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dual boot stock + custom

C

chriswebs23

Member
i have a orange network sgs2.

i love the "signal boost" (through wi-fi) app for when im at work etc.

but i really enjoyed trying out AndyXRom 10.1 and other roms....

is there a way to dual boot the orange rom with a custom one??
 
Sure is!

Flash the latest Siyah Kernel using Odin or Mobile Odin. Siyah adds dual boot options in CWM recovery. The way to do it is install your secondary rom (the one you don't want to use most of the time) first, and then you can use the dual boot menu to clone your rom to the secondary rom. You'll need about 2gb+ on the internal sd card to do it though. Then you do your wipes, and flash your primary rom. You can boot your secondary rom by pressing the home key when the prompt comes up at boot.

Things to note about dual boot:
- The two roms are almost completely isolated from one another. If you download an app or send a message or do almost anything on one rom, the information is not duplicated on the other. So it's like having two completely different phones (cool if you want to hide something I guess...). I personally only use the secondary rom for testing roms. Or rather I use the primary for testing roms and keep my good rom as secondary (since you can't install roms directly to the secondary).
- The only aspect that is duplicated is the kernel. If you update Siyah on one rom, it's updated on the other. You'll notice that when you clone your primary rom, it doesn't copy the kernel across; that's because there's no point :P
 
Hi

I followed your instructions and cloned my first ROM (Dragon ICS 2.4) to secondary. I did the 4 wipes (Data/factory, cache, dalvik and battery). Then I installed the primary ROM (EpsilionProject) as though I was flashing a new ROM, install zip from sdcard - choose zip from internal sdcard. On reboot I didn't get the option to boot either ROM, when I went into about phone the kernel version had changed. Any idea what I did wrong?

Also, I had made a backup before starting the cloning, I have restored and now I get the option to boot secondary ROM. I assume I now have to identical ROM's? as I didn't press anything on boot. I haven't tried to boot the secondary to see if it is as I am a little nervous after frying a PCB chip recently on a restore that went wrong! any tips on do's and dont's on that front would be appreciated or a nudge in the right direction as I am getting off the point of the thread!

Could I install EpsilionProject again, and then flash the same kernel as Dragon ICS 2.4 (Siyah-v3.2b6+) to achieve dual boot?
 
adrok76 said:
Hi

I followed your instructions and cloned my first ROM (Dragon ICS 2.4) to secondary. I did the 4 wipes (Data/factory, cache, dalvik and battery). Then I installed the primary ROM (EpsilionProject) as though I was flashing a new ROM, install zip from sdcard - choose zip from internal sdcard. On reboot I didn't get the option to boot either ROM, when I went into about phone the kernel version had changed. Any idea what I did wrong?

Also, I had made a backup before starting the cloning, I have restored and now I get the option to boot secondary ROM. I assume I now have to identical ROM's? as I didn't press anything on boot. I haven't tried to boot the secondary to see if it is as I am a little nervous after frying a PCB chip recently on a restore that went wrong! any tips on do's and dont's on that front would be appreciated or a nudge in the right direction as I am getting off the point of the thread!

Could I install EpsilionProject again, and then flash the same kernel as Dragon ICS 2.4 (Siyah-v3.2b6+) to achieve dual boot?
Click to expand...

The thing about kernels is that while they copy across to the secondary rom, if you install a new rom as primary afterwards, it will use its own stock kernel. Most likely the stock kernel of EpsilionProject does not support dual boot, so you didn't get the option to switch to your good secondary rom.

The workaround here is to do everything you did before, then once you boot Epsilion as your primary, flash a zip of Siyah v3.2b6 (or the newest one at the time, which is b8 for now) using CWM recovery (the same way you'd install a rom). Then it will recognise the secondary rom. It's important to note that although you can't initially access the secondary rom when you install epsilion, the secondary rom still exists! It's just been hidden.

If you don't want to bother with the above, then you can do the following: As soon as you install epsilion as your primary (with dragon as the secondary), switch primary and secondary roms. There's an option for that in the dual boot menu. DON'T reboot before doing this, or else it'll revert to the old epsilion kernel and you'll lose dual-boot access.

Edit: Regarding restoring using CWM. I'm guessing it restores the primary rom to your Dragon ICS backup and doesn't touch the secondary, so yes you should have two Dragon roms, but I'm curious to see if that's true. Shouldn't be any harm in trying to boot the secondary rom. Let me know :D
 
Got it!

Thanks Kie, I'll boot up the secondary ROM shortly and let you know...

Yeah, it has got Dragon ROM on the secondary ROM too.

Should I use GS2 blitzer to remove the stock kernel from epsilion?
 
I was wondering how to install the official stock ROM only from firmware version I9100PBVLP6_I9100PORALP7_ORA. I would like a few of the stock system apps.

I was thinking of using it for my primary ROM..
 
Just to update, I repeated the process, followed your initial instruction I cleaned the old kernel out using the ultimate script cleaner from the update me app on epsilion then installed the latest Siyah kernel. Everything is great! dual boot is available and everything appears fine (touch wood!)

