Database Users

Before i root my sprint Hero..... ???

FYI, I to have some Linux/unix experience, but I'm getting rusty. I have never rooted an Android device, but I have on a Palm Pre....
Ok, so now I have instructions on how to root my hero from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581577
And I really want a fix for this bug ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581806 ), as well as to run apps2sd, wifi-tether etc.
But before I do, I want to make sure my bases are covered. I've done some searching on the forums, and I keep getting bogged down in a number of lengthy discussions, that don't quite answer everything, so I will ask for some help here.
When I make a recovery rom using the above steps, will that be for a factory fresh install, if I use it to recover? Or, do I have to wipe the phone, and then make the recovery rom image?
If needed, how do I do a restore, using the recovery rom?
How am I supposed to make a Nandroid backup? All I can find are the source code. Where are some executables I can use?
If I need to restore using Nandroid how do I do it? The provided instructions tell me to use the camera button (G1), but my Hero doesn't have one.
Is there anything else I need to do, to make sure I can get back to a factory stock, non-rooted device if needed?
Is there anything else i need to do, so that I can run stuff likes apps2sd, wifi-tether, or any of the root apps at the market?
thanks

fx17 said:
FYI, I to have some Linux/unix experience, but I'm getting rusty. I have never rooted an Android device, but I have on a Palm Pre....
Ok, so now I have instructions on how to root my hero from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581577
And I really want a fix for this bug ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581806 ), as well as to run apps2sd, wifi-tether etc.
But before I do, I want to make sure my bases are covered. I've done some searching on the forums, and I keep getting bogged down in a number of lengthy discussions, that don't quite answer everything, so I will ask for some help here.
When I make a recovery rom using the above steps, will that be for a factory fresh install, if I use it to recover? Or, do I have to wipe the phone, and then make the recovery rom image?
If needed, how do I do a restore, using the recovery rom?
How am I supposed to make a Nandroid backup? All I can find are the source code. Where are some executables I can use?
If I need to restore using Nandroid how do I do it? The provided instructions tell me to use the camera button (G1), but my Hero doesn't have one.
Is there anything else I need to do, to make sure I can get back to a factory stock, non-rooted device if needed?
Is there anything else i need to do, so that I can run stuff likes apps2sd, wifi-tether, or any of the root apps at the market?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for seperating out all your questions! That makes it a lot easier to read!
Ok, time for answers...*cracks fingers*
Recovery ROM doesn't modify your OS, just changes the OS it boots into when you go into "Recovery Mode" (Volume Down+Power, then Home). This is where Nandroid will be (there's a backup and a restore option there...it drops the backup to the sdcard).
When you flash a recovery image, you are still on the factory/stock OS, nothing has changed there. However, if you want to go back after a custom ROM, the Nandroid restore option will be there to pop you back (as if you never left!).
If you want to go back to factory settings, as if you just bought it, there's an official RUU (Rom Update Utility) you can download...check out the stickies in the android development section.
Root things just require the "asroot2" instructions (one of the threads in this forum (How to Root)...shouldn't be hard to spot). That's all that's needed to my understanding.
The Recovery ROM is more just there for Nandroid and if you want to install a custom ROM (like MoDaCo's).
Hope I didn't miss anything!
EDIT: Oh and one more thing, Nandroid just makes an image of the last Nandroid backup to the sdcard. If you want (and I do this), after a nandroid backup, copy off the nandroid folder and rename it (I did nandroid-[date or changes]). Then you can go back to any point in time, drop the folder back in, rename it to "nandroid" and restore.

I'll take a stab
fx17 said:
FYI, I to have some Linux/unix experience, but I'm getting rusty. I have never rooted an Android device, but I have on a Palm Pre....
Ok, so now I have instructions on how to root my hero from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581577
And I really want a fix for this bug ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581806 ), as well as to run apps2sd, wifi-tether etc.
But before I do, I want to make sure my bases are covered. I've done some searching on the forums, and I keep getting bogged down in a number of lengthy discussions, that don't quite answer everything, so I will ask for some help here.
When I make a recovery rom using the above steps, will that be for a factory fresh install, if I use it to recover? Or, do I have to wipe the phone, and then make the recovery rom image?
When you use the recovery image you have the option to do a complete wipe/factory install or flash a backed up ROM that you made (Restore).
If needed, how do I do a restore, using the recovery rom?
Just hold down the home button then press the power button which will get you into the recovery screen. From there select restore option.
How am I supposed to make a Nandroid backup? All I can find are the source code. Where are some executables I can use?
After you root your phone you need to flash the recovery image file onto your phone. This will allow you to got into recovery mode by hitting the home/power button as stated above.
If I need to restore using Nandroid how do I do it? The provided instructions tell me to use the camera button (G1), but my Hero doesn't have one.
Home/power button.
Is there anything else I need to do, to make sure I can get back to a factory stock, non-rooted device if needed?
Nope, there is a stock RUU floating around here someplace so if you need it to be unrooted again you can flash that. Otherwise, you can just do the "Factory reset" option from the recovery menu.
Is there anything else i need to do, so that I can run stuff likes apps2sd, wifi-tether, or any of the root apps at the market?
Apps2sd is built into the modaco custom ROM so all you need to do is format the SD card. And wifi is included as well and works on modaco too. If not flashing to modaco then you will need to install apps2sd and format your SD card for it to work. Wifi tethering currently does not work for some reason on a regular rooted ROM.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope that helps.

fx17 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581577
When I make a recovery rom using the above steps, will that be for a factory fresh install, if I use it to recover? Or, do I have to wipe the phone, and then make the recovery rom image?
If needed, how do I do a restore, using the recovery rom?
How am I supposed to make a Nandroid backup? All I can find are the source code. Where are some executables I can use?
If I need to restore using Nandroid how do I do it? The provided instructions tell me to use the camera button (G1), but my Hero doesn't have one.
Is there anything else I need to do, to make sure I can get back to a factory stock, non-rooted device if needed?
Is there anything else i need to do, so that I can run stuff likes apps2sd, wifi-tether, or any of the root apps at the market?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lots-o-questions
1)that guide will work just fine
2)recovery rom isn't a "recovery" of your stuff, you are pushing a custom recovery environment so you can flash custom files on your phone
3)there's a nandroid backup application once you flash the custom recovery to your phone, try backing up, then restoreing to build confidence (backup your /sdcard/nandroid afterwords)
4)don't worry about that... it's in the custom recovery... you'll see it once you flash it to your phone... and the custom recovery will not effect any functionality if you just want to stop at that step and take a breather... it's kinda stressfull
5)self explanitory once you get in there... it's like option 3 in custom recovery once you flash it to your phone
6)find the cdma sprint RUU ... there's links to it spralled across this forum and if you check my past posts I just posted a link to it eairlier today and yesterday evening
7)all the apps you mentioned are built into modoco's custom cdma rom in this thread and work fine out of the box.... i can't vouche for apps2sd cause i only flashed his 1.1 build.... haven't tried 1.2 yet
hope this helps.... and agian... the info is out there if you are willing to find it and if one of us gets a chance we'll try to find answers to the problems you have along the way

so where do I find Nandroid executables?
thanks

OK, I think I got it. The recovery image is just a small file you flash to the device that lets you load other roms. Is that right?
Its the RUU rom, nandroid, or custom roms that you load using the recovery mode right?
thanks

fx17 said:
so where do I find Nandroid executables?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not an executable file, it's an image file. It's in the how-to link you posted above. "download http://www.androidspin.com/downloads...roc-v1.2.3.img and place that into the same directory you extracted asroot2."
After you successfully root your phone you need to follow the directions at the end of the how-to in order to flash this image to your phone. This is basically like a "bootloader".
Once you have done this, the next time you hold down home while pressing power you will get the following screen...
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
This is where you do your flashing/backups/restore.

That's pretty much right!

Now I get it. Most of the work has been done! that makes it a lot easier.
thanks guys.
One final question. how big are the backups that nandroid makes? How much free space do I need on my sd card?

fx17 said:
One final question. how big are the backups that nandroid makes? How much free space do I need on my sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was somewhere around 240MB.

thanks guys! this forum is the best!
Got my Hero rooted, recovery flashed, and nandroid backup made!

does the nandroid backup make a copy of your system apps just in case I want them back after I wipe my phone?

kr9091 said:
does the nandroid backup make a copy of your system apps just in case I want them back after I wipe my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes.
basically its a image of the phone at that moment in time.
so you should always backup before you flash anything (themes, roms, beta apps) and i try to backup at least once a week just in case anything happens.
you can copy your nandroid folder to your PC also, that will keep your backup safe if you format/mess up the sd card.
if all else fails, then you can always RUU back to the shipped software and start over at square 1

thedudejdog said:
yes.
basically its a image of the phone at that moment in time.
so you should always backup before you flash anything (themes, roms, beta apps) and i try to backup at least once a week just in case anything happens.
you can copy your nandroid folder to your PC also, that will keep your backup safe if you format/mess up the sd card.
if all else fails, then you can always RUU back to the shipped software and start over at square 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks for the quick reply. Is there really any advantages of wiping my phone instead of just installing a custom ROM over the stock? I have been searching for DAYS here on the forums but can't seem to find a straight answer. Thanks again for all the help!!

kr9091 said:
Awesome thanks for the quick reply. Is there really any advantages of wiping my phone instead of just installing a custom ROM over the stock? I have been searching for DAYS here on the forums but can't seem to find a straight answer. Thanks again for all the help!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some roms will need a wipe before flashing. but others you can get away with no wipe.
pretty much, if you change firmware (1.6,2.0,2.1) you will have to wipe before it will boot. but if you just flash a android 1.5 rom (ttg, fresh, modaco, gumbo, gutted...the list goes on) you shouldn't need to wipe, it is recommended if you have any problems tho.
android isn't like windows mobile you can flash rom after rom after rom on-top of the other as long as you don't change firmware versions (for the most part)
so.... if after the flash you have a lot of force-close messages or if the phone doesn't boot you will need to wipe data. but other than that you should be good.

If you are flashing an Android 1.5 based ROM, you usually don't have to wipe before flashing; I do so I have a clean slate to flash on. If you are flashing a non-Android 1.5 based ROM, then you do have to wipe, or at least it's highly recommended.
EDIT: Damn thedudejdog beat me to it. I need to stop bouncing around so many tabs

Awesome Thanks so much for the help!! All of you guys in the forums are awesome!!! Keep up the good work!!

[GUIDE] A500 Back to Factory Stock the easy way.

This is a good way to bring an A500 back to full stock from just about any rom, custom or stock rooted. You need to already have CWM installed.
WIPE SYSTEM/DATA/CACHE/DELVIC FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you don't already have your UID and SBK get those first and back them up in multiple locations!!!!!!!!!!!!
This quote is shamelessly plagiarized from an answer posted by Moscow Desire on a different thread. Drop in and say thanks to him if it does you some good.
Moscow Desire said:
When you install a custom Rom, you have to wipe the original Data first. This is done in the CWM recovery which you installed.
EDIT; Here are two Gen 1 roms provided by dibb_nz . Please say thanks to her.
HC_3.2_Gen_1_OTA_update.zip
HC 3.1_Gen_1_FULL_update.zip
When you boot to CWM Recovery, you have a menu item "Wipes"
In Wipes;
1. Data/Factory Reset (don't worry, it skips your photos and such)
2. Cache
3. Dalvik Cache
Wait, you're not finished.
Go back to the previous menu, and select "Mounts and Storage".
1. Format System
2. Format Flexrom
Now, go back to the previous menu, and select Install Zip from SD (or similar)
MD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are going to lose all data. I make nandroid backups with data toggled everytime that I do anything to my tablet. Do you?
After following the above instructions,
Just simply flash a stock 3.2 image. It's really too simple. Flash it in recovery. This even works while using the patched bootloader by skryllax_cz. There are a selection of roms midway down this post and at the bottom. Any of them should work for this.
When the 3.2 finishes it's flash and you reboot. The tablet will show "Flashing Bootloader" under the custom skryllax_cz text.
It will reboot on it's own.
That's it. You should be able to OTA.
I recommend going to the Play store and downloading/install the Acer Update Enhancement utility after the tablet settles down.
However, my tablet downloaded a small update right away without it.
Here is an additional option as suggested by dibb_nz in the 11th post below. drop down and say thanks if it helped!
dibb_nz said:
Just a thought, the update zips can be flashed in 2 ways.
If u use the stock recovery then rename the file to "update.zip" and remember to remove it from yr sdcard after you're done. This is really important!! You'll end up in strife if u don't!!
With a custom recovery then use install zip option.
With the 3.1 zip u can retrieve yr cpuid (if u need to) then update to the unlocked ICS bootloader directly. This isn't possible with the 3.2 zip
Have a gr8 day people
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck and please post your results. Thanks.
Here's a link to a stock 3.1 https://www.dropbox.com/s/fpdy13u4ufec461/Acer_A500_4.010.38_COM_GEN1.zip. It is probably easier to go with one of the 3.2 roms below. But if you want it there it is.
(Directions; Flash the stock 3.1 (Acer_A500_4.010.38_COM_GEN1.zip) AFTER WIPING SYSTEM/CACHE/DATA/DELVIC, reboot, then ota to ICS. After you do the first OTA and it reboots it will say a Flashing Bootloader message then reboot with all stock everything.)
Stock 3.2 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/fpdy13u4ufec461/Acer_A500_4.010.38_COM_GEN1.zip
Stock 3.2 provided by dibb_nz - http://www.4shared.com/zip/GgHzZieZ/HC_32_update.html
Here are two Gen 1 roms provided by dibb_nz. Please say thanks to her.
HC_3.2_Gen_1_OTA_update.zip
HC 3.1_Gen_1_FULL_update.zip
New Link
jasenlee1984 had success using Acer_A500_7.006.03_COM_GEN1 3.2 rom from blackthund3r's stock firmware thread, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1816560
If it helps you, click his name and then the thanks button.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
I have included post 20 from below. It is a guide for getting recovery back should something go wrong. What it will do is install CWM as well as the V8 bootloader. After that you can start all over or flash whatever you want.
I prefer to use Blackthund3rs APX Flash Tool. To get the apx tool google this. blackthund3r apx tool
Basically what you will do is get the tool, open it, choose bundle market, choose 17, use default bct, enter APX download mode, and flash the V8 bootloader with CWM.
The steps are... (Copied from here.)
Step 1.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
I used number 17.
Step 5.
Step 6.
Step 7.
I used the default since my tab was fried.
Step 8.
At this point you will have to choose to enter APX mode manually. Follow the instructions on the next screen.
Once you are in APX mode and plugged into the pc you should see the message APX device connected. Choose the next arrow, once it runs for a few seconds it will ask you to confirm that the APX download mode has started.
Once it has. Confirm and wait for it to finish. Get into CWM, flash the rom and you should be good to go.
But other than that you should be back to normal in no time.
Good luck.
And again with the links.
Here's a link to a stock 3.1 https://www.dropbox.com/s/fpdy13u4ufec461/Acer_A500_4.010.38_COM_GEN1.zip. It is probably easier to go with one of the 3.2 roms below. But if you want it there it is.
(Directions; Flash the stock 3.1 (Acer_A500_4.010.38_COM_GEN1.zip) AFTER WIPING SYSTEM/CACHE/DATA/DELVIC, reboot, then ota to ICS. After you do the first OTA and it reboots it will say a Flashing Bootloader message then reboot with all stock everything.)
Stock 3.2 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/fpdy13u4ufec461/Acer_A500_4.010.38_COM_GEN1.zip
Stock 3.2 provided by dibb_nz - http://www.4shared.com/zip/GgHzZieZ/HC_32_update.html
Here are two Gen 1 roms provided by dibb_nz. Please say thanks to her.
HC_3.2_Gen_1_OTA_update.zip
HC 3.1_Gen_1_FULL_update.zip
New Link
jasenlee1984 had success using Acer_A500_7.006.03_COM_GEN1 3.2 rom from blackthund3r's stock firmware thread, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1816560
If it helps you, click his name and then the thanks button.

edit: update 16th Dec
GUYSnGURLZ I have uploaded a folder for you....its the 3.1 Full Update and includes iconiaroot.apk and acer recovery intaller.apk
There's also a readme file in there how to install, root and flash a custom recovery...enjoy
http://www.mediafire.com/?9hsmbilzz4c1a
@ jdgM3NT4L Excellent Post/Thread and thanks for this its sooooooo easy, nice find!

dibb_nz said:
hi m8 I have it uploaded to 4shared if that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks. I'd be glad to link to it if you don't mind.
dibb_nz said:
Did this again yesterday on v6 still w8n for OTA, flashed v8from HC but nothing as yet,
maybe need v8 from ICS?? I give it a few hours more, missing stryker, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you update from the Play Store that silly Acer Enhancement app or whatever it is called?
dibb_nz said:
And thanks for this its sooooooo easy, nice find!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for all that you do here. You're really saving alot of peoples arses lately.
Kinda curious. Did this method work for the A501 folks?

not working for me
followed the instructions as posted, still waiting on the OTA update to ICS
i can't even boot into CWM now, i get a android robot with a yellow exclamation mark.
how can i fix it? plz help
thanks

The Stock rom that you put on is just that... Stock. So you lost CWM when you flashed it.
What you can do now is...
a: Wait for a little bit, check for updates again.
b: This one kind of blows the whole point of doing the downgrade in the first place. But... Use this and get Root. Install Acer Recovery Installer from the Play Store and install a custom recovery.
c: This one at your own risk. Mainly because I have not tested this way and I have no idea if the bootloader will flash properly or not. Go here and get the update for a 3.2 (Acer_A500_7.006.01_COM_GEN2) stock rom, then see if you can update the rest of the way to ICS. Be sure to put it in the root of your SD card and name it properly to update.zip. Then reboot as if you are going into CWM. If you want to wait until tomorrow I am downloading the roms tonight and I will test it. Should be finished by noon Central U.S. time (-06:00gmt)
d: Go here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1205204&highlight=cwm+honeycomb+3+1 and look around. See if any of the options there suit you better.
Good luck.
And if you have any more trouble say the word.
EDIT. I am having a pretty busy day. I'll have to try this a little later this afternoon. Sorry if you are waiting.

JdgM3NT4L said:
Hey thanks. I'd be glad to link to it if you don't mind.
Did you update from the Play Store that silly Acer Enhancement app or whatever it is called?
Thank you for all that you do here. You're really saving alot of peoples arses lately.
Kinda curious. Did this method work for the A501 folks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ended up flashing my old 3.2 update.zip and it OTA'd me all the way to ICS from that??
Yep 2nd time I tried it I had enhancement app
PM'd u really links, I also uploaded the update. Zip if folks want it 7.006.03gen1
And thanks for yr kind words J all part of the service
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium HD app

Frozen Goodness
Thanks for this easy pass. I used this yesterday and the OTA'd my way to ICS and then used Blackthun3ers tools to root and install the V8 bootloader. All in all it was pretty painless.

Glad that it worked for you. I've updated the first post. Sorry for putting you through the extra step of installing 3.1. It seems to work even better when I just flash a nice stock 3.2.
New links posted for going directly to 3.2 Honeycomb Stock with factory bootloader in the OP.
And again. This is safe to do when running any bootloader. If you want full stock. This works well.
And thanks a million dibb_nz. So glad you're here to help out.

So this method works also for ICS bootloader?

knevski said:
So this method works also for ICS bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to work with any boot loader. Just wipe first or be prepared to have problems.
It is easy to fix, but a bit of a pain.

Just a thought, the update zips can be flashed in 2 ways.
If u use the stock recovery then rename the file to "update.zip" and remember to remove it from yr sdcard after you're done. This is really important!! You'll end up in strife if u don't!!
With a custom recovery then use install zip option.
With the 3.1 zip u can retrieve yr cpuid (if u need to) then update to the unlocked ICS bootloader directly. This isn't possible with the 3.2 zip
Cannot confirm whether we can repair borked partitions with this, has anyone tried it??? Would save alot of probs some have had with drivers and apx mode...
Have a gr8 day people
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium HD app

dibb_nz said:
Just a thought, the update zips can be flashed in 2 ways.
If u use the stock recovery then rename the file to "update.zip" and remember to remove it from yr sdcard after you're done. This is really important!! You'll end up in strife if u don't!!
With a custom recovery then use install zip option.
With the 3.1 zip u can retrieve yr cpuid (if u need to) then update to the unlocked ICS bootloader directly. This isn't possible with the 3.2 zip
Cannot confirm whether we can repair borked partitions with this, has anyone tried it??? Would save alot of probs some have had with drivers and apx mode...
Have a gr8 day people
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for adding the good info.
I agree with your assesment of 3.2 HC. It's really only good to me as a waypoint on the path to full stock ICS.
I don't know if the 3.2 rom repairs the partitions or not. I would not be terribly suprised if it did fix those.
You can flash the unlocked ICS bootloader to the 3.2. But, the only good ( And this is pretty good) thing that doing this does is...
On the reboot from the pass screen hold your volume rocker. Depending on the one that you press, you'll either get the boot options. Or you'll boot to CWM. It is great to fix the bootloop issue if you are as goofy as I was and forgot to wipe first.

This was how I tried to do it a few weeks ago, through the stock recovery, and I got stuck in a bootloop
BUT, I did the thing where you hold down Vol Up+ Power then flick the switch back and forth and that got me booted into stock HC

Wow this is awesome! Cannot believe how easy this was. Worked flawlessly. I flashed the stock 3.2 rom, booted up and DL the acer app right away then checked for updates. After a few websites, I was on stock ICS. Thanks!

Thanks for posting your results guys. Glad that it worked for you.

Thumbs up to every post in this thread
I used all of my daily thanks on this thread, it was more than helpful to me. The information in this thread is clear and precise as well as very easy to follow. Because of this thread I am now on stock Android 4.0.3 finally.
Let me give a little back story. I bought my Iconia A500 in August of 2011 and loved it. Within the first night I had it I had Clockwork Mod Recovery on it with a custom 3.2 ROM on it. I had my A500 for about 2 months and then life through me a curve and I lost my job week made my finances really tight so I had to pawn my beloved A500. I know I know how could I dare do that, but like I said my finances got bad tight. I managed to get another job about two months after I pawned it but I could not ever seem to get enough cash saved to get it out of pawn but I did manage to pay the renewal fee on it every month until this last Monday when I finally got it out of pawn.
Now I had been reading thread after thread to learn how to go back to stock so I could do the OTA update. I found this thread earlier today and now I after a flash of the file I downloaded from the four share link in the OP and three separate OTA updates my tablet is on ICS. A big thanks to everyone that posted in this thread. In my opinion it should be made a stickie.

T-Macgnolia said:
I used all of my daily thanks on this thread, it was more than helpful to me. The information in this thread is clear and precise as well as very easy to follow. Because of this thread I am now on stock Android 4.0.3 finally.
Let me give a little back story. I bought my Iconia A500 in August of 2011 and loved it. Within the first night I had it I had Clockwork Mod Recovery on it with a custom 3.2 ROM on it. I had my A500 for about 2 months and then life through me a curve and I lost my job week made my finances really tight so I had to pawn my beloved A500. I know I know how could I dare do that, but like I said my finances got bad tight. I managed to get another job about two months after I pawned it but I could not ever seem to get enough cash saved to get it out of pawn but I did manage to pay the renewal fee on it every month until this last Monday when I finally got it out of pawn.
Now I had been reading thread after thread to learn how to go back to stock so I could do the OTA update. I found this thread earlier today and now I after a flash of the file I downloaded from the four share link in the OP and three separate OTA updates my tablet is on ICS. A big thanks to everyone that posted in this thread. In my opinion it should be made a stickie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope you get to enjoy your tablet now that you've got it back!
And thanks for the kind words. I'm very glad that it helped you.

T-Macgnolia said:
I used all of my daily thanks on this thread, it was more than helpful to me. The information in this thread is clear and precise as well as very easy to follow. Because of this thread I am now on stock Android 4.0.3 finally.
Let me give a little back story. I bought my Iconia A500 in August of 2011 and loved it. Within the first night I had it I had Clockwork Mod Recovery on it with a custom 3.2 ROM on it. I had my A500 for about 2 months and then life through me a curve and I lost my job week made my finances really tight so I had to pawn my beloved A500. I know I know how could I dare do that, but like I said my finances got bad tight. I managed to get another job about two months after I pawned it but I could not ever seem to get enough cash saved to get it out of pawn but I did manage to pay the renewal fee on it every month until this last Monday when I finally got it out of pawn.
Now I had been reading thread after thread to learn how to go back to stock so I could do the OTA update. I found this thread earlier today and now I after a flash of the file I downloaded from the four share link in the OP and three separate OTA updates my tablet is on ICS. A big thanks to everyone that posted in this thread. In my opinion it should be made a stickie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We have some of the best people in the XDA community right here at this forum. Some really good helpers and knowledgable folks.
Makes me glad to be a Mod.
Kudos people.
MD

man i suck so bad at this. well, i followed all your steps exactly from what i could tell. i mean there weren't that many nor were they complicated. now i have a continuous android with gears logo that never ends when i boot normally and when i go to recovery its an android with an exclamation. wtf did i do to screw this so bad. do i need to run linux now to fix this garbage or just chuck this pos. damn acer, ever since i updated to ics it was downhill and me tryin to fix it since then. probably me just not leet enough to fix it myself im guessing. id appreciate any suggestions on how to dig myself out of this. thnaks.

raotheconqueror said:
man i suck so bad at this. well, i followed all your steps exactly from what i could tell. i mean there weren't that many nor were they complicated. now i have a continuous android with gears logo that never ends when i boot normally and when i go to recovery its an android with an exclamation. wtf did i do to screw this so bad. do i need to run linux now to fix this garbage or just chuck this pos. damn acer, ever since i updated to ics it was downhill and me tryin to fix it since then. probably me just not leet enough to fix it myself im guessing. id appreciate any suggestions on how to dig myself out of this. thnaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, sorry to hear that you are having problems. The good news is as long as you followed my big red warning about having your sbk you aren't in too bad of shape. The only reason to do the linux thing is if you did not get your sbk/uid.
There is more than one way to take care of this. I prefer to use Blackthund3rs APX Flash Tool. To get the apx tool google this. blackthund3r apx tool
Basically what you will do is get the tool, open it, choose bundle market, choose 17, use default bct, enter APX download mode, and flash the V8 bootloader with CWM. After that you can start all over or flash whatever you want.
The steps are... (Copied from here.)
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
I used number 17.
Step 5.
Step 6.
Step 7.
I used the default since my tab was fried.
Step 8.
At this point you will have to choose to enter APX mode manually. Follow the instructions on the next screen.
Once you are in APX mode and plugged into the pc you should see the message APX device connected. Choose the next arrow, once it runs for a few seconds it will ask you to confirm that the APX download mode has started.
Once it has. Confirm and wait for it to finish. Get into CWM, flash the rom and you should be good to go.
But other than that you should be back to normal in no time. To get the apx tool google this. blackthund3r apx tool
Good luck.
EDIT; Here are two Gen 1 roms provided by dibb_nz. Please say thanks to her.
HC_3.2_Gen_1_OTA_update.zip
HC 3.1_Gen_1_FULL_update.zip

[HOWTO] Rooting + Wiping + Flashing : For the ultimate noob.

Note from rootsu:
XDA staff have transferred ownership of this thread to me so that I can update the rooting methods. The reason for this is because the rooting method contained within is outdated and since identified as unsafe.
I have PM'd the original OP @Stormlister to update the thread but unfortunately have received no response.
I aim to keep the structure of the thread in tact. I am only here to edit out / replace outdated and unsafe methods contained within this thread. The work below is not my own.
Disclaimer:
This guide is for total noobs (I am one myself). Until the information here can be confirmed by an experienced person please don't bet on the fact that this information is 100% accurate. I studied and put together bits and pieces of information that I found everywhere, tried it and it worked. I will mention the sources. Even though its probably not a good idea for a noob to write any sort of guide, these were taken from working sources, I have tried it myself and all works flawlessly.
About me:
I write open source software and also write documentation.
Why:
I wrote this tutorial as I found the scattered information all over kinda confusing on the subject of flashing, wiping and ROMS.
Who's it for?
You already know what you want to do, but don't know where to start.
THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Getting Started - Rooting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Root means you are opening the operating system to allow a user or application full read and write access. This is needed by some special applications to change operating system files. For example the "Adfree" application changes system files to block certain domains which completely stops ads from showing up on your phone. Unlike other systems like in the iOS, all the root applications are available in the Google Play store, I think Google is great for allowing this.
The main thing I root first even though it is not needed to flash a rom is the fact that you ALWAYS need to make a backup, if something goes wrong you have a something to fall back on and the friendly xda community can help us get things running again.
The easiest way I found to quickly and safely root was by using the following software:
ODIN (Desktop software) (Incorrect usage may make your phone unusable.)
Before you start using Odin, make sure all the Kies* services on your desktop is stopped. (On Windows, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, go to task manager, services and stop it from there). Infact you should consider uninstalling Kies altogether as it is really not needed if you are going to root. There are more than enough backup software that does not add the bloatware.
This piece of genius is a tool to flash among other things a new ROM to your phone.
We will be using this piece of software twice, first to root it, and then to flash your S3 with a new ROM.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<rootsu insert>
Recommended methods to "root" depending on your requirements...
1) You want root only. No custom ROMs, kernels etc. Just root, just to use root apps.
CF Auto Root Via Odin
Why? Tried and tested method, simple to use. No need to choose what exploit you want to use as it's tailored for your device.
What does it do? It gives you a stock recovery (so can't flash things) and roots the Android OS
The Steps:
1) Download the Latest Odin
2) Download CF-Auto-Root for your model
3) Follow These steps to root
2) You want to flash custom ROMs / Kernels
If you want root on your existing Android ROM, you can do 1) first. Then flash a recovery of your choice (CWM, Philz, TWRP) via Odin
However, if you immediately plan on flashing a ROM, there's no need to root your existing ROM. Simply skip straight to installing a recovery. Backup then flash what you like.
The Steps:
1) Download the Latest Odin
2) Download recovery of your choice CWM, Philz, TWRP
3) Follow The steps to Flash Philz recovery (But for the recovery of your choice)
These steps can also be followed to update recovery to newer versions
</rootsu insert>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Difficulty: Easy
After you have completed the tutorial your phone should be rooted and ready to go to the next step.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Backing up
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next thing we will need to do is backup our current apps, settings and even ROM. Now that the phone is rooted we can install a few applications to help with this process. Lets do this now.
In Google Play Store, search and install:
Titanium Backup (Google Play)
With this tool, you will be able to backup application and settings of your current installation.
To do so;
Open Titanium Backup
At some point it will ask for root access, you will need to allow it root access.
Click on Backup/Restore.
It will show you a list of software.
Click the ok tick top right.
It will now show a list of actions you can take.
You will now [ RUN ] Backup all user apps+ system data.
It will flip to a new screen, click top right ok tick again.
The backup process will take a few minutes.
After the backup completes, we will need to copy it to a safe place, just in case something else goes wrong.
With above explained, there are more optimized Titanium Backup methods, this is a must read:
http://checkrom.com/threads/titanium-backup-explained.433/
You could also backup your whole system from the boot menu of ClockWorkMod / custom recovery - which you will already have if you used the rooting method above. Have a look at this short yet very informative video to do just that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPvNr7LqP30&feature=related
Difficulty: Easy
Bear in mind that custom recoveries vary, they all work pretty much the same. The backup is referred to as a "nandroid" backup, but in the recovery menus, it may well be referred to as simply "backup and restore".
To boot into whichever custom recovery you have installed, power off the phone. From off, hold Volume Up + Home then press and hold Power until the S3 splash screen shows. Release power. Once in recovery, find the backup and restore menu and take a backup.
There is one more place you need to manually write down some settings, the APN for your data and MMS, this is the only area besides the branding when another countries stock rom might affect you if you chose to use it. So head over to;
Settings->More Settings->Mobile Networks->Access Point Names.
Click on each and write down its settings.
Backing up EFS folder
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The EFS is a filesystem folder which contains important information like for instance your IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number, even though I cant find any evidence that anyone lost their EFS folder yet, I think it is probably important enough to back it up. First open your favorite file browser like ASTRO and click on your internal build in sdcard0 and see if you have a efs_Backup folder. If you have such a folder its is probably backup up inside already. To be honest, I dont know what backed mine up, but it was there, and it will be likely there if you followed the procedures listed in the collection of this tutorial.
However, the folder is only 6mb, if you don't have such a backed up folder, using an application like KTOOL, gives you the ability to backup the whole "/efs" folder to wherever you like. The external SSD and also your PC would be a good idea to back it up to.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Difficulty: Easy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROM - Hunting for a new rom
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************************************************
My ROM is not YOUR ROM
But I have an S3, wtf is this? Note that when hunting for a ROM that you make sure it is either based on your models ROM or supports your models ROM. The reason this should be noted is because the models are so profoundly different, from Dual Core to Quad Core, from 1GB memory to 2GB memory etc. This means each ROM is optimized of based on a specific model. If you have the GT-I9300, you have the most popular model which has a lot of custom ROMS.
Read more about the differences here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1870827
************************************************************************************************************
This is where I got confused, I did not know if I had to match the code base of my factory stock rom to the rom I wanted. I was afraid that it might flash my modems software making my phone unusable with my service provider. It seems that the rom file is only to flash the actual OS and wont include the modem flash too.
So what ROM to pick, there seems to be very good ROMS out there, but know, the further you go away from the stock rom, the more difficult things become. You might just want to upgrade to the latest Jelly Bean and not worry about an improve stock Samsung rom. Or you might want to take it to a whole new level and perhaps install a pure Android rom (however, I noted a few people having trouble with the pure android rom, you really need to know what you are doing). But as I say, it seems things gets kinda tricky the further you move away from the Stock Rom.
Lets look at a few examples of solid roms:
At this stage we only have one stock rom available in Jelly Bean, this is most probably the safest bet when you only want to upgrade to Jelly Bean (If you do decide to just go with the safest rom, you can just root again after the rom was successfully flashed) [INTERNATIONAL GALAXY S3 ONLY] [DONT USE THIS ROM ON ANYTHING ELSE THAN INTERNATIONAL VERSION (IT WONT WORK)]:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646610
Now we can start looking at roms based on stock roms that was improved by a linux guru, very good example of such a rom which is very solid is Android Revolution HD, if you have other Samsung devices I would recommend sticking to this one as it comes stock with Allshare Play:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1797334
The most popular OMEGA rom for the S3 international, pure awesomeness:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1663656
Then you get completely customized roms like Cyanogenmod, this is next level roms and should probably only be tried once you are more confident with flashing ( . Y . )
Note that Cyanogenmod is very controversial for the international version of the S3, there are technical issues, and newer stable version is always behind, I would NOT go for Cyanogenmod at the moment..
http://www.cyanogenmod.com/
For a very nice list of roms and some explanations have a look at:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1674286
Now that you have your rom, lets continue.
Difficulty: Easy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wiping & Flashing - Cleaner Flashing Method
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[I will try and confirm all my findings below]
When people refer to the term wipe, it is my understanding that it means to delete the old ROM from various locations. This ensures a more clean installation, almost like its better to install Windows afresh instead of an upgrade. However, this is not Windows, its Linux, I am sure the logic behind this is because the way Linux works, it has certain files in certain directories, that if the file is there, the service is loaded automatically. Now if you had to replace a stock rom with something completely different, some of those auto loaded files will be left behind and you will be stuck with loaded services that should not be there. But this is just my experience, I am not sure if this completely accurate.
This is where things might start becoming slightly confusing. Many people seem to argue that when upgrading from a stock version to another stock version that you don't need to wipe, I completely agree with this, as this will almost be the same upgrade process the default upgrade will follow.
However, if you upgrade to a very different ROM, start paying attention, as things might just get slightly more complicated. This I have not tried myself yet, but it seems that for this to work you wont need Odin.
Some people also recommend formatting and not just deleting, I will even advice against this, this is the EXT4 filesystem, not some NTFS filesystem. I cannot see the real benefit of formatting.
At this stage I don't know how to wipe the phone if you are going to use the alternative Odin flashing method explained below, this I have done, tried and tested, working fine:
[Below method I use to flash my own international S3]
This is what you will be doing to install a custom rom while wiping it for a fresh install (make sure you have your titanium backups handy ):
Copy your ROM inside an easy locatable phone folder by browsing to it, from your PC and copying it to your phones folder using your micro USB cable. I strongly recommend using your External SD card as some roms may wipe your internal SD card leaving you without any ROM to update.. that will be very sad. :crying:
Boot into recovery (Vol up + Home + power from off)
You will see a new Unix like screen appear, use volume + and - to navigate up and down, home button is enter, and soft touch back button back is back.
Next we will wipe the phone (if your ROM does not have special instructions on wiping this is a standard method).
Goto Wipe Data/Factory Reset -> Yes
Goto Wipe Cache Partition -> Yes
Goto Advance -> Wipe Dalvik Cache -> Yes
Next Select Install Zip from SD Card (You may also mount External SD card and load ROMS from external SD card (I can recommend this))
It will take a while...
Reboot, and hope to god all is good.
I can confirm above works perfectly, I have flashed HD Revolution ROM successfully using above method.
BUT PLEASE BE WARNED: HD Revolution recommends using Super Wipe, the instructions are unclear, it says you must copy it to the your sd card, if you do this and copy it to your internal sd card all will be wiped including your images, I think you are screwed then. Rather copy them to your EXTERNAL SD card and choose zip from EXTERNAL SD card.
Or you can see a very clear example video of how to wipe data from your phone in preparation of a new rom;
Be aware, this video shows that you should UNLOCK your bootloader, some phones wont boot after this, don't do it except if you know you have to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJUCOtX1cUk
Difficulty: Medium
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALTERNATIVE Flashing - With Odin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have not followed the wiping method and you will just be going for the stock updated rom, you should not be needing any wiping, you can just download the stock rom as linked and follow this great guide:
STOCK ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646610
ODIN GUIDE
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1671969
Difficulty: Medium
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Restoring your data
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After you have are done with a successful flash, we want to recover our apps, but its not just a matter of recovering everything, it will be a mess if you do that.
Many people carry out a backup before installing a custom rom and didnt really understand what kind of backup they should of carried out and have just gone with what they have seen, WRONG!!! when it comes to custom roms there is only one type of backup you can do.
Custom roms have their own system files and dont like other system files being installed over it, you will definitely have rom problems if you carry out this kind of restore from a backup over a custom rom.
When using Titanium Backup its important not to use the settings - backup all system data and backup all user apps + system data, you cant use these with a custom rom, so dont try this kind of backup, this kind of backup is to restore your phone back to its previous state, should something go wrong with the rom installation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read more detail here:
http://checkrom.com/threads/titanium-backup-explained.433/
Difficulty: Easy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Getting rid of bloatware
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you went for a stock based ROM, you might want to get rid of all the SAMSUNG bloatware that sits in memory and really never gets used.
This is mostly all the "S" software like "S Suggest", I believe not a lot of people is going to use this for instance. And one can't simply uninstall it as it is hiden from uninstalling.
There is a very easy way if you are rooted though (another reason to root). Simply install the little greatness called "Nobloat Free" from the Play store.
Now select those bloatware you dont want and simply uninstall. But make sure it might not be useful for yourself. To give you an idea, "AllShare Play" might sound useless, however, if you have a XBMC media pc, by simply enabling "PNP" in the configuration, you can display photos and videos instantly from your G3, does not matter where you are in XBMC.
Difficulty: Very Easy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unrooting and getting back your Warranty!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At some stage you might want to sell your phone or it is giving you hardware issues that has nothing to do with software. At this stage you want to reset the phone to it 100% factory state and status. It is completely possible, unfortunately it wont work to just update the rom to the stock factory rom as there are built in counters and status writes who flags the phone as modified. However, by following these tutorials, you can quickly reset your phone.
You will need the factory rom for your country, this can be downloaded here:
http://www.sammobile.com/firmware/
Then watch both of these tutorials and decide which one you feel the most comfortable with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEI_c1R0_nQ&feature=related
And another approach to regaining your warranty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEsBwtqY2xE&feature=related
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"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
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"lightbox_download": "Download",
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Oops, if you are stuck on a crossroad and you think you might have bricked (term used to define the fact that you made your phone unusable) your phone, following this tutorial will help you out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypmqJbZqOaU&feature=related
Difficulty: Easy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to everyone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just want to say thanks to the wonderfully smart people who makes rooting possible. It is amazing how much more fun some people can make the life for other. I truly appreciate every bit of it.
Also special thanks to xdadevelopers who keeps an awesome community together.
Odin Greatness!
CF-Root
SuperSu
CWM
CWMManager
ClockworkMod (WTF, this is omg awesome!)
Titanium Backup
Adfree
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congrats on your new firmare!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAQ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JiiNDER said:
Hey I want to thank you so much for your guide! It actually makes rooting a lot easier. I had one question though, if I root and a new official firmware comes out, can I still update to the latest stock rom with Kies even though I will lose my root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It all depends what ROM you loaded, if its not the default factory ROM or based on it, you will have to follow the instructions of the CUSTOM rom provider on how an upgrade should be achieve. Else simply use the newest default rom and simply re-root, should be a very quick to do. Also, dont use KIES if you have already rooted, rather use ODIN and follow the instructions. NOTE: KIES, if left running will make ODIN behave incorrectly.

just a slight correction/heads up.... if you root with cf root then cwm recovery is installed, hence no need to use Rom manager, it's kinda outdated now imho
---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:49 PM ----------
further to that you may want to provide instructions after the rooting process on how to get into recovery and download mode

slaphead20 said:
just a slight correction/heads up.... if you root with cf root then cwm recovery is installed, hence no need to use Rom manager, it's kinda outdated now imho
---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:49 PM ----------
further to that you may want to provide instructions after the rooting process on how to get into recovery and download mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will note that above.

The stock rom at the bottom goes to the international version rom. I found this thread in the Sprint version so u might want to note that. If someone were to flash that they wouldn't boot up.
Sent from Galaxy SIII

Added many corrections.

musclehead84 said:
The stock rom at the bottom goes to the international version rom. I found this thread in the Sprint version so u might want to note that. If someone were to flash that they wouldn't boot up.
Sent from Galaxy SIII
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please explain why you think it wont boot, what exactly would be different that wont make it boot. I believe it will?

Great tutorial for the noobs. Would be really useful for them. :thumbup:
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Stormlister said:
Could you please explain why you think it wont boot, what exactly would be different that wont make it boot. I believe it will?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Different CPU's, different kernels, different drivers, different partitions, different radios and tech (one being GSM the other being CDMA) and the list goes on...

graffixnyc said:
Different CPU's, different kernels, different drivers, different partitions, different radios and tech (one being GSM the other being CDMA) and the list goes on...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback man... will mark it as International Only.

I had question regarding Odin behaving strangely, make sure KIES is stopped in your services. I have added it in the tutorial.

Stormlister said:
I had question regarding Odin behaving strangely, make sure Kiss is stopped in your services. I have added it in the tutorial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean Kies ? (Samsung) good tut for super noobs btw
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

i would recommend you to recommend not installing Kies at all, or uninstall it if installed.
any backup that you can do with it, can be done by 3rd party apps. it has a lot of security issues. and worst, its slow as hell.
i think a person that want to root his phone and flash a custom rom, will have no need of it anyway.
Edit: thumbs up for the effort! i could have really used such guide when i just started, instead i learned it the hard way!

OverRipeBananas said:
Do you mean Kies ? (Samsung) good tut for super noobs btw
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, yes Kies, thanks for spotting it

Thanks, I'll try this soon! Glad I found this, voiding warranty still sounds scary. I have other rooted devices and sometimes they can blow me away, so I think I'll go for it anyway.
Cheers.

MrEdgar said:
Thanks, I'll try this soon! Glad I found this, voiding warranty still sounds scary. I have other rooted devices and sometimes they can blow me away, so I think I'll go for it anyway.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally think it is well worth-it, it is almost as if the phones turns into mini super computer when rooted. It is so much fun to have a ROM installed and setup that you are completely happy with, removing bloatware, no intrusive ads. Just stay away from overclocking, I think that is taking it too far if you are a scary pants like myself.
Also, you know how the retailers are, they almost never deliver on their warranty anyway.

No offence, but given this guide is designed 'for the ultimate noob' AND it has been stickied, there are some glaringly obvious things missing, that should be cover at the beginning of your post/guide before hitting the processes of
In the first post, you do not cover information pertaining to the flash counter and triangle away, and most importantly by far, BACKING UP THE EFS. Also, possible risks from installing potentially malicious apks from 'other sources' to a rooted device.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Good job! :good:

bootx1 said:
No offence, but given this guide is designed 'for the ultimate noob' AND it has been stickied, there are some glaringly obvious things missing, that should be cover at the beginning of your post/guide before hitting the processes of
In the first post, you do not cover information pertaining to the flash counter and triangle away, and most importantly by far, BACKING UP THE EFS. Also, possible risks from installing potentially malicious apks from 'other sources' to a rooted device.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None taken, but in a community it works like this. We build a tutorial together. Instead of taking the time pointing out what you think is missing. Why did you not just write the part so I could add it? This tutorial is based on the international version, I am not sure if the triangle notification does not affect this version but I could not test it as I did not ran into this problem.
Regarding the EFS, I will do some research regarding this and add it to the tutorial.

I have added detail on backing up EFS folder and also triangle away.

CF-Root 6.4 - SuperSU+CWM5.5+CWMManager does not work on stock JellyBean Firmware right?

How to return everything to normal? I can not root

Hello friends.
In this post I want to relate a problem that is happening to me, I want to see if you can help me. For starters, I think I'm an idiot
9 months ago I bought a Moto G5 Plus from Amazon, it is not a Prime user, it is the version without advertising, as soon as I arrived I did this, unlock the bootloader, install TWRP (3.1) and ROOT.
I am a person who likes custom roms, however this is the first cell that managed to keep stock for so long. I did a search here in the forum to determine two custom roms I wanted to try and I chose this
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/development/rom-resurrection-remix-v5-8-3-t3614992
And also
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/development/8-1-x-miracledroid-1-0-magical-world-t3807224
I had 2 custom roms, I had the gapps downloaded, I lacked a reason, well, I explain, when I bought the cell phone I installed LINK2SD, with which I tried to remove apps from the factory and it was impossible even being a ROOT user, in fact I could only freeze them , added to this ROOT access for some options, some applications, but in others jumped messages "You are not ROOT user" or GameKiller example, ROOTchecker said that if it was ROOT, apart from this the ROM Stock from the beginning had been somewhat unstable, but nothing unbearable, but over time it was getting slow and was annoying already, aprobachando the excuse, I decided to update the TWRP with the PlayStore APP, as I noticed that the installed version was very slow, even took to start the TWRP, a Once updated, everything went very fast, everything in order.
I prepare to do the wipes, I start to think that here was my mistake, I frame the following options
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I have always marked the option System, but now I have my doubts, first I passed RR, I gave an error, I said sure it was downloaded badly, I install the Miracle, it installs well, I proceed to install Open Gapps, clean cache and when restarting this appears .. In the TWRP the memories remained intact, the internal space had my files
I do not despair, I look for a solution (I still had access to TWRP, I do not know if that would have helped), but I find a firmware and I do the flash ... I run out of TWRP, it said "No Comand" in the recovery mode, I flash the TWRP, flash logo, but when trying to flash the SuperSu gave error, "unmount / data" and others, I realized that the internal space was 0 mb, I used a video to "repair" and change the file system, it worked, flash the SuperSu, stays in the logo, nothing you do removes the logo. I flash the firmware again, flash the twrp, flash logo, enter the TWRP and ask for an encryption password or something, I accept blank, I keep doing things, cleaning, etc ... when I restart the cell phone says something of the "decryption" incorrect"
I do the factory reset and it eliminates the TWRP ... I left it like this, I installed the apps and I'm using it that way, I would like to know if they can help me flash the correct rom (I think I installed the wrong one), repair the errors, make me root and install a custom rom.
I'm doing flash with this firmware POTTER_RETAIL_7.0_NPNS25.137-93-10_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml.zip
A friend who I sold the Amazon Prime version that I bought earlier than this one has the NPNS25.137-93-8, which is a patch from March 1, 2018, mine is from April, but in mine the variant is Retus, the one from he says Amz
We both have same baseband
Thank you very much

MrFloppy22 said:
Hello friends.
In this post I want to relate a problem that is happening to me, I want to see if you can help me. For starters, I think I'm an idiot
9 months ago I bought a Moto G5 Plus from Amazon, it is not a Prime user, it is the version without advertising, as soon as I arrived I did this, unlock the bootloader, install TWRP (3.1) and ROOT.
I am a person who likes custom roms, however this is the first cell that managed to keep stock for so long. I did a search here in the forum to determine two custom roms I wanted to try and I chose this
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/development/rom-resurrection-remix-v5-8-3-t3614992
And also
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/development/8-1-x-miracledroid-1-0-magical-world-t3807224
I had 2 custom roms, I had the gapps downloaded, I lacked a reason, well, I explain, when I bought the cell phone I installed LINK2SD, with which I tried to remove apps from the factory and it was impossible even being a ROOT user, in fact I could only freeze them , added to this ROOT access for some options, some applications, but in others jumped messages "You are not ROOT user" or GameKiller example, ROOTchecker said that if it was ROOT, apart from this the ROM Stock from the beginning had been somewhat unstable, but nothing unbearable, but over time it was getting slow and was annoying already, aprobachando the excuse, I decided to update the TWRP with the PlayStore APP, as I noticed that the installed version was very slow, even took to start the TWRP, a Once updated, everything went very fast, everything in order.
I prepare to do the wipes, I start to think that here was my mistake, I frame the following options
I have always marked the option System, but now I have my doubts, first I passed RR, I gave an error, I said sure it was downloaded badly, I install the Miracle, it installs well, I proceed to install Open Gapps, clean cache and when restarting this appears .. In the TWRP the memories remained intact, the internal space had my files
I do not despair, I look for a solution (I still had access to TWRP, I do not know if that would have helped), but I find a firmware and I do the flash ... I run out of TWRP, it said "No Comand" in the recovery mode, I flash the TWRP, flash logo, but when trying to flash the SuperSu gave error, "unmount / data" and others, I realized that the internal space was 0 mb, I used a video to "repair" and change the file system, it worked, flash the SuperSu, stays in the logo, nothing you do removes the logo. I flash the firmware again, flash the twrp, flash logo, enter the TWRP and ask for an encryption password or something, I accept blank, I keep doing things, cleaning, etc ... when I restart the cell phone says something of the "decryption" incorrect"
I do the factory reset and it eliminates the TWRP ... I left it like this, I installed the apps and I'm using it that way, I would like to know if they can help me flash the correct rom (I think I installed the wrong one), repair the errors, make me root and install a custom rom.
I'm doing flash with this firmware POTTER_RETAIL_7.0_NPNS25.137-93-10_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml.zip
A friend who I sold the Amazon Prime version that I bought earlier than this one has the NPNS25.137-93-8, which is a patch from March 1, 2018, mine is from April, but in mine the variant is Retus, the one from he says Amz
We both have same baseband
Thank you very much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all your data partition is encrypted out of the box so if you want to flash a custom ROM you have to format data in TWRP ( the wipe where you have to confirm with "yes", not just wipe) to decrypt it.
Also for flashing a 64 bit Oreo rom you have to flash a 64bit TWRP Version ,you can find it in " ROMs and kernels, Android development" for potter.
Also make sure that you have a full nandroid backup incl. EFS and persist. If you don't have these backups you won't be able to return to stock without losing voLTE,4G or IMEI, maybe all of them.
For rooting try magisk 16 instead of superSU which is dead in fact, no more development since chainfire retired about 9 months ago.
Amz devices are unlockable, retus/reteu/retin etc are not.
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs

Thank you very much
Wolfcity said:
First of all your data partition is encrypted out of the box so if you want to flash a custom ROM you have to format data in TWRP ( the wipe where you have to confirm with "yes", not just wipe) to decrypt it.
Also for flashing a 64 bit Oreo rom you have to flash a 64bit TWRP Version ,you can find it in " ROMs and kernels, Android development" for potter.
Also make sure that you have a full nandroid backup incl. EFS and persist. If you don't have these backups you won't be able to return to stock without losing voLTE,4G or IMEI, maybe all of them.
For rooting try magisk 16 instead of superSU which is dead in fact, no more development since chainfire retired about 9 months ago.
Amz devices are unlockable, retus/reteu/retin etc are not.
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, I am very grateful for your answer, I already understood that I did everything wrong, starting with the fact of not having any backup, although in fact I already placed the stock software as I said in the post, and I think I have not lost the imei since I use my cell phone in a normal way. In fact I just reviewed, I still have the imei, but if you mean to look for a downgrade or place the version that came from Amazon, because I do not give much importance, the phone is functional, what I want is to install the TWRP , be ROOT again and most importantly install a custom rom ... But what I'm not sure is if the problems that happened to me after installing the current stock, have to do with that the cell phone was something wrong in the partitions or If I am doing wrong steps, you would be so kind to help me and sorry for being annoying and taking your time. I'll be very greatful.
Forgive my English, I'm using the google translator :crying:

MrFloppy22 said:
First of all, I am very grateful for your answer, I already understood that I did everything wrong, starting with the fact of not having any backup, although in fact I already placed the stock software as I said in the post, and I think I have not lost the imei since I use my cell phone in a normal way. In fact I just reviewed, I still have the imei, but if you mean to look for a downgrade or place the version that came from Amazon, because I do not give much importance, the phone is functional, what I want is to install the TWRP , be ROOT again and most importantly install a custom rom ... But what I'm not sure is if the problems that happened to me after installing the current stock, have to do with that the cell phone was something wrong in the partitions or If I am doing wrong steps, you would be so kind to help me and sorry for being annoying and taking your time. I'll be very greatful.
Forgive my English, I'm using the google translator :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ROM you're using (POTTER_RETAIL_7.0_NPNS25.137-93-10_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml.zip) is the correct one for a retus device.
Follow this guide exactly
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/how-to/how-to-root-moto-g5-plus-t3579659/post74673573
but use the above 93-10 ROM to install it via fastboot, flash TWRP and magisk as rooting solution.
This should you bring to a rooted stock ROM with custom recovery TWRP installed.
At this point you can stay there or if you are really sure you want to flash a custom ROM make a full nandroid backup in TWRP first.
Then choose your preferred ROM and the fitting gapps (usually mentioned in the ROMs thread) download magisk 16 zip, wipe your device, format data and flash ROM,gapps and magisk.
If you have problems with the latest official TWRP https://twrp.me/motorola/motorolamotog5plus.html
(3.2.3.0) you can try one from this thread
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5...ry-twrp-3-1-1-0-touch-recovery-t3701488/page8
but you should be good to go with the official one as it works with encrypted devices now.
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs

Steps...
Wolfcity said:
The ROM you're using (POTTER_RETAIL_7.0_NPNS25.137-93-10_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml.zip) is the correct one for a retus device.
Follow this guide exactly
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/how-to/how-to-root-moto-g5-plus-t3579659/post74673573
but use the above 93-10 ROM to install it via fastboot, flash TWRP and magisk as rooting solution.
This should you bring to a rooted stock ROM with custom recovery TWRP installed.
At this point you can stay there or if you are really sure you want to flash a custom ROM make a full nandroid backup in TWRP first.
Then choose your preferred ROM and the fitting gapps (usually mentioned in the ROMs thread) download magisk 16 zip, wipe your device, format data and flash ROM,gapps and magisk.
If you have problems with the latest official TWRP https://twrp.me/motorola/motorolamotog5plus.html
(3.2.3.0) you can try one from this thread
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5...ry-twrp-3-1-1-0-touch-recovery-t3701488/page8
but you should be good to go with the official one as it works with encrypted devices now.
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to be so noob ... First, I follow the steps but with the firmware that I have already used?
Second: the backup of the nandroid can be in the internal memory? Currently I do not have a microSD ... In fact, the one I had passed to 0 mb, as well as the internal memory, I have not recovered it yet.
Third: how do I recover my microSD?
Fourth: Everything from the backup to the installation of custom rom can I do from the internal memory? Or do I need a microSD?
I have a USB OTG from where I tried to install the roms and gapps

MrFloppy22 said:
Sorry to be so noob ... First, I follow the steps but with the firmware that I have already used?
Second: the backup of the nandroid can be in the internal memory? Currently I do not have a microSD ... In fact, the one I had passed to 0 mb, as well as the internal memory, I have not recovered it yet.
Third: how do I recover my microSD?
Fourth: Everything from the backup to the installation of custom rom can I do from the internal memory? Or do I need a microSD?
I have a USB OTG from where I tried to install the roms and gapps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes use the firmware you mentioned POTTER_RETAIL_7.0_NPNS25.137-93-10_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml.zip
2. As the internal storage will be wiped by formatting data the backup would be erased.
You have to store it on external SD or an USB otg storage.
3. I don't know. Maybe you have to reformat the SD card because link2sd created an additional partition. Connect it to a PC and check if it's recognised. If yes save your data to PC and reformat it to ext4.
If it's not recognised it's maybe broken.
4. The backup should be on an external storage, SD or USB otg. Flashing a custom ROM/gapps/magisk can be done from internal but you have to be careful to not wipe internal storage by TWRP before flashing.
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs

Wolfcity said:
1. Yes use the firmware you mentioned POTTER_RETAIL_7.0_NPNS25.137-93-10_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml.zip
2. As the internal storage will be wiped by formatting data the backup would be erased.
You have to store it on external SD or an USB otg storage.
3. I don't know. Maybe you have to reformat the SD card because link2sd created an additional partition. Connect it to a PC and check if it's recognised. If yes save your data to PC and reformat it to ext4.
If it's not recognised it's maybe broken.
4. The backup should be on an external storage, SD or USB otg. Flashing a custom ROM/gapps/magisk can be done from internal but you have to be careful to not wipe internal storage by TWRP before flashing.
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Wolfcity,
Grateful for all the help you have given me, I still stand in my decision to install a custom rom, but the truth is I am somewhat undecided, today I have the microSD and I will follow the guide you recommended, but I am not sure to install the custom rom I said in my post.
Would you recommend any? I liked the customization of RR, but I would like to move to 8.1 ... But without having to go to 64 bits ... Some minimalist / modern, stable rom, good performance and low battery consumption? With the stock after a while had errors, such as a Coin Princess game, one day it did not open anymore and showed the message "the application stopped", the cell phone was sincerely heavy, slow, and the games or applications installed did not require so many resources to show those errors, a simple game like 42 in 1 (NES games) had this error after a while.
I need something light, fluid, stable, and with some performance in games (it's not everything).

MrFloppy22 said:
Hello Wolfcity,
Grateful for all the help you have given me, I still stand in my decision to install a custom rom, but the truth is I am somewhat undecided, today I have the microSD and I will follow the guide you recommended, but I am not sure to install the custom rom I said in my post.
Would you recommend any? I liked the customization of RR, but I would like to move to 8.1 ... But without having to go to 64 bits ... Some minimalist / modern, stable rom, good performance and low battery consumption? With the stock after a while had errors, such as a Coin Princess game, one day it did not open anymore and showed the message "the application stopped", the cell phone was sincerely heavy, slow, and the games or applications installed did not require so many resources to show those errors, a simple game like 42 in 1 (NES games) had this error after a while.
I need something light, fluid, stable, and with some performance in games (it's not everything).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still on stock. I'm a big fan of custom ROMs and use different ones on all my devices and did so in the past but I never got a device with such a good ROM like the potter comes with. I never had problems like you mentioned, it's fluid, fast and battery friendly. This is the first reason that I'm still on 7.0 stock. The second thing are the risks of losing IMEI or 4G when you want to return from a 64bit custom ROM to stock firmware. I have a full nandroid backup including persist so I should be good to go but who knows?
Something in the actual custom ROMs (or maybe gapps) messes with the partitions of the Moto G5+.
I will wait for the offlcial stock Oreo update, also I think that the actual problems with custom ROMs will be sorted out when Motorola releases the Oreo kernel sources.
The developers will be able to fix things like HD and most probably also this losing IMEI thing.
So I can't recommend a custom ROM as I don't use one on potter. On my Moto G 2014 titan the Pixel Experience does a great job in performance and battery, also AEX runs good with more customazions but not such a good battery backup.
But this is for titan, I don't know how they work on potter.
If you want to go that route you will have to test it out. Another option would be a debloated stock like the one from Franco : https://franco28.github.io/stockrom
If your stock ROM has gotten slow and maybe faulty you could try to flash a clean stock firmware and make a fresh start. If it's not your hardware making problems your device should work good again. Sometimes there is just to much garbage or issues from installed software, tweaks and things like that making a device perform bad and a fresh start could help.
Whatever you do good luck!
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs

Wolfcity said:
I'm still on stock. I'm a big fan of custom ROMs and use different ones on all my devices and did so in the past but I never got a device with such a good ROM like the potter comes with. I never had problems like you mentioned, it's fluid, fast and battery friendly. This is the first reason that I'm still on 7.0 stock. The second thing are the risks of losing IMEI or 4G when you want to return from a 64bit custom ROM to stock firmware. I have a full nandroid backup including persist so I should be good to go but who knows?
Something in the actual custom ROMs (or maybe gapps) messes with the partitions of the Moto G5+.
I will wait for the offlcial stock Oreo update, also I think that the actual problems with custom ROMs will be sorted out when Motorola releases the Oreo kernel sources.
The developers will be able to fix things like HD and most probably also this losing IMEI thing.
So I can't recommend a custom ROM as I don't use one on potter. On my Moto G 2014 titan the Pixel Experience does a great job in performance and battery, also AEX runs good with more customazions but not such a good battery backup.
But this is for titan, I don't know how they work on potter.
If you want to go that route you will have to test it out. Another option would be a debloated stock like the one from Franco : https://franco28.github.io/stockrom
If your stock ROM has gotten slow and maybe faulty you could try to flash a clean stock firmware and make a fresh start. If it's not your hardware making problems your device should work good again. Sometimes there is just to much garbage or issues from installed software, tweaks and things like that making a device perform bad and a fresh start could help.
Whatever you do good luck!
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll take your recommendation into account, although I repeat I DO NOT WANT a 64bit rom ?
But I will try to use the stock by adding greenify and other add-ons that help improve performance and performance.
Regarding the hardware issue, I was just afraid of that since it started with the problems, it was not the same in all the applications, only some, but the slowness if it was notorious (although with a chrome with +1200 tabs, I suppose it is normal ?). I hope it's not a problem related to hardware ? ... It's no longer guaranteed (I'm from Venezuela, besides, it would be hard to send it back).
And I tell you one of my experiences, when I just acquired it, I became root, downloaded link2sd ... but I did not uninstall the factory apps (although if I did the process), I could only freeze. Hence my doubts about system malfunction or SuperSu.
Maybe it was also due to the use I gave it, it was excessive, I work with my cell phone, I also play to distract myself and install many utilities, extra calculators, payment processors like PayPal, many messaging services, anyway, I maintain that 150 applications, and now that I'm in the stock ... with just the basics, there are only 57 applications, big difference ?
I have a titan with viper OS ... Excellent device, motorola is not the same as before, in my opinion, if it were not for the little ram, I would still continue with my G2.
Well, I'll be doing the process in a couple of hours, thank you very much, I'll tell you how it went.

Lenovo X606F LineageOS 19.0 GSI Upgrade

Hey Everyone,
Just got my hands on an X606F and as usually I could not stand the stock Android 10 OS.
I eventually took a chance and tested flashing the LineageOS 19 GSI from Andy Yan (Android 12), and it worked out extremely well. Everything worked out of the gate, I installed the version with Gapps preloaded and that worked as well. I basically follow this guide, but swapped the custom rom with the one linked below from Andy Yan.
Use this guide:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...d-11-android-12-and-root-with-magisk.4376127/
only difference is DO NOT INSTALL MAGISK AS THIS ROM IS ALREADY ROOTED.
But Swap CAOS11 rom with the one below here. I personally find LineageOS my favorite of all the alternative ROMs out there so I am happy i got this to work.
Andy Yan's LineagOS GSI build (Use this one)
lineage-19.0-20220211-UNOFFICIAL-treble_arm64_bgS.img.xz
Link to folder with other builds (No Gapps...etc)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-19.x/
IF anyone has any questions let me know.
Cheers,
SniperFox

Thanks for your post, it is a good news. After reading your post I’m tempted to try this on my X606X. I will probably do when I find some time. Meanwhile, have you observed any issue ?

This sounds like Great News, as I, too, really don't enjoy the Lenovo UI. And... I cannot get OTAs, as I am already rooted with TWRP and Magisk from this forum: httrecovery-tb-x606f-tb-x606fa-unofficial-twrp-3-6-x-for-lenovo-tab-m10-fhd-plus
However, to be certain:
I 'should' be able to then Install LineageOS by copying from the Link Provided above to an ExtSD, along with GApps, and just wipe, and install from TWRP ?
Also, I'm not familiar with the .xz file compression, do I need to convert it to a .zip file ?
Thanks !

Hi, would this version work on TB-X704F ?
Thx.

I’ve tried LineageOS on X606X (LTE version) and I was not lucky. Settings app was crashing each time I went to network settings. Screen was always on or always off. Only way to switch from one to another was to connect or to disconnect USB cable. Any option in settings for screen was not working.
I can confirm that TWRP for TB-X606F/TB-X606FA is working fine on this model.
I tried also CAOS11 but it was a bit laggy. Everything worked, but when I started to mess with Magisk it didn’t want to boot anymore. So I’m back to stock, and confident that one day I will find working Android 12 for this model.

I'm going to plop this question down here, but it's only sort of relevant: what is going on with the navigation bar? My home/back/recents button are all in the bottom right corner of the bar and in the centre are icons for play store, camera, and something else.
How do I go back? I can't find any of the options. I tried this ROM, CAOS11, and an AOSP flavour, and they all had the navbar set up that way. All the other ROMs also crashed the Phh-Treble UI Tuner whenever I tried to change the navbar. I went back to stock, and it returned to normal. Is this an Android 11+ thing? It's awful.

SniperFox22 said:
Hey Everyone,
Just got my hands on an X606F and as usually I could not stand the stock Android 10 OS.
I eventually took a chance and tested flashing the LineageOS 19 GSI from Andy Yan (Android 12), and it worked out extremely well. Everything worked out of the gate, I installed the version with Gapps preloaded and that worked as well. I basically follow this guide, but swapped the custom rom with the one linked below from Andy Yan.
Use this guide:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...d-11-android-12-and-root-with-magisk.4376127/
only difference is DO NOT INSTALL MAGISK AS THIS ROM IS ALREADY ROOTED.
But Swap CAOS11 rom with the one below here. I personally find LineageOS my favorite of all the alternative ROMs out there so I am happy i got this to work.
Andy Yan's LineagOS GSI build (Use this one)
lineage-19.0-20220211-UNOFFICIAL-treble_arm64_bgS.img.xz
Link to folder with other builds (No Gapps...etc)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-19.x/
IF anyone has any questions let me know.
Cheers,
SniperFox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much.
Everything worked out without a hitch.
But how do I edit or get rid of those apps in the navigation bar??? They're an eyesore and pretty useless to me.

sirp0p0 said:
I'm going to plop this question down here, but it's only sort of relevant: what is going on with the navigation bar? My home/back/recents button are all in the bottom right corner of the bar and in the centre are icons for play store, camera, and something else.
How do I go back? I can't find any of the options. I tried this ROM, CAOS11, and an AOSP flavour, and they all had the navbar set up that way. All the other ROMs also crashed the Phh-Treble UI Tuner whenever I tried to change the navbar. I went back to stock, and it returned to normal. Is this an Android 11+ thing? It's awful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy crap. You read my mind.
What a waste!

Nice to see so many people experimenting with this tablet. It would be nice if we had a dedicated subforum for this device.
I have been trying out several ROMs/GSIs with Android 11 and 12, but all of them are performing really laggy after a couple of days. Overall system perfomance and latency seems slow and choppy.
Especially YouTube is very laggy and shows heavy artifacting on almost every video making me think a lot of ROMs cant make proper use of hardware codec acceleration.
Another problem is getting Netflix to work, whereas on the stock ROM I had 1080p playback with a modded apk, on other custom ROMs I cant even launch the app, sadly no success with the Kodi Netflix add-on either.
My plan was to see if I could improve perfomance by removing Lenovo's bloat and using microg to replace gapps, but it turned out perfoming worse than before.
Maybe this device is just too weak for this kind of modding.
Thoughts on these issues? And which ROMs have you personally enjoyed? I think I might go back to stock for now, give the roms some time to develop further and try again at the end of the year.

Zelodos said:
Nice to see so many people experimenting with this tablet. It would be nice if we had a dedicated subforum for this device.
I have been trying out several ROMs/GSIs with Android 11 and 12, but all of them are performing really laggy after a couple of days. Overall system perfomance and latency seems slow and choppy.
Especially YouTube is very laggy and shows heavy artifacting on almost every video making me think a lot of ROMs cant make proper use of hardware codec acceleration.
Another problem is getting Netflix to work, whereas on the stock ROM I had 1080p playback with a modded apk, on other custom ROMs I cant even launch the app, sadly no success with the Kodi Netflix add-on either.
My plan was to see if I could improve perfomance by removing Lenovo's bloat and using microg to replace gapps, but it turned out perfoming worse than before.
Maybe this device is just too weak for this kind of modding.
Thoughts on these issues? And which ROMs have you personally enjoyed? I think I might go back to stock for now, give the roms some time to develop further and try again at the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi @Zelodos, thank you so much for the feedback about custom ROMs you've been messing around with.
I'm the owner of a Lenovo TB-X606F tablet (Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus) experiencing the Netflix issue that prevents me from watching content at 1080p resolution. With DRM Info app, I've checked that the Security Level of mine is L3, whereas yours and some others' tablets (which are exactly the same model: TB-X606F) are L1...
Could you tell me which FW version is running your tablet? I've been reading on Lenovo Forums for a while and I've picked up the two most relevant posts relating this issue:
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https://forums.lenovo.com/topic/findpost/1088/5020213/5502643
GitHub Link for the Netflix modded apk: https://github.com/longseespace/netflix_patch/releases
https://forums.lenovo.com/topic/findpost/1088/5050995/5294237
I wonder if flashing the TB-X606F_S300429_211101_BMP firmware version can make a difference for me to get L1 Security Level, instead of L3... Or maybe the FW version your tablet is running currently can sort it out, I don't know. Just let me know, please. Thanks in advance.

SniperFox22 said:
Hey Everyone,
Just got my hands on an X606F and as usually I could not stand the stock Android 10 OS.
I eventually took a chance and tested flashing the LineageOS 19 GSI from Andy Yan (Android 12), and it worked out extremely well. Everything worked out of the gate, I installed the version with Gapps preloaded and that worked as well. I basically follow this guide, but swapped the custom rom with the one linked below from Andy Yan.
Use this guide:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...d-11-android-12-and-root-with-magisk.4376127/
only difference is DO NOT INSTALL MAGISK AS THIS ROM IS ALREADY ROOTED.
But Swap CAOS11 rom with the one below here. I personally find LineageOS my favorite of all the alternative ROMs out there so I am happy i got this to work.
Andy Yan's LineagOS GSI build (Use this one)
lineage-19.0-20220211-UNOFFICIAL-treble_arm64_bgS.img.xz
Link to folder with other builds (No Gapps...etc)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/andyyan-gsi/files/lineage-19.x/
IF anyone has any questions let me know.
Cheers,
SniperFox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello I have a problem installing custom ROMs on this specific tablet mate. When CAOS 11 or any other custom ROM is installed and I want to reboot, TWRP brings a message that OS is not installed do you want to reboot? Then sticks twice at Lenovo logo and boots to TWRP.... It doesn't boot at the custom ROM...

vassiliszacharis said:
Hello I have a problem installing custom ROMs on this specific tablet mate. When CAOS 11 or any other custom ROM is installed and I want to reboot, TWRP brings a message that OS is not installed do you want to reboot? Then sticks twice at Lenovo logo and boots to TWRP.... It doesn't boot at the custom ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My suggestion is to use the Lenovo recovery tool linked here. (Lenovo's tool is very good and its hard to brick these, so good job there at least)
Rescue and Smart Assistant (RSA) - Lenovo Support CA
pcsupport.lenovo.com
Then use this tool to reset the tablet to the stock OS. Most likely what happened is you tried to flash an OS that was built on a different version of Android. Make sure that your using a build that is based on the right version of Android. After you do that recovery you should be up to Android 10, as it uses the latest image for the tablet. This means you need to use a CAOS 10 not CAOS 11. You will need to reinstall TWRP first again, as this will be removed when you recover. Let me know if you have issues and Ill keep an eye out for any new posts.
Cheers,
Sniper Fox

SniperFox22 said:
My suggestion is to use the Lenovo recovery tool linked here. (Lenovo's tool is very good and its hard to brick these, so good job there at least)
Rescue and Smart Assistant (RSA) - Lenovo Support CA
pcsupport.lenovo.com
Then use this tool to reset the tablet to the stock OS. Most likely what happened is you tried to flash an OS that was built on a different version of Android. Make sure that your using a build that is based on the right version of Android. After you do that recovery you should be up to Android 10, as it uses the latest image for the tablet. This means you need to use a CAOS 10 not CAOS 11. You will need to reinstall TWRP first again, as this will be removed when you recover. Let me know if you have issues and Ill keep an eye out for any new posts.
Cheers,
Sniper Fox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers Sniper. Indeed I returned back to stock ROM by using Lenovo tool that is very easy to install it. I installed TWRP 3.6.x for Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus which is suitable for Android 11 and Android 12. Can I ask you please what was your procedure of installing Android 12 custom ROM on that tablet?

vassiliszacharis said:
Cheers Sniper. Indeed I returned back to stock ROM by using Lenovo tool that is very easy to install it. I installed TWRP 3.6.x for Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus which is suitable for Android 11 and Android 12. Can I ask you please what was your procedure of installing Android 12 custom ROM on that tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would try Andy Yan’s Lineage OS GSI builds. Those are generally where you want to start as those are more likely to be compatible. Also make sure when you flash the custom rom you follow the directions from that original link closely. If you miss a step it’s easy to screw it up where it does what you said and either boot loops or doesn’t see the OS. I think you might be limited to lineage OS version 19 with this tablet. Newer OS might not work.

Added comment. I have also tried Ubuntu Touch and it works well on this tablet. Wifi, Bluetooth, audio all work, as does charging. Although the app market for Ubuntu touch is not great it seems to be getting better.

SniperFox22 said:
Added comment. I have also tried Ubuntu Touch and it works well on this tablet. Wifi, Bluetooth, audio all work, as does charging. Although the app market for Ubuntu touch is not great it seems to be getting better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you manage this mate? Also when I am trying this command after install TWRP: fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
It is not recognised... How can you overpass this? Maybe this is my problem. I just installed vbmeta without disable it .. Any ideas?

vassiliszacharis said:
How did you manage this mate? Also when I am trying this command after install TWRP: fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
It is not recognised... How can you overpass this? Maybe this is my problem. I just installed vbmeta without disable it .. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think your problem is related to this part of the instructions
"After flashing the recovery, you must reboot into recovery to ensure that TWRP permanently installs. If the `fastboot reboot recovery` command does not work for you, hold down the power button to power off the device, then hardware boot into TWRP by holding down both volume buttons + power button to boot into TWRP. If you do not perform this step, the device will boot normally and TWRP will be erased. After booting into TWRP, wipe -> format data."
If you don't boot directly back into TWRP after installing and wipe -> format data you will get that error.
As far as the installation of the Ubuntu Touch, you NEED to be on Android 9 to install it. So you have to downgrade to the original firmware that was Android 9. When you do the Lenovo recovery unfortunately it only give you the newest Android 10 rom. So you need to download the historic ROM for this tablet that is Android 9. Then its as easy as running the Ubuntu Touch installer on your PC. If you try to do it with Android 10 on the device to start it will fail. Ubuntu touch is pretty cool.

cheers mate for your help! respect. Is there any android 12 custom ROM we can use on this tablet?

been using lineage 19.1 on my tb-x606f and is really smooth, but I don´t know what SU app could use. I tried flashing magisk but it creates a conflict with the rom itself.

Does anyone have a download for the boot.img? I would love to do this but cant find a boot image to use for the vbmeta.img