Hey guys!
My Mum has a Desire S, and is, to put it bluntly, rather unhappy with the stock performance so, I've been thinking about flashing a CM7/ICS based rom on it.
If it were my phone, I'd have no problems doing it straight out, but she's worried about returning it under warranty with a custom rom (which is fair enough).
Anyway, I was wondering if there is something like RSD lite (For motorola), or ODIN (for samsung) which allows you to flash back to a clean, out of the factory state?
Yes you can return to stock "most of the time" but there are cases were the phone refuses to play nice....
A quick bit of Googling would give you the answer.
All methods mainly come down to installing a RUU to get back to stock, some other steps are needed, but they differ to how you archived s-off etc..
Nothing of that sort, but there's a pretty easy way to do it. I did it for my friend a month ago.
FIRST, s-off your device using revolutionary and get 4ext recovery. (there are detailed guides on this)
Then, take a nandroid backup of the stock ROM in recovery mode. Whenever you want to return to stock, restore this backup
Related
So I've been reading all these articles about rooting the Samsung Captivate and they all seem to say that rooting gives you the equivalent of admin access and basically its really useful.
What I want to know is if it is safe? I'm not really good at these things and I'm afraid that if I root it I might just screw up my phone because I don't understand what I'm doing. Also I've read that rooting your phone can sometimes render your phone unusable...is that a serious issue for the captivate?
I mainly want to just be able to have a complete backup, and be able to download apps from third party websites. (I have AT&T) I think rooting lets you do all that.
Also, I see all this talk about ROM's or something and I really don't understand what that is.
If i root my phone, will it wipe any data I have stored on my phone, like contacts and apps or something? Will I still be able to receive software updates from AT&T?
Please help...Thanks sooo much!!!
Hello there,
In first place, ROMs it's the name we usually call for the OS images that you run in your phone. You have the manufacturer ROM, with (probably) operator stuff in it. You can have a very different OS image, with different layout, more options (there are beautiful things around like CyanogenMod), etc. So, installing new ROMs sometimes is like installing a new Android OS on your phone (not exactly but something like that).
Rooting your phone doesn't clean your data, but it's always a good practice to do an application/data backup. Backup software: Titanium Backup (i use it and i really like it).
By adding an Android Recovery loader, you will have the possibility to make a nandroid backup which really allows you to keep EVERYTHING! (that happens after you root the phone, of course).
Advantages of having a rooted phone:
* removing operator applications you don't like in the standard ROM
* run 'root-only' software
* installing new ROMS
* upgrading the OS version of your phone to higher than supported by the manufacturer (some features may not work in this case)
Disadvantages:
* you may void your warranty
* you may brick your phone
* you can be messing around for a long time before having your phone stable once again (if you are curious to keep trying different ROMS, and app2sd and other add-ons)
Bricking your phone may happen if in the procedure to root your phone you need to flash it. In my case, I have a LG P500 and had the Android 2.2.2 - to root it I had to flash a 2.2 version and that was the risky part (some people say that 1 in every 4 phones get bricked in this procedure which I find very exagerated!)
So read the procedures carefully and have your phone with battery full before doing any rooting procedures. Do things calmly, follow every single step and if your get unsure of something, stop, ask, and after that move forward. You will be really happy when your phone is rooted !!
thank you!
The previous responder was a little zealous with the warnings. I have a Captivate, which is rooted and running a custom ROM (CyanogenMod 7).
First, rooting will not brick your phone. In theory, you void your warranty by doing so, but it's really easy to restore to factory state.
I don't recommend a custom ROM for someone who has basic questions like you've just asked. I'd reccommend first trying to get root, and run apps like Titanium backup, SGS Tools, etc. Be careful, research what you're doing, and make lots of backups. So long as you can enter download mode, you can flash back to factory.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
I was right where you are last August. I agree with ADT who says that you should root first and then work with apps that require root. Titanium Backup has been the most valuable for me out of all of those.
The chances of bricking your phone when you only root it is minimal. I guess it's possible, but honestly, I cannot see how. There are 2 files that are required called Bootloaders. Think of these as the AT&T screen and then the Samsung screen in a stock Captivate. If you do anything that changes/replaces these, you stand a great chance of bricking your phone. You don't do this when you root, only when you do something like try a custom ROM.
When you root your phone, you won't really notice anything different at first. However, if you look at your apps you will see a new one called Superuser. It is the app that is needed to run "rooted" apps. Also, once you root your phone, you will be able to take advantage of Amazon's market which has a free app a day.
