Database Users

[GUIDE]HipKat’s Ultimate Guide To Everything Evo 4G.

The first thing I should say here, is thank you to every Dev, every tester and every member that helped me along the way, from the guys in IRC #Ubuntu that helped me set up adb on my Linux drive to the guys on #htc-evo that walked me through rooting an hour after I first took this phone out of the box to all the other members of XDA and SDX that have been so instrumental in helping me learn all of this. Especially the people that have run into issues and the people that have offered up solutions. If other people didn't make mistakes, I never would have know half of what I do.
ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EVERYTING EVO 4G
In the year that I’ve been on this forum, I’ve come to learn a lot more than I could have ever imagined. I’ve tried to pass that knowledge on, in various threads, and tried to help as many people as I can. I know there are a lot of guides out there, but I decided to write what I’ll call “HipKat’s Ultimate Guide To Everything Evo 4G.” For ease, I’ve added links to as many things I can at the bottom of this.
The most important thing I can tell you is to fully read as much as you can before you attempt anything. The developers are really good at listing how to apply their mods, Flash their ROMS and listing what does and what doesn’t work.
FROM THE BEGINNING
So you have your Evo, freshly rooted, and you want to know where to go next. Well, here are some important things you need to do first. I’m assuming that you’ve already installed the HTC-EVO drivers via HTC Sync.
In the rooting process, you most likely ended up with Clockwork Mod Recovery. The first thing you’ll want to do is update that to a better recovery. Clockward Mod, or CWM is not a good recovery for the Evo. More on Recoveries below.
Download the file from the link provided below. You’ll have to rename the file so it reads PC36IMG.zip
Be sure that you are not adding a second .zip to the file name (PC36IMG.zip.zip).
Place the file on the root of your SD Card, meaning not in any folders, but on the card itself. Power down the phone and then reboot by holding Volume Down and Power at the same time, until the bootloader, or Hboot, comes up. After a few seconds, Hboot will scan your phone, find the PC36IMG.zip and ask you if you want to update. Select yes with the Volume Button, and when it’s finished, it will ask if you want to reboot. Select no, and then select Recovery. If it loads correctly, you can Reboot System.
Once your phone is fully booted, go to Market. Hit Menu>My Apps and see if anything on your phone can be updated.
As long as you’re in the Market, download some apps that you will need in certain instances, as I’ll explain later.
Astro File Manager, Titanium Backup, MSL Reader, Terminal Emulator & GPS Status & Toolbox.
*Note: You have an expensive device in your hands. Don’t afraid to buy some of the more important apps, and Titanium Backup is one I suggest paying for. I’ll be listing some of the more important Apps you’ll want, and some are not free. If you pay for Titanium Backup, make sure you keep the text file with the license number on your SD Card/Root
Once you’re done there, back out to your home screen, hit Menu>Settings, scroll down to Updates and quickly update your PRL and Your Profile. I do this before every ROM that I flash.
Open MSL Reader and get your MSL and write it down, then put it somewhere that you can always refer to it. You’ll need it for various things, like resetting your GPS Data.
Open Titanium Backup and hit Menu>Batch> Backup All user Apps and Data. Only select the apps that you may have downloaded. Never any System, Google or HTC Apps. It’s pretty simple to tell. They’ll be the ones in White Text.
The ONLY other apps I backup are my Alarms and my Voice Mail. You’ll need this if you use an AOSP ROM to restore your Voice Mail Data, which I’ll go into further below.
After those have completed, and since you have a Stock ROM without the extended Reboot Options, power down. Then repeat the steps to get to the Hboot, but this time, after the scan, since the PC36IMG.zip is still on your SD Card, select no, and then go to Recovery.
*Note: I usually keep my USB Cord connected to my Computer during any of this. You’ll see why below.
TWRP
The best one to use on the evo is 2.2.2.0. This is a true touch recovery unlike the ra style. It does wipe everything correctly and has a decent user interface. Lets start with the down side of 2.2.2.0 which is it takes forever to boot up, there is no option to wipe the boot partition (but that has never been an issue for me), and there is no autoreboot option. Now to the goodies. You have the option to flash upto 10 zips at once, there is a file manager program which will allows you to move, rename, copy, delete files from all directories including the root. You are able to name your backups and for people like me who flash and nand and restore on a daily basis who can forget what backups are what. Yes you can rename in ra but only after you boot back into the os. Also twrp creates a md5 for each partition. While in the backup screen you can see the size of the data in each partition. So that way you are not trying to backup useless partitions like .android or sdext when you have nothing on them. Also there is a terminal emulation option for the advanced users. While restoring or backing up it will show you how long each operation takes.
Now 2.3+ twrp. While there are a few new options in this one it is not worth the trouble to use it. Almost all the code has been rewrote to c++ but also it is based on aosp jellybean. What that means for the end user is headache after headache. Most of your zips will not flash without being reworked. You have to change the update binary and rewrite the update script.
Thanks to jlmancuso for that write up
Smelkus' Amon Ra Style Recovery
I have to give it up to Smelkus for this recovery. It's incredible, really. This makes wiping very easy. Before flashing a New ROM, wipe Caches, Factory Reset and Multi Wipe, and you're all set! It's just that easy. Plus it will work with existing Nandroids made with Amon Ra 2.3.3. This is the Recovery to use! Use the descriptions below for Amon Ra to see what everything does on Smelkus Recovery.
Smelkus Amon Ra-Supersonic-4.3
Welcome to Amon Ra
Now that you’re in Recovery, you’ll see there are a lot of options. While you may use most of them during your time with the Evo, I’m going to key on just a few.
USB-MS Toggle – This will connect your phone to your computer so you can edit/delete/modify files on your SD Card.
Backup/Restore – This is where you’ll create and restore your Nandriods. I’ll go into further depth about Nandroids below.
Flash Zip From SD Card – Obviously, this is where you flash your ROMs and Mods.
Wipe – The most important thing you can do in Amon Ra, and I will detail how to properly wipe your phone below.
Partition SD Card – With the size of the newer ROMS coming out, you will want to do this. It’s easy and will save you a ton of room on your internal memory.
Scroll down to Backup/Restore. You’re going to create your first and most important Nandroid Backup. Click here, and then click on the Backup function. I believe that if you’re making a backup, then you want it to be an exact image of your current setup. Select everything, except Cache. No need to save temp files. Then, click on Perform Backup. You’ll see a series of Dots scroll across the screen. Since we’re assuming that you are freshly rooted on a stock setup, this shouldn’t take too long, but know that with custom ROMs that you have completely setup, it could take a while. I’ve had some take almost 15 minutes.
Once it’s complete, click on Return, and then go to USB-MS Toggle. Click on it one time and wait for the pop up on your computer so you can see the files on your SD Card. Once it pops up, click on Open Folder To View Files so we can make some mods to your SD Card Files.
Scroll down to Nandroids and expand the folder. You’ll see a folder named something like HT121HL07014. Expand that folder and inside is your Nandroid Backup that you just made of your Stock/Rooted Setup. The reason I said this is your most important Nandroid is because it gives you a base to return to.
1). In case you ever have problems, this will give you a base to return to.
2). You’ll need a Sense ROM to Nandroid back to so you can update your Profile & PRL. Something you cannot do with AOSP ROMs or on the updated 3.5 ROMS.
3). If you ever need to take your phone into Sprint, and you don’t want them to see that you’re rooted, you can flash back to this Nandroid first, so all the techs will see is a Stock phone. There is no need to ever unroot, ever.
Make sure you make a Nandroid of your current setup before you restore a Nandroid.
The name of the folder that contains the images made in your Nandroid will be named something like BDEARS-20110319-0037. The numbers refer to the date and time that you made the Nandroid. In this example of my Stock/Rooted ROM, I can see I made this on March 19, 2011 and 12:37AM. To avoid confusion, you CAN rename this, however, you must preserve the original name and there can be no spaces in the name. I renamed mine to BDEARS-20110319-0037-stock. Now, I know which Nandroid is my Stock/Rooted setup.
I also do a separate Nandroid of just the Wimax and store it on my computer, in case I ever lose my RSA Keys.
On your SD Card, you may find it easier to store everything you use to modify your phone in custom Folders. On mine, I created a folder called XDA. Inside that folder, I created sub folders named Apps, Drivers, Icons, Kernels, ROMS, Root, Themes & Utilities, so I can organize everything I may use to flash, modify and update my phone. You should rename the PC356IMG.zip file on the root of your SD Card by adding Amon Ra to the end of the name (PC36IMG-Amon-Ra.zip), and moving it into the XDA\Root folder, so you’ll always have it on your SD card.
This would be a good time to download the custom ROM you want to use along with Dark Tremors Apps to SD Card (DT A2SD) and put them in the folders you created. I keep DT A2SD in the Utilities Folder. I would also suggest you download the V6 Supercharger Script and ViperMOD for AOSP Kernels (Also kept in Utilities). I would also search for the RUU for your particular phone, in case you ever need to do a complete reset back to “Out-Of-The-Box”. There are 2 types; PC36IMG.zip that you run in the bootloader (which I prefer) or an .exe that you run on your computer.
Partition Your SD Card
I think this is the first, most important thing you can do after backing up your original setup and before moving on to custom ROMs. And it’s very simple.
Create a folder on your Computer Desktop and Call it Evo Backup or something similar. Copy everything on your SD Card into this folder. When you partition, it will erase everything on your SD Card, so you must back it all up.
When it’s finished, click on USB-MS Toggle to disconnect from your computer. Scroll down to Partition SD Card and click on it.
Since the Evo doesn’t currently support SWAP, you can use 0 for the Swap Partition. If you have an 8 Gig or larger SD Card, you can use 2048 for the EXT Partition, although 1024 should be fine. The EXT Partition is where all of your Apps will be stored on your SD Card. If you’re going to move your Dalvik-Cache to the SD Card, you may want to use 2048.
While this is going on you may want to look for a ROM that the Dev has said contains Titanium Backup, or if you ADB and you know what you’re doing, you can pull the app prior to all of this, and add it to the XDA\Apps folder, if you created one, in your backup. The actual name of the app is com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup
Once the process is complete, select Upgrade EXT 2 to EXT 3. Do not use EXT 4 On Sense ROMS. DEFINITELY use EXT4 on newer AOSP ROMS. Your SD Card is now partitioned and you’re ready to restore your backup and flash your custom ROM so back out, go to USB-MS Toggle, select it and copy everything from the EVO Backup folder on your computer, back to your SD Card.
Flashing A Custom ROM
The first things you need to know are the little variations between Sense ROMS and AOSP ROMS.
Sense is the bundled software package that HTC provides on your phone out of the box. AOSP Stands for Android Open Source Project and there are plenty of differences. For starters. Some things you need to do in Sense, you cannot do in AOSP, like updating Profile and PRL, as I said above. Also, some AOSP ROMS have problems with GPS and while there are drivers you can flash to fix that, they may not always work, so you’ll have to go back to your Sense Nandroid and use what’s commonly called the Sense GPSCLRX Fix. I’ll explain that process in a bit.
AOSP will provide a cleaner ROM with a lot of options and mods built into it. While it may be plainer looking, there are a lot of theming capabilities that you can use to change the way it looks. Custom Kernels for AOSP can have SBC capabilities, which enhances the charging method for your battery and usually AOSP ROMS get better battery life than Sense ROMS do, because of the kernel options and the lack of “bloat” that you’ll find in a Sense ROM.
Sense ROMS are sleek with a lot of “Eye Candy” and really cool widgets. The ROMS themselves may be heavily themed and the 3rd party themes are usually gorgeous. A Good Sense ROM will not normally have anything that doesn’t work, ie. GPS, 4G, etc.
I prefer MIUI, an AOSP ROM with excellent stability, very few bugs and outstanding built in Theming options. It also comes with its own backup manager, which works well for saving everything, including desktop layout and current theme, and a Downloader that will download the weekly Releases automatically.
But, if you’re like many of us, you’ll end up trying everything on the menu until you find something that works for you.
Many ROMS come with the Stock HTC Kernel in them, so may want to research custom kernels and download a few, add them to your SD Card and try each out until you find something that works for you.
*Note: make sure that you only use AOSP Kernels with AOSP ROMS and Sense Kernels with Sense ROMS. Also, and I have seen this happen, make sure you are using a Custom ROM that’s built for the EVO 4G.
If you are flashing an AOSP Rom, like MIUI, you may want to clear your GPS Data first. If you’re using MIUI, I highly recommend it.
Sense GPS Fix For AOSP ROMs
You must be in a Sense ROM for this
Open Maps; get a lock on your position.
Open GPS Status & Tool Box, get a lock on your Sats and then hit Menu>Tools>Manage A-GPS State>Reset.
Open Dialer and dial ##GPSCLRX#
In the popup that asks for your password, enter your MSL, then reboot.
When the phone is rebooted, Open Maps, get a lock; Open GPS Status, hit Menu>Tools>Manage A-GPS State>Download. Once you are locked onto your Sats, power down, the Reboot to Recovery.
You CAN mod your ROM before you flash it. I keep all my ringtones, notification sounds and alarms on my SD Card.
Before I put the ROM on my SD Card, I make a copy of it, I open it with WinRAR, go to System>Media>Audio Folder and I delete all the sounds in the Alarms, Notifications and Ringtones folders. No sense having them load into internal memory if I already have them on the SD Card, and when you setup your sounds, they will still appear in the menus. I also add Titanium Backup to the System\App folder because I know I’m going to need it soon after I get booted up.
On the newer Sense ROMS, Voice Mail is not always included, so I have added a link to the bottom where you can download it and add it to the ROM before you flash it. See below on how to restore Data to your Voice Mail so it works.
I use the backup from Astro File Manager to pull the Apk for Titanium Backup and add it to the ROM I’m flashing.
In Recovery, back out until you get to the main menu, then go to Wipe and select it. While many people will argue this point, it’s my experience that process I’ll outline here is critical in successfully flashing a new ROM and cutting down on a lot of problems that people come across. It may seem like overkill, but it will not hurt to be thorough, so I can’t stress enough that you do it this way.
*Note: Do not use ROM Manager to flash ROMS or Recovery. It can lead to problems. The only thing I ever use ROM Manager for is to fix permissions.
Ok, in the wipe menu, the first option is Factory Reset/User Data. Select that and when it’s done, go down the list and select and wipe each option, except SD Card: and Battery Stats (Unless you are fully charged). I wipe Cache and Dalvik-Cache twice then I hit Factory Reset/User Data once again. Now the important part: Turn your phone off for about 3 minutes. This gives the phone time to discharge any voltage and clear remaining cache files.
While you may see a lot of people use superwipe scripts, they really are not necessary when you have Amon Ra. You just did manually what those scripts do, and you can know you did it right.
When you’re finished, back out, and go to Flash Zip from SD Card, select it, go to the folder where you have the ROM you want to flash and select it. Some ROMS take longer to flash than others, but once it’s done, go back to Flash Zip from SD Card and then go to the folder where you put DT A2SD and flash that. I know most ROMS have A2SD baked in, but this will ensure that everything works and that you have the full range of A2SD commands and Options. Once it’s finished, select Reboot System.
Because you also flashed A2SD, your phone will reboot 2 or 3 times. This is normal. Also, since you wiped your caches, they need to be rebuilt so it will take longer for the phone to boot up. I would guess that if you notice a boot loop or the soft key lights haven’t come on in 15 minutes, then you’re stuck and you’ll have to pull the battery and repeat the process. I can say though, in the hundred+ ROMS I’ve flashed, I have never boot looped using that wipe process.
Once the phone is booted, don’t touch it. Let it sit until the screen turns off. This gives everything a chance to settle in and start up. Turn the screen on and go through the preliminary setup process. Once your Desktop loads Reboot to recovery, if you’re going to flash GAPPS (AOSP ROMS) or a custom Kernel, or do a normal Reboot, and again, once booted, let the phone sit until the screen shuts off. Turn it on, and setup all the basics; Display, Accounts, Sound, etc.
If you are using an AOSP ROM, you’ll need to flash the GAPPS file with VVM, which you can do when you reboot for the first time. Multiple reboots in the beginning of a new ROM help the ROM and Kernel settle in.
Whenever you flash a zip file, other than a complete ROM, make sure to wipe Cache and Dalvik-Cache.
Now Reboot to Recovery and make a Nandroid. This is your Basic Setup of your Custom ROM. In case you have problems due to mods you make, you can always come back to this point and start over. Don’t forget to rename it so you can tell which Nandroid it is.
I keep 4 Nandroids on my phone; Stock/Rooted. Last known Good Setup. Current ROM Base Setup and Current ROM Complete Setup.
Custom Kernels
Make sure that any kernel you flash is built for your ROM. AOSP for AOSP Roms, Sense for Sense ROMs.
A word about SBC. While there has been a lot of talk about the safety of SBC Kernels, I have yet to see anything that substantiates it. I have used the same battery since I got my phone, a year ago, using SBC Kernels and have had no problems or shortened battery life. I highly recommend using SBC when possible
Custom CPU Governors
Once you have a custom kernel installed, you can set the Governor to another setting other than the default.
Here is a great guide on understanding CPU Governors.
CPU Governors Explained
Restoring Visual Voice Mail
Once you’re finished, reboot to system and either download Titanium Backup or if you added it to the ROM, open Titanium Backup and restore your apps with Data. Do not restore Voice Mail. If you are on a Sense ROM, it will already be good. If you are on AOSP and you flashed the GAPPS file, go back to Restore in Titanium Backup, and restore just the Data for Voice Mail. Not the App. Data only. Reboot and then go to Voice Mail, hit Menu and compose a voice mail and send it to yourself. If you receive it, your Visual Voice Mail is working. If not, search the forums at XDA for possible fixes, but this method has always worked for me.
At this point, you phone is basically setup and tweaked, but there are some other things you can use.
Below is a list of Apps and Practices I use to keep my phone working smoothly. Some of these Apps are paid Apps.
QuickPic – The very best Gallery there is. Allows you hide and password protect folders
Wimax RSA Keys – Allows you to ensure you haven’t lost your RSA Keys.
AdFree – Eliminates those annoying Ads on certain Apps.
Astro File Manager – Backs up and restores all your user apps.
Battery Monitor Widget – Shows you how your Battery is being used in detail
Busybox Installer – Installs the version of Busy Box you’ll need.
Kernel Manager – The Easiest Way to download Kernels. I still flash them in Recovery
MyBackupPro – Works like Titanium Backup and a good fall back if TB ever gives you problems.
ROM Manager – For fixing Permissions, only. The last step in my Process of flashing a new ROM.
Startup Manager – This is like msconfig in Windows. Lets you delete certain apps from loading at Start Up
System Tuner – Contains a lot of Tweaks, including setting the Governor for your Kernel
ROM Toolbox - AWESOME program that does everything from settings to Fonts to advanced settings and tweaks.
Once I have everything setup, I run Startup Manager to clean out my Start menu and then Rom Manager to fix Permissions.
Then I reboot to Recovery and make my final Nandroid of my Complete Setup
Battery Life
Battery life is a major concern with the Evo. There are some things you can do to extend Battery life.
Do not use Task Killers, as these actually work against the built in Memory Manager that comes with Android.
1) Turn of Data, unless you need it, and rely on WiFi whenever possible.
2) If you have your screen on a lot, turn the brightness down.
3) Calibrate your battery. There are several methods, but this is the best.
Want to thank oneoftherabble for this awesome guide on battery charging and calibration.
As soon as I can find his profile, I'll link it to this post.
You CANNOT calibrate a battery properly in an hour. Or in two hours. And you certainly CANNOT calibrate a battery properly in 30 seconds by wiping your battery stats file. It isn't going to happen. No how, no way. Flame on if you want... but I know the ACTUAL truth about it. It won't be correct.
Second.... No matter how well you calibrate your battery, after you flash a new Rom or kernel or ROM/kernel package, your calibration is no longer valid. Period. End of discussion. It ain't happening. Every ROM/kernel package is going to handle the information fed to it from the VR/Charging circuit differently.
Third.... This procedure requires that you have PATIENCE to do it right. If you don't have that patience, then don't waste your time. But.... STOP whining about how your supposed battery life is bad! What you are seeing on your battery meter is garbage and not worth looking at.
Now.... here are the steps to getting that meter and battery calibrated as a working unit... as close as we can get anyway when you figure out the actual accuracy of our meter system.
1.) You want to put your battery on the charger and let it charge. At this point, it won't matter if the phone is on or not. We just want to get it so the phone indicates a "full charge".
2.) When the LED turns GREEN then you need to POWER DOWN the phone. Let the phone sit for a couple of seconds.
3.) Unplug the phone from the charger and WAIT until the charging LED goes out. ( If you notice.. this takes about 2 to 3 seconds. That is how long it takes the phone to discharge energy to the point that the LED goes out. That is only at 3V! Now, think about how much longer it takes for it to get all the way to ZERO!?! NOW do you see why I say POWER DOWN when you FLASH?? )
4.) Plug the charger back in. It does NOT matter if it is the wall charger or USB or a car charger. The ONLY difference is going to be a little bit of speed when using the wall charger. ( More on this if you want the information )
5.) Wait until the LED turns GREEN. Now, unplug the charger. Wait for the LED to turn off.
6.) Plug the charger back in and wait until the LED turns GREEN. Unplug the charger. Wait for the LED to turn off.
7.) We are going to REPEAT 3 through 6 until it takes LESS THAN 10 seconds for the charge LED to change from orange to green.
8.) OK... it is going green really quick now. Unplug the charger and turn on your phone. THIS is where the patience part comes in. You want to run your phone WITHOUT CHARGING IT until it shuts itself off because of a low battery. Personally, I do this by turning up the screen FULL brightness, turning off the SLEEP mode, starting up MX Video Player and playing movies until I get down around 15% or so and then letting the phone discharge down until it shuts itself off.
( INFORMATION HERE!! You CANNOT "completely discharge" a Li-ion/polymer battery to "Zero" while it is in your phone. The circuits in the phone will not allow that to happen. It will shut down when the voltage gets to a point that it cannot support the phone. In our case we get down to about an actual 30% of rated battery capacity when out phones shut down. So don't worry and hurting your battery. Well, you COULD kill it. Run the phone until it shuts off and then LEAVE the phone like that for about 10 to 12 months. The internal resistance in the battery will drag it down to about Zero in that time. )
9.) Now then.... Plug in your charger and make sure that your phone is TURNED OFF. I would suggest that you pull your battery and put it back into the phone. That makes sure that the phone will be OFF when plugged in.
10.) WAIT until the LED turns GREEN. Now THAT took a LONG time didn't it??
11.) With the charger plugged in... Start your phone INTO RECOVERY! Clear ALL CACHES and THE BATTERY STATS NOW!
12.) POWER DOWN THE PHONE. I REPEAT... POWER DOWN THE PHONE Now... let your phone SIT doing NOTHING for ONE MINUTE! This step is REALLY important. Your phone CANNOT start to re-write the battery stats file properly when it reboots from Recovery. It is still LOOKING for the OLD battery stats and WILL NOT start to re-write it until it has tried and failed several times to find the old one.
13.) Start your phone up like normal with the charger UNPLUGGED. Let the phone boot and run it like you normally would until the phone shuts itself down for low battery. DO NOT RECHARGE WHILE YOU ARE DOING THIS STEP!! And, do NOT run it like a mad fool like you did to discharge it the first time. OPERATE IT LIKE YOU NORMALLY DO. ( oh yeah... please, please, please... ignore what your "meter" is telling you right now. It is really not feeling well. )
14.) When the phone dies from low battery, plug in the charger WITH THE PHONE OFF and let it FULLY CHARGE while POWERED DOWN!
15.) When the phone is fully charged... start it up!! Congratulations! You have been patient enough to actually calibrate your battery, ROM, kernel and battery "meter" to as close to accurate as they can be!!
( round of applause here ) YOU DID IT!!!
If you have any questions or you have any ideas on other information that you would like to see on your phone, batteries and such.... based on actual facts and research, then PLEASE drop me (oneoftherabble) a PM and I'll get to work on it!
GAPPS
If you flash an AOSP ROM, you have to also flash GAPPS, which contains all the Google apps.
You do this is in Recovery, after wiping Cache and Dalvik Cache. This file contains the most updated Visual Voice Mail and is confirmed to be working.
GB GAPPS w-VVM 20111212
Jellybean GAPPS

