean up after itself too well, especially not as good as ICS (kinda like a Windows registry just gets filled with junk over time, and no cleaner beats a fresh install). It also appears that the ICS roms are actually working reliably these days, compared to the last time I checked. So, in a couple weeks, I'll get to have some fun. I am a Windows/Cisco System Engineer, so this kinda stuff is fun for me.
F.Y.I.
It seems that Amazon did do a incremental update on the Original Kindle Fire version
6.3.1_user_4107720, April 30 build to 6.3.1_user_4107920, November 27 build.
I looked thru the update and the only things I found changed are to do with the
Wifi driver, launcher icons, boot animation, and boot.img; attached the changed file below.
I have not tried to update mine, will attempt this weekend.
Thank you Tera Tike for the info at least this confirms that it's not just a fluke users of rooted stock should be warned appreciate your research. I do wonder why they would change boot animation and IMG seems a bit haneous.
Thepooch said:
Thank you Tera Tike for the info at least this confirms that it's not just a fluke users of rooted stock should be warned appreciate your research. I do wonder why they would change boot animation and IMG seems a bit haneous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems they increased the resolution of the images in the file, but for me I can not see the difference.
For me I wonder what they changed in the WiFi driver file, tiap_drv.ko.
Kindle Fire Reboot Problem Solved - Install MoDaCo Rom
Thepooch said:
Wiping cache doesn`t remove data in twrp its factory reset that you need to concern yourself with and unfortunately there is data loss. You may have succeeded but others put themselves in a position of needing a factory cable after not properly wiping when flashing stock. This is because the data is what the kindle has a tough time handling after a complete stock flash. Flashing modaco is far safer, truth is that it will leave your recovery and bootloader intact providing a far better safety net if something were to go wrong. Also if you create a backup before you flash if something does go wrong at least you can restore a half crap backup, wipeout recovery and this is no longer possible just saying. I see far more people fail to flash stock than I ever do flashing modaco.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took Thepooch's advice and installed MoDaCo rom on my KF. It was a snap. I had FireFireFire installed with TWRP. Just downloaded MoDaCo to PC copied to KF. Rebooted to FireFireFire Installed with Install Zip utility. Took a few minutes. Rebooted didn't loose any data , apps or functionality. Its still rooted. THANKS!
No problem you can find the entire uncomplicated method here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1923010 or at least a synopsis of the concept.

[Q] I messed up pretty bad, need help please!

Okay so here's what happened, from the beginning:
A long time ago, about a month after the release of the SGS3, I rooted my device. All I wanted was to uninstall bloatware, which I did.
I took some advice from a friend and installed some root-related apps (Titanium Backup, Rom Manager, BusyBox Free, Root Checker Basic, AnTuTu Benchmark, GooManager and TWRP) that I barely used.
Fast forward to today, about an hour or so ago. I had completely forgotten my phone is rooted because all I really did was remove bloatware. Suddenly the thought occurs to me, "I haven't checked for an update in a while!" Again, don't remember my phone is rooted. So I do the software update process, takes about 20 minutes to download the OTA update, then I click continue to install. The phone does its thing, shuts down down to install, starts coming back on, white text at the bottom scrolls with some jargon I am not familiar with, then I see something I recognize: ERROR! (something about md5 files or something rather) "****! I forgot my phone was rooted!" That's when the TWRP UI comes up....
All I can think to do is run the TWRP backup restore, which I backed up as part of the root process months ago. Well, that's complete now and my phone is back to 27 Oct 2012. Not TOO big a deal considering most, but not all, of my data is stored to some cloud (how does that work? I thought water and electronics didn't get along)<---JOKE!. So now I don't really know what to do. I am in the process of using SMS Backup+ to restore all my texts, and am trying to get my apps back up to date. After I get this all done, I still want to run the JellyBean update. As a safe bet, I would like to (if possible) un-root my phone, which requires me to re-install bloatware (?), yada yada yada, and basically return my GS3 back to factory settings so I can install JellyBean the legit way. I would then like to re-root my phone to remove (again) all the bloatware. So, I guess my question to whomever is far more qualified than me (probably 99% of xda forum users) is how can I safely go about doing this without losing (again) all my data? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you VERY much!
