[Q] Help please noob(ish) issues - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi first of all thanks for reading, I need help, I have rooted my phone using Philz and then went onto flash a rom. First one I tried had no app store so reflashed over it, that one was unstable so now I'm on paranoid android 3.99 which I'm finding OK. The issue is I never made a backup when I put my first rom on of the original Samsung rom so now can't find how to put the original firmware on(I thought I had but turned out I did it wrong) I must say I did all this rooting and rom installing via sd and not odin. Am I right in thinking that all rom files are zip and you only have to unzip them to use odin? So the questions are..
1.do I have to change the kernel for each rom or do some come with a kernel in its file? ( assume some do as where it says kernel on my phone it no longer says philz)
2.can I recover the stock firmware and install via sd and not odin?
3.a back up in Cwm in suitable incase anything goes wrong?
Any help or shoves in the right direction will be highly appreciated
Thanks in advance

1 yes roms come with kernel
2 no stock only through mobile or PC Odin. But there is a thread on here that has stock roms in zip format that can be flash through recovery.
3 yes. It's a must before you start to flash any thing.
Efs? Have you heard of it? You need to bk this up now if not and also bk up you're custom rom you're on now and don't forget to bk up preload cuz if you don't the bk up won't work

andrewwright said:
1 yes roms come with kernel
2 no stock only through mobile or PC Odin. But there is a thread on here that has stocks in zip format that can be flash through recovery.
3 yes. It's a must before you start to flash any thing.
Efs? Have you heard of it? You need to bk this up now if not and also bk up you're custom rom you're on now and don't forget to bk up preload cuz if you don't the bk up won't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not heard of efs, what is it? I've made a back up and loaded another Romans didn't like it and had no problem really installing the back up. I've tried to look for a stock room to load from sd but can't seem to find one, I even went on Sammy but they all say flash from odin.

Related

[Q] Upgrading CWM - the recommended way?

Hi.
I wish to upgrade my stock firmware to CM10, I understand that my current CWM (4.0.0.2) is too old and might cause issues.
I see that there are many ways to install CWM, but in case of an upgrade, should I just use ODIN to flash the latest CWM, overwriting the old one? (I already rooted the phone).
I remember that when I rooted the phone and installed CWM I had to select a specific kernel that matches my vendor/release or something like that (I could be mistaken as to what it was exactly, it has been a while since I did that). I just don't want to brick my phone.
Thanks and sorry if I asked a noobish question.
GibsonLP said:
Hi.
I wish to upgrade my stock firmware to CM10, I understand that my current CWM (4.0.0.2) is too old and might cause issues.
I see that there are many ways to install CWM, but in case of an upgrade, should I just use ODIN to flash the latest CWM, overwriting the old one? (I already rooted the phone).
I remember that when I rooted the phone and installed CWM I had to select a specific kernel that matches my vendor/release or something like that (I could be mistaken as to what it was exactly, it has been a while since I did that). I just don't want to brick my phone.
Thanks and sorry if I asked a noobish question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just flash Siyah kernel v4.1.5 or 5.0.1 (tar file for Odin) thro pc or mobile odin and u will have the latest CWM recovery to flash any rom of ur choice
Thanks
I thought it should be straight forward.
Not my phone, don't want to screw it up...
GibsonLP said:
Thanks
I thought it should be straight forward.
Not my phone, don't want to screw it up...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something you dont really need to worry about. Just flash custom kernel and your done. If your using custom roms you dont really need to worry, they all come with CWM included in kernel anyway so when you want to install next custom rom simply reboot into recovery and flash the zip.
If you're flashing a stock rom via ODIN remember to also flash custom recovery so you have CWM aswell as get rid of brick bug.

[Q] How can I backup/restore ENTIRE phone?

