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Root New to the Droid, many questions

Eckyx

Member
Sep 11, 2010
62
2
I bought my Droid off ebay about a week ago, and I have been trying to absorb as much information as possible about it. This is my first smartphone - my first time using Android, but I'm pretty quick with this stuff.

The first thing I did when I got the phone was to try out a billion applications. I'm not really interested in gaming, but I like the billion odd useful things one can do with the phone. A few days ago, I was reading about rooting, and was going to do it manually, but then I came across RDKamikaze's Soup or Root, and tried it. No problems, but I have a few questions:


I wish I had made a backup with everything completely stock. If I were to use recovery mode's system wipe, will it restore the phone to an un-rooted state? How does it work? I am not worried about my non-existent warranty, just about being able to easily get the phone back to a usable state if I mess something up.

I've read a lot about different recovery methods, but it's not clear to me what they all do, or how to use them. For instance, I read about "RSD lite", which can restore the phone to factory defaults (?), but how does it work? How does nandroid backup work? Where do I get it? What is their relationship to ROM manager, ClockworkMod Recovery, or SP Recovery? How do those programs work, how do I use them?

I'm sure that it would become clear quickly, if I install and play with these programs, but I'd like to stop myself and do some reading before I cause any harm.


I'm interested in overclocking, and I have done a bit of reading *about* different kernels, but I haven't yet found a guide to installing them. It is my understanding that a kernel is included as part of any ROM. Is there a detailed guide for this?


I don't know much about ADB, where can I read about it?


What did you do, when you first learned about rooting? What do you wish you knew? What is your standard software package, now? Any other thoughts / comments?
 
I'll try to answer a few questions for you...

I wish I had made a backup with everything completely stock. If I were to use recovery mode's system wipe, will it restore the phone to an un-rooted state? How does it work? I am not worried about my non-existent warranty, just about being able to easily get the phone back to a usable state if I mess something up.
If you haven't downloaded any new ROMs or Kernels yet then you are pretty much at "rooted stock." Before you do anything else, make a back up of where you are now. The easiest way to do this is to download Rom Manager from the market. With this, you can download a custom recovery; either sprecovery or clockwork. Start with clockwork, as it is a bit more user friendly. It is hard to explain what that means if you haven't used it yet. I guess it cuts out a few steps that sprecovery requires when you are updating/flashing new ROMs.

After applying clockwork, you'll see in Rom Manager the option to create a backup of your current ROM. This will be your "control" backup--the one that you go back to if you bork your phone. This is a nandroid backup. I have no experience with RSD lite (lucky for me) so for that I'll leave to others...

If you spring for Rom Manager Premium, you'll be able to test out various ROMs and kernels. Rom Manager makes things very easy to navigate and understand. You'll find a ROM that you want to try, download and apply. After downloading the ROM maybe go back to Rom Manager and make a backup of your new setup. Then go and install a kernel. They are labeled pretty clearly on which one works for which ROM. The reason you'll want to make a backup before installing a new kernel is because sometimes certain kernels don't play well with certain phones. If you go into a "bootloop" you'll be able to reinstall your backup and try a new kernel until you find one that works. To reboot into recovery mode manually, you just open your phone, press the power and x key at the same time. when the motorola logo comes on, release the power button, but hold the x key still. You'll see clockwork/sprecover load up. from there you just apply backup and start the process over again.

ADB was useful when I learned to root, but honestly, with Rom Manager and the "root explorer" app, I haven't used it in 6 months. Others I'm sure will be able to give you a tutorial on that. Root explorer is a file exploring app that also allows you to add and delete things from /system that you'd otherwise need ADB or a terminal emulator for.

Feel free to ask more if I've glossed over something important.
 
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One important addition to what has been stated above:

When flashing new ROM's all developers strongly urge you to wipe data and cache first (this is a function within Clockwork recovery...you will see the option), but when flashing new kernels you do not need to take this step.

I just keep a couple of kernels (downloaded from ROM Manager) in my SD card so when I try kernels if one blows up I have another kernel or two that I can fall back on to escape from the dreaded "boot loop"...

