Database Develop

[Q] ROM Manager: Recommended or not?

Hey guys,
Last night I installed ROM Manager and ClockworkMod Recovery on my Roger's Samsung Captivate and proceeded to watch some YouTube videos on how it works. It would appear that this app has made flashing extremely easy. Too easy one might say.
My question is: Is flashing via ROM Manager safe? Better? Or not, compared to the "old school" method?
Any feedback on ROM Manager or flashing in general for my i896 Captivate would be much appreciated!

TheShamsMan said:
Hey guys,
Last night I installed ROM Manager and ClockworkMod Recovery on my Roger's Samsung Captivate and proceeded to watch some YouTube videos on how it works. It would appear that this app has made flashing extremely easy. Too easy one might say.
My question is: Is flashing via ROM Manager safe? Better? Or not, compared to the "old school" method?
Any feedback on ROM Manager or flashing in general for my i896 Captivate would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say Rom Manager is downright essential, but your mileage may vary. Besides the uber easy flashes there are a number of utility type things it does, not least of which is it gives us cappy users the ability to make nandroid backups.
As far as safe? As safe as any other method I guess. If you do your homework and the Rom's cook has his/her shizzle together (and most of them do.) you should be good using it to flash.
You'll find with some of the newer kernels that a modified CWM is actually replacing the stock 2e/3e recovery also, so it's not a terrible idea to get familiar with it a bit first.
Just some thoughts, hope they help.

Thanks for the reply dude!
Does ROM Manager automatically present users with the option to backup their existing ROM before proceeding with a flash?
I attempted to back up my current ROM with ROM Manager. It rebooted into a recovery menu, but non of them gave me the option to back up. Just wipe and reboot (can't remember the exact options). Is it possible the Captivate is no supported? How would I enable nandroid for Captivate?

TheShamsMan said:
Thanks for the reply dude!
Does ROM Manager automatically present users with the option to backup their existing ROM before proceeding with a flash?
I attempted to back up my current ROM with ROM Manager. It rebooted into a recovery menu, but non of them gave me the option to back up. Just wipe and reboot (can't remember the exact options). Is it possible the Captivate is no supported? How would I enable nandroid for Captivate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You open the app and tap flash clockwork recovery, select your phone, and it will proceed to reboot into recovery mode. At this time, you move down to reinstall packages, and it will then load clockwork recovery. It is from there that you can make your nandroid backup.

miztaken1312 said:
You open the app and tap flash clockwork recovery, select your phone, and it will proceed to reboot into recovery mode. At this time, you move down to reinstall packages, and it will then load clockwork recovery. It is from there that you can make your nandroid backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. It sometimes chokes on loading itself. It puts a file named update.zip on your sdcard. When you get to the blue menu (2e recovery) you select reinstall packages and it should load right up. Sometimes it will reboot and get stuck there again. Just do it again and it'll come up.
Yes, before you flash through rom manager it asks you if you want to do a backup. You'll find over time tho that you'll just go straight to clockworkmod and skip the whole rom manager thing. At least I did. And if you go to one of the kernels with the modified cwm in place of the recovery menu rebooting to recovery with rom manager will bring you to the wrong one. The modified has extra stuff like lag fixes and that sort of thing that the original cwm doesn't have.

Yeah. So far, I find it easier to just use ROM Manager to boot into Recovery and do everything else from there.
I like how it only presents you with ROMs available for your specific device. I look forward to the list populating for the Captivate. It's currently empty.

You open the app and tap flash clockwork recovery, select your phone, and it will proceed to reboot into recovery mode. At this time, you move down to reinstall packages, and it will then load clockwork recovery. It is from there that you can make your nandroid backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the very first time i did this clicked reboot instead of reinstall packages. (i have fat thumbs) now every time i do 'tap flash clockwork recovery' instead of rebooting it just says 'successfully downloaded clockworkmod recovery'. how am i supposed to reinstall if i cant get to the option to do so?
im using a rooted captivate.

