Root can someone help a noob out

[*Smoke*]

I want to put a custom rom on my phone but I have no idea if I have to downgrade or not. I have the optimus m v2.2. I have it temp rooted with z4root and that's about as far as I got. I need help with the steps it takes to apply a custom rom. Just a little extra help. Please and thank you

 

[new optimus]

I want to put a custom rom on my phone but I have no idea if I have to downgrade or not. I have the optimus m v2.2. I have it temp rooted with z4root and that's about as far as I got. I need help with the steps it takes to apply a custom rom. Just a little extra help. Please and thank you

if you rooted with z4 you have the first version.

2.2.0 if you wanted to put it that way. z4 full root and then put custom recovery on, that will allow you to flash a new custom rom.

if you need more direct help, I can help 2 ways.

through yahoo messenger, real time chat.

or through team viewer and look over your computer and control if needed.

 

[puyow18]

beat to the punch . . . oh well
Anywho, it's always best to start at the Beginner's Guide in the All Things Root Section. This way you can learn a little about what's going on. Be sure to read EVERYTHING there, including other people's posts so you don't skip a step. If you still have questions, post back or hook up with new optimus for the 4star treatment

 

[*Smoke*]

Thank you both. Ive looked around the forum and read things about 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 so I didn't know where I stood in getting this done. Where can I find a custom recovery? Will I be able to use any custom rom once the custom recovery is done? Im asking cause I havent seen anybody talk bout this unless I didn't look hard enough

 

[puyow18]

Right now there are 2 sides of which custom recovery to use. The safe/easy one is the custom recovery by getitnowmarketing (GNM). Read the thread here.
The other custom recovery is the clockworkmod (CWM) that you can use with Rom Manager (RM), an app that makes it easier for you to go from one custom ROM to another (see thread here). Now this used to be a sure-fire way to BRICK YOUR PHONE, but the efforts of PlayfulGod and other members have made it safe for our phones. BUUUUUT, ONLY if you do everything correctly. I bricked my phone on my first attempt of getting CWM and RM to play nice, which reset all my MEID, MIN, ESN, etc.

So . . . if you want to play it safe, go with GNM's custom recovery. No flaws, just doesn't have all the capabilities that CWM recovery has (and the button layout is different)
If you're feeling brave, go with CWM. You actually can flash the CWM recovery and not worry about RM if you're worried about bricking your phone.

Oh, and if you do brick it, check this "de-bricking" thread and then this thread if your numbers got zeroed out.

 

[Aplus]

No flaws, just doesn't have all the capabilities that CWM recovery has (and the button layout is different)

I haven't use PG's version of CWM but, what capabilities does it have that GNM's version of AmonRa doesn't?

 

[puyow18]

I haven't use PG's version of CWM but, what capabilities does it have that GNM's version of AmonRa doesn't?

To be honest, my previous statement may have been exaggerated a bit. They MAY have the same capabilities (I'm not fluent enough in Android to split these hairs).

One thing that's nice about CWM is that you no longer have to disable signature verifications (like you do in GNM recovery) whenever you want to flash. Not a biggie, but I like it.

Here are some other features in CWM that may not be available in the GNM recovery (not sure what all these do :-/ )
-You can toggle script asserts in CWM
-You have the "advanced" restore feature, which gives you extra options when restoring your backup
-More options (I think) to mount/unmount different aspects of phone (i.e. USB storage, cache, data, sdcard, sd-ext, system)

Like I said, these may or may not be extra "capabilities" of CWM vs GNM recoveries, but it does seem to have it's advantages; namely it's ability to work with Rom Manager. I will admit though, I miss the button config of GNM recovery. I just can't get used to pressing the camera button for enter :-(

Oh, one more thing. I noticed that once I switched from GNM to CWM recovery I couldn't see/use my nandroid backups that were made from GNM recovery. I guess the format CMW uses for backups is different. Plus they are stored in a different location on your sdcard.

