How to root?

[all4dom]

Hi Guys, I have no knowldge when it comes to rooting and roms and I am getting tired of waiting for ICS. Could someone point me to a simple way on how to root and what rom (most stable) to use. I know there is an ICS rom out there, but I think it is somewhat buggy? I have searched, but I have never found anything that explaions it in a simple way. My TB is old now and next phone I buy will be at full price, so I don't mind doing this thing now.

Thanks for your help.
Dom

 

[Mikey D_PhD]

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=179367

Thunderbolt Ho!

 

[mightyfacundo]

Check out trter's All in one root tool in the rooting section above. Trter has made it super easy, and he's extremely helpful if you get confused or stuck.

There are plenty of good ROMs. It just depends on what you're looking for. If you want a Sense 2.1 ROM, I'd give Sky Raider Zeus a try. If you want a desensed ROM, I'd go with Bully Desensed with Trter's tweaks. Sense 3.0 Rom? I prefer ThunderStick Full Blown 1.1.1, but BAMF Forever 1.11 is a good choice as well. Sense 3.5? I like BAMF SoaB. AOSP? I like Thundershed 1.6 or Liquid Smooth 3.2. These are just some of the ROMs available, and it really just depends on which one you like the best. The ICS ROMs that have come out are buggy for me, but I haven't tried the new radios yet, so we'll see.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[all4dom]

Thanks. I would like a Rom with sense.

 

[mightyfacundo]

Thanks. I would like a Rom with sense.

Cool. Now you just have to decide if you want 2.1, 3.0, or 3.5. And remember, after you root, and before you flash a new ROM, be sure to make a back-up of the stock ROM, so you can always easily go back to it if you want to.

 

[all4dom]

How do I back up?

 

[mightyfacundo]

Download Rom Manager. Open it up and choose Backup ROM. Name it whatever you want, and then hit OK. It will reboot and backup your stock ROM. When it's done, your phone will reboot, and then come back on. Done.

 

[all4dom]

Ok I think I understand. The tb tool will root the phone so it is unlocked. I then can backup the phone and then use the tb tool to install a Rom if I want to revert back, I just use the tb tool. The only thing I don't understand is do I need a serial # or does the tb tool give that to me.
Thanks
Dom.

 

[mightyfacundo]

The Bolt tool will root the phone. Then use Rom Manager to make a backup of your stock rom. The Bolt tool won't install a rom for you (unless trter changed it since I used it so that it will do it). The bolt tool can help you unroot your phone, but you can use rom manager to restore back to the stock rom that you have saved. The tool will take care of everything you need to root or it will instruct you on what you need to do. Once you're rooted, I can give you simple instructions on how to flash a new rom.

 

[all4dom]

Does the Rom have the radio antennas in it or are there new ones out there?

Btw....thanks for taking the time to help me with this. As I have been going along, I understand this stuff better.

 

[mightyfacundo]

ROMs don't come with radios. You'll have to flash those separately. Which ones are you on right now? If you accepted the most recent OTA, then you're using the most recent ones. There are newer ones that have been leaked, but I'm still testing those, so I'd stick with the. 19 radios for now. To check which ones you have, go into settings, about phone, software, and find the baseband version. 1.49.00.0406w_1, 0.01.79.0331w_1 are the. 19 radios. If you don't have those, let me know.

No worries. Happy to help.

 

[SnowItch]

mightyfacundo,

Thanks for taking the time to help a rookie rooter out. I've been looking to root for some time, but could never get my head around the various options. Thanks for a clear response.

I've done some searching, but can really find a good source for the difference between the versions of sense. Can you provide a good source or provide a short list of pro/cons for the different versions?

 

[mightyfacundo]

I don't have a link for you that can explain the differences between the versions, but I can give you my opinion on them.

Sense 2.1 has less lag than 3.0, 3.5, and 3.6. You're familiar with this version if you've used your Bolt for any amount of time. I believe the other versions have everything that 2.1 has, and if they don't, then I didn't use those features.

Sense 3.0 has a 3D look, with the home screens rotating in a cube animation. Plus, if you scroll screens to the left or right, they will wrap-around and keep going. (Many of the 2.1 ROMs have included this feature as well) 3.0 has new and different widgets which are nice, but I feel like I have to overclock to overcome the lag that accompanies this and 3.5. OCing isn't that big a deal though, so I like 3.0 and 3.5.

There's not a huge difference in my mind between 3.0 and 3.5. I think 3.5 is a little easier on your phone's resources, and some of the widgets look slightly different. I still get lag on 3.5 but OCing makes it so I don't notice it much.

I'm sure I'm forgetting/overlooking some features, but this is what I can think of off the top of my head. Plus, I'm not always sure what's a part of the ROM and what's standard with Sense. For instance, many 3.0 and 3.5 ROMs come with Beats, but not all do. Infected Eternity 3.5 has a cool clock widget that BAMF SoaB 3.5 doesn't. That's why I recommend trying a bunch of ROMs so that you can find the one that you like the best.

And if I've forgotten something vital, hopefully someone else can chime in and share.

 

[mookiekillsit]

Not to hijack a thread but I figured OP and myself could benefit from the great help you are providing. I'm plunging soon and have downloaded the root tool to my desktop so it's ready whenever I get the time to sit and do it and then obviously a couple of free hours to play after I successfully root and choose a ROM haha.

