Clueless chick trying to root an already rooted Droid
Let me first say that I'm trying to transition out of the clueless girl stereotype into an experienced android user. If I say anything that's downright wrong and/or stupid, correct me.
I have a 1st gen. droid that I bought off of someone. It is currently running these stats:
ShadowROM v0.2.2
Kernel version gjdlfg@ubuntu #40
Running at 900 MHz
I honestly don't know half of what all that means, but figured if anyone was willing to help me, they'd want these specs.
I love this phone, and want to broaden the horizons and explore its capabilities. I've noticed a few threads on 'simply stunning' and 'liquid gingerbread'.
My MAIN questions are, with my phone already running like this, would it be smart to try another ROM?
If so, will I have to return to stock before rooting again?
Sounds like it's already rooted and likely running ClockworkMod or SP Recovery. In the case of putting in a new ROM, it's easy once you have ClockworkMod or SP (most of us will recommend Clockwork). Just move the new ROM to your micro-SD card, then go into Recovery, WIPE DATA/FACTORY RESET, and install zip from SD card.
Before doing anything fancy, I highly suggest you get the phone set up the way you want it and MAKE A BACKUP. This takes a snapshot image of your phone's entire current state and saves it as a .zip file on the SD card. In case anything goes haywire, just wipe data and restore the backup... it'll be like nothing ever happened!
To get into Clockwork, power off the phone, slide out the keyboard and hold down the "X" key while powering it back up. Let us know if it comes up as Clockwork or SP Recovery. It'll tell you that at the top.
To make a backup, use the volume up & down keys to navigate the menu down to "nandroid". Select it with the camera button. Then select "Backup", HANDS OFF, and let it do its 5-minute thing. To navigate back one menu screen, use the power button. Once the backup is complete (and it'll tell you), it will automatically go to the main menu and highlight "Reboot system now". just hit the camera button and the phone will reboot normally.
Be careful in Recovery! You can do powerful things like wipe the SD card! But once you learn to navigate it, it will become your best friend.
Hope this helps and gets you started. If you have ANY questions, ask BEFORE you do something and we'll guide you step by step. You'll be an Android master in no time!
BTW: ShadowROM is the operating system your phone is running. There are many great ROMs to choose from, and you may want to try a few to see which one works best for you and your Droid. The kernel is the underlying program that controls things like processor speed, which is currently overclocked to 900MHz (stock Droids run at about 560 MHz).
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Sounds like it's already rooted and likely running ClockworkMod or SP Recovery. In the case of putting in a new ROM, it's easy once you have ClockworkMod or SP (most of us will recommend Clockwork). Just move the new ROM to your micro-SD card, then go into Recovery, WIPE DATA/FACTORY RESET, and install zip from SD card.
Before doing anything fancy, I highly suggest you get the phone set up the way you want it and MAKE A BACKUP. This takes a snapshot image of your phone's entire current state and saves it as a .zip file on the SD card. In case anything goes haywire, just wipe data and restore the backup... it'll be like nothing ever happened!
To get into Clockwork, power off the phone, slide out the keyboard and hold down the "X" key while powering it back up. Let us know if it comes up as Clockwork or SP Recovery. It'll tell you that at the top.
To make a backup, use the volume up & down keys to navigate the menu down to "nandroid". Select it with the camera button. Then select "Backup", HANDS OFF, and let it do its 5-minute thing. To navigate back one menu screen, use the power button. Once the backup is complete (and it'll tell you), it will automatically go to the main menu and highlight "Reboot system now". just hit the camera button and the phone will reboot normally.
Be careful in Recovery! You can do powerful things like wipe the SD card! But once you learn to navigate it, it will become your best friend.
Hope this helps and gets you started. If you have ANY questions, ask BEFORE you do something and we'll guide you step by step. You'll be an Android master in no time!
BTW: ShadowROM is the operating system your phone is running. There are many great ROMs to choose from, and you may want to try a few to see which one works best for you and your Droid. The kernel is the underlying program that controls things like processor speed, which is currently overclocked to 900MHz (stock Droids run at about 560 MHz).
