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[Solved!] Was hoping somebody could doublecheck my plan!

This may not be a traditional Q&A format, but I really wanted to make sure that the plan I have in mind is going to work out for me.
Hi! I'm a noob. I want to flash my first ROM ever after having gotten frustrated beyond belief with how often my Infuse crashes (every few hours I get the triple vibrate to crash). I've already rooted the Infuse and installed CWM though it seems that it was pointless for me to do both of these things as the steps I'm to follow seem to install the both of 'em.
Phone: Samsung Infuse
Carrier: AT&T
Current Firmware version: 2.2.1
Baseband version: I997UCKH1
Kernel version: 2.6.32.9
Build number: FROYO.UCKH1
ROM I want to install: Unofficial CM10
Steps I intend to take:
Back up with Titanium Backup (Free) - Done as according to ctkatz's thread.
I did not do a launcher backup, mostly because I don't know what it is and I don't believe I have one I'm interested in keeping. Also, I didn't use Rom Manager to make a nandroid backup since in the threads I've read the general consensus seems to be Rom Manager is REALLY AWESOME at bricking phones, but not so good for much else.. Rather, I booted into CWM and told it to make a backup. I'm under the impression this made a nandroid backup. If this didn't, please somebody let me know.
Install 2.3.6 Gingerbread via jscott30's thread and installing option D. And for some reason, this is the only step that requires me to use Odin. I'm not really sure why, if anybody wants to clear that up it'd be great!
Use Qksters EFS backup script to ensure that if I somehow mess things up, I can still save my phone! And to run this I just "flash" it like I would a ROM. Which is by selecting the install zip from sdcard option.
Follow Entropy's CM9 guide to go from GB to ICS And this is just because you can't jump from GB to JB? I'm assuming it's something along those lines. Either way, his guide seems straightforward enough. Also during this step, put the ROM, Overclock Kernel, and Gapp files for CM10 on my internal SD card.
Wipe in CWM
Flash the ROM in CWM
Flash Overclock Kernel in CWM because if I'm going through all this trouble to doctor my Android, I may as well give myself the ability to overclock it
Wipe Cache Partition in CWM I don't really know what this does, but I'm assuming it doesn't wipe anything I care about
Advanced/Wipe Dalvick Cache Same as the previous step. I don't know what it does, but I'm following instructions.
Reboot And I'm supposed to understand this first reboot will take like 5-10 minutes and I shouldn't run around my house crying that my phone broke when it takes a long time to reboot.
Wait 15 minutes and reboot a second time
Log into google account And this gets my contacts back
Restore user app data This gets my apps and my 3 starred all angry birds levels back?
CAREFULLY restore some system data that is green
And after that, I get to play around with my brand new shiny OS and enjoy my phone!
I apologize that this is not a very concise accumulation of questions, but there's not really a single guide that goes step by step through this ENTIRE process of going from Froyo to a customized jellybean OS while making sure you don't lose any app data. It's taken me about ~5 hours of reading through a number of topics and my brain is starting to feel fuzzy, so I really just wanted some of the more experienced members of the community to doublecheck my planning.
Thank you guys so much! Everybody in this community is just awesome for dumbing this process down for those of us who do not understanding the inner workings of a computer : ). I'm very appreciative!

You have pretty much the right idea.
There's a few pointer i would suggest. Back up your contacts to google. Save all your photos to your PC.
When you are making the move from 2.2.1 to 4.1.2 or 4.2, I would start it all new. I would not restore anything you had in froyo (2.2.1) to 4.1.2.
With that in mind, put your phone into download mode, flash jscott's gb with bootloaders.
Flash cm9 and then cm10 as instructed on their ops or andros's write up.

