There seems to be a lot of confusion about what things are or how they work together so I'm gonna try and build a post to explain some things. If i get any of this wrong, feel free to call me out and I'll correct it. I can generally be relied upon to make mistakes.
First let's start with the various things that you're gonna be hearing about or messing with on your phone.
Hboot or bootloader
This is pretty much the lowest level thing you're gonna mess with. This is what makes the phone boot up, and where you can flash all sorts of things like new hboots, kernels, and whole roms depending on how they are packaged. You can get here by either powering off your phone then powering on with volume down + power, or by selecting "reboot to bootloader" in most custom roms. If you've entered your hboot from a powered off state, you'll start in hboot, also known as the bootloader. The bootloader is where you will load ph98img.zip files, factory reset, boot to recovery, or enter fastboot. Fastboot is the section of the bootloader that will allow you to run fastboot commands from your PC/mac/whatever to load things like boot images, recovery images, return your phone to an s-on state, etc. It's a very powerful interface. From here you have menu options which will allow you to reboot, power off, or return to the bootloader.
If you've entered hboot from the adb reboot bootloader command or your custom rom, you will start in fastboot, and can enter the bootloader from here.
When entering the bootloader using either method, the first thing the phone will do is look for a PH98IMG.zip file. If it finds one, it will want to install it. You'll have the option of installing it, or rebooting. That's it. This is why you want to get rid of the ph98img.zip files from the root of your sd card once you've used them - if you pooch your rom, you're not getting into recovery or fastboot until you remove that file. If you can't boot your phone, you better hope you have another SD card or a micro sd card reader kicking around somewhere. You can boot into fastboot by powering off the phone, then powering it on by holding power and volume down keys at the same time.
A word of warning - this is one of the few places you can actually "brick" your phone. Don't mess around with installing hboots unless you are absolutely certain that you a) have a need and b) have an md5 checksum of the file and have verified that checksum on your own gear. Generally speaking, the only time you need to flash the hboot is when you are upgrading in some way, for example when going from GB to ICS.
Quick note - when people refer to the "SD card patch" they are referring to a patch that allows you to use the GB firmware with ICS roms. This is largely unneeded at this time, since the main purpose was for folks who wanted to run ICS roms without upgrading their hboot - there's no going backward with hboot unless you have s-off.
Radio files
this is how your phone works with the radio. you can brick your phone here, too, so always check md5 before installing, and ask yourself if you really need to be installing it. new radio versions are generally given the credit for things like increased signal strength, faster 3g/4g, better power consumption, etc. these are often paired with a kernel, as well.
Recovery
This is a software layer that you can flash to your phone that allows you to boot the phone into a utility state where you can install roms, flash things like patches or modifications, backup your rom/kernel, etc. When people refer to a nandroid backup, they are referring to a backup made here. It's a snapshot of your phone that lets you mess with things and restore back to that point in time should you screw something up. You pretty much can't brick your phone at this level - it's all just files and filesystems. You can also mount your SD card to reader mode for connection to a computer, do a factory reset of data, and a few other fun things like root your rom here. You should only root your rom if it is a stock rom that has not been rooted yet. Rooting a rooted rom will usually unroot your root so you don't have root.
There are a couple of different recoveries. The rezound community seems to use primarily amon-ra, which is what i use, but there is also clockwork recovery as well. Recovery is usually installed by booting your phone into fastboot and running the "fastboot flash recovery <recovery file>" command. Recovery can also be installed via the flash_image binary found in the RomManager package (ex: flash_image recovery amonra.img). This eliminates the need for fastboot altogether. Just need a terminal, root, and the flash_image binary.
Kernel
This is basically the primary component of an OS. The kernel is where a lot of the functionality of the phone are made or broken. the setting that prevents use of setcpu to change the way the CPU is governed is here. The thing that prevents bluetooth from working right on sense 4 roms? Kernel. Everyone is waiting eagerly for the ICS kernel source to be released so custom kernels can be made that resolve these issues and more. You can flash a kernel via recovery if you've done s-off to your phone, or via a ph98img.zip file in the bootloader. With s-off, kernels can also be backed up in recovery. The kernel is often given much of the credit or blame for the performance of your phone, overheating, etc.
Roms
Your phone's OS, sometimes incorrectly referred to as firmware. It's not - the firmware is the stuff we've already covered that can brick your phone. Think of your phone more as a tiny computer, with the rom being the distribution that you're using. This is pretty apt since it's basically linux, and just like linux, the actual OS is just files and partitions. Because the radio interface layer requires sense, the bulk of our roms are all based on sense roms, and all the functional ones are. Developers modify them to add features, remove bloat or sense components, or take sense roms from other phones and adapt them for our own. You install a rom through recovery.
Never claim to have "bricked" your phone when installing a rom. You can't, and doing so only points out that you don't really know how your phone works. This is embarrassing and best avoided when possible so jerks like me do not tell you what a n00b you are, and to go read threads like this one. Since you're here, we can assume that you've bothered to research things before asking stupid questions, so bravo! In all seriousness, you can no more brick your phone by messing up the rom than you'd brick your PC by screwing up your windows install. You can always start again from the beginning and reinstall. You might lose apps and settings, but this is the nature of the beast. Always nandroid before messing about, and you'll be fine. Nandroid is covered further later on.
RUUs
Strictly speaking, the things that we refer to as RUUs aren't. Everyone calls them that anyway, and I don't see it going away anytime soon. Technically, however, an RUU is HTC's Rom Updater Utility, and it's an executable that gets run on your PC, not something you load to SD card and flash in your bootloader. That said, RUU has come to mean factory signed software/firmware packages that are released by the manufacturer or leaked. They come in the form of a ph98img.zip file that can install pretty much anything - hboot, radio, kernel, rom, etc. What is installed varies from package to package.
Installing an ruu can only be accomplished on a phone that is currently not in an htc dev unlocked state, or a phone that has s-off. when installing one of these that includes an hboot, you'll need to reinstall recovery as well - installing a new hboot via RUU will always require this as the custom recovery is overwritten with the stock recovery.
If your phone has not yet had the s-off procedure done and you intend to do so, make sure the RUU you are about to install does not break the s-off exploit. Doing so will lock you into that RUU until the dev updates the exploit to work with the new hboot (if included in the RUU) or another RUU is released.
HTCdev
This is the method HTC gives us to unlock our phones. it allows us to install recoveries and roms, but not a lot else. you cannot downgrade your hboot or radio files with this, for example. you can install kernels via ph98img.zip file, but not through recovery. basically, it's HTC's way of letting us mess with our phones but without (hopefully) giving us enough control to brick them. this is considered better than nothing, but much less than ideal since you still don't have total control over what your phone does and how. doing this does essentially void your warranty, though to date there have been no confirmed reports of this affecting a return via either warranty or insurance.
