Database Info

The Noobs Guide to Installing a Custom Rom

This Guide assumes that you have S-off and are rooted. It gives the most basic instructions for a first time flasher, it'll also take you through a Nandroid back up using ClockworkMod v4.0.0.4.
Select a rom.
Choose from here or, click the LBC link in my sigi and download the excellent rom and put it in the root of your SD card.
Turn your phone off and just this once pull and refit the battery, just to be sure your not going to run into any problems getting into Hboot from a power on state.
Press and hold the volume down button and press the power/on button. Your now turning your phone on and entering Hboot (bootloader). You'll soon get a white screen with skateboarding types at the bottom. (Oh dear! Notice the one on the far right looks as if he is about to fall off his skateboard! This isn't important).
Wait for the green writing to flash on the screen and go away, any errors that you notice are completely NORMAL!
Press the volume down button once more to highlight RECOVERY.
Press the power button to select.
Your phone will Vibrate (or at least mine does), and after loading you'll get a black screen with purple writing.
Congratulations are in order! You've reached RECOVERY. At this point it might be useful to go outside and bark at the moon if the excitement overcomes you. It did me.
Better? Right lets get to work. This is the business end of flashing and what can't be done here can't be done at all. Well, OK actually there is Android Flasher, Fastboot Commander and lets not forget your Command Line Editor but we'll gloss over those until you've earn't your stripes.
Using the Vol button navigate to BACK UP AND RESTORE and Select using the Power button.
Select BACK UP.
Your now backing up your existing rom and creating your first Nandroid back up. Your Nandroid back up lives on your SD card and can be moved to another file for safe keeping, renamed, corrupted or deleted. If you value your information, keep it safe.
Once finished, you'll get the message "Backup complete!" All we've done to this point is back up the rom that you've been using, at this point you could hit the power button and continue using your old rom, or wipe your phone and falsh a fresh one.
Its important to remember here that if you are going to wipe your phone, your actually deleting HTC's stock rom off the phone and a factory reset will not undo this. After you have wiped, the only way to get your phone back to a factory condition is to flash (load) a stock rom back on, (RUU). You MUST wipe your phone before installing a new rom, there is no way around this.
Wiping and flashing a fresh rom is far more exciting than HTC's offering and that's why you S-offed and rooted anyway isn't it?! Here's how we do that.
Using the Vol button, highlight WIPE DATA/FACTORY RESET.
Once done, highlight WIPE CACHE PARTITION.
Normally this is enough for a normal reflash but if your recovering from a problem or an issue and want a really really good clean up, perform these optional steps:
Select MOUNTS AND STORAGE
Using your vol and power button:
format /cache
format /data
format /system
Select +++++Go Back+++++
Select Advanced
Wipe Dalvik Cache
Reboot Recovery. This step is quite important and your phone will as it says reboot, so don't worry, just let it do its thing.
Wipe Data/Factory Reset once more.
There that's all the wiping done. It's worth noting now that at this stage your phone now has no operating software installed on it! A little scary isn't it? Apart from a bootloader and a radio there's very little else on your pride and joy right now!!! YOU WIPED IT! OK, enough, lets get your new rom installed.
Select install zip from SD card.
choose zip from SD card.
Select your rom
In about 4 to 5 minutes the phone will tell you its done. (DO NOT INTERUPT THIS PROCESS), make sure you have at least 75% battery before you begin!
Are we done?
Now is the time to flash any non optional extras that your rom may need. For instance CyanogenMOD does not come with the Market or Google Apps in Update so flash them now. Refer to your rom developers page for further information on this.
Any kernels, keyboards or mods from the kitchen also get flashed here. These are a little more advanced so lets not go there right now.
Reboot system.
This is your roms intital install and always takes a while to complete. However if your waiting mor than 10 minutes at this stage consult your specific rom developers page.
Press the thanks button.
Done.

this is a very very great guide for the newbies! Thanks man
I have a question for ya... what's nandroid backup? does it backup my stock ROM as well? so if I want back my old stock rom, I just flash back the backup? Need more understanding. Thanks.!

nodeffect said:
this is a very very great guide for the newbies! Thanks man
I have a question for ya... what's nandroid backup? does it backup my stock ROM as well? so if I want back my old stock rom, I just flash back the backup? Need more understanding. Thanks.!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A Nandroid back up is the back up you make while in RECOVERY mode. It is an almost complete image of the phone, system, data, and caches are saved. It is important to note that when you wipe you are WIPING HTC's ROM FROM THE PHONE! After a wipe a factory reset will not take your phone back to the state where it left the shop. You'll need an RUU for that.
I appreciate the feed back.

