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I am planning to remove ATT junk from my Captivate phone. I have rooted it already. But I want to create a full backup before I start major surgery work on it because I am still testing the phone and within 30days period.
If I find it not a good experience, I may want to return it. And all I want to do at the time is restore from this backup, unroot and return.
Is there a way to achieve this easily on Captivate? Coming from G1, which was easy to hack into. In fact I even wrote a script for it at some point of time.
Also, there are tonnes of ROMs on this forum. Which one is considered the most stable 2.2 ROM?
Rom manager
Flash clockwork
Backup
Your good to go
mcord11758 said:
Rom manager
Flash clockwork
Backup
Your good to go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would mean that I need to undo more stuff (remove recovery and rom manager) if I want to return. I heard something about a temporary recovery from Koush which goes away with a reboot. Does that have a backup built into it? Or are u talking about the same thing?
dl this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=464425&d=1292362952
Place on internal sd
Boot recovery using 3 button
ReInstall packages
Repeat
Backup and restore
Backup all
mcord11758 said:
dl this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=464425&d=1292362952
Place on internal sd
Boot recovery using 3 button
ReInstall packages
Repeat
Backup and restore
Backup all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what is that?...:-D
devsk said:
what is that?...:-D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update.zip that gives you clockwork recovery. Do not need to be rooted to use this. Can backup and flash roms
Everything always sems so easy when your already know what you're talking about. But to Idiots and newbies its all strange phrases with no links attached and unknown abbreviations tha only frustrate I wish people would just explaiin just wtf it is they are talking about.
That link for clock work recovery does work and when you press the backup button in Rom manager, The phone will reboot in to recovery mode where you will then select the option to reinstall packages. Then you will be taken to a menu in which you can select to "back up and Restore" your current "Rom"(Stock, unrooted, rooted whatver), just select it and wait a few minutes and then you are backed up!
THen just select reboot.
"Man i didn't realize it how complicated it really is just to make something simple for someone to understand" - a lazy/smart person
Also Rom Manager in the market is great if you are rooted, Makes getting clockwork easy and flashing a breeze Great program, but if you are flashing kernels beware you must backup your kernel separately from your rom because Rom Manager doesn't recognize .zip files by certain kernel flashers SGS kernel Im Prety sure of that I'll hope someone corrects me on that or edit When i find out.
"Just Sayin"
If you've rooted and flashed on a G1 then you should be good. It's not that hard.
matmanchu5 said:
Also Rom Manager in the market is great if you are rooted, Makes getting clockwork easy and flashing a breeze Great program, but if you are flashing kernels beware you must backup your kernel separately from your rom because Rom Manager doesn't recognize .zip files by certain kernel flashers SGS kernel Im Prety sure of that I'll hope someone corrects me on that or edit When i find out.
"Just Sayin"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rom manager is a good tool for people getting started, all it is though is a user interface for clockwork recovery. Once you learn how to use clockwork rom manager is relatively useless. Especially when on roms with custom recovery.
You are correct rom manager does not backup kernel or modem. You can not restore a backup of stock over a custom rom without flashing stock kernel and modem
matmanchu5 said:
Everything always sems so easy when your already know what you're talking about. But to Idiots and newbies its all strange phrases with no links attached and unknown abbreviations tha only frustrate I wish people would just explaiin just wtf it is they are talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amen, brother!
Okay, now I know that there are other threads about this, but the issue is that none are specific to my problem. Either they are not for my phone, or my version is different or the thread is dead and with no replies. So I created a new thread.
Anyway, I was hoping that I could get a step by step procedure on how to root my phone and install a custom ROM.
The issue is, my KIES doesn't work (so help me with that also please) and moreover, I'm very new to all this so I don't quite get a few things.
Also, please tell me what are the best ROMs out there and if something does go wrong in the process, how do I un-brick my phone?
So I'm looking for active replies / repliers since I know I'll have a bunch of questions during the process.
Last, when I go to "about phone" on my phone it says "firmware version 2.2", but the little that I've looked up, people run 2.2.1. Does this mean my rooting process is different?
Thanks. And in case you want it, my kernel version is 2.6.32.9
Appreciate it.
rooting z4root
custom rom - pick a custom rom and follow instruction in that thread.
Your phone is already updated to 2.2 and that is the reason why kies doesn't show new updates. Our phone has 2.2 and not 2.2.1
If you use roms which doesnt have boot then it will not get hard bricked. soft brick can be fixed by reflashing.
What is the exact issue you are facing while using kies? Try a uninstall and reinstall. That should fix it
K, so I fixed KIES. I just had to update though, I was running on an older version. I didn't think a slightly outdated version would not detect my phone.. anyway never mind that.
So I don't really know what the best custom ROM is out there. could you suggest one? one that is fast (speed is really the priority), and not buggy, supports the apps that the stock ROM should. I'm willing to try three-four, so give me the names of the best ones out there.
Don't I need to root my phone before installing a custom ROM? If so, then I need to learn how to do that..
What do you mean it doesn't have a boot?
Well to figure out best ROm you will have to read up on each ROm. Each of them have separate thread where initial posts describe the properties of ROm. There are ROm comparison threads out there but that is just summary. I cant give you best choices. Everybody has different taste. Start with more popular ones, whose threads have more posts. More post -> more popular.
You can root using z4root.
Custom ROM are pre rooted normally so you need not root your phone before flashing custom rom
Mohit12 said:
K, so I fixed KIES. I just had to update though, I was running on an older version. I didn't think a slightly outdated version would not detect my phone.. anyway never mind that.
So I don't really know what the best custom ROM is out there. could you suggest one? one that is fast (speed is really the priority), and not buggy, supports the apps that the stock ROM should. I'm willing to try three-four, so give me the names of the best ones out there.
Don't I need to root my phone before installing a custom ROM? If so, then I need to learn how to do that..
What do you mean it doesn't have a boot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if speed is a prime consideration then i would suggest kyrillos rom..... fastest rom i ever used....... very less buggy.......
you can also flash lestatious rom..... it is damn fast and surprisingly stable!.....
and check dharam's rom collection too....... i'm using his ultra clean ultimate rom right now..... and it's good although since you are new i would recommend flashing a different rom from his collection.....
As for rooting.... you don't need to root before flashing a custom rom....
And in case you need any information about any of the features or anything.... just post it here ....... i'lll try to help you in whatever way i can.,.....
Mohit12 said:
Okay, now I know that there are other threads about this, but the issue is that none are specific to my problem. Either they are not for my phone, or my version is different or the thread is dead and with no replies. So I created a new thread.
Anyway, I was hoping that I could get a step by step procedure on how to root my phone and install a custom ROM.
