Database Develop

[Q] To root or to wait for ICS

Had OD and loved having it rooted. (My sister's bf helped me. I'm more or less a newb) Had to upgrade to Bionic and while I love it am missing root.
I've been searching online and between info about root and the upcoming ICS update I am getting confused.
Should I root now and wait for ICS? Or wait for ICS then root?

It seems pretty likely that there will be ICS based ROMs available long before Motorola gets around to releasing an official OTA update.

kimeee said:
(My sister's bf helped me. I'm more or less a newb)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need not be rooted at all. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, you should NOT be rooted because you WILL brick your phone.
If you really want to be rooted, you need to do some research and get more familiar with it, what it's for, how it works, and what it can do to your phone.
You probably want to be pretty familiar with ADB too.

I am running the most current unreleased patch 5.7.893 and have not really read what I am really going to gain my rooting. If someone can tell me what I would get that would be worth rooting I will root. but running stock OTA roms specially the 5.7 has fixed most of what was wrong with the phone. I would if I was you just patch per instructions on here rootzwiki.com/topic/8562-easily-upgrade-to-57893-keep-root-and-webtop/ to get the fixes unless someone says there is something well risking rooting

ichigo007 said:
I am running the most current unreleased patch 5.7.893 and have not really read what I am really going to gain my rooting. If someone can tell me what I would get that would be worth rooting I will root. but running stock OTA roms specially the 5.7 has fixed most of what was wrong with the phone. I would if I was you just patch per instructions on here rootzwiki.com/topic/8562-easily-upgrade-to-57893-keep-root-and-webtop/ to get the fixes unless someone says there is something well risking rooting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are happy with what you have on your phone now, you shouldn't root.
Better to not take the chances.
Oh and...it takes a lot of manual coding to root for you now because the 893 kernel blocks all One-Click-Root programs from working. You have to do it all manually now, and you have to go back to 886 before you can root again anyway.

Tivo7 said:
If you are happy with what you have on your phone now, you shouldn't root.
Better to not take the chances.
Oh and...it takes a lot of manual coding to root for you now because the 893 kernel blocks all One-Click-Root programs from working. You have to do it all manually now, and you have to go back to 886 before you can root again anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I understand about going back. I had to go back just to get the webtop working in 5.7.893. I did the incremental one and lost webtop. used the R3l3AS3DRoot_Windows_V2.1 to go back to the 886 then used the single file update to 5.7 and everything works great. I would probably root if I could get free wifi hotspot so I could use my XOOM thru my phone cause I don't want to pay the hotspot or extra for more 4G bandwidth for my XOOM since my phone is unlimited

I didn't brick my last phone. Rooted all by myself. BF just pointed the way.

kimeee said:
I didn't brick my last phone. Rooted all by myself. BF just pointed the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if you did do it by yourself, if you don't know where to go from there, I wouldnt do it.

Its fun seeing the ROMs that are put out but unless that tutor is available I wouldnt do it. Bricking your phone isnt cool.

Rooting really isn't that big a deal once you have some idea what you are doing.
I have had 3 rooted phones and have rooted/jailbroke/hacked just about every other electronic device in my entire house at one point or another.
Do your research, and make sure you follow the instructions. Of course it also helps if you are familiar with ADB and a command shell so you know what the commands you are running actually do too.
Oh, and wait for ICS? C'mon you know XDA will have that at least 2-3 months before it get's an OTA update. [this is fact] <-- don't hold me to that.

Terror_1 said:
Oh, and wait for ICS? C'mon you know XDA will have that at least 2-3 months before it get's an OTA update. [this is fact] <-- don't hold me to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. Motorola will have to start all over with Blur, that is gonna take forever. Rooting a phone with a decent developer community will always mean you have access to the new toys well before the OTA updates.

