Database Users

Kernel/bootloader/recovery

Hi guys,
1. What is the advantage/disadvantage of flashing a custom kernel?
2. I recently flashed Cyanogenmod. It automatically installs a custom kernel right?
3. Using the Nexus 7 toolkit I reverted my N7 to stock recovery (from CWM) How should I make sure that it's been reverted to the latest stock version?
4. What does N7's stock factory image contain? (Stock ROM + Stock recovery + Stock kernel?) (found here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images)
5. Is this correct? You can install a custom ROM without changing the kernel but in order to have more customization you have to flash a different kernel than the stock one.
6. Is this the correct order? Unlocking bootloader>rooting>Flashing custom recovery>Flashing custom kernel>Flashing custom ROM>...?
7. Difference between unlocking bootloader and rooting.
8. How to find out N7's latest stock kernel version.
Many thanx
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

valapsp said:
1. What is the advantage/disadvantage of flashing a custom kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same as those for a stock kernel. That is to say, every kernel has advantages and disadvantages. Some trade performance for battery life, others do the reverse. Some are more feature-heavy and potentially more unstable, others are feature-light but designed to be rock solid. With custom kernels on a Nexus device, you avoid one of the biggest dangers of custom kernels (instability due to lack of kernel source for developers to base their work on), but you still need to be careful. You don't necessarily know how proficient the author of a given kernel is, and the wrong one can make your device unusable/kill it.
valapsp said:
2. I recently flashed Cyanogenmod. It automatically installs a custom kernel right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it does. I don't remember which one though, since I don't use CM.
valapsp said:
3. Using the Nexus 7 toolkit I reverted my N7 to stock recovery (from CWM) How should I make sure that it's been reverted to the latest stock version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to be more specific-- the latest stock ROM, or the latest stock recovery? If you're wondering about the ROM, you can check in Settings > About tablet > Status. When it comes to determining recovery version, I'm not so sure.
valapsp said:
4. What does N7's stock factory image contain? (Stock ROM + Stock recovery + Stock kernel?) (found here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it contains stock ROM and kernel.
valapsp said:
5. Is this correct? You can install a custom ROM without changing the kernel but in order to have more customization you have to flash a different kernel than the stock one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally correct. There's a subset of features that are kernel-dependent, not ROM dependent, so you should think of it as ROM customizations vs. kernel customizations. Some examples of the former include PIE menus and Paranoid Android's Halo feature. Examples of the latter might include tap2wake (double tap on a powered-off screen to turn it on), NTFS drive support for OTG, and so on.
valapsp said:
6. Is this the correct order? Unlocking bootloader>rooting>Flashing custom recovery>Flashing custom kernel>Flashing custom ROM>...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and no? It's one way of going about it, save for the last two things, which should be reversed. Since some ROMs include custom kernels, flashing a kernel and then a ROM runs the risk of having your kernel choice overwritten.
If all you need to do is flash a different ROM, you can go straight form unlocking the bootloader to flashing a recovery. You can also flash ROMs and kernels independently, so long as whatever kernel/ROM you're running initially doesn't have known incompatibilities with your new ROM/kernel.
valapsp said:
7. Difference between unlocking bootloader and rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocking your bootloader is like getting the key to a house. Rooting is getting permission from the landlord to do whatever the heck you want to the house. A locked bootloader means that the device is checking to ensure no unauthorized code is running at boot time, which prevents custom recoveries from being installed. Rooting only really matters when the device is booted up.
valapsp said:
8. How to find out N7's latest stock kernel version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google. Sorry, can't help you with this one.

That was a great answer @Rirere

Rirere said:
Same as those for a stock kernel. That is to say, every kernel has advantages and disadvantages. Some trade performance for battery life, others do the reverse. Some are more feature-heavy and potentially more unstable, others are feature-light but designed to be rock solid. With custom kernels on a Nexus device, you avoid one of the biggest dangers of custom kernels (instability due to lack of kernel source for developers to base their work on), but you still need to be careful. You don't necessarily know how proficient the author of a given kernel is, and the wrong one can make your device unusable/kill it.
I believe it does. I don't remember which one though, since I don't use CM.
You need to be more specific-- the latest stock ROM, or the latest stock recovery? If you're wondering about the ROM, you can check in Settings > About tablet > Status. When it comes to determining recovery version, I'm not so sure.
I believe it contains stock ROM and kernel.
Generally correct. There's a subset of features that are kernel-dependent, not ROM dependent, so you should think of it as ROM customizations vs. kernel customizations. Some examples of the former include PIE menus and Paranoid Android's Halo feature. Examples of the latter might include tap2wake (double tap on a powered-off screen to turn it on), NTFS drive support for OTG, and so on.
Yes and no? It's one way of going about it, save for the last two things, which should be reversed. Since some ROMs include custom kernels, flashing a kernel and then a ROM runs the risk of having your kernel choice overwritten.
If all you need to do is flash a different ROM, you can go straight form unlocking the bootloader to flashing a recovery. You can also flash ROMs and kernels independently, so long as whatever kernel/ROM you're running initially doesn't have known incompatibilities with your new ROM/kernel.
Unlocking your bootloader is like getting the key to a house. Rooting is getting permission from the landlord to do whatever the heck you want to the house. A locked bootloader means that the device is checking to ensure no unauthorized code is running at boot time, which prevents custom recoveries from being installed. Rooting only really matters when the device is booted up.
Google. Sorry, can't help you with this one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all many many thanx to you because of your help. Yes I meant stock RECOVERY in question 3 also the way you explained question #7 is awesome.
Now I'm running stock ROM on CWM recovery and Franco kernel. My question is that will I be able to upgrade to Android 4.3 with this recovery and kernel? Or I have to flash the stock kernel or stock recovery or both?
Also how can I extract the stock kernel from the factory stock image file?
Thanx again.