Also I noticed you have a step about flashing the OC kernel, but OC has now been integrated into the kernel that comes with the build.
And as qkster stated, avoid restoring data. If there is something essential you do not want to lose you may restore data for that specific app and in case you start having issues, you know what to blame.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app

qkster said:
You have pretty much the right idea.
There's a few pointer i would suggest. Back up your contacts to google. Save all your photos to your PC.
When you are making the move from 2.2.1 to 4.1.2 or 4.2, I would start it all new. I would not restore anything you had in froyo (2.2.1) to 4.1.2.
With that in mind, put your phone into download mode, flash jscott's gb with bootloaders.
Flash cm9 and then cm10 as instructed on their ops or andros's write up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Luckily, the guide I read on backing up suggested both of those things, so I've done those.
I'm underway! I managed to successfully install the option D from jscott, but I'm a little confused on how to flash the bootloaders. Do I need to put my phone back into download mode to use Odin again? I tried that, and Odin doesn't seem to want to recognize my phone.
And sadly, I can't skip out on the bootloaders as I'm sure you guessed. Upon trying to go to CM9 I failed miserably due to rainbows. I actually used your guide to get back to well, stock UCLB3, and from there I've been trying to get the bootloaders on by putting my phone in download mode.
With no luck, sadly. Odin just doesn't want to show my phone as connected. Kinda stuck at the moment!
EDIT: I re-read the guide of yours I followed and saw that all I had to do was flash the thing a second time with the install bootloaders box checked. Unfortunately, I've done that, and I can clearly read the words "Uploading SBL...SBL upload failed!" on my screen.
Doesn't take much of a genius to figure out that the BL likely stands for bootloaders, so now I'm slightly freaking out. Heimdall One-click is currently trying to end the session. I'm of course going to let it go as long as I can hoping that it ends things nicely as I'm terrified to try turning anything off at this point. Hopefully I didn't just permanently destroy my phone =\
Andros: Oh thank you for saving me from the OC mishap. I suppose there's some good in me not having gotten that far yet due to problems!
EDIT 2: I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I swapped my USB ports around a bit and kept trying with your Heimdall One-click stuff and finally got the bootloaders in! Once that went through the rest was easy as pie : ) Everything's going smooth, I'm currently installing JB Gapp stuff, then I'm going to follow the rest of my ROM guide and I don't forsee any issues. Thank you guys again, both of your guides and your responses were very helpful!

I want to thank YOU arguro. If everybody had the patience and intelligence to so thoroughly research what they wanted to do there would be so many less help I bricked my phone threads and a whole lot less irritated developers.
You went into the process with the right amount desire / fear. Glad you made it and welcome to jellybean!
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Skyrocket on Simple Mobile (tmobile) - Brain is fried

Alright, so i am having a bit of an issue. And it's probably because i'm a complete noob....
So, I have a new GS3, and wanted to give my (already rooted and flashed with Cyanogenmod 10) Skyrocket to my mom to use on Simple mobile (a company using T-mobile's towers).
I read that you can flash radios for T-mobile onto the phone, and so I figured everything would work.
Here is what I did.
I unlocked the phone while in Cyanogenmod10
Flashed LiquidSmooth RC9 - read it had less bugs
tried flashing multiple Tmobile Radios
I get NO service. I cant pick any of them up..
Baseband comes up as UNKNOWN...
So i'm currently downloading ODIN and going to try to flash to stock and just start from scratch...
Any suggestions on what to do?

Do you still have an imei?

Try unlocking the phone after you've gone back to stock. I don't know how you did it with cm10. I don't think it works with anything but stock.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using xda app-developers app

No, the IMEI is blank when i do the *#06# code....
also, when i put the simple mobile sim in the phone, it automatically came up asking for the network unlock code. That's how i was able to unlock it.

Did you ever backup your imei? Flashing back to stock will hopefully bring it back if not you may have some issues. Also as mentioned above it's better to unlock from a stock ROM or at least stock based.

