Database Info

Voodoo Lagfix, rooting, etc

I'm trying to root my g/f's Charge, and there is an immense amount of information on this forum about it, so much so, I am getting confused. I have an Incredible and I am more than comfortable rooting/kernels/roms with it, but I am having a hard time with the Charge. My g/f just wants a rooted Charge (she has EE4), running stock. (she is afraid she will have problems/glitches with her phone like I have with experimental stuff with my Incredible).
So, I can follow the directions for rooting here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1122657 but I am very confused on how/when to install(or whatever you do) the voodoo lag fix. Is voodoo lagfix just a kernel or something else? If it's a kernel, once I have CWM recovery, if I flash voodoo lagfix, will it give me root access? I know I seem rather lost, but any help would be most appreciated. I'm trying to find the simpliest/lowest maintanance/less problematic way to get her root access without her having problems with it when I am not around.
Thanks

jprakes said:
I'm trying to root my g/f's Charge, and there is an immense amount of information on this forum about it, so much so, I am getting confused. I have an Incredible and I am more than comfortable rooting/kernels/roms with it, but I am having a hard time with the Charge. My g/f just wants a rooted Charge (she has EE4), running stock. (she is afraid she will have problems/glitches with her phone like I have with experimental stuff with my Incredible).
So, I can follow the directions for rooting here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1122657 but I am very confused on how/when to install(or whatever you do) the voodoo lag fix. Is voodoo lagfix just a kernel or something else? If it's a kernel, once I have CWM recovery, if I flash voodoo lagfix, will it give me root access? I know I seem rather lost, but any help would be most appreciated. I'm trying to find the simpliest/lowest maintanance/less problematic way to get her root access without her having problems with it when I am not around.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Voodoo lagfix is just a version of kernel that you can install that changes the filesystem. If you just want stock, just flash a non voodoo kernel and u will still have root.
There are pre-made packages which should make it easier on u by cutting back steps. Grab the rooted EE4 package here.
All you have to do is extract the tar, then flash in Odin and you're good to go.

So, couple more newb questions (sorry). Installing a new kernel will not wipe her phone as long as I don't data wipe correct? Also, I keep reading that the voodoo lagfix is a lot faster, but is it really stable and pretty worry free? Like I said, it's for my g/f, and I'm not around all the time to help with it if she has problems. I mainly want to install Titanium backup and get rid of most of the bloatware and hope that the voodoo fix will make it quicker in general.
But my understanding so far is, run Odin, install CWM, then install the kernel of my choice for root access. Again, sorry for the questions. The guides that are out are really helpful, but I get confused at some of it and Odin/Samsung are a whole new animal to me.
I'm sure there will be more questions to come. Thanks ahead of time.

jprakes said:
So, couple more newb questions (sorry). Installing a new kernel will not wipe her phone as long as I don't data wipe correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. It's recommended that you wipe cache & dalvik though (will not affect what you see).
jprakes said:
Also, I keep reading that the voodoo lagfix is a lot faster, but is it really stable and pretty worry free? Like I said, it's for my g/f, and I'm not around all the time to help with it if she has problems. I mainly want to install Titanium backup and get rid of most of the bloatware and hope that the voodoo fix will make it quicker in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Voodoo lagfix converts the filesystem to one that is the Linux standard which improves I/O performance. As far as being worry free, I can't guarantee she won't run into problems down the road, whether it's with an OTA update or other program she downloads that is not compatible with the changed filesystem. If you want to be safer than sorry, I'd say to just skip it altogether.
jprakes said:
But my understanding so far is, run Odin, install CWM, then install the kernel of my choice for root access. Again, sorry for the questions. The guides that are out are really helpful, but I get confused at some of it and Odin/Samsung are a whole new animal to me.
I'm sure there will be more questions to come. Thanks ahead of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you need to do is run Odin and flash the extracted ROOTED EE4 package I linked above. This package already has a rooted kernel AND CWM baked in. But normally yes, those would be the next steps.
Just be sure to fully read the Odin instructions and follow them accordingly if it's your first time.

