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Modifying Stock Rom/kernel

S

sychobob

Newbie
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-i9100m. I am using the Biftor 8.2 rom and I would like to go to stock rom. The Samsung jelly bean 4.1.2 stock rom is known to have brick bug in the stock kernel. I have the stock firmware from my provider. Can I edit the rom and replace the kernel which is the file 'zimage' by the Siyah kernel 6.0 b5 'zimage' file and install the modified rom without causing a brick to my phone?

Thank you!
 
sychobob said:
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-i9100m. I am using the Biftor 8.2 rom and I would like to go to stock rom. The Samsung jelly bean 4.1.2 stock rom is known to have brick bug in the stock kernel. I have the stock firmware from my provider. Can I edit the rom and replace the kernel which is the file 'zimage' by the Siyah kernel 6.0 b5 'zimage' file and install the modified rom without causing a brick to my phone?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

i have no idea what the correct answer to your prollem is,as this is the htc rezound forum,wich i do not believe shares any of the same hardware as your device.

let me see if i can find someone who is a little more versed in galaxy s2,so we can move your question to the proper forum and get you some answers :)
 
The brick bug only comes into play with the gs2 when using a custom recovery such as cwm. Since flashing the stock firmware will install the stock recovery your phone will be brick bug free. You would only have the brick bug after rooting your new firmware if you used a kernel which wasn't safe. So if you root with siyah after flashing stock you'll be fine. I hope that makes sense:)
 
Hello there sychobob!
I moved your post into its own thread here so others with your device can help out.
I'll send ya a p.m. with the link here.:)

Thanks Scotty for the heads up:)
 
Thank you for your answer.

My phone is a Galaxy S2 GT-i9100m from Virgin Mobile Canada.

The stock rom from Virgin Mobile Canada contain only one .tar.md5 file: no phone, no csc, no pda, no pit file. Now what about the EFS folder, I do not want my IMEI to get screwed up by Odin. Also the radio settings been upgraded for jelly bean. The stock rom I intend to put back is a Jelly Bean 4.1.2.

The actual kernel in the phone is 3.0.31-jeboo_kernel_v2.1+none@ubuntu #21. The Biftor rom is based on Jelly Bean 4.1.2 xwlsn. Clockworkmod 6.0.2.7 is installed.

I would like to do a clean install without any traces of the actual rom I have on my phone. Can it be done? The name of the zip file I will use with Odin is - I9100MUGMA5_I9100MOYCMA5_VMC.zip

The main reason why I want to go back to stock rom is because when it is time to charge the phone, when the battery is charged at 85% the charging status does not go higher. To reach the 100% charge, I have to unplug and plug back the charger. I already removed the battery for 5 minutes and put it back but it did not resolved the issue. Also I no longer want root access on the phone, it is too dangerous to screw up the phone.

Thank you!
 
Use this app to backup your efs before you flash
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.hellcat.droiddev.ktool&hl=en

If you do need to restore you would have to root again.

You will then be able to flash the stock firmware with Odin. Since you don't want to reroot you will have the stock recovery so don't have to worry about the brick bug. I'd recommended wiping your phone after going back to stock so if you want to be able to restore your apps after back them up with this app first
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.backup&hl=en
 
Hi!

Thank you for the answer. So your telling me that there is no danger to brick the phone if I reinstall the stock rom from Virgin using Odin, well thank you! I really appreciate your help.

About the EFS folder, technically the stock rom should not overwrite it if I understand what you are saying. And the radio settings just curious, are they hardcoded somewhere in the phone memory or does it get whipe when we put back a stock rom?

OK I know it is a lot of questions but for the battery issue, if I simply put another kernel like siyah or philz could it fix the problem? If yes then I will install a new kernel using clockworkmod.

Thank you! :D
 
Well there's always a risk when flashing but as long as the firmware is for your device and you follow the flashing instructions the risk is minimal. There's a chance a different kernel could solve the problem so it's worth a try. Your efs folder will still be the same after flashing stock. Each firmware and ROM will contain a compatible modem/radio which will get installed when you flash.
 
Thank you for your answer. Before restoring the stock rom with Odin, should I at least do a wipe dalvik cache, wipe battery cache, wipe partition cache or it does not change a thing?

I am thinking that I will have traces of the actual rom after puting back the stock rom but anyway the most important is to not brick the phone.

Thank you again!
 
Hi!

I've decided to stay with Biftor 8.2 ROM. I would like to re-install it from scratch by doing a clean install. Is there a way to wipe everything on the phone except the kernel and the EFS folder? Nothing that would be harmfull.

I am now comfortable installing custom ROM and since Biftor is base on a Samsung stock ROM, I will stay with it. I admit, I am afraid to brick my phone just by trying to install the Virgin Mobile rom with Odin.

Thank you!
 
See, Hawker's, GS2ROMNuke guide and step-by-step instructions.

You must, as per the instructions, immediately flash your Biftor ROM straight after using GS2ROMNuke and this will replace the kernel with the one that comes as standard with Biftor, (Jeboo v2.1). If you are worried about your, "efs", file, which is not wiped, you can back it up by using GSII Repair from the Play Store.
 
When we restore a stock rom with Odin, does it wipe everything in the MMC memory of it just overwrite existing folders in the phone?
 
Hi!

I have the original Jelly Bean stock rom from Virgin Mobile Canada that I would like to put back in my Samsung Galaxy GT-i9100m. The stock kernel is known to have the emmc brick bug.

Can I edit the .tar.md5 achive, remove the zimage file, replace it with as an exemple the zimage from jeboo kernel and finaly push that new modified stock rom into my phone using Odin?

Thank you!
 
sychobob said:
Hi!

I have the original Jelly Bean stock rom from Virgin Mobile Canada that I would like to put back in my Samsung Galaxy GT-i9100m. The stock kernel is known to have the emmc brick bug.

Can I edit the .tar.md5 achive, remove the zimage file, replace it with as an exemple the zimage from jeboo kernel and finaly push that new modified stock rom into my phone using Odin?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

You won't be affected by the brick bug as flashing stock will also flash the stock recovery. For the brick bug to take effect you need cwm recovery and an affected kernel.
 
If you want to reroot after just flash siyah with Odin after you've flashed they firmware. It'll be perfectly safe as until you flash siyah you won't have cwm recovery.
 
Hi!

I am searching on google for a guide that would explain how to edit a tar.md5 file. I want to replace the file zimage in the stock Virgin Mobile Jelly Bean rom by the one from jeboo kernel. The stock rom kernel contain the brick bug so I don't want to take any risk.

Will see what I will find.
 
Hi!

I don't understand what you are saying. You are saying that the stock kernel is secure because there is no clockworkmod in it? I thaught the Jelly Bean 4.1.2 stock kernel was infected by the brick bug.

So if I re-image the phone using Odin the phone should reboot without issues. Why my buddy who first unlock the phone is telling me that I cannot go back to stock, that I will brick the phone if I do so? And what about Kies and official Samsung updates via the phone menu, will they work after I put back the stock rom?

Thank's!
 
Yeah while the kernel does technically contain a brick bug it doesn't become active until it is installed along with cwm recovery so having one or the other is safe. Even having both a kernel with the brick bug and cwm recovery won't brick your phone without doing something specific. For your phone to get bricked by the bug you'd need an affected kernel and cwm recovery then with both of those present you'd need to wipe data, cache or dalvik with cwm.

In theory reverting back to stock would allow kies and ota updates to work, however this is a bit hit and miss. Some people have reported they get official updates after others still can't get kies to connect.
 
Hi!

I did a wipe of my phone using GS2ROMNuke and re-install biftor 8.0. Bugs that I use to have are gone. Only one thing bothering me: the battery life. First it takes forever to charge the battery and most of the time when the battery gage is around 70% I have to disconnect and reconnect the wall charger to get a 100% charge on the battery gage.

Around 6 weeks ago when the phone was still on stock rom and unrooted the battery gage was going up to a 100% without the need of disconnecting the charger at around 70%. After a full charge with a 100% at the battery gage as soon as I was disconnecting the charger the battery gage was dropping to 70% again.

The phone is 5 months old so could the battery be defective? Or could it be a battery gage calibration issue? I know there is a chip on the phone motherboard managing the battery.

When my phone got root for the first time a month ago, a friend of mine did it and he put cyanogen mod 10.1 nightly and he told me that he did not get the battery issues I have.

So my question is: do I install another kernel? Could the biftor rom be the problem? Samsung base rom are hard to find. Going on stock rom will not fix the problem so I am desperate and don't know what to do anymore. Maybe I should get a HTC phone instead :-)

Thank you!
 
I believe it's unlikely your chip for the battery is causing problems however there are ways to reset,a quick search of the forum will give a thread in how to do so, or you can reset it in some kernels like siyah using stweaks!

It is much more likely to be an issue with the Rom, I'd suggest downloading latest neat lite Rom based on lss, install it with a full wipe, then to bed certain after letting it reboot, flash siyah kernel, and you can do a battery fuel gauge reset....it will then take a few days to allow things to bed in!
 
Hi!

I installed neatrom lite and siya 6 beta 5. Phone is reacting fine so far. I did a battery gauge reset with stweaks. I will charge the battery and give you news soon.

Thank you!
 
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