valapsp said:
First of all many many thanx to you because of your help. Yes I meant stock RECOVERY in question 3 also the way you explained question #7 is awesome.
Now I'm running stock ROM on CWM recovery and Franco kernel. My question is that will I be able to upgrade to Android 4.3 with this recovery and kernel? Or I have to flash the stock kernel or stock recovery or both?
Also how can I extract the stock kernel from the factory stock image file?
Thanx again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OTA updates are normally only applied to the rom/system, so in theory you should be able to just run the OTA update with the stock rom, the worst that would mainly happen is losing rooting because the system partition gets replaced with a fresh install of the newest operating system (but your /data retains your settings and user data).
I use TWRP recovery instead of CWM, and TWRP when you're bout to exit it will detect if your system has Supersu or not and will offer to install it for you (from there once you boot into the system you can use it to install the su binary for you thus re-rooting).
In the end it's a personal choice. With custom roms like I'm using, there's no real "OTA" update (just a notice that the rom creators use to notify you of new versions which are downloaded to the device, and you just reboot into recovery to flash them). Custom roms typically get updated a few days to a few weeks after google updates if they're AOSP based.
The stock kernel would normally be the boot image, I don't know how you would do it with clockwork mod, but in TWRP you can simply make a backup of the boot partition to retain the original stock kernel. (It will of course only work on AOSP-based roms if you choose to just flash the stock kernel, but the ones that are made for the rom, or custom kernels tend to offer optimizations over the original stock one).

Thanks, I meant extracting the stock kernel from factory image file found here:
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
By the way I don't have the stock kernel anymore to back it up.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

valapsp said:
Thanks, I meant extracting the stock kernel from factory image file found here:
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
By the way I don't have the stock kernel anymore to back it up.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh I see, well if your's is the Wifi-only version then would be something like this https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#nakasijdq39
The firmwares are basically gzipped tarballs (in a linux system tar zxvf would normally unpack em, otherwise 7zip for windows does a good job of unpacking it into a folder).
Alternatively you can just download the kernel itself (Post #3) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2151154
Edit: Yes if you un-gzip/untar the original firmware, then unpack image-nakasi-jdq39.zip inside of that, there will be a boot.img that's where the kernel lives. The boot.img can be flashed via fastboot to the boot partition (I'd advise reading up on this first before actually doing it). Though like linked above, there are some recovery-flashible versions of the stock kernel you can use instead.

kbeezie said:
Ahh I see, well if your's is the Wifi-only version then would be something like this https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#nakasijdq39
The firmwares are basically gzipped tarballs (in a linux system tar zxvf would normally unpack em, otherwise 7zip for windows does a good job of unpacking it into a folder).
Alternatively you can just download the kernel itself (Post #3) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2151154
Edit: Yes if you un-gzip/untar the original firmware, then unpack image-nakasi-jdq39.zip inside of that, there will be a boot.img that's where the kernel lives. The boot.img can be flashed via fastboot to the boot partition (I'd advise reading up on this first before actually doing it). Though like linked above, there are some recovery-flashible versions of the stock kernel you can use instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, I actually did unzip the stock firmware seconds ago and was posting the results then I saw your edit.
Just there are some confusions here: what is that userdata.img? also what is bootloader-grouper-4.18.img

valapsp said:
thanks, I actually did unzip the stock firmware seconds ago and was posting the results then I saw your edit.
Just there are some confusions here: what is that userdata.img? also what is bootloader-grouper-4.18.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bootloader img would be the original stock bootloader for the Nexus 7, chances are you never replaced it, you only unlocked it. There's usually no reason to replace the bootloader with a custom one since all you need to do is unlock it.
userdata.img would be the /data partition. The firmware download basically has a image for all of the partition in the original out-of-the-box stock state. Technically you don't even to flash it, as long as you wiped /data before rebooting (since that would be the same as a clean install if you instead flashed the system and boot partition).
Edit: If I were messing with it to get back stock rom (but not messing with recovery, cuz custom recovery is still handy to have), I would only flash the boot.img and system.img , then log into Recovery and wipe data (ie: factory reset which wipes cache and /data but doesn't touch /data/media), Then I would be able to reboot into a clean stock install of the rom.
(from there I could just make a backup from recovery so I wouldn't have to do a fastboot flash again).

kbeezie said:
The OTA updates are normally only applied to the rom/system, so in theory you should be able to just run the OTA update with the stock rom, the worst that would mainly happen is losing rooting because the system partition gets replaced with a fresh install of the newest operating system (but your /data retains your settings and user data).
I use TWRP recovery instead of CWM, and TWRP when you're bout to exit it will detect if your system has Supersu or not and will offer to install it for you (from there once you boot into the system you can use it to install the su binary for you thus re-rooting).
In the end it's a personal choice. With custom roms like I'm using, there's no real "OTA" update (just a notice that the rom creators use to notify you of new versions which are downloaded to the device, and you just reboot into recovery to flash them). Custom roms typically get updated a few days to a few weeks after google updates if they're AOSP based.
The stock kernel would normally be the boot image, I don't know how you would do it with clockwork mod, but in TWRP you can simply make a backup of the boot partition to retain the original stock kernel. (It will of course only work on AOSP-based roms if you choose to just flash the stock kernel, but the ones that are made for the rom, or custom kernels tend to offer optimizations over the original stock one).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, how many times does should matter? Theoretically, you should be able to do OTAs while rooted by downloading the ZIP and flashing in recovery, but if you've made changes to /system (uninstalling a system app, or adding a helper), you might get the stupid script_assert error. Of course, you could just push the whole /system back to your device...although that can be just as annoying.
I wish there were away to turn off the script_asserts safely, but they do exist for a reason.

