Ok, I gotta be a noob for a second. I've been married to this message board since Thanksgiving when I got my Rezound, I've read nearly every word written over the last week since we got unlock/ root..... but I am lost on one thing....
What is this boot.img file all about? There is a lot of talk about how to flash it, but I am not clear on when or why you need it. It sounds like it's part of the ROM zip file, but I'm running BAMF and it does not contain a boot.img file, and it doesn't appear that it was needed in this case since everything is working.
Can someone hook me up with a quick 101 course on this file?
Basically that file is the kernel of the OS.
The big deal with it is the fact that we can not flash the file directly as part of the normal ROM flashing procedure. This is because we do not have S=off. No ROMs for the Rezound will include a boot.img in the .zip, other devices with S=off will have the boot.img
This means that whenever we flash a ROM, the kernel is untouched by the ROM flash, we must then use fastboot to flash the kernel necessary for the ROM.
This isn't a big deal for ROMs strictly based on the stock ROM. Just flash the ROM and go, you can even switch between stock based ROMs with no problem or need to flash the kernel. (as long as you have not flashed a different kernel)
Now if the ROM is stock based but uses a kernel different than the stock kernel, you must flash the kernel it comes with after you flash the ROM.
This goes for any ROMs not stock based as well. AOSP, MIUI, and others will need to have a separate boot.img file available for download that you will need to flash in fastboot in order for the ROM to boot.
The real problem comes when you want to run a custom kernel (One that did not come with the ROM originally, or not purposely designed for the ROM you are using) This is because there are files within the ROM itself that are unique to the kernel being used. If you want to use a custom kernel then you must alter these files to be compatible with the new kernel. you then must flash those files into the ROM before you flash the new kernel.
Luckily we have a new tool that can do this for us, but the process is still a pain.
Marine6680 said:
Basically that file is the kernel of the OS.
The big deal with it is the fact that we can not flash the file directly as part of the normal ROM flashing procedure. This is because we do not have S=off. No ROMs for the Rezound will include a boot.img in the .zip, other devices with S=off will have the boot.img
This means that whenever we flash a ROM, the kernel is untouched by the ROM flash, we must then use fastboot to flash the kernel necessary for the ROM.
This isn't a big deal for ROMs strictly based on the stock ROM. Just flash the ROM and go, you can even switch between stock based ROMs with no problem or need to flash the kernel. (as long as you have not flashed a different kernel)
Now if the ROM is stock based but uses a kernel different than the stock kernel, you must flash the kernel it comes with after you flash the ROM.
This goes for any ROMs not stock based as well. AOSP, MIUI, and others will need to have a separate boot.img file available for download that you will need to flash in fastboot in order for the ROM to boot.
The real problem comes when you want to run a custom kernel (One that did not come with the ROM originally, or not purposely designed for the ROM you are using) This is because there are files within the ROM itself that are unique to the kernel being used. If you want to use a custom kernel then you must alter these files to be compatible with the new kernel. you then must flash those files into the ROM before you flash the new kernel.
Luckily we have a new tool that can do this for us, but the process is still a pain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Man This Information Is Greatly Appreciated. I Definitely Had The Right Idea In My Head And Now You've Clarified That For Me And Anyone Else Who's Wondering.
Much thanks Marine, that's exactly what I was looking for. My confusion has been alleviated... for now at least....
I currently have busines gingersense ,which by the way is sweet ,thanks Nills ,I have my stock Rom backed up w/ amon ra. Now if I want to try business ICS and then go back to gb, will I be able to reload in recovery like any other Rom or does this require special steps, I have read about other ics roms not being able to recover so easily, if so would anybody care to do a step by step. Thanks ...
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
You need to flash the stock kernel to use GB ROMs if you have used an ICS ROM (a copy is located in scotts GB based ROMs, just unzip the file and find the boot.img)
You can flash the kernel before or after you restore the backup.
