Database Users

Checkrom v7

I've always been happy with Checkrom. My previous ROM only lasted 4 hours, so when I saw V7 coming out I immediately flashed it.
After I succesfully flashed it I found out that the kitchenpro app didn't work and later I read that development was stopped. Not even swype which was part of the original samsung.
I now want to flash another ROM, but am afraid to follow the wrong procedure and brick it. It seems I can't even do a factory reset without the risk of bricking it.
I will never flash a checkrom product again.
Can I go into recovery and just flash wanamlite? Does it even work, as it's the standard recovery and not the full CWM?
No (extra) risk of bricking it?
I would appreciate a straightforward answer...

Another checkrom thread..
Sent from My Samsung Galaxy S2 running Paranoidandroid Rom.What else if not?=P

No, a direct question for answer I can't find anywhere.
I've always been helpful in fora on subjects I knew much about. Please, please refrain from answering if you don't know the answer or don't want to give it.

Look at the forum on www.checkrom.com. The instructions of flashing a kernel through Odin and a new rom are written in the V7-section.
Good luck
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

Simply flash a safe kernel i.e. siyah kernel, reboot in to recovery and flash a rom(might want to do a full wipe beforehand) or restore a backup.
Good luck, this worked out for me.

frater said:
I've always been happy with Checkrom. My previous ROM only lasted 4 hours, so when I saw V7 coming out I immediately flashed it.
After I succesfully flashed it I found out that the kitchenpro app didn't work and later I read that development was stopped. Not even swype which was part of the original samsung.
I now want to flash another ROM, but am afraid to follow the wrong procedure and brick it. It seems I can't even do a factory reset without the risk of bricking it.
I will never flash a checkrom product again.
Can I go into recovery and just flash wanamlite? Does it even work, as it's the standard recovery and not the full CWM?
No (extra) risk of bricking it?
I would appreciate a straightforward answer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, wise decision...
With respect to getting out of this, you want to flash a 4.0.3 based ROM. Don't go for a 4.0.4 based one quite yet, regardless of recovery type, if you're after a quick and safe fix.
You want to flash Siyah Kernel first, and then flash the ROM from there.
Siyah Kernel can be flashed via ODIN (flash the TAR as a PDA file).
Then go about your procedure to flash as usual. As above I'll re-iterate, don't flash a 4.0.4 based ROM yet (LQ5 or LQM I believe), as these are not always 100% safe in all scenarios.
You're much better to stick away from these for now.
Again, I have no idea why "developers" are going about releasing ROMs which are based on these kernels, without clear and noticeable warnings about what people are getting into...
Oh well... Hope it goes well, just follow this and you'll be fine.

Use Odin to flash siyah,
then use siyah's recovery to install new rom

zzkonzz said:
Use Odin to flash siyah,
then use siyah's recovery to install new rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what Pulser has already said. Why repeat it again?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks all....
Now not on checkrom anymore...

It should be noted that Leo, the main dude, says on Checkrom.com:
"No more ROM development for SGS2.
On that note i am closing the thread."
...and slammed the thread closed here on XDA too!

The last time I used Odin was when I bought my SG2. Since then I flashed all my different ROMs with CWM.
Although I'm glad I'm not using checkrom anymore and never will because of the way they stopped their development I do have to admit it had more than decent battery life (their 4.04 version).
I‘m currently on wanamlite and after 2 hours I'm already on 60% :-(
I used to have cyanogenmod 7 on my HTC HD2?
It might be an idea to try 9 or 10

Check out ParanoidAndroid. I'm getting about 30 hours off of the battery.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

Very bad form closing the threads when quite a number of people had flashed the new checkrom with the promise of a fix. They could have at least fixed the kernal issue rather than just abandoning it. Very disappointed. Going to try to flash the kernal via ODIN if I can remember even how!