With your phone in a stock state, you can apply only factory signed RUUs. Roms and kernels are closed to you, and you can move only forward with your radio and hboot, never backward.
With your phone in an HTCdev unlocked state, you can apply unsigned RUUs that contain a boot, system, and recovery image - all components must be present.
To get your phone into this state, visit HTCdev.com.
S-Off
This sets your security flag on the phone to off.Stock, your phone comes with this flag set to on. Our s-off method does it at the radio layer, and at this time is thought to be irreversible by update. It isn't, though - it's just unlikely because there are legitimate s-off phones out there. Still, it's always a good idea to wait to see if that shiny new RUU is gonna make your phone boring again before you install it. To be safe, wait for an RUU that has the hboot removed and just applies kernel, radio, and system files. You can turn it back on with fastboot should you wish, however. Htcdev unlocking, a bit of wire or a paperclip, and a decent set of timing is required for this. In my opinion it is best to do this once you are sure your phone does not have problems that require a warranty return, but it should be done before upgrading to new, untested OTAs/RUUs. There's always the chance that HTC will block the exploit that gives us this, at which point you're stuck until the devs figure out another way or someone comes up with some crazy method like the evo 3d guys. Many are nervous about this process, and for good reason. While the devs have done everything they can to make this bulletproof, it is best to enter into this mod with as much knowledge as possible, just like any other mod. It's also best to be relaxed, have an internet connection other than your phone, and not have anywhere you have to be right away in case things go like you don't expect. Should things go wrong, don't freak out. Ask questions. Many "bricked" phones have been restored with simple application of knowledge.
Things s-off does: Allows you to flash kernels from recovery, allows you to flash any hboot and radio you want. Lets you install any "ruu" you want with any combination of boot image, system, and recovery, rather than the entire package. Makes rom installation easier on devs due to kernel installation in recovery.
Many have scoffed at s-off, claiming it does nothing that unlocking doesn't do already. This isn't really the case, as we've all seen how important the ability to downgrade firmware and radios can be. Personally, I think of a phone with s-on in much the same way I think of eating steak through a trash bag. If you have the option not to, what the hell are you doing?
Things s-off does not do: magically turn your phone into an open platform to which devs will instantly flock to give you the aosp roms you believe yourself entitled to. What will do that? Glad you asked.
RIL - radio interface layer
Basically, the RIL is a driver for the radio - it lets the radio interface with the software running on the phone. This is a new problem that effects 4g phones. It sucks. Basically, your manufacturers (also verizon, but you can assume they don't want you to do anything other than pay them.) don't want you touching their precious radio chipset with your grubby little paws. We don't have source code, and they're not talking. Of course we already have software on our phone that has the RIL stuff we need, right? Yes... sort of. For any sense roms we want to use. This is why we don't have aosp. For aosp, one of three things needs to happen:
1) Manufacturers grow a soul and give us source in the form of a leak or they go mad and just release it. This is pretty much as likely as Verizon deciding that they are doing away with early termination fees.
2) Someone reverse engineers our RIL and makes their own RIL software. This is as likely as my wife developing new roms for her Incredible 2. The one she blames for her school's ****ty email server and wants to trade in for an iphone.
3) Someone develops an interim layer that translates aosp to sense and back again. This was done on the thunderbolt, but it was wonky. Certain individuals are confident that this will be easier done on ICS and are working on it. Some AOSP action would be pretty damn awesome, but don't expect it, demand it, or hold your breath for it. It's hard, and is going to require a very intense combination of skill, knowledge, and tenacity.
Now i know what you're thinking - the Nexus is a CDMA 4g phone and they can do whatever the hell they want. Do they have an open RIL? The answer is no. They have an aosp (Android Open Source Project) RIL though, which amounts to basically the same thing. If it is any consolation they can't have sense roms as a result. Those poor bastards, right? This is why many are torn between the Nexus and the Rezound. The Nexus is open and a dev's paradise - CM9, AOKP, MIUI, ****ty roms that some kid slapped a godawful theme on - it's all there. The Rezound has better radios, better screen, and better build quality (subjective) but no aosp. If you're reading this you've already chosen or had the choice made for you by verizon's $50 sale.
Fast Boot
But Derek, you say, you already talked about fastboot in the bootloader section. We get it. Nay nay. This is fast boot. Note the space. Basically, HTC roms include a tech that puts the phone into a hibernation state rather than powering off. You'll find it in the power menu. When this box is checked, your phone will go from powered off to your home screen in a very short period of time - 15 seconds on my phone, vs the normal 45 second boot time. If you pull the battery, you will have a normal boot time. Personally, I could take or leave this feature. I almost never shut my phone off, and when I do, I want it to actually shut off because i'm shutting it down because I need a cold boot. It's up to you how useful this feature is to you.
Perflock, CPU Frequency, and Governers
Many people have had poor experiences running the ICS leaks due to the CPU maxing out. The stock HTC kernel uses perflock, which constantly resets the frequency and scaling of your CPU. This means that the use of programs like setcpu or system tuner to change the min/max frequencies or governer of your CPU will cause it to essentially run in a state where it is either using the max frequency, or the minimum, without scaling up and down according to need. Some CPU monitoring apps will cause a similar reaction. The best way to avoid all this unpleasantness and get the best battery life out of your phone is to simply leave it be and let it do it's thing, because quite frankly you can't stop it anyway. If you absolutely must see what your CPU is doing, I have had good results with CPU Monitor by Coconuts. I still don't recommend keeping this active full time as I suspect it still impacts performance and battery life, but many do without any obvious adverse results. As a side note, the HTC kernel uses the On Demand governer, which steps up the CPU frequency quickly when needed and scales it back down slowly. Clearly, HTC's focus was on performance rather than battery life, here. Once kernel source for ICS is released, devs can build custom kernels which do not include perflock, and add other nice features as well like full power usb charging. Once this occurs, we will be free to use setcpu to scale our CPUs up or down to our hearts content and use whatever governer we like. Until then the best advice is simply to leave it alone.
I will be updating this and adding to it constantly. I'm not an expert, just an average user who is trying to put some useful info in the same place. Please shoot me a PM with suggestions/things I got wrong and I will update this post and credit you.
Contributors who have helped make this more accurate
scotty1223, esheesle
Section for General Education Type Things
Titanium Backup
Quite possibly the most useful software you will use on your rooted android device. Well worth buying. This software will allow you to backup pretty much everything on your phone to your sd-card, dropbox, box account, etc. It even lets you pull data from nandroid backups. This is the best way I know of to backup your apps and restore them when switching to a new rom. Not only do you not need to go digging through the my apps section of the play store to reinstall every damn app, you can restore with the data from the time of the backup. That means config for a lot of apps, game saves, etc. Note that most SMS apps and launchers will require you to use the backup included in their software, as Ti Backup doesn't grab these things. Forgot to backup your apps and data but made a nandroid backup? No problem. It can read your nandroid backup and pull those things right out of it.
