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Siyah kernel - Dummies Guide

Someone throw a bucket of water over Hawker please. He's got far too excited with posts #375 and #376. He's not really been the same since he saw that film, "The Kings Speech". ;)

I notice that gok has re-introduced the Battery and Performance profiles in this release. I also noticed that in Battery profile, the, "SCALING_MIN_FREQ", is by default, 200000kHz when in the past this has been set at 100000kHz.

First impressions are... very slick and smooth. Scrolling through my vertical App Drawer, Contacts and Titanium Backup is very smooth and fast.

Now to see how the battery is.
 
Just over 24 hours and I'm loving this new Siyah release.

On default Battery mode with BLN enabled and GENTLE_FAIR_SLEEPERS and got my first sub 1% per hour battery drain overnight.

Having the SCALING_MIN_FREQ at 200000kHz by default does not seem to impact on the battery and makes the whole scrolling and menu loading a lot quicker and slicker.

Early days yet... but this is shaping up to be a keeper. ;)
 
With a combination of moving down from uhlps to lpi neat rom and getting this latest siyah I am finally back to the days of 0% battery loss over nighters.
 
I'm a n00b when it comes to rooting, but ironass' instructions are always very clear and helpful. I can't thank him enough. I flashed this kernel according to his instructions and everything went smoothly (stock Sammy ROM). Again, thanks. My GPS has improved a lot (even indoors), battery life is better and I get higher scores in Quadrant.
 
Hi,

After going through all the 8 pages (379 posts) i must say that i am interested in flashing the latest Siyah kernel. This will be the first time i am flashing a kernel and so i thought i would take some advice from you seniors here.

I am rooted, running stock ICS 4.0.3 XWLP7. I checked to see if my device has the birck bug and found that it indeed has it. Not worried as such but i do not want to have a sword hanging over my head. My question is, whether i can straightaway flash the latest Siyah kernel through CWM or do i have to follow some other steps as well?
I have already taken a nandroid backup of my ROM. I also have taken the Titanium backup and everything is on my external SD card. After installing the latest Siyah kernel, if for some reason, i wish to go back to stock ICS, can i just restore my nandroid backup? Will it brick my phone as the chip has this brick bug?

You replies and help is highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gokul
 
As you are on 4.0.3, then you are completely safe.
Just flash Siyah 4.1.1 either by CWM, Odin or Mobile Odin and you'll be good to go.

Flashing a different kernel will not affect your device in any way in terms of firmware version, so you will still be on the same ICS firmware after flashing Siyah.
If you want to get back to your previous kernel, just flash the appropriate cf-root kernel again.
 
As you are on 4.0.3, then you are completely safe.
Just flash Siyah 4.1.1 either by CWM, Odin or Mobile Odin and you'll be good to go.

Flashing a different kernel will not affect your device in any way in terms of firmware version, so you will still be on the same ICS firmware after flashing Siyah.
If you want to get back to your previous kernel, just flash the appropriate cf-root kernel again.

:) Thanks a lot for your reposnse, Hawker!! Appreciate it..

Once i am done with flashing the kernel i am planning to flash a custom ROM. Do i flash this directly using CWM/Odin with Siyah Kernel already present in the device? Later, if i wish to go back to stock kernel & ROM would i be able to restore it from my Nandroid backup using CMW without bricking the phone?

Thanks,
Gokul
 
Are any if the siyah kernels compatible with 4.0.4?

Siyah 4.0.1 and later are all fully functional for 4.0.4

:) Thanks a lot for your reposnse, Hawker!! Appreciate it..

Once i am done with flashing the kernel i am planning to flash a custom ROM. Do i flash this directly using CWM/Odin with Siyah Kernel already present in the device? Later, if i wish to go back to stock kernel & ROM would i be able to restore it from my Nandroid backup using CMW without bricking the phone?

Thanks,
Gokul

Not much point flashing a custom ROM after, as this will automatically flash its kernel. Which kernel depends on the ROM. Neat ROM for example will install Siyah by default, so this would save you a flash. Usually the page you download the ROM from will state which kernel it has.
If it does not come with Siyah then install the ROM first, and flash Siyah afterwards.

If you install with Odin then the siyah tar file needs to be on PC
Via CWM, then the Siyah .zip file needs to be on the phone.

You worry about bricking, but the conditions of the brick occurring are very specific. Ie:
1. You need to be on a rogue 4.0.4 kernel AND
2. You perform either a wipe cache/dalvik/CWM restore in CWM recovery.