Alright, Flashed to stock, IMEI is back (thank god), and i'm getting service.
Now here are the issues ahead of me, and any help would be greatly appreciated.
I am on STOCK ATT ICS Rom.
I GET SERVICE (however, it's only 2g) i know i need to flash the radios for Tmobile,
Was going to use this ---> Blaze_4G_LB7_ICS_Radio_MOD ...... Direct DL, CAN BE USED FOR T-MOBILE/WIND ON ICS (from the skyrocket reference thread)
First i know i have to root, install CWM, all that.
Now, should i flash a custom rom? If so, which one would you suggest. ( i assume, i have to give her ICS, not JB, right?)
Also, you said backup my IMEI, i'll look this up in the meantime, but if you could include a link in your post on a how-to just in case i dont find it, i would really appreciate it.
Also, is there anything else i should do to get this working properly?
thank you very much for all your help.

eternalcold said:
Alright, Flashed to stock, IMEI is back (thank god), and i'm getting service.
Now here are the issues ahead of me, and any help would be greatly appreciated.
I am on STOCK ATT ICS Rom.
I GET SERVICE (however, it's only 2g) i know i need to flash the radios for Tmobile,
Was going to use this ---> Blaze_4G_LB7_ICS_Radio_MOD ...... Direct DL, CAN BE USED FOR T-MOBILE/WIND ON ICS (from the skyrocket reference thread)
First i know i have to root, install CWM, all that.
Now, should i flash a custom rom? If so, which one would you suggest. ( i assume, i have to give her ICS, not JB, right?)
Also, you said backup my IMEI, i'll look this up in the meantime, but if you could include a link in your post on a how-to just in case i dont find it, i would really appreciate it.
Also, is there anything else i should do to get this working properly?
thank you very much for all your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom ROM is your choice. There are a lot of JB ROMS that are pretty stable. Also a new stock JB leak in the dev section. As far as backing up your imei. You'll need to root first as soon as you do get a file explorer and copy the whole EFS folder to your external SDcard. Then also copy it to your computer. The imei is held within the EFS folder. From now on do this as soon as you root BEFORE you flash anything. lol

hechoen said:
Custom ROM is your choice. There are a lot of JB ROMS that are pretty stable. Also a new stock JB leak in the dev section. As far as backing up your imei. You'll need to root first as soon as you do get a file explorer and copy the whole EFS folder to your external SDcard. Then also copy it to your computer. The imei is held within the EFS folder. From now on do this as soon as you root BEFORE you flash anything. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! I'll start rooting now and back it up immediately. I would love to give her a JB rom, mainly for google now. However, that radio is for ICS. Is that going to cause a problem? or will it even work on JB?

I've been on JB for months using an ICS radio. I'm on ATT so I can't say for certain but it shouldn't be an issue. Just go to the DEV thread and spend a few hours reading up on what's available. Like I said most of the ROMs are pretty stable at this point.

FYI, on skyrocket the IMEI is stored in mmcblk0p18 and mmcblk0p19, not /efs partition. Might really want to back those up, especially before attempting a usb unlock. The /efs only really stores exports of certain properties from mmcblk0p18.

cschmitt said:
FYI, on skyrocket the IMEI is stored in mmcblk0p18 and mmcblk0p19, not /efs partition. Might really want to back those up, especially before attempting a usb unlock. The /efs only really stores exports of certain properties from mmcblk0p18.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up. lol I thought for sure they'd be stored in the same place they where for my SGS4G. So what is stored in the imei folder in EFS then?

Most directions "how to root" seem to be from 2012...

On July 20th 2013, I bought a new Verizon Galaxy S3 i535 (no contract due to I need unlimited data). As a 50 year old guy, I admit that I never rooted before. I decided to do some research on the web which also included this XDA site. By the way, this is the best site!!
As someone who never rooted, I found multiple different ways of rooting which caused great confusion. Some told me to download Odin, while some did not. Some told me to download a superSU or something like that, while other directions did not, and so on and on......
But what really concerns me is that most of the directions were written back in 2012. Should this be a concern?
I don't want to seem like a retard or impose, but would someone do a video skype with me and walk me thru rooting my phone for the very first time? Perhaps during that skype session I could ask a few questions? I would pre download all files so that the session would not take too long.
Any volunteers?
Respectfully,
Bryan

All you need to Do is visit this link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42791826
Those are the most straight forward directions you can find. And it will Root, unlock your bootloader, and install a custom recovery.

thank you for the reply. this is yet another way off rooting. why does this not use Odin? will this method allow me to undo or fix something if something goes bad?

