[Q] What causes a phone to brick? - HTC Sensation

This is coming from an apprehensive stock HTC Sensation user. I long to have AOSP ICS or CM9, but I must have a 100% success rate. I just can't mess things up, as there is no time to have the phone down for even an hour.
So what causes them to brick? I hear you all say to follow the directions, but what if they aren't clear? It's like when you try to teach someone something you have done for a long time; there are things that you just assume you do that are not spoken of.
What are things that are always assumed when you are in the process of rooting and changing ROMs? Trying a new kernel? (For instance, always superwipe here, but only a dalvik there...)
Thank you very much.

The directions dont leave out any steps. The guides are very thorough.
Bricking is caused basically when you screw up the ability of the phone to boot into the bootloader or accept commands from a computer. Many other things will prevent the phone from working, but other stuff is usually easily fixed. The big problems are caused by something going wrong while the bootloader is being altered. If you kill the bootloader, there is no bootloaderrr to get to where you can fix things.
But on the sensatio you almost have to try to do that by doing something stupid like pulling the battery while the bootloader is being modified. The software you use to root this phone is fairly idiot proof and does all the work for you.
However.....the first time you root a phone you will go really slowly (as you should) and your down time will be at least an hour from the time you first start to the time when you have a working phone again.
It can be done in as little as 15 minutes, but for your first time you will be super meticulous about everything and itll take an hour.
Sent from a rebel ship by storing the message in an R2 unit. (Help me, XDA. You're my only hope)

Honestly, just don't mess up any commands in revolutionary.io - seriously, double, triple, then quadruple check those commands - those who are inexperienced in command line tend to miss a thing or two.
Then, if for whatever reason you have to update the firmware, make sure you flash the right thing, and make sure you don't pull the battery while you're doing it.
Those two things should give you that 100% success rate, then again, nothing's ever 100% certain.
What are things that are always assumed when you are in the process of rooting and changing ROMs? Trying a new kernel? (For instance, always superwipe here, but only a dalvik there...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When changing roms, wipe data + cache. If you want, you can also wipe system and boot but it's not necessary. When flashing a kernel, wipe cache + dalvik cache. When it comes to rooting and what not in general, anything you flash in recovery is 100% safe. As in, worst case scenario, you'll have to reinstall your current rom. However, you'll never accidentally flash something from recovery that will kill your bootloader. Think of it like so:
BOOTLOADER > RECOVERY > ROM
The bootloader is the lowest level interaction you have. It's like your PCs BIOS. Recovery is kind of like a mini OS that can change the main OS. The rom is the OS you have installed.

Oh man, you guys are great! Starting to lose my anxiety about rooting now...
In what cases would you be altering the bootloader, or have the opportunity to corrupt it?
When you have a file you want, do you always flash it? To where? What files need to be under /root? I have heard of flashable zip files; flashable as opposed to what?
What is the best method of data backup (Besides a full nandroid)? Do you recommend Titanium Backup (Pro)? Does it always work? Is this a smarter alternative?
I really do apologize for the amount of questions. I want to be totally confident of knowledgeable of what I am doing.
Much thanks!

Titanium is great. Use is.
You will modify the bootloader during thevs off process. (Takes just seconds)
You may have to downgrade the bootloader if you have version 1.27.
Dont use the htc unlocker. Use revolutionary (search for more details)
Flashable zips are what you will use to install roms and kernels. You will install these from the recovery module.
The bootloader is where you will install new firmware or radios.
Sent from a rebel ship by storing the message in an R2 unit. (Help me, XDA. You're my only hope)

forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192300
Everything you need to know.
But use 4ext instead of Clockwork when you are done. (Simple market download)
Sent from a rebel ship by storing the message in an R2 unit. (Help me, XDA. You're my only hope)

Thank you so much Skipjacks! I plan on using 4ext if I root. So, when would there be non-flashable zip files? I have heard people say "I'll wait until their is a flashable zip file". So what is the difference? (I hope I have enough thanks left to thank you after this. )

