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Root [HOW-TO] Simplified Root + Recovery + Custom ROM

CWMod recovery's don't work well with some of the Froyo ROM's. Xionia will work on all ROM's, you just have to run all pre-install wipe and format options 3 times to insure a more thorough wipe when using the CM-7 and CM-9 ROM's. This is why we use the CWMod recovery's on those ROM's, because they do a better pre-installation wipe and formats for the newer ROM's and all options only have to be run once.
Novatek screen phones need the Xionia v1.2518.4
Hitachi screen phones need the Xionia v1.251.6
 
Thanks for the guide, everything worked great!

One issue I am having is sometimes after locking or letting the phone sit, I go back to access it and the lock screen isn't showing. It is showing the main screen like it has already been unlocked (after an hour even). From here I can't access anything it seems to be frozen up, if I push some buttons or try things sometimes it will vibrate, but I end up having to pull the battery. I do have the pattern lock set to come up after the initial swipe.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
@ ctiq21

This is an issue that some people are experiencing with the backside rom. Please see this thread. Answer the questions that jerryscript asks. Maybe with more info we can figure this all out.
 
I hope it's okay to have another "I bricked my phone" post. I've read as much as I can about unbricking, but am curious if anyone has any thoughts on what went wrong to get it bricked in the first place.

Here's the quick scoop. Optimus V that I rooted with Gingerbreak. That worked fine and I've been using it for a month on stock. I also partitioned the stock SD card and installed Link2SD and linked a bunch of apps. Otherwise nothing else unusual with the phone.

So I got brave enough to follow the rest of the guide about installing recovery and ROM.

I downloaded recovery.img, flash Image gui.apk, BACKside ROM.zip and gapps.zip and moved them to the primary partition on the SD card. I installed Flash Image gui app with Easy Installer and opened it and followed the directions (hit recovery image).

I turned off the phone and followed the instructions to boot into Clockwork recovery mode, but instead am getting the blue fastboot screen. If I try a regular boot the phone hangs right after the VM animation and won't go any further.

I'm on a Mac and the instructions for de-bricking are just too complicated for me. The good news is that used OVs are pretty cheap on eBay and I'll just save myself the time and get a new one.

But I'm curious if anyone can tell me if this sounds like user error or just bad luck? The only things I did differently from the instructions were that I put all the files on the SD card at the same time (rather than wait until after running the Flash gui app and then putting the ROM and gapps files on the card). Did using a card that was partitioned screw it up? My kids have Optimus Vs too and it would be nice to be able to run CyanogenMod on all our phones, but I don't want to brick any more phones trying!

Any help understanding what went wrong is appreciated! Any easy fixes to unbrick too (although I doubt that there are).

Thanks!
 
That just happened to me posted earlier in this thread,cost me $40.00 I don't have a pc. I was told that I probably got a corrupt download! Good luck,I'm sure someone will help. Read read read!:)
 
Thanks for posting this! I was a little nervous like a lot of newbies, but I had no problem whatsoever. I followed the directions to a T and everything went like clockwork. I was able to root my phone on the first reboot and had no problems flashing CM7. It took a few days for my phone to adjust, but now it's working like a charm. I really appreciate all the info and feedback on this site, it's been very helpful! Now I have a phone that works like how it is intended!
 
thank you, thank you, thank you. I'd never done anything like this before, but the instructions were great. I had a bit of trouble getting Gingerbreak to work, but after 4 or 5 tries, it rooted the phone. Then I installed the wrong version of gapps, but that was easy enough to correct. Now it's like having a brand new phone. Thanks again.
 
Thank you whyzor, I followed your guide Wednesday it went smooth and easy. This is like a new phone, I had know idea how customizable cm7 was. Here it's Sunday and I'm still playin around with it,missed the first 100 laps of the NASCAR race. Believe me when i tell u I don't miss a race!!!
Thanks again!!!
 
Thanks for the guide~~ I followed to a tee and it worked great! Took about 3 hours to root my Optimus V and load CM7 with Backside IHO, but it was worth it!

Thanks again!!
 
I used Rom Manager to install CWM but when I boot into recovery and try to use it every option leads me to a a CWM icon and does nothing. I can't do backups, restores or wipes
 
afitzroy said:
I used Rom Manager to install CWM but when I boot into recovery and try to use it every option leads me to a a CWM icon and does nothing. I can't do backups, restores or wipes
Click to expand...

You should have read the sticky posted by andy opie150 (the truth about rom manager) at the top of the all things route page! Just be patient, I know someone will be along to help
The guys and girls on this forum are very good with helping people.
 
This was quick! I factory reset, followed instructions, and it took less than 30 seconds for my phone to reboot.

Root & installing recovery took less than 2 minutes. :cheers:
 
I'm trying to root and flash my wifes optimus, but Gingerbreak does not work. I downloaded 1.2, tried it 4 times, rebootinng between each attempt, and it fails every time. Any ideas? The phone does not have the V9 update and is running 2.2.1
 
lanceg said:
I'm trying to root and flash my wifes optimus, but Gingerbreak does not work. I downloaded 1.2, tried it 4 times, rebootinng between each attempt, and it fails every time. Any ideas? The phone does not have the V9 update and is running 2.2.1
Click to expand...


Try factory resetting the phone. Don't update anything, don't sync gmail contacts. Right after resetting, reboot the phone and begin the root process as stated in the original post.
 
Petrah said:
Try factory resetting the phone. Don't update anything, don't sync gmail contacts. Right after resetting, reboot the phone and begin the root process as stated in the original post.
Click to expand...


I can't get recovery without root, and I can't backup without recovery, and I'm no going to risk screwing up my wifes phone with no backup to fall back on.

Maybe I'll just surprise her with a new Evo One and be done with it.
 
mikeyr29 said:
hello :D new to this board and new to custom mods. 2 questions:

1: I have been reading some material that claims that TiBu is not the way i should go when it comes to backing up and restoring my apps and texts/contacts/call log etc. They all claim that it does not restore all the apps that it backs up in the previous rom and that it doesnt bring back the data either. However, all of the posts ive read are all dated at least 5 months previous to now. Has anything changed? Im just about ready to flash over to CM7, but if i cant have my contacts, texts, and app data im not sure i will flash over until i know i can have it. any help?


2: Once i actually flash CM7, (using the rom manager "install rom from sd card") i know i have to flash the gapps to make the market and other g apps to work... do i flash that (and the green machine theme) the same way as i flashed the rom itself or do i have to do it another way?

thank you so much for the help! :D
Click to expand...

TiBu is fine, but it does things that it should not, and can soft brick the your phone. I use Mybackup Root it backups your text, call log apps and there data, and other things.
TiBu does conflict with some ROM'S that use a script the mount the sdcard on during boot. So with my ROM I recommend to people not to use it.
 
I can't get past step 3. It says it takes up to 10 minutes. It's been 4 hours and Gingerbreak is still running. what should I do?

OK I ran it again and it seemed to work.
 
Question.... the only reason I'm doing this is so I can move apps to my SD card. The internal memory on my phone is full.

Considering this, do I have to do the recovery image and flash ROM? I just stop after the Gingerbreak root? I don't need to customize or do anything fancy, just move apps to the SD card so I can use my phone again.

I got to the Flash ROM step and I'm stuck on which version of the google apps I need to get. the link (Latest Version/Google Apps - CyanogenMod Wiki) offers 5 different mods and I have no idea which one I should grab. This is making me want to just stop...? Now that my phone is rooted can I just install that app that allows me to move my apps to the SD card, without the rest of the steps?
 
I have never rooted a phone and I don't know what a kernel or a ROM is. I followed these steps carefully and it seems to have worked. I'm a little disoriented with my new OS and theme but so far so good. All my data is still on the card; I never had to restore it. Even my contacts list is intact after all that. The apps I have to reinstall but that's fine. I am looking forward to the increased capacity and the ability to store all apps on the sd card. Soon I'll ditch my 16GB SD card and replace it with the 32GB one I have, still in the package. thanks for posting this.
 
+1 badblue1

Make your nandroid and verify it with AFV from scary alien. AFV (Android file verifier) is free on the market. I have tried to flash more than one nandroid that had md5 mismatch before I found afv!!
 
badblue1 said:
Don't forget to do a backup of your new rom!
Click to expand...

OK.... how do I do that?? I backed up lots of stuff with Titanium during the process. I need to back up the ROM again? I suppose if I understood what a ROM is that would help... I have all my data backed up.
 
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