Database Develop

[Q] Update.zip doesn't apply when attempting to mod battery

I wanted to apply one of the battery mods to my captivate i896 (running the stock rogers rom), specifically version E.
I tried using the UOT Kitchen website at first but that failed. So then I tried to do it myself, but that also fails. Something seems to be going wrong when I try to apply the update.zip I have and I see no error output to help me trace it. Here's what I've been doing (when I tried it from scratch):
So I downloaded the related zip file from the second post, "scbm_E_grey_number.zip".
I then used "Android Theming and Tweaking" to get the framework file from my phone, and decompile it. I replaced the corresponding .png and .xml files from "scbm_E_grey_number.zip" to the appropriate folders in the decompiled folder from the ATT software. Then using the same software, I compile the framework apk again.
I then use the update.zip creator. I create a "framework" folder in the "placehere" folder for the update creator. Inside the framework folder I placed my new APK. I then ran the update creator to generate a new script, which copies from "framework" to "framework" on SYSTEM. Finally, I have it create the update.zip for me.
Everything is fine up to this point. I place the update.zip on my SD card, boot my phone into recovery, try to flash it...I get the following:
Code:
-- Install from sdcard...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Installing update...
Installation aborted.
I've tried this a few times with no luck
I'd like to figure this out in the hopes that I can do some mods of my own in the future, so any help would be great Thanks!

If you ever figuered this out please let me know too, i am having the same issue. I am using a Captive that I just restored with Odin. I unroot it and remove the applock on it. I get the same installation aborted issue. I then tried to install it with ClockWork recovery... that just crashed my phone and I had to reinstall again. So if anyone know what the problem is please chime in.

Can't theme the stock rom. It has to be a deodexed rom, which is essentially all of the custom ones. Also, don't flash mods through the stock 2e recovery, you want to do it through CWM.

TheEscapist said:
Can't theme the stock rom. It has to be a deodexed rom, which is essentially all of the custom ones. Also, don't flash mods through the stock 2e recovery, you want to do it through CWM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I see, thanks for the info... there was no odex file for that particular file, so I thought I'd be lucky and it was possible :/
And, why should you use CWM to flash instead of the stock recovery?

ootz0rz said:
Hmm I see, thanks for the info... there was no odex file for that particular file, so I thought I'd be lucky and it was possible :/
And, why should you use CWM to flash instead of the stock recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. While on the topic, is that thanks button new, or am i just blind, and missed it all this time?
It's something about signatures, if I remember correctly, though, that may be 3e. I think part of it is that it's just typically done with CWM.

ootz0rz said:
I wanted to apply one of the battery mods to my captivate i896 (running the stock rogers rom), specifically version E.
I tried using the UOT Kitchen website at first but that failed. So then I tried to do it myself, but that also fails. Something seems to be going wrong when I try to apply the update.zip I have and I see no error output to help me trace it. Here's what I've been doing (when I tried it from scratch):
So I downloaded the related zip file from the second post, "scbm_E_grey_number.zip".
I then used "Android Theming and Tweaking" to get the framework file from my phone, and decompile it. I replaced the corresponding .png and .xml files from "scbm_E_grey_number.zip" to the appropriate folders in the decompiled folder from the ATT software. Then using the same software, I compile the framework apk again.
I then use the update.zip creator. I create a "framework" folder in the "placehere" folder for the update creator. Inside the framework folder I placed my new APK. I then ran the update creator to generate a new script, which copies from "framework" to "framework" on SYSTEM. Finally, I have it create the update.zip for me.
Everything is fine up to this point. I place the update.zip on my SD card, boot my phone into recovery, try to flash it...I get the following:
Code:
-- Install from sdcard...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Installing update...
Installation aborted.
I've tried this a few times with no luck
I'd like to figure this out in the hopes that I can do some mods of my own in the future, so any help would be great Thanks![/QUO
Flash perception
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

dfuse06 said:
Flash perception
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, I'm hesitant to flash a custom rom. I have a rogers captivate and don't want to be stuck with an at&t boot screen (in case I need for repair or whatever) and I don't want to be stuck with poor GPS performance (as mine works VERY VERY well right now).

ootz0rz said:
Eh, I'm hesitant to flash a custom rom. I have a rogers captivate and don't want to be stuck with an at&t boot screen (in case I need for repair or whatever) and I don't want to be stuck with poor GPS performance (as mine works VERY VERY well right now).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T boot screen can be replaced, but you have to do a whole bunch of Odin stuff to get there. Also, that's because we(I'm on rogers as well) have a tweaked modem.bin. You can flash that, or one of the jupiter/JM9 fixes to get similar gps performance. But obviously, it's your choice. You are messing with a quite expensive piece of hardware. However, if you want to apply mods, you need to get a custom rom.

TheEscapist said:
AT&T boot screen can be replaced, but you have to do a whole bunch of Odin stuff to get there. Also, that's because we(I'm on rogers as well) have a tweaked modem.bin. You can flash that, or one of the jupiter/JM9 fixes to get similar gps performance. But obviously, it's your choice. You are messing with a quite expensive piece of hardware. However, if you want to apply mods, you need to get a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd love to have a set of concise instructions detailing all that...but everything is all over the place and difficult to find :/ Right now I'm just mostly reading up on things and trying to learn

There's instructions in the dev forum. If I wasn't on my phone, I'd grab the link for you. As far as learning, you just have to spend hours and hours on here.

