Root Question/help with flashing ROMs

[katedw203]

Hi all,
This is my first post - I've read similar posts on the topic but haven't found any solutions, so I thought I would explain my problem. Any help is appreciated!

I rooted my phone using erisuser1's rooting for dummies method - this went off without a hitch, I followed the instructions to the T. I put several custom ROMs on my SD card (using the USB, and properly ejecting the phone as a drive) including KaosFroyo v37 and v38, CELBFroyo 3.6, PlainJaneT2_V2, and Vanilla_Tazz_19.I tried flashing each of them (following the wipe of the system info and the Dalvik cache) and all but the PlainJane got stuck in bootloops that lasted a long time. I waited anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours, and none of the others ever loaded up.

I'm fine using the PlainJane...happy to have the other features of root...but am wondering if there's any advice or suggestions as to why none of the other ROMs worked for me?

Thanks a ton.

 

[Rossco_Pee]

Make sure you are wiping both the data and davlik before flashing a new ROM.

 

[katedw203]

Thanks - as stated above, I've wiped both the data and the davlik. Wipe > Flash > Reboot. Boot loop.

 

[scary alien]

Hi all,
This is my first post - I've read similar posts on the topic but haven't found any solutions, so I thought I would explain my problem. Any help is appreciated!

I rooted my phone (on 2.1 OTA) using erisuser1's rooting for dummies method - this went off without a hitch, I followed the instructions to the T. I put several custom ROMs on my SD card (using the USB, and properly ejecting the phone as a drive) including KaosFroyo v37 and v38, CELBFroyo 3.6, PlainJaneT2_V2, and Vanilla_Tazz_19.I tried flashing each of them (following the wipe of the system info and the Dalvik cache) and all but the PlainJane got stuck in bootloops that lasted a long time. I waited anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours, and none of the others ever loaded up.

I'm fine using the PlainJane...happy to have the other features of root...but am wondering if there's any advice or suggestions as to why none of the other ROMs worked for me?

Thanks a ton.

Kate,

Welcome to the Android Forums!

Just to be clear, you did things in this order:

1. Download new ROM to the top-level of the /sdcard (good idea to check the MD5 sum just to make sure you got a "whole" file)
2. Boot into Amon_RA's custom recovery
3. Do a Wipe Data/Factory Reset followed by a Wipe Dalvik-cache
4. Flash your new custom ROM
5. Reboot

Its not unusual for a new ROM that's been flashed to take 10-15 minutes after a fresh install and a Dalvik-cache wipe, but it shouldn't take much longer than that...

Just want to confirm that this is the right order you did things in.

Thanks!

 

[katedw203]

Thanks for your response! Yes, the process you state above is exactly what I did, with the exception of checking the MD5 sum - I've read about ways to do this, just didn't think it was necessary at first. Maybe now I need to check that, although does it seem likely that I would get an incomplete file for all of these other ROMs I've tried?

Also, does the 10-15 minutes you mention above occur in the form of boot loop?

These forums are a great source of information, and I really do appreciate all the documentation that's been developed here.

 

[Podivin]

Katedw203.
Welcome to the forum.
I agree that it's unlikely that on all but one ROM you got a bad file, but checking the MD5 is easy so be sure and do that on the next ROM you try to flash.

Assuming no MD5 problem then, and not to belabor a point, it's probably a process step missed (or added). So let's go about listing the process steps from the other side.
The next time you try to flash a ROM YOU tell US what you're doing, step by step, no step is too small (down to keystrokes and mouse clicks) - if it turns in to 15 or 20 steps that's OK. Maybe one of us will have an 'aha' moment where we can say "There's the problem!".

 

[scary alien]

Thanks for your response! Yes, the process you state above is exactly what I did, with the exception of checking the MD5 sum - I've read about ways to do this, just didn't think it was necessary at first. Maybe now I need to check that, although does it seem likely that I would get an incomplete file for all of these other ROMs I've tried?

These forums are a great source of information, and I really do appreciate all the documentation that's been developed here.

Well, sounds like are doing the right things... It might be instructive to have you double-check the size and MD5 sums of at least one of the custom ROMs that you had trouble with. Might I suggest using the AFV (Android File Verifier) app (free in the Market)?