Hello.
I'd like to give MIUI a try, but, of course, I'd also like to switch back to my stock ROM if things go wrong or if I don't like MIUI.
How can I backup my entire phone (rooting, Recovery Mode capability and other on-power key-combination-activated features etc etc) and 100% failsafe restore it at any time?
Thanks in advance.
Rooted stock = do a nandroid (CWM) backup which is essentially an 'image' of the phone at the time you make the backup. Try MIUI; don't like it ? Restore the nandroid you took of your rooted stock setup. Sorted (You will need to ensure you backup the contents of your external SD card separately if you have one).
Be careful you don't 'overthink' this, it's really very simple both ways (backup/restore).
My Recovery Mode doesn't have a backup option
MistahBungle said:
Rooted stock = do a nandroid (CWM) backup which is essentially an 'image' of the phone at the time you make the backup. Try MIUI; don't like it ? Restore the nandroid you took of your rooted stock setup. Sorted (You will need to ensure you backup the contents of your external SD card separately if you have one).
Be careful you don't 'overthink' this, it's really very simple both ways (backup/restore).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for prompt response. I took a look at current Recovery Mode menu and it doesn't include a backup/restore option like in http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/ClockworkMod_Recovery. It shows only the above:
Code:
Android system recovery <3e>
Volume up/down to move highlight;
power button to select.
reboot system now
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from cache
test redbend fota[FS]
-----------------------------------
# MANUAL MODE #
-- Appling Multi-CSC...
Applied the CSC-code : ZVV
Successfully applied multi-CSC.
I've already downloaded Recovery from clockworkmod.com but didn't do anything with it yet.
Sorry if it has already been detailed in another thread, but I didn't find it and I don't know how to make such nandroid backup.
Thanks.
OBackup
I've just downloaded OBackup app from Play store and am doing my backup.
My question is: after I flash MIUI, what are the tools/steps I'll need to restore my backup?
Thank you very much.
That's the stock Android recovery.
OK...
What you need to do is not install CWM separately. That will only persist until you reboot & is designed to allow you to flash whatever rom/kernel you want which will have it's own version of CWM baked into the kernel.
That backup program you're using; no idea as I've never used it.
What I recommend you do is find a custom kernel you like (actually, any custom kernel will do given you're going to flash Miui) which will have CWM. Flash that into your stock setup, then make a nandroid (CWM) backup of your stock setup so you can go back to it if you don't like Miui/whatever else you try (If you restored this & wanted to go back completely stock/unrooted/etc, all you'd need to do is flash a stock kernel). This is what you asked for in your OP. I warned you not to start overcomplicating things, and this is exactly what you're doing.
The kernel supplied with Miui should have CWM, so if you find you don't like it, you should be able to simply restore the backup you made of your stock setup in CWRecovery.
I also very strongly recommend you learn 'the basics' as you seem to be lacking in this knowledge. Flashing stuff/etc without knowing these things leads to busted phones. Read the tutorials/guides stickied near the top of the General section; there's a wealth of information in those.
Hi!
I've a similiar problem with my GT-i9100!
Can I do a restore of my stock ROM (that have android 4.1) if I've install a costum ROM like RootBox that have a different version of android (4.2.2)?
Can my phone brick because there are a differents kernel?
Tnx you all! ^^
Rox666 said:
Hi!
I've a similiar problem with my GT-i9100!
Can I do a restore of my stock ROM (that have android 4.1) if I've install a costum ROM like RootBox that have a different version of android (4.2.2)?
Can my phone brick because there are a differents kernel?
Tnx you all! ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it won't brick.
sadekmefti said:
No it won't brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi and tnx for reply!
I've try to do a restore of my sock rom from recovery but it's says to me that there is an error on md5 check sum...
I've install the RootBox ROM in my gt-i9100...but I can't come back to sock from recovery because the stock kernel dosen't work with RootBox's Kernel...
so I've to use odin to flash the stock firmware.......at the origin, my idea didn't comprised use odin because of download mode counter (so that why I did a backup!)...but now I don't have any other way...!
...what a sad story.. XD
Rox666 said:
Hi and tnx for reply!
I've try to do a restore of my sock rom from recovery but it's says to me that there is an error on md5 check sum...
I've install the RootBox ROM in my gt-i9100...but I can't come back to sock from recovery because the stock kernel dosen't work with RootBox's Kernel...
so I've to use odin to flash the stock firmware.......at the origin, my idea didn't comprised use odin because of download mode counter (so that why I did a backup!)...but now I don't have any other way...!
...what a sad story.. XD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't restore your backup because of a different MD5 SUM which means that your backup has been corrupted.
Flashing a stock ROM or Kernel via ODIN will not increase your flash counter.
Flash NeatROM Lite, this is the best ROM ever, it like stock with additional things.
Sent from GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4
sadekmefti said:
You can't restore your backmyf a different MD5 SUM which means that your backup has been corrupted.
Flashing a stock ROM or Kernel via ODIN will not increase your flash counter.
Flash NeatROM Lite, this is the best ROM ever, it like stock with additional things.
Sent from GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DIO *******************
I will cry...... :'( so the recovery hadn't save well my backup..I read about similar error and I hoped that was thet...
My last chance is use Odin..
Only a question: can I flash the stock rom from recovery renaming the file .tar.md5 in .zip?
Tnx for you for the counsel! I will try thet rom after solving this problem! For now I have changed rom and I'm using MIUI and it works really well!!
Rox666 said:
DIO *******************
I will cry...... :'( so the recovery hadn't save well my backup..I read about similar error and I hoped that was thet...
My last chance is use Odin..
Only a question: can I flash the stock rom from recovery renaming the file .tar.md5 in .zip?
Tnx for you for the counsel! I will try thet rom after solving this problem! For now I have changed rom and I'm using MIUI and it works really well!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't flash a stock ROM from recovery by changing .tar.md5 to .zip .
You want to change ROM to Stock, use Mobile Odin to flash a Stock ROM or Flash NeatROM v4.8 Lite.
sadekmefti said:
You can't flash a stock ROM from recovery by changing .tar.md5 to .zip .
You want to change ROM to Stock, use Mobile Odin to flash a Stock ROM or Flash NeatROM v4.8 Lite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tnx you! I understand what I have to do! I'll try your rom today
Tnx again!!!