Removing Bloatware
Now that you got this far, you probably want to get rid of the bloat that comes with the Evo.
Pretty simple, actually. Since you got and paid for Titanium Back up, open it up, click on Menu>Batch and scroll down to the bottom.
Under "Un-Install" click on uninstall All User & System Apps, click Deselect All, then choose the apps you want to remove.
*Note: BE CAREFUL!
Only delete the Apps you know are safe. And really, these are pretty obvious.
These are definitely safe, but if you aren't sure, don't remove it.
Code:
amazonmp3.apk
com.htc.MusicWidget.apk
com.htc.MusicWidget.odex
com.htc.NewsReaderWidget.apk
com.htc.NewsReaderWidget.odex
com.htc.StockWidget.apk
com.htc.StockWidget.odex
com.htc.TwitterWidget.apk
com.htc.TwitterWidget.odex
Flickr.apk
Flickr.odex
htcbookmarkwidget.apk
htcbookmarkwidget.odex
htccontactwidgets.apk
htccontactwidgets.odex
HtcFootprints.apk
HtcFootprints.odex
HtcFootprintsWidget.apk
HtcFootprintsWidget.odex
HtcMusic.apk
HtcMusic.odex
HtcNaviPanel.apk
HtcNaviPanel.odex
HtcPhotoWidget.apk
HtcPhotoWidget.odex
HtcRingtoneTrimmer.apk
HtcRingtoneTrimmer.odex
htcsearchwidgets.apk
htcsearchwidgets.odex
HtcSoundRecorder.apk
HtcSoundRecorder.odex
HtcTwitter.apk
HtcTwitter.odex
MagicSmokeWallpapers.apk
MagicSmokeWallpapers.ode
Mode10Wallpapers.apk
Mode10Wallpapers.odex
Sprint_App_Updater.apk
Sprint_NASCAR.apk
Sprint_Navigation.apk
Sprint_NFL.apk
Sprint_Promotion.apk
Sprint_Qik.apk
Sprint_TV.apk
Sprint_VVM.apk
SprintTVWidget.apk
Stock.apk
Stock.odex
VisualizationWallpapers.
VisualizationWallpapers.
WidgetDownloadManager.apk
WidgetDownloadManager.odex
You can also use ADB. If you use ADB, here's the commands
Code:
adb shell
mount /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
cd /system/app
rm amazonmp3.apk
rm com.htc.MusicWidget.apk
rm com.htc.MusicWidget.odex
rm com.htc.NewsReaderWidget.apk
rm com.htc.NewsReaderWidget.odex
rm com.htc.StockWidget.apk
rm com.htc.StockWidget.odex
rm com.htc.TwitterWidget.apk
rm com.htc.TwitterWidget.odex
rm Flickr.apk
rm Flickr.odex
rm htcbookmarkwidget.apk
rm htcbookmarkwidget.odex
rm htccontactwidgets.apk
rm htccontactwidgets.odex
rm HtcFootprints.apk
rm HtcFootprints.odex
rm HtcFootprintsWidget.apk
rm HtcFootprintsWidget.odex
rm HtcMusic.apk
rm HtcMusic.odex
rm HtcNaviPanel.apk
rm HtcNaviPanel.odex
rm HtcPhotoWidget.apk
rm HtcPhotoWidget.odex
rm HtcRingtoneTrimmer.apk
rm HtcRingtoneTrimmer.odex
rm HtcSoundRecorder.apk
rm HtcSoundRecorder.odex
rm HtcTwitter.apk
rm HtcTwitter.odex
rm MagicSmokeWallpapers.apk
rm MagicSmokeWallpapers.ode
rm Sprint_App_Updater.apk
rm Sprint_NASCAR.apk
rm Sprint_Navigation.apk
rm Sprint_NFL.apk
rm Sprint_Promotion.apk
rm Sprint_Qik.apk
rm Sprint_TV.apk
rm Sprint_VVM.apk
rm SprintTVWidget.apk
rm Stock.apk
rm Stock.odex
rm VisualizationWallpapers.apk
rm VisualizationWallpapers.odex
V6SUPER CHARGER & CAR-O-DOPE TWEAKS
People have said V6 is better for Sense ROMs and Car-O-Dope for AOSP ROMs.
Car-O-Dope
Note: The Menus in ROM Toolbox have changed so look carefully before you start applying these settings. They are all there, just in different orders
This is a really easy tweak in that you don't have to flash anything or run any scripts.
You'll need to download ROM Toolbox and System Tuner.
In ROM Toolbox, click on Performance and then on Memory Manager
Use these Settings:
Foreground Application: 6Mb
Visible Application: 12Mb
Secondary Server: 55Mb
Hidden Application: 70Mb
Content Provider: 85Mb
Empty Application: 100Mb
Click Apply On Boot
Go back, and hit Kernel Tweaks/Sysctl Tweaks, then use these settings:
Min Free Kbytes: 4096
Dirty Ratio: 70
Dirty Background Ratio: 50
VFS Cache Pressure: 10
Make sure Apply On Boot is checked.
Then, open System Tuner
Click Tweaks, the SD Card
Set Cache to 4096 and IO Scheduler to deadline
Click Boot Settings, select Re-apply SD tweak and select init.d script.
Reboot
V6 Super Charger/3G Turbo Charger
Download Busybox Installer from the Market, open it and install Busy Box1.18.2. This is the recommended version for V6 SuperCharger.
Download the V6 Supercharger from the link below and unzip it on your SD card. I have the files on the root of mine. I have all three files in one zip, when you go to that link. V6 Supercharger. 3G TurboCharger and the kickass Kernalizer. The link to XDA is the original thread posted by zeppelinrox, which will explain everything you need to know.
On your SD card, remove the .txt extension from all 3 files.
From the Market, download Script Manager. Open it and browse to the SD Card, then click on V6_SuperCharger_for_Android-update9_beta_6.3.sh Click on Help then check Run As Root and OK. Then click on Run
The first choice you make is how fast the text scrolls. Use 0, and then enter. Next you’ll choose which option. I think most people use Option 9, so hit 9, and then enter. When it’s done, enter 27, to Exit. Do not Reboot yet. When it’s done, back out to the SD Card, scroll up and hit the .. twice, then click on Data.
Scroll down to 99SuperCharger.sh and click on it. Click on Help and highlight Run as Root and Run at Root, OK, and then RUN. When it’s done, back out and browse back to the SD Card. Click on KickAssKernalizer_Tweaks_Installer, Click on Help, then Run as Root. OK and Run. I select No when it asks about the I/O Tweaks, although I’m not sure if that’s the best choice or not. But seeing anything that says it can cause boot loops makes me want to avoid it. Once it’s finished, back out again, go back to Data, then click on 99KickAssKernel, and use the same settings as before.
Go back to the SD Card, Click on 3G Turbocharger_Installer and chose fastest.
Back out, and Reboot.
**Note:
Read the threads for Supercharger for updated files. I have gotten away from V6 Supercharger, and use CoD Tweaks, exclusively, however, I do still use 3G, which has been updated. I have the best success with Experimental 1 setting
ViperMod For AOSP Kernels
This is a very simple to use Mod for AOSP Kernels.
Download the file, and flash it in Recovery, then reboot.
Once Booted, go to Terminal Manager and type:
SU
Vipermod
Once the script runs, I chose 2, to lower voltages and then chose 3, to lower by 75mv
You can play with the settings to see what works best for you
A2SD
From the Market, download ASDGUI. Open it and select Zipalign. Close the app and Open Terminal Emulator.
Type:
SU
A2SD check.
Once it’s done, Type:
SU
A2SD CacheSD
This will move the Dalvik-Cache to the EXT 3 Partition on your SD Card, opening up a LOT of room on your internal memory. Mine was over 200MB.
Once it’s finished, the phone will reboot and because of the new Dalvik-Cache, it will take longer to boot up.
Newest DT A2SD
Updating Radios
Radio Updates are released on occasion and having the newest radios is never a bad idea. Some people use different combinations to help improve battery life, reception, etc. you can read the thread below for possible radio combos.
When you update your radios, you should know that it is possible to brick your phone, if not done correctly. Some radios are in PC36IMG.zip form and this is what I prefer, but most in the thread listed are zip files that you flash in recovery.
Follow these steps exactly.
*Note: Make sure your battery has a good charge. I’d say over 50% is safe. Losing power during a radio flash will turn your Evo into a paper weight.
Boot to Recovery and go to the folder where you have stored your zip file for updating radios.
Flash the zip file as you would any other. The phone will extract the files, then reboot to a black screen with a green arrow. This could sit here for a few minutes. Do not worry if it seems to take a while.
Then the phone will reboot to recovery and say it’s clearing cache.
When the Recovery Menu pops up, you can reboot.
Newest Radios
Team Revolution MIUI Install Guide
Step 1. This is a MIUI ROM, which means GPS could be an issue, so the first thing I do is make a nandroid of my current Setup, then I restore my stock/rooted ROM.
Step 2. I update Profle and PRL, then I do the Sense GPS Fix.
You must be in a Sense ROM for this
Open Maps; get a lock on your position.
Open GPS Status & Tool Box, get a lock on your Sats and then hit Menu>Tools>Manage A-GPS State>Reset.
Open Dialer and dial ##GPSCLRX#
In the popup that asks for your password, enter your MSL, (You'll need MSL Reader from the market) then reboot.
When the phone is rebooted, Open Maps, get a lock; Open GPS Status, hit Menu>Tools>Manage A-GPS State>Download. Once you are locked onto your Sats, power down, then Reboot to Recovery.
Of course, I only use Amon Ra and in Recovery, I wipe everything, completely; Factory Reset., then each option underneat that, except SD Card:
Then I run Factory Reset again, then Cache and Dalvik Cache and Data again, jsut to make sure it's all clear.
Go to Flash, and Flash the Rom. Once it's done, go right back to flash and flash DT A2SD, the nI boot to System and once booted, I let it sit for a good 10 minutes, so everythign get's booted up and settled in.
At this point, I open LBE manager (Superuser) and set all my permissions to on and accept all.
I open Maps, get a lock, open GPS Status, and I already know I'll get a lock on my sats. Then I hit menu and update GPS Data.
Next is Connectbot, and I move my Dalvik Cache to my SD Card. Here's the commands
su
a2sd check
a2sd cachesd
The phone will reboot and again, I just let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Once I wake it up, I set my preferences, display, sounds, accounts, etc. MIUI ICS hasd a TON of new settings and one is the Status Bar Options. Hit Customize Statas Bar Notification and make sure Hide Notification is turned off. This will allow notifications to show up.
Once I'm done, I reboot to recovery, wipe Cache and Dalvik and Flash my Kernel.
The BEST kernel to use right now is Mason v0.14 SBC No FSO. I also Flash Vipermod.
That's it. If you use a different kernel and you have problems, this is the first place to look.
Upon reboot, I let the phone settle, then I open Titanium backup and restore my apps/Data. Now, I have had a lot of problems in the past with TB Freezing up when U try to restore all 117 apps I have in one session, so I do it in 3 now. I alphabetize the apps and then go A-H, I-P, Q-Z
Once finished, I open Rom Toolbox and go to Autostart Manager and make sure all the apps I DON'T need to be runnign at boot are toggled off. Then I set Car O Dope Tweaks. I'm one of the believers that Car O Dope is for AOSP, V6 is for Sense. I have yet to give Smurfs tweaks a run, but I plan to, soon.
I reboot and run Vipermod -50 in Connectbot, and then setup my desktop folders, etc. Then I g othrough any apps I need to set preferences for, Make sure VVM is working and that is basically it. Took some extra time, but I shake my head at the problems people are having that are almost alwasy attributed to shortcutting the process.
Almost all of the links and files anyone needs are on the guide in my signature
Visual Voice Mail for ICS
Follow this link. I'm on the MIUI ICS by Swiper and this worked perfectly!!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1547780
1. Download attached Sprint VVM apk, Install like any other downloaded APK
2. Using Root explorer, go to 'data/app' folder and find the newly installed sprint vvm
3. Select the VVM app and MOVE it to your 'system/app' folder. (permissions should already match because it was installed, but make sure it matches all other apps in system/app folder) 4. Boot into Recovery, Clear 'Cache'/ 'Dalvik Cache', then 'FIX PERMISSIONS', next 'Reboot system'
5. Once booted up, open the Sprint VVM app and click on compose.
The recipient will be '[email protected]'
Record about 15-20 secs just incase, then send the message.
You should receive a notification saying that your phone is provisioned.
6. Tap to compose another message and this time send one to yourself, wait about 5 mins and and you should receive a new vvmail notification.
The best part is, I never got to step 5. It provisioned on boot-up and I got notified of 3 Voice Mails I KNEW I had in there waiting for me.
I've included the app at attached to the OP
Bugs & Fixes.
• USB Connect - The two ways to fix this are with the app, USB Mass Storage in the market or the FTP Function is File Explorer.
• Camera only takes 3MP pics - D/L Camera ICS from the market and you'll get up to 8MP with Video Recording
• Theme Manager - There are very few themes for MIUI ICS. I understand that a new Theme Manager should be coming soon, according to the rumors.
• Music Player/Theme Sounds not seeing music folder - D/L Rescan Media form the market. Problem solved.
• Slow 3G/Data Speeds and Market Downloads. For me, after about a day, this fixed itself
Known Issues
No WIMAX
No HWA, yet
No Front Facing Camera
Useful Links
Amon Ra
TWRP Recovery
Smelkus Amon Ra-Supersonic-4.3
Dark Tremors A2SD
Newest DT A2SD
V6 Supercharger Original Thread
V6 Supercharger Newest releases
ViperMOD For AOSP Kernels
Download ViperMod
Partition SD Card
Download V6 SuperCharger/3G TurboCharger
Update Radios
GB GAPPS w-VVM 20110828
JB GAPPS
Car-O-Dope
Setup MIUI ICS For Optimal Performance
Newest Radios