If you want root access without losing ANY of the stock stuff (i.e. kernel, recovery) this is another option that may work for you:
Go to this site, download the su-2.3.6.3-efgh-signed.zip file and put it on your g/fs sd card.
Assuming the drivers are installed on the computer being used and USB Debugging (under Settings > Applications > Development) is checked on the phone, start Odin 1.83 (this is the version I used at least).
With the phone OFF (some say take out the battery, some say leave it in), connect phone to computer while holding the volume-down button - should now enter "Download" mode (yellow android on screen).
After UNchecking Auto-Reboot (and replacing the battery if you took it out), under PDA flash 0817_charge_recovery.tar.md5 (found here).
If ODIN says it was successful, disconnect phone, but DO NOT RESTART PHONE YET!!
Hold down vol up + home key + power - you will see the samsung logo, but continue holding all three until it goes away then comes back (I've seen other combinations mentioned, but this is what has worked for me).
If done correctly, you should now boot into CWM recovery. To flash in CWM simply select "install zip from sdcard", then "choose zip from sdcard" and navigate to wherever you put the su-2.3.6.3-efgh-signed.zip file on the sd card and select it. Once done select reboot system now (may have to select Go Back to get to this option - I can't recall).
What is nice about this approach is that once you reboot your phone, the CWM you flashed in ODIN will be overwritten by the stock recovery, making your phone exactly as it was prior to ODIN - with the exception of being rooted and Superuser installed. Also, this is a "brief" listing of steps - I agree with d-loko that you should read up on using ODIN if you haven't used it before.
Hope this helps, and if not, or if it wasn't what you were looking for ... feel free to disregard!

d-loko said:
Correct. It's recommended that you wipe cache & dalvik though (will not affect what you see).
Voodoo lagfix converts the filesystem to one that is the Linux standard which improves I/O performance. As far as being worry free, I can't guarantee she won't run into problems down the road, whether it's with an OTA update or other program she downloads that is not compatible with the changed filesystem. If you want to be safer than sorry, I'd say to just skip it altogether.
All you need to do is run Odin and flash the extracted ROOTED EE4 package I linked above. This package already has a rooted kernel AND CWM baked in. But normally yes, those would be the next steps.
Just be sure to fully read the Odin instructions and follow them accordingly if it's your first time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm hoping my last question, and it concerns sdcard problems. Will the rooted EE4 package give her problem free access with her sdcard while using the phone AND when connecting to her computer, or do I need to use lagfix. The SDcard problem/solutions are confusing me a bit.
dwitherell said:
If you want root access without losing ANY of the stock stuff (i.e. kernel, recovery) this is another option that may work for you:
Go to this site, download the su-2.3.6.3-efgh-signed.zip file and put it on your g/fs sd card.
Assuming the drivers are installed on the computer being used and USB Debugging (under Settings > Applications > Development) is checked on the phone, start Odin 1.83 (this is the version I used at least).
With the phone OFF (some say take out the battery, some say leave it in), connect phone to computer while holding the volume-down button - should now enter "Download" mode (yellow android on screen).
After UNchecking Auto-Reboot (and replacing the battery if you took it out), under PDA flash 0817_charge_recovery.tar.md5 (found here).
If ODIN says it was successful, disconnect phone, but DO NOT RESTART PHONE YET!!
Hold down vol up + home key + power - you will see the samsung logo, but continue holding all three until it goes away then comes back (I've seen other combinations mentioned, but this is what has worked for me).
If done correctly, you should now boot into CWM recovery. To flash in CWM simply select "install zip from sdcard", then "choose zip from sdcard" and navigate to wherever you put the su-2.3.6.3-efgh-signed.zip file on the sd card and select it. Once done select reboot system now (may have to select Go Back to get to this option - I can't recall).
What is nice about this approach is that once you reboot your phone, the CWM you flashed in ODIN will be overwritten by the stock recovery, making your phone exactly as it was prior to ODIN - with the exception of being rooted and Superuser installed. Also, this is a "brief" listing of steps - I agree with d-loko that you should read up on using ODIN if you haven't used it before.
Hope this helps, and if not, or if it wasn't what you were looking for ... feel free to disregard!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the alternative option, much appreciated. I don't have a problem with using CWM, I have it on my rooted Incredible, so I'm very used to it. But I do like having options, so thanks for the reply.

jprakes said:
I'm hoping my last question, and it concerns sdcard problems. Will the rooted EE4 package give her problem free access with her sdcard while using the phone AND when connecting to her computer, or do I need to use lagfix. The SDcard problem/solutions are confusing me a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the file found here in CWM after ODINing the EE4 package - that should do the trick. Just make sure it's on the sd card before ODINing the EE4 package - just in case!
jprakes said:
thanks for the alternative option, much appreciated. I don't have a problem with using CWM, I have it on my rooted Incredible, so I'm very used to it. But I do like having options, so thanks for the reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, I'm a fan of options as well!

