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[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] How do you properly flash custom ROMs on Galaxy Note?

Ok my question seems trivial but I just need to know the proper way to flash roms on the Note. I am not new to flashing roms and coming from HTC phones it is very simple to me using AmonRa recovery. CWM is nothing new to me either.
My GNote is a XXKJ4. Can I flash a rom that is not a XXKJ4? Perhaps the XXLA6 or XXLA4?
I tried to flash Checkrom (LA6) from my external_sd location directly from CWM recovery and received a boot loop. I wipe the data, cache, dalvik cache and still get the boot loop. I made a CMW backup beforehand and was able to get back to normal for now. But I really want to try different ROMS.
Did I miss anything?
a little assistance please....
thanks.

Not to sound rude or anything but YouTube has all the answers.

The most important thing to do before flashing anything is to read and re-read the instructions provided by the dev.
There's no universal answer to your question, because different Roms have different flashing procedures. Criskelo, for instance, is a non-wipe one, Cassie's XtraLite has a 3-step rebooting protocol etc.
I cannot stress read and re-read bit enough. Each and every day here you'll see tons of retards who flash everything in sight without bothering to read the first (or 2nd) thread post where it is explained how it's done. Then there are cries for help, gripes, whines, women and song.
As for CheckROM, this is what they say about bootloops:
Q: After Installing your ROM I'm getting bootloops/boot issues?
A: Do the following steps:
Take out the battery
Put the battery back in
Get into Recovery
Wipe Everything
Flash my ROM <-----(meaning flash it one more time)
Done!
Hope this helps.

chasmodo said:
I cannot stress read and re-read bit enough. Each and every day here you'll see tons of retards who flash everything in sight without bothering to read the first (or 2nd) thread post where it is explained how it's done. Then there are cries for help, gripes, whines, women and song.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could not agree more (and very eloquent!)
I read for days before going for root, and more days before going for the kernel. When doing that it worked well first time.
Next, ROMs ...

I also come from HTC and it seems strange when reading Samsung instructions with Otis and Kies and PDA. I assume essentially everything is the same as with HTC phones once you have a clockwork recovery you can flash and backup all you like.
I understand all information is already accessible through Google, but can someone explain the roles and importance of Otis and Kies.
As I see it Kies is like HTC sync, Otis is like fastboot or adb is this correct?

jambamkin said:
I also come from HTC and it seems strange when reading Samsung instructions with Otis and Kies and PDA. I assume essentially everything is the same as with HTC phones once you have a clockwork recovery you can flash and backup all you like.
I understand all information is already accessible through Google, but can someone explain the roles and importance of Otis and Kies.
As I see it Kies is like HTC sync, Otis is like fastboot or adb is this correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what i get yeah..i only install Roms through either mobile odin pro or cwm. I have never installed odin or kies for my pc.
Sent from my GT-N7000

jambamkin said:
can someone explain the roles and importance of Otis and Kies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are very important, they are the first thing one uninstalls from all Roms with Titanium Backup, Root Uninstaller or whatever.

Just got a galaxy note

Will updating the firmware affect anything if I wish to flash a custom ROM?
Any other precautions I should take with this virgin phone?
Thanks!