At the OP, You should have also ran the 43V3R root when you did R3L3AS3DRoot. I'm not an expert on android software and rooting but when I had my X2 I did some minimal research and haven't ran into any problems. When I got my Bionic I rooted it within the first 20 min of getting it. The tools that Dhacker put out (R3L3AS3DRoot, etc.) are amazing and rather easy for someone who is less experienced. They also make it nearly impossible to brick your phone as you can just run it again to get back to stock. Not to say you should just rush into things with reckless abandon.
If you do some research and read EVERYTHING that a developer provides as a guide to flashing their ROM, mod, hack, etc. you'll most likely be ok. Just do everything in small steps. As to your question about ICS though, do like I said. I know it's a pain but backup all your apps and run the R3L3AS3DRoot again, but then also run 43V3R root and intall Cheesecake. All of these can be done with the same tool. Then flash the 5.7.893 update and bam, you have the latest version and your still rooted. You may have to reinstall Super User from the market though.
As far as how useful having a rooted phone is, it all depends on what you will actually take advantage of. One of the simplest things is to just flash a custom ROM and enjoy the changes the developer has made. Liberty is top notch and I would reccomend it to a "newb". Personally I am quite satisfied with stock and would rather customize everything to my own personal satisfaction. If you go that route there are still great things out there. I'm using the V8 Supercharger script and ROM toolbox. TBH I'm not really sure what I'm doing with scripts but there was a good guide for the V8S one and I would highly suggest ROM toolbox. You can use it to install custom fonts, boot animations, download and install custom ROMs (though I think it only supports liberty (haven't tested it)) freeze or uninstall bloatware apps. Basically it's about 10 or so apps in one and it's very user friendly.
Wow this is getting way longer than I planned so here's the:
TL;DR
Do research til you feel comfortable. Read EVERYTHING any developer gives you as a guide. Don't rush into things. And looks at all your options. Rooting gives you access to a few neat tools and hacks to get everything you can out of your phone. Just keep R3L3AS3DRoot handy and you have a very low chance of completely bricking your phone. Also as a disclaimer, I'm not responsible if you completely wreck your phone.
Edit: Adding some links to helpful reads.
FAQs, highly recommend.
List of all ROMs and most tools, etc.
UOT Kitchen, very user friendly way to theme your phone. PM me if you want to use this because there are certain things you must do and things you cannot do.
Hope I have helped a bit.

R3L3AS3DRoot and 43V3R Root were easier than expected.

I say go for root that update is a few months away anyways just make sure you know what you're doing.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

RAZR recovery on Droid 4?

Anyone tried using the RAZR recovery on the Droid 4? Lookin to do up the Arctic rom, but would feel much better if I could get a nandroid.
EDIT: This is the link to the RAZR recovery I was mainly thinking of: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1385283

jgardner said:
Anyone tried using the RAZR recovery on the Droid 4? Lookin to do up the Arctic rom, but would feel much better if I could get a nandroid.
EDIT: This is the link to the RAZR recovery I was mainly thinking of: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1385283
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not do the nandroid with safestrap?

I didn't think safestrap was working with the D4?

jgardner said:
I didn't think safestrap was working with the D4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know whats going on lol.....everyone is coming with all these different stories. I used the root exploit that was out and used the safestrap for recovery. I dont think I did anything different than anyone else. And then i took a chance flashing a Razr rom

Oh yeah, the original utility had the safestrap didn't it? The latest utility doesn't anymore (although I think it works).
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

jgardner said:
Oh yeah, the original utility had the safestrap didn't it? The latest utility doesn't anymore (although I think it works).
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took it out until Hashcode brings it out for Droid 4. I've been corresponding with him and if the maker of Safestrap tells you it isn't safe to use on Droid 4 yet then you usually should listen.
All up to your risk though.

I made a nandroid using safestrap, or thought i did. I made my backup so i figured i would try that arctic rom so i followed the directions step by step. After i wiped cache and factory reset i went install from sd and the arctic rom that i know i put on it was not there. So i figured i would flash back to the backup i just made and try the process of putting the arctic on my sd. Some how i ended up bricking my phone and am now stuck in bootloader and my device is looked. Have you or anyone else made an sbf, oneclick recovery or a way to unbrick my D4?

