Database Info

[SGH-T869][CWMRecovery][ROOT]ClockworkMod Recovery and Root (T869 only) (14-Dec-2011)

Updated 14-Dec-2011: I'm posting an updated recovery, "20111213" (I compiled it yesterday) below. I'm not going to bother cleaning up this entire post with updated information, as I'm just too tired right now. Please read the post, then read the "Changes" section towards the bottom... then download the update (if you want.) Probably this weekend some time, I'm going to be consolidating the posts for all 3 models of this device into a single post with three download links. (I'm trying to get them all in sync with each other.)
**** USE AT YOUR OWN RISK ****
The following is posted so that I may share what I've done. It was done by me and for me. If you use it for you, then you take responsibility for whatever happens. This could, potentially, cause problems. It certainly will void your warranty (though it's pretty easy to undo this with no obvious signs.)
Install ClockworkMod Recovery and roots your T869 (tmobile galaxy tab 7 plus) tablet.
WHAT THIS DOES:
Installed from recovery, this .zip will first ensure that it's running on the Samsung/TMobile SGH-T869. If you have a different model, don't waste your time downloading it. It won't work. I do NOT have this tablet to test with, and a special thanks to shadejinx for doing the testing. That being said, he tells me that the backup and restore both work okay. However, there is an issue with rebooting back into recovery (see Post Installation notes and Issues.) If you want to try this, you should have the knowledge to repair whatever you break - in which case you'll also have the knowledge to unpack this zip file and do things the manual way.
So, once it knows that it's working on the proper type of tablet, this package will make a backup copy of your existing recovery image, and place it in your internal storage with the name starting with "recovery_backup" and ending with the version of the recovery package you installed. For example, recovery_backup_20111206.img.
Next, a new version of the clockwork mod recovery is installed.
Then, the script will look for and delete any existing clockworkMod recovery backups that you have sitting around. Why? Because I'm re-using the script I wrote for the GT-P6210 tab... read that thread if it matters. Once my CWM-based recovery is installed, overwriting it with the same or newer versions won't delete the backups anymore.
Finally, the tab will be rooted. This only involves copying a tiny file (called 'su') to the system. In order for most android apps to make use of that, however, another application must be first installed. (See "Finishing SuperUser installation" below.) I considered putting that "SuperUser" application as part of this package, but it's really very easy to get it from the market.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Put the installation zip file on your tablet's external SD card. If you don't have an external SD card, you won't be able to install this. MicroSD cards are cheap. If you have a tablet that costs 399 USD, you can afford to spend a few extra dollars/euros/pesos/whatever on a microSD card. Just get one. Not only is it required for installing this from the factory recovery, but it makes a great place to back things up to. A nice 16GB card is suggested. 32GB is better. You'll need AT LEAST 1GB for this recovery.
You can download the .zip file directly to your tablet and then possibly use the built in "My files" applet to move it to extStorages/SdCard, or you could download it to your computer and use "adb" to push the file to /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard, or you should be able to get it there with "Kies." If you have the proper adapter, you could also attach the microSD card directly to your computer and just copy it there. It doesn't matter HOW you get it on the card, as long as it's on the card.
After the zip file is on your microSD card, and the microSD card is inside (and recognized by) your tablet, then you need to...
Boot into recovery mode.
If the recovery version banner is "CWM-based Recovery v5.x.x.x", then you already have a version of CWM installed and should skip ahead to the proper section. If the banner is "Android system recovery (3e)", then you have the factory recovery and should continue with...
Installing from factory (3e) recovery:
Use the volume up/down buttons to move the highlight up and down, and the power button to select the highlighted option.
1. Select "apply update from external storage"
2. Select the file you placed on your storage card (starts with "t869_CWMR".)
3. Sit back and watch it run. Read the information that is being sent to the screen. If there's an error, it'll display some message. If it works, it'll display a message starting with the word "Done!"
4. Select "reboot system now."
You now have a CWM-based recovery installed, and your tablet is rooted.
Please skip ahead to "Finishing SuperUser installation"
---------------------------------------------
Installing from CWM-based Recovery
Use the volume up/down buttons to move the highlight up and down, and the power button to select the highlighted option.
1. Select "Install zip from sdcard"
2. Select "choose zip from internal sdcard" (which will actually point to the external card.)
3. Select the file you placed on your storage card (starts with "t869_CWMR".)
4. Select "Yes - Install (whatever filename you selected)"
5. Sit back and watch it run. Read the information that is being sent to the screen. If there's an error, it'll display some message. If it works, it'll display a message starting with the word "Done!"
6. Select "+++++ Go Back +++++"
7. Select "reboot system now."
---------------------------------------------
Finishing SuperUser installation
Install the SuperUser application directly from the android market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.noshufou.android.su
....
Post-installation Notes and Issues
I'm aware that after flashing this, it is difficult to get back into recovery. I'm not sure WHY, but it's fairly consistantly a pain in the rear. However, I have found that following the steps in the following post seems to work (at least for me) 9 out of 10 times. (I was distracted on the 10th try, so not sure if it worked or not): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20074586&postcount=14
Update: According to shadejinx, this doesn't work for the SGH-T869. However, there's an alternative way, but you must have adb installed: Connect your tablet to the PC you have adb installed on, and power down the tablet. (A full power off - not just standby.) You'll notice that your tablet really isn't fully powered down, as there's a battery icon smack in the middle of the screen. It's in a "low power mode", and "adb" can still talk to it. Use adb to send the following command: "adb reboot recovery". You'll end up in recovery.
Remember above I mentioned that when this package installs, it creates a backup of the old recovery? Well, it does that no matter what recovery was in place. So, if you install this package with a factory recovery, that backup will be of the factory recovery (which is probably what you want.) If you install this package a second time when you already have the CWM Recovery installed, you'll overwrite that factory recovery backup with a backup of the CWM recovery (which makes no sense.) I'd strongly suggest that after you FIRST install this package, you make a copy of that backup recovery image file (and full filename is displayed when it's created), and stick that copy someplace safe. Perhaps just rename it and copy it to your SDcard or computer. A good name might be "t689_factory_recovery.img"
Donation?
I don't take donations. If you have spare money (I don't), please donate it to the Salvation Army, Red Cross, or just find a homeless person on the street and give them something. My favorite charity is the Shriner's Hospital for Children. (yes, I am.) If you'd like to thank me, there's a button at the bottom of this post dedicated to that. If you don't want to thank me, that's okay too.
Changes for 20111213:
* A backup of the existing recovery image is no longer being made. I feel this is no longer needed, as an ODIN package is now confirmed to be working that people can use to restore their tablets to a factory state.
* Old clockworkmod recovery backups are no longer being deleted when installing this. If you are installing this or newer from my CWM recovery previous to Dec 9th, 2011, please manually delete all those old backups. If you attempt to restore them, please be prepared to download ODIN and a factory ODIN image, as you'll need it in order to get your tablet working again. You've been warned...
* Issues with getting into recovery are resolved. (after this update, you shouldn't need to use adb while the tablet is powered down.)
Here's the link for the recovery/root .zip (for the tmobile SGH-689)
version 20111213: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?oro674o2881kw54
old versions:
version 20111206: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?07ucaimq8qs6q05
Take care
Gary

uploaded and available. (message is to mark the thread as unread and as a place-holder for future notes.)

Your donation note is cool, man.

Just flashed update. It works fine I have root everything works the same installed superuser from market. Great work now all we need is a nice ICS ROM and voodoo
Sent from my SGH-T869 using XDA App

I wonder if tmobile would let me borrow one of these for a couple days so I can test some updates to the recovery.
"Hello, welcome to T-Mobile. Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'd like to quietly sit over there and attach my notebook computer to one of your demo tablets for about an hour to test voiding the warranty by flashing in low-level tools that, among other things, will allow anyone to bypass all the silly locks you people put on these devices. Oh, and I'm not a tmobile customer (and probably never will be.) Okay?"
heh

CSR: sure, go right ahead. Could you root it and install a custom ROM while your at it.. we've been getting tired of looking at this same old spoon fed sammy touchwiz and samsung apps nobody uses. Overclock the snot out of it.
just kidding, back on topic..

@garyd9 I'll get the updated recovery stuff tested tonight.

Updated and a new link posted in the OP.
Thanks to shadejinx for testing.
Changes for 20111213:
* A backup of the existing recovery image is no longer being made. I feel this is no longer needed, as an ODIN package is now confirmed to be working that people can use to restore their tablets to a factory state.
* Old clockworkmod recovery backups are no longer being deleted when installing this. If you are installing this or newer from my CWM recovery previous to Dec 9th, 2011, please manually delete all those old backups. If you attempt to restore them, please be prepared to download ODIN and a factory ODIN image, as you'll need it in order to get your tablet working again. You've been warned...
* Issues with getting into recovery are resolved. (after this update, you shouldn't need to use adb while the tablet is powered down.)

garyd9 did this work blind and it worked perfectly the first time... I am very impressed. Anyone who reads this needs hit the thanks button on the OP.

garyd9 said:
* A backup of the existing recovery image is no longer being made. I feel this is no longer needed, as an ODIN package is now confirmed to be working that people can use to restore their tablets to a factory state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where have you seen this?

rxxt said:
Where have you seen this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the magic "search" function in XDA. It's a really cool feature of the site that lets you press a button, type a few letters, and find things.
Even if you aren't capable of using that function (and quite a few people are search-impaired for some reason), or if you might be searching for the incorrect term (I've done that myself a few times) you can always search manually. That involves opening threads and reading through them (not just the first post!)
I know that if I were looking for a firmware image, the DEV subforum thread marked with "Official FIRMWARES" would catch my attention, and I'm sure I'd find something useful if I spent a minute scanning through the thread that's less than 30 posts long. (That's a hint, by the way. I absolutely refuse to provide a direct link.)
Good hunting!
Gary

Sry, it was exactly the search function there do that I found this thread, but now I can see that it is too 'Galaxy Tab Plus', it was only 'Galaxy Tab' that Iam looking for, therefore the misplaced question..

