Just a warning - Vibrant General

hey guys,
this is geared towards people like me (noobs). PLEASE FOLLOW ALL FLASHING PROCEDURES TO THE LETTER. It's now 4:15 est and I just spent the last 8 hours unbricking my phone. thankfully i didn't have to make a jig but the amount of effort put into recovering my phone was like getting the troops to come back home. i tried and tried and tried again and all i kept getting was the phone <!> computer screen. finally i ventured off on my own and just started pushing kernals and bootloaders into my phone until i saw the most beautiful thing i have ever seen (besides the opening scene of we own the night where eva mendez is getting nailed). that gorgeous download mode popped up out of nowhere and i was FINALLY able to push the full stock rom back to my phone, reroot, reflash the gloryusness in which is bionix-v and get my dragon kernal back. time for an hour nap and head to work. if anyone is really curious i will gladly explain my stumblings back to operation. anyway thank you for all the threads, links and downloads devs. you guys make it all worth it.

Stickies, read them.

Related

Holy crap have I learned a bunch today!

So my learning experience started when I decided to do Ryanza's "unlagfixme". It ran completely fine until it decided to restart itself. Once it restarted, it got to my "S" booting screen and then my screen turned black, and nothing else happened, but my bottom buttons would light up when i touched my screen. So i took the battery out and put it back in and restarted. Same thing over and over.
Here's where it was time to research. Only way i knew about getting to nandroid to do a restore was through rom manager. So after a little research, i found out about booting into recovery with adb (adb reboot recovery). Did that, and clicked reinstall packages, great! got into nandroid and was able to restore.
Then I got the crazy Idea to flash Vibrant6 from Eugene. Did that succesfully through nandroid then wanted a lag fix, so i flashed Ryanza's lag fix again to vibrant6. Phone hosed again! now it would only pop the vibrant screen and hang there. Time to do research again; this time i didnt have nandroid flashed so it was a little more difficult than before.
after hours of research to fix my phone I came across a post of how to use odin step by step. learned to boot into download mode, set up odin, flash...Did that, and odin would hang on cache.rfs, onto more RESEARCH...turns out i could install without a pit and that did the trick. after i was able to flash that ROM i was then able to get rom manager, boot into nandroid and backup my most recent backup (right after installing vibrant6) and then restore all my apps through titanium backup.
I feel today aside from the ****less scares...it has been a blessing day because I have learned: How to boot into recovery with adb, boot into download, use adb, use odin, flash a rom through odin and clockworkmod, restore TB backups, etc. After having the phone a little over 2 weeks and not knowing anything about android, i think these are great improvements and are things i didn't know how to do.
Today has been a great newb learning day. I guess you force yourself to learn things when you most need them huh! All the tools needed are here, more than likely whatever is happening to you has happened to someone else before. Search is your best friend. However, if I can help some of the other newbs to get up to speed, I'd be glad to. We have all been there right?
I'm so happy to be a part of this community!
Congrats, sounds like it was fun and nerve wracking. Having come from a G1, I was a little surprised at how relatively hard it is to flash a new rom to this phone, I guess the G1 spoiled me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to take the same journey that you've been through at some point, but for now I'm just gonna enjoy it.
dcontrol said:
Congrats, sounds like it was fun and nerve wracking. Having come from a G1, I was a little surprised at how relatively hard it is to flash a new rom to this phone, I guess the G1 spoiled me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to take the same journey that you've been through at some point, but for now I'm just gonna enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aboslutely, it was both! I loved it so much though because i came out as a winner and learned so much while at it. I enjoy this kind of stuff though, troubleshooting, debugging, etc. Hence being a VB/C# programmer for a living!
What a great post! Glad you were able to learn all that. Yeah, it was forced, but it still all worked out for the best.
Now off, and learn how to MetaMorph, and build your own Themes! :cracks whip:
WilliamStern said:
What a great post! Glad you were able to learn all that. Yeah, it was forced, but it still all worked out for the best.
