Hi.
I'm a bit of a noob to Android, and as such, I'm a bit lost with some of the terminology.
I know I can find most of the answers I'm looking for on the forum, but trawling posts can lead to confusion.
I thought it would be good to have a thread discussing the terminology for these devices for noobs such as myself to use as a quick reference guide.
I've been with HTC, and Winmob for a number of years, but I will soon be getting a Flyer, so time to learn.
Questions:
1 What is S-off/S-on, and what does it do?
2 What is Rooting/Perma-Rooting, the differences, and why are they needed?
3 What is Clockworkmod?
4 Any other terminology that needs an explanation for an Android noob.
If somebody would like to create a thread that can be stickied, and post a link here, I think that would be the best route to take.
Thanks.
Steve.
stabloid said:
Questions:
1 What is S-off/S-on, and what does it do?
2 What is Rooting/Perma-Rooting, the differences, and why are they needed?
3 What is Clockworkmod?
4 Any other terminology that needs an explanation for an Android noob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. S-off/on are the terms used to tell if the security feature that prevents you from rooting is on or off. This is found under your bootloader, or hboot. To check and see if your device is s-off or s-on simply turn the device off, hold down the vol - button and turn the device back on while holding it. That will bring up your bootloader (hboot) and will show you what version it is as well as if your device has security on or off.
2. Rooting/Perma-Rooting are basically the same thing. Perma just stands for permanent. Rooting is gaining SuperUser (Admin) permissions for your device.
3. ClockWorkMod is a custom recovery tool that replaces the stock recovery tool in your bootloader. It allows you to flash(install) new roms.
4. A rom is basically your operating syatem. It is what you interact with when you power the device on.
If I missed anything or if I got something wrong someone feel free to add to it or correct me.
Sent from my HTC EVO View. 7" of s-off 4g Fury.
I think you covered most of the stuff that trips up people coming from WinMo to Android.
Two other little things I have come across:
GoldCard = Special SD card that lets you flash ROMs to locked phones (not rooted / S-ON)
De-odex = Apk files have respective odexes that devs use to supposedly save space. Deodexing means you convert it back to a .dex file and put it back inside the apk. This allows you to easily replace files (not having to worry about odexes), but the main point was to deodex services.jar so that you can change all text to different colors (such as the clock color to white) and to deodex services.jar, you need to deodex everything.
I was one step away from being a ROM cooker on WinMo and felt like a total idiot when I switched to Android. Had to learn everything all over again...but that's the fun, right?
StormMcCloud said:
1. S-off/on are the terms used to tell if the security feature that prevents you from rooting is on or off. This is found under your bootloader, or hboot. To check and see if your device is s-off or s-on simply turn the device off, hold down the vol - button and turn the device back on while holding it. That will bring up your bootloader (hboot) and will show you what version it is as well as if your device has security on or off.
2. Rooting/Perma-Rooting are basically the same thing. Perma just stands for permanent. Rooting is gaining SuperUser (Admin) permissions for your device.
3. ClockWorkMod is a custom recovery tool that replaces the stock recovery tool in your bootloader. It allows you to flash(install) new roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just expanding a bit, as I understand the terms:
1. With S-On, there is a security check on the signature of a ROM, before it is allowed to be flashed. It also protects the NAND flash memory, where the ROM is stored. Basically, with S-Off, you can flash just about any ROM meant for the device, including user-made "custom" ROMs. With S-Off, you can only flash "official" ROMs.
While related to root, they are not always co-dependent. On some devices, its possible to root, but still have S-On. You have SuperUser access (at least most things), but you can't flash custom ROMs. With root plus S-Off, you have access to just about everything.
HTC is constantly changing their security, so for the Flyer, it seems that S-Off was instrumental in achieving permanent root.
2) Rooting an Android device gives you "root" or "super user" access to system files, which are normally protected. There are a variety of things this allows you to do. You can change system fonts, and make other theme customizations. You may be able to overclock the CPU (depending on the device and kernal) or make other performance enhancements. You can remove system apps (like bloatware) that you don't need. Some apps require root to work, such as Titanium Backup and Clockworkmod for creating backups of app data or your entire ROM.
One thing to remember, is that the system files are normally protected for a reason. Don't modify or change anything, unless you have a good understanding what you are doing, otherwise you can really mess up your device.
