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Root Eris Root Newbie, I Need Help!

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DavidG6

Newbie
Hi everyone!
First off, I am a newbie to the Android forums!
Second off, I am not computer/Eris/Root/ROM savy at all, so please bare with me!

Situation - I have the Droid Eris. I love it, and sometimes hate it! I will have this phone for another year due to my Verizon contract. After looking through these forums, I realize if I want to get the best from my little Eris, I'm going to need to ROM this guy (especially for another year). However, I have no Root/ROMming experience, and not very computer savy, and I was wondering if someone can give me a little step by step. It is currently still using the factory Android 2.1.

I want to use the GSBv 1.6 ROM ([ROM] GSB v1.6 | GingerBread 2.3.2 [CM7.0.0 RC1 NIGHTLY][2-18-2011] - xda-developers) for my Eris. I just love the look and what it has to offer. Buuttttt -

1. How do I root it? Do I go online with my Eris with the browser to this page and click on the ROM Download?
2. Where do I go after that? I just have no clue... :(
3. Will I loose my contacts and pictures? I love the pictures, videos, and contacts I have, and on this thread in the link it says I must clear everything...but I want to keep it! Help!
4. Would I have to redownload my apps?
5. If other versions of this room (1.7, etc) are released, is it an easy upgrade?

I mean, and that's really it. Sorry if this is much.
I'm excited because I really want to root my Eris to GSB v 1.6! Just don't know how...please help a fellow Android friend that doesn't know much.

Thank you everyone!
 
DavidG6 said:
Hi everyone!
First off, I am a newbie to the Android forums!
Second off, I am not computer/Eris/Root/ROM savy at all, so please bare with me!

Situation - I have the Droid Eris. I love it, and sometimes hate it! I will have this phone for another year due to my Verizon contract. After looking through these forums, I realize if I want to get the best from my little Eris, I'm going to need to ROM this guy (especially for another year). However, I have no Root/ROMming experience, and not very computer savy, and I was wondering if someone can give me a little step by step. It is currently still using the factory Android 2.1.

I want to use the GSBv 1.6 ROM ([ROM] GSB v1.6 | GingerBread 2.3.2 [CM7.0.0 RC1 NIGHTLY][2-18-2011] - xda-developers) for my Eris. I just love the look and what it has to offer. Buuttttt -

1. How do I root it? Do I go online with my Eris with the browser to this page and click on the ROM Download?
2. Where do I go after that? I just have no clue... :(
3. Will I loose my contacts and pictures? I love the pictures, videos, and contacts I have, and on this thread in the link it says I must clear everything...but I want to keep it! Help!
4. Would I have to redownload my apps?
5. If other versions of this room (1.7, etc) are released, is it an easy upgrade?

I mean, and that's really it. Sorry if this is much.
I'm excited because I really want to root my Eris to GSB v 1.6! Just don't know how...please help a fellow Android friend that doesn't know much.

Thank you everyone!
Click to expand...

I'll try to help before the big guns chime in.:D

1. The method I used was EU1's rooting method which is here Universal Eris Root for Dummies! (
multipage.gif
1 2 3 ... Last Page). Read it carefully before before doing it and follow each step just as it say's.

2. If your not computer savy I'll let someone else tackle that one.

3. You will not loose your contacts or pictures. Do you sync your contacts with google?

4. yes and no, I'll let someone else take that one.

5. Yes it's easy to upgrade however GSB may not be something you want to tackle yet until you are computable moving around your phone. Read this thread Eris ROMs post #10.

Hope that helps.:)
 
DavidG6 said:
Hi everyone!
First off, I am a newbie to the Android forums!
Second off, I am not computer/Eris/Root/ROM savy at all, so please bare with me!

Situation - I have the Droid Eris. I love it, and sometimes hate it! I will have this phone for another year due to my Verizon contract. After looking through these forums, I realize if I want to get the best from my little Eris, I'm going to need to ROM this guy (especially for another year). However, I have no Root/ROMming experience, and not very computer savy, and I was wondering if someone can give me a little step by step. It is currently still using the factory Android 2.1.