Custom ROM/recovery/... vs Stock

Hey there, I have been flashing my HTC Desire HD for a long time with different ROMs. I found it kinda annoying to always check certain websites for new updates, manually download and flash them just to find out that half of the stuff was buggy.
Now I got the Nexus 4. I loved the idea of having fast OTA updates. But now I want to flash a new kernel.. which means I got to install a custom recovery. But then OTA will not work anymore.
So I wonder:
Should I stay with
CWM + Stock ROM + Custom Kernel (no OTA update but no problem with buggy custom ROMs)
CWM + Custom ROM + Custom Kernel
Everything stock
Cyanogenmod is nice but for me it doesn't have any big advantages over stock 4.2 ? So I really wonder what you guys would recommend? What are your reasons to do a "certain setup" ?
Thanks

You don't need a custom recovery to flash a kernel.
It can be flashed with fastboot leaving everything else stock.
You still wouldn't be able to install the OTA without flashing the stock kernel again though.

Oh crap.. so as soon as I change ANYTHING... no OTA updates anymore
Hmm... I guess I will stay with custom kernel + flashing stock ROM then :/ Is there any way to automatically check for updates tho?
Thanks

zakazak said:
Oh crap.. so as soon as I change ANYTHING... no OTA updates anymore
Hmm... I guess I will stay with custom kernel + flashing stock ROM then :/ Is there any way to automatically check for updates tho?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah you will get the notification and it will try to install but it will fail and reboot if you aren't 100% stock.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Go with TWRP instead of cwm
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

calanizzle said:
Go with TWRP instead of cwm
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, TWRP is great :highfive:

TWRP is the way to go!

But then I have another problem (well I already have it but..):
I would like to use ROMmanager.. after all it might be able to check for rom updates & flash them "automatically" (stock + custom?). I am not sure if it could also check for kernel updates?
Anyway, it seems to work only with CWM ? Altough it doesn't seem the already installed CWM on my Nexus 4 :S

Anyone?

I would never use ROM manager. Not a good program. Use a custom recovery, and if you want lots of customisation then I would recommend AOKP Rom as it is just as fast and stable as the stock ROM but with a whole host of customisation options.
Beauty of this phone is that you can go back to complete bone stock with no issues, I did, but missed all the customisation and put AOKP back on lol.

alright I uninstalled it. I just hoped for some "app" which could look for all kind of "custom" updates and install them automatically (kernerl,rom,...)

If you're interested in CM, I think delta CM will allow you download only the changes made to the project.
Also, why do people say to use TWRP instead of the more tried and true CWM? It seems to have a lot of sex appeal to some recently, and there doesn't seem to be a clear cut answer. Is there added functionality?

[Q] Nexus 4 Custom Kernel Help

Hi, I am a recent iPhone convert thanks to the Nexus 4. So obviously I am new to rooting, custom ROMS, and custom kernels. I am currently rooted and am running a recent CM 10.1 nightly. However, battery life isn't all that great.
A friend of mine told me that a custom kernel can drastically improve battery life without hurting performance. So here I am hoping that someone can help me. Can anyone recommend a good kernel that will improve battery life without hurting speed?
Also, what are the steps for installing a custom kernel? What about going back to stock in case I have to send my phone in for an RMA or something like that? Is that easy to do?
Thanks in advance for the help!

Try Franco or Harsh or trinity .
Custom kernels are more about under clocking a few things here and there to get best balance between performance and battery life thats and some tweaks which are generally inbuilt .
But tbh not all phone's are same what works for me and few others might not fetch u the same results, i've experienced this over my previous nexus device .
Some combo of ROM/kernel might work for u and not so well for other's i would say try out all the main stream kernels and some more if your'e feeling epxerimental give each kernel 2 to 5 days and see which u like the best.
Personally i've had good results with harsh kernel and franco and trinity .

berz said:
Try Franco or Harsh or trinity .
Custom kernels are more about under clocking a few things here and there to get best balance between performance and battery life thats and some tweaks which are generally inbuilt .
But tbh not all phone's are same what works for me and few others might not fetch u the same results, i've experienced this over my previous nexus device .
Some combo of ROM/kernel might work for u and not so well for other's i would say try out all the main stream kernels and some more if your'e feeling epxerimental give each kernel 2 to 5 days and see which u like the best.
Personally i've had good results with harsh kernel and franco and trinity .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have one that you would suggest for a first time newbie? Also, what is the process for installing it and potentially uninstalling it back to stock?

