Want to root, but very wary

[Droid800]

Alright, so I'm a longtime Android user. I've owned a Droid, Nexus One, Droid X, MyTouch 4G, Sensation, G2X, GS4G, Nexus S, Thunderbolt, and Evo. I've rooted many of them, and gotten comfortable with it. (even got comfortable with the command-line Terminal rooting required for the Nexus One.)

But I'm wary of rooting the Charge. I have zero experience with Odin, and the style of rooting is very different for me. (flashing a rooted ROM instead of rooting stock) I got used to the one-click style rooting, etc., so the Charge rooting method seems foreign to me. I've seen the occasional 'Charge rooting for dummies' tutorials, but I was wondering if anyone could link me to a really good one. I want to root, and like the ROMs I've seen thus far, but not quite comfortable enough to do it yet.

 

[Halo]

Dude... the only Android phone I've ever owned was my OG Droid. I had that for a little less than a year before I purchased my Charge. ZERO experience with ODIN and the Samsung way of life. Click on the link in my signature. It's virtually impossible to screw it up. There is so much info on this site and so many members that have a vast knowledge of all this. Worse case scenario: If you screw your phone up, someone here has already done it and there's a fix for it. Bottom line.

 

[Bleeds]

Hey man,

I just got my Charge on Wednesday after being an iPhone user for four years. I had my phone rooted and flashed within 16 hours of purchasing the thing, and most of the delay was due to having to sleep .

I didn't have experience with the Samsung method, but I had jailbroken my iPhone using nearly every method imaginable. The process itself isn't hard (it never is) provided you exercise due diligence in your research. Don't be scared, but don't ever perform an action without being certain of the consequences.

Check out DroidXcon's thread about Altered Beast that's stickied in this forum. In the third post, he gives a breakdown on how to flash ROMs with Odin. Over on XDA, there is a thread about getting a Rooted EE4 build where someone (I think it was imnuts, though I could be wrong) gave a solid breakdown. Odin is finicky, so don't panic if it doesn't respond the way you expect it to. I had a hard time getting my phone to recognize, but I got there eventually.

Danalo's Humble Odin package makes it as easy as can be. Flashing the .tar he provides serves to root the phone, installs a sweet ROM, and throws on a custom kernel for good measure. I didn't receive any compensation for this plug btw

Make the jump dude. Definitely easy and certainly worth it.

 

[dhp106]

I agree with the above poster. I rooted my phone on day two after being an iphone jailbreaker since the first iphone could do it.

IT took me two tries because i dont know what happened the first time. It worked like a charm and love the phone way more than the iphone 4. even jailbroken

 

[Droid800]

I agree with the above poster. I rooted my phone on day two after being an iphone jailbreaker since the first iphone could do it.

IT took me two tries because i dont know what happened the first time. It worked like a charm and love the phone way more than the iphone 4. even jailbroken

Question: I would like to use GummyCharged, but it says in the thread to make sure you have root before you install it. How do I do that? I know how to install CWR via Odin, but as for getting root I have no idea. (do I need a rooted kernel? I've seen a few but I want something stable. Can I just flash Voodoo?)

 

[Dslider85]

Samsung phones are the hardest to brick. I even flashed a fascinate Rom on my vibrant and was able to bring it back from the dead with odin

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[Halo]

Question: I would like to use GummyCharged, but it says in the thread to make sure you have root before you install it. How do I do that? I know how to install CWR via Odin, but as for getting root I have no idea. (do I need a rooted kernel? I've seen a few but I want something stable. Can I just flash Voodoo?)

Download imnuts's Peanut Butta Jelly Time kernel and drop it on to your SD card. That is a rooted kernel. He has 2 versions. One that is voodoo and one that is non-voodoo. Flash it with CWM. Once you've done that, you can go ahead and flash GummyCharged.

 

[vols fan]

When I saw this post I thought "Wow, someone read my mind." I want to root this phone just to see how much a difference it makes but I'm very nervous because of it voiding the warranty. Once you root a phone how hard is it to take it back to stock? How do you get the stuff on the sd card? Do you have to put the micro sd card into an adapter and download it from your PC? Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm not on top of technology like most.

 

[vols fan]

Also can you use the free version of Titanium Backup to backup your apps and stuff before rooting? I have already moved my contacts to the SD card. Does rooting take away the media hub app? I really like having that one.

 

[Halo]

When I saw this post I thought "Wow, someone read my mind." I want to root this phone just to see how much a difference it makes but I'm very nervous because of it voiding the warranty. Once you root a phone how hard is it to take it back to stock? How do you get the stuff on the sd card? Do you have to put the micro sd card into an adapter and download it from your PC? Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm not on top of technology like most.

When you plug your phone into your PC, you should see the little droid icon dude (Lloyd) pop up. And it'll give you the option to connect via USB. Basically just like plugging a flash drive into your USB port.

If you want to go back to stock, you'll have to use ODIN and flash back to ED1 or ED2 and take the EE4 OTA update. There's a write-up on how to do that floating around.

 

[Halo]

Also can you use the free version of Titanium Backup to backup your apps and stuff before rooting? I have already moved my contacts to the SD card. Does rooting take away the media hub app? I really like having that one.

Yes you can. The pro-version allows you to uninstall or freeze (I prefer to freeze) the apps that you don't want, also known as bloatware. All rooting does is allow you super user access on your device. Just like having administrative privileges on your pc.

 

[vols fan]

Ok so I downlaoded the Titanium Backup but I'm unsure what to do with it now. How do you move the apps? All I see is screen that says overview and root access failed.

 

[Halo]

Ok so I downlaoded the Titanium Backup but I'm unsure what to do with it now. How do you move the apps? All I see is screen that says overview and root access failed.

My apologies, I misread your previous statement. Titanium Backup needs root access to work, so you have to be rooted beforehand.

 

[vols fan]

so how do you backup the apps before you wipe the phone to install the new ROM?

 

[Halo]

You can flash a rooted kernel (such as imnuts's Peanut Butta Jelly Time) and then back up your apps with TB before flashing a ROM.

 

[vols fan]

Can you explain to me the difference between the kernel and the ROM?

 

[Halo]

Can you explain to me the difference between the kernel and the ROM?

Difference between ROM and Kernel? - xda-developers

I copied this from member bassmadrigal.

The kernel is kinda like the nervous system of the body. It directly interacts with the hardware (which is how it is able to adjust CPU speed) and it is what allows the ROM to function.

The ROM is the rest of the body. Every other aspect of the phone. In fact, most ROMs include custom kernels. Various ROMs give you various features/enhancements/bugfixes. You will probably notice the biggest change in your phone if you load a custom ROM.

 

[vols fan]

I downloaded Alter Beast and when I try and extract the files from the zipped file I don't get a usable .rar file. How do I fix this?

 

[Halo]

To explain it even more basic (from what I understand) You can install a kernel that will give you super user access on your device (Administrator). A kernel will not change the look/layout of the phone.

A custom ROM (many of which have their own kernel built into it) will change the look/layout of your phone.

I hope that clears things up a bit for ya.

 

[Halo]

I downloaded Alter Beast and when I try and extract the files from the zipped file I don't get a usable .rar file. How do I fix this?

Are you completely stock right now? Have you flashed CWM w/ ODIN yet?