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Root N00b question: Which ROM?

Coronach

Coronach

Well-Known Member
I just rooted my moto Droid (original), running 2.2.1 FRG83D. I've grown sick to death of the lag and FC issues that this thing has been experiencing lately, and I'm ready to take the plunge into running a custom ROM. The problem is, I have no idea which one to grab.

I use my phone as a phone, as a wireless router/modem for my laptop (I used PDANet until I rooted, now I just use Wireless Tether), as a browser and social media device. So, my uses are not very demanding as far as computing power goes, but the D@MNED THING MUST F'ING WORK. I ditched my previous phone (PPC-6800 running Windows Mobile...God, how terrible) because it was slow and buggy, and the stock ROM on the Droid started off great, remained great for almost a year, but has gotten steadily worse. I use the phone at work all the time, and I need the stupid thing to not do the screen-redraw lag thing, because when I need it to work I need it to work right away.

I'm looking for a ROM that is fast, clean and stable. I don't need bells and whistles, though I don't mind them if they're unobtrusive and don't slow the phone down. What I need is responsive and rock-solid stable. Which ROM fits that criteria? Cyanogen? BuglessBeast? Something else?

Thanks,

Mike
 
Liquid Smooth has been working perfectly for me. version 1.31. 1.2g kernel set at 1.2 has been working for me as well. Battery life has been pretty good, better than I have seen than others. Lots of bells and whistles as well. I love the volume rocker that will unlock the screen
 
If you don't need bells & whistles, look at Bugless Beast. If you want all manner of customization options then try UltimateDroid 2.5. Froyo ROMs are fast and stable... I would not advise a Gingerbread ROM for you ATM.

Your best bet is to take each ROM for a 3-day test drive and see which one works out best for you. My family has THREE Droids and they all have UD2.5 running with no complaints :)

RULE #1: MAKE LOTS OF BACKUPS!
 
Do the ROMs you mentioned (Bugless, UD) kill this annoying screen redraw lag issue? It has to be the most maddening thing about the Droid.

I'm not opposed to fiddling with the settings in UD, as long as it runs well once you set it up. In other words, I'm perfectly willing to spend hours up front messing with the phone as long as it will work later when I need it. What just makes me want to back over the phone with my car is when I hit the App tray and it takes 30 seconds to load the apps, or when you try to flip from screen to screen and nothing shows up.

Thanks,

Mike
 
Ok, in lieu of other input, I went ahead and DLed UD2.5. I currently have the file on my laptop. I also snagged TiBackup and performed a backup of data and apps. I have copied everything off of my SD card (including the TiBu backup) and put it on my laptop. Now I'm stuck, or perhaps I'm just being too conservative.

The tutorials I have seen involve apps that are no longer available (Droidmod, Droidroothelper), or at least not available where I have looked for them. What's the procedure to get from where I am now to flashing the ROM? A link to a current FAQ or tutorial is fine (preferred, even), or smacking me upside the head and telling me where the files I mentioned are located is fine, too.

Thanks!

Mike
 
Coronach said:
Ok, in lieu of other input, I went ahead and DLed UD2.5. I currently have the file on my laptop. I also snagged TiBackup and performed a backup of data and apps. I have copied everything off of my SD card (including the TiBu backup) and put it on my laptop. Now I'm stuck, or perhaps I'm just being too conservative.

The tutorials I have seen involve apps that are no longer available (Droidmod, Droidroothelper), or at least not available where I have looked for them. What's the procedure to get from where I am now to flashing the ROM? A link to a current FAQ or tutorial is fine (preferred, even), or smacking me upside the head and telling me where the files I mentioned are located is fine, too.

Thanks!

Mike
Click to expand...

If you're rooted, you will want to DL ROM Manager. It's free in the Market. Use it to flash ClockworkMod Recovery, then scroll down & flash Alternate Recovery (SPRecovery), then flash ClockworkMod AGAIN. EDIT: Scroll down and hit "Fix Permissions" if you have trouble, and make sure when ROM Manager asks for Superuser Access that you hit "Allow".

