Root So many ROMs, so many questions

[A.Nonymous]

I'm trying to figure out where to start here as I'm really not sure. I rooted my phone because the OTA Froyo update was causing all kinds of issues with it. I was thinking of playing around with a custom FroYo ROM this weekend to see if it also had issues. I've been looking for a Froyo ROM running Sense. Knock me if you must, but I personally prefer sense.

I've found tons of ROMs out there and I've got a full backup of my phone that I've done with nandroid so I can go back to what I've got now if I choose to. The Virtuous ROM looks very promising to me. It mentions I need to flash my radio first? This confuses me. The ROM doesn't upgrade this automatically? What happens if I omit this step? My radio works fine now. I don't want to risk breaking it. Also, can I restore my backups of my apps from a program like My Backup Pro on to the flashed ROM? What are potential problems I could run into that I need to be aware of?

 

[dscribe]

These ROMs do not include the radio software and if you have a version 1.00 radio, you will have problems with 2.2. So, yes, you have to flash the radio...or you can get the 2.2. RUU and install it as it includes the radio. I know nothing of My Backup Pro.. most rooted users backup and restore with Titanium Backup.

 

[A.Nonymous]

If I update to the version 2 radio, can I go back to version 1 if the FroYo ROM doesn't work out for me?

 

[dscribe]

Yes, though I can't imagine ever even thinking of going back to 2.1.

 

[sdrawkcab25]

Sense roms in general do not claim to support the older radios and could cause issues if you don't update your radio. If you decide you don't like the rom and do a nandroid restore it will change back your radio towhatever radio you were using when you made the backup. BTW I use virtuous 2.6 and haven't had any issues with it, and is easily customizable using rom manager. Oh and lastly use titanium backup and upgrade to the donate version it will make your transition between roms so much easier.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Yes, though I can't imagine ever even thinking of going back to 2.1.

I've got 2.1 because it just works. I went with the OTA 2.2 and it caused all kinds of issues for me. I lost 3G. Some of my apps didn't work right. It was a huge PITA. So I downgraded, rooted and have stuck with 2.1 because it just works.

Sense roms in general do not claim to support the older radios and could cause issues if you don't update your radio. If you decide you don't like the rom and do a nandroid restore it will change back your radio towhatever radio you were using when you made the backup. BTW I use virtuous 2.6 and haven't had any issues with it, and is easily customizable using rom manager. Oh and lastly use titanium backup and upgrade to the donate version it will make your transition between roms so much easier.

I use nandroid to back up. It works beautifully for me. I messed around with Titanium, but wasn't impressed with it overall. I run Nandroid once a week and My Backup Pro daily on an automatic schedule to backup to the cloud. This works beautifully for my needs.

 

[lafester]

I don't think nandroid touches your radio.

Flashing radios is very simple and fast. We are at the point now where you can flash any (Incredible) radio at any time you wish. It is not going to hurt your phone going from one radio to another no matter what version it is.

Just remember flashing roms is separate from flashing radios. Kind of like flashing kernels... each one might work differently with another. Find the rom you like, then find the radio you like, then find the kernel you like.

confused yet? lol. you don't have to mess with kernels yet

 

[A.Nonymous]

I don't think nandroid touches your radio.

Flashing radios is very simple and fast. We are at the point now where you can flash any (Incredible) radio at any time you wish. It is not going to hurt your phone going from one radio to another no matter what version it is.

Just remember flashing roms is separate from flashing radios. Kind of like flashing kernels... each one might work differently with another. Find the rom you like, then find the radio you like, then find the kernel you like.

confused yet? lol. you don't have to mess with kernels yet

Can I flash the ROM without the radio and if I don't like how it performs, flash the radio to the correct version?

 

[jdkoreclipse]

heres my advise:

Use either the 2.15.00.9 radio or the 2.07 radio
use any rom of your choice
use king kernels

 

[A.Nonymous]

heres my advise:

Use either the 2.15.00.9 radio or the 2.07 radio
use any rom of your choice
use king kernels

Is there a site that has links to all the various radios? Right now I'm running 1.00. It works. What advantages do the other radios have? I don't want to do anything permanent to my phone. I want the ability to go back if I decide to.

 

[lafester]

Yes you can wait on the radio if you want to. Video recording will not work and possibly other things as well but nothing major. (this is if you are on a 1.x radio).