Briteyez83 said:
I made a nandroid using safestrap, or thought i did. I made my backup so i figured i would try that arctic rom so i followed the directions step by step. After i wiped cache and factory reset i went install from sd and the arctic rom that i know i put on it was not there. So i figured i would flash back to the backup i just made and try the process of putting the arctic on my sd. Some how i ended up bricking my phone and am now stuck in bootloader and my device is looked. Have you or anyone else made an sbf, oneclick recovery or a way to unbrick my D4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet. There is a reason we have warnings on these...
I hope we get fastboot yet. You cannot just "make them" they have to be leaked.
FYI Motorola does Fastboot files, not SBF now.

mattlgroff said:
Not yet. There is a reason we have warnings on these...
I hope we get fastboot yet. You cannot just "make them" they have to be leaked.
FYI Motorola does Fastboot files, not SBF now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im new to root even though i have learned pretty quick. Finally after much pain and suffering got my X's bootloader unlocked and rooted some time in Nov. What does leaked mean and what is the difference between fastboot files and sbf?
---------- Post added at 02:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 AM ----------
As far as the warnings i didnt see the warning to not use safestrap till i got on here and it was to late. I figured since i was able to boot into recovery and make a backup i would be ok

Briteyez83 said:
Im new to root even though i have learned pretty quick. Finally after much pain and suffering got my X's bootloader unlocked and rooted some time in Nov. What does leaked mean and what is the difference between fastboot files and sbf?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You would be Man of the Year if you did that. You mean you bootstrapped it, right?
Leaked means they have to trickle out from Motorola/Verizon somehow.. either on purpose or by "accident" somebody on the inside putting them out there for use by our wonderful devs.
As for SBF vs fasboot, i dont know exactly the difference but think of them as different types of "recovery" that can be used to fully restore your phone to factory condition.

Briteyez83 said:
I made a nandroid using safestrap, or thought i did. I made my backup so i figured i would try that arctic rom so i followed the directions step by step. After i wiped cache and factory reset i went install from sd and the arctic rom that i know i put on it was not there. So i figured i would flash back to the backup i just made and try the process of putting the arctic on my sd. Some how i ended up bricking my phone and am now stuck in bootloader and my device is looked. Have you or anyone else made an sbf, oneclick recovery or a way to unbrick my D4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which FASTBOOT error are you seeing? It should be referencing one of the partitions.
Sent from my DROID4 using XDA App

greekchampion04 said:
You would be Man of the Year if you did that. You mean you bootstrapped it, right?
Leaked means they have to trickle out from Motorola/Verizon somehow.. either on purpose or by "accident" somebody on the inside putting them out there for use by our wonderful devs.
As for SBF vs fasboot, i dont know exactly the difference but think of them as different types of "recovery" that can be used to fully restore your phone to factory condition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, i mean bootstrapped and you mean woman of the year, right? My bf said the difference between the two is SBF your makinga mirror image of everything and doing a complete system dump and fastboot is just cutting the power for a split sec. It will clear your immediate cache but some memory is still there.

Briteyez83 said:
Yes, i mean bootstrapped and you mean woman of the year, right? My bf said the difference between the two is SBF your makinga mirror image of everything and doing a complete system dump and fastboot is just cutting the power for a split sec. It will clear your immediate cache but some memory is still there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant help unless I know what your error message says when you turn on the phone. :/
Sent from my DROID4 using XDA App

Send me your email addy in a message and ill send you a pic of it

Briteyez83 said:
Send me your email addy in a message and ill send you a pic of it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so it's WEBTOP that is behaving badly.
Let me see if I can get an RSD Lite file for you to try. Do you know how to use that?

Hashcode said:
Ok, so it's WEBTOP that is behaving badly.
Let me see if I can get an RSD Lite file for you to try. Do you know how to use that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, i dont. Im new to root, just rooted in nov. If you give me something thst would fix it that would be awesome.

Unfortunately, the fix isn't exactly a simple one.
It comes in 3 parts (assuming you're on Windows):
1. You'll need to download and install RSD Lite which is what is used to flash the fastboot restore files from Motorola:
http://dev-host.org/ug07spima1mq/RSDLite5.5.rar
2. Download and install the Motorola USB drivers to recognize your phone in fastboot mode:
http://www.mediafire.com/?z5qpc8v3xza25e6
3. I'm setting up a mini WEBTOP fastboot restore file based on the latest RAZR fastboot files (I say small.. but it's still quite a large download). The version is slightly off from the D4's but it might be close enough, and I think it's worth a shot:
[ Getting this file setup will take me about an hour, but you can get steps 1 and 2 ready for now ]
ALSO KEEP THE PHONE POWERED OFF FOR NOW TO SAVE BATTERY. FASTBOOT WILL NOT PROGRAM WITH A LOW BATTERY.