It can also screw up your rom install to the point where you might as well factory reset, if you use it wrong. Basically, you never ever want to use it for anything other than apps you've installed from the app store and their data. Restoring system apps, unless you know what you're doing, is a bad idea. Restoring system data, no matter how tempting, is an even worse idea. It's very likely to screw you up. There are circumstances in which it may not do so, but if you are reading this and this is new info, you don't know them. Stay away. Most devs will outright tell you not to use it with their rom since people will inevitably ignore the warnings and do it anyway. It makes switching roms an absolute breeze though - I can switch roms and have my software setup exactly how it was before in less time than it takes to download a rom from Android Police. Granted, that's a good hour, but you get what I'm saying. It's a huge time saver. Backup your user apps and data, but touch system apps or data at your own peril.
What to do if you think you're bricked
Step 1: Chill out and slow down. Seriously. Unless your phone isn't doing anything at all when powered up, it's probably recoverable. Double check your MD5 sums before pushing things like hboots and radios, and you should be OK. If you've screwed up the s-off process, make a post describing exactly what you've done and how, then wait for responses. Do not demand them. You can also join #juopunutbear on freenode, where the devs hang out. They're not always right there, but I've seen them help dozens of people out of some sticky places, and they'll help you if they can. They really know their stuff.
For general Rezound problems, you can join #rezound on andirc.net. There's usually some knowledgable guys hanging out there, willing to help. Remember, the very best thing you can do is take the time to gather enough knowledge to be confident that the steps you are going to take to fix the phone are the right ones, and why. Flipping out about your "bricked" phone and throwing anything you can at it is much more likely to make things worse, and annoy the people trying to help you. For example, if you are s-on and in a state where you need to reinstall a stock RUU package, you only have as many chances to get it right as there are newer RUUs than what is on your phone already. If you don't know enough about things to know what is wrong and why, you're not terribly likely to know the best way to fix it. Keep calm and carry on.
What will installing this ______ do to my phone? What do I need to do to install them?
Now that we have s-off and all these new ICS leaks, we've all gotten a bit flash happy. This has led many to ask what they can install, how, and what needs to be done. I'll try and address as much of this as I can by talking about the different states your phone might be in.
Totally stock - You have only one choice. You can install the full RUU, or not. That means you're getting whatever radio, hboot, kernel, and rom come with that RUU. Once you've installed that RUU, you can't install anything but a newer RUU after that. Remember that with RUUs, you need to reboot twice - there are two installation steps in hboot that require a reboot in between. Note that some RUUs will wipe your SD card. Nice of them, isn't it?
HTCDev unlocked - You can install kernels via hboot, a custom recovery via fastboot or hboot if packaged, and custom roms. If you want to install new radio files or an hboot, then you'll want to make a nandroid backup in recovery, relock your phone, and install the RUU via hboot. You cannot install the RUU without relocking first. You can then unlock your phone via HTCdev again, flash recovery, and restore from your nandroid backup. Like a totally stock phone, you can only go forward with hboot and radios, never backward. You have more options than the stock guys, but are still limited. But you also can't brick your phone. Again, some RUUs will wipe your SD card.
S-off - You can do anything you want. Flash any radio or hboot you want. Flash any kernel you like. If a new RUU comes out and you want to try it, just install it. You'll need to reinstall recovery, but that's it. Want to use the new leak's radio and kernel but not the rom itself? Flash 'em. But for the love of god, check the MD5 checksum before you flash. Apps like root explorer will let you see the MD5 of a file right from your phone's SD card. Flashing a bad radio or hboot can brick your phone. With great power comes great responsibility. Flashing hboot, kernels, and radio files do not require you to factory reset your device, nor will they do so. It is advisable to clear your cache and dalvik cache in recovery after installing a new kernel, but that will not affect the data on your device.
So let's say you've got s-off, and you're running a rom you like, but you want that new radio, hboot, and kernel. First, don't touch the hboot unless you have a reason to. That's a risk that you don't need to take most of the time. To flash the radio, find someone who has extracted the radio and repackaged it into a PH98IMG.zip that contains just the radio. Copy it to your SD card, check the MD5, and flash via hboot. To install the kernel, either grab it from someone who has packaged it, or pull the boot.img from the RUU zip. Check your md5, boot your phone to fastboot, and run:
fastboot flash boot <path to boot.img file>
You need fastboot on your PC, of course. Also, bear in mind that with a new kernel on an older rom, you may need to apply patches to make everything work properly, like wifi. Devs will generally release these patches and post them. Simply copy them to your SD card and install in recovery.
Where are all these files?
The Dev section. Go in there, and poke around. It doesn't take long after a leak is released to see that leak taken apart, rooted, deodexed, stripped of its kernel and radio files, etc. Read what people are saying, and asking. Generally, the first post will be updated to have everything you need, but the thread may have what you're looking for as well. What you don't want to do is ask where things are when the same question has been asked several times over already, often three pages back. Sometimes things can be hard to find, but it's good to make the effort. The community will be better for it.
What's a rooted rom? Deodexed? Busybox? Zipalign?
Rooted is fairly self explanatory. It's the process of packaging a superuser app with a rom that will allow you to operate your phone with root access. You'll need this for the good stuff like removing bloat, installing most wireless tethering apps, ad blockers, titanium backup, etc. Verizon wishes you wouldn't do this, so you know it's awesome.
Deodexing basically removes an optimization, called odexing, that basically takes bits of an apk and puts them elsewhere for optimization purposes. Deodexing packages everything back into the apk so you can use different apks without fear of conflicting code, etc. This is what makes a lot of mods possible.
Busybox provides several stripped down versions of unix tools in a single package. A lot of things like titanium backup depend on this. Generally when someone roots a rom they also busybox it.
A zipaligned rom is a rom that has had its application packages optimized for quick access by aligning them on 4 byte boundaries. This allows android to access resources without having to explicitly read them. You don't necessarily need to understand this one - just think of it as being optimized.
Contributions are appreciated and will be credited in the main post. In the interest of keeping this thread clean without a million different versions of the OP, please edit your post down to a basic "suggestions added" or something similar once I've noted your additions. That way things stay readable and don't confuse the readers. Ideally, a PM would be best, leaving the comments free for questions and the like. My goal is to jam as much knowledge in this thread as I can, and I'll continue working on it as I see new questions that commonly pop up.
tspderek said:
I literally meant the phrase "suggestions sent." i would prefer PMs or cleaned up posts after suggestions are included in the original post for cleanliness' sake and to keep down redundant info.