[Q] Multiple Questions - Backup Issues, Installing a New ROM, etc.

Hello everyone. This is my first post, so please be gentle. I've been reading around and I can't seem to find specific answers to my questions so I figured it would be best to make a post. This is my first Android phone and also the first phone I have rooted so I'm trying to be extra careful. I've already received tons of help from other threads in these forums, but as I said I've still got a few questions.
I rooted my SGS4G using SuperOneClick v2.1.1, then proceeded to install CWM ROM Manager as per the instructions I found in many articles online. Once I got that installed I was unable to make backups as it would boot me into the stock recovery menu, which led me here searching for answers. That is when I came across this thread: [RECOVERY]CWM FINAL for the SGS4G After following the instructions I wasn't exactly sure what to do, so I attempted to boot into the "new" recovery menu which ended at an infinite boot logo, which I assumed was a soft brick after reading around a bit.
After thoroughly freaking out about my phone being bricked I looked around a bit more and came across this thread: [GUIDE] Noobs guide to Odin to flash your SGS4G (Windows) Following that thread I was able to install the T959VUVKB5 Stock + Root ROM which restored my soft brick. Once that was installed I installed CWM ROM Manager again thinking the Recovery Menu would be fixed and I could finally make a backup before moving on, but it wasn't. Then I came across this thread: [Odin][Kernel] drhonk's Bali 3.3 for Froyo, Installs CWM!
After installing drhonk's Bali 3.3 for Froyo kernel I was finally able to make a single nandroid backup (and backup my apps using Titanium Backup)! I messed around on the phone for a few days with no issues (other than the Android flickering in the boot logo). Now I am ready to move on to trying out a few ROMS. So, first thing first I said: I need to make another backup. So I entered the Recovery Menu via the CWM ROM Manager and attempted to make another backup, and this is what I get:
E: failed to open /etc..... (I couldn't write fast enough to copy the entire message)
E: unknown volume for path [/sdcard] (10s)
The second of which repeated over and over until it reached 0s and then my phone was rebooted.
TL;DR
- Rooted using SuperOneClick
- Installed ROM Manager and couldn't make a nandroid backup correctly
- Attempted to install CWM FINAL for the SGS4G, which resulted in a soft brick
- Restored using ODIN and installed T959VUVKB5 Stock + Root ROM and drhonk's Bali 3.3 for Froyo kernel
- Cannot make nandroid backups (other than the initial one apparently), Recovery Menu does not seem to be working correctly
- I am not comfortable trying new ROMs until I am able to make backups correctly
Anyway, so here are my questions:
1. What do I need to install to allow me to make nandroid backups correctly? Or is there another app besides CWM ROM Manager that will allow me to do this?
2. I would like to try a few other ROMs, but I when I reach the so-called "Do the mounting stuff" step I am unable to continue as my Recovery Menu isn't working correctly. What do I need to install in order to be able to do complete this step? I have a feeling the answer to #1 will solve #2 as well.
3. I would like to try a few of the GB ROMs (such as Valhalla v1.3.2 or Stock Gingerbread 2.3.3 Deodexed + Root), but I am not sure exactly where to go from here. Is the GB Ext4 Starter Pack the way I need to go, or would this way be better? Can I do either of these without a working Recovery Menu?
Thanks in advance for all the help!

Your first mistake was rom manager. It does not work for this phone correctly. Odin one of Dr honks kernels to get cwm recovery. They are in the dev section.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium

im not sure how many times this has been posted (i think i say this once a day....) but rom manager DOES NOT WORK ON THIS PHONE.
it is fine. if you can wait a day or two, i will make a nice noob guide on getting from stock to a custom rom. i will be sure to link every pertinent thread and be sure to have a little FAQ section. hopefully it will help you.

