Root Rooting and updating

[zuben el genub]

I think I know the difference, but if you do root the phone, what happens with an update? Do you have to go through the process all over again?
Yes, I searched and the answer wasn't enough.

If you update a service pack in Windows, all the crap comes back in. And it enables stuff you don't want enabled. I had that with a couple of Symbian updates. too.

Is there anything like a hosts file or firewall for Android?

@barquers

Any more on that ROM you were testing? Sounded interesting.

Thanks

 

[arnold22]

Rooting your phone is like logging on Windows as Administrator or Linux as root. It just give you higher access/privilege then a "normal" or "guest" user would get.

The updates should work without any issues but I am assuming this will depend what you have modified/deleted.

 

[barqers]

Rooting your phone is exactly what arnold22 has said.

Updating and/or flashing your phone does erase all the data on your phone, which will require you to start from scratch. Which is why I suggest rooting your phone first, using mybackup root to backup all your apps + settings, and then flashing your phone. mybackup root allows you to restore everything back to how it was.

 

[zuben el genub]

Might not be able to do anything. I can't even get Kies to look at the phone files.
All it does is show the SD card.
I can't pick a country, either. The US is not listed for this phone.
Don't they think that people emigrate? or have unlocked phones?

 

[barqers]

Kies is buggy software to begin with. But you wouldn't use Kies to flash your phone. You'd be using Odin Multiloader. I can point you to a guide and you can decide if it's right for you

Samsung Galaxy 3 (I5801/I5800) Flashing Guide - xda-developers

 

[zuben el genub]

I've been over there, reading. It's rather interesting.
Like I said in the other post - I want to back up the phone before I do anything, and can't.

 

[bjlabuk]

Zuben,

When you say you want to backup the phone before you do anything I take it you are talking about backing up the firmware already installed along with all the essential files?

If you go to

Samsung Android - www.SamFirmware.com

(ignore 'donate' for now and scroll down to the images of the phones. You will see the samsung I5800. If you register (it is free) you will be able to access the lists of all the firmwares version for Europe, Asia, US etc.

On you phone go to applications>settings>about phone

and take a note of the Firmware version (probably 2.1), the 'Baseband version', which will start 'I5800.....' or 'I5801....' etc, and the 'Build Number' which will start 'Eclair' etc. The letters and numbers after these parts define the country code, and the year and month the version was released.

Now look for that Baseband/Build version on the samfirmware site . Download it to your PC and that is your 'backup' of the firmware already on your phone. Then download the version that you want to try (presumably 2.2). Use the guide to flash the phone using ODIN.

If the flashing freezes the phone or you don't like 2.2 then you can revert back by flashing back to you original 2.1 version.

If that is not what you are wanting to do then I have misunderstood you.

 

[zuben el genub]

That is exactly what I want! Thank you very much! Info like this for all phones should be stickied.
Z

 

[zuben el genub]

One question - The phone is Czech. my sim changed everything to English but the help on the phone. That's still in Czech. Am I going to have a language problem in doing anything?

I've copied your first reply and saved it for reference.

 

[zuben el genub]

Just went over to Samfirmware and looked. It said if you are in America, don't flash. The phone is unlocked and European.
In Kies, when it picked up the phone, it said there was no update.
Is it registering the carrier rather than the phone? I saw that the American update for 2.1 wouldn't be available until April.
Thanks

 

[bjlabuk]

It shouldn't be a problem, becuase you go to Applications>settings> Locale and Text on your phone and you can choose your language.

My I5800 came with I5801 firmware which related to India ! I found that out when I did a hard reset and it defaulted to India language! I first of all looked on samfirmware for an I5800 European version of Eclair 2.1 and installed that first. Then I upgraded to version 2.2.

You could try that. If you look at the links on the samfirmware page for the I5800 you will see one to 'check your status of your firmware'. This explains all the codes eg

Every firmware have a letter code.

[SIZE=+0]With that code we can check what kind of landcode on the firmware is.

[/SIZE]Explains:
Explain: I5700 version - I5700XEIL5 December 2009
[SIZE=+0]XE = Bulgaria, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom
I = 2009
L = December
5 = Version
Languages = en,et,lt,lv,ru,uk(az,bg,de,fr,ka,kk,mk,ro,sr)


[/SIZE]

 

[bjlabuk]

The warning about America might relate to the fact that the firmware for the USA starts I5800L.... - I am not sure.

Kies said there was no upgrade for my phone. But it will say that because Samsung haven't released one.

As far as I am aware the I5800 is a worldwide phone, the I5801 is the provider/carrier specific version and the I5800L is purely for the USA.

 

[barqers]

The issue with the firmware is that some firmware are optimized for different network bands. I believe in america we use the 850/1900 bands more so than 800/1800. But the phone is a quad-band phone, so it should not matter which firmware you choose.

As of right now, there's no way to actually back up the phone properly, but you could try this:

Root your phone, make sure busybox is installed. Then open a command prompt, and run ADB (which you should be able to find with odin multiloader).

For instance, if my ADB files are located in c:\adb\adb.exe, then I would need to do this:

Open a command prompt, and switch over to the folder that has adb IN it:

cd c:\adb\

Now you'll want to pull your folders to your computer

adb pull /system
adb pull /data
adb pull /cache

Now, I haven't really tested this. But hypothetically, if you wanted to restore your phone, you'd reinstall your old firmware, then you'd simply use

adb push /system /
adb push /data /
adb push /cache /