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Root [GUIDE] Best, Easiest, Most Recent (08-19-2013) Triumph Rooting, Installing Custom Recovery, ROM!

askdjhf

Newbie
Aug 11, 2011
25
3
There's a specific reason that people still have and are keeping and are even still getting the Motorola Triumph, even though there are obviously better phones out. The reason is:
With Virgin Mobile it's [arguably] the best phone you can get on the Grandfathered $25/mo plan!
But if you're here looking for the guide, you probably already know this. So here's the guide! :)

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Step 0: DOWNLOAD NEEDED FILES
a) Gingerbreak v 1.2
b) ClockworkMod (CWM) Recovery v 6.0.1.9 with power as select button
c) Paranoid Android v 1.6a (July 31, 2013) (for other ROMs see the RESOURCES section "All Things Root")
d) Latest GAPPS ICS

Step 1: ROOT
a) Copy Gingerbreak v1.2.apk to your phone when you plug into PC.
b) Go to Settings > Applications > Development and check "Enable USB Debugging"
c) Go to Settings > Applications and check "Unknown Sources"
d) Download File Manager from play store so you can access file (free).
e) Open File Manager and find the Gingerbreak v1.2.apk file you copied to the phone.
f) Click the apk file and install.
g) Open Gingerbreak.apk and click to root your device.
SUCCESS!

Step 2: RECOVERY
a) Unplug from PC
b) Turn off phone
c) Power + Volume Down buttons simultaneously. Don't hold the volume up button. Keep holding until you see:
polling, get oemsbl_mode=1
d) Plug in your phone
e) MOBILE drive is in My Computer on your PC. Open it.
f) Open folder inside the MOBILE drive called image.
g) Inside image folder there is file called recovery.img
h) Rename recovery.img to recovery.img.old
i) Copy the file recovery.img from the zip file you downloaded in Step 0 to the same folder where now recovery.img.old is located.
j) After you copied the file into the folder, take out battery for 1 second or so, and put back in.
SUCCESS!

Step 3: CUSTOM ROM - I recommend Paranoid Android - it's the most supported with the least bugs.

PART 1 (MANDATORY!!) - Making a Nandroid Backup

a) Turn off phone if it's not off already.
b) Turn on phone by holding POWER + VOLUME UP + VOLUME DOWN buttons all at once.
c) You're in ClockworkMod now if you did it right.
d) Scroll down to Backup and Restore
e) Choose Backup
f) It may take a while. Wait for it to finish.
g) When it's finished it will say "Completed" on the screen. Reboot when completed.

PART 2 - Installing the custom ROM

COPYING THE FILES TO PHONE:
a) Boot phone normally
b) Connect your phone to the computer.
c) Copy the ROM zip file, preferably the Paranoid Android zip in Step 0 (in this case pa_triumph-1.6a-31JUL2013-132612.zip) in the root of the SD card. DON'T EXTRACT!
d) Copy the GAPPS zip file (in this case gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip) in the root of the SD card. DON'T EXTRACT!
e) DISCONNECT phone from computer.
f) Now turn off phone.

WIPING PHONE:
WARNING: MAKE SURE YOU DID THE NANDROID BACKUP IN PART 1!!! If you didn't, then go back to PART 1 and that first!!!
g) Boot phone into CWM Recovery by holding POWER + VOLUME UP + VOLUME DOWN buttons all at once.
In CWM screen, you're now going to wipe it.
h) Scroll to "wipe data/factory reset" and select it
i) Scroll to "Yes - Delete All User Data" and select it
j) Scroll to "wipe cache partition" and select it
k) Scroll to "Yes - Wipe Cache" and select it
l) Scroll to "mounts and storage" and select it
m) Scroll to "format /system" and select it
n) Scroll to "Yes - Format" and select it
o) Scroll to "advanced" and select it
p) Scroll to "wipe dalvik cache" and select it
q) Scroll to "Yes - Wipe Dalvik Cache" and select it
r) Choose "+++++Go Back+++++"

INSTALLING CUSTOM ROM:
s) Scroll to "install zip from sdcard" and select it
t) Choose "choose zip from SD card"
u) Scroll down to your ROM (probably at the bottom - in this case pa_triumph-1.6a-31JUL2013-132612.zip) and select it
v) Scroll to "Yes - Install pa_triumph-1.6a-31JUL2013-132612.zip" and select it
w) If you get an error, then your SD card may be corrupted. If so, see the DEBUG section below.
x) Choose "choose zip from sdcard"
y) Scroll down to your GAPPS (in this case gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip) and select it
z) Scroll to "Yes - Install gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip" and select it
zz) Choose "+++++Go Back+++++"
zzz) Choose "reboot system now"

Now it should boot properly into the new ROM (OS). If so, then:
SUCCESS!
Now follow the prompts to set up your phone.

NOTE: It may take a while for it to boot the first time, because Paranoid Android needs to configure itself.

DEBUG:
If you get error "Can't Open (bad) Installation Aborted, then your SD card is probably corrupted. Easy fix, you need to backup the full SD card to your PC, then Format SD card in Windows, then re-copy the zip files (GAPPS and your rom) back to your SD card. It's a common issue. Now just put the SD card back in and boot back into CWM and try to install again. Should install this time without any issues.
NOTE: You'll have to manually plug it into PC, preferably with a MicroSD Adapter that you can then plug into your PC with an SD to USB adapter, or if you have a laptop, into your card reader. Alternatively you could try using your camera to plug to PC. Just as long as you can access the SD card in Windows so that you can format the SD card and re-copy the file back to the phone.
TIP: It usually happens if you took the same SD card from your other phone and tried to use that to install the new ROM on the new phone when it still had a lot of files on it. Better to backup the whole SD card and format it first.

RESOURCES:
In case the instructions above weren't enough, here are all the resources you'll need:
Triumph "All Things Root" Thread
Installing CWM Recovery Video Tutorial
CWM 6.0.1.9 Thread
Paranoid Android ICS ROM Thread
[GUIDE]Installing CWM and a custom ROM on the Motorola Triumph
 

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On that same note, I had originally installed 5.5.0.4 from a guide but I want to get rid of it and install 5.0.2.7. Do I have to do anything special to remove the old version first? Or do I just install 5.0.2.7 the usual way and it will overwrite 5.5.0.4?

that's all... just flash over and it will show on restart, or copy the .img file over it, which ever.
 
Upvote 0
Thanks for the great guide. After reformatting my SD card it worked flawlessly.

One question: Is it possible to disable on the on-screen "contextual", "back" and "homescreen" menu buttons at the bottom? As the Triumph already has its on buttons built-in below the screen, I'd prefer to have just more screen real estate. Any thoughts on how to turn this off? Thanks!
 
Upvote 0
Thanks for the great guide. After reformatting my SD card it worked flawlessly.

One question: Is it possible to disable on the on-screen "contextual", "back" and "homescreen" menu buttons at the bottom? As the Triumph already has its on buttons built-in below the screen, I'd prefer to have just more screen real estate. Any thoughts on how to turn this off? Thanks!

Yes, you can go into the settings for Paranoid Android and there is an option there. Can't remember off the top of my head what the name is exactly, but it's there (at least it is with the Paranoid Android rom).

However, I prefer to have it because that's the only way to switch between multitasking apps.
 
Upvote 0
Yes, you can go into the settings for Paranoid Android and there is an option there. Can't remember off the top of my head what the name is exactly, but it's there (at least it is with the Paranoid Android rom).

However, I prefer to have it because that's the only way to switch between multitasking apps.

if you hold down home the recents page comes up. and for the other question its settings->system->navigation bar
 
Upvote 0

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