[Q] Why do I need fastboot? - Motorola Droid RAZR

Hi All -
New to this phone obviously (RAZR MAXX). Trying to get a grasp on it, as it's way more complicated than HTC and Samsung phones. I've rooted and installed 100s of custom ROMs with those brands before. This is my 1st Motorola since the Motorola V120c if anyone is old enough to remember that dinosaur. On nTelos' network nonetheless.
I have some questions that I would like answered and I hope someone will do me the honor as the content is really sporadic.
What is Fastboot for this device, what does it do?
Safestrap & Bootstrap? What's the difference? Which is better?
Can I flash ROMS through CWM like I have in the past?
What purpose does RSD Lite serve other than to flash Fasboot files?
Why would I want to flash fastboot? (Redundant question I think)
Thanks to anyone that takes the time to help me out.

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I rooted and flash the crap out of my last phone which was Samsung. This phone seems really complex. I'm really on my toes, don't want to brick my phone. But I do want to root to get rid of the bloatware and test out some roms. The stock OS is laggy at times.

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Honestly I really like the Stock OS as is. It does seem laggy at times, but nothing worse than I've run into on HTC or Samsung phones.
HTC Sense UI was/is terrible since it's so bloated and Samsung couldn't make a GPS radio capable of locating a mall let alone provide directions to anywhere. Terrible phones.
So far this phone is awesome, really bought it for the battery life honestly.
I too would like to DELETE the garbage that Verizon has installed on this thing. In terms of bloat, Verizon takes it to a whole new level. Just wow.

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I'm in the same boat. Only had the phone for 2 days so far. I've already rooted it, but haven't gone any farther. But in some of my reading, I thought I saw that removing the bloatware can cause OTA updates to not happen. Hopefully someone can shed some more light on that issue.

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midas69 said:
I'm in the same boat. Only had the phone for 2 days so far. I've already rooted it, but haven't gone any farther. But in some of my reading, I thought I saw that removing the bloatware can cause OTA updates to not happen. Hopefully someone can shed some more light on that issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rooted mine 5 mins after activating it haha. As far a bloat, just use titanium pro and freeze it. Very simple. I froze around 35 apps and haven't had any issues associated w it. Should an ota come I should be prompted still. Just unfreeze all apps. Accept ota, reroot. If it breaks root completly then eventually it will get root again. I actually Ind, e system to run very well but honestly have no idea how just stock runs as I froze these apps instantly. I did not safe strap or bootstrap but I had previous knowledge of things I should be able to freeze and not and I figured it out myself

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I find this phone so easy. There YouTube videos on everything.
To Get bootstrap, all you need to do is press one button, this phone has to be the easiest I've been on. The only people that struggle are the desperate ones that cba to search the forums And YouTube
Ask us any Android Related Question @FeraLabsDevs on Twitter

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IdowhatIwant said:
Hi All -
What is Fastboot for this device, what does it do?
Safestrap & Bootstrap? What's the difference? Which is better?
Can I flash ROMS through CWM like I have in the past?
What purpose does RSD Lite serve other than to flash Fasboot files?
Why would I want to flash fastboot? (Redundant question I think)
Thanks to anyone that takes the time to help me out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Fastboot: its just the stock bootloader, can flash moto updates/factory reset/wipe cache. it also lets you into AP fastboot, which is where u recover stock with rsd.
- Safestrap/bootstrap: bootstrap is currently our only way of CWM on the gsm phones, i understand safestrap is pretty much like dualbooting except its not(only its not completely compatible with gsm)
- can you flash with cwm: YES!
- another purpose for rsd: i have only used it for recovering after ics, so idk.
- why flash a fastboot image?: if you mess up badly or get a bootloop you can recover back to stock
midas69 said:
I'm in the same boat. Only had the phone for 2 days so far. I've already rooted it, but haven't gone any farther. But in some of my reading, I thought I saw that removing the bloatware can cause OTA updates to not happen. Hopefully someone can shed some more light on that issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
removing bloatware will cause you to be unable to get ota's (freezing and then unfreezing with TiB before ota update works fine, as long as you don't uninstall).
but i think its enough to just flash a fastboot with rsd (fully return to stock), then you can get the ota

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Look here:
aashrey99razr.wordpress.com
Helped me out a lot!
Gesendet von meinem XT910 mit Tapatalk

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Addictd said:
removing bloatware will cause you to be unable to get ota's (freezing and then unfreezing with TiB before ota update works fine, as long as you don't uninstall).
but i think its enough to just flash a fastboot with rsd (fully return to stock), then you can get the ota
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid I deleted one app before I was aware of this. TiB shows that I made a backup of it, but doesn't give me the option to restore it. Guess I'm screwed.