"Reinstall Packages" is in Android Recovery. When you perform the action "Flash Clockwork Recovery", you are downloading update.zip (which is Clockwork). "Reinstall packages" will install that update.zip and bring you into Clockwork.
So for you nawlage, now you can select "Reboot into Recovery" in ROM Manager, and your phone should boot into Android Recovery (blue text). Once there, reinstall packages (you'll probably have to do this twice), and you'll be brought to Clockwork Recovery (green text). If for WHATEVER reason "Reboot into Recovery" isn't working for you, use the 3-button combo to boot into Android Recovery.

thanks a load. i had just read this... posted by big99gt:
After these steps you won't really have to "hack" your phone lol. Root your phone and download Rom Manager from the Android market...then have it flash a recovery (the first selection at the top) choose your device when prompted. Now after that finishes select "reboot into recovery" and as the above post states you may need to select "reinstall packages" (I did). Once that goes through, you'll see your new custom recovery menu. DO A NANDROID BACKUP of your current Rom as soon as you can....then (as long as your current rom isn't messed up, if its stock your fine) from there on out you can play as much as you want with very little risk of bricking your phone. There are others who can explain it better but your stuck with me till they chime in lol. Its a very easy process and nearly foolproof.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
..and did just that. and it takes me to the clockwork recovery (green text). because of this i dont have to reinstall packages?
also, is the backup option in clockwork recovery (green text) equivalent to nandroid backup?

Once you are in Clockwork Recovery (green text), there is no more need to reinstall packages.
The "Backup Current ROM" in ROM Manager makes a nandroid backup.

very nice. two thanks for you. thank you.

Cannot get into cwm recovery

Please delete this post

Smallsmx3 said:
flashed back to jf6 via one click twice now. master cleared..... everytime i try to boot into recovery i get into 2e. dont flame me just help. anyone else have this issue before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you put the update.zip on your internal SD card? If not I have attached it to this post. Please be careful in the future where you post though. There are a few bad apples that will rip you apart.

More info is needed to help you out. What setup where you running before?? Do you have the correct update.zip for CWM on the root of your sd and are you reinstalling packages x2 in 2e recovery and its not working or what?? Pretty vague in the OP.
EDIT: If you master cleared it wiped your sd and you need to put the update.zip that adamholden posted back on your sd.

whats the update.zip file? root access? I have root. everyone knows if you post in general you dont get replies.....

The update.zip that he posted is not root. Its for CWM and you should always keep it on your internal sd to always have CWM available. Just move the zip to your SD and select reinstall packages two times for the green txt CWM recovery.

was on eugenes gingerbread themed rom... going from r2 to r3....failed at line 2 so I one clicked....master cleared and everytime i try to get into CWM recovery 2e boots up instead.....i have root

silverslotcar said:
The update.zip that he posted is not root. Its for CWM and you should always keep it on your internal sd to always have CWM available. Just move the zip to your SD and select reinstall packages two times for the green txt CWM recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i didnt know this existed....thanks...ill try it out

Smallsmx3 said:
whats the update.zip file? root access? I have root. everyone knows if you post in general you dont get replies.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CWM is an update.zip file on your sdcard (assuming your not using a kernel with it baked in). What happens when you hit reinstall packages, is that it takes the CWM update.zip and flashes it, replacing 2e with CWM. If you don't have that update.zip on your sdcard, then you won't be able to get to CWM.

Yea, have you ever been in rom manager and had to "Flash Clockwork Recovery." Well thats what it is doing. Its putting CWM recovery as an update.zip on your sd. You should be good to go once you do that.

I had the same thing happen to me. I will list what I did step by step as best as I can remember not because all of it is necessarily relevant, just for a frame of reference:
i. Odin 1 clicked to stock
ii. one click root
iii. installed CWM from market
1. Opened CWM, selected install rom from SD card, did not check backup rom or wipe data.
2. Phone rebooted into stock recovery screen, selected reinstall packages, rebooted phone.
3. Repeated step 1 and 2 about 10 times with nothing happening. (Normally, the second time I go through this process, it installs the rom)
4. I tried selecting "Reboot into Recovery" (the manual option) but still nothing happened, it was taking me to the 2e stock recovery.
5. I went back into CWM and selected "All CWM Recoveries" and flashed the older version 2.5.1.1
5. Selected "Reboot into Recovery" again and the CWM recovery window came up and I was able to manually select my ROM from there.