With as much as you rant to people on doing ___, surprised I haven't seen you do this sooner. Well thought out.

What a read lol
Read all of it
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

teh roxxorz said:
With as much as you rant to people on doing ___, surprised I haven't seen you do this sooner. Well thought out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. It took me the last 4 hours to get it all in there!

HipKat said:
Thanks. It took me the last 4 hours to get it all in there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you missed the 3G fix, with setting the proxy host and ports to 0 / 0.0.0 on a sense rom. lol

teh roxxorz said:
I think you missed the 3G fix, with setting the proxy host and ports to 0 / 0.0.0 on a sense rom. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, thanks! I'll add that and anything else people come up with

HipKat said:
Ah, thanks! I'll add that and anything else people come up with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No prob brah. If you talk about the recoveries, might as well give a snippet of the 4 available recoveries.

I'm gonna do that and other mods, etc in the 2nd post

HipKat said:
I'm gonna do that and other mods, etc in the 2nd post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I accept your proposed idea.

I see. Good job.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Very useful I think for everyone and its awesome how you took the time out of your life to put this guide together. Good for noobs and experience people just in case they forgot something lol. If I may suggest, you can add some guides to themeing, bit more on kernels, and differences on sense versions. Maybe pointing people in the direction of android kitchens and stuff. But this guide is on its way to success for others! Great job HipKat.

Nice!
Great job! Wish a guide like this was around in the beginning of my noob days. My only suggestion would be to add a highlighted "SEARCH BEFORE YOU POST" section, maybe throw in that "Google is your friend", ya know show people how to use google for finding things on xda with examples, like - "dsxida kitchen xda".
This guide needs stickied..
Thanks button slapped!

Now...
Now this is a guide. I vote for a sticky!
Well done.

Thanks guys. I'm gonna add a bunch more stuff for after you get all set up, like what was suggested in the 2nd post.I've been meaning to do this for a long time, but I'm the worst procrastinator there is

hmm
HipKat said:
Thanks guys. I'm gonna add a bunch more stuff for after you get all set up, like what was suggested in the 2nd post.I've been meaning to do this for a long time, but I'm the worst procrastinator there is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry bro, but I got you beat on the procrastination... I'm still running XP on my 64 bit machine, I've had Windows Ultimate and Ubuntu sitting here on top of the desk for 3 months now..

Post it note..sticky... Awesome addition, bookmarked for future reference. Thanks HipKat

jamieg71 said:
Sorry bro, but I got you beat on the procrastination... I'm still running XP on my 64 bit machine, I've had Windows Ultimate and Ubuntu sitting here on top of the desk for 3 months now..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you two procrastinators unite tomorrow and end it.

jamieg71 said:
Sorry bro, but I got you beat on the procrastination... I'm still running XP on my 64 bit machine, I've had Windows Ultimate and Ubuntu sitting here on top of the desk for 3 months now..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. .I have the newest Ubuntu sitting here for a month and still haven't installed it! lol

Still reading through this, but wish I'd had this when I first rooted my phone! Thanks for the work!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

(Guide) (Beginners) You have rooted your phone, now what can you do

(Guide) (Beginners) You have rooted your phone, now what can you do​Note – I will keep updating this guide as much as I can
Note - Please ask as many questions as you need, there is no question to basic to ask, it would be better being asked here instead of starting a new thread.
Note – Please don’t swear in this thread fu**ing is still swearing, using this - ** - still means you are swearing. Also please don’t call anyone a Noob after all this is a guide for beginners.
Final note – Can all beginners please thank people if they give you an answer to your question.
So welcome to the world of being rooted, you now have a nice shiny new rooted Android phone, but what can you do now. Well I have decided to start this thread to tell you what you can now do. This guide is for beginners and should be treated as it is intended, keeping it simple and just going over the basics. This guide will be broken down into main sections –
Post 1
• Super User
• Clockwork Mod Recovery (CWM)
• Apps
• Roms
Post 2
Further reading, it’s time to get you geek on
Post 3
More usefull apps that you might like
Super User
When you have a rooted phone you will need this little app called super user that has a massive job. When you rooted your phone it will have more than likely come with this app, if not then you can download it here. The basic idea behind super user is to control the root access to you phone. Your phone must have this app before you continue with the rest of this guide. Using Super User is easy when you open an app that needs root access a prompt will come up asking if you want to allow this app super user access, giving you two options deny or allow.
Clockwork Mod Recovery (CWM)
Once you have rooted your phone one of first thing you need to do is make sure you have Clockwork Mod Recovery. All phones have a recovery mode that can be accessed when turning on your phone or some root access apps allow you to access recovery mode through them. What CWM recovery does is modifies this recovery mode to make it better, allowing you to flash nearly anything you want or need, such as roms, themes and kernels. Also through CWM Recovery you can create a nandroid backup, which is a backup of your whole current rom, you can also carry factory data wipes and more advance features.
So how do you get CWM, well the first thing to do is check, depending what root method you used you might have it all ready (power off your phone and then hold the power, home and volume up buttons together until you enter recovery mode). You will know if you have CWM Recovery by looking at the top of the screen is should say “Clockworkmod Recovery”; if it doesn’t then you need to get it. The easy way to get CWM is by downloading the app Rom Manager (talked about below), open Rom Manager and there is an option to flash Clockwork Mod recovery, select that select which phone you have and it will do the rest for you.
Controls for CWM Recovery – Then volume buttons allow you to move and the power button is used to select.
Apps
Right there are a number of apps that will take advantage of you root access, and I am going to cover what I believe are the basics.
Remember when using any app that uses the root access of your phone it can come with risks.
Rom Manager – So Rom Manager and CWM sort of go hand in hand, being that Rom Manager is the nice user friendly app, giving you control of CWM from your phone home screen. Just like in CWM you can backup and restore your rom, flash new roms, fix permitions and partition SD card. As said above you can use Rom manager to flash CWM for you straight from the app, you can download this app here.
BusyBox – Trting to keep this simple, when you have a rooted phone there are sets of commands that you do not have, installing BusyBox will give these. This is required to run some apps that require root access. I think that was simple enough, oh and before I forget you can get it here.
Titanium Backup Root – Titanium Backup is an enormously useful app. Not only can it backup apps, but it can backup apps and all their data, and it can delete apps—even system apps or bloatware (bloatware are apps that come with your phone that you normally can’t remove like Games hub), making regular backups of all your apps and their data. You can download Titanium Backup here, also if you would like to know more about how to backup and restore most things when changing roms (more about roms just below) you can use my other guide here.
These are the very basic apps that you will need to see you of into the future of a android custom android experience, I will include other cool apps that use root access in post 3.
Roms
So the best part about having a rooted phone well for me anyway is the massive list of roms out there. If you don’t know what a rom is then here we go. When you get your android phone and turn it on, you’re faced with this impressive software that allows you access to apps throught the market, make phone call, txt, maps, voice commands, email and the list is never ending. This is all done through the software known as the Rom, the rom you get when have your phone is known as a Stock Rom. Now it this stock rom that we can change to improve our Android mobile experience known as a Custom Rom, and there are lots of custom roms out there. Some are made to give you a better battery, better custimization, improved features, so to provide a vanilla experience and some try to make a balance of them all, but the main idea is to make android better. So roms are broken down into different categories, here is a breakdown of them for you.
Stock Rom – As talked about before stock roms are the software that comes with the phone, some people prefer the stock experience but I don’t. The main problem with stock roms is that manufactures will place an extra layer of software on top of the rom known as a user interface (UI), such as Samsung wither their touchwiz UI and HTC with HTC Sense UI. The problem I have with these UI are they are power hungry and well not to sound mean but touchwiz is not very well made.
AOSP – Android open Source Project is the android rom in its basic form, so it has no bloatware or power hungry UI’s. This is where you will get most of your custom roms from, there are devs within the android community most found right here on XDA, that will use AOSP and make their own custom roms with this adding to and improving it to make the best rom they can. Just as a note there is no best rom and you will never get an answer as to which is the best. Each rom is to their own and suit different people with different needs, but as a starter rom to get use to the idea of flashing roms and learning everything that is needed then I would recommend a Cyanogen Mod Rom, as this is the most popular and you will get the most advice from the community is it is the most used. You can find the Cyanogen Mod website here. The best way to find roms is to look through the forum and look in the Development and Original Development threads.
INDEX - Android Development [29 March] - Here is a Rom list from the Android Development Fourm, the list includes both ICS and GB roms, thanks to daniel_costa_rj
There is a lot more to roms that just this basic overview and I will be adding more in the future as this will take just as long as writing this whole thread, so keep an eyeout for more updates, including AOKP.
EFS Folder (Important)
Ok this is more of a you must do and not a what you can now do. So the efs folder is a very important folder within your android system that contains infomation like your IMEI number, and just well important infomation trust me it's important. When people start to mod their phone such as flashing roms, kernels e.t.c, this folder can become corrupt, making you phone usless. So backing up this folder is important and their is an easy way in which you can do this, a more user friendly way using a great app by hellcatdroid. You can get this app from google play here, and it will give you all the tools to back up the folder. I will also include a guide on further reading for you to have a look over, so please backup your efs folder.
Well that’s it for now, this is my first draft and I will be making a lot on adding and changing over the next week.
Thanks for reading and I hope this guide helps even a handful of people.