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so,in other words,youd like your posts,followed by no posts,or "thanks" posts,with no real discussion.
my only issue with that,is simply any of us are capable of sending suggestions that are not correct,or that are correct but an opinion. are you filtering somehow what you add? or just adding everything everyone sends?
its your thread,ill accept your request,but i personally would like to see everyones personal contributions and how you incorporate them.
readers should be smart enuff to seperate the first 3 information posts from the rest of the discussions. my 2 cents
I literally meant the phrase "suggestions sent." i would prefer PMs or cleaned up posts after suggestions are included in the original post for cleanliness' sake and to keep down redundant info.
..
Khayos said:
Suggestion: Sticky! (then delete me)
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it's been sticky since about an hour after it was written last night...
Thank you for writing this. It should be a requirement to read this before someone can post again.
Thanks for this! I was just thinking that this is getting REALLY confusing...I appreciate the Primer!
tspderek said:
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what things are or how they work together so I'm gonna try and build a post to explain some things. ...
<snip>
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I had been contemplating a post to ask questions that this addresses; for myself, it is very timely as well as very helpful.
I've seen terms in the forum used interchangeably that really are not, and this helps clarify that. Consistent use of terminology could go a long way to help with the abundance of questions and misunderstandings that exist.
Again, many thanks.
Nice post. Thanks!
I was waiting for the OTA to go official before even thinking about s-off but now you got me thinkin' about it.
If the OTA is good but I just want it de-oxed and de-bloated should I bother with S-Off?
My Dinc was so easy with UnRevoked, wish this one was as easy as that!
my personal feeling is that i like my phone to have s-off, so i can use the radio that works best for me and have full control of my phone. if i've already voided the warranty with htcdev, then why not? it's not a difficult process if you research and prepare everything ahead of time. know the steps, have your tools ready, and you'll be fine. took me one try on my phone.
it's really up to you, though. it's your phone. there is a risk of bricking that isn't there with htcdev. it's low unless you make poor decisions or skip steps, but it does exist - that's what s-off does. it opens the door for you to help or hurt yourself.
Very Useful
This is very well written. I wish I had this when I started my journey with Android. This is my first post btw. Iv been doing this for about 6 months now and hate that i cant post in Developement section. But i appreciate the time it took to make this. Very nice!
Edit.. Second post. Fogot about the first one
Sweet, will be following this closely! Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting this it helped clear a lot of things up for me. This is my first smartphone and so I'm still learning about this stuff. I think some people forget that not everyone understands all of the jargon. I'm learning more and more about what I can do everyday and this has certainly helped.
Installing RUU
tspderek said:
Installing an ruu can only be accomplished on a phone that is currently not in an htc dev unlocked state, or a phone that has s-off. when installing one of these that includes an hboot, you'll need to reinstall recovery as well - installing a new hboot via RUU will always require this as the custom recovery is overwritten with the stock recovery.
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tspderek said:
With your phone in a stock state, you can apply only factory signed RUUs. Roms and kernels are closed to you, and you can move only forward with your radio and hboot, never backward.
With your phone in an HTCdev unlocked state, you can apply unsigned RUUs that contain a boot, system, and recovery image - all components must be present.
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I'm confused. I am S-ON (scared of brick), bootloader unlocked, and running CleanROM Pro 4.3. I want to update to the newest firmware and then the newest version of CleanROM. Do I have to re-lock my bootloader in order to install ICS firmware? I'm looking at the 3.14.605.5 Ice Cream Sandwich ZIP RUU (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1365654). How do I go about installing that?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
pumpkinsoftruth said:
I'm confused. I am S-ON (scared of brick), bootloader unlocked, and running CleanROM Pro 4.3. I want to update to the newest firmware and then the newest version of CleanROM. Do I have to re-lock my bootloader in order to install ICS firmware? I'm looking at the 3.14.605.5 Ice Cream Sandwich ZIP RUU (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1365654). How do I go about installing that?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
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yes, you need to lock it back up then apply the ruu.
or, take the path of awesome, and s-off that bad boy. what i'd actually do is install the latest leak RUU, s-off from that platform, then install amon-ra and whatever rom you want. that way your bootloader will already be upgraded, and your radio files. as new leaks come out you'll be able to apply radio files and kernels independently.
tspderek said:
yes, you need to lock it back up then apply the ruu.
or, take the path of awesome, and s-off that bad boy. what i'd actually do is install the latest leak RUU, s-off from that platform, then install amon-ra and whatever rom you want. that way your bootloader will already be upgraded, and your radio files. as new leaks come out you'll be able to apply radio files and kernels independently.
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Click to collapse
Ok, so...
1. Re-lock Bootloader
2. Install latest RUU
3. Unlock Bootloader and Root
4. S-OFF
5. Install Amon-RA
6. Install ROM
Sounds simple enough. Thanks.
Ok so I've taken your advice and removed setcpu and installed the one recommended in the post however is there any way to also monitor battery temp that won't interfere with things the same way setcpu does?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
pumpkinsoftruth said:
Ok, so...
1. Re-lock Bootloader
2. Install latest RUU
3. Unlock Bootloader and Root
4. S-OFF
5. Install Amon-RA
6. Install ROM
Sounds simple enough. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Step 4.5, install the patched hboot they offer you!
Hello XDA!
I opened a new thread hopefully to open a discussion about improvements I think are beneficial, my experience over the last 24 hours that a couple sticky edits would have saved me (and others) time.
My Story:
Yesterday (5/3) I saw I had around a 250 mb OTA. Excited (hoping for 4.2, assuming was the 4.1.2 that VZW released recently) I kick on WiFi, download and watch as it reboots and appears to install successfully. Time for work to end, grabbed phone off charger as it appeared to be rebooting after successful install, and ran out to catch train home.
Downstairs, at train stop, take a look at phone and heart sinks as it is in a fast splash screen loop, blinking the VZW Galaxy Note 2 screen for about 1 second in endless loop. As I had never seen before was thinking firmware update bricked it and I was looking at least until Tuesday before I'd have a working phone. Luckily, I was able to quickly see that I could still get into download mode, so knew I was (likely) going to be ok.
Get home and a Quick Robin, to the Internetz! later I'm browsing XDA and following the t=t=2024207 walkthu to restore stock. FYI, my device prior to the failed OTA was unrooted stock. At this point I'm not sure if it's going to restore, so I'm trying to do the true stock, no unlocked bootloader in case it has to be RMA'd. I've downloaded all my files, waited patiently for the slow hosting service for the FXZ(?) to download and am grinding through it and of course it fails at the system.img. Luckily, blessedly the awesome community here had released the image that included the unlocked bootloader which I was (after waiting to download, etc etc again) able to successfully get installed via Odin, booted up and working successfully.
