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Help Questions about Serendipity 7

M

MrDeepFreeze

Newbie
Here are the instructions from the S7 Weebly site and my comments or desire for more information.

1. Downloading the files is no problem but do I also need drivers for my phone? Where can I get them?
Can I start with an AT&T Captivate that is NOT rooted and has been upgraded to the official Froyo 2.2 build FROYO.UCKB1?
2. Open Odin3 1.7. No Problem
3. Select the PDA, PHONE, CSC, and PIT files in their correct spots.
I think I've got this as I'm just clicking the buttons and choosing the files I downloaded that start with PDA, PHONE, etc. but I'd like to be sure.
4. Connect phone in download mode. Use a USB port that's on your motherboard (the ones on the back of the computer). Use the Samsung USB cable.
How do you connect in download mode?
5. Ensure that Auto-reboot and Re-Partition are both checked. These have a tendency to change after plugging the phone in, so double check them.
Okay.
6. This is where the bootloader will be flashed, along with stock Gingerbread. Hit Start.
Okay but what is a bootloader. Is this Clockwork Mod, CWM?
7. Allow the phone to boot. Okay
8. Close Odin3, and open a fresh one. Select Reorient_Kernel_1.1 in the PDA box.
Okay.
9. Reboot into download mode (adb reboot download, or hold Vol Down + Power).
Did something we did above change the way you get into download mode as this procedure doesn't work for step 4 above.
10. Plug the phone into the computer.
11. MAKE SURE RE-PARTITION IS NOT CHECKED. If it is, you'll soft-brick and have to start over.
12. Flash the kernel (hit start). Allow the phone to reboot.
13. Place the ROM .zip (You know, the one you downloaded from the giant link up there) onto the SD Card.
Internal SD Card or external? Does it need to be renamed to update.zip or anything else?
14. Reboot into Recovery (adb reboot recovery, or Vol Up + Power).
I'm assuming that a menu will come up letting me choose something like "Flash ROM" and then choose the ROM file from the SD card from step 13. ?
15. Flash ROM with CWM.
What is CWM? Is this Clockwork Mod? Is this the new bootloader from step 6?
16. Enjoy!
Will the phone now be rooted along with running Serendipity VII?
If I want to load another ROM later do I just do steps 13-15 after placing another ROM file on the SD card? I'm guessing yes.
Is it possible to go back to my stock Froyo 2.2 if I want? How?

If anyone can answer these questions it would be great. Thanks!
 
1. The drivers could be downloaded automatically when you connect your phone to the computer if you have windows7. Otherwise you'd need to find it on XDA forums.

2. I don't think you can. You'll need to root your phone first.

4. With your phone off, hold the Vol up and down buttons. Then while still holding the buttons, plug in the usb cable. If that doesn't work try:
1) Remove Battery - 2) Hold Volume +/- 3) Insert USB Cable - 4) Keep holding buttons and put the battery back in. You should now be in DOWNLOAD MODE.

6. Don't worry about it. Its just files that allow your phone to run/boot up properly.

9. The button combination for download mode changed when gingerbread was introduced. Thus it is slightly different.

13. At this point you should not have your external SD card in your phone. Copy the .zip file to the root directory of the internal SD card. No need to rename the file.

14. When in recovery mode, you have to use the vol up and down buttons to navigate to select the rom file and press the power button to select it. I believe its under something called "install zip from SD" or something like that. Just find and select the rom zip file.

16. If everything goes fine, you'll be rooted and running S7. However I think you'll need to root prior to performing all the steps above.

Not all roms are installed this way. The best way is to read the rom installation instructions from your rom source.
 
Thanks iffrett. This is good information that I wish was included on the weebly site. I left out another question. Should I put my phone into USB debugging mode at any point while going through these steps? If anyone knows, please reply. Thanks.
 
your phone should always be set to usb debugging. make sure to check the setting before and after you root
 
When you say "always in debugging mode" you mean during a rom/kernel/boot loader flashing process right? Or does it need to stay in debugging mode all the time? I know this sounds like a silly question but I'm very new to modding android and it seems like I need to be very very specific. Almost everything I read about it leaves information out so I'm left to trying to take many comments and instructions from many sources and trying to piece together the whole picture. I really want to load another rom to get better speed because my captivate is so slow. I just can't afford to mess up leaving me phoneless. Thank you for your responses. I appreciate it.
 
yes I meant to leave it on all the time. After you've flashed your rom, the default usually is set to debugging mode on anyways. Having the mode on all the time doesn't cause any harm but provides convenience as you'll never have to remember to make sure its on in the future.
 
I may try rooting and loading Serendipity 7 this weekend. I hope S7 is a good ROM. I'm choosing it only because it has the best appearance and instructions (even if they are lacking) on their weebly site. I like what I see about Fasty also but can't seem to find a good location for their files and don't typically trust random links in forum posts. I much prefer an official site of some type like S7 has. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for this thread and your posts. Very helpful! Just in case anyone else has the question of rooting as mentioned above, I just completed this process from AT&T's stock 2.2 without rooting (on an i897). It appears to have worked flawlessly.

It's probably a good idea to put all the necessary zip files mentioned in the instructions on your phone's internal memory before beginning the process. It will save you the possible hassle of having to fiddle with the phone's usb settings to try to get your computer to recognize your phone as a mass storage device when trying to move the ROM zip over or do the kernel update and custom kitchen zip. I did not do this and had to dig in the unfamiliar new phone menus to find the correct settings to make it work. Not hard, just easier if you don't have to mess with it because you did it first.

Lastly, it's worth noting that you will need a program called 7-zip to unpack the contents of the installation file downloaded in step 1 so that you can access the PDA, Phone, CSC, and Pit files mentioned in the instructions (Odin3 1.7 is in there too).
Thanks again to everyone who has taken their time and expertise to make the Captivate fly!
:D
 
Well the guys that created S7 must be smart enough to make the ROM but they are idiots when it comes to typing up some instructions. I'm stuck and now have a useless phone. I got to step 14 but can't get into recovery mode. Tried everything. The phone will boot but its useless now.
 
I apologize for calling the S7 guys idiots but am still in shock that they don't have more details listed in their instructions. I chose S7 because of its official web site vs. all the others that are hard to figure out digging through forums and random links. I was able to get past step 14 finally. I had to start all over again at step 1 and then once I got to step 14 I did NOT use the buttons to go into recover mode. This is where I kept having trouble so I used the adb command on my pc which worked. I'll try to create a whole new thread about my experience to try and help others.
 
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