TheEscapist said:
There's instructions in the dev forum. If I wasn't on my phone, I'd grab the link for you. As far as learning, you just have to spend hours and hours on here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh I've been trying. It's certainly a bit of a learning curve

[MOD][CWM][Bell][Gobstopper] Stock 2.2.2 for Bell Updated 10/01/2011

Disclaimer: You may brick your phone. NOT for AT&T
​
Reminder: Make sure your phone has enough battery charge to flash this, it's larger than normal.​Hi,
Here is a huge CWM zip that restores your Bell phone to stock 2.2.2. I have tested it on my phone several times and it worked perfectly, there is still the chance that something may go wrong, but I am feeling confident in it.
What this does is similar to my app or scripts, it puts my backup of Bell's 2.2.2 partitions on your phone, but instead of using dd, it uses tenfar's CWM and flash_image. Some partitions are HUGE, and take a while, your phone is not locked up.
This has been updated to include the Bell bootloader for 2.2.2 and the radio for 2.2.2.
EDIT: This has been updated again to ram fix the boot and recovery partitions if there is a ram problem.
It writes to partitions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17. 3 is left out because it's your pds partition, and data and cache have no relevant content. You must factory reset after using this to clear those. So, that's your boot, recovery, system, webtop, cdrom, preinstall, and several other partitions. This is to get back to stock Bell 2.2.2, it's not just a boot/system replacement, if that is a fruitcake, this is a gobstopper.
Please note: This restores your Bell phone to stock condition, that means you won't be unlocked, CWM will be overwritten with the stock recovery. It will be just like you bought it. If you want to keep flashing things in CWM with the unlocked bootloader, then immediately after flashing the stock zip, flash the unlock and fix zip. If you don't then you will have to reflash an unlocked bootloader, and reflash CWM recovery, which is time consuming any annoying, it doesn't mean you will be permanently locked again. I had to spell that out to the folks that don't really understand this stuff. At all.
If you want root after installing this, just install Superuser.apk from the market.
Bell_FR_2.2.2.zip (Froyo not France)
(md5 e431b4cc3ba7e3a27b6aad6982a31066)
Cheers!​Oh, I forgot to mention, this is not quite stock, there are su and sudo binaries in /system/bin. Just install Superuser.apk to be rooted. they haven't been a problem for doing an OTA yet, but they are easy enough to remove if it comes up.
unlocked-fixed-Bell-2.2.2.zip
Mirror: unlocked-fixed-Bell-2.2.2.zip​

Damn, nice work as always, man! This should come in handy for lots of us Bell Atrix users that feel left out. Lots will appreciate this!

When you say without amnesia are you talking about the bootstrap or are you talking about a user who is using the bell_ihop and then installs cwm and then reboots and looses recovery?
So a 2.3.4 bootloader and radio will work find booting a 2.2.2 bell ?

Will you eventually be able to compile a zip for Bell gingerbread?

IrshaadH said:
Will you eventually be able to compile a zip for Bell gingerbread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the problem would be hosting it, not sure how he would be able to do that.
akurit said:
When you say without amnesia are you talking about the bootstrap or are you talking about a user who is using the bell_ihop and then installs cwm and then reboots and looses recovery?
So a 2.3.4 bootloader and radio will work find booting a 2.2.2 bell ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
keeping in mind that this is only for the recovery with unlocked devices, what he means is that the CWM recovery that tenfar put out has a problem with int'l phones (pretty sure it's all int'l) where IN recovery (not just the normal ROM, like the problem we had before) only 300 and some mb of RAM is available. since this zip is over 300mb, it can't all load into your RAM properly with normal recovery.
NFH found this bug, and patched recovery for us so as to fix the RAM problem. the two files attached are fixed recoveries for the two separate MBR versions of int'l devices.
to find what version you should use, connect to phone via ADB and then
Code:
adb shell
su
cat /proc/cmdline
and then search for the part of the output where it says "tegrapart=mbr:" and read that. it should have either "1100" or "d00" somewhere in it, use the CWM zip attached that has your respective output.
hope that clears up your question, if you have any further ask them in here.

IrshaadH said:
Will you eventually be able to compile a zip for Bell gingerbread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I believe y2whisper may be working on something like that. The point of getting back to stock 2.2.2 is to be able to apply the final OTA for Bell GB. Certainly something similar can be done for any firmware you want to flash.
Cheers!

i flashed the d00 and I do maintain unlock however no cwm just stock recovery with no menus.
tried it again and it work
but seems like i have to fastboot flash it each time i want to use recovery

akurit said:
i flashed the d00 and I do maintain unlock however no cwm just stock recovery with no menus.
tried it again and it work
but seems like i have to fastboot flash it each time i want to use recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you are talking about, but I got that with a stock bootloader.
If you are going to be using CWM recovery with this 2.2.2, then flash the boot file for d00 as well, it gives you the ram fix and for some reason it doesn't cause that issue.
Cheers!
Here is an international CWM recovery, it detects the 1100 vs d00 tegraparts and installs the right recovery for it.
CWM_INT_Recovery.zip
(Just use it with whatever CWM recovery you are using now, it will update it with the ram fixed one.)

NFHimself said:
I know what you are talking about, but I got that with a stock bootloader.
If you are going to be using CWM recovery with this 2.2.2, then flash the boot file for d00 as well, it gives you the ram fix and for some reason it doesn't cause that issue.
Cheers!
Here is an international CWM recovery, it detects the 1100 vs d00 tegraparts and installs the right recovery for it.
CWM_INT_Recovery.zip
(Just use it with whatever CWM recovery you are using now, it will update it with the ram fixed one.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ohhh, that's a nicely scripted installer you got there. i think that would be quite handy for int'l users trying to flash custom kernels, is it possible to apply that script to select the correct boot.img out of two for the right tegrapart? if that's possible i think you should hit faux/edgan up with that script and let them apply it to their int'l kernels so users can just use on CWM to install it.

raybond25 said:
ohhh, that's a nicely scripted installer you got there. i think that would be quite handy for int'l users trying to flash custom kernels, is it possible to apply that script to select the correct boot.img out of two for the right tegrapart? if that's possible i think you should hit faux/edgan up with that script and let them apply it to their int'l kernels so users can just use on CWM to install it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Sure, it's just replacing the word recovery with boot and having the right boot images in the file.
Cheers!

yes its zipping now. off to bed but tomorrow I will back up my stuff and attempt to flash to see if it works.
@akurit
I forget off the top of my head but there is a file that you just have to delete to prevent that. the file just flashes the old recovery on every reboot. get rid of that and you will be fine.