Related

[Q] how 2 b pr0 leik u guys

Okay. Ignore the title, I couldn't think of anything to put. In short, I want to know about roms, about clockworkmod, cyanogen mod, and stuff like that. What they do, how to put them on, and I pretty much wanna know about the general stuff you do past rooting your phone. And I know that the section says No Noobs, but technically, I'm a newb, as far as I know i'm not annoying anyone or being completely nooblike.
Mainly with cyanogen. I read the instructions, and they seem too, I dont know, simplistic. I'd prefer exact details. Like, after I have clockwork mod installed, and I flash cyanogen, can i restore all the stuff I had on it? And once cyanogen is on there, is it already rooted, or must i root again? And if someone would explain to me how clockworkmod works in the first place. And how would I flash cyanogen? I thought it'd be through clockworkmod, but if I wipe everything and factory reset, wouldn't clockworkmod be gone?
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant or not vibrant, I dont even know) It's a GT-i9000M. Running android 2.2.1, Rooted, I have clockworkmod installed, but still no idea what to do past that point. Also, my Kies isn't telling me about any 3.x upgrade, so how would i go about manually installing a new version of android? I know it has to do with Odin, but whenever i tried i ended up not doing anything.
And one last thing about MetaMorph. Where could i find themes for it? And do i need to have a certain Rom running in order to use metamorph themes?
I'm mainly used to iPhones and such, where there isnt really much to do besides jailbreaking and such, and moving on to android phones is pretty intense. XD So much more to do with Android phones.
Well uh, thats about all i can think of at the moment. Also please post anything you feel that a (somewhat) newb to android modding should know.
Sorry for all the questions, and to those that help me, I love you. <3
And if any moderators deem this thread as against the 'No Noobs' rule, at least send me a message telling me you deleted it, or else I'll end up looking endlessly through the forums for my thread. I've done that before, not fun. LOL (Couldn't find a 'My Threads' thingy on the forum i was using.
Gutana said:
Okay. Ignore the title, I couldn't think of anything to put. In short, I want to know about roms, about clockworkmod, cyanogen mod, and stuff like that. What they do, how to put them on, and I pretty much wanna know about the general stuff you do past rooting your phone. And I know that the section says No Noobs, but technically, I'm a newb, as far as I know i'm not annoying anyone or being completely nooblike.
Mainly with cyanogen. I read the instructions, and they seem too, I dont know, simplistic. I'd prefer exact details. Like, after I have clockwork mod installed, and I flash cyanogen, can i restore all the stuff I had on it? And once cyanogen is on there, is it already rooted, or must i root again? And if someone would explain to me how clockworkmod works in the first place. And how would I flash cyanogen? I thought it'd be through clockworkmod, but if I wipe everything and factory reset, wouldn't clockworkmod be gone?
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant or not vibrant, I dont even know) It's a GT-i9000M. Running android 2.2.1, Rooted, I have clockworkmod installed, but still no idea what to do past that point. Also, my Kies isn't telling me about any 3.x upgrade, so how would i go about manually installing a new version of android? I know it has to do with Odin, but whenever i tried i ended up not doing anything.
And one last thing about MetaMorph. Where could i find themes for it? And do i need to have a certain Rom running in order to use metamorph themes?
I'm mainly used to iPhones and such, where there isnt really much to do besides jailbreaking and such, and moving on to android phones is pretty intense. XD So much more to do with Android phones.
Well uh, thats about all i can think of at the moment. Also please post anything you feel that a (somewhat) newb to android modding should know.
Sorry for all the questions, and to those that help me, I love you. <3
And if any moderators deem this thread as against the 'No Noobs' rule, at least send me a message telling me you deleted it, or else I'll end up looking endlessly through the forums for my thread. I've done that before, not fun. LOL (Couldn't find a 'My Threads' thingy on the forum i was using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I guess to first start off, here's a few pointers:
1. don't put the title in 1337 (people will most likely not click on it, thus no help)
2. you're right about this being the wrong thread. You should post this under the Samsung Galaxy S section (google your model number and you'll see it instantly) and should probably try the Q&A moreso than a general area (but it doesn't really matter all too much)
3. no matter how nooblike you may or may not be, you're still a noob XD
Now that we've gotten past the anally parts and all (hate doing that, but gotta =P), let's talk about what you came here for: answers.
Let's start with some definitions:
ROMs - these are the (usually modded) softwares that you flash to your phone. Depending on which phone you have, you can only flash ROMs made for your phone. Of course, if you have root/custom recovery, you can also install custom ROMs.
ClockWorkMod (CWM) is a recovery system made in order to allow people more features while they're in recovery mode. Of course, this is one of a few out there, but people stick to CWM cause of its huge support plus it's popularity. When you think of CWM, think of custom features being installed in (almost) one step (modding files and such will be taken care of for you, so you don't have to do it yourself). You can usually also fix a bricked system this way by reflashing either the entire ROM or the boot.img/other files (we'll get to this in a second)
CyanogenMod (CM) is an example of a very popular custom rom. They have a great team and usually is available for most devices, which in turn makes them so popular. It is widely supported and has a lot of extra features like updating to the latest OS and features not previously available on your phone. It's skinned, but usually follows the stock Android look for the OS in which they've skinned.
lol The reason why the instructions look so simple is because they've taken out all the hard work and all the stuff where you can possibly screw up your phone, so that they don't get a million messages saying "OMG MY PHONE BRICKED WHAT HAPPENED" and stuff like that. Protects them, makes it easier for you. If you had made a backup before you flashed CM (usually you only have to back up whats on the phone if it has internal and external memory, but back up your sd card always just in case. never hurt to), then yes. If you backed it up with your previous ROM, then you'll probably need to revert to get it back. If you didn't, chances are whatever you didn't backup and didn't sync, is safe to say gone. You can try recovering it using a recovery software on the computer like i detailed here for another person, but of course you'd skip the whole trying to save the phone part and just start with mounting the phone to your computer and running the software.
CM is a custom rom, and so most (if not all) custom roms have root preinstalled (besides, who wouldn't want root?!) As for CWM, it works by being (usually) flashed into the recovery partition of your phone. The nice thing about the phone is that it's split up into parts: boot, recovery, system, and some other ones i can't think of off the top of my head. Those three are important, as if you get a softbrick, you might still be able to recover all your data simply by using CWM/fastboot (a dev-tool used to flash/unlock, but only available in certain phones, as it is disabled usually) to reflash the boot.img (one requires command line, whereas CWM only needs you to flash a created/pre-made package). Also, since they're in separate partitions, even if your system and boot.img doesn't work, you can probably still access recovery (unless you screwed up really REALLY bad, and in that case I can't help >.<)
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
At this point, I would look into a few things. One is skinning your phone (though you probably can't do too much if you don't want to touch system files). If you find a psuedo-rom (slightly modded) that themes it, that's your best bet. Another is gaining access to certain features in apps you didn't have before (i.e. androidLost, LBE Privacy Guard, titanium backup) and of course more control by the ability to control your system files (if you know what you're doing, of course). Lastly, you can use stuff like MetaMorph to theme out certain sections of your rom (provided that they give you one compatible with your phone model/rom), minus having to flash it and having more fine-tuned controlled. Usually, Metamorph will run on all ROMs, but it doesn't guarantee that there'll be stuff for every ROM. Also, want themes? google it (google is your best friend!)
