Root New to ROMs, first impressions of Cognition; advice/help

[Dante04SRT]

I just installed Cognition tonight - It was my first ROM installation on my Captivate.

I wanted a version of Froyo primarily for 2 things - I wanted the WAP feature and the ability to shut off data usage. I like the battery % that shows on the battery bar too.

After installing it, I'm a little.... well, I dunno. It almost seems quirky. This is where I'd like input if you've got some...

First thing I tried to do was change my background. I went into "My Files" and then to my Backgrounds folder. I was surprised at how long it took to load a picture in the viewer - I'd select a picture and it would LITERALLY take 10-12 seconds before the picture would show up on screen - The screen was just black for that period of time... Then if I tried to change the wallpaper, same thing - It would "change" it, but it'd be like 15 seconds before the changes would take effect! Very odd, compared to Eclair 2.1. It seems that most pictures & video are acting this way...

I've also noticed some lag with the keyboard - at least the Swype one - Not sure if it was the app, but typing in Facebook was almost impossible with it. I was glad I could still use the Samsung Keyboard, as it is my favorite currently.

Another thing I've noticed is in calls - If I was on a call and then went to any other app, if I tried to come back to the phone section, I NEVER got the hang up option - It took me to the dialing screen, not the "in call" screen. It seemed the only way to hang up the call was to go to the status bar thing up top and select "End" there. Kind of a pain as I was used to going back to "Phone" and hanging up there.

Another odd thing was noticed in "My Files". If I was anywhere in it and clicked the back button, it would back out of the folder page and I'd come to a page that simply said "No Files" - If I press anything other than the Home button, the phone freaks out for a second and then the "Force Quit" message comes up. I never had that problem with Eclair.

A few other things... My "Daily Briefing" stuff is missing. I've looked everywhere but can't seem to find it - I really liked it for seeing my weather! Any ideas?

Also, in my address book - In 2.1, I could stop the sim card entries from showing up (and being duplicates), but I can't seem to turn them off here. Ideas?

Anyway, I'm by no means unhappy with Cognition, I have just noticed those few things that seem buggy to me. Am I alone or just missing something? If anyone has any suggestion or help, I'm all ears. I'm really new to this all, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Dan+e

 

[shoman94]

I'm not sure about cog as I don't have that rom but, of you are on a call and in something else but want to go back to the call screen, you just pull down the notification bar and select the green phone icon all the way to the left. That a will bring you back to the in call screen. I hope that helps some.
I don't have any of the issues you mention with the Andromeda ROM.

Good luck

 

[Dante04SRT]

Thanks for the info - I'll have to try that. The reason I pointed it out was I always used to go back to the Phone icon on the homescreen, and it doesn't work that way now.

I think I'll either be reinstalling this ROM today or trying another - The issues mentioned above and the fact that I can't answer calls (phone goes to the Force Quit screen almost immediately when a call comes in) make me think I've got something wrong.

Ideas?

 

[iffrett]

try reflashing. i noticed alot of people new to flashing tried cog first. I too flash cog when I was starting out. There were a bunch of problems that I noticed, especially with the battery life. At first I thought the flashing was messed up so I tried multiple times. I flashed the same version of cog for about 4 additional times, 4 days consecutively. Turns out it was something wrong with the rom and not the flashing process. Since then I've moved to serendipity. Flashed it once, and havent flash since....eventhough im like 5 versions behind now

 

[sethjamto]

I would try a reflash as suggested by others. Odin back to stock and start over, that seems to help people with bugs sometimes. If that doesn't work, try another ROM. I loved Cog, but decided to try Serendipity just to see what else was out there and seem to enjoy it better.

 

[Dante04SRT]

Well, I had an accident with it all today.

I attempted to use ODIN to reflash the stock setup back on the phone - ODIN got to the "factoryfs" part (IIRC) and then froze. I let it sit there for like 10 minutes and finally deemed it 100% frozen - I closed ODIN and pulled the USB - Apparently the phone was seriously bricked because it wouldn't turn on - NOTHING. Tried the jig, everything I could think/find, and nothing. From what I've read, my bootloader is bad.

 

[iffrett]

Well, I had an accident with it all today.

