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Quick question about going from 4.1 to 4.4 (Been gone for a while)

So like the title says I have been out of the ROM game for a little bit. Every couple of months I check in and see whats new and flash something else.
I was on the Jelly Beans ROM (Build 16 I think) and Android 4.1. I did some searching last night as was going to try flashing Gummy ROM…bad idea. I am guessing I needed something prior to jumping up to a 4.4 base. I booted to recovery and wiped everything and tried to flash with no luck. So the phone would not boot and I could only get into recovery and download mode. I did not have my micro SD adapter in order to get jelly beans back on it to flash so I ended up having to use odin to flash a stock rooted 4.1 image. Finally got everything back up and running but I still want to try some of the 4.4 ROMs. So what exactly do I need first in order to flash one? (Modem maybe)…if you know for sure why that happened and what I need to do please let me know. Thanks!
My Current "About Phone" Info...
Android Version - 4.1.2
Baseband version - I535VRBMB1
Jelly Beans - Build 20
P.S. I have tried doing the research and nothing I have found has been clear but one thing I came across is the official 4.3 update was bad news and broke the root methods? So should I stay away from 4.3 ROMs and is the old root method blocked in 4.4 as well or is that a different case since it wasn't actually released for our phone. If that makes sense lol

aholeinthewor1d said:
So like the title says I have been out of the ROM game for a little bit. Every couple of months I check in and see whats new and flash something else.
I was on the Jelly Beans ROM (Build 16 I think) and Android 4.1. I did some searching last night as was going to try flashing Gummy ROM…bad idea. I am guessing I needed something prior to jumping up to a 4.4 base. I booted to recovery and wiped everything and tried to flash with no luck. So the phone would not boot and I could only get into recovery and download mode. I did not have my micro SD adapter in order to get jelly beans back on it to flash so I ended up having to use odin to flash a stock rooted 4.1 image. Finally got everything back up and running but I still want to try some of the 4.4 ROMs. So what exactly do I need first in order to flash one? (Modem maybe)…if you know for sure why that happened and what I need to do please let me know. Thanks!
My Current "About Phone" Info...
Android Version - 4.1.2
Baseband version - I535VRBMB1
Jelly Beans - Build 20
P.S. I have tried doing the research and nothing I have found has been clear but one thing I came across is the official 4.3 update was bad news and broke the root methods? So should I stay away from 4.3 ROMs and is the old root method blocked in 4.4 as well or is that a different case since it wasn't actually released for our phone. If that makes sense lol
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Click to collapse
you need the latest recoveries to flash kk roms. cwm is here https://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager
and twrp is here http://teamw.in/project/twrp2/102. make sure you download the d2vzw version
if you're rooted you should have no problems flashing 4.4 rom. I recommend beanstalk from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2354113. has worked great for me. you have to also update the modem to ML1 from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788313
as always do a nandroid before you do anything and you should backup your sd card to your computer. they probably will move post this to another thread.
good luck

dandydon414 said:
you need the latest recoveries to flash kk roms. cwm is here https://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager
and twrp is here http://teamw.in/project/twrp2/102. make sure you download the d2vzw version
if you're rooted you should have no problems flashing 4.4 rom. I recommend beanstalk from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2354113. has worked great for me. you have to also update the modem to ML1 from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788313
as always do a nandroid before you do anything and you should backup your sd card to your computer. they probably will move post this to another thread.
good luck
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Click to collapse
ahh I didn't even think of that? I do know for a fact whatever version of CWM i had was not recent..Are you sure that is the only issue? so with a newer recovery...like I have now that I fixed my phone..I can flash a 4.4 ROM no problem? I could have sworn I remember hearing something about needing a certain modem...or something similar

aholeinthewor1d said:
ahh I didn't even think of that? I do know for a fact whatever version of CWM i had was not recent..Are you sure that is the only issue? so with a newer recovery...like I have now that I fixed my phone..I can flash a 4.4 ROM no problem? I could have sworn I remember hearing something about needing a certain modem...or something similar
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yes. flash the ML1 modem. I provided the link in my previous post. it's a fact that earlier recoveries won't flash kk roms. I found out the hard way myself. hopefully you'll have titanium or rom toolbox to backup your apps with data.

