So today i finally get the gusto mod my phone Android Dev 1. After downloading all the files and following the instructions here i can't get past the black g1 screen (#8). note i can also get the the rgb screen. thats it, but with so many different posts with similar issues, my brain is pounding. At this point if i can get beack to factory, ill live. what i'll hate is the fact that bricked my phone. i'll most likely get screamed on for not searching, but i think i may be searched out. any help would be appreciated.
thanks.
docfu.
first of all dont freak out lol. Download the dreaming.nbh or w/e file from the rooting instructions and place it at the root of the sdcard. Then get into the rgb screen (Camera + Power) and flash it. That should get you back to factory settings. If not, download the update.zip for w/e region you are in place it on your sd card. Enter recovery (Home + Power) and flash the update.
ok...so i tried the DREAMING file and it kept turning up no image found, alternatively i'm not sure what you mean by w/e region update. i ihavent come across that in my searches.
ok dreaming file did infact work. i feel better knowing that the phone isnt bricked. however after running the update when it prompts for action, i hit the trackball and i'm right back at the rgb screen..AGGGHHHH! sorry. i've been at this since 3pm this afternoon.
Chill. Don't freak. You can't just jump in and do something as soon as your read it. Read the whole thing and if you don't have the patients for this work on that before you work on this. bbreath.
I must say start by saying thanks guys. i stepped back, and actually took my [email protected]@ to bed. Rest does wonders. That said. I've accomplished the factory reset. so i back to a stock g1, and boy does it suck. As stated my phone WAS a dev 1. i've already started the upgrade process, my question at this point is where do you recommend i go from here. back to dev 1 or try one of the other roms. i've already installed the spl, and right now im stuck at the telnetd part of the root process. and this too may have me screaming by the end of the day...
any thoughts would be appreciated.
After the recovery image is installed you need to update the radio if you want to install a cupcake 1.5 ROM. You can get it here, rename 'update.zip', place on the SD card and boot in to recovery and flash. Then flash a ROM of your choice. You should be able to do that on RC 30, but I'm not sure if you need to install a rooted image first, so I'd wait for someone else's input before trying that.
I played it extra safe and used the rc29. as far as i know the proper radio is installed. i'll wait around before i do something stupid. thanks for the input tho. i'm trying to learn everything.
ok...so i went back to the original method for obtaining root. i was so frustrated last nite that i ended up trying to combine 2 slightly diff methods. at this point i call them the telnetd method and root.apk method. correct me if im wrong but niether one mentions the other. so i make it to the bootloader running the root.apk it runs thru the list and the fails at radio_v2. now im on the white screen wuth the skateboarders, the radio #says 1.22.12.29. so i run it again i
now im on the rgb screen at proceeds to attept the update again. this time the dreaimg.nbh fails. i'm not freaking out. im good. because i know im almost there. feedback appreciated. thanks in advance.
y'know i never thought about this..but if i reverted a dev phone to factory settings...did i relock everything? and for the record, i only have a mac. if that matters at all.
Future reference ^-^
In case you encounter this problem in the future, cause it can happen with flashing new roms if you skip a step:
You're only bricked if you are stuck at the G1 boot screen but can't get into recovery or fastboot, adb or anything. In cases where you can still get to other phone options to start over, rest assured your phone does still work, just need to step back and figure it out, which you did in this case with a little help ^-^ First few times doing anything to my phone, I went into panic mode a couple of times thinking I bricked until I read around and found out otherwise.
Just in case you didn't know these things, if you did, well, hope it was a nice read? ^-^
doctorfugazi said:
ok...so i went back to the original method for obtaining root. i was so frustrated last nite that i ended up trying to combine 2 slightly diff methods. at this point i call them the telnetd method and root.apk method. correct me if im wrong but niether one mentions the other. so i make it to the bootloader running the root.apk it runs thru the list and the fails at radio_v2. now im on the white screen wuth the skateboarders, the radio #says 1.22.12.29. so i run it again i
now im on the rgb screen at proceeds to attept the update again. this time the dreaimg.nbh fails. i'm not freaking out. im good. because i know im almost there. feedback appreciated. thanks in advance.
y'know i never thought about this..but if i reverted a dev phone to factory settings...did i relock everything? and for the record, i only have a mac. if that matters at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... if you actually purchased a dev phone it should not be sim locked.
Technically... after the rooting process, we all have dev phones with the exception of the sim lock.
So... what SPL are you using?
What ROM are you trying to install? Some roms you should consider partitioning your sdcard.
What radio do you have?
First thing is first.
Get the 1.4 recovery if you haven't done so already. 1.4 Recovery
Because this allows you to select any .zip file without having to rename it to update.zip. This saves on confusion so you don't try flashing a spl (like danger spl )before a radio (could brick your phone).
Second
You need the 1.5 radio to use cupcake. 2.22.19.26I
Third
Consider an spl. You have 4 choices. HARDSPL (Recommended), Eng SPL (what the dev phone defaults with.. skateboarding androids), the standard spl (nondev) and Danger SPL (risk bricking but worth it because you have more memory for your ROMs and can try HERO builds).