Ok. There are several problems here that need to be worked on.
First, I suggest that you get all your apps and data back up to date to "current" as opposed to Oct 27. Once you do that, then boot into TWRP and make a backup and save a copy to your PC as well. That way you will have a current restore point.
Next, the reason you are not able to take the OTA is two-fold. First you have Root and second you have a custom recovery.
**Former is easy to fix. All you need to do is get OTA Rootkeeper from the market and run it. Make a backup of SU and when you are ready to take the OTA, temp delete root through the app, take OTA and the restore Root through the app. Pretty easy.
**The latter issue is with regards to the custom recovery. You will need to find a flashable zip of the stock recovery and flash that (this is after you make your backups of course).
So now you will have an unrooted phone [technically if you use OTA Rootkeeper] with stock recovery. You should be able to take the OTA no problem, restore Root with OTA Rootkeeper and install Goomanager from the market to get TWRP recovery back.
Seem like a lot? Well it is. But then you could always look in the Dev section for a flashable version or mrRobinson's Root66 Odin package which is far esaier that above. Just read the OP.
Well, I am stuck at step one. Now my phone isn't reading my SD card, which is where I would be backing up to as my phone does not have enough free space on internal memory. So I guess I have a new problem that needs a solution, as well as all the other problems.
Still need help guys...
I still need help here. How am I supposed to back up my phone if it's not reading my MicroSD card? Better question, how can I get my phone to read the SD card?
klewis1x said:
I still need help here. How am I supposed to back up my phone if it's not reading my MicroSD card? Better question, how can I get my phone to read the SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to format your micro sdcard on your pc
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
My phone is reading the SD card in certain applications, but not in the ones that matter. Most of my music is on the SD card and there is no problem listening to any of it, but when I go to the storage settings on the phone it tells me to insert an SD card. Same thing when trying to use TWRP to try and back up my phone to the SD card. This is really frustrating...
xedualMCx said:
Try to format your micro sdcard on your pc
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That did the trick. Thanks sent your way.

[Q] Help with downgrade and/or re-unlock, possible flash new OS

Hi, total noob to Android hacking and rooting here...
I'm in the US and have the HTC Desire 816 (710c) on Virgin Mobile. Really wishing I'd done better research about the Desire 816 and VM before buying this phone. It's a great phone except for the small HD. I didn't realize just how many headaches that small HD--and Virgin's tight-fisted grip regarding their unlock policy--would cause me!
Forgive the length of this, but I'm hoping more detail as to what I've done/tried will help find the right solution...
I was doing fine on KitKat and for some reason decided I wanted to upgrade to Lollipop--mistake number 1! I first installed the update over KitKat but had some issues. Nothing major, but I figured something was definitely wonky when I noticed the basic stock web browser was gone--not that I really use it, just wanted to test something with it. (I was having an issue in Habit Browser, didn't realize 'til later that it was because I had my download folder setting on external SD card. While that worked in KK, it didn't in LP.) So, I did a backup...or THOUGHT I did. HTC Backup app was supposed to have been backing up my phone every day to Drive...turns out, it wasn't, despite notifications that it was working. So, anyway... I went ahead and factory reset the phone and reinstalled Lollipop. UGH! An even bigger mistake. Over 6 GB of the HD gone, just from stock LP!
Then I thought maybe if I unlocked the phone, I could delete most of the junk, even still using the stock OS. I followed the directions on HTCDev and although the proper screen appeared on the phone and asked me if I wanted to unlock, and I replied yes, it didn't work at first. The phone rebooted and everything was the same. Reboot checker confirmed failure.
So, as I was ready to try to narrow down my list of previously installed apps to absolute essentials due to the reduced disk space, I thought to see if there was a a way to revert to KitKat. I followed the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/general/ruu-t2952058. I tried the RUU .exe first. It failed, telling me I needed to get the correct RUU and try again. However, HTC's website does NOT show any KK downloads for Virgin Mobile USA for this device. More on that in a moment...