@valapsp
Small but important clarification.
valapsp said:
5. Is this correct? You can install a custom ROM without changing the kernel but in order to have more customization you have to flash a different kernel than the stock one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Essentially 100% of custom ROMs install a kernel. (Actually, a kernel plus a ramdisk packaged together as a single ("bootable image") file, typically named "boot.img".) So your preexisting boot image containing the kernel is always overwritten during a ROM installation. See next answer.
valapsp said:
6. Is this the correct order? Unlocking bootloader>rooting>Flashing custom recovery>Flashing custom kernel>Flashing custom ROM>...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost, but not quite. If you want to use a different kernel than what ships with a given ROM, you flash it after you have installed the ROM, not beforehand. See prior answer.
One more thing. Since you are new to this stuff, I'll make a suggestion:
Learn how to create and restore full Nandroid backups (using the custom recovery) immediately. And get in the habit of copying them off your tablet to your PC. You will thank me later for this advice.
have fun

Rirere said:
Unfortunately, how many times does should matter? Theoretically, you should be able to do OTAs while rooted by downloading the ZIP and flashing in recovery, but if you've made changes to /system (uninstalling a system app, or adding a helper), you might get the stupid script_assert error. Of course, you could just push the whole /system back to your device...although that can be just as annoying.
I wish there were away to turn off the script_asserts safely, but they do exist for a reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Rirere...
This is my understanding as well... (sort of! - I've always been a bit hazy on this topic).
My take on it is this...
The OTA would only fail, if it found files in /system that SHOULD BE THERE, but have been removed, modified, or replaced by the user (or via some app run by the user).
Logically (one would think), the OTA can't check for files THAT SHOULDN'T BE THERE (How would it know what to look for?) but have been ADDED by the user... like the su binary that confers root.
So, an OTA on pure ROOTED (but in all other regards, unadulterated) stock you would expect to succeed... you'd just lose root (and from what I've read elsewhere, your Custom Recovery). Both of which are trivial to recover.
Is my understanding correct... or have I missed something?
Rgrds,
Ged.

GedBlake said:
Hi, Rirere...
This is my understanding as well... (sort of! - I've always been a bit hazy on this topic).
My take on it is this...
The OTA would only fail, if it found files in /system that SHOULD BE THERE, but have been removed, modified, or replaced by the user (or via some app run by the user).
Logically (one would think), the OTA can't check for files THAT SHOULDN'T BE THERE (How would it know what to look for?) but have been ADDED by the user... like the su binary that confers root.
So, an OTA on pure ROOTED (but in all other regards, unadulterated) stock you would expect to succeed... you'd just lose root (and from what I've read elsewhere, your Custom Recovery). Both of which are trivial to recover.
Is my understanding correct... or have I missed something?
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you are correct! Theoretically, the script could rather easily check for added files by checksumming the entire /system partition before running the update (using a fast hash algorithm-- you're only looking for the presence of any changes, afterall). And I did have one OTA that went fine, other than losing root back on my Galaxy Nexus.
Again though, it's a classic case of should versus real life. Some root methods might alter things in /system without your knowing, or root actions might alter permissions. Either way, it's a tricky, nasty little game.
So far as recoveries go: yeah, OTAs have a nasty habit of trying to do that. Some of the more advanced recoveries can resist being overwritten though/slipstream a root ZIP into the update process.

GedBlake said:
The OTA would only fail, if it found files in /system that SHOULD BE THERE, but have been removed, modified, or replaced by the user (or via some app run by the user).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typically the OTAs also update the boot image, so the boot partition (LNX) is also checked. The stock recoveries almost always use the same kernel (with a different ramdisk) as the boot image, so they are usually rewritten too.
Owners of tilapia N7 devices have reported successful flashing of everything but radio firmware images when they used a custom recovery to process the OTA bundle. Not a disaster, as their devices will still function with old radio firmware, but it puts them in an unusual position of being unable to use the OTA to subsequently update the radio, even if they restore the stock recovery (the system files and boot images will have been changed, so almost all of the checksums will fail). At that point, using fastboot is an alternate option, but then the newbs will need to read about OTA images, unpack them, yadda yadda yadda.
IMO it is just a dumb idea applying OTAs to anything but a pure stock device. And when I say pure stock, I mean including the stock recovery. The boot loader can be left unlocked, but that's about it.
There are a lot of ways to skin the cat, but IMO the best way to proceed is to operate with two parallel but independent tracks of Nandroid backups/restores: one track is a sequence of pure stock, and the other your customized ROM du jour.
Let's presume you have a Nandroid backup of the pure stock ROM. Make a backup of your current (customized) ROM & get it copied off the tablet (in the event of a disaster), restore the pure stock ROM nandroid backup, flash the stock recovery back to the tab, and then take the OTA.
At this point:
[ unlocked bootloader ] soft-boot (no flashing) a custom recovery using fastboot, and then make yet another Nandroid backup of the newly updated stock ROM including the recovery image. (This becomes the new baseline for future OTAs)
[ locked bootloader ] re-root with motochopper, capture the (new) stock recovery partition using 'dd', flash a custom recovery ('dd' or other method), make a Nandroid of this. (These two backups become the new baseline for future OTAs)
Then, repeat any rooting customizations (if you are a "lightly customized rooted stock" kinda person), and restore apps (Market apps only!) with TiBu.
This may seem like a great deal of work, but it is the only way to insure that you can revert to a prior starting position. Look: after going down a road like this you can even restore the old customized ROM backup to make TiBu app backups after the fact, simply because you can return to any point in time if you have made a backup (and kept a copy of it off the tablet).
Everybody makes mistakes - even the experts. But the lazier folks are (read: toolkit user) the more likely is a disaster. Everybody needs to make backups.