Thank you very much for the info! I'll see what I can do
I recommend doing a fair bit of reading before your ready to make a move. Never be afraid to ask questions whenever you have one, that's what the site is for. Lord knows, I never could have gotten to the point I have without the great help our community provides, and I know Chief will say the same.
Each Droid, despite having all the same components, react diff to each ROM and kernel. To find what's truly best for you, you're going to have to do some experimenting. Like Chief said, that's where it becomes imperative to make a backup of your current working state, because you may flash a ROM or kernel that your phone doesn't like. This way you can always go back to your phone working as it should.
Take a look around, there's always someone nearby that can help.
__________________ "How many bloody Gs are there?"
Angie, like DudeL said: the same kernel that can make my phone scream along may throw yours into a bootloop. Some Droids are happy running at 1.25 GHz... others can't go above 800 MHz. Due to microscopic differences in circuit runs and components, ROMs and kernels are VERY Droid-specific... so it's a good idea to have several of each on your SD card, install them in various combinations, and see which configuration makes YOUR Droid happiest.
You don't even have to log into your Google account to see if they work: just bypass the Google login*, experiment with each ROM & kernel to see what your phone likes best, and THEN start syncing your apps and stuff once you're satisfied.
*-to bypass login: when you get to the "Touch the Android" screen, tap the screen's four corners, starting in the top left, and go clockwise to the lower left. It'll take you straight to the home screen
Angie, like DudeL said: the same kernel that can make my phone scream along may throw yours into a bootloop. Some Droids are happy running at 1.25 GHz... others can't go above 800 MHz. Due to microscopic differences in circuit runs and components, ROMs and kernels are VERY Droid-specific... so it's a good idea to have several of each on your SD card, install them in various combinations, and see which configuration makes YOUR Droid happiest.
You don't even have to log into your Google account to see if they work: just bypass the Google login*, experiment with each ROM & kernel to see what your phone likes best, and THEN start syncing your apps and stuff once you're satisfied.
*-to bypass login: when you get to the "Touch the Android" screen, tap the screen's four corners, starting in the top left, and go clockwise to the lower left. It'll take you straight to the home screen
Whoa, I can possibly get my phone to run that fast?! I HAVE try this now!
Are you willing to suggest any great ROMs to try out? It'll be a little weird for me to do. I managed to root my Eris, but this current 1st gen. droid was already rooted when I bought it.
My ROM of choice is Ultimate Droid... currently there is a Gingerbread release, but I am on Froyo (UD 2.5) since my particular Droid has a big problem with anything Gingerbread. Go through the ROMs section and pick a few to try.
I do not use ROM Manager to load ROMs, rather I have found it far more effective to do it the old fashioned way: download the ROM to your PC, move it to the SD card (either to the root or a folder like "ROMs" where you can easily find it), go into Recovery, wipe data/factory reset, install zip from SD card, choose zip (select your ROM) and select yes.
The first boot up after installing a ROM will take longer than usual so don't freak out.
The KERNEL is where the overclocking magic happens: start with a high clock rate and work your way down until you find something stable. Install it like a ROM (they're in zip format) WITHOUT wiping. SetCPU is great for setting profiles to overclock when you need it and underclock when you don't (helps the battery last longer)
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Whoa, I can possibly get my phone to run that fast?! I HAVE try this now!
Are you willing to suggest any great ROMs to try out? It'll be a little weird for me to do. I managed to root my Eris, but this current 1st gen. droid was already rooted when I bought it.
Possibly, but not many had Droids that could run that stably. This is why you'll want to back up what is working. However, if you flash a high kernel and you have probs getting it to boot up, just go into your recovery and flash a lower one until you're running the way you feel your Droid should.
Keep in mind you'll eat up more battery at higher clock speeds, but like Chief said, you can underclock the processor when the screen is off to help save it.
Back up, back up, back up. Can't stress that enough. Oh, also make sure to manage your back ups. I don't think you need to have more than 3 backups that you know work perfectly. Really you don't need more than one, but it never hurts. There's a lot of room on the 16GB card, but when I need to alleviate some, I can usually find a GB or two in there if I haven't been keeping up with managing them.
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Clueless chick trying to root an already rooted Droid