Awesome work! This makes it much easier to get back to 2.2.2

Its installing now!
now at some point the install stopped and I think I saw it say status 0 and then recovery rebooted. so I am not sure what happened there.
ive rebooted with no problems. and its uploading now. if someone is willing to test this out (a bit difficult for me since I am already on 2.3.4) let me know. and will send you the link. would like to see a proper install before i share it with the masses.

This is why hehee
tenfar said:
......
Please Remove install_recovery.sh located in your /system/etc/ ,so that the recovery will not be overwrite to stock one.........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now it remains unlocked and I have recovery even if i reboot... but the ram issue still exists

y2whisper said:
Its installing now!
now at some point the install stopped and I think I saw it say status 0 and then recovery rebooted. so I am not sure what happened there.
ive rebooted with no problems. and its uploading now. if someone is willing to test this out (a bit difficult for me since I am already on 2.3.4) let me know. and will send you the link. would like to see a proper install before i share it with the masses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i could test it for you, i should be able to tell if it works alright or not, since i'm starting from an AT&T build of 2.3.4. would i have to head back to stock Bell using Gobstopper before i use your package too? i got a whole buncha time on my hands this week, so i should be able to test it however you want.

anyone try flashing the bootloader and radio?

kevnb said:
anyone try flashing the bootloader and radio?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I have tested it, no problems, but went back to IHOP and the ram-fixed bootloader for 2.2.2 in the OP so recovery will work.
Also, the file install_recovery.sh located in your /system/etc/ doesn't exist in the Gobstopper, so that isn't causing recovery to be generated by patching boot.
Cheers!

So its when flashing the webtop that the install stops with the error code. when i boot up all is ok but a reboot later and recovery is gone (as in you select it and it just boots into android). reflashing cwm recovery fixes that.
I have tried swapping the webtop files to no avail. going to keep trying. any ideas are welcome

y2whisper said:
So its when flashing the webtop that the install stops with the error code. when i boot up all is ok but a reboot later and recovery is gone (as in you select it and it just boots into android). reflashing cwm recovery fixes that.
I have tried swapping the webtop files to no avail. going to keep trying. any ideas are welcome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
What recovery are you using, if it's not ram fixed you are going to run into situations where you don't have enough space to flash it.
Cheers!

ahhhh.
you know i was wondering if that was it. I even repackaged the recovery thinking it would be the cause.
I don't believe I was ram fixed at the time of the backup. So I am thinking either, have custom recovery flashed in that spot, or change the order to where recovery gets flashed after.

[Q] Updating Telus Milestone to 2.2+

Hello All,
I have a Telus Milestone on Simple Mobile. I am on 2.1, and I want to update to 2.2 or beyond(need flash, apps on sd, etc), but after searching around here, I realize I cannot do this with rom manager as I tried. I'm not exactly sure what instructions I should take, as I've seen a few guides.
A couple of questions(besides the obvious):
1. Is it possible to complete this process and retain my media(photos, sms, mms, contacts, installed apks, etc)?
2. I have this on simple mobile(which is confusing me if I should use a certain file of a different region), does this make any difference?
3. Main question: Which guide should I follow, I see 2 different rooting/updating threads, but they seem to indicate different processes, some links are down and dont want to make a mistake.
I currently have installed the motorola drivers. It'd be great if someone could simply link a guide I should follow, and a mod/rom(smoothest running 2.2 or above) to install.
Thanks for the help.

just follow this procedure.... but this video is for motorola droid a cdma version of milestone....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDR63MH1NYQ&feature=related
you'll just be following those procedures that is given on the video tutorial...
you may get the files for your milestone gsm version on this thread..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=941346
all you need to do is to complete these files.
1.motorola drivers
2.RSD LITE latest version ( you'll need this if you can't go to openrecovery meanng to say IF you got stock openrecovery)
3. openrecovery http://code.google.com/p/androidiani-openrecovery/
4. google apps http://www.multiupload.com/MYPOK7TFPF
5. rom https://github.com/nadlabak/android/downloads
then follow the procedure shown on video tutorial...
works fine for me,
thats all
---------- Post added at 01:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 AM ----------
the best thing in here is... it works even if your rooted or not?

Thanks a lot I will be following tonight, and post results.

Okay so I attempted the instructions above, but couldn't get into the clockworkmod recovery, and since I seen around it wouldn't work for milestone I stopped there. I'm assuming since I only had universal androot, this was not sufficient to start the processes.
Eventually I came across other instructions using RSD lite 4.6. Where I am at.
*Notes: I am on 2.1, Telus Milestone(but using Simple mobile sim).
I have the 90.78 bootloader
I flashed the vulnerable_recovery_only_RAMDLD90_78.sbf. I added the openrecovery 3(with update.zip in SD folder) to my SD root, along with the update file. I placed the rom+gapps under the openrecovery>updates directory.
However, I can't get into openrecovery menu. Everytime I go to apply update.zip, it says:
EOCD marker occurs after start of EOCD
Is there anything I've missed(directed towards anyone)?

yeah me too..
but first try to root your milestone..
then flash it again with vulnerable_recovery_only_RAMDLD90_78.sbf
try this open recovery by G.O.T team
http://groupoften.wordpress.com/g-o-t-s-openrecovery/
replace your current openrecovery and update.zip OR just cut it into a folder rename it so you can still have an option. extract all the files inside that zip. there's an instruction inside follow it. hope this might help... i know what you feel coz i've been on that situation... and if this works
first thing you will do is BACK-UP!! I repeat BACK-UP so you can still go back if you dont like the customrom you used.