I am currently running BB 0.4 (Bugless Beast) which is one of the older, more trusted custom ROM's and I am probably going to try another ROM today..possibly UD8.

I have tried 5 different kernels seeking the holy grail in battery life/function. Very interesting voyage of discovery.


Cheers
 
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What is the difference between a kernel with an interactive governer and one without? What are the pros and cons to using one with 5 / 7 / 10 steps? Anything else I need to know?

Probably going to spring for an 800mhz ulv, battery life is more important than raw performance for me.

How do you recommend I go about flashing a new kernel?
 
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I'm actually not too sure about the differences of a kernel with/without interactive governor.

I seem to remember that some people were having troubles with kernels with only 5 steps. Again, this may be specific to particular hardware on specific phones. Also, you probably don't want a kernel that drops all the way down to 125 MHz, as that might slow your phone down/freeze it when it is trying to wake up. Right now I'm using jdlfg's 7 slot 1100MHz kernel. it goes from 300MHz-1100MHz. He doesn't list what voltage is used on his kernels. People seem to love Chevy#1's kernels as well, he's been making them for a long time. The ULV/Low/standard voltage kernels may also conflict with your phone, so try a few out.

Just as muab said, flash the kernel using Rom Manager. Download the kernel, make a backup, but don't do a wipe. Afterward you'll have use the SetCPU app to set the levels. Play with those levels as you see fit.
 
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What is the difference between a kernel with an interactive governer and one without? What are the pros and cons to using one with 5 / 7 / 10 steps? Anything else I need to know?

Probably going to spring for an 800mhz ulv, battery life is more important than raw performance for me.

How do you recommend I go about flashing a new kernel?

Your thinking and mine is much the same. I found it interesting that I got superior battery life from a Chevy's low voltage kernel over a Chevy's Ultra Low Voltage kernel in my test, which I did not expect at all. I am testing a Slayher kernel now and it is giving very similar battery life to the best Chevy kernel I tried.

Swapping kernels is a breeze...much easier than ROM's because you needn't wipe.
 
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Currently running BB 0.5, trying a few kernels. Slayher's 1.2ghz seems to run great, 1483 quad score, stable under stress for 20min. Very impressed.

Do you know if the lower mhz slayher's roms use different voltages? For instance, is there a reason to use the 800mhz kernel over the 1.2ghz@800mhz?
 
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How is this? After a little tweaking, still running slayher's 1.2ghz:


CAP201009230922.jpg




Probably going to cap the CPU a lot lower, I see absolutely no reason for this much speed with what I run. Battery life is similar to stock at these settings though, so I wonder how much I'll get.
 
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One important addition to what has been stated above:

When flashing new ROM's all developers strongly urge you to wipe data and cache first (this is a function within Clockwork recovery...you will see the option), but when flashing new kernels you do not need to take this step.

Cheers

I am new to this, and downloaded ROM Manager and performed a clockwork backup and then did a nandroid backup. You mention I will need to wipe all data and cache first. I downloaded Titanium Backup and ran a backup of all apps and data. Should I have only backed up apps? When I restore after wiping and switching rom's will I have an error from copying the new apps or data over?

Now, I want to basically use my phone to overclock and that's about it. I would say I care about battery life 50% and speed 50%. What is the easiest and safest ROM/Kernel Combination for a Moto Droid1?

Thanks!
 
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From personal experience I would say figure out ball park speed that you are looking to get then try a few different kernals that are in that speed range. Then move onto picking your Rom and then testing the Kernals out with it. For my phone and the way I used it when I was running Simply Stunning I used Chevy's LV 1.0Ghz but now that I am using UD 8.0 I am using a Slayher 1.1 because for some reason it likes it more now (it wouldn't even boot the Slayher kernals before). So for someone just starting look around and see what Rom you like and then download a bunch of kernals and play till you find one that works up to your standards. Have fun with it and enjoy the process other wise you might drive yourself crazy like my friend is currently doing.
 
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