Hashcode said:
Unfortunately, the fix isn't exactly a simple one.
It comes in 3 parts (assuming you're on Windows):
1. You'll need to download and install RSD Lite which is what is used to flash the fastboot restore files from Motorola:
http://dev-host.org/ug07spima1mq/RSDLite5.5.rar
2. Download and install the Motorola USB drivers to recognize your phone in fastboot mode:
http://www.mediafire.com/?z5qpc8v3xza25e6
3. I'm setting up a mini WEBTOP fastboot restore file based on the latest RAZR fastboot files (I say small.. but it's still quite a large download). The version is slightly off from the D4's but it might be close enough, and I think it's worth a shot:
[ Getting this file setup will take me about an hour, but you can get steps 1 and 2 ready for now ]
ALSO KEEP THE PHONE POWERED OFF FOR NOW TO SAVE BATTERY. FASTBOOT WILL NOT PROGRAM WITH A LOW BATTERY.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much. My bf is leaving his laptop here so that i can do this since he is building the main cpu right now. Ill makev sure i let you know if this works or not after ive finished. I was going to have verizon send me a new one since i just bought my D4 on the 17th and i have 14 days. But i just dont want to risk my warrenty getting voided. Once again thank you.

Briteyez83 said:
Thank you so much. My bf is leaving his laptop here so that i can do this since he is building the main cpu right now. Ill makev sure i let you know if this works or not after ive finished. I was going to have verizon send me a new one since i just bought my D4 on the 17th and i have 14 days. But i just dont want to risk my warrenty getting voided. Once again thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it works, I'll create a new thread with the instructions as I believe there are a few in your situation.

Yes there is quite a few. Ill let you know as soon as i can

[Q] Question about restoring ROM

Hello All;
First of all THANK you for all the help I have received in reading this forum, coming from a Droid Charge which uses odin I was a little lost and had several false starts but after asking a couple noob questions and reading the information in the forums I was able to feel at least comfortable in working on my Bionic, I had a couple false starts but they helped me learn, (softbricked my phone after only having it for 2 hours) SO THANK YOU ALL!!!!!
Now to my question:
I am basically running a completely stock ROM .902 with V6 and some aps froze or deleted. I have one minor thing wrong with my contacts FC, sure that is my fault on freezing or removing something I shouldn't have. But no biggie as I use go contacts anyway. But as much trouble and false starts I had getting it set up I would rather build it up fresh from scratch now that I am more comfortable with it. Now that I kinda know what I am doing I want to start from scratch and build it back fresh, can I do the following.
1. Backup data & aps using TB?
2. completely restore .886 using RSD Lite (or can I just put 901 on and then update over the air)
3. Re-root after getting it back to .902
4. reinstall V6
5. restore my mail app and a few other aps and data using TB.
Will this work or am I asking for troubles.

1. Yes
2. Flash 902 with rsd. Much easier that way...
3. Use motofail
4. Yes
5. Yes
try eclipse 2.1. It's the best rom available for the bionic.

86shelby said:
1. Yes
2. Flash 902 with rsd. Much easier that way...
3. Use motofail
4. Yes
5. Yes
try eclipse 2.1. It's the best rom available for the bionic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick answer, I will do that. I already have Eclipse 2.1 downloaded now just have to nose around and remember where I saw .902 and download it.
Rod

Rodhargis said:
Thanks for the quick answer, I will do that. I already have Eclipse 2.1 downloaded now just have to nose around and remember where I saw .902 and download it.
Rod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here you go
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1506308

iNsAnEmOd said:
here you go
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1506308
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank You, I knew I had seen it somewhere but could not remember where...

Here's all the fxz's available for the bionic :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1417116

Help with going back to stock

My wife has a Droid 3. She's had it for a year and just recently had some problems. Long story short, we ended up getting a warranty like new replacement phone. I need to put the old phone back to stock. I'm not too familiar with Motorola phones (I mainly own and work with Samsung Androids). I've been looking through threads but am having a tough time making heads or tails of how to put this thing back to stock. Some of the threads I've found are a little older with outdated links. Can someone please point me in the right direction here with some good directions? Thanks much!