So, while the first post section regarding restore to stock does indicate users with latest firmware "L4 OTA Only" shouldn't be attempting to use the Official VRAL I didn't think it applied to me. I would say that a fair amount of individuals looking to take the drastic step of a full restore to stock might be in a scenario like mine, where something significant has happened and likely confirming what OS/firmware/etc you are on might not be feasible. In my case, I assumed never rooted/unlocked vanilla device should be about as receptacle to an "official" restore as any. In this scenario, where a 100% for all devices stock recovery ("alternative") works, 'I feel that it should have been pushed harder than the official or at least blurbed with if you don't know what you are on, use this' While I understand that it is the "official" image, it has requirements for it to work. A co-worker had an ASUS TF300T that tried pushing a recovery image for ICS after he had upgraded to JB and it hard bricked his tablet, with ASUS wanting to charge him about 60% cost of the tablet to replace motherboard. That's heartbreaking, and I am sure since a hard brick wasn't a likely scenario here, why it wasn't mentioned.
Also: The download link for the Alternate Restore lists the file as: I605_VRALJB_Restore.tar.md5.xz which requires that it be unpacked using 7zip AND also that once extracted, it needs to be renamed to kick of the extra extension md5 in order for ODIN to see it properly as a PDA image file. (I605_VRALJB_Restore.tar.md5 ) Neither step is mentioned in the original post, and I had to read through to I believe the 11th page or so before realizing that was the problem. I'm sure with most of the people that are daily users of this forum knew automatically that these steps were required, but I would counter that a thread explaining how to restore Stock is one of the few threads that is likely to reach a larger, inexperienced demographic who would need to know such details.
Lastly, since (I thought) I had an unlocked bootloader, but otherwsie working phone again (Thank you, thank you thank you!) might as well get it rooted, and grab a ODEX'd stripped ROM with the OS release because getting the Software Update nag and not being able to complete or even brick my phone makes my OCD gland flex mightily. Was delighted to see an on-device APK root option which threw me back to the ease of z4root a few years ago with my Droid X. APK installs, and it roots so easily, like it had the functionality out of the box. I grab goo.im manager and install TWRP. Go to boot into custom recovery so I can install my sexy updated OS ROM and enjoy my fun device without all the yucky bloatware I've just ignored/dealt with for the last 2 months and I get the dreaded and in my opinion illegal "VZW unauthorized software" software brick.
Back to the forums, see I need another stock 'alternative' restore to fix AND a little confused, but believe I need to run a "jailbreak" bootloader unlock (CASUAL ?t=2118348) Which I haven't done yet. I have all files downloaded, just paused to post my experiences here.
So, this was main reason for my post, as I can understand some of why walkthru is laid out the way it is above, but why not have this included as part of the stickied root walkthru? It's mentioned thusly:
section 1a is a old method and no longer needs to be used unless the end user wants root only. proceed to Adam Outler's "JAILBREAK" thread linked at the bottom of this section for rooting and unlocking bootloader so custom roms can be flashed!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't find the link it refers to at bottom of section? I ended up googling to find guide. ((t=202420)
if this is still a requirement for root, custom ROM/Recovery, I would have made this steps 1-x of the root guide. is it because another person authored it? It would be nice to be able to credit and quote, I know alot of what drives contributors is the 'Thanks" and Donations, be great if XDA admins could round table and find a solution that allows for a consolidated guide for each device and still give each contributor a way to get their +1's and plug donation/web/twitter handle url's
So, is my understanding incorrect of what is needed or do folks agree with me that current setup is not the most efficient way XDA community could be offering instructive guides on Root/Mods? It would be wonderful if XDA Mods upon announcement of devices, when creating the forum threads for device (Development, OG Development, General, etc etc) created a blank thread for the how to root et.al and then allowed it to be edited by the community as a Wiki. Or even if an individual created, allow that person to allow x amount of other community members to edit, add and adjust.
I see droidstyle created a thread about questions for softbrick, and I might have to look at the original sticky thread about how to stock restore, but it seems he/she might have better saturation if this info was included in the original post. The stickied How To recover stock is direct accessible from a google search. I doubt his Q&A thread is or definitely not going to be one of the highest page-ranked sites.
So, please let me know if I'm just out of my mind, off the mark. I will give myself a small escape clause based on the fact that I probably scored about 2 hours of sleep last night messing around trying to get the note running again. I am actually concerned that the instructions for Return to Stock/Root/Etc for the VZW i605 doesn't have the link to unlock bootloader via casual and am hoping that following that process before rooting/customrecovery/ROM is correct, and not going to be another BrickGate for me. I know as OS versions are updated and/or Big Red and Big Blue constantly push patches trying to lock people out of their phones that instructions change and methods break. As new directions are implemented it's easy to lose steps as edits occur on the fly.
Most importanly! I hope this thread comes across as constructive criticism/suggestions, I have nothing but the highest respect for this community and it's contributors. Even skewed, outdated and conflicting information is better than no information and I SUPER appreciate the hard work required to get it out to us. I am most definitely not expressing displeasure with my experience or the content, only using the threads I mentioned as examples of what I personally see as opportunity for improvements XDA could implement that would allow for easier dissemination of the information the community is sharing so unselfishly. I only open it for discussion, so that others like me can access the information quicker with less confusion. I read comments of disgust and exasperation as people are directed to search, rather than post, and they are right, the information is invariably there, and most often or not within the first 5 posts of a thread. But sometimes when a developer talks to another developer, the tiny and considered minor details are not mentioned because it's considered common knowledge, and thats where the noobs, soccer moms and Grandmas can get left scratching their heads trying to puzzle how you got from point a to b. (Stereotypes used for comedic effect, please take no offense) I believe it would save alot of people having to answer the same questions over and over again time and frustration and freeing them to focus their talents on making us the next epic ROM/Kernel/App
thanks for reading! Also, I'm not just drive-by b*tching, if anyone is interested, I would love to show a mock-up of the i605 guide these great contributors have created as I would compile it. I'm passionate about mobile technology and customization, sadly my talents don't lie in the creation of such, only the enjoyment of it. But I'm a hell of a document admin. I create wiki's and KB's/sharepoint admin for a living, and would love to contribute what I know in that way
Hi there,
I've been cruising these forums for a while and have managed to root my device, get adb setup, and TWRP installed. An unfortunate bit seems to be that you cannot leave TWRP installed and actually boot the device. I managed to get stuck in a boot loop having not restored the 5.4.1 bootloaders. I turned the device off and rebooted into TWRP, flashed the 5.4.1 bootloaders, rebooted, and I'm golden. However, this doesn't really get me anywhere.