Kies won't tell you that you have an upgrade because it is ROM-dependent. It looks for their official ROM and says "Hey, this guy has our ROM. Check for an update". Think of owning a custom rom like being kicked out of your family. You won't get anymore updates from them XD. However, if you're looking to get the latest updates, check out the Samsung Galaxy S Dev threads. They will usually have another method of loading in the new ROM into your phone. And if you want to stick with ROM Manager, shell out for premium and they'll include "Check for Updates" in ROM Manager, along with several other functions (though you can check for free via computer/browser ). Mostly, manually updating the software requires the "Install from SD Card" feature in CWM/other recoveries, so you don't have much to worry about.
Odin is, as you stated, most likely your best bet. Not too many people repackage official ROMs into easy-to-flash zips. Odin is the Samsung equivalent to Motorola's RSD Lite from what I googled (i have motorola, so no exp. on odin >.<) It's mostly like a dev tool allowing you to flash/re-flash phones and is also usually your one-way ticket out of a semi/full brick (assuming you didn't mess up the hardware and you can get into download mode). It's the flashing tool that can access the core system of the phone even without root and allows you to reflash OFFICIAL ROMs. Should you use Odin (should be your last resort), you WILL lose root and all your data. No questions asked. Its like reinstalling everything to the state in which you got it in when you bought the phone. Word of advice: BACK UP OFTEN! (did i forget to mention Titanium Backup? )
Yeah, the transition from Apple to Android is so different and had I not had experience with my PSP, i'd be dying with the information overload. However, just read a lot of stuff on the forums (*cough*general android forums*cough*) and you should be just fine. We have an excellent community here that will try our best to fix whatever problems you encounter (note the key word: try. we're not gods XD) You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Oh, well, I don't want to keep you for much longer, but since you mentioned something that any noob should know, it's definitely ADB (Android Debugging Bridge). This is where you'll probably spend a lot of time, as people's fixes usually involve shell (terminal for your phone). If anything, get acquainted with it, as it might save your butt in the future/unlock a few extra features for you ;D .
Well, that's all i can think of, and honestly, after typing this thing up for about an hour now, I think I'm going to grab me some breakfast Good luck to you and welcome to the Android commmunity! (and next time, remember to post in the right place! XD)
~jojojohnson7410
P.S. PM me if you need anything. =]
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to nit-pick a bit. CWM is part of the recovery partition, and unless the Galaxy S is different from every other android device, flashing will not remove it. ROM Manager and CWM are two different things. ROM manager will allow you to download the roms, which will then instruct CWM to flash the rom (when it reboots).
jojojohnson7410 said:
Well, I guess to first start off, here's a few pointers:
1. don't put the title in 1337 (people will most likely not click on it, thus no help)
2. you're right about this being the wrong thread. You should post this under the Samsung Galaxy S section (google your model number and you'll see it instantly) and should probably try the Q&A moreso than a general area (but it doesn't really matter all too much)
3. no matter how nooblike you may or may not be, you're still a noob XD
Now that we've gotten past the anally parts and all (hate doing that, but gotta =P), let's talk about what you came here for: answers.
Let's start with some definitions:
ROMs - these are the (usually modded) softwares that you flash to your phone. Depending on which phone you have, you can only flash ROMs made for your phone. Of course, if you have root/custom recovery, you can also install custom ROMs.
ClockWorkMod (CWM) is a recovery system made in order to allow people more features while they're in recovery mode. Of course, this is one of a few out there, but people stick to CWM cause of its huge support plus it's popularity. When you think of CWM, think of custom features being installed in (almost) one step (modding files and such will be taken care of for you, so you don't have to do it yourself). You can usually also fix a bricked system this way by reflashing either the entire ROM or the boot.img/other files (we'll get to this in a second)
CyanogenMod (CM) is an example of a very popular custom rom. They have a great team and usually is available for most devices, which in turn makes them so popular. It is widely supported and has a lot of extra features like updating to the latest OS and features not previously available on your phone. It's skinned, but usually follows the stock Android look for the OS in which they've skinned.
lol The reason why the instructions look so simple is because they've taken out all the hard work and all the stuff where you can possibly screw up your phone, so that they don't get a million messages saying "OMG MY PHONE BRICKED WHAT HAPPENED" and stuff like that. Protects them, makes it easier for you. If you had made a backup before you flashed CM (usually you only have to back up whats on the phone if it has internal and external memory, but back up your sd card always just in case. never hurt to), then yes. If you backed it up with your previous ROM, then you'll probably need to revert to get it back. If you didn't, chances are whatever you didn't backup and didn't sync, is safe to say gone. You can try recovering it using a recovery software on the computer like i detailed here for another person, but of course you'd skip the whole trying to save the phone part and just start with mounting the phone to your computer and running the software.
CM is a custom rom, and so most (if not all) custom roms have root preinstalled (besides, who wouldn't want root?!) As for CWM, it works by being (usually) flashed into the recovery partition of your phone. The nice thing about the phone is that it's split up into parts: boot, recovery, system, and some other ones i can't think of off the top of my head. Those three are important, as if you get a softbrick, you might still be able to recover all your data simply by using CWM/fastboot (a dev-tool used to flash/unlock, but only available in certain phones, as it is disabled usually) to reflash the boot.img (one requires command line, whereas CWM only needs you to flash a created/pre-made package). Also, since they're in separate partitions, even if your system and boot.img doesn't work, you can probably still access recovery (unless you screwed up really REALLY bad, and in that case I can't help >.<)
Observant you are =] Yes, if you were to flash CM, your CWM will be gone (i don't understand why most people don't just bake it into the ROM in the first place) but, not all is lost. Just go back into the Android Market and redownload ROM Manager. Of course you'll need to open it up and flash the same exact recovery again (annoying, isn't it?) but unless you know how to mod zip/img files and edit the script, you'll just have to make do with that. If you do, you could just (usually) take out the recovery partition and just leave the one you have already in there (but its usually safer and better to just redownload/reflash it as annoying as it is). But yes, you would use CWM to flash it. It's as simple as "Install from SD Card" which is why custom recoveries like CWM are popular. So simple
At this point, I would look into a few things. One is skinning your phone (though you probably can't do too much if you don't want to touch system files). If you find a psuedo-rom (slightly modded) that themes it, that's your best bet. Another is gaining access to certain features in apps you didn't have before (i.e. androidLost, LBE Privacy Guard, titanium backup) and of course more control by the ability to control your system files (if you know what you're doing, of course). Lastly, you can use stuff like MetaMorph to theme out certain sections of your rom (provided that they give you one compatible with your phone model/rom), minus having to flash it and having more fine-tuned controlled. Usually, Metamorph will run on all ROMs, but it doesn't guarantee that there'll be stuff for every ROM. Also, want themes? google it (google is your best friend!)