Now off, and learn how to MetaMorph, and build your own Themes! :cracks whip:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hahaha...That sounds like whole different world that I haven't even looked into
Will definitely get on that next!
Without reading your post, I was tempted to be a troll and say "cool story", but I read it and my hat's off to you. Good on you for learning the basics. Keep up the good work!
XfooYen said:
Without reading your post, I was tempted to be a troll and say "cool story", but I read it and my hat's off to you. Good on you for learning the basics. Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I can only look up to some of geniuses in here and hope to be at their level one day!
Thank goodness I did my hours of reading pre scares and I was already in the know on what I had to do to flash back to what I was before and try again, but I def feel for your situation and applaud your using the search feature instead of just making a "help me!" Post like you usually see for a topic that's already been covered....
Btw post final vibrant 6 flash did you ever get your lag fix correctly setup?
Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app...
Dont mind the skidmarks...
awesome! forums have been a godsend. Now i can get information from the actual users rather than corporate generalities for whatever question i might have.
Holy twinner batman! I had almost the EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE YESTERDAY! Although I skipped the part about adb and went straight into the ODIN download. THIS is exactly why I will NEVER own a JobsPhone!
Your not a newb anymore. Having gone through all that heart sinking, palm sweating, stomach churning, experiences.
p()()pypants said:
Thank goodness I did my hours of reading pre scares and I was already in the know on what I had to do to flash back to what I was before and try again, but I def feel for your situation and applaud your using the search feature instead of just making a "help me!" Post like you usually see for a topic that's already been covered....
Btw post final vibrant 6 flash did you ever get your lag fix correctly setup?
Pooped from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA app...
Dont mind the skidmarks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not. I tried all three ryanza fixes (update.zip, batch, one-click) and none of them worked for me. Couldn't get the script on modaco to work for me. And everytime i undid the lagfix it crapped my phone out. So i nand'd back to pre lag fix and I'm still debating whether I will backup to stock+lag fix (really liked the snapiness, aside from quadrant scores), or to play with Vibrant6 for a while and see if it is as snappy as stock with the lagfix or better. still debating.
ConceptVBS said:
Your not a newb anymore. Having gone through all that heart sinking, palm sweating, stomach churning, experiences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha there's sooo much to learn about these phones that I feel i will be a newb for a long while yet
achild said:
after hours of research to fix my phone I came across a post of how to use odin step by step. learned to boot into download mode, set up odin, flash...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is this post?
I had the same thing happen to me. It sucked, thank god for the support here at xda. You guys made it so easy to fix. Thanks

[Q] Where do i start?

I finally got my droid x about 2 weeks ago after waiting almost a month on backorder.. Since i ordered it ive gotten an pneumonia lung infection as of saturday tonsilitis and fevers.. Plus two weeks in i got laid off so this hasent been the greateast of time. Ive been pretty out of it and yea.. anywho. I got this and first thing i did was Root via the "DroidX Root" with the Root Me and UnRoot Me " buttons. Ive owned a G1 and a Droid Eris prior to all this and loved em both. Rooted them gotten the recovery image's custom roms ect. With this im getting confused. I think its partially because ive been so ill and disoriented half the time. Also because of this efuse crap and what not. Yes ive googled and searched but again ive been fairly out of it so im still not certian what i should do here. I downloaded some apk file Recovery Bootstrap v1.0.0.3 that i was told i needed to get but again...
I want or at least i think i want to get to 2.2 im currently still on the 2.1 build it shiped with. i have *228'd it or changed the firmware in any way all ive done is rooted it.
Im having issued with the data connection. My browser seems to hang a good 50-60% of the time wether im on my wireless g connection at home or on 3g. Ill listen to slacker radio and often it stops for sometime and either wont resume playback until ive closed and re-opend it or just does it on its own.
Ive heard of people getting roms on it but others tell me there not "real".