The distinction between rooting (or perma-root) and temp rooting is made, due to the increased security HTC has applied to the NAND flash memory on their more recent devices. Basically the NAND protection means that a temp root will be wiped out when the device is rebooted. But some root functions can still be accessed during the temp root. But it also means you have to temp root every time you want super user access (if the phone was restarted since your last temp root).
Once the NAND protection on the Flyer was bypassed, it made a perm root possible. But on other devices, I know some users actually prefer temp root over perm root. You still have access to super user privileges while temp rooted. But if something goes wrong with your phone, its less risky, as a reboot will wipe any trace of the temp root (technically, rooting voids HTC's warranty . . . but its often possible to unroot for warranty purposes).
3. Clockworkmod will also make a full backup of your entire ROM (including user data) , so you can return to it any time. Handy if you have some catastrophic failure, or just want to switch back to the current ROM.
I really appreciate this thread. As a former webOS user, I was at a loss for all of the terminology when I got here. I've since figured it out, but hearing it in plain terms, as well as what they actually do for you, really is nice. Thanks for answering the questions rather than just saying search.
~Drew
bdgdl08 said:
I really appreciate this thread. As a former webOS user, I was at a loss for all of the terminology when I got here. I've since figured it out, but hearing it in plain terms, as well as what they actually do for you, really is nice. Thanks for answering the questions rather than just saying search.
~Drew
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flyer/View owners are nicer then most xda posters, lol. Especially when the person asking the question is smart enough to do it in the correct section.
Sent from my HTC EVO View. 7" of s-off 4g Fury.
bdgdl08 said:
I really appreciate this thread. As a former webOS user, I was at a loss for all of the terminology when I got here. I've since figured it out, but hearing it in plain terms, as well as what they actually do for you, really is nice. Thanks for answering the questions rather than just saying search.
~Drew
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We all had to start somewhere, right? Be sure to click the "Thanks" button for the posts you found helpful!
redpoint73 said:
We all had to start somewhere, right? Be sure to click the "Thanks" button for the posts you found helpful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah you definitely went more in depth then I did. I just jotted down quick basics of each while I was getting ready for work. Yours are definitely more helpful.
Sent from my HTC EVO View. 7" of s-off 4g Fury.
There's a pretty expansive dictionary at Android Central: http://www.androidcentral.com/dictionary
Hope it helps, and welcome!
Thank You!
HUGE thanks to all who posted.
I'm starting to understand a bit more now.
This area defo has more of the feel XDA Devs had when I first joined.
The HD2 section is just FLAME "SEARCH" FLAME "SEARCH" FLAME! lol.
I'll probably have loads more questions soon, as we're looking at getting Flyers for work, and I'm gonna need to customize them a fair bit.
At least now I know I can ask semi-stupid questions here, or not have to read every single post in the Flyer section, without getting flamed/shunned completely.
Keep up the good work guys.
It really is appreciated.
Hi everyone I'm pretty new to the whole Android world, I've read a lot of stuff through this forum and in general through the internet but I haven't got to the point of really understanding this clear.
I performed the rooting and sim unlocking following the guide on this forum, so basically I had to install the ClockworkMod Recovery.
I read that having installed a custom kernel (or rom, not clear the difference) or a custom recovery (or bootloader, like CWM in this case) voids the warranty.
I also read that is pretty simple to restore the stock kernel/firmware by simply flashing it on with Odin, but what about the Recovery?
I found this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1286432&highlight=stock+bootloader my questions are:
1. Is having the phone flashed with stock kernel (but a different than the original recovery, e.g. CWM) enough to bring the phone back in warranty conditions?
2. flashing the stock unrooted kernel following the above thread will restore also the original android recovery console?
3 if not is there a way of getting rid of CWM and restoring the original android recovery? (I read "just flash it with odin like you did with CWM, but where do I find the package (image) to flash?)
4 the stock kernel in the post seems to me "not official" in the sense that has been ripped from a user, is there any chance that we (SGHI777) will get something more official like the international kernels (GTI9001) that you can find on samfirmware?
5 this is extra, if I have a rooted GS2 (following the forum procedure so CWM+original kernel) will I be able to install official update through Kies? (I'm asking cause the unlock security flaw bugs me a lot...)