Further reading, it’s time to get you geek on
[Guide] Back up your data before moving to a new rom
[REF] Guide to the Galaxy S II and Android (04/10/11)
[GUIDE] Fix an unflashable or soft bricked GSII
[REF][TWEAKS] Kernel Governors, Modules, I/O Schedulers, CPU Tweaks, AIO App Configs
Android Terms,Slang & Definitions
Forum & Marketplace Rules
[REF] Backup /efs folder. IMPORTANT.

More usefull apps that you might like
Root Browser Lite - Root Browser is for both non-root and rooted users. If you are rooted then this app will give you access to ALL of Android's file system. With a beautiful interface, tons of features and a cheap price Root Browser is a must have!#
ROM Toolbox - ROM Toolbox is the MUST HAVE app for any rooted user.
ROM Toolbox combines all the great root apps all tied up into one monster app with a beautiful and user-friendly interface. It also adds many more unseen features!, Check out the link for the full feature list
SGS2 Dual-Boot Setup (LolBoot) - Dual-Boot your Galaxy S2!
/!\ Requires root /!\
/!\ This is for the Galaxy S2 *ONLY* /!\
When the dual-boot is set up, you can (re)boot between two different, independent ROMs.
Just powering on boots into the primary ROM (duh!).
Using the recovery button combo (VOL-UP+HOME+POWER) will boot into the second ROM instead of recovery!
Pluggin in a USB cable or AC charger when the phone is powered off will make the phone boot into recovery.
AdFree Android - THIS APP IS FOR ROOTED PHONES ONLY!
AdFree removes most ads in the browser and other apps. It does this by nullifying requests to known host names in the system hosts file.
If you have problems with this app, or you know of additional host names not being filtered, please comment in xda-developers.com forum so it can be fixed!
kTool - Tool for a few functions after rooting. Kernel dump/flash, EFS backup/restore...
/!\ Requires Root /!\
/!\ Works on the >Galaxy S2< and >Galaxy Note< *ONLY* /!\
(i) the "lock pattern bug" is currently being investigated and worked on!
kTool is a small tool originally bundled with Hellcat's Root-Kernel for the Galaxy S2.
It offers a few functions usefull after rooting the device:
- Dump current kernel to /sdcard/zImage
- Flash kernel from /sdcard/zImage
- Backup the phone's EFS (sensitive storage are holding the IMEI and other vital data) as a raw .IMG dump and a .tar archive
- Restoring EFS from the raw .IMG or the .tar backup
- Format EFS (create fresh filesystem for cases where you want to restore seperate files or a .tar backup, but the filesystem is stuck/locked in read-only due to corruption)
- Reboot (normal, directely to recovery or directely to downlaod mode)
EFS Pro - EFS Pro - For Samsung Android Devices
Advanced Backup and Restore of your Device's '/efs' folder!
Features:
Supports Backup and Restore of Partition Image (*.img) and Compressed TAR Archive (*.tar) formats.
Automatically detects saved EFS Backups on Device and PC for hassle free restoring.
Re-Scan option to refresh Backup list for restoring Backups.
Automatically Re-Mounts '/efs' folder with Read/Write permissions during restore for users 'stuck' with Read Only permissions.
Automatic detection and prompting of Mass Storage Mode.
Automatic detection and termination of SAMSUNG Kies application on startup.
Supports Multiple Backup handling.
Option to Format '/efs' partition before restoring an EFS Backup.
Displays Device, ROM and BusyBox information on startup.
(NEW!) Attempt NV Recovery - Restores NV Data from '*.bak' files if they exist to fix corrupt or incorrect IMEI number.
(NEW!) Repair NV Data - Repairs NV Data file ownership to fix 'Unknown Baseband' and 'No Network / Signal'.

Introduction to Kernels
What is a kernel
So to keep this simple their 3 parts of your device the hardware, Software (rom) and your kernel. The kernel is the communication link between hardware and Software, although some of the seen as more important things are battery life, touch, wifi and more. You can also use a kernel to give you greater controll of your phone with such things (each kernel has its own conrtoll features).
You can swap your kernel just like you can swap your rom, although you need to check that the kernel you are going to flash with work with the rom you are using. some kernels will work woth all rom types such as SiyahKernel, others are made to be used on certain roms only such as Stock Roms, AOSP roms, AOKP Roms, and some even more specific such as CM9, MIUI and diffrent versions such as GB and ICS. So you will need to check the thread for that kernel and see what the features are and what Roms it will work on.
Their are many kernels on XDA Develpoers and the idea is for you to try a few out and see which suits your needs best, as their is no best kernel, the same as their is no best rom. So here is a list of a few kernels to get you started, and remember to check that the kernel you are about to flash will work on your device.
[KERNEL][ICS][ExTweaks][All-in-1kernel][DualBoot] SiyahKernel v3.2b6
[KERNEL][05.05][APP/PRO/OTA][AOSP&SAMMY] N.E.A.K. ICS - Designed by Nature (v2.0.4x)
[KERNEL] SpeedMod SGS2 ICS [K3-16 CIFS ROOT / NO-ROOT CWM5]
[KERNEL] SpeedMod SGS2 [K2-21 CWM5 CIFS ROOT]
[KERNEL] XPLOD 3.0.24 opensource kernel
Learn more about kernels
I will be adding more reading on kernels soon

reserved for later

My very own rom
Ok so here it is my very own rom go to the link to see more
[Rom][4.0.3][Vertumus][Apex & Galaxy 3 TW Launcher] Dark Angel

Gonna try Adsfree. My best improvement with my custom rom (resurrection remix 1.1) is that now i can tether. And overall is much better than the stock one.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA

Great guide

u said that u can flash new roms now that your phone is rooted but my question is dont you have to unlock bootloader to do that
i'm still new so i'll ask alot of questions

If you install ClockworkMod Recovery, it will allow you to flash roms as it will unlock bootloader for you
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA

ok then nevr heard of that but i'm still new to everything
would clockwork mod unlock the bootloader of xperia play r800i i recently rooted it(last night to be exact)
i know this may not be the xperia play section but i was searching and stumbled upon this thread

RealMcoy said:
ok then nevr heard of that but i'm still new to everything
would clockwork mod unlock the bootloader of xperia play r800i i recently rooted it(last night to be exact)
i know this may not be the xperia play section but i was searching and stumbled upon this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure you would have to look in the relevent thread for you device, i wouldent want to give you advice on a device i have never worked with.

Updating thread
I have started to add more to the thread -
Extra reading and more i have add some apps, their is a lot more to come.

fantastic post
I spent 10mins to go through the whole post and very helpful for me. As a newbie, I have learned a lot from you. Thanks for your work and keep updates.

AOKP sms related
I have rooted my phoen and installed custom ROM with AOKP sms, can some one please help me that how can i send sms to multiple ppl @same time, i mean how can i add contact group in AOKP sms, i tried a lot but not able to find it..

Did you install an aokp Rom or a custom AOSP rom and install the SMS.apk from AOKP source
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA

Update to thread
I have updated the thread a little with more guides for you to geek up on, and i have added a link to a rom list................ Enjoy

Just a thought mate, how about linking up a thread on how to back up your efs folder after root, last few months been lots of threads about efs being messed up, there is also a guide to re-storing ya efs if ya screw it up. Nice thread btw
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

E_Goldstein said:
Just a thought mate, how about linking up a thread on how to back up your efs folder after root, last few months been lots of threads about efs being messed up, there is also a guide to re-storing ya efs if ya screw it up. Nice thread btw
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will make an edit to the 1st post and include a guide on efs backup, not that many people now how important efs folder is so thanks for the idea.

Great Guide
This is very helpful indeed.

[REF] All in One New User Guide With Video Tutorial

If you just switched from iPhone or BB or this is ur first android. Read this thoroughly and see ur questions get eliminated by this guide. if you find this helpful than show your appreciation and hit that thnx button.
All Credit Goes to appdroid for this amazing post.
I don't take any credit I Googled everything. I do take credit of modifying some stuff in word. I won't have this Phone but I am just being helpful to the community.
Little in-depth information about Android. Must Read. Thank You Pirateghost.
ADB → Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device..
Android →Unveiled on 5 November 2007, Android is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel developed by Google.
AOSP → Android Open Source Project
Apps2SD → Move applications from the internal NAND memory on the device to a removable SD Card.
BLN → BackLight Notification
Bloatware → Software bloat is a process whereby successive versions of apps include an increasing proportion of unnecessary features that are not used by end users, or generally use more system resources than necessary, while offering little or no benefit to its users. Like all the crap that comes from At&t
Brick → When used in reference to consumer electronics, "brick" describes a device that cannot function in any capacity (such as a device with damaged firmware). This usage derives from the fact that some electronic devices (and their detachable power supplies) are vaguely brick-shaped, and so those which do not function are useful only as actual bricks. The term can also be used as a verb. For example, "I bricked my phone when I tried to modify its firmware."[
Hard Brick → When your phone does not turn on at all. When you can’t get in to CWR/CWM Or Stock recovery. You are basically screwed.
Soft Brick → When your phone bootloops. When you can get into CWR/CWM. When You can use jigtag to get into download mode.
Busybox → BusyBox provides several stripped-down Unix tools in a single executable. It runs in a variety of POSIX environments such as Linux, Android, FreeBSD and others, such as proprietary kernels, although many of the tools it provides are designed to work with interfaces provided by the Linux kernel. It was specifically created for embedded operating systems with very limited resources. Platforms counterparts, but they are pretty close and useful nonetheless.
CWR OR CWM ClockworkMod Recovery →A custom recovery for Android phones and tablets that allows you to perform several advanced recovery, restoration, installation and maintenance operations on your Android device that aren’t possible with the stock recovery.
DEODEX → Apk files have respective odexes that devs use to supposedly save space. Deodexing means you convert it back to a .dex file and put it back inside the apk. This allows you to easily replace file (not having to worry about odexes), but the main point was to deodex services.jar so that you can change all text to different colors (such as the clock color to white) and to deodex services.jar, you need to deodex everything.
Flashing → The process of applying a firmware image (or ROM) to a device. It generally entails a very specific order of steps. Failing to complete any one of these steps properly may result in bricking the device.
Firmware → is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices. Programs stored in the ROM, EPROM, or flash memory that usually control various internal electronic devices (Hard Drives, Keyboards, Displays, etc). Firmware is typically 'fixed' software that is not updated in consumer devices, however it is often updated (or 'flashed') by advanced users to fix bugs or add features to the device. Flashing firmware designed for one device onto a different device, or not following a specific procedure while flashing will often render the device unusable.
Kernel → is the main component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources (the communication between hardware and software components
Radio → The cellular radio on the device which needs control software called firmware to control it.
ROM → Read Only Memory. In the context of an Android device, ROM is the internal flash memory where the core operating system resides. It can also refer to a specific version firmware that can be applied to a device through a process usually referred to as flashing. An improperly flashed ROM can often brick the device, rendering it unusable.
Superuser→ A program, which gives unlimited access privileges to perform any or all operations on the operating system.
ODIN → Odin is the Samsung software used to update Samsung phones. It does not work with any other devices other than official Samsung phones.
OTA or FOTA → (F)OTA stands for (Firmware) Over The Air and is the process by which required updates and enhancements to your phone's basic operating system can be sent to you through the cellular network. The Galaxy S II software update will be sent via FOTA and is available through Samsung Kies mini.0
ODEX → In Android file system, applications come in packages with the extension .apk. These application packages, or APKs contain certain .odex files whose supposed function is to save space. These ‘odex’ files are actually collections of parts of an application that are optimized before booting. Doing so speeds up the boot process, as it preloads part of an application. On the other hand, it also makes hacking those applications difficult because a part of the coding has already been extracted to another location before execution.
SDK → Software Development Kit.
Logcat → A debugging tool built into Android devices that displays system logs as they occur. See Logcat.
NANDroid → A set of tools that will enable anyone who has root on their Android device to make FULL system backups, in case something goes wrong or you want to try out that new experimental ROM/theme. NANDroid will backup (and restore) /system, /data, /cache, and /boot partitions.
Recovery Mode → A special environment that you can boot into for troubleshooting and upgrading purposes.
Kang → The process of creating a code based of someone else's code or reapplying code that someone else created into your own code (e.g. git cherry-pick)
Rooting → is a process that allows users of mobile phones and other devices running the Android operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's Linux subsystem with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and manufacturers put on some devices.