Also its "fluid'ness speed" seems to be jotty at times. I havent hardly installed much on this and its slows down really bad at times.
Basicly i like modding my phone and really enjoy all the work people put out to fully give us the full capability's of these pieces of hardware we buy. But i dont feel like im getting that.
What other suggestions can you all give me to do to my phone, to speed it up back it up remove this crapware like dlna ect. I have seen some threads about doing this but then people telling me they get stuck at the boot logo cause they messed something up and i dont really wanna do that.
What have you done with your phones? How well do they run?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and i look forward to everyone's reply
-Mort
.....
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Sorry to hear about your problems. I just went through a week of hell before being diagnosed with pneumonia this June. So I know how it felt.
Basically, even though 2.2 OTA is available, if you mess up your phone while modding, there is no stock image to fall back to, so you'll be stuck with a bricked phone.
The best solution right now is to upgrade to original 2.2 leak. Then you can install leaked 2.3.15 which is the same as OTA (with a difference of being deodexed and rooted). In this case even if you have problems, you can always flash original 2.1 back and start from scratch.
rootzwiki has a good amount of info on how to do all of this. But of course feel free to ask questions.
http://rootzwiki.com/index.php/Smartphones/Motorola/Droid-X/Droid-X.html

It can be fixed

Last night I spent 3 hours trying to fix my phone. I got every problem that had surfaced in this forum. I got the dreaded force close loop of hell, the 0.0 internal memory, I had trouble flashing back to stock but in the end I prevailed.
The hardest part of fixing my phone was going through all the threads of people complaining that they need help and that they are having problems just to find the helpful threads. Everyone has problems you just have to be patient and read. Everything needed to fix most problems can be found in this forum so please take the time to read and remember search is you friend.
Sent from my 1.2 OC Fascinate using Voodoo magic.
CHA0S.LUIS said:
Last night I spent 3 hours trying to fix my phone. I got every problem that had surfaced in this forum. I got the dreaded force close loop of hell, the 0.0 internal memory, I had trouble flashing back to stock but in the end I prevailed.
The hardest part of fixing my phone was going through all the threads of people complaining that they need help and that they are having problems just to find the helpful threads. Everyone has problems you just have to be patient and read. Everything needed to fix most problems can be found in this forum so please take the time to read and remember search is you friend.
Sent from my 1.2 OC Fascinate using Voodoo magic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
::knuckle bump::
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I couldn't agree more!
I spent 8 hours working through my 'disable voodoo' debacle. I'm barely literate when it comes to modding and hacking, so I knew the risks. Much like you, I managed through it with reading, perserverance, and probably a little luck.
The way I see any 'brick' issues is this:
1. Don't mod/hack your phone if you aren't willing to search, read, and work through possible issues. The phone works fine without any modifications.
2. Much like highly dangerous jobs, never get comfortable with modding a phone....thats when you make mistakes. Have a healthy respect for the fact you might accidently click the wrong button!
3. Don't flash another phone's rom (E.g. Vibrant on a Fascinate)
4. Never click the "Phone" section in Odin
5. If you've followed rules #3 and #4 and run into a problem: if the phone shows any signs of life after YOU have messed with your phone, it is very likely you can recover....maybe not perfect, but recover you can!
6. Read, read, and read.....then if you still have a problem, ask.
7. IRC Chat seems to be the quickest way to get 'free tech support' from folks, but remember, they aren't paid to help you, they aren't paid period...be nice, be respectful, and realize we are all fallible.
8. Lastly, don't give up. You'll probably learn something in the process and will feel better when you have managed to solve your own problem.
At least that is what I have learned as a noob....and I have PTSD from removing Voodoo....LV, OC, Voodoo.....so, so tempted to try it again though!