Thank you very much to everyone that will answer.
frabass said:
Hi everyone I'm pretty new to the whole Android world, I've read a lot of stuff through this forum and in general through the internet but I haven't got to the point of really understanding this clear.
I performed the rooting and sim unlocking following the guide on this forum, so basically I had to install the ClockworkMod Recovery.
I read that having installed a custom kernel (or rom, not clear the difference) or a custom recovery (or bootloader, like CWM in this case) voids the warranty.
I also read that is pretty simple to restore the stock kernel/firmware by simply flashing it on with Odin, but what about the Recovery?
I found this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1286432&highlight=stock+bootloader my questions are:
1. Is having the phone flashed with stock kernel (but a different than the original recovery, e.g. CWM) enough to bring the phone back in warranty conditions?
2. flashing the stock unrooted kernel following the above thread will restore also the original android recovery console?
3 if not is there a way of getting rid of CWM and restoring the original android recovery? (I read "just flash it with odin like you did with CWM, but where do I find the package (image) to flash?)
4 the stock kernel in the post seems to me "not official" in the sense that has been ripped from a user, is there any chance that we (SGHI777) will get something more official like the international kernels (GTI9001) that you can find on samfirmware?
5 this is extra, if I have a rooted GS2 (following the forum procedure so CWM+original kernel) will I be able to install official update through Kies? (I'm asking cause the unlock security flaw bugs me a lot...)
Thank you very much to everyone that will answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On nearly all Samsung phones, recovery is a part of the kernel. Flash a new kernel, you've flashed a new recovery.
The stock kernel zImage is as official as it gets - nothing is more official than what was actually flashed into the device by the manufacturer and sold on launch day. The additional evidence that it's official is that it passes the bootloader signing checks, eliminating the "custom kernel" warning screen.
We won't see a samfirmware release until AT&T releases an update.
Stock rooted shouldn't affect OTA updates, however sometimes things you do WITH root (such as debloating) will interfere with OTAs.
Once an OTA update becomes available, expect its fixes to be integrated into ROM releases fairly soon.
FYI there are three components you should know about. Kernel>ROM>Modem
The kernel It's the core/kernel of an operating system. It's main functions are to interact with the hardware a.k.a. Device Drivers, to manage resources (things like memory management and processor time sharing a.k.a. multi-tasking), service interrupt requests, network services and the like. It also provides a System Call Interface (API) to the user space (apps running on the machine) so the apps can use system resources.
Now the why so many part... First of all in general there are MANY options available when compiling (building) the kernel. Things like CPU schedulers, file system support, system type support, etc. etc. etc. So there are many different ways to configure the kernel and that gives many options to "test" and see which might work better or not. Some of them are dead giveaways like compiling the kernel for MIPS and trying to run it on the SGS2 won't work but some are "tweaks" that may help a little or a lot, like CPU management options.
Second part of the why so many is the code. Again as mentioned above things like changing code to make the colors of the display more or less sharp (display device driver), make the file system faster (voodoo lag fix) or overclocking the processor, and different "modem" tweaks are all "enhancements" that people have made to the original Linux kernel source. So those things "creep" into existence over time, since there are many people working on them, and you see different versions of the Kernel from that as well.
Anyone that plays music can relate to the options available in that there are only 12 notes on a guitar fret board but millions (or more) ways to put them together to play music. There are certain things that have to be present in the Kernel (notes) but writing code to enhance them and/or combining options at compile time is much broader (music).
The ROM. ROM is actually Random Access Memory and we flash an image to the "ROM" (which it really isn't but I'll leave that one alone). The "ROM" in this case is the operating system (a version of embedded Linux), which is the basic software needed to run and admin the phone, things like the Kernel, bootloader, device drivers, and file system plus any user apps like the phone dialer, launcher, etc. that are included in the ROM. As you can imagine the possibilities of customization are almost endless when it comes to the ROM. Different kernels, different drivers, different apps and many combinations of those.
The modem is actually part of the kernel. It's the device driver for the phone hardware. Being that it's part of the kernel it "works with" other code that's elsewhere in the kernel and ROM that is "tweaked" for a particular phone in this case. So when you see "use an i777 modem with an i777 kernel" it's because the code in the modem is written to work with the other code in the kernel. It doesn't necessarily mean it will brick the phone and/or not work but it quite often means it won't work the best if it's not "matched".