(first the original reply)
rxxt said:
Wow, is it really true .. You have really savedmy day, damn well you tell me about the search option, otherwise I never havefound it, I can not thank you enough, what would we do without people likeyou..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alas, 'tis true that some folk could never get along without those of us who point out the obvious.
(and now the current edited version)
rxxt said:
Sry, it was exactly the search function there do that I found this thread, but now I can see that it is too 'Galaxy Tab Plus', it was only 'Galaxy Tab' that Iam looking for, therefore the misplaced question..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for making my point.
edit: Please don't take my sarcasm personally. It's how I keep sane.
Take care
Gary

With the release of ICS, and seeing that others have taken over carrying the torch for updated and more modern versions of CWM Recovery, I'm no longer going to be supporting this release.
I'll leave the thread intact, but request that it be locked.
Oh, and I am still around, but I'm giving my Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus to my wife. The stock firmware is actually very good for her, and she doesn't demand the amount of control over a tablet that I want.
Take care
Gary

[Q] How to flash a rom after rooting

OK I apologize ahead of time for what is probably a ridiculously easy question for most.
The ATT 1X is my first android and this is the first phone that I've rooted.
I read for hours and followed the instruction to a T. I rooted, unlocked the bootloader and installed CWM.
I can get into Recover/Boot mode or whatever you call it on phone startup, I have the Super user icon in my files, but I have no idea what to do now.
I found a ROM that I thought was worth a shot (CleanROM 2.5) but I don't know what to do. I've read and researched for hours now and everyone's problems seem to be complicated but no one talks about this.
I downloaded the ROM to my computer but I don't know what to do with the files, I can't find a .bat file or anything to initialize it and I am stuck.
I've wiped the data and done everything in the steps but I'm stuck at actually installing it. I know I'm obviously doing something wrong but I feel like I'm very close to what needs to be done.
Any help is welcome, thanks

deblas66 said:
OK I apologize ahead of time for what is probably a ridiculously easy question for most.
The ATT 1X is my first android and this is the first phone that I've rooted.
I read for hours and followed the instruction to a T. I rooted, unlocked the bootloader and installed CWM.
I can get into Recover/Boot mode or whatever you call it on phone startup, I have the Super user icon in my files, but I have no idea what to do now.
I found a ROM that I thought was worth a shot (CleanROM 2.5) but I don't know what to do. I've read and researched for hours now and everyone's problems seem to be complicated but no one talks about this.
I downloaded the ROM to my computer but I don't know what to do with the files, I can't find a .bat file or anything to initialize it and I am stuck.
I've wiped the data and done everything in the steps but I'm stuck at actually installing it. I know I'm obviously doing something wrong but I feel like I'm very close to what needs to be done.
Any help is welcome, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend you check QA thread found in a sub forum under your devices section and you review the stickied post for ROM install or Google "android install custom ROM " (remove quotes). Too much info on this already to type it all back out here. Did you watch you tube newb video you agreed to have watched when getting an xda account?
Essentially you now made it so your phone has the ability via CWM Recovery to now boot to that to install ROM zip or continue to use rooted stock ROM (how you flashed that zip for superuser is baasically same as how you flash a cwm compatible ROM zip (MOST but not all ROMs)) which with SuperUser can now run privelleged code if it is made to or requires it to run.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

Thanks. I know this must seem so stupid, but I've been searching this forum, google, youtube and pretty much everything else for how to do this and I get it all and understand what's happening.
I just don't know where to put this ROM (which folder) to get it to install.

deblas66 said:
Thanks. I know this must seem so stupid, but I've been searching this forum, google, youtube and pretty much everything else for how to do this and I get it all and understand what's happening.
I just don't know where to put this ROM (which folder) to get it to install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So after all that searching you never came across instructions informing you to put the zip on your phones storage?
You should probably just hold off a bit on flashing anything then. Not being mean but it sounds like you are confused by the process and end result. Step back and do some basic checklisting.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Download the rom you want and DO NOT UN ZIP IT. THEN PLACE THAT ZIP ON PHONE STORAGE AND BOOT INTO YOUR CUSTOM RECOVERY . HIT INSTALL FROM SD CARD AND MAKE SURE THE ROM YOU DOWNLOADED IS LISTED BUT DONT FLASH YET. GO BACK THE THE MAIN SCREEN OF RECOVERY. NOW MAKE A BACKUP. WHEN THAT IS DONE GO BACK TO MAIN RECOVERY SCREEN AND HIT WIPE PHONE DATA AND THEN CONFIRM. THEN GO AND HIT CLEAR CACHE OPTION. THEN GO BACK AND GO TO ADVANCED AND CLEAR DALVICK CACHE. NOW YOUR READY TO FLASH. GO TO INSTALL ZIP FROM SD AND FLASH YOUR ROM. FIRST BOOT ALWAYS TAKES LONG AFTER FLASHING A NEW ROM :thumbup:
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

Pirateghost said:
So after all that searching you never came across instructions informing you to put the zip on your phones storage?
You should probably just hold off a bit on flashing anything then. Not being mean but it sounds like you are confused by the process and end result. Step back and do some basic checklisting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been posting on the internet for decades, don't worry about being mean. I'm here to learn. I rooted, unlocked the bootloader and installed CWM so that I could take advantage before the phone asked me to update the software to the 1.85 version.
My phone works fine now, and I did everything correctly which is what I was setting out to do. I'm in no rush to flash a ROM, but now that I'm ready I'm itching to try it out.
Driggity420 said:
Download the rom you want and DO NOT UN ZIP IT. THEN PLACE THAT ZIP ON PHONE STORAGE AND BOOT INTO YOUR CUSTOM RECOVERY . HIT INSTALL FROM SD CARD AND MAKE SURE THE ROM YOU DOWNLOADED IS LISTED BUT DONT FLASH YET. GO BACK THE THE MAIN SCREEN OF RECOVERY. NOW MAKE A BACKUP. WHEN THAT IS DONE GO BACK TO MAIN RECOVERY SCREEN AND HIT WIPE PHONE DATA AND THEN CONFIRM. THEN GO AND HIT CLEAR CACHE OPTION. THEN GO BACK AND GO TO ADVANCED AND CLEAR DALVICK CACHE. NOW YOUR READY TO FLASH. GO TO INSTALL ZIP FROM SD AND FLASH YOUR ROM. FIRST BOOT ALWAYS TAKES LONG AFTER FLASHING A NEW ROM :thumbup:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the process as I understand it and as stupid as it sounds, I'm hung up on where in phone storage to place the zip file of the rom. I don't see a storage folder, an SD folder, nothing that seems obvious and nothing that is in any of the things I've been reading or watching.

deblas66 said:
Been posting on the internet for decades, don't worry about being mean. I'm here to learn. I rooted, unlocked the bootloader and installed CWM so that I could take advantage before the phone asked me to update the software to the 1.85 version.
My phone works fine now, and I did everything correctly which is what I was setting out to do. I'm in no rush to flash a ROM, but now that I'm ready I'm itching to try it out.
This is the process as I understand it and as stupid as it sounds, I'm hung up on where in phone storage to place the zip file of the rom. I don't see a storage folder, an SD folder, nothing that seems obvious and nothing that is in any of the things I've been reading or watching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plug phone into computer. When prompted, select Disk Drive. On computer, browse to your computer, open the 'disk drive', and copy the zip there. THAT is your sdcard as seen by your phone.

Pirateghost said:
Plug phone into computer. When prompted, select Disk Drive. On computer, browse to your computer, open the 'disk drive', and copy the zip there. THAT is your sdcard as seen by your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously?
Wow I feel dumb. I was looking for a sub folder or directory specifically for storage and backup.
Thanks, I think that should be enough for me to do this tonight.

deblas66 said:
Seriously?
Wow I feel dumb. I was looking for a sub folder or directory specifically for storage and backup.
Thanks, I think that should be enough for me to do this tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, some phones you may have to drag down notifications and tap USB mode or USB connected notification (it has standard USB icon and only appears when phone attached to computer). Then tap either USB storage mode or the button to enable USB drives. Then on computer just like a thumb drive it adds drive letter. Copy anything there that is /mnt/sdcard or /sdcard on phone. BE SURE TO EJECT DRIVES BEFORE AND TAP TO DISABLE USB ON PHONE IN THAT ORDER THEN UNPLUG FROM USB (failure to do so COULD result in data loss or corruption which you DO NOT want to happen to a ROM zip)!
Then boot in to recovery choose install zip from sdcard (not apply update from sdcard) as install from allows you to browse for any zip and install. Usually Vol up and down moves through menus and power or search button is enter. BE SURE THE ROM YOU DOWNLOAD IS SPECIFICALLY MEANT FOR YOUR DEVICE OR YOU COULD EASILY BRICK YOUR DEVICE. PLEASE REVIEW HOW TO RUN NANDROID BACKUPS AND RUN ONE BEFORE INSTALLING A DIFFERENT ROM.
I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH IF UNSURE DON'T PROCEED, BE SURE YOU RUN NANDROID BACKUPS AND ENSURE YOU FOLLOW INSTALL DIRECTIONS INCLUDED WITH YOUR ROM. ALSO, NEVER FORMAT EMMC (AKA INTERNAL SDCARD) IT ALMOST GUARENTEES A BRICKED DEVICE.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

Wow that was easier than I thought.
Thanks for the help guys and sorry I missed such an easy step.
ROM installed.

deblas66 said:
Wow that was easier than I thought.
Thanks for the help guys and sorry I missed such an easy step.
ROM installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is all good, and now you see why we were kinda scratching our heads wondering what was up a little . Glad we could help get you going though welcome to the world of custom ROMs. Please just be careful and always do backups and take it slow and read things 2x before even attempting once. While it can be easy to do it is also easy to accidentally brick your device (make it not work and have to be sent out for repairs).
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

[Rooting & ROM Flashing VZW GS3] Noob Questions

I apologize in advance for asking the following noob questions. I have been an iPhone user for 3 years and wanted to take advantage of the GS3, which I am loving even without it being rooted. I am fairly tech-savy and believe I'll have no problem rooting my phone. There are just a few things I want to thoroughly understand. I've been sold on the fact that I want to root my phone to gain control of it, remove the bloatware, and extend it's battery life, etc. If there is a thread or posting or website somewhere that explains what I need to know very well, please direct me!!
I was looking for some major tips on the best way to achieve my goal of rooting and flashing to a new ROM...If someone could, PLEASE answer EVERY question. I'd like to fully understand how to get to my goal of rooting and flashing to a desired ROM without bricking it. If this gets desires attention, it could be a great sticky posts for other newbies!
1. First and foremost...What is a kernal? I see things about CM9/CM10 kernals. Is it something like a ROM? How is it related/different?
2. What is the CMW, what is a Touch Wiz?
3. What is the overall best way for a newbie to root their phone and install a desired ROM? Odin or???
4. As I understand thus far, there is rooting, then there is ROM flashing, and then there is something to do with unlocking the bootloader... I'd like to fully understand all of these.
Here's my goal and what I'm seeking help on... I think I want to use the Synergy ROM. What is the first step I must do? Do I somehow root my phone and then use Odin to flash to the Synergy ROM? Or is the first step simply opening Odin, connecting phone, and flashing to Synergy ROM? Do I not even use Odin to flash to Synergy? I'm confused here based on the install info in Synergys FAQ - do I use Odin at all??? Do I need to back anything up? Do I need to download or use some app to block Verizon OTA updates permanently??
In the Q&A of the Synergy ROM thread, it states:
You should have an unlocked bootloader if you wish to take full advantage of this ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Must I unlock the bootloader seperately via this thread here, or do ROMs or other kernals (or whatever) have the unlocked bootloader built-in?? Do I install the bootloader before I root or after I root? What's the best way to unlock the bootloader(mmmeff's EZ-Unlock App, Terminal Emulator, or Adam Outler's Casual for Rooting/Cwm/Unlocking Bootloader)? Also, how do I keep the bootloader from being updated OTA, to keep from having problems????
I think that answers most/all of my questions. I'd hugely appreciate a response and answers to clarify all this, or links to some post or site I'm missing that explain all this to me. My goal to to root my phone, likely install a ROM, and do all this without bricking it, and hopefully without voiding any warranties (though not a big deal).
Thanks a bunch in advance!!