I want to use the GSBv 1.6 ROM ([ROM] GSB v1.6 | GingerBread 2.3.2 [CM7.0.0 RC1 NIGHTLY][2-18-2011] - xda-developers) for my Eris. I just love the look and what it has to offer. Buuttttt -

1. How do I root it? Do I go online with my Eris with the browser to this page and click on the ROM Download?
2. Where do I go after that? I just have no clue... :(
3. Will I loose my contacts and pictures? I love the pictures, videos, and contacts I have, and on this thread in the link it says I must clear everything...but I want to keep it! Help!
4. Would I have to redownload my apps?
5. If other versions of this room (1.7, etc) are released, is it an easy upgrade?

I mean, and that's really it. Sorry if this is much.
I'm excited because I really want to root my Eris to GSB v 1.6! Just don't know how...please help a fellow Android friend that doesn't know much.

Thank you everyone!
Click to expand...

The Universal Eris Root for Dummies is your best bet to learn everything you need to know about rooting. There is also a one click root app that you can download from the market for the eris. However, even if you go that route, read all of the Dummies thread. You should also check out the rest of the xda development forum for the eris for other tips.

This will be explained in the dummies thread, but it's good to have handy and bookmarked for reference How to PROPERLY Flash a ROM - xda-developers

As far as apps, they will restore (usually) when first open the market in the new ROM (menu>my apps). To make sure you are not missing any, you can download AppBrain App Market and sync the apps on your phone so you have a list. Also, once you have root, you can use titanium backup to backup and restore applications and data.

Nothing on your SD Card will be deleted when you flash a ROM. Also, your contacts and calendar items will be synced with google (if contacts are google contacts and not phone contacts. Check this by logging into your gmail account and see if all your contacts are there).
 
DavidG6 said:
Situation - I have the Droid Eris. I love it, and sometimes hate it! I will have this phone for another year due to my Verizon contract. After looking through these forums, I realize if I want to get the best from my little Eris, I'm going to need to ROM this guy (especially for another year). However, I have no Root/ROMming experience, and not very computer savy, and I was wondering if someone can give me a little step by step. It is currently still using the factory Android 2.1.

I want to use the GSBv 1.6 ROM ([ROM] GSB v1.6 | GingerBread 2.3.2 [CM7.0.0 RC1 NIGHTLY][2-18-2011] - xda-developers) for my Eris. I just love the look and what it has to offer. Buuttttt -

1. How do I root it? Do I go online with my Eris with the browser to this page and click on the ROM Download?
2. Where do I go after that? I just have no clue... :(
3. Will I loose my contacts and pictures? I love the pictures, videos, and contacts I have, and on this thread in the link it says I must clear everything...but I want to keep it! Help!
4. Would I have to redownload my apps?
5. If other versions of this room (1.7, etc) are released, is it an easy upgrade?
Click to expand...

1. I think that the best way to root it is to use a process called Universal Root for Dummies, which you can do all from your phone (click here). As you follow the process, it will take you through all of the steps to root your phone, then restart in Recovery - which is where you will back up what you have, just in case, and then use a process called Flashing to install your new ROM. The fourth post in that thread will take you through the steps that you need to do to install GSB, with this exception: unlike many ROMs for the Eris, GSB requires that you also install another .zip file that includes some key Google applications which you will need with the ROM.

Yes, you use that GSB link to download both the GSB .zip file and the Google apps .zip file (read that post carefully to find the links) and then copy those .zip files to your SD card (I recommend that you download on your computer and copy them over to the phone from there.) After you follow the first three posts in the Universal thread to get root access, in the fourth you will install GSB. If you are not doing something that looks like the following, you are doing it wrong:

- Nandroid backup what you have now
- Wipe data/factory reset (to clear your user data and apps from the phone - required)
- Wipe Dalvik cache (don't worry what Dalvik cache is - just wipe it)
- Flash GSB
- Flash gapps
- Restart the phone

2. If you do everything that I mentioned in step 1, when you restart your phone you will be setting up GSB

3. Good question. Pictures and videos are stored on your SD card, in a folder called DCIM, and they will not go away. As for contacts, there are two types of contacts that you can have on the phone - Google contacts and phone contacts. Google contacts are better - they are synced with your Google account and will repopulate onto your phone whenever you wipe the data from it (or even if you get a new phone). Phone contacts, however, will be lost if you ever wipe data, factory reset, get a new phone, etc.

