Ok, here we go...

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

So I've had my optimus v since march, rooted it with superoneclick and uninstalled the crapware from it. And go figure, hardware failure hit! VM sent me a refurb unit, and asked for the old one back. Before I send it back I need it unrooted, which is no problemo, as superoneclick can unroot too. The problem is: busybox is still installed even after unrooting, and the installer can't remove it. I tried removing it in DroidExplorer(PC) but the permissions on the busybox file in xbin wont allow removal, and I can't seem to change them even with chmod in adb. Am I missing something? Am I better off trying to flash a stock rom to the old device? And can I do so while leaving no evidence like a custom recovery? And on the topic of flashing new roms, can someone give Me a list of the only ways to brick my phone? For purposes of not bricking, of course. I've read the stickys in the forum, watched countless videos, and a find a lot of contradicting information on a lot of things, can someone set me straight on a sure fire way to return this defective phone to factory, and/or flashing roms?
Also, what's YOUR favorite rom for the V?

Thanks for your time!

 

[shawayne21]

Well you can revert back to stock with this:
http://forum.androidcentral.com/opt...astboot-style-fastest-easiest-way-around.html

And my favorite all around every day use rom due to battery and performance and features is:
http://forum.androidcentral.com/opt...acks/79619-rom-reborn-rom-v2-1-5-13-11-a.html

Only thing I didnt like about the rom is the launcher, so I downloaded launcher pro from the market which is fantastic once you customize it how you want. good luck.

 

[JerryScript]

Connect to your phone via adb

Open SuperOneClick.exe and choose temp shell root (may take a couple of tries)

Once you are temp rooted, type adb shell (you should see a # sign, if not try temp shell root till you do)

Once you see the # sign in adb shell, type exit

Type adb remount system

Type adb shell

Make sure you still have the # sign, then type rm /system/xbin/busybox

Type exit

Type adb reboot

I believe that will remove busybox without rerooting you permanently.

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

My god.... that easy? I've been mucking about in adb and google for a week now. Once I get home ill give it a shot. Thank you so much!!! That guide needs to be the first thing stickied (no offense to this helpful abdoul fellow). Ill try that rom you pointed out, my battery life blows with the stock rom.
Are you able to tell me the "no no's" when it comes to flashing? Is there any way to permabrick droids by slipping up?

Thank you again

-Chris

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

Ive tried the exact steps mentioned, and do get the #, but it says I don't have permission, I'm thinking the version of busybox may have been tampered with prior to my downloading it. I say this because I can do anything else with any file except busybox.

 

[JerryScript]

hmmm, try this:

In adb shell, with the # sign, type

chmod 777 /system/xbin/busybox

then try the rm /system/xbin/busybox again. You may have to find a way to chown the file.

Although the command window remount has always worked for me, you may need to remount system in the adb shell with this line:

mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /system /system

If any of this works for you, I will update the above posted instructions.

If my advice fails you, asadullah will probably know the answer. His videos may confuse some, but his work is impecable!

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

hmmm, try this:

In adb shell, with the # sign, type

chmod 777 /system/xbin/busybox

then try the rm /system/xbin/busybox again. You may have to find a way to chown the file.

Although the command window remount has always worked for me, you may need to remount system in the adb shell with this line:

mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /system /system

If any of this works for you, I will update the above posted instructions.

If my advice fails you, asadullah will probably know the answer. His videos may confuse some, but his work is impecable!

The above have yielded the same results, I ended up using the quickbootandroot program, and it solved my issue. Now I'm on to romming my new device using the same programs custom recovery. I've got a nandroid backup made, and Reborn running. I tried to use ZOMGROM but it seems to be stuck in a boot loop that never passes the splash screen. So glad I nandroided... I followed asadullah's install guide the best I could, however after flashing the zomgrom the recovery reboots before I can flash gapps. What all really needs to be cleared/wiped prior to flashing zomgrom, or any rom for that matter? Also, my battery did not get a 100% charge the first time, should I wipe battery data too in order to calibrate?
I appreciate your help and time very much!

 

[shawayne21]

any time my man... and welllll everytime I wiped batt. stats, my batt. always ends up garbage. I suggest you just let it die, charge it to 100, let it die and charge it again to 100 as you would regularly calibrate your battery.

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

any time my man... and welllll everytime I wiped batt. stats, my batt. always ends up garbage. I suggest you just let it die, charge it to 100, let it die and charge it again to 100 as you would regularly calibrate your battery.