All the answers you seek can be found in droidstyle's guide. It's a sticky in the development section.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Introduction to Rooting:
This is meant as a very basic disccussion for people completely new to rooting and Android. As a result, it will omit many details and simplify others. If there is a blatant mistake, please let me know and I'll correct it, but if there's something that's just not QUITE right, chances are it's simplified on purpose. Also, it's not meant to be a rooting guide (as there are excellent ones out there already) so much as an explanation of concepts most of us take for granted, but noobies don't.
DISCLAIMER: I, nor anyone else referenced (or not) in this thread, am not responsible for what you do with your phone. Rooting and otherwise altering your phone has the potential to brick your device, void your warranty, and many other horrible horrible things. Perform these actions at your own risk.
What is root/rooting?
In Unix-style operating systems, "root" is the name of the user who has all permissions and is therefore able to run/modify/change/delete just about anything. If you're familiar with Windows, this account is called Administrator. The default account (that's you!) on an Android phone does NOT have these privileges. Rooting is the process of obtaining them (i.e. obtaining root access). Once you root, you can "flash" new software onto your phone without restriction. This is great because you now have control over what programs are on your phone, what your UI looks like, how your phone handles resources, what kernels you run, and more!
Once your phone is rooted, you don't always wield all of that power. You control your access to all these new abilities with a program called SuperUser (available on the market and baked into ROMS). This program can grant these special rights to any other program that requests them. So let's say a program wants to write data to a place it's not allowed. It will ask SuperUser to up its privileges and then BAM! it can write where it wants to. You yourself can gain SuperUser privileges in a shell by typing su. Then YOU can read, write, and execute to your hearts desire.
Before you root:
Before rooting, there are some basic things you should know. A lot of people rush into it without bothering to learn everything they should. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't.
Phone partitions: Your phone has a number of partitions. The important ones to know at first are:
1. System - this partition is essentially what you think of when you think of the operating system, the Android UI, and preinstalled
apps. When people talk about flashing ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod, Synergy, etc), they are talking about flashing a new system
partition.
2. Boot - this is the kernel and ramdisk. The kernel is responsible for managing the interactions between the phones software (including the ROM) and the
hardware. Altering the kernel can increase/decrease performance, battery life, and more because it manages applications and system resources. When
you flash a new kernel, it flashes to the boot partition. You may not notice a big difference like you do when changing ROMS, but behind the scenes, your
phone's performance can be drastically altered. A *LOOSE* analogy is that the ROM is like the body and interior of your car (including exterior color, AC,
stereo, heated seats, TV in headrests, etc.) and the kernel is like the engine. You may not see it, but you'll know it's there if it's awesome or it sucks.
3. Aboot - this was largely unimportant for newbies until the bootloader lock/unlock situation. The short story is that aboot contains functions which
authenticate the boot partition (that's the kernel, remember?). It checks to see if your boot partition is Verizon legal and if not, it aborts the boot process
and politely tells you to contact Verizon. This authentication is what is referred to as a "locked" bootloader. It prevents you from completely booting the
phone with a custom kernel. The bootloader is "unlocked" by replacing the stock aboot partition with one that does NOT check up on the boot partition.
This is important because it allows us to run whatever kernel we want.
4. Data - this contains user installed apps, settings, contacts, bookmarks, etc, etc, etc. You can wipe this partition (as opposed to the above partitions) and
still boot into the operating system. You will have just lost all your setting and apps. This is called a factory/data reset.
5. Cache - this is stuff that you frequently use so it's kept available for better performance. You can wipe it without much consequence.
6. Recovery - this partition contains a separate operating system that allows you to recover from a corrupted/absent/otherwise jacked up operating system. It
has other functions as well. The big ones are to backup your device and restore said backups, to wipe certain partitions, and to flash things to your
phone (i.e. install new ROMs, recoveries, or other programs). The stock recovery is limited so you will definitely want a custom recovery, created by the
fine devs in the community, on your device.
What is a ROM and what is a kernel? I touched on this above. A ROM is what goes on the system partition. It contains what you think of as the Android OS including the UI and preinstalled apps. It controls how programs interact with you, the user. A kernel controls how those programs interact with the phones hardware. You need both a ROM and a kernel to have a functional phone.
How do I get started rooting and flashing?
There is an excellent guide stickied in the development thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1762709. However, many of us
forget what it's like to be a COMPLETE newbie and to someone who has no idea about anything, even fantastic guides like that can be a little intimidating.
You can follow the steps, but may not understand what you're doing. The steps to take to start out with are:
1. Make sure you understand what I've written above. Make sure you are comfortable with the possibility of bricking your phone.
2. Root your device. As I said above, this is simply gaining root/Admin/whatever you want to call it access on your phone. In and of itself, it does NOT alter
the ROM or kernel or much of anything else. However, there are many different ways to obtain root and some of them DO alter these things. The easiest
and safest way to root (IMO) is to use Noxious Ninjas excellent tool. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792342. If you like it, I
encourage you to donate or at least "Thanks" him. It works by taking advantage of debugfs permissions to get su (remember this from above??) onto
your phone with permissions set so you can run it. It therefore doesn't change ROMs or anything else. You won't lose data, apps, or anything else. It just
sneaks su right onto your current setup.
3. Install a custom recovery. This will allow you to do all the fun stuff I talked about above. I recommend installing EZ-recovery from the market and flashing
CWM 6.0.1.0.
1. Install EZ-recovery
2. Under the "Recovery" heading, click the Recovery radio button and select CWM 6.0.1.0 next to it.
3. Click flash
4. Backup everything as if your life depended on it. This means backing up your IMEI as shown here
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/32397-tutorial-imeibackup-nv-with-qpst-us-variants/ and making a nandroid. A nandroid is an image of your phone
including your ROM, your data, and your kernel(depending on what phone you have). You can restore a nandroid backup and you'll be right back where
you were before flashing or changing things around. The steps to making a nandroid are:
1. Turn off your phone.
2. Hold down volume up, home, and power until recovery appears.
3. Use the volume rocker to go to "backup and restore" and hit the power button
4. Select backup and then select the external (default) or internal (labeled "internal") SD card
You can restore a nandroid in a similar fashion (although you should wipe data/cache first - see below).
5. Unlock the bootloader. You must do this seperately from flashing ROMs and kernels. Refer to this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839791 and give appropriate thanks! A warning...if you mess up your aboot partition, there's really nothing (that I know of) you can do to revive your phone besides send it to someone with JTAG or back to Verizon.
You're now ready to start flashing ROMs.
As a precursor, there are ROMS that are based on TouchWiz modified Android from Verizon/Samsung and there are ROMS based on AOSP (e.g. CyanogenMod). TW roms need a TW kernel and AOSP roms need an AOSP kernel. Until you get comfortable with everything, I would stick with TW. Also, some roms come with kernels and will flash the kernel to your boot partition as well as the ROM to your system partition. Some ROMs don't come with kernels. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read the OP of a rom you want to flash to find out kernel information as well as how to install the rom and anything else you may need to know. The general steps to flashing a ROM are (remember to read the OP for specifics):
1. Backup apps, data, call log, contacts, messages, etc. My program of choice for much of this is Titanium Backup available on the market. Buy it as you'll
use it a billion times.
2. Download the ROM you want and check the MD5
3. Place the ROM on the root of your SD card. Do NOT unzip it.
4. Reboot into recovery and make a nandroid backup
5. Wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache. Wipe it more than once if paranoid.
6. Go to "install zip from sdcard" and select the ROM you want
7. If you want/need to flash a kernel, install that zip from the sdcard too with the same command
8. Reboot and restore all that you backed up
Remember:
- ALWAYS backup before doing anything
- verify MD5
- wipe data and cache (unless told not to by the ROM dev)
- NEVER accept an OTA (having a custom recovery should block OTAs anyway)
PS. The techniques, tools, roms, etc in this post are not mine and arte the products of hours of hard work by multiple devs. Please thank them accordingly.