be careful
there is a post in the Development area a sticky that explains a situation
with some ICS leaks that bricked many notes... to the point where you need to pay for a new motherboard .
if you are new .. there are MANY posts and searches you will have to do to find your way around with the kernels and the roms...
yesterday i made a small folder with all the right files you need to root to install CWM and to safely being able to flash any rom you want (as safe as you can offcourse)
i have used this in 3 notes for more than 15 different roms ... and everything is fine...
since i am new to the XDA i can't post a link but i will post the instructions...
and i will send you the link to my dropbox folder for the RAR...
it has everything you need in there..
the last days i send it to friends that don't have experience and need a
1. 2. 3. kind of guide for updating and installing custom roms...
here are the instructions... the link to the rar.exe will be in your personal folder..
----------------------------------------
1. thourgh odin i use the files of the folder
"Rooted_Stock_Odex_N7000XXLC1"
with the order showed in the pic "odin file order"
the rom is now rooted and i need CWM
2. through the folder
"CF-Root-SGN_XX_OXA_LC1-v5.3-CWM5"
i choose the file "already-rooted.bat" (while my phone
is connected and the " usb debugging " pressed
i let the program do it's thing and when it's finished
it will tell me to reboot ...
now i have a safe rooted phone with CWM
3. for ANY custom rom .. GB or ICS
I FOLLOW THESE GOLDEN RULES and i am safe...
Four steps to installing any rom for galaxy note
a. put the file abyss 4.2 into your phone reboot to recovery
choose install zip and then choose the file... now you have Abyss kernel.
b. press reboot to recovery ( just to be sure )
c.chose wipe Data, cache and in advanced the dalvike cache wipe
d. if you want to be extra cool reboot to recovery one more and
chose the custom rom of your choise (the one you have downloaded allready and placed inside the phone waiting
as a zip file..
YOU ARE DONE..
This is the universal instructions for any ics rom installation.
No brick and maintain root.

TL;DR.
Disregard all of the above.
My first advice to you would be to read. Don't be lazy, just read for a couple of days. You are a native speaker and will be able to follow everything with no problems whatsoever.
There's plenty of information in the Note Forum you need to digest before taking a plunge into rooting, installing and tweaking custom Roms etc.
Unfortunately, the Note community is plagued by a series of hard-bricks ATM, and you need to know why, and adjust your actions accordingly. There are safe ways of doing things and there are lethal ways. You don't want to end up having a shiny, expensive paperweight, do you?
You need as much info as you can possibly adopt before doing anything.

chasmodo said:
TL;DR.
Disregard all of the above.
My first advice to you would be to read. Don't be lazy, just read for a couple of days. You are a native speaker and will be able to follow everything with no problems whatsoever.
There's plenty of information in the Note Forum you need to digest before taking a plunge into rooting, installing and tweaking custom Roms etc.
Unfortunately, the Note community is plagued by a series of hard-bricks ATM, and you need to know why, and adjust your actions accordingly. There are safe ways of doing things and there are lethal ways. You don't want to end up having a shiny, expensive paperweight, do you?
You need as much info as you can possibly adopt before doing anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And as chasmodo said some important thread to be viewed are this,this,this,this
The links include Public service announcements for bricking issues,rooting guides and some threads you must read to understand the problem

Thanks so much!!! )

[Q] In light of the eMMC bug, is the N7000 still worth getting?

Hi All,
Just curious how serious the eMMC bug is, and whether the N7000 is still worth getting??
1) Is the bug only present in ICS Roms, with unsafe kernels?
2) Is the phone safe using any of the GB or JB Roms, assuming it is only ICS thats at fault with the chip?
3) I've heard CWM is also dangerous to use, is there a certain one/version to use? (namely, Philz?)
4) How do you prepare the phone from ROM flash? All other Android devices I use to do Factory Reset Wipe in CWM, followed by wiping System and the Cache section. What can I do now, or cant I do... for fear of bricking?
5) Is this App [GalaxSim Unlock, by spocky] ok to unlock, does it work or can it be dangerous in light of eMMC? Or should I get a carrier unlock?
6) If using this phone normally, normal Apps... Is there a risk to bricking if the App write to write to the internal storage?? (such as saving files/settings) or is only if you attempt to wipe it?
7) Whats the absolute do's and DONT's with this device, like to stay away from....
I'm really keen to buy it, but dont want to end up with a BRICK through a silly mistake....
- sorry for all the questions, just really confused by whats ok and whats not...
Thanks, Lister

Emmc brick bug was there in ICS for sure but it is not worth trying on JB as it is no fun to see if the device gets bricked or not.
You can use GB (which has safe kernel) you can do the wipes. ICS and JB there are many custom kernel which are brick bug safe, meaning that it would not brick your phone if you have these kernel (say Philz for example) which also give you CWM and you can do wipes as many times you want without the risk of getting bricked. Philz kernel is available for all the versions.
For how to flash stock rom and list of stock roms use this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1424997
i dont have any idea about unlock, you may wait for someone to respond to that.
when using the phone normally there is no risk of brick.
Dont wipe the device on stock recovery and you are safe, to be safer always use Philz kernel. if you want to claim warranty at any time you can always flash stock rom again.