So my goal here is to just wipe all this FireOS crap and turn this tablet into a normal android tablet. I've seen plenty of posts about it but cannot seem to find any single post that would achieve this for my specific device and software version. So I'm coming here for help.
Mostly, what I have done so far has come from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/general/how-to-upgrade-to-lollipop-root-gapps-t3163950
Unfortunately, from what I can tell, this process does not remove FireOS and replace it with stock Lollipop, it just updates you to 5.1.2 (which I'm already at) and installs GAPPS. It does not really have a "pure" Android install and it somehow retains the FireOS as the primary OS.
Now, please correct me if I am wrong here with any of the above (this is not a hobby of mine) but since I've rooted a few devices before I figured I could handle it. It seemed like a bargain getting this Fire HD 7 used for like $64... if only I can get it onto stock Android. I'm basically trying to make it a Nexus 7.
Since I CAN get into TWRP, I figure I should just be able to flash a custom ROM right? I've just been having a really hard time finding a stock Lollipop ROM specifically for my device. From what I've heard, flashing the new ROM is the most error-prone part of this type of stuff and can totally brick the device if it were not meant for it. If that did happen, I would need to be able to boot the device back up, get an adb connection, run the scripts that flash the correct bootloaders (post #2, section 101, from the link above) so I can reboot into TWRP and fix it. Perhaps understandably so, I've been very hesitant to just go trying things willy-nilly that I don't fully understand.
Could anyone offer any assistance? Perhaps just point me in the right direction? I've probably read most of the threads you'll likely link, so a short bit of context to how something pertains to my specific device as well as the link could help me significantly. The guides that people write usually contain updates and are quite difficult to follow to the "T" and half the time I'm not even sure something I'm doing actually pertains to my device.
[EDIT] I found this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c5hHSCO_o8) but it looks like he's doing that on a previous generation Fire so, again, I'm not sure it will work and don't want to try and then brick it.
nedwards said:
Hi there,
I've been cruising these forums for a while and have managed to root my device, get adb setup, and TWRP installed. An unfortunate bit seems to be that you cannot leave TWRP installed and actually boot the device. I managed to get stuck in a boot loop having not restored the 5.4.1 bootloaders. I turned the device off and rebooted into TWRP, flashed the 5.4.1 bootloaders, rebooted, and I'm golden. However, this doesn't really get me anywhere.
So my goal here is to just wipe all this FireOS crap and turn this tablet into a normal android tablet. I've seen plenty of posts about it but cannot seem to find any single post that would achieve this for my specific device and software version. So I'm coming here for help.
Mostly, what I have done so far has come from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/general/how-to-upgrade-to-lollipop-root-gapps-t3163950
Unfortunately, from what I can tell, this process does not remove FireOS and replace it with stock Lollipop, it just updates you to 5.1.2 (which I'm already at) and installs GAPPS. It does not really have a "pure" Android install and it somehow retains the FireOS as the primary OS.
Now, please correct me if I am wrong here with any of the above (this is not a hobby of mine) but since I've rooted a few devices before I figured I could handle it. It seemed like a bargain getting this Fire HD 7 used for like $64... if only I can get it onto stock Android. I'm basically trying to make it a Nexus 7.
Since I CAN get into TWRP, I figure I should just be able to flash a custom ROM right? I've just been having a really hard time finding a stock Lollipop ROM specifically for my device. From what I've heard, flashing the new ROM is the most error-prone part of this type of stuff and can totally brick the device if it were not meant for it. If that did happen, I would need to be able to boot the device back up, get an adb connection, run the scripts that flash the correct bootloaders (post #2, section 101, from the link above) so I can reboot into TWRP and fix it. Perhaps understandably so, I've been very hesitant to just go trying things willy-nilly that I don't fully understand.
Could anyone offer any assistance? Perhaps just point me in the right direction? I've probably read most of the threads you'll likely link, so a short bit of context to how something pertains to my specific device as well as the link could help me significantly. The guides that people write usually contain updates and are quite difficult to follow to the "T" and half the time I'm not even sure something I'm doing actually pertains to my device.
[EDIT] I found this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c5hHSCO_o8) but it looks like he's doing that on a previous generation Fire so, again, I'm not sure it will work and don't want to try and then brick it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You seem to have the gist of it, which is that what you want to do can't be done. There is only one ROM for this device--CM11, here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/orig-development/rom-cm-11-kindle-hd6-t3270138 --and it is not fully working. No one's ever posted here about successfully installing a ROM for a different device, only about bricks as a result of trying.
@xSentinel has been disabling all possible apps, while still keeping the device running. His goal may be the same as yours(?). He started a thread here, but has since got a lot more disabled: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/help/5-1-2-bloatware-safe-to-remove-apps-2014-t3355167. Might want to post there and see what he's up to.
DoLooper said:
You seem to have the gist of it, which is that what you want to do can't be done. There is only one ROM for this device--CM11, here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/orig-development/rom-cm-11-kindle-hd6-t3270138 --and it is not fully working. No one's ever posted here about successfully installing a ROM for a different device, only about bricks as a result of trying.
@xSentinel has been disabling all possible apps, while still keeping the device running. His goal may be the same as yours(?). He started a thread here, but has since got a lot more disabled: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-hd/help/5-1-2-bloatware-safe-to-remove-apps-2014-t3355167. Might want to post there and see what he's up to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, that is unfortunate. At least you've helped me to understand that my goal cannot be fully realized. I probably should have done a bit more research before purchasing the Fire tablet. I'm really just looking to set up an in-car tablet to handle Torque guages, navigation, and music. Perhaps I should just return the Kindle and shell out the extra cash for a Nexus 7. I think I could probably get a refurbished one for a price similar to what I paid for the Fire. I'll poke around xSentinel's thread a bit and see what I'm up against first though. If it comes down to it, the headache of dealing with Amazon's locked down devices might just outweigh the extra money/hassle of a Nexus 7 and a return.
nedwards said:
Ah, that is unfortunate. At least you've helped me to understand that my goal cannot be fully realized. I probably should have done a bit more research before purchasing the Fire tablet. I'm really just looking to set up an in-car tablet to handle Torque guages, navigation, and music. Perhaps I should just return the Kindle and shell out the extra cash for a Nexus 7. I think I could probably get a refurbished one for a price similar to what I paid for the Fire. I'll poke around xSentinel's thread a bit and see what I'm up against first though. If it comes down to it, the headache of dealing with Amazon's locked down devices might just outweigh the extra money/hassle of a Nexus 7 and a return.
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Click to collapse
You also might check out the Fire forums. (I got a refurb for $30.) They have a few ROMs and are doing interesting things. Also, lots of activity over there.