HOW TO ROOT YOUR SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII I9300
Step 1. Download Odin3.07 from HERE
Step 2. Power off your Galaxy S3. Then hold down Volume Down, Center Home, and Power buttons together until you see the warning screen.
Step 3. Hit Volume Up button to enter Download mode and connect a microUSB cable from your Galaxy S3 to your computer.
Step 4. Next, download GalaxyS3RootNew.zip, unzip the files and run odin3.07.exe by double-clicking on the file.
Step 5. When ODIN program opens, you should find a highlighted yellow box with a random COM number. If you don’t see this, download and install Samsung USB drivers below:
SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe
Step 6. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE, hit “PDA” button and select the file CF-Root-SGS3-v6.4.tar.
Step 7. Hit “Start” button. This will install ClockworkMod Recovery on your Galaxy S3 i9300. If you get stuck on this step, just try a different USB port.
Step 8. Once ODIN is done flashing, you will see “PASS!” in green highlighted box.
Step 9. Your Galaxy S3 will reboot once into CWM Recovery and automatically install root and Superuser app.
Step 10. Once your phone reboots, you will find an app called “SuperSU”, this is your superuser app.
Step 11. Download and install Titanium Backup app from Play Store to verify you have root, a Superuser request window should pop up.
That’s it! This should take you less than 5 minutes to do and does not affect your phone in any way but give you Superuser, root, and custom ClockworkMod Recovery.
I highly recommend you to boot into ClockworkMod Recovery and make your first backup ROM at this point, which will save everything including the stock ROM, your apps and settings.
Thanks to galaxys3root.com for sources

HOW TO DO A NANDROID BACKUP
Step 1. We will first reboot into ClockworkMod Recovery by holding down Volume Up, Center Home, and Power buttons together for about 10 seconds.
Step 2. Once in ClockworkMod Recovery on your rooted Galaxy S3, choose “backup and storage”.
Step 3. You will have an option to “backup” or “backup to internal storage”. The first option will backup to your microSD card while the latter to the internal storage.
Step 4. Your rooted Galaxy S3 should now be backing up. Backing up ROM takes 5-10 minutes so go ahead and get your cup of coffee and come back.
HOW TO RESTORE FROM A BACKUP
Step 1. To restore ROM, simply use the same “backup and restore” menu then choose “restore” or “restore from internal sdcard” depending on where you backed up your ROM.
That was easy right?
So, don’t delay and make a backup ROM if you just rooted your phone, you will thank me later and save yourself time and headache when things go wrong.
Thanks to galaxys3root.com for sources

HOW TO FLASH A ROM
Basic Steps
! Choose the ROM that you want and download its .zip file
!! Transfer the zip file to your phone’s sd card. Do not put it into any folder.
!!! Turn off your phone and reboot into recovery, usually by holding the down button and power button at the same time.
!!!! Do a Nandroid backup
!!!!! Do a full Data wipe, wipe the Cache and also wipe Dalvik
!!!!!! Flash the zip file that you put on your sd card
!!!!!!! Reboot phone
You can find all ROMS HERE

HOW TO FLASH A KERNEL WITH CMW
_Download the Kernel You want to flash and put it in sd card.
__Boot in to CWM!
___Wipe cache & Dalvik Cache
____Press install from Sd card!
_____Select the kernel that you dloaded!
______Flash it!
_______Reboot!
________Check in CPU SPY to see if you successfully flashed Kernel.
All Kernels Can Be Found In The Development Section

HOW TO GO BACK TO UNROOTED STOCK
Step 1 - Download an Official Stock Rom from - HERE
Step 2 - Extract the Firmware
Step 3 - Open up Odin
Step 4 - Turn OFF your device
Step 5 - Put your device into Download MODE (Home + Volume Down + Power)
Step 6 - Click PDA and select *.tar.md5
Step 7 - Then finally click START!

Great noob dictionary!
But why reserve so many posts?
I guess they're free right?

nfsmw_gr said:
Great noob dictionary!
But why reserve so many posts?
I guess they're free right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank You. I have only edited this Guide to adapt to this Phone.
And now you should be able to see why I reserved so many posts lol

Nick Fury said:
Thank You. I have only edited this Guide to adapt to this Phone.
And now you should be able to see why I reserved so many posts lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it,now it makes sense...great work mate.

Nick Fury said:
!!!!! Wipe the phone 3 times by clearing cache/factory restore 3 times and wiping dalvik cache and system format
!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3 times is a little overkill don't ya think? In fact I remember seeing a ROM thread in the development section waaay back in the first few weeks of launch and a dev had in his set of instructions to wipe and factory reset 3 times before flash. A moderator made him change it because it was unnecessary to wipe that many times and stated that it would cause issues... what exactly, I can't remember but it sounded legit. Just my 2 cents
But.. great reference guide!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Coreym said:
3 times is a little overkill don't ya think? In fact I remember seeing a ROM thread in the development section waaay back in the first few weeks of launch and a dev had in his set of instructions to wipe and factory reset 3 times before flash. A moderator made him change it because it was unnecessary to wipe that many times and stated that it would cause issues... what exactly, I can't remember but it sounded legit. Just my 2 cents
But.. great reference guide!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank You for the Feedback and the post has now been edited with the Correct information.

If anyone finds that any of the information above is incorrect or needs updating then please let me know and I will get the Guide updated.
Thank You for reading.

Nice one
Nick Fury said:
If anyone finds that any of the information above is incorrect or needs updating then please let me know and I will get the Guide updated.
Thank You for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for setting up this guide.
"account currently disabled" ??

Great guide for newbies.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Thanks
Hi,
Great intro for noobs.
Keep up the good work.

another great thread nick
i'm in the process of researching both the language and process of rooting my s2. i've been reading articles and watching videos and will write out a "script" for me to follow before i root and flash a ROM. would it be OK to ask a few questions prior to this endeavor to clear up any uncertainties i might have? i know XDA has rigid rules as to where to discuss certain topics (which i completely respect and understand).

bk11222 said:
i'm in the process of researching both the language and process of rooting my s2. i've been reading articles and watching videos and will write out a "script" for me to follow before i root and flash a ROM. would it be OK to ask a few questions prior to this endeavor to clear up any uncertainties i might have? i know XDA has rigid rules as to where to discuss certain topics (which i completely respect and understand).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please feel free to to ask any questions. This would be the perfect spot as it is topic related.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

thanks!
great guide includes everything thanks :good:

R: [REF} All in One guide for NOOBS! With Videos Now!
Glad Thatcher tour thread seems to have more success than mine which id similar but with some others tutorials
You can see it here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2113656
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

R: [REF} All in One guide for NOOBS! With Videos Now!
Since my thread was closed ( i don't know if it was reported to admin by someone asking to close it) i could paste my tutorials here if you want
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

★★★★[INFO]ANDROID ROM & How they Work★★★★

★★★★[INFO]ANDROID ROM & How they Work★★★★
Parts of a ROM
i. The kernel.
Android (like many other Smartphone operating systems) runs on the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel was created in the early 1990’s by a gentleman named Linus Torvalds in Helsinki, Finland. It’s incredibly stable, incredibly friendly, and incredibly difficult for the layman to understand and modify. Thankfully it’s also very popular so it has been ported on to a multitude of hardware, including our Android devices.
Think of the kernel as an interface layer between the hardware and software on your device. The kernel decides when things happen, such as the LED indicator gets lit or when the soft button's LED gets lit. An application sends a request to the operating system to blink the LED. The operating system then sends the request to the kernel, which makes the light flash for the amount of time requested by the OS.
What sounds like a round-about way to get things done is also what makes the system so scalable and robust. Application developers only have to code in a way the operating system understands and the kernel makes it work on the hardware. This also keeps the application running in it’s own user-space and separate from the kernel. That means when you run the latest uber-cool app that wasn’t designed for your particular OS version, or is still very beta and it crashes, the kernel gives you the option to Force Close the application and the kernel can run untouched.
In a standard Android ROM (we will leave developer images and the like for another discussion) the kernel is bundled along with a set of instructions that tell the device how to load the kernel and the OS during boot. This is the boot.img that you see inside a zipped ROM that your not able to easily open. The device knows to extract this image to internal memory (the ramdisk) and follow a series of scripts (init scripts) to load the kernel and then the other portions of the OS. That’s what’s happening while you’re watching the boot animation. Interestingly enough this is done the same way for a PC, your smartphone, an Android tablet, or even a smart Linux powered toaster. If you’re feeling exceptionally geeky, plug your Android phone into the USB port on your PC and let the PC boot from the USB device. No, it doesn’t actually load, but you can watch the animation while it tries to match up the hardware support with what’s inside your PC. As I said, Linux is amazingly scalable and as a result so is Android.
What is a kernel? If you spend any time reading Android forums, blogs, how-to posts or online discussion you'll soon hear people talking about the kernel. A kernel isn't something unique to Android -- iOS and MacOS have one, Windows has one, BlackBerry's QNX has one, in fact all high level operating systems have one. The one we're interested in is Linux, as it's the one Android uses. Let's try to break down what it is and what it does.
Android devices use the Linux kernel, but it's not the exact same kernel other Linux-based operating systems use. There's a lot of Android specific code built in, and Google's Android kernel maintainers have their work cut out for them. OEMs have to contribute as well, because they need to develop hardware drivers for the parts they're using for the kernel version they're using. This is why it takes a while for independent Android developers and hackers to port new versions to older devices and get everything working. Drivers written to work with the Gingerbread kernel on a phone won't necessarily work with the Ice Cream Sandwich kernel. And that's important, because one of the kernel's main functions is to control the hardware. It's a whole lot of source code, with more options while building it than you can imagine, but in the end it's just the intermediary between the hardware and the software.
When software needs the hardware to do anything, it sends a request to the kernel. And when we say anything, we mean anything. From the brightness of the screen, to the volume level, to initiating a call through the radio, even what's drawn on the display is ultimately controlled by the kernel. For example -- when you tap the search button on your phone, you tell the software to open the search application. What happens is that you touched a certain point on the digitizer, which tells the software that you've touched the screen at those coordinates. The software knows that when that particular spot is touched, the search dialog is supposed to open. The kernel is what tells the digitizer to look (or listen, events are "listened" for) for touches, helps figure out where you touched, and tells the system you touched it. In turn, when the system receives a touch event at a specific point from the kernel (through the driver) it knows what to draw on your screen. Both the hardware and the software communicate both ways with the kernel, and that's how your phone knows when to do something. Input from one side is sent as output to the other, whether it's you playing Angry Birds, or connecting to your car's Bluetooth.
It sounds complicated, and it is. But it's also pretty standard computer logic -- there's an action of some sort generated for every event. Without the kernel to accept and send information, developers would have to write code for every single event for every single piece of hardware in your device. With the kernel, all they have to do is communicate with it through the Android system API's, and hardware developers only have to make the device hardware communicate with the kernel. The good thing is that you don't need to know exactly how or why the kernel does what it does, just understanding that it's the go-between from software to hardware gives you a pretty good grasp of what's happening under the glass. Sort of gives a whole new outlook towards those fellows who stay up all night to work on kernels for your phone, doesn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ii. The operating system.
Once the kernel is loaded, the init scripts tell the Operating System to load. Android is the user interface for a custom built Java virtual machine called Dalvik. Dalvik was written by Dan Bornstein, who named it after the fishing village of Dalvik in Iceland, where his family originated from. The debate of which Java VM is superior is best left for another discussion, so I’ll simply say that DalvikVM is a register-based machine versus true JavaVMs which are stack based.
The Dalvik machine creates executable files (.dex files) which can be interpreted by the OS and run by the end user. These .dex files are OS version dependant. That simply means that applications and core functions built to work with one version of Android may or may not work well with other versions. Google provides the tools through it’s Software Development Kit (SDK) for applications to communicate with the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iii. Core functions.
No smartphone would be complete without a set of functions that allow the device to be used as intended. Things like the phone and dialer interface, the calendar, the messaging system are core functions of the Operating System. In Android, these are run on top of the kernel as separate applications. The merits (or lack of) of providing these needed functions as separate applications is once again best left for another discussion, but this is what allows developers like HTC or Motorola to replace the standard functions with alternatives that provide a different look and feel from stock. HTC’s onscreen keyboard or Motorola’s MotoBlur contact list are great examples of this. The “little guy” isn’t left out of the mix either. Handcent SMS or Chomp SMS can integrate into the OS very well, as most of us already know.
An additional set of Core Functions are provided by Google. Popularly called GoogleBits, things like Gmail, sync, Gtalk and the Android Market are applications written by Google that give an extra set of useful functions to the OS. You’ll find these on all smartphones, as well as many other Android devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iv. Optional applications.
These are applications provided by the manufacturer to give the device even more usability. Things like the Amazon MP3 store, PDF readers, Corporate Calendar etc. allow you to do even more with your device. Remember - Droid Does
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
B. How is a ROM packaged?
In most cases a ROM will come packaged in a .zip file. The recovery image’s kernel (yes, it has one too!) has the ability to unzip and copy the contents into the correct place. Inside this zip file is a folder (META-INF\com\google\android\) that contains a script prepared by the ROM “cooker” (another of those techie terms - it means the person(s) who developed the ROM) that tells the system what to format, what to copy and where, and any file operations that need to be done. Each device does things a bit differently, but this script is where it all gets done. More on this folder later.
You’ll also see a /system folder. This is the meat of the ROM. It has the necessary OS files, the Core functions, and any optional applications the cooker decided to include. The folder is structured the same way it is on your device - /system/app, /system/framework, etc. The whole tree is usually copied over and the existing /system folder is overwritten. The cooker uses the script to tell the kernel to erase the existing system folder, copy the new folder over, and set the file permissions.
Sometimes you will also see a data folder. This usually is space set up for optional applications, including optional system tools like busybox or SuperUser white list. These applications could be placed in the /system folder, but placing them in the data folder makes it easier for the end user (you and I) to remove or update them as needed.
You’ll also notice a META-INF folder. This contains the update script we talked about earlier, as well as secure keys that need to be provided so the device knows the update can be trusted. A special note needs made here. Trusted means that the update is trusted to be in the correct form to load the device. It in no way means the ROM is safe from malicious code. Anyone is able to use a set of test keys and create a ROM that will flash and run your device - even those people with bad intentions. Flashing and running a custom 3rd party ROM is putting faith in the cooker that he or she not only knows what they are doing, but are honest as well. Also, some Motorola custom ROMs will have a small update.zip stored inside this folder to be run on first boot of the device.
Finally we are left with the boot.img file. This is the kernel and ramdisk image we discussed earlier. Your phone copies this over to be decompressed and run when the device boots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. How do I install a ROM?
In this section we’re discussing how to install a custom 3rd party ROM. ROMs from the manufacturer usually have a utility that runs on your PC to flash and load the new image.
A. Got Root???
Yes ?:good:!!!
Custom ROM’s simply will not load on devices that aren’t rooted. In theory, it may be possible to sign a 3rd party ROM with the keys that the stock recovery image will flash, but for the most part you need to have flashed a custom recovery image before you can change your device’s ROM. Instructions and tutorials on how to root your device are all over the internet. Some are good, some are bad. The hacking forum is a great place to go and learn more about rooting and how to successfully get it done on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
B. Recovery
Most Android devices have had a custom recovery image written for them. This will overwrite the stock recovery image, allowing you to flash 3rd party ROMs as well as giving extra functionality. Help with finding and flashing the custom recovery image for your device can also be found in the hacking forum. The installation of a custom recovery image also allows for a very important function. Backup and restore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.C. Nandroid
Nandroid is a set of bash scripts and code written by that copies the state of your system and stores it in a folder on your SD card. You can then use the restore function of Nandroid to restore to this point at any time. This is a priceless feature and reason enough to root your phone. It’s included by default in most custom recovery images, and the code is freely available to use if you’re inclined to write your own recovery image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In most situations, using Nandroid to back everything up is easy:
1. Verify you have a memory card with enough free space (~300MB to backup, ~500MB to restore).
2. Reboot your device into recovery. It’s slightly different for each device, once again hacking forum FTW!
3. Navigate through the menu and select the Nandroid Backup function.
4. Apply your choice and wait for the device to tell you it’s finished.
It’s always good practice to copy the entire nandroid folder from your SD card to a safe place. You can then copy it back to the SD card if the card is ever damaged, lost or erased.
D. Copy and Flash
You’re rooted, have downloaded a custom ROM, have your system backed up and are now ready to flash your device. This is not nearly as scary as it sounds.
1. Mount your SD card to your PC, and copy the .zip file to the root folder of the card. Don’t unzip the file, and don’t look for a folder called root. The root folder in this case means the base folder, what you will see when you mount your card to a PC or the device.
2. Reboot your phone into recovery.
3. Navigate through the recovery menu and select the flash update option. Depending on your recovery image, the file may need to be named update.zip, or you may be able to select any zip file on your card as long as it’s the correct format. The cooker knows this as well and if the ROM needs to be named update.zip it will be.
4. Apply your choice and wait for your device to tell you it’s finished.
5. Reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It’s worth noting that many times a new ROM will require that you wipe and factory reset your devices data. While inconvenient, it’s often necessary to get rid of the old data as it may be incompatible. As long as you’re using the cloud for calendar and contacts, they will be re- downloaded and stored back on your device automatically.
Dirty flash and Clean flash
A dirty flash is only wiping cache and davlik then flashing your ROM....
a Clean flash is at LEAST factory reset/data wipe + wiping davlik(factory wipe takes care of /cache also)... Maybe doing a format /system also.
***Odin***
Odin is the ROM Flashing Tool for SAMSUNG smartphones. ROM files flashable with Odin come with .tar extension.
Most of the ROMs you are going to flash with Odin are the official stock Samsung ROMs (or leaked stock ROMs). Custom ROMs are rerely flashable by Odin because they come with .zip extension that Odin does not recognize (it recognizes .tar files).
Custom kernels, however, are sometimes provided in .tar format by their developers (e.g. CF-Root kernels), so that they can be flashed by Odin. When your phone is new and running official firmware you most often cannot flash a custom ROM to it because a Samsung phone often requires a custom recovery and root rights that are included in a custom kernel to be able to flash custom ROMs. That's why Odin often comes in handy in rooting and flashing a custom firmware to your phone because you (often) can flash a custom kernel with it that already includes root and custom recovery and enables you to flash custom firmware (custom ROMs). I use the word "often" very frequently in the previous sentence because every Samsung smartphone is different and requires various procedures for rooting it and flashing custom ROMs (see the section about using Odin below).
If it comes to stock ROMs, the best source of stock (official) Samsung ROM files is located at this excellent website: SamMobile.com/firmwares (link). It requires registration (it's free) and I encourage you to set up an account there because you will most likely use this site several times during your stay at XDA. You will most likely come across 1 .tar or 3 .tar file ROMs there, flashable by Odin. Refer to the Odin flashing guide below for more info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
****Heimdall****
What is Heimdall?
Heimdall is a cross-platform open-source tool suite used to flash ROMs onto Samsung Galaxy S devices.
How does it work?
Heimdall uses the same protocol as Odin to interact with a device in download mode. USB communication in Heimdall is handled by the popular open-source USB library, libusb-1.0.
Why “Heimdall”?
The flashing software Odin is named after the king of gods in Norse mythology. Loke, the software component on the Galaxy S that provides functionality to flash, may also to be named after an important character in Norse mythology, often translated as Loki. As such I have named my flashing software Heimdall, after the Norse god, and guardian of the Bifrost Bridge.
What platforms does Heimdall run on?
Linux, OS X and Windows (XP, Vista, 7 etc.)
Why use Heimdall when we can use Odin?
Odin is generally unreliable and only runs on Windows systems. Furthermore, Odin is leaked Samsung software that is not freely available or well understood by the community.
Is Heimdall safe?
No matter what method you chose, flashing firmware onto your phone has a lot of potential for disaster. We have tested Heimdall with a variety of phones flashing several different firmware versions resulting in a 100% success rate. As such we believe that Heimdall is generally reliable. However keep in mind, just like any flashing software, Heimdall has the potential to brick your phone if not used correctly.
How do Galaxy S phones get bricked when flashing?
Besides the inherent risks like power outs, accidental removal of the USB cable etc. The Galaxy S appears to be running extremely unreliable USB control software.
A failure to flash does not automatically equate to a bricked phone. However if you're extremely unlucky and the flash fails whilst transferring the primary boot-loader, secondary boot-loader or params.lfs (all quite small) than you've got yourself a paper weight that you're hoping Samsung will replace.
Please be extremely careful mixing files from different firmware releases. Don't do so unless you're certain it will work!
What Galaxy S variants has Heimdall been tested with?
We’ve tested Heimdall with a Galaxy S GT-I9000 (8 GB) from the United Kingdom and Galaxy S GT-I9000 (16 GB) from Australia. We don’t personally have access to any other devices to test with, however users have confirmed Heimdall functions correctly with the AT&T Captivate, Bell Vibrant, Telstra GT-I9000T, Epic 4G and the Galaxy Tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^