Bleelas said:
Introduction to Rooting:
This is meant as a very basic disccussion for people completely new to rooting and Android. As a result, it will omit many details and simplify others. If there is a blatant mistake, please let me know and I'll correct it, but if there's something that's just not QUITE right, chances are it's simplified on purpose. Also, it's not meant to be a rooting guide (as there are excellent ones out there already) so much as an explanation of concepts most of us take for granted, but noobies don't.
DISCLAIMER: I, nor anyone else referenced (or not) in this thread, am not responsible for what you do with your phone. Rooting and otherwise altering your phone has the potential to brick your device, void your warranty, and many other horrible horrible things. Perform these actions at your own risk.
What is root/rooting?
In Unix-style operating systems, "root" is the name of the user who has all permissions and is therefore able to run/modify/change/delete just about anything. If you're familiar with Windows, this account is called Administrator. The default account (that's you!) on an Android phone does NOT have these privileges. Rooting is the process of obtaining them (i.e. obtaining root access). Once you root, you can "flash" new software onto your phone without restriction. This is great because you now have control over what programs are on your phone, what your UI looks like, how your phone handles resources, what kernels you run, and more!
Once your phone is rooted, you don't always wield all of that power. You control your access to all these new abilities with a program called SuperUser (available on the market and baked into ROMS). This program can grant these special rights to any other program that requests them. So let's say a program wants to write data to a place it's not allowed. It will ask SuperUser to up its privileges and then BAM! it can write where it wants to. You yourself can gain SuperUser privileges in a shell by typing su. Then YOU can read, write, and execute to your hearts desire.
Before you root:
Before rooting, there are some basic things you should know. A lot of people rush into it without bothering to learn everything they should. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't.
Phone partitions: Your phone has a number of partitions. The important ones to know at first are:
1. System - this partition is essentially what you think of when you think of the operating system, the Android UI, and preinstalled
apps. When people talk about flashing ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod, Synergy, etc), they are talking about flashing a new system
partition.
2. Boot - this is the kernel and ramdisk. The kernel is responsible for managing the interactions between the phones software (including the ROM) and the
hardware. Altering the kernel can increase/decrease performance, battery life, and more because it manages applications and system resources. When
you flash a new kernel, it flashes to the boot partition. You may not notice a big difference like you do when changing ROMS, but behind the scenes, your
phone's performance can be drastically altered. A *LOOSE* analogy is that the ROM is like the body and interior of your car (including exterior color, AC,
stereo, heated seats, TV in headrests, etc.) and the kernel is like the engine. You may not see it, but you'll know it's there if it's awesome or it sucks.
3. Aboot - this was largely unimportant for newbies until the bootloader lock/unlock situation. The short story is that aboot contains functions which
authenticate the boot partition (that's the kernel, remember?). It checks to see if your boot partition is Verizon legal and if not, it aborts the boot process
and politely tells you to contact Verizon. This authentication is what is referred to as a "locked" bootloader. It prevents you from completely booting the
phone with a custom kernel. The bootloader is "unlocked" by replacing the stock aboot partition with one that does NOT check up on the boot partition.
This is important because it allows us to run whatever kernel we want.
4. Data - this contains user installed apps, settings, contacts, bookmarks, etc, etc, etc. You can wipe this partition (as opposed to the above partitions) and
still boot into the operating system. You will have just lost all your setting and apps. This is called a factory/data reset.
5. Cache - this is stuff that you frequently use so it's kept available for better performance. You can wipe it without much consequence.
6. Recovery - this partition contains a separate operating system that allows you to recover from a corrupted/absent/otherwise jacked up operating system. It
has other functions as well. The big ones are to backup your device and restore said backups, to wipe certain partitions, and to flash things to your
phone (i.e. install new ROMs, recoveries, or other programs). The stock recovery is limited so you will definitely want a custom recovery, created by the
fine devs in the community, on your device.
What is a ROM and what is a kernel? I touched on this above. A ROM is what goes on the system partition. It contains what you think of as the Android OS including the UI and preinstalled apps. It controls how programs interact with you, the user. A kernel controls how those programs interact with the phones hardware. You need both a ROM and a kernel to have a functional phone.
How do I get started rooting and flashing?
There is an excellent guide stickied in the development thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1762709. However, many of us
forget what it's like to be a COMPLETE newbie and to someone who has no idea about anything, even fantastic guides like that can be a little intimidating.
You can follow the steps, but may not understand what you're doing. The steps to take to start out with are:
1. Make sure you understand what I've written above. Make sure you are comfortable with the possibility of bricking your phone.
2. Root your device. As I said above, this is simply gaining root/Admin/whatever you want to call it access on your phone. In and of itself, it does NOT alter
the ROM or kernel or much of anything else. However, there are many different ways to obtain root and some of them DO alter these things. The easiest
and safest way to root (IMO) is to use Noxious Ninjas excellent tool. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792342. If you like it, I
encourage you to donate or at least "Thanks" him. It works by taking advantage of debugfs permissions to get su (remember this from above??) onto
your phone with permissions set so you can run it. It therefore doesn't change ROMs or anything else. You won't lose data, apps, or anything else. It just
sneaks su right onto your current setup.
3. Install a custom recovery. This will allow you to do all the fun stuff I talked about above. I recommend installing EZ-recovery from the market and flashing
CWM 6.0.1.0.
1. Install EZ-recovery
2. Under the "Recovery" heading, click the Recovery radio button and select CWM 6.0.1.0 next to it.
3. Click flash
4. Backup everything as if your life depended on it. This means backing up your IMEI as shown here
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/32397-tutorial-imeibackup-nv-with-qpst-us-variants/ and making a nandroid. A nandroid is an image of your phone
including your ROM, your data, and your kernel(depending on what phone you have). You can restore a nandroid backup and you'll be right back where
you were before flashing or changing things around. The steps to making a nandroid are:
1. Turn off your phone.
2. Hold down volume up, home, and power until recovery appears.
3. Use the volume rocker to go to "backup and restore" and hit the power button
4. Select backup and then select the external (default) or internal (labeled "internal") SD card
You can restore a nandroid in a similar fashion (although you should wipe data/cache first - see below).
5. Unlock the bootloader. You must do this seperately from flashing ROMs and kernels. Refer to this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839791 and give appropriate thanks! A warning...if you mess up your aboot partition, there's really nothing (that I know of) you can do to revive your phone besides send it to someone with JTAG or back to Verizon.
You're now ready to start flashing ROMs.
As a precursor, there are ROMS that are based on TouchWiz modified Android from Verizon/Samsung and there are ROMS based on AOSP (e.g. CyanogenMod). TW roms need a TW kernel and AOSP roms need an AOSP kernel. Until you get comfortable with everything, I would stick with TW. Also, some roms come with kernels and will flash the kernel to your boot partition as well as the ROM to your system partition. Some ROMs don't come with kernels. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read the OP of a rom you want to flash to find out kernel information as well as how to install the rom and anything else you may need to know. The general steps to flashing a ROM are (remember to read the OP for specifics):
1. Backup apps, data, call log, contacts, messages, etc. My program of choice for much of this is Titanium Backup available on the market. Buy it as you'll
use it a billion times.
2. Download the ROM you want and check the MD5
3. Place the ROM on the root of your SD card. Do NOT unzip it.
4. Reboot into recovery and make a nandroid backup
5. Wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache. Wipe it more than once if paranoid.
6. Go to "install zip from sdcard" and select the ROM you want
7. If you want/need to flash a kernel, install that zip from the sdcard too with the same command
8. Reboot and restore all that you backed up
Remember:
- ALWAYS backup before doing anything
- verify MD5
- wipe data and cache (unless told not to by the ROM dev)
- NEVER accept an OTA (having a custom recovery should block OTAs anyway)
PS. The techniques, tools, roms, etc in this post are not mine and arte the products of hours of hard work by multiple devs. Please thank them accordingly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANK YOU!!!!! Very helpful! I had no idea I needed EZ-Recovery to flash CWM as the primary recovery tool - that saved me big time as I was about to unlock the bootloader later today.
After posting this last night, and awaiting responses, I was browsing and trying to take in as much as I could. I finally realized that each section in the linked guide is a different way to either root or install a ROM. After I figured this out, and read about Odin being best for newbies, I decided to take the risk and wing it, even though I wasn't 110% sure.
So, now I'm rooted and have ROM manager/CWM installed, TiBu, and ES File Explorer installed. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can/cannot remove as far as bloatware. A few items I'm sure I'd like to keep (working), so I don't want to mess with anything that might be used in another app/widget....Which brings me to my next question...
What's the best way to remove bloatware? I found an excel spreadsheet online that shows what's safe/unsafe to remove but I'm confused as to what I should do to get rid of items I NEVER want, and how to turn off items I MAY want in the future. If I freeze these items, do they stay frozen upon reboot, and until I unfreeze, or otherwise? What's the difference between a .APK package and a single process, etc?
Thanks in advance! I feel like I entered Android Elementary last night and already graduated to Android Junior High!
P.S. The captchas on this site to post ARE THE WORST CAPTAS IVE SEEN IN MY ENTIRE FRIGGIN LIFE, MY GOD!!!! I must refresh it 20x til something is RELATIVELY clear. Seriously????

ike034 said:
1...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too..... But the post are suppose to me helpful and or contribute in some way....
But at least we can thank all over the place......

Weioo said:
THANK YOU!!!!! Very helpful! I had no idea I needed EZ-Recovery to flash CWM as the primary recovery tool - that saved me big time as I was about to unlock the bootloader later today.
After posting this last night, and awaiting responses, I was browsing and trying to take in as much as I could. I finally realized that each section in the linked guide is a different way to either root or install a ROM. After I figured this out, and read about Odin being best for newbies, I decided to take the risk and wing it, even though I wasn't 110% sure.
So, now I'm rooted and have ROM manager/CWM installed, TiBu, and ES File Explorer installed. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can/cannot remove as far as bloatware. A few items I'm sure I'd like to keep (working), so I don't want to mess with anything that might be used in another app/widget....Which brings me to my next question...
What's the best way to remove bloatware? I found an excel spreadsheet online that shows what's safe/unsafe to remove but I'm confused as to what I should do to get rid of items I NEVER want, and how to turn off items I MAY want in the future. If I freeze these items, do they stay frozen upon reboot, and until I unfreeze, or otherwise? What's the difference between a .APK package and a single process, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear you're rooted and learning a lot! Now you're opening another HUGE can of worms, namely how Android organizes the application framework, what are services, processes, activities, tasks etc. You may have already found the information you're looking for, but a montrously dumbed down version is that the APK is a package containing the compiled program and all the extraneous files it needs to run while a process is an actively running application. In order to debloat, you can either freeze an application with another program like TiBu, or you can manually freeze it by changing the app extension, or you can delete the APK, or you can remove it from the rom you want BEFORE you even flash it. What you choose depends on your goals...why you want to debloat.

