ironass
Extreme Android User
Which carrier are you with?
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Rooting Galaxy S2 - Dummies Guide
- Thread starter ironass
- Start date
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- samsung galaxy s2
Which carrier are you with?
Not sure after unroot u would be able to update, which carrier would kies use to update with....with T-mobile UK ironass I think freeze unlock is how I think eBay code r used
ironass
Extreme Android User
sntaylor
Android Expert
You can flash the stock Rom after you've unlocked, the firmware itself is what determines what upgrade you receive. For example, my s4 on T-Mobile UK(ee) was , rather is playing up with a usb port problem, so I flashed back the firmware I had on my phone when I got it, I plugged it into the computer and kies recognised it and updated it to the latest version! It didn't matter a bit wether the phone has a lock on one company or not!
ironass
Extreme Android User
IT'S OFFICIAL! HELL HAS FROZEN OVER!
Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.2, release for the following CSC codes...
GT-i9100
ORA = UNITED KINGDOM (Orange) updated to LSY
TMU = UNITED KINGDOM (T-Mobile) updated to LSY
(For an explanation of CSC codes, firmware, eligibility, etc; for the Jelly Bean releases... see posts #1, #2 and #3, of the Jelly Bean update - Dummies Guide.)
Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.2, release for the following CSC codes...
GT-i9100
ORA = UNITED KINGDOM (Orange) updated to LSY
TMU = UNITED KINGDOM (T-Mobile) updated to LSY
(For an explanation of CSC codes, firmware, eligibility, etc; for the Jelly Bean releases... see posts #1, #2 and #3, of the Jelly Bean update - Dummies Guide.)
So if i root the phone which will but Siyah v6.0beta5 kernal on with a triangle on when it bootsup....then unlock it using app... then download from sammobile current rom+kernal for t-mobile (does it include both rom and kernal no sure) then flash it with odin (will this get rid of counter and triangle not sure also) will i have unlocked phone with t-mobile rom/kernal and will be able to update via kies........please advise, great new at last with t-mobile updating s2 to J.B.
ironass
Extreme Android User
There seems to be some confusion... probably on my part!
At the end of the day, what do you want to do?
1. Do you want a rooted or un-rooted phone, (if so, why)?
2. Do you want the stock, branded, T-Mobile firmware or stock, unbranded firmware or a custom ROM on your phone.
3. Do you want to root simply to unlock your phone from T-Mobile so that you can use another carriers sim card?
Also do have to download t-mobile rom kernal to get updates from kies (dont really want bloatware from tmobile) or does kies only recognise t-mobile kernal for my handset to be able to get updates. Thinking of updating to J.B before root,rooting it then unlocking it using market app, then using sammobile rom/kernal to flash back to original kernal (will this get rid of SU and clockwork not bothered really about it and also the triangle) i think su clockwork will stay but wont work because unroot and triangle will stay because of counter has been logged....anyone can shed some light..Thanks
ironass
Extreme Android User
In that case, you do not need to root. Just pick up the phone and call EE and request that your phone is sim unlocked. Simples!
EE UNLOCKING YOUR PHONE
Dont want bloatware reason for rooting it as it eats your battery i was hoping to be able to put stock rom no bloatware then flash back to t-mobile to be able to get updates again via kies or even stock rom/kernal and be able to get updates if i can do this....but thanks for you help anyway.
ironass
Extreme Android User
If you root and change your firmware from T-Mobile you will not be able to update Via Kies. See #2.9.
If you did flash back to T-Mobile to update, it would be overwritten when you go back to the de-bloated firmware... so there is no point.
Why not just root and flash a de-bloatwared ROM, such as NEAT ROM LITE, in the first place.
ironass
Extreme Android User
I have made some minor updates to posts #1, #2 and #3 to keep them up-to-date.
Many of you will now be coming out of your 2 year warranty period and may be thinking of retaining your Galaxy S2... and I don't blame you!
I skipped the Galaxy S3 release as it did not offer me enough to warrant the change. To be honest, if anything happened to my S4, I would not hesitate to revert to the Galaxy S2 which, in my humble opinion, is the best phone of its time.
Whilst it is true that Samsung will not be supporting it fully in the future, you can still keep this phone updated and reasonably current by rooting and flashing a custom ROM and mods. For my money, there is no better combo than the Siyah kernel and the latest NEAT ROM LITE.