BKSinAZ said:
thank you for the reply. this is yet another way off rooting. why does this not use Odin? will this method allow me to undo or fix something if something goes bad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't use Odin because it doesn't need to. The one click solution includes all the tools needed to make the necessary changes to your phone.
If something goes wrong, then you would use Odin to go back to stock no matter what root /unlock method you used. This is because Odin has the lowest level access to your phone, and can rescue it as long as you can boot into download mode.
As long as you don't flash files intended for other phones (including s3s from other carriers) your phone should be safe.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

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funnyperson1 said:
It doesn't use Odin because it doesn't need to. The one click solution includes all the tools needed to make the necessary changes to your phone.
If something goes wrong, then you would use Odin to go back to stock no matter what root /unlock method you used. This is because Odin has the lowest level access to your phone, and can rescue it as long as you can boot into download mode.
As long as you don't flash files intended for other phones (including s3s from other carriers) your phone should be safe.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok... here is one of my last questions before I begin the root process....
Do I need to make a backup of my stock phone? There are no pictures or music, but do I need to make a backup in anyway first so if things go bad I can return to stock?

BKSinAZ said:
Ok... here is one of my last questions before I begin the root process....
Do I need to make a backup of my stock phone? There are no pictures or music, but do I need to make a backup in anyway first so if things go bad I can return to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to pop in here and help out. Once you do the casual root process, it will also install a recovery for you. You can make a nandroid backup with your recovery and just keep that somewhere safe. There are also directions on how to recover and return your phone to Verizon here. Hope that answers your question.

BKSinAZ said:
Ok... here is one of my last questions before I begin the root process....
Do I need to make a backup of my stock phone? There are no pictures or music, but do I need to make a backup in anyway first so if things go bad I can return to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, as I said above, as long as you can reach download mode on your phone you can always Odin back to stock. If you somehow break download mode, then your phone is pretty much bricked without sending it out to someone with a JTAG programmer. The risk of that happenning though is minimal unless you flash a ROM intended for a different device (such as the international i9300 S3).

funnyperson1 said:
No, as I said above, as long as you can reach download mode on your phone you can always Odin back to stock. If you somehow break download mode, then your phone is pretty much bricked without sending it out to someone with a JTAG programmer. The risk of that happenning though is minimal unless you flash a ROM intended for a different device (such as the international i9300 S3).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK... did exactly what you and the directions stated. Upon the phone booting up, there is a 'padlock' and the option to swipe. When I swipe, I am not as the home screen that I am accustomed to. I am in the Team Win Recovery Project" with the only option to 'select zip to install" and 6 buttons to press (install, backup, mount, advanced, wipe, restore, settings, reboot)
This was an unexpected step and was wondering what to do next?.... or did I mess things up?

BKSinAZ said:
OK... did exactly what you and the directions stated. Upon the phone booting up, there is a 'padlock' and the option to swipe. When I swipe, I am not as the home screen that I am accustomed to. I am in the Team Win Recovery Project" with the only option to 'select zip to install" and 6 buttons to press (install, backup, mount, advanced, wipe, restore, settings, reboot)
This was an unexpected step and was wondering what to do next?.... or did I mess things up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you were successful in rooting and unlocking your phone's bootloader. The program you are seeing (TWRP recovery) allows you to flash roms/mods (install), backup your phone, wipe and restore your phone. However, this shouldn't be what you see on bootup unless you pressed volume up while booting. Your stock ROM may have been wiped during the root process.
I suggest you dive into the world of Custom ROMs with CleanROM which is basically a de-bloated and tweaked version of the stock ROM.
Download the file from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832070
Use your PC to put it on a microSD card. In TWRP recovery, perform a Factory Reset (from the Wipe Menu), then navigate to the external_sdcard and install CleanROM (from install menu). Wipe caches and reboot once installation is finished. You should boot straight into CleanROM.