Weioo said:
THANK YOU!!!!! Very helpful! I had no idea I needed EZ-Recovery to flash CWM as the primary recovery tool - that saved me big time as I was about to unlock the bootloader later today.
After posting this last night, and awaiting responses, I was browsing and trying to take in as much as I could. I finally realized that each section in the linked guide is a different way to either root or install a ROM. After I figured this out, and read about Odin being best for newbies, I decided to take the risk and wing it, even though I wasn't 110% sure.
So, now I'm rooted and have ROM manager/CWM installed, TiBu, and ES File Explorer installed. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can/cannot remove as far as bloatware. A few items I'm sure I'd like to keep (working), so I don't want to mess with anything that might be used in another app/widget....Which brings me to my next question...
What's the best way to remove bloatware? I found an excel spreadsheet online that shows what's safe/unsafe to remove but I'm confused as to what I should do to get rid of items I NEVER want, and how to turn off items I MAY want in the future. If I freeze these items, do they stay frozen upon reboot, and until I unfreeze, or otherwise? What's the difference between a .APK package and a single process, etc?
Thanks in advance! I feel like I entered Android Elementary last night and already graduated to Android Junior High!
P.S. The captchas on this site to post ARE THE WORST CAPTAS IVE SEEN IN MY ENTIRE FRIGGIN LIFE, MY GOD!!!! I must refresh it 20x til something is RELATIVELY clear. Seriously????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you decided on a ROM you want to use yet? Personally I think that takes a lot of the decisions about de-bloating out of the equation. Pick a ROM, flash it, and see what you got? I first did the de-bloated root method and didn't have the stock e-mail app! While it is easy to download an e-mail app from the play store I was still shocked that it was considered bloat by the builder of the particular de-bloated version I chose.
Currently I am on Synergy 1.7 r23 with Darkhorse theme. I also like the Color in HD theme but can't decided between the two.

Bleelas said:
Glad to hear you're rooted and learning a lot! Now you're opening another HUGE can of worms, namely how Android organizes the application framework, what are services, processes, activities, tasks etc. You may have already found the information you're looking for, but a montrously dumbed down version is that the APK is a package containing the compiled program and all the extraneous files it needs to run while a process is an actively running application. In order to debloat, you can either freeze an application with another program like TiBu, or you can manually freeze it by changing the app extension, or you can delete the APK, or you can remove it from the rom you want BEFORE you even flash it. What you choose depends on your goals...why you want to debloat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, the explanation of what a .APK is helped a TON! Thank you!
dan_joegibbsfan said:
Have you decided on a ROM you want to use yet? Personally I think that takes a lot of the decisions about de-bloating out of the equation. Pick a ROM, flash it, and see what you got? I first did the de-bloated root method and didn't have the stock e-mail app! While it is easy to download an e-mail app from the play store I was still shocked that it was considered bloat by the builder of the particular de-bloated version I chose.
Currently I am on Synergy 1.7 r23 with Darkhorse theme. I also like the Color in HD theme but can't decided between the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you've been helping me in my other thread. Thanks again for everything! I believe you know now, I am on Synergy r46, running quite stable so far but I haven't done much to the phone since flashing.

I've got a noob question... is there any way to back up your IMEI and install the samsung drivers from a Mac besides running Parallels or VMware? I rooted using Adam Outler's Casual and would like to start flashing ROM's but don't want to risk it without backing up my IMEI first.

See the note in this thread that backing up IMEI is obsolete. Nowadays you use the method linked from that thread, which does not involve making a backup first.

Weioo, I'd like to thank you for your intelligent questions, willingness to read, and attitude in this forum. It's good to see someone posting in the correct place, educating theirself, and not coming into the forum saying something like "plz help my phone wont boot and i didnt read enouf". So, respect. :good:
Anyway, to add something to this thread. What version of Clockwork Recovery are you using? If you're using version 6+, let me say a little how to manage your backups. The new CWR stores its backups in /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/, which will only be about 20mb in size - this is normal. The backup file is just sort of an index, and the other couple hundred megabytes meat of the backup is stored as a ton of tiny files in /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/. If you ever need to clean up space on your phone's storage, always delete the backup file and do not touch the blobs directory. When you make your next backup, CWR will clean up the space freed from deleting that backup file.
What's actually going on is that instead of making one big file as a copy of a phone's complete image (as CWR did in previous versions), it saves space by backing up each file individually. If you have two backups with the exact same file (having the same hash), CWR deduplicates that by only backing it up once. The blobs folder has each fine, with the hash as its filename, and the backup file includes which hashes (filenames) it needs to function. When very few things change in between backups, the new backup only has to add new blobs for the things that changed (and thus have a different hash). You don't delete the blobs directly because it's not obvious which ones are used and which aren't. When CWR cleans up space, it reads the backup files and deletes blobs that aren't associated with any existing backups.

rednukleus said:
See the note in this thread that backing up IMEI is obsolete. Nowadays you use the method linked from that thread, which does not involve making a backup first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thanks, but if I do flash something and lose my IMEI, to do that process I'd need to be running Parallels or VMware on my Mac. Basically I'm trying to figure out if there is another way to do this using a mac or would I need to buy one of those programs if I lose my IMEI?

Great beginner post
lazarus2405 said:
Weioo, I'd like to thank you for your intelligent questions, willingness to read, and attitude in this forum. It's good to see someone posting in the correct place, educating theirself, and not coming into the forum saying something like "plz help my phone wont boot and i didnt read enouf". So, respect. :good:
Anyway, to add something to this thread. What version of Clockwork Recovery are you using? If you're using version 6+, let me say a little how to manage your backups. The new CWR stores its backups in /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/, which will only be about 20mb in size - this is normal. The backup file is just sort of an index, and the other couple hundred megabytes meat of the backup is stored as a ton of tiny files in /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/. If you ever need to clean up space on your phone's storage, always delete the backup file and do not touch the blobs directory. When you make your next backup, CWR will clean up the space freed from deleting that backup file.
What's actually going on is that instead of making one big file as a copy of a phone's complete image (as CWR did in previous versions), it saves space by backing up each file individually. If you have two backups with the exact same file (having the same hash), CWR deduplicates that by only backing it up once. The blobs folder has each fine, with the hash as its filename, and the backup file includes which hashes (filenames) it needs to function. When very few things change in between backups, the new backup only has to add new blobs for the things that changed (and thus have a different hash). You don't delete the blobs directly because it's not obvious which ones are used and which aren't. When CWR cleans up space, it reads the backup files and deletes blobs that aren't associated with any existing backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should be stickied!!

My apologies for the newb questions, but last night I modded my phone to Eclipse 2.1 version 10-20-12 with the latest GAPPS 10-21-12 ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1934572 ). This latest GAPPS seems to be missing a bunch of applications including GMAIL registration (to access the Play store successfully) as well Google Now and many other Google based apps (Google Maps, Google Voice, etc etc). I don't believe the ROM was installed incorrectly - I went through the prerequisite Wipe Cache/Wipe Partition/Wipe Dvalik Cache and even Fix Permissions. Also the Voice Search application is missing, but maybe that's tied in with the Google suite of apps not running correctly.
Being that I'm a newb on this site I can't post the question over on the Eclipse page (not allowed access with less then 10 posts) but I find it impossible to properly register/access Google Play as well as using any of the Google Apps. I went ahead and downloaded Google Now separately and installed the APKs but this just resulted in the program crashing when the GPS is enabled (keeping it disabled keeps Google Now at the "Initializing" screen).
Thanks for any support that can be provided.

ResolveD
Disregard the previous post - used GAPPS from 10-12-12 (w/o Dvalik cache wipe) and Google Now, Voice Search, G-mail register, Google Play all work fine now. The only issue I see is presently with the Google Now browser not scrolling through links, but you can always use the magnifying glass (which shows you previews of the webpages it finds).
Anyways HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ROM!!! Eclipse 10-20 build (4.1.2) w/10-12 GAPPS. Easily the best ROM out there so far :laugh:

Deleting System apps
Now that I have finally rooted my VZW GS3, and installed Titanium Backup Pro, am I able to delete system apps from there without damaging anything? I have not installed a custom ROM, all I have done is root, unlock bootloader and install CWM. I want to get rid of bloatware (e.g. Polaris Viewer) can I use TI BU Pro?

levilib said:
Now that I have finally rooted my VZW GS3, and installed Titanium Backup Pro, am I able to delete system apps from there without damaging anything? I have not installed a custom ROM, all I have done is root, unlock bootloader and install CWM. I want to get rid of bloatware (e.g. Polaris Viewer) can I use TI BU Pro?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

levilib said:
Now that I have finally rooted my VZW GS3, and installed Titanium Backup Pro, am I able to delete system apps from there without damaging anything? I have not installed a custom ROM, all I have done is root, unlock bootloader and install CWM. I want to get rid of bloatware (e.g. Polaris Viewer) can I use TI BU Pro?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to add that it may be better to just freeze the apps, or at least run a nandroid backup so you can revert to stock. Without all system apps intact an OTA update would fail.

apacseven said:
Just wanted to add that it may be better to just freeze the apps, or at least run a nandroid backup so you can revert to stock. Without all system apps intact an OTA update would fail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worried about an OTA update, and I made a nandroid, I just want to make sure I'm not going to delete anything important. are there any apps you can think of that I would want to delete but it would cause problems?

[Q] 100% Original Stock ROM backup before root?

Hi there,
I am new to xda and new to Android hacking.
What I wanna ask is, (I guess it's of most newbies concern as well), can we have a 100% backup of our system (stock ROM)? Obviously, it is important because:
If we perform an official (OTA) update to a new Android version. And we don't like it. It is possible to get back to the old original one which we are used to. (not everybody likes new things, and/or not every new thing is good)
If our phones are having some problems. And we have to give it back to the company for a fix. In most cases they will flash a new ROM for us. If we wanna keep using the old one (explained in #1), we have to keep a copy of it by ourselves.
If we want to try new custom ROMs, we may want to switch it back after trying.
Whenever we do any modifications, it's always better to keep a backup/roll-back point. In case anything goes wrong, we have a safeguard.
For the official warranty issue.
Yup I do see there are some official stock ROMs downloads for some particular phones. But those are not really a backup of our original ROMs. And it's always hard to verify if those downloads are the original official releases. And, if those downloads are 100% stock ROMs, this means some guys out there could make it, so what is the way to do so?
Or, how those mobile phone companies do it in their labs?
I have been doing researches on this topic for a few days. Some posts claim that their methods are "backup stock ROM" or "backup before rooting". But after digging into it, they requires rooting and/or flashing CWM. Here comes a few questions:
Questions
Rooting will in fact changes some files/data of the system. So backup after root is NOT getting the original stock ROM. Is it?
Is there a method to "un-root", so ALL the changes are TOTALLY reverted?
Installing/flashing things like CWM in phone requires rooting, which would make the ROM not original. Is there a way to extract the system backup from a computer externally?
In addition, I have found some related pieces. which could be useful to anyone viewing this post, and might be useful for you to solve this (my) question. :fingers-crossed:
* as I'm a new user, I can't post links directly. Please delete the blank spaces in between.
ht tp://www .modaco .com/topic/351269-backup-original-rom/
In reply #5, user C3C0 raised a method of backing up the original stock ROM without root. But it seems he is flashing CWM and that method is only for ZTE Skate.
adb backup tool of Android SDK
At the first sight i came across this approach, I thought it is the official method to do whole system (ROM) backup (WOW - how nice!). But after studying for a few more posts, I think adb backup can only backup app+app_data, and possibly some system settings only. Am I correct? And also, adb backup is only for ICS (Android 4.0), isn't it?
adb backup usage: ht tp://forum.xda-developers .com/showthread.php?t=1420351
(But mentioned in the bottom of #1 the poster is having some issues on using adb backup. Perhaps there are some bugs and not reliable(?)
One more question on adb backup: Can it backup just one app+app_data, and restore just one app+app_data, without affecting other things? If yes, we don't need to root and don't need Titanium Backup (which requires root) for backup app+app_data. Isn't it?
** In case I have said anything or any terms wrongly in this thread, please DO correct me, for helping me and helping others.
P.S. i am using LG Optimus 3D.
Thanks a lot, wholeheartedly,
midnite_