I believe erisuser1 has stated on many occasions that you should not be able to flash a custom ROM that is short/uncorrupted, but I might be confusing this with a PB00IMG.zip-type of file that is checked by the bootloader and not Amon_RA's custom recovery...

Please let us know what you find.

 

[scary alien]

Also, does the 10-15 minutes you mention above occur in the form of boot loop?

No, not a boot loop--just a long time finishing the normal boot process.

Usually, its a lack of wiping (esp. Dalvik-cache) that seems to cause boot-loops...(this smells/sounds oddly familiar--we don't often hear back from someone having problems like this (boot loops) about exactly what it was that was wrong/broken in the process).

 

[Podivin]

Scary is (naturally) correct. The one time I tried to flash a file that wasn't complete it just refused to flash, it generated an error and quit. I suppose that COULD change depending upon how much/what part of the file is missing.

 

[katedw203]

Thanks, everyone. Here's a painstakingly detailed explanation of what I'm doing:

1. Everything from the rooting guide to get to the "You have root!" (any need to rehash this part?)
2. Through these forums, finding links to the downloads of the ROMs mentioned above.
3. For each ROM, download to PC using Firefox
4. Connect phone to PC using USB cable
5. Transfer ROM to top folder of sd card
6. Safely eject hardware
7. Change phone connection to charge only
8. Boot into recovery mode using power+volume up
9. Wipe data
10. Wipe Dalvik cache
11. Flash zip of ROM from SD card, no errors reported in the flashing process
12. Reboot

Scary alien, I downloaded your AFV to do the MD5 checksum and it looks like all my files are complete.

The strange part to me is that the PlainJane ROM works without a problem - it's all the froyo ROMs that are giving me trouble!

If there's nothing obviously wrong here, I'm just going to stick with the PlainJane ROM - it's not ideal, and I'm disappointed that I can't try out a bunch of different ROMs, but it's still better than stock 2.1!

 

[tproctor]

I would try downloading a ROM straight to your phone and then use Astro File Manager to move it to the top level of the sdcard. Then, go through the steps to flash the ROM.

Another thing, (and I'm just throwing stuff out there) are you rebooting with your phone plugged into the computer? If so, you might unplug it and try that too.

 

[scary alien]

Thank you for the quick feedback...

I have very little Froyo ROM experience, so you'll have to turn to Hoto and doogald for any anomalies there .

You could try some other, excellent ROMs like xtrSense or xtrROM and see if these exhibit the same behavior...

By the way, there was a "case" a while back where member ppbb (I believe) had the darndest time being able to flash one of the new NonSensikal (4.6 I think) ROMs. erisuser1 even got involved and I don't believe we ever really got to the "root" of the problem (yeah, that's right, I said "root" ). Weird.

edit: here's the thread for your edification and enjoyment re. ppbb's "fun":

http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/160104-need-expert-advice-flashing-boot-loops-etc.html

(hey, Hoto was in that thread too! )

 

[Podivin]

ummm... hmmm... only 2.2 ROMs fail.
That makes me think that you've partitioned your SD card to have an EXT partition on it (for apps2SD). If so, that will sure enough cause a boot loop with a 2.2 ROM.

 

[katedw203]

Thanks for the link to ppbb's thread - sounds a lot like my experience. I'm going to try to download the ROM directly from the phone (to remove the element of my PC), try downloading some other ROMs, and also backup/format the SD card. I've definitely not partitioned the SD card (at least intentionally), but it's all worth a shot!

Thanks for everyone's useful advice. If I make any progress, I'll repost, otherwise I've gotten to the maximum frustration level and have given up and will be happy with PlainJane!

 

[doogald]

Just reading through this thread now, I wonder if your problem is that you have one of those phones that can't run reliably at 710 MHz? Almost every Eris can, but there are some that cannot.

I know that PJ is overclockable, but I can't tell if it is OCed by default. The other ones that you list are definitely OCed to 710 at first boot.

I think that there is some ADB work that you could do before that first boot while still in Recovery to reduce that.

Does anybody know if PlainJane overclocks to 710 by default?

 

[scary alien]

Just reading through this thread now, I wonder if your problem is that you have one of those phones that can't run reliably at 710 MHz? Almost every Eris can, but there are some that cannot.

I know that PJ is overclockable, but I can't tell if it is OCed by default. The other ones that you list are definitely OCed to 710 at first boot.