dandydon414 said:
yes. flash the ML1 modem. I provided the link in my previous post. it's a fact that earlier recoveries won't flash kk roms. I found out the hard way myself. hopefully you'll have titanium or rom toolbox to backup your apps with data.
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Thanks a lot!!.. So how do I know if my recovery is new enough? I was never a fan of the touch recoveries because I felt like it would be easier to do something on accident so I haven't tried one in a while...I am using clockwork mod recovery 6.0.4.5. Is that new enough??
Also one lasttttt question I swear...can someone give me a quick list of the different recovery options that are out there now...and maybe list some features of each...thank you

aholeinthewor1d said:
Thanks a lot!!.. So how do I know if my recovery is new enough? I was never a fan of the touch recoveries because I felt like it would be easier to do something on accident so I haven't tried one in a while...I am using clockwork mod recovery 6.0.4.5. Is that new enough??
Also one lasttttt question I swear...can someone give me a quick list of the different recovery options that are out there now...and maybe list some features of each...thank you
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that recovery is fine. i've only used cwm and twrp.. had some problems with philz recovery so I ditched it. basically they're all the same. twrp lets you name your back where as cwm just uses some default name which of course you can change with a file manager. twrp also wipes all 3 (system, cache and dalvik) with one swipe where as cwm requires 3 separate operations. I really haven't done much in recovery other than wiping and flashing. I'm actually on the latest twrp and have had no problems flashing kk roms. keep in mind that you can't backup in cwm and restore it using twrp and vice versa. it's really more a personal preference as far as I'm concerned.

Clockworkmod not working anymore.

Well I have been a CWM(and sometimes also TWRP) user for years. But I am stumped. I recently started having issues staying connected to AIO/Cricket(voice not even staying connected). As I am running a custom ROM I decided to try Stock and see if the problem persists, thus it may be a hardware issue with the radio or something. So I did a current backup, and restored one from a few weeks back. It's the same ROM but I thought it was worth a shot. It restored fine but the problem persisted. Then I decided to restore my new backup from the hour before. It failed. Gave me an MD5 Mismatch error(I think I have that right). So I made another new backup, same thing. I am unable to restore any backups made right now. I can still restore the one from a few weeks ago. I am running the very latest CWM touch. I tried flashing TWRP to see if that might help(using Rom Manager to do so). This has always worked before. It said that it works, and even tells me it's rebooting into TWRP when I reboot to Recovery. But the broken version of CWM is still what is loading. I am at a loss here.

your issue here is that you are using rom manager. rom manager doesnt fully work, it is broken, stop using it. you can flash a new recovery the right way, via fastboot. you can also flash twrp using the flashify app(yes, it works).

simms22 said:
your issue here is that you are using rom manager. rom manager doesnt fully work, it is broken, stop using it. you can flash a new recovery the right way, via fastboot. you can also flash twrp using the flashify app(yes, it works).
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Thank you! Gonna try flashing TWRP that way now!

Landara said:
Thank you! Gonna try flashing TWRP that way now!
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btw, i highly doubt that twrp will be able to restore a cwm backup. but if you have space on your device, it should at least create a backup.

simms22 said:
btw, i highly doubt that twrp will be able to restore a cwm backup. but if you have space on your device, it should at least create a backup.
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First thing I did. I was able to backup with TWRP. Since I am currently running the restore from that NANDROID from a few weeks ago, it's all good! I am restoring the TWRP i just made, just to be sure. Seems to be restoring fine though. With my NANDRIOD problem solved, I can work on getting this radio issue fixed. I am really hoping it's just ROM related and I can salve it by flashing something else. I'm going to flash STOCK and see if it persists now.

simms22 said:
btw, i highly doubt that twrp will be able to restore a cwm backup. but if you have space on your device, it should at least create a backup.
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Actually one fast question, if I may. Would it be at all risky to flash the stock radio onto a custom ROM? That seems the easiest fix, if it is a fix at all. I downloaded the correct stock radio for my 820 from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...-android-4-4-2-kot49h-rooted-busybox-t2557523
If I just flash it over Nikxus would there be a problem?