Thanks for Clockwork Mod save
Thank you!!!! Like the previous poster I couldn't get into Clockwork to flash a new ROM altho' I went into recovery at least a dozen times - your fix worked! I downloaded an earlier Clockwork and that instantly took me to the correct screen. A million thanks, I thought I would be stuck in 2.1 for the life of the phone since it wouldn't flash.

dslsurfer said:
Thank you!!!! Like the previous poster I couldn't get into Clockwork to flash a new ROM altho' I went into recovery at least a dozen times - your fix worked! I downloaded an earlier Clockwork and that instantly took me to the correct screen. A million thanks, I thought I would be stuck in 2.1 for the life of the phone since it wouldn't flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad that you found a fix haha

[Q] Trying to flash Serendipity 6.3...

I've never flashed a rom before. I currently have stock froyo with the paragon kernel i flashed using the app sgs kernel flasher. I have clockwork mod rom manager, I created a backup of my current rom. So then I tried installing the serendipity rom from the sd card but i get an error message. I read on the sticky on how to flash a custom ROM you need to use ODIN and flash back to stock 2.1 then do a master wipe and re root it and stuff.
Their link to download ODIN is broken so I don't know how to get it. And is there really no other way to flash it besides doing a master wipe and using ODIN?

flash to stock and master clear is not needed. what IS needed are specifics on WHAT error message you get when trying to flash the rom you want

The error message is
"E: failed to verify whole-file signature"
"E: signature verification failed"
"Installation aborted"
Then it brings be to the blue menu so i just select reboot system now

bad download, re-download rom.

May be completely off, but it doesn't sound like you're actually in clockwork mod recovery, but rather stock recovery.
But here's the post with the one click odin with mirrors and I personally would suggest useing it since I generally like to stick to as clean a flash as I can:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731989
Second, I don't know if you've ever seen MobileTechVids tutorial on how to flash custom roms, but I suggest you watch the full series first if you haven't already.
here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsafJ-9uRqk
I watch the series and try and stick as close to the tut as I can when I'm unsure (or the one provided by the Rom maker as they know what's best for their rom)...
One suggestion, when flashing Serendipity disconnect your phone from cable right before the actual flashing (gave me a glitch in which I couldn't mount storage via usb). Other than that, read read read. I feel it's all I do when it comes to this stuff, but proper research is indispensible.

thresherhorn said:
May be completely off, but it doesn't sound like you're actually in clockwork mod recovery, but rather stock recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Is the text on Recovery mode blue or green? If its blue, you're on stock recovery.

+2
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App

Ok I got the stock rom flashed back and rooted it using one click. Now for some reason I can't reboot into clockwork recovery mode. I flashed it successfully. So i click on reboot into recovery and nothing happens. I try clicking on install room from sd card and that doesnt work either

Power off, hold 3 buttons att screen will come on. Keep holding. Screen will go off. Keep holding. Screen comes on again let off the power button but keep the volumes held, this will boot you into stock recovery, since you said you flashed cwm already I'm assuming you mean with rom manager, so the update.zip should be on your sdcard, so just reinstall packages twice and you should boot into cwm.

AIO tools work well and make flashing roms for new people easy and painless
use a search for it

steph2 said:
AIO tools work well and make flashing roms for new people easy and painless
use a search for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1.
AIO and superoneclick for root/flashing roms makes the process much easier.

crag11 said:
Ok I got the stock rom flashed back and rooted it using one click. Now for some reason I can't reboot into clockwork recovery mode. I flashed it successfully. So i click on reboot into recovery and nothing happens. I try clicking on install room from sd card and that doesnt work either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On serendipities main "download" page they have instructions to install. In those instructions is a link to a file you can download. Place that file along with the serendipity 6.3.zip file in the root of your sd card. Use the " 3 button" technique or Rom managers "reboot to recovery" option to get into stock recovery. Hit "reinstall packages" once/possibly twice. That will put you into clockwork mod recovery. Select install zip from sd card, find the serendipity6.3.zip and click power to flash. Confirm. And after it does some stuff it will ask you to reboot. Upon reboot it will as if you want to enable lagfix. Hit plain "Yes". Watch it do its thing and viola...
You have the "dirty" way of how to flash serendipity... But first I please ask you to spend atleast a day reading this forum or others and understanding these instructions and the reasons behind them.

followed instructions off the website and still doesn't work
I was running 2.2 and have done a lot of reading a video watching (thanks Mobile Tech videos) and finally conjured the guts to flash serendipity.
I flashed stock using odin...that went great. Copied the update.zip to sd card. Installed zip twice in 2e recovery. Copied Serendipity.zip file to sd card. started in recovery mode, selected "install from sdcard" selected serendipity.zip file and it seemed to go through that process rather quickly. Then I selected reboot and then everything just started FCing all over the place. Can't even load the stock that I had on there. I don't know what to do. Help please. I can get it back into recovery mode. Tried doing the wipe data/factory reset. That did help either. Help please. I really want to try serendipity. Thanks again in advanced.