funnyperson1 said:
It sounds like you were successful in rooting and unlocking your phone's bootloader. The program you are seeing (TWRP recovery) allows you to flash roms/mods (install), backup your phone, wipe and restore your phone. However, this shouldn't be what you see on bootup unless you pressed volume up while booting. Your stock ROM may have been wiped during the root process.
I suggest you dive into the world of Custom ROMs with CleanROM which is basically a de-bloated and tweaked version of the stock ROM.
Download the file from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832070
Use your PC to put it on a microSD card. In TWRP recovery, perform a Factory Reset (from the Wipe Menu), then navigate to the external_sdcard and install CleanROM (from install menu). Wipe caches and reboot once installation is finished. You should boot straight into CleanROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that when I went into the backup area and made a backup (a backup of what, I do not know because I am totally new to this) and after the backup the phone rebooted to the normal home screen with all the normal icons. I even just received a phone call so I guess all is good.
I don't know what to do now that my phone is rooted. My goal was just to uninstall unwanted programs etc, So when I get the courage, I will use the CLEANROM.
Question.... do I now have to constantly update my existing root or Cleanrom once installed? Do I now avoid Verizon or Samsung updates?

BKSinAZ said:
OK... did exactly what you and the directions stated. Upon the phone booting up, there is a 'padlock' and the option to swipe. When I swipe, I am not as the home screen that I am accustomed to. I am in the Team Win Recovery Project" with the only option to 'select zip to install" and 6 buttons to press (install, backup, mount, advanced, wipe, restore, settings, reboot)
This was an unexpected step and was wondering what to do next?.... or did I mess things up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're not ready to flash roms just touch reboot and you'll be back to your stock jellybean. In regards to the padlock, I also got that after using CASUAL and underneath the padlock it says custom. I haven't gotten a definitive answer about that but the general consensus is that it's nothing to worry about. I suppose it's just Verizon letting you know that they detected changes to your phone.
Do yourself a favor and read for days and days before you start flashing roms. You'll find the answers here and YouTube.

BKSinAZ said:
It seems that when I went into the backup area and made a backup (a backup of what, I do not know because I am totally new to this) and after the backup the phone rebooted to the normal home screen with all the normal icons. I even just received a phone call so I guess all is good.
I don't know what to do now that my phone is rooted. My goal was just to uninstall unwanted programs etc, So when I get the courage, I will use the CLEANROM.
Question.... do I now have to constantly update my existing root or Cleanrom once installed? Do I now avoid Verizon or Samsung updates?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great. The backup you made is what is called a "nandroid" backup. By default it includes the Android System, your apps, and associated application data and settings. This is great because it basically includes everything you need to restore your phone to it's previous state. So if you were to flash a custom ROM and ended up not liking it you could always restore this backup and it would restore your phone to how it is now.
Being rooted allows you to install and use applications from the Play store that require root. There are tons of them. The one I use most often is called Titanium Backup. It's primary purpose it to backup and restore your data and applications on an individual basis. I use it mostly to save my text messages and game save data between ROM flashes. It also allows you to uninstall, wipe data, and freeze (disable) any application on your phone.
Right now since you are still running stock rooted, you want to avoid installing any official updates, otherwise you may have to re-root. Beanstown may have disabled system updates through the rooting method, but I am not sure. If a new update is released, keep your eyes on the forums here, someone will create a flashable zip of the new firmware that maintains root/unlocked bootloader, you can then flash that in TWRP. Also once you flash a custom ROM like CleanROM, they removed the Samsung Firmware updater most likely so you don't have to worry about it.