Landara said:
Actually one fast question, if I may. Would it be at all risky to flash the stock radio onto a custom ROM? That seems the easiest fix, if it is a fix at all. I downloaded the correct stock radio for my 820 from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...-android-4-4-2-kot49h-rooted-busybox-t2557523
If I just flash it over Nikxus would there be a problem?
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Click to collapse
no problem, in stock or custom roms the radios are the same

simms22 said:
no problem, in stock or custom roms the radios are the same
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Click to collapse
Thanks!

TWRP 2.8.7.0?

Has anyone one used the latest twrp recovery? I know know there have been issues with past versions.

Been working fine for me. I only use it for a little before flashing ktoonsez recovery. If you aren't having issues with your current one, really no need to change. I just always grab the latest when "starting over" from a full firmware flash.

El.Dante565 said:
Has anyone one used the latest twrp recovery? I know know there have been issues with past versions.
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I always grab the latest. So I snatched it up when 2.8.7 hit the floor. In fact this was my first time installing twrp with twrp. I have always used Odin but it's easy and it's been working great for me since the day it was released
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

elesbb said:
Been working fine for me. I only use it for a little before flashing ktoonsez recovery. If you aren't having issues with your current one, really no need to change. I just always grab the latest when "starting over" from a full firmware flash.
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I'm currently on NK5 4.4.4 and haven't updated it.. I know there's a current L update I can download, OTA, but I rather try some roms.. The thing is I'm not too sure about what recovery I can install. Is TWRP 2.8.7.0 gonna work with me or do I have to use SafeStrap? There's a bunch of options but not too clear on what will work with the current state my phone is in. I'm ready to root. Just need to know what custom recovery to flash..

kaslopis said:
I'm currently on NK5 4.4.4 and haven't updated it.. I know there's a current L update I can download, OTA, but I rather try some roms.. The thing is I'm not too sure about what recovery I can install. Is TWRP 2.8.7.0 gonna work with me or do I have to use SafeStrap? There's a bunch of options but not too clear on what will work with the current state my phone is in. I'm ready to root. Just need to know what custom recovery to flash..
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Click to collapse
Well I have used twrp recovery pretty religiously it has an good interface. Some find the Phil's CWM is good as will although I don't think that they is any more support for that, but there is one floating out there. I have never used SafeStrap. I believe that is used for lock bootloader which would be unnecessary for our Sprint phone which are unlocked.

4.x.x upgrade to 5.x.x Help

hey guys, i just gave my father the nexus 5 and hes using it for straight talk and its working quite well. ive already unlocked the bootloader and installed a custom 4.4.4 rom (as thats what i was using before i got the nexus 6). is there anything special i need to do to install a rom like Chroma 5.1.1 at this point? Thanks for any help

If the bootloader is unlocked then you should be fine. I had some radio problems and I flashed about 10 ROMs, including Chroma, without any problems (but never did fix the radio). The simplest thing would be to install a Nexus factory image - LMY48I is the latest version and is pretty much one-click (if you have drivers, ADB & Fastboot installed ok).
Just for my curiosity, if it's working fine, why install a new ROM? I know my own answer - because it's there...