I find it easier to do before, then selecting the reboot to recovery option, allowing me to then flash the new ROM or backup.
Use the cleanflash tool to flash the kernel (boot.img) if you need a simple method.
For some reason I can only run stock rooted on my Rezound. I've tried both Clockwork and Amon Ra with no success. I know how to flash ROMs, this is my 6th or 7th Android phone and my 3rd HTC Android phone.
I just relocked my bootloader and flash the stock RUU to restart from scratch and start over. Still, I can't flash ROMs. I put my ROM on the sd card, boot into recovery and wipe data/cache. Then I go into the boot loader and flash the kernel. Then, I just get stuck at the HTC screen forever. It's extremely frustrating considering I'm coming from the Galaxy Nexus where I was running an ICS ROM (not the stock one) and I thought the Rezound looked cool so I picked it up. But now I'm stuck on GB.
Am I doing something wrong or missing something? When I first unlocked the phone Saturday I tried to flash an ICS ROM but got stuck at the HTC screen. Then I flashed a different one successfully but it was buggy so I flashed a GB ROM and played with that for a little bit. After that I got stuck and couldn't flash anything without getting stuck at HTC, so I flashed a stock, rooted ROM and from then on that's all I've been able to use.
Edit: So I just tried manually flash the boot.img from the PH98IMG folder by doing fastboot flash boot boot.img and it successfully flashed yet I'm STILL stuck at the HTC screen.... The method ONLY works for the stock ROM for me.
skatingrocker17 said:
For some reason I can only run stock rooted on my Rezound. I've tried both Clockwork and Amon Ra with no success. I know how to flash ROMs, this is my 6th or 7th Android phone and my 3rd HTC Android phone.
I just relocked my bootloader and flash the stock RUU to restart from scratch and start over. Still, I can't flash ROMs. I put my ROM on the sd card, boot into recovery and wipe data/cache. Then I go into the boot loader and flash the kernel. Then, I just get stuck at the HTC screen forever. It's extremely frustrating considering I'm coming from the Galaxy Nexus where I was running an ICS ROM (not the stock one) and I thought the Rezound looked cool so I picked it up. But now I'm stuck on GB.
Am I doing something wrong or missing something? When I first unlocked the phone Saturday I tried to flash an ICS ROM but got stuck at the HTC screen. Then I flashed a different one successfully but it was buggy so I flashed a GB ROM and played with that for a little bit. After that I got stuck and couldn't flash anything without getting stuck at HTC, so I flashed a stock, rooted ROM and from then on that's all I've been able to use.
Edit: So I just tried manually flash the boot.img from the PH98IMG folder by doing fastboot flash boot boot.img and it successfully flashed yet I'm STILL stuck at the HTC screen.... The method ONLY works for the stock ROM for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kernel's are you flashing and what roms ? I know I have ran into trouble with the anthrax kernel with having to flash a stock GB kernel first . It seems for me at least going from GB to ICS or vice versus I have the best luck using stock kernels first. Once, the rom is loaded it has been easy to switch to custom kernels.
So maybe make sure for the GB roms your flashing the stock , unsecured kernel and for ICS the " leaked kernel " that everyone is using for a base.
mjh68 said:
What kernel's are you flashing and what roms ? I know I have ran into trouble with the anthrax kernel with having to flash a stock GB kernel first . It seems for me at least going from GB to ICS or vice versus I have the best luck using stock kernels first. Once, the rom is loaded it has been easy to switch to custom kernels.
So maybe make sure for the GB roms your flashing the stock , unsecured kernel and for ICS the " leaked kernel " that everyone is using for a base.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just flashing whatever kernel comes with the ROM. By that I mean the PH98IMG file that contains the boot.img. Or should I be actually flashing a kernel in recovery?
skatingrocker17 said:
I'm just flashing whatever kernel comes with the ROM. By that I mean the PH98IMG file that contains the boot.img. Or should I be actually flashing a kernel in recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your taking the boot.img out and flashing it in fastboot ? that should be fine . Otherwise , put the PH98IMG on the root of the SD card and flash the rom in recovery then reboot to the bootloader (Amon Ra) and let the PH98IMG flash the kernel then reboot phone.