Thanks for the step by step guide, I flashed the Virtuous Unity ROM and it is working perfectly.

Exactly what I've been looking for, thanks

Impressive guide
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App

InfernalByte said:
make sure you have at least 30% battery before you begin!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good guide man. But you really, really want to have the phone plugged in and charged. Pref at least 75% battery if on battery power alone. Just for those unforseens ...
Peace

Great guide, thanks very much. I have a question about radios when installing a custom rom.
I see that some of the custom roms do not have a radio. How do I know which radio to use to go with that rom? Many rom threads don't seem to specify. Do I leave my stock one, or do I need a different one?
Also, if I do decide to install a custom kernal at a later time, does that mean re-installing the custom rom again first?
Thanks very much for any help for a noob to android!

ems328i said:
Great guide, thanks very much. I have a question about radios when installing a custom rom.
I see that some of the custom roms do not have a radio. How do I know which radio to use to go with that rom? Many rom threads don't seem to specify. Do I leave my stock one, or do I need a different one?
Also, if I do decide to install a custom kernal at a later time, does that mean re-installing the custom rom again first?
Thanks very much for any help for a noob to android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't flash a radio unless you really need to, its not necessary, if your phone works perfectly well with the radio you have my advice is; leave well alone and use the stock radio.
Any add ons such as kernels can be flashed any time after a rom flash and there is no no to reflash a rom just for a fresh kernel etc. Just go back into recovery and flash the exta's, don't wipe.
What I would advise though is when installing any new rom is not to flash any extras until the rom has been running as a stand alone for about 30 minutes. Any, shall we say "toys," Themes and a lot of Kitchen baked stuff should be flashed after the rom has run alone a while and settled, this makes it far easier to understand any issues your fresh rom may have as its easier to identify what's causing it.
This is a bit of a minefield though because some roms need add ons for the first flash, such as CyanogenMod needs the Market and Gmail. Stuff like A2SD scripts also need to be flashed prior to the first boot or they wont work. Your rom Developer should be specific about these.

InfernalByte said:
Don't flash a radio unless you really need to, its not necessary, if your phone works perfectly well with the radio you have my advice is; leave well alone and use the stock radio.
Any add ons such as kernels can be flashed any time after a rom flash and there is no no to reflash a rom just for a fresh kernel etc. Just go back into recovery and flash the exta's, don't wipe.
What I would advise though is when installing any new rom is not to flash any extras until the rom has been running as a stand alone for about 30 minutes. Any, shall we say "toys," Themes and a lot of Kitchen baked stuff should be flashed after the rom has run alone a while and settled, this makes it far easier to understand any issues your fresh rom may have as its easier to identify what's causing it.
This is a bit of a minefield though because some roms need add ons for the first flash, such as CyanogenMod needs the Market and Gmail. Stuff like A2SD scripts also need to be flashed prior to the first boot or they wont work. Your rom Developer should be specific about these.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Superb, thanks very much that's good info! I've just now got S-off with AlphaRevX, and I'm now running the SAGA LBC Mod, just need to learn my way around the new features! Is it possible to now remove some apps like Facebook from this rom?

ems328i said:
Is it possible to now remove some apps like Facebook from this rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Titanium Back Up to freeze the apps before deleting. That way if I get too naughty and freeze something that's needed it can be restored.

InfernalByte said:
I use Titanium Back Up to freeze the apps before deleting. That way if I get too naughty and freeze something that's needed it can be restored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great tip, thanks again, much appreciated!