Own a note for 5 months now and this device is as good as any for the flashing of ROMs and kernels. So this is surely a safe buy. The PhilZ kernel is not particularly what i am fond of as it caused problems for the flashing of certain ROMs as the recovery is CWM based and not CWM recovery. And i do not have any info about the unlock app

Hi Treacherous_Hawk and Varad297,
Thank you both for your comments and suggestions, all this info I am picking up is very useful for me... As I may of said above, but have certainly said in other places across this board (and other sites). I'm fairly ok/confidant when it comes to Android, and the other Android hardware in my collection. (ZTE Blade, HP Touchpad, and MK802-II) Dont suffer from any kinda serious bug, and are brick free, they will never die... But I must admit, I am a little scared of this eMMC bug in N7000.
So thanks for putting my mind at rest....
If / When I do get this phone (through a mate of a mate), in October when her contract runs out. Will be locked to Vodafone UK, and I am T-Mobile UK, and I believe its currently running on Android 4.1.2 JB Stock.
However I want to flash the P.A.C. Rom to it straight away, as I have this on my ZTE Blade and HP Touchpad and love it...
So whats the best way to do it...??
1) Download Philz Recovery (and which version would I need, being that the rom its on is 4.1.2, and the rom I'll be taking it too is 4.2.2)
- I assume I copy this to SD Card, and flash in Stock Recovery, via going to Download Mode
2) What steps would I follow to clear of current rom? What wipes are safe, or are they all safe with Philz? Normally I do Factory Data wipe, and then System and Cache...
- Are these fine under Philz recovery? As from above two comments... First reply says its safe to do so, second reply says its dangerous... Just really scared about this bug, cant believe Sammy released a device like that...
3) I assume I flash it in Philz CWM, rather than ODIN? Do I need to re-flash a kernel straight after or is the one in P.A.C. (4.2.2) safe from bug?
4) I think the ROM is pre-rooted, but what should I do in case its not? Use ODIN or is there an easier method?
I assume flashing the above rom, via the above method (Philz CWM) will then result in the Yellow Triangle, and bump the count upto 1? So do I just use Triangle Away to clear and reset this, and this is again safe of bricking???
Thanks, Lister

Dude dont panic.
P.A.C. Rom is rooted and does not trigger the emmc bug.
Safe way from stock is as follows:
1.
!DO NOT WIPE ANYTHING ON STOCK!
2.
Get philz kernel for your stock version.
there are packages for flashing with either ODIN which involves connectiong a Computer or with Stock Recovery, which does not involve a computer.
The latter, which is simpler is simply a file on SD you can flash through stock recovery (when off press power+home+volup), it wont even void your warranty.
That provides you with a CWM like recovery from which you can wipe or flash other roms WITHOUT triggering the brickbug.
3.
Get your favourite Rom and flash it through cwm recovery.
BTW: Almost everyone who releases for N7000 puts something in the description that says if the rom is bricksafe.
All newer AOSP/CM based roms should be bricksafe.
Most of the customized Touchwiz Roms are also bricksafe, but watch their thread to be sure.
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EDIT:
IMO if you get the Note 1 for free or cheap its well worth getting. If you plan to buy one rather look for the Note 2 because I feel that it is better supported and has better customisation diversity.
Or if I ask myself what my next phone will be... dunno. Maybe a Nexus or Xperia Z or HTC? I cant seem to find the perfectly blended device. Might go with Jolla Sailfish device if it proves usable.
EDIT 2:
I think someone should sticky this as a simple guide for this. Also the existing stickies really need a cleanup to not confuse people with too much information out of differing times.
Does XDA pay moderators? I'd happily clean stickies and test stuff all day. (I'd also assume a neutral persona/state of mind for such activity.)

