Hey guys, how are you doing?
This is my first post in this forum, although I've been reading lots of threads within this section, but I'm a bit lost. I recently got my brand new Samsung Galaxy S i9000B from Personal Argentina. This version is the one with DMB TV.
I had a Motorola Milestone before this one, so I am gladly not new to all the Android thing, but I have a few questions regarding what I can and cannot do with the threads and tutorials that are for the international versions of this phone.
1) First of all, I wanted to know if there is something as the Open Recovery available in the Milestone, from which I could make a nandroid backup that saved everyhing from my phone, making it possible to mess with it and restore the backup aftewards as if nothing had happened (I currently use Titanium Backup but it's not as easy and nice as the nandroid). I read about some "Clockworkmod" Recovery, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for (besides, I had read a post that said that it's backup isn't that safe and doesn't backup everything, is that true?), and another question that is linked with the next one.
2) What are the things that I can use from the threads of the international version of the Galaxy S and what are the ones that will brick/freeze/destroy/detonate (hahaha ) my phone? Because I see lots of tutorials but I am afraid that I may use the wrong things, making my phone unusable (if I had the nandroid and knew that I just had to enter the recovery mode and restore, I would try them by myself without worries, but I'm not so sure yet).
3) I already rooted and unbranded my phone. I wanted to know if there is a way, without loading another rom (apart that there's none for this version), to erase the "boot animation and goodbye animation" from my carrier. I write this between inverted commas because it's not properly the boot animation, which I think is the big "S" with lights converging in the center.
4) Is there a way to enable the usb connection with Launcher Pro enabled? Because my pc (win7 x32) doesn't recognize the phone unless I have the Touchwiz Launcher onscreen.
5) Is there a software like RSD Lite to load the firmwares I download from the internet? I read about some soft called Odin, not sure if it's for that purpose. Also, is there a website with the stock firmwares from all over the world? So I can have my stock firmware in case I needed it for service or anything.
I know that I had more questions by the time I though about this thread, but I can't really remember . Let me say that I feel this like a big improvement over the Milestone, and I'm really happy with it. I hope you can answer my doubts and thank you in advance for that.
BTW, sorry for the long thread
Cheers!
Let me bump this before leaving to the University guys
I know I can't expect an instant response, don't get me wrong. I'm just bumping this in case the ones that know the answers don't visit the second page
With a bit more reaserch plus trial&error I managed to answer myself some of this questions, at least partially. I leave the answers here for anyone else that founds himself in the same mess I did. Any corrections or extensions of my answers will be appreciated.
jmtast said:
1) First of all, I wanted to know if there is something as the Open Recovery available in the Milestone, from which I could make a nandroid backup that saved everyhing from my phone, making it possible to mess with it and restore the backup aftewards as if nothing had happened (I currently use Titanium Backup but it's not as easy and nice as the nandroid). I read about some "Clockworkmod" Recovery, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for (besides, I had read a post that said that it's backup isn't that safe and doesn't backup everything, is that true?), and another question that is linked with the next one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. With Clockworkmod Recovery you can make a nandroid backup, among other stuff. You have to download ROM Manager from the market and install the clockwork recovery from there.
2) What are the things that I can use from the threads of the international version of the Galaxy S and what are the ones that will brick/freeze/destroy/detonate (hahaha ) my phone? Because I see lots of tutorials but I am afraid that I may use the wrong things, making my phone unusable (if I had the nandroid and knew that I just had to enter the recovery mode and restore, I would try them by myself without worries, but I'm not so sure yet).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I found out (by reading) that you can't use any firmware from other regions because of the differences on hardware, and also found out (by testing it) that you can't apply the voodoo lagfix, because it's for this regions mentioned before, and it modifies the kernel, remapping your keys (hard and touch ones) and makes your screen react faulty.
3) I already rooted and unbranded my phone. I wanted to know if there is a way, without loading another rom (apart that there's none for this version), to erase the "boot animation and goodbye animation" from my carrier. I write this between inverted commas because it's not properly the boot animation, which I think is the big "S" with lights converging in the center.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't find the exact answer for this one, but managed to change the animations when I reflashed the phone with an unbranded firmware.
4) Is there a way to enable the usb connection with Launcher Pro enabled? Because my pc (win7 x32) doesn't recognize the phone unless I have the Touchwiz Launcher onscreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't find the answer for this one either. I can't leave Launcherpro as default because it won't connect. Each time I wan't to connect I press the home button and bring the Touchwiz launcher onscreen.