How to backup the personal data and apps at one ROM in order to restore them at new ROM? Thank you for the answer in advance.

Thanks for the guide.

Many thanks
Thank you for this great guide! I am a total noob and I flashed the LBC mod according to your guide. I already got root, as I had done this by other guide. I would like to add some advice for other noobs out there like me. The only setback I got, was that after installing new ROM, it froze, and the problem seems to be my Google account, which wants to sync all apps at once right after you have typed in your password and checked the "sync with my account" checkbox. the best would be to somehow uninstall all your apps from old rom after backing them up with Titanium. The problem was, that while trying to download all the apps again, it froze so hard, that it still showed me the charging LED, and the screen was unresponsive even after I had pulled the charger over 15mins ago. Even the power button did nothing. So I went back to recovery, trying to do the whole wiping/formatting drill with Dalvik Cache and i received errors in the recovery, even while navigating between menus that mounting recovery failed. I got very desperate and taught it would be best to just take a break. It was good idea. when I came back the phone had cooled down and I received no more errors while wiping/formatting/installing. I then just forbid the google account to back up my data online and that did the trick. No more freezes and LBC mod looks, feels and behaves just perfect. I got a whole new PDA now, with whole new capabilities. And also, many of the ROM-s does not include the Sim ToolKit, the STK. This is quite neccesary for people in Estonia and soon for most people in the world, as its neccesary for Mobile-ID. Most of us vote for president for instance by digitally signing our vote with mobile-ID which is an even greater extenson of ID-card. And as a businessman I need to give at least couple of signatures each day. I would be quite unhappy, when I would need to drive 200km to another city just to sign a document, or messing with my ID-card, card reader and stupid drivers, to sign something manually or even worse, use a pen to sign something haha So its a very vital component of all phones that use SIM-card and it soon going to be a must have in most countries in the world. So every Estonian here, if you are in need, get the neccesary STK (download the version for android 2.3.4, the 2.3.3 version won't work for LBC 0.5.3) from the Estonian Hinnavaatlus forum here: http://foorum.hinnavaatlus.ee/viewtopic.php?p=6564414#6564414
Again, thanks for the guide, its a dream come true.

Your Welcome.

ems328i said:
Superb, thanks very much that's good info! I've just now got S-off with AlphaRevX, and I'm now running the SAGA LBC Mod, just need to learn my way around the new features! Is it possible to now remove some apps like Facebook from this rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup you can delete facebook etc, if you want to just clean it up, but your not going to make any extra room, unless you learn how to install apk apps into your system partition, rather than market apps into your data partition..

nodeffect said:
this is a very very great guide for the newbies! Thanks man
I have a question for ya... what's nandroid backup? does it backup my stock ROM as well? so if I want back my old stock rom, I just flash back the backup? Need more understanding. Thanks.!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think this question was answered clearly enough Can you restore your phone back exactly the way it was before with the nandroid back up you made? If not what is the point of the back up?
Also, it it best to do a nandroid back up the way you described or would it be just as good to let the ROM manager App do it for you?

pumpernickel77 said:
I dont think this question was answered clearly enough Can you restore your phone back exactly the way it was before with the nandroid back up you made? If not what is the point of the back up?
Also, it it best to do a nandroid back up the way you described or would it be just as good to let the ROM manager App do it for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid Backup (to be honest - a tiny piece of Googling would give you the answer to this) but, in answer to your question, yes, a Nandroid backup takes the phone state back to effectively when the backup was was taken....I use it often when testing ROMS and then returning to my daily use ROM.
The only thing that isn't backed up by the backup and therefore isn't restored is your Radio so if you change version you need to flash the older version (which I'm sure that you'll be advised not to!) to return to the same state you were in.
ROM Manager nandroid and manual recovery nandroid are the same, it's just a matter of choice and personal preference. Some people like command line other like GUI. However, using recovery based backup it means that you'll hopefully have a slightly greater understaing of what is actually happening and the options that are avialiable to you, which means should there ever come a time when only recovery is accessible - you won't [email protected] your pants!

good
simple and easy thanks dude

HELP

installed a custom rom = ''http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1198684''
works fine , then installed "LeeDroid 3.1.0 Kernel "
and all of a sudden my phone just stays on HTC white and green screeen :/
dont know what to do tried installing other kernels but all have the same effect stays on HTC screen for minutes

give it al least 10 to 15 mins, before u jump to conclusion, it always takes a while when you first flash!
Just give it time,

ok ok thanks i will

Its been about 30 mins and still just the HTC screen CAN ANYONE help me!

