[GUIDE] Root & ROM the SGH-T989

[Atma]

If you have questions or problems with this guide, please start a new thread.

This is for the T-Mobile Galaxy S2 SGH-T989 phone ONLY. Telus SGH-T989D owners can also use this guide, just use the buttons indicated to get into Odin download mode, or see Blue1k's guide.

This will, technically, void your warranty. Proceed at your own risk.

That said, this is pretty simple, but read through it carefully before you begin.

Make sure on your phone USB Debugging is checked in Settings > Developer Options

Make sure your phone is charged. After you plug in the USB cable in step 2, put your phone down and don't touch it. Losing power or a loose USB cable during installation could cause a big headache.

If you are on the new official Jellybean 4.1.2 update, see the last post in this thread before going further.

Download and install Kies. You don't need to use Kies for rooting but it comes with the latest drivers. You may also need it for future updates from T-Mobile. After its installed, plug in your phone to the computer and let Kies find it to make sure the drivers are installed. After that, close out Kies. You won't need it anymore.

Make a folder on your PC to put these files.

Odin 1.85 - Make a sub folder and extract Odin in it.

Pick a recovery - ClockworkMod Recovery 6.0.2.8 or ClockworkMod Touch Recovery 6.0.2.8 or TWRP Touch Recovery 2.5.0.0 (Highly recommended - see more info on TWRP at the bottom of this post)

Superuser - CWM_Root_Superuser_3.1.3_Busybox - put this on the root of your sd card. Meaning not in a folder.

Note - If you are still running Gingerbread, use this recovery and this superuser. Or update to the latest stock Jellybean.

1 - Launch Odin by double clicking the Odin3 v1.85 file. Plug your USB cable to your computer but not your phone.

2 - Power off your phone. Then hold down both volume buttons and plug the USB cable into your phone. (Telus: hold volume down and power button). Press the volume up button when you see this menu.

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You will then go to the download screen.

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3 - Wait for the Com port in Odin to turn yellow as in the picture. You do not need to check anything that isn't already. Just be sure that Re-Partition is NOT checked. The default setting is not checked so it should be blank.

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4 - Select PDA in Odin and browse to the ClockworkMod file or TWRP file you downloaded. Select it. Now press Start and Odin will flash the recovery. When it is finished you will see a green PASS in the top section.

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5 - Odin will reboot your phone and you can unplug it. You should now have your chosen recovery on your phone.

Now you want to go to your new recovery.

Power off your phone. Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu.

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Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. *if power button doesn't work, use your home button (2nd from left on bottom of phone)*. Select install zip from SD Card.

Then select choose zip from SD Card.

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Find the Superuser.zip file you put on your sd card and select it. On the next screen select yes.

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Superuser will install. You may get an error and installation aborted message. Just try again. It may take several attempts.

Reboot your phone and check to see if you have the Superuser app in your app drawer. Congratulations! You are now rooted.

Just to be sure, download an app that requires root, Like Titanium Backup, and make sure it works. If it says you don't have root, go back to recovery and flash Superuser again. It should work then.

Before you do a lot, go back to CWM recovery or TWRP. In backup and restore, select backup and it will make a nandroid backup. Don't forget your backup! Do it! Do it! Do it! If you have problems in the future, you can restore this backup to get you out of trouble. Make sure you have at least 1gb free on your sd card. That's about the size of a nandroid. Its also a good idea to move a copy of that backup to your PC in case of emergencies.

 

[Atma]

Now you're rooted. Congratulations! It really wasn't that hard was it?

Now to enjoy your new phone! I highly recommend downloading Titanium Backup from the Play Store. If you can afford it, the Pro version is worth the money. You can use TiBu to backup and restore your apps, as well as, deleting or freezing the bloatware that came with your phone. To check what you can delete, or freeze, check this apk list and also this thread has a good list. You can restore your apps with its data, but never restore system apps.

I have removed almost all the bloat my phone came with and I like my rooted debloated stock better than most custom roms I've tried. However, I do have fun flashing roms. Want to try it? Well follow me!


