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Root Thinking About Flashing, What should I do B4?

N

npro1464

Member
I'm about to take the plunge and try my first rom flash. I've tried to learn the process and from what I gather it has gotten relatively more simple as the years gone on. But I want to make sure I got it 100% b4 I go forward. This is what I know so far:

You need to be rooted (done). In order to flash the easy way, you need Rom manager premium. From rom manager you download the rom u want and flash it from rom manager. Rom manager will prompt you if you want to do a nandroid backup (say yes) and if you want to clear all data cache (advised). I also downloaded Titanium and have everything backed up, so I should be able to get all my paid apps back (right?). And, I have busybox downloaded (through titanium).

Am I missing anything? I know that there's a way to do it through linking ur usb up and dling the rom onto ur desktop, but I'm not 100% on how to do that. Id like to get a bugless beast rom. Can anyone tell me if I'm still clueless to the whole thing and if I got any steps wrong? Id really like to know exactly what I'm doing b4 I do it, and I feel like I should be able to handle this. Thanks
 
OK, ROM manager Premium has access to most, but not necessarily all, ROMs.

The most important thing to do is start with a backup. backup your current ROM before you start fooling around - that way, you have something to restore in case the new ROM acts stupid (and they have been known to do that in the past). Once you wipe System and Boot, you have no OS to boot on your phone - so when you botch an install, there is nothing to revert to - this is where hte backup comes into play.

Second, realize that ROM manager can flash both ClockworkMod as well as SPRecovery. So, if you run into a ROM that you want to try that is only in SPRecovery instructions, you can still use it.

Third - Unless you're using a good WiFi connection, don't rely on ROM manager to download the ROMs for you - over 3G it can take 10 minutes or longer (typically, ROMs are ~75 - 85 MB in size), so Wifi is preferred. If you don't have access to WiFi, seriously consider downloading the ROM to a computer and transferring to the SDCard via USB / directly.

Fourth - learn your way around the Recovery menus - there are lots of times when it is better to do everything manually, and for some processes you will have no choice but to do things manually (like replacing kernels, added particular apps, etc.).

Fifth - ASK! Don't assume anything, ask everything. I'd rather answer 100 of your questions than have you not ask me one tiny little question - then spend 6 hours troubleshooting why your phone is dead.

I'm sure others will have some suggestions, and also that some here will disagree with me - so let me emphasize that these are my opinions only.
 
you pretty much have it right. The only roms you want to get out of rom manager are Cyanogen, Bugless, LFY, Sapphire, Lithium and Miui. The rest are old or not that great at all. Also a good spot to get kernels as you can get P3, Chevy, and Slayher kernels from there.
 
What is the process to backup the current ROM? It goes through ROM manager, correct?

My mac gives me tons of problems about connecting my Droid to the computer, but I guess it's always good to know, and I'll definitely try to learn the process. From what I can tell, you download the rom on your computer, you unzip it on ur desktop, then you put it on your sd card (not in any folder, aka the root). From there I gather I can flash it on rom manager (right?).

I'll try to read up a little more about the boot menu before I try it out, is there any particular thread/youtube video you would have me look at? Do you flash roms from there?

And a very stupid question, (my apologies) could you explain Kernels to me. I've read a little about them, but I'm not 100% on what they do and why I need them. It's a separate process from flashing roms, right?

A couple more questions: should I store all of my apps on the sd card? Should I clear up space on the sd card?

What should I expect/anticipate after I flash? Will some apps not work anymore? Will I be able to retrieve these apps in Titanium? What is the process of restoring the phone back to normal? Anyway, thanks for all of your help. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I get to do it, maybe I should read up some more.
 
npro1464 said:
What is the process to backup the current ROM? It goes through ROM manager, correct?

My mac gives me tons of problems about connecting my Droid to the computer, but I guess it's always good to know, and I'll definitely try to learn the process. From what I can tell, you download the rom on your computer, you unzip it on ur desktop, then you put it on your sd card (not in any folder, aka the root). From there I gather I can flash it on rom manager (right?).

I'll try to read up a little more about the boot menu before I try it out, is there any particular thread/youtube video you would have me look at? Do you flash roms from there?

And a very stupid question, (my apologies) could you explain Kernels to me. I've read a little about them, but I'm not 100% on what they do and why I need them. It's a separate process from flashing roms, right?

A couple more questions: should I store all of my apps on the sd card? Should I clear up space on the sd card?