5) Is there a software like RSD Lite to load the firmwares I download from the internet? I read about some soft called Odin, not sure if it's for that purpose. Also, is there a website with the stock firmwares from all over the world? So I can have my stock firmware in case I needed it for service or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right. As I said before, Odin is the software that does the same job as RSD Lite on Motorola.
Nice to read you.
I'm starting the path of unbranding and respawning my SGS from Personal Argentina sorcery.
So, you started ROM Manager, told it to instal CWM and it worked flawlessly, didn't you?
OK, when I first started into this stuff, I tried to follow all the guidance that has been given before flashing my first ROM. I did a ROM Manager backup of my ROM the way I got it from AT&T. I did not write down my ID # or anything else. I'm assuming the backup has all the information that came with it. My question is how to re-load that original ROM. I've flashed quite a few ROMs now using the Odin one-click to go back to stock and Master Clear and never had a problem. I'm running P9 right now (w/ no problems) and decided to try something else. After seeing some of the threads on here about your original phone IDs, I wanted to try and recover that info by restoring the original backup. I did that straight from P9, but now I just get locked up on the DG boot screens. I'm going to One Click it again but I'm wondering how I can restore back to my original with the backup that I have. Any guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks
My apolopies if this is already posted somewhere but I can't find it
You will get assistance in the Q&A section, this is not a ROM development related issue.
If you backed up correctly you would restore factory settings in recovery mode.
The best thing to do is to always save your original backup zip in clockwork to your SD card in case it gets overwritten.
Got my phone (AT&T Captivate, firmware 2.1-update1 version JH7, kernel 2.6.29, build eclair.UCJH7) on december 28 from a AT&T store (it even came with a pic taken december 20 ) and I've already been able to boot into download mode (power off, hold volume keys then plug usb) and into that menu used to install packages (power off, hold volume keys then power on). Guess my hardware and firmware are ok, so I may be able to recover my phone by myself in case things go south.
I've been doing my homework lately (been reading stickys, tutorials and faqs for 10 days) but I'm still confused about some procedures. I'm not going to list everything I've read here, but I would like someone to correct me if I've learnt wrong. I don't really need the easiest methods, I want to understand the options available and to choose the best ones (aka the hardest path).
First of all, it seems I need to root my phone in order to be able to create backups, carrier-unlock it and flash custom roms. But it doesn't make much sense to me, since rooting it seem to be enough to prevent it from receiving FOTA updates - and I want to make the most comprehensive backup possible, in such a way I could restore my phone to 'factory condition' if needed.
Second, I realize there are many ways, programs and guides to root the phone - the most famous ones, One-Click root/unroot and z4root, seem to be listed in the wiki (http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S/SGH-I897), but there is also CLShortFuse's One-Click Root and Allow Non-Market Apps, which sounds interesting but I don't know if it is undo-able. So there are different ways to root the phone, but there is little to none information on what's the difference between these methods, which is 'better' and what difference does it make if I root it permanently or by some reversible method. Does it affect performance? How each of them work? I have no clue.
The mess gets even greater when it comes to creating backups. People mention different programs to make these backups (clockwork recovery, titanium backup) but I don't understand if they back up different parts of the phone. Some even seem to change the bootloader of the phone - shouldn't it be backed up prior to any modification? Do I flash these backups using Odin? Which programs should I use to have a full backup? Is there anything left I should back up manually?
I'll quit talking for now because I've already written a lot and I still have many questions; if I write all of them at once, no one will ever have the patience to read them.
Erk, a long post deserves a long answer
So first off, il tell you about recovering your phone. Since you just got it, you can go back to the store and play dumb to get a new one in case anything goes wrong. You can also use the 3 button combos to get into download mode and use odins back to stock to get back to your original 2.1 eclair firmware . To do that you would need to get into download mode. Now there are a couple ways to do this, and i can only explain two since ive actually used two. (Well 3 actually, but il get to the third after these 2)
The first method is using the 3 button combo which you should already know. The second method is using adb commands such as (adb shell, adb reboot download, adb reboot recovery, adb devices). The third way is building a jig. Thats basically connecting 301k 1/4 watt worth of resistors together and placing them on pin 4 and 5 on your micro usb slot. You can read more about that on the tutorial on how to build a jig for your phone.
To restore to your factory setting, odin's one click back to stock thing should do the job. It simple installs the stock 2.1 eclair all over again (without the root).