I love my fascinate. As a total android newb with some winmo experiences, I was very excited about customizing my phone even more. It took a full weekend of 8 hour days, but I've successfully installed nearly every upgrade I could dream of, after meticulously backing up at each stage of the way. The experience of modding the phone itself was the best intro to android I could dream of, and by reading all the threads through to their conclusions, I never ended up with a significant problem that I couldn't fix by renaming something from .old/.bak or a quick trip to odin. Amazing!
As my third Android device, I can admit that this phone has been a complete and total pain in the a$$. It is also easily the best device I've owned.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

[Q] truellyy bricked

Hello guys I'm def a noob at all this and bricked my continuum about three months ago and got the galaxy nexus. im with verizon and i kinda gave up on it and now my nexus is acting up and after 6 replacements its still power cycling so im trying to go back to my continuum til i feel comfortable enough to root and run a new rom on my nexus. ok story goes i have a samsung continuum its rooted with super one click and i wanted to try new roms. well i stayed up all night reading for hours on how to do it and was really tired and got the pit file and tar file mixed up in odin i believe. dumb i know. well all i had was gray screen after that it would turn on and off but none of the hard keys work and wouldnt charge i can feel it getting warm now when i start charging it but thats it the screen wont even come on. i tried making a jig today with resisters and nothing happened. i just want to bring this phone back to life. it is a true bricked phone it does nothing. ive been reading the forums here for about 6 months i know u all hate when noobs post but i have exhausted all options. ill figure out my pos nexus soon enough its the biggest dissapointment i ever invested in. so anyways plz help if u can thanks. i love this site its hepled me through everything ive done so far
samsung continuum/verizon/rooted superone click
stock kernal
stock rom

That heart-stopping moment

I'm new to this root/flash etc and it has been fairly difficult getting my head around what it all means. Guides such as Intratech's http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1671969 are extremely helpful and much appreciated but still aren't really for noob's like me who don';t know all the acronyms or processes. (and where is the THANKS button - I see the thanks scores in the side bar but be buggered if I can find the way to thank someone)
As an example of what I mean, a guide such as siberian tiger's http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1674286 clearly contains valuable info but I have no idea which ROM to choose or why there are so many different ones.
Also, where do you download them from?
I got often sidetracked while trying to find out things, and nowhere did I find a set-out process that didn't require considerable research to work out what was being said. But I eventually got to where, when my new SGS3 arrived, I was ready to try stuff on it.
First I rooted it. There was confusion here because it wasn't clear that CF Root was a part of a larger process that included CWM, but I found it in Chainfire's http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1695238
Then my phone found an update - it's German market from Kogan so I went from i9300XXLEF to i9300XXLG8. I started in on removing the German stuff not vaild here but then realised I would be better doing what I originally wanted which was installing a stock Aussie ROM. First I tried out TriangleAway (with trepidation considering the rather dire warnings about bricks ) and it worked just fine, resetting my counter.
I then used CWM to run a backup of the system to my external SD.
So, using Odin I VERY carefully followed the process in Chainfire's guide.
All went well for a while...
Then the phone booted up and I got a message about Contacts not starting and then android.process.acore 'stopping'.
The heart missed a beat. I clicked OK, thinking (rather desperately ) 'it's OK, probably just a part of the set up process.'
Many clicks later, with the new system appearing in brief flashes in between 'acore' messages the gaps between heart beats became extremely long.
I forced it down (holding power for 10 secs) and started it again. 'It's better! It's going past the start up! it's...' BUGGER! there it is again!!!'
Searching frantically I found Faryaab's http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646610 thread with a lovely Youtube clip by TotallyDubbedHD (found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Tga_yKywc&feature=player_embedded
In it he mentions wiping the data, cache and dalvik cache. So I followed the clip and wiped them all, then ran the Odin process again.
Same result. Looking for paddles for heart-starting machine at this point.
AND I couldn't seem to boot into download mode any more. AND the Recovery mode was different now, with far fewer options. I tried using Recovery to Restore my backup - it found it, started to run it, then failed.