For those of you who would like a more, "pure", Android feel with some of the features found in Android 4.2.2 and 4.3, there is now, finally, a Release Candidate available for the very popular CyanogenMod, (CM), ROM 10.1.3. See the thread, "CyanogenMod CM10.1 ROM Android 4.2".
Many of you will now be coming out of your 2 year warranty period and may be thinking of retaining your Galaxy S2... and I don't blame you!
I skipped the Galaxy S3 release as it did not offer me enough to warrant the change. To be honest, if anything happened to my S4, I would not hesitate to revert to the Galaxy S2 which, in my humble opinion, is the best phone of its time.
Whilst it is true that Samsung will not be supporting it fully in the future, you can still keep this phone updated and reasonably current by rooting and flashing a custom ROM and mods. For my money, there is no better combo than the Siyah kernel and the latest NEAT ROM LITE.
For those of you who would like a more, "pure", Android feel with some of the features found in Android 4.2.2 and 4.3, there is now, finally, a Release Candidate available for the very popular CyanogenMod, (CM), ROM 10.1.3. See the thread, "CyanogenMod CM10.1 ROM Android 4.2".
Jeff the Unlucky
Lurker
I regret installing Siyah. After I installed (and stayed with siyah defaults) phone restarts or switches off seemingly random (eg. every hour, when not plugged to charger), battery metering is completely broken. It also started to overheat and crash while playing 3d games. I was also able to restart the phone by haphazardly pressing the power button when phone was locked (as it may happen while phone is in a pocket). It seems like there is no protection against completely discharging your battery, wchich in my case destroyed 2 of my batteries. Now I'm unable to start my phone. I hope to be able to flash original firmware after buying a new battery.
Strangely there seems to be no official kernel with just root added, or an information on how to patch the original kernel yourself, and hopefully flash it without wiping data.
How is Siyah working for others?
Strangely there seems to be no official kernel with just root added, or an information on how to patch the original kernel yourself, and hopefully flash it without wiping data.
How is Siyah working for others?
ironass
Extreme Android User
Hello and welcome to Android Forums Jeff the Unlucky!
Siyah is undoubtably the best and safest kernel I have ever used on an Android phone, bar none!
Its developer, gokhanmoral, is world renowned for his work and no such problems as yours have been previously mentioned in the 20 months and 613 posts of this thread.
Therefore, I fear that perhaps you are blaming the Siyah kernel unfairly for another fault, or faults. You could try re-rooting using either the Siyah v6.0beta5 or v6.0beta4 for stock Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.2, firmware, if that is the platform you are on, and following the steps in posts #1, #2 and #3 of this thread.
Also, instead, you could flash the Dorimanx v8.41 kernel for stock Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.2, firmware, if that is the platform you are on, by following the steps in the Dorimanx kernel - Dummies Guide.
Alternatively, as you say, you could try reverting to your original stock firmware and kernel by following the steps in #1.7 of the Jelly Bean update - Dummies Guide
Jeff the Unlucky
Lurker
That may well be, I found no post complaining on Siyah.
I just guess most people also swap ROM, maybe reinstall apps (for me too much work, risk of losing some apps config or payed apps (?)), or they tweak/overclock so much that stability isn't to be expected anyway.
After swapping kernel I only did two "mount --bind" (that gave my S2 a new "life lease"), but later I stopped executing them at startup hoping that that might be the cause, but it was not.
I also installed stock 4.2 Camera app. After swapping the kernel "android.process.media" started hogging assaults on my CPU (too many photos? some of them photosphere?), so I executed my new root powers and treated it with "kill -9" a few times.
So I agree, the suspicion to Siyah is not in 100%, but 98%. Restarts can be blamed on "android.process.media" - problem just coinciding in time, but loony battery metering and phone not shutting down after battery drop to 0% seem to be kernel issues. Or the phone restarts suddenly, and after reboot battery level is 70% higher...
Similarly overheating and crashing while playing (Real Racing 2). I had no problems before. (I went to tweaks app and decreased GPU frequencies from the default. That helped.) Once again, I did no other changes in tweaks.
I'm not saying don't use Siyah - just backup your stock kernel (if you know how, because I don't, but that's another topic). And I would recommend not leaving the phone running on battery unattended until you are sure everything is as expected. I have to rescue my S2 anyway, and will clear the "warning" if I'll have same situation under PhilZ kernel and new battery.
I just guess most people also swap ROM, maybe reinstall apps (for me too much work, risk of losing some apps config or payed apps (?)), or they tweak/overclock so much that stability isn't to be expected anyway.
