[HOW-TO] Simplified Root + Recovery + Custom ROM

[Whyzor]

OK, so I'm to the point of flashing a ROM. What is the benefit of the CM7 mod vs the regular 2.2 setup that I have now. And also, at the link to github, there are 2 CM7 mods listed. DOes it matter which one I get?

All I really NEED to be able to do is uninstall the stock programs that VM put on the phone and I'd like to be able to use the WiFi tether whatever it's called program for when I'm somewhere with no wifi for my laptop.

So, maybe I don't need to flash anything?

Let me know.

Thanks!

You just need root if that's all you want to do. But be careful because you don't have a recovery image to backup the ROM and restore it if something goes wrong.

 

[Whyzor]

ok i installed busybox from the market. what does this app do? how do i verify the rooting worked? im going to be installing IHO will rom manager work ok?

busybox comes with a lot of unix tools. to verify root worked, open 'terminal emulator' and type 'su' you should get a # prompt, which means you're super-user.

 

[Whyzor]

Hey all, I am trying to do this (just got the phone, first Android, but am not a noob to tech stuff).

When I turn on debugging, mass storage turns off and I no longer have access to the drive form my pc.When I turn debugging off, mass storage pops up on my phone asking me if I want to turn it on.

So, I copy gingerbread to my SD card with debugging off, eject, turn on debugging and open the file manager and select SD card, and ..... nothing is there. I also turn debugging back off and ginger bread still doe not show up in the app manager. I installed all the suggested drivers in the beginning of the sticky... Any ideas? :-\

Debugging allows the PC to use 'adb' commands (part of Android SDK package). You should just leave it on. To connect phone to PC, plug it in, then pull down notification bar, press the android icon and turn on removable storage, then a new drive should pop up on the PC, when in this mode, you won't be able to access it on the phone. After you turn off the removable storage from PC, then android can see it again.

 

[TWentt37]

I flashed the gingerbread rom that was linked on the original post and everything worked fine except I have no market app on my phone now and I was wondering what the solution to this is?

 

[Whyzor]

I flashed the gingerbread rom that was linked on the original post and everything worked fine except I have no market app on my phone now and I was wondering what the solution to this is?

You probably missed flashing the gapps.zip file in step 6 right after flashing the ROM.zip

 

[thewraith420]

I flashed the gingerbread rom that was linked on the original post and everything worked fine except I have no market app on my phone now and I was wondering what the solution to this is?

You need to flash gapps

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Latest_Version/Google_Apps

Sent from my LG Optimus V on BACKside IHO CM 7.1

 

[irha]

I am feeling stupid to ask this, as it might be pretty obvious, but I don't want to take a chance. I installed the free Rom Manager and when I select the "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery", I am being asked to confirm the phone model. The closest name in that list for "LG Optimus V" is "LGE Optimus V". Is that the correct selection? Why is there an extra "E" in the name? Thanks for any help.

 

[Whyzor]

I am feeling stupid to ask this, as it might be pretty obvious, but I don't want to take a chance. I installed the free Rom Manager and when I select the "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery", I am being asked to confirm the phone model. The closest name in that list for "LG Optimus V" is "LGE Optimus V". Is that the correct selection? Why is there an extra "E" in the name? Thanks for any help.

I'm pretty sure that's it (although I haven't used ROM Manager in a while since going through this.) ROM Manager was written by one person who had to cover a lot of other phone models, so it was probably a typo.

 

[irha]

I'm pretty sure that's it (although I haven't used ROM Manager in a while since going through this.) ROM Manager was written by one person who had to cover a lot of other phone models, so it was probably a typo.

If that is the wrong option, what is the worst thing that could happen? Would it just fail to flash or could it cause the phone to brick?

 

[Whyzor]

If that is the wrong option, what is the worst thing that could happen? Would it just fail to flash or could it cause the phone to brick?

You would just not be able to boot into recovery mode, but should still be able to flash a working version once booted into regular Android. I'm pretty sure that's the right selection, esp if there's no other one that's close.

 

[irha]

You would just not be able to boot into recovery mode, but should still be able to flash a working version once booted into regular Android. I'm pretty sure that's the right selection, esp if there's no other one that's close.

Thank you, I feel better to know that it won't be irrecoverable.

 

[irha]

You would just not be able to boot into recovery mode, but should still be able to flash a working version once booted into regular Android. I'm pretty sure that's the right selection, esp if there's no other one that's close.

I got this error on a bluescreen when I booted into the recovery console:

Fastboot mode started
gpio_i2c: invalid khz:0
b1: i2c write error
udc_start()

I was able to remove the battery and boot back into the OS, so it is not all that bad. However, I wonder if the chosen option is correct.

 

[Whyzor]

I updated the original post steps 4 & 5, which should be more reliable now. Give that a try.

 

[b.roid]

I updated the original post steps 4 & 5, which should be more reliable now. Give that a try.

good info added on the update. i just got done and everything worked fine. i got a little confused towards the end and had to consult some youtube vids. which i think would be great to add to it.

 

[tiger1dd]

Just got my phone done. Great guide, worked perfectly! I even got my swype back (can't live without it!)

Thanks,
Dave

 

[irha]

I updated the original post steps 4 & 5, which should be more reliable now. Give that a try.