I'm not sure what the issue was with the Download option for start up, maybe in my distraught state I wasn't holding the buttons down properly or something, but after using the truncated version of recovery to wipe data and cache again, I finally got back into the Download... I went back to Odin and ran the latest German ROM - my reasoning was (not good at this point ) that maybe the phone needed the German stuff, even though I'd seen nothing about such problems in my 4 days of research on XDA. I also wondered if the Aussie ROM was corrupted...
The German one installed and started, but after about 1 minute I got the 'acore' msg again. Wondering how I was going to tell the missus I had broken my phone after less than 12 hours, and getting increasingly concerned about the lateness of the hour (as a PC support person I learned early never to do anything major after 10PM :lol I used the now restored Recovery mode to wipe data, wipe cache, wipe dalvik, then, with a prayer to the gods I don't believe in, I ran the Aussie ROM onto it again.
10 minutes later it started, sweet and fast, no errors, and no German-only icons.
I have a brand new, Aussie phone! I did some downloading of Apps to get it al back how I had it and went to bed.
I can't seem to do Thanks in threads (or even post in some of them yet) but I wish to thank wholeheartedly all those who spend so much time trying to document all the confusing issues involved for those of us learning a new language. It's been a bit of a slog but I'm getting there...
(I got to bed and told the wife, rather proudly, 'I broke my phone, AND I fixed it...'
I didnt root my phone, but i got the acore message too. Got shot of tthat & still my stock messages are still screwed. 100% agree that for a newbie nothing is crystal clear. "Search for this" "download that" not ideal wthen you are fretting on wether u just your phone up. Resisted the root, route until i see something that makes perfect sense.
The frustrating thing though, nobody believes you followed it to the letter, no matter how many times you explain it, simple stock flash (hence why i did it), even the wife cooda done that, but still had problems...still Think the 3 network was the culprit.
Get used to that feeling.....
I've been flashing phones since my x8 (had a Samsung galaxy 5, galaxy S1, nexus s, galaxy nexus and now the S3)
I've had plenty "I've definitely f*cked it now" moments.
To be honest those moments are half the fun of flashing stuff to phones.
Crackflashing is an addiction and those moments and when you sort them are like a really good hit.
Best way to learn is to make mistakes.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
I made a few mistakes and bricked my previous phone, an Xperia Pro MK16i, and learnt in the process. Haven't had a heart stopping moment on my S3 yet *touches wood*
Having said that, it is thanks to the tireless community at XDA that has ebbed me on to take the (minor) risks in order to reap the (humongous) benefits of tinkering with my phone. So thank you all.:thumbup:
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
You reminded me the first time i tried to root my Galaxy S .
It was a disaster
The phone had stuck in the root screen(z4 root some will remember)
for over 20 minutes and i didn't know what to do.
I was searching the xda for an answer but nada.
I thought that's it you just spend 600e for a brand new phone and you destroyed it
I plugged the battery out went to bed and the other day with more clear mind i read all the guides for rooting from the start and voila i did rooted it my heart came again in the place where belongs
Don't hesitate to post in my thread your questions.I'll try to help as much as i can
Regards
Tiger
Sent from my GT-I9100
This is for those who has acore issue.
A little patience is require but basically you still can navigate around in the phone but very slowly as you can only navigate after you dismiss the force close message.
Go to your System Settings->Applications Manager
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Select the All tab.
Look for Contacts
Click on Clear Data.
Restart the phone.
This help me last time when I had this issue.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
My first trail with flashing and rooting was on my mum's galaxy tab, it was a horrific experience since i might brick it at that time but it went without a problem.
After that i started flashing phones s1, s2 , s3 . But to be honest, without the help from the guys in this form i would have deff bricked many phones.
I had a few of these moments on my LG GT540 what worried me was I had no replacement phone, you will get used to them and learn how to solve them in no time.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Happy flashing there mate!
Anything you need ask or pm me,i like helping!
First android phone i ever flashed was my Galaxy S1...(btw i absolutely loved this phone!)