What will happen if I change some values in build.prop editor? I won't be able to install stock ROMs anymore? Or what?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

valapsp said:
What will happen if I change some values in build.prop editor? I won't be able to install stock ROMs anymore? Or what?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on how you mean "install", you can always install via .img or recovery flashing method, but course that will overwrite your build.prop with the provided version and you would just have to re-edit the values again.
Did you mean OTA wise? If the update doesn't check for the hash of the build.prop, it will likely just replace it with a newer version if anything has changed from the last version to the new version.
As others have said, worse case scenario, the OTA fails to proceed due to errors and you would just have to manually update it yourself, as you could just flash a new boot.img and system.img from google's site (just have to remember anything you added on top of system or custom kernels will of course be reverted, so they will need to be reapplied).
Settings and user apps and such all live in /data , so it should just simply boot up as an upgraded system but with everything else intact (course I always make a backup via my custom recovery just in case).

kbeezie said:
Depends on how you mean "install", you can always install via .img or recovery flashing method, but course that will overwrite your build.prop with the provided version and you would just have to re-edit the values again.
Did you mean OTA wise? If the update doesn't check for the hash of the build.prop, it will likely just replace it with a newer version if anything has changed from the last version to the new version.
As others have said, worse case scenario, the OTA fails to proceed due to errors and you would just have to manually update it yourself, as you could just flash a new boot.img and system.img from google's site (just have to remember anything you added on top of system or custom kernels will of course be reverted, so they will need to be reapplied).
Settings and user apps and such all live in /data , so it should just simply boot up as an upgraded system but with everything else intact (course I always make a backup via my custom recovery just in case).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, and does backing up thru cwm also back up the build.prop?

valapsp said:
Thanks, and does backing up thru cwm also back up the build.prop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. If you back up the whole system, CWM will package each partition up (/system /data , etc), so when you flash a new rom or system on, you can't just selectively restore build.prop since restoring in CWM Would also restore the entire system partition.
You can while in recovery, mount /system and do something like
adb pull /system/build.prop , and save a copy of it on your computer, so you can go back in and change the affected values back if for some reason you needed to.
If you're familiar with ghosting, nandroid backups (what CWM and most others do, minus some variations), are basically exact clones of all the files on each partition. Older recoveries actually took an image snapshot, newer ones basically pack all the files in a compressed archive (With some kind of note of what partition type it was, ext4, etc). The latter can easily be unpacked with tar, or 7zip, etc, but disk images are a different matter.
I can't remember which one CWM does exactly since on my DZ I use 4EXT, and on my Nexus devices I use TWRP.

kbeezie said:
Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. If you back up the whole system, CWM will package each partition up (/system /data , etc), so when you flash a new rom or system on, you can't just selectively restore build.prop since restoring in CWM Would also restore the entire system partition.
You can while in recovery, mount /system and do something like
adb pull /system/build.prop , and save a copy of it on your computer, so you can go back in and change the affected values back if for some reason you needed to.
If you're familiar with ghosting, nandroid backups (what CWM and most others do, minus some variations), are basically exact clones of all the files on each partition. Older recoveries actually took an image snapshot, newer ones basically pack all the files in a compressed archive (With some kind of note of what partition type it was, ext4, etc). The latter can easily be unpacked with tar, or 7zip, etc, but disk images are a different matter.
I can't remember which one CWM does exactly since on my DZ I use 4EXT, and on my Nexus devices I use TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, an easier way is to copy the build.prop thru a file manager.
But since I'm on my geek mood today I wanna know if it's possible to extract the backed up (Nandroid) file and find the build.prop somewhere there.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

valapsp said:
Thanks, an easier way is to copy the build.prop thru a file manager.
But since I'm on my geek mood today I wanna know if it's possible to extract the backed up (Nandroid) file and find the build.prop somewhere there.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's a backup done with 4EXT or TWRP most certainly since it's just a tarball package (or tar+gzipped if you enabled compression) and can be easily unpacked by tar, or any popular archive utility like 7Zip for windows. (restoration generally just looks at the file info to see what partition type it's supposed to be, formats the partition as such, and then just un-tars the content, with the permissions and such retained).
If it's older where it's an actual jaffs (may have spelled that wrong) disk image, I'm not sure off the top of my head how you would mount it as a disk , and then mount the ext4 or ext3 partition in order to get to it. I would assume ClockworkMod would have upgraded their backup method to the same as TWRP or 4EXT, but it's possible that they didn't for compatibility reasons.

[Q] question before changing firmware on E610

Hello, i would like to clarify a few things before i start changing the firmware on an LG L5 E610, so that i don't break it.
I have tried to flash the pre-rooted v20d image from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2405357 , and can verify that this works
I would like to use that rom to go to cyanogenmod 10.1, are the roms from http://get.cm/?device=e610 ok? (should i use the latest?) which version of gapps should i use?
If there is a problem, will KDZ Updater always be able to recover the device, even after cyanogenmod is flashed?
I've seen a few threads, where it says that the only way to revive the phone is to flash v10d_downgrade.kdz - is this for older phones? Can i flash the pre-rooted v20d image instead of this?
How many times can the phone be flashed?
Anything else to worry about?
Sorry for the dumb questions, but this is my first smartphone, and i would'nt like to break it so soon