It has been 16 minutes, not 30.
Be patient. Try reflashing if you can get to recovery.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Warchief337 said:
Its been about 30 mins and still just the HTC screen CAN ANYONE help me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a bad flash or won't work on your device. Flashing a kernel with a speed to high for your CPU can do that, for example. Do a restore via recovery or try and flash a different version of that kernel or a different kernel.

no its been 30 i let it stay on that screen for a whole game of dota lol i just had it on my laptop while i played and it stayed white and HTC the entire time

oh ok ill try that , im new to the rooted phone scene was just using revolution hd but i like the insertcoin version better ill try another kernel

Firstly custom kernals dont work with sense 3.5 roms, that could be your problem, wipe everything in recovery, data wipe, factory reset, go to advanced and wipe dalvik cache, then just install the rom and see what happens, or else restore (assuming you made a backup)

ok so i wiped and reloaded rom and we are in business thanks everyone for your help DDDDD hahaha im releived

Warchief337 said:
ok so i wiped and reloaded rom and we are in business thanks everyone for your help DDDDD hahaha im releived
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will most likely run into it again in your flashing future (the stuck boot screen). It doesn't always require a full wipe or restore to fix. You could have most likely fixed it by flashing the kernel that came with the ROM.
The easiest thing you can do for yourself is to always make a nandroid backup before flashing anything, even a theme. Just remember to delete old backups you know you won't use, they take up a lot of sdcard space.

digiholic said:
You will most likely run into it again in your flashing future (the stuck boot screen). It doesn't always require a full wipe or restore to fix. You could have most likely fixed it by flashing the kernel that came with the ROM.
The easiest thing you can do for yourself is to always make a nandroid backup before flashing anything, even a theme. Just remember to delete old backups you know you won't use, they take up a lot of sdcard space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thaey sure do take a lot of space. when I do an nandroid backup it always saves the rom with the date. can i rename it so I can keep them all straight? THis is a very NOOB question

Flash ROMs without wiping data?

In the ARHD forum a while back someone advocated the strategy of never wiping data when switching between ROMs. He said he had never wiped data, and if he ever ran into problems with an app on a new ROM he just manually cleared that app's data and everything was fine.
He boasted essentially never having to reconfigure anything on his phone, and that he has successfully retained every app, setting, and text message that he's always had every time he has flashed a new ROM.
Is it possible that this is true?

I doubt it,
I didn't wipe once and ran into so much errors that I ended up re flashing whole rom..
Honestly it doesn't take much more then 30-35 min to setup a new rom specially if you buy the titanium backup app they even have a free version of it which also works great.
Sent From My Sexy Sensation Running Aokp.

well on the ARHD thread it says a wipe is optional when coming from previous versions, but personally i've only flashed it once so i can't say something about it.. however, when i do upgrade from rom's i have just flashed over it (if im switching to different rom i do a wipe) and haven't had problems, unless it says a wipe is recommended when upgrading then i just do a full wipe, and then restore the data from previous backups within 4EXT, this restores all my apps and settings i had previously.. its worked for me so far

I had once do that because i forgot to wipe the data. I forgot the rom's name but i experienced no error then i switched to Smartdroid rom
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE using xda premium

Like i said before.
You do wipe your ass when you are done taking a dump dont you?
Its possible. But dont complain about having crap in your underware
Btw. Use search. (Not attacking.you)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23405654
Ive seen multiple threads about this
typed on a sensation cracked screen

stroobach said:
Like i said before.
You do wipe your ass when you are done taking a dump dont you?
Its possible. But dont complain about having crap in your underware
Btw. Use search. (Not attacking.you)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23405654
Ive seen multiple threads about this
typed on a sensation cracked screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL
Sent From My Sexy Sensation Running Aokp.