Backup phone before root
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er

ASharpEdge said:
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi ya,
It's so nice that you are having the same concern as I do.
As far as i know, the approaches of rooting differ from phones to phones. So we may have to find our own specific rooting method in the phone model sub-forums. It won't be hard for your popular S3
I would like to have a look at that Mr. Robinson's thread. If he can backup the stock ROM, those app+app_data wont a big issue (i guess).
cheers,
midnite_

midnite_ said:
Questions
Rooting will in fact changes some files/data of the system. So backup after root is NOT getting the original stock ROM. Is it?
Is there a method to "un-root", so ALL the changes are TOTALLY reverted?
Installing/flashing things like CWM in phone requires rooting, which would make the ROM not original. Is there a way to extract the system backup from a computer externally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi midnight, welcome to a new and exciting world of Android and trying new things. First, let me assure you, what you want is NOT something new. People have been doing this type of thing for years. That is flashing and testing roms. As you will learn, it actually becomes quite addictive. We call those folks that get addicted to flashing: Flashaholics or crackflashers, lol
First let me talk about "root". This process consists of unlocking a lower level of the Android system known as the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader of your device allows you to flash a custom recovery, flashing a custom recovery allows you to flash the Superuser binary and Superuser.apk, This is what allows you to use apps that require "root". The bootloader is not an OS file. So when you are unlocking your bootloader you are not modifying your stock rom. Only when you have flashed the Superuser package have you modified your stock rom. And even that isn't really modifying anything. When you flash the Superuser package, it adds two files to your rom at certain locations of the file system. It adds the Superuser.apk file to system/app and it adds the SU binary to system/bin. Basically you CAN have a totally S-OFF (unlocked) bootloader and still have an entirely stock rom if you want. But the real benifit is flashing a custom recovery like ClockworkMod Recovery and then flash the superuser package.
As far as extracting the stock system, you should try giving adb a go. Do it right now if you like. Ensure you have the android sdk installed and properly set up on your computer and your computer can recognize your phone. Ensure your phone is in debugging mode, connect your phone to your computer, open up a command window, and run this command:
Code:
adb pull \
This command will pull everything off your phone except for data which is where your market or Google Play apps are stored.
Beyond XDA there are aso more resources to learn from. For example, http://www.android.com is a good place to start, and to learn more about adb check out http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html
If you need to learn how to setup the sdk here is the place to learn how: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
I'm sure others will add to this as well which is the good thing about this community.
Welcome to XDA, I hope you have fun learning, and maybe share back someday things you learn along the way.

wildstang83 said:
Hi midnight, welcome to a new and exciting world of Android and trying new things. First, let me assure you, what you want is NOT something new. People have been doing this type of thing for years. That is flashing and testing roms. As you will learn, it actually becomes quite addictive. We call those folks that get addicted to flashing: Flashaholics or crackflashers, lol
First let me talk about "root". This process consists of unlocking a lower level of the Android system known as the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader of your device allows you to flash a custom recovery, flashing a custom recovery allows you to flash the Superuser binary and Superuser.apk, This is what allows you to use apps that require "root". The bootloader is not an OS file. So when you are unlocking your bootloader you are not modifying your stock rom. Only when you have flashed the Superuser package have you modified your stock rom. And even that isn't really modifying anything. When you flash the Superuser package, it adds two files to your rom at certain locations of the file system. It adds the Superuser.apk file to system/app and it adds the SU binary to system/bin. Basically you CAN have a totally S-OFF (unlocked) bootloader and still have an entirely stock rom if you want. But the real benifit is flashing a custom recovery like ClockworkMod Recovery and then flash the superuser package.
As far as extracting the stock system, you should try giving adb a go. Do it right now if you like. Ensure you have the android sdk installed and properly set up on your computer and your computer can recognize your phone. Ensure your phone is in debugging mode, connect your phone to your computer, open up a command window, and run this command:
Code:
adb pull \
This command will pull everything off your phone except for data which is where your market or Google Play apps are stored.
Beyond XDA there are aso more resources to learn from. For example, ht tp://www .android .com is a good place to start, and to learn more about adb check out ht tp://developer .android .com/tools/help/adb.html
If you need to learn how to setup the sdk here is the place to learn how: ht tp://developer .android .com/sdk/index.html
I'm sure others will add to this as well which is the good thing about this community.
Welcome to XDA, I hope you have fun learning, and maybe share back someday things you learn along the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Wildstang,
Thanks very much for your warm welcome and very informative reply. So are you a Flashaholics or Crackflashers yet?
As I am a newbie, please forgive me if I am asking dumb questions.
As far as I understand,
The steps of root is
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk
** does "flash a custom recovery" means "flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk"?
"Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk" is just "add SU binary to system/bin" and "add Superuser.apk to system/app". Then why not just copy them into place?
I just found on the web that "flashing" means replacing the OS of the phone with a new ROM. Would that still keeping the stock ROM?
To have a backup of the original stock ROM, can I
1. Unlock the bootloader
2. Flash Superuser binary & Superuser.apk
3. Perform the backup
And later, after I have flashed a new ROM, or whatever I do, as long as I didn't brick it, when I want to rollback my phone to its original, I can
1. Restore the backup
2. Delete "SU binary in system/bin" and "Superuser.apk in system/app"
3. re-lock the bootloader
Is this correct?
I don't mean to challenge you. But does adb pull \ really backup the system, or just all the files?
Thanks very much again!
midnite_

Hey midnite_,
I am a newbie too and have a lot of blank spots in my understanding of what we can do with android. I also came here with same question. I found how to root, this isn't a secret. Like you, I want to know how do I fix it if I break it.
So, with regards to your questions.
1. Unlock the bootloader
Not clear on this one, as not every tutorial even mentions this part. My feeling is that this might be specific to some phones, like HTC.
2. Flash Custom Recovery (such as AmonRa, CWR, TWRP...)
Recovery is an intermediate stage of phone booting process after bootloader but before OS.
It is there to allow OTA (Over the air) updates. During those, the OS is halted and replaced with a newer one.
What this means for us is that the recovery is capable of replacing OS (ROM - are these terms interchangeable?).
Recovery is the same as hidden partition on windows, that is sometimes present on a PC. It has a limited interface.
It can replace one OS image with another. It probably checks the checksum and creates the new one after the update. It is probably the gatekeeper.
Stock recovery will not replace OS with an image from SD card or from PC through USB. Only OTA.
This is the reason for flashing the custom (hacked) recovery on.
Custom recovery is made to allow additional options, such as allowing image sources such as PC or SD card, and also a ROM backup (write OS image to PC).
3. Flash update file using "upgrade from SD card" function of custom recovery now in place.
In this step, the Superuser.apk and bin files are placed. Stock recovery will not let us do that.
Also, I think the reason we can't just use ADB to "copy" superuser package to phone is because the system is either running or exists as an image (compressed?), and is probably protective of its modification. (So, likely the superuser package also replaces the checksum that the OS uses to check if it has been compromised?) Yes, this modifies your rom.
I assume that unrooting could be done after this by updating again with a file that removes superuser package and that would make your rom stock again.
4 OR flash custom ROM, which usually includes superuser package. Of course using custom rom means you no longer have stock rom.
To have a backup of original ROM, you would :
1 Unlock bootloader,
2 Flash (install) custom recovery
3 superuser doesn't matter here
4 Use custom recovery function to back up your stock ROM.
I want to know the answers to the rest of your questions as well as some clarifications to mine.
Personally, I am looking for a way to backup the stock recovery as well.
I know there are some people asking about this. The procedure appears to be as follows:
(pieced together so don't take it as a tutorial)
1 Unlock bootloader (again, unclear on this. Also some mention S-OFF and others don't)
2 With USB debugging allowed (meaning connect as device requiring a driver), Connect to a PC with ABD, and a driver installed.
3 From ADB, issue a command "adb boot recoveryimage.name" instead of the usual "adb flash recoveryimage.name".
This will make the phone boot into a custom recovery image that is residing on PC, without first writing it to the phone.
4 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to back up stock rom to pc.
5 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to flash either root or custom rom to the phone.
6 Disconnect, reboot the phone. Once in OS, use root privileges to mount recovery partition ? (this makes it visible as drive)
7 Don't know how, but use root privileges to back up now visible stock recovery partition to PC as image.
( This should give you two out of three original parts.)
Keep in mind that even if my peace-by-peace "know-how" ever works, there is at least one clearly faulty step:
The back up of the original state of the boot loader has been never made. I do not know if it is easily can be toggled back and forth from lock to unlock and back without leaving any trace. Also, like yourself, I probably don't quite understand what am I talking about, but I have tried to make as much sense of what I have read here and there.
This is my first smart phone, and my experience with linux is limited to building a minecraft server on MineOS, which was pre-made so that not much was required to make it run. I have "mounted" a partition for the first time last week, trying to break Win7recovery, booting it with Knoppix. This is why I think this is probably will come in play here too, as the recovery partition on W7 was hidden. Until then I didn't understand what mounting means, as windows always does it for you. So, take everything I say with a bunch of salt.
Please, let me know too, if you find out more. I want to flash the hell out of my Prism, but I want to be smart about it.

bump... midnite_ r u still around?