[Q] recovery tasks problems

Hi everybody !
Well since yesterday , my recovery is unable to do any task whitout going in bootloop (execpt flashing roms or restore a rom with no mod added by the user ) . I try several things ( reflash the ROM , downgrade the CWM recovery, format all the data and system and reflash another rom) but in the end the recovery is still corrupted . Anyone can help me please ?
Have a day everyone !
Give twrp a try.
studacris said:
Give twrp a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its does the same thing on TWP i tried that this morning but thanks for the advice
Odin back to stock and start over from scratch with a fresh download of the recovery you want to use, preferably a .tar that you can throw into Odin after you are on stock.
studacris said:
Odin back to stock and start over from scratch with a fresh download of the recovery you want to use, preferably a .tar that you can throw into Odin after you are on stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice but how do you find the stock ROM and the stock recovery ?
Stock recovery is within the stock Rom .tar
Have a look in a sticky (threads always at the top) in the general or dev section or maybe even the top of this one.

[Solved][Q] Using temporary cwm to install cyanogenmod ROM

I am aware that this has been asked before but there are conflicting answers withing the threads that I have read.
I am running 4.1.2 WLSW having worked my way through the various jb releases over time. Root has been retained using everroot in mobile odin. The kernel is stock.
Having decided to install a stable release of cyanogenmod (10.1.3) I have been reading around for days to avoid pitfalls or to know what to do should a problem arise.
The only one thing that I am still unsure about is whether it is indeed safe to use a temporary cwm (flashed via stock recovery) to install cyanogenmod. I have downloaded the latest temporary cwn from the rommanager site and it appears to work just fine - I have created a backup without issues so I can get back to where I am now if I don't like or have problems with cyanogenmod.
I was planning to flash [KERNEL] ClockworkMod Recovery 6.0.2.9 from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1118693 - but in the last couple of pages in the thread there are users that have had boot failures after flashing it. This is what has lead me to ask the question is it safe to use the temporary cwm?
I am aware that there are other kernels that I could use (Philz/Siyah) but would like to know which cwm is safest/best for the installation of cyanogenmod.
Install philz kernel by flashing in stock recovery and put that zip on ext sd. Stay away from rom manager. Dont use it. When you have philz installed make a nandroid bkup and make sure preload is included too. Also bk up you're efs folder with ktool free from playstore. As you have root get that and bk efs up asap. once you have done a nandroid bkup and done the efs bkup then flash cm. May be good to get a copy of you're modem now too.
andrewwright said:
Install philz kernel by flashing in stock recovery and put that zip on ext sd. Stay away from rom manager. Dont use it. When you have philz installed make a nandroid bkup and make sure preload is included too. Also bk up you're efs folder with ktool free from playstore. As you have root get that and bk efs up asap. once you have done a nandroid bkup and done the efs bkup then flash cm. May be good to get a copy of you're modem now too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have backed up efs already using ktool and have already made a nandroid backup using temporary cwm - good advice none the less.
I have read that rommanager is problematic with the i9100 so am not planning to use it.
My method of choice to flash Philz would be mobile odin (unless there is some disadvantage by doing it this way?).
Regarding my modem, it is included in the stock firmware so I could flash just the modem from this using mobile odin if I have trouble (I have assumed mobile odin works in cm).
My original question remains however - why not use temporary cwm?
Mobile odin will work on cm. And yes you can flash with temp cwm. Get you're modem from here on xda. Makes no odds how you flash philz Use odin or recovery its up to you.
andrewwright said:
Mobile odin will work on cm. And yes you can flash with temp cwm. Get you're modem from here on xda. Makes no odds how you flash philz Use odin or recovery its up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I can flash with temp cwm, there is no need to flash philz at all - or have I missed something?
If you flash with temp there's no guarantee. Philz then flash is a safer way of doing things.
andrewwright said:
If you flash with temp there's no guarantee. Philz then flash is a safer way of doing things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Presumably the latest Siyah kernel will also do?
Yes that's ok
It's simply a matter of preference.....temporary CWM is as it 'says on the tin'........temporary....
You have to reflash it every time you want to use it.
PhilZ is permanent....once it's flashed, it's there, no further action needed, plus it has a touch interface unlike regular CWM......
If you intend to stay with stock, but want to have the advantages of CWM, then I'd advise go with PhilZ...purely because a few steps less are necessary to be able to use it.......
(Enter stock recovery, flash CWM then use CWM to flash whatever..... every time with temporary CWM)
If you intend to flash a custom ROM, it'll come with its own permanent CWM anyway (which will overwrite the PhilZ kernel and/or remove the need to continuously reflash the temporary CWM)
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the advice folks. I flashed Siyah then installed cm 10.1.3 and the associated gapps. All went without a hitch. I was actually surprised how quickly the process completed. I had the rotating cm boot image less than 2 minutes after starting the install from first zip.
Off topic, but I am totally impressed with the cm ROM. I find my frustration at constantly waiting for phone manufacturers to catch up with vanilla android releases has completely melted away.
Glad it's sorted :thumbup:
Add solved to name of thread pls