[Q] Need some guidance for updating PA4+Beta3

Hello,
I recently hopped over from stock to Paranoid Android 4 Beta (0).
This is my first experience messing around with the backend of Android, but I did jailbreak my iPhone a few times, I'd hope that helps my comprehension of all of this.
I currently have the Paranoid OTA installed, and it's telling me there are new versions,
I've downloaded the files and they are on the phone, but whenever I install it restarts and nothing happens. It stays on the current version, I'm doing the
I've been ticking to Backup, wipe the data, cache and dalvik but not the systen.
When it boots back up (it's instant, I'm still on beta(0).
Any help or guidance is appreciated, sorry if this is the wrong place!

phntem said:
Hello,
I recently hopped over from stock to Paranoid Android 4 Beta (0).
This is my first experience messing around with the backend of Android, but I did jailbreak my iPhone a few times, I'd hope that helps my comprehension of all of this.
I currently have the Paranoid OTA installed, and it's telling me there are new versions,
I've downloaded the files and they are on the phone, but whenever I install it restarts and nothing happens. It stays on the current version, I'm doing the
I've been ticking to Backup, wipe the data, cache and dalvik but not the systen.
When it boots back up (it's instant, I'm still on beta(0).
Any help or guidance is appreciated, sorry if this is the wrong place!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I´m guessing you have a custom recovery installed?.
Get the latest paranoid update from HERE and the latest gapps from HERE.
Boot into recovery and flash ROM GAPPS and if necessary SuperSU and then reboot. Should work.

lichti1901 said:
I´m guessing you have a custom recovery installed?.
Get the latest paranoid update from [removed] and the latest gapps from [removed]
Boot into recovery and flash ROM GAPPS and if necessary SuperSU and then reboot. Should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there Litchi,
Thanks for posting.
I'm so bad at this stuff, I used the Nexus Root Toolkit by WugFresh. I really am a bit clueless on what custom recoveries have been installed. What I can tell you is that I have Paranoid Android 4 Beta with the corresponding GAPPS.
I tried doing Clockword Mod for backups but eventually just stopped trying, and used the backup provided in the toolkit (nandroid I think).
I installed the Paranoid OTA hoping that it would take care of me having to do it through my PC again since the drivers were such a mess last time.
Could you just provide a bit more detail as to the steps I'd need to take for that? I hate being so illiterate at this stuff.
Really appreciate any more help you can give! Thanks.

phntem said:
Hi there Litchi,
Thanks for posting.
I'm so bad at this stuff, I used the Nexus Root Toolkit by WugFresh. I really am a bit clueless on what custom recoveries have been installed. What I can tell you is that I have Paranoid Android 4 Beta with the corresponding GAPPS.
I tried doing Clockword Mod for backups but eventually just stopped trying, and used the backup provided in the toolkit (nandroid I think).
I installed the Paranoid OTA hoping that it would take care of me having to do it through my PC again since the drivers were such a mess last time.
Could you just provide a bit more detail as to the steps I'd need to take for that? I hate being so illiterate at this stuff.
Really appreciate any more help you can give! Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You really need to read the sticky at the top of this forum called [FAQ] [REF]★ All you need to know about Android | Read this before you post/root ! ★
It gives you all the information you need to know. We pretty much all here advise against using toolkits for the exact reason in your post, it leaves you knowing nothing about your system, what you have got or the knowledge to use it. These toolkits are seen as a shortcut, but please be aware, there are NO shortcuts
Please read through that thread a few times. Don't flash anything else until you understand the process, what you have got and how to use it. Please don't take this the wrong way but you are not ready to flash things yet. Even if you have already flashed something, there are holes in yoru knowledge that can have disastrous consequences.

rootSU said:
You really need to read the sticky at the top of this forum called [FAQ] [REF]★ All you need to know about Android | Read this before you post/root ! ★
It gives you all the information you need to know. We pretty much all here advise against using toolkits for the exact reason in your post, it leaves you knowing nothing about your system, what you have got or the knowledge to use it. These toolkits are seen as a shortcut, but please be aware, there are NO shortcuts
Please read through that thread a few times. Don't flash anything else until you understand the process, what you have got and how to use it. Please don't take this the wrong way but you are not ready to flash things yet. Even if you have already flashed something, there are holes in yoru knowledge that can have disastrous consequences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None taken,
Thanks for the help SU! I never really checked out this website, but I had seen the name around.
Appreciate the link.
Does anyone know why the Paranoid OTA application ITSELF isn't doing the work for me though?