If you decide to "unroot", it can be done rather easily, and you will lose the ability to do things like run rooted apps and Amazon apps (including any you downloaded).
I would recommend that you read as many posts about rooting as possible before you finally make the plunge. Read, read and read again. Make sure you know what you are doing before you do it and the risk of damage is minimal. I have bricked my phone many times, including the power button not working and was lucky to get it back. I learned the hard way by not knowing to read, read and read again.
Good luck!!
One other quick point. If you decide to play with custom ROMs, I recommend you stick with the ones that run Froyo, not Gingerbread. The Gingerbread ROMs are just starting to come out and I believe are not for someone just starting out. The instructions are a bit more complicated and the chance of bricking your phone are much greater.
The Froyo ROMs are much easier to install. However, as said in my last post, I'd get used to rooting your stock phone first before going that way.
stick with froyo and play with custom roms. To install custom roms just flash the custom rom in the recovery mode.
You're right guys. I mean, changing the bootloader is the risky part of the process, not the rooting itself. But the risky part is flashing a ROM (if that's needed to root the phone)...
In my case I had to downgrade my phone (LG P500) before applying root, so it was risky from the start - anyway, depending on the phone model, rooting / installling bootloader can be more or less risky...
Samsung. Couldnt he always ODIN back?
Sent from my ADR6300
Hi guys,
There are threads on this and I have taken a look. Most solutions to this issue (apparently a radio file that is incompatible with certain devices rolled out with the 2.3.6 update) require a flash (radio, rom etc.).
My phone is unrooted and since I still have the return policy, I don't want to disrupt too much and spend too much time rooting/unrooting just to get it to work.
I'd like to try either a radio flash or a full wipe back to 2.3.5 or 2.3.4 in order to see if this is actually a hardware defect, or a software issue as above.
Can anyone advise on whether or not it will be possible to do a full wipe back to 2.3.5 or earlier without having a rooted phone?
I tried the other thread on flashing the radio but I believe it is not possible without root access.
I apologize for the noob thread, but I could not find an answer to this problem specifically for those with unrooted phones..
Thank you.
Hi there,
There's no way to return to an older version with stock recovery. You would need to root and install a custom recovery. Then you will be able to rollback to the older version of the update.
Since you don't want to do that, the only option is to return the device and get another.
Root is extremelly easy with SuperOneClickRoot (just in case you're afraid of loose too much time on this).
Thanks for the prompt reply.
I guess I was just grasping at straws.
I was following a guid eon nexus hacks for rooting and the process seems relatively quick and painless... would I need superuser installed if all I'm doing is the recovery tools for now?
Its not the rooting part I'm worried with, or the unrooting as there's guides for those (and its quite a simple process) its just the possibility of something messing up along the way
Actually the fastboot unlock and recovery install is pretty painless. Just make sure you have the correct custom recovery for your phone model.
You don't need superuser if you're just running the recovery and have all the roms you will need in you phone's "sdcard"
Fair, I guess if all I'm doing is unlocking fastboot and then am able to "relock" it, it is relatively painless.
This might be a very stupid question and it is a bit OT but since you're active in this thread for the moment, customer recovery... I am a bit at a loss on how to retrieve that from? I was merely hoping that by unlocking fast boot, I can just "flash" in a radio file, but I assume I should backup those radio files first...
You are correct. Just flash the correct radio and you're good to go.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I've been sitting on my stock Rogers Infuse 4G since I got it, hoping that they would at the very least release an update to ICS. I've pretty much given up all hope, especially now since the Infuse was listed as one of the "violators" in the recent lawsuit. So, in giving up there, I've started to try and get up to speed with what's available in terms of custom ROMs for the Infuse, etc...
I previously had a Captivate (seems like I pick the wrong phones) and have kept that one stock as well (now my wife's phone) aside from the official 2.3.3 update Samsung came out with for it. I checked in here once in a while to try and keep track of some of the updates as I thought about going for a custom rom, but I never had the balls to try anything (I've only ever flashed one phone in my life, and it was bought 2nd hand for $20 ) since I actually *must have* a working phone due to having a kid (daycare calls are kind of important!). However checking today, it seems like I am totally out of the loop and I just don't have the time to try and wade through thousands of pages on various threads to find out what the current "ways" are and such... but I know what I want to achieve so I'm hoping you folks are nice enough to at the very least give me a "search you noob" and point me to some threads :silly:
Since I'm totally stock, from what I'm gathering I think I need (and really I more of need a complete checklist of things to do rather than a "do it for me" kind of thing) to do is:
1) jot down my modem and apn settings and such (already done)
2) back up everything i need, pop out sd card (know how to do this)
3) wipe/clear to factory default (... and this)
4) back up the current rom - everything in case I want to return back to exactly the way the phone is stock
5) figure out what i need to do to flash CWM or something so I have the necessary recovery mode options?
