Database Users

Newbie here

Hey guys,
I am new to flashing and rooting and stuff and am needing some help with all this. I'm kinda getting lost in the forums, reading all this stuff I have a stock Vibrant that i want to root and put a Froyo rom on it. I am currently on 2.1 of course. Can anyone kinda guide me through this?
Thanks!

I would suggest starting here:
Vibrant Guides
And here:
Newb Guide
Get the basics and understand what you will be doing. These guides can help you allot. If then you still don't understand then come back with a more specific question.
Good luck and have fun!

everything is here hxxp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732458 (change xx for tt). read, its good for you

Thanks guys, I'm going to have to read this more carefully apparently. Let me ask this before i do anything to the phone. What backup program should i get if i need to restore it back to stock everything? I want to make sure i have that done before i try any of this. I've done Iphones and stuff, unlocking them and jailbreaking them, those were a piece of cake, but never done a custom rom on an android phone before, nor have i ever rooted one. so im kinda nervous at all this

you should make a nandroid backup, that will be a failsafe but your lifesaver will be odin. when you think you bricked your phone it will rise from the grave. i love odin

sisco22 said:
Thanks guys, I'm going to have to read this more carefully apparently. Let me ask this before i do anything to the phone. What backup program should i get if i need to restore it back to stock everything? I want to make sure i have that done before i try any of this. I've done Iphones and stuff, unlocking them and jailbreaking them, those were a piece of cake, but never done a custom rom on an android phone before, nor have i ever rooted one. so im kinda nervous at all this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Odin to get back to Stock. The Bible in the Development thread has the links for Odin download, also the links for the stock android ROMs to odin back to. Make sure you can get into the Download mode before doing anything. Especially using your hardware keys. (to verify that your phone is not hardware locked). If it is you have to install the JI6 to get the hardware key issue fixed.
Also read the wiki page http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S_SGH-T959

my noob guide (signature) has videos... you can use your pc (ODIN) and have a rooted 2.2 phone in like 2 minutes!

sisco22 said:
Hey guys,
I am new to flashing and rooting and stuff and am needing some help with all this. I'm kinda getting lost in the forums, reading all this stuff I have a stock Vibrant that i want to root and put a Froyo rom on it. I am currently on 2.1 of course. Can anyone kinda guide me through this?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey bud. If you need some visual help, I should have my videos up by tonight and ready for viewing tomorrow morning. I've dubbed it my choose your own samsung vibrant adventure, so hopefully you can see what it looks like and get your questions answered.

thanks guys, the videos are a big help. 2 things that im trying to find is the Odin download and the Nandroid download. Can't seem to find a link for those.

^ the noob guide has a link to download ODIN (and the files needed).
The ALT METHOD listed is Froyo with root already enabled... doesnt get much easier! It's in my signature, or the sticky in the Q&A section.
Also, to clarify, once you use ODIN and flash this (which gives you froyo+root) you can download Rom Manager from the market.... you use it to instal clockwork recovery.... you use clockwork recovery to make a nandroid backup of your system. You can't do this until you have root.

This link should get you to where you can download what you need:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=771111

^ to even make it THAT much easier.... here is the thread that I was referencing (and is in the sticky)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=799105

s15274n said:
^ to even make it THAT much easier.... here is the thread that I was referencing (and is in the sticky)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=799105
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I was looking at it and i found this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/sho...ost in all this stuff haha! its alot of info.

^ please read both sticky's in my signature before you proceed. If you read those, this is very straight-forward.
You would need to root and download rom manager
install clockwork recovery
move the .zip to sdcard/ (internal memory)
reboot into recovery
flash the file
reboot
but please read my guide... if it doesnt make it obvious, please let me know what needs to be updated.

s15274n said:
^ please read both sticky's in my signature before you proceed. If you read those, this is very straight-forward.
You would need to root and download rom manager
install clockwork recovery
move the .zip to sdcard/ (internal memory)
reboot into recovery
flash the file
reboot
but please read my guide... if it doesnt make it obvious, please let me know what needs to be updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help! I finally understand all of it. Apparently the Flash Clockworks didn't install correctly...so when i tried to open the zip it would open. I installed Axura on it just now and it looks like its running smoothly! Thanks for everyone's help and sticking with me!

[Q] Brand new to rooting - questions....