phntem said:
None taken,
Thanks for the help SU! I never really checked out this website, but I had seen the name around.
Appreciate the link.
Does anyone know why the Paranoid OTA application ITSELF isn't doing the work for me though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may be an issue with the CWM recovery which is what I assume you have installed with the toolkit, as thats about standard...
In android, /sdcard on the nexus 5 isn't actually an /sdcard. /sdcard is actually /data/media/0 so whenever you are looking in what you think is in /sdcard, you're not... it's /data/media/0. It's been like this since 4.2 Jelly Bean, when multiuser support was added to android. The theory is there will be multiple /sdcards, for each user that logs in. The default user is use "0". With me so far?
Before multi-user support, /sdcard for devices with no physical sdcard, was simply /data/media. Now, CWM never bothered to update it's code to point to /data/media/0, so even today, basic CWM doesn't know the full location of your /sdcard. If the updater downloads the files to /sdcard (which it should), then tells CWM to look in /sdcard for the files to flash, the files cannot be seen because CWM is looking in the wrong place.
Essentially, you should look at ditching CWM and it's antiquated configuration in favour of Philz Recovery or TWRP. Both use /data/media/0 correctly as /sdcard

rootSU said:
It may be an issue with the CWM recovery which is what I assume you have installed with the toolkit, as thats about standard...
In android, /sdcard on the nexus 5 isn't actually an /sdcard. /sdcard is actually /data/media/0 so whenever you are looking in what you think is in /sdcard, you're not... it's /data/media/0. It's been like this since 4.2 Jelly Bean, when multiuser support was added to android. The theory is there will be multiple /sdcards, for each user that logs in. The default user is use "0". With me so far?
Before multi-user support, /sdcard for devices with no physical sdcard, was simply /data/media. Now, CWM never bothered to update it's code to point to /data/media/0, so even today, basic CWM doesn't know the full location of your /sdcard. If the updater downloads the files to /sdcard (which it should), then tells CWM to look in /sdcard for the files to flash, the files cannot be seen because CWM is looking in the wrong place.
Essentially, you should look at ditching CWM and it's antiquated configuration in favour of Philz Recovery or TWRP. Both use /data/media/0 correctly as /sdcard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks for the patience and information.
Should I unroot and go back to stock via the toolkit, essentially resetting it all?
That's about the last question I have for you,
Appreciate the help!

phntem said:
Awesome thanks for the patience and information.
Should I unroot and go back to stock via the toolkit, essentially resetting it all?
That's about the last question I have for you,
Appreciate the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I would read that thread to understand the process and then download one of the alternative recoveries and get yourself to the point where you can fastboot flash the recovery

phntem said:
Awesome thanks for the patience and information.
Should I unroot and go back to stock via the toolkit, essentially resetting it all?
That's about the last question I have for you,
Appreciate the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please forget the toolkit!
The only thing you need is fastboot.
download TWRP or CWM recovery.img and flash it in fastboot. Boot into bootloader, connect the device with usb cable to PC, open cmd in windows and type following:
fastboot devices Enter ... that should give you a number, means your device is connected
fastboot flash recovery nameofrecovery.img Enter .... that will flash the recovery of your choice to your device. Then from bootloader you can select with volume up + down to boot to recovery. Do that - in recovery you can select what you want to do. Flash rom + gapps + supersu and you are ready to go.
Here is a good link for learning how to use fastboot. beginners-guide-on-how-to-setup-and-use-fastboot/
Learning fastboot is highly recommended - its the same what fastboot does, with 1 difference --> you know what you do

odin flashing help for new guy

I'm following shiny sides tutorial link for flashing odin in order to root galaxy s5 5.1. It says "transfer trap kernel to device". I've got the trap kernel downloaded to my pc, it's a zip file. I've got my phone connected via usb, but how exactly do I transfer the trapkernel file to my phone? It gives no instructions. Thanks. I'd provide a link here of the instructions but the website won't allow me.