6) flash to ICS (since from what I gather, I need to do that if I want to go to JB)?
7) follow instructions I found on the unnoficial CM10 JB thread to flash to JB
?) flash a new kernel? (is this done already during a rom flash; are there any new kernels?)
As commented, I can figure out 1-3 since I'm not stupid, but I have no idea what is even needed to do 4, nor do I know exactly all the tiny, necessary, steps to do the rest after that... especially since reading some things it seems like most of this is for AT&T users and since I'm on Rogers with a I997R (I assume the R means Rogers), I don't want to mess up my modem or other things to prevent the phone working for me... and these are the steps I'm hoping people can help me with.
So far, in prep, I've noted my phone info (basically everything in Phone settings) and I can back up all my apps and such that I care about, and I've downloaded the unofficial CM10 JB download and the Google apps apk as well, and on the same thread was a link to a 1-click ICS flash or something... so I got that too. Since I want to end up with JB, I'm not too concerned (or should I be?) with it being AT&T stuff to get to ICS, since it's the JB flash that I'd really want to ensure works for me.
Is anyone willing to help me out? I really wish I didn't have to be the "next loser" to make a thread like this but I just haven't had the time to be able to keep up with all the info going around (voodoo mods and whatever else?!) to be able to make sense of all this myself!
Thank you!
This looks like a good place for you to start
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1197248&highlight=how+to+root+rogers
First thing to do of course is read, read, read. Understanding what you are doing and why you are doing it is the most valuable resource you can have.
The gist of it is though: to install the custom updated roms, you need root. For Rogers infuse users that is very easy to do; all you have to do is install a rooted kernel in odin. After you do that you make a nandroid (and/or EFS) backup, and install whatever rom you want. CM9 and CM10 have their own kernel, so don't worry about that.
adfurgerson posted the step-by-step guide above me, although the links in the OP may be down. I have the mirrors here: http://minus.com/moAvVibed/
the 3 files in there are:
Odin_Infused_Gingerbread_Kernel_v1.zip - This is the rooted kernel you are flashing
Odin_Stock_Rogers_UXKG3_Kernel.zip - This is the stock rogers unrooted kernel if you want to unroot and go COMPLETELY stock for whatever reason (I doubt you will ever need to use this tbh)
Odin_UXKG3_rooted_no_bootloaders_v2.zip - The stock Rogers FIRMWARE. If you ever mess up you use this to "start from scratch". You will still be rooted though if you don't use the stock kernel above.
So yeah, just flash the kernel in odin as described in the above thread and you will have root + cwm.
From there you reboot into cwm (turn off, turn on holding vol+ and vol- buttons) and make a nandroid backup of your stock rogers rom (or an EFS backup with the infuse toolkit: click here), flash CM9 as per the instructions in the OP, and finally CM10 as per the instructions in the OP.
Also remember:
1. The infuse is almost impossible to hard brick. The only real way to do so is to improperly flash bootloaders, which a rogers infuse user will never have to do. Only AT&T users coming from Froyo have to do it. So keep that in mind.
2. On the chance that you get soft-bricked (screen won't go past samsung logo for example) you can always go back to flashing the stock rom/rooted kernel again in odin and start all over again.
The only thing that I can add to Threi's excellent reply is to mention the one click to ICS. It is in the first post of Scott's CM10 thread,it should give you the ICS recovery that is needed to flash JB without flashing a full ICS ROM.
I suppose I should have mentioned that I also have rooted my phone already (used SuperOneClick, worked fine). Is there any reason why I would use that "rooted kernel" versus just having root on my phone (ie, having su installed... dunno what else it did, I don't think it did anything to my kernel)?
I guess my biggest unknown is all the backup processes that can be done and how to do them? Is "nandroid" a one stop shop for doing backups of everything? Although there's the complete stock Rogers rom linked above (which I'll nab anyways!), I was thinking I would try to make a complete copy of my own phone (just in case)... I guess next step is to search for "nanroid"
Are there any other backup tools I could use/check out (not apk backup tools... those are easily located in the app store, or performed with adb myself).
j.smith said:
I suppose I should have mentioned that I also have rooted my phone already (used SuperOneClick, worked fine). Is there any reason why I would use that "rooted kernel" versus just having root on my phone (ie, having su installed... dunno what else it did, I don't think it did anything to my kernel)?