Fouth
Find your rom. NOTE: Read each post carefully! If it says you need a specific spl then get it! Otherwise it won't work. Some require the Danger SPL. If you chose a JF rom then you should be alright and don't even need to partition your card and it will work just like the OTA release. Some (such as Cyanogens 3.9.7) are experiemental and are not recommended for noobs.
Fifth (and probably the most important)
ALWAYS BACKUP WITH NANDROID!!!
In the event that you think that you've bricked your phone. I would say that there is a 90% chance that you didn't. As long as you have a nandroid backup and can get to the bootloader then you still have a phone. Just make sure the fastboot.exe file is in your sytem32 directory of your computer. Open CMD and cd to your fastboot backups saved on your computer. Simply
fastboot flash boot boot.img <enter>,
fastboot flash system system.img <enter>,
fastboot flash userdata data.img <enter>
fastboot reboot <enter>
and you should be back to where you were immediately after the point you backed up. Think of it as a system restore for Windows. It couldn't hurt to have a few backups stored.
If you have any questions or problems include information for us to read in a single post and edit as necessary.
Example:
AT&T
Cyanogen 3.9.7 Rom
Recovery 1.4
HARD SPL
Radio 2.22.19.26l
8GB class 4 sd card (7gb fat32/900mb ext3/100mb swap)
Theme version if any.
That way we know what we are working with.
Happy flashing.
rest assured i was in panic mode yesterday. but honestly the only thing i could really do was just step back for a while, meaning get some rest tackle it with a clean head. its frustrating for sure. this one guy tho who posted in the brick think tank thread...just cuz he couldnt figure things out in an hour he got pissed and started screaming waste of time this that and the other. total BI$CH! I was like whoa. I was at that point too. but Im not tryna be that guy.
Now, if could just figure out if i have to start from scratch, i just might be able to get my phone working again in time fro me to go to work tmrw morning.
So... what SPL are you using?
the hard SPL found here
What ROM are you trying to install?
Well i was trying to follow suggestion on something simple, like one of the early jesusfreke's. if i can step it up sure why not. but i'll pass on the partitioned sdcard setup for now.
actually I'll run with JesusFreke JFv1.51 US CRB43
What radio do you have?
radio number listed in my previous post.
Hey thanks by the way for taking the time out of your day to respond to this. i know u guys get your fair share of spazmiesters, so i appreciate it totally.
after doing research it seems that all the current roms require partitioning. or is that optional just for running apps to sd?
partitioning is optional of apps2sd for preformance. some like myself have three partitions, the third being for a linux swap
Ok ive final decided on the dudes cupcake 101. the ? i have now is do i start from scratch. im kind of in limbo as i'm stuck on the bootloader. if remember correctly i got half way thru the root process and it went down hill from there.
TMobile
RC29 / previously Dev 1
Recovery 1.4
HARD SPL
Radio currently 1.22.12.29 / trying to get to 2.22.19.26l
4gb card
(hope i did that right)
doctorfugazi said:
Ok ive final decided on the dudes cupcake 101. the ? i have now is do i start from scratch. im kind of in limbo as i'm stuck on the bootloader. if remember correctly i got half way thru the root process and it went down hill from there.
TMobile
RC29 / previously Dev 1
Recovery 1.4
HARD SPL
Radio currently 1.22.12.29 / trying to get to 2.22.19.26l
4gb card
(hope i did that right)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay... you have the recommended recovery and spl.
So all you need to do is get your rom and radio and store the zip files to the root of your sdcard. You don't need to rename them.
Just boot in recovery (power+home) and scroll down to:
[Alt+A] apply any zip from sd
And then you should see the zip files.
Upgrade your radio first.
Then your rom.
Another note... make sure you have a data plan once you've installed your rom. Depending on your rom version, you may not be able to sign in without one. If you can't sign in, you can't use your phone which is why most would recommend a custom rom or an adp rom.
Now... if I'm not mistaken... you do NOT have to partition your sdcard to install a rom (unless it's a HERO rom).
You may want to consider doing so however.
The advantages are that you can have virtually unlimited storage for apps and it's much easier to restore them after a wipe because they are still on your sdcard. Some apps will recognize the partitioned sdcard and automatically do all the apps2sd work for you by default. It is also recommended that you use at least a 2gb class4 card at MINIMUM. Any slower then a class 4 may result in system crashes and errors. Any less then a 2gb card is almost not worth all the effort since you'll likely be using at least a quarter of it for the apps2sd. I would suggest buying at least a 8gb class 6 card for less then $50 online. It's both fast and plenty of storage. With apps to sd, if you do need to wipe you still have all of your apps installed. A great advantage of having apps2sd.
Also... try different roms! There are DOZENS out there! Some have the htc music installed, some have myfaves, some have special cameras, etc. Don't be afraid to experiment. As long as you have a backup and can get to the bootloader (skateboarding androids) and a pc, you can't go wrong! If fact... with the 1.4 recovery you can store several different roms on your sdcard, backup your current rom, wipe, flash a new rom to try it, wipe, flash a different rom to try that one, etc. If you decide that you didn't like any of those... just restore back to your previous backup. Simple as that. No pc needed. However having a pc is handy to get logcat information if it's not booting for some reason.