CWM Errors and Solutions
ERRORS encountered in CWM Recovery
.
What is CWM Recovery ?
ClockworkMod Recovery is a custom recovery for many Android devices. It is considered to be the most popular recovery for Android due to its easily-ported nature, and integration with ClockworkMod ROM Manager by Koush(Koushik Dutta). The easiest way to recognize it is by the printed name when it first starts, and the background logo of a gear and hat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ERROR STATUS 6
This is usually caused by CR/LF EOL(Windows style End Of Line) in updater-script. Change it to LF EOL(Unix Style EOL) using Linux command: dos2unix updater-script, then re-signing the ZIP, will usually fix this error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ERROR STATUS 7
This is usually caused by a corrupt download, or bad file signature. Re-downloading (or re-signing) the ZIP will usually fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We have been consistently seen and heard people facing error “Status 7″ error while trying to flash or install
custom ROMs or firmware packages on their Android smart phones or tablets with ClockworkMod Recovery. Many
of the users are nowadays facing this problem with CWM Recovery while flashing .zip files of modded or custom
Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) or Jelly Bean (JB) ROMs on their devices. So, you have also downloaded a custom ROM,
placed its .zip file in your phone’s or tablet’s SD card, booted into ClockworkMod Recovery, selected – “install zip
from sdcard” and then chosen the .zip file of the ROM to get it installed on your device. But instead of getting
flashed successfully, if you are facing the issue mentioned below, then just keep reading this article to find out
what’s wrong and fix up the problem :
Finding update package…
Opening update package…
Installing update…
Error in /sdcard/custom-jelly-bean-rom.zip (Status 7)
Installation aborted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or the following error right after CWM recovery shows –
Installing update…
assert failed: getprop(“ro.product.device”) == “I9103″ || getprop(“ro.build.product”) == “I9103″ || getprop
(“ro.product.board”) == “I9103″
Error in /sdcard/android-4-1-1-ics-rom-latest.zip (status 7)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, if you are facing any of these errors while trying to install the desired custom ROM package on your Android
phone or tab, then you may try a various things or steps which may turn out to be the workaround of this
problem. Here are a few tips to get this “Status 7” error fixed in ClockworkMod Recovery and flash the ROM
successfully on your device :
(1) First of all, make sure your device’s bootloader is unlocked. If it is already unlocked but you are still
not able to flash the ROM, then just extract the .zip file of the ROM into a new folder, find the boot.img file from
that directory and flash it up on your phone or tablet via fastboot on your PC.
(2) Make sure that you are having the appropriate Radio or Baseband version installed on your device which is
supported by the custom ROM you are trying to flash. Most of the ROMs requires the latest version of Baseband, so
just update or upgrade your device to the latest Baseband version and then try to install the ROM once again.
(3) Update your device to the supported / latest build of official firmware before trying to install the ROM. You can
do it from – Settings > About Phone / Device > Software Update.
(4) Make sure you are having the supported or required kernel installed on your phone or tab. If it’s not, then flash
a new kernel right away and try to install your custom ROM once again.
(5) Is the ROM which you are trying to flash really works ? Find out whether it is working for other users or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Error Status 0
Well sometimes while flashing some ROMs especially the cooked ones we get Error status 0 in the CWM Recovery
this error is an indicator of Wrong Update Binary.This is usually caused by an incompatible update-binary in edify ZIPs. Replacing it with a compatible one, then re-signing the ZIP, will usually fix this error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Partitions
Now it's time for the partitions :good:
Let’s start with a list of standard internal memory partitions on Android phones and tablets. These are:
/boot
/system
/recovery
/data
/cache
/misc
In addition, there are the SD card partitions.
/sdcard
/sd-ext
Note that only /sdcard is found in all Android devices and the rest are present only in select devices. Let’s now take a look at the purpose and contents of each of these partitions.
/boot
This is the partition that enables the phone to boot, as the name suggests. It includes the kernel and the ramdisk. Without this partition, the device will simply not be able to boot. Wiping this partition from recovery should only be done if absolutely required and once done, the device must NOT be rebooted before installing a new one, which can be done by installing a ROM that includes a /boot partition.
/system
This partition basically contains the entire operating system, other than the kernel and the ramdisk. This includes the Android user interface as well as all the system applications that come pre-installed on the device. Wiping this partition will remove Android from the device without rendering it unbootable, and you will still be able to put the phone into recovery or bootloader mode to install a new ROM.
/recovery
The recovery partition can be considered as an alternative boot partition that lets you boot the device into a recovery console for performing advanced recovery and maintenance operations on it. To learn more about this partition and its contents, see the ‘About Android Recovery’ section of our guide to ClockworkMod recovery.
/data
Also called userdata, the data partition contains the user’s data – this is where your contacts, messages, settings and apps that you have installed go. Wiping this partition essentially performs a factory reset on your device, restoring it to the way it was when you first booted it, or the way it was after the last official or custom ROM installation. When you perform a wipe data/factory reset from recovery, it is this partition that you are wiping.
/cache
This is the partition where Android stores frequently accessed data and app components. Wiping the cache doesn’t effect your personal data but simply gets rid of the existing data there, which gets automatically rebuilt as you continue using the device.
/misc
This partition contains miscellaneous system settings in form of on/off switches. These settings may include CID (Carrier or Region ID), USB configuration and certain hardware settings etc. This is an important partition and if it is corrupt or missing, several of the device’s features will will not function normally.
/sdcard
This is not a partition on the internal memory of the device but rather the SD card. In terms of usage, this is your storage space to use as you see fit, to store your media, documents, ROMs etc. on it. Wiping it is perfectly safe as long as you backup all the data you require from it, to your computer first. Though several user-installed apps save their data and settings on the SD card and wiping this partition will make you lose all that data.
On devices with both an internal and an external SD card – devices like the Samsung Galaxy S and several tablets – the /sdcard partition is always used to refer to the internal SD card. For the external SD card – if present – an alternative partition is used, which differs from device to device. In case of Samsung Galaxy S series devices, it is /sdcard/sd while in many other devices, it is /sdcard2. Unlike /sdcard, no system or app data whatsoever is stored automatically on this external SD card and everything present on it has been added there by the user. You can safely wipe it after backing up any data from it that you need to save.
/sd-ext
This is not a standard Android partition, but has become popular in the custom ROM scene. It is basically an additional partition on your SD card that acts as the /data partition when used with certain ROMs that have special features called APP2SD+ or data2ext enabled. It is especially useful on devices with little internal memory allotted to the /data partition. Thus, users who want to install more programs than the internal memory allows can make this partition and use it with a custom ROM that supports this feature, to get additional storage for installing their apps. Wiping this partition is essentially the same as wiping the /data partition – you lose your contacts, SMS, market apps and settings.
With this, we conclude our tour of Android partitions. Now whenever you install a ROM or mod that requires you to wipe certain partitions before the installation, you should be in a better position to know what you’re losing and what not and thus, you’ll know what to backup and what not.

You should at least post the source of such a large copy paste post.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

Source? How do you post a source for an article which is compiled from 10+ sites? Plus my own addition?
Started from the bottom

Good job man, this saves me the time to do all this researches.
Keep it up
Best regards
Sifou
Using a Samsung N7100

sos_sifou said:
Good job man, this saves me the time to do all this researches.
Keep it up
Best regards
Sifou
Using a Samsung N7100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DO tell me if you have some suggestions for the thread.
"Thanks button is just to avoid "THANKS" posts in threads. Nothing more than that. Don't ask in signature or post for it and defeat the purpose why it was introduced"

I think that this is a pretty good summary of the basics. I even converted it to epub and stocked it on my e-reader for reference
You can get to the details if you want? Adding some info about flashing softwares like odin and the Linux based one (i don't remember it name)
The different recoveries available and their advantages vs désavantages
How to protect yourself from malicious applications, starting from knowing what are permissions...
Keep it up mate
Best regards
Sifou
Using a Samsung N7100

sos_sifou said:
I think that this is a pretty good summary of the basics. I even converted it to epub and stocked it on my e-reader for reference
You can get to the details if you want? Adding some info about flashing softwares like odin and the Linux based one (i don't remember it name)
The different recoveries available and their advantages vs désavantages
How to protect yourself from malicious applications, starting from knowing what are permissions...
Keep it up mate
Best regards
Sifou
Using a Samsung N7100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heimdall?
"Thanks button is just to avoid "THANKS" posts in threads. Nothing more than that. Don't ask in signature or post for it and defeat the purpose why it was introduced"

Tha TechnoCrat said:
Source? How do you post a source for an article which is compiled from 10+ sites? Plus my own addition?
Started from the bottom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you have a point, it's just the scientist in me with source-referral-ocd.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

adytum said:
I guess you have a point, it's just the scientist in me with source-referral-ocd.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DO tell me if you have any problems or if you want something to be added.
"Thanks button is just to avoid "THANKS" posts in threads. Nothing more than that. Don't ask in signature or post for it and defeat the purpose why it was introduced"

Thread updated with Odin and Heimdall information.
"Thanks button is just to avoid "THANKS" posts in threads. Nothing more than that. Don't ask in signature or post for it and defeat the purpose why it was introduced"

Tha TechnoCrat said:
Source? How do you post a source for an article which is compiled from 10+ sites? Plus my own addition?
Started from the bottom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By listing ALL the different sources? And obviously crediting yourself with bits you've added.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

You should make the title of the thread more presentable though.

