I've seen the following things asked again and again and again, and yet there seems to have been no attempt to make a Q&A for our tablet, so I figured I might as well take a shot, especially now that the mods have given us a proper Q&A section. I don't expect this to be fully comprehensive, but I'll try to cover the important stuff at least!
1. Q: I have an A501, can I use one of the A500 roms, either stock or custom?
A: No, absolutely NO! Well, actually, you CAN, but if you do you WILL lose 3G capability, so don't. There are currently no custom ROMs available for your tablet, sorry. Hopefully that will change soon.
2. Q: Can I root my A500?
A: Yes. There was originally a modded Gingerbreak root for the Iconia, but it only worked on 3.0.1 and has now been superseded by an updated root method. See the following thread for more information:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1138228
3. Q: Is the bootloader really locked?
A: Yes and no. The bootloader itself isn't actually locked as such, but the ROM *is* protected by a hash key. This has been bypassed thanks to sc2k with a great utility called "itsmagic".
4. Q: So how do I use "itsmagic"?
A: The easiest way is to install the custom version of Clockwork Mod, by thor2002ro. See the following thread for more information.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1126364
5. Q: Wow, I'm a newbie and installing that looks complicated. Is there an easier way?
A: Absolutely! Install the Acer Recovery app and it will take care of installing Clockwork Mod AND itsmagic for you, as well as backup your stock recovery!
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.interphaze.AcerRecoveryInstaller
6. Q: I'm scared of Clockwork Mod, is there an easier way to install a custom ROM?
A: Absolutely! From the makers of Acer Recovery, there's the Acer ROM Flasher app!
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.interphaze.Acer_ROM_Flasher
HOWEVER This app does NOT run the "itsmagic" utility (yet), so it's probably better for you to flash from CWM for now (Thank's Euclid's Brother for pointing this out!)
7. Q: Hang on a minute, can't I use the Clockwork Mod that's on the market? How about ROM manager too?
A: Simple answer? No. Our Clockwork Mod is a custom built that runs the "itsmagic" utility at the right time, preventing people from accidentally bricking their tablets. Do NOT use the one on the market or you will brick. As for ROM manager, it's not compatible, sorry. Use the Acer ROM Flasher application instead
8. Q: OK, so I'm rooted and I've got Clockwork Mod installed, now what?
A: The absolute first thing you should do, EVER, before installing a new ROM, is to make a backup of your current on. This feature is built into Clockwork Mod and is really easy to use. Do it.
9. Q: OK, I made a backup, now what?
A: Visit the Developer section of the A500 forums here on XDA-Developers, and you'll find several excellent custom ROMS, as well as links to stock ROMs, for your ROM flashing pleasure.
10. Q: I don't want to install CWM, I just want to flash a new stock ROM, how do I do that?
A: There are several threads detailing this, but to summarise, there are several things you'll need to do.
1. Locate and download the stock ROM you want.
2. Unzip this ROM to your PC. If you get a message about an invalid ZIP file, then you'll almost certainly need to run it through the Acer Update Decrypter first. See below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1099673&highlight=acer+recovery
3. Once opened, extract the update.zip file found inside this zip.
4. Copy update.zip to the root of your external SD card. NOT the devices internal storage. It won't work from there.
5. Make sure you have more than 60% battery, or plug in to the AC adapter, and turn your device off.
6. Hold down the Volume Down key (the left side of the rocker when device is in landscape orientation), and hold down the power key. Keep both held down until you see 3 rows of white text in the top left corner of the screen. Your device will now flash the update.zip on your SD card.
NOTE: There are several types of update you can flash.. Many are incremental updates and will be smallish (40mb or so). This can NOT be flashed on a device that has had ANY changes at all made to any preinstalled files, as this is an incremental update. However, if the update is 300+mb in size, it's almost certainly a full ROM and should flash fine. If it doesn't though, try a factory reset first.
11. Q: I cannot connect to my WIFI hotspot, why?
A: There are 2 possible reasons, so it depends on exactly what problem you're having.