I remember i had bricked mine and it stayed in SAMSUNG logo,we had issues with the 3 button combo back then!
The bootloader wouldn't let me go to download mode to use ODIN!
I was sooooo sc***ed! xD
It was the most expensive phone i had ever bought and i freaked out!
Thank god we built a homemade jig with my informatics proffesor back then and we revived the damn thing!
Great guy..
Point is if it's a software error it's 99% fixable,even imei can be fixed!
(happened with mine... thank god i had a backup!)
The worst thing as an effect would be...losing your apps/settings?
So don't worry...
Don't worry everyone has had their ups and downs and for me that's a part of the beauty of modding (rooting/unlocking/...)
I still remember the bootloader unlocking of my HTC legend.
You needed burn an iso CD and set your BIOS of your PC to boot from CD then run that cd and connect your phone.
Before the process begun it stated (about 10times) that you should NOT disconnect your phone in any case. The fact they mentioned it so much made me kida worried.
But I took a deep breath and continued. You had to follow some steps answer some y/n questions and then you needed to boot your phone in fastboot
And time it so that you hit enter on your PC about 2sec after it booted into fastboot...
which I did..... but the script was still stuck on waiting... And the warning message was still there visible in the top of the script.
I started hitting enter again and again but that obviously didn't help.
After 30 min I realized there was nothing else I could do then unplugging the USB and pulling the battery. At that point I was convinced I just bricked my €450 phone.
You can't imagine how happy I was when I found out it still booted. So I rebooted my PC did some more research and tried again. And finaly after 2days and 10 attempts I got my unlocked bootloader. That victory feeling was o so great!
I must say things are getting easier for the end user and because of that it's partly losing it's charm. But it's nice too read your stories and see that some of you still experience that victory feeling!
that heart stopping moment is the best part of this crazy debranding flashing rooting customizing "thing" we so love to do and my experience wouldn't be complete without it. been at it since windows phones came out and i really think i wouldn't stop hahaha!
btw bricked a couple but jtag is always there to save us ass
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
bonzai1888 said:
I didnt root my phone, but i got the acore message too. Got shot of tthat & still my stock messages are still screwed. 100% agree that for a newbie nothing is crystal clear. "Search for this" "download that" not ideal wthen you are fretting on wether u just your phone up. Resisted the root, route until i see something that makes perfect sense.
The frustrating thing though, nobody believes you followed it to the letter, no matter how many times you explain it, simple stock flash (hence why i did it), even the wife cooda done that, but still had problems...still Think the 3 network was the culprit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, the difference between what I saw on the youtube and what was in the guide I used seems to have been the parts about (in Recovery) wiping the data and deleting cache and dalvik cache. I might be wrong and one of the gurus here could clear things up...
But deleting or changing Contacts was clearfly, in my case, not going to be a solution - Touchwiz was the first error and there were a couple of others.
Some history... I have been doing User Support and Desktop Help as well as Sysadmin since 1987. I am a noob to Android but definitely not to computers nor effing around with system partitions.I LIKED DOS and I can think my way through software issues with an aplomb that users have called for. In other words, I am not a nuff-nuff.
But the confusion generated by ST's Guide where I can just run CF-Root-SGS3-v6.4 or CF-SGS3-CWM-v5.5-v1.5 (forgive me if I am quoting the wrong poster for the thread) and then find threads telling me to install Android SDK so I can access ADB to root my phone is nothing short of awesome.
I rooted my phone. I tried to run the approved Aussie ROM on it, and then had to recover things so it would work. Did I miss a step? Was it that even though my PC recognised and allowed Odin access to my phone I should have first run Samsung USB drivers? Should I have found out what an 'Insecure kernel' is and installed one? WTF is an insecure kernel and what programs give you one if you DON'T want to run a DOS window and do command line commands?