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hehe, probably not
did you make a cwm backup prior to uninstalling the app(s)?
then you could just restore that
if not the titanium backup file should be on your internal sdcard in /mnt/sdcard/TitaniumBackup as a gzipped .apk with a kinda cryptic filename
you could try ungzipping it and installing with a file explorer.
or you could just backup with cwm and flash the correct fastbootimage for your phone from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1362956
usind rsd lite
and that should do it
but why not just flash a fastboot and isntall arctic 3.0.5?

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Addictd said:
hehe, probably not
did you make a cwm backup prior to uninstalling the app(s)?
then you could just restore that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course not, that would be too easy
if not the titanium backup file should be on your internal sdcard in /mnt/sdcard/TitaniumBackup as a gzipped .apk with a kinda cryptic filename
you could try ungzipping it and installing with a file explorer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a file there, but it doesn't have an .apk. There's a gzip file, inside that is a tar file. In there are imbedded data directories, but no actual files.
or you could just backup with cwm and flash the correct fastbootimage for your phone from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1362956
usind rsd lite
and that should do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might take that route when the next update is ready.
But why not just flash a fastboot and isntall arctic 3.0.5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as I said, I only got the phone Saturday, and I work weekends.
But I've got an issue hooking up to my work email account. I was unable to get it working on my Touchpad using CM7 or CM9. I originally bought a Galaxy Nexus and had no luck with that either, thus I bought the Razr. I still can't get the native apps to work, but at least Touchdown semi-works (no Activesync). So I'm actually a little gun shy about trying new things.

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Addictd said:
- Safestrap/bootstrap: bootstrap is currently our only way of CWM on the gsm phones, i understand safestrap is pretty much like dualbooting except its not(only its not completely compatible with gsm)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that mean that we can't use ROM Manager or do we just need to use Bootstrap to install CWM and than use ROM Manager like we otherwise would? I got used to that app on my old phone.
I got a GSM RAZR and I have just rooted, the root script pushed in my phone some app called Bionic Bootstrapper, which gives me options Bootstrap Recovery and Reboot Recovery, what does each of them do? I don't plan on changing ROMs for now, but I definitely need to be able to recover the system.

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It appears there isn't any real root on this device since the bootloader is locked. Samsung and HTC devices have their BLs unlocked so it's easier to make a permanent Recovery that will persist on reboot. I'm speculating of course, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Reboot recovery should reboot the phone to a ClockworkMod style "DOS" menu that allows you to preform functions like Back up, install zip files or even a new ROM.
When I did it, it rebooted a triangle and exclamation point, with an android guy on it. I was worried at that point. I hit the power button and the Recovery loaded instantly. Not sure if that's normal, but it's quite shakey compared to other devices out there.
I love this phone, so don't me wrong. It's just going to take some getting used to.

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i dont think all of rom managers functions will work :/
bootstrap recovery: installs recovery (you only have to do this once)
reboot recovery: reboots your phone into cwm
the thing is the bootloader is locked, so we cant put cwm into the stock fastboot.
there is however a little workaround made by J.Y.Daddy that starts cwm everytime you boot, but this is installed in your rom, not in the stock fastboot, so you have to reinstall it when you flash a new rom :/
onboot cwm link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1385283

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Addictd said:
i dont think all of rom managers functions will work :/
bootstrap recovery: installs recovery (you only have to do this once)
reboot recovery: reboots your phone into cwm
the thing is the bootloader is locked, so we cant put cwm into the stock fastboot.
there is however a little workaround made by J.Y.Daddy that starts cwm everytime you boot, but this is installed in your rom, not in the stock fastboot, so you have to reinstall it when you flash a new rom :/
onboot cwm link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1385283
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there some way to otherwise boot into CWM enviroment, some combination of keys or something like on other phones? Not much use for CWM if you brick your phone and can't boot into it. Also, is installed CWM not going to cause a problem for regular OTA updates and do we need to reinstall it afterwards?
From what I understood, Motorola has put some sort of recovery environment on this phone already, but I don't know what it can be used for.
And I have GSM version, bootloader is not locked, so I don't have to worry about that.