The issue is, my KIES doesn't work (so help me with that also please) and moreover, I'm very new to all this so I don't quite get a few things.
Also, please tell me what are the best ROMs out there and if something does go wrong in the process, how do I un-brick my phone?
So I'm looking for active replies / repliers since I know I'll have a bunch of questions during the process.
Last, when I go to "about phone" on my phone it says "firmware version 2.2", but the little that I've looked up, people run 2.2.1. Does this mean my rooting process is different?
Thanks. And in case you want it, my kernel version is 2.6.32.9
Appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey i would suggest u to go for Indroid 4.3. I m using this and have seen many users jumping from lestatious and kyrollis to indroid.
As a begginer, u will also get many help in Indroid thread.
Z4root doesnt work in Froyo, if u wanna root, choose superone click.
U dont need kies to work, Use Odin to flash ur fone.
Make sure to learn processes better by reading through forums, if u dont wanna brick ur fone.
Hey!! I would suggest Indroid 4.3 or Kyrillos 5.6. They are fast as hey have lagfix.
And no you don t have to root your phone before installing a custom ROM. But if you want to root, use superoneclick to root.
And as for bricking, you can avoid hard brick by installing a ROM that does not have bootloader. Bootloader is a piece of code that runs before any operating system starts. So you should avoid flashing bootloader.
As for soft bricks, you can just reflash to come out of the soft brick.
okay so i was doing a bit of reading up and i realised the following :
1)First i need to download :
a) Odin (please post version number i have to get for my i5801 (or is it just one thing for all phones?) or a link please.)
b) some backup software. now i downloaded titanium backup, but it won't open because it says my phone is not rooted. so help me go about this.
c) a custom ROM. I think i'll start off with kyrillos rom since i've been told it's the fastest and very less buggy. i'll then move on to Dharam's ROM if i don't like kyrillos rom because Dharam seems to be a very active user, and quite friendly, and i feel he can solve the issues well. after that i'll try Indroid.
d) I also need superone click.
Question : Where do i download these? directly on my phone or on my computer?
2) I can increase my internal storage by partitioning a part of my SD card. Now I have a 4 GB SD card and i barely use it, so i don't mind giving upto 1GB of it. Please suggest the perfect amount. whether 1GB will be too much, or whether 500MB would be too less.
3) some apps do not work with custom ROMs. The app that i really want is 4shared. It's working currently on my phone with the stock ROM, so if someone can check if that will also work on the three ROMs that i mentioned.
4) soft bricking isn't much of an issue, but it's better i avoid it. so can someone give me a rather up-to-date guide (or link) on rooting, because the other ones are REALLY old. at least 4-5 months old and there have been some updates after that.
5) I can also overclock my phone. And from what I read up, SetCPU seems compatible with the above ROMs. And after flashing my phone with a custom ROM, my phone is automatically rooted. Correct me if I am wrong.
6) Flash player isn't available for our processor (V6). Since this is a hardware issue, there's no way i can make it work on some other ROM, can I? Because flash is a rather important software..
So that's it, I guess. Please add anything if i missed out anything.
PS : Does anyone know of any software using which I can download YouTube videos? Because the YouTube app kind of sucks, and buffering takes time since I don't have WiFi.
Wow!! Those are a lot of questions.
1) Link for ODIN.
ODIN>http://goo.gl/nCxCw
OPS FILE>http://goo.gl/ORin0
As for the backup software, Titanium backup is the best out there. As it can backup all the apps and all the settings. Yes you have to be rooted. So root and use.
And for rooting, use this tutorial,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011555
Don t worry about the oldness. This works. The link for superoneclicjk is available in that post as well.
Yes. Kyrillos is a good ROM. As it is prelagfixed and offer good internal memory as well after you partition your SD. Sizes, 512 MB ext4 and 128 MB linux swap. Rest of the memory you can use for storage.
As far as overclocking is concerned, in Kyrillos, you again have to flash a new kernel if you want OC.
And for the flash problem, only adobe can solve that problem.
And oh yes, most of the custom roms are prerooted. So after flashin you don t have to root again.
Mohit12 said:
okay so i was doing a bit of reading up and i realised the following :
1)First i need to download :
a) Odin (please post version number i have to get for my i5801 (or is it just one thing for all phones?) or a link please.)
b) some backup software. now i downloaded titanium backup, but it won't open because it says my phone is not rooted. so help me go about this.
c) a custom ROM. I think i'll start off with kyrillos rom since i've been told it's the fastest and very less buggy. i'll then move on to Dharam's ROM if i don't like kyrillos rom because Dharam seems to be a very active user, and quite friendly, and i feel he can solve the issues well. after that i'll try Indroid.
d) I also need superone click.
Question : Where do i download these? directly on my phone or on my computer?
2) I can increase my internal storage by partitioning a part of my SD card. Now I have a 4 GB SD card and i barely use it, so i don't mind giving upto 1GB of it. Please suggest the perfect amount. whether 1GB will be too much, or whether 500MB would be too less.
3) some apps do not work with custom ROMs. The app that i really want is 4shared. It's working currently on my phone with the stock ROM, so if someone can check if that will also work on the three ROMs that i mentioned.
4) soft bricking isn't much of an issue, but it's better i avoid it. so can someone give me a rather up-to-date guide (or link) on rooting, because the other ones are REALLY old. at least 4-5 months old and there have been some updates after that.
5) I can also overclock my phone. And from what I read up, SetCPU seems compatible with the above ROMs. And after flashing my phone with a custom ROM, my phone is automatically rooted. Correct me if I am wrong.
6) Flash player isn't available for our processor (V6). Since this is a hardware issue, there's no way i can make it work on some other ROM, can I? Because flash is a rather important software..
So that's it, I guess. Please add anything if i missed out anything.
PS : Does anyone know of any software using which I can download YouTube videos? Because the YouTube app kind of sucks, and buffering takes time since I don't have WiFi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rom is downloaded on your pc and flashed through it using odin.
I don't know any apps that work on stock rom and not on custom rom..... and 4shared works on kyrillos and indroid..... i've used it myself..
Most custom roms are already rooted and setcpu is the best app for setting CPU frequencies.
And as you said flash player isn't compatible with armv6 processors like ours.... so unless adobe makes it compatible no custom rom can do anything.
and for downloading youtube videos i'll suggest an app called you tube downloader or tube-X.......
Hope this helps...
Kernel
I flashed the indroid 4.0 Rom with Odin, and in short I will probably try to flash the indroid 4.3 Rom.
One question however, More and more I read about "kernel"(eg to get the 1% battery thing).
I know the kernel is the core of the operating system, but I don't understand how to use/apply it on my phone. Is the kernel something I have to flash separatly from the Rom, or is it included in the Rom?