I attempted to use ODIN to reflash the stock setup back on the phone - ODIN got to the "factoryfs" part (IIRC) and then froze. I let it sit there for like 10 minutes and finally deemed it 100% frozen - I closed ODIN and pulled the USB - Apparently the phone was seriously bricked because it wouldn't turn on - NOTHING. Tried the jig, everything I could think/find, and nothing. From what I've read, my bootloader is bad.

That's the first time I've heard of this situation...so apparently theres a new level above hard brick? perma-brick? :S

Hope something starts working again and you'll get out of this state

 

[NorCal Einstein]

That's the first time I've heard of this situation...so apparently theres a new level above hard brick? perma-brick? :S

Hope something starts working again and you'll get out of this state

People throw the term "hard-brick" around wayyyy too loosely, especially with the Captivates. Hard-brick is usually a messed up primary/secondary/combination of both bootloaders. The one that gets you is the sbl.bin (secondary).

Hard-bricks are ones that are NOT recoverable through Download Mode / JIG to get into Download.

Dante04SRT: I've had Odin hang on factoryrfs plenty of times before. Every time, I've been able to get into Download Mode with a JIG. Can you be certain you're using a JIG correctly? Are you sure you're hitting pins 4 and 5 with ~301kohms of resistance? I see a lot of people making JIGs without the MicroUSB plug, which I don't recommend. Hopefully you're not using a resistor-only JIG because you need to keep that 301kohm of resistance across pins 4 and 5 for at least 4 seconds. In my opinion, it's too easy to not hit the right pins, to accidentally bump the JIG while you're trying to use it, or to be touching bare metal on the JIG with your skin which changes the resistance.

If Odin would have froze during sbl.bin, I'd say almost without a doubt that you're hosed. If you used Odin One-Click on a batch 1010 or 1012 phone, I'd also say you're probably hosed. Hopefully you are neither of these...

 

[Dante04SRT]

People throw the term "hard-brick" around wayyyy too loosely, especially with the Captivates. Hard-brick is usually a messed up primary/secondary/combination of both bootloaders. The one that gets you is the sbl.bin (secondary).

Hard-bricks are ones that are NOT recoverable through Download Mode / JIG to get into Download.

Dante04SRT: I've had Odin hang on factoryrfs plenty of times before. Every time, I've been able to get into Download Mode with a JIG. Can you be certain you're using a JIG correctly? Are you sure you're hitting pins 4 and 5 with ~301kohms of resistance? I see a lot of people making JIGs without the MicroUSB plug, which I don't recommend. Hopefully you're not using a resistor-only JIG because you need to keep that 301kohm of resistance across pins 4 and 5 for at least 4 seconds. In my opinion, it's too easy to not hit the right pins, to accidentally bump the JIG while you're trying to use it, or to be touching bare metal on the JIG with your skin which changes the resistance.

If Odin would have froze during sbl.bin, I'd say almost without a doubt that you're hosed. If you used Odin One-Click on a batch 1010 or 1012 phone, I'd also say you're probably hosed. Hopefully you are neither of these...

I consider myself a novice with these phones, so anything is possible. I tried for at least 20 minutes to use the jig. I did make sure not to touch the jig pins to any metal other than the pins on the USB pins on the phone.

Just so I understand things better... Is it possible that a jig will get a phone that WON'T POWER ON into download mode? I couldn't get it to do ANYTHING, not even a powered-black screen, nothing... In addition to the jig, I tried the method that worked for me originally to get the phone into download mode... I simply took the battery/sim out and plugged the USB cable in. Holding the Vol buttons, I then put the battery back in - It took a couple tries, but eventually it worked - At least when I originally flashed to Cognition; It didn't work at all after all this other crap happened.

This just has me super gun shy to try any of this again - I don't know anything about ODIN other than what I've read, but if it can just up and brick your phone when you've done everything else right, I see too much risk and not enough reward. I dunno.

 

[NorCal Einstein]

Yes, it is possible for a JIG to get a phone in Download Mode when that phone does NOT power on, and is not responsive to any button presses. Most of the time, this is the state that my phone is in when something goes wrong.

The one thing I've learned over my time as a Captivate user is that Download Mode via button combos is one of the biggest pain in the asses ever. There are 3+ different button combos, not all combos work for all phones, and the who process is touchy.