[Q] how to revert back to stock jb I777UCMD8 from custom rom

I'm currently on pacman ROM v22. and i want to go back to stock jelly bean. I do have a nandroid backup but when I try to restore it fails. I guess its because of the latest cwm I.e. v 6.0.4. right? how should I restore the backup now? please help.. I'd be thankful
(galaxy s2 at&t sgh i777)
If you know what version of recovery you used to make the backup, install the kernel with that version of recovery. If the kernel does not match your current operating system, the phone will not boot into the system, but it should boot into recovery and allow you to restore the backup.
Or you could just flash the I777UCMD8 stock firmware with Odin, which you can download from the Download Repository.
as far as I remember I used v6.0 of cwm with the stock kernel.. yeah I was using stock kernel when I had v 6.0 of recovery.. should I downgrade to v6.0 cwm and try?
so I downgraded cwm to 6.0.1.0.. I guess that's the version I was using when I made backup.. tried to restore.. error: MD 5 mismatch
what does it mean?
new problem occurred.. :/
I downgraded recovery to 6.0.1.0 now I can't update it back to 6.0.4.5.. rebooted system.. and booted it back to recovery now that when I try to upgrade cwm I get error: couldnt mount SD card.. and when I checked my kernel has been replaced with cynogenmod #1 from aj kernel.. how should I get back the cwm 6.0.4.5 (I have .zip file is SD card but it won't mount in cwm) please help!
***ignore this I got it back working***
just tell me how can I restore the backup of my stock jelly bean
You can defeat the md5 check if you are absolutely certain that the nandroid backup is not corrupted. Sometimes just changing the file name of a nandroid backup will mess up the md5 sum, but the file is still good. But if you try to install a corrupt nandroid file by defeating the md5 check, you can do serious harm to the phone.
In this case I would not recommend even going there. It's no problem to flash the stock firmware using Odin. Yes, you will need to perform a wipe data/factory reset first, and yes you will lose your apps and personal settings, but there are backup programs for that. I would recommend this route.
inalicse ourings
okay but I didn't make any changes on the nandroid backup..
i have a question.. i'm using unlocked at&t here in india.. will upgrading firmware from odin lock my phone again?
and thanks for your help
There's also the option of using titanium backup restore the apps and settings of your nandroid backup.
settings > extract from nandroid backup > [select backup] > choose which apps/data that you want to restore.
-Cyril
imohitahuja said:
okay but I didn't make any changes on the nandroid backup..
i have a question.. i'm using unlocked at&t here in india.. will upgrading firmware from odin lock my phone again?
and thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well that's cool cryil.. but unfortunately I have no app & data backed up in my nandroid backup.. its just the stock ROM and settings.. while I was flashing the latest cwm I by mistake deleted my phone data.. so there is nothing just the stock ROM..
I just want to restore my nandroid backup to return to stock ROM.. I am away from PC for sometime so flashing with Odin is not possible at the moment.. I don't know what to do now..
(please also see the other thread by me)
thanks
is there any way to flash stock firmware through cwm.. I have cwm manager and it has a feature which says *flash the stock firmware* but I don't know how to use it... I don't care if I lose root access and cwm..
imohitahuja said:
is there any way to flash stock firmware through cwm.. I have cwm manager and it has a feature which says *flash the stock firmware* but I don't know how to use it... I don't care if I lose root access and cwm..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about that one.
But, you can still boot into your custom rooted firmware? If so, you can use Mobile Odin Pro or Mobile Odin Lite to flash the stock firmware from the phone.
yeah mobile Odin I have heard about it.. how to flash firmware with mobile Odin? we have to extract the .zip right? can you please tell me step wise procedure?
thanks once again
5 bucks says he's using Rom Manager app. Because clearly that'd be causing him issues.