To go from 4.4 ROM to 5.x rom you should flash the updated bootloader and radio first. Then wipe system data and cache andd flash the new ROM.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

dahawthorne said:
If the bootloader is unlocked then you should be fine. I had some radio problems and I flashed about 10 ROMs, including Chroma, without any problems (but never did fix the radio). The simplest thing would be to install a Nexus factory image - LMY48I is the latest version and is pretty much one-click (if you have drivers, ADB & Fastboot installed ok).
Just for my curiosity, if it's working fine, why install a new ROM? I know my own answer - because it's there...
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Click to collapse
Well I have him on a stock 4.4.4 rom and the battery life is a little lacking and he keeps getting the annoying nag message for the OTA to 5.x.x (i know theres a way to get rid of that but i guess id rather just update). Also I dont see any roms being actively worked on for 4.x.x. Unless there is one that you recommend?
ldubs said:
To go from 4.4 ROM to 5.x rom you should flash the updated bootloader and radio first. Then wipe system data and cache and flash the new ROM.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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Is there a thread that maintains the radios and bootloaders? I dont see one myself and am not sure which to get (and are there different ones depending on which carrier you use?)

There is a thread with all the latest radios. I have a flashable zip but its old...you can also just extract the latest factory images and just flash the bootloader and radio.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm missing the point here...
Was the original question not "Can I easily flash 5.1.1?" And the answer is "Yes". So why has the focus switched to Kitkat and flashing separate components, surely not the simplest way of getting a working integrated device...? Installation of the factory Nexus ROM, or the Chroma ROM, will wipe everything anyway unless you specify "no wipe", which isn't recommended for a major change.
Am I misunderstanding?

dahawthorne said:
I'm missing the point here...
Was the original question not "Can I easily flash 5.1.1?" And the answer is "Yes". So why has the focus switched to Kitkat and flashing separate components, surely not the simplest way of getting a working integrated device...? Installation of the factory Nexus ROM, or the Chroma ROM, will wipe everything anyway unless you specify "no wipe", which isn't recommended for a major change.
Am I misunderstanding?
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Just a bit I think. I think its because I kind of ended up adding another question to the thread sort of. Right now the phone is using all parts associated with 4.4.4 (I.E. Radio & Bootloader) and a stock 4.4.4 rom. I originally wanted to know if i could just flash a custom 5.x.x rom without needing to flashing a new bootloader or radio as i wasnt sure if there were ones. Then I also asked if there was a rom that is still under development for 4.4.4 that was worth a shot. Sorry If i made it more confusing with this post lol.

But why stick with Kitkat and jump through hoops with all the concomitant risks when you can one-click upgrade to the newest version? I'm still not getting why you're asking about Kitkat when you originally asked if it was easy/safe to upgrade to Lollipop 5.1.1.
Hint - yes, it is.

HaiKaiDo said:
hey guys, i just gave my father the nexus 5 and hes using it for straight talk and its working quite well. ive already unlocked the bootloader and installed a custom 4.4.4 rom (as thats what i was using before i got the nexus 6). is there anything special i need to do to install a rom like Chroma 5.1.1 at this point? Thanks for any help
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Click to collapse
Your best bet would be to flash the factory image. This will update the radio and bootloader. Then reinstall the recovery and flash away.

DonDizzurp said:
Your best bet would be to flash the factory image. This will update the radio and bootloader. Then reinstall the recovery and flash away.
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Yeah I think ill do this. Seems faster than just flashing the bootloader and radio separate. now to backup all his junk on the phone lol.

Update Build W/O a Computer

Ok, let me start by saying that I'm fully capable of updating my phone with a computer, I'm just hoping there is a better way. So far every time I've downloaded a new firmware, update the flash-all.bat and run it, something will fail towards the end of the update and the only way I've been able to successfully update is by using one of those tool kits (forget which one, it's on my computer). I'm not that concerned about all of that with this thread. I'm wondering if there is a way to do it without a PC.
I'm on NMF26O (root, ElementalX, etc) and tried flashing Pure Nexus over the weekend. Since it's based on NMF26V, I kept receiving an error on boot about updating my vendor.img. So I downloaded that firmware, extracted it, and flashed the vendor.img in TWRP. That led to a plethora of other issues that I couldn't resolve by flashing the boot.img, reflashing the rom, ect. Several hours later I ended up flashing the boot.img and vendor.img for NMF26O, restoring my backup, re-installing Elemental, and rooting again.
Since these updates will be coming out every month, and roms will always be based on the latest update, I feel like I'll be pulling out the computer every month, downloading the updates, modifying the flash-all.bat, and running it through the tool, just to be able to update my rom. The first time I forget to update flash-all.bat, I'll lose the 60+ GB's I keep in internal storage. There has to be an easier way. TWRP is capable of flashing images. Has anyone been able to update without using a computer? I don't care if my radio is out dated, or something is mismatched as long as my phone works as intended.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Not sure why you ran into issues with PN. You need to be on the latest build NMF26U. You can flash the ROM via recovery. Then tku have to reboot once and go back to recovery and flash the V vendor image because the ROM is based on NMF26V. Each time a new ROM comes out on a new build you can flash in recovery.
If your talking about flashing stock OTAs via recovery that's not possible yet. No need to do this if you're going to be using custom ROMs though

