Needed: Best and EASIEST Guide for Rooting the Optimus V

[mehndi]

I am a super noobie. I have a new Optmus V sitting in its box since September. I want to root it so that I can tether, overclock, remove bloatware and do all the other things that I am not be able to do without rooting. However, I am new to smart phones. I have searched the forum for months and still do not have the confidence to try rooting. Can someone please direct me to the latest, easiet, foolproof instructions for rooting. I am fine whenI have explicit direction.

Here are some of the things that are confusing me:

Can I root without activating the phone?
What is the difference between Gingerbread and Gingerbreak? Or is this just a typo?
I looked at the 'Root without a Computer' instructions. Does this mean I am downloading from the android market? (I suppose this comes on my phone from the factory)

It seems some methods require you to download programs to your computer and some require downloads from the market? There seems to be a dozen ways to root yet I am not sure which is the easiest most efficient way. Please help?

 

[cole2kb]

Re: Best and EASIEST Guide for Rooting the Optimus V

Best course of action IMO, is to use Gingerbreak to root, then flash your recovery manually like so:

Download Terminal Emulator from the Market
Download this: VM670NH_recovery.img and this: flash_image - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download and copy both of them to the root of your SD card.

Open the Terminal Emulator app and type in the following commands (after rooting):

su
mount -o remount,rw /system /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
mount -o remount,ro /system /system
flash_image recovery /sdcard/NAME-OF-RECOVERY.img

replacing NAME-OF-RECOVERY with the recovery IMG you downloaded at the first link I gave you.

After that, you can flash your ROM. If you're not activated yet, I believe you have to flash Harmonious Bumblebee located in this thread -- http://forums.androidcentral.com/op...ks/121236-mod-harmonious-bumblebee-2-1-a.html, because it is the only one that still contains the Activate app from Virgin. Once you're activated you can switch to CM7 if you wish.

 

[mehndi]

Thank you for responding. Should I first activate the phone online? Then, I install the SD card. Then I go to the Android Market and find Terminal Emulator? Then I download the next two programs you mentioned above from the internet? When it asks me where I want to store the programs and I store them on the sd card? What is the root of the sd card?

I go back to the Terminal Emulator app and open it? Then I type:

su
mount -o remount,rw /system /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
mount -o remount,ro /system /system
flash_image recovery /sdcard/NAME-OF-RECOVERY.img
Are the underscores spaces or underscores? Do I type it exactly as it appears above?

replacing NAME-OF-RECOVERY with the recovery IMG you downloaded at the first link I gave you
This I don't understand. When I download the this program <VM670NH_recovery.img> will it give me a name?

After that, you can flash your ROM
What ROM? I have no idea what this is? Can you point me to a ROM that will work, please. Are Harmonious Bumblebee 2.1 and CM7 ROMS? Which one will provide me with the most functionality?

Thanks for being willing to help me.

 

[cole2kb]

Thank you for responding. Should I first activate the phone online? Then, I install the SD card. Then I go to the Android Market and find Terminal Emulator? Then I download the next two programs you mentioned above from the internet? When it asks me where I want to store the programs and I store them on the sd card? What is the root of the sd card?

I go back to the Terminal Emulator app and open it? Then I type:

su
mount -o remount,rw /system /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
mount -o remount,ro /system /system
flash_image recovery /sdcard/NAME-OF-RECOVERY.img
Are the underscores spaces or underscores? Do I type it exactly as it appears above?

replacing NAME-OF-RECOVERY with the recovery IMG you downloaded at the first link I gave you
This I don't understand. When I download the this program <VM670NH_recovery.img> will it give me a name?

After that, you can flash your ROM
What ROM? I have no idea what this is? Can you point me to a ROM that will work, please. Are Harmonious Bumblebee 2.1 and CM7 ROMS? Which one will provide me with the most functionality?

Thanks for being willing to help me.