If you have phone contacts, there is a free app on the market called UiA Contact Backup. Get it, backup the contacts to your SD card on a CSV file, copy that CSV file to your computer and then import them into your Google contacts. Also, you may be able to import them as Google contacts right on the phone - I've never tried it. If you have only Google contacts, though, you're all set.

4. Yes. When you run through the setup the first time after booting GSB, it should start to install all of the apps that you had before on your market account. You may run into an issue with GSB where the apps do not install, giving a mistaken out of space error (these will be in notifications when you pull down the phone.) If that happens, just tap those notifications and reinstall your apps, one at a time.

Also, if for some reason GSB does not start to reinstall all of your existing apps, you can go into the market and all of your free and paid apps will be there for the first visit. After you leave the market and go back, though, only uninstalled paid apps will be there - there probably will not be any uninstalled free apps - so, if this happens to you, make sure to install all that you want on that first visit.

By the way, you will also lose SMS messages and call logs. If you want them to copy over, there are two apps on the market that will back these up to the SD card from your current install and then, after reinstalling them to GSB, you can use them to restore those items. You cannot restore MMS messages, however.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.riteshsahu.SMSBackupRestore&feature=search_result
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.riteshsahu.CallLogBackupRestore

5. It's usually easy. Sometimes Workshed will tell you that you need to do a full wipe when there is an update, so you follow those earlier steps, but so far usually all that you need to do is to wipe the Dalvik cache. So, the steps would be:

- download and copy GSB to the SD card.
- download and copy gapps, if there is an updated version of those as well
- make sure that your phone's battery is well charged - plug it in if it is less than 75% charged
- restart in recovery
- Nandroid backup (ALWAYS do this - you won't be sorry.)
- wipe Dalvik cache
- flash GSB
- flash gapps (yes, you must always reflash gapps with each update, even if you do not wipe)
- restart the phone


[EDIT] - Obviously, the two cats and I were answering at the same time, but I'll leave my post up anyway.
 
doogald said:
1. I think that the best way to root it is to use a process called Universal Root for Dummies, which you can do all from your phone (click here). As you follow the process, it will take you through all of the steps to root your phone, then restart in Recovery - which is where you will back up what you have, just in case, and then use a process called Flashing to install your new ROM. The fourth post in that thread will take you through the steps that you need to do to install GSB, with this exception: unlike many ROMs for the Eris, GSB requires that you also install another .zip file that includes some key Google applications which you will need with the ROM.

Yes, you use that GSB link to download both the GSB .zip file and the Google apps .zip file (read that post carefully to find the links) and then copy those .zip files to your SD card (I recommend that you download on your computer and copy them over to the phone from there.) After you follow the first three posts in the Universal thread to get root access, in the fourth you will install GSB. If you are not doing something that looks like the following, you are doing it wrong:

- Nandroid backup what you have now
- Wipe data/factory reset (to clear your user data and apps from the phone - required)
- Wipe Dalvik cache (don't worry what Dalvik cache is - just wipe it)
- Flash GSB
- Flash gapps
- Restart the phone

2. If you do everything that I mentioned in step 1, when you restart your phone you will be setting up GSB

3. Good question. Pictures and videos are stored on your SD card, in a folder called DCIM, and they will not go away. As for contacts, there are two types of contacts that you can have on the phone - Google contacts and phone contacts. Google contacts are better - they are synced with your Google account and will repopulate onto your phone whenever you wipe the data from it (or even if you get a new phone). Phone contacts, however, will be lost if you ever wipe data, factory reset, get a new phone, etc.