The radio thread is in the roms subforum. go there and you can see what radios people are using.

nothing is permanent now. you can reverse everything back to bone stock at any time.

 

[Two_cents]

here is my advice... but you probably wont like it... factory reset your phone and start new... there was so many changes from 2.1 to 2.2 it has caused many issues with the system files... I have had 5 of my friends have slow/laggy/ FC issues after the update... we sat down and redid the whole phone fresh and its working faster like it should... you can't restore a backup from 2.1 to 2.2 it just doesn't mix well... once you back up a 2.2 program you should be set

 

[A.Nonymous]

here is my advice... but you probably wont like it... factory reset your phone and start new... there was so many changes from 2.1 to 2.2 it has caused many issues with the system files... I have had 5 of my friends have slow/laggy/ FC issues after the update... we sat down and redid the whole phone fresh and its working faster like it should... you can't restore a backup from 2.1 to 2.2 it just doesn't mix well... once you back up a 2.2 program you should be set

Already tried that as it was suggested by the VZW tech support. It didn't work. Factory reset and I had 3G problem I had before. They thought it was a hardware issue so they shipped me a new phone. The new phone had the exact same problem with 2.2 right out of the box.

Anyway, I've been playing with different ROMS and haven't found one yet that I really like enough to stick with. I liked Virtuous because it feels like stock and that's what I'm used to. I also like that the author didn't just decide which stuff was crap and which wasn't and remove everything, but leaves that up to me. I don't like that I still can't get rid of the Flickr and Facebook crap on the phone that I'm never going to use. I'm guessing this is integrated with Sense in such a way that I can't easily remove it?? Also, I can't play video podcasts on it for some reason.

I tried out Skyraider and really do like a lot of things about it. I don't like the launcher though. I want the phone option in the middle, not on the side. It just makes sense to me. The primary function of my device is a phone. I want the big phone button right in the middle of the screen like it is on stock. Can I customize the order of the buttons in the launcher interface somehow?

 

[lafester]

i think skyraider has all kinds of options for the launcher bar.
did you check out his thread @ xda?

 

[A.Nonymous]

i think skyraider has all kinds of options for the launcher bar.
did you check out his thread @ xda?

I appreciate the help. I figured it out. I installed the Rule the Air theme which I think is very cool and it fixed the problem I was having. My only issue now is how to change the boot animation.

I found a custom boot animation I want on my phone. I turned on USB debugging on my phone and plugged the phone into my computer. I went into the SDK folder I'd put on my computer. I typed adb push bootanimation.zip /data/local. The command succeeded. I then rebooted my phone, but I didn't see the new animation. Where did I drop the ball? I'm in the middle of looking through the thread @ xda, but haven't found an answer to my question yet.

Edit: Nevermind. I figured it out. If anyone cares for future reference, the directory the boot animation needs to be in for Skyraider is /system/media. You have to boot into recovery and mount the system partition in order to get there though.

 

[sabrewings]

As far as kernels, I suggest you try KingKlick's #4. I just installed it yesterday and it's doing great for me. I'm also on Skyraider 3.1 RC3.

 

[sdrawkcab25]

As far as kernels, I suggest you try KingKlick's #4. I just installed it yesterday and it's doing great for me. I'm also on Skyraider 3.1 RC3.

+1 for KingKlicks #4 kernel, I'm loving every extra hour of battery life I'm getting out of it

 

[lafester]

Edit: Nevermind. I figured it out. If anyone cares for future reference, the directory the boot animation needs to be in for Skyraider is /system/media. You have to boot into recovery and mount the system partition in order to get there though.

i prefer to use root explorer for this. you can just go to system/media, mount the partition and paste the file where you want it. no messing around with adb etc.

 

[A.Nonymous]

i prefer to use root explorer for this. you can just go to system/media, mount the partition and paste the file where you want it. no messing around with adb etc.

Root explorer costs money. I'm cheap.

 

[sabrewings]

+1 for KingKlicks #4 kernel, I'm loving every extra hour of battery life I'm getting out of it

Yep. I'm loving it. I used SetCPU and set the screen off to 245/245 and use the interactive governor at all times. The phone is real snappy and much easier on the battery, especially in standby. I wish his charging fix worked though. Mine still doesn't charge as fast as it did before 2.2.

 

[sabrewings]

I take it back. The charging does seem better in the #4. My phone with its 1500mAh went from dead to full in under two hours. A lot better than the 3-4 it took while I was out of town last weekend.