What should I expect/anticipate after I flash? Will some apps not work anymore? Will I be able to retrieve these apps in Titanium? What is the process of restoring the phone back to normal? Anyway, thanks for all of your help. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I get to do it, maybe I should read up some more.
Click to expand...

You don't have many questions, do you? :D

First of all, BACKUP your phone before you do ANYTHING major to it. You can do this in ROM Manager or in Recovery. Just make SURE you can access Recovery through x+power before flashing anything, as it's the only way to restore if you need to.

Kernels are the underlying program that controls how the processor runs the ROM. They are very Droid-specific: what works great on mine may throw yours into a bootloop. They are basically the BIOS, while the ROM is the OS and Recovery is your SAFE MODE. Many people can run an overclocked kernel higher than 1GHz, while some phones won't even go past 800MHz.

Your apps can be moved to the SD card if you have plenty of room on the card. Apps with widgets should stay ON THE PHONE, not on the card.

Once you wipe data/cache and flash the ROM & reboot (the first boot takes a long time, don't panic), you'll be prompted to log into Google. Your apps should start restoring, or you can just restore from TiBU.
 
One more thing - there is an app you can install (and it's sister app too) that will help you move all apps that support Apps2SD - SD Move. It's sister, SDWatch, will watch for when you install and app and let you know right then that it can be moved to the SDCard.

Then there are apps that don't necessarily support it but still work off of the SDCard. Apps like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, etc. - that you can manually move using an app like Titanium Backup (aka TiBu).

not all apps, as Chief mentions, can be moved - apps that reside in your /system (IOW, apps that come with the ROM pre-installed with system apps, like dialer, etc.) cannot be moved. Same holds true for apps that you actively use the widgets for (If an app has a widget but you do not use it, feel free to move it to Apps2SD, as long as it still works off the SDCard). For example, Twitter, Facebook, and TiBu are all included with the ROM I am running - so I cannot move those to the SDCard. However, if they were not preinstalled in /System, then I could easily move TiBu.

And, as long as I did not use the widgets for FB and Twitter, I could manually move those as well.
 
npro1464 said:
What is the process to backup the current ROM? It goes through ROM manager, correct?
Click to expand...

In ROM Manager there is an option to "Backup Current Rom". Choose that, give it a special name if you wish, click OK and ROM Manger will do the rest.

npro1464 said:
My mac gives me tons of problems about connecting my Droid to the computer, but I guess it's always good to know, and I'll definitely try to learn the process.
Click to expand...

Connect your phone to your mac. On the phone select "Turn on USB Storage". After a bit, a folder will show up on your mac for your phone. Once you're done transfering, make sure you FIRST select "Eject" or "Unmount" on your mac, then on your phone "Turn off USB Storage".

npro1464 said:
From what I can tell, you download the rom on your computer, you unzip it on ur desktop, then you put it on your sd card (not in any folder, aka the root). From there I gather I can flash it on rom manager (right?).
Click to expand...

Yes, NO, sort of, yes. Yes you download it to your computer. You do NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT extract it. Then since you're using CWRecovery/Rom Manager, you can actually put it anywhere on your sdcard you want. I sometimes put them in my downloads folder, and lately made a download-rom folder to put them in, just remember where. Then in Rom Manager you select "Install rom from sdcard", navigate to where you put it and shebang!

npro1464 said:
I'll try to read up a little more about the boot menu before I try it out, is there any particular thread/youtube video you would have me look at? Do you flash roms from there?
Click to expand...

What do you mean by 'boot menu' here? Are you referring to being in 'bootloader'? If so, you rarely need/want to be here. There is only ONE thing you can do there and that is to flash either a full or custom .sbf file with RSD Lite 4.6. I personally dislike the youtube videos because nobody pulls them when the info no longer applies.

npro1464 said:
And a very stupid question, (my apologies) could you explain Kernels to me. I've read a little about them, but I'm not 100% on what they do and why I need them. It's a separate process from flashing roms, right?
Click to expand...

The only REALLY stupid question is the one you _should_ have asked before you screwed something up, kind of like what johngalt said, lol. The quick answer on kernels: A kernel is part of EVERY rom and usually determines what clock speeds and voltage that your CPU will run at. It is contained within the 'boot.img' portion of every rom.

npro1464 said:
A couple more questions: should I store all of my apps on the sd card? Should I clear up space on the sd card?
Click to expand...