Appreciate the help, I used GOT open recovery as you said. Basically, I believe the error comes, if you don't enter the open recovery, exactly after you flash the sbf, ie: don't let it boot into android once you flash.
I got into the GOT open recovery, and did a back up(thank god, because...)
once I tried to install the 2.2.1 Menu, my phone was stuck/bricked on the M logo. I'm assuming this is because I did not wipe fully? Last question(hopefully), do I need to click the "wipe all/factory reset" before applying the 2.2.1 menu?

[how to] install rom to Bell XT860 without losing ability to return to stock

How to install a custom rom (eg. CM9, Ice Cream Sandwich, Liberty, Maverick, SteelDroid) to a Bell XT860 without losing the ability to revert to stock later.
Why this guide?
I noticed over time that my phone has become slower and more frustrating to use. For example, long pauses when trying to open a program - sometimes it takes an easy 10 or more seconds to open the dialer and dial a number.
I wanted to try a custom rom, but was concerned about the ability to get back to stock, if something goes wrong, or to be able to take advantage of a Bell update if they release a new one. Thanks to the hard work of many on this board, I have discovered how to make this possible and wanted to share with others.
Big thanks to DoomLord, HashCode, Enderoid, Rick#2, Dasilva333, Willis111 and others. Please feel free to make corrections to these instructions.
Note: This has been tested with an XT860 on Bell 2.3.6 firmware. This will probably NOT work on v2.3.4 So if you have 2.3.4, upgrade to 2.3.6 and then these instructions should work. When I first got the phone, it was at 2.3.5 and later was updated OTA (Over the air) by Bell to 2.3.6. To check which firmware you have, Home Screen / Settings / About Phone
Needed:
1. Windows pc (someone else more knowledgeable could probably tell you how to make this work on a Mac)
2. USB cable for connecting your phone.
3. Rooting tool, I highly recommend zergRush method by DoomLord found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1321582
4. Safestrap by hashcode
http://hash-of-codes.blogspot.com/p/android-downloads.html
5. Custom rom of your choice.
Step 1:
Root your phone using the DoomLord tool. I used version 3. It was really easy, just follow the instructions on the link above.
Step 2:
Backup existing user programs that you might want to restore on a new system. I used Titanium Backup Pro but there are others.
Step 3:
Please read this page carefully
http://hash-of-codes.blogspot.com/p/how-to-safestrap.html to download and install safestrap v1.08. Note, you should remove any other type of bootstrap (eg. ClockworkMod, ROM Manager) before installing Safestrap.
Step 4:
Now you should be ready to download and try a custom rom. Make sure to do a backup (“Nandroid” backup) of your working system before you try a custom rom so you have something to fall back on in case something goes wrong or you want to return to stock.
Find a rom, download it and save it to a location on your sdcard or ext-sdcard. There’s lots of good candidates for you to test and a good thread with some reviews here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1384676
To do this, power down your phone after you have run safestrap and clicked to make recovery active. If you did it right, when you turn it on again, you should see a different splash screen that gives you a few seconds to enter the recovery menu by pressing the “menu” button on you device.
You should see “Safestrap Recovery v1.08” and below that “Safe System is: DISABLED”
on a black screen with some green menu choices.
Use the volume keys to scroll up/down and select “backup and restore” by pressing the power button.
The screen should change to show the Nandroid backup menu. You need to make a Nandroid backup of your existing (working) system, which is simply a snapshot of the exact system with all programs, settings, sms’s, call logs, etc. It’s like a snapshot in time in case you need to revert. Select “backup”, then select Internal or External SD Card for the location (I’m not sure it it matters for the location).
Safestrap will backup your system to a Nandroid backup. It takes a few minutes.
After the backup is complete, you can enable the Safe System where you will install custom roms. Scroll down and select “safe boot menu”, then “Toggle Safe System”, then on the next screen confirm your selection. It will backup the original system to a safe area where it can’t be modified (unless you are an advanced user and install a different version of Safestrap but that’s beyond the scope of these instructions).
After Safe System is: ENABLED, scroll down to “Install zip from sdcard”, select your rom, install, reboot and enjoy.
To revert back to your original system, follow these steps:
1. Turn off your phone and reboot into SafeStrap recovery menu.
2. Turn off SafeSystem. (Safe boot menu -> Toggle Safe System)
3. Restore your nandroid backup and reboot.
If you wanted to go further back to stock you could uninstall Safestrap and even unroot using DoomLord’s zergRush tool, which would put you back to stock.
I think that’s it. Hopefully this guide will be helpful to others who want to try a new rom without losing the ability to revert back to stock Bell.