cmpl said:
I have tried to flash the pre-rooted v20d image from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2405357 , and can verify that this works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you flashed it or no? I think its better a pre-root and cwm already installed kdz.
I would like to use that rom to go to cyanogenmod 10.1, are the roms from http://get.cm/?device=e610 ok? (should i use the latest?) which version of gapps should i use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not cyanogenmod 10.1, its cyanogenmod 10 (Android 4.1.2)
And gapps are from 2012-10-11 date (on the net you can find a variety of gapps for cm10, but the normal are lik "gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip")
If there is a problem, will KDZ Updater always be able to recover the device, even after cyanogenmod is flashed?
I've seen a few threads, where it says that the only way to revive the phone is to flash v10d_downgrade.kdz - is this for older phones? Can i flash the pre-rooted v20d image instead of this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you NEVER touch phone partitions (i mean, re-partition, format is allowed, but not add/remove/modify partitions), you can flash a KDZ no matter what ROM you have (stock, cyanogenmod, paranoid android, etc)
Before a ROM is installed, its recommended to format/wipe (depends on rom) system, cache and dalvik, & data and data/media partitions (is secure... as long as you flash a rom immediately after) via CWM (even if you want to flash a stock KDZ)
If you CAN'T access to CWM and the ROM is corrupted, you have to use v10d_downgrade because internally wipes all i said before, and install russian v10d. Then you can start again
I dunno if the pre-rooted kdz will have the same effect than v10d_downgrade.
How many times can the phone be flashed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if there is a limit. But i've already flashed A LOT of times (15+)
Anything else to worry about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do always a backup, store ALL of your info in the external sd card, have always a kdz and a computer ready to flash
To enter CWM you have to hold down vol -/+ (depends on lastest KDZ flashed, can be both, can be one of them, try) and power and home button UNTIL the phone vibrates. Some people complains because the let go the buttons before and nothing happend.
Sorry for the dumb questions, but this is my first smartphone, and i would'nt like to break it so soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why these forums are
It's my first android smartphone too, i had this questions over time and now I'm ussing PecanCM cm10.2 and i love it

thank you very much for the reply. now that i know the kdz updater will get me out of trouble, i installed cm-10.2-20130928-UNOFFICIAL-e610.zip and it works great so far
btw i've found information that cyanogen 10 (which is 4.1.2) needs v10 baseband firmware (which is 4.0.3) and not v20 (which is 4.1.2). do you know why? are the cm kernels based on compleately different (much older) sources?

[NANDROID] Motorola Marshmallow Soak test v5 - Dec 13 - makes other phones jelleh!!

This is considered a beta rom. Things may break, things may change, and your phone may brick or turn into a portable toaster. I'm not responsible.
You are flashing this at your own risk!!!
This is a nandroid backed up from a US 2gb/16gb xt1540. It may or may not work on all models...that is to be determined.
Confirmed compatible variants:
XT1540 (US 1/8GB and 2/16GB) (Canada)
XT1541 (UK) (France)
(if your variant is not here it only means it's either not tested or not reported working. please test and report back!)
If you are unable to boot or obtain any signals after flashing this, it is highly recommended you flash a full factory image intended for your specific model and wait for another solution.
This is only meant to be a temporary fix while we wait for the big guys to build us a standard rom.
PLEASE READ THE GUIDE BELOW!!! Some things have changed with v3
How to install:
Extract the .tar.gz archive like any zip
copy the folder to the directory where your other TWRP nandroids are on your internal storage or sd card (TWRP/BACKUPS/ZZY222____/) in here you will see folders with dates, times, rom names and info, etc in the folder names...copy the folder you extracted to this directory.
boot to TWRP
restore this backup
if coming from anything but a previous soak test, wipe userdata
wipe cache and dalvik cache
flash systemless root zip SuperSU v2.61 (optional) DO NOT flash any lower SuperSU version!!
reboot (Please be patient...it's a VERY long wait. If you pass 10 minutes waiting and it hasn't booted, force a reboot by holding the power button)
profit!
***It is HIGHLY recommended US xt1540 users update their radio. It is not required to run this soak test, though. THIS IS ONLY FOR US USERS!!!!! DO NOT FLASH THIS IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE UNITED STATES!!!!***
See this post for the updated soak test modem.img files (just flash to the modem partition with fastboot and reboot the device)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/201...-devs-moto-g3-xt1540-soak-test-files-t3255643
For anyone who is not in the contiguous USA (48 states) but still has xt1540 and would like to test the modem above, you can use the app linked below to back up your modem partition directly from your device before you try the new modem. This way you don't have to download a factory rom to get the right modem.img if you don't already have one backed up on your computer. You have to be rooted to use it.
Wanam Backup & Restore app (free)
How to root:
Please see this thread for the download:
http://www.xda-developers.com/update-to-snapprefs-xposed-module-includes-17-instagram-like-filters
The newest root method provided by chainfire does not touch the system partition. To the end-user, the only change is that when you flash a new kernel you must re-flash superSU....not your rom!!! What this means to us in this case is we can use the stock kernel provided with the soak test, flash the superSU zip, and have root, just like a Nexus device without having to wait for a permissive kernel!
*****After flashing the new systemless root zip you will be prompted to install superSU before the device reboots. DO NOT ALLOW IT TO INSTALL!!!!!! If you allow it to install with this option you will get a bootloop*****
**To view your device storage from your computer, open your notification shade, click the "USB for _____" notification, and select "transfer files (MTP)". It won't stick through a reboot, so you'll have to do this each time you boot.....the same thing goes if you unplug the cable.
Download:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByE999IDa0JnaEpnX0FCRjNxX28

Gonna try it on my xt1540. Just one question about the procedure. I just restore backup directly? Without wiping anything? Or should i wipe system at least?

feligoni said:
Gonna try it on my xt1540. Just one question about the procedure. I just restore backup directly? Without wiping anything? Or should i wipe system at least?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP wipes for you automatically in the restore process. You don't have to wipe system manually. Just restore wipe userdata and reboot!

hp420 said:
TWRP wipes for you automatically in the restore process. You don't have to wipe manually. Just restore and reboot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awsome. Im downloading the file right now, gonna report back when i try it

feligoni said:
Awsome. Im downloading the file right now, gonna report back when i try it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm reuploading a new nandroid...please wait to install the new version

hp420 said:
I'm reuploading a new nandroid...please wait to install the new version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, ok. I was about to restore te backup, but i'll wait.