Love that analogy! But yes, wiping is very important!
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

think id be ok to flash a completely new rom without wiping if my plan is to reflash again after a wipe?

cresch07 said:
think id be ok to flash a completely new rom without wiping if my plan is to reflash again after a wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but what's the point, there are many apps out there that can back up your data to restore afterwards.

I almost lost my phone!
I flashed a custom rom in my htc.... it was a total loss.. i don't know what happened..but as soon as i locked it....it never came back.... proximity sensor flashed red light all the time.....finally, had to open the back cover to make it work and boot into recovery....

Just got Galaxy S3! New to rooting, ROM, etc....

Hey guys! I just bought the Galaxy S3 and I'm really loving it so far. However, it is my first Android device, so I'm still pretty new to all this rooting, flashing, ROM, etc. All I know is that rooting is similar to jailbreaking in iPhone (which I understand pretty well and use to do all the time) in that it allows you to do things you wouldn't originally been able to do. Because of that, I decided to root my Galaxy S3 following a Youtube video, which turned out really well and was pretty simple. After that, I watched another video to "flash a rom" (I think that's how you say it...) and installed CyanogenMod 10. I wanted Jelly Bean over TouchWiz ICS, so I'm liking it so far. Everything runs smoothly and that Project Butter is uh-mazing! However, I think I've noticed some bugs. For example, the camera's exposure settings don't work and every once in a while, my home button doesn't respond when I'm trying to wake it up from lock! I actually had to pull my battery out yesterday because it wouldn't respond and just froze ...Is there anyway that I can fix this? My Dolphin Browser doesn't play flash anymore too, but that's a little fine with me, since the stock browser is able to. And also, I noticed that when I flashed the rom, it pretty much wiped my phone clean, so is there a way to install all my apps and data back the way I wanted previously? I heard about somethings like Titanium Backup, but then I'm also confused about what the hell all that custom backup and recovery and ClockWork Mod and Rom Mananger is about ...Is it also ok that I installed Apex Launcher after getting CyanogenMod 10? I like how I can still customize it and whatnot.
Sorry for making this post so lengthy! I'm just really excited and curious about how all of this works. It's definitely a lot more complex (but a ton more fun and interesting! ) than just jailbreaking an iPhone. I've looked around the forum and have read some 101 Basics, but it's still quite a lot to understand all in one day. Anyways, if anyone can please provide some feedback, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you! :laugh:

I was using SynergyRom v1.7 for a few days but was really laggy on my device. Ive since switch over to CleanRom 2.0 SP1 running CleanKernel 1.0, using CWM 6.0.1.0 recovery, and so far seems to be running alot smoother and faster than Synergy. The only problem ive found with it is the Rom comes with the cpu set up to 1.9 Ghz even when I have it set at 1.5 on SetCPU, and if im putting a heavy load on my device, the back gets pretty warm. There is a post I remember seein something about that issue but cant find it.
If you would like to give this ROM a try, you can find it here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832070

The current version of cm 10 is nightly is not done and there is bugs. the only thing I got was the wake up thing but it never froze for me.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

fr8cture said:
The current version of cm 10 is nightly is not done and there is bugs. the only thing I got was the wake up thing but it never froze for me.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your's doesn't wake when you push the home button too?! Thought it was just me...And do you know when CM10 will be fully stable? Or are there other roms out there that are?

lilaznandyx said:
So your's doesn't wake when you push the home button too?! Thought it was just me...And do you know when CM10 will be fully stable? Or are there other roms out there that are?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not using cm 10 anymore but try waking it with the power button, I'm currently using paranoid android and don't have the problem and its based off cm10
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