Try one of the ICS ROM's that have the kernel built into the install and follow the instructions which is basically flash ROM in recovery, let it boot to bootloader, press power, vol up when asked etc.
If they offer a separate ph*.zip then it is not automatic
NilsP said:
Try one of the ICS ROM's that have the kernel built into the install and follow the instructions which is basically flash ROM in recovery, let it boot to bootloader, press power, vol up when asked etc.
If they offer a separate ph*.zip then it is not automatic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have been doing it right. I've done that many times and it hasn't worked. I'm messing around with other kernels now, I just flashed this kernel on my stock ROM and it's working, so maybe I can flash an ICS kernel on an ICS rom and everything will work. We'll see.
I installed CleanRom and the kernel it came with and it does one thing differently......... it boots to the HTC screen then after about 10 seconds it reboots back to recovery. This is driving me nuts, I can't flash ANY rom. CleanRom has never worked for me but I did manage to flash a few roms RIGHT after getting the phone on Friday.
I've only been able to successfully install BAMF Rezound Cubed 1.0.2 which is a GB ROM. I've tried to installed Ineffabilis v1.3 which is also a GB ROM but it remains stuck at the HTC screen.
I believe the only other ROM I've been able to flash successfully is Ineffabilis-Deus-v1.0.2-Odex-ICS 4.0.3 sense 3.6, which IS an ICS ROM.
skatingrocker17 said:
I installed CleanRom and the kernel it came with and it does one thing differently......... it boots to the HTC screen then after about 10 seconds it reboots back to recovery. This is driving me nuts, I can't flash ANY rom. CleanRom has never worked for me but I did manage to flash a few roms RIGHT after getting the phone on Friday.
I've only been able to successfully install BAMF Rezound Cubed 1.0.2 which is a GB ROM. I've tried to installed Ineffabilis v1.3 which is also a GB ROM but it remains stuck at the HTC screen.
I believe the only other ROM I've been able to flash successfully is Ineffabilis-Deus-v1.0.2-Odex-ICS 4.0.3 sense 3.6, which IS an ICS ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think BAMF Cubed changes/upgrades your mainver. You should get a "mainver is older" error when flashing the ph98. IMG. Is it possible that you got the error but didn't see it-looking away at the time? If so, the easiest way around the mainver issue -imo- is scott's cleanflash tool.
There are many threads about mainver issues. It may be worth checking.
Edit- I re-read the thread, I may be wrong, dunno.
CleanRom will reboot to fastboot after flashing, press power and wait a second or two to install the kernel. This won't work if you DO have the newer mainver.
Hope this was helpful.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
skatingrocker17 said:
I installed CleanRom and the kernel it came with and it does one thing differently......... it boots to the HTC screen then after about 10 seconds it reboots back to recovery. This is driving me nuts, I can't flash ANY rom. CleanRom has never worked for me but I did manage to flash a few roms RIGHT after getting the phone on Friday.
I've only been able to successfully install BAMF Rezound Cubed 1.0.2 which is a GB ROM. I've tried to installed Ineffabilis v1.3 which is also a GB ROM but it remains stuck at the HTC screen.
I believe the only other ROM I've been able to flash successfully is Ineffabilis-Deus-v1.0.2-Odex-ICS 4.0.3 sense 3.6, which IS an ICS ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as Ineffabilis GB, I haven't updated to v1.3 but I can tell you for v1.0 it stays on the white HTC screen for quite a while before booting up. Maybe you didn't wait long enough?
feralicious said:
As far as Ineffabilis GB, I haven't updated to v1.3 but I can tell you for v1.0 it stays on the white HTC screen for quite a while before booting up. Maybe you didn't wait long enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does CleanROM. First boot is a lesson in patience.