Actually the modem is NOT part of the kernel. The modem firmware runs on an entirely separate processor (not one of the main application cores.) - the RIL (Radio Interface Layer - part of the ROM) bootloads that processor by sending the modem firmware to it via a serial port when the system boots.
The baseband processor is almost never listed in a phone's specs because it's a "hidden" part of the system. Very often a device like ours will have more CPU cores than just the advertised application processor cores. For example, early Qualcomm MSM7000-series chips had two processors, one for applications and one for radio. Some people labeled these chips as "dual core" even when they really weren't - the two CPUs were completely different.
Similarly, we have two ARM Cortex-A9 cores acting as applications processors, an unknown ARM core doing radio work (much simpler, slower, and power-efficient than the two A9s), and possibly another application-specific ARM core hidden in the GPS chipset. Maybe more.
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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Click to collapse
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)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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 all,
If you're like me, you also feel that the GPE version of the HTC One is a better Nexus than the Nexus 5 - but you're on T-Mobile, and the ATT/original GPE versions are no bueno since no one has figured out a way to unlock that AWS band. I'm aware that there are a variety of GPE conversion guides out there, but I didn't find one dealing with our particular device on 1.55 hboot. Not that anything is drastically different, but I was thinking this 30,000 foot overview might help other novices out there like me who might have trouble piecing everything together. I managed to do this last night despite having very little experience with Android modding. I'm not going to do a detailed step-by-step because there are far better guides detailing what each of these steps requires. I just wanted to provide a roadmap or place to start. I give some credit to @funks, because his post here helped me figure out what I was doing. I relied on various other guides and of course had to get the RUU from somewhere. Thanks also to the rumrunner team of course.
***This is for informational purposes only; I take no responsibility for anything that might happen to your device. I'm only posting what worked with mine, and before attempting to do any of this you should read up on some of the basics having to do with Android flashing***
Prerequisites (I did this entirely with Windows 7)
HTC Sync installed -> Uninstalled
ADB/Fastboot
Settings: USB Debugging enabled/security lock disabled/app verification off/allow unknown sources/fast boot disabled
Windows: No antiviruses/firewall completely disabled.
Step 1 - Unlock Bootloader
I pretty much used HTC Dev for this. It was fairly straightforward. Used fastboot.
Step 2 - Install Custom Recovery
I flashed TWRP 2.6.3.3, but I recommend using 2.6.3.0 if you're going to change the MID.
Step 3 - Root
You have to do this via the 'TWRP' method in the SuperSU installer. Basically you push SuperSU to your phone and install it from TWRP. Make sure supersu is set to automatically grant root requests.
Step 4 - S-OFF*
Download rumrunner 0.5 Universal, follow their instructions, and let it go to work. If you did the above correctly, you should be S-OFF when it's done.
From this point forward, I'd recommend looking at this thread here.
Step 5 - Change MID (may not be necessary)
I have read conflicting posts over whether it's necessary to go PN07130 -> PN07120 in order to get a fully stock GPE experience. The 4.4.2 OTA appeared to include our MID in its text file, so it seems like the answer is probably no (see this post here). I did it anyways because it's easy. There are a variety of relatively low-risk ways to do this; I used Aroma to do it, but I had to flash TWRP 2.6.3.0 first because it wouldn't work in 2.6.3.3. YMMV. Part of the reason I changed my MID is I used an older RUU that didn't support PN07130 (I wanted to see my device get/apply OTAs).
Step 6 - Change CID
You'll use fastboot to do change your CID to GOOGL001
Step 7 - Flash RUU
If you'd like, you can even go pre-rooted - see the link above step 5.
...and that was it. Everything worked like a charm. I used a 4.2.2 RUU, so my phone applied 3 updates, and I'm now running 4.4.2 with no issues at all. I will update this thread if anything comes up. I'm also interested in whether the stock GPE baseband will properly utlize the UMTS AWS band in our T-Mobile phones that it typically does not have access to. I will likely flash the T-Mobile radio at some point, and will update this thread accordingly. I hope this helps someone.
I also installed the Google Experience Launcher because I think it's pretty awesome [5 home screens was always massive overkill for me].
*If you have trouble getting rumrunner to work in Windows (particularly some kind of package download issue), see @funks post here. S/he had to use Linux to get it to work. I had no issues with W7.