If you have phone contacts, there is a free app on the market called UiA Contact Backup. Get it, backup the contacts to your SD card on a CSV file, copy that CSV file to your computer and then import them into your Google contacts. Also, you may be able to import them as Google contacts right on the phone - I've never tried it. If you have only Google contacts, though, you're all set.

4. Yes. When you run through the setup the first time after booting GSB, it should start to install all of the apps that you had before on your market account. You may run into an issue with GSB where the apps do not install, giving a mistaken out of space error (these will be in notifications when you pull down the phone.) If that happens, just tap those notifications and reinstall your apps, one at a time.

Also, if for some reason GSB does not start to reinstall all of your existing apps, you can go into the market and all of your free and paid apps will be there for the first visit. After you leave the market and go back, though, only uninstalled paid apps will be there - there probably will not be any uninstalled free apps - so, if this happens to you, make sure to install all that you want on that first visit.

By the way, you will also lose SMS messages and call logs. If you want them to copy over, there are two apps on the market that will back these up to the SD card from your current install and then, after reinstalling them to GSB, you can use them to restore those items. You cannot restore MMS messages, however.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.riteshsahu.SMSBackupRestore&feature=search_result
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.riteshsahu.CallLogBackupRestore

5. It's usually easy. Sometimes Workshed will tell you that you need to do a full wipe when there is an update, so you follow those earlier steps, but so far usually all that you need to do is to wipe the Dalvik cache. So, the steps would be:

- download and copy GSB to the SD card.
- download and copy gapps, if there is an updated version of those as well
- make sure that your phone's battery is well charged - plug it in if it is less than 75% charged
- restart in recovery
- Nandroid backup (ALWAYS do this - you won't be sorry.)
- wipe Dalvik cache
- flash GSB
- flash gapps (yes, you must always reflash gapps with each update, even if you do not wipe)
- restart the phone


[EDIT] - Obviously, the two cats and I were answering at the same time, but I'll leave my post up anyway.
Click to expand...

Aaaah, but you explain so much and in such detail.:D It would have taking me forever to type something in such detail.:o
 
one more thing i would highly recomend. now the last thing i want is to confuse you with more info,so file the following away to do at some point in the future when you have become pretty confident when working with your phone.

the cute little track ball i have see called the "achilles heel" of the eris,and for good reason. due to its close proximity to the charging port,and the simple posibility of it getting dirty,it is known to stop working.

the track ball is an important part of manuvering in recovery to make backups,do whipes,install roms,etc.,so you can imagine the horror that could happen if you happen to boot into recovery then realize that your track ball is not functioning. :eek:

luckily,there is a solution. one of our very own eris experts has come up with a modification to the recovery on the eris that lets you use the volume up,send,and end buttons to manuver thru the various menus without the use of the cute little non-functioning track ball.

i would highly recomend that you install the modification BEFORE your track ball stops working ;)

like i said,its not something that is needed for you to root and install a rom,and if it will cause extra confusion hold off on reading it. but keep in mind that its a good idea to do it as soon as you are comfortable.

heres a link to it:
http://androidforums.com/eris-all-t...2-custom-recovery-trackball-not-required.html

once you are rooted,you will follow scenario 3.
 
K great! Thank you, I will have to do that.
The GSB is going great, but I see a new v 1.7 has been released! If I upgraded to this, will I loose all of the settings on my phone with 1.6 that I spent all that time setting? Is it worth the upgrade?
Thanks!
 
DavidG6 said:
K great! Thank you, I will have to do that.
The GSB is going great, but I see a new v 1.7 has been released! If I upgraded to this, will I loose all of the settings on my phone with 1.6 that I spent all that time setting? Is it worth the upgrade?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I haven't upgraded myself, so I can't tell you if it is worth it. But, see number 5 in this post above for how to upgrade.

(Hint: do not wipe data/factory reset. Only wipe dalvik cache this time. Make sure that you flash both gsb1.7 and gapps before you restart. Yes, you must flash gapps each time you flash gsb1.7.)
 
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