Hi Illidan Pornrage,
Thank you so much for going into great detail of the steps I need to follow, I'm starting to feel more comfortable at doing and using this now... So any ROM that says they are Brick free means there is no way to trigger it?? Not that I have ever done this, maybe when I first got my Android back in 2010 just to see what it was like... If I did Factory Data Reset in P.A.C. Rom it wont trigger the eMMC bug? (not that Im likely to ever use it... just making sure).
And with Philz CWM Recovery, I can use the Wipe Data/Factory Reset and then goto other screen and wipe the System partition, and the Cache and Davlik Cache with it all being ok... its 100% safe in Philz Recovery to not brick it??
I am so use to CWM on other devices, I am scared of using the wrong selection on the famous N7000 eMMC brick bug... lol
But with the other steps, thank you so much, such a HUGE HELP!!! and I am sure that will put other new (to N7000) users minds at rest...
-- So useful that ya know the above ROM too, as it makes it even easier/safer for me knowing all is gonna be ok with it...
Cant wait to get ROMing now... Just gotta wait till October... b*gger!! lol
Cheers, Lister

If I did Factory Data Reset in P.A.C. Rom it wont trigger the eMMC bug? Yes as often as you like. I flash cm nightlies, so I wipe very often.
And my window manager somehow always loses focus of the textbox. So I write half posts and have to edit 346243 times. Sorry.
And with Philz CWM Recovery, I can use the Wipe Data/Factory Reset and then goto other screen and wipe the System partition, and the Cache and Davlik Cache with it all being ok... its 100% safe in Philz Recovery to not brick it??
Also yes.
As for 100%. I cant assure you that nothing obscure that only happens 1 in a million times happens. But the menchanism that triggers the great evil bug is removed from philz and the mentioned roms.

Phewwww..... so this eMMC bug is no big deal then....
Only an issue if you stay on stock firmwares really, esp that of ICS??
Well thats made me feel a whole lot safer and more determined to want to get it. Had my hopes set on getting it, and then when I heard about the eMMC bug, thought is this gonna be a wise purchase or will I be spending the best part of £150 (dont know the final price yet) on a very large and heavy paper weight!! lol
Thanks so much for putting my mind at rest, great help...

Hi Illidan Pornrage,
I've only just seen/noticed your updates to my original questions, thanks for the updates.... Re: Why am I going for just the Note 1 rather than the Note 2. Is that someone a know (mate of a mate) will be upgrading her phone (she prolly gonna go back to Apple... boooo) and so hopefully she will be parting with her Note (and cheaply I hope, esp re the bug... a-haaaa)
- and couldnt agree more about tidying up the Stickies, as yes a lot of it is out of date, hence my asking and checking... To which you fully re-assured me of the steps, so think this would be useful to all...
Just to add to this, which Philz Kernel would I need??
Phone: Galaxy Note 1 / N7000
Network: Vodafone UK
Current OS: Android 4.1.2 JB Stock
Planned OS to update Too: P.A.C. 22:30 (Android 4.2.2)
So not sure what Kernel I would need from the below link, and if so, can you explain why I need THIS one? What do I need to look for in a kernel?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1901191
Also, can anyone confirm if they have a UK Note 1 on contract (esp Vodafone) as I am hearing the contract ones are unlocked by default. Its only PAYG that are locked down....
thanks, Lister

Hi Illidan Pornrage / Guys,
As per my above post, any idea what Kernel I need based on the above details...??
Thanks, Lister

Updating a Galaxy note (bought secondhand)

Bought a second hand Note. It's rooted as CWM on it. It won't update OTA (no updates showing at all for the past couple of days), and it's on 2.3.6.
Can I manually install an update via Odin? If so which one?
Direct links would help, I'm a bit of a noob
U.K Note btw

JccageX2 said:
Bought a second hand Note. It's rooted as CWM on it. It won't update OTA (no updates showing at all for the past couple of days), and it's on 2.3.6.
Can I manually install an update via Odin? If so which one?
Direct links would help, I'm a bit of a noob
U.K Note btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Being a 'noob' isn't an excuse for not looking. Go to the stock ROM sticky thread and try actually looking next time.
It's always so much harder when you have to try (David Gray).