So it does look like you're using a resistor-only JIG. Read through this thread, and seriously consider buying the USB plug just to make sure you're getting the right pins, for the right amount of time, with the right resistance.
[HOWTO] *Layman's iGo Jig* [Solderless] - xda-developers

In regards to Odin, things got a little more complicated with the release of Batch 1010 and 1012 phones. You can check batch number by looking on a sticker under the battery. It's probably going to be 1006, 1007, 1008, 1010, 1012, etc. Batch 1010 and 1012 phones most of the time, cannot use Odin One-Click. This bit of information isn't widely spread, and that's part of the problem. Once you have the Odin instructions for YOUR phone, flashing with Odin isn't bad....but yes there's risk.

 

[Dante04SRT]

In regards to Odin, things got a little more complicated with the release of Batch 1010 and 1012 phones. You can check batch number by looking on a sticker under the battery. It's probably going to be 1006, 1007, 1008, 1010, 1012, etc. Batch 1010 and 1012 phones most of the time, cannot use Odin One-Click. This bit of information isn't widely spread, and that's part of the problem. Once you have the Odin instructions for YOUR phone, flashing with Odin isn't bad....but yes there's risk.

I checked and my new phone is a 1012. Is there a specific process for this batch #?

 

[Segfault]

A few other things... My "Daily Briefing" stuff is missing. I've looked everywhere but can't seem to find it - I really liked it for seeing my weather! Any ideas?

The Daily Briefing widget comes with Touchwiz. I'm pretty sure that the current Cognition has Touchwiz removed and replaced with Launcher Pro. So that would why its missing.

 

[NorCal Einstein]

I checked and my new phone is a 1012. Is there a specific process for this batch #?

1010 and 1012
xda-developers - View Single Post - Build number of your phone?

 

[Ls2gto]

Dante, I had the same problem with my 1012 cappy. You can use a homemade jig but it very hard to get the 301k ohms needed and touch the pins with each wire to put the phone in download mode. I found that you actually short the phone out somewhat if you don't touch the 4/5 pins correctly, so my phone would lock up and do nothing until I pulled the battery again. I did manage to get it into download mode using the ghetto jig version, but I went ahead a bought a jig with a micro usb plug in. works sooooooo much better and will save you a bunch of frustration and stress.

Norcal einstein and others sell the non ghetto jig. I highly recommend you get one of those. After you do, follow the guide that Norcal Einstein posted for you, it will get you back to stock.

 

[Dante04SRT]

The Daily Briefing widget comes with Touchwiz. I'm pretty sure that the current Cognition has Touchwiz removed and replaced with Launcher Pro. So that would why its missing.

Good to know; Thanks.

1010 and 1012
xda-developers - View Single Post - Build number of your phone?

Thanks for the info - So this version of ODIN will flash the I897UCJH2 Firmware, instead of the I897UCJF6 version that I was using? Then I can download the newer/latest firmware if I want? Sounds easy enough.

You can use a homemade jig but it very hard to get the 301k ohms needed and touch the pins with each wire to put the phone in download mode. I found that you actually short the phone out somewhat if you don't touch the 4/5 pins correctly, so my phone would lock up and do nothing until I pulled the battery again. I did manage to get it into download mode using the ghetto jig version, but I went ahead a bought a jig with a micro usb plug in. works sooooooo much better and will save you a bunch of frustration and stress.

I'll definitely be buying a jig soon - The whole "make your own" was just a waste of time - it may work, but the process is lame.

 

[NorCal Einstein]

Thanks for the info - So this version of ODIN will flash the I897UCJH2 Firmware, instead of the I897UCJF6 version that I was using? Then I can download the newer/latest firmware if I want? Sounds easy enough.

I'll definitely be buying a jig soon - The whole "make your own" was just a waste of time - it may work, but the process is lame.

Yup, you use Odin to flash JH2 and then you can do whatever you want...

You can buy a JIG, or make one. I'm all for people making their own, I just like to see them go that extra step and do it right with the MicroUSB plug head. I honestly really hate that thread on XDA which instructs people to use resistors only. It just leaves too much up to chance/failure, and then people think their phones are irrecoverable when many times that's not the case. It's one thing to be frugal, it's another thing to be downright cheap with your $300-500 phone.

 

[shrikantk]

how do i get to install cognition on my captivate ? i am using froyo 2.2

 

[Tennis]

Sounds like you want ASTRO.