Hi Descent2,
Yes i am still around but i am busy with other stuffs at this moment. Thanks very much for your reply. You have studied a lot and you really did good summarisations. Very informative and I learnt a lot from it. Hope some of the masters or experienced ones would come by and bring us out of the mist
cheers,
midnite_
Descent2 said:
Hey midnite_,
I am a newbie too and have a lot of blank spots in my understanding of what we can do with android. I also came here with same question. I found how to root, this isn't a secret. Like you, I want to know how do I fix it if I break it.
So, with regards to your questions.
1. Unlock the bootloader
Not clear on this one, as not every tutorial even mentions this part. My feeling is that this might be specific to some phones, like HTC.
2. Flash Custom Recovery (such as AmonRa, CWR, TWRP...)
Recovery is an intermediate stage of phone booting process after bootloader but before OS.
It is there to allow OTA (Over the air) updates. During those, the OS is halted and replaced with a newer one.
What this means for us is that the recovery is capable of replacing OS (ROM - are these terms interchangeable?).
Recovery is the same as hidden partition on windows, that is sometimes present on a PC. It has a limited interface.
It can replace one OS image with another. It probably checks the checksum and creates the new one after the update. It is probably the gatekeeper.
Stock recovery will not replace OS with an image from SD card or from PC through USB. Only OTA.
This is the reason for flashing the custom (hacked) recovery on.
Custom recovery is made to allow additional options, such as allowing image sources such as PC or SD card, and also a ROM backup (write OS image to PC).
3. Flash update file using "upgrade from SD card" function of custom recovery now in place.
In this step, the Superuser.apk and bin files are placed. Stock recovery will not let us do that.
Also, I think the reason we can't just use ADB to "copy" superuser package to phone is because the system is either running or exists as an image (compressed?), and is probably protective of its modification. (So, likely the superuser package also replaces the checksum that the OS uses to check if it has been compromised?) Yes, this modifies your rom.
I assume that unrooting could be done after this by updating again with a file that removes superuser package and that would make your rom stock again.
4 OR flash custom ROM, which usually includes superuser package. Of course using custom rom means you no longer have stock rom.
To have a backup of original ROM, you would :
1 Unlock bootloader,
2 Flash (install) custom recovery
3 superuser doesn't matter here
4 Use custom recovery function to back up your stock ROM.
I want to know the answers to the rest of your questions as well as some clarifications to mine.
Personally, I am looking for a way to backup the stock recovery as well.
I know there are some people asking about this. The procedure appears to be as follows:
(pieced together so don't take it as a tutorial)
1 Unlock bootloader (again, unclear on this. Also some mention S-OFF and others don't)
2 With USB debugging allowed (meaning connect as device requiring a driver), Connect to a PC with ABD, and a driver installed.
3 From ADB, issue a command "adb boot recoveryimage.name" instead of the usual "adb flash recoveryimage.name".
This will make the phone boot into a custom recovery image that is residing on PC, without first writing it to the phone.
4 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to back up stock rom to pc.
5 Unclear how, but make that custom recovery now being live to flash either root or custom rom to the phone.
6 Disconnect, reboot the phone. Once in OS, use root privileges to mount recovery partition ? (this makes it visible as drive)
7 Don't know how, but use root privileges to back up now visible stock recovery partition to PC as image.
( This should give you two out of three original parts.)
Keep in mind that even if my peace-by-peace "know-how" ever works, there is at least one clearly faulty step:
The back up of the original state of the boot loader has been never made. I do not know if it is easily can be toggled back and forth from lock to unlock and back without leaving any trace. Also, like yourself, I probably don't quite understand what am I talking about, but I have tried to make as much sense of what I have read here and there.
This is my first smart phone, and my experience with linux is limited to building a minecraft server on MineOS, which was pre-made so that not much was required to make it run. I have "mounted" a partition for the first time last week, trying to break Win7recovery, booting it with Knoppix. This is why I think this is probably will come in play here too, as the recovery partition on W7 was hidden. Until then I didn't understand what mounting means, as windows always does it for you. So, take everything I say with a bunch of salt.
Please, let me know too, if you find out more. I want to flash the hell out of my Prism, but I want to be smart about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

check here
All your answers can be found here: [REF] [GUIDE] Welcome to your device, the Galaxy S III. For more XDA related issues check here: [GUIDE] - XDA New User Guide - Getting started on XDA
Good Luck!
mf2112
XDA Moderator
ASharpEdge said:
Hello all this is my first post here...woohoo!:fingers-crossed: This forum is amazing as to the amount of information available. I just wish that in looking for what I need to do I did not need to look in so many places. I feel that if I want to root my T-Mobile GS3 that all the information should be in one subsection of the forum, but it is not that simple I guess....lol Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a Samsung GS3 with T-Mobile that I want to root. Everyone says to back up the phone before you do it but I am not really seeing how to make a backup before I start. It appears that most of the guides to root just say to backup without telling you how to fo it. Another thing (correct me if I am wrong) I see the nandroid backup that I think is a backup of the phone however it seems to be done after you make changes to the phone and I thought the backup was supposed to be done before you do anything. Is it that there is not a way to make a complete backup with an unrooted phone?
My question is basically the same as the OP here. I have been reading and reading and reading posts here in the forum. There is much information here and much of it is duplicated with slight variances in some of the duplicates. I am not certain as to which rooting method I should use. There seem to be so many choices. As a new person to this forum I will say that you can find just about everything about any phone which is awesome. The hard thing is sifting through the many options to pick one to use for your issue.
I do see that Mr. Robinson has a thread with backups of the original roms. The only thing is that they are default roms that are like an out of the box phone and not my phone with my apps and my settings. That is what I want to backup...My phone with my settings and my apps.
:good: Thank you in advance for any one that can shed some light on this for me and the OP'er
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks mf2112. But those resources are seem only for GS3. And it seems it is not teaching us to backup our stock ROMs, it provides stock ROMs for us to download instead. Is there a general way to backup our stock ROMs?
Thanks,
midnite_
mf2112 said:
All your answers can be found here: [REF] [GUIDE] Welcome to your device, the Galaxy S III. For more XDA related issues check here: [GUIDE] - XDA New User Guide - Getting started on XDA
Good Luck!
mf2112
XDA Moderator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

You must unlock your bootloader then flash a custom recovery. You will then use that custom recovery to make a backup of your rom. That backup will be stored on your sd card.
Now, I have tried to help you and so have a couple other folks. You expect us to just give you answers step by step. I am sorry but this is simply not how XDA works. XDA is set up in a way which makes it for any users to find quickly what they want to know. Use the search feature on the site and you will find many answers. I tell you to go do your own research now and be proud of what you learn on your own. And if you cannot, please do not try to modify your phone further, you may just brick it if you aren't careful.

midnite_ said:
Thanks mf2112. But those resources are seem only for GS3. And it seems it is not teaching us to backup our stock ROMs, it provides stock ROMs for us to download instead. Is there a general way to backup our stock ROMs?
Thanks,
midnite_
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I put in the GS3 links since the OP was using that phone. Every phone will be different so I don't think a general way or guide would be practical.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

[Q] My Infuse upgrade journey to 4.x.x, I need help

Hi,
Background:
I am a retired software engineer. I worked on the windows platform and focused on the Visual Basic family of code though I was familiar with many languages from assembly to C. I am very familiar with the programming jargon but find myself at a loss when reading to posts here, so bear with me if I don’t have a complete grasp on the terminology.
My Story:
I have an AT&T Samsung Infuse with android v2.3.6 and have been very happy with it. This is my first smartphone and didn’t pay much attention to how it worked until now. I bought an irrigation controller that has an app for the phone. After installing the controller, I found out the app only runs on v3.0 or newer (mine is v2.3.6). So, here I am trying to upgrade my phone to a newer version so the app will work (trying not to buy a new phone for this). My first goal was to back up everything, so I spent a number of days reading threads here trying to understand what I needed to do. I discovered that v3.0 is a tablet only OS (not completely sure about this). I researched the different version and thought that v4.3 or v4.4 would be the final goal. This lead me to finding a path that required going through v4.0 to get there (please correct me if I have drawn the wrong conclusion on this). I could not find a way to back up the OS without stumbling on the instructions to either root the phone and/or wipe the data and cache to install something.
What I have done so far:
1). I paid to have my phone rooted. The apps I installed would not back up the entire OS and my recovery did not have an option to do that.
2).I followed [ODIN][UCLB3] AT&T 2.3.6 Gingerbread with root and CWM recovery option - Infuse 4g instructions. I was able to back up the entire rom from the red recovery.
3).Next I followed the [Firmware][ICS]UNOFFICIAL CM9 for the Infuse 4G (07/28/2012) instructions. I was now up in the v4.0.4 OS but did not have any of my applications or any of my old data.
4). I redid step 2 and restored the backup I made and was back on v2.3.6 again.
5). I installed fx w/root, Easy Back, then step 3 and got some of what I wanted but no apps. So step 4 again. I did this again with My Backup Root (MBR). I had a backup of my apps this time but they would not install in v4.0.4. So I did step 4 once more.
And yes I have been bitten by a boot loop. I did something wrong after I got it to 4.0.4 once. Not sure what it was.
Questions:
1). Is (was) there a way to back up the OS(ROM) from my vanilla v2.3.6 so I had a true representation of my original phone? Seems like a bit of a catch 22.
2). When I was on v4.0.4, I could not find settings/application to change both my USB settings and Playstore options. This caused the restore to fail because it was not from the playstore. I was able to use fx to find the backup file, select an apk file and try to restore it that way. It told me it was not a playstore app, but gave me a link to settings/Application so I could change it. Then I restored the app successfully. Then I went back to MBR and tried to restore the data for that app, it failed. Now that the Playstore option was turned off, I tried to restore from MBR. This went successfully but the restore of the Data failed because the app was not installed. I am thinking that there is a difference in the folder structure that is causing this (maybe to do with MTD). I was not able to turn on the Setting/Application/Playstore option. Where did the Settings/Application option go in v4.0.4?
3) Is there a way to backup up applications from v2.3.6 and restore them to v4.0.4 (or any 4.0 + version)? I could do it one at a time from the MBR backup but not the applications data.
4). I noticed that in v4.0.4 there was a screen after the first Samsung one that said Galaxy S. Can this be changed?
5). After the Galaxy S screen (again in v4.0.4) came a screen with a stickman and real intense flashing. Can this be changed?
6). How can I find the most stable ROM to use? is there a list of available ROMs all the way to v4.4?
I am sure I will have more questions, Thanks