Exodian said:
Your first mistake was rom manager. It does not work for this phone correctly. Odin one of Dr honks kernels to get cwm recovery. They are in the dev section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said in the post, I've already installed drhonk's Bali 3.3 for froyo kernel.
jager555 said:
im not sure how many times this has been posted (i think i say this once a day....) but rom manager DOES NOT WORK ON THIS PHONE.
it is fine. if you can wait a day or two, i will make a nice noob guide on getting from stock to a custom rom. i will be sure to link every pertinent thread and be sure to have a little FAQ section. hopefully it will help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but I figured that out shortly after installing it. What alternative are we supposed to use? Hopefully your noob guide will help.

are you sure you understand? seeing as you mentioned BOTH bali and krylon's cwm, yet you still do not know how to get the custom recovery on the phone. once again, i will write a nice guide for you, so for now, just odin back to stock and give me a day or two. once im out of work, i will take a nap and write this for you.

jager555 said:
are you sure you understand? seeing as you mentioned BOTH bali and krylon's cwm, yet you still do not know how to get the custom recovery on the phone. once again, i will write a nice guide for you, so for now, just odin back to stock and give me a day or two. once im out of work, i will take a nap and write this for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently I do not understand. I guess I will just wait for your guide. Hopefully it will pick up where the other guides failed (for me anyway).
Edit: After reading around a bit I think I understand where I went wrong. As a noob I was confusing CWM with ROM Manager (after all, they're both made by the same people right? I believe that's what was confusing me ). I have since uninstalled ROM Manager and have booted to the Recovery Menu and successfully made a backup.

I myself have been a member for coming up on one year. And when I originally joined I was modding my Mytouch 3G. Much easier phone to mod and especially with ROM manager. This phone on the other hand requires more attention to detail. It is very important to do your due diligence to research this site for answers before posting. The reason is, all the wonderful and talented folks making all this possible are providing us all these great hacks, cracks, and roms for free. The information is here if you just look for it. Now if you are having trouble understanding the info that is also understandable. I find questions are better received if you show everyone what you have researched and then say what your are confused about.
Enough of the lecture, the end result is that everyone here is really nice and helpful. Here are the 3 links you should save. The Bible lists everything about our phone. Now at this stage in the game unless you really want to get more background on how the phone has evolved from Froyo to GB you won't need to read the Bible. The first thing you will need to do is follow the instructions for Bali 3.3 + CWM. This will provide you with the Red CWM recovery making it possible for you to flash Froyo Roms. Once you have completed this step you can move on to the GB Starter Pack. This guide will prepare your phone with the correct bootloaders it requires to run GB Roms. Once this process has been completed you can flash GB Roms. And if you need a quick list of the roms available just look in the Bible. Hope this helps, just be patient and make sure you understand what you are reading and attempting before doing anything. And if you don't understand a step or a process then come and ask and you'll get better answers and better understanding of what you're actually doing to your phone.
SGS4G Bible
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1117554
Bali 3.3 + CWM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1195860
GB Starter Pack
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1223765

Thanks for the help. I tried to do as much research as I could before posting (as you can see, I've posted two of the three links you suggested in my OP, and I basically keep the Bible open at all times ). It's just the little things that I find confusing, which is why I posted this thread. It's nice to know that from this point I can proceed to the GB Starter Pack and play around with the GB ROMs, but I think I'd like to try a few Froyo ROMs before I take that step Thanks for confirming that!

Sorry for the double post but I have another question.....
I've been reading over FB's GB Ext4 Starter Pack thread and I just wanted to make sure that once you get to the part where you flash your "favorite GB rom" that Valhalla v1.3.2 would be an acceptable ROM to flash there. If not, which ROM should I flash first, then flash Valhalla? Thanks in advance.

Yes, Valhalla would be fine to flash at that point (any version). just as long as you went through each step of the directions first. you'll be fine.

[Q] Rooted EE4 with CWM how to upgrade

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this but I just wanted to be sure. I believe I used this thread several months ago (probably June) when I rooted my Charge running EE4: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1122657
I haven't touched it since and now I would like to install either another ROM or the stock rooted Gingerbread (most likely another ROM).
My question is can I just download any ROM at this point and drop it on the SD card and then boot into recovery mode and install the ROM? Or could I also use the Clockworkmod ROM Manager app and install the ROM from there? Also do I have to disable the voodoo lagfix when installing these ROMs?
I believe I have the following versions:
ClockworkMod: 3.1.0.1 (according to the ROM Manager app)
CWM Voodoo Lagfix Recovery: 4.0.0.1 (This is what shows when I boot into recovery mode)
Thank you all in advance for your help! And yes I did do some searching before posting this, I just couldn't find something specific to my situation and wanted to be sure.