I tried the new steps and still got the same exact error. Is there a clean-up that needs to be done? Also, I noticed references to "new screen" what is the difference? Are there two hardware versions?

 

[bigsupersquid]

recovery isn't flashing correctly. the blue screen is the bootloader, it can't find the recovery.
keep trying to flash a recovery, don't mess with the rom (OS) until recovery works or you will have to use that blue screen to fix it.

the new screen is a hitachi, old screen novatek. no labelling on the phone to indicate which it is. 2.2.1 froyo OS means probably novatek, 2.2.2 froyo stock rom could be either screen type. if you're getting the blue screen you probably have the old screen type, 2.2.2 firmware won't go to fastboot with anything I've tried yet.

 

[irha]

recovery isn't flashing correctly. the blue screen is the bootloader, it can't find the recovery.
keep trying to flash a recovery, don't mess with the rom (OS) until recovery works or you will have to use that blue screen to fix it.

the new screen is a hitachi, old screen novatek. no labelling on the phone to indicate which it is. 2.2.1 froyo OS means probably novatek, 2.2.2 froyo stock rom could be either screen type. if you're getting the blue screen you probably have the old screen type, 2.2.2 firmware won't go to fastboot with anything I've tried yet.

I have 2.2.1, so you are right about the fastboot. And you are absolutely right that trying to flash multiple times is an option, because it worked when I tried it again. At first, I didn't know that it worked, I just found that the ROM Manager also has an option to backup, so wanted to just try it out. When I chose that opion, I briefly saw the LG logo and it went into a backup mode that created 335.31MB folder with the name I chose. Later I explicitly booted into the recovery and it successfully went in. By going into the restore option, I confirmed it recognized the backup that was created earlier, so hopefully the backup was fine.

I will try an alternative ROM the next weekend, since I don't want to be left with a disabled phone during the week, in case something goes wrong. I am assuming the backup includes even the apps that I installed, since I felt like their names showed up in the progress messages (the names were changing too quickly to confirm). If the rom flashing fails, I want to be able to get back exactly as it was, so probably should backup again next weekend right before I flash the new ROM.

To get all the apps and their data back after flashing an alternative ROM, can I rely on Titanium Backup? I currently have a partition for use by Link2SD and wondering if this can continue the same once CM7 is installed. Would I need any of the original virgin apps, in case I contact their technical support, and they ask me to run any of them?

 

[natefalls]

Hey, guys!

I've had my Optimus V rooted forever, and just now decided to get me a new ROM. I followed all the instructions in the OP, as far as I can tell. Managed to get ionto CWM recovery, and tried to flash a new ROM. It appeared to work, although it returned an error message about not being able to access /sd-ext, I believe.

Other than that, the install appeared to be successful, except that upon reboot, I'm stuck in an LG flash screen reboot loop. If I pull the battery, I can then get back into CWM recovery to try again. I've repeated the instructions a few times for several different ROMS, including clean 2.3, and Froyo Optimum, and what I believe was a stock VM rom, all with the same result.

So what should my next step be? It looks like some people are recommending Xionia Clockwork to fix it, and I'll do that if I have to, but I'm on an Ubuntu machine, so I can't do command line through my PC, as far as I know.



update: the Xionia recovery .zip is refusing to install. My phone says it's bad. Balls. Gonna find another one that is ...not bad.

update 2: Got Xionia to install after all. I have no idea why it was bad before but it isn't now. Booted into Xionia Recovery. Went Advanced>Fix Boot Loop, which...immediately put me into a boot loop. Which is not real useful, but on the other hand it's actually kind of hilarious.

Update 3: I wiped and formatted everything from Xionia recovery, as per rom install directions, and installed a stock ROM,
and now the phone is booting directly to the LG logo and staying there. Huh. And if I hold VolDn, Home, and Power to boot, it boots to this:

Android system recovery...
Do not pull out the battery!!
Formatting Data...
Formatting Cache...
Factory reset...
Rebooting...
and then it reboots right to the unending LG logo again, so I can't even get back to the Xionia recovery anymore. Is there any way to break this loop? For the record, it was Xionia Recovery's "LG style factory wipe" that got me here.

 

[bigsupersquid]

you can use Terminal (or shell or whatever ubuntu calls it) to send adb commands to the phone.
at least it doesn't need drivers like windoze.
if you use adb as root, (or use "sudo adb" instead of plain adb) you don't have to do all that udev rules rigamarole called out in the guides for using adb with linux.
you'll have to spam in a couple commands through adb while rebooting until they get through to the phone. start trying to send them as soon as you see the 'system recovery' messages. you won't have long to do it before it reboots again.

adb shell strings /dev/mtd/mtd8
adb shell flash_eraseall /dev/mtd/mtd8

(thanks mmarz and zefie)
you can get adb either by downloading the whole android sdk from google (ugh, it's large and in charge) or just use their search engine to find a standalone adb zip archive for linux.
after you get those commands in you should be able to reboot to recovery and then:
format:
boot, cache, data, and system.
then install another rom.zip
if it fails to boot, go to recovery and format a couple of times in a row before trying to flash the rom again.
just be certain NOT TO FLASH ANOTHER RECOVERY while your ROM is not booting, or you'll probably softbrick and not be able to fix it.