Ok, ill try that. My screen brightness and timeout are at minimum, bluetooth, gps and wifi are nearly always off, I only turn on wifi every now and then. I hardly text, and use about 200 minutes of talk per month, yet my battery lasts around six hours from 100% to zero. The thing that seems to be taking most of my battery is cell standby, but I live across the street from a tower, and always have 4/5 or 5/5 bars. Idk, hopefully A new rom will do the trick. After flashing a rom I shouldn't need to program the phone for service, should I?

 

[watskyhotsky]

Ok, ill try that. My screen brightness and timeout are at minimum, bluetooth, gps and wifi are nearly always off, I only turn on wifi every now and then. I hardly text, and use about 200 minutes of talk per month, yet my battery lasts around six hours from 100% to zero. The thing that seems to be taking most of my battery is cell standby, but I live across the street from a tower, and always have 4/5 or 5/5 bars. Idk, hopefully A new rom will do the trick. After flashing a rom I shouldn't need to program the phone for service, should I?

if your phone is activated and can use 3G data and make calls right now, then no you wont have to reprogram it. it will work again.

flashing the rom doesnt erase any activcation info that may be stored in the phone.


However, if you are flashing a rom that does NOT have the 3G data dropping fix, then you wont see any improvement.

Bumblebee and aospCM7 have that 3G data dropping problem fixed, even on aosp, youll see MUCH better battery life than you do currently.

 

[shawayne21]

Ok, ill try that. My screen brightness and timeout are at minimum, bluetooth, gps and wifi are nearly always off, I only turn on wifi every now and then. I hardly text, and use about 200 minutes of talk per month, yet my battery lasts around six hours from 100% to zero. The thing that seems to be taking most of my battery is cell standby, but I live across the street from a tower, and always have 4/5 or 5/5 bars. Idk, hopefully A new rom will do the trick. After flashing a rom I shouldn't need to program the phone for service, should I?

I see. It might be that you have the 50% without signal bug! that drains your battery like crazy .. solution? Place this app on your SD card, download a file manager to find the app, install and reboot your phone.

It will put your phone into airplane mode for 12 seconds every time you boot your phone to remove the bug. Let me know how that goes.

Heres the App:

[APP] 50% time without a signal fix - 2/2/2011 - xda-developers

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

I see. It might be that you have the 50% without signal bug! that drains your battery like crazy .. solution? Place this app on your SD card, download a file manager to find the app, install and reboot your phone.

It will put your phone into airplane mode for 12 seconds every time you boot your phone to remove the bug. Let me know how that goes.

Heres the App:

[APP] 50% time without a signal fix - 2/2/2011 - xda-developers

How is it that this type of bug can be overlooked in development? On my old optimus the same 50% bug was happening, and 3g data was dropping as well. I wasnt aware that either of these bugs existed, and i actually got this new one because of 3g dropping, i assumed it to be a hardware problem, as did the carrier (we all know how carriers and tech support are ). Ive instaled the app, ill let you know how its affected. Is there a forum post about either bug that im not seeing? Saving my butt again... I thank you once again!
Edit: I did have the 50% bug!

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

Im using the Reborn rom linked in the first response in the thread. I wasnt aware of there being a 3g dropping bug, and have actually received my new phone because of it! This rom has only dropped data connection once since flashing the new rom. I can only assume this means either its using something else for data now, or it has a fix for the problem. Can this device use another type of connection for data? Thanks for your help and time!

 

[shawayne21]

Im using the Reborn rom linked in the first response in the thread. I wasnt aware of there being a 3g dropping bug, and have actually received my new phone because of it! This rom has only dropped data connection once since flashing the new rom. I can only assume this means either its using something else for data now, or it has a fix for the problem. Can this device use another type of connection for data? Thanks for your help and time!

i am not sure if they found a fix for the 3G dropping .. but you can use 1X .. not sure if you wanna use that though, since its slow lol.

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

i am not sure if they found a fix for the 3G dropping .. but you can use 1X .. not sure if you wanna use that though, since its slow lol.

1x, as in cdma? my download speed is around 125kB/sec, its quick enough for streqming SD youtube vids and browsing, but i dont really know how fast it would be with 3g, since it never really worked long enough to test it. im going to try the CM7 rom to see if it improves, or uses 3g at all. The reborn rom never shows the 3g icon, so im thinking it was excluded when compiled. do you ever see 3g on yours?

 

[shawayne21]

1x, as in cdma? my download speed is around 125kB/sec, its quick enough for streqming SD youtube vids and browsing, but i dont really know how fast it would be with 3g, since it never really worked long enough to test it. im going to try the CM7 rom to see if it improves, or uses 3g at all. The reborn rom never shows the 3g icon, so im thinking it was excluded when compiled. do you ever see 3g on yours?

Yes. I always HAVE 3G. Ive lost it maybe twice for about 30 seconds?