I guess my biggest unknown is all the backup processes that can be done and how to do them? Is "nandroid" a one stop shop for doing backups of everything? Although there's the complete stock Rogers rom linked above (which I'll nab anyways!), I was thinking I would try to make a complete copy of my own phone (just in case)... I guess next step is to search for "nanroid"
Are there any other backup tools I could use/check out (not apk backup tools... those are easily located in the app store, or performed with adb myself).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing a kernel is how you obtain cwm which allows you to flash custom ROMs(cwm is clockwork mod recovery). A nandroid is a backup you create in cwm that is copy of your phone that will return your phone to the exact state it was at the time backup was made.
adfurgerson said:
Flashing a kernel is how you obtain cwm which allows you to flash custom ROMs(cwm is clockwork mod recovery). A nandroid is a backup you create in cwm that is copy of your phone that will return your phone to the exact state it was at the time backup was made.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha, perfect description. I didn't realize I had to get a new kernel to have CWM... and I'm guessing because of signing and such, that a custom kernel (with CWM) is required in order to flash a non-signed rom, which is why you couldn't just do it on stock, right?
Ok, so now armed with that info that clears up a lot, I guess I have just one question left (which I can probably find the answer to with some searching). I have read what that voodoo lagfix is and is this something that is standard now on all kernels (because if it can cause issues, I'd rather just have a kernel without it)? Are there any "rooted" kernels without the lagfix built in so I don't have to remember about disabling the lagfix? ...or is there a way to install CWM on to my current kernel?
*edit* Ok, I realize I might be a bit too picky about the voodoo lagfix thing. I found two good threads on dealing with Rogers specifically, so I'll read over those (and suck it up about voodoo) and see how it goes. Since my vacation got unfortunately cancelled due to a sick kid, I have some time to experiment this weekend... hopefully ending up with JB on my phone!
Glad to see your on you're on the way to JB. After you install a custom kernel be sure to make a nandroid in the backup and restore option of CWM before you flash a ROM. That is like your safety net, if you wiped everything and had a bad download that wouldn't install, you will have a nandroid to restore.
adfurgerson said:
Glad to see your on you're on the way to JB. After you install a custom kernel be sure to make a nandroid in the backup and restore option of CWM before you flash a ROM. That is like your safety net, if you wiped everything and had a bad download that wouldn't install, you will have a nandroid to restore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, just flashed the rooted cwm kernel and performed a backup. I read somewhere that you can/should back up your efs in case you lose your imei... so I'm just going to quickly look in to that, then i wipe and do some flashes to jb... shouldn't take long hopefully!
Ok, I seem to be stuck at trying to get the one-click ICS install to work. I've got the EZUpdater package to ensure I have the right drivers, yet everything I try with the one-click seems to tell me that the drivers aren't installed and then launches an installer which also doesn't seem to detect the phone... yet EZUpdater will run fine, etc...
I'm just about to reboot and launch device driver in a mode to list all hidden/previously installed devices and nuke them from history to hopefully purge my system of all traces of any drivers and install EZUpdater one more time to get the drivers installed.
Any reason why my phone wouldn't show up in this one-click (it uses heimdall or whatever) program, but seems to work in most everything else (adb even runs fine)?
*edit*
Got it all working! I couldn't get the one-click ICS to work for the life of me... it just didn't see the drivers even though they were there and working. I guessed maybe it had to do with me running Windows 7 x64 and having x64 drivers, but the one-click maybe being 32bit. I even tried installing the x64 Java JRE but didn't seem to make any difference.
I ended up having to flash CM9 which worked fine, then going to CM10. Had no issues doing that... wish I had just tried that before since that one-click wasted hours of my day and got me somewhat frustrated!
the seller stated that the following "this phone is rooted (with stock rom) and has the "Team Win" custom recovery for those of you who like to flash custom roms, kernels, apps, whatever (if you don't know what either of ths mean, don't worry about it)... "
I have not rooted an htc one x because I'm afraid of losing some of the functions the stock rom has, So my question to you guys is, Can I restore this back to stock rom? I'm confused when he said he rooted it with stock rom.. and what is team win custom recovery? If I just wanted to restore the htc one x to its original factory state is that possible?
Its possible but the warranty on the phone is void as the bootloader is surely unlocked and will show relocked if you restore it. And restoring it could prove to be somewhat of a task as you'll need to determine the ruu for that phone.. What carrier did he purchase the phone from? There's a chance the Cid of the phone has been changed so you may have to change the Cid back before running an ruu. The rom he has loaded is probably the stock rom with root so I don't see any reason for it to run any differently.