Shoraht said:
Hi,
Background:
I am a retired software engineer. I worked on the windows platform and focused on the Visual Basic family of code though I was familiar with many languages from assembly to C. I am very familiar with the programming jargon but find myself at a loss when reading to posts here, so bear with me if I don’t have a complete grasp on the terminology.
My Story:
I have an AT&T Samsung Infuse with android v2.3.6 and have been very happy with it. This is my first smartphone and didn’t pay much attention to how it worked until now. I bought an irrigation controller that has an app for the phone. After installing the controller, I found out the app only runs on v3.0 or newer (mine is v2.3.6). So, here I am trying to upgrade my phone to a newer version so the app will work (trying not to buy a new phone for this). My first goal was to back up everything, so I spent a number of days reading threads here trying to understand what I needed to do. I discovered that v3.0 is a tablet only OS (not completely sure about this). I researched the different version and thought that v4.3 or v4.4 would be the final goal. This lead me to finding a path that required going through v4.0 to get there (please correct me if I have drawn the wrong conclusion on this). I could not find a way to back up the OS without stumbling on the instructions to either root the phone and/or wipe the data and cache to install something.
What I have done so far:
1). I paid to have my phone rooted. The apps I installed would not back up the entire OS and my recovery did not have an option to do that.
2).I followed [ODIN][UCLB3] AT&T 2.3.6 Gingerbread with root and CWM recovery option - Infuse 4g instructions. I was able to back up the entire rom from the red recovery.
3).Next I followed the [Firmware][ICS]UNOFFICIAL CM9 for the Infuse 4G (07/28/2012) instructions. I was now up in the v4.0.4 OS but did not have any of my applications or any of my old data.
4). I redid step 2 and restored the backup I made and was back on v2.3.6 again.
5). I installed fx w/root, Easy Back, then step 3 and got some of what I wanted but no apps. So step 4 again. I did this again with My Backup Root (MBR). I had a backup of my apps this time but they would not install in v4.0.4. So I did step 4 once more.
And yes I have been bitten by a boot loop. I did something wrong after I got it to 4.0.4 once. Not sure what it was.
Questions:
1). Is (was) there a way to back up the OS(ROM) from my vanilla v2.3.6 so I had a true representation of my original phone? Seems like a bit of a catch 22.
2). When I was on v4.0.4, I could not find settings/application to change both my USB settings and Playstore options. This caused the restore to fail because it was not from the playstore. I was able to use fx to find the backup file, select an apk file and try to restore it that way. It told me it was not a playstore app, but gave me a link to settings/Application so I could change it. Then I restored the app successfully. Then I went back to MBR and tried to restore the data for that app, it failed. Now that the Playstore option was turned off, I tried to restore from MBR. This went successfully but the restore of the Data failed because the app was not installed. I am thinking that there is a difference in the folder structure that is causing this (maybe to do with MTD). I was not able to turn on the Setting/Application/Playstore option. Where did the Settings/Application option go in v4.0.4?
3) Is there a way to backup up applications from v2.3.6 and restore them to v4.0.4 (or any 4.0 + version)? I could do it one at a time from the MBR backup but not the applications data.
4). I noticed that in v4.0.4 there was a screen after the first Samsung one that said Galaxy S. Can this be changed?
5). After the Galaxy S screen (again in v4.0.4) came a screen with a stickman and real intense flashing. Can this be changed?
6). How can I find the most stable ROM to use? is there a list of available ROMs all the way to v4.4?
I am sure I will have more questions, Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. when updating unless you have a google account synced for contacts and apps....it all disappears when you jump from gb to ics to jb to kk
2.the only apps that will back up to the google account will be ones downloaded from the playstore..minus the data
3. that galaxy s screen will stay all the way to 4.4.3 kk
4.you can always change the bootanimation in custom roms (the stickman screen)
5.CarbonRom so far most stable 4.4.3 kk rom https://carbonrom.org/downloads/?device=infuse4g&type=nightly flash with these gapps http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2397942
6. after a certain point you cant flash a GB backup on KK cwm cause it will cause brick so if you want to go back to stock use heimdall or odin to do so
7.most of the apps on a gb roms wont run on ics or higher same with ics apps and jb apps

6th_Hokage said:
5.CarbonRom so far most stable 4.4.3 kk rom https://carbonrom.org/downloads/?device=infuse4g&type=nightly flash with these gapps http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2397942
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply
Can I go directly to 4.4.3 from 2.3.6 or do I need to step through 4.0.x like the others? I can't seem to find any specific instructions for them.
There are only nighty's at that link, no releases. How do I know what version they are (4.4.2/4.4.3)? I think it is the one dated 4/19/14.
Thanks again.

Shoraht said:
Thanks for the reply
Can I go directly to 4.4.3 from 2.3.6 or do I need to step through 4.0.x like the others? I can't seem to find any specific instructions for them.
There are only nighty's at that link, no releases. How do I know what version they are (4.4.2/4.4.3)? I think it is the one dated 4/19/14.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to the channel log https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zcp6iVWVw_7iH-ErnKgkYy3r5QuqV8PHFoQMb8hoBwQ/pub if you look at it itll tell you updating to 4.4.3 no nightlys or something like that but right now all the latest nightlys are 4.4.3......sorry not linking you to that before and they may be nightlys but they are stable im running the latest one at the moment
---------- Post added at 01:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:39 PM ----------
and som infuse phones have been able to jump to kk from stock with red cwm with lagfix turned off.....http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773833 look here for som more info

6th_Hokage said:
go to the channel log https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zcp6iVWVw_7iH-ErnKgkYy3r5QuqV8PHFoQMb8hoBwQ/pub if you look at it itll tell you updating to 4.4.3 no nightlys or something like that but right now all the latest nightlys are 4.4.3......sorry not linking you to that before and they may be nightlys but they are stable im running the latest one at the moment
---------- Post added at 01:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:39 PM ----------
and som infuse phones have been able to jump to kk from stock with red cwm with lagfix turned off.....http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773833 look here for som more info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
I missed your update

Shoraht said:
Thanks,
I missed your update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you been able to update?

6th_Hokage said:
have you been able to update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try tomorrow. I will post the results
Thanks.

6th_Hokage said:
and som infuse phones have been able to jump to kk from stock with red cwm with lagfix turned off.....http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773833 look here for som more info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got RiseFox to try my method and it work out for him also and probably work for others too.. Skip ICS and JB

scmfxt said:
Got RiseFox to try my method and it work out for him also and probably work for others too.. Skip ICS and JB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i went back to stock to see if your method would work and it did even jumping to 4.4.4 kk

scmfxt said:
Got RiseFox to try my method and it work out for him also and probably work for others too.. Skip ICS and JB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I am about to try this but have a couple questions. In other instructions, the clear cache (step 6a,b and c) is done before the flash, yours is after. What is the difference between the two methods? In step 3 you say "DISABLE vodoo lagfix and /system lagfix". I have CWM v2.5.1.3. I can see the option for vodoo lagfix but not /system lagfix. What is /system lagfix and where can I find this option?
[UPDATE] I found /system lagfix. it shows after selecting the voodoo lagfix option.
I am also making the assumption that because I got CWM v2.5.1.3 through [ODIN][UCLB3] AT&T 2.3.6 Gingerbread with root and CWM recovery option - Infuse 4g instructions, that I can skip step 1 thru 2c and start at step 3

OK,
Everything went well. Even better than I hoped. I can't remember what setting I changed to make this happen, but all the apps in playstore have been restored to the phone, even the free ones. I used Titanium to backup all my apps and then used it to restore the data for some apps like color notes. There is a setting that tells it to use the new locations instead of the original locations. I am a happy camper.
It will take a while for all this to finish, but this is what I was expecting.
I still can't find the equivalent option for Settings/Application from v2.3.6. Like, let me chose what USB mode when I plug it in? Most of the time I just use it to charge the phone. And where can I change the permission to restrict installing only apps from playstore?
Thanks your input.

Shoraht said:
I still can't find the equivalent option for Settings/Application from v2.3.6. Like, let me chose what USB mode when I plug it in? Most of the time I just use it to charge the phone. And where can I change the permission to restrict installing only apps from playstore?
Thanks your input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got most everything working. The option you are looking for is under Settings > Security > Device Administration (heading), and it should be called Unknown Sources. Hope this helps.

Ok,
Now I am having a new issue. I can't seem to get any of the apps that move apps to the external sd to work. The option to move is missing in the storage section. I am running out of space in the 2gb partition. AppMgr III and App to SD can show me a list of apps that can be moved, but when selected, there is no Move button present. Am I using the wrong app for 4.4.3?
It would be nice if that 2gb partition could be made bigger.
Thanks for any advice.

Shoraht said:
OK, I am about to try this but have a couple questions. In other instructions, the clear cache (step 6a,b and c) is done before the flash, yours is after. What is the difference between the two methods? In step 3 you say "DISABLE vodoo lagfix and /system lagfix". I have CWM v2.5.1.3. I can see the option for vodoo lagfix but not /system lagfix. What is /system lagfix and where can I find this option?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't hurt to clear them and safer for new rom to boot up w/o residual data from previous version. Flashing from odin would wipe all data from your phone.. not your Internal SD card. Reason I did it after is because of the installing of sgs kernel flasher to flash Synthesis GB Kernel. If you didn't install anything then just wipe cache partition and dalvik cache are good enough.
[UPDATE] I found /system lagfix. it shows after selecting the voodoo lagfix option.
I am also making the assumption that because I got CWM v2.5.1.3 through [ODIN][UCLB3] AT&T 2.3.6 Gingerbread with root and CWM recovery option - Infuse 4g instructions, that I can skip step 1 thru 2c and start at step 3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes skip them if you already reached that part. The rest is simple enough to do once lagfix is disabled.

joel.maxuel said:
Glad you got most everything working. The option you are looking for is under Settings > Security > Device Administration (heading), and it should be called Unknown Sources. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
That solves the Application install option. I still need to find the USB connect option so I can select at connect.

OK, New problem,
Everything was working just fine. Then I unplugged the USB cable and went for a ride. No Mobile Data (no Internet). I checked all the settings That I know about (They moved them all of course) and it looks like everything is set right (though I am not an expert). Can anyone help me with this?
Thanks again

Shoraht said:
OK, New problem,
Everything was working just fine. Then I unplugged the USB cable and went for a ride. No Mobile Data (no Internet). I checked all the settings That I know about (They moved them all of course) and it looks like everything is set right (though I am not an expert). Can anyone help me with this?
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I found out that the APN was changed, not sure how. It is a good think my wife has the same phone that I can check or I would be going back to my stock image to find this.
Thanks,