Everything is easy to do. AS LONG AS YOU READ FIRST before doing anything You can start by reading the guides found here in the Nexus 4 General thread.
So far, the best for both performance and battery for me is Trinity kernel.
By the way, to install a custom kernel:
1. Install proper drivers for nexus 4 in your pc.
2. Unlock your bootloader.
3. Install custom recovery like CWM or TWRP Recovery
4. Start flashing your choice of kernels!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

wtfshouldidonow said:
Everything is easy to do. AS LONG AS YOU READ FIRST before doing anything You can start by reading the guides found here in the Nexus 4 General thread.
So far, the best for both performance and battery for me is Trinity kernel.
By the way, to install a custom kernel:
1. Install proper drivers for nexus 4 in your pc.
2. Unlock your bootloader.
3. Install custom recovery like CWM or TWRP Recovery
4. Start flashing your choice of kernels!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice! I am currently using CWM and have an unlocked boot loader. Is it as simple as downloading a zip, going into recovery, and installing the zip from "sd card"? If so, where can I find the zip for trinity? And how can I go back to stock in case something goes wrong?

There are post on xda and you could Google it. Just download it on your nexus and flash it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

strausd said:
Thanks for the advice! I am currently using CWM and have an unlocked boot loader. Is it as simple as downloading a zip, going into recovery, and installing the zip from "sd card"? If so, where can I find the zip for trinity? And how can I go back to stock in case something goes wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to be always safe and sure, then BEFORE flashing anything, go to CWM, choose backup and restore, then choose backup. That is called a nandroid backup. It might take a long time depending on how much apps you have. After the nandroid backup takes place, then you're free to flash the zip for trinity that you've downloaded.
I also suggest that you do backups often and delete old ones (you can delete old backups in the "backups and restore" part of CWM). So that incase anything goes wrong when you flash something, just go back to recovery mode, then restore your latest backup and you can undo your wrongs
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

wtfshouldidonow said:
If you want to be always safe and sure, then BEFORE flashing anything, go to CWM, choose backup and restore, then choose backup. That is called a nandroid backup. It might take a long time depending on how much apps you have. After the nandroid backup takes place, then you're free to flash the zip for trinity that you've downloaded.
I also suggest that you do backups often and delete old ones (you can delete old backups in the "backups and restore" part of CWM). So that incase anything goes wrong when you flash something, just go back to recovery mode, then restore your latest backup and you can undo your wrongs
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So nandroid backups also backup the kernel?

strausd said:
So nandroid backups also backup the kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bump. i also need to know the answer to this question.
EDIT: nvm found my answer, it backups the kernel too.
admins can delete this

imeem said:
bump. i also need to know the answer to this question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nandroid backs up everything. it basically takes a snapshot of the state your device is in when you back it up, then restored your phone to exactly how it was before the backup.

Coming from HTC One S (and a whole lot of HTC family before that) and not having to deal with S-Off dilemma is a whole new free world for me (you can say i am institutionalized).
If I want to flash a rom and not the kernel included in it, can I just remove the boot.img file from the rom's zip and flash it? Or is that not a good idea?

justthefacts said:
Coming from HTC One S (and a whole lot of HTC family before that) and not having to deal with S-Off dilemma is a whole new free world for me (you can say i am institutionalized).
If I want to flash a rom and not the kernel included in it, can I just remove the boot.img file from the rom's zip and flash it? Or is that not a good idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no. you need to flash the whole zip. without a kernel, your device is an expensive brick. the kernel control pretty much everything and connects the hardware to the software. you can always flash another kernel after flashing the rom zip.

simms22 said:
no. you need to flash the whole zip. without a kernel, your device is an expensive brick. the kernel control pretty much everything and connects the hardware to the software. you can always flash another kernel after flashing the rom zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
Are all kernels pretty much compatible with all roms?

justthefacts said:
Thanks for the reply.
Are all kernels pretty much compatible with all roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all nexus 4 kernels are compatible with all nexus 4 roms. if you flash a non nexus 4 kernel onto your nexus, you will most likely brick it.