Kies won't tell you that you have an upgrade because it is ROM-dependent. It looks for their official ROM and says "Hey, this guy has our ROM. Check for an update". Think of owning a custom rom like being kicked out of your family. You won't get anymore updates from them XD. However, if you're looking to get the latest updates, check out the Samsung Galaxy S Dev threads. They will usually have another method of loading in the new ROM into your phone. And if you want to stick with ROM Manager, shell out for premium and they'll include "Check for Updates" in ROM Manager, along with several other functions (though you can check for free via computer/browser ). Mostly, manually updating the software requires the "Install from SD Card" feature in CWM/other recoveries, so you don't have much to worry about.
Odin is, as you stated, most likely your best bet. Not too many people repackage official ROMs into easy-to-flash zips. Odin is the Samsung equivalent to Motorola's RSD Lite from what I googled (i have motorola, so no exp. on odin >.<) It's mostly like a dev tool allowing you to flash/re-flash phones and is also usually your one-way ticket out of a semi/full brick (assuming you didn't mess up the hardware and you can get into download mode). It's the flashing tool that can access the core system of the phone even without root and allows you to reflash OFFICIAL ROMs. Should you use Odin (should be your last resort), you WILL lose root and all your data. No questions asked. Its like reinstalling everything to the state in which you got it in when you bought the phone. Word of advice: BACK UP OFTEN! (did i forget to mention Titanium Backup? )
Yeah, the transition from Apple to Android is so different and had I not had experience with my PSP, i'd be dying with the information overload. However, just read a lot of stuff on the forums (*cough*general android forums*cough*) and you should be just fine. We have an excellent community here that will try our best to fix whatever problems you encounter (note the key word: try. we're not gods XD) You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Oh, well, I don't want to keep you for much longer, but since you mentioned something that any noob should know, it's definitely ADB (Android Debugging Bridge). This is where you'll probably spend a lot of time, as people's fixes usually involve shell (terminal for your phone). If anything, get acquainted with it, as it might save your butt in the future/unlock a few extra features for you ;D .
Well, that's all i can think of, and honestly, after typing this thing up for about an hour now, I think I'm going to grab me some breakfast Good luck to you and welcome to the Android commmunity! (and next time, remember to post in the right place! XD)
~jojojohnson7410
P.S. PM me if you need anything. =]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thanks a lot. I still have a question or two, bear with me.
Well for one, is flashing roms made for different firmwares alright, or no? Since I have 2.2, and im assuming the latest cyanogen is made for 3.x, would I have to upgrade my firmware to the corresponding firmware.
And about Clockwork, if my phone bricks, I'd have to restore using odin, right? But if the phone still works, i can just root and cwm and restore it using rom manager?
And uh, I'm not sure if this is a problem or im just doing something wrong, but in RomManager, i click Backup Current ROM, and it goes into recovery mode, and theres no new options, there's just like, format, factory reset, clear cache, reboot, but nothing involving rom manager. And when i check for the recovery file in my sd card, it's not. Wut do.
WoZZeR999 said:
Just to nit-pick a bit. CWM is part of the recovery partition, and unless the Galaxy S is different from every other android device, flashing will not remove it. ROM Manager and CWM are two different things. ROM manager will allow you to download the roms, which will then instruct CWM to flash the rom (when it reboots).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol true true that would be my mistake. XD Nice catch
~jojojohnson7410
Gutana said:
Wow, thanks a lot. I still have a question or two, bear with me.
Well for one, is flashing roms made for different firmwares alright, or no? Since I have 2.2, and im assuming the latest cyanogen is made for 3.x, would I have to upgrade my firmware to the corresponding firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you wouldn't have to upgrade to the latest firmware to get the ROM installed. So long as the ROM is confirmed to work for your device, you can flash any ROM you want (which is convenient in my case since I have an Atrix 4G and it was oh-so-lonely without some Gingerbread XD)
Gutana said:
And about Clockwork, if my phone bricks, I'd have to restore using odin, right? But if the phone still works, i can just root and cwm and restore it using rom manager?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the thing is, you really only need that usually if you're on a stock rom or some official version and either you want to flash a new stock ROM from Samsung or you want to pull your phone out of a brick. Most of the time, however, even if you bricked it, so long as you can get into the recovery menu, you'll be alright. Just re-flash the ROM that you want (or in my case yesterday when I was dealing with an Inspire, I had to use a different ROM to unbrick the phone. I don't know why this happen, but it was being nit-picky >.<)
Gutana said:
And uh, I'm not sure if this is a problem or im just doing something wrong, but in RomManager, i click Backup Current ROM, and it goes into recovery mode, and theres no new options, there's just like, format, factory reset, clear cache, reboot, but nothing involving rom manager. And when i check for the recovery file in my sd card, it's not. Wut do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol nooo this is not a problem at all. See, like the guy above me posted, the Recovery Menu is completely separate from anything in the ROM. It's located in the recovery partition rather than the system and the boot partitions, so they usually don't touch the recovery. ROM Manager is just a means of providing GUI to CWM so then you can either flash the CWM to your phone or help download ROMS into your SD card. Stuff like backup and everything needs you to boot into recovery as you can't be backing up the system while your system is mounted on, so they send you to CWM. From there, there's an option called "backup and restore". In this place, you can choose where to save the backup. And since the backup is made by CWM, it will be recognized by CWM if you want to restore it. I think it saves it in a zip file, but im not 100% positive, so take that one with a grain of salt.
Hope this answers the questions! Let me know if you need more help (or just PM me. I check that regularly )
~jojojohnson7410
jojojohnson7410 said:
No, you wouldn't have to upgrade to the latest firmware to get the ROM installed. So long as the ROM is confirmed to work for your device, you can flash any ROM you want (which is convenient in my case since I have an Atrix 4G and it was oh-so-lonely without some Gingerbread XD)
Well, the thing is, you really only need that usually if you're on a stock rom or some official version and either you want to flash a new stock ROM from Samsung or you want to pull your phone out of a brick. Most of the time, however, even if you bricked it, so long as you can get into the recovery menu, you'll be alright. Just re-flash the ROM that you want (or in my case yesterday when I was dealing with an Inspire, I had to use a different ROM to unbrick the phone. I don't know why this happen, but it was being nit-picky >.<)
lol nooo this is not a problem at all. See, like the guy above me posted, the Recovery Menu is completely separate from anything in the ROM. It's located in the recovery partition rather than the system and the boot partitions, so they usually don't touch the recovery. ROM Manager is just a means of providing GUI to CWM so then you can either flash the CWM to your phone or help download ROMS into your SD card. Stuff like backup and everything needs you to boot into recovery as you can't be backing up the system while your system is mounted on, so they send you to CWM. From there, there's an option called "backup and restore". In this place, you can choose where to save the backup. And since the backup is made by CWM, it will be recognized by CWM if you want to restore it. I think it saves it in a zip file, but im not 100% positive, so take that one with a grain of salt.
Hope this answers the questions! Let me know if you need more help (or just PM me. I check that regularly )
~jojojohnson7410
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But theres no backup and restore options, its jut the recovery options you'd get if you were on a brand new phone.