Did you run a restore using TiBu at all? Or was it just a straight flash from stock to Serendipity?
Plus, were you running a phone that came with 2.2 out of the box? Or did you upgrade to stock Froyo yourself?

m3thods said:
Did you run a restore using TiBu at all? Or was it just a straight flash from stock to Serendipity?
Plus, were you running a phone that came with 2.2 out of the box? Or did you upgrade to stock Froyo yourself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did run TB and I had originally flashed up to froyo (took me all night one night) and then went through the process I explained and hit the dead end. I finally was able to get odin to read the phone and flash back to stock. It was a learning process. I realized that I needed not only the Serendipity_6.3.zip file but ALSO the kitchen file to included with it. That wasn't in the directions I don't think. Finally got it all on there. I love it now. I appreciate everyone's help. Any word on a how-to for Bluedipity?

[Q] Rom Manager/ClockworkMod recovery - need help

I have installed Rom Manager (paid version), and clicked the "Install ClockworkMod Recovery" button.
It asks for the device - selected Samsung S Captivate (which is what my phone is).
It asks for (and gets) root, pops up a message saying that it has downloaded ClockWorkMod Recovery, then seems to do nothing else.
If I then click on Backup Current ROM, it presents a name for the backup (date and time), then re-boots the phone into recovery.
No backup happens, and the recovery is the Samsung one.
So the installation of ClockworkMod Recovery seems to have failed.
Tried several more times - same result. Tried installing recovery a few times too.
Looked at the filestore -- the clockworkmod recovery download is there.
Deleted Rom Manager, re-installed - tried again - same results.
Any suggestions???

PhilipPeake said:
I have installed Rom Manager (paid version), and clicked the "Install ClockworkMod Recovery" button.
It asks for the device - selected Samsung S Captivate (which is what my phone is).
It asks for (and gets) root, pops up a message saying that it has downloaded ClockWorkMod Recovery, then seems to do nothing else.
If I then click on Backup Current ROM, it presents a name for the backup (date and time), then re-boots the phone into recovery.
No backup happens, and the recovery is the Samsung one.
So the installation of ClockworkMod Recovery seems to have failed.
Tried several more times - same result. Tried installing recovery a few times too.
Looked at the filestore -- the clockworkmod recovery download is there.
Deleted Rom Manager, re-installed - tried again - same results.
Any suggestions???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, you need to be rooted. If you are rooted already, when you get to the Samsung recovery, is it the 3e recovery? if so, you need to get around that first be reading here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=909213
Once you get around 3e recovery you can flash whatever you want. Report back, let us konw how it goes.
edit: oops, just noticed that you did say you have root when you mentioned you allowed root access for Rom Manager.

Reboot to Recovery and select "reinstall packages". --- u may have to do it twice, but then u should be in CWM Recovery... Unless u have the stock 3e recovery as stated above.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App

Ok - loaded the modified 3e recovery binary.
Seems to be working, because now when I boot into recovery I see:
-- Movi_check Start..||
checksum confirmation need_checksum[0]
Not need checksum confirmation
...
But still can't get clockworkmod recovery to load.
Tried loading an old version, followed by re-loading the current version.
Backup Current ROM ... and still see the Samsung recovery utils message,
and of course, no backup.

Ok -- lets try reinstall packages twice ...
Ok - that did it.
Thanks!!

As said in the post above your last one, you do have to select Reinstall packages twice to get into CWM. Are you selecting it twice?
edit: just saw your post above. glad you got it working.

Ok - now some random questions (for my education):
First, any idea why it might take TWO re-installs of packages for things to work?
It always makes me a bit nervous when repeating an operation has different effects. Software is supposed to be deterministic!
Next, I assume that installing clockworkmod recovery just replaces the "recovery" binary in /system/bin (?).
If so, why didn't (couldn't?) I just get hold of a single binary and drop it into /system/bin in place of the standard recovery binary?