Some people may strive to be "purists", but remaining pragmatic is a recipe for relatively happy life
Because the bootloaders are locked, there are very limited options on what to boot. There was some lucky bug in the earlier bootloaders that gifted us with the ability to boot an unsigned TWRP using 4.5.3 bootloaders. But boot.img always had to be signed, or it would not boot.
To create a custom OS, one needs to match the custom ROM to the existing boot.img from a given version of FireOS. Kind of pain in the @ss, don't you agree ?
Instead, however, one can just keep FireOS 5, and tweak it to behave like almost a pure Android. And it's not hard ! So why chase the unicorns when all you want is right in front of you !
I'm currently working on completing a CM11 port - as someone else mentioned it needs to use the stock boot.img though, so I have to heavily modify CM code in order to get it to work with full functionality. CM11 does run very well on the device though, and it's much snappier than Fire OS imo.
In theory this device could use something like safestrap to boot unsigned boot images, however I probably won't bother writing something like that until I have CM11 at 100% functionality (currently my build is at about 60% if I were to estimate).
I think the guy who posted the first CM11 port is now working on porting CM12, although it's a massive pain to test.
nedwards said:
Ah, that is unfortunate. At least you've helped me to understand that my goal cannot be fully realized. I probably should have done a bit more research before purchasing the Fire tablet. I'm really just looking to set up an in-car tablet to handle Torque guages, navigation, and music. Perhaps I should just return the Kindle and shell out the extra cash for a Nexus 7. I think I could probably get a refurbished one for a price similar to what I paid for the Fire. I'll poke around xSentinel's thread a bit and see what I'm up against first though. If it comes down to it, the headache of dealing with Amazon's locked down devices might just outweigh the extra money/hassle of a Nexus 7 and a return.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just so you know it can be done, I am running Torque on a Fire HD 6 and still running thr Fire O.S. There is also a similar app to Torque Pro in the Amazon app store - search for OBD and it should see it (sorry I can't give the name, soft bricked the device and won't be near a computer for another 4 days) It is similar in capabilities to Torque Pro, and runs around the same price.
THIS IS A CLOSED CASE, GO HOME. The answer is Hairybean found in step 2 of here [ROM] [TF201] KatKiss 5.1.1 - v30 [MultiWindow] [Stable] [RRO] Read the rest of this post if you're a sadist or want to know of people in the same pain boat as you.
Part 1: My life's story. Skip to Update if you just want to hear of my current problem.
So approximately 12 hours ago, I decided, "Hey, I want to upgrade my tablet so I can download the newest and coolest apps. Since I need to upgrade to a newer OS (ICS>KK ?) I may as well go through the extra hurdle and download a nice, fast custom ROM because the stock feels like crap for the lightweight that is the TF201."
Now me, not having ever touched an android in my life before this tablet, knew this was going to be a challenge. After doing plenty of research into unlocking, flashing a custom recovery, general custom ROM flashing etiquette, and following this guide ([ROM] [MM 6.0.1] KatshMallow v29 [TF201]), I encountered my first of many hurdles. This being: I was able to boot just fine, but the Wifi was in a perpetual state of "Wifi turning on..." I put a total of a couple or so hours into researching this and easily found others having the same issue, albeit not specifically to the exact ROM and device in question. I also tinkered a bit in these hours, reflashing and rebooting and all that jazz. I eventually settled upon one of three conclusions:
The "/persist" folder had gotten deleted which contains vital wifi/network configuration data
wlan0 was borked on a hardware level and I managed to completely kill an hope of wifi on my device
There was a MAC address somewhere that I needed to manually edit (that WASN'T in the persist file)
Considering the fact that I could not see nor change directory via adb terminal (yes, with su) into a "/persist" folder, and that the hardware-broken devices other users had were most if not all cellphones, I pushed on ahead assuming #1 to be my problem. ("See" includes dropping and installing a file explorer onto the tablet as well.)
With this is mind, the next course of action was to somehow get this "/persist" folder back. It seemed like the best way to do this would be to flash a stock ROM (link in Part 2) or ask the community to give me files without even trying to solve things on my own. So in the spirit of remaining a lurker I chose the former. Flashed fine, booted fine, ran.... okay-ish (the status bar "System UI" would crash every 10 seconds, ROM was a means to an end so I didn't care), but the Wifi WORKED! However, I still didn't find a /persist folder and the tablet didn't show up in windows... "Weird but okay, whatever let's do this." Load up recovery again, wipe everything, see if I can get Katshmallow to load again...
Part 1.5: And here we are. tl;dr I'm a scrub at anything android and after 12+ hours of tom****ery, I'm in a bootloop using Katshmallow v29 (v27 made no difference). The "bootloop" is in the form of the ASUS logo appearing with the usual "UnLocked" message in the top for a minute or two, then a reset, rinse, repeat. I am able to boot into recovery and mess around in TWRP just fine, so my ignorance hasn't completely wrecked me... yet.
The information that I believe is most pertinent to my current issue is:
I unlocked using ASUS' utility for the TF700. It worked no problem and with how compatible things seem to be between the two, I don't think this is an issue (especially considering I've flashed and booted system more-or-less just fine).
The most recent ROM I flashed was this [ROM] TF201 JB JRO03C 10.4.2.15 (US) Stock Deodexed + Mods [Unlocked BL]. I figure that this did something (maybe changed the bootloader?) that Katshmallow does not agree with. If I hadn't already spent the better half of a day working on trying to get things working, maybe I would do more research and figure out the inner workings on my own, but I'm done bashing my head against a brick wall that's only pushing me further back.
I am currently running KANG TWRP 2.8.7.2 for the TF201T (yes, the device I'm specifically running). The problem existed with some TWRP 2.8.x for the TF300 as well.
The bootloader message is "Android card-hu-user bootloader <1.00e> released by "US_epad-10.4.2.15-20120917" A03 ... Oh son of a-
Part 2: So I'm a dumb*** who can't read. Okay, I need to know how to get from my current bootloader (10.4.2.15) to the one Katshmallow requires (10.6.1.27.1). In typing this, I realized that the stock ROM I used to test stuff is why I've been screwed for the past 5 hours (coupled with my ignorance of course). In my quick 2 minutes of research I found this: [GUIDE][13/11]Update/Recovery/Root/Downgrade Android 4.2.1 on Unlocked/Locked Devices. I fancy methods 2 and 3, I can do those, but that doesn't change the fact that I know NOTHING about the bootloader and what I need to update it (but apparently I know how to give myself a headache by downgrading it).
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Oh, and if you know of how to solve the Wifi issue or the likely related /persist folder issue in the wall of text above, please I beseech you to tell me.
Disclaimer: My "research" is not at all limited to the links in the post. I've spent 90% (or more) of what's now probably 13-14 hours working on getting this piece of- getting things to just go right. So... tired...