aholeinthewor1d said:
Not sure why you ran into issues with PN. You need to be on the latest build NMF26U. You can flash the ROM via recovery. Then tku have to reboot once and go back to recovery and flash the V vendor image because the ROM is based on NMF26V. Each time a new ROM comes out on a new build you can flash in recovery.
If your talking about flashing stock OTAs via recovery that's not possible yet. No need to do this if you're going to be using custom ROMs though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on NMF26O. What's the difference between it and NMF26U and why would the vendor image from NMF26V work with NMF26U but not NMF26O?
Seems like all you would need is the /system from the rom, the vendor image, and maybe the boot image (or a custom kernel). I think I'm missing something here.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

If you install PN its based on NMF26V. So unless you are already on that then you would need to flash the ROM, reboot back to recovery, then flash the NMF26V vendor image.

I'll play devil's advocate here... Yeah there is an easier way, use your Pixel stock and take OTA's. Enjoy a phone that always works, with or without a laptop!
I understand my audience and realize this isn't a popular mantra here but I felt exactly like you did with my 6p and vendor images. I got to the point where I sacrifice root now just for my own sanity. My phone works for me, not the other way around.

What I do is side load the full OTA ( which you can get from the same place you get the factory images ). I only use the fastboot boot version of TWRP so that my stock recovery stays in place. Then all you have to do is boot into the stock recovery, adb side load the OTA file and re root. Then you're fully up to date without worries of your data being wiped :laugh:!
( Although if you look in the flash fire thread from Chainfire, he's working on a version that will let rooted pixels flash otas like normal ones :fingers-crossed: )

I think you guys are missing the point. I have no desire to ever be stock, which rules out the possibility for an OTA in any form.
What I'm trying to figure out is exactly what is necessary to make a custom rom (based on the latest OTA), work if flashed over an older build, without first somehow applying the full OTA. Or is it impossible?
On just about every other phone I've owned, we could piecemeal the files needed for minor updates, along with a custom rom. The only time we'd have to flash a full update is for major updates ( 4 to 5 to 6, etc).
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Ok, I figured it out. Just download the OTA.zip (not the full firmware), flash in TWRP, immediately flash TWRP again, and reboot.
I'm now on nmf26u.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

joshw0000 said:
Ok, I figured it out. Just download the OTA.zip (not the full firmware), flash in TWRP, immediately flash TWRP again, and reboot.
I'm now on nmf26u.
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I don't think we can just flash OTAs in twrp yet. Haven't heard of Antone doing it. There is a beta Flashfire out that I guess works to flash updates. J have it but haven't needed to try it cause I'm running PN and DU

aholeinthewor1d said:
I don't think we can just flash OTAs in twrp yet. Haven't heard of Antone doing it. There is a beta Flashfire out that I guess works to flash updates. J have it but haven't needed to try it cause I'm running PN and DU
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Click to collapse
I've done it several times tonight. Went from O to U to V, flashed Pure Nexus, screwed up the rom, restored to O, then O flashed back to U and V.
Just flash it like a rom in TWRP RC1. Make sure you flash TWRP again before rebooting if you want to keep it.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk