[tcaudill01]

Okay guys, I thought what the hell, I'll try the LGE Black option in ROM manager to install recovery and see what happens.
IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Use the volume keys to move and the search button to select.
The first boot into it, you will get all kinds of errors saying it can't mount certain files.
Go to "Mounts and Storage" and select "mount /cache". The errors will go away.
Everything seems to work as it should.
A quirk that I found was that until you "Wipe cache partition" you will be stuck in recovery and you cannot get out. Once done, "Reboot System Now" and everything works great.

One last thing, I cannot figure out how to key combo into recovery. I have to use ROM manager to access it.

NOTE:CWM messes up turning off the phone. Pressing the power button and selecting OK to turn off will now reset the phone and then boot it back up. Now only way to power off phone (besides pulling battery) is to use ROM Manager to boot into recovery, wipe the cache, then select power off.

Status update 11/02

Okay guys, this is one of those bad news, good news, so-so news posts.

First the bad. Koush doesn't really have time to help with our recovery. He's busy and right now, our phone is a very low volume blip on the Android radar. His energy is more focused on the higher volume and more profitable units. After, he is also a business man.

Some Good. I have received some good advice on trying to port recovery over and I am trying to get this working. I have our phone memory map extracted and have figured out where most things but not all are.

No the So-So. I'm hitting some walls I haven't figured out how to get around. First one is in comparing the memory layout of our phone to the Opti Black. Ours has some things mapped to different memory blocks and that's why CWM doesn't perform a full backup. This means the recovery.fstab has to be edited to map correctly and I am kind of fuzzy on this.
There are also some settings in "default.prop" that prevent us from being able to push files back into our system directory. This file loads out of "Boot.Image" and until I get a working recovery, I can't edit it.

I have reached out to some of the people that helped develop the recovery for the Black but have not had a lot of response. Actually... none.
I am at a point that I really need someone that is better a programming Android than I am. I will gladly share what I have with anyone out there that can legitimately help.

Starting a new thread on custom CWM.

[hoovhartid]

One last thing, I cannot figure out how to key combo into recovery. I have to use ROM manager to access it.

You're not alone...apparently its an Optimus Black thing;

according to this thread;


"Apperently the Optimus Black doesn´t have a Keycombination for going to Recoverymode on Booting. So at the moment CWM can only be accessed by rebooting the Phone to Recoverymode via App or Shell from a running System."

Thanks again for being the Guinea-Pig on this!

[tcaudill01]

Thanks for the update on the key combos.
The credit for all this needs to go to you for starting me off with the suggestion over rooting. If you hadn't done that, nothing would have happened.

[hoovhartid]

I have been looking for an update to this thread, but I'm guessing Koush is just busy working on other projects. I did read in that a Dev named knzo created a custom recovery for the optimus black called "nova Recovery" on Xda. As far as I can tell he based it off of CWM. I THINK The link to this recovery thread is . I was thinking(hoping) that maybe Marquee owners (who know what they're doing...like tcaudill01) will have better luck getting in touch with Knzo over Koush in an attempt to get some help with a working recovery.

Maybe its worth a shot(?)

Also, for those who have not seen it in other forums...
Apparently the Marquee has a boot method that the Optimus Black does not. Hold the Volume Down and Power Button until the soft keys start to flash, then release and you should boot into a recovery mode.
It's not the best feature-wise, and as far as I know has no option to create a backup...but it does have an option to flash a ROM from an SD card which I found interesting. Maybe this will help move this thread along.

Thoughts?

[tcaudill01]

I have been looking for an update to this thread, but I'm guessing Koush is just busy working on other projects. I did read in that a Dev named knzo created a custom recovery for the optimus black called "nova Recovery" on Xda. As far as I can tell he based it off of CWM. I THINK The link to this recovery thread is . I was thinking(hoping) that maybe Marquee owners (who know what they're doing...like tcaudill01) will have better luck getting in touch with Knzo over Koush in an attempt to get some help with a working recovery.

DO NOT TRY THIS RECOVERY!!!!!!!

I tried it and thought I had bricked my phone. When you use this, you cannot clear or mount the cache. Without clearing cache you cannot get out of recovery.
You cannot reflash from recover due to ADB not being activated.
The only way out is to use CWM 5.0 and start the install process with the phone in recovery. ADB will say that it is searching for the phone. With ADB still running, from the phone menu select Reboot. As the phone starts to reboot, ADB will connect and load the newer version of CWM and then boot on into Android.

[hoovhartid]

I tried it and thought I had bricked my phone.

Dude, I am so sorry. I had no idea. I was just trying to suggest something new

The only way out is to use CWM 5.0 and start the install process with the phone in recovery.

Not that I blame you if you say "no, I'm not trying it"...but I remembered when you said "5.0" that I saw the Optimus Black version of CWM is 5.0.2.6 according to their site Is that the one you're refering to?

If not,....want to try it? lol

also I found a thread that has alot of info about upgrades, flash, root, mods, unbrick, etc for the Optimus Black.

Maybe some of this will help.
...or maybe it will perma-brick your phone

[Onyoursix]

Volume down + Power allows me to go into the stock recovery. Does this not work for CWM?

[tcaudill01]

Volume down + Power allows me to go into the stock recovery. Does this not work for CWM?

Yes it works the same for CWM.

[tcaudill01]

Dude, I am so sorry. I had no idea. I was just trying to suggest something new



Not that I blame you if you say "no, I'm not trying it"...but I remembered when you said "5.0" that I saw the Optimus Black version of CWM is 5.0.2.6 according to their site Is that the one you're refering to?

If not,....want to try it? lol

also I found a thread that has alot of info about upgrades, flash, root, mods, unbrick, etc for the Optimus Black.

Maybe some of this will help.
...or maybe it will perma-brick your phone

No need to apologize, I always appreciate the suggestions. Offering new info is how learn new things to try. Or in this case not to try.

The CWM that I emergency flash with is actually 5.0.0.1. It is not really functional at all but it will allow me to boot up. Once up I use ROM Mgr to update to 5.0.2.6.

The thread at XDA is a great resource, MoDaCo is another good one.

As for the Flashes, ROMs and Unbricks on XDA they will not apply to our phone. I will be writing and update to this opening post in a few minutes explainig some vital differences.

[dishe]

Thanks for sharing our info with me, Tcaudill01.

As I mentioned in our PM conversation, my experience with custom recovery is extremely limited, and I'm not any more suited to do this than you are.

On top of that, work has kept me extremely busy lately (I haven't even been on the forum much).

I tried contacting folks who know more about this stuff than we do, but most of these guys won't work on a phone they don't have in their hands. I feel like someone who knows what they are doing can do this really easily, but at this point we may have to wait until more folks have one in their hands.

[dishe]

UPDATE:
I've been really busy at work (looks like I will be for the next few weeks), but I haven't given up on this.

According to a twitter response from @cm_arcee, the P970 CWM should work on our devices, and recommends trying it with a kernel specific to our Marquee (LS-855).
LG's source code is available on (click category: mobile, and type 855 in the search).

If anyone wants to take a stab at it, I'm not sure if anyone attempted doing anything with the kernel yet (right?).

Also an interesting find that I wasn't aware of- apparently the LS855 is also an LG phone called the Ignite, which is available on some carriers we're not familiar with (Alaska cellular, Cellcom regional, etc). Appears to be a Marquee style device, with a slightly different ROM.
Not sure if that's useful at all, but good to know!

[Mes3]

The P970 is the Optimus Black and as you can see, it doesn't work. For some odd reason things never stay the same between the GSM version of phones and the CDMA. They had the same problem with the Optimus S trying to port recovery from the Optimus One, I do believe.

