Root [HOW-TO] Simplified Root + Recovery + Custom ROM

[Whyzor]

It may take more than even that, give it 10 tries. To see if you have it, open terminal emulator (get from market), and type 'su' at the prompt. If you get #, then you have root.

 

[ottothecat]

Um, gingerbreak has been 'rooting' for about 40 minutes now, am i supposed to wait for it to say 'failed' or can i just hit the home button, restart the phone and try again or will that screw something up?

 

[Whyzor]

Um, gingerbreak has been 'rooting' for about 40 minutes now, am i supposed to wait for it to say 'failed' or can i just hit the home button, restart the phone and try again or will that screw something up?

Yes you can restart & try again (even pull out battery). Just give every try at least 10 minutes.

 

[zanthal]

@ Whyzor - great guide, after some other reading and following your instructions I was able to root and flash the backside CM7 with little difficulty and fairly quickly.

I have a couple of things to say about your guide that you may want to elaborate on:

6. Copy the ROM that you wish to install to the /sdcard dir. Also if installing a CyanogenMod ROM, gapps.zip also needs to be placed in the same dir to flash right after the ROM .zip.

Although this may seem obvious, I wasn't really certain that the un-extracted ZIP file was what was to be played in the /sdcard directory. I figured this out later on during the ClockworkMod recovery part of the procedure, but it gave me pause, being a noob to smartphones and rooting

9. Factory Reset, wipe cache & dalvik-cache, then format all partitions EXCEPT /sdcard.

This is the part that had my cheeks chewing on my chair the most about the process ... because in the Clockworkmod Recovery section, the commands aren't quite as you are saying above:

The Factory Reset option is coupled with 'wiping all user data' and it has a warning about it. It shows in ClockworkMod Recovery v3.2.0.1 as:

- wipe data/factory reset

What you call 'wipe cache' is read as:

- wipe cache partition

Dalvik-Cache wipe is under advanced settings, that might be mentioned.

As far as 'formatting all partitions EXCEPT the sdcard partition', I was able to successfully complete the process without this step, because I couldn't find a option for formatting partitions at all.



In the end, I was able to figure it out, but it would alleviate some 'ack am I gonna brick my phone?!' anxiety I think if you put the commands in the guide exactly as they appear in the ClockworkMod Recovery.

Just some constructive criticism, I'm still very grateful for the guide as it is.

 

[Jimmy422]

I have acouple questions before I do this.

Do I need to re-activate my phone or do anything to make phone calls again? Or is that all saved in the baseband?

With the OV with the new screen, how do I go back to the stock Android? The OP only shows how to do it with the old screen.

 

[zanthal]

I have acouple questions before I do this.

Do I need to re-activate my phone or do anything to make phone calls again? Or is that all saved in the baseband?

With the OV with the new screen, how do I go back to the stock Android? The OP only shows how to do it with the old screen.

I can answer the first question ... if you follow the instructions in the guide above and are successful, you'll be able to make calls as normal. In fact the apps you have installed directly to your phone's memory will still be there when you're done, just the apps and all data that was on your SD card will be gone.

The 2nd question I'm not 100% about, but there is a option in Gingerbreak to 'un-root' your phone. I believe also if you made a backup during the backside ROM flash process like is instructed, you can revert back to it.

 

[oldpot]

ok getting a new phone for wife next week will be the 2.2.2 new screen i bet
,
i am using 2.2.1 old phone now and got cm7 on it working with recovery mod 3.2.0.1

now whats the best way to get the new phones working without having the black screen probs a lot of people are having,

1/root with gingerbreak

2/what best recovery mod should i use for the 2.2.2

3/ what best roms can i use same as ones for old phone?


also with the old phone on 3.2.0.1 mod can i try other roms with that recovery mod or do i need to change recovery mod to the Xionia one

ty in advance

 

[zanthal]

ok getting a new phone for wife next week will be the 2.2.2 new screen i bet
,
i am using 2.2.1 old phone now and got cm7 on it working with recovery mod 3.2.0.1

now whats the best way to get the new phones working without having the black screen probs a lot of people are having,

1/root with gingerbreak

2/what best recovery mod should i use for the 2.2.2

3/ what best roms can i use same as ones for old phone?


also with the old phone on 3.2.0.1 mod can i try other roms with that recovery mod or do i need to change recovery mod to the Xionia one

ty in advance

Don't take my word for it but I think that Gingerbreak requires 2.2.1 ... if you check the thread I think you'll see a method to revert back from 2.2.2

 

[oldpot]

oic right i did not see that any way around this ??

 

[Jimmy422]

I bit the bullet and went through with this guide today. For the most part, the instructions are spot on.

Here's some notes I made: (Note: I have the Optimus V with the new screen and Android 2.2.2.)

-Gingerbreak 1.2.0 works with 2.2.2

-Busybox didn't install the first time. I had to install an older version (I don't remember the version but it was the second newest) as well as move it to a different install directory.

-The Clockworkmod recovery didn't work (I just got a black screen as mentioned in the OP). To fix it I downloaded the flash_image GUI app (Important!) at [APP] Flash Image GUI - xda-developers along with the modded recovery image for the new screen at VM670NH_recovery.img
I put the modded recovery on the SD card and ran the flash_image GUI to flash it. Easy. A lot easier than using terminal to do it like everywhere else suggested.

After that it was smooth sailing. The formatting was a little confusing but then I found it after going through the recovery menus.

I'm in love with 2.3. It's amazing compared to 2.2. I can't wait till they figure out how to port ICS.