Hey guys... I am brand new to all of this... just got my samsung vibrant a couple of months ago and love it. I have since always wanted to root my phone, but am scared of doing so because I don't want to void my manufacturer's warranty on it (and i'm paying for an extended warranty). I was reading through the "guide - tips - tricks" post and found a LOT of good information. But it did not really answer my questions due to me being so new, so anyway, here they are:
1. Do I need to create a back-up of my system the way it is before I root? if so, how do i do it (in beginner's language w/ step by step instructions pls). I saw where I can down load the "ROM Manager App." But I don't even understand what "Flashing" the Rom means?
2. I didn't understand the post about returning your system back to a "factory OS" the way it was when you received your phone... (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728471 )In this post he explains supposedly how to do it, but I don't understand entering that stuff in a "terminal" on your computer... could someone explain in noob terms w/ step by step instructions?
Just to make sure... in theory, I can make a back up of my system before I root. Then I can root my phone. But if I ever want to "unroot" it, then I would have to follow the instructions in the link above, and then afterwards do a recovery of my nandroid backup to put me back to where I originally was? thanks guys

Rooting your phone will change nothing (meaning you lose nothing).
So, after you root, simply download Rom Manager, open it, click on flash recovery, then reboot into recovery (at this point you can make a backup of your phone).
Once you have root, you can also use titanium backup (in the market also) to backup all of your apps.
flash = install a rom *you do this in recovery, see above*

If you know nothing about this the best advice is to read the very first thread in this section. It walks you step by step from "hey I want to root" to "I'm rooted, Now what?" to "Hey I F'd up, can I fix this" and so on. And on the "Hey I f'd up" note apparently the Vibrant likes to brick, meaning it won't turn on and you'll think you broke it, so you need to be familiar with ODIN which you'll find out more about in the three threads I refer to. Also the first two threads in the Development section are also must reads. All of the answers are here. A lot of people here will be very helpful in giving guidance or pointing you to the answer your looking for but there are quite a few that will flame you for not searching.
You'll be much happier and more comfortable after reading these three threads. Good Luck.
Answer to question 1 can be found here. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7324731&postcount=1
Answer to question 2 can be found here. The terminal you speak of is ODIN. Kind of a fail safe if you will. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475

A "I need to send this back for warranty repairs" backup isn't critical since you can just load up Odin and flash it back to stock with that. No need for you to be hyper critical on that.
With this phone, pretty much anything you can mess up can be fixed with Odin (short of flashing things that aren't meant for this phone).
While I wouldn't volunteer to be the first to flash an image, I wouldn't be too scared of it either.
Rooting your phone will add a few files (superuser, busybox) and otherwise leave your system intact. If something breaks later & you need to sent it back to TMO/Samsung, you'd just Odin it back to stock and give them a "blank slate" which is actually something you'd want to do anyways (you don't want them having access to your gmail for example...when I send a laptop back for repairs, I always image it back to stock as well).
I would suggest you read through the Vibrant Bible and just poke around. When you see something that shows/tells you how to do things like flash, follow along (load up the software and do as much as you can without actually doing anything [if that makes any sense]).
Never EVER flash anything that wasn't meant for your phone (a few people bricked their vibrants by accidentally flashing the SPLs from their G1s...how they make that mistake I don't know, but it's happened). Be careful, follow directions & you'll be good to go.
There are youtube videos showing how to use Odin and get back to stock (I believe the bible has links) and there are probably also youtube videos showing how to do other things as well.
For root, all you have to do is download "RyanZA's OCLF 2.0" from the market and click the root button. Follow its directions & you are good to go.
For many of us, that's not good enough. You'll want to then install ROM Manager and have it download the new Recovery.
From there, the world is open, find a ROM and flash away! I'm partial to Bionix, but have recently started to like the Axura froyo ROM as well.

Trying to root - problems [SOLVED]

Hey guys.
I've been attempting this all morning and so far I've had no luck. I have a VodafoneAU Legend which I updated to the official 2.2 yesterday. But now I want to try root.
I've been trying to follow the HBOOT 1.01 guide but there's a few problems. First, I cannot connect to the phone with adb unless it's in htc sync mode. No other mode will work. So when it's time to copy testimage.zip to the card I have to change from sync mode to disk mode, whereby adb loses it's connection. What do I do about this? Is it a driver problem (in Win7 here) or something else?
Thanks,
Dave.