What really sucks is we have no way to get into Emergenry Download Mode or Software Update mode. I confirmed this with LG. So, if you can't boot to at least the LG logo, you're screwed. I semi bricked my phone messing with the build.prop and was able to recover using K500 because I could boot to the LG logo. Thank God. haha

[dishe]

The P970 is the Optimus Black and as you can see, it doesn't work. For some odd reason things never stay the same between the GSM version of phones and the CDMA. They had the same problem with the Optimus S trying to port recovery from the Optimus One, I do believe.

Yes, the P970 is the GSM Optimus Black, sorry I assumed we were all already aware of that. Perhaps I should elaborate on my post:
rmcc is a member of the Cyanogen mod team, and is in charge of supporting some of the LG devices (look him up here ). I managed to get a response from him on twitter about supporting the LS855, and he responded that it should probably work if we use the P970 version of CWM with an LS855 kernel.
I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what that means- but I know the source code for the LS855 is available on LG's site (as linked above) which should give us access to the kernel code.

Meanwhile, the GSM and CDMA versions of a handset differ mostly in radio hardware, however usually share enough in common elsewhere to be able to use the same exploits (which is why the rooting method for another LG device worked here, just as the Optimus One root methods worked for the Optimus S. I remember the Optimus S had instructions to root it posted online within hours of release).

The challenge, I believe, is that since the radio hardware is different, the memory allocations are slightly different as well. That means the recovery needs to be tweaked to know how to access the proper addresses. Someone who knows what they are doing can probably do this really quickly. But I don't, and honestly have too many deadlines at my day job currently to play with this anytime soon.

What really sucks is we have no way to get into Emergenry Download Mode or Software Update mode. I confirmed this with LG. So, if you can't boot to at least the LG logo, you're screwed. I semi bricked my phone messing with the build.prop and was able to recover using K500 because I could boot to the LG logo. Thank God. haha

As mentioned earlier in this thread, Volume down + Power allows one to go into the stock recovery, and can flash a zip from the SD card.
I'm glad you "confirmed this" with what is likely a customer service rep at LG, but don't take everything they say at face value.

[Mes3]

LIE TO ME LG!!!

Access Download Mode:

1.) Remove battery
2.) Hold down Camera and Vol. Up
3.) Plug in USB cable.

Though, it seems to be of no use. I tried and tried to get KP500 to flash the phone this way, but it fails every time because it can't see the phone type (it can if the phone is booted or stuck at boot up. Flashing a KDZ like you can with the Black doesn't work in this mode either.. Oh well.

[jamesrenn]

I'm really bummed that I supposedly upgraded to this phone from Hero that has many of roms, kernals and recoveries.
Big mistake. Happy New Year huh...

[donbudafuko]

Does anyone have a backup or a copy of the stock from I messed my phone up an I was a dumb *** an forgot to do a backup so if anyone can help that will be awesome thanks

[amdcar]

ok i rooted my marquee and used rom manager to flash custom recover (lg black). i deleted google service frame work in titanium back up by accident and it wont restore andncustom recovery custom recovery wont do a factory reset. Any one have a way to fix this? Please!

[EuphoricFusion]

i need it too!! I underestimated the pressure I was using to scroll, and accidentally selected the wrong model phone when putting a new service on it!! I have no idea what I selected, or what happened, but it immediately went into "loop boot" up to the Welcome screen/sound and then repeats without end.

I have tried everything I could find to use the CWM to restore and got NOTHING. I won't even flash, giving an "Installation Aborted" message without a reason or code!

I would LOVE to try to zip a stock ROM on it, since the wiping and clearing and resetting isn't making a change in it.

[dishe]

Hang on, what is everyone doing, exactly?
Didn't tcaudill01 say that CWM is *NOT* working? I thought that's what the topic of this thread was. There is no working custom recovery for this device yet, as far as I know. There is a lot of information out there for someone who knows what they are doing, but I don't even have this phone anymore at the moment (reviewing a samsung unit for a tech blog- I don't stick with phones for too long).