In all the hundreds of ROMs, Kernels. and other installations presented here on site, what, as a Noob, should I be looking for? The version numbers don't mean much to me. I prefer to stay with an Aussie version but if there's a JB out there that makes my phone run better, longer, faster, I could give a flying eff when Telstra decides to update my phone... but apart from a thread offering 'buttery smooth' menu motions, none of the ROM's seem to have descriptions of WHY I should install them.
I have bought Titanium Backup and System Panel on recommendations of a thread about battery life that seems to have nothing to do with battery life but has some fascinating stuff in it anyway (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=471521&page=4 and I am backing up every time I make changes that I like, but some of these programs seem to duplicate what others do - e.g. there's a File Explorer download that offers rooting, kernel and ROM installs AND lots of file-type options, but given I have CF Root, CWM, Super SU, Titanium etc. why would I need another?
I am happy to learn. I don't mind paying for the work others have done. As the OP documents, I am willing to take a risk with my hardware to try things out.
But...
is there anywhere on here where anyone has done an Intro to Android systems?
Is there a Glossary somewhere to explain all the acronyms?
Has anyone done a step-by-step of what you replace and why to get a fully functional and fast phone?
Is there a location somewhere on site where the ROM's can be downloaded? (what I have seen is mostly references to ROM's with no links to how to find the MD5 file)
Is there somewhere on site where the features of particular ROM's is listed?
If I am rooted, what else do I need to be able to flash (say) the buttery smooth JB?
a good poem.
OP that was a good poem
you should commission a new book, 50 shades of rooting
nice read
I touch wood never hard bricked my phones. Toyed around with N900, installed android on maemo got in bit of a mess but thanks to maemo community got out of it.
Jailbroke both my iphone 4 and wife's 4S. Flashed few fws on Optimus 3D. Been installing custom FW on S3 since I got it in late May, thanks to indie who helped make the first custom rom for S3 and even not having S3 himself as world wide launch happened in June.
Anyway my worst moment came when i plugged my external 500 WD drive to S3 via OTG cable and drive was detected for little time but then disappeared. I plugged it in the pc to check it and it showed unrecognized usb device. I still thought it wasn't big deal and tried it on my NB and still same. After it didn't show up in any of my media players (a have a few) i got panicky. It had 2 years worth of data/movies/music/backups and was full to the brim.
I searched and searched on the net and the only solution some said was that the port might have got damaged and needs to be changed. Then found on youtube how to take it out of its casing and thought if i could just hook it to my pc with sata cable it will hopefully work.
I took it out and to my shock WD had soldiered some weird connector on it and it could only connect through it and the standard sata port wasn't there.
I had all but given hope and posted it on one website about this issue and found one nice old (self proclaimed) gentleman posted that i should try to put it in freezer overnight as i have nothing to lose. I thought what a joke but did put it in the freezer wrapped in thick plastic bag.
Next day i took it out and thought just might give it a try and plugged the drive in the pc and to my amazement and relief it came up with message of options of opening the device. WOW i must admit after 20+ years in IT, handling components biz, trading /selling of components, building PCs for others and myself I never heard about this tip. I can't thank that man enough and i did recover another drive by doing the same. Both are after 1+ months working fine
joshua3_ph said:
that heart stopping moment is the best part of this crazy debranding flashing rooting customizing "thing" we so love to do and my experience wouldn't be complete without it. been at it since windows phones came out and i really think i wouldn't stop hahaha!
btw bricked a couple but jtag is always there to save us ass
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
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The heart-stopper is not the best thing - getting past it and fixing things is the best part. It may be that we wouldn';t enjoy the fixing as much without the previous heart-stopper but that 'oh, f**k' moment is still nothing to wish for...