Hey! Down here. :ciao:

First, find a rom you would like to try. You can find a list of most of the current roms in the All Things Root Guide sticky. Select one and scan through the thread. Read the OP and pay attention to special instructions or bugs that may still be present. Download the one you like, or try them all! Move or copy the file to your sd card.

Is it a Jelly Bean based rom or ICS based rom? Does it have Gapps included? Gapps is short for Google Apps. You need Gapps for all the Google things you do. The thread starter/Developer will usually tell you if you need Gapps or not for their particular custom rom and may even include the specific gapps. Generally, if its a CyanogenMod rom, you will need to install Gapps. For Jelly Bean 4.1.2 roms use 20121011. For Jelly Bean 4.2.1 roms use 20121212, for Jelly Bean 4.2.2 rom use 20130301. For ICS roms use 20120429. Its a good idea to download both and keep them on your sd card.

Ok, on to flashing. First, you did make a nandroid backup in recovery after rooting .. right? Right?! Great! I knew your were smart! If its been a while since you rooted and you've added a lot of apps, make another separate backup. If you don't like the custom rom for whatever reason, just restore your nandroid. All your apps will be back and you won't need to restore them all with Titanium.

You install a rom, and Gapps if needed, essentially the same way you did the superuser file when you rooted. Just a few extra steps of wiping.

Now that you have the rom and the gapp files on your sd card, boot into recovery as you did when rooting. Although, now that you are rooted, an easier method is to download the Quick Boot app from the Play Store and use it. Just tap it and select recovery.

First, you need to clear out your current system. Critically important before installing a new rom.

1 - Select wipe data/factory reset.
2 - Select wipe cache partition

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3 - Select Advanced and in that menu select Wipe Dalvik Cache.

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4 - Select go back and in the main menu select mounts and storage.
5 - Under mounts and storage select format system, format data, format cache, then go back.

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Now you're all clean and ready.

Install the rom and gapps like you did superuser. Select install zip from sd card, then choose zip from sd card. Find your rom file and install it. It may take several minutes. Now go back to the main menu. If you need Gapps, install it the same way. If not, then select reboot.

The first boot can take several minutes. After it boots up, let your phone sit for 10 minutes. This gives all the little Androids time to build a new Dalvik Cache, check the oil and tire pressure.

Then, HAVE FUN!

Ok, Odin experience .. check

ClockworkMod .. check

Rooted and rom'ed .. check.

I thought you needed to know how to use CWM, but I highly recommend installing the TWRP touch recovery. It is much easier to use and does a better job of wiping. If you want to try it, download GooManager from the Play Store. Install and open it, then tap your phone's menu button. Select Install OpenRecoveryScript. It will install the latest version of TWRP. Give it a minute. Sometimes it looks like it isn't doing anything but will tell you when its done.

Use your Quick Boot app to boot to recovery. You will come to TWRP's main menu. (Yes, it says version 2.1.1 but I couldn't get screenshots. I had to get images where I could.)

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The menu's are pretty self explanatory.

In the wipe menu, when wiping before installing a rom,

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You want to select Factory reset, System, Cache and Dalvik Cache.

One important thing about CWM and TWRP, they do not read each other's nandroid backups. If you decide to use TWRP, immediately make another backup.

A final WARNING. NEVER flash a rom made for another phone. For instance, if you flash a rom made for the Galaxy S2 International (I9100), you will end up with a bricked phone.

If you ever need, or want, to unroot and go back to stock rom, read How to Odin any stock rom. It will unroot you and return to stock.

That's about it. I hope this helped you.

 

[Atma]

For anyone that wants to root or reroot the 4.1.2 update, its pretty simple. Use Odin to install TWRP Touch Recovery 2.5.0.0. Power off and boot into TWRP recovery.

How to get to recovery: Power off the phone, Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu.

In TWRP, Select Reboot, then System, TWRP will tell you that you are not rooted and ask if you want to root. Use the Swipe bar at the bottom to root then follow the instructions to install SuperSu. Easy peasy.