I also tried the flashing via SD card method. It also failed. I thought, what the heck, I'll try steps 3 and 4 of the SD card method, flashing the stock recovery and lock the bootloader, even though I thought my device was locked. Well, I guess I didn't notice when I went into fastboot that the device indeed HAD at some point unlocked, after all.
After those steps, I now had the following show up:
*** Software Status: Modified ***
*** RELOCKED ***
SECURITY ALERT!
I tried flashing the ROM.zip from SD card method again. It failed spectacularly, saying something about about a large file (some of the text was beyond the edges of the screen, so I couldn't read all of it. There was also an instruction to press power to reboot. The phone went back into fast boot screen with red highlighted "!! Image Update FAIL !!" Mind you, this was with the SD card now removed. I did manage to get the phone to boot normally again, back to stock Lollipop.
Now I thought I would try flashing the WWE KK download from HTCDev. Well, I didn't get the large image fail message, but it did fail saying that it was not the right image.
I tried unlocking the phone again, via the instructions at HTCDev. Didn't work. Thought I would try the ROM.zip file from the thread here at XDA one more time. Same fail message as before, same behavior of phone getting stuck on flashboot screen with red error message on initial attempt to reboot the device. I do notice now that although phone status is still modified and relocked, the security alert message is gone.
Can anyone help? I just want KitKat back so I can reload all my previous apps! (or possibly a good KK equivalent non-stock ROM, once I get the phone unlocked again? I have no idea which one though, being a noob :/ )
Thanks!
witchywoman said:
So, as I was ready to try to narrow down my list of previously installed apps to absolute essentials due to the reduced disk space, I thought to see if there was a a way to revert to KitKat. I followed the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/general/ruu-t2952058. I tried the RUU .exe first. It failed, telling me I needed to get the correct RUU and try again. However, HTC's website does NOT show any KK downloads for Virgin Mobile USA for this device. More on that in a moment...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That ruu file should work it's the vm usa last kitkat version. You need to follow the directions unroot and relock phone. But depending on what you did to the phone that was non standard you might also need to wipe or format internal data before running the ruu.
I think you can:
1) unroot then boot into recovery(twrp)
2) wipe phone/format data.
3) Boot directly from twrp to bootloader so you can get to fastboot usb.
4) Flash stock recovery from your PC.
5) Relock bootloader then run the ruu.exe.
All the other stuff you did afterwards should not be necessary.
pcjunky: The phone is currently relocked. I'm not 100% sure about unrooted, but I think it is. Like I said, when it was unlocked before I didn't even realize it, and I didn't really do anything unusual with it. The phone still had stock Lollipop on it and I just changed some stock settings and preferences.
Also, as I said, I am a total noob. I don't know what you mean about twrp and booting into that to wipe the drive and then from that. I'm sure there is info about that on this site somewhere, but it might be quicker if you (or someone) could explain it briefly, or point me in the right direction.
Updating to answer my own question in this reply. You're telling me to use a custom recovery but I never installed one. So.... currently searching to see how to do that.
I don't know if it's worth you time to learn how to go back to Kitkat. There should be howto's in the general forum for most everything you need. But I think the free memory difference between Kitkat and Lollipop is almost 1GB. 4.04GB free versus 3.14GB free. If you make sure all your apps that support being moved to SD card are moved and your storage settings for supported items uses the SD card you might be able to save enough space to get by until you decide to switch phones.
Twrp is a custom recovery and backup/restore tool you can do a search to learn about it, but you might not need it. The HTC backup is OS specific and it only saves apps and data not system files. So your HTC backup under Kitkat won't restore over Lollipop. If you had installed Twrp and and made a backup of Kitkat before you installed Lollipop you could restore your kitkat backup over Lollipop.
If you still want to try to get back to kitkat you can try to reset your phone(In theory relocking your phone should do that but it wont hurt) before you run the ruu file.
pcjunky said:
I don't know if it's worth you time to learn how to go back to Kitkat. There should be howto's in the general forum for most everything you need. But I think the free memory difference between Kitkat and Lollipop is almost 1GB. 4.04GB free versus 3.14GB free.