ncho2233 said:
How to install a custom rom (eg. CM9, Ice Cream Sandwich, Liberty, Maverick, SteelDroid) to a Bell XT860 without losing the ability to revert to stock later.
Why this guide?
I noticed over time that my phone has become slower and more frustrating to use. For example, long pauses when trying to open a program - sometimes it takes an easy 10 or more seconds to open the dialer and dial a number.
I wanted to try a custom rom, but was concerned about the ability to get back to stock, if something goes wrong, or to be able to take advantage of a Bell update if they release a new one. Thanks to the hard work of many on this board, I have discovered how to make this possible and wanted to share with others.
Big thanks to DoomLord, HashCode, Enderoid, Rick#2, Dasilva333, Willis111 and others. Please feel free to make corrections to these instructions.
Note: This has been tested with an XT860 on Bell 2.3.6 firmware. This will probably NOT work on v2.3.4 So if you have 2.3.4, upgrade to 2.3.6 and then these instructions should work. When I first got the phone, it was at 2.3.5 and later was updated OTA (Over the air) by Bell to 2.3.6. To check which firmware you have, Home Screen / Settings / About Phone
Needed:
1. Windows pc (someone else more knowledgeable could probably tell you how to make this work on a Mac)
2. USB cable for connecting your phone.
3. Rooting tool, I highly recommend zergRush method by DoomLord found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1321582
4. Safestrap by hashcode
http://hash-of-codes.blogspot.com/p/android-downloads.html
5. Custom rom of your choice.
Step 1:
Root your phone using the DoomLord tool. I used version 3. It was really easy, just follow the instructions on the link above.
Step 2:
Backup existing user programs that you might want to restore on a new system. I used Titanium Backup Pro but there are others.
Step 3:
Please read this page carefully
http://hash-of-codes.blogspot.com/p/how-to-safestrap.html to download and install safestrap v1.08. Note, you should remove any other type of bootstrap (eg. ClockworkMod, ROM Manager) before installing Safestrap.
Step 4:
Now you should be ready to download and try a custom rom. Make sure to do a backup (“Nandroid” backup) of your working system before you try a custom rom so you have something to fall back on in case something goes wrong or you want to return to stock.
Find a rom, download it and save it to a location on your sdcard or ext-sdcard. There’s lots of good candidates for you to test and a good thread with some reviews here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1384676
To do this, power down your phone after you have run safestrap and clicked to make recovery active. If you did it right, when you turn it on again, you should see a different splash screen that gives you a few seconds to enter the recovery menu by pressing the “menu” button on you device.
You should see “Safestrap Recovery v1.08” and below that “Safe System is: DISABLED”
on a black screen with some green menu choices.
Use the volume keys to scroll up/down and select “backup and restore” by pressing the power button.
The screen should change to show the Nandroid backup menu. You need to make a Nandroid backup of your existing (working) system, which is simply a snapshot of the exact system with all programs, settings, sms’s, call logs, etc. It’s like a snapshot in time in case you need to revert. Select “backup”, then select Internal or External SD Card for the location (I’m not sure it it matters for the location).
Safestrap will backup your system to a Nandroid backup. It takes a few minutes.
After the backup is complete, you can enable the Safe System where you will install custom roms. Scroll down and select “safe boot menu”, then “Toggle Safe System”, then on the next screen confirm your selection. It will backup the original system to a safe area where it can’t be modified (unless you are an advanced user and install a different version of Safestrap but that’s beyond the scope of these instructions).
After Safe System is: ENABLED, scroll down to “Install zip from sdcard”, select your rom, install, reboot and enjoy.
To revert back to your original system, follow these steps:
1. Turn off your phone and reboot into SafeStrap recovery menu.
2. Turn off SafeSystem. (Safe boot menu -> Toggle Safe System)
3. Restore your nandroid backup and reboot.
If you wanted to go further back to stock you could uninstall Safestrap and even unroot using DoomLord’s zergRush tool, which would put you back to stock.
I think that’s it. Hopefully this guide will be helpful to others who want to try a new rom without losing the ability to revert back to stock Bell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good writeup. As a note when your switch back to nonsafe you don't need to restore a nandroid. Actually with safestrap you should rarely have to restore a nandroid as its next to impossible to screw up your device so bad that a restore is required. The stock bell /system stays nice and untouched
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Dont you just root, install safestrap and flash paritions to preinstall from stock(to avoid not being able to return to true stock) and not flash the og /system? Obviously works on 2.3.4, 2.3.6 etc any rootable rom capable of running safestrap. You should be able to even use my rom to return to stock deodexed by flashing to /system(non-safe) and removing any custom recovery. It should be very easy to convert that or the og dumps into a system.img for use with rsdlite and even the rest of the stock img files. I'll take a look at it this aft. Thanks for the write up, hope some of this info helps.

Maybe this is the wrong place to ask, but XT860 threads are few and far between in this droid 3 section. But I've got a few questions about this method.
First off, how safe is this from start to finish? I'm by no means new at the whole installing custom roms thing, but there have most definitely been times on all three of the devices I've installed roms on (Nook Color, Milestone, Transformer) where I've gotten a non-booting device that was fixed either because it was so easy to just go into CWM or RSDlite and flash a new rom or revert to stock. Doing anything (I'm not even rooted yet) on my XT860 kind of scares me, because we don't have an sbf or anything. This method seems like its the closest thing we've got, but new things are scary.
Secondly, I read somewhere that ICS uses a different kernel than GB. Would this method be able to deal with that or are we boned (i.e. stuck with the GB kernel and hackarounds) until Moto randomly decides to unlock the bootloader and we can rewrite everything?
And lastly, we can root on bell now? Last time I'd looked into it, I seem to remember flashing firmware from another country and without an easy way to get back to stock, that kind of killed it for me.
Once again, sorry that some of this is kind of off topic, its just kind of hard to know where to read while we're piggybacking on the droid 3 forum.