1. The Iconia does not seem to support wifi ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) mode. To connect to this kind of hotspot, you will need to modify a file called "wpa_supplicant" and you must be rooted to do this. See below for instructions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1060909&highlight=ad+hoc
2. Alternatively, if you're just getting a constant loop of "Connecting...", and never get an IP address, Acer have issued a patch for this, but it's for specific ROM's only. You can find this on the Acer update site, or can download directly below. Full instructions are included inside the ZIP file.
http://global-download.acer.com/GDF...AB&Step3=A500&OS=a07&LC=en&BC=Acer&SC=EMEA_27
12. Q: Help! I have a checksum error!
A: You probably flashed something and didn't run itsmagic... This is potentially very serious, but all is not lost. sc2k has been kind enough to provide instructions on how to fix it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1129873
<Reserved>
Well done. Quite comprehensive.
Just want to point out.. the Acer ROM Flasher (not to be confused with Acer Recovery Installer) does not run itmagic.... (yet..) It was made for a very specific purpose and has not been updated since itsmagic came out.
So, If you use Acer ROM Flasher, which will flash boot.img and system.img, make sure you run itsmagic yourself BEFORE flashing the images. I'll update it to include itsmagic when I have time.
Acer Recovery Installer is really the best way to go. Then use Clockworkmod for your backup/restore and custom rom installation.
Euclid's Brother said:
Just want to point out.. the Acer ROM Flasher (not to be confused with Acer Recovery Installer) does not run itmagic.... (yet..) It was made for a very specific purpose and has not been updated since itsmagic came out.
So, If you use Acer ROM Flasher, which will flash boot.img and system.img, make sure you run itsmagic yourself BEFORE flashing the images. I'll update it to include itsmagic when I have time.
Acer Recovery Installer is really the best way to go. Then use Clockworkmod for your backup/restore and custom rom installation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for pointing that out. I've updated my OP accordingly.
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.
Hi guys, I have read a bit about rooting and flashing custom roms for the GSIV but being my first time (on this phone) I thought it would be better to ask for some help from you experts ^_^
I would like to convert my GSIV as close as possible to a Google Edition one, in the sense that I don't want to have a super custom ultra cool rom, I just want a stock-like one, stock kernel, maybe a few extra features, root, nothing special...
Now, is it possible to do that without voiding warranty, or at least with the possibility to turn back the phone in a warranty covered state?
Could you point me to one simple guide to do so and maybe suggest a rom suited to my needs? It can get a bit confusing, there's too much complicated stuff for a newbie!
Thank you in advance!
Yes, it is possible to convert the i9505 (almost) completely to a Google Play device (though you will not receive OTA updates, so you'll have to download them yourself). It's fairly easy once you have a custom recovery installed.
Though, warranty might be an issue. In many countries, it will be void once you root and install a recovery, though this does vary. This also increments a "counter" in the device, so even if you restore it to its original state, it is still possible to see that you have at some point modified the software (although there are methods to root the device without incrementing the counter, not to mention that many have managed to claim warranty despite this). That said, this will again differ based on your country.
Now, if you're still up for it, there are several guides online which can tell you how to root and install a recovery on the phone. If you're running the stock 4.4.2 firmware from Samsung, then you can follow this guide to root:
samsungsfour.com/tutorials/root-samsung-galaxy-gt-i9505-s4-running-on-android-4-4-2-kitkat.html
Thereafter, you can install a custom recovery from
gadgetsacademy.com/install-cwm-twrp-recovery-on-galaxy-s4-lte-i9505/
(These are just two of the links which you get after a Google search)
Note that you don't really need root for this, just the custom recovery. Though, having root is a nice addition if you want to back up your apps using Titanium Backup.
Once that is done, you can download a Google Play based ROM from here on XDA, such as
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2557353
or
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2544474
Just reboot into recovery, wipe data, and select the zip file from your sd-card/internal storage.
Though, remember to backup your apps/data first.
Takenoko_, thank you so much for the detailed answer, it has been really helpful! One question, if I understood correctly, it is possible to install a custom recovery WITHOUT rooting, so if I did this and then flashed a rooted ROM I should have root in the end, right?
That's right. As you'll be using Odin, root should, at least in theory, not be needed to install a custom recovery. You can instead gain this by flashing a pre-rooted ROM
Great, all done! Thank you!
No problem
yes you can
just install custom recovery, (philz i like)
then flash dandvh rom
done
it comes rooted
----------
sorry i forgot
in some cases, you need to update modems by flashing
or just update your s4 to 4.4.2 then flash the gpe rom
Rooting Kindle Fire HDX 7 32gb 3rd Gen Fire OS 13.3.2.1
Airplane Mode ON WIFI Off
Kindle Fire ADB Composite Drivers must be installed to working PC
In KFHDX Settings
Set Enable ADB - ON
Set Apps from unknown sources - ON
Faznx's KF-HDX Toolkit v0.95
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95832962473395302
KFHDX ToolKit v0.95.zip
MD5: 3C1D7DB855E54A39BF2FD59BE6ABA9DC
SHA-256: 614A0D077BEC8B85F6D6B377D2D18EB719AB9ED15B08B41CD5 8968BEED653C0C
Rooted KFHDX using Towelroot in above toolkit. - No Issues
Then applied:
1> SuperSU v2.14 installer in Faznx's KF-HDX Toolkit v0.95 - No Issues
2> Over the air update blocker and re-enabler for all current rootable versions in Faznx's KF-HDX Toolkit v0.95 - No Issues
Airplane Mode ON WIFI Off
Use adb to install ES File Explorer
http://www.howtogeek.com/125769/how-to-install-and-use-abd-the-android-debug-bridge-utility/
ADB install (installs application) -- adb install c:\com.estrongs.android.pop.apk - No Issues
Checked in ES File Manager to make sure I had root.
Next rename the /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip file - one issue - resolved
Even though I ran the disable OTA updates, I am concerned that some post I have read said their system was update even though they renamed.
I think now it's possible they get around us by running an MD5 hash on files in that folder and compare to the hash they store for that version.
The better idea may be to move that file out of that folder. I did just that.
Here are the directions to rename:
see the contents of that folder with adb shell ls -Ral /system/etc/security
Example:
C:\Users\davcam\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools>adb shell ls -Ral /system/etc/security
/system/etc/security:
drwxr-xr-x root root 2014-02-07 04:23 cacerts
-rw-r--r-- root root 1337 2014-02-07 04:23 otacerts.zip
Before you can rename this file you must set the \ and \system file systems to r/w - then you can rename or mv the file.
When completed, change \ and \system file systems back to ro
Next : Safestrap
https://goo.im/devs/Hashcode/thor/safestrap/
I tried Safestrap-Thor-3.72.apk and it did not seem to work. I unistalled recovery and Safestrap-Thor-3.72.apk.
I was able to successfully install Safestrap-Thor-3.75-os3.2.4-B02.apk, install recovery, boot into recovery, backup up stock, create a new rom slot,
change to that Rom slot and restore stock backup into that slot.
Now on startup i get the Safestrap screen.
One thing I noticed was that the stock values for the rom slots are a little small, so keep that in mind.
Thanks to everyone on XDA Forums, especial to EncryptedCurse for the terse, meaningful tips., Faznx's KF-HDX Toolkit v0.95, Geohot's Towelroot,
hashcode0f's Safestrap, OTA disable, and Supersu.
Current Status:
Using a copy of stock on a somewhat larger partition, no otacerts.zip file
Next steps:
0> Thank and donate to the developers I mentioned above.
1> Airplane mode OFF, wifi ON , register with Amz
1.1> Get GAPPS installed on this copy of stock I'm booting into
2>to see if possible to load a CM11 image into one or my bran new slots.
Question: If Amazon were able to push an update to me, would I just be able to recover to my stock image and move on?
Thanks for the help and education!
reggie9 said:
Next steps:
0> Thank and donate to the developers I mentioned above.
1> Airplane mode OFF, wifi ON , register with Amz
1.1> Get GAPPS installed on this copy of stock I'm booting into
2>to see if possible to load a CM11 image into one or my bran new slots.
Question: If Amazon were able to push an update to me, would I just be able to recover to my stock image and move on?
Thanks for the help and education!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont try to install CM11 with Safestrap!! It wont work, and you will brick your device! You have to install TWRP 2.8.4.0 and only then you can install CM11 safely.
If your device get FW 4.X.X, you lost root and ability to install custom roms through custom recovery (Safestrap, TWRP 2.8.4.0) - and only way to get the root again is rollback from 4.x.x to 3.2.7-8 (by amazon tech support), and then you can use only Safestrap, so no CM11 or Nexus 2.0.4 ROMs for FW 3.2.7-8!
Edit: Looks like jeryll already said it.
jeryll said:
Dont try to install CM11 with Safestrap!! It wont work, and you will brick your device! You have to install TWRP 2.8.4.0 and only then you can install CM11 safely.
If your device get FW 4.X.X, you lost root and ability to install custom roms through custom recovery (Safestrap, TWRP 2.8.4.0) - and only way to get the root again is rollback from 4.x.x to 3.2.7-8 (by amazon tech support), and then you can use only Safestrap, so no CM11 or Nexus 2.0.4 ROMs for FW 3.2.7-8!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I appreciate the heads up. Any idea where I can locate TWRP 2.8.4.0 for this device?
Sorry - Found it here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/kindle-fire-hdx/development/recovery-twrp-2-8-1-0-thor-t2986004
Reggie9
jeryll said:
Dont try to install CM11 with Safestrap!! It wont work, and you will brick your device! You have to install TWRP 2.8.4.0 and only then you can install CM11 safely.
If your device get FW 4.X.X, you lost root and ability to install custom roms through custom recovery (Safestrap, TWRP 2.8.4.0) - and only way to get the root again is rollback from 4.x.x to 3.2.7-8 (by amazon tech support), and then you can use only Safestrap, so no CM11 or Nexus 2.0.4 ROMs for FW 3.2.7-8!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything has seemed pretty clear up to now, but I am trying to understand what I should do next? I have Safestrap 3.72 beta installed and I'm running off of a backup of stock running in ROM-Slot 1.
Do I need to wipe rom slot one, remove recovery and uninstall Safestrap? Then install TWRP? Can I take a backup of my current ROM Slot one and use it in TWRP. I am looking for a good install post or video for installing TWRP 2.8.4.0 on KFHDX. It appears that TWRP does not use the concept of ROM slots but actually wipes the main system (that has been backed up to the builtin recovery area?) Then installs an image on the main system? I understand basically what Safestrap is doing, but not TWRP.
reggie9 said:
Everything has seemed pretty clear up to now, but I am trying to understand what I should do next? I have Safestrap 3.72 beta installed and I'm running off of a backup of stock running in ROM-Slot 1.
Do I need to wipe rom slot one, remove recovery and uninstall Safestrap? Then install TWRP? Can I take a backup of my current ROM Slot one and use it in TWRP. I am looking for a good install post or video for installing TWRP 2.8.4.0 on KFHDX. It appears that TWRP does not use the concept of ROM slots but actually wipes the main system (that has been backed up to the builtin recovery area?) Then installs an image on the main system? I understand basically what Safestrap is doing, but not TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are on compatible firmware so dont complicate things so much If you want to understand how Safestrap or TWRP itself work - google is your friend, you will certainly find plenty of information about how things works: here is little introduction about differencies between them, not all of course...
And here is little something from ggow about how to install twrp and remove safestrap, you can later find safestrap slot image files in data/media/safestrap - and after you have functional TWRP 2.8.4.0, you can delete safestrap folder safely and free some space taken by these image files
Normal way is how TWRP 2.8.4.0 works (IMHO) - only one big playground managed by mighty TWRP recovery always accessible by shortcut when you made mistake and need to repair something...
Safestrap uses multiple slots for (un)modified stock roms simply because is too dangerous to play with stock rom on systems with locked bootloader, so you can play with slot rom instead of stock where small mistake leads to different types of bricks - some repairable, some not
And yes you can make a backup of your current ROM and use it later with TWRP, but here comes catch, Safestrap only backups system and data partition, not boot (contains kernel), so I recommend after you install your preferred CM11 or Nexus 2.0.4, restore only DATA part of your backup
jeryll said:
You are on compatible firmware so dont complicate things so much If you want to understand how Safestrap or TWRP itself work - google is your friend, you will certainly find plenty of information about how things works: here is little introduction about differencies between them, not all of course...
And here is little something from ggow about how to install twrp and remove safestrap, you can later find safestrap slot image files in data/media/safestrap - and after you have functional TWRP 2.8.4.0, you can delete safestrap folder safely and free some space taken by these image files
Normal way is how TWRP 2.8.4.0 works (IMHO) - only one big playground managed by mighty TWRP recovery always accessible by shortcut when you made mistake and need to repair something...
Safestrap uses multiple slots for (un)modified stock roms simply because is too dangerous to play with stock rom on systems with locked bootloader, so you can play with slot rom instead of stock where small mistake leads to different types of bricks - some repairable, some not
And yes you can make a backup of your current ROM and use it later with TWRP, but here comes catch, Safestrap only backups system and data partition, not boot (contains kernel), so I recommend after you install your preferred CM11 or Nexus 2.0.4, restore only DATA part of your backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jeryll - Thanks for the the thoughtful response - will study this. - reggie9