Speaking of roms not booting... while your experimenting with various roms... you MUST have patience. Sometimes (based on my personal experience with about 10+ different roms) they can take up to 15 minutes to boot up. You can literally be staring at the ANDROID or HTC logo this entire time. Unless you are using ddms.bat or adb shell logcat, you will be clueless of whats going on. DO NOT do anything unless you get the infamous "boot loop". This will be obvious. It will stick at the ANDROID or HTC screen for a while and then blink and go back to the logo. If you see it blink and go back to the logo then try pressing power + talk + menu to restart it and then immediately press the home button to bo back to recovery. Wipe... try again. This time it should work. If it doesn't then restore your backup while you research on that partitcular rom. You may have skipped a step or not have the proper requirements (partitioned card, spl, etc).
With all of that said... good luck and you'll be posting help to other users like yourself before you know it.
Hey Doc, if I'm not mistaken (other guys correct me if I'm wrong), if all, and I mean ALL you have is a boot loader (AKA SPL. ie// skating androids or colored bars) you need to reflash dreaimg.nbh to get a system back.
This ALSO flashes your SPL and RADIO back to default so reflash your radio and SPL afterward. (IN THAT ORDER I HOPE)
Binary100100 is a gentleman and a scholar
nicely written response binary.
I can't stress enough how helpful it is to have the sdk working on a computer when flashing new roms. Get ADB working, it'll save you a ton of headaches.
innerspace said:
nicely written response binary.
I can't stress enough how helpful it is to have the sdk working on a computer when flashing new roms. Get ADB working, it'll save you a ton of headaches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I do what I can.
Every time I try to flash a Hero ROM, I get an error of sorts during the copy file portion saying that a "xbin" file of sorts is missing. I had JACxROM on the phone, and tried to go from that to a Hero ROM, with no avail. I just flashed to the newest CyanogenMOD no problem(I did flash the HTC ADP 1.6 recovery img first)
I have the newest radio, deathSPL, as well I have the RA1.2.3 recovery image. Is there something I am missing here?
Do I need to downgrade to 1.5, since as it stands I am running 1.6 ROMs?
Or is it likely something else was a "bad flash" and I should just go back to R29, and work my way forward from there?
are you sure you have the "death/danger" spl installed on your phone? make sure, but even if you don't, why not just install it again, it repartitions the phone memory, and makes it clean when you flash things on top of it.
that's the most common problem for xbin errors when flashing a hero rom , it's too big to fit in the stock system memory alone. Try re-doing everything. Make sure your ext partition is clean (format that) , do a wipe to clear cache/data, repair ext partition,
and if all else fails, maybe you might just wanna repartition your sd card, might have broken/corrupted partitions.
maybe you might even have a broken sd card. and you might have to get a new one
lotta maybe's , but try trouble shooting random things.
hope you can find your answer, noone can exactly help you with this one with any sorta direct guide or how two since they're not there to deal with your phone on site
goodluck flashing!
Thank you! I figured it could be one of many things... I am starting fresh, doing RC29 forward.
I am certain I had death, et al, I have been a bit of a lurker for a while on the Android end, and finally got a G1 about a week ago, so I don't have a lot of experience with it, but I have over a year with a Kaiser, and for several months I ran Android on it.
I tried a couple differnt SD cards, and unless both are dead, I think it is just a bad flash somewhere along the way that didn't show up until that broken file system got tested with a Hero flash.
Anyways, I am confident I will get it sorted out eventually. I am smart enough to not brick the damn thing...fingers crossed... not really, I should be all good.
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I think my first time through I didn't wipe at some point I should have.
I've been on XDA today for atleast 3 hours and havent gotten anywhere, I have owned my G1 since dec. 08, rooted it, and kept the firmware at 1.1. I have jesus freak recovery 1.41.
Like I said, I've been on XDA forums for 3 hours already and haven't had any clarity what so ever and am just frustrated right now. Without being 100% I managed to upgrade to 1.6 withy cyanogen 4.2.15.1 I lost everything that was on my phone, it hurts but I'm just frustrated to the point right now that the phone is functioning slower than before and theres lag between the screens and functions. With the upgrade, all of the phones original fucntions "contacts, alarm clock, calculator, etc." force closed and nothing worked, i tried to factory reset and because of the stupid sync issue from the begining skrewed me and about half of my info saved to my google account. I'm so frustrated right now.
I need to know how to install the newest recovery to hopefully work with Nand because I had to Manually rename the DRC83_base_defanged to update.zip and then had to manually rename update-cm-4.2.15.1-signed to update.zip to install each one at a time without having the ability to freely choose what zip i wanted to install.
I haven't been able to find what issues there are with using another phones firmware on the G1, i've seen the Hero firmware, the home screen looks gorgeous and runs like a dream, but I haven't been able to find anything saying that it is okay or a BAD idea to attempt to install it, also I havent been able to find any info on finding the newest g1 firmware or any mods to be able to make the g1 firmware look like the hero, or any other android platforms. I have just found constant cooked firmware after firmware with a hard time decyphering why one may be better than the other. If someone could help me, I would GREATLY appreciate it.
I continute to run into threads "how to root" or "down load this, and download this, and assuming you have something with options you dont have, make it work like this"
Please someone help.
First you need to upgrade your recovery b/c the one you have is very very Ancient with a capital A....You have to wipe before you flash the defanged then flash cyan w/o rebooting.