Simone said:
You should make the title of the thread more presentable though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would like some suggestions.
"Thanks button is just to avoid "THANKS" posts in threads. Nothing more than that. Don't ask in signature or post for it and defeat the purpose why it was introduced"

Tha TechnoCrat said:
Would like some suggestions.
"Thanks button is just to avoid "THANKS" posts in threads. Nothing more than that. Don't ask in signature or post for it and defeat the purpose why it was introduced"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should think of your own. That would be the best
Make it more professional looking, though.
Everything else is good.

Guys I have got my Note 2 finally. Will compile some guides for it too.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

You bought a note 2? Congrats mate !
Best regards
Sifou
Using a Samsung N7100

sos_sifou said:
You bought a note 2? Congrats mate !
Best regards
Sifou
Using a Samsung N7100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks buddy. Get ready for more guides
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

[REF] Understanding the basics before rooting your S3 (GT-i9300/i9305)

Note from the Author -
I am moving on to the N5 now and ditching my S3. I will continue to maintain this thread, however - please do PM me if you think that something needs to be changed or updated in this thread as I doubt I will be answering questions within the thread as much. Please don't PM support questions to me. Only PM updates that need to be made in the thread.
It's been a blast!
Regards
Dan
efs | backup your efs | backup your efs | backup your efs | backup your efs | backup your
Understanding the basics before rooting your S3 (GT-i9300/i9305)
This thread is intended to give you (as someone considering rooting your device) an overview of some of what I deem to be, really important information. Many people blindly follow guides and end up in trouble because they break their phones and don't really know what they were even doing at the time.
This may seem a bit overwhelming at first, there is a lot of text, but please do take the time to read it. It may save you further down the line.
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Before we get started...
Here are a couple of threads you should get familiar with before posting on XDA.
Forum Rules - use Search before posting
Post Questions or Support queries in Q&A, NOT General
What is root access?
"root" is (but not exclusively) a Linux term. As you may or may not know, Android is based on a Linux Kernel.
The term "root" refers to the root of the device. All devices with an operating system use a series of directories (or folders) nested within one another. If you think of windows, your documents folder would be C:\users\username\documents.. Well, "documents" is a directory. It is within another directory (username).
Imagine "documents" being the top of a tree (A folder tree). You climb down the tree to username, past there to "users" and down to the root, in this example "c:". You cannot go beyond this level, because nothing exists beyond the root. To save a file directly on C: (not within any folders) would be to save a file to the root of your c: drive.
In Linux (unlike Windows), these root locations are completely locked down. A user of normal priviledges cannot edit any file or create files in these locations. They can only do this in their "home" location, which is the equivelant of username on windows. To gain access to these locations, you would need to be an administrator of the machine. Linux calls this Super User (su), and this user is said to have "root access".
This applies to Android in the same way. To root your Android device, is to have superuser access to the root locations of your phone, that you normally could not have access to.
Is it Risky?
There is always a risk having access to locations on your phone that are supposed to be locked down. You can easily delete things that your phone needs to boot up, which could lead to you losing all your data or even breaking your phone. This is why it is good have an understanding of your device and root access BEFORE you root.
It is worth noting that although many say rooting shouldn't void your warranty (it does in many places) even where that is supposed to be true, in practice, it isn't really. Even in the EU, I've seen many warranty claims rejected due to root so do think of your phone as out of warranty when you root.
The advantages of rooting
Why root?
More control over how the CPU acts. This can increase performance or battery life
More control over power consumption (undervolting)
More control over how apps start up. Prevent apps from starting up when they don't need to
Baseband. Try different basebands with the possibility of reducing drain or imporving signal strength
De-bloat. Remove or freeze system apps that you don't use
Access to community driven bug fixes that Samsung haven't released
Custom ROMs. Add additional functionality and controls over and above the stock experience
Increase redundancy. The ability to backup apps and entire phone
Theme. Don't be stuck with Samsung driving aesthetics.
Innovations. Use community driven features that improve your day to day experience
Better RAM management. Change the values of "Out of memory". Decide yourself when android should kill unused apps. Increase mutlitasking capabilities
Custom kernels. With kernels you can bring support for better audio features, better graphics performance and support for stock unsupported files systems
Google Android. Use android as it was intended before Samsung got their hands on it.
The Disadvantages of rooting
Why not root?
For all intents and purposes, rooting voids warranty.
Dangerous. You can break your phone and need the warranty you probably just voided
You open the doors for more mistakes. These mistakes may cause you to panic and further damage your phone
Lack of understanding. Blindly following guides and not understanding what you're doing.
No more official updates. Updating is a more manual process
Basic layout of /root on the GT-i9300
I'm not going to go into too much detail here. I just need you to know the basics. The GT-i9300 has an embedded Multi Media Card. This is the internal memory that everything on your phone you need to run it, is insalled on. It is the "internal memory" of the device.
Like windows and linux, there is a root to this memory, which has a few basic partitions that you need to know.
/efs - This is REALLY important. This is where your IMEI is stored, which you need to connect to your provider's network. Unfortunately it is the easiest partition to corrupt and impossible to restore without a backup so ensure you have a recovery or application to backup your efs cause if it goes (likely) you'll be sending your S3 to Samsung for repair.
Please read THIS THREAD for more info on EFS and IMEI issues.
/system - This is where the ROM is installed. Within /system are many important folders that you normally cannot get to.
For example, you have /system/app where all the important ROM apps are located. Things like the phone app and the messaging app. /system/bin, where all the important binaries are located that allow android to execute commands that it needs to, so it can function as an OS and /system/framework, where the crucial policies that control how things the user and processes interact with - act.
/data - This is where apps you install are kept. This is also where your data is kept, eg your SMS and e-mails. It also stores settings. If you change the wallpaper, it is stored here. What ringtone you have chosen... etc. The important directories here are /data/app and /data/data. These are what get wiped when you choose to wipe data\factory reset
/data/media is an important directory in /data. This is what is known as your "internal storage" or your "internal sdcard". /sdcard maps to here.
When you have root access to android, you can browse these partitions with a root explorer / file manager with root functionality.
There are also some hidden partitions you cannot browse like this. These are the partitions that contain recovery, bootloader and kernel
What are those things?
Kernel - This is always supplied with a ROM. It is the beating heart of Android. The ROM cannot function without the kernel. Since all ROMs include a kernel, if you're using a custom Kernel then flash a ROM, you will need to reflash the kernel again.
Please note, unlike the Galaxy S2 (and like almost every other modern android device) the kernel and recovery are independent. There is no link between recovery and kernel. Kernels are boot.img files.
Bootloader - this is what handles what you boot into. When you see the black Galaxy s III text, thats the bootloader. Its job is to handle the boot. It is responsible for booting into android, or if you manipulate the buttons in a certain way, it will boot into recovery or download mode. PLEASE NOTE, i9300/5 Bootloader is NOT LOCKED. DO NOT TRY TO UNLOCK IT. Only some US variants have a locked bootloader...
When you see this screen, you're looking at the bootloader:
Download mode is part of the bootloader itself. Again, it is a mini OS. It is designed for flashing stock (official) ROMs onto the phone (Which you can do using Odin). It is also used by Samsung to detect the status of your phone (if you have modified it or not).
If you have (or had before rooting) an official ROM above 4.1.1, Your bootloader flash counter in download mode will change to "1" at every boot, if you have a custom kernel or recovery - even if you reset it with Triangle Away. See the return for warranty link later in this post to get around this.
To access download mode, turn off your phone. Home volume down + home then press power. You will get to the screen below:
Press volume up to continue into Download mode:
Recovery - a secondary, min operating system designed to offer a few "drastic" options to recover when you cannot boot into android. For example, factory reset. Recovery isn't part of android. It is a seperate operting system. You can either boot into android or boot into reocvery.
To access recovery (custom or stock), turn of you phone. Hold volume up + home then press power.
The intial use of Stock recovery was to allow a user whose phone does not boot, to wipe their device to "recover" it to a booting state. It could also flash official updates from the sdcard. Custom recoveries do so much more, such as allowing you to flash custom rom.zip or kernel.zips from sdcard or backing up your device with a nandroid recovery.
Here is an example of a custom recovery (Philx Touch 5):
Please note, unlike the Galaxy S2 (and like almost every other modern android device) the kernel and recovery are independent. There is no link between recovery and kernel.
Some other stuff you may have heard about
Baseband / Modem / Radio - This is the software that manages your connection to wireless networks, be that voice or data. Unlike unrooted users, you can download and flash any number of i9300 (Versions for other models WILL BRICK YOUR PHONE) or i9305 radios pulled from official ROMs. I wouldn't waste too much time on them. Usually what your official ROM comes with in your country / for your carrier, is the most optimised for you. Try a few by all means but don't waste time testing every last one.
Be aware that Samsung official ROMs come with a baseband. Often this means Samsung based custom ROMs may also do so. Some ROMs which install using the Aroma installer (A kind of set-up wizard) may give the option to not flash the baseband. AOSP ROMs almost never come with a baseband. When you flash a ROM withotu a baseband, the previous baseband remains. You can by all means, mix and match ROMs and basebands. You are not tied to the baseband with the same build number as the ROM. For example, if you are on XXEMB1 ROM, you definitely do NOT have to stay on the XXEMB1 baseband.
RIL - RIL is Radio Interface layer. It's what sits between the radio (above) and the android telephony services. Each Radio is supposed to have a specific RIL. Every ROM comes with RIL as it's a requirement to function. Again, although the best pair is a matched RIL and Radio version, if you do change your Radio, it's not the end of the world. You may notice a little difference flashing the right one, but it's not something to get bogged down with. Personally, I very rarely try a new Radio. I almost never change my RIL.
It's worth mentioning that the above is only really valid for Touchwiz ROMs. AOSP ROMs use OpenRIL and are not compatible with Samsung RILs. Do not use apps like GetRIL or flash Modem+RIL packages on AOSP ROMs. You would have to reflash the ROM if you do this because using a Samsung RIL on your AOSP ROM will likely break your signal.
Also note, Nandroid backups generally don't backup the Radio. Some recoveries may give you a separate option to do so however. The RIL (as part of the ROM itself) is backed up in a Nandroid.
ROM - ROM really stands for "Read Only Memory" which refers to memory that cannot be overwritten. When we talk about an Android ROM, we are really talking about the Android OS which is installed ON the Read Only Memory, of course since rooting, the /system partition where the ROM is installed is no longer read only. It is read / write. Flashing a ROM will over write the entire /system partition with whatever is in the ROM.zip or ROM.tar. Any mods, scripts, themes or apps will be replaced. You can only have one ROM at a time, unless you use one of those funky dual boot kernels.
More advanced layout of the GT-i9300
Here we have a lovely MS paint diagram of the eMMC layout of the GT-i9300/5. Some of this you don't need to know, some of it you do.
1 BOTA0 - mmcblk0p1 - 4 MB
2 BOTA1 - mmcblk0p2 - 4 MB
3 EFS - mmcblk0p3 - 19.7M
4 PARAM - mmcblk0p4 - 8 MB
5 BOOT - mmcblk0p5 - 8 MB
6 RECOVERY - mmcblk0p6 - 8 MB
7 RADIO - mmcblk0p7 - 33 MB
8 CACHE - mmcblk0p8 - 1 GB
9 SYSTEM - mmcblk0p9 - 1.48 GB
10 HIDDEN - mmcblk0p10 - 587 MB
11 OTA - mmcblk0p11 - 8 MB
12 USERDATA - mmcblk0p12 - 11.4 GB
The above sizes are approximate and the diagram is not to scale.
Rooting the phone
When you go through the process of rooting the phone, you have to alter the ROM. Although the risks of this are very minimal, we couldn't technically say it was risk free. The process of rooting puts a binary (called "su") in /system/bin (remember we talked about that earlier?). This binary is what allows the user (you) to run things at an elevated privilidge (super user). That in itself would be quite risky, so rooting also gives you one of the superuser apps (there are 2 - SuperSU and SuperUser, both very good). These apps install to /system/app and act as a gateway. Essentially, these apps prompt you when another application wants "root access" so you can allow it or deny it. It's a form of protection against malicious intent.
Root is often enough for most people who simply want to run a few root apps, but many people will need to replace their stock recovery with a custom recovery. This is because you cannot flash custom roms from the stock recovery. Some methods of rooting give you root AND recovery. Some just give you root, but you can flash a recovery yourself using Odin and download mode. Technically you do not need root to flash a recovery and then flash a custom ROM as the rom will include /system/bin/su and /system/app/SuperSU anyway.
Odin is a useful Windows tool. You'll be using this to return your phone back to stock too by flashing a stock "firmware"
Please read Samsung Galaxy S3 General Sticky Roll-Up Thread ***Stickies found here!** to find all the rooting and flashing guides you need for the GT-i9300
If I were asked my opinion on how to root, I would recommend one of the 2 scenarios.
1) You want root only. No custom ROMs, kernels etc. Just root, just to use root apps.
CF Auto Root Via Odin
Why? Tried and tested method, simple to use. No need to choose what exploit you want to use as it's tailored for your device.
What does it do? It gives you a stock recovery (so can't flash things) and roots the Android OS
The Steps:
1) Download the Latest Odin
2) Download CF-Auto-Root for your model
3) Follow These steps to root
2) You want to flash custom ROMs / Kernels
If you want root on your existing Android ROM, you can do 1) first. Then flash a recovery of your choice (CWM, Philz, TWRP) via Odin
However, if you immediately plan on flashing a ROM, there's no need to root your existing ROM. Simply skip straight to installing a recovery. Backup then flash what you like.
The Steps:
1) Download the Latest Odin
2) Download recovery of your choice CWM, Philz, TWRP
3) Follow The steps to Flash Philz recovery (But for the recovery of your choice)
These steps can also be followed to update recovery to newer versions

