Rooting EI22 Gingerbread Instructions

[dbillman]

I still have the update.zip from El22 on there and it doesn't work either. Everything says it fails when I try it. And it is a black screen with blue text then when you scroll over the text, it becomes white. Is that the stock recovery? I wouldn't mind sprint giving me a new epic because this one already has a crack down the side and the speaker doesn't work any more.

So basically if when I turn the phone on and just the phone and computer icons show up with a caution sign, and with the recovery screen I have (the black, blue, and white one), sprint shouldn't be able to tell I tried to root it? Thanks so much for your help.

 

[boocephus]

Now when i try to start up the phone i get a small phone icon and a computer icon. How do I fix this?

Take the battery out and leave it out. I had the same screen because I yanked the usb cable at the wrong time.

 

[Devtodi]

Paul, about to root my wife's phone, when I go to download: kernel-GB-3.tar.md5,

all I see is:

kernel-GB-3a.tar.md5

can I use this?

 

[Paul627g]

Paul, about to root my wife's phone, when I go to download: kernel-GB-3.tar.md5,

all I see is:

kernel-GB-3a.tar.md5

can I use this?

Yes Ted. That will provide the proper kernel to make CWM stick and root built into the kernel.

Once you complete that step, then you go back and using Odin flash the CWM recovery which is in the next step of the tutorial.

 

[TheSkipperCDB]

A few problems, but I've joined the rooters of the Epic world

Hello, I tried rooting for the first time, and ran into some troubles. I just wanted to share my experience, to maybe help anyone else that has an issue...

First, I think these instructions should add a note about making a nandroid backup before messing with anything. To say that is EXTREMELY important before making any changes. I knew about it from perusing other threads, but I didn't see it in this tutorial. I would highly recommend adding that to save anyone else the trouble

So, I rooted, and flashed the Legendary ROM - without wiping data first. It booted up, but was unusable (force closes, kept complaining there wasn't enough system memory, etc). I tried the factory reset, then flash the ROM again, but again no luck.

So, I figured I'd cut my losses and restore from the nandroid backup. However, the phone wouldn't boot up - it never got past the Samsung screen. I tried factory reset, etc etc, before restoring, but it would never get past the Samsung screen :-(

I finally resolved this by following finding an EC05 ROM that resets to stock (lost the link in all the madness) - copied that ROM to my SD card (figuring out how to mount the SD card in CWM), flashed it, and it booted up (yay!). From there, I restored my nandroid backup, and everything was fine (YAY!)

From what I could decipher from various threads, the stock ROMs use RFS, and many custom ROMs use ext4. There must have been some issue with restoring my nandroid backup of stock while formatted to ext4. Flashing that EC05 ROM changed back to RFS, and restoring my backup worked fine. Since that guide is geared towards newbies, I think there should at least be a blurb warning about the file system differences between RFS and ext4. (I don't know the differences myself - but there seemed to be an issue restoring an RFS backup to ext4).

I did eventually flash MostlyStock, and later CleanGB to my phone (and wow, do I wish I had done this sooner...of course, I also wish I had started earlier last night so I didn't end up til 4:30 am getting my phone back to working condition!)

And a big thanks to everyone in the community for helping with all the great information and tools!! :-D :-D :-D

 

[Dronak]

Re: A few problems, but I've joined the rooters of the Epic world

First, I think these instructions should add a note about making a nandroid backup before messing with anything. To say that is EXTREMELY important before making any changes. I knew about it from perusing other threads, but I didn't see it in this tutorial. I would highly recommend adding that to save anyone else the trouble

That's probably because this tutorial is about rooting, and (AFAIK) you have to do that before you can make a nandroid backup. So it's kind of a different issue. But I suppose it could be worth mentioning at the end though, since people are likely to make other changes, and having such a backup could be useful.

I'm new to rooting, too, so I don't know a whole lot either. My impression is that many posts, instructions, etc. assume some familiarity with the process and requirements already -- something new people like us don't always have. This could be why things like the file system (RFS vs. EXT4) could cause issues if we're not aware of how or when changing between them needs to be handled. It would be nice if some of these things were explained in more detail, but it seems like people are willing to answer and help if you ask. I'm glad you got your problems worked out. I'm still just on rooted stock right now, but will probably put a custom ROM on when I have a bit more time to devote to the process. I was thinking of MostlyStock, at least as a starting point, to get some of the big fixes without changing much else, but might consider others if that goes well and/or I need/want the stuff other ROMs offer. We'll see.

 

[alexwoolfson]

It seems like the link to the forum post for

:: Files to Download ::

ACSRecovery1.0.0.5.tar.md5
su-3.0-efgh-signed.zip

has changed from

Rodix Intro

to

[RECOVERY][CWM][ODIN] ACSRecovery 1.0.0.5 CWM4 Based Public Beta

Just a heads up for those looking. Perhaps update the links in the sticky post?