Status
850csi said:
Hello all,
If you're like me, you also feel that the GPE version of the HTC One is a better Nexus than the Nexus 5 - but you're on T-Mobile, and the ATT/original GPE versions are no bueno since no one has figured out a way to unlock that AWS band. I'm aware that there are a variety of GPE conversion guides out there, but I didn't find one dealing with our particular device on 1.55 hboot. Not that anything is drastically different, but I was thinking this 30,000 foot overview might help other novices out there like me who might have trouble piecing everything together. I managed to do this last night despite having very little experience with Android modding. I'm not going to do a detailed step-by-step because there are far better guides detailing what each of these steps requires. I just wanted to provide a roadmap or place to start. I give some credit to @funks, because his post here helped me figure out what I was doing. I relied on various other guides and of course had to get the RUU from somewhere. Thanks also to the rumrunner team of course.
***This is for informational purposes only; I take no responsibility for anything that might happen to your device. I'm only posting what worked with mine, and before attempting to do any of this you should read up on some of the basics having to do with Android flashing***
Prerequisites (I did this entirely with Windows 7)
HTC Sync installed -> Uninstalled
ADB/Fastboot
Settings: USB Debugging enabled/security lock disabled/app verification off/allow unknown sources/fast boot disabled
Windows: No antiviruses/firewall completely disabled.
Step 1 - Unlock Bootloader
I pretty much used HTC Dev for this. It was fairly straightforward. Used fastboot.
Step 2 - Install Custom Recovery
I flashed TWRP 2.6.3.3, but I recommend using 2.6.3.0 if you're going to change the MID.
Step 3 - Root
You have to do this via the 'TWRP' method in the SuperSU installer. Basically you push SuperSU to your phone and install it from TWRP. Make sure supersu is set to automatically grant root requests.
Step 4 - S-OFF*
Download rumrunner 0.5 Universal, follow their instructions, and let it go to work. If you did the above correctly, you should be S-OFF when it's done.
From this point forward, I'd recommend looking at this thread here.
Step 5 - Change MID (may not be necessary)
I have read conflicting posts over whether it's necessary to go PN07130 -> PN07120 in order to get a fully stock GPE experience. The 4.4.2 OTA appeared to include our MID in its text file, so it seems like the answer is probably no (see this post here). I did it anyways because it's easy. There are a variety of relatively low-risk ways to do this; I used Aroma to do it, but I had to flash TWRP 2.6.3.0 first because it wouldn't work in 2.6.3.3. YMMV. Part of the reason I changed my MID is I used an older RUU that didn't support PN07130 (I wanted to see my device get/apply OTAs).
Step 6 - Change CID
You'll use fastboot to do change your CID to GOOGL001
Step 7 - Flash RUU
If you'd like, you can even go pre-rooted - see the link above step 5.
...and that was it. Everything worked like a charm. I used a 4.2.2 RUU, so my phone applied 3 updates, and I'm now running 4.4.2 with no issues at all. I will update this thread if anything comes up. I'm also interested in whether the stock GPE baseband will properly utlize the UMTS AWS band in our T-Mobile phones that it typically does not have access to. I will likely flash the T-Mobile radio at some point, and will update this thread accordingly. I hope this helps someone.
I also installed the Google Experience Launcher because I think it's pretty awesome [5 home screens was always massive overkill for me].
*If you have trouble getting rumrunner to work in Windows (particularly some kind of package download issue), see @funks post here. S/he had to use Linux to get it to work. I had no issues with W7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So how are things coming along? Did you flash the T-mobile Radio? Have you run into any issues?
I did end up flashing the T-Mobile radio (and ended up changing my MID back to PN07130). I had to install a custom recovery to do it. Everything works perfectly. I didn't stick with the GPE radio long enough to really assess the differences on T-Mo hardware. Might try it at some point. I will say that I feel my coverage on the whole is somewhat better than it was when I was using an ATT One and I see less EDGE (not that surprising). I definitely get 3G from time to time, which I never got on the ATT version. Not sure if that's due to the baseband, or if it's because the towers that haven't been refarmed are the only ones running 3G as opposed to H+. Most of the time I'm on LTE regardless.
I will say that I get issues time to time with streaming radio cutting out when the phone goes from H to LTE (I *think*). But there are literally a dozen possible reasons for that.
