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Root step by step root and flash

jd5150

Newbie
after lots of thread searches and errors i finally flashed a custom rom on my defy 2.2.2 to miui android pikatchu edition. i received no help from any forums using many sites. so have decided to make a really simple step by step guide for all us noobs that the developers really should embrace more, its us that will use these roms after all. rant over. read, relax and read again.

the steps. you'll need to select to allow the use of non market apps on your phone, its in the applications menu again.

1, have 100% battery, you dont want it dying on you, i left mine charging as much as possible during the whole procedure. root phone. i used superoneclick, very easy to use. connect phone to usb, go to settings - applications - development - usb debugging. turn on
link shortfuse.org .

2, download 2ndinit for defy from the app market and system recovery (defy clockworkmod) from [Release] Clockwork MOD recovery for Moto Defy [Updated 2010-12-18 04:08 am CST] - xda-developers and install them both on your phone. once done, turn off usb debugging you will need it on to install 2ndinit. installation instructions for both are on the apps.

3, select your rom, i found a few here.
link http://theunlockr.com/category/roms-2/android-roms-2/motorola-defy-roms/ . obviously i chose miuiandroid pikatchu as the pretty option apparently. place on the root of your sd card still packed in the .zip.

4, disconnect from usb and make sure usb debugging is turned off. go to system recovery app and choose to recovery boot. sometimes it just booted to the little android and ! sign. if so press the volume up and down at the same time. move by using the volume up to go up and down to go down and the power button to select. you should go to the 2ndinit recovery menu, select recovery - custom recovery. this should take you to the clockworkmod boot menu.

5, now BACK UP your current rom, i cannot stress this enough. clockworkmod menu, backup and restore - back up current rom. once this is done, your laughing even if the custom rom fails. which it shouldnt. lol. now wipe data/factory reset and cache partition.

6, go to install zip from sd card - choose zip from sd card - scroll down untill you find the rom you placed on it in step 3. its probably at the bottom so you could scroll up instead, the menu is looped. select it. select yes to install and you'll see it saying installing, it will scroll through lots of files.

7.1, worst case scenario - it fails. dont panic. mine did many times. select go back untill your at the first menu screen again and go to back up and restore - select restore this time and choose the back up you made earlier. this will reinstall the rom you were using. now breathe. lol. try another rom (back to step 3) or mark it down as an experience and move on.

7.2, install succesful. reboot your phone. the first boot could take a while so again, dont panic. now sit back and enjoy your new rom. if you liked the swype texting like i did, its an app link Swype | Type Fast, Swype Faster all your other apps will be in the app market. remember you'll need to sign in to all your accounts again.

well done.

i hope you find this very helpful and be sure to make that back up. im a noob prob like the people who will choose to read/use this thread. i know its specific to android 2.2.2 froyo but it is a free update so if in doubt, update your phone via the motorola website (surely you dont need a link there?) o go on then. download and install Motorola - Support - Software Update
now im goin back to enjoy my new rom. good luck.
 
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That's a pretty good guide, I did it this way so it works :)

Just to add, did you need to download Busybox from the market? Perhaps this was due to the version of superoneclick I used. Also in the market, there is the root checker app. This is VERY handy to confirm you have root & busybox installed.
 
That's a pretty good guide, I did it this way so it works :)

Just to add, did you need to download Busybox from the market? Perhaps this was due to the version of superoneclick I used. Also in the market, there is the root checker app. This is VERY handy to confirm you have root & busybox installed.

no i didnt, superoneclick found it missing so installed it in the root. i wasnt sure what it was to be honest. like i said, just a noob and trying to help people who might find it all a bit daunting like i did at first. im gld i didnt miss anything out though. i must admit i did check the root so thats a good tip too. thanks for that.
 
i know its specific to android 2.2.2 froyo but it is a free update so if in doubt

I just finished doing this with a defy which had a cracked screen. I got a new phone so I figured if anything went wrong with the defy, no biggie. I did it with 2.2.1 preinstalled from factory. Did everything step by step except I had to search online for 2ndinit since it is no longer on the market, XDA had a nice link to a working version. Worked like a charm, not one problem. Amazingly easy to follow, almost fool-proof and I bought this phone almost a year ago and was afraid to root it until I found your thread, thank you. One question I do have is the system recovery app is now missing from my phone after reboot, any ideas?
 
I just finished doing this with a defy which had a cracked screen. I got a new phone so I figured if anything went wrong with the defy, no biggie. I did it with 2.2.1 preinstalled from factory. Did everything step by step except I had to search online for 2ndinit since it is no longer on the market, XDA had a nice link to a working version. Worked like a charm, not one problem. Amazingly easy to follow, almost fool-proof and I bought this phone almost a year ago and was afraid to root it until I found your thread, thank you. One question I do have is the system recovery app is now missing from my phone after reboot, any ideas?

the system recovery is the defy version of clockwork mod. if you have flashed a new rom it will be already built in as standard. im still using miui altho im now thinking about cm7 now we have an official release for it. if you mean you have just rooted and its gone just re-download it. hope this helps. if not can you be more specific. i'll try and help but im not much more than a noob myself. i just wanted to write a simple guide cuz it seemed to be over complicated almost like some devs dont actually want you to use there roms
 
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