Sounds great. This will be my first Nexus experience. Love this forum already. A very mature crowd.

Nervous about flashing recovery

Anyone else a tad nervous about flashing a recovery.
I really want titanium backup.
But
My main problem is I want to have a play with different sound mods, but the device is sooo new im scared about voiding the warranty.
Any thoughts
???
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

You'll be able to go back to stock and reset the flash counter with triangle away should you need to send your phone back for service. That is, unless you do something very wrong so just make sure you read and understand everything before flashing.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

fstorm said:
You'll be able to go back to stock and reset the flash counter with triangle away should you need to send your phone back for service. That is, unless you do something very wrong so just make sure you read and understand everything before flashing.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Duuuuudddddeeeee
Your a legend
All I have wondered this whole time
Custom recovery here I come. Any suggestions
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

jcurran.jc said:
Duuuuudddddeeeee
Your a legend
All I have wondered this whole time
Custom recovery here I come. Any suggestions
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP
Please press thanks if I helped you!

TWRP is buggy and pretty awkward to use. The UI is horrible.
I'd recommend Philz Cwm recovery, it's awesome!
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium HD app

jcurran.jc said:
Anyone else a tad nervous about flashing a recovery.
I really want titanium backup.
But
My main problem is I want to have a play with different sound mods, but the device is sooo new im scared about voiding the warranty.
Any thoughts
???
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't b scared.

Don't be scared, and read the forums here
Make sure you understand what you are doing, and there are some awesome guides here for beginners, read them. DO NOT forget to create a backup before you proceed. Download the official firmware for your model too, just in case something goes wrong. And be confident, hopefully nothing will go wrong if you follow the steps word by word.
Sent using GT-I9505!

Obagleyfreer said:
TWRP is buggy and pretty awkward to use. The UI is horrible.
I'd recommend Philz Cwm recovery, it's awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, like Jccurran.jc, I am a new comer to the Android world and delighted to have a S4. Having rooted my phone, I am starting to explore what custom ROMs have to offer. In this staged process, I am now keen to get Recovery on my phone but despite my readings still have a number queries that I would be grateful for someone to help me understand. All of these are based on the premise that you must have custom recovery on your phone before moving to installing a custom ROM on it. The specific questions I have are:
Am I correct in understanding that "custom recovery" is merely the means of installing a ROM to return to should the installation of a custom ROM go wrong?
If this is the case, why can't your Stock ROM achieve this fall-back role?
There seem to be several ways of installing a custom Recovery whether it be via TWRP, ClockWorkMod and Philz CWM. These all seem to achieve the same objective but use different custom recovery file formats whether they be zip, taz or image files. However, is the method of choice largely a personal one and once the custom recovery file is in place, it doesn't make any difference when you move on to installing a custom ROM or are you now locked into a set way of installing a Custom ROM?
All guides to undertaking installation of a custom recovery stress the importance of backing up your phone (which is a little confusing to a new comer as I have Titanium Backup Pro but can't backup my ROM until I have Recovery in place?). I have done what I can but note that some sites recommend using EFS Prossional to backup my phone's EFS settings folder that contains very critical phone specific information that include IMEI (encrypted in the nv_data.bin), wireless MAC addresses and product code. While I can't be certain that this doesn't happen with Apps like My Backup Pro or Helium, it seems very sensible to help avoid bricking my phone but the program itself requires BusyBox v1.20.2, not the current version in Google Play Store which is more recent but as the developer states is less stable than the older version (and with which EFS Professional wont work). Despite my best attempts to locate the older version as a APK file I haven't been able to as most links point to crap or seem to be for inclusion in custom ROMs (but this may reflect my lack of understanding of the Android system). Can anyone help me understand this and point me to a site where I can obtain the necessary version of BusyBox to enable me to run EFS Professional?
Some sites, including one of the responders to this thread, point out the importance of staying with your phone's offical firmware so that the modem and other hardware components of your phone continue working properly. I have purchased an unlocked international GT-I9595 phone via an internet store that has the baseband version I9505ZHUAME1. Should I my custom recovery file be the same (or its more recent release) or can I use an international LTE variant file such as "CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505.zip"? Obviously, living in Australia, I am not wedded to the Hong Kong based ROM that is native to my phone.
If the answer to the previous question is to stay with the phone's native ROM, then this may force me away from TWRP as it doesn't believe there is any Recovery files available for my phone. Does this fit with other people's experience?
Many thanks in advance for any responses as I totally agree with another responders to this thread (FlOYD') advice: "Make sure you understand what you are doing!".