I've been getting an itch to try out both the Moto X and the Nexus 5 (I like switching phones often), but I don't think I'm going to - the M7 is my favorite phone ever. I hope they release a GPE version of the M8, whenever it comes along.
Hi, I am new here, but have recently gotten into rooting phones etc, but my knowledge base is still Novice at best. I have an AT&T Optimus G that was rooted and had CWM, Free G and Kitkat. Long story short, a co-worker who claimed to know what they were doing has reset my phone, wiped my external sd card and totally factory reset my phone. When I turn it on now ClockworkMod Recovery comes on, but all of my back ups etc have been wiped. I am assuming that it is now just a machine with no info on it. What do I do now? I'm sure that the answer to this will be very involved so if anyone could possibly suggest a thread to read or somewhere to start I would greatly appreciate it. I'm sorry for the inconvenience guys...
The google account that this was linked to is my current one so no issues with reset protection once it gets running or what not. Any info I can provide on my end if need be feel free to let me know. I know one of the specifics to the device was: geefhd???
Here is the current update: Android 4.4.2 KitKat
The details
Release date: September 29, 2015
Android version: 4.4.2
Baseband version: APQ8064/MDM9x15M
Kernel version: 3.4.0
Build number: KOT49I.E98020i
File size: 9.47MB
Software version: E98020i
EMT803 said:
Hi, I am new here, but have recently gotten into rooting phones etc, but my knowledge base is still Novice at best. I have an AT&T Optimus G that was rooted and had CWM, Free G and Kitkat. Long story short, a co-worker who claimed to know what they were doing has reset my phone, wiped my external sd card and totally factory reset my phone. When I turn it on now ClockworkMod Recovery comes on, but all of my back ups etc have been wiped. I am assuming that it is now just a machine with no info on it. What do I do now? I'm sure that the answer to this will be very involved so if anyone could possibly suggest a thread to read or somewhere to start I would greatly appreciate it. I'm sorry for the inconvenience guys...
The google account that this was linked to is my current one so no issues with reset protection once it gets running or what not. Any info I can provide on my end if need be feel free to let me know. I know one of the specifics to the device was: geefhd???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since your phone has been wiped, you are going to have to re-install your ROM either via LGNPST, which will return your phone to stock, or you will need to install your favorite custom ROM via adb sideload.
If going back to stock via LGNPST refer to FAQ Number 3 here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2006946
If installing custom rom via ADB Sideload refer here http://www.droidviews.com/sideload-roms-mods-using-adb-sideload/
Kilogrm said:
Since your phone has been wiped, you are going to have to re-install your ROM either via LGNPST, which will return your phone to stock, or you will need to install your favorite custom ROM via adb sideload.
If going back to stock via LGNPST refer to FAQ Number 3 here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2006946
If installing custom rom via ADB Sideload refer here http://www.droidviews.com/sideload-roms-mods-using-adb-sideload/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to fix the problem late the night of this post, but I REALLY DO APPRECIATE the advice.
I had to reinstall the firmware ultimately. I did learn the commands and process for the sideload, so that was cool, and the program zips did show as downloading from 0-100% and attempted to install, but the 4g part of "this device is geef4g" was an error that I was unable to surmount. I attempted to install the madmack version of TWRP to no avail. I am lucky I figured out the tool ONLY by accidentally stumbling over the advice referencing turning back the clock on the pc.
Moving Forward...