1) Should you activate first? It depends on what ROM you use. (The ROM is the kind of custom software you load on the phone. There are two major ones for the V, Harmonia and IHO. If you don't want to activate now, you will want to use the one called Harmonious Bumblebee, as this one has the Activate app included so you can activate your phone later on.

2) The root of the SD card just means not to put the files in another folder. Hook up your phone to your PC and download all the files, then copy them to your SD card. Don't put them in any folders or anything.

3) The underscores are just that, underscores. Type it exactly as shown.

4) The NAME_OF_RECOVERY.img is the name of the file you downloaded, so in this case you would replace it with VM670NH_recovery.img

Harmonious Bumblebee is the ROM you want if you don't want to activate at this time. It provides great battery life, which is it's most important advantage over CM7.

CM7 is built off the latest version of Android and is more customizable in terms of settings and random tweaks. It also has overclocking built right in to the system settings as opposed to requiring a seperate app. It also performs faster in some cases, but when choosing a ROM it really just comes down to what ends up being more comfortable for you. Once you do all of the rooting and installing a recovery, switching ROMs is very easy.

 

[mehndi]

Ok, this is what I have:

Wait to activate my Optimus V phone. Put a sd card into the slot.

Download Terminal Emulator from the Market. Connect my phone to my computer.

Download this: VM670NH_recovery.img and this: flash_image - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - to my computer and copy both of them to the root of my SD card.

Open the Terminal Emulator app and type in the following commands (after rooting):

su
mount -o remount,rw /system /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
mount -o remount,ro /system /system
flash_image recovery /sdcard/ VM670NH_recovery.img



Flash Harmonious Bumblebee located in this thread -- [MOD] Harmonious Bumblebee 2.1, because it is the only one that still contains the Activate app from Virgin. Once you're activated you can switch to CM7 if you wish.

Questions:
At which point do I remove my phone from my computer?
Do I need to enable/disable debugging on the phone?
Do I need to partition my sd card?
Do I need to make a backup or since there is nothing on my phone can skip this step?
How do I flash? Does it mean I go to the thread and follow those instructions?

Thanks for your help.

 

[CuriousNoob]

Before downloading the Terminal app, download SuperUser, and Root Checker to ensure everything is installed correctly.

 

[mustafu]

Flash Harmonious Bumblebee located in this thread -- [MOD] Harmonious Bumblebee 2.1, because it is the only one that still contains the Activate app from Virgin.

Harmonia itself has the activate app on it as well. That is a ROM I would highly recommend to a beginner who wants a fast, stable, and proven ROM with no surprises.

 

[mehndi]

Before downloading the Terminal app, download SuperUser, and Root Checker to ensure everything is installed correctly.

In addition to downloading Terminal Emulator from the Android Market, I should also download SuperUser and Root Checker from the Android Market, too?

 

[mehndi]

Harmonia itself has the activate app on it as well. That is a ROM I would highly recommend to a beginner who wants a fast, stable, and proven ROM with no surprises.

Ok, after I achieve root I can download Harmonia.

I still have these Questions:

At which point do I remove my phone from my computer?
Do I need to enable debugging on the phone?
Do I need to reboot my phone?
Do I need to partition my sd card?
Do I need to make a backup or since there is nothing on my phone can I skip this step?
How do I flash Harmonia? Does it mean I go to the thread and follow those instructions?

Any help is great. I would like to get this correct on paper before I attempt to root my phone.

 

[kcls]

I've been considering typing up a newer Root, ROM and recovery instructions, the current is a little outdated. Maybe now is the time...

 

[cole2kb]

I've been considering typing up a newer Root, ROM and recovery instructions, the current is a little outdated. Maybe now is the time...

I was thinking the same thing but know I'd leave some out (as seen above).

 

[mehndi]

I've been considering typing up a newer Root, ROM and recovery instructions, the current is a little outdated. Maybe now is the time...

Now is definitely the time. Would you please do this and post it. I am desperate to get clear, precise instrustions. I have read through many of the instructions already posted but I am new to smart phones and it all reads like Greek to me. I can follow explicit direction but, right now, what I have seen is not clear enough for me.