Tyfighter said:
Maybe this is the wrong place to ask, but XT860 threads are few and far between in this droid 3 section. But I've got a few questions about this method.
First off, how safe is this from start to finish? I'm by no means new at the whole installing custom roms thing, but there have most definitely been times on all three of the devices I've installed roms on (Nook Color, Milestone, Transformer) where I've gotten a non-booting device that was fixed either because it was so easy to just go into CWM or RSDlite and flash a new rom or revert to stock. Doing anything (I'm not even rooted yet) on my XT860 kind of scares me, because we don't have an sbf or anything. This method seems like its the closest thing we've got, but new things are scary.
Secondly, I read somewhere that ICS uses a different kernel than GB. Would this method be able to deal with that or are we boned (i.e. stuck with the GB kernel and hackarounds) until Moto randomly decides to unlock the bootloader and we can rewrite everything?
And lastly, we can root on bell now? Last time I'd looked into it, I seem to remember flashing firmware from another country and without an easy way to get back to stock, that kind of killed it for me.
Once again, sorry that some of this is kind of off topic, its just kind of hard to know where to read while we're piggybacking on the droid 3 forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes we can root, there is no need to flash any other countries fastboot files as long as you are on bell 2.3.6. While bell doesn't have a fastboot package yet(sbf) if you borked your device you can use motofastboot to flash just /system from the fastboot package of another country, and then restore a backup, thus everything stays bell stock.
The best advice is to use safestrap and only flash the safemode. You should always be able to get into CWR with safestrap
And yes we are stuck with the GB kernel for now, which is part of the reason developing ics roms has been so painful
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

This process does not work for me...
When I load SafeStrap 1.08, I get Recovery State: Not Installed
I try and click the "Install Recovery" button and it goes through a process (preparing something, obtaining root, etc) but the Recovery State never changes
I have an XT860 from Bell (2.3.6) that is running on Rogers (unlocked).
Root works fine for TiBu and Root Explorer....The SuperUser entry for SafeStrap lists allowed and logs a whole bunch of "granted".
Any thoughts?

Caz666 said:
This process does not work for me...
When I load SafeStrap 1.08, I get Recovery State: Not Installed
I try and click the "Install Recovery" button and it goes through a process (preparing something, obtaining root, etc) but the Recovery State never changes
I have an XT860 from Bell (2.3.6) that is running on Rogers (unlocked).
Root works fine for TiBu and Root Explorer....The SuperUser entry for SafeStrap lists allowed and logs a whole bunch of "granted".
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you don't have su binary properly installed. I've had this happen with bootstrap. Check that you have su in both /system/bin and /system/xbin
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Close...it was busybox. It was present, but borked. Nuked and reloaded..problem fixed.
Many thanks to hashcode for the pointer to busybox being most likely.
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Caz666 said:
Close...it was busybox. It was present, but borked. Nuked and reloaded..problem fixed.
Many thanks to hashcode for the pointer to busybox being most likely.
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that you say that I remember someone else having the same issue and it turned out to be busybox. I had nearly the same problem with the bootstrap and it ended up being su missing from xbin
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

OK I tried this and it works perfectly. Thanks man. This is what I needed.

Finally got around to trying this. I'd been in the middle of a move with my pc in a box, but now I've got ICS fully up and running (save for the whole camera thing). Panicked halfway through when I got into a bootloop, but then I wiped everything (forgot the cache the first time) and then everything worked.
I got wifi tether working with the app that was included in the rom, but have any of you had any luck with doing it natively through the settings? I only ask because being able to trigger it from the status bar would be pretty sweet.
edit: did some looking around and it looks like maybe its an issue with shoehorning GSM into a CDMA rom. At least that's the feel I've been getting, I'd love to be wrong.

Thanks for this thread! I hadn't realized there had been developments for the XT-860.
I had unlocked (for use on the Fido network)/rooted my phone and it was working great, then the OTA update from Bell came and I installed that. Now, I seem to have lost root privileges (I guess, obviously).
So, I guess I'm pretty much back to square one.
I would love some advice on how to proceed! I'm thinking of following your directions, and am interested in recommendations for which ROM to install.
What is the problem with the camera with ICS? I use the camera on our phone pretty often so I want a ROM that doesn't break it. Does anyone have some links to some good ROMs to try that work with the XT-860?

twitchcity said:
Thanks for this thread! I hadn't realized there had been developments for the XT-860.
I had unlocked (for use on the Fido network)/rooted my phone and it was working great, then the OTA update from Bell came and I installed that. Now, I seem to have lost root privileges (I guess, obviously).
So, I guess I'm pretty much back to square one.
I would love some advice on how to proceed! I'm thinking of following your directions, and am interested in recommendations for which ROM to install.
What is the problem with the camera with ICS? I use the camera on our phone pretty often so I want a ROM that doesn't break it. Does anyone have some links to some good ROMs to try that work with the XT-860?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use zergrush to root 2.3.6. Picture camera works in ics but you can't record or view video. There's some good gb roms. Give me a few and il shoot you some links
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Starting the process now. Can someone please send me a link or two to a good ROM for the XT-860?
I would prefer ICS (I want Chrome on my phone), but if that causes to many problems, a GB recommendation would be fine.