I want to upgrade my recovery, but I haven't found anything that can help me upgrade the thing. any links to tell me how to do it? and is there no order that I have to install the firmware? instead of having to go from 1.1 to 1.5 to 1.6, can i just go from 1.1 to 1.6 in one hit?
step 1: search the development forum for amon ra's recovery. read the instructions to flash it.
step 2: go to cyanogenmod.com and read the instructions for upgrading from scratch.
once you've done those two things, you'll be much happier.
maniacallyhappy said:
I want to upgrade my recovery, but I haven't found anything that can help me upgrade the thing. any links to tell me how to do it? and is there no order that I have to install the firmware? instead of having to go from 1.1 to 1.5 to 1.6, can i just go from 1.1 to 1.6 in one hit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't re-root when you need to change roms you just wipe in recovery mode
You need amon_ra
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4647751#post4647751
Like the other guys have said, upgrade to Amon_RA recovery. This allows you to flash updates from any filename, not just update.zip. The link is in my signature, or it's on the G1 Dev Forum in the sticky threads.
After that, boot into recovery and go to the Wipe section. Wipe all the things there, not just data. I never used to wipe everything either and I found that was the source of alot of my problems when changing ROMs. Obviously if you have your SD card partitioned and you choose to wipe your ext then you will lose what is on there.
Cyanogen has good instructions on his Wiki, but basically you want to flash DRC83_base_defanged, DO NOT reboot, and flash CM over the top straight away, then reboot your phone and you'll have a nice clean CM install.
This flashes the HTC Developer image which includes legal Google apps (Gmail, Maps, etc) and then flashes CM over the top which includes all his cool changes but does not delete the Google apps which we aren't supposed to distribute because it's illegal. Perhaps you are not aware, but Cyanogen got a Cease & Desist letter from Google, which is why we now do the defanged base method. More ROMs are moving to this method as time goes on, Pay's ROM and Super D are two which do this.
As an aside, I have found CM is not the fastest ROM. Some people have had better success with a ROM called Super D which is quite popular and includes many of the Eclair bits and pieces which CM does anyway. I personally use Dwang's ROM which is a much more plain Donut image however it absolutely flies. Both of these are linked in my sig, and are usually within the first few pages of the G1 Dev Forum anyway.
Thank you guys so much! I really appreciate how helpful the community has been. I've been having some issues with the the upgrading and maintaining because of my memory card slot dying out. A lot of the times the system will not register that I have my micro sd card in it or it'll say the sd card is blank. I just hope the phone lasts the extra 6 months till the end of my contract
Sent from my T-Mobile G1 using XDA App
maniacallyhappy said:
I've been having some issues with the the upgrading and maintaining because of my memory card slot dying out. A lot of the times the system will not register that I have my micro sd card in it or it'll say the sd card is blank.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to have this problem too, but it went away when I moved to 1.6 (coincidentally the same time I replaced the SD Card that came with my phone with a new Class 6 card). So either the upgrade of the OS or the SD Card fixed it.
In going to have to try the new men card cause the system is already at 1.6 but the phone is still trying to kill itself.
Sent from my T-Mobile G1 using XDA App
I’ve just updated from MoDaCo’s 1.5 ROM to the CM6 2.2 ROM and since it’s been so long (over a year) since I’ve rooted my phone and dived into all the information involved in doing so. Back then it wasn’t as easy as it is now with some of these rooting methods. In fact I remember it being a real mess ha. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=583291)
So basically, I’ve managed to do quite a lot of things and I want to help a friend out but I want to make sure all my info is right.
ALL of this is basically on giant question. I just word it as if I know what I’m talking about. But please help me correct everything that is wrong (and I know there is a lot), help answer some of my questions, and even let me know where I’m right. I didn’t type everything up as questions so that it reads easier. If I need to repeat some sections to get clarification I can.
Customizing you Phone
The first step is to gain root access via installing (flashing) a recovery program (image).
This program (image) is only accessible via boot (boot into recovery). It allows you to make a back-up of the phone in its entirety, restore said back-ups, allow PC access connectivity (via USB), flash programs/files (“installing” in a sense), partition an SD card, perform various wipes, and some miscellaneous things.
Ok – I’ll pause here to get some info. Wipe Data/Factory Reset; this means erasing everything off the phone and it resets the current ROM back to its native state. Wipe Dalvik-cache… I’m not sure what this does exactly but I assume it has something to do with the programs installed or the SD card. Furthur, why would I want to ‘wipe battery stats’ or ‘rotate settings’ ? And wipe SD:ext partition has to do with Apps to SD?
Also, when you do these wipes and flashes and re-do your phone from scratch, the only thing that is never touched is the recovery image. It’s fair to say, when you flash the recovery image during your rooting, it’s the only set in stone thing on your phone… that is until you re-root your phone or flash an alternate recovery.
Apps2sd – When I first rooted my phone and installed MoDaCo’s ROM, I ventured into the land of Apps2sd. This too was a PAINFUL process partitioning my SD card and learning all about the ext2/3/4 and I’ve already forgotten everything. After going through all that to clear up what little space I had on my Hero, I then read all kinds of people saying Apps2SD is bad cuz it’s slow and blah blah. So I took it off. Now it seems that Google has made an Apps2sd native? I just need updated on the whole Apps2sd thing both in general and for the Hero.