I think that there is some ADB work that you could do before that first boot while still in Recovery to reduce that.

Does anybody know if PlainJane overclocks to 710 by default?

doogald,

Excellent idea...T2's thread doesn't obviously say (at least right up-front). I'm making a Nandroid backup now and will flash it and check via System Panel...give me a few and I'll report back.

Cheers!

 

[doogald]

Ok, here is a post from Nonsensikal that I think would be a good template for adb use and might work for any of those Froyo ROMs if the issue truly is a 710 overclock: xda-developers - View Single Post - [ROM][11/18] Nonsensikal v13.2 [CM 6.1.0|Black&Blue|Vanilla] (this part in particular):

How to manually scale cpu frequency

To adjust the maximum CPU frequency (over clock)

adb pull /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq scaling_max_frequency

change the value [by editing the file "scaling_max_frequency" that you just downloaded] to whatever 6 digit value that you want (i.e. 604800) and save.

adb push scaling_max_freq /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq

So, the procedure would be something like:

- Start in Recovery
- Wipe data
- Flash your choice of ROM
- While still in Recovery, connect the phone to the PC, start a command prompt/terminal in the Android SDK's tools directory and enter those ADB commands above.
- Try a restart

I'm not 100% sure that it will change that file until after the first start, but it may work.

 

[scary alien]

doogald,

Good stuff (as always)--I'll have to make a note of the above...could come in handy...

Well, I've finally got PlainJaneT2_V2 booted and System Panel (and the phone's lagginess ) clearly indicate that it is NOT overclocked at boot-up.

I see a max. of 528MHz on the CPU frequency bar. So, doogald, this is a very good, intuitive guess as to what might be going on...

I haven't yet replied to the recent poster in the 1-click thread with a similar issue...wonder if he is also experiencing this? (and I wonder if this overclocking sensitivity is manifesting itself on older or more heavily-used phones (especially with some phones (like mine) that are at least a year old)...).

edit/btw: here's a little bonus:

d:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
528000

 

[yoyohere2]

I also have this problem and thanks to scary alien for pointing me to this thread.
I tried kaosfroyo, nonsensikal, xtrSense, xtraROM. None of them work. I did get KaosFroyo to the setup screen then it rebooted.

Finally found this thread and installed PlainJane and it works. Sad to hear that I won't be able to overclock. I'll use plainjane for a few days and see if it is as laggy as stock.

I bought this Eris on Dec/2009 so it's almost 1 year. I bought it online at the Verizon website and they mailed it to me.

 

[scary alien]

I also have this problem and thanks to scary alien for pointing me to this thread.
I tried kaosfroyo, nonsensikal, xtrSense, xtraROM. None of them work. I did get KaosFroyo to the setup screen then it rebooted.

Finally found this thread and installed PlainJane and it works. Sad to hear that I won't be able to overclock. I'll use plainjane for a few days and see if it is as laggy as stock.

I bought this Eris on Dec/2009 so it's almost 1 year. I bought it online at the Verizon website and they mailed it to me.

First, thank you for trying PJT2 and glad to know that it meshes with doogald's excellent insight. Perhaps you'll be able to overclock somewhat, say to 604MHz like doogald laid-out in his above post (I haven't tried this myself) and this might make your phone a little bit more responsive.

Also, some ROMs are cleaner and "lighter" and might be fast enough without needing to overclock (for exampe, I'm pretty sure some of the earlier versions of xtrSense were this way, but at some point (looks like the 4.0.6.1 version), Zach set the ROMs to have overclocking enabled at boot-up). So, if you can find the 4.0.5 ROM somewhere, this might be a viable solution for you and Kate (the thread's OP).

Good luck!

 

[scary alien]

Quick update:

I downloaded and flashed xtrSense 4.6.5 and before I left custom recovery, I checked the scaling_max_freq value and it was already set to 528MHz (528000):

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
528000

I also checked the cpuinfo_max_freq and it was also 528MHz.

However, upon boot-up, I checked the scaling_max_freq and it was set to 710MHz (710400). System Panel also validated that the CPU was clocked to 710MHz. So, Zach must be setting / overriding the base max CPU setting somewhere at boot time (perhaps one of the Gscripts scripts is run then?).

Anyway, not sure if altering the scaling_max_freq value would "stick" (at least for this particular ROM) if modified whilst in recovery.