I put my ROM on the sd card, boot into recovery and wipe data/cache. Then I go into the boot loader and flash the kernel. Then, I just get stuck at the HTC screen forever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you're missing the part where you, you know, actually flash the ROM. The kernel zip and the ROM zip are separate; the kernel (normally found in PH98IMG.zip) is flashed in hboot/fastboot, the ROM (where the zip is called whatever) from recovery. It doesn't matter which order you flash them, but if you flash an ICS kernel and you try to boot before flashing the ICS ROM, for example, you'll get stuck on that white HTC screen when trying to boot.
Many ROMs have a script built in that when you flash the ROM in recovery it will create a PH98IMG.zip and automatically reboot you to the bootloader so you can flash the kernel. It is done this way because if you put the PH98IMG.zip on your sdcard and flash that first you'll have trouble getting back into recovery to flash the ROM after. The hboot won't let you select recovery with that file on the sdcard (obviously, reboot recovery from the OS/ADB still works, but if you reboot and flash the kernel first, you have no way into recovery without removing the sd card). I usually only copy the ROM to my sdcard (not the kernel) to prevent getting locked out of recovery. Go into recovery, wipe data/cache/dalvik, install zip from SD, select the ROM (not the PH98IMG.zip kernel), then reboot into the bootloader and manually fastboot flash boot boot.img. Obviously you don't have to do it that way, that's just my usual method.
Hope this helps somewhat.
feralicious said:
As far as Ineffabilis GB, I haven't updated to v1.3 but I can tell you for v1.0 it stays on the white HTC screen for quite a while before booting up. Maybe you didn't wait long enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I waited like 5 minutes, I know the initial boot process usually takes longer but it usually doesn't sit at the HTC screen for a long period of time, it just seems to hang on the boot animation but I can't even make it that far.
MrSmith317 said:
So does CleanROM. First boot is a lesson in patience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All CleanRom does is sit at the HTC screen for about 5 or 6 seconds, then it restarts into recovery on it's own. Both the ICS and GB CleanRoms do this.
skourg3 said:
It sounds like you're missing the part where you, you know, actually flash the ROM. The kernel zip and the ROM zip are separate; the kernel (normally found in PH98IMG.zip) is flashed in hboot/fastboot, the ROM (where the zip is called whatever) from recovery. It doesn't matter which order you flash them, but if you flash an ICS kernel and you try to boot before flashing the ICS ROM, for example, you'll get stuck on that white HTC screen when trying to boot.
Many ROMs have a script built in that when you flash the ROM in recovery it will create a PH98IMG.zip and automatically reboot you to the bootloader so you can flash the kernel. It is done this way because if you put the PH98IMG.zip on your sdcard and flash that first you'll have trouble getting back into recovery to flash the ROM after. The hboot won't let you select recovery with that file on the sdcard (obviously, reboot recovery from the OS/ADB still works, but if you reboot and flash the kernel first, you have no way into recovery without removing the sd card). I usually only copy the ROM to my sdcard (not the kernel) to prevent getting locked out of recovery. Go into recovery, wipe data/cache/dalvik, install zip from SD, select the ROM (not the PH98IMG.zip kernel), then reboot into the bootloader and manually fastboot flash boot boot.img. Obviously you don't have to do it that way, that's just my usual method.
Hope this helps somewhat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am flashing the ROM. Most roms just put the PH98IMG then automatically take you to the bootloader to flash the kernal. I've done that, probably 10 times. Then I manually flash the kernel when required too.
Like I said, this is my 7th Android phone, 3rd of which being HTC. I've been flashing ROMs since December of 2009 when the original Droid was rooted. I'm not new to this, that's why I don't understand why I'm having such a difficult time.