Ok – Back. Some of the things you can flash are custom ROMs (a ROM is the Operating System essentially), data that tells the computer to work differently such as custom kernels (what makes the phone work, basically communication between hardware and software), new radios (what retrieves and uses signals), and battery stuff (what would it be called? “Battery kernel info”? haha). You can even flash programs right to the phone (apk files).
The biggest reason to root your phone, is to install a custom ROM. Custom roms typically cut out a lot of bloat that the stock OS would have such as un-removable programs (Sprint NFL and NASCAR… Thanks but no thanks Sprint) and OS things. Many developers have even tweaked ROMs to optimize performance and battery life. Why would the stock ROM not do this? And why would it seem the dev’s (developers) making custom ROMs are better than the devs at Google/Sprint/Samsung/etc.? Certain applications also require rooted phones (or just simple ‘root’) due to their extended abilities or required securities (such as WaveSecure?).
Reminder – everything is a question even tho some things have ‘?’ and some don’t. I know that I do not know what I’m talking about. I just want to confirm what I do know, and learn where I’m wrong!
Now some straight up questions:
When you get a custom recovery, ROM, and kernel on your phone… you’ve just about altered all major parts of your phone (software speaking of course)?
When you want to put on a custom ROM, you first wipe everything then flash the ROM. Then you may flash additional items such as gapps (google applications pack), custom Kernals, etc. When you want to change roms, do you have to undo everything and start from scratch and put new gapps back on, a new kernel, etc? What about just updating a ROM? What if you have a ROM you like, but just want to un-install(un-flash) gapps – possible?
[*]So example, If I needed something I forgot on an old setup – like a text message or file from EasyNote, I would have to nandroid backup, wipe everything, flash old ROM and additional files, restore OLD nandroid, grab the files, wipe everything, flash back newer ROM and additional files, restore new nandroid that was just created to be back where I started? (I actually have to do this too haha – want to make sure that’s right.) Basically I’m making sure I’m right about nandroid. It back’s-up all data and setting type files for current ROM?
What would happen if I tried to restore a nandroid back-up created during another ROM?
MoDaCo’s old custom ROM had WaveSecure installed with it so that it could not be removed. Is it possible to still do this with other ROMs?
Why do some people talk so negatively about gapps? Is there something wrong with them?
Back when I first tried learning all this a year ago, the Hero’s messaging app was known to be a real battery-eater and never slept so it was recommended to switch to a 3rd party and disable the stock app’s notifications. What’s the development on that?
I still have a whole paper full of other questions, but I think this is already getting loooong… so I’ll leave it here for now. The point of all this is to yes, educate myself so that I may help others…. But I plan on writing up a real all-inclusive guide to android and rooting and the like. I’ve searched a lot and learned a lot, but nowhere (including the wiki) did I find a nice, chronological guide of information. Hopefully I can fill that niche once I know exactly what I’m talking about, and even then I’ll need some peeps to clean my stuff up a bit. I also happen to be a filmmaker so I’d like to make a good video on this as well. It won’t be one of those videos where you can barley understand the person talking, shot in the basement with all the lights off, camera held in hand and shot with web-cam, etc. (Note: Just today I saw the XDA-TV post… sorry I missed it) D:
LAST NOTE:
Ok I promise I’m almost done. I just wanted to say that if anyone would not mind talking on the phone… I would love to just blow through this stuff a lot faster and be able to have a convo with some 1 on 1 feedback allowing me to get lots of questions answered. Even just 10 minutes would help me out tons! So if anyone who is a genious on this stuff (like devs… ) and wouldn’t mind chatting for a few – please PM me. I can do Skype as well.
I hope someone will take the time to answer you, it will help me too LOL. Last thing I rooted was the G1 years ago, & just yesterday rooted the Hero (& flashed CM6 today) I got off of Craigslist. Seems like some phones have better wikis than others.
I haven't been in the rooting/flashing game for a while since I've owned tons of different devices before & after the G1. Since then the only flashing I did was flashing Android onto a WM device LOL. Never bothered flashing the Vibrant, Epic, or Evo (sold, sold, & sold.)
Anyway, yeah, I hope someone answers! You have my support!
Root and recovery are two totally separate things - you can root your phone and not flash a recovery, it's totally up to you. Root gives you access to things on your phone, that you would otherwise not have - like flashing recovery, ROM(s), apps that need root access, etc. Goto the wiki there's a link which gives a high level idea of what root gives you.
Recovery - gives you features such as Nand backup/restore, wipe cache, dalvik-cache, flash stuff (ROMs, kernels, etc.,)
Apps2SD - allows you to install apps to the SD card. If you are using android 2.2 or above, this feature is available natively, so you don't need something line apps2sd
Now, answers to your "Straight up questions..."