I'm surprised to see that a couple of people are already trying to use CWM here. Maybe I misunderstood how far tcaudill01 got- is it working at all for anyone?

I'm really bummed that I supposedly upgraded to this phone from Hero that has many of roms, kernals and recoveries.
Big mistake. Happy New Year huh...

Whoa now, that's a silly way to look at it. Roms, kernels and recoveries can help make a device perform better than it did out of the box, but the Hero's hardware is so slow and outdated that even a stock Marquee easily outperforms it. This device is an upgrade in *every* way IMO.
Now, if you were coming from a Galaxy S device, I hear you. But a Hero? I found that device was so slow and laggy, putting custom Roms on it were required for a half decent user experience.

You can root the marquee, install a launcher like Lpro, and you'll be a lot better off than with a tricked out Hero.

[myrfolk]

Whoa now, that's a silly way to look at it. Roms, kernels and recoveries can help make a device perform better than it did out of the box, but the Hero's hardware is so slow and outdated that even a stock Marquee easily outperforms it. This device is an upgrade in *every* way IMO.
Now, if you were coming from a Galaxy S device, I hear you. But a Hero? I found that device was so slow and laggy, putting custom Roms on it were required for a half decent user experience.

You can root the marquee, install a launcher like Lpro, and you'll be a lot better off than with a tricked out Hero.

the optimus black root worked, so did cwm (dont ask me how) i have been using cwm for the last few hours to tinker, cant wait for roms (btw, i went from a galaxy s captivate to the marquee, you kinda kicked me while i was down, i broke the digitizer after i just got firefly, running speedmod kernal, tricked out with the darkfire blue theme

[Mes3]

Blacks CWM will appear to work. Read the first post again.

[kotrile]

is there an update.zip file that can restore the ls855 back to factory setup? I've brick my phone by mistakenly editing the default.prop and build.prop files. I can get to the default recovery screen but it's expecting a update.zip file. can't seem to get it to update via the other CM7 zip for the lg optimus 2x or black.
Sorry I'm a noob to this so some details would help.

[kotrile]

Mes3 - Can you clearify what K500 is and how did you recover after the incident you mentioned below?

I'm in the same state. would appreciated if you could explain how you fixed the issue. Thanks.

What really sucks is we have no way to get into Emergenry Download Mode or Software Update mode. I confirmed this with LG. So, if you can't boot to at least the LG logo, you're screwed. I semi bricked my phone messing with the build.prop and was able to recover using K500 because I could boot to the LG logo. Thank God. haha

[droidmike_k]

rmcc is a member of the Cyanogen mod team, and is in charge of supporting some of the LG devices (look him up here ). I managed to get a response from him on twitter about supporting the LS855, and he responded that it should probably work if we use the P970 version of CWM with an LS855 kernel.
I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what that means- but I know the source code for the LS855 is available on LG's site (as linked above) which should give us access to the kernel code.

Since tcaudill01 moved on, I did some digging. I found this:



Basically, recovery consists of 3 or 4 parts:
- boot header
- kernel
- ram disk
- second stage

What I think rmcc was saying is that we need to replace the kernel in the CWM recovery for P970 with the kernel extracted from our stock recovery. Then THAT new recovery should work like a charm.

While I know nothing about recoveries, this does make sense. While it may not make the recovery be fully functional, at least it seems like doing this shouldn't break anything any worse than the P970 CWM recovery already does. Basically, the P970 recovery has a kernel that is specific to that device. Replacing it with a kernel that is specific to the Marquee should make the recovery work better.

I'm still working on securing a cheap second-hand Marquee, but I think I should be able to perform the extraction and repackaging and then share the new recovery with a brave soul (brick warnings and disclaimers and all). All I need to get started is the stock recovery file... Anyone?

Michal

[packers pro]

Zara anyway to upgrade this phone and it at that is how would you do it?