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Root Root & ROM Walkthrough

J

jaykf014

Lurker
Hello,

I have had the Ally for about six months. I don't like the fact that it cannot handle the load of some apps/widgets, and while I've tried different launchers to fix this - it's only one problem after another - either not enough space available or its sluggish.

I'm now interested in rooting and installing Velocity, as I've read a lot of good things about it. Though I am not sure if it would actually solve my issues. For those that have installed Velocity, what can you do now that you were not able to do before, or what is the most significant changes?

I see the instructions for installing Velocity, but to me the process is not well described in some parts, some of it I don't understand, and the instructions jump you around to different pages to perform different activities. There are some other ways to root the phone, other than what is suggested in the Velocity install instructions, but I don't know if it is acceptable to use an alternative method of rooting. So, what I am interested in, if anyone is up for it, to post here a full step by step walkthrough in rooting the Ally (running 2.2.2) and installing Velocity. Also, what kind of precautions do I need to take and/or consider during the process? Once this is done, what would be the process of reverting back to stock?

I would greatly appreciate it...
 
 
jaykf014 said:
Hello,

I have had the Ally for about six months. I don't like the fact that it cannot handle the load of some apps/widgets, and while I've tried different launchers to fix this - it's only one problem after another - either not enough space available or its sluggish.

I'm now interested in rooting and installing Velocity, as I've read a lot of good things about it. Though I am not sure if it would actually solve my issues. For those that have installed Velocity, what can you do now that you were not able to do before, or what is the most significant changes?
Click to expand...
The major change is the speed.... the stock ally is stuck at 600 when rooted you can OC I was able to OC the cpu stably to 787...... You can free up space as velocity removes stock app aka bloatware..... you can also modify the UI from the launcher to the bootloader to the font.... You can also use the phone as a free hotspot (maybe not for long...) there is also alot more to it but those are the main features.... I was like you my phone was beyond slow.... but rooted installed velocity and the phone was amazing.
jaykf014 said:
I see the instructions for installing Velocity, but to me the process is not well described in some parts, some of it I don't understand, and the instructions jump you around to different pages to perform different activities. There are some other ways to root the phone, other than what is suggested in the Velocity install instructions, but I don't know if it is acceptable to use an alternative method of rooting. So, what I am interested in, if anyone is up for it, to post here a full step by step walkthrough in rooting the Ally (running 2.2.2) and installing Velocity. Also, what kind of precautions do I need to take and/or consider during the process? Once this is done, what would be the process of reverting back to stock?

I would greatly appreciate it...
Click to expand...
I don't take it you are going dive into root to the point were fastboot will be required.... so the simplest way to root and unroot your phone is [APP]SuperOneClick v1.9.1 (Root, Unroot, Enable Non-Market App) - xda-developers

I will probably get some flack for recommending it but trust me It works wonders and for all those who say dont use it i know the debate on it..... but this is the only tool that worked to root the update for the Moto Cliq 2 that just came out... z4root no longer works
 
since your on 2.2.2 you'll have to downgrade to 2.2.1 in order to install Velocity 1.1. I'll be honest, I'm having issues downgrading and I'm still researching trying to figure out where the process is broken.
 
StephenDC said:
since your on 2.2.2 you'll have to downgrade to 2.2.1 in order to install Velocity 1.1. I'll be honest, I'm having issues downgrading and I'm still researching trying to figure out where the process is broken.
Click to expand...

You don't have to downgrade. Root it with GingerBreak [26.04.2011][v1.2] GingerBreak APK (root for GingerBread) - xda-developers or SOC [APP]SuperOneClick v1.9.1 (Root, Unroot, Enable Non-Market App) - xda-developers
Flash Amonra http://androidforums.com/getitnowmarketing/330813-all-one-recovery-thread.html or with Rom Manager, then flash Velocity. With Rom Manager you'll have to flash clockwork Recovery first then RA_GNM Recovery 2.2.1. Don't try to flash Velocity with clockwork.
 
Can you please let me know if I have the right understanding here, and verify that these are the proper steps.

1. Copy Gingerbreak 1.2 APK to SD card and run it to root the phone

2. Install ROM Manager

3. Using ROM Manager (already installed), install ClockWorkRecoveryMod (no idea what this is, but I see it in ROM Manager)

4. Using ROM Manager, backup current stock ROM

5. Copy Velocity 1.1 APK onto SD card and use ROM Manager to install it

Is it that simple?
 
Do this:
1. Root your phone with Gingerbreak
2. Install ROM Manager and flash Clockwork Recovery, then flash Amon-ra recovery(you may have to flash multiple times to get it to stick(important)
3. Download Velocity 1.1 and put it on the root of your SD card(no folders)
4. Boot into recovery(Hold down Call, Menu, and End while booting)
5. Go to Wipe menu, and wipe Data, Cache, and Dalvik Cache(VERY important)
6. Once everything is wiped, go to the Flash Menu, and Flash Velocity 1.1.zip
7. When done flashing, reboot and done :)
 
OK so although Amon RA Recovery seems to be more complex than ClockWork/ROM Manager, it has been recommended on several occasions I see and is apparently more stable. If I am using Amon RA than there is no need for ROM Manager/Clockwork, correct?