JccageX2 said:
Bought a second hand Note. It's rooted as CWM on it. It won't update OTA (no updates showing at all for the past couple of days), and it's on 2.3.6.
Can I manually install an update via Odin? If so which one?
Direct links would help, I'm a bit of a noob
U.K Note btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
instruction sent
check your PM

AndroidSlave said:
Being a 'noob' isn't an excuse for not looking. Go to the stock ROM sticky thread and try actually looking next time.
It's always so much harder when you have to try (David Gray).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typical "Omfg do it yourself guy". Here's an idea, stop being such an ass, I evidently looked as I know what Odin is, I wanted to be sure from a member who knows what he's doing just in case I did something wrong. Imbecile.
Thank you Comscier, downloading all the stuff now

JccageX2 said:
Typical "Omfg do it yourself guy". Here's an idea, stop being such an ass, I evidently looked as I know what Odin is, I wanted to be sure from a member who knows what he's doing just in case I did something wrong. Imbecile.
Thank you Comscier, downloading all the stuff now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No here's a better idea - stop being a lazy
If you want someone to do it all for you, there are websites you can pay to root your phone. XDA is NOT that place.
There are threads already for this but you are just to lazy to lift two fingers to look
So you call me an ass? Okay buddy I'm an ass because your too lazy to read the guide that someone spent hours making that is at the very top of the forum as a sticky note in capital letters.
And yet with 152 posts you still refuse to just look at the guides that are step by step instructions because you expect to be spoon fed
Let's look at your other threads "which rom is best" "how to root my desire" and so on
Its not like you even try to look. You just over and over break xda policy and are lazy. Get with the picture and follow the rules
No reason to call me an ass, I am actually a very useful and helpful person to many people on this website. But everyone is expected to at least TRY to look before posting, which you consistently refuse to do (as your previous threads for other devices proves)

AndroidSlave said:
No here's a better idea - stop being a lazy
If you want someone to do it all for you, there are websites you can pay to root your phone. XDA is NOT that place.
There are threads already for this but you are just to lazy to lift two fingers to look
So you call me an ass? Okay buddy I'm an ass because your too lazy to read the guide that someone spent hours making that is at the very top of the forum as a sticky note in capital letters.
And yet with 152 posts you still refuse to just look at the guides that are step by step instructions because you expect to be spoon fed
Let's look at your other threads "which rom is best" "how to root my desire" and so on
Its not like you even try to look. You just over and over break xda policy and are lazy. Get with the picture and follow the rules
No reason to call me an ass, I am actually a very useful and helpful person to many people on this website. But everyone is expected to at least TRY to look before posting, which you consistently refuse to do (as your previous threads for other devices proves)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said you weren't a useful guy. However you for some reason insist I didn;t look beforehand. I made a thread to make sure I didn't mess up my phone, I didn't know if I could flash stock firmware over a root + recovery or not.
So before you attack members in their first post with a new phone, I'd suggest you'd think twice.
I appreciate your work. Bye.