Bell SBF available at the following URL:
http://sbf.droid-developers.org/umts_solana/list.php

ncho2233 said:
How to install a custom rom (eg. CM9, Ice Cream Sandwich, Liberty, Maverick, SteelDroid) to a Bell XT860 without losing the ability to revert to stock later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there was any interest at all I would have just made a 100% stock bell 2.3.6 that you flash with CWM and then remove the recovery to be 100% stock but the deodex version seems to be good enough, especially to get a phone with a physical problem past bell/motorola reps. I'm downloading and mirroring that bell sbf right now, very nice find pfak! I made a new thread since you didn't but just linked to your post.
twitchcity said:
Starting the process now. Can someone please send me a link or two to a good ROM for the XT-860?
I would prefer ICS (I want Chrome on my phone), but if that causes to many problems, a GB recommendation would be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are many roms on this part of the sub-forum, just look around or try a search with [ROM] as your query (might not work so hot in the d3 dev subforum )
I

twitchcity said:
Starting the process now. Can someone please send me a link or two to a good ROM for the XT-860?
I would prefer ICS (I want Chrome on my phone), but if that causes to many problems, a GB recommendation would be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Willis111 said:
If there was any interest at all I would have just made a 100% stock bell 2.3.6 that you flash with CWM and then remove the recovery to be 100% stock but the deodex version seems to be good enough, especially to get a phone with a physical problem past bell/motorola reps. I'm downloading and mirroring that bell sbf right now, very nice find pfak! I made a new thread since you didn't but just linked to your post.
There are many roms on this part of the sub-forum, just look around or try a search with [ROM] as your query (might not work so hot in the d3 dev subforum )
I
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a number of xt860 adapted roms on my computer. Give me a few days to contact the devs and such and I'll see if I can get a stickied thread with xt860 ready roms to make it easy for new comers. Also willis, ignore my other post to you, I'll include that info in aforementioned thread if I can get it going
Sent from my GT-P5113 using xda premium

Endoroid said:
I have a number of xt860 adapted roms on my computer. Give me a few days to contact the devs and such and I'll see if I can get a stickied thread with xt860 ready roms to make it easy for new comers. Also willis, ignore my other post to you, I'll include that info in aforementioned thread if I can get it going
Sent from my GT-P5113 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can just use one of the patches (small xt860 patches) to get any rom working on our phones as far as I know.

pfak said:
Bell SBF available at the following URL:
http://sbf.droid-developers.org/umts_solana/list.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for this it will help a ton of peeps

[Q] Avatar rom (CM10.1) for Droid 3 questions

Hello everyone,
Not quite sure where else to put this, but I can't reply in the android dev thread since I am a new member.
I flashed (using SafeStrap 3.05) the newest stable Avatar rom for D3 (using CM 10.1 and android 4.2.2 I think) and it booted ok, mostly everything seemed to work fine (except for camera but that seems to be expected) however I have absolutely no cell service. Not even just data, but the basic cell service for texts and calls isn't on. I tried doing the Verizon activation call, but it would tell me to turn airplane mode off, (which I did, but it either seemed to turn itself back on or not matter if it was on or off anyways).
Has anyone else had this problem and has a work around for it?
Thank you

apefist said:
Hello everyone,
Not quite sure where else to put this, but I can't reply in the android dev thread since I am a new member.
I flashed (using SafeStrap 3.05) the newest stable Avatar rom for D3 (using CM 10.1 and android 4.2.2 I think) and it booted ok, mostly everything seemed to work fine (except for camera but that seems to be expected) however I have absolutely no cell service. Not even just data, but the basic cell service for texts and calls isn't on. I tried doing the Verizon activation call, but it would tell me to turn airplane mode off, (which I did, but it either seemed to turn itself back on or not matter if it was on or off anyways).
Has anyone else had this problem and has a work around for it?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a sim card in the phone? This was an issue with some Jellybean/ICS roms. It happens to me as well. For some reason when placing a sim card in the phone(it doesn't need to be active) it allows your phone to get reception.

pandam00nium said:
Do you have a sim card in the phone? This was an issue with some Jellybean/ICS roms. It happens to me as well. For some reason when placing a sim card in the phone(it doesn't need to be active) it allows your phone to get reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
So this actually worked, thanks for the heads up!

step by step
apefist said:
Hello everyone,
Not quite sure where else to put this, but I can't reply in the android dev thread since I am a new member.
I flashed (using SafeStrap 3.05) the newest stable Avatar rom for D3 (using CM 10.1 and android 4.2.2 I think) and it booted ok, mostly everything seemed to work fine (except for camera but that seems to be expected) however I have absolutely no cell service. Not even just data, but the basic cell service for texts and calls isn't on. I tried doing the Verizon activation call, but it would tell me to turn airplane mode off, (which I did, but it either seemed to turn itself back on or not matter if it was on or off anyways).
Has anyone else had this problem and has a work around for it?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, Glad u got your issue resolved..
i am getting my first Android phone (Droid 3 XT862 Gingerbread 2.3 ) and i want to install a custom rom the same way u have..... i was wondering if you or anyone else on the forum could give me step by step guide on how to go about installing the custom rom with the ability to revert back to my original stock OS wen i need to......
i had posted a thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2378162 and i got some good advise so far:
you or anyone here could reply with the instructions i need or at least send me a link to a tutorial .... as i said this is my first Android so i really dont want to make any mistakes while doing this..
THANX MUCH !!!!!!!