@spaco22 - in 19876 I bought an XT PC so I could write my SciFi Novel. The pc took over my life and to this date I haven't done much more nthan occasional spurts of creativity in the writing field - did do some poetry though. :lol:
@Sak500 - the freezer trick has rescued a number of drives over my years. Including ones making the dreaded 'tick...tick...' noise. You were lucky - as a drive dies you get about 15 minutes to get the data off before it goes to god. And the freezer trick doesn't usually work twice... AND you need to put it in a sealed plastic bag... unlike a client of mine who sat it in their chest freezer and complained to me it didn't help and when I got there, there was still a small puddle of melt under the drive. :silly:
Mind you the best was a Manager who brought me his almost new laptop and told me it was warranty because it 'just stopped working' and when I took it out of the bag, and checked for physical case stress damage, found a car tyre track across the back of the case. Like Lenovo would warranty for running over the thing in a Territory... :lol:
In spite of my intro to all this, I am looking forward to the journey. Y'all could help by giving me reasons for my missus letting me flash her beloved GNote from United Emirates... *innocent look*
I've got a super pro tip: Backup the EFS partition!!!
Almost every other issue is solvable with a bit of digging on this forum. An EFS partition format would need the assistance of Samsung Service Centre personnel, and a good explanation as to how it came to be.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=18524176 works for me. This is the first thing I did after rooting using CF-ROOT. Also, CF-ROOT is the safest "first thing" as it only flashes a new recovery image and no kernel nor any ROM.
Guides can only be made so noob friendly, so I'm afraid some acronyms and finger crossing are inevitable. My advice would be to read, read and read some more before attempting any actions that may brick your phone. Remember nandroid is your friend and as long as you read the threads and follow the instructions help will always be there.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Erahgon said:
I've got a super pro tip: Backup the EFS partition!!!
Almost every other issue is solvable with a bit of digging on this forum. An EFS partition format would need the assistance of Samsung Service Centre personnel, and a good explanation as to how it came to be.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=18524176 works for me. This is the first thing I did after rooting using CF-ROOT. Also, CF-ROOT is the safest "first thing" as it only flashes a new recovery image and no kernel nor any ROM.
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Click to collapse
Great tip and one I'd like to follow up on but the server hosting it seems not to be available.(see screenshot below) I'll check back and maybe look on google-play as well. Thanks.
@ghostofcain - been doing that. Check the screen shot of my Chrome window :lol: But there comes a time when one must try some of the things one has been reading about and I'm enough of a sysadmin that I follow system instructions very precisely - had to rebuild a server once, unpaid, over the weekend, because I skipped a line in an upgrade process.
So when strange things happen, and you're trying to think without that reassuring 'thud-THUD' pulse that you don't miss until it isn't there, it isn't all that reassuring to know you've done all the right things, there's just a mad moment of internal panic when you second guess and try to blame and desperately, after long training in PC's, try NOT to touch ANYTHING until you understand what just happened. :lol:
Another question - can someone point me to the download area? It has been mentioned in a few threads and I have a PM telling me that is where ROM's etc can be found, but I can't seem to find a link to that page or server. Feel free to tell me I'm being dumb...
And weirdly, I found the thanks button in posts and I swear I looked there before and it wasn't there. Maybe you can't thank until you've posted or something?
I've often told my customers, 'if computers/windows behaved as they are meant to I wouldn't have had a job for the past 25 years...'
Hm... image doesn't show in preview... it's attached as well.
Trying HTML...
HTML:
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8442/7890771458_f79f6a6635_z.jpg" width="640" height="357" alt="My Chrome Desk">
Nope, looks like attach is it...
Once you learn all the Voodoo tricks to fixing half of your problems with Roms and Kernels.. or soft bricked devices, you'll be smooth flashing..till then you must go thru a few bricks, a few data wipes, a few crashes, and a few replacements
YoungAceAtlanta said:
Once you learn all the Voodoo tricks to fixing half of your problems with Roms and Kernels.. or soft bricked devices, you'll be smooth flashing..till then you must go thru a few bricks, a few data wipes, a few crashes, and a few replacements
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Click to collapse
LOL... I can live with most of that - bricking and replacements I am trying to avoid. The missus will not look kindly on having to buy a new phone...:fingers-crossed:

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