That is where my issue starts and I feel OP might benefit from my question also.

I simply cannot choose a ROM. It's that simple. What ROM is best for people who aren't used to rooting? I know ROMs might be basically good for whatever you're trying to accomplish. I, myself, love the fact that I can customize even the littlest thing... such as the battery icon.. or the color of it, or the color of the menu bar. It looked like Liquid ICS was going to be my choice but they seem to be in trouble now and I can't find a download for it.

Would you possibly suggest a couple ROMs for us newbies to take a look at and provide some links for DLs? Most I've tried to find are dead links so it's beginning to annoy me LOL. Like I said, I love customization and would like something snappy. If it's asking too much, let me know. I am completely unaware of what is out there. Done quite a bit of research (JellyBlur looks like a nice choice for me so far) but I know I've barely scratched the surface.

Thanks a lot for all the info!!

EDIT: Forgot to thank you for your brief explanation of the difference between Sense versions. Been looking for that for a while and must have overlooked it b/c I couldn't find anywhere that described them all and the difference among them.

 

[mightyfacundo]

Most ROMs are pretty customizable. If you just want a ROM to flash as an introduction, then I'd stick with a Sense ROM for now. Down the line, you might decide that you want to try something other than Sense, and you can try a Desensed ROM or a CM7 ROM. When you go with those, you'll have a launcher that will allow you to customize all kinds of things. But anyway, here are some links for some popular ROMs:

First, here's a link to all of BAMF's ROMs: Official BAMF Thunderbolt Development ROMS - TeamBAMF

XDA is also a great place to find ROMs: Thunderbolt Android Development - xda-developers

Finally, Rootzwiki: Thunderbolt Development - RootzWiki

(Sense 2.1) BAMF Skyraider Zeus 1.3: http://www.teambamf.net/files/go/7f...ab412bd6/romgb-skyraider-zeus-13-bolt-2116055

BAMF makes great ROMs, and Skyraider has a bunch of themes and mods.

(Sense 3.0) BAMF Forever 1.11: http://www.androidfilehost.com/main..._BAMF_Roms/BAMF Forever/BAMF_Forever_1.11.zip

These two are probably the most popular BAMF ROMs, so I'd start here, but I have had no issues with:

(Sense 3.0) ThunderstickFullBlown 1.1.1: http://www.igottadroid.com/ModMarket/Listings/ThunderStick46756C6C20426C6F776E.html


I'd try one of these to start, and if you can't find a current download for any ROM, just let me know.

 

[mookiekillsit]

Brilliant. Love this forum. Everyone is so helpful. Can't go wrong.It's funny too b/c I clicked one of the links and found Liquid ICS so I might just stick w/ it....... I dunno haha. Read so many good things about it and the video I saw of it running on a Nexus made it look incredible. I'm pretty technologically savvy but I like to prepare for worst case scenario so I don't get surprised haha. I think I'll be able to handle this though.

 

[TankMech]

The newest ics leak has only one dev working with it. Liquid desensed is what is called, but its only had a few things taken out. Still has a sense base, but uses nova launcher. The base leak has a few bugs but works pretty well. The joy of having root is you can swap roms all day long. Only takes a few minutes and your on a fresh start. Make sure you make good contact backups with google account so you don't have to manually redo all your contacts and calendar, and all that data that gets wiped with every Rom. If you are trying out new ones just for feel make sure you get the performance you would like by checking the over clocking tools with a game you like or app. Other than hat the tbolt is still very capable and will be much better once we get a official ics Rom to get tweaked out the way we like. But so far the liquid desensed is pretty stable now with the .19 radios.

Sent from my BullyBolt using Android Central Forums.

 

[mightyfacundo]

Brilliant. Love this forum. Everyone is so helpful. Can't go wrong.It's funny too b/c I clicked one of the links and found Liquid ICS so I might just stick w/ it....... I dunno haha. Read so many good things about it and the video I saw of it running on a Nexus made it look incredible. I'm pretty technologically savvy but I like to prepare for worst case scenario so I don't get surprised haha. I think I'll be able to handle this though.

I like the Liquid ICS builds, but keep in mind that they don't have working 4G yet. Jester's says 1x but it really gets 3G, so if you're in a 4G area, you might want to go with a different ROM until they work out the kinks. And if you're looking for a Non-Sense ROM, I'd recommend Thundershed. Solid ROM.

 

[mookiekillsit]

I like the Liquid ICS builds, but keep in mind that they don't have working 4G yet. Jester's says 1x but it really gets 3G, so if you're in a 4G area, you might want to go with a different ROM until they work out the kinks. And if you're looking for a Non-Sense ROM, I'd recommend Thundershed. Solid ROM.

I was actually referred Thundershed by someone else also. I think that would be something to look into.

I do live in a 4G area also so that would be the determining factor. Thanks for the heads up on that. I just got my Rezound battery here at work this morning so I think I'm going to go for it tonight. I think I'll do nothing at work except research ROMs. Day after holidays aren't real work days anyway LOL.

I downloaded ROM manager from the app store and I'm guessing the best way to root is to use, trter10-2's program, download a ROM and save it on my SD card, reboot into Recovery as the option suggests in ROM manager and load it via that method? And to my understanding, ROM manager gives you the ability to back up, correct?


EDIT: I just looked and there's a stickied thread already. Derp.

 

[mookiekillsit]

Any info on Eternity by Infected? Looks solid IMO.