PhilipPeake said:
Ok - now some random questions (for my education):
First, any idea why it might take TWO re-installs of packages for things to work?
It always makes me a bit nervous when repeating an operation has different effects. Software is supposed to be deterministic!
Next, I assume that installing clockworkmod recovery just replaces the "recovery" binary in /system/bin (?).
If so, why didn't (couldn't?) I just get hold of a single binary and drop it into /system/bin in place of the standard recovery binary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as the re-installing packages twice, you should only have to do that once. now when you reboot to recovery, or 3-button boot to recovery it should go right to CWM.
And I have no idea about the single binary thing. I just followed instructions as you did to get it working. Hahaha!

Honesty on a forum -- I like that!
Just did a bit of poking around ... it doesn't replace the restore binary, looks like it uses that to load CWM -- if you issue a "reboot recovery" you end up in the standard recovery. If you run reboot into recovery from Rom Manager, you can see it loads the original recovery first, then jumps into CWM.
I suppose this is actually a good thing, because you always have the old recovery to fall back to.
Thanks a lot ... I would probably never have found the 3e restore replacement without that pointer.
Philip

[Q] Cant boot into clockwork recovery?

No matter what android version or ROM whenever i install ROM manager and allow thorugh superuser and reboot into recovery i get the stock recovery screen. This is very annoying. Could anyone give me advice?
Thanks

doctorwhobbc said:
No matter what android version or ROM whenever i install ROM manager and allow thorugh superuser and reboot into recovery i get the stock recovery screen. This is very annoying. Could anyone give me advice?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, below im going to suggest two different ways to accomplish this.
Before you try this, if you are currently on 2.2 you will run into a 3e security error when in recovery. This process must be done from 2.1 or you must use the 3e security work around if attempting from 2.2. Which is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=909213
For me, its easier to use odin and flash back to 2.1 and then load the rom from there than to mess with the whole recovery thing.
How To: Install clockwork recovery.
DOWNLOAD THIS FILE FIRST THEN FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW.
FILE: http://www.mediafire.com/?ve234hbg64ctcu0
1. Go to the download folder and rename clockworkrecovery.zip to update.zip. Mount your phone and drag the update.zip file into the root directory. It is ok to overwrite the update.zip you used before. When it is done copying turn off your phone.
2. Unplug your phone and hold down both volume buttons and the power button until a strange menu with blue items pops up. This is called the recovery menu.
3. Scroll using the volume buttons to the menu item titled "reinstall packages" and press the power button to select.
4. Your phone should restart and you should be at a green menu which is clockwork mod. Do whatever you need to do from here.
Let me say, this is probably an older version of CWM because I pulled it from this thread :http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884364
It should work fine for flashing all 2.2 based roms but I do not have any say for the 2.3 roms as Ive never tried.
2nd way. Use odin to flash a kernel that already has the CWM recovery installed. This is a little more complicated than it sounds as some kernels are not compatible with some roms and you must check that before flashing. If you choose this method, you need to go find a kernel that works and understand how to use Odin before trying.

capocaccia said:
Ok, below im going to suggest two different ways to accomplish this.
Before you try this, if you are currently on 2.2 you will run into a 3e security error when in recovery. This process must be done from 2.1 or you must use the 3e security work around if attempting from 2.2. Which is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=909213
For me, its easier to use odin and flash back to 2.1 and then load the rom from there than to mess with the whole recovery thing.
How To: Install clockwork recovery.
DOWNLOAD THIS FILE FIRST THEN FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW.
FILE: http://www.mediafire.com/?ve234hbg64ctcu0
1. Go to the download folder and rename clockworkrecovery.zip to update.zip. Mount your phone and drag the update.zip file into the root directory. It is ok to overwrite the update.zip you used before. When it is done copying turn off your phone.
2. Unplug your phone and hold down both volume buttons and the power button until a strange menu with blue items pops up. This is called the recovery menu.
3. Scroll using the volume buttons to the menu item titled "reinstall packages" and press the power button to select.
4. Your phone should restart and you should be at a green menu which is clockwork mod. Do whatever you need to do from here.
Let me say, this is probably an older version of CWM because I pulled it from this thread :http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884364
It should work fine for flashing all 2.2 based roms but I do not have any say for the 2.3 roms as Ive never tried.
2nd way. Use odin to flash a kernel that already has the CWM recovery installed. This is a little more complicated than it sounds as some kernels are not compatible with some roms and you must check that before flashing. If you choose this method, you need to go find a kernel that works and understand how to use Odin before trying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! It works