How to change rom?

[elrooter]

Hello!

I am a beginner with rooting and stuff like that but I'm sure there are many experts here who can help

I heard you can change the way android looks but you also need to root and all of those stuff, so :
Are there guides somewhere in the forum of rooting for example .. Samsung Galaxy SIII?
also, if you root, and something goes wrong your phone will "brick" right? so are there ways of fixing a bricked phone or you need to dump it? (if there are guides for that can link too please?)
Finally . . I heard there are backups and backup apps, but .. are the backups used for fixing a bricked phone or those backups and backup apps are not backing the ROM but backing your contacts , apps, etc?

Thanks alot for helpers!

 

[Prinny]

Hiya Elrooter! Welcome to the forums!

With your questions, there are different answers depending on different devices.

I softbricked my HTC Evo V this morning, but it was nothing that a few terminal commands couldn't help!

As for rooting, it depends on your device. For example, some phones you can use a one click root program, and it pushes the files and voila! Done!

Others can be a little more tricky. HTC Is pretty simple, lets say. Register > Unlock bootloader > flash some things. Done.

Which device are you looking into rooting? So we can be more helpful

 

[elrooter]

Hello and thanks for your fast reply ! !
I was thinking of Samsung galaxy SIII do you think it's a good idea?
btw you said a few terminal commands .. but I am such a beginner I have no idea about those commands is there any place I can learn ? I've also seen something about jigs to fix bricked phone (whats that ?!!)

 

[lunatic59]

There are plenty of ways to change the way your phone looks/behaves without rooting. You could try an alternate launcher, for example. I'd suggest getting to know what your phone can and can't do before you attempt rooting and installing a custom rom. If you want to fogre ahead, we can help you with that too, but remember that you assume the risk.

There are backups for just about everything. One of the most popular is Titanium for rooted devices which will backup your apps and settings. If you install a custom recovery, there is usually an option to backup a complete image of your phone so you can restore it to a specific OS at any time. You will see it referred to as a "nandroid" backup.

EDIT: A jig is something to put your phone into download mode. For Samsung phones it basically is a 300k OHM bridge between pins 4 and 5 on the USB connector. From there you can install a custom kernel or restore to stock, provided you have the files to do it.

 

[Hadron]

Rooting methods depend on the device, so I suggest you visit the S3 forum here (in the Android Phones section of AF). There are a few "All Things Root" subforums there, for different versions of the phone (International, Verizon, etc). Pick your model and see what people say in that forum. There will be a sticky post called "All Things Root Guide" there, which will be a good place to start.

It's important to understand what you are doing and why before doing it.

 

[elrooter]

Thanks all for quick replies!
I will then visit the all things root as you suggested.
and for lunatic.. so let me understand you can fix a bricked phone using nandroid or there are cases where it won't help and you will need jigs? (where do I get those)
ty!

 

[lunatic59]

In order to perform a nandroid backup you must have a custom recovery installed so your phone will be rooted at that point. If you can boot into recovery, you can restore your phone from a nandroid backup. Since we are talking about a Samsung phone, let me caution you to avoid the app ROM Manager like the plague. It will bork most custom recoveries so you'll have to take more drastic measures to restore a semi-bricked phone. I would also mention that ROM manager has fully bricked some Samsung devices on occasion (The Admire, if memory serves)

You can buy a jig from amazon here. Or if you are so inclined you can make one like this:

Spoiler