To root your phone, any method from the wiki should work. None of them are really "better" :S, they all do the same job and give you super user permissions. None of them root your permanently since you can always go back to stock using Odin's... It does not really affect performance, not to any extent i have noticed :S, and unfortunately, i dont really know how it works.
As for creating backups, Titanium Backup is the best solution. Whether you have the few extra bucks to spend for the premium one or simply want to use the free one, its one of the best tools out there. I personally use it and its one of the best. It backs up all the data (except for my text messages). It creates a folder on your internal memory which you can just copy to your desktop. When the time comes that you need to restore your backup, just copy the folder back into your internal memory, load up titanium backup. Restore it and voila .
I think ive answered everything, if ive missed anything, let me know
Edit : Forgot to mention this . If your truly interested in customization. Custom roms are the best there is a howto in the themes and apps section on how to install it. It comes pre-rooted (if that is the word to use :S) and theyre much better than the stock firmware. Im currently using serendipity v3.0 (flashed it yesterday)
supaphreek, guess I'll have to thank you twice: once for reading my enormous post, and again for you supacompleteanswer.
I'm being paranoid with recovery because I actually bought the phone in the US then came back to my country (Brazil), so I'm a few thousand miles away from the simple lets-return-this-thing solution.
From everything I've read, I believe the most instructive were the wiki at http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S/SGH-I897 , the FAQ at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=858765 , the PDF guide from user nbs11 at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=761819 and the wiki at http://www.capfaq.com/w/FAQ. These contain most of the info a newbie user would ever need and I'd definitely recommend them to any newbie user who happen to be reading this. And for everyone afraid of bricking, it's a tremendous relief to know pretty much any mess you do can be reverted using download mode and Odin, so the first thing to test is if you can get into download mode using one of the ways described by our buddy supaphreek.
On the rooting matter, I found no discussion at all about which is better, so they should be pretty similar (though I have no idea which is the oldest version, I'd assume the recent ones might be a little improved). There is some discussion on what's the better lagfix and many of the cooked ROMs already come with some lagfix installed, but this is another story...
Once I get my phone rooted, it seems to be trivial to carrier-unlock it. There's even an app on android market for this, so I won't even need sideloading. Since all this procedure does is just give me a number, there's hardly any difference among all the unlocking procedures out there.
For the backup, I'll still do it using both titanium and clockwork, as suggested by nbs11 on the pdf I've linked on this post. Better safe than sorry, right?
And yes, I'm truly interested in customization and I'll go deep down that path, I'm just packing up my head with some knowledge to avoid being desperate if things eventually go fubar.
As a last question, is there somewhere I can get 1-click Odin with my exact firmware version? (2.1-update1, I897UCJH7, Kernel 2.6.29 [email protected] #2, build eclair.ucjh7) And how important is it to get the exact same firmware?
As I've done my research, I found 1-click odin with JF6 here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731989
I've also found the 'standalone' I897UCJH7 on this topic (where this guy even flashed succesfully his phone using old JH2 firmware without problems, so finding the exact firmware version might not be the greatest issue): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10056254&postcount=36 but this process is a bit more complicated and uses regular Odin and clockwork recovery. Nonetheless, from what I've understood, I can still use any old version of odin to flash JF6 then use my own clockwork backup, right?
Hmm, unfortunately, im not sure if there is a specific Odin for that firmware :S. However what you can do is use one that reverts you to any stock version, and then flash the version you want through clockwork mod
I'll do that. Thanks again!
Also if you one click to stock, you can OTA update to the most recent firnware. I suggest titanium premium if you are going to flash a lot of custom roms, it is a lot faster to restore and also syncs with dropbox
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Be careful trying to flash with odin. Some newer builds get instabrick flashing back to jf6 and must go with jh2 or newer.
So, you may want to invest a few bucks in a jig setup before blindly using odin.
Thanks for the tip, sixstringsg.
Newter55, as my phone is brand new I believe I may have one of these insta-brickable devices. If I happen to try flashing it with a recent rom, does it get recoverably bricked (fixed by flashing an older rom), or I'm left with a $500 paperweight?
You just need to use the correct firmware version of odin if you manage to get in trouble. Many people flash rom over rom, including myself, but it is highly likely that at some point you will need odin if you are flashing roms so it is best to ensure that you have that set up first. Look for the odin thread by c3popl (sp?) in development forum and you should find what you need. Read through that and look for others with your base firmware. Or look through q&a at the "help I bricked" threads . On my phone and posting links is a pita or I would make it easy for you.