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Well, it's interesting to note that my phone used ~ 4.8 GB when it was new with KK installed. After the Lollipop upgrade, it was using well over 6 GB with just the stock OS, HTC apps and Virgin apps on it. Obviously, that was unacceptable, and it's what got me started on this whole quest. :silly: However, after flashing a custom recover image, rather than the stock recovery I used previously, the stock installation is using 4.97 GB, so I think I should be good to go with that.
If you make sure all your apps that support being moved to SD card are moved and your storage settings for supported items uses the SD card you might be able to save enough space to get by until you decide to switch phones.
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I always have used the SD card as much as was supported. Switching phones is not an option for me as I have a rather limited income and the Desire was an investment. Thus another reason I embarked on trying to make these changes.
Twrp is a custom recovery and backup/restore tool you can do a search to learn about it, but you might not need it. The HTC backup is OS specific and it only saves apps and data not system files. So your HTC backup under Kitkat won't restore over Lollipop. If you had installed Twrp and and made a backup of Kitkat before you installed Lollipop you could restore your kitkat backup over Lollipop.
If you still want to try to get back to kitkat you can try to reset your phone(In theory relocking your phone should do that but it wont hurt) before you run the ruu file.
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Well, as I said above, the stock/OME installation now, before uninstalling whatever junk it will let me, is using only 4.97 GB, so I should be fine with that.
Thanks for your efforts to help me out with this. :good:
I'm glad you got it to a workable point. It's possible to go back to Kitkat, but I personally wouldn't do it because it gives you better battery life.
From time to time you should check apps under settings and swipe left to see the apps on sd card. Sometimes new app updates will support being moved to sd card or an updated version of an app will need to be moved over to the sd card.

On VS98510B, just want to upgrade to latest android, please help.

I have a VS985 LG G3. I was running marshmallow yesterday, but after trying to root and unlock mobile tethering and hotspot (because I am on unlimited data) I managed to brick my phone while typing in adb commands because my phone decided to randomly shut off. So after plugging it into the USB and figuring out a way to put it into download mode, I flashed it to VS98510B. After that, I rooted with Stump Root and installed SuperSU, following some guides. It works fine once again but I'm not where I want to be.
After multiple times trying to open adb shell and get it to just recognize my device, I'm done. I know there are people out there who know this stuff by heart, so please, at this point, just tell me what to do step by step so I can do it and move on with my life. I have spent hours upon hours on this and it never seems to just work. Please.
All I want is to be able to install the latest TWRP or whatever is recommended., and then install either the SkyDragon Rom or the stock marshmallow VS98546A rom, but with the verizon apps disabled since in one guide it warns that those report for modified device, which I am not sure what that means but it doesn't sound good.
I'm on VS98510B. Rooted and SuperSU installed.
I want to be able to use mobile hotspot and tethering.
There's just information overload to the extreme, I'm overwhelmed.
Thanks again if any help is possible.
If you're already rooted with TWRP installed, the hard part should really be over. You shouldn't need to be plugging into a computer and running adb commands at this point. You also said you need step by step instructions, and to really spell it all out would be a lot, but considering how far you already got I don't think you really need every little detail, so I'll give you the general idea then if you have questions I can try to fill those gaps.
Basically you'll need to find and download the new ROM you want. The easiest thing to do is download it directly from your phone so you don't have to mess around with transferring it from your computer to your phone. Many custom ROMs will also require Gapps, but if you're flashing a stock ROM (or a custom ROM based on stock) you don't need to do this because it's included in the ROM.
After you've downloaded the ROM (should just be a zip file), you need to reboot to recovery (TWRP). If you don't know how to do this, there's an app called Quick Reboot that can do it for you (01400) personally haven't used it but I assume it works).