I'm very sorry for any inconvenience guys. I know it was a very large download. This next one is about half the size.

hp420 said:
I'm very sorry for any inconvenience guys. I know it was a very large download. This next one is about half the size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont worry, i've got pretty good download speed at work hehe

All done! new link in the OP guys...go nuts

610mb??

Sarath280 said:
610mb??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's system and boot only, and compressed.
it's all there, trust me

hp420 said:
All done! new link in the OP guys...go nuts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Things look good, right now it's in the eternal process of optimizing apps Just wondering, by upgrading like this, i will get updates via ota? or only if u keep updating it?

feligoni said:
Things look good, right now it's in the eternal process of optimizing apps Just wondering, by upgrading like this, i will get updates via ota? or only if u keep updating it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We will only get an update if our friend who is an official tester shares it with us.

Okay, it worked. I booted up perfectly, but as i needed my phone completely stable for today i reverted back to LP. But it worked well I think ill wait for a stable version though, it kind of lagged compared to LP.

feligoni said:
Okay, it worked. I booted up perfectly, but as i needed my phone completely stable for today i reverted back to LP. But it worked well I think ill wait for a stable version though, it kind of lagged compared to LP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad it worked!! Thanks for reporting back

it booted on xt1550 ril not working

Sarath280 said:
it booted on xt1550 ril not working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried manually entering your carrier's APN information?

I'm having issues extracting the System folder from the backup.
Any ideas? Trying to cook up a flashable ROM for easier testing.

l3ones said:
I'm having issues extracting the System folder from the backup.
Any ideas? Trying to cook up a flashable ROM for easier testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can extract with any of the popular file managers for android right on your phone if you'd like. It may take a little longer, but it will work.

hp420 said:
you can extract with any of the popular file managers for android right on your phone if you'd like. It may take a little longer, but it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently it was just an issue with 7-zip, WinRAR handled it perfectly.
This is my first time making a flashable ROM but it should be up later today.

Question regarding flashing Cataclysm mod on Feb update when it's out

Hey all... Just a simple question... I have the Cataclysm mod .zip from jan5 measuring around 35mb.... Would like to know if I flash the same over the Feb update when the same comes out... Would the same work and I'll get all the features on that or not.....
Would be trying nonetheless but wanted to know....

likely no.

I had the same question... if no is no - great... just want to rephrase it...
My understanding of the Cata MOD - is that it installs on top of stock. If that is the case, when the FEB security update is released why not install it as originally planned for the Cataclysm updates? (where the vendor.img was NOT included)...
In theory this may work? IF not - why?

Ok - I'm going to grab the February release and take the approach of only flashing the CATA MOD file ontop of the system/vendor images... I'll report back here if it works... as stated I believe in theory it should work just fine.
Would be a great way to continue to enjoy CATACLYSM ROM... best ROM out there...

luigidk said:
Ok - I'm going to grab the February release and take the approach of only flashing the CATA MOD file ontop of the system/vendor images... I'll report back here if it works... as stated I believe in theory it should work just fine.
Would be a great way to continue to enjoy CATACLYSM ROM... best ROM out there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please make sure to report back, I'm curious about this too. I'm fairly sure it isn't the best idea, though

redsmith said:
Please make sure to report back, I'm curious about this too. I'm fairly sure it isn't the best idea, though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll do a nandroid backup first.
Then - will flash the new system.img, the CATA MOD, then the new Vendor.img... based on my previous notes on how to install just the MOD file - this SHOULD work. I suppose one gotcha may be if the kernel needs to change - in that case I'd just immediatly flash a custom kernel over the stock cata kernel that comes with the MOD flash. I use GOD's Kernel - http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/orig-development/kernel-t3276585
I note that the boot image and radio images have not changed in this release - so we're talking pretty straightforward testing here!
My understanding was that Atl4ntis developed the MOD file just for this reason - and also decoupled the CATA MOD work from the main stock rom. The end result was a unique ROM whereas it truly 'sat on top' of stock...
This is one reason I liked the rom so much - it was for all purposes a stock ROM - with the bells and whistles that CATA had - sitting on top as extras... at least that is how I looked at it.
IF this doesn't work - I'm likely just going to go back to stock ROM anyway as I don't trust anyother ROM's stability - based on past experience - CATA is the ONLY ROM that was stock-stable.
Still frustrated that people on this site killed Cataclysm for us.... Whatever political crap that was going on was BS - here was a GREAT developer who just plain delivered and delivered and delivered... and made things better for many of us. To be slammed in any way or manner is beyond petty.

luigidk said:
I'll do a nandroid backup first.
Then - will flash the new system.img, the CATA MOD, then the new Vendor.img... based on my previous notes on how to install just the MOD file - this SHOULD work. I suppose one gotcha may be if the kernel needs to change - in that case I'd just immediatly flash a custom kernel over the stock cata kernel that comes with the MOD flash. I use GOD's Kernel - http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/orig-development/kernel-t3276585
I note that the boot image and radio images have not changed in this release - so we're talking pretty straightforward testing here!
My understanding was that Atl4ntis developed the MOD file just for this reason - and also decoupled the CATA MOD work from the main stock rom. The end result was a unique ROM whereas it truly 'sat on top' of stock...
This is one reason I liked the rom so much - it was for all purposes a stock ROM - with the bells and whistles that CATA had - sitting on top as extras... at least that is how I looked at it.
IF this doesn't work - I'm likely just going to go back to stock ROM anyway as I don't trust anyother ROM's stability - based on past experience - CATA is the ONLY ROM that was stock-stable.
Still frustrated that people on this site killed Cataclysm for us.... Whatever political crap that was going on was BS - here was a GREAT developer who just plain delivered and delivered and delivered... and made things better for many of us. To be slammed in any way or manner is beyond petty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
didnt work... started from scratch and flashed the stock system image with having the userdata formatted as wel... then proceeded to flash the cata mod (JAN5) update almost around 35mb.... also had checked previously that it had it's own boot.img so after flashing cataMOD.. went to bootloader and flashed the stock boot.img...
came up and got stuck at android bootlogo.... waited 15mins and went to stock again.... but there is some light at the end of the tunnel... i was using slimROM devloper's @Yank555 rom(YAOSP) is freaking awesome and the most stable.... also has my beloved feature "SLIMDIM" which dim's the nagiation bar...
here is the link:-
https://twitter.com/yank555lu >>> for following development...
and the Android-fileHost link:-
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=45668