 

[Aplus]

To be honest, my previous statement may have been exaggerated a bit. They MAY have the same capabilities (I'm not fluent enough in Android to split these hairs).

One thing that's nice about CWM is that you no longer have to disable signature verifications (like you do in GNM recovery) whenever you want to flash. Not a biggie, but I like it.

Here are some other features in CWM that may not be available in the GNM recovery (not sure what all these do :-/ )
-You can toggle script asserts in CWM
-You have the "advanced" restore feature, which gives you extra options when restoring your backup
-More options (I think) to mount/unmount different aspects of phone (i.e. USB storage, cache, data, sdcard, sd-ext, system)

Like I said, these may or may not be extra "capabilities" of CWM vs GNM recoveries, but it does seem to have it's advantages; namely it's ability to work with Rom Manager. I will admit though, I miss the button config of GNM recovery. I just can't get used to pressing the camera button for enter :-(

Oh, one more thing. I noticed that once I switched from GNM to CWM recovery I couldn't see/use my nandroid backups that were made from GNM recovery. I guess the format CMW uses for backups is different. Plus they are stored in a different location on your sdcard.

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I knew using CWM with RM made it easier I just thought maybe there were other things I was missing out on. Also, thanks for the info about the nand backups. I asked that before but never got an answer. I think I'll stick with GNM's for now, it would suck to lose all my backups.

 

[new optimus]

The difference in the advanced restore is interesting, both will do the same, however you make a full restore with cwm and then pick which aspect to restore, the gnm version you pick which you want to back up, that is all you get to restore back

 

[*Smoke*]

Ok so I looked at the GNM for a custom recovery and got lost. It says I have to download this and unzip that. I think this is where im having the most trouble. Do I need a computer to do everything? And I seen something about flash image GUI. What is that about and can that make things a little more simple for a real noob like me.

 

[puyow18]

Ok so I looked at the GNM for a custom recovery and got lost. It says I have to download this and unzip that. I think this is where im having the most trouble. Do I need a computer to do everything? And I seen something about flash image GUI. What is that about and can that make things a little more simple for a real noob like me.

I haven't personally used flashimagegui but it is supposed to do all the grunt work for you, so it may be what you are looking for.

If not, the manual way is to download the flashimage.zip (extract the file from it) and the recoveryimage.img and place them both on the root of your sd card. You can do this all from your phone (if you have an extracting app), but it's easier to do from a computer. From there is where you enter the four or five lines of text via adb (on your pc) or terminal emulator (app on the phone).

 

[*Smoke*]

I found the recovery.img in the beginners guide but what is this flashimage.zip you speak of? I think I have an extracting thing on my phone cause I was able to extract the z4root zip on my phone and was able to use it to root my phone.

 

[puyow18]

The flashimage.zip should be there somewhere, just look a little closer. If not, here it is. Extract this along with the recoveryimage and put them on the root of the sd card. Get su permissions via adb or terminal emulator and copy/paste or type in the four or five command lines. Just be sure your recovery image file name is the same as what you type into adb/terminal emulator or you'll get a "file not found" error or something like that.

 

[*Smoke*]

Placing it in the root of my sd card meaning putting it somewhere where I can find it? Lol and these four or fives command lines...where are they at? Im so sorry its 50 questions but I just want to make sure I got all this right. Thank for the help. I appreciate it

 

[alfick3]

I haven't personally used flashimagegui but it is supposed to do all the grunt work for you, so it may be what you are looking for.

If not, the manual way is to download the flashimage.zip (extract the file from it) and the recoveryimage.img and place them both on the root of your sd card. You can do this all from your phone (if you have an extracting app), but it's easier to do from a computer. From there is where you enter the four or five lines of text via adb (on your pc) or terminal emulator (app on the phone).