SOTK said:
My wife has a Droid 3. She's had it for a year and just recently had some problems. Long story short, we ended up getting a warranty like new replacement phone. I need to put the old phone back to stock. I'm not too familiar with Motorola phones (I mainly own and work with Samsung Androids). I've been looking through threads but am having a tough time making heads or tails of how to put this thing back to stock. Some of the threads I've found are a little older with outdated links. Can someone please point me in the right direction here with some good directions? Thanks much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
quickest and easyest is to sbf..
first go to settings/about phone and see what the system version is... .890 or .906
the clcick the link in my sig..
if your on. 890 download the. zip at the top of the thread and install that using rsdlite
if your on. 906 download the 1click .exe file and follow the directions..

ovelayer said:
quickest and easyest is to sbf..
first go to settings/about phone and see what the system version is... .890 or .906
the clcick the link in my sig..
if your on. 890 download the. zip at the top of the thread and install that using rsdlite
if your on. 906 download the 1click .exe file and follow the directions..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, much! That worked like a champ and was exactly what I was looking for!

I may have spoke too soon; it just stays at the Motorola Dual Core boot image. Maybe I am not waiting long enough? I waited for like 9 minutes and no booting. I used the one click after checking the version. In the script, I got "okays" for everything. The phone rebooted. Everything seemed to go fine. So, not sure what's up. As I said, maybe I didn't give it enough time?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

SOTK said:
I may have spoke too soon; it just stays at the Motorola Dual Core boot image. Maybe I am not waiting long enough? I waited for like 9 minutes and no booting. I used the one click after checking the version. In the script, I got "okays" for everything. The phone rebooted. Everything seemed to go fine. So, not sure what's up. As I said, maybe I didn't give it enough time?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like it soft bricked ( which is fixable ).
Im just a lurker so im not sure how to fix lol

[Q] How Do I Flash Cyanogenmod on Bionic?

So I've flashed Cyanogenmod on my Droid A855 back in the day, but doing a little research I've come to find the the Bionic is a little trickier. I've read several threads that seem to go on forever and never really accomplish anything, so I'd like to start from scratch. Can anyone tell me exactly what files I need, maybe where I can look for them, and just give me a general guide as to what I'm doing. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

Jack2402 said:
So I've flashed Cyanogenmod on my Droid A855 back in the day, but doing a little research I've come to find the the Bionic is a little trickier. I've read several threads that seem to go on forever and never really accomplish anything, so I'd like to start from scratch. Can anyone tell me exactly what files I need, maybe where I can look for them, and just give me a general guide as to what I'm doing. Any help is appreciated, thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://get.cm/?device=targa
Follow the instructions here:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_targa

csantarcangelo said:
http://get.cm/?device=targa
Follow the instructions here:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_targa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depending on where you are coming from, that instruction might not work.
I think if you are still on GB, then that can work. If you are on JB, definitely those instructions will NOT work.
In general, the ideal is to root your phone.
Install safestrap.
Boot into safestrap.
Install CM10 into a slot in safestrap.
If you are on JB, you need to use safetrap 3.11 (newer versions have problems).
Rooting JB requires a linux machine, or a virtual linux session on windows machine.

Umm... Not following the official directions will cause trouble. After you brick your phone, Google House of Bionic and follow those instructions to fix your phone, then go back to the CM instructions.
Read the Bionic CM 10 thread under development before you do anything and follow Hashcode's guidance.
Sent from my XT875 using Tapatalk 4

csantarcangelo said:
Umm... Not following the official directions will cause trouble. After you brick your phone, Google House of Bionic and follow those instructions to fix your phone, then go back to the CM instructions.
Read the Bionic CM 10 thread under development before you do anything and follow Hashcode's guidance.
Sent from my XT875 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, to be completely honest, I actually have bricked this Bionic before whilst flashing it to Pageplus Cellular. And in the middle of FXZ-ing back to stock, my battery died lol. I actually had to cut a battery cable and split the two copper wires inside apart and tape them to my battery to give it enough to charge to start the process over. I definitely don't want to go through that nightmare again haha. I'll give the thread you gave me a shot and I'll post the results. Thanks man...

heofmat and
bobdole said:
Depending on where you are coming from, that instruction might not work.
I think if you are still on GB, then that can work. If you are on JB, definitely those instructions will NOT work.
In general, the ideal is to root your phone.
Install safestrap.
Boot into safestrap.
Install CM10 into a slot in safestrap.
If you are on JB, you need to use safetrap 3.11 (newer versions have problems).
Rooting JB requires a linux machine, or a virtual linux session on windows machine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man, I'm about to FXY back to .905 just in case.