Once you're in recovery, you normally want to make a backup first in case anything goes wrong. This is done by selecting the backup button. After you have a backup, you want to "wipe" data before installing. Select the wipe button, then I click advanced and select everything except internal data and external data. This will wipe all apps, settings, etc. from your phone so make sure you're ok with that before you do it,
After wiping, you're ready to install. Back at the first main screen of TWRP, select Install, then browse to where you downloaded the ROM and select it, then select the Install button and swipe to confirm. Assuming all goes well, when it's finished it'll give you the option to reboot. Do this and it should start booting up to your new ROM.
Also, you mentioned SkyDragon, but I just wanted to point out that this isn't the latest version of Android, I believe that's still Lollipop (not Marshmallow). You also mentioned not wanting your rooted status to be reported to Verizon, but if you're currently on stock, rooted, and don't have any apps disabled, then you already are running this risk.
Let me know if you have any questions. I think this will be easier than me trying to walk you through every detail and confirmation screen.
I don't have TWRP installed. What is the best course of action to take to install it?
As far as disabling verizon apps, is it as simple as just going into the application manager and disabling them or is there a tool I need to download?
Thanks for all the help so far!
I see, it's been a couple years since I installed TWRP and I was thinking it was part of the rooting process. I believe this is the post I followed to install TWRP: http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-...mp-unlock-lg-g3-twrp-d852-d852g-f400-t2900614
Like I said, this was a few years ago and it's kind of a one-time thing. I don't know if there's something better available now or what, and I don't remember the details. I don't remember running into any problems, so if you happened to have any I'm not sure how good I could help.
As for disabling things, the things that need to be disabled are system apps and can't just be disabled from the stock application manager (Verizon doesn't want to make it easy for you to disable their software ). There are different ways this can be done, but I personally use Titanium Backup to disable (or "freeze" as they call it) apps. It will let you freeze anything, which also means it gives you the ability to break things, so don't just go in freezing random things. I don't remember if freezing requires the paid version of the app or not, but you can get it from the play store and find out.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
As far as Titanium Backup goes, is it along the same lines as TWRP? Like do they do the same things? Do you recommend I do one over the other?
Also as far as verizon apps reporting root, what do they do and what does that matter?
Also, I'm currently dealing with the LG DemiGod Crash Handler problem that seems to have started up on my phone the other day. I'd never rooted or messed with my phone in any way and that started happening, I thought perhaps flashing a new ROM might fix it, but I guess not. If you have any sort of tips on how to fix that, other than replace the battery (which I have not yet done, but supposedly that can solve the problem) I'd be grateful.
Titanium Backup and TWRP are two different things. Titanium Backup is a "normal" app that you can get from the Play store, while TWRP is a custom recovery and isn't ran from within your ROM. TWRP lets you do full image backups of your phone (like your entire phone in a single backup) and can also be used to install ("flash") ROMs. Titanium Backup lets you backup, freeze, and uninstall specific apps.
I use them both because they both serve a specific purpose. You have to use TWRP to install ROMs, then as far as backups, I use TWRP to make a backup of everything in case I flash a ROM that I end up not liking (I can use the backup to easily go back to my previous ROM and still have apps and everything all setup just like they were). If I do like the new ROM I flashed, I'll use Titanium Backup to restore a lot of my apps/data to the new ROM (ex. text messages, my alarm clock app, etc.)
As far as Verizon knowing about your root status, honestly I'm not sure what all that would mean. I'm sure they wouldn't like it, rooting voids your warranty so you probably couldn't get things replaced under warranty, if you have insurance through Verizon they would maybe use your root status as a reason to deny a claim, etc. I don't think you'd have to worry about them calling you up or cancelling your service or anything like that, but getting them to assist you with problems might be more frustrating than usual
Regarding the demigod crash thing, I know what you're talking about but I don't really know much about it. A while ago I would get those every once in a while and it was frustrating. I think at the time I kind off wanted to try a new ROM anyways and I think I did but I still got it occasionally. Now that you mentioned it though I haven't had one in quite a while. I'm not sure if those ROMs both happened to cause it, if it was a Lollipop thing (doesn't seem like I've had it since Marshmallow), or if it's all just a coincidence or I've just been lucky. I haven't gotten a new battery though, so that's definitely not it (for me anyways).
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

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