muslimsteel said:
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this but I just wanted to be sure. I believe I used this thread several months ago (probably June) when I rooted my Charge running EE4: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1122657
I haven't touched it since and now I would like to install either another ROM or the stock rooted Gingerbread (most likely another ROM).
My question is can I just download any ROM at this point and drop it on the SD card and then boot into recovery mode and install the ROM? Or could I also use the Clockworkmod ROM Manager app and install the ROM from there? Also do I have to disable the voodoo lagfix when installing these ROMs?
I believe I have the following versions:
ClockworkMod: 3.1.0.1 (according to the ROM Manager app)
CWM Voodoo Lagfix Recovery: 4.0.0.1 (This is what shows when I boot into recovery mode)
Thank you all in advance for your help! And yes I did do some searching before posting this, I just couldn't find something specific to my situation and wanted to be sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well..some of the new roms does not have a file that you can install using CWM from your SD card.....some of the roms install a new radio, kernal as well as the rom......and you would need to do this using a program called ODIN......
go into the development forum where you can get a TON of info!

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A

Sorry thought I did post this in Q+A...thanks for the info, I was looking at Humble 5.0 RC2 mentioned in this post:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1293429
Seems like a good ROM and I like the theme. Any thoughts on going with that one? Thanks.

muslimsteel said:
Sorry thought I did post this in Q+A...thanks for the info, I was looking at Humble 5.0 RC2 mentioned in this post:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1293429
Seems like a good ROM and I like the theme. Any thoughts on going with that one? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've no issues with Humble. I've run it before with no trouble. That one in particular is based on EP4P (a slightly older leak). Danalo is supposed to be releasing a final build based on the official EP4 Gingerbread soon, so you might consider waiting for it.

Cool thanks for the info, I'll put up with this updater thing popping up until that comes out...hopefully soon!

One more quick question, just so I have a better understanding of the phone flashing process...are there three parts that have to be flashed?
Kernel
ROM
Recovery
Thanks.

Depends on the Rom. Like this one has everything.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1365376

I'm new on rooting a phone and I need help please guy's could anyone help me. Thanks

Hello there guy's I'm new with rooted charge phones. Well guy's last night I did a stupid thing with my phone.. I accidentally updates my phone with the new OTA FP1 with rooted rom. Well guy's now my phone is screwing up.
So I followed few steps on at XDA.. How to fix my phone.. So I got my phone on stock rom and also I got the new update OTA FP1.
Well guy's I need some help on rooting this phone with the new update stock OTA FP1 rom.
The person who help me on rooting my phones he left to a church mission at south Africa.
Could any one please guide me on steps on rooting this phone on the new stock Rom (FP1) rooted also includes radios, kernel.
Please I need help guides steps with this phone issues because I'm not great person on rooting.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

sgtkillspot said:
Hello there guy's I'm new with rooted charge phones. Well guy's last night I did a stupid thing with my phone.. I accidentally updates my phone with the new OTA FP1 with rooted rom. Well guy's now my phone is screwing up.
So I followed few steps on at XDA.. How to fix my phone.. So I got my phone on stock rom and also I got the new update OTA FP1.
Well guy's I need some help on rooting this phone with the new update stock OTA FP1 rom.
The person who help me on rooting my phones he left to a church mission at south Africa.
Could any one please guide me on steps on rooting this phone on the new stock Rom (FP1) rooted also includes radios, kernel.
Please I need help guides steps with this phone issues because I'm not great person on rooting.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow direction #5:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1560117

re
I was fuclking frustrated when trying to CWM / ROOT / CUSTOM rom my charge.
I have rooted and installed more roms than i can shake a stick at with my other phones.
But the lack of information on sooooo many of the dev threads that leave out soooooooooooooooooooooooo much info made my head spin.
First of all.
Odin is a program that you can install clockword mod with, as well as some custom roms.
Clockwork mod is a recovery / install tool that you install to be able to install custom roms and packages.
Even installing clockwork mod is a hassle, often you have to install it with odin and select, dont auto reboot. then pull the usb and then the battery.. then you have to hit the VolumeUp button + power + home to get into cwm.. and hopefully it will stick..
Once you get cwm installed you have to download a rom..
There are many of them, i went with a package that you load via odin instead of installing from clockwork mod.
i went with a package that was a stock 2.3.6 with root.
after i installed it, it was recommended that you wipe devlink cache, system cache.
finally after i rebooted i finally had a rom that was rooted.
This was after 2+ hours of searching through threads, downloading way too much crap and swearing at my computer for the lack of quality directions.
Usually XDA is rife with STICKYS that are easy to follow.
The charge forum is quite the opposite.
If i was not tired / drunk and frustrated i would post a correct HOW TO thread.. that i would imagine would not get stickied.