As to flashimagegui, yes, it is a really simple tool. You can use it to flash both the GNM recovery and the CWM recovery. If you have no recovery, you can use it to put it on. You can also go between recoveries, but I don't know if I'd do that too often. I just don't know how many times it'd take before something bad happens. The best way to get it, would be to pay for it from the market, but if you look up the sdx developers forums and sign up for an account there you can download flashimagegui.apk for free. 'Course, to use it hinges on wether you are rooted, so get that done first. One other thing, in order to use ROM manager, you do need to use the steps outlined in the previous post about the clockwork mod recovery.

Yes it is a lot of information, but take it slow and read, read, read. When you're done reading, read some more. I think it took me two months of reading before I finally took the plunge and applied the GNM (getitnowmarketing) recovery. I had the phone rooted using z4root long before I applied a recovery. After I finally applied the custom recovery, it might have been another month before I put on a custom ROM. I'm pretty well technical minded, but this whole fear of ruining the phone caused me to do all the reading. I wanted to be sure of what I was doing.

Now, as to the cyanogen mod ROMs (CM7), like was said before, there are three to choose from. Each are just as good as the other; I've tried all three. Currently, I'm using reppards version. If you don't know what it is, it's a version of gingerbread (Android 2.3.5) for our phones. They are all running very smooth now. Well, I am rambling on, but I hope you can take something out of this and it'll help you.

 

[*Smoke*]

Well I had my phone temp rooted with z4 and lastnight I was going to perm root and it said that I needed to enable USB debugging in which I did so I went back to root it and it said the same thing...that I needed to enable. Z4 wont root my phone now at it. Also when I signed on to the forum I got a message saying my IP address came up as a spam bot. Did I mess it up that anybody knows of?

 

[puyow18]

maybe try gingerbreak instead of z4root?

 

[*Smoke*]

I read that gingerbreak doesn't work for 2.2 tho. Is there any other way I could get this freakin phone rooted.

 

[puyow18]

2.2 or 2.2.2? Should work for 2.2 (don't quote me on that). People were having problems getting gingerbreak to work on 2.2.2; for that you need to downgrade to 2.2.1 first.

 

[*Smoke*]

No...just 2.2. I've read that z4 was suppose to root 2.2 and gingerbreak for 2.2.1. I could be wrong but that's what I heard. Should I stay at 2.2 or upgrade to 2.2.1? The site keeps telling me that my IP address is a spam bot so I keep fighting with that too. Its never happenes before up until like maybe a couple days ago. I dont want a new phone, I just want to improve it

 

[alfick3]

I read that gingerbreak doesn't work for 2.2 tho. Is there any other way I could get this freakin phone rooted.

Gingerbreak 1.2 does work on 2.2. That is how I rooted my wifes phone.

 

[puyow18]

No...just 2.2. I've read that z4 was suppose to root 2.2 and gingerbreak for 2.2.1. I could be wrong but that's what I heard. Should I stay at 2.2 or upgrade to 2.2.1? The site keeps telling me that my IP address is a spam bot so I keep fighting with that too. Its never happenes before up until like maybe a couple days ago. I dont want a new phone, I just want to improve it

root it with gingerbreak, flash a new rom (sense, cm7, chickeneater, romzero, etc) and see if that fixes your spam bot dilemma

EDIT: of course, be sure to put a custom recovery on your phone and back it up before flashing a rom

 

[*Smoke*]

Can I do gingerbreak using my phone cause I dont have access to a computer at the moment. Most roms need an ext3 partition. Where does that come in to play?

 

[puyow18]

Can I do gingerbreak using my phone cause I dont have access to a computer at the moment. Most roms need an ext3 partition. Where does that come in to play?

gingerbreak is an app that you install and run from your phone, so yes (no computer necessary)

you can format your sdcard with an ext3 partition via the custom recovery you put on your phone AFTER you root the phone.

 

[*Smoke*]

So I use gingerbreak to root and flashimage.gui to apply the custom recovery. Has anyone on the forum ever used flashimage.gui and if so how does that work?