Move UD2.5 to the SD card using the USB cable. You can put it in a folder called "ROMs" or just put it in the root of the card so it's easy to find.

If there is ANY information like SMS/MMS messages, call log, etc that you want to save, you'll find MyBackupPro well worth the money. It will backup all these things and restore them on the other side of the ROM flash. I use it all the time. DO NOT backup and restore system settings!

Once ClockworkMod is flashed, MAKE A BACKUP. You can either do this in ROM Manager or Recovery using X+Power to turn it on.

You navigate in Recovery by using the volume buttons to go up & down, camera button to select, and power button to move back to the previous menu.

When the backup is complete, scroll down in Recovery and "wipe data/factory reset". Do it THREE TIMES. Then "install zip from SD card" and "Choose zip". Navigate to UD2.5 and install. It'll take awhile. When the install is complete, use the power button to navigate to the main Recovery screen and select "Reboot System Now" with the camera button.

THE FIRST BOOT WILL TAKE A LONG TIME! Don't sweat! Well, maybe a little :p

Once it boots up, you'll be prompted to log into your Google Account and set your phone back up. It'll be like a brand new phone. Once set up, go into UD Settings--> performance settings and "Lock Home In Memory". That'll help with the lag. If you use LauncherPro, let me know as there are settings in it too that help.

Any Questions? :)
 
Thanks!

No questions yet. Let me try to blow this up- err, flash the ROM and we'll see what happens.

Mike
 
Actually, yes. I have TiBU, do I need MyBackUp Pro as well, for the call log? Or will Ti Backup handle that as well?

Mike
 
I use TiBU to back up apps & app data. MBPro will backup SMS/MMS, call log, alarms, dictionary and bookmarks. Your contacts and calendar are synced to your Google account, so they will restore automatically (as will your apps). You can bypass the Google login and restore your apps via TiBU if you want UNLESS you're going from a Froyo ROM to Gingerbread... which you're not.
 
OK, first glitch. I DLed ROM Manger, flashed ClockworkMod Recovery. I then flashed Alternate Recovery, and I got an error message: "An error occurred while flashing your recovery."

Any idea what I did wrong?
 
Did you fix permissions?

BTW I have that same problem. If you can get into ClockworkMod using X+power, then I wouldn't sweat it too much. But make SURE of that BEFORE flashing a ROM.
 
rgr, wilco. I'm re-running TiBU and copying the SD card, too, so that will take me a few minutes.
 
Take your time and don't skip anything. I'll be right here :)

The wipe will only affect your phone's system data and will not wipe the SD card, but it's always a good idea to backup your card to the PC.

So far so good!
 
Right. SD cards seem to get corrupted from lesser things, so having it all elsewhere is never a bad idea.
 
I got a 32GB SD card for Christmas, only to find out that ClockworkMod chokes on that much memory and would only make a successful backup 1 out of every 3 attempts... SO it's sitting here waiting on my NEXT device :)
 
Hmm. Still get the error message after fixing permissions and rebooting. Proceed anyway? I am able to get into clockworkmod via power-X.
 
K. Also, I assume by "make a backup" you are referring to the "Back Up Current ROM" option? If so, I'm doing that now.

Mike
 
That's great! Or you can go into Recovery, scroll down to "nandroid" and select it and then "backup". The advantage of ROM Manager is you get to name your backup something like "11-03-07-Stock" instead of Clockwork's straight date & time name.

You'll want to do the actual wiping and flashing IN RECOVERY, not via ROM Manager. Trust me on this one :cool:
 
Hmmm...backup seems to have failed. I got the /!\ Icon with the picture of the phone. I had to pull the battery and restart. Seems ok, though.

Mike
 
OK, back in business. Backing up now. I "lost" the ability to access Clockwork via power-X when it didn't stick before, so I'm going to confirm that it is back before proceeding, but since it is now handling a BU of the ROM just fine, it'll probably work.
 
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