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app
what @exad said, plus there are a number of rooted stock roms available that are, well, stock, so I wouldn't worry too much about losing any features.
'Team Win custom recovery' is just a recovery 'program' you can use to flash custom roms and enhancements.
exad said:
Its possible but the warranty on the phone is void as the bootloader is surely unlocked and will show relocked if you restore it. And restoring it could prove to be somewhat of a task as you'll need to determine the ruu for that phone.. What carrier did he purchase the phone from? There's a chance the Cid of the phone has been changed so you may have to change the Cid back before running an ruu. The rom he has loaded is probably the stock rom with root so I don't see any reason for it to run any differently.
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought if you purchase the phone from someone else the warranty is automatically void hence you're not the original owner. He purchased it from at&t, and as for the rooting, if it is indeed rooted with stock rom and no functions of the stock rom are lost,What's the purpose of stock rom with root? I thought the whole point of rooting your phone was so you get custom roms, but than again I'm no expert
here are his exact words
"Excellent condition ATT smartphone. I only used this phone for about a month and bought it brand new. Had a ballistics case on it since day 1 and the screens condition is flawless. Switched carries recently and of course need the money for a new phone. Also, this phone is rooted (with stock rom) and has the "Team Win" custom recovery for those of you who like to flash custom roms, kernels, apps, whatever (if you don't know what either of ths mean, don't worry about it)... "
Having root allows you to make changes to the system partition. Basically you can have the stock Rom but get rid of all the bloat and extra apps that AT&T includes which would otherwise be permanent
Sent from my VENOMized HoxL
thorishere113 said:
I have not rooted an htc one x because I'm afraid of losing some of the functions the stock rom has,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What functions? Root is only a change in permissions. It gives you access to the system files, that are normally not accessible. Root doesn't take away any functions.
Only exceptions, is that you sometimes can't get OTA firmware updates if you are rooted. Or installing them may result in the phone not booting properly. For most folks on here, this isn't a factor, since people what mod their phones and install custom ROMs typically don't want the OTAs anyway. Also, I think movies purchased from the Play store might not work if you are rooted. But I never buy/watch those, so I might not have the latest info there.
Now in your case, if you want to keep the phone bone stock, and still get OTA updates, you might just look for another purchase. Yes, the phone can be returned to near stock condition. But it requires you learning some things you don't already know:
- Download and install fastboot files
- Install HTC drivers or HTC sync (if not already installed)
- Use fastboot to relock the bootloader
- Download and run the appropriate RUU (ROM Update Utility) which will return your phone to near stock condition
If you are willing and interested in learning a few things about how the phone works, then it might still be a good purchase. Otherwise, if you just want to get a stock phone, and not have to mess with it, you might just look at buying elsewhere. There should be plenty of other decent options for unrooted One X phones.
Also note that I say the phone can be restored to "near" stock. The bootloader will only say RELOCKED, instead of LOCKED. Once the bootloader is unlocked, it can't be changed back to LOCKED, only RELOCKED. And this may have warranty implications.
Hi all...
OK, so I've rooted and ROMed a few phones in the past, and I generally know what I'm doing. However, I think I may have gotten a little bit overconfident this time and not done enough research...
I had a friend give me one of these phones and I decided that before making it my daily driver, I was going to install CM11. The phone was given to me unrooted with the stock 4.3 ROM. So, I found a guide to root the 4.3 version of the phone w/o triggering the warranty killbit, and that all went well. Once rooted, I decided to use Clockwork ROM Manager to throw CM11 on it. I installed CM and, without giving it a second thought, told it to flash the latest CM recovery (apparently my root method had come with TWRP). When I rebooted, I expected to see the nice recovery screen I was used to, but instead I was informed that I needed to take my phone to the nearest Verizon store and have them restore it (no thanks). I can, however, still get in to the Odin downloader, but this is uncharted territory for me. Assuming everything is OK with my firmware, what is the best/fastest way to recover from this point? I think I understand how Odin works, but I don't know much about it. Can I use Odin to flash the latest TWRP and fix it that way? Would it be better to try and flash completely back to stock and start over? If I'm forced to use Odin anyway, can I just flash CM11 from there? I have no idea what to do...
I would greatly appreciate any guidance anyone of you ROM wizards is willing to part with...
Fix with this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2586319
Then read all of this, no AOSP on 4.3:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2639337
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk