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Root [CDMA] Flashing Sequence

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ximon581

Lurker
Hello everyone. Been lurking for a while, but am overall pretty new to the rooting community. First of all, I deeply apologize if this is an improper forum section or if this is posted already. I know that's the cardinal sin of forums, ha. But this is the device I'm using and whatnot, and this is where I've gotten the vast majority of my information. But what I'm wondering is the proper order for when I want to flash a new ROM, kernel, etc. From my knowledge, the proper order would be something like:

1. Nandroid Backup
2. TB/Mybackup
3. Dalvik + cache wipe (full /data wipe?)
4. Flash ROM/Kernel (if separate, which first?)
5. Flash any other mods or themes on top of that?

And can all of this be done from one session in recovery before booting?

Thank you in advance for any response.
 
Nandroid - absolutely! Even create a backup on your PC!
TB - that's optional. I have TB pro, but hardly use it.

Once you've backed up, do a Full Data wipe! ( cache, dalvik, full data )

Then, flash the ROM of you're choice. Boot up completely, then go back into Recovery and flash the Kernel! Avoid doing both together!

Anytime you flash a new ROM or Kernel, the cache/dalvik/data wipe will (9/10 times) prevent any issues!

Basically, here's a snap shot for flashing:

1. Root
2. Flash Recovery
3. Create Nandroid ( don't forget to include your Wimax keys )
4. Backup Nandroid on PC! Don't depend on your SD Card completely!
5. Download ROM of choice on root of SD Card, no need to rename!
6. Boot into Recovery and perform Wipe functions ( cache, dalvik, full data )
7. From Recovery, choose 'install zip from SD Card'
8. Choose ROM and install!

Enjoy! :)
 
just a tip, if you are going to flash a sense based ROM and you are still on stock then you dont 'need' to wipe data and system, you 'can' just wipe cache and dalvik. I am on ViperROM and still have yet to wipe data/system, thus have not had to load anything from TB, although i do have backups with TB

If you update a ROM you only need to wipe dalvik and cache as well. or if you flash some special colors or widgets etc

and just remember to nandroid those WiMax keys, you can't get them back if you lose them!
 
Welcome to rooting!

Don't you sweat asking any questions one bit!

We'd rather have repeated questions and duplicate posts before we'd have anyone mess things up or waste time in confusion. ;) :)

We're not other forums, our cardinal rule is please be polite.

Please ask as much as you need.
 
M5Rahul said:
4. Backup Nandroid on PC! Don't depend on your SD Card completely!
Click to expand...

This is absolute truth. I had a problem with my DX once when making a mod to a Gingerbread leak. I ended up reflashing the device 3 times before I found the culprit on the SD card.

I wrote the anecdote on a forum, here is the story, for anyone who might find it entertaining/educational (mostly entertaining):

(FYI, SBF is a flashed file kind of like RUU, but can only be installed from a PC. It's considered the "last ditch effort" to recover a phone.)

So I have a new biggest lesson learned: SBF doesn't always fix everything. That, and don't mess with Voice Commands, even it it was completely unintentional.

So, I was going to attempt to do my first ninjamorph mod. I made nand backup in clockwork, just to be on the safe side. Then made a backup of framework-res.apk, even though I had a nandroid backup and ninjamorph automatically backs up. I read the instructions for the banner change a few times, including skimming the thread for where people had problems. Then I set out to do the mod. I follow the instructions and when it comes time to reboot, I go ahead and reboot.

Booting...booting...booting...lock screen with my banner changed and I have service. Success! Ok, slide to unlock.

Force close. Module blah blah (Voice Command) has become unresponsive.

WTF? I guess I screwed up somewhere with rebuilding the apk. No big deal, I have back ups and will just restore the back ups and re-read the instructions to see where I messed up. Ok *click* Force Close.

1 second later: Force close. Module blah blah (Voice Command) has become unresponsive.

Ok...*click* Force Close.

Force close. Module blah blah (Voice Command) has become unresponsive.

Oh for <random array of explicatives> sake...Good thing I made a nand backup. Now to get into clockwork. But my phone doesn't go into clockwork automatically at boot, and I am running GB, so...I have to run bootstrap. But I only have Droid X Bootstrap installed and my USB Debugging is enabled.

****.

Well, this is going to be fun. I would spam click buttons, scroll slowly, inch by inch, and constantly force closing Voice Commands. It was literally click force close with one finger and spam whatever I was trying to do with another. I felt like I was back in my NES days before they made the turbo buttons. It took about 15 minutes to go from the home menu > settings > applications > development > disable USB Debug > home > app tray > bootstrapper > set for boot recovery and reboot.

But finally...I'm in clockwork. Home free, right? Ok. Backup and restore. Select backup. OK.

Processing...Done! Ok. Time to reboot and see where I went wrong. Rebooting...Lock screen. Swipe to open. Force Close (Voice Commands) is not responding.

So go through the process again and get back into clockwork and use a week old back up. Guess what was waiting for me when I swiped open my lock screen? If you guessed anything but a force close, you sir/ma'am are wrong, horrifically wrong.

F it, I'm SBFing.

After SBFing, I play around in Froyo a bit, everything seems fine. I can even use voice commands. Well, ok then. I have no clue how my nand backup got corrupted, but I'll just reinstall GB and move on and just restore using google sync.

After root, clockwork install of the 3 GB preroot files, and reboot: Swipe to unlock. Force Close (Voice Commands) is not responding.

/facepalm

/sigh

Ok...what could possibly be causing this to come up after I fresh install? These install zips worked the last time I installed them off my...SD card...God damn it. That must be it. Something is causing that messed up apk to install from my SD card somehow. I guess it's time to format that SOB. So, just to be sure I absolutely nuked everything off it. I have a SD > micro SD adaptor and a SD card reader on my laptop. I format the SD card with Windows using NTFS. Knowing Android is Linux based and will laugh at that format until it reformats, I figure anything bad will be totally removed. Could I just have wiped the thing clean? Yeah, but after two SBFs in one day, I really did not care.

So after formatting the SD card, I SBF'd. Formatted the SD card in Froyo to work with Android (it was still NTFS at that point). Did fresh downloads of z4root, bootstrap, GB prerooted, and the deodex files. After my installs: Swipe to unlock. <deep breath inserted here> Swiped. I see my home screen. No force closes. Oh thank God, finally!

I hope some of you get a kick out of that. I now keep a redundant backup of my nand backups on my PC.
 
Thank you, everyone, for your prompt and polite replies. That clears up a lot for me. Just one more thing. M5Rahul, you said flash the ROM first, then boot, then flash the kernel. As long as I'm rebooting and flashing the kernel right away, do I still need to do a dalvik/cache wipe?
 
ximon581 said:
Thank you, everyone, for your prompt and polite replies. That clears up a lot for me. Just one more thing. M5Rahul, you said flash the ROM first, then boot, then flash the kernel. As long as I'm rebooting and flashing the kernel right away, do I still need to do a dalvik/cache wipe?
Click to expand...

Depending on what you flash, you can skate without it, but best practice is to always wipe after a rom or kernel or the combo.

Example for me: I install a new rom, I use factory data reset to just ensure the wipe.

Later - I add a kernel - I repeat the wipe.

Later - I decide to just jump to a new rom and kernel - I get both installed, then wipe.

Personal philosophies on the details vary, but that's kinda the general principle - the cache areas are used to exploit fast running - just like on a web browser. And you know that a web browser can get a tangled cache from just going to odd combinations of sites.

Same thing with roms and kernels - assume that odd combinations will leave the caches tangled and you'll never go wrong.

Ok to chance it without wiping - but at your first sign of trouble, don't blame the apps or rom or anything else - clean things up.

Many of us don't bother with the try and see - we just make it a standard practice to clean things when we flash.
 
ximon581 said:
Thank you, everyone, for your prompt and polite replies. That clears up a lot for me. Just one more thing. M5Rahul, you said flash the ROM first, then boot, then flash the kernel. As long as I'm rebooting and flashing the kernel right away, do I still need to do a dalvik/cache wipe?
Click to expand...

It's always good practice to wipe cache and dalvik when changing kernels.

Remember, when you flash a ROM, it includes (generally) a kernel. So, switching from that to a custom one is the same as swapping between different kernels, hence a cache and dalvik wipe.

Only takes a few clicks and it's well worth it!! :)
 
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