Noob Unlocks and Subsequently Kills Phone

A day or two ago I unlocked my ChaCha using the HTCDev.com instructions. I then used DooMLoRD_v4_ROOT-zergRush-busybox-su to root it. Everything was going fine until I apparently deleted one too many system apps and now my phone is in extremis.
The problem: As the phone boots up and reaches the HTC logo screen, just when the main interface should appear, an error pops up. It says:
Code:
Sorry!
The process com.htc.bg has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.
[Force close]
When I close it, the HTC logo appears again as the main GUI is reinitialised, which leads to the same error popping up again, thus entering into an infinite loop.
I can just about manage to connect the phone to my PC as a disk drive, but it's not connected in such a way that RUU or unrooting applications can "find" it from within Windows, so if I'm to fix this it's gotta be from the SD card/Hboot.
Details:
* HTC ChaCha with the latest Android firmware.
* Unlocked and rooted, but remains S-ON (Superuser was installed and worked).
* Used Titanium to delete apps, but made backups and have them on my hard drive for safe keeping but can't access the phone in order to restore them properly.
* I was unable to restore backed-up system apps prior to this critical problem emerging, which I think is because my phone isn't "truly" rooted. I can apparently remove from but not add to the protected areas of the phone.
* I've tried flashing the device with numerous recovery ROMs and they all fail (wrong image, etc.). I'm having an extremely difficult time finding the original ROM anywhere and more importantly finding one which will work without the phone being connected to the PC at any stage of the flashing job.
* Factory resets and recovery boots don't seem to have any effect.
* It's a carrier-locked/branded phone, from Three/Hutchison 3G UK. I'm locked into my contract for another year at least.
* Before I rebooted the phone for the last time [prior to the beginning of the above problem] I noticed that my ringtones and related media were all gone and I was unable to download new ones even using third-party apps; the "unable to download sound" error was constantly popping up and when I received messages or phone calls the phone would vibrate but wouldn't play any tones.
* My brother and I spent the better part of 6 hours scouring the net and trying every combination of steps we could think of to try and resolve this. I wouldn't have posted here if I wasn't at the end of my tether and if I hadn't tried every solution I could find from others on various forums including this one, nor would I be so quick to reveal myself to be a deletion-happy moron to a forum of experts (I saw that anti-noob YouTube clip!).
Is there any hope of fixing this issue given my obvious lack of critical faculties?
Thank you for reading this.
You can always install clockworkmod recovery and from there a custom rom. Check the relevant thread, it is pinned.
OK,
don't panic. I almost thought you'd hard bricked your phone when modifying the NAND. This is a soft brick and ALL soft bricks can be recovered, they just take a bit of pain and suffering. Sometimes more suffering than others, but that's irrelevant.
Question, you say you can't restore system apps? How did you try? If a phone is perm rooted, it's rooted. Obviously a temp root is different to a perm root, but I believe this is a perm root as you can REMOVE apps from the system memory. If a root wasn't perm, every app would be sandboxed so no app, including titaniumbackup would work.
* Unlocked and rooted, but remains S-ON (Superuser was installed and worked).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S-ON is part of HTC's snap on BL protection. The fact your phone is S-ON is now not that important, the BL is unlocked, thats what matters.
* Used Titanium to delete apps, but made backups and have them on my hard drive for safe keeping but can't access the phone in order to restore them properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, important advice here (for future ref), you shouldn't go mad with deleting unless you've tried freezing first. Freezing allows you to recover by simply doing a factory reset. Most bootloaders (including HTC's) allow you to perform an emergency factory reset from there. You might lose all the **** on there, but you will have a working phone. You also need to be careful with TitaniumBackup, I'm sure you didn't remove the obvious important ones, but the fact you lost access to your audio means you removed a sound/media package. Next time, google "HTC chacha, safe to remove" as more people root this phone in the next few weeks, safe to remove lists will appear. For SGS (my phone) there is a whole shared google doc with a list of system apps, and the consequence of removing them.
* I was unable to restore backed-up system apps prior to this critical problem emerging, which I think is because my phone isn't "truly" rooted. I can apparently remove from but not add to the protected areas of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't restore a system app if there is a conflict. Try and identify the conflict.
* I've tried flashing the device with numerous recovery ROMs and they all fail (wrong image, etc.). I'm having an extremely difficult time finding the original ROM anywhere and more importantly finding one which will work without the phone being connected to the PC at any stage of the flashing job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the sounds of it, you are using ROMs designed for CWM. If you are going to do that, flash CWM first. There are shed loads of tutorials. If you want to install the stock rom all over again, just download the stock RUU.
* Factory resets and recovery boots don't seem to have any effect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See above about freezing.
* It's a carrier-locked/branded phone, from Three/Hutchison 3G UK. I'm locked into my contract for another year at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't matter, you'll fix it, guarantee it.
* Before I rebooted the phone for the last time [prior to the beginning of the above problem] I noticed that my ringtones and related media were all gone and I was unable to download new ones even using third-party apps; the "unable to download sound" error was constantly popping up and when I received messages or phone calls the phone would vibrate but wouldn't play any tones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See what I said above.
* My brother and I spent the better part of 6 hours scouring the net and trying every combination of steps we could think of to try and resolve this. I wouldn't have posted here if I wasn't at the end of my tether and if I hadn't tried every solution I could find from others on various forums including this one, nor would I be so quick to reveal myself to be a deletion-happy moron to a forum of experts (I saw that anti-noob YouTube clip!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried every combination of steps? You've clearly not tried CWM. I'm not suggesting that as a silver bullet (personally, I try to avoid CWM if I can) but it's the best way to give you low level access to the NAND so you could easily flash an OTA ROM, modded ROM or even return it to stock dead quick.
For a safe to remove list, check the Themes and Apps section.
skezza said:
OK,
don't panic. I almost thought you'd hard bricked your phone when modifying the NAND. This is a soft brick and ALL soft bricks can be recovered, they just take a bit of pain and suffering. Sometimes more suffering than others, but that's irrelevant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Music to my ears!
skezza said:
Question, you say you can't restore system apps? How did you try? If a phone is perm rooted, it's rooted. Obviously a temp root is different to a perm root, but I believe this is a perm root as you can REMOVE apps from the system memory. If a root wasn't perm, every app would be sandboxed so no app, including titaniumbackup would work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Titanium Backup I tried restoring the backups I made; the "Recovering Backup" notice would just hang indefinitely until I forced TB to close. This only happened with system apps. The backed up files are still on my PC hard drive from when I copied them from my SD card, but I'm not sure they're of any use at this stage.
skezza said:
S-ON is part of HTC's snap on BL protection. The fact your phone is S-ON is now not that important, the BL is unlocked, thats what matters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh, this is probably my problem then. I ignored most of the fixes and workarounds listed as [S-OFF] because I didn't think they'd work for my device haha.
skezza said:
Ok, important advice here (for future ref), you shouldn't go mad with deleting unless you've tried freezing first. Freezing allows you to recover by simply doing a factory reset. Most bootloaders (including HTC's) allow you to perform an emergency factory reset from there. You might lose all the **** on there, but you will have a working phone. You also need to be careful with TitaniumBackup, I'm sure you didn't remove the obvious important ones, but the fact you lost access to your audio means you removed a sound/media package. Next time, google "HTC chacha, safe to remove" as more people root this phone in the next few weeks, safe to remove lists will appear. For SGS (my phone) there is a whole shared google doc with a list of system apps, and the consequence of removing them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm disappointed in myself for being so haphazard in my deleting, I'm usually not that stupid but I think I was a little overexcited to have finally gotten rid of some of the bloatware that'd irritated me for so long haha. I was like "oh boy, I can save even more battery power and internal space if I just remove a little more!". Lesson learnt
skezza said:
By the sounds of it, you are using ROMs designed for CWM. If you are going to do that, flash CWM first. There are shed loads of tutorials. If you want to install the stock rom all over again, just download the stock RUU.
...
Have you tried every combination of steps? You've clearly not tried CWM. I'm not suggesting that as a silver bullet (personally, I try to avoid CWM if I can) but it's the best way to give you low level access to the NAND so you could easily flash an OTA ROM, modded ROM or even return it to stock dead quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said above I didn't realise I could make use of [S-OFF] materials so I didn't even attempt them for fear of making matters worse. I just now attempted to flash CWM and it hung on "parsing" which is what happened with previous flash attempts. If a flash attempt doesn't hang on "parsing" it parses for a second and then goes back to the main menu, apparently having no effect.
I'd be lying if I said I'm not overwhelmed by all of this; the tutorials I've read seem to assume a fair degree of prior knowledge that I definitely don't have haha. I hope I don't stretch anyone's patience here, but if you could explain it to me like a 6-year-old whose mother drank heavily during pregnancy I think it will help move things along!
Thank you for the thorough reply, much appreciated
Follow this to flash CWM, you need to do it with your computer and using fastboot, this is needed for S-ON phones.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449681
dapaua said:
Follow this to flash CWM, you need to do it with your computer and using fastboot, this is needed for S-ON phones.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449681
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I can't do anything via my computer; my phone isn't "discovered" by the command line, unrooting tools or anything else. It does allow me to access the SD card as a hard drive but that's all it does. Obviously this wasn't the case before my problems started, because I used my PC to root and unlock the phone originally, but now the phone's boot process can't reach a point where it becomes receptive to the PC's commands. I don't know why it lets me access the SD card though.
Is there any way to do this without my PC being involved beyond transferring files to the SD card? If not, am I screwed? haha
Thanks mate!
Can you boot into the bootloader (Whith the phone off, press Volume down + power for five seconds)?
Then boot into it, move up with the volume keys and then choose fastboot.
Then follow the procedures in the link I posted previously http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449681 (start from step 3). Fastboot mode should be recognized.
The fastboot binary is here C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\tools , if you installed the android SDK, which I asume you did.
Good luck, I hope this works!
dapaua said:
Can you boot into the bootloader (Whith the phone off, press Volume down + power for five seconds)?
Then boot into it, move up with the volume keys and then choose fastboot.
Then follow the procedures in the link I posted previously http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449681 (start from step 3). Fastboot mode should be recognized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear CHRIST thank you for that - I didn't know about this feature, and it worked! I was able to connect to my PC and do everything I needed to. I used the command line to flash the CWM, then followed instructions for partitioning the SD card and installing a custom ROM. I feel like a real [email protected] I wonder if Anonymous are looking for any new recruits...
dapaua said:
Good luck, I hope this works!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It did - I'm back in business!! Thank you mate, if I could fellate you via WiFi I probably would. You'd have to be wearing some anti-virus trousers though, I'm not a slut.
Cheers!
PaddyM said:
Dear CHRIST thank you for that - I didn't...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news (I thought you already knew about the recovery menu feature otherwise I'd have mentioned it).
As I said in my reply earlier, every soft brick can be fixed somehow. Some are just harder than others. If I'm honest, it seems like yours was pretty straightforward once you got into the Recovery menu.
By the way, if you decide you want to return to stock, you can do that quite easily. Also, if I was you, do the freezing technique I suggested earlier and use the safe list that's available.
If you keep CWM, do a Nandroid backup. You don't have to keep it on your SD, but they are great for doing a very fast recovery. I can usually restore my phone in about 10 - 15 minutes using Nandroid.
PaddyM said:
Dear CHRIST thank you for that - I didn't know about this feature, and it worked! I was able to connect to my PC and do everything I needed to. I used the command line to flash the CWM, then followed instructions for partitioning the SD card and installing a custom ROM. I feel like a real [email protected] I wonder if Anonymous are looking for any new recruits...
It did - I'm back in business!! Thank you mate, if I could fellate you via WiFi I probably would. You'd have to be wearing some anti-virus trousers though, I'm not a slut.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy it worked. Let's hope WiFi technology improves in the future
skezza said:
Great news (I thought you already knew about the recovery menu feature otherwise I'd have mentioned it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew about the recovery menu (the stock one, at least) but I didn't realise I could go into the Fastboot option and for the phone to then be recognisable to the PC, thus making it possible to flash via the command line. If I had known that I probably wouldn't have needed to post this thread at all haha.
skezza said:
As I said in my reply earlier, every soft brick can be fixed somehow. Some are just harder than others. If I'm honest, it seems like yours was pretty straightforward once you got into the Recovery menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah... I think if it happened to one of you guys you probably would have had it sorted in about 6 minutes. 3 days isn't bad for my first attempt though! hahaha
skezza said:
By the way, if you decide you want to return to stock, you can do that quite easily. Also, if I was you, do the freezing technique I suggested earlier and use the safe list that's available.
If you keep CWM, do a Nandroid backup. You don't have to keep it on your SD, but they are great for doing a very fast recovery. I can usually restore my phone in about 10 - 15 minutes using Nandroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice man, I'll definitely be looking into the Nandroid backup option, although I hope I've learnt enough from this experience to have no need for it
Thanks to everyone who posted here, I appreciate the patience and the tolerance of my noobery.
Funnily enough, I tried TitaniumBackup today and the original poster is correct. While you can freeze, remove apps etc, you can't return them. especially system. I've not tried any of the alternative install methods that TB uses, but it's quite interesting.
TB is a bit quirky, I think. The system apps won't restore at all, but sometimes apps that I've downloaded myself will restore and other times they won't (the "Restoring App" notice just hangs there indefinitely). I usually find that forcing TB to close and then trying again does the trick, but I can't figure out why it happens in the first place.
Im wondering if anyone else has worked out a good configuration that will allow it to work every time?