1. Yes, once you root, flash recovery, flash ROM... you have altered your phone from a software stand point. You can return it to "out-of-the-box" state by running any official RUU provided by HTC/Sprint (for HTC Sprint Hero)
2. This varies from ROM to ROM, you should read the specific instructions provided by the ROM builder. About removing gapps, it is pretty easy to remove any apps once you have root access - read up the wiki or search for removing apps
3. Depends on what you want to get back - for all your daily needs, there are backup applications that can help you backup stuff from the phone, which you can then restore, once you have the app running and backup available
4. If you restore a nand backup, it will put your phone to a stage when you had created the backup
5. You will have to read up about MoDaCo ROM, that is a ROM specific thing
6. There's nothing wrong about the gapps - not sure what you are referring to
7. There are multiple messaging apps - handcent, chomp, google voice, etc. It all depends on your personal preferences
I would honestly recommend you to search on the forums and also visit the wiki. There's a whole lot of information about everything here. Also, Hero being a bit old phone, more often than not, the problem you might be facing... might have been already answered. Yes, it is time consuming, but will surely help you. The more you read, the comfortable you will feel.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can help you further. Again, I started the same way as you, rooted the phone, flashed CM6, played around, something went horribly wrong, then had to RUU, root, flash... everything. But, that taught me a lot.
Enjoy!
So basically, I’ve managed to do quite a lot of things and I want to help a friend out but I want to make sure all my info is right.
Customizing you Phone
The first step is to gain root access via installing (flashing) a recovery program (image).
This program (image) is only accessible via boot (boot into recovery). It allows you to make a back-up of the phone in its entirety, restore said back-ups, allow PC access connectivity (via USB), flash programs/files (“installing” in a sense), partition an SD card, perform various wipes, and some miscellaneous things.
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Not sure which phone you are working with, but I'm pretty sure, as a general
rule, you need root before you can flash the recovery image. Could be mistaken
on that, but that's how it was for my hero. Once you have the recovery image
flashed, you are correct, you can make and restore backups, you can access
the phone's internal storage and SD card, push/install apps, remove apps, etc.
Ok – I’ll pause here to get some info. Wipe Data/Factory Reset; this means erasing everything off the phone and it resets the current ROM back to its native state. Wipe Dalvik-cache… I’m not sure what this does exactly but I assume it has something to do with the programs installed or the SD card. Furthur, why would I want to ‘wipe battery stats’ or ‘rotate settings’ ? And wipe SD:ext partition has to do with Apps to SD?
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Wipe/Factory Reset basically formats the various partitions in the phone's
internal memory, if you do a wipe and reboot your phone, you'll boot loop, as
the phone no longer has an operating system. To restore back to original,
you would need to use an official RUU as andythegreenguy stated. You can
get the official rom upgrades (RUU's) from your carrier's website.
I'm still learning a lot of this myself, but the Dalvik-Cache is basically the OS's
cache, which has files randomly dumped into it and removed from it. Wiping
the Dalvik-Cache is beneficial (and sometimes required) when making
modifications to your rom. It can help improve your performance under some
circumstances, but will make your phone boot slower while the cache is being
recreated. SD:EXT only applies if you have partitioned your SD, for example,
to be used with Apps2SD. If you have no EXT partition, you can't format it.
If you are using Apps2SD, and have partitioned your SD card, this will erase
the EXT partition.
As a general rule that I follow, whenever I am making major changes, and
especially when I am flashing between different roms, I wipe everything, and
repartition/format my SD card. This helps me to know that any problems I run
into are not caused by something from a previous rom that didn't get erased.
I've never messed with wiping rotate, but wiping battery stats can be useful.
Lithium batteries have a little controller board that basically stores the battery
state. Sometimes this can get messed up, and a perfectly healthy battery will
think it's out of power a lot faster than it should. Resetting the battery info
can sometimes fix this issue. A recommendation I saw was to run your battery
down, reset the battery state, let the phone die, then do a full charge/discharge
cycle. Never had to do this, myself..
Also, when you do these wipes and flashes and re-do your phone from scratch, the only thing that is never touched is the recovery image. It’s fair to say, when you flash the recovery image during your rooting, it’s the only set in stone thing on your phone… that is until you re-root your phone or flash an alternate recovery.
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Sorta.. hboot and the radio are both beyond the recovery, and messing with
either of those without knowing what you are doing can cause your phone to
become a brick. Any recovery you flash should remain in place unless you use a
RUU, flash a different recovery, flash a rom that includes a different recovery,
(haven't run across that except for the RUU's), or mess with the MTD partitions.
Apps2sd – When I first rooted my phone and installed MoDaCo’s ROM, I ventured into the land of Apps2sd. This too was a PAINFUL process partitioning my SD card and learning all about the ext2/3/4 and I’ve already forgotten everything. After going through all that to clear up what little space I had on my Hero, I then read all kinds of people saying Apps2SD is bad cuz it’s slow and blah blah. So I took it off. Now it seems that Google has made an Apps2sd native? I just need updated on the whole Apps2sd thing both in general and for the Hero.
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Apps2SD is fine, any speed issues would primaryly be loading delays on slower
SD cards. Apps2SD also requires your SD card to be properly partitioned. The
Apps2SD that is in Android 2.2 is a little different, in that from my nderstanding,
it uses the Fat32 partition on the SD card, and thus does not require you to
partition your SD card. It is also to my knowledge only available on roms based
on Android 2.2.
A lot of custom roms have some form of Apps2SD now, but they require you to partition the SD card, and, as far as "speed" issues, I have ran my apps from
a class 2 card just fine, but moving the Dalvik-Cache to the SD card will cause
lag if you have a slow card. Class 4 or higher is recommended for moving your
cache.