yeah phalanx you're absolutely right. I flashed cwm recovery from ROM manager.. I didn't read stickies.. so I was not aware about the ROM manager causing problem thing.. anyways I got v6.0.1.0 of cwm after flashing from ROM manager.. I reeboted phone successfully.. checked kernel.. it was still the stock kernel.. If I'm not wrong flashing cwm replaces the kernel? anyways.. then I booted to recovery.. made nandroid backup.. upgraded cwm to 6.0.4.5.. flashed pacman ROM successfully.. and now that when I want to restore the nandroid backup it gives MD 5 mismatch error.. any suggestions ?
imohitahuja said:
yeah mobile Odin I have heard about it.. how to flash firmware with mobile Odin? we have to extract the .zip right? can you please tell me step wise procedure?
thanks once again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
imohitahuja said:
yeah phalanx you're absolutely right. I flashed cwm recovery from ROM manager.. I didn't read stickies.. so I was not aware about the ROM manager causing problem thing.. anyways I got v6.0.1.0 of cwm after flashing from ROM manager.. I reeboted phone successfully.. checked kernel.. it was still the stock kernel.. If I'm not wrong flashing cwm replaces the kernel? anyways.. then I booted to recovery.. made nandroid backup.. upgraded cwm to 6.0.4.5.. flashed pacman ROM successfully.. and now that when I want to restore the nandroid backup it gives MD 5 mismatch error.. any suggestions ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can not install a .zip package with Mobile Odin. You can install the stock I777UCMD8 4.1.2 ICS firmware with Mobile Odin. Mobile Odin recognizes .tar and .tar.md5 files. The stock distribution, which you can download from the Download Repository, (see link in my signature) is a .tar.md5 file. Mobile Odin requires root access, so the following assumes you have a rooted firmware on the phone that will fully boot into the system.
Download Mobile Odin from this thread. Download the flash kernel from post #10 of the same thread. Install both apk's on your phone.
Download the UCMD8 .tar.md5 to the root of the internal sd card. I hope you have access to wifi because that is a pretty large file. Boot into recovery and perform a wipe data/factory reset. Boot back into the system. Mobile Odin will now recognize the .tar.md5 file so that you can flash it. Once you flash it, you will have lost root, and will have fully stock firmware and kernel.
wowie thanks for your help bro! downloading the .tar.md5 .. last question by my side.. I didn't use mobile Odin ever before.. so I dont understand what's that thing? I mean as I have .tar.md5 file I will then just have to click on flash firmware?? or there is something I am missing?
imohitahuja said:
wowie thanks for your help bro! downloading the .tar.md5 .. last question by my side.. I didn't use mobile Odin ever before.. so I dont understand what's that thing? I mean as I have .tar.md5 file I will then just have to click on flash firmware?? or there is something I am missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you have both the main application and the flash kernel installed on your phone, open Mobile Odin, scroll down and touch Open file..., select internal sdcard, and then select the .tar.md5. You should be able to figure out the rest from there.
I successfully flashed i777UCMD8 from mobile odin and didnt even lose root.. thanks creepyncrawly!
I'm having problem connecting mouse from otg.. when I try to connect my phone turns off and takes so much time to start..?? also i am having problem connecting hdmi through mhl.. keeps on connecting and disconnecting..??
imohitahuja said:
I successfully flashed i777UCMD8 from mobile odin and didnt even lose root.. thanks creepyncrawly!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to help.
I'm having problem connecting mouse from otg.. when I try to connect my phone turns off and takes so much time to start..?? also i am having problem connecting hdmi through mhl.. keeps on connecting and disconnecting..??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not have any direct experience with either of these issues. Maybe someone else will be able to answer.
some other guy told me to try flashing any other kernel? can I use any custom kernel with stock jelly bean? which one?

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