After swapping kernel I only did two "mount --bind" (that gave my S2 a new "life lease"
), but later I stopped executing them at startup hoping that that might be the cause, but it was not. I also installed stock 4.2 Camera app. After swapping the kernel "android.process.media" started hogging assaults on my CPU (too many photos? some of them photosphere?), so I executed my new root powers and treated it with "kill -9" a few times.
So I agree, the suspicion to Siyah is not in 100%, but 98%. Restarts can be blamed on "android.process.media" - problem just coinciding in time, but loony battery metering and phone not shutting down after battery drop to 0% seem to be kernel issues. Or the phone restarts suddenly, and after reboot battery level is 70% higher...
Similarly overheating and crashing while playing (Real Racing 2). I had no problems before. (I went to tweaks app and decreased GPU frequencies from the default. That helped.) Once again, I did no other changes in tweaks.
I'm not saying don't use Siyah - just backup your stock kernel (if you know how, because I don't, but that's another topic). And I would recommend not leaving the phone running on battery unattended until you are sure everything is as expected. I have to rescue my S2 anyway, and will clear the "warning" if I'll have same situation under PhilZ kernel and new battery.
Hi. My S2 is currently unrooted, and stuck in a boot loop. It is usable for just a few seconds before it reboots. I want to backup my SMS / Contacts etc using adb pull before I try a factory reset, but I understand the phone needs to be rooted to do this. However, whilst I can just about type in the *#1234# before the phone reboots, nothing is displayed on the screen.
Is there another way of getting hold of this information at all? If not, is it absolutely necessary, or just a precaution in case things go wrong with the root? I'm running out of options at the moment, so may have to go ahead and try to root it anyway?
ironass
Extreme Android User
I do not think that rooting your phone will cure your boot loop I'm afraid. Try booting into recovery and selecting to wipe the cache partition may help though.
Thanks for your reply. I know that rooting will not cure the boot loop. I am hoping a factory reset will do that, but I want to recover my SMS / Contacts first, for which I understand I need to be rooted. I can then use a pull command in the ADB software to save the required data first, but this can't be done for system files unless the phone is rooted. I've already tried wiping the cache partition, and that makes no difference.
I am trying to follow the rooting instructions to the letter, as it mentions several times how important this is! I am just trying to understand how vital the stage I can't actually do is to the process (I assume it is fairly important, as it says 'Important' in red).
Can the *#1234# information be obtained in any other way, e.g. via a menu option or via ADB etc? I've just had enough time before the reboot to turn on USB debugging and to take a photo of the 'About phone' information, so there are still some things I can do in the available time.
I am trying to follow the rooting instructions to the letter, as it mentions several times how important this is! I am just trying to understand how vital the stage I can't actually do is to the process (I assume it is fairly important, as it says 'Important' in red).
Can the *#1234# information be obtained in any other way, e.g. via a menu option or via ADB etc? I've just had enough time before the reboot to turn on USB debugging and to take a photo of the 'About phone' information, so there are still some things I can do in the available time.
ironass
Extreme Android User
Did you sync your Contacts with your Google account. If so, they can be restored from there after a Factory Reset. SMS are a different matter and would have required something like Helium backup from the Play Store.
If the phone is looping,.that may not be possible I'm afraid.
This is so that you can use the information to flash your stock firmware back again in case of warranty repairs or to receive updates via Kies.
Some information can be got under Settings > About phone but not your CSC code. See #1.1 of the Jelly Bean update - Dummies Guide. However, it is not important to the actual rooting process itself.
Personally, I would not recommend rooting a phone that has your shut down problems, for fear of, "bricking", it.
Have you tried removing your installed app's, one-by-one, as this may solve your shutdown problem or, do you know why, or how, this is occurring. Perhaps, start a separate thread on the subject in the General forum, in case anyone else has experienced this.
Thanks so much for your prompt and speedy repsonse.
Unfortunately, I turned off contact sync when the phone was new, as it imported around 500 contacts (one for every email address I'd ever sent an email to from my Gmail account). In general, there is not much overlap between those I email and those I phone/text, and I wanted to keep them separate. Regret that now of course!