If you need to install / flash it seperatly, where can I find the different kernels, and which one is recommended for my phone (Samsung Galaxy 3 Apollo)?
Hope someone can answer!
thnx
funbun77 said:
I flashed the indroid 4.0 Rom with Odin, and in short I will probably try to flash the indroid 4.3 Rom.
One question however, More and more I read about "kernel"(eg to get the 1% battery thing).
I know the kernel is the core of the operating system, but I don't understand how to use/apply it on my phone. Is the kernel something I have to flash separatly from the Rom, or is it included in the Rom?
If you need to install / flash it seperatly, where can I find the different kernels, and which one is recommended for my phone (Samsung Galaxy 3 Apollo)?
Hope someone can answer!
thnx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The kernel is included in the ROM itself. There are different kernels with different functionalities. For eg : - Most of the kernel that come with the ROMS are non-OC. So, if you want to overclock you phone, you have to flash the required kernel after flashing the ROM. The procedure is same using ODIN. Here s the link to the kernels.
http://code.google.com/p/fugumod-i5800/downloads/list
@ dhirend_6d
thnx!
Sorry for replying so late guys. Had a bit of an issue with the internet. Lightening struck somewhere near my house so it was down for a few days.
Anyway, thanks for all your help. I'll try to root+flash my phone day after as I have exams for two more days.
I'll post here if I have any other questions, but thanks a LOT for all your answers and help. But btw, what is the 1% battery mod?
Uh, I was rooting my phone. just one error. Superoneclick gets stuck at "running rageagainstthecage" and accoring to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011555 i should set touchwiz as the default launcher. how do i do that?
Mohit12 said:
Uh, I was rooting my phone. just one error. Superoneclick gets stuck at "running rageagainstthecage" and accoring to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011555 i should set touchwiz as the default launcher. how do i do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if u have any other launcher like adw then go to settings > application > Adw launcher (for example) and press clear default.
Then press the home key, It should ask u to set detault launcher. Just click on the checkbox below and select touchwiz launcher.
Tell me if it works or not.
No I do not have any other launcher installed. At least it's not showing up there.. but i did try using the more latest version. 1.9.5. that seemed to work just fine. man, i was so scared before rooting this wondering what if something goes wrong. but that was easy
Titanium backup now and maybe flashing a new rom tomorrow (or in a couple of days, after my exam.) Thanks though! =)
Mohit12 said:
No I do not have any other launcher installed. At least it's not showing up there.. but i did try using the more latest version. 1.9.5. that seemed to work just fine. man, i was so scared before rooting this wondering what if something goes wrong. but that was easy
Titanium backup now and maybe flashing a new rom tomorrow (or in a couple of days, after my exam.) Thanks though! =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st step done successfully...congo...welcome to this amazing world.
I would suggest, go for indroid but follow all the steps properly and read the forums for all the problems.
and yeah we also get awesome themes and more memory /system!!
custom roms are faster with better battery backup.
currently on indroid 6!!
Okay. Ignore the title, I couldn't think of anything to put. In short, I want to know about roms, about clockworkmod, cyanogen mod, and stuff like that. What they do, how to put them on, and I pretty much wanna know about the general stuff you do past rooting your phone. And I know that the section says No Noobs, but technically, I'm a newb, as far as I know i'm not annoying anyone or being completely nooblike.
Mainly with cyanogen. I read the instructions, and they seem too, I dont know, simplistic. I'd prefer exact details. Like, after I have clockwork mod installed, and I flash cyanogen, can i restore all the stuff I had on it? And once cyanogen is on there, is it already rooted, or must i root again? And if someone would explain to me how clockworkmod works in the first place. And how would I flash cyanogen? I thought it'd be through clockworkmod, but if I wipe everything and factory reset, wouldn't clockworkmod be gone?
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant or not vibrant, I dont even know) It's a GT-i9000M. Running android 2.2.1, Rooted, I have clockworkmod installed, but still no idea what to do past that point. Also, my Kies isn't telling me about any 3.x upgrade, so how would i go about manually installing a new version of android? I know it has to do with Odin, but whenever i tried i ended up not doing anything.
And one last thing about MetaMorph. Where could i find themes for it? And do i need to have a certain Rom running in order to use metamorph themes?
I'm mainly used to iPhones and such, where there isnt really much to do besides jailbreaking and such, and moving on to android phones is pretty intense. XD So much more to do with Android phones.
Well uh, thats about all i can think of at the moment. Also please post anything you feel that a (somewhat) newb to android modding should know.
Sorry for all the questions, and to those that help me, I love you. <3
And if any moderators deem this thread as against the 'No Noobs' rule, at least send me a message telling me you deleted it, or else I'll end up looking endlessly through the forums for my thread. I've done that before, not fun. LOL (Couldn't find a 'My Threads' thingy on the forum i was using.
Gutana said:
Okay. Ignore the title, I couldn't think of anything to put. In short, I want to know about roms, about clockworkmod, cyanogen mod, and stuff like that. What they do, how to put them on, and I pretty much wanna know about the general stuff you do past rooting your phone. And I know that the section says No Noobs, but technically, I'm a newb, as far as I know i'm not annoying anyone or being completely nooblike.
Mainly with cyanogen. I read the instructions, and they seem too, I dont know, simplistic. I'd prefer exact details. Like, after I have clockwork mod installed, and I flash cyanogen, can i restore all the stuff I had on it? And once cyanogen is on there, is it already rooted, or must i root again? And if someone would explain to me how clockworkmod works in the first place. And how would I flash cyanogen? I thought it'd be through clockworkmod, but if I wipe everything and factory reset, wouldn't clockworkmod be gone?
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant or not vibrant, I dont even know) It's a GT-i9000M. Running android 2.2.1, Rooted, I have clockworkmod installed, but still no idea what to do past that point. Also, my Kies isn't telling me about any 3.x upgrade, so how would i go about manually installing a new version of android? I know it has to do with Odin, but whenever i tried i ended up not doing anything.
And one last thing about MetaMorph. Where could i find themes for it? And do i need to have a certain Rom running in order to use metamorph themes?
I'm mainly used to iPhones and such, where there isnt really much to do besides jailbreaking and such, and moving on to android phones is pretty intense. XD So much more to do with Android phones.
Well uh, thats about all i can think of at the moment. Also please post anything you feel that a (somewhat) newb to android modding should know.