Ok – Back. Some of the things you can flash are custom ROMs (a ROM is the Operating System essentially), data that tells the computer to work differently such as custom kernels (what makes the phone work, basically communication between hardware and software), new radios (what retrieves and uses signals), and battery stuff (what would it be called? “Battery kernel info”? haha). You can even flash programs right to the phone (apk files).
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Correct, you can flash ROMS, Kernels, Radios, apps (if packaged properly),
apk files that aren't packaged in an update.zip will either have to be pushed
via ADB, or can be installed from your SD card with a file manager.
The biggest reason to root your phone, is to install a custom ROM. Custom roms typically cut out a lot of bloat that the stock OS would have such as un-removable programs (Sprint NFL and NASCAR… Thanks but no thanks Sprint) and OS things. Many developers have even tweaked ROMs to optimize performance and battery life. Why would the stock ROM not do this? And why would it seem the dev’s (developers) making custom ROMs are better than the devs at Google/Sprint/Samsung/etc.? Certain applications also require rooted phones (or just simple ‘root’) due to their extended abilities or required securities (such as WaveSecure?).
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As far as the biggest reason to root your phone, I would have to say that the
answer to that would vary from person to person. Most users root to install
custom roms, but rooting gives you full control of the operating system. Since
android is Linux, having root access on your phone will allow you to change the
things that you otherwise could not. Utilities like Titanium backup can be used
to back up and restore your apps and data, performance benefits are always
a huge consideration. Companies like HTC and Sprint don't take performance
concerns into consideration because they are providing a product that is in their
opinion disposable, and "generic enough" for most users. Asking why they don't
fix the performance issues is like asking why every car on the road can't run 160
miles per hour while getting 40 miles per gallon. Some people don't care to have
the fastest, most efficient phone, and some people can't stand having sluggish
and unresponsive phones.
Now some straight up questions:
When you get a custom recovery, ROM, and kernel on your phone… you’ve just about altered all major parts of your phone (software speaking of course)?
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With a recovery, rom, and kernel, you've flashed all of the major software components
that you will be concerned about. Performance gains are all found in the ROM
and Kernel, and so most people have no need to go further than that. Basically,
think of the Kernel as the brain, and the ROM as the rest of the operating system
The recovery is important, but is transparent to the function of the phone once
everything is up and running.
[*]When you want to put on a custom ROM, you first wipe everything then flash the ROM. Then you may flash additional items such as gapps (google applications pack), custom Kernals, etc. When you want to change roms, do you have to undo everything and start from scratch and put new gapps back on, a new kernel, etc? What about just updating a ROM? What if you have a ROM you like, but just want to un-install(un-flash) gapps – possible?
[*]So example, If I needed something I forgot on an old setup – like a text message or file from EasyNote, I would have to nandroid backup, wipe everything, flash old ROM and additional files, restore OLD nandroid, grab the files, wipe everything, flash back newer ROM and additional files, restore new nandroid that was just created to be back where I started? (I actually have to do this too haha – want to make sure that’s right.) Basically I’m making sure I’m right about nandroid. It back’s-up all data and setting type files for current ROM?[*]What would happen if I tried to restore a nandroid back-up created during another ROM?
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I'll try to answer these in one shot. It's recommended that you always wipe
everything before installing a custom rom, except if the rom you are installing
is *SPECIFICALLY* an update for the rom you are running, and the dev states
that a wipe is not necessary. Generally, you want to make a nandroid backup,
wipe, install the rom, make sure everything is fine, nandroid, install the kernel,
check things over, rinse and repeat.
In my case, I generally return to configs that I've already tested, so I skip some
steps, but the order is ROM, Kernel, then the other parts.
If you forgot a text message from another rom, as long as you have the nandroid
you should be OK. You can boot into recovery, make a nandroid backup of your
current configuration, then wipe everything, restore the nandroid from the
old configuration, retrieve your message or data, Then you can reboot, wipe,
and restore the nandroid from the new configuration. Keeping multiple nandroids
can be userful if you are using an AOSP rom as your daily rom, since on the
Hero, to my knowledge, you can only update your PRL under a Sense based rom.
A lot of users will restore the sense backup to update their PRL, then restore the
AOSP rom.
[*]MoDaCo’s old custom ROM had WaveSecure installed with it so that it could not be removed. Is it possible to still do this with other ROMs?
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Never used WaveSecure, but as a general rule, if you can download the APK, you
should be able to install it on any rom.
[*]Why do some people talk so negatively about gapps? Is there something wrong with them?
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Some people like fat chicks, and some people don't. The argument about
gapps is akin to asking what's better, PC or Mac, Linux or Windows, sports cars
or station wagons. It's all personal preference. What's right for you might not
be right for your best friend.
[*]Back when I first tried learning all this a year ago, the Hero’s messaging app was known to be a real battery-eater and never slept so it was recommended to switch to a 3rd party and disable the stock app’s notifications. What’s the development on that?
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The messaging app had a bug that would lock the dialer and prevent the phone
from sleeping. This bug was supposedly fixed in the 2.1 update, but 2.1 also
introduced a whole plethora of other bugs. Some people still prefer third party
messenging apps, but I use the stock app with no issues. on a good day I can
get 27 hours on a charge, but I do a lot and so most days I get 12 hours or so.