 

[zanthal]

I bit the bullet and went through with this guide today. For the most part, the instructions are spot on.

Here's some notes I made: (Note: I have the Optimus V with the new screen and Android 2.2.2.)

-Gingerbreak 1.2.0 works with 2.2.2

-Busybox didn't install the first time. I had to install an older version (I don't remember the version but it was the second newest) as well as move it to a different install directory.

-The Clockworkmod recovery didn't work (I just got a black screen as mentioned in the OP). To fix it I downloaded the flash_image GUI app (Important!) at [APP] Flash Image GUI - xda-developers along with the modded recovery image for the new screen at VM670NH_recovery.img
I put the modded recovery on the SD card and ran the flash_image GUI to flash it. Easy. A lot easier than using terminal to do it like everywhere else suggested.

After that it was smooth sailing. The formatting was a little confusing but then I found it after going through the recovery menus.

I'm in love with 2.3. It's amazing compared to 2.2. I can't wait till they figure out how to port ICS.

Root + custom ROM is a huge performance increase on my OV ... hard to believe how badly the manufacturer cripples the thing with their stock nonsense.

 

[oldpot]

ty jimmy for your experience with 2.2.2 and links

 

[Jimmy422]

Root + custom ROM is a huge performance increase on my OV ... hard to believe how badly the manufacturer cripples the thing with their stock nonsense.

It really is amazing. The battery life seems to be a lot better as well.

 

[singbluesilver]

Wow, I'm getting so very confused with this stuff! What's the difference between the Gingerbreak and Super One Click methods? I downloaded the Super One Click, but didn't do anything else. I really would like to root my phone as well. I've got the 2.2 version. Told you guys I'm a total newbie! Also, I noticed the date of the OP was a while ago, so I want to make sure this method still works. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[oldpot]

The Clockworkmod recovery didn't work (I just got a black screen as mentioned in the OP). To fix it I downloaded the flash_image GUI app (Important!) at [APP] Flash Image GUI - xda-developers along with the modded recovery image for the new screen at VM670NH_recovery.img
I put the modded recovery on the SD card and ran the flash_image GUI to flash it. Easy. A lot easier than using terminal to do it like everywhere else suggested.

would it be best just to root the new 2.2.2 (new screen)first then put flash image gui and then put the modded recovery image on the phone would that eliminate the black screen in the first place i not done it yet getting new phone on friday (for $50 bf)i just want to stop the hassle of getting black screen first will this work ???

 

[Whyzor]

Wow, I'm getting so very confused with this stuff! What's the difference between the Gingerbreak and Super One Click methods? I downloaded the Super One Click, but didn't do anything else. I really would like to root my phone as well. I've got the 2.2 version. Told you guys I'm a total newbie! Also, I noticed the date of the OP was a while ago, so I want to make sure this method still works. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Gingerbreak is the newer method.

would it be best just to root the new 2.2.2 (new screen)first then put flash image gui and then put the modded recovery image on the phone would that eliminate the black screen in the first place i not done it yet getting new phone on friday (for $50 bf)i just want to stop the hassle of getting black screen first will this work ???

Yes, the first post has been updated to use flash image gui and flash a recovery that works on both old & new screens. So a blank screen shouldn't happen.

 

[singbluesilver]

I think what's also confusing to me is the "terminal emulator" stuff. That part is just to flash a custom ROM, right? I've seen vids on rooting, and that wasn't mentioned. With this forum's help, I will figure this stuff out! Right? Off to check out Gingerbreak....

 

[gfjigi]

What is the Windows drivers for the Optimus V used for?

 

[V1llainhd]

What is the Windows drivers for the Optimus V used for?

The Window drivers for the Optimus V are needed for your android powered phone to be able to communicate with your windows based PC.

 

[zanthal]

The Window drivers for the Optimus V are needed for your android powered phone to be able to communicate with your windows based PC.

To turn your OV into a high priced mini-SDcard reader

 

[oldpot]

ty whyzor just checked first post

 

[James161324]

NVM just forgot to install google apps

 

[rjg23]

Rooted Android 2.2 following the steps at beginning. I didn't get any of the apps from orignal which is fine, the phone is relatively new so nothing major lost. Problem is there is no android market app. I tried downloading it from 4shared but, when asked to provide a user account, the app quits. I have been downloading other apps (Pandora, G Maps seem to work fine) from 4shared but it's a bit of a PITA. BTW Netflix, attempts to update and freezes, and Skype, can't create account try again later, and G Maps Nav. attempts dl txt-to-speech support from the market and an error message comes up, "the application Pico TTS has stopped unexpectedly".

Any suggestions?

 

[Whyzor]

Rooted Android 2.2 following the steps at beginning. I didn't get any of the apps from orignal which is fine, the phone is relatively new so nothing major lost. Problem is there is no android market app. I tried downloading it from 4shared but, when asked to provide a user account, the app quits. I have been downloading other apps (Pandora, G Maps seem to work fine) from 4shared but it's a bit of a PITA. BTW Netflix, attempts to update and freezes, and Skype, can't create account try again later, and G Maps Nav. attempts dl txt-to-speech support from the market and an error message comes up, "the application Pico TTS has stopped unexpectedly".

Any suggestions?

Sounds like you flashed a Gingerbread ROM (IHO) without also flashing the gapps.zip. Reflash starting at step 6 in original post.

 

[rjg23]

Outstanding. Misread that step as optional.

Thanks.