Sorry for all the questions, and to those that help me, I love you. <3
And if any moderators deem this thread as against the 'No Noobs' rule, at least send me a message telling me you deleted it, or else I'll end up looking endlessly through the forums for my thread. I've done that before, not fun. LOL (Couldn't find a 'My Threads' thingy on the forum i was using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I guess to first start off, here's a few pointers:
1. don't put the title in 1337 (people will most likely not click on it, thus no help)
2. you're right about this being the wrong thread. You should post this under the Samsung Galaxy S section (google your model number and you'll see it instantly) and should probably try the Q&A moreso than a general area (but it doesn't really matter all too much)
3. no matter how nooblike you may or may not be, you're still a noob XD
Now that we've gotten past the anally parts and all (hate doing that, but gotta =P), let's talk about what you came here for: answers.
Let's start with some definitions:
ROMs - these are the (usually modded) softwares that you flash to your phone. Depending on which phone you have, you can only flash ROMs made for your phone. Of course, if you have root/custom recovery, you can also install custom ROMs.
ClockWorkMod (CWM) is a recovery system made in order to allow people more features while they're in recovery mode. Of course, this is one of a few out there, but people stick to CWM cause of its huge support plus it's popularity. When you think of CWM, think of custom features being installed in (almost) one step (modding files and such will be taken care of for you, so you don't have to do it yourself). You can usually also fix a bricked system this way by reflashing either the entire ROM or the boot.img/other files (we'll get to this in a second)
CyanogenMod (CM) is an example of a very popular custom rom. They have a great team and usually is available for most devices, which in turn makes them so popular. It is widely supported and has a lot of extra features like updating to the latest OS and features not previously available on your phone. It's skinned, but usually follows the stock Android look for the OS in which they've skinned.
lol The reason why the instructions look so simple is because they've taken out all the hard work and all the stuff where you can possibly screw up your phone, so that they don't get a million messages saying "OMG MY PHONE BRICKED WHAT HAPPENED" and stuff like that. Protects them, makes it easier for you. If you had made a backup before you flashed CM (usually you only have to back up whats on the phone if it has internal and external memory, but back up your sd card always just in case. never hurt to), then yes. If you backed it up with your previous ROM, then you'll probably need to revert to get it back. If you didn't, chances are whatever you didn't backup and didn't sync, is safe to say gone. You can try recovering it using a recovery software on the computer like i detailed here for another person, but of course you'd skip the whole trying to save the phone part and just start with mounting the phone to your computer and running the software.
CM is a custom rom, and so most (if not all) custom roms have root preinstalled (besides, who wouldn't want root?!) As for CWM, it works by being (usually) flashed into the recovery partition of your phone. The nice thing about the phone is that it's split up into parts: boot, recovery, system, and some other ones i can't think of off the top of my head. Those three are important, as if you get a softbrick, you might still be able to recover all your data simply by using CWM/fastboot (a dev-tool used to flash/unlock, but only available in certain phones, as it is disabled usually) to reflash the boot.img (one requires command line, whereas CWM only needs you to flash a created/pre-made package). Also, since they're in separate partitions, even if your system and boot.img doesn't work, you can probably still access recovery (unless you screwed up really REALLY bad, and in that case I can't help >.<)
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
At this point, I would look into a few things. One is skinning your phone (though you probably can't do too much if you don't want to touch system files). If you find a psuedo-rom (slightly modded) that themes it, that's your best bet. Another is gaining access to certain features in apps you didn't have before (i.e. androidLost, LBE Privacy Guard, titanium backup) and of course more control by the ability to control your system files (if you know what you're doing, of course). Lastly, you can use stuff like MetaMorph to theme out certain sections of your rom (provided that they give you one compatible with your phone model/rom), minus having to flash it and having more fine-tuned controlled. Usually, Metamorph will run on all ROMs, but it doesn't guarantee that there'll be stuff for every ROM. Also, want themes? google it (google is your best friend!)
Kies won't tell you that you have an upgrade because it is ROM-dependent. It looks for their official ROM and says "Hey, this guy has our ROM. Check for an update". Think of owning a custom rom like being kicked out of your family. You won't get anymore updates from them XD. However, if you're looking to get the latest updates, check out the Samsung Galaxy S Dev threads. They will usually have another method of loading in the new ROM into your phone. And if you want to stick with ROM Manager, shell out for premium and they'll include "Check for Updates" in ROM Manager, along with several other functions (though you can check for free via computer/browser ). Mostly, manually updating the software requires the "Install from SD Card" feature in CWM/other recoveries, so you don't have much to worry about.
Odin is, as you stated, most likely your best bet. Not too many people repackage official ROMs into easy-to-flash zips. Odin is the Samsung equivalent to Motorola's RSD Lite from what I googled (i have motorola, so no exp. on odin >.<) It's mostly like a dev tool allowing you to flash/re-flash phones and is also usually your one-way ticket out of a semi/full brick (assuming you didn't mess up the hardware and you can get into download mode). It's the flashing tool that can access the core system of the phone even without root and allows you to reflash OFFICIAL ROMs. Should you use Odin (should be your last resort), you WILL lose root and all your data. No questions asked. Its like reinstalling everything to the state in which you got it in when you bought the phone. Word of advice: BACK UP OFTEN! (did i forget to mention Titanium Backup? )
Yeah, the transition from Apple to Android is so different and had I not had experience with my PSP, i'd be dying with the information overload. However, just read a lot of stuff on the forums (*cough*general android forums*cough*) and you should be just fine. We have an excellent community here that will try our best to fix whatever problems you encounter (note the key word: try. we're not gods XD) You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Oh, well, I don't want to keep you for much longer, but since you mentioned something that any noob should know, it's definitely ADB (Android Debugging Bridge). This is where you'll probably spend a lot of time, as people's fixes usually involve shell (terminal for your phone). If anything, get acquainted with it, as it might save your butt in the future/unlock a few extra features for you ;D .
Well, that's all i can think of, and honestly, after typing this thing up for about an hour now, I think I'm going to grab me some breakfast Good luck to you and welcome to the Android commmunity! (and next time, remember to post in the right place! XD)
~jojojohnson7410
P.S. PM me if you need anything. =]
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to nit-pick a bit. CWM is part of the recovery partition, and unless the Galaxy S is different from every other android device, flashing will not remove it. ROM Manager and CWM are two different things. ROM manager will allow you to download the roms, which will then instruct CWM to flash the rom (when it reboots).
jojojohnson7410 said:
Well, I guess to first start off, here's a few pointers:
1. don't put the title in 1337 (people will most likely not click on it, thus no help)
2. you're right about this being the wrong thread. You should post this under the Samsung Galaxy S section (google your model number and you'll see it instantly) and should probably try the Q&A moreso than a general area (but it doesn't really matter all too much)
3. no matter how nooblike you may or may not be, you're still a noob XD
Now that we've gotten past the anally parts and all (hate doing that, but gotta =P), let's talk about what you came here for: answers.