Hello all, I was running Dual boot with stock sammy as primary and cm as secondary. Tried to reboot into primary and got the cm boot ani loop. Wiped to get primary to boot which it does but I now have 2 installs of CM. I must have made a mistake when updating CM and flashed it to the primary. Now I want to get stock sammy back as primary or secondary and want to know what the easiest way to do this would be. I have my stock rom from samfirmware but want to know how to flash the rom part only using either mobile odin or cwm. I have searched and could easily flash whole new rom in odin PC or mobile and start again but I would like to avoid this if possible. If I am in my primary rom and choose package in mobile odin can I just flash rom only? would that be system? and would this flash to the primary only? or can I get hold of a package to flash via CWM to the primary rom.
This could have all been avoided by KEEPING REGULAR BACKUPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All help is appreciated and big thanks to all those involved in dev for gt i9300
Ok so flashed to system from samfirmware download using odin mobile. It flashed OK but primary still boots into cm 10.1. FAIL. I am thinking I need a cwm flashable stock rom so I can flash it in siyahs dual boot recovery. Any ideas? Thinking it may be easier to flash stock rom, root, kernel, second rom all over again.
Would the following work as a way to try out, for example Cyanogenmod 10. I am currently running a 4.1.2 install (pretty much stock just rooted/cwm via Philz as per the tutorial). I have a complete backup made via Philz recovery of this rom along with the kernel (which I believe is still stock from that) and efs.
1) Install a custom kernel (eg. dorimanx 9.x?) via the Philz recovery.
2) Install cm-10.2-20140102-NIGHTLY-i9100.zip.
3) To return to the original rom, reflash the original kernel (with whatever CWM is included in dorimanx) - then reflash the backed up rom via the same recovery?
I hope this is clear enough a question.
I believe you have to flash a stock rom through Odin, to return to complete stock. Just flashing a stock kernel isn't enough, and is surely not going to work (so don't do it).There are also tutorials how to remove the yellow triangle afterwards.
Please correct me if I'm wrong
Donnie Sins said:
I believe you have to flash a stock rom through Odin, to return to complete stock. Just flashing a stock kernel isn't enough, and is surely not going to work (so don't do it).There are also tutorials how to remove the yellow triangle afterwards.
Please correct me if I'm wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the part I'm most unsure of. Ideally I'm trying to figure out the process that lets me go from CM10.2 (and whatever recovery) to the point I am running the backed up rom rooted with PhilZ-cwm6-XWLSW-XEU-5.06.1-signed.zip again. Very confused on how to do so.
TopherBrink said:
This is the part I'm most unsure of. Ideally I'm trying to figure out the process that lets me go from CM10.2 (and whatever recovery) to the point I am running the backed up rom rooted with PhilZ-cwm6-XWLSW-XEU-5.06.1-signed.zip again. Very confused on how to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Topher,
If you have rooted and cwm via philz, you already have a modified kernel installed. I believe the philz-cwm6 should be as close to stock kernel with the CWM incorporated. You don't need to add another kernel, because it will be replaced when you install the custom ROM. You should just be able to flash the cm10.2 via philz or via odin. You can then flash the dormanix kernel if you want - can't comment on that kernel - or if it has cwm included.
I would also suggest that you consider backing up you /efs folder (one with you imei information etc) prior to flashing any custom roms. People have been using hcKtool to do the backups and also an actual copy as well.
Depending on the custom rom, you may have connection problems with your network. So you may want to consider keeping a copy of your modem.bin file from your stock rom handy in case you need to flash onto the custom rom.
If you want to go back to stock, then you just need to flash the stock rom - you can check sammobile website for your stock rom or use the backup that you made.
I should point out that I have yet to do any of the above - I gathered this from reading the forums. Some more experienced forum users can add corrections. I rooted my phone a couple of months ago and now considering installing custom rom in the next couple of months.
Thanks.
if u flash a custom rom (cm10.2 for example), it already included kernel as well. so if u want to try out other custom kernel, i can flash it after you are done flashing a custom rom but make sure it is compatible with your android version. (u cant use custom kernel that not support android 4.3 with a custom rom running android 4.3)