lilaznandyx said:
And also, I noticed that when I flashed the rom, it pretty much wiped my phone clean, so is there a way to install all my apps and data back the way I wanted previously? I heard about somethings like Titanium Backup, but then I'm also confused about what the hell all that custom backup and recovery and ClockWork Mod and Rom Mananger is about ...Is it also ok that I installed Apex Launcher after getting CyanogenMod 10? I like how I can still customize it and whatnot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
welcome! i'm still a noob too but customizing and flashing roms is definitely a whole lot of fun. A few things:
before you continue I suggest that you backup your IMEI if you have not done so. There are currently 3 methods to doing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1852255
you can do all 3 methods just to make sure you are safe.
TitaniumBackup is an awesome program that can save your apps and their data, your contacts, your sms, all to your SD card so that when you need to wipe your data clean you can easily restore all your apps and such again. There is a free version in the appstore that I think is a must have.
ClockworkMod is a custom recovery for our device and basically what we use to flash new roms and kernels. Also we can create Nandroid backups (basically a snapshot of our system that we can restore at a later time) through CWM.
As for launchers you can feel free to use Apex, Nova, Holo, any of these launchers with the different Roms. They will generally come pre-loaded with one but if you have a preference you can just install that launcher and set it as the new default.
Welcome to Android and xda!

pyunny said:
welcome! i'm still a noob too but customizing and flashing roms is definitely a whole lot of fun. A few things:
before you continue I suggest that you backup your IMEI if you have not done so. There are currently 3 methods to doing this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1852255
you can do all 3 methods just to make sure you are safe.
TitaniumBackup is an awesome program that can save your apps and their data, your contacts, your sms, all to your SD card so that when you need to wipe your data clean you can easily restore all your apps and such again. There is a free version in the appstore that I think is a must have.
ClockworkMod is a custom recovery for our device and basically what we use to flash new roms and kernels. Also we can create Nandroid backups (basically a snapshot of our system that we can restore at a later time) through CWM.
As for launchers you can feel free to use Apex, Nova, Holo, any of these launchers with the different Roms. They will generally come pre-loaded with one but if you have a preference you can just install that launcher and set it as the new default.
Welcome to Android and xda!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying! Sorry for asking, but what is an IMEI and why should I back it up? And what is the difference between a Nandroid backup and a Titanium backup?

lilaznandyx said:
Thanks for replying! Sorry for asking, but what is an IMEI and why should I back it up? And what is the difference between a Nandroid backup and a Titanium backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid Backs up your whole system and Titanium just backs up your apps and app data, Not exactly sure what a IMEI is but if you don't have it you wont have any service.

an IMEI is a code unique to your device that allows your phone to be identified by your provider. Without it you won't have a phone signal nor data. You should back it up as it has been reported that rarely users can lose their IMEI upon flashing a rom.
The devs have been hard at work at learning what triggers this to happen and ways we can get rid of the problem altogether but until then, it's wise to backup the IMEI and save the backups in a safe place.

Most have lost their Imei when flashing aosp roms but not all. Some have reported it with touchwiz roms as well.
The are 3different methods to back it up though not 100% .
All are featured in development section.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

lilaznandyx said:
Thanks for replying! Sorry for asking, but what is an IMEI and why should I back it up? And what is the difference between a Nandroid backup and a Titanium backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
International Mobile Equipment Identity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity

CleanRom 2.1 just came out today in case anyone is interested...im gonna install it and give it a shot...heard it was much more stable and smoother than v2.0 which im running now.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832070

nighthawk34691 said:
CleanRom 2.1 just came out today in case anyone is interested...im gonna install it and give it a shot...heard it was much more stable and smoother than v2.0 which im running now.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832070
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How's the new rom? And if I want to install this new rom, do I just do the same thing I did with CM10 (flash, backup, recovery, etc.)?

fr8cture said:
Nandroid Backs up your whole system and Titanium just backs up your apps and app data, Not exactly sure what a IMEI is but if you don't have it you wont have any service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is everything backed up to? Like say I want to flash a bunch of roms, and later decide to go back to my stock rom, what do I do?