Let's start with some definitions:
ROMs - these are the (usually modded) softwares that you flash to your phone. Depending on which phone you have, you can only flash ROMs made for your phone. Of course, if you have root/custom recovery, you can also install custom ROMs.
ClockWorkMod (CWM) is a recovery system made in order to allow people more features while they're in recovery mode. Of course, this is one of a few out there, but people stick to CWM cause of its huge support plus it's popularity. When you think of CWM, think of custom features being installed in (almost) one step (modding files and such will be taken care of for you, so you don't have to do it yourself). You can usually also fix a bricked system this way by reflashing either the entire ROM or the boot.img/other files (we'll get to this in a second)
CyanogenMod (CM) is an example of a very popular custom rom. They have a great team and usually is available for most devices, which in turn makes them so popular. It is widely supported and has a lot of extra features like updating to the latest OS and features not previously available on your phone. It's skinned, but usually follows the stock Android look for the OS in which they've skinned.
lol The reason why the instructions look so simple is because they've taken out all the hard work and all the stuff where you can possibly screw up your phone, so that they don't get a million messages saying "OMG MY PHONE BRICKED WHAT HAPPENED" and stuff like that. Protects them, makes it easier for you. If you had made a backup before you flashed CM (usually you only have to back up whats on the phone if it has internal and external memory, but back up your sd card always just in case. never hurt to), then yes. If you backed it up with your previous ROM, then you'll probably need to revert to get it back. If you didn't, chances are whatever you didn't backup and didn't sync, is safe to say gone. You can try recovering it using a recovery software on the computer like i detailed here for another person, but of course you'd skip the whole trying to save the phone part and just start with mounting the phone to your computer and running the software.
CM is a custom rom, and so most (if not all) custom roms have root preinstalled (besides, who wouldn't want root?!) As for CWM, it works by being (usually) flashed into the recovery partition of your phone. The nice thing about the phone is that it's split up into parts: boot, recovery, system, and some other ones i can't think of off the top of my head. Those three are important, as if you get a softbrick, you might still be able to recover all your data simply by using CWM/fastboot (a dev-tool used to flash/unlock, but only available in certain phones, as it is disabled usually) to reflash the boot.img (one requires command line, whereas CWM only needs you to flash a created/pre-made package). Also, since they're in separate partitions, even if your system and boot.img doesn't work, you can probably still access recovery (unless you screwed up really REALLY bad, and in that case I can't help >.<)
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
At this point, I would look into a few things. One is skinning your phone (though you probably can't do too much if you don't want to touch system files). If you find a psuedo-rom (slightly modded) that themes it, that's your best bet. Another is gaining access to certain features in apps you didn't have before (i.e. androidLost, LBE Privacy Guard, titanium backup) and of course more control by the ability to control your system files (if you know what you're doing, of course). Lastly, you can use stuff like MetaMorph to theme out certain sections of your rom (provided that they give you one compatible with your phone model/rom), minus having to flash it and having more fine-tuned controlled. Usually, Metamorph will run on all ROMs, but it doesn't guarantee that there'll be stuff for every ROM. Also, want themes? google it (google is your best friend!)
Kies won't tell you that you have an upgrade because it is ROM-dependent. It looks for their official ROM and says "Hey, this guy has our ROM. Check for an update". Think of owning a custom rom like being kicked out of your family. You won't get anymore updates from them XD. However, if you're looking to get the latest updates, check out the Samsung Galaxy S Dev threads. They will usually have another method of loading in the new ROM into your phone. And if you want to stick with ROM Manager, shell out for premium and they'll include "Check for Updates" in ROM Manager, along with several other functions (though you can check for free via computer/browser ). Mostly, manually updating the software requires the "Install from SD Card" feature in CWM/other recoveries, so you don't have much to worry about.
Odin is, as you stated, most likely your best bet. Not too many people repackage official ROMs into easy-to-flash zips. Odin is the Samsung equivalent to Motorola's RSD Lite from what I googled (i have motorola, so no exp. on odin >.<) It's mostly like a dev tool allowing you to flash/re-flash phones and is also usually your one-way ticket out of a semi/full brick (assuming you didn't mess up the hardware and you can get into download mode). It's the flashing tool that can access the core system of the phone even without root and allows you to reflash OFFICIAL ROMs. Should you use Odin (should be your last resort), you WILL lose root and all your data. No questions asked. Its like reinstalling everything to the state in which you got it in when you bought the phone. Word of advice: BACK UP OFTEN! (did i forget to mention Titanium Backup? )
Yeah, the transition from Apple to Android is so different and had I not had experience with my PSP, i'd be dying with the information overload. However, just read a lot of stuff on the forums (*cough*general android forums*cough*) and you should be just fine. We have an excellent community here that will try our best to fix whatever problems you encounter (note the key word: try. we're not gods XD) You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Oh, well, I don't want to keep you for much longer, but since you mentioned something that any noob should know, it's definitely ADB (Android Debugging Bridge). This is where you'll probably spend a lot of time, as people's fixes usually involve shell (terminal for your phone). If anything, get acquainted with it, as it might save your butt in the future/unlock a few extra features for you ;D .
Well, that's all i can think of, and honestly, after typing this thing up for about an hour now, I think I'm going to grab me some breakfast Good luck to you and welcome to the Android commmunity! (and next time, remember to post in the right place! XD)
~jojojohnson7410
P.S. PM me if you need anything. =]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thanks a lot. I still have a question or two, bear with me.
Well for one, is flashing roms made for different firmwares alright, or no? Since I have 2.2, and im assuming the latest cyanogen is made for 3.x, would I have to upgrade my firmware to the corresponding firmware.
And about Clockwork, if my phone bricks, I'd have to restore using odin, right? But if the phone still works, i can just root and cwm and restore it using rom manager?
And uh, I'm not sure if this is a problem or im just doing something wrong, but in RomManager, i click Backup Current ROM, and it goes into recovery mode, and theres no new options, there's just like, format, factory reset, clear cache, reboot, but nothing involving rom manager. And when i check for the recovery file in my sd card, it's not. Wut do.
WoZZeR999 said:
Just to nit-pick a bit. CWM is part of the recovery partition, and unless the Galaxy S is different from every other android device, flashing will not remove it. ROM Manager and CWM are two different things. ROM manager will allow you to download the roms, which will then instruct CWM to flash the rom (when it reboots).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol true true that would be my mistake. XD Nice catch
~jojojohnson7410
Gutana said:
Wow, thanks a lot. I still have a question or two, bear with me.