[GUIDE] T-Mobile US One S - How to ROOT and flash ROMs

So I know there's been some controversy and scares going around about the US version, since it JUST came out. I'm here to calm you guys down. I have now rooted mine, flashed an interim CWM touch version (not permanent) and have flashed a ROM......ALL successfully.
Here's what I did:
UNLOCKING:
Unlock your bootloader by registering at HTCdev.com and following the unlock instructions. Under device, choose "All other devices", as the One S is not yet listed. It'll walk you through getting your unlock token and flashing it.
ROOTING
Follow Paul O Brien's instructions on rooting your phone. I flashed the r3 superboot file he had. The first time it didnt take and just booted the phone back up. Second time it took, and seems to have stuck, at least for apps. Please note that my phone says *TAMPERED* along with the *UNLOCKED* notification. I have no idea what that means exactly, but everything works great for me.
This means if you dont want to leave Sense but want to get the tons of useless and annoying T-Mobile and other bloatware apps out, you can. T-Mo are dicks and make almost 100% of the apps on it by default SYSTEM apps, therefore unremovable. So you'll need root and Titanium Backup to freeze or delete them. I'd recommend freezing the non-TMo one's just in case.
FLASHING ROMS
1. Flash Paul O Brien's intermin CWM touch version. You MUST use this interim CWM version for the moment, as the others do not work properly. Some things like USB mount dont work in this interim version, but the important functions like wipe and flash, backup and restore, and restart do work. The CWM recovery seems permanent, based on my initial trials, so no worries about reflashing it each restart.
2. Flash your ROM of choice from Clockworkmod Recovery. I'm using Black Dragon right now, but there are others out there as well. I'm personally looking forward to CM9, but its a little ways away, usability-wise.
So there you have it, all you US guys. Don't be afraid to mod your phone. Remember all the warranty void disclaimers as always. I'm not responsible for you bricking your phone. This is just my experience in just under 24hrs of use. Things are looking good for the One S.
bump... i see US users still asking.
Mods, can we perhaps sticky this post of mine? I don't want to take credit for the actual methods of rooting, since Paul O Brien and others deserve that credit, but I think it'd be helpful for US users, since many don't know whether or not the international method works.
That, or perhaps editing the Intl guides to make it clear that the US version accepts the same methods and ROMs.
Worked great for me
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium
So if we root and flash a custom ROM is there any way to get the phone back to factory state, and get rid of the *TAMPERED* and *UNLOCKED* notification??
Did anyone else get a bit of a sad chuckle out of the first step in the instructions being "remove and reinsert battery"?
cyberchuck9000 said:
Did anyone else get a bit of a sad chuckle out of the first step in the instructions being "remove and reinsert battery"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, now my blisters on my fingers will heal.
But still.... I cannot imagine not needing a batt pull.
nickmv said:
Mods, can we perhaps sticky this post of mine? I don't want to take credit for the actual methods of rooting, since Paul O Brien and others deserve that credit, but I think it'd be helpful for US users, since many don't know whether or not the international method works.
That, or perhaps editing the Intl guides to make it clear that the US version accepts the same methods and ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
androidcues said:
Great, now my blisters on my fingers will heal.
But still.... I cannot imagine not needing a batt pull.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you need to perform a hard reset on the One S, you hold down the power button for about 7-10 secs.
First of all, thanks for this thread...I used the HTC One S All in one tool kit to unlock my phone, unfortunately I miss understood one of the directions(#5) and stopped using the tool kit and followed another thread, much to my surprise, my bootloader is unlocked, hooray My question is, how do I get back to the original state if that is possible? The reason I ask, is I would like to go back and do it correctly...I used better terminal emulator to see if I had root, but all I got was the $ sign instead of the # sign So I would like to start over...
Thanks in advance for the help
I'm honestly not sure what the procedure is for relocking an HTC bootloader. Perhaps do some Google research on some of the latest models, and I bet you'll find something.
That being said, once you unlock the bootloader a single time, the best you can do is go to **RELOCKED** state. You'll never get back **LOCKED**. Once it's gone it's gone. I'm curious about the **TAMPERED** message though. That's an ugly word.
not sure what exactly went wrong.
somehow flashed CWM and now thats the only thing my phone will boot to, even after re-flashing the stock recovery.
can't get the phone to turn on, only CWM every single time.
suhailtheboss said:
not sure what exactly went wrong.
somehow flashed CWM and now thats the only thing my phone will boot to, even after re-flashing the stock recovery.
can't get the phone to turn on, only CWM every single time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh oh that doesn't sound good
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium
yeah, tried reflashing both CWM & stock recovery. phone still boots to CWM everytime.
Luckily i can still access the phone via ADB, (while in recovery) so i'm sure i'll be able to sort it out. just need to take a fresh crack at it tomorrow. gonna switch back to my galaxy nexus tonight. (oh wait, i dont have any other phones that use microsim)
haha.
Hmm, interesting. Did you flash the interim recovery that Paul O Brien posted, and not another version? Just wanna make sure. I've heard of this happening in my past experience with the Nexus S, but I can't recall what the deal was. Regardless, I don't think you're in trouble. As with your GNex, it's very hard to completely brick the device unless you flash perhaps a bad hboot file, however I'm not really familiar with HTC devices.
This is my first HTC so I'm still trying to learn how the hboot and other processes work together. Sry to hear you had bad luck.
UPDATE: You should try the root install script. It tells the phone to boot after install. That might get you booted atleast.
Some thoughts:
1. Flash the stock recovery back and reflash CWM
2. Clear cache and dalvik within CWM, and make sure to use the 'Reboot System' option if you aren't already.
From what I can tell, your "boot-to-recovery" flag is set on the phone, and isn't getting cleared.
nickmv said:
So I know there's been some controversy and scares going around about the US version, since it JUST came out. I'm here to calm you guys down. I have now rooted mine, flashed an interim CWM touch version (not permanent) and have flashed a ROM......ALL successfully.
Here's what I did:
UNLOCKING:
Unlock your bootloader by registering at HTCdev.com and following the unlock instructions. Under device, choose "All other devices", as the One S is not yet listed. It'll walk you through getting your unlock token and flashing it.
ROOTING
Follow Paul O Brien's instructions on rooting your phone. I flashed the r3 superboot file he had. The first time it didnt take and just booted the phone back up. Second time it took, and seems to have stuck, at least for apps. Please note that my phone says *TAMPERED* along with the *UNLOCKED* notification. I have no idea what that means exactly, but everything works great for me.
This means if you dont want to leave Sense but want to get the tons of useless and annoying T-Mobile and other bloatware apps out, you can. T-Mo are dicks and make almost 100% of the apps on it by default SYSTEM apps, therefore unremovable. So you'll need root and Titanium Backup to freeze or delete them. I'd recommend freezing the non-TMo one's just in case.
FLASHING ROMS
1. Flash Paul O Brien's intermin CWM touch version. Some things like USB mount dont work, but the important functions like wipe and flash and restart do. The CWM recovery seems permanent, based on my initial trials, so no worries about reflashing it each restart. I cant speak for the non-interim solutions, but from what I can gather, they are problematic, so avoid them for now.
2. Flash your ROM of choice from Clockworkmod Recovery. I'm using Black Dragon right now, but there are others out there as well. I'm personally looking forward to CM9, but its a little ways away, usability-wise.
So there you have it, all you US guys. Don't be afraid to mod your phone. Remember all the warranty void disclaimers as always. I'm not responsible for you bricking your phone. This is just my experience in just under 24hrs of use. Things are looking good for the One S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this part a must? Would you mind PM'ing me with how to do this part if it's a must? I have Unlocked and rooted my phone, just waiting for a good ROM to come by.
Thongvilay said:
Is this part a must? Would you mind PM'ing me with how to do this part if it's a must? I have Unlocked and rooted my phone, just waiting for a good ROM to come by.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That step is only if you want to flash ROMs, or need to wipe cache, dalvik, etc. CWM is used for flashing and recovery/backup purposes. If you're not using ROMs yet, then you have no need for it.
nickmv said:
Hmm, interesting. Did you flash the interim recovery that Paul O Brien posted, and not another version? Just wanna make sure. I've heard of this happening in my past experience with the Nexus S, but I can't recall what the deal was. Regardless, I don't think you're in trouble. As with your GNex, it's very hard to completely brick the device unless you flash perhaps a bad hboot file, however I'm not really familiar with HTC devices.
This is my first HTC so I'm still trying to learn how the hboot and other processes work together. Sry to hear you had bad luck.
UPDATE: You should try the root install script. It tells the phone to boot after install. That might get you booted atleast.
Some thoughts:
1. Flash the stock recovery back and reflash CWM
2. Clear cache and dalvik within CWM, and make sure to use the 'Reboot System' option if you aren't already.
From what I can tell, your "boot-to-recovery" flag is set on the phone, and isn't getting cleared.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the tips, i had tried clearing cache/dalvik within CWM and it still would not work. and yes i did flas the interim CWM from paulobrien
luckily the phone would work via ADB while in CWM. So i pushed three different ROMS to the phone, at first each oen would lock up and reboot within 20 seconds of doing anything. I then went back into recovery & wiped data/cache/dalvik maybe 10 times out of sheer frustration. Then re-flashed a fresh copy of black_dragon_v4.0, didnt do anything after boot. just let it sit there till this morning.
now the phone seems to be working perfectly...
so hopefully if anyone encounters this problem my last couple posts will help them out!
suhailtheboss said:
thanks for the tips, i had tried clearing cache/dalvik within CWM and it still would not work. and yes i did flas the interim CWM from paulobrien
luckily the phone would work via ADB while in CWM. So i pushed three different ROMS to the phone, at first each oen would lock up and reboot within 20 seconds of doing anything. I then went back into recovery & wiped data/cache/dalvik maybe 10 times out of sheer frustration. Then re-flashed a fresh copy of black_dragon_v4.0, didnt do anything after boot. just let it sit there till this morning.
now the phone seems to be working perfectly...
so hopefully if anyone encounters this problem my last couple posts will help them out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I have no idea dude. That sounds kinda crazy. Hopefully all will be well in the future and you won't come across it again.
the only variable i can think of is that i did have the phone about a week before launch. HTC mailed it to me directly.
I thought maybe that had somethign to do with it, but as far as i can tell the phone was the final shipping version.
I sent you a PM, trying to find a solution.