JccageX2 said:
Never said you weren't a useful guy. However you for some reason insist I didn;t look beforehand. I made a thread to make sure I didn't mess up my phone, I didn't know if I could flash stock firmware over a root + recovery or not.
So before you attack members in their first post with a new phone, I'd suggest you'd think twice.
I appreciate your work. Bye.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only thing I want to say is next time say what you read. Otherwise it looks like you have done nothing and are just posting out of laziness. There was no way I could have known you did any due diligence with your post aside from a mention of Odin.
I am going to link you to a very detailed post I wrote about upgrading from gingerbread. This post I wrote will guide you.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SVII using Tapatalk 6 Beta
---------- Post added at 11:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 PM ----------
Here is my post from the philz thread. Let Mr know if u have questions. Please also be SURE to read the brickbug sticky thread
TO ANYONE READING THIS POST - NOTE THAT THIS IS ALL SPECIFIC TO UOGRADING FROM GINGERBREAD ONLY
@onetonnoodle Honestly, if you like the features of Sweet Rom, it is an Amazing rom (maybe the best?), but I personally (when I use touchwizz interface) prefer a stock interface, which is why I like @ThaiDai's stock-deodexed LT9. If you were thinking of sweet rom, just go with it. It really is spectacular and constantly updated. Just be aware you may issue a couple bugs here and there because it is in constant development, but they always get fixed right away.
Regarding hardbricking, as long as your only doing wipes while PhilZ kernel is installed, you are safe. Remember anytime a new rom is flashed it overwrites the kernel with whatever is packaged with that rom. Also any gingerbread kernel philz or not are safe. Be very careful if on an ICS ROM though.
There are 3 ways that I would do it. Obviously, there are about 100 ways to do this. These are the methods I may use
IF ITS GINGERBREAD COMPATIBLE (I dont remember), the Mobile Odin Pro method is by far the easiest way
Here is one Method (easier, but only if u have pc odin setup):
1. Flash Sweetrom via PC odin
2. it wont boot because of all your old gingerbread data. After turning it on, immediately boot to recovery. Do a factory reset, or if you want a completely clean install do a full wipe and then reflash sweetrom again via recovery.
3. reboot to system
4. YOU WILL HAVE A YELLOW TRIANGLE. Use Triangle Away from XDA (its free) to remove that, but this does have a risk.
Mobile Odin Method this would be my first choice so long as your GB rom is rooted
I think mobile odin is compatible with gingerbread. You will have to download sweet rom to your phone.
If it is, you can use mobile odin to flash the sweetrom zip, you are already on gingerbread so you are brickbug safe...
If mobile odin is gingerbread compatible, which i believe it is, this is really a simple method.
Obviously your gingerbread ROM has to be rooted if you want to do this.
NOTE: you will get issues because mobile odin doesnt really do a full wipe. if hte issues do arise you can reboot to recovery included with sweet rom and just do a factory reset and you will be fine.
Here is yet another method to update:
1. Open the browser ON YOUR PHONE. *(a) Download SweetRom to the sdcard (internal or external); (b) Download the newest LT9 Philz kernel to your sdcard also.
* **Note: if you have issues getting the download to complete, try opera mini browser because it supports resume downloads.
2. [OPTIONAL STEP, not required] Flash Abyss 4.2 kernel, and do a full nandroid backup in recovery... * I personally would skip this step. *I dont even know if you could find abyss anymore, but I am making an option for you to get a nandroid backup of your gingerbread rom that will boot... *really though, dont waste your time on this unless you want to assure you have a full backup of gingerbread with a gingerbread kernel
3. *Unfortunately, you can't flash philz directly from your 3e recovery (because you are on gingerbread)... it will give a signature verification error. *so you can either flash it via PC odin, or do an OTA upgrade and then flash it (be careful, once you do this you are not brickbug safe).
4. Flash PhilZ LT9 Kernel from either Abyss if you did step 2 (optional), from your stock android recovery if you can put it on your external sd card *only if you did an OTA update , or via PC Odin if you dont have an external SD Card. *Be sure to follow the philz flashing instructions step by step.
5. NOW YOUR PHONE WILL NOT BOOT. dont be alarmed, you only want to go to recovery. *You will have no issue getting into recovery as long as philz flashed properly. *Your phone now has a JB kernel with a GB system, this is why it won't boot.
6. boot recovery (power - volume up - home held until you get to philz touch interface)
7. Go to factory reset, and choose the wipe all option (this wipes /system /data /cache /preload and .android_secure). *Your phone now has no system, but will retain the philz kernel and touch recovery.
8. no need to reboot recovery. *Just go to flash the Sweet ROM Zip. *let it run.*
9. reboot to system
10. Done. *it will already include the kernel.
If you are confused about any step, dont even start the process. ask first.
And be aware, there is always a risk doing this. It won't brick your phone, but you may softbrick it and lose recovery if something goes wrong. The solution for this is to use PC Odin and flash a ROM via PC Odin.

Thanks.