axxel6307 said:
I'm following shiny sides tutorial link for flashing odin in order to root galaxy s5 5.1. It says "transfer trap kernel to device". I've got the trap kernel downloaded to my pc, it's a zip file. I've got my phone connected via usb, but how exactly do I transfer the trapkernel file to my phone? It gives no instructions. Thanks. I'd provide a link here of the instructions but the website won't allow me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no Odin expert, by any means, but I believe you can only flash .tar files with Odin. Perhaps you need to extract the zip file and there will be a .tar file inside.

Evolution_Tech said:
I'm no Odin expert, by any means, but I believe you can only flash .tar files with Odin. Perhaps you need to extract the zip file and there will be a .tar file inside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do I understand this correctly: Odin is used to install TWRP, then I install trapkernel after? So first I need to learn how to use odin to install twrp. Sorry if they seem like dumb questions. I'm not a developer and this is my very first time rooting anything.

No need to be a developer to flash stuff with odin, it's not hard so don't put yourself down like that. Anyway yes, use odin to flash twrp, (then do a backup of everything in your recovery before proceeding with anything else) then you flash the kernel with twrp
Sent from my SM-G386T1 using Tapatalk

axxel6307 said:
Do I understand this correctly: Odin is used to install TWRP, then I install trapkernel after? So first I need to learn how to use odin to install twrp. Sorry if they seem like dumb questions. I'm not a developer and this is my very first time rooting anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which model do you have, send me a screenshot from about device.
Odin should be easy as a pickle

Newyork! said:
Which model do you have, send me a screenshot from about device.
Odin should be easy as a pickle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys I got rooted and it's running like a champ. It's so much faster and finally able to remove the sh**tware was a giant deuce off my arse. Got sick of seeing all those staring in my face every time I looked at the running apps.
The part I was stuck on is so simple it's embarassing. It was where I was to "transfer the kernel to the device". I needed to be spoon fed so to speak lol. I realized it simply meant just literally drag the zip folder into the device and drop in anywhere.
I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond to my question. Thank you to shinyside for your work on this.
That said, any tips for newly rooted phone? For now, Im not using a custom rom. Want to keep stock to establish a baseline for future reference when using Roms.
I currently have titanium pro and froze a bunch of system apps. Don't plan on deleting any of them. Are there any system apps in particular that should NOT be frozen? So far I've stuck to apps I read here that are safe to freeze like all the Knox apps, my magazine, s finder and a few more. Can I be confident they truly are frozen and freeing up ram, or just hidden and not helping my performance whatsoever?

axxel6307 said:
Thanks guys I got rooted and it's running like a champ. It's so much faster and finally able to remove the sh**tware was a giant deuce off my arse. Got sick of seeing all those staring in my face every time I looked at the running apps.
The part I was stuck on is so simple it's embarassing. It was where I was to "transfer the kernel to the device". I needed to be spoon fed so to speak lol. I realized it simply meant just literally drag the zip folder into the device and drop in anywhere.
I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond to my question. Thank you to shinyside for your work on this.
That said, any tips for newly rooted phone? For now, Im not using a custom rom. Want to keep stock to establish a baseline for future reference when using Roms.
I currently have titanium pro and froze a bunch of system apps. Don't plan on deleting any of them. Are there any system apps in particular that should NOT be frozen? So far I've stuck to apps I read here that are safe to freeze like all the Knox apps, my magazine, s finder and a few more. Can I be confident they truly are frozen and freeing up ram, or just hidden and not helping my performance whatsoever?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out this thread
The Best Root Applications for Your Rooted Android