I'm trying to grasp all the steps as they are all in different threads. Are these the proper steps? Please point out anything I may need to be aware of, forgotten about, or anything that could be misleading. I really want this to go smoothly the first run through :)

A. Prepare Velocity
1. Download Velocity_1.1.zip to computer
2. Connect phone to computer via USB or insert SD card to computer
3. Copy Velocity_1.1.zip to SD card root directory

B. Root the Phone
1. Download Gingerbreak 1.2 APK to computer
2. Copy Gingerbreak 1.2 APK to phone internal root directory
3. Dismount phone/SD from computer; Dismount SD from phone
4. Run Gingerbreak 1.2 APK on phone to install it, and then run the installed program
5. Run Superuser application to gain root access

C. Perform Recovery
1. Download recovery-RA-aloha-2.2.1.1-GNM.img and flash-image.zip to conputer (verify MD5)
2. Connect phone to computer with SD card attached
3. Unzip contents of flash-image.zip to root of SD card
4. Copy recovery-RA-aloha-2.2.1.1-GNM.img to root of SD card (Question - is there a stock recovery menu? Is Amon RA replacing this stock recovery menu?)
5. Bring up terminal emulator on the phone, downloaded from Market, and execute the commands (I assume that once I 'gain root' with Gingerbreak, I can simply run "su" in terminal to become root?):

$ su
# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
# cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
# chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
# mv /system/etc/install-recovery.sh /system/etc/install-recovery.sh.bak
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-aloha-2.2.1.1-GNM.img
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-aloha-2.2.1.1-GNM.img
# sync
NOTE: flash_image repeated to make it stick

6. Reboot and boot into recovery while holding button combo "Send + Menu + Power" or in other words "Call + Menu + End"

D. Perform Backup
1. Within Amon RA recovery menu, navigate to "Backup/Restore" -> "Nand Backup" (where does the backup go? SD card?)

E. Flash the ROM
1. Within Amon RA recovery menu, navigate to "Wipe" -> "Wipe data only" and "Wipe Cache" and "Wipe Davlik Cache"
2. Within Amon RA recovery menu, navigate to "Flash Zip Menu" -> and choose the Velocity_1.1.zip file on SD card
3. Allow it to reboot and should be good to go

At any point during this process, is there a possibility the phone will 'break' and become completely unusable? If so, where is this possible?

Once the phone is running Velocity, I don't need to contact Verizon to reconnect my phone to the network or anything? My daughter got ahold of my wifes phone not too long ago, and I guess did a factory reset. Had to call Verizon to get the phone working again.

The better I understand how it all works, the less likely there will be issues. :)
Thanks for the help!
 
Thatll work, for gingerbreak, you just save it to your sdcard. Then with a file manager find it and install it. Dont need to "copy" it to your phones internal memory. you shouldnt need to flash the recovery more than once like that for it to stick. You could use ROM manager to flash the recovery but the terminal is more reliable. If you do you rom manager i would still use terminal to remove or rename /system/ect/install-recovery.sh. and honestly if i was you i would just download velocity 1.1 zip, then use the 2.2 root guide (may need to use LGNPST to downgrade insteade of 2.2 guide which uses LGMU) then flash stock rooted or velocity, doesnt matter since if you choose velocity you will update. But any how the methods posted above WILL work. But i think you may as well use the root guide so you have fastboot access. But you dont NEED to.
 
Guys,

I've moved this thread to the all-things-root subforum.

Good to finally see some other references to Amon_RA custom recovery (we use that on the HTC Droid Eris too).

Cheers!
 
OK I finally got around to rooting the phone with superoneclick. I'm trying to be as least invasive as I can with the phone, with the idea of just rooting and removing preinstalled apps to free up space.

I did not realize that this would not help me at all! So now I'm still stuck with low amount of internal storage, and probably have no choice but to flash Velocity.

Question - how much internal storage is free after flashing velocity?
 
After flashing Velocity 1.1, I had about 120+ MB free. I have many apps and still have 84 MB free after moving all the apps I could to the SD card.
 
jaykf014 said:
OK I finally got around to rooting the phone with superoneclick. I'm trying to be as least invasive as I can with the phone, with the idea of just rooting and removing preinstalled apps to free up space.

I did not realize that this would not help me at all! So now I'm still stuck with low amount of internal storage, and probably have no choice but to flash Velocity.

Question - how much internal storage is free after flashing velocity?
Click to expand...


Your phone had 3 partitions, system, cache, and data. What you see as "free" is in data, the apps you removed are in system which is why you saw no change. Velocity will also move the dalvik cache (search for more info) to cache instead of data, this is where a big chunk of space comes from.
 
I am now running Velocity 1.1, with Amon RA, and FastBoot. Encountered no problems or errors when following the instructions in this thread (taken from other threads). I started out with an Ally that came with Fastboot though, so I didn't have to take extra steps to 'get' Fastboot. Maybe this could help some new folks just moving into rooting and ROMing.

I didn't understand when people were saying how great Velocity is, and how they won't even bother upgrading their phones for another couple years or so. I mean, is it really that good?

I now understand. I'm blown away at how its changed my Ally...

Thanks
 
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