Well for one, is flashing roms made for different firmwares alright, or no? Since I have 2.2, and im assuming the latest cyanogen is made for 3.x, would I have to upgrade my firmware to the corresponding firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you wouldn't have to upgrade to the latest firmware to get the ROM installed. So long as the ROM is confirmed to work for your device, you can flash any ROM you want (which is convenient in my case since I have an Atrix 4G and it was oh-so-lonely without some Gingerbread XD)
Gutana said:
And about Clockwork, if my phone bricks, I'd have to restore using odin, right? But if the phone still works, i can just root and cwm and restore it using rom manager?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the thing is, you really only need that usually if you're on a stock rom or some official version and either you want to flash a new stock ROM from Samsung or you want to pull your phone out of a brick. Most of the time, however, even if you bricked it, so long as you can get into the recovery menu, you'll be alright. Just re-flash the ROM that you want (or in my case yesterday when I was dealing with an Inspire, I had to use a different ROM to unbrick the phone. I don't know why this happen, but it was being nit-picky >.<)
Gutana said:
And uh, I'm not sure if this is a problem or im just doing something wrong, but in RomManager, i click Backup Current ROM, and it goes into recovery mode, and theres no new options, there's just like, format, factory reset, clear cache, reboot, but nothing involving rom manager. And when i check for the recovery file in my sd card, it's not. Wut do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol nooo this is not a problem at all. See, like the guy above me posted, the Recovery Menu is completely separate from anything in the ROM. It's located in the recovery partition rather than the system and the boot partitions, so they usually don't touch the recovery. ROM Manager is just a means of providing GUI to CWM so then you can either flash the CWM to your phone or help download ROMS into your SD card. Stuff like backup and everything needs you to boot into recovery as you can't be backing up the system while your system is mounted on, so they send you to CWM. From there, there's an option called "backup and restore". In this place, you can choose where to save the backup. And since the backup is made by CWM, it will be recognized by CWM if you want to restore it. I think it saves it in a zip file, but im not 100% positive, so take that one with a grain of salt.
Hope this answers the questions! Let me know if you need more help (or just PM me. I check that regularly )
~jojojohnson7410
jojojohnson7410 said:
No, you wouldn't have to upgrade to the latest firmware to get the ROM installed. So long as the ROM is confirmed to work for your device, you can flash any ROM you want (which is convenient in my case since I have an Atrix 4G and it was oh-so-lonely without some Gingerbread XD)
Well, the thing is, you really only need that usually if you're on a stock rom or some official version and either you want to flash a new stock ROM from Samsung or you want to pull your phone out of a brick. Most of the time, however, even if you bricked it, so long as you can get into the recovery menu, you'll be alright. Just re-flash the ROM that you want (or in my case yesterday when I was dealing with an Inspire, I had to use a different ROM to unbrick the phone. I don't know why this happen, but it was being nit-picky >.<)
lol nooo this is not a problem at all. See, like the guy above me posted, the Recovery Menu is completely separate from anything in the ROM. It's located in the recovery partition rather than the system and the boot partitions, so they usually don't touch the recovery. ROM Manager is just a means of providing GUI to CWM so then you can either flash the CWM to your phone or help download ROMS into your SD card. Stuff like backup and everything needs you to boot into recovery as you can't be backing up the system while your system is mounted on, so they send you to CWM. From there, there's an option called "backup and restore". In this place, you can choose where to save the backup. And since the backup is made by CWM, it will be recognized by CWM if you want to restore it. I think it saves it in a zip file, but im not 100% positive, so take that one with a grain of salt.
Hope this answers the questions! Let me know if you need more help (or just PM me. I check that regularly )
~jojojohnson7410
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But theres no backup and restore options, its jut the recovery options you'd get if you were on a brand new phone.
This guide is intended to be an all-in-one resource for people coming to Samsung phones after using other devices. It is a general introduction to the S4 and a glossary/explanation of terms you may see here in the forums.
This thread is slightly out of date but the info is still good, I will be updating again soon!!! Remember to hit thanks if this was useful
Disclaimer "Just because I am trying to be helpful does not make me responsible for anything that you do to your phone. Playing with any of this stuff could destroy your phone"
The layout of this post is as follows:
Welcome
FAQ
Glossary of terms
First off, welcome to XDA
The XDA community is home to the most talented and helpful phone developers on the planet.
These developers spend lots of their free time working on making all of our phones better. You should be nice and respectful to them and follow the rules. WHY? If the statement above isn’t enough reason then think selfishly, the less time they are dealing with redundant questions, the more time they have to develop stuff for all of us!
Help them help you by following the following basic rules:
1.If you are confused or have a question, the first thing to do is READ! Read lots, look things up both on xda and using google.
2.If after searching you still have not answered your question, then post in the Q&A forum.
3.Asking for ETAs on ROMs, updates, etc. is considered rude.. DON’T DO IT!
4.Don’t report bugs to a developer unless:
a.You know 100% that it hasn’t already been reported,
b.You know how to reproduce it
c.You can get a logcat of the problem (more on this later)
Some advice if you are new to all this and don’t want to ruin your phone:
1.Be patient. Don’t be the first or even the tenth person to flash anything. Wait until you see others using whatever Rom or kernel with success.
2.If you have any doubts about what you are doing, read more. Don’t flash.
3.Make sure you are in the forum for your device, not some similar or related device.
FAQ:
Q. Is my bootloader locked?
A. Only if you have an AT&T or Verizon phone
******* Info for AT&T users *******
Q. What is LOKI?
A. Loki is an exploit for phones with locked boot loader that allows us to bypass the locked boot loader in order to install custom roms or recoveries. More Loki info down below
Q. Whats the deal with MF3?
A. MF3 is the current firmware from AT&T that comes on any new phone. Your phone may also auto update to MF3 if you are not careful. MF3 patched the ability to use Loki to install custom roms/recoveries so if you are on MF3 things are much more difficult.
Q. How can I keep my phone from updating to MF3?
A. If you want to avoid the update, you should root your phone and freeze the following three apps using titanium backup or some similar app.
1. AT&T Software update Vxx_x_xxxx_x_x
2. FWUpgrade x.x.x
3. LocalFOTA vx_xxxx_x_x
Why flash?
by flashing your device you can make your phone act differently, look different, and enable new or disabled options. you could ,for example:
enable native tethering
enable call recording
change the look of your phone
add custom toggle buttons
overclock or undervolt
increase battery life
etc..
Kernel vs Rom vs Recovery vs Modem
Kernel is the layer between the phone hardware and the rom. it controls things like Wi-Fi power, touch sensitivity, possible range of screen brightness, phone logging, and processor max and min speed. kernel must be designed not only for your device but also for the type of rom you are using (Sammy rom or Aosp) some kernels support all roms, others are specific.