rohit25 said:
didnt work... started from scratch and flashed the stock system image with having the userdata formatted as wel... then proceeded to flash the cata mod (JAN5) update almost around 35mb.... also had checked previously that it had it's own boot.img so after flashing cataMOD.. went to bootloader and flashed the stock boot.img...
came up and got stuck at android bootlogo.... waited 15mins and went to stock again.... but there is some light at the end of the tunnel... i was using slimROM devloper's @Yank555 rom(YAOSP) is freaking awesome and the most stable.... also has my beloved feature "SLIMDIM" which dim's the nagiation bar...
here is the link:-
https://twitter.com/yank555lu >>> for following development...
and the Android-fileHost link:-
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=45668
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you also flash the vendor.img after flashing the CATAMOD?

luigidk said:
Did you also flash the vendor.img after flashing the CATAMOD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope

Hi, worked for me.
I manually flashed the latest factory images. (bootloader, radio, recovery, boot, system, cache, vendor, userdata)
Then I flashed twrp.
Booted into twrp and installed latest Cat-Mod, SuperSU 2.52, franco-r9.
Rebooted into bootloader and flashed vendor again and formatted userdata.
Hope this helps,
Pat

myuzi said:
Hi, worked for me.
I manually flashed the latest factory images. (bootloader, radio, recovery, boot, system, cache, vendor, userdata)
Then I flashed twrp.
Booted into twrp and installed latest Cat-Mod, SuperSU 2.52, franco-r9.
Rebooted into bootloader and flashed vendor again and formatted userdata.
Hope this helps,
Pat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can confirm that everything works... i guess flashing the vendor did the trick...

myuzi said:
Hi, worked for me.
I manually flashed the latest factory images. (bootloader, radio, recovery, boot, system, cache, vendor, userdata)
Then I flashed twrp.
Booted into twrp and installed latest Cat-Mod, SuperSU 2.52, franco-r9.
Rebooted into bootloader and flashed vendor again and formatted userdata.
Hope this helps,
Pat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news!
- with the bootloader being the same, as well as the radio - is there a need to flash anything other than system.img, CATA MOD, and vendor.img.
- also - why did you manually flash, rather than flash the images with TWRP? (note, when flashing images with TWRP I see an option to install to either boot or recovery - and I'm still trying to determine which to use... in the meantime I'm installing the drivers on my PC so I can manually flash also.
- for manually flashing - can you flash in order: system.img, catamod, vendor.img? without rebooting between steps? (I figure I can flash a kernel later in TWRP)

myuzi said:
Hi, worked for me.
I manually flashed the latest factory images. (bootloader, radio, recovery, boot, system, cache, vendor, userdata)
Then I flashed twrp.
Booted into twrp and installed latest Cat-Mod, SuperSU 2.52, franco-r9.
Rebooted into bootloader and flashed vendor again and formatted userdata.
Hope this helps,
Pat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a question though.. i somehow have decrypted my phone... is any adversity of the same.. should i encrypt it back again.. and if yes.. how...

luigidk said:
Great news!
- with the bootloader being the same, as well as the radio - is there a need to flash anything other than system.img, CATA MOD, and vendor.img.
- also - why did you manually flash, rather than flash the images with TWRP? (note, when flashing images with TWRP I see an option to install to either boot or recovery - and I'm still trying to determine which to use... in the meantime I'm installing the drivers on my PC so I can manually flash also.
- for manually flashing - can you flash in order: system.img, catamod, vendor.img? without rebooting between steps? (I figure I can flash a kernel later in TWRP)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey.. the catamod would be flashed from twrp.. would suggest taking the steps that work.. should be simpler..

rohit25 said:
hey.. the catamod would be flashed from twrp.. would suggest taking the steps that work.. should be simpler..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed - and more consistent - don't have to check whether all images need flashing!
Did you flash CATAMOD last - or before Vendor (I can't remember if it matters!)

luigidk said:
agreed - and more consistent - don't have to check whether all images need flashing!
Did you flash CATAMOD last - or before Vendor (I can't remember if it matters!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
catmod first.. i had the jan6 variant so that had the vendor in it... then had to boot to bootloader and then flash vendor again.....

rohit25 said:
a question though.. i somehow have decrypted my phone... is any adversity of the same.. should i encrypt it back again.. and if yes.. how...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I always format userdata before booting into android, so the phone will be decrypted. The choice is yours if you want to encrypt or not. There really isn't much benefit to decrypt on the 6P since it's plenty fast as is. I'm just a creature of habit.