No. IMHO the sdcard is the weakest link, and not only that some apps will just not run right from your sdcard. For me, I just find that option in my rom and allow aps to sd, but make it an auto choice and leave it at that.

npro1464 said:
What should I expect/anticipate after I flash? Will some apps not work anymore? Will I be able to retrieve these apps in Titanium? What is the process of restoring the phone back to normal? Anyway, thanks for all of your help. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I get to do it, maybe I should read up some more.
Click to expand...

This last part is pretty much answered by yourself in your last seven words. I will point out that Titanium is NOT the absolute thing to use to restore your apps and system/data. It can be nice, but sometimes between roms, the settings saved from one rom will not play nice when restored to another one. I've used it with myself with out too much trouble, but I've read quite a bit as well. I personally use MyBackupPro to backup my apps. And only backup my call log, sms, mms, and bookmarks.

That's all from me for now.

good luck
 
I will only add that if you're reading this listen closely to JohnlGalt, Chief, inssane, or OMJ as most everything I learned about romming and such came either directly from them or through their very useful posts.

I have not had any significant problems since starting or if there was a patch or problem I already knew what to do. This is my .02 of course.
 
re: Boot menu - the OP is referring to my reference of the recovery menus.

re: backing up your ROM - you can do it via ROM manager, or you can do it more robustly via the recovery menu - it allows for things like just making a backup of parts, like applications, and leaving out the rest (under advanced backup). The recovery menu is for more advanced users, but as I said before, you should become more familiar with it - there may be a time when you don't have an active ROM loaded (b/c something screwed up) and then your only method of fixing things will be the recovery menu.

Also, as teddy said, DO NOT EXTRACT THE .ZIP FILES THAT YOU DOWNLOAD THAT ARE EITHER ROMs OR KERNELS

The recovery system needs them in .ZIP format - and even if you unzip and then re-zip, they are not going to be the same, and it can easily break the process, leaving you without a ROM.

re: kernels. To make a long story short, the kernel is the actual core of the operating system. Without it, the OS simply does not work. Now, in our phones, it contains all sorts of information, including (but not limited to) how the processor in our phones work.

All ROMs have a kernel with them - but it depends upon the ROM developer as to whether you're getting a stock kernel (which runs the CPU at 550MHz for all Eclair ROMs, and 800 MHz for all FroYo ROMs) or a non-stock kernel (which can be anywhere from 550 MHz to as high as 1300+ MHz, depending upon your flavor).

Playing with kernels is a completely different issue than playing with ROMs, and I highly suggest that you only do one or the other, not both - and in particular if you are first trying out a ROM - otherwise, you'll never know whether it was the alternate kernel that was making the ROM act weird / slow / stupid or if it was something in the ROM itself. Generally speaking, if you're going to try a different kernel, you should already have a very stable ROM running, and as with anything, you ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE STARTING ANYTHING.

re: Apps on the SDCard (aka Apps2SD) - a couple of us have answered that already, see Chief's and my posts above.

re: What to expect - as teddy highlighted, you really should do a lot more reading. I have been a member of these forums since about a week before he DROID went live, and I hurt my back in the middle of November, so I had a lot of playing time with the phone. I read and read and read thoroughly - and when it came time to root my phone, it was a lot easier than I thought. But, it helped that I had read a lot - I only had one or two seemingly boneheaded questions at the time.

Not to imply that your questions are boneheaded - just saying that *mine* at the time were, b/c I had already read the answer, but it had not sunk in.

there are plenty of guides, here in these forums as well as in other places. My best suggestion is to read threads where others have posted something along the lines of "OMG I just broke my phone hellllp!" - and see what the answers are. The reason is this - if it happens to you, you don't have to spend a few frantic hours on here posting and anxiously waiting for someone to reply with something that has already been solved before, and neither do you have o sit here frustrated as you try and try and try again to search for an answer that is here but just not coming to you. Having an idea of what could happen as well as what to do it it does happen will go a long way to making your experiences a lot more pleasurable.

To many of us 'old schoolers' it has become second nature to do all of the things that we do when it comes to installing a new ROM. Some, I'll bet, even take shortcuts, b/c they know well enough what to do if something goes wrong. For someone in your position, however, it is best to stay on the narrow, trodden path and follow instructions to the T. You'll be a lot happier in the long run.
 