 

[dirtyballonot]

Well, this isn't good. I was trying to root this for my friend. I have a SGSII and a Captivate before that (ATT), so I'm familiar with the processes and tools, but Odin keeps sticking on zimage and I've tried all the troubleshooting steps. It just doesn't seem to want to flash the kernal. I'm pretty sure it's bricked as it won't power on now, but maybe I can Odin the stock files?

 

[Stucco]

Well, this isn't good. I was trying to root this for my friend. I have a SGSII and a Captivate before that (ATT), so I'm familiar with the processes and tools, but Odin keeps sticking on zimage and I've tried all the troubleshooting steps. It just doesn't seem to want to flash the kernal. I'm pretty sure it's bricked as it won't power on now, but maybe I can Odin the stock files?

Try a different USB cable, remove battery, remove sdcard, different USB port, disable antivirus, disable firewall... - Odin stuck at zImage, phone is..dead? - xda-developers

 

[sinic]

So for the ACS Recovery piece, which file should I get from here: chris41g.devphone.org ?

ACSRecovery1.0.0.5.tar.md5 or ACSRecovery5-1.0.0.0-epic4g.tar.md5? The second file is more recent, but the first is the one referenced in the sticky.

 

[Ickstar009]

Everytime I download kernel-GB-3a.tar.md5 onto my pc, I get a file called zImage. Need assistance in trying to get this file converted into a file that Odin can recognize.

Thanks!

 

[demopedro]

Again.....you guys have a post with GREAT instructions and great feedback and my 2.3.5 EI22 Epic is ROOTED!!!!

BUT, I had a few problems.....

Has anyone received the "Your computer does not recognize the USB device" type error when you plugged in your phone? I had to try, and RETRY, with THREE different cables on TWO different computers on 2 different USB ports!!!! OUCH!!!

#1 when doing this root...HAVE A GOOD QUALITY USB cable!!!! And I am not sure if this made a diffrence, but when running Odin and booting into download mode....connect right away! If I waited I always seemed to get the USB error.

Still....once it was connected I did both ODIN updates and bingo!!!

Just a side note....Now rooted....I was thinking of going with some other ROM, but not sure which....I am fine with the Sprint layout, I just want to un-bloat it and speed it up.

Someone in a previous post mentioned removing some program Sprint used to collect Data? Any idea what that's about?

Anyway....THANKS AGAIN to ALL involved! Looking forward to cleaning up my Epic!

 

[demopedro]

Everytime I download kernel-GB-3a.tar.md5 onto my pc, I get a file called zImage. Need assistance in trying to get this file converted into a file that Odin can recognize.

Thanks!

when you saved the file did you place the ".tar" at the end? Windows adds the extention for you....check that 1st. And I'm not too sure how important, but make sure your running Odin 1.85 AND have a QUALITY USB cable!
Just my 2 cents....

 

[demopedro]

I have not seen this posted anywhere....so I'll ask here 1st...

Has anyone gone through the process yet the phone is not rooted?

I have followed this to a "t" yet the phone is NOT rooted! I have the Superuser Icon....and can even launch Superuser and try to update.....but when superuser goets to the point where it checks to make sure the phone is rooted.....it states "failed".

So how can I have Superuser installed......yet the device is NOT rooted......should I try a newer version of superuser?

 

[jblat16]

Thanks Paul627g for the detailed text instructions. While following your instructions for the second file to download "kernel-GB-3.tar.md5 (Go to thread and look for that exact filename at very end (bottom) of the first post)".

Feel free to let me know if I'm just an idiot and don't see it , but does this need to be updated to include the letter 'a' after '3'? Here's the file that's listed in the link, kernel-GB-3a.tar.md5.

Per your instructions on following the EXACT file name, I wanted to make sure this was the right file and I'm not missing something very basic.

Thanks for your help!

 

[jblat16]

'ACSRecovery1.0.0.5.tar.md5' mirror link is broken. Nothing is there- even after registering with the site.

Suggestions?

 

[ShIzNiTs]

I hope what I am doing isn't against forum rules, I found the file here:

chris41g.devphone.org

The other file su-3.0-efgh-signed.zip I found here:

su-3.0-efgh-signed.zip

 

[Paul627g]

I hope what I am doing isn't against forum rules, I found the file here:

chris41g.devphone.org

The other file su-3.0-efgh-signed.zip I found here:

su-3.0-efgh-signed.zip

Thanks for supplying this, I updated the OP to refer them to your post for the updated links.

Thanks again.
Paul

 

[jsalassi]

excellent process. Worked flawlessly.

 

[rigger1978]

when i download gb-kernel.3a.tar.md5 i end up with a zimage file. can someone tell me how to get the file or fix the zimage. i looked at a earlier post, but it doesn't work for me. Odin recognizes my epic 4g, but with out the md5 file it comes back with a hash count error. thanks!