 

[doogald]

Quick update:

I downloaded and flashed xtrSense 4.6.5 and before I left custom recovery, I checked the scaling_max_freq value and it was already set to 528MHz (528000):

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
528000

I also checked the cpuinfo_max_freq and it was also 528MHz.

However, upon boot-up, I checked the scaling_max_freq and it was set to 710MHz (710400). System Panel also validated that the CPU was clocked to 710MHz. So, Zach must be setting / overriding the base max CPU setting somewhere at boot time (perhaps one of the Gscripts scripts is run then?).

Anyway, not sure if altering the scaling_max_freq value would "stick" (at least for this particular ROM) if modified whilst in recovery.

Alright, I knew that I had been through this before. There is a way that definitely works with xtrSENSE (and, I am sure, xtrROM.) See this post.

After the next update to CELB, I will try this procedure there as well.

You do have to get the Android SDK installed and working, but that's probably a good thing for somebody who has a rooted phone to do anyway.

 

[scary alien]

Alright, I knew that I had been through this before. There is a way that definitely works with xtrSENSE (and, I am sure, xtrROM.) See this post.

After the next update to CELB, I will try this procedure there as well.

You do have to get the Android SDK installed and working, but that's probably a good thing for somebody who has a rooted phone to do anyway.

Cool--different value in a different directory...makes sense.

I'll try this in a little bit...I'm tweaking a new version of the trackball-optional custom recovery (1.7.1) to restore the "lost" (lol) partitioning menu items/functionality. I'll apply it to my xtrSense setup that I did last night (I'm planning on setting this up to be my 'base' ROM instead of Ivan's, so I have to setup all of my apps again).

I'll let you know how it goes...

 

[doogald]

I'll apply it to my xtrSense setup that I did last night (I'm planning on setting this up to be my 'base' ROM instead of Ivan's, so I have to setup all of my apps again).

I was running xtrSENSE for a bit for the very same reason, and decided to stick with it for a while. For somebody who greatly prefers the vanilla Android ROMs, I have to say that I really love xtrSENSE. I am now sure that my dislike of Sense as a launcher and the HTC frameworks were completely based on the poor execution of the stock Eris code. Running xtrSENSE is a fantastic experience.

There are two things about Sense/HTC customizatins that bug me. First, it seems to burn battery faster than the Cyanogen Froyo ROMs do, in my experience. It may be that the automatic brightness is set too display too brightly on the HTC frameworks (that's my new theory, anyway; I may test by deliberately setting brightness low and seeing how xtrSENSE does.) However, the one thing that really bugs me is the poor handling of calendar notifications in the HTC frameworks. I still have times when I have dismissed a notification, only to have it pop up again 5 minutes later. This is a real problem if it happens as I am starting a long car trip to my next appointment, as it means that the damn alarm goes off every 5 minutes until I can fiddle with my phone. It seems to happen to me randomly, too.

Forgive the digression...

Also, I did try that procedure out when I flashed xtrSENSE a few weeks ago from scratch. It definitely worked for me - max overclock was set to 604800 after the ROM started up. Again, I'll have to try with one of the Cyanogen 2.2 ROMs later on when I have time. I suspect that the values are in a different place with them, but I can poke around to see where.

For those with this issue, if PlainJane is good enough, then that is probably a good enough ROM for everyday use, but this is good to know if they want to try xtrROM, xtrSENSE or the Vanilla 2.0.4 ROM, as we know that this procedure will allow them to change the OC setting before first boot of they want to try them out. (Note that these folks may also want to set that value to 528000 in case it is overclocking at all that causes the problem.)

 

[scary alien]

Good info and feedback re. xtrSense... I'll probably skip my little tweak session then and just keep my startup speed at 710MHz.

I've never used the calendars on my phones since I'm pretty-much glued to my desk anyway (insert emoticons of various nature here to reflect the yin and yang of the last part of my statement).

I'll have to dig up my "settings" notes that I used to get everything back to how I like it (I usually turn all of the auto notification stuff off and lower the screen brightness, etc. to save battery anyway).

Anyway, to un-digress ( ? ) back to this thread, hopefully your suggested CPU setting tweak will allow non-overclockable (or slightly overclockable) phones to at least enjoy some of the non-stock custom ROMs and at least gain a little bit of speed, certainly some memory, and assuredly more features.

Cheers!