Ok... Had to at least stop in and say thank you for the response and post the conclusion to the handful of people that stopped and looked at the thread and at the least not be one of the members that pops on to fix their device and lurks around until they need help to post again. I wouldn't be back to stock with my Optimus if others did that. I do apologize that I was able to find onsite and unable to do it at the time of the threads origin. I wont re-post links, FlashTool the fix was figuring out the right order to go in with the drivers and eventually flashing the stock AT&T firmware with the LG FlashTool. I kept on getting an error when placing the dll file and the tot in to the Tool and it was total mental error on my part when "organizing" everything beforehand. It did require me to wipe my pc back down to Windows 8.1 simply because this is all new to me and I had files EVERYWHERE from rooting every thing I can get my hands on recently. I'm having fun, but this Optimus is my heart for some reason. Originally I had her rooted with Towelroot (I believe), it could of been the LG one click flash thing that I grabbed from here, and I remember Freegee and KitKat recovery being part of the process, but I attempted to install TWRP (personal preference for me from messing with a Kindle Fire for weeks installing CM) but during reboot always went back to CWM 6.0.2.1 (or similiar). Ultimately CM was the goal on this device but was never possible, for me at least, due to my device being "geef4g" yada yada. I think I have read the fix for this in another post, so I will re study up on all that again if need by, but I wanted to pose this question simply because the "Mystique" of successfully installing CM has passed, and while I love the interface and style of that ROM, I kinda liked AndroidArea51 Rom and another ROM whose name escapes me at the moment that I put on some OLD LG phones that I practiced on in the beginning. So this is my goal. I would love it if one or two of you guys would take the time to look at what I want to accomplish and point me in the right direction as far as the procedure and order I should install these modifications to this device and if you have preferences I would love to hear them. I will look up the threads on how to do everything, so I'm not asking for an easy way out of hitting the search box, but I am WAY behind you guys as far as skill set and knowledge base is concerned and trial and error is not the method I wanted to use on this particular machine. If I need to begin a new thread or if a MOD wants/requires me to rename this thread or move it I understand. Stand by for what my goal is ultimately......
OBJECTIVE
AT&T Optimus Pro G (will HOPEFULLY be accepted by StraightTalk and used on their network or whatnot)
I ran the IMEI through their BYOD tool and it was accepted initially a week or so ago while "rooted", so I am assuming that since it is mine from another network they wont sweat me. HOWEVER, if they are going to send any code or require me to allow them modifications during the activation process that is going to in anyway alter my device down to the castrated ST standard they sell, I will have to weigh finances and options again. I realize that Tethering will be frowned upon, traceable, and grounds for termination in either case, but the subject of Mobile Hotspots is what brought me to you guys here in the first place. It irks me.
In my original "build" of this phone I attempted to dabble in "Over-Clocking" with Kernel Booster and Kernel Auditor. I didn't have a f******* clue what any of that $hiT meant. If the app's pretty much optimized it I did so for SPEED rather than battery. I don't know why, I want this thing to FLY in a noticeable fashion for performance and so that I can whip it out and show my family and friends just what the hell it is that I am accomplishing.
1. Optimize it for speed, but I would like the eventual permanent ROM to be stable PERIOD. Whether I customize the Kernel and then place the ROM, or build the ROM and then mess with the Kernel is a hurdle that I don't understand how to approach really, so when you guys talk about it I just think it sounds cool. I am assuming that "Xposed" is something I should maybe begin studying? Build props through ES File Explorer has peaked my interest as well. Long story short, if CM is what you guys suggest I install, I dont want to Optimize the hell out of the stock only to have all of it be replaced when the custom ROM is flashed. I hope that makes sense.
2. I want to optimize the range on my WIFI and every other manner of device communication without losing security. I have numerous friends that are very generous with their personal accounts that allow me to randomly log in to strangers spots (EX. Xfinity accouts), in order to truly connect to it, I have to sit outside in the yard like a weirdo at 3am with my phone in my backyard, much to the disgust of every dog in the neighborhood. I dont want to be that guy. Honestly, I am really curious in learning how to access the internet and/or any other data networks that are out there with out using these major carriers at all. I feel like there is a lot more out there than the average person is aware of. Maybe they are super low key because they are owned by the upper rich 1% or the military etc etc, but if other networks exist that facilitate the same communications that us peasants pay $100/month to access I want in on it.
3. Optimize the picture, color and clarity of the screen for any and everything being shown on it, optimize the Audio with a good "Music Player"(currently what I use) which I generally heard through head phones and when in the car pushed to that system via FM signal. I currently have over 1000 tracks, discovering a cost efficient way of adding to that Library would be wonderful (ie: spend $0), but I have been out of the music file sharing game for a while so I dont know if this is realistic. Optimizing my camera to take the best shots possible on this phone. I generally shoot nature shots, sunsets, sunrises.... unsuspecting women in doggy, the usual... I will not be loading movies and super large files. I am a NAZI with my storage. If I could expand upon the internal or external factory specs that would be great. In other words, real life applications... I haven't been a gamer for decades so nothing crazy, but this device's beautiful picture is what I fell in love with.
4. A kick ass ROM UI that is eye catching and user friendly... sorry so long winded. Got to go run calls at work now....