Basically the first step to customising your Android device is rooting, second step is backing up EFS and third is installing a custom recovery.
The stock recovery doesn't give you an option to install anything or make backups this is why you need custom.
The first thing I do after flashing a custom recovery (usually a .tar.md5 file in PDA section of Odin) is back up my current state.
You can choose any recovery you like, like firmware, some are built better than others. CWM is the original and probably the most used, followed by TWRP. They both have advantages and disadvantages.
I prefer Philz version of CWM personally as I don't flash CM based ROMs and tend to stick with Touchwiz ROMs.
You can also flash custom kernels using a custom recovery this is basically the 'bridge' between your phone's hardware and software. You can change LOTS of things with a custom kernel, I won't go into that.
Once you've backed up your EFS and current state you can flash a new Rom, try it out, if you don't like it then just restore back to your old back up
Before making any changes to themes, or installing zips you should make a backup, that why if anything goes wrong you can just restore it again. And believe me it happens often!
Read through threads, read again and when using Odin double check everything is in the right place and DO NOT TICK REPARTITION!
I'm sure you'll be fine, you seem like a responsible guy lol
Have fun with your new toy!
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium HD app

[Q] I think I rooted....

First time Android user. I jailbroke several iphones in the past but just learning about rooting. I just did the towelroot, now what????
What is cyanogenmod? Do I need it?
Thanks for everyone who helps out!

Download rom manager from play store and use it to flash a custom recovery.. It should be simple
After that you can flash cyanogenmod which is a ROM that changes your phones interface to almost stock android with some added features
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

killyass said:
Download rom manager from play store and use it to flash a custom recovery.. It should be simple
After that you can flash cyanogenmod which is a ROM that changes your phones interface to almost stock android with some added features
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply!!! I downloaded that and the first thing was a recovery setup. It said I needed to install clockworkmod Recovery. I attempted to do that but it said my phone is not supported..

Welcome! What phone do you have?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

killyass said:
Welcome! What phone do you have?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Galaxy s5 on ATT

scholls22 said:
Galaxy s5 on ATT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh right cwm doesn't support S5 yet. anyway there's another recovery other than cwm you can use which is twrp.. download goomanager from playstore and use it the same way to install twrp
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

As far as I know the ATT S5 has a locked boot loader and hence cannot use custom recoveries or ROMs. For now you are stuck with the ROM you have. You are able to modify your ROM now though.

scholls22 said:
First time Android user. I jailbroke several iphones in the past but just learning about rooting. I just did the towelroot, now what????
What is cyanogenmod? Do I need it?
Thanks for everyone who helps out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two things you should consider..
First of all, if you install a custom kernel/recovery, it will void your warranty (this is called as tripping the KNOX flag). Currently, this is something that you cannot fix by yourself and if your phone breaks Samsung may or may not fix it. But that doesn't actually matter since your phone is on ATT and that one is bootloader locked anyway (which means that currently you cannot flash that recovery anyway).
Second thing is that currently CM11 is pretty broken and some features like GPS and Camera aren't working. It will take some time before people manage to iron out all the bugs and even then it might not be perfect.
My advice is that you should first try to get familiar with the phone and then start thinking about modifying it since you aren't used to Android phones. While rooting might give you some functionality you normally wouldn't have, it's not really something that you'll absolutely need. Even out of the box Android is still way more capable and customizable than iOS and most of that stuff doesn't need rooting.