Rom is the operating system of your phone. there are three main categories of roms.
roms that are based off of the Samsung stock rom (Sammy rom)
roms that are based off of Android open source project aka AOSP (AOSP, AOKP)
roms based off of the miui project (these used to be a branch of AOSP but recently they have also used Sammy base for miui)
recovery is a partition that you can access at boot by holding down a combination of keys. (volume up and home button in the case of our sgs4) every phone has recovery stock but it doesn't do much. you can replace stock with clockwork mod recovery which is extremely useful for flashing all kinds of things and making backups before you do. There are other alternative recoveries besides clockwork but that seems to be the most common. TWRP is also gaining popularity these days. You can easily switch between recoveries and or upgrade your current recovery. All that needs to happen is for a new image to be flashed onto the recovery partition. See the rooting guide for more info on how to flash a custom recovery.
modem is a file that controls the cell radio of the phone. Helps determine what frequencies to use and settings for a particular network. It is important when flashing a radio that you flash a radio that is for the AT&T sgs4
Methods for flashing files - Odin vs mobile Odin vs. clockworkmod(cwm) vs adb
Odin is the internal Samsung tool for flashing. I believe it only exists on Windows platform. This tool is mostly used to initially flash an insecure kernel or rooted kernel, OR to return to completely stock rom.. Files for flashing in odin generally should end in .tar or .tar.md5 although sometimes they come zipped and the tar is inside the zip. Read more about Odin before using it as it can easily break your phone. !!!as a general rule make sure you never check the "partition" checkbox EVER!!!
Mobile Odin (THIS TOOL DOES NOT SUPPORT ALL S4 MODELS...make sure you check that it specifically works with yours first. I think at this time it works on your phone unless you have locked bootloader but STILL DOUBLE CHECK) is a phone based version of Odin made by the very talented developer Chainfire. It can be installed on a rooted phone and used to flash the same .tar based files as the desktop version. Mobile odin has a few advantages. 1 you can use it from your phone. 2 it can auto root a stock rom (nice if you want to try out a brand new update that has not been rooted yet)
clockworkmod(cwm) or TWRP is recovery based tool that can make backups of your entire phone, flash new roms, kernels etc.., and do many other useful tasks. Once you have this on your phone my guess is that most of your flashing will be done through this tool. The files for flashing through clockworkmod are .zip files.
ADB is the android develpment bridge. It allows for command line interface with your phone through its debugging options. ADB can do most anything as I understand it. In my several years of flashing I have only had to use it once, and i could have waited for someone to come up with another solution. In general as a noob i recommend you stay away from ADB.
open source vs Samsung base(aka Touchwiz or TW) vs miui
Open Source Roms such as AOSP/AOKP are built using Google's open source android code as a base. The developers then add functionality specific to the device. The advantages of these builds are that they often have tons of options built in to the rom that change the behavior and look of the phone. They usually allow you to change the toggles in your notification pull down, change the battery display, make all kinds of adjustments to sounds, vibration etc... Some people also prefer the "vanilla" android look and feel. These roms often provide "bleeding edge" concepts, design, and modifications. The Disadvantages of these roms is that some of the hardware coding is done closed source by the phone manufacturers, which means that things like Infrared, bluetooth, camera, video recording, and MHL video out often don't work or take much longer to get working by the developers. Basically anything that relies on the Samsung framework will not work in an open source build. This means Svoice, Snote, and the Samsung camera app will not work.
Samsung based roms (aka Touchwiz/TW) are taken from the Samsung original phone software and modified by the developer. Usually, these roms are modified in order to be faster and to make changes to some of the features. Expect to see changes to the stock rom like: debloated (ATT and samsung software removed), de-odexed (explained later), enable tethering, unlimited sms recipients, added notification toggles, etc. Most of these changes are made to: make the phone faster, improve battery life, make the phone easier to theme. The advantage of these roms is that they still use the Samsung framework so all the proprietary stuff like camera, bluetooth, MHL still work, the disadvantage is that they will never be as customisable as open source roms.
MIUI is a rom that focuses on theming. Official MIUI (Chinese) gets updated weekly on Friday and then there are lots of miui developers who adapt it to other languanges and make some tweaks to it. MIUI can be built from AOSP source or Samsung source and depending will have different features. The first MIUI rom for our phone just appeared in these forums and it is based off of AOSP. MIUI has a unique look and is also highly customizable through theming. There are tons of themes available for download through the rom itself and you can mix and match any part of any theme you want. This includes icons, lockscreen style, etc.. Some people criticize while others praise MIUI for being very "iphone like". This is because the icons look more iphone like and there is no app drawer in the MIUI launcher. However, you can still use any launcher you like within MIUI.
odexed vs de-odexed
odexed is how the phone comes stock from Samsung. Odexed means that system files and apps are split into two pieces and kept in different places on the phone. This is done to speed things up a bit. However, it makes it harder to theme the phone because the apps are split up. Most custom roms choose to de-odex (basically regroup the files back into one) so that custom themers can make themes more easily for the phone.
Flashing "dirty" vs flashing "clean"
Clean
Doing a clean install of a rom means erasing or formatting all the data from the previous rom before you flash the new one. This is the prefered way to flash a rom to ensure that it will run smoothly. It is necessary if you are switching from one rom type to another (CM to Samsung base). In order to do a clean flash you need to boot into recovery and select the following options: wipe user data (this wipes all apps and personal data, but not your photos/videos), wipe cache, advanced>wipe dalvik cache, storage/mounts>format system. This will ensure that no trace of the former rom is left on the phone. Beware that at this point your phone will not boot until you install a new rom. I suggest using titanium backup to backup apps and smsbackup+ for texts to make getting your new rom configured easy.
Dirty
Doing a dirty install means just flashing a new rom right over the top of the old one without wiping any data. The advantage to this is that you don't lose any apps or account info. The disadvantage is that you open up the possibility for problems. Generally you only want to flash this way if you are upgrading a rom (CM10 nightly to the next nightly, or from one samsung based rom to another). If you decide to flash over the top and have any issues, you should not report bugs, but try flashing clean first.
Logcat
Logcat is a way to access the android system log for everything that is going on behind the scenes. This tool is used to help developers pinpoint problems in a rom. If you want to actually be helpful to a dev when reporting a bug, you should really learn to use this tool. I am no expert on logcat but you can find some good information in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1726238
What is the Bootloader?
The bootloader is basically what it sounds like...it loads the boot image of the device. Basically it is one of the first things to run on the phone and it shows the phone where to find the boot image and how to start. The bootloader is also responsible for allowing access to the recovery part of the phone.
Locked Bootloader?