Tha slayer said:
Hey, Glad u got your issue resolved..
i am getting my first Android phone (Droid 3 XT862 Gingerbread 2.3 ) and i want to install a custom rom the same way u have..... i was wondering if you or anyone else on the forum could give me step by step guide on how to go about installing the custom rom with the ability to revert back to my original stock OS wen i need to......
i had posted a thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2378162 and i got some good advise so far:
you or anyone here could reply with the instructions i need or at least send me a link to a tutorial .... as i said this is my first Android so i really dont want to make any mistakes while doing this..
THANX MUCH !!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, so this was my process.
First, I made sure that the stock software on the phone was up to date. I did this since that way if you have to go back to stock, you are on the latest version, and you can confirm that you are using the correct rooting application. The root tool I link to below will work on 5.7.906 which I believe is the latest.
Second, root your phone. You will need to go HERE to download the tool. Follow the instructions on the page, and it should go fine. The phone will reboot several times during the process, this is normal. Once the program says it is done, you can go check for the Superuser application in your app drawer (it might be SuperSU or something similar, I can't quite remember).
After you have root access on your phone download the safestrap application for Droid 3 HERE. Make sure you get the one that is specifically for Droid 3. Transfer that file (should be called Droid3Safestrap-3.05.apk) onto your phone.
There are a few ways to transfer files onto your phone. You will also need to do this later to transfer the .zip of whatever ROM you decide on). If you have a micro-sd card that you can put into your computer, that works. Or, you can have the phone on and plug it into the computer and transfer it that way. I believe you can transfer to either the micro SD or the internal memory. I prefer micro SD since you might want to wipe the internal memory to fix things or switch ROMs.
After the .apk is transferred find where you put it using a file manager (I personally use Root Explorer but I think Astro or stock will work), and install it. Go to the new app and run it and it should request root access, which you grant, and it should flash the recovery.
Once you have the recovery installed you can install whatever custom ROM you want, pretty easily. Safestrap is great because even if you screw up the ROM somehow, you can always just boot back into Stock.
Here is where you'll have to chose what custom ROM you want. Now as far as I know, the Droid 3 is fairly limited in its ROM selection. It does have a Cyanogen Mod 10 version, but it is not a stable version and in my experience, doesn't run super great. If you want to try Cyanogen Mod 10, I actually suggest you get the Avatar Rom variant HERE, but keep in mind that apparently you do need a SIM card inserted for the cell signal to work at all. Overall it did seem to run fairly choppy but they are still releasing newer nightly versions (July 20th was the last) so it might have gotten better. One thing to know about these ones is that the camera does not work at all, so if that matters to you just skip these.
Now those two (CM 10 and avatar) are ROMS that will bring the droid 3 up to Android 4.2 Jellybean. If you don't care about getting up to the latest version (Jellybean actually isn't the latest anymore but still pretty darn close), then there are a few other Gingerbread ROMS out there that work a bit better.
HERE is a list of a few other droid 3 ROMs, my favorite Gingerbread one that worked overall really well and stable was Steel Droid. Otherwise, you can just look around and see what's available or what other people are suggesting. Choose your ROM (or several, it's fairly easy to install them so try a few!), and download it. You should get a .zip that is approx. 150-170 MB in size. As an aside you will probably also want to download the corresponding GApps package HERE and put that on the SD card as well. I think some ROMs have that included, but if you boot into a room and it doesn't have the Play store installed, you need to go back into safestrap and install the GApps package over it. You don't have to delete and recreate the rom slot, just go back into install and install it over. When I say corresponding, the different packages go with different versions of Android so for example the one labelled 20110307 would go with Android 2.3.4 which is Gingerbread, the version that Steel Droid uses.
For whichever one you choose, the install process is mostly the same. Reboot your phone, and after the Motorola Logo comes up, you should see the Safestrap splash screen. To get into the recovery menu you have to hit the "Menu" soft-key (the one all the way on the left) within 10 seconds so keep an eye on it.
From the recovery menu go into "Boot Options" You should see 5 options, rom-slot 1-4 and Stock. When you want to switch what ROM you are booting you select on the corresponding slot, and hit activate, then you can reboot through the menu option and it will start that ROM.
To install you will go into "Boot Options" chose whichever rom slot you want (most likely #1). You will have to create that slot, which can take a few minutes. After the slot is created, back out of boot options, and go to "Install". Find the .zip of whichever ROM you chose, and select that to install, and then you can install the corresponding GApps package.
After the install is complete, you can reboot (make sure it says rom slot 1 is selected up to), and it should boot into the Setup process of the ROM. If you ever need to go back to stock, just reboot, go back into Safestrap > Boot options, activate the "Stock" one and boot into that.
A few notes, if you want to switch ROMs, or install multiple ROMs you can do that using the different rom slots with a few exceptions. The Cyanogen Mod 10 and the Avatar Rom (most Jelly bean ones I think) have to be installed in rom slot 1, so if you're doing those and another like Steel Droid, put the Jellybean one in rom slot 1 and the Gingerbread on in rom slot 2. Also if you want to install a different ROM, it's generally best to just completely erase the rom slot and recreate it, then install the different ROM in the newly created rom slot. You can always create backups with Safestrap and restore them with Safestrap. Oh and make sure your phone has a decent charge before doing a lot of the safestrap stuff (I would say at least 60%) you can also have the phone plugged in while doing this stuff, but I'm not always confident it is charging so try and get it charged up before hand.
Finally, if you ever mess up to the point where you're worried that you broke the phone, (boot loops or it is stuck on the Motorola Logo) you can download this restore tool HERE. This should completely wipe and restore the stock software on your phone. It will bring it back one version previous though, so be sure to go through the standard update process to bring it back to 5.7.906 so that the root tool will work. This tool has saved me a few times and is pretty easy to run.
Sorry, I know that is a lot of stuff and looks pretty scary. It really is just a few steps that you should research and make sure you are comfortable doing.
1: Get Root access on the stock software on the phone
2: Install safestrap and flash the custom recovery
3: Boot into recovery and install whichever custom ROM you want
If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Much appreciated !!! ..... i will try these steps as soon as i get my phone..... hope it doesnt make a difference if my D3 is an unlocked GSM phone because all service providers in my country uses GSM

Tha slayer said:
Much appreciated !!! ..... i will try these steps as soon as i get my phone..... hope it doesnt make a difference if my D3 is an unlocked GSM phone because all service providers in my country uses GSM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are using gms you may need Rom version with a modified build prop, most of the roms threads will have a modified version for GMS, in the OP or somewhere in the thread. if you can't find it just ask in the original rom thread
also some good how to videos here https://sites.google.com/site/tomsgt123/all-videos/videos-page-4