Hmm, try wiping everything and flashing again.

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

Yes. I always HAVE 3G. Ive lost it maybe twice for about 30 seconds?

Hmm, try wiping everything and flashing again.

Ok, so I've been tinkering all day/night on this issue, with few good results. Ive tried doing a complete wipe of absolutely everything, and Reborn simply won't allow my 3G to work. I tried Bumblebee, it seemed to work fairly well, but it was missing a lot of features i like about Reborn. So I got Cyanogen 7 to run long enough to configure everything, reboot a couple times, and run Linpack. Linpack reported under 2 mflop every time I ran it, so I tried a reboot in case things were cluttered. That reboot resulted in it not starting back up, it would only sit at the (oh so shiny) splash screen, even after several attempts. I suppose Bumblebee is the most functional rom I have found so far, but it lacks the shiny bits! So now I'm back to my Reborn nand backup, and am at a loss of what to do! accept lack of 3g, and enjoy reborn? enjoy 3g and lack other functions? or have an OS that does everything but go fast and reboot?(ha, like that's an option). The way I installed cyanogen is right here, I'm not sure if I just got an old version of the rom, or if it is truly incompatible. can you, or someone please take a look at the rom linked in the tutorial I followed, and tell me if I'm just using a bad version?

This image is a SS of reborn running as I type this reply; can you verify by the status bar that I indeed am not using 3g, and am not hallucinating or mistaken?

Thanks again
-Chris (it really is breaking afterall )

also, I just noticed my droid is not entering usb debugging mode, but still connects to adb and droid explorer as if it were.

 

[shawayne21]

Ok, so I've been tinkering all day/night on this issue, with few good results. Ive tried doing a complete wipe of absolutely everything, and Reborn simply won't allow my 3G to work. I tried Bumblebee, it seemed to work fairly well, but it was missing a lot of features i like about Reborn. So I got Cyanogen 7 to run long enough to configure everything, reboot a couple times, and run Linpack. Linpack reported under 2 mflop every time I ran it, so I tried a reboot in case things were cluttered. That reboot resulted in it not starting back up, it would only sit at the (oh so shiny) splash screen, even after several attempts. I suppose Bumblebee is the most functional rom I have found so far, but it lacks the shiny bits! So now I'm back to my Reborn nand backup, and am at a loss of what to do! accept lack of 3g, and enjoy reborn? enjoy 3g and lack other functions? or have an OS that does everything but go fast and reboot?(ha, like that's an option). The way I installed cyanogen is right here, I'm not sure if I just got an old version of the rom, or if it is truly incompatible. can you, or someone please take a look at the rom linked in the tutorial I followed, and tell me if I'm just using a bad version?

This image is a SS of reborn running as I type this reply; can you verify by the status bar that I indeed am not using 3g, and am not hallucinating or mistaken?

Thanks again
-Chris (it really is breaking afterall )

also, I just noticed my droid is not entering usb debugging mode, but still connects to adb and droid explorer as if it were.

LOLLLLLL! He changed the 3G icon to EU! If you had EU,.you had 3G all along hahaha. Youre all frustrated and whatnot while having 3G all along! Well come to me with any questions my friend.

 

[riggerman]

It isn't EU. Look at it closely and you'll see it is EV. As in EVDO, which is 3g. It is just part of the customizations he made to differentiate from other roms. If the link you posted is the CM7 rom you installed then you do a very old rom. Zefie's CM7 is an old rom that has not been updeted in months and is considered dead. If you must have a gingerbread rom the look into the aospCMod rom it is newer, and they are still working on it. I believe the current build for Optimus V is 6/01/2011. He does have a couple of different builds for different phones, so make sure the one you get is the VM version. It should have VM some where in the name .zip file.

 

[ohgoditsgoingtobreak]

It isn't EU. Look at it closely and you'll see it is EV. As in EVDO, which is 3g. It is just part of the customizations he made to differentiate from other roms. If the link you posted is the CM7 rom you installed then you do a very old rom. Zefie's CM7 is an old rom that has not been updeted in months and is considered dead. If you must have a gingerbread rom the look into the aospCMod rom it is newer, and they are still working on it. I believe the current build for Optimus V is 6/01/2011. He does have a couple of different builds for different phones, so make sure the one you get is the VM version. It should have VM some where in the name .zip file.

Ive been facepalming for around ten minutes..... the instructions ive found for getting my hands on aosp's rom seems to involve clockworkmod, which i have failed 3 times at successfully installing. it installs the recovery, but when the recovery is run it has no functioning options. having a GB rom would be nice, but not a need at this point.... since i know 3g has been working the whole time. ill be ooking for the latest build just to see how it runs.

Thanks for your reply!