This seems to confuse a lot of users so here goes: The AT&T and Verizon versions of our phone have a locked bootloader. What does this mean? To the noob, it means that the devs had to figure out how to bypass or unlock this part of the phone in order to be able to boot custom recoveries such as CWM and TWRP. Getting a custom recovery means being able to backup the phone as well as flash custom roms. Luckily for us, Djrbliss (make sure and thank him! his thread is here:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292157) figured out how to bypass the locked bootloader. The exploit he used is known as Loki. Please remember that the loki exploit is not the same thing as unlocking the bootloader, it is a bypass/trick. AT&T and Verizon have fixed the exploit that allowed loki to work in there newest firmware. Loki patch will not work for MF3 firmware or later.
Loki
refers to the exploit that allows us to run custom recoveries as well as custom roms. You only need to have a loki'd rom if you have a model with a locked bootloader (AT&T). Thankfully, you can install a custom recovery that will auto-Loki any rom you flash so that you can install almost any rom built for our model phone (see below). I strongly recommend flashing an auto loki recovery if you have a phone with locked bootloader. I use this one here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2291956
Compatible Roms
you should be able to run any rom built for AT&T, TMobile, or the I9505 international model (NOT I9500!!) as long as you flash with an auto loki recovery. You can check out this thread for more info. Make sure and thank TheAxman! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2295557
You may have to manually set the APN. If you encounter problems with the rom look in that roms thread for answers.
Sticky!!
Well damn, I thought I knew a lot, but after reading this thread, I really didn't. Well done. :good:
Incredible resource for those coming in from a different ecosystem.
Thanks much!!
Thread stuck!! Nice work!
Got my new At&t Samsung Galaxy S4 and this will definitely help me!!
this is another thread that really helped me as well these two have really helped me so far i have rooted several divices and just relied on everyone else and not i am starting to take a lot more of an interest ant these threads have been the most helpful
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42055644#post42055644
WoW
Great work! I'm sure this thread will be very helpful to a lot of people (Myself included). Tanks bro! :victory:
More! More! :d
I've been searching high and low ive read everything and maybe im not understanding but after I root my phone how do I do the whole loki thing??... I'm eager to start flashing roms... Ive read of some recoveries that do this is that an accurate assessment??
KINGDROID25 said:
I've been searching high and low ive read everything and maybe im not understanding but after I root my phone how do I do the whole loki thing??... I'm eager to start flashing roms... Ive read of some recoveries that do this is that an accurate assessment??
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What exactly are you trying to do?
If you want to install a custom ROM or kernel, you need a custom recovery. The ROM or Kernel developer will have LOKI-fied it for you.
For TWRP (my custom recovery of choice) Download GooManager from the Play Store and install.
Inside the goo.im app, go to menu>Install OpenRecovery Script
then you can boot into recovery to apply kernels, ROMs, etc to your hearts desire
joeybear23 said:
What exactly are you trying to do?
If you want to install a custom ROM or kernel, you need a custom recovery. The ROM or Kernel developer will have LOKI-fied it for you.
For TWRP (my custom recovery of choice) Download GooManager from the Play Store and install.
Inside the goo.im app, go to menu>Install OpenRecovery Script
then you can boot into recovery to apply kernels, ROMs, etc to your hearts desire
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Click to collapse
Its tht ez just root and add custom recovery??.. The whole loki thing is what's been throwing me off
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KINGDROID25 said:
Its tht ez just root and add custom recovery??.. The whole loki thing is what's been throwing me off
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
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Yes... the difficult part is if you are a developer. They make our lives much easier.
joeybear23 said:
Yes... the difficult part is if you are a developer. They make our lives much easier.
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Thanx ima root tonight I jus need to get a copy of the stock firmware
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KINGDROID25 said:
Thanx ima root tonight I jus need to get a copy of the stock firmware
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
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Stock Firmware:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573
That is a HUGE download, but the process is simple.
im not a newb but i need to boost my post count lol...soooo spam
KINGDROID25 said:
I've been searching high and low ive read everything and maybe im not understanding but after I root my phone how do I do the whole loki thing??... I'm eager to start flashing roms... Ive read of some recoveries that do this is that an accurate assessment??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have updated the OP to explain Loki, hope that helps :good:
Noob here first time posting I rooted my phone and installed cwm using casual method, created backup and installed mint rom love it but after a couple of post I see I didn't backup EFS should I be worried?
I'm not sure what the deal is with backing up the IMEI number on our phones yet. I have not seen anyone post about losing their IMEI yet so I wouldn't be too worried. On the s3 only the international model phones could be backed up by saving the efs folder. The backup process for AT&T phones was much more complex. I assume the same holds true on the s4. Will update when I find out more
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I wanted to make sure Thx. Is it to late to back EFS or can I just restore my backup and do it?
Hello everyone.......... So lets begin from the starting. I have recently bought an iphone x clone device. I thought it will have good enough hardware compared to its price but unfortunately it only has attractive outlook finishing but inside its really bad. I cant even watch youtube videos because of hang & crash. So I decided to root it and install ram expanding software to create vram which really helped solving the crashes....... But still the device feels laggy so I was thinking about installing a soft custom rom which will consume less rom & ram. I tried to backup my stock recovery and install a twrp custom recovery via different apps like flashify, mobile uncle tool, twrp manager etc. But all of them failed to create a backup or even flash a recovery. I had to try different custom recovery image as my device is clone and not included inside twrp supported device list. I even downloaded my stock recovery from internet (not 100% sure if its the right one but tried my luck as I couldn't collect a backup copy of my stock recovery from adb) and tried to port with other custom recoveries and install it...... But still all I boot into is my chinese stock recovery which is useless for me. After trying 2 days I have done everything I could and couldn't get further than rooting and installing some useful apps to make my device little bit stable. But this isn't enough, I need help now to find correct custom recovery and soft custom rom for my device.
Here are some pics about my device details which will help you get some idea about which device im using. drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ieMNTSkgTAIWNn1xNSqg2iCzUPXheEdI?usp=sharing
really very disappointing......... its been more than a week and i got no help from a large active tech community like xda
Khaled786 said:
really very disappointing......... its been more than a week and i got no help from a large active tech community like xda
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Lol, it's because you have an unsupported cloned device that has no actual stock source or stock firmware to work with, it has a firmware that has been hacked together. Ask yourself why it has hacked software, it is because there is no real software for this device other than what they hacked together when they made it. I doubt you'll find anything that can be installed "as-is", you'll have to do the same thing the device maker did, you'll have to put your own software together which will require either building a whole new ROM for your device or it will require porting an existing ROM to work on your device.
It is very difficult to identify cloned hardware and very difficult to find compatible software.
And this is a "large active tech community" but most members here don't have/own/use/buy or have experience with cloned devices because we know they are junk, regardless of the specs, we have better sense than to waste our time and money on them.
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