Whilst the phone is looping, it still seems to stay connected as far as the PC is concerned. I only get the 'hardware connected' noise from Windows when the phone is turned on, and again when it is turned off, and it doesn't go on and off every time the phone boot loops. The PC seems to have constant access to the data, despite the continuous rebooting of the phone. On Saturday I managed to copy 8GB of data from the internal memory by a simple copy and paste, and the boot looping didn't seem to affect this in any way. I imagine the SMS and contacts databases are fairly small files, so I'm hoping there would be time to copy them in the available 5-7 seconds anyway.
I'm pretty sure the boot loop isn't caused by an app. I hadn't installed a new one for about a month beforehand, and I've already tried deleting the last one, but it makes no difference. I was having trouble with the battery in the previous couple of weeks. The charge was emptying very quickly, and then sometimes increasing again without being plugged in to the charger! Sometimes the phone would also turn itself off without warning, and I assume that this may have somehow corrupted the software? Of course it could be a hardware fault too.
Just remebered some addtional information. When in recovery mode, it says:
Can't access to '/system/csc/XEU/system'
Successfully applied multi-CSC
I already started a thread in the General section a week ago, but go no replies.
Unfortunately, I turned off contact sync when the phone was new, as it imported around 500 contacts (one for every email address I'd ever sent an email to from my Gmail account). In general, there is not much overlap between those I email and those I phone/text, and I wanted to keep them separate. Regret that now of course!
Whilst the phone is looping, it still seems to stay connected as far as the PC is concerned. I only get the 'hardware connected' noise from Windows when the phone is turned on, and again when it is turned off, and it doesn't go on and off every time the phone boot loops. The PC seems to have constant access to the data, despite the continuous rebooting of the phone. On Saturday I managed to copy 8GB of data from the internal memory by a simple copy and paste, and the boot looping didn't seem to affect this in any way. I imagine the SMS and contacts databases are fairly small files, so I'm hoping there would be time to copy them in the available 5-7 seconds anyway.
I'm pretty sure the boot loop isn't caused by an app. I hadn't installed a new one for about a month beforehand, and I've already tried deleting the last one, but it makes no difference. I was having trouble with the battery in the previous couple of weeks. The charge was emptying very quickly, and then sometimes increasing again without being plugged in to the charger! Sometimes the phone would also turn itself off without warning, and I assume that this may have somehow corrupted the software? Of course it could be a hardware fault too.
Just remebered some addtional information. When in recovery mode, it says:
Can't access to '/system/csc/XEU/system'
Successfully applied multi-CSC
I already started a thread in the General section a week ago, but go no replies.
Update: Finally plucked up courage to try the root - and it appears to have been successful! However I still can't do an adb pull of the data (although it works with other files, so I think it is a permissions issue rather than due to the boot loop). Anyway, I notice I now have a 'backup/restore' option on the recovery page, so off to do some research on whether I can backup SMS/contacts somehow using that.
So the rooting is resolved - I will ask again in the general section if I need more help with the data recovery. Thanks for your help!
However I still can't do an adb pull of the data (although it works with other files, so I think it is a permissions issue rather than due to the boot loop). Anyway, I notice I now have a 'backup/restore' option on the recovery page, so off to do some research on whether I can backup SMS/contacts somehow using that.So the rooting is resolved - I will ask again in the general section if I need more help with the data recovery. Thanks for your help!
ironass
Extreme Android User
Update: Finally plucked up courage to try the root - and it appears to have been successful!
So the rooting is resolved - I will ask again in the general section if I need more help with the data recovery. Thanks for your help!
If you are indeed rooted, you could try and do a nandroid backup, (mirror image of the entire phone), to your extsdcard as per #2.7.
Dhanukaprr
Lurker
Hi, Im new to this forum so im sorry if im not posting this in the correct place.
I recently tried to flash my SII with a JB firmwayi found on a different guide. But the installation got stuck and an error was shown at about 99% completion. Can anyone tell me the reason for this.
PS afterwards i had to flash it with another ICS firmware to get the phone working again. Now my Baseband version is different from before, (i just downloaded the first ICS firmware i could find). The new version I downloaded is TOP. But the one told by kies that suits my phone is SLK.
will this be a problem in the future while trying to update to JB?
Thank you.
I recently tried to flash my SII with a JB firmwayi found on a different guide. But the installation got stuck and an error was shown at about 99% completion. Can anyone tell me the reason for this.
PS afterwards i had to flash it with another ICS firmware to get the phone working again. Now my Baseband version is different from before, (i just downloaded the first ICS firmware i could find). The new version I downloaded is TOP. But the one told by kies that suits my phone is SLK.
will this be a problem in the future while trying to update to JB?
Thank you.