All nandroid backups (cwm) by default are saved to the root of the internal SD card. They typically are small compressed files and really no need to ever move them, though you can have as many as you want, just label and sort them in cwm app.
Titanium defaults to internal SD (again root file that won't be wiped when wiping data), but you can easily change this location to your external to make you feel safer.
Same deal with rom zip files, if you drag and drop through your desktop, you can drop on either sd card or external. If you download through your phone it will be on internal in downloads file, safe from a wipe. You can then move if needs be using a file explorer app. Just remember your location when flashing so you can find your zip in recovery.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

annoyingduck said:
All nandroid backups (cwm) by default are saved to the root of the internal SD card. They typically are small compressed files and really no need to ever move them, though you can have as many as you want, just label and sort them in cwm app.
Titanium defaults to internal SD (again root file that won't be wiped when wiping data), but you can easily change this location to your external to make you feel safer.
Same deal with rom zip files, if you drag and drop through your desktop, you can drop on either sd card or external. If you download through your phone it will be on internal in downloads file, safe from a wipe. You can then move if needs be using a file explorer app. Just remember your location when flashing so you can find your zip in recovery.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh ok. So I'm pretty sure that I did a nandroid backup. So if I want to go back to my old rom, do I just reboot into recovery and click restore or something like that?

That's it. I have several nandroid backups of various rom's and configurations that I can then choose from in recovery. Just remember that if one of your recoveries is original stock (which you should have done), just remember that after flashing that backup, you probably will need to reinstall cwm or similar recovery. You won't need to do that with anything other than stock. I'll do my best to answer any other questions, and please tap the thanks button if this helped!

annoyingduck said:
That's it. I have several nandroid backups of various rom's and configurations that I can then choose from in recovery. Just remember that if one of your recoveries is original stock (which you should have done), just remember that after flashing that backup, you probably will need to reinstall cwm or similar recovery. You won't need to do that with anything other than stock. I'll do my best to answer any other questions, and please tap the thanks button if this helped!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh ok. But if flash the stock rom, will it wipe my phone clean, or will I stay rooted? And do roms take up a lot of storage? I had quite a lot of free space, but after CM10 I lost about 1-2 gb I think.

Yes, roms do take up alot of storage, so its a good idea to put the zip files on your external sd card to keep your internal as free as possible, especially if you have multiple roms that your playing around with. As far as flashing stock, if you mean restoring your stock rom from a backup in recovery mode, then the answer is yes to staying rooted, and no to wiping it clean. It will be in the same state that your phone was in when you made the backup. However, if you flash on an original stock rom it can unroot you and wipe everything depending on how its flashed in. This method really should only need to be done if a backup was not made of your stock rom, or if you have bricked your device in some manner.

Oh okay. So I should be fine then. Which rom do you recommend for this S3? I'm trying to find one that is really stable and is hopefully jelly bean. I'm looking at CleanRom right now, because I like how it incorporates some touchwiz, but I think it's ICS?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] How can I switch to Stock ICS Rom OR to another Custom Rom from CM10.1 ?

How can I switch to Stock ICS Rom OR to another Custom Rom from CM10.1 ?
Cyanogenmod is awesome, but I want to switch back to stock, or possibly on another sense based rom if I like one. How can I do this?
EDIT: Question has been answered, thanks to all who supported me on this thread.

Just flash the ROM you want in recovery like you did when you flashed cm 10.1
Here's stock ICS with improvements: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14191938
You can try jellybean with sense 4+ from viper s: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39819473
Sent from my HTC Sensation

And don't forget to make a backup

Thanks, I will look into them.
What will happen if I try to restore a nandroid which was made in Stock, while I am on another ROM?

usman farhat said:
Thanks, I will look into them.
What will happen if I try to restore a nandroid which was made in Stock, while I am on another ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it will replace your current rom with the one from the nandroid
but before restore always a full wipe first

rzr86 said:
it will replace your current rom with the one from the nandroid
but before restore always a full wipe first
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I have a nandroid backup which I did in Stock firmware. If I go to recovery and do full wipe followed by restoring the backup, I will get stock ROM with all the apps that were installed at the time of making backup, right? Same can be done in to switch to CM rom?

usman farhat said:
Ok, so I have a nandroid backup which I did in Stock firmware. If I go to recovery and do full wipe followed by restoring the backup, I will get stock ROM with all the apps that were installed at the time of making backup, right? Same can be done in to switch to CM rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's why it is called nandroid backup
because it backups everything
and yes
full wipe first
restore nandroid
done
edit:the same with cm too

rzr86 said:
that's why it is called nandroid backup
because it backups everything
and yes
full wipe first
restore nandroid
done
edit:the same with cm too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow it's easier than I thought. and really thanks for your quick replies, thanks button will be pressed after the comment are posted.