So I went into ROM Manager and clicked on "Backup Current ROM." My phone shut off then turned back on and all it is showing is a scree with a phone with an exclamation point inside a triangle. I shut it restarted the phone, it turn back on normally, then tried it again and the same ting happened. Did I do something wrong? Am I supposed to let it stay in this exclamation point screen for some amount of time? Thanks!

Edit- Was I supposed to select "Flash Clockwork Mod Recovery" before doing anything else?
 
npro1464 said:
So I went into ROM Manager and clicked on "Backup Current ROM." My phone shut off then turned back on and all it is showing is a scree with a phone with an exclamation point inside a triangle. I shut it restarted the phone, it turn back on normally, then tried it again and the same ting happened. Did I do something wrong? Am I supposed to let it stay in this exclamation point screen for some amount of time? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Did you flash clockwork mod recovery first? Try reflashing your recovery from ROM Manager then do the back up. Excellent job doing the back up. Never skip that step as it may save you a ton of trouble down the road.
 
If you end up on stock recovery (exclamation point) again, go into ROM Manager, flash ClockworkMod recovery, then scroll down and flash alternate recovery (SPRecovery). Then go up and flash ClockworkMod AGAIN. Should stick. Ever since I did that I have had no problem with recovery.

Happy Flashing and great job on the backup!
 
ok ok i used to have the droid eris and im starting to see that there is a huge difference between rooting that and the droid OG 1... just a couple Q's one where is rom manager, two where is or what buttons d i push for the boot screen, and three can someone please help!!!
 
ROM Manager is in the market. Once you're rooted, you'll want to flash ClockworkMod recovery, then scroll down and flash "Alternate Recovery" (SPRecovery) and then flash ClockworkMod Recovery AGAIN. That should stick. You can access that recovery with x+power with the Droid turned off. :)
 
Trust JohnGalt, TheChief and the like, they have gotten me through several pickles in the past and are VERY knowledgeable and patient with my stupid questions. Been ROM'ing almost non-stop since my first one, and I've only got a boot loop once (my fault), and that's thanks to their expertise, although I
 
The_Chief said:
you'll want to flash ClockworkMod recovery, then scroll down and flash "Alternate Recovery" (SPRecovery) and then flash ClockworkMod Recovery AGAIN. That should stick.
Click to expand...

Can you explain what you mean by "stick"? I just rooted last weekend and flashed ClockworkMod, then did a nandroid backup. Do I need to do the SPRecovery/ClockworkMod thing you mention above?
 
Sometimes ClockworkMod won't "stick", meaning you can do backups in ROM Manager but when you try to access it via X+Power, the stock recovery comes up. Flashing CWMod, then SPRecovery, THEN CWMod again seems to set it in better. I don't know why, it just does.

Congratulations on making your nandroid backup - now flash away happily! :D
 
They are different things: Titanium Backup backs up your apps and app data so when you flash a ROM you can restore your apps quickly from the SD Card. Nandroid backs up your ENTIRE phone's image so if the ROM doesn't work out for you, you can do a nandroid restore to your phone's last known good state and it'll be like nothing went wrong. You will want to do BOTH.
 
OK, so is nandroid then the same as Clockworkmod, or is that something different altogether as well? I have done the Clockworkmod and the alternate (and back to Clockworkmod) using Rom Manager, do I still need to do nandroid as well?
 
If you haven't made a nandroid backup in ClockworkMod, then definitely do that before flashing or changing anything major. If things go bad, you can go into ClockworkMod and do a nandroid restore. :)

EDIT: Can't spell today LOL
 
I just took the plunge and flash Cyanogen. All I can say is... WOW!! What a difference!! I feel like I have a new phone! Not only that, it was so much easier than I expected. I made sure to first backup my current ROM (of course when I dled Cyanogen and flashed it it actually made a backup again.

I feel like my phone is faster, cleaner, newer. One of my favorite things I did that I've wanted to do was I expanded my dock to include 5 things: my phone, messaging, apps, gmail, and internet. I'm playing around with it, looking at themes. But I think I really like the stock.

Anyway, thanks for all the help. What is another good ROM you recommend to go to after this?
 
New Question: I am considering upgrading my micro sdcard to something bigger. Now that I have successfully flashed Cyanogen, is there something I should do or take into account before I get a new sd card? How do I get whatever is on my card onto my new card? Will I have any of that backup data that I saved before I flashed? Thanks!
 
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