Update: The problem has changed to my second post that I will be pasting here to save people the trouble:
So the problem as it stands now. I'm cannot seem to flash a different custom recovery and whenever I try to flash a ROM I get "E:Error executing updater binary in zip" The line above it, "symlink: some symlinks failed". I give up for now... Maybe I'll try again tonight. I'm running bootloader 10.4.2.15 and TWRP KANG 2.8.7.2 (which seems to require a 14.10 bootloader). In this mess, I don't know what to fix nor how to fix it. The angles I see are fix the custom recovery or fix the error/symlink problem since the bootloader version seems to be dependent on successfully flashing ROMs.
Update2: So I managed to upgrade the bootloader by somewhat forcefully flashing Hairybean. While Katshmallow said "JB 4.2.1 BOOTLOADER VERSION 10.6.1.27.1," I glazed over this because I didn't know the importance of the bootloader and there was no other mention of the bootloader in the post (no mention of Hairybean or a download link or a "More information" link). I still have no one but myself to blame, just bitter that I have to blame myself in the first place.
For the time being, I'm following the somewhat better instruction on found in this thread([ROM] [TF201] KatKiss 5.1.1 - v30 [MultiWindow] [Stable] [RRO]) and will be picking up Katshmallow at the "wipe" step (currently waiting on the /data format). I downloaded the newest version of TWRP for TF201T and it's working just fine (note how that thread also doesn't mention anything aside from "MUST BE ON THE HAIRYBEAN BOOTLOADER ENDING IN 27.1" While that's such an obvious and blatant statement that should have inspired some research, my ignorance blinded me).
Now that I know for a fact that I am running the right TWRP and the right bootloader, I am going to pray that I can at VERY LEAST flash and boot into Katshmallow. Whether or not the Wifi problem persists will be for another thread.
IT BOOTS! YAAASSS. How do I close this embrassment of a thead?
Sorry I can't be of more help but what I CAN say is:
- read instructions thoroughly with any release. Sometimes a modified TWRP or other file is posted that you must use even if you have a newer version. You might also have to bounce around to other posts along the way to install/update all of the necessary files.
- keep a written log of changes you've made with notes on reversing them. Changing the bootloader means you can't go back unless you revert it back first. I can back track everything I've done based on my own notes, much easier to understand than someone else's notes or directions.
Good luck and be patient. Don't make more than one change at a time and get it working or revert back before trying something totally different.
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
HorthLithperer said:
Sorry I can't be of more help but what I CAN say is:
- read instructions thoroughly with any release. Sometimes a modified TWRP or other file is posted that you must use even if you have a newer version. You might also have to bounce around to other posts along the way to install/update all of the necessary files.
- keep a written log of changes you've made with notes on reversing them. Changing the bootloader means you can't go back unless you revert it back first. I can back track everything I've done based on my own notes, much easier to understand than someone else's notes or directions.
Good luck and be patient. Don't make more than one change at a time and get it working or revert back before trying something totally different.
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for replying nonetheless. I'll keep the note thing in mind. Regarding the bouncing around to get the files necessary, I've done plenty of that. When installing a new ROM, I made sure to follow the links as they were given and did further research where things weren't clear. My current problem stems from that fact that, 1: I have no point in which to restore back to due to my aforementioned ignorance and oversight of basic Android terminology; and 2: The next step is to revert the bootloader, that of which I have no clue how to do or where to start since my preliminary google search. Even if I had been taking notes, no one mentions how to do this without a backup. And so I'm on a hunt to find this information and for posterity, I'll post my quest here:
Google search: "tf201 bootloader version"
Upgrading from ICS Bootloader > [ROM] [TF201] [JB Bootloader] CyanogenMod 10 Unofficial - JZO54K - Oct 30 2012 - I learned that apparently certain ROMs can overwrite the bootloader, extrapolated from:
4) Needs the new Jelly Bean 10.4.2.15 bootloader [IMPORTANT: Flashing over an incorrect bootloader can permanently brick you device. The Oct 13 2012 build includes the bootloader upgrade and can be flashed over any ROM/bootloader]
Google search: " update tf201 bootloader"
[GUIDE] How to manually update/restore firmware (TF101, TF201, TF300, TF700, TF701) - Post #2 sent me to ASUS official support wherein I downloaded "V10.4.2.18." This is a test in hopes that I can get a ROM running and see if the bootloader changes. I'm not able to use the methods in that thread as I do not have a system nor a microSD, as such I'll flash it the way I have been. Same custom recovery as before. Run the usual wipe (Dalvik, System, Cache, Data, Internal). Drop ASUS ROM onto pad's internal. Attempt flash... Error: "E:Error executing updater binary in zip"
More research, now trying to find out what this error is. Tried this and read a couple pages from here. Settled on reflashing TWRP. While looking up the command again, I came upon here, then went to the first post of that thread here, then from the TWRP link in that post to here (yes, I see the big TF700T at the top, I also see the big MUST BE ON A BOOTLOADER ENDING IN 14.10).
Okay so, I have 10.4.2.15 and am going to have to jump through several hoops to get to the mysterious 10.6.1.27.1. Annnnd It seems as though I have a custom flash that doesn't support my bootloader (which I feel should've been an issue up until now?) I just want to boot into A ROM, so either I find a ROM that supports the bootloader and probably flash a recovery that does as well...
Googled: "10.4.2.15 tf201" Came upon this, tried to flash twrp2.3.1.0 for the tf201 (downloaded straight from their website)... Still in 2.8.7.2 ... Okay, what? FINE! Screw it, redownload the stock ROM that got me into this mess (here) and see if I can even flash that. Wipe all the usual but internal storage because I'm lazy and afaik it doesn't need to be wiped anyway. Error: "E:Error executing updater binary in zip" The line above it, "symlink: some symlinks failed". Popped into here, unmounted the things, reformatted /data to f2fs (this may just be a Marshmallow thing though... it was ext_4 before I reformatted) Same error... Kill me.
So the problem as it stands now. I'm cannot seem to flash a different custom recovery and whenever I try to flash a ROM I get "E:Error executing updater binary in zip" The line above it, "symlink: some symlinks failed". I give up for now... Maybe I'll try again tonight. I'm running bootloader 10.4.2.15 and TWRP KANG 2.8.7.2 (which seems to require a 14.10 bootloader). In this mess, I don't know what to fix nor how to fix it. The angles I see are fix the custom recovery or fix the error/symlink problem since the bootloader version seems to be dependent on successfully flashing ROMs.
I'm sure there's someone out that that can point to me the correct tree in this forest using their superior knowledge of the subject. Having grown up with computers, even a new error message is something to work with. But when you can't even get results (success nor detailed failure), then it becomes downright no fun.