If you are not on 4.0.4, or are on 4.0.4 with a safe kernel, then you are completely safe doing those CWM operations. Siyah is completely safe by the way.
 
Siyah 4.1.2 is now up

update 4.1.1 -> 4.1.2: added lulzactiveq (added hotplug logic and some fixes & tweaks, by robertobsc@XDA). fixed recovery not being usable with 3-button combo. set default backup format to tar in recovery. some other initramfs changes & fixes.
 
I've had a couple of lockups whilst sleeping since flashing 4.1.2. I've reverted to v4.1.1 and everything again appears normal. Afaict from the changelog, nothing altered between 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 wrt clock freqs or voltages, so I'm wondering if the new lulzactiveq governor is to blame?

Anyone else had issues?
 
:ditto:

I had the same with the lulzactiveq governor. Have reverted to pegasusq which works for me. I believe it is a known problem to gok. I'm guessing his missus has told him! ;)
 
Just upgraded for the first time in ages. From 3.3.5 to 4.1.2. Looking forward to seeing if there's been any noticeable change at all :D
 
I can confirm same problem with this governor. After sleep for few moments phone wouldn't wake up, had to take out battery as there was no other way to turn it on... With peg gov works no prob.
 
Yes, updated yesterday and can confirm the lulzactiveq governor problem, other than that no problems. Battery life seems impossibly good, I forgot my car charger yesterday and after very heavy use (calls, browsing and Sygic navigation) it was down to a usable 22%. Now usually I would be phone less without my charger in similar circumstances. I charged it up fully and turned it on and left it overnight, battery at 99% over seven hours. Very impressed :)
 
Thanks for the confirmation.

No problem old Romulan Warbird! (you decloaked)

It was gok's wife who drew his attention to it, see, here, as I'm sure only a wife can. ;)

She, and I, have no problems with pegasusq though... although, I have to say, that I've, temporarily, reverted back to 4.1.1 as my Deep Sleep. "seemed", better on that. Just testing it out tonight.

EDIT Back on Siyah 4.1.2 as there turned out to be no difference in Deep Sleep on both of them. Running on pegasusq + noop.
 
Pegususq + cfq has been my previous default and works as expected, but I wanted to test out the new addition..... I know, fools jump in etc. ;)
 
Siyah 4.1.3 is now up.

update 4.1.2 -> 4.1.3: decreased mali sampling interval (thanks to AndreiLux).
removed zram settings from ExTweaks.
some gpu boost fixes.
lulzactiveq fixes.
reverted some changes (mostly TMU related).
chargeboost in LPM.
fixed adbd problem for JB ROMs.
lots of cherrypicks from cm10 kernel.
initramfs fixes.
 
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more".

Will give lulzactiveq a go again. I never used zram in any case, so, no big deals there.
 
Siyah 4.1.3 is now up.

update 4.1.2 -> 4.1.3: decreased mali sampling interval (thanks to AndreiLux).
removed zram settings from ExTweaks.
some gpu boost fixes.
lulzactiveq fixes.
reverted some changes (mostly TMU related).
chargeboost in LPM.
fixed adbd problem for JB ROMs.
lots of cherrypicks from cm10 kernel.
initramfs fixes.

First of all -> Thanks for helping us keeping ourselves up to date!
Second: Does any of you modify values in ExTweaks others than GENTLE_FAIR_SLEEPERS to optimize battery life?

Thanks!
 
Bit of a battery hit for me on 4.1.3 with lulzactiveq + cfq. Not too clever on pegasusq either. Anyone else finding this?

Am reverting back to 4.1.2 as it seems there maybe another release from gok, soon.
 
Bit of a battery hit for me on 4.1.3 with lulzactiveq + cfq. Not too clever on pegasusq either. Anyone else finding this?

Am reverting back to 4.1.2 as it seems there maybe another release from gok, soon.

So lulzactiveq + cfq drains more or less battery than pegasusq?
Thanks!
 
As per my post, it seems to be, for me, the whole Siyah 4.1.3 kernel as neither worked very well.
 
Siyah 4.1.4 is now up.
update 4.1.3 -> 4.1.4:
fixed vibration intensity problem with samsung roms.
fixed adb in recovery.
compiled with linaro 4.7 (2012.08) toolchain.
fixed mass storage mounting problem.

Still not sure if I should give this a go, or stick with 4.1.2 as I think 4.1.2 is the best yet
:confused:

As Gok considers 4.1.4 to be the most stable 4.x release to date, I suppose I'm going to have to!
:)
 
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