I've successfully upgraded to MMB29Q - and have stayed on CATACLYSM ROM - using the last CATA MOD.
For me this is a big deal as it is the first time I've done a manual update using fastboot commands. but thanks to everyone in XDA - went very well (Note: I've always used some type of toolkit in the past, or everything was already baked into a FULL ROM install...)
Also - first time I'm going 100% no root - so I can keep running AP
I flashed these images from the MMB29Q image - in order:
- bootloader.img
- radio.img
- boot.img
- system.img
- booted into recovery:
- used TWRP to flash CATA MOD
- booted back to bootloader:
- flashed vendor.img
- used TWRP to flash a permissive kernel (God's Kernel)
- used TWRP to copy/chmod the latest HOSTS file from ADAWAY (no longer using Adaway directly as I'm not running root)
- used TWRP to flash latest V4A install (atmos/sony version)
- used TWRP to flash sony music player install
- rebooted
everything is 100% - no root - AP working and CATA enhancements in place

luigidk said:
I've successfully upgraded to MMB29Q - and have stayed on CATACLYSM ROM - using the last CATA MOD.
For me this is a big deal as it is the first time I've done a manual update using fastboot commands. but thanks to everyone in XDA - went very well (Note: I've always used some type of toolkit in the past, or everything was already baked into a FULL ROM install...)
Also - first time I'm going 100% no root - so I can keep running AP
I flashed these images from the MMB29Q image - in order:
- bootloader.img
- radio.img
- boot.img
- system.img
- booted into recovery:
- used TWRP to flash CATA MOD
- booted back to bootloader:
- flashed vendor.img
- used TWRP to flash a permissive kernel (God's Kernel)
- used TWRP to copy/chmod the latest HOSTS file from ADAWAY (no longer using Adaway directly as I'm not running root)
- used TWRP to flash latest V4A install (atmos/sony version)
- used TWRP to flash sony music player install
- rebooted
everything is 100% - no root - AP working and CATA enhancements in place
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
looks good... and not using toolkits is big WIN... manual is much better..

WAS-LX2 stock image needed

I tried to install custom roms but I ended up bricking(?) my phone
*not exactly, some roms boot but it'll reboot itself
I've tried finding stock roms but it's either an UPDATE.app that my phone won't update into or the image is of another model like WAS LX1 or WAS L01 (and flashing other models result in a bootloop)
Hope someone can help out

CheesyBen said:
I tried to install custom roms but I ended up bricking(?) my phone
*not exactly, some roms boot but it'll reboot itself
I've tried finding stock roms but it's either an UPDATE.app that my phone won't update into or the image is of another model like WAS LX1 or WAS L01 (and flashing other models result in a bootloop)
Hope someone can help out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you still have a backup, you can try to restore it and then there is firmwarefinder, so reboot to bootloader and from the PC execute "fastboot oem get-build-number". You need your exact build number, I guess. Maybe the last 3 numbers don't matter, not sure.
My build number is WAS-LX2JC719B210. (If you have custom rom installed and try to get the build-number, then you will get the build-number of the custom rom).
https://forum.xda-developers.com/tools/general/huawei-firmware-finder-team-mt-t3469146
Not sure how to do this though.... Always fails at 5%...

hakaishi said:
If you still have a backup, you can try to restore it and then there is firmwarefinder, so reboot to bootloader and from the PC execute "fastboot oem get-build-number". You need your exact build number, I guess. Maybe the last 3 numbers don't matter, not sure.
My build number is WAS-LX2JC719B210. (If you have custom rom installed and try to get the build-number, then you will get the build-number of the custom rom).
https://forum.xda-developers.com/tools/general/huawei-firmware-finder-team-mt-t3469146
Not sure how to do this though.... Always fails at 5%...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try

Same issue
I have the same problem hey but I didn't make a back up before flashing. Any ideas on how I can move forward?

hakaishi said:
If you still have a backup, you can try to restore it and then there is firmwarefinder, so reboot to bootloader and from the PC execute "fastboot oem get-build-number". You need your exact build number, I guess. Maybe the last 3 numbers don't matter, not sure.
My build number is WAS-LX2JC719B210. (If you have custom rom installed and try to get the build-number, then you will get the build-number of the custom rom).
https://forum.xda-developers.com/tools/general/huawei-firmware-finder-team-mt-t3469146
Not sure how to do this though.... Always fails at 5%...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have another rom installed, so it just says "lineage-os blah blah blah" (a not working rom)

CheesyBen said:
I have another rom installed, so it just says "lineage-os blah blah blah" (a not working rom)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forget about having a stock rom
I'll try to make a new post about Element V2 and my problem right now
close thank <3

CheesyBen said:
Forget about having a stock rom
I'll try to make a new post about Element V2 and my problem right now
close thank <3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also just came to know that you need the original recovery partition to use the update.app method (for reinstalling stock). Well, at least for WAS-LX2J... I tried to install the recovery extracted from update.app, but still didn't succeed...
As I still have an backup (except recovery and data partitions), I was still able to get back to my stock rom.
I would prefer any other custom rom though...
Any way, good luck to you! :fingers-crossed:

hakaishi said:
I also just came to know that you need the original recovery partition to use the update.app method (for reinstalling stock). Well, at least for WAS-LX2J... I tried to install the recovery extracted from update.app, but still didn't succeed...
As I still have an backup (except recovery and data partitions), I was still able to get back to my stock rom.
I would prefer any other custom rom though...
Any way, good luck to you! :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Elemental V3 has just updated to support LX2

CheesyBen said:
Elemental V3 has just updated to support LX2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thanks for the info.
Is there any way to backup the data partition? - If not, then I would have to setup the whole system for stock again, in case that anything goes wrong...
I tried manual backup of the userdata partition using dd, but somehow the "data partition" was corrupted afterwards, showing a size of 0 and format of ext4 (didn't touch that though)...

hakaishi said:
Wow, thanks for the info.
Is there any way to backup the data partition? - If not, then I would have to setup the whole system for stock again, in case that anything goes wrong...
I tried manual backup of the userdata partition using dd, but somehow the "data partition" was corrupted afterwards, showing a size of 0 and format of ext4 (didn't touch that though)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure tho
I only know the basics