 

[mehndi]

I was thinking the same thing but know I'd leave some out (as seen above).

Ok, what was left out? I don't mind typing everything up if someone would give me the information and direction. I will type it up and post it, giving thanks where it's due, if someone will give me precise instructions.

 

[Whyzor]

I just updated my guide:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/op...-how-simplified-root-recovery-custom-rom.html

Feel free to comment & suggest updates to make some steps clearer/easier.

 

[bigsupersquid]

it looks nice, whyzor.
is the xionia recovery .6 or .8 version? the older versions before .6 don't work on new screens.

 

[mehndi]

I just updated my guide:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/op...-how-simplified-root-recovery-custom-rom.html

Feel free to comment & suggest updates to make some steps clearer/easier.

Thank you for updating the post. I am a complete noob but I am assuming these steps presume my phone is connected to my computer? Do I need to activate the phone before I root? My phone is still in the box.

So, I connect my phone to my computer with an sd card in the phone.

Root Instruction Steps:

1. Turn on USB Debugging (Settings - Applications - Development)
2. Copy the GingerBreak.apk to a /sdcard dir, then using a file manager app install it like a regular app.
3. It can take up to 10 minutes, and will reboot automatically when complete (rooted), if attempt fails, reboot manually & run it again.
3a. In App Market, find & install 'busybox' & run it.

Questions:

Where do I find a free file manager app?

Install custom recovery image

4. Download and copy the recovery image VM670NH_recovery.img (works with newer OV screens) onto a path on /sdcard.
5. Install the Flash Image GUI app. Run the app & select 'Recovery Image' option with the file above.

Question:
Should I download the recovery image VM670NH_recovery.img and Flash Image GUI app on my sd card?


Flash Custom ROM
[ROM+Kernel] Inferior Human Organs unofficial CM7.1 (Gingerbread)

6. Copy the unextracted ROM .zip that you wish to install to the /sdcard dir. Also if installing a CyanogenMod Gingerbread ROM, the unextracted gapps.zip also needs to be placed in the same dir to flash right after the ROM .zip.
7. Boot into Clockworkmod recovery mode (From powered off state, hold vol-down, home, and power button until the LG logo appears).
8. FIRST, BACKUP ORIGINAL ROM! Don't continue until this is successful. use vol-up/down, camera, & back keys to navigate in recovery.
9. Wipe Data/Factory Reset, wipe cache partition, & under Advanced Settings, Wipe dalvik-cache, then format all partitions EXCEPT /sdcard.
10. Flash the custom ROM.zip from sdcard and gapps.zip too if going to a CyanogenMod ROM
11. Reboot and enjoy the new ROM, the first boot takes longer than usual, also some problems may disappear after rebooting.


Questions:

Is [ROM+Kernel] Inferior Human Organs unofficial CM7.1 (Gingerbread)
a ROM that I can flash in step 6?
I don't understand number 6 at all. Where are these: unextracted gapps.zip ?
Where would my original ROM be so that I can back it up?
I've heard a lot about Harmonia and Bumblebee. Can I flash these ROMS?

Any help with these questions is greatly appreciated.

 

[Whyzor]

I updated it again to clarify things based on your questions. At some point it does have to assume someone has used Android for a bit. It's not recommended for a complete Android newbie to root & flash a custom ROM.

File manager can be found in the Android Market, Search for 'file manager'

Yes, the recovery image & flash Image GUI .apk should be saved on /sdcard first, then install the .apk.

Yes IHO CM7.1 is a ROM that can be flashed, or use Harmonia or Bumblebee, but you have to find the threads that discuss them and get the ROM.zip file. My post has a link to the gapps.zip file that's required for gingerbread ROMs.

 

[Whyzor]

it looks nice, whyzor.
is the xionia recovery .6 or .8 version? the older versions before .6 don't work on new screens.

Thanks, I got rid those sections, recovering from a boot-loop should be covered by a different thread.