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laserburn said:
Is there some way to otherwise boot into CWM enviroment, some combination of keys or something like on other phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there's a workaround by J.Y.Darry that makes it boot into cwm on every boot.
there is no keycombo for cwm booting. but you can boot into fastboot with both volumekeys + power
where you can go into stock "recovery" and AP fastboot
you will use AP fastboot in combination with RSD lite to flash back to stock if u mess up, there are also more options in fastboot, but i have never used them.
laserburn said:
Not much use for CWM if you brick your phone and can't boot into it. Also, is installed CWM not going to cause a problem for regular OTA updates and do we need to reinstall it afterwards?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you will use cwm to flash custom roms and make backups
then if you mess up and want to recover a backup you have to
- set phone in ap fastboot mode
- connect razr to computer
- use rsd lite(or an alternative flashtool) to flash the fastbootfile for your phone
- root and install bootstrapper
- reboot into cwm and restore backup
i dont think cwm in itself will cause any problems for OTA's. but if you install a custom rom its a different story
as long as you have the bootstrapper app installed on your phone, you should be able to bootstrap recovery and boot into cwm
laserburn said:
From what I understood, Motorola has put some sort of recovery environment on this phone already, but I don't know what it can be used for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes they have put a rudimentary recovery in it. but you can only use it to apply updates from sdcard (to manually download ota and install), wipe and factory reset. (someone correct me if i'm wrong here)
laserburn said:
And I have GSM version, bootloader is not locked, so I don't have to worry about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry to be the bringer of bad news. but i have gsm too. mine is locked, so i'm pretty solid your bl is too
troollolotorola -.-

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Damn, how I miss my old phone where rooting was 1 click on the app and you could swap ROMs as easy as swapping socks.
How could I check if the bootloader is locked and what consequences does it have?

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laserburn said:
Damn, how I miss my old phone where rooting was 1 click on the app and you could swap ROMs as easy as swapping socks.
How could I check if the bootloader is locked and what consequences does it have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I agree with you. Rooting, flashing, CWM all 100 times easier on HTC and Samsung phones.
Don't get wrong though, I Love my RAZR Maxx, and the default OS is actually OK. Which is good because it seems that there is little to zero developement for the CDMA version of the droid RAZR/MAXX at the moment, if at all.
they're all over on the HTC/Sammy forums =D

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laserburn said:
Damn, how I miss my old phone where rooting was 1 click on the app and you could swap ROMs as easy as swapping socks.
How could I check if the bootloader is locked and what consequences does it have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if/when we get the BL unlocked this phone will be a dream
there is this utility made by mattlgrof u can use to check bl lock
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1486718
IdowhatIwant said:
Yeah I agree with you. Rooting, flashing, CWM all 100 times easier on HTC and Samsung phones.
Don't get wrong though, I Love my RAZR Maxx, and the default OS is actually OK. Which is good because it seems that there is little to zero developement for the CDMA version of the droid RAZR/MAXX at the moment, if at all.
they're all over on the HTC/Sammy forums =D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ain't no agruing with that, but they don't make as sweet looking and solid phones i hope motorola pull their head out of their ass soon...
Development for the cdma version is found mostly on droidrzr.com (plenty of beta/alpha ICS and some GB roms) but they are missing some parts, so we have to wait till motorola release ics be4 they will be complete.
http://www.droidrzr.com/index.php/index
for all you non-cdma users out there, u should check out the cdma to gsm patch
http://www.droidrzr.com/index.php/topic/1233-cdma-port-cm9aokp-givesomelovetogsm/