Thanks again for your help, any help regarding the stock rom would be appreciated.. although Mobile Odin Pro does not work on stock ROM which is a big negative.
 
adrok76 said:
Thanks again for your help, any help regarding the stock rom would be appreciated.. although Mobile Odin Pro does not work on stock ROM which is a big negative.
Click to expand...

Hm, I didn't know that! Though i've never tried...

You can install the stock rom using regular Odin. Just make sure you've got that secondary rom as your backup. I'm 90% sure you don't lose root when you flash stock firmware, and 100% sure you will lose root if you flash the stock kernel on top of it. So your idea to just install the firmware is a good one :)
 
Yeah, when I got the replacement handset I updated to 4.0.3 via Kies (the app!) then rooted with the latest CF Root kernel, installed Mobile Odin, but it said my device wasn't supported and created a dump file. Then after installing Dragon ICS it started working. I tried 3 or 4 times re-installing and re-booting with stock ROM but no joy. I didn't bother sending the dump file to the Dev, they have enough on their plates and I think I can live without Orange Signal Boost apk and...... err..... I think that is all that is useful in stock ROM anyway!

There are some awesome ROM's out there at the moment, Checkrom have started a thread on what users want out of their new ICS ROM. They have some catching up to do. Dragon ICS is the best looking ROM I've seen so far with lots of customisation, and EpsilionProject is very light and fast, much quicker than Dragon ICS and their update me app is very good, but nowhere near as pretty!

Still can't wait for Checkrom v7 though, apparently due out later this month.
 
I ain't to sure whether EpsilionProject likes this latest Siyah kernel to much. I'm having problems with certain toggles not working as they should and various other little problems with the touch screen.

Could this be caused by the kernel and if I flashed the stable Siyah kernel from the update me app v3.1.2 would I still have full function of dual boot or would I lose it entirely or just some?

Thanks for all your help so far....:D
 
adrok76 said:
I ain't to sure whether EpsilionProject likes this latest Siyah kernel to much. I'm having problems with certain toggles not working as they should and various other little problems with the touch screen.

Could this be caused by the kernel and if I flashed the stable Siyah kernel from the update me app v3.1.2 would I still have full function of dual boot or would I lose it entirely or just some?

Thanks for all your help so far....:D
Click to expand...

I'd really have to use Epsilon to help you there (never used it before). Maybe i'll give it a try sometime, sounds pretty interesting :D

What version of Siyah does update me app 3.1.2 have?
 
3.1.2 Is the Siyah kernel version found in the updateme app, I tried it last night/ this morning. Dual boot still worked but it didn't sort out the issues.

I have just flashed AndyX v12 and there is a slight issue on the toggles with this one too. They all toggle on and off except data, which you can toggle if you toggle gps on and off while toggling the data on and off if that makes sense!

Are you dual booting at the moment? have you heard of any of these issues?

As far as I can see Dragon ICS is still functioning perfectly.

Very strange!...

I would post in the Dev section on XDA but I am 2 posts away from being allowed! I have put a question in the Q&A section to see if anybody else is having these issues but maybe its something to do with dual boot..

Flashed the latest Siyah 3.2b8 and problem is worse on AndyX! no toggle now available on data, gps, and rotation!

Seems like the kernel, I will try the earliest kernel which includes dual boot and see what happens, are Siyah kernels the only dual boot kernels?


Found a ROM which appears to be fine with the Siyah kernel regarding my toggle issues.

Neat ROM 1.8.1 toggles are all working!

Basically I am trying to find a ROM which has FM tuner as Dragon ICS 2.4 doesn't have stock as I am sure you are aware Kie. I have problems with their free version, I can't get it to play through my headphones and not the phones speaker. This is my only negative on an otherwise awesome ROM. Neat ROM has FM tuner so I'll give this a try until I get bored! Problems appear to be solved and I have the best of both worlds....

Sorry for the huge essay like post!
 
What is the best way to return to a single boot ROM?

Just asking in case I need to :)

Also, can't get OmegaROM v12 to dual boot or the new AOKP v1.0 Milestone ROM (Omega). Is it compatible with dual boot? Or have I screwed something up!

Restored NeatROM, no dual boot! CWM- View current status No second ROM found?

any ideas where it went or how to get it back?

At least I got my single boot ROM back!
 
Somehow lost my second ROM and most recent back up! luckily I had an older back up stored away.

I have also noticed a problem on the second ROM (Dragon 2.4) when left on charge, with the desk top clock selected, the ROM crashes and gets stuck on the boot screen, not sure after how long, it happened twice over night. I have to reboot to start it up again, it was fine before the dual boot, although I have updated to Siyah 3.2.1

I have flashed the original kernel back to the ROM 3.2b6+

I will see how it goes....
 
Siyah 3.2.2 just released, seems to have ironed out a few little problems (touch wood!).

See how the clock goes on tonight, everything appeared fine with 3.2b6 :confused:
 
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