sprintrjm said:
I was fuclking frustrated when trying to CWM / ROOT / CUSTOM rom my charge.
I have rooted and installed more roms than i can shake a stick at with my other phones.
But the lack of information on sooooo many of the dev threads that leave out soooooooooooooooooooooooo much info made my head spin.
First of all.
Odin is a program that you can install clockword mod with, as well as some custom roms.
Clockwork mod is a recovery / install tool that you install to be able to install custom roms and packages.
Even installing clockwork mod is a hassle, often you have to install it with odin and select, dont auto reboot. then pull the usb and then the battery.. then you have to hit the VolumeUp button + power + home to get into cwm.. and hopefully it will stick..
Once you get cwm installed you have to download a rom..
There are many of them, i went with a package that you load via odin instead of installing from clockwork mod.
i went with a package that was a stock 2.3.6 with root.
after i installed it, it was recommended that you wipe devlink cache, system cache.
finally after i rebooted i finally had a rom that was rooted.
This was after 2+ hours of searching through threads, downloading way too much crap and swearing at my computer for the lack of quality directions.
Usually XDA is rife with STICKYS that are easy to follow.
The charge forum is quite the opposite.
If i was not tired / drunk and frustrated i would post a correct HOW TO thread.. that i would imagine would not get stickied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey bro, no need to get frustrated, you tried too hard to learn all at once. Let talk about what you have on your phone and what you want to achieve? I will take you through step by step.
Another thing I want to clear with you about Odin and CWM. They both are two useful tools to flash rom/kernel etc.. If kernel or full rom image are created in a ZIP format or extension, you use cwm. If a rom/kernel created in a MD5 format or extension, you would use Odin.
For example; the new FP1 kernel was made in both format so you have a choice to use either to flash.
Summary:
1. If the file ended with ZIP extension like "FP1_kernel.ZIP", you would use CWM to flash.
2. If the file ended with MD5 extension like "FP1_kernel.MD5", then you would use Odin to flash.
In order to use cwm, it has to be installed on your phone. cwm was created in MD5 extension, so you need to use Odin to install cwm to your phone. Once cwm installed on your phone, in order to access it, you need to hold Vol up+home+power button to get to it, then you can use it to flash zip file.
Odin is an execution PC file (.exe), you download and install on your PC and it used to flash MD5 file. In order for Odin to talk to your phone, you have to put your phone in "download mode". By remove battery, plug in usb cable between your PC and phone, press Vol down button, this will put your phone in download mode, now you re insert battery back to ensure a stable data transfer between your PC and phone. Without put back battery, data transfer may fail. After this, Odin is ready to flash Md5 file to your phone.
Like I said, let me know what's on your phone and what you want to achieve, I can help you step by step to get it done. After you have some practice, you will understand what involved and how to use them. Cheers!!!

re
yeah.. i should have just read through the forums a day or so to figure out the odin / rooting / rom process for this phone.
But i am a seasoned vet in the android world and got pretty frustrated, mainly because a few of the other xda forums made me a little jaded by the process.
I have a fully functioning 2.3.6 rooted charge with CWM and the edited build prop to keep the Unwanted ota updates from bugging me.
Thanks for not flaming the f-out of me.
BTW have yall come across a thread about sandblasting or sandpapering the back cover of the phone to make it less slippery? I have sweaty f-ing hand, i know gross, but its a slippery phone for me.

sprintrjm said:
yeah.. i should have just read through the forums a day or so to figure out the odin / rooting / rom process for this phone.
But i am a seasoned vet in the android world and got pretty frustrated, mainly because a few of the other xda forums made me a little jaded by the process.
I have a fully functioning 2.3.6 rooted charge with CWM and the edited build prop to keep the Unwanted ota updates from bugging me.
Thanks for not flaming the f-out of me.
BTW have yall come across a thread about sandblasting or sandpapering the back cover of the phone to make it less slippery? I have sweaty f-ing hand, i know gross, but its a slippery phone for me.
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Not a problem, you can get a back cover from ebay for a few bucks and it will do the trick.
Seems like you already knew how to handle cwm, why don't you flash (using cwm) FP1 eclipse rom, kernel and radio, so you will be on the latest O/S?