I am also running CM 10.1 and because of some hardware issues want to revert to the STOCK ROM (not any custom one similar to it). Problem is, i did not create a nandroid backup of it. How do I go about it now?
PS my phone is HBOOT 1.29

Reboot recovery
Format all partitions except SD card.
Flash ROM.
Reboot
You can also do an RUU. Look here and do step 2.4 to find your executable ruu: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26541170
Sent from my HTC Sensation

AndroidSupporter318 said:
Reboot recovery
Format all partitions except SD card.
Flash ROM.
Reboot
You can also do an RUU. Look here and do step 2.4 to find your executable ruu: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26541170
Sent from my HTC Sensation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply, but can you tell me where to get the stock ROM too? Is it available on the HTC website? I have searched other posts but there seems to be no link for HBOOT 1.29

Here's arhd 7.2, a modified and improved version of stock: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14191938
Hboot version doesn't really matter. It's just the way the phone boots up.
If you want to revert to complete stock, no modifications, no improvements, then I would run the .exe ruu file from your computer. Here's the links for the .exe files: http://www.shipped-roms.com/index.php?category=android&model=Pyramid
Make sure you download the right ruu (XE or 4g) for your phone and the right country/carrier for it.
Sent from my HTC Sensation

AndroidSupporter318 said:
Here's arhd 7.2, a modified and improved version of stock: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14191938
Hboot version doesn't really matter. It's just the way the phone boots up.
If you want to revert to complete stock, no modifications, no improvements, then I would run the .exe ruu file from your computer. Here's the links for the .exe files: http://www.shipped-roms.com/index.php?category=android&model=Pyramid
Make sure you download the right ruu (XE or 4g) for your phone and the right country/carrier for it.
Sent from my HTC Sensation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! Fingers crossed it solves the issues, the hardware keys sometimes stop working and the screen automatically starts behaving like i'm multitouching

Good luck and I hope it solved the problem!
Sent from my HTC Sensation

Omer Humayun said:
Thank you! Fingers crossed it solves the issues, the hardware keys sometimes stop working and the screen automatically starts behaving like i'm multitouching
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this happen while charging?

usman farhat said:
Does this happen while charging?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has happened both when I'm charging and when it's not plugged into anything. It happens worst, and most often when the phone heats up, which is a big issue with CM. Part of the reason i wanna switch back to Stock ROM is to prevent any permanent damage to the internals with this frequent overheating. The battery stays cool, mind you.
My personal laptop's motherboard got fried yesterday so i'm just gonna wait until my exams end in a couple of weeks, and then get a new one and change the phone's ROM. I promise to update you guys on what happens

Omer Humayun said:
It has happened both when I'm charging and when it's not plugged into anything. It happens worst, and most often when the phone heats up, which is a big issue with CM. Part of the reason i wanna switch back to Stock ROM is to prevent any permanent damage to the internals with this frequent overheating. The battery stays cool, mind you.
My personal laptop's motherboard got fried yesterday so i'm just gonna wait until my exams end in a couple of weeks, and then get a new one and change the phone's ROM. I promise to update you guys on what happens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had mentioned charger because i have a China charger and when my phone is charging and i lay it on a flat surface it touches itself everywhere whenever i touch somewhere. this happens to me due to incompatible charger. however i still charge with that charger. well this is my problem, yours is different.
I am not sure but I think there must be prominent links on Google containing stock roms. I have never searched for android but Nokia used to have dedicated softwares and websites for this.
And a free advice: if you want sense then try viper s Rom with sense 4.1 and android ics. (the one with jb doesn't have a working camera). I am using this and sense 4.1 is really good.
it is laggy though.