If your phone came with JH7, follow this guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10056254&postcount=36
If you use one of the Odin one-clicks and brick your phone, you'll need a USB jig to recover.
You guys are awesome. Thank you newter55 and GGXtreme for this info! I hope I'll never need it, but I'll buy a cable and make a jig.
The news: I've rooted my phone using One Click Root / Unroot by TGA_Gunnman (for the record: it worked with my JH7 Captivate bought in 28 dec). Once I booted windows, installed dotnet framework 4 and the samsung drivers (easy too, but a pita), rooting was easy and failproof. However, someone using linux might find it easier to just download 1-click root, find the root.zip file in there, rename it as update.zip, put the zip in the internal sdcard, boot the phone holding the volume buttons and then 'install packages'. This way there will be no need to fight Wine nor install anything nor look for a windows computer with admin privileges.
Also unlocked my phone using SGS Unlock Tool, available in the Android Market. The unrooted option won't work, but once rooted it worked like a champ. Next step: I'll do the backups, and then... start messing up my new toy!
Sorry guys, I've been piecing together different posts/threads to try & find my answer without much success, but I haven't had too much luck
We bought somebody at our office a rooted Droid 4, using Safestrap 3.11 recovery, which appears to be running CM10.1 in it's slot 1. For some reason, unclear to me exactly, she wants to remove the root, if possible & just run the phone the way it comes. My initial thought was to just run a rooted stock RUU on the phone & give it back, but I've had difficulties finding one for this phone so I decided I might as well just do as she'd initially asked.
From reading other posts, it appears as if I'm supposed to disable Safestrap from the recovery, allow the phone to boot into the stock rom, then remove the safestrap app. However, I'm at a loss for finding the option that would allow me to disable safestrack out of the recovery, as everything I've seen/read doesn't seem to be an option anywhere that I can find.
There's an option for Stock ROM, but after attempting to switch it to that rom, the phone just reboots over & over. After I've selected the stock, it appears as it it's wanting me to Install the rom from somewhere, & the previous owner does have a stock maserati ROM listed in his downloads, but I'd like to confirm that selecting this option is what I'm supposed to do before I run with it, as previously mentioned, it's not my phone to get to enjoy fixing if I mess something up.
I'm not a complete NOOB, as I'd rooted all of the HTC EVO branded phones I'd owned, but I'm typically a little braver at trying first & fixing later, when it's my phones than when it's somebody elses.
Thanks for any & all advice.
First off, let me apologize for posting what has been semi-answered in several other threads. Im a lifer when it comes to android but still a noob at rooting and custom roms. I've been rooting for about 4 to 6months. mostly basic beginner stuff. this was my first attempt at flashing a custom rom, and well, the fact that I'm here lets you know how that went for me. So I've read 30 or more threads between this site and some others and tried a handful of methods to fix but i lack the knowledge or lingo to properly understand some of the things that I've read. So anyone kind enough to break things down barney style like a bootloop for dummies for me id be forever in your debt. Here is my issue...
Once i found out that the note 3 n900a of mine is not compatible with clockwork mod or team win recovery i found and downloaded the SafeStrap recovery and flashed the biggins custom rom and even tho i tried going by the guide i read i must have went wrong somewhere and got myself stuck in boot loop or soft brick.
I've tried downloading a stock firmware for the note 3 and reflashing with heimdall. i thought it was going to work since everything went according to the guide i read 100% but it still failed.
from reading other forums I have also downloaded these programs:
1. android studio sdk
2. Java and latest JDK 7
3. zip devil
4. heimdall suite - heimdall frontend
maybe more I've forgot.
Could anyone please help explain to me the easiest method for a beginner to recover from boot loop? I can't even get my phone to boot back into safestrap recovery. only screens i can access is stock recovery mode...adb factory reset cear cache external sd etc. and Odin download mode. When i tried using the safestrap recovery i saved to my ext sd card saved as twrp file that the program mirrors, I'm not sure if I'm loading the wrong files within this folder or perhaps the wrong order or if this recovery won't even work for me at all.
I've downloaded all of the above mentioned programs but I'm not at all familiar with properly using them to do what i need with them. Please, anyone, explain this in english to someone who isn't skilled or long term rooter. if you need any more info on my issue please contact me any way you can or ask for a way to contact me externally and ill provide that as well.