Full on Noob, need help if possible.

Okay so, I love my Infuse but getting really tired of not being able to download anything off the play store. Just tired of it's rather less than great performance right now as well. It's is running 2.3.6 GB and want to get this thing up to ICS if possible. Just something running 4.0 so I can use my phone for what I need too. It is not rooted, no cyanogenMod, NOTHING. As the title says, I'm a full on noob here and I apologize if all this is covered in other threads, however I have just gotten to the point where I have found myself even more lost than where I started on what I needed to do/get. If someone can, I will literally need this spelled out to me (no pun intended), in order of the steps I need to take with everything. I'm getting tired of confusing myself even more from all the different stuff I have seen all over the place and I know without some serious guidance, I will just brick my phone. Thanks for any help! :laugh:

I understand this community can be a bit unorganized and confusing so I'll give you my process for rooting and installing custom firmware (there are other ways, but this works for my AT&T Infuse 4G SGH-i997).
First of all, no one uses ICS on the Infuse. There is a ROM, but it's underdeveloped because JB came out so quick. You will need to flash it to get to higher operating systems, but it is by no means a daily driver. Even JB is a little buggy compared to KitKat on the Infuse these days.
The first thing you want to do is root your phone and get a custom recovery.
There are more than a few options for rooting, but I prefer using ODIN (as I understand it, this is the tool Samsung uses to restore soft bricked phones). So this is a good thing to know how to do, in case you ever do soft brick your phone, you'll know exactly what to do.
Read the ODIN instructions in full as I will only briefly explain.
You're going to have to install Samsung drivers.
You'll be using UCLB3_Unbrick_root_1.1.zip. If you used UCLB3_Unbrick_1.1.zip it would just get you back to stock GB with no root added.
To put your phone into download mode, first turn off your phone. Plug a usb cable into your computer. Then with the phone off, hold down both volume buttons and plug the usb cable into your phone. A warning will come up and you push volume up to accept, realizing that you can easily soft brick your phone if you loose power or unplug during a download.
Once downloading is done, the phone will reboot and you'll be disappointed to see that nothing has changed. Except one small thing, you are now rooted and you should have an application called SuperUser that will allow you to do nifty and also dangerous things.
Now follow this step in the ODIN instructions to add the custom recovery (CWM = Clock Work Mod):
The version with root works exactly like the above version, but adds root. To add CWM recovery to the rooted version, download a custom Gingerbread kernel from HERE or HERE and flash the zImage using SGS Kernel Flasher (found in the Play Store) on the phone. If you go this route for root and CWM, your Custom Binary Download counter will not show any custom binary activity.
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If you follow the link in the second "HERE," you'll get the kernel I prefer since it was most recently updated. Scroll down the downloads section and grab "2013.04.30-CWM-Synthesis-1.2Ghz.zip." (1.2Ghz is stock for our processor, anything higher will be overclocked which I don't recommend).
Extract that and grab the zImage file in the update folder. You're going to copy this to your phone in a second.
But first you need SGS Kernal Flasher, you can get it off the playstore, but I despise having to log in to an OS I'm going to write over in less than a minute so I download the APK from here. Hopefully you know how to install APKs from your SD card and that you'll have to check install from unknown sources.
Now flash the zImage using SGS Kernel Flasher. Your phone will reboot and hang on the Samsung logo and a creepy voice is going to tell you about how she's partitioning your phone and installing Voodoo lag fix. This is normal. Eventually your phone will reboot back into GB and you'll be ready to flash any ROM of your choice by rebooting into recovery.
You reboot into recovery by holding the volume up and volume down button while powering on the phone. This is different than download mode and will take you do a new screen that you control with the volume keys.
You'll be using this to put new software on your phone.
Now you can bassically follow the instructions for getting to CyanogenMod 11 (Kit Kat) from GB.
The first bullet is what I just explained in detail.
Note that I didn't include the links in these instructions, just follow the link above to get to the original post.
Obtain CWM, this can be done using Jscotts Odin back to stock (Follow instructions and use SGS kernal flasher to obtain CWM)
Run Qksters IMEI backup script here
Make certain you are on ICS, this can be done by flashing Entropy's CM9
It is recommended now that you remove your SD Card
CWM: Wipe Cache / Factory Reset
Install ROM: Scroll down for downloads sectoion
... The package will start to install..
... Phone will reboot into the install screen again...
... Continue to install [Automatically] If not manually flash again
... Phone will reboot again and be at the recovery screen...
Install Gapps: Here - Working swipe!
CWM: Wipe Cache Partition
CWM: Advanced/Wipe Dalvik Cache
Reboot
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To be clear, when you flash a ROM, it won't be like flashing the zImage (that was just to get custom recovery). To flash the CM9 ROM or Qksters IMEI backup script for example, you leave the rom in the .zip file and simply put it on your SD card. Once in the recovery screen, you select "Install Update from ZIP" and navigate to the particular ROM you wish to install.
Also after updating to a higher version of Android, your phone will sometimes hang on the install screen for a long time. If it does for more than five minutes, it's safe to pull the battery and try flashing again (and sometimes necessary).
After flashing Entropy's CM9, you will be on ICS, you can use if you want but I don't advise it. You should continue with the instructions and update to KitKat after getting to ICS. I recommend Scott's CM11 (what I linked you to) or Scott's BeanStalk (find it in the Android Development Section).
Lately I've been using CyanFox and I have to say, it's the most stable ROM I've used in a while.
If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask.
Best of luck and happy flashing,
~bokonon9