n00b to rooting and CWM for P3113

First off love the N00b video at sign up that was hysterical, nice work to whoever made it.
Ok on to what I need to know:
I understand HOW TO root/flash a rom, my issue is kind of different than most peoples. I have scoured the web and this site for the files I need to accomplish this with my GT-P3113 build ending in LG5 however I am confused to hell.
1 place will say that CWM 6.0.1 is not usable on my device, another will say that it works fine and another will say to use TWRP (which might I add looks cool to use). Some will say that I need the expresso_wifi file to root my device, others will say use update.zip, and others will say a totally different file all together.
I know what ROM to get, I understand the steps:
Download drivers
Boot to download
use odin to install CWM
back up everything with CWM (which goes to the MicroSD I am guessing? since I wipe the device in a later step)
wipe the device
wipe the cache
wipe the Dalvik cache
flash the rom
flash the root
is all that correct? (just to make sure I got it right) so my biggest question is, which files do I really use? There is a thread from back in June before the 4.0.4 update OTA came through) saying to use instead of that if you have LG3 or etc.
Help would be greatly appreciated, I am a smart guy, just want to have my facts straight before I make this happen.
PS sorry if this is in the wrong place, figured this was the best place for it.
Please be sure and thank the person who decides to do your homework for you.
:laugh:
FlynnErik said:
First off love the N00b video at sign up that was hysterical, nice work to whoever made it.
Ok on to what I need to know:
I understand HOW TO root/flash a rom, my issue is kind of different than most peoples. I have scoured the web and this site for the files I need to accomplish this with my GT-P3113 build ending in LG5 however I am confused to hell.
1 place will say that CWM 6.0.1 is not usable on my device, another will say that it works fine and another will say to use TWRP (which might I add looks cool to use). Some will say that I need the expresso_wifi file to root my device, others will say use update.zip, and others will say a totally different file all together.
I know what ROM to get, I understand the steps:
Download drivers
Boot to download
use odin to install CWM
back up everything with CWM (which goes to the MicroSD I am guessing? since I wipe the device in a later step)
wipe the device
wipe the cache
wipe the Dalvik cache
flash the rom
flash the root
is all that correct? (just to make sure I got it right) so my biggest question is, which files do I really use? There is a thread from back in June before the 4.0.4 update OTA came through) saying to use instead of that if you have LG3 or etc.
Help would be greatly appreciated, I am a smart guy, just want to have my facts straight before I make this happen.
PS sorry if this is in the wrong place, figured this was the best place for it.
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Click to collapse
From someone relatively new to this as well, this is basically correct. Here are some tips from someone who has recently done it.
Make a backup.
Research the files you intend to flash, make sure they are right for your device
Verify the guide you are using has been tested and known to work.
This may seem elementary, but I didn't follow #3 and it cost me a lot of headache un-bricking my SGT 2.
ryphil said:
From someone relatively new to this as well, this is basically correct. Here are some tips from someone who has recently done it.
Make a backup.
Research the files you intend to flash, make sure they are right for your device
Verify the guide you are using has been tested and known to work.
This may seem elementary, but I didn't follow #3 and it cost me a lot of headache un-bricking my SGT 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fully agreed! That's why I came to the experts. I have done my homework but the thing is my homework leads me to several different files from before the ICS update. There has only been 1 thread on 1 forum that has been post ICS update, and no real feedback on it. I think I even found one that uses ADB (I understand that concept, but would prefer not to use it since I don't know Linux well enough).
I would love to know what files to use, which ones to stay away from. As I said I have the concepts, I have the understanding, its the actual files that I want to verify, I can rattle off tons of files from tons of sites, but they may or may not be correct (and may have the same name as a correct one but still be incorrect, ie "update.zip" appears a few times on different threads from different time frames).
There is only post in the teamhacksung CM10 wiki that was last edited 8/12/2012, but that could have been anything that was updated, not the files/links to be used.
So I thank you in advance for your help, and you will certainly get a thank you in the forum for help you are providing, I always give credit where credit is due.
Well here goes nothing, going to reboot (to ensure the Kies drivers are installed and loaded into the system 100%), and try the instructions from this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788625
It seems to work for most, the only concern I have is that I have a different end to the build than most others do (and I am not sure why?)
Did I screw myself?
I rooted, and have CWM installed.
Is it to late to create a ROM backup of my device for when i go to install CM10 (I need a drink for now, so I might install it tomorrow night lol).
That link I posted in the last post is good to go if anyone else needs a safe bet set of directions.
Seriously though, I didn't do a backup, am I screwed now?
EDIT: I just did a back up and it said no sdcard/.android secure found, skipping of backup of apps
and
no sd-ext found skipping backup of that.
is that normal? Did it backup to my microSD?
Still hope I didn't screw myself by backing it up after rooting.

[Q] OTA Update ViperXL 3.2.7 -> 3.2.8 and Other Noob Questions

I apologize in advance for asking what are, I’m sure, obvious questions, but I’m new at all this (started today actually).
Hardware/software state:
AT&T One X
ViperXL 3.2.7
Rooted, bootloader unlocked via this thread
Running TWRP 2.5.0.0
Flashed the boot.img that came with ViperXL, as per this post
Hboot 1.14
First, my question is how do I get the OTA update to 3.2.8? I went into settings->about and found the update, downloaded it, but when I tried to run it I just end up in TWRP. I’m guessing I need to get back to the stock recovery, is there a way to do that without erasing everything?
Second, should I be concerned with flashing radios, kernels or (I think) hboot? Will flashing any of these items erasing everything? I’m not even sure which radio I’m on, but up until today my phone has been current on AT&T.
Third, what is the "WiFi partions update"? What does this do? Ought I to have it?
I have done hours of searching, but I can’t seem to find a straight forward answer to this. If I’ve missed something and this has already been answered, a link to the post would be great and much appreciated!
Thanks for the help!!
1. The device is supposed to go to TWRP to install the update. No, nothing should be erased.
2. Sounds like you're a little too new to things to be flashing radios, kernels, and possibly even ROMs, but since you're already past that step, just tread carefully until you learn a few more things.
3. Maybe, maybe not. If you're not having any issues, don't bother. If you are have issues, try it out.
Thanks for the quick reply!
Ok, if it is supposed to go to TWRP for the update, what do I do once it’s there? All it appears to do is dump me at the TWRP home screen (options for install, backup, recover, etc..) and then does nothing.
Thanks for the advice; as long as they aren’t really necessary I’ll hold off for now on doing anything further, see if I can’t avoid breaking anything .
Well, I’m not having any WiFi issues, so I’m going to leave it like it is.
Thanks!
First I think you'll need to move the OTA zip file out of /system and onto your sd card. Use a file explorer (which has root access, I use Solid Explorer, there are also others like ES File Explorer, and Root Explorer) and navigate to /system/cache (I'm pretty sure that's where OTAs are stored once downloaded, someone correct me if I'm wrong), cut the file and navigate back to your sd card and paste it somewhere you'll remember.
Now reboot into TWRP.
Once you're in TWRP, select the wipe button, this will take you to the wipe menu. Now wipe cache, and dalvik cache. Now hit the little home button in the bottom left corner of your screen, this will take you back to the home screen.
Now you hit the install button. It will then take you to a screen which shows your sd card. Find the OTA zip file and select it. Then swipe to install. Once it has finished installing you can choose to wipe cache/dalvik again (I always do this to be safe). Then just hit the reboot system button and it should boot up into your newly updated ROM.
One thing though: you really need to do some reading, you haven't got the faintest clue about any of this obviously. You would benefit greatly from reading and actually learning about messing around with your device. Going into these kinds of things ignorantly is very dangerous, you could easily brick your phone. I'm not trying to be mean, just telling you how it is. We all gotta start somewhere, just make sure you take the right steps and get a good understanding of all this
Sent from my One XL using XDA Premium
That was what I was assuming I should do, but I was unsure if it would overwrite anything important that way. It actually seems to download the update to /sdcard/downloads (or it did that the first time I ran it). Good tip about wiping the caches though, I’ll remember that.
Turns out that I actually didn’t need to do all this after all…I deleted the OTA file and tried running it again, and low and behold it decided to work! I swear I didn’t do anything different, but I’d been messing with it for a while after I tried it the first time, maybe I changed something relevant (though I was mostly just tweaking sense to how I wanted it)
I have actually done a great deal of reading and looking around, but I’m still struggling to keep all the various version numbers and terms straight. I really appreciate the advice, and I’ll be doing more research in the future (mainly to discover what the other things that aren’t ROM’s do).
Thanks for the help all!
It wasn't showing up because turge forgot to change something. It should be showing up now.
If not just download it, flash it like normal and reboot.
No need to wipe anything
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

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