Official Updates
Once you have rooted your phone, the phone is classed as "modified" and no longer qualifies for Official Samsung OTA updates.
It is possible to receive official updates (whilst rooted) via Kies, however this will remove root (just like flashing a full stock rom) and if you have any custom themes, kernels or /system modifications, this could really cause some problems to the ROM so it is best to avoid. Of course if you have flashed a custom ROM (even TouchWiz based ones) Official updates are a big, fat No-No.
If you do run custom ROMs, it's best to use their OTA method if they have one, or download from the threads on XDA and flash via recovery.
Flashing - Good practice
Recovery - Custom recoveries are very handy tools. Unlike the stock recovery, they have lots of options. Not only do they allow you to flash custom ROMs, but you can backup your current ROM too. This is called a Nandroid backup. Its a snapshot in time. It backs up your entire device, from the ROM to the Kernel and all your data too. If you restore a nandroid backup, your device will be extactly the same as it was when you took the backup. This means if you took a backup 2 weeks ago and restored it today, you could have lost 2 weeks worth of SMS.. but it is very handy. As soon as you have a custom recovery, a Nandroid backup should be the FIRST thing you do. You should take one before you flash any Mod, kernel, ROM or theme. It really is important, incase you manage to break your device.,
The RIGHT files - Always be careful that you know what you're flashing is for your device and you know what it is. Flashing files (ROMs, kernels etc) for other devices could BRICK your phone. Bricking means that it is beyond normal levels of repair, often meaning it needs the internal memory (which equates to the motherboard) being replaced. very expensive.
NEVER remove power - When flashing something, be it from your computer or from recovery (or mobile Odin), do NOT remove the power. It can corrupt not only what you're flashing but also what you're flashing to. If you corrupt any of your eMMC partitions, you could have Bricked the device.
Read, read and read - Read the development threads before you flash anything. Ensure you understand what you are flashing. Ensure you know the specific procedure layed out by the developer and you follow it closely. Do not ad lib. If you are unsure, ask.
DON'T PANIC - Think you've bricked your device? Dont panic. Stay calm. Dont google "unbrick S3" and flash lots of files you dont understand. There are many types of S3 "brick" (they're not bricks if you can easily recover) and many varients of the S3. Flashign these files could further break your phone and actually brick a not already bricked phone. Nothing for any other variant than the GT-i9300 should be flashed on it. The same goes for the i9305. Never flash for another model number.
Search and Ask - Unsure of something, read the stickies Samsung Galaxy S3 General Sticky Roll-Up Thread ***Stickies found here!** and do a search. Can't find your answer? Ask. It is easier for us to help you understand something before you do it than to fix something after you've broken it.
Provide details - ALWAYS tell us exactly what happened if you are requesting help. Always describe in detail what is happening.
"Flashed my phone now it doesn't work" is useless information.
"I rooted my phone 3 months ago and flashed a custom ROM. I decided today to flash ROM X from recovery Y. I booted into recovery and flashed from my internal SD card. I rebooted the phone and it is not starting up. It is looping at the boot animation" is GOOD information. We need to know What, when, how. We need to know if you followed a guide and which one (links where possible)
Backups
Backups are really important. This is how you can mitigate the risk of losing all your important data. Without these you could have to start again from scratch or worse, need to send your device for repair.
Your entire phone - Nandroid - Recovery
[*]efs - Recovery - EFS backup aapplications
[*]Your apps and data - Titanium backup
[*]SMS - SMS backup+
[*]Photos - Dropbox
[*]sdcards - FolderSync
The reason we backup is multifaceted.
A Nandroid will backup your entire phone. This is usually taken immediately before you flash a mod or a new ROM. Nandroid restores /system and /data. Usually when you flash a mod (kernel, theme, some system app or libs etc) and it causes a bootloop, a simple restore of Nandroid will return your phone as it was and booting again. In fact, you can use an advanced restore in recovery and choose ONLY to restore /system if appropriate
Titanium backup would often be done on a schedule. Every 2nd night or something, maybe once a week if you're daring. These are important for a number of reasons but the most important is if you are flashing a new ROM.
Remember earlier, we talked about all your data and apps being in /data/data and /data/app? Well, Titanium backs that up. When you flash a ROM, you have to perform a full wipe / factory reset before it will boot up properly. This is because you have settings stored in data/data for apps in /system/app that may have changed or no longer exist, or settings different to the settings in the new ROM. These are incompatibilities and these incompatibilities often will prevent a new ROM booting. Of course, a factory reset doesn't fully restore it to it's factory condition. It cannot restore the bootloader, rom, baseband etc because you overwrote these by flashing a new one.
We wipe, we install titanium and we restore all the data/apps and the /data/data related to /data/apps, but none of the data/data related to /system/apps (because that would restore the incompatibilities)
Here is how I restore using titanium backup after a wipe and flash....
Remember if your backup is on external sd, you need to point titanium to the location using preferences > backup folder location...
Go to backup / restore tab and press "click to edit filters" and deselect "system" and press the done tick icon to apply. Then from the previous backup / restore screen, go into the batch screen (another tick icon top right).
From this batch screen, select "restore missing apps with data" by pressing "run". Manually go through every app (yes, even if you have 300 apps) ensuring there's nothing samsung or rom specific there, unticking anything that is...
This should ensure a clean, user only app and settings. You will then need to manually set your system settings (ring tones, email etc)
Warranty
So, as we have discussed, warranty should be considered void once rooted. Technically in the EU, the OEM must prove root damaged your phone to reject warranty, however this is almost never the case.
When the S3 was released, it came with android 4.0.4 (ICS). The bootloader with ICS was normal. If you used Triangle Away once rooted, it would reset your binary counter forever. You may have kept status: Modified until you factory reset but that is not so much a problem.
When the S3 was upgraded to 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, a new bootloader was introduced. You could still reset with Triangle away, however on the next boot, if you had a custom recovery or kernel, the binary counter went back up to 1 again, which can present a problem.
Please see the following scenarios.
1) You just want root. No custom Kernels, no custom ROMs, no custom recoveries.
This is fine. If you root with CF-Auto Root it gives you a stock recovery. Once you reset the flash counter with triangle away, you should be fine.
2) You want root and recovery on a 4.1.1+ S3.
If you have a custom recovery or kernel, you can set triangle away to reset at every boot. The problem is if your phone breaks in such a way that you can never boot into android, but download and recovery mode still work, you're screwed, It goes back up to 1 on boot, fails to boot then you can only reset it with triangle away, which you can't use because it needs you to boot into Android. You see the risk?
3) You want root and recovery on a 4.1.1+ S3.
The alternative to the above is to flash This 4.0.4 bootloader via cwm. It can be reset by Triangle Away, and stays reset forever. Well why aren't we all using this? Because it is NOT SDS safe. This means if you ahev the unsafe internal memory, if you use download mode to flash anything, you risk bricking your device. Read [Important] Sudden Death Fix - Are you covered? for more information.
So it's a choice between:
I risk that under certain conditions, I may not be able to reset the binary counter for a warranty return
or
I have my binary counter at 0 always, but I cannot use download mode.
Please note, you need to run a TouchWiz ROM to use triangle away
Popular misconceptions
USB Debugging is always required for flashing.
Incorrect. USB debugging is an Android setting. It is only applicable within android. This setting does not work in recovery or download mode, so obviously anything done in those modes does not require USB debugging.
When rooting, all your data is lost.
Incorrect. Rooting adds a binary and application to your phone. It does not wipe it.
I need to root to fix my battery by wiping battery stats.
Incorrect. No one needs to wipe battery stats. Please read the wiping battery stats thread linked below:
Battery stats
What's good for you is good for me!
Incorrect. Everyone's usage is different. Everyone's set-up is different. Everyone's environment is different. There is no "Best" ROM. There is no "Best kernel for..." There is no "Most battery efficient baseband". All these things may acti differently for you than they will for me. What I like isn't what you like. Please do not create any "Best" threads.
If I ask the question "Blah blah blah for custom ROMS?", everyone will know what I am talking about
Incorrect. "Custom ROM" and "AOSP ROM" are NOT synonymous. People imagine when they ask about "Custom ROMS" that we know they really mean "AOSP ROMS". We don't. There are TouchwIz based custom ROMs too. We assume nothing.
B]I need yo be on a certain ROM to flash certain other ROMs[/b]
Incorrect. You're overwriting the ROM so why would ot matter what ROM you're overwriting?!
Important threads and resources
A list of important threads and resources...Please read ALL of these threads before rooting.
Mskip's unified toolbox(Root, drivers etc)
Index of Roms, recoveries and kernels
Guide for flashing roms, backups etc
Returning to stock for warranty
Odin flashing guide
Sammobile.com - stock firmwares
Be prepared ahead of time to fix a Brick
rootSU recommends
A few recommendations from me...
RootExplorer
Titanium Backup
Philz Recovery (CWM advanced)
Odin
Heimdall (Linux / Mac odin equivelant
That's it for now. I know this is a lot of information, but I believe this info to be the very least you should know before deciding to go ahead with rooting your S3. Please read it and read it again. Anything doesn't make sense, please ask in this thread and I will gladly help.
If any other seasoned rooters / flashers think there is something salient missing, please post her too. happy to add to it.

Glossary of terms
adb - Android Debug Bridge. This is a Windows or Linux command line tool that can be used to push files to a device, pull them, create directories. Very handy with a custom Kernel if you can't boot and need to get data from the device. This can be downloaded as part of the Android SDK or mskip's unified toolbox mentioned earlier.
AOSP - Android Open Source Project. This is google's code base. This is Android in it's pureset form. Anyone can download this code and build a ROM. It will take some work to build for a specific device however. Even Samsung start with this code at some point.
AOKP - Unofficial development team building ROMs based on AOSP accross a range of devices. AOKP stands for Android Open Kang Project. A play of the AOSP it is based on. Kang means to find / use (or even steal, although not in this case) source code.
baseband - The software responsible for controlling the radio hardware. Essential for network connectivity. Also referred to as "modem" or "radio"
bash - bash is a shell script language. Natively used in unix and linux, it can also be used within terminal emulators on android and scripts. Most mods that are scripts, use bash.
binary - a binary file is the opposite of a text file. It may contain data to be read by the OS rather than a human. It usually contains instructions on how a particular function should be handled.
binary counter - also referred to as flash counter. This is in part of the bootloader, viewed in download mode. The Binary counter increases as you flash non-stock (custom) recoveries and roms and kernels not "signed" by Samsung. The app, triangle away can help a little
boot.img - the kernel is contained within an .img file named boot.img. Not to be confised with sboot.img (bootloader)
bootloader - Bootloaders exist on almost any multi-OS bootable system. Windows has one, linux has one and android has one. It is how the device "decides" which OS to boot into. the user can manipulate hardware buttons during boot to alter which OS the bootloader boots into. It boots into Android by default but it can also boot into recovery or download mode. The bootloader is within an .img called sboot.img
brick - brick refers to a device that has been "bricked". A bricked device is beyond repair. In other words, your phone may as well be a brick, because it cant be a phone any more. A bricked device must be sent to the manufacturer / carrier / service centre for repair. You cannot repair a brick yourself. If you have something that can be repaired, it is not a true brick.
There are 2 types of brick referred to..
Soft brick, where the phone bootloops. These can sometimes be repaired, so for that reason it is not a true brick and I prefer to never use the term "Soft Brick".
Hard Brick. This is what I call a true brick. The phone cannot be repaired by a user. This of course does not extend to replacing parts. Sure, a brick can be replaced by replacing parts. It can't be fixed with external hardware or software however.
busybox - A set of tools to be added to android. Many root apps require busybox to run. It can be installed using an installer from the market. Similarly, most custom ROMs will contain busybox by default
clockwork mod - clockwork mod is a custom recovery
cfq - this is a scheduler (see scheduler). There is some info that can be read here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/i-o-schedulers/
checksum - see md5 checksum
cm - abbreviation for cyanogen mod. See Cyanogen
CPU - central processing unit. This is the brains of the operation. the CPU is what translates all the instructions and processes them. This is the main "power" behind any device. The better the CPU, the faster these instructions can be processed
custom ROM - A Custom ROM can be based on Touchwiz (Samsung stock), or it can be built from AOSP code. It really just means "unofficial" and will usually contain tweaks, fixes and imporvements for your device. A Custom ROM is a complete android replacement.
cwm - abbreviation for (see) Clockwork Mod.
cyanogen - a team of developers spanning multiple devices. Probably the most famous of development teams releasing heavily modified AOSP based ROMs. If there's any AOSP ROM thread for any Android device forum, there will be credits to cyanogen in there.
dalvik-cache - Dalvik-cache is a way of optimising applications. Its a way of ensuring all the dependencies an app requires are "at hand" to speed up use. It is rebuilt at start up when wiped. A de-odexed system will have more dalvik-cache than an odexed one.
de-odex - The act of removing odex from a stock ROM. On Stock ROMs, instead of using a dalvik-cache for system apps, we use .odex files instead. Generally custom ROMs prefer de-odexed configurations as it's easier to wipe and maintain when you make changes to your system.
deadline - this is a scheduler (see scheduler). There is some info that can be read here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/i-o-schedulers/
download mode - Samsung's own mode accessible via the bootloader. Hold Vul down, Home and power (from off) to boot here. Also referred to as "Odin Mode". This replaces the "fastboot mode" that most other devices have.
efs - Important partition / directory on the root of your phone. Ensures the IMEI number is present in the software. Back this up, because if it breaks, it's gone for ever. You need Samsung to repair.
eMMC - Embedded MultiMedia Card. This is like an SD card, but it's embedded in a device. the eMMC is a NAND flash memory chip which acts as internal memory (storage) on the S3.
exFAT - exFAT is a Microsoft proprietary (closed source) file system, used for media (sdcards, USB flash memory, HDD's etc). ExFAT is not natively supported in Linux and AOSP ROMs
ext - ext2, ext3 and ext4 are file systems created specifically for Linux. Our internal memory is ext (or "extended" as it is known). This can sometimes be used to refer to an ext partition, an old school method of partitioning your sdcard to link the internal ext partitions to to increase app space on low memory devices. Ext file systems cannot be read on Windows machines without special applications / drivers installed.
extSdCard - This is referring to the removable Micro SD card. Samsung ROMs mount the rremovable sd card in Android as /extSdCard. Recoveries such as CWM will mount it as external_sd. Both of these terms are valid, but it depends if the phone is booted to Android or Recovery. In AOSP ROMs, the removable SD card is often mounted as /sdcard1
FAT32 - another file system which is quite old now but still a good one. This is the only file system that is compatible with all devices unconditionally. The downfall is a maximum file size limit of 4 GB. Windows disk management GUI can only format up to 32 GB. Windows command lien tool "diskpart" can format up to the max volume size of 2 TB, as can many 3rd party tools such as easeus.
flash - Flash means a few things. It can refer to the fact that our internal memory is NAND Flash (Solid state) memory. It can also be the act of "flashing", or "to flash", meaning to install to flash memory. This doesn't really refer to installing an .apk. Rather, it refers to bigger, OS, System or device wide altering modifications (Kernels, recoveries, ROMs etc). Always back up before flashing.
Custom ROMS are usually flashed from your SDcard via recovery, as are kernels and basebands however, kernels and basebands usually can come in .tar format which means odin/mobile odin can flash them too from your computer/sdcard respectively. Rule of thumb, .zip from sdcard via recovery. .tar from sdcard via mobile odin or from computer using odin
flash counter - See binary counter
framework - The android frameworks are a standard structure within android that the OS is built around. It determines things like policy (how the OS should manage an event). It controls everything from notification behaviours to the theme. Anything visual within Android with exception to the notification area is controlled by framework-res-apk. AOSP and most manufactured ROMs only have 1 frsamework-res, however Samsugn Touchwiz ROMs alsu have a twframework-res.apk for Samsung only visuals.
gapps - Google Apps (gapps). AOSP ROMs like Cyanogen, have been asked by google to not include the google apps packages, which are proprietary to google (meaning not open source). This means that when you download these roms, you need to flash a gapps package separately. They are usually available as link in the ROM thread
governor - governors are included with kernels. I will not go into too much detail but essentially, the governor is a set of instructions which tell the kernel how to manage the CPU. It can control when the CPU ramps up or down, or how long it stays at a certain frequency. Most custom kernels come with a selection of governors to choose from using things like Set CPU. The governor settings for each can also be fine tuned or tweaked to y7our liking.
hotplug - this is a governor (see governor). Governors are explained in great detail here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/governors-explained