Hope this has helped.
LAST NOTE:
Ok I promise I’m almost done. I just wanted to say that if anyone would not mind talking on the phone… I would love to just blow through this stuff a lot faster and be able to have a convo with some 1 on 1 feedback allowing me to get lots of questions answered. Even just 10 minutes would help me out tons! So if anyone who is a genious on this stuff (like devs… ) and wouldn’t mind chatting for a few – please PM me. I can do Skype as well.
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This may sound strange from a guy with a cellphone, but I actually hate talking
on the phone. Feel free to send me a PM now and then with questions. If I know the answer, I'll help out.
I'm not as knowledgeable as any of the devs, I'm still learning all of this myself. My answers might not be
'correct', but they work for me. most things related to android have no 'correct' or 'definitive' answer, but
that's the beauty of a platform that can be customized to taste. We can all make recommendations, and
can even tell you our reasoning or logic behind them, but we can all also learn a few things.
andythegreenguy said:
Root and recovery are two totally separate things - you can root your phone and not flash a recovery, it's totally up to you. Root gives you access to things on your phone, that you would otherwise not have - like flashing recovery, ROM(s), apps that need root access, etc. Goto the wiki there's a link which gives a high level idea of what root gives you.
Recovery - gives you features such as Nand backup/restore, wipe cache, dalvik-cache, flash stuff (ROMs, kernels, etc.,)
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Ah! So the recovery is a nice, built-into-phone way of flashing, whiping, etc; otherwise you would need to use the command prompt. (Correct?)
andythegreenguy said:
Apps2SD - allows you to install apps to the SD card. If you are using android 2.2 or above, this feature is available natively, so you don't need something line apps2sd
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Excellent. But does running apps from the SD card cause the apps to run slower or open slower? Should I keep primary apps or most commonly used apps on the phone or it doesn't matter?
andythegreenguy said:
If you restore a nand backup, it will put your phone to a stage when you had created the backup
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So the Nand-Backup saves ALL information including flashed ROMs, Kernels, BatteryTweak, etc? What about information on the SD card especially not that apps can be moved there)?
andythegreenguy said:
There are multiple messaging apps - handcent, chomp, google voice, etc. It all depends on your personal preferences
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I understand this, but I just wanted to know If it's a mistake to be using the stock texting app - if the messaging app in CM6 is even the stock one. I have tried Chomp and Handcent and I actually love handcent, but it's just WAY to slow.
I have searched the forums and wiki quite a lot, thats how I got this far. I try to search for some as many things as I can, but it's just hard to get some real clarity on some things and especially the broad things. That's why I plan on taking the results of this thread and making a nice 'general' guide and possibly a video.
Thanks a lot andythegreenguy. Appriciate the help a lot
To moxlon69:
moxlon69 said:
you need root before you can flash the recovery image
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Yes you are right. I was a bit mixed up on that (even though I've done it twice! haha)
moxlon69 said:
Wipe/Factory Reset...
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Lot of good clarification there. Very good, thanks!
moxlon69 said:
Sorta.. hboot and the radio are both beyond the recovery...
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Ah. What is hboot? Had some trouble finding general info on it. What is there to know about the radio? I haven't done it nor think i need to, but isn't changing the radio just the same as flashing something? (http://geekfor.me/faq/flash-radio/)
moxlon69 said:
Apps2SD is fine, any speed issues would primaryly be loading delays on slower SD cards. Apps2SD also requires your SD card to be properly partitioned. The Apps2SD that is in Android 2.2 is a little different, in that from my understanding, it uses the Fat32 partition on the SD card, and thus does not require you to partition your SD card. It is also to my knowledge only available on roms based on Android 2.2.
A lot of custom roms have some form of Apps2SD now, but they require you to partition the SD card, and, as far as "speed" issues, I have ran my apps from a class 2 card just fine, but moving the Dalvik-Cache to the SD card will cause lag if you have a slow card. Class 4 or higher is recommended for moving your cache.
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So if I have a 2.2 ROM... would I need to make a partition? I never read anything about needing it in CM6 threads. What was all the jazz about making different ext-s? Like 2, 3, or 4? I guess it's not relevant any more.
How do you move the Dalvik-Cache to SD?
Quick note:
AOSP and PRL are not on the wiki - not that many people don't know what they are... but why not?
Q: Why do some people talk so negatively about gapps?
A:Some people like fat chicks
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Well said haha. The whole analogy was good.
Thanks a million moxlon69 - That helps out more than you can imagine. I'm going to begin working on a write up of all this, but I do still have lots of questions. I'll probably continue posting in this thread for a while to keep it simple... unless I have an embarrassingly stupid question I can't find an answer for then I'll PM ya!
Thanks again moxlon69 and andythegreenguy.
Edit: This thread is going to become the tl;dr thread! haha
One more try.
I know it's a lot of reading, but any help you guys can offer is much appreciated and will be returned in the form of a video. You could then just send all the newbies to the video and hopefully many of their questions will be answered.
I just don't want to make the video without being precisely accurate. I have more questions, but I should probably wait for the current queue of my questions to go down.
Thanks again for the help thus far!