Thank you muchness!
Thank you very much for helping me in this mess! I greatly appreciate it. I love my Infuse and do not want to get rid of it quite yet so hopefully this will help! Once I get a new usb cord I will get on this. My toddler decided to get a hold of it and it has to set a certain way now and can't be moved. This, is no bueno! Anyways, THANKS AGAIN!!! :laugh:

Goodluck! :laugh: :good:

I'm new in the android world and I'm using a nexus 7 and an infuse to make experiments just to learn.
bokonon9, thank you! You're guide has been precious to me.
Unfortunately I only succeeded installing ICS, infact I get till here:
After flashing Entropy's CM9, you will be on ICS, you can use if you want but I don't advise it. You should continue with the instructions and update to KitKat after getting to ICS. I recommend Scott's CM11 (what I linked you to) or Scott's BeanStalk (find it in the Android Development Section).
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I tried to install CM11 and even CM10 at least half a dozen times each, following step by step the instructions that I've found on the thread but all the times I have the same issue:
after the zip rom update and the reboot, the bootloader keeps launching the CWM recovery. I see the logo, the progress bar and then I land in recovery
I don't get any kind of error (and I don't know where to look for to get more information than what's shown on the screen) and I'm just stuck in the recovery and I have to start from scratch every time using Odin all the way down.
I'm not interested in Gapps so, at the beginning I tried without installing them but then I tried also using the appropriate gapps as indicated in the procedure. Either way I didn't get any solution to my problem.
Do you have an idea? Is there a way for me to provide more information or debug?
Thank you!

wwr said:
I'm new in the android world and I'm using a nexus 7 and an infuse to make experiments just to learn.
bokonon9, thank you! You're guide has been precious to me.
Unfortunately I only succeeded installing ICS, infact I get till here:
I tried to install CM11 and even CM10 at least half a dozen times each, following step by step the instructions that I've found on the thread but all the times I have the same issue:
after the zip rom update and the reboot, the bootloader keeps launching the CWM recovery. I see the logo, the progress bar and then I land in recovery
I don't get any kind of error (and I don't know where to look for to get more information than what's shown on the screen) and I'm just stuck in the recovery and I have to start from scratch every time using Odin all the way down.
I'm not interested in Gapps so, at the beginning I tried without installing them but then I tried also using the appropriate gapps as indicated in the procedure. Either way I didn't get any solution to my problem.
Do you have an idea? Is there a way for me to provide more information or debug?
Thank you!
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Click to collapse
i would say go back to stock gb with odin and basically start over but with ics i always let it reboot to get a "feel" for it then i reboot to recovery and wipe basically everything then flash the next level of android which should be cm 10 then i let that boot then repeat that to get to kitkat 4.4.3 CarbonRom....sometimes you have to flash the same rom twice to get it to flash tho

I already tried all that and I can't figure out a way out ... I'm really banging my head against the wall

wwr said:
I already tried all that and I can't figure out a way out ... I'm really banging my head against the wall
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http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2091900&page=370
read the last post on that page by scmfxt