Ok, the first problem were drivers.
Now I can't finish the second guide. When I try using clockwork to install the firmware.zip, the phone just boots to the red triangle. What do I have to do?
Dave.

So I pressed the up button/power combo at the red triangle and get the Android system recovery. Selecting "apply update.zip" says it can't verify. What do I do? Is this guide for my phone or do I need to follow something else?

I don't understand this guys. Anyone help? I'm thinking since this is a step to root the phone, I'm not actually rooted yet so I can't use the clockworkmod? Then what is the guide for? The guides at unlockr don't mention what firmware/hboot they work for so I'm not keen to try them yet.

Read the guide on fake flash. You need the recovery file named "update.zip" in the root of your sd to proceed..
Sent from my Legend using XDA App

whitetigerdk said:
Read the guide on fake flash. You need the recovery file named "update.zip" in the root of your sd to proceed..
Sent from my Legend using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But isn't that what Rom Manager does? Download the update.zip then run it? Man this is getting even harder to understand.
Edit: And this is left out of the HBOOT 1.01 guide because.....????? When I work this out I'll write a PROPPER guide, lol.

Just checked and update.zip is on the card.
So which part of the guide am I getting wrong?

Decided to reinstall phone with the official froyo release and am now ready to try this again. Is there anyone that will walk me through the process? I will write a complete guide if the "gotchas" are still there.

i feel for you ... hope you get it fixed... thats one of the reason i havent dared messing with the phone because i've seen a few post like yours where something didnt go quite as described... for whatever reason... and im sure the answer is out there but just not within the guide instructions... i guess there is no way to gather all gotchas because there are so many environment variables...
good luck
and please share your technique

Just saw gobczak's thread in the developer forum having similar troubles with Vodafone UK phone, getting the red triangle at reboot. I'll keep an eye on his thread and see how he goes with it.

Did you run the stage1 and stage2 bats while in recovery?

dezzadk said:
Did you run the stage1 and stage2 bats while in recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No because the guide didn't say to.
The thing is it seems I'm only stuck on the part where the firmware.zip file has to be flashed. The guide says to use clockworkmod for this. But when I try installing the clockworkmod recovery it gives some file verification error. Isn't there ways to do this via the pc, either through those batch files, adb etc? Or will that fake-flash update.zip file work?

jabbado said:
No because the guide didn't say to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I just posted on the other forum, I think you need to skip that step in guide 2 and go straight onto guide 3 after you have flashed the LEGEIMG.zip, rebooted, and then removed LEGEIMG.zip from the SD card.

Guys I've got to the point of downgrading to 1.31. But when I run the first batch file it just hangs at the "Writing zip" part, with the htc logo on the screen. Is there any way to fix this?

Can someone please explain this part of the guide:
Phone will reboot and find LEGEIMG.zip on your sdcard, copy it into RAM and check it. If you get CID error at this point, then you don't have goldcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I don't get an error. I get nothing. The phone just boots to the fastboot screen. If I press the power button it goes to the hboot screen and I can see the messages of loading LEGEIMG.zip. But the guide doesn't say to press anything.
So should I or shouldn't I press the power button? Also, if I try making the goldcard again, at which point in the guide do I start from again? The entire process or just copying LEGEIMG.zip to card then rebooting phone? I mean, will all the other things like flashing misc1-2.img still be there?

Guys I finally got this working.
The first problem was with the goldcards. For whatever reason formatting them with the win7 format tool just wouldn't work. I had to use the command-line format tool, setting the block size etc manually.
The second problem was the unnecessary steps in the guide. A few people helped me out with this (namely blackbart at the Aus Whirlpool forum), but basically in the second step you can stop after flashing the LEGEIMG.zip. The updating froyo part isn't needed - for my phone anyway.
Then when running the batch files in the third part, for whatever reason the first batch would keep hanging at 'writing zip...' and I needed to remove the battery to unfreeze the phone. flannigan, also from the Aus Whirlpool forums suggested to just go on to the second batch file. This worked!
So my Legend is now finally a true Legend
Anyway, thanks for the help everyone - couldn't have done this by myself.
Dave

Great news, I think we need a new guide focused on rooting for HBOOT 1.01 / Stock Froyo to clear up the inconsistencies in the existing one. It's a minefield for a noob (or a rite of passage!), a revised guide will certainly save a lot of time and frustration for those taking this road in the future.
Sent from my HTC Legend using XDA App

EpicSauce said:
Great news, I think we need a new guide focused on rooting for HBOOT 1.01 to clear up the inconsistencies in the existing one. It's a minefield for a noob (or a rite of passage!), a revised guide will certainly save a lot of time and frustration for those taking this road in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll write one if ya's want. I wanted to include little tidbits like downloading the apps required (visionary, rom manager etc) from the market then backing them up to the card with Astro so if it goes all wrong and you have to start again, you can just install them all from the card Also on using adb to push the files (roms, img's etc) when the guides say "copy this blah blah". Much quicker than changing to disk mode and back. Sound good?

Sounds good! Happy to help and add my 20c worth along the way. The existing guide has got the meaty bits, a new guide would cull the stuff not relevant, help fill in the gaps and alert to the pitfalls we've fallen into.

jabbado said:
I'll write one if ya's want. I wanted to include little tidbits like downloading the apps required (visionary, rom manager etc) from the market then backing them up to the card with Astro so if it goes all wrong and you have to start again, you can just install them all from the card Also on using adb to push the files (roms, img's etc) when the guides say "copy this blah blah". Much quicker than changing to disk mode and back. Sound good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree... i've done my reading since june of last year but then didnt check for another 4 months... and so many how to's pop up with various ways of doing it depeding on the situation... a lot of those howtos were consolidated howtos which sometimes make intermediate steps unenecessary (may be in some cases causes more head aches since it didnt take into considerations on newer version of hboots...etc)... an updated how to will be much appreciated...
And you're right the most important pre requirement is to have a safety net ... so starting with how to create a back up in case you screw it up is a must!
but im glad it worked out for you!

Whats Wrong with my fone? someone please help

i hope im posting this in the right place, ive never really messed with forums before, but anyways
ive done everything there is to do to get a custom rom on my streak (StreakDroid) including the whole flash recovery, when i do that it all seems like its working, but when i go to where you are supposed to install the streakdroid (when you turn your phone on with both volumes ect) soo when i get the screen with the blue letters, its tottally different it says something like "insert a SD card containing an update file(/sdcard/update.pkg and the only choice it gives me is press up on the volume to turn device off. BTW i did already had the streakdroid on my sd card. someone please HELP me
if this helps i have a Dell Streak from AT&T
V 2.2
Baseband Ver. 2.6.32.9-perf
OEM Ver. GAUSB1A135331
Build 15697
Thanks

Sounds like this might help.
You may also want to read this.

i already know all of this, but thanks for trying, i cant root it eather, i forgot to mention, it keeps failing, and ive tryed all versions of oneclick

Do this - you do not need root to use that method and is you read the previous links I posted you will figure out how to use StreakMod Recovery even if you aren't rooted.

I got same problem when I installed custom rom at very first time from stock 2.2.
Do this if still can boot to stock rom..
1) Rooting with Gingerbreak.apk , this will work..
2) After rooting done, use R.E and change one file in the system as this file automatically blocked custom recovery when reboot so your problem happened... your DS5 still booted on stock recovery even already flashed StreakMod recovery...
Read this.
3) After modifying one system file then flash StreakMod recovery then you can continue....
Hope this can help you.

i tried that too, but like ive said when i first made this post, when i go into streakmode (when i turn it on with both volume bottons ect) and go into mode after that all i get is something like for an emergency restore blah blah , idk whats wrong, ive done the streakmod right and still,

i have att 2.2 rom it wont allow me to install other source apks

Regarding the issues faced by the OP on this thread:
1. If you are seeing mention of an update file when trying to access StreakMod Recovery, then you let the Streak boot regularly once you installed StreakMod, rather than immediately booting into StreakMod Recovery. If you let the Streak boot normally, StreakMod Recovery gets overwritten. If you're trying to install StreakDroid, then you need to hold down volume down and up as soon as you finish flashing StreakMod Recovery via Fastboot to use it.
Custom ROMs do not have the problem with recovery images being overwritten.
2. The recommended method of rooting a Streak is to flash StreakMod Recovery and then flashing Superuser.zip through it. One click rooting methods are not 100% reliable. The OP is attempting to flash a custom ROM, which doesn't require flashing Superuser.zip. It DOES require flashing StreakMod Recovery.
3. AT&T was supposed to permit sideloading on newer AT&T ROMs. Go to Settings>Applications and make sure "Unknown Sources" is checked. If the option is not present in the ROM, then either the ROM must be changed or a PC application such as the Sideload Wonder Machine must be used.
OP, you were attempting to change the ROM to StreakDroid. Did you change your mind?

@Strephon Alkhalikoi man, just when i thought all hope was lost, your 1. step did it all thank you sooooooo much for finally having my problem solved
also thanks to marvin02 and androidunia for trying to help me, i appreciate it

Hit the thanks button next to my post, Marvin's post, and androidunia's post if we helped out.

taylorgang809 said:
@Strephon Alkhalikoi man, just when i thought all hope was lost, your 1. step did it all thank you sooooooo much for finally having my problem solved
also thanks to marvin02 and androidunia for trying to help me, i appreciate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gee - the same info was available from my first post in this thread. All you had to do was click on a link and actually read. If you had you would have had the answer less then an hour after your OP.

marvin02 said:
Gee - the same info was available from my first post in this thread. All you had to do was click on a link and actually read. If you had you would have had the answer less then an hour after your OP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1......right !

[SOLVED] Vibrant Root Concerns

Hey there. I rooted my Vibrant successfully, but realized I left some important things out. I used this guide to root my Vibrant: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=723479
The problems:
1) I can't nandroid (not that I need to, I only have 4 apps)
2) I would like to install either Miui v4 or CyanogenMod 9 but cannot as my recovery screen does not show me the options to do so (I only get the 4 options you normally would get unrooted, such as "Reinstall Packages"), so I'm stuck with the lame default homescreen.
3) I'm currently on 2.1-update1; should I upgrade to 2.2? If so, must I unroot to upgrade, and then reroot? And if this were the case, how do you unroot, and can I reroot using the same method in the link above?
Also, I was looking at this guide: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Sa...te_Guide#Installing_the_ClockworkMod_Recovery
and noticed the line "This guide assumes the Samsung Vibrant already has Android 2.2 build UVKB5 already installed on it."
Does this mean 2.2 is required to install the CWM Recovery?
Thank you.

I'm not sure how you don't have CWM recovery if you followed the guide as it is written. Maybe its because the 2.1 is updated? I would do the following and see if that's all it takes. You definitely don't want to update to stock 2.2 via Kies or anything of that nature.
Worst case scenario, we can have you Odin back to stock JFD. You'll be smooth sailing from there.
Search the forums and find the update.zip for CWM for our Vibrant.
Put that on the lowest level of your INTERNAL storage. Not your microsd card. For example f:\update.zip
Now go to your boring 4 option stock recovery and select reinstall packages. It will reboot to the same boring screen. Select reinstall packages again, and it will reboot into Clockwork Mod Recovery.
Let me know if that does anything for you. Also what version of stock recovery do you have?

Toast6977 said:
Search the forums and find the update.zip for CWM for our Vibrant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can pull that directly from my signature, if OP wants. (Only works on Eclair [JFD] build btw)
Also OP, You will have to have a ROM that you are going to want to flash saved on your Internal SD card. Jsut download it, put in a folder and follow the ROM OP's instructions. Since you are fresh and new, I would NOT suggest flashing anything of ICS or JB until you get the hang of things first.
Read, read and then read somemore. When it comes time to flash ICS or beyond, there is a guide in my signature. Good luck and make sure to hit Toast's "Thanks" button. He is a good asset to have around here.

Wow! I was hesitant to even check today, let it alone this early! Did not think that I would have two very useful replies waiting for me. Thanks guys, much appreciated!
I'll try the Odin thing out first before I even try to flash (you need root first before flashing, I'm assuming). Just out of curiosity, what is JFD and Odin? I'm still gonna try it out using the guides found here, but just curious.
EDIT: Damn, it worked like a charm! Now I have CWM. The mistake I made was that I only installed the Superuser/ROOT and not both. Gonna play with it for a bit now

I'm glad that your issue was solved
If you have any other questions/issues feel free to hit us up. We tend to lurk around these parts from time to time.
--you could now modify the title of this post to add [Solved] to the title or contact Oka1 and let him know it's case closed.--

Toast6977 said:
I'm glad that your issue was solved
If you have any other questions/issues feel free to hit us up. We tend to lurk around these parts from time to time.
--you could now modify the title of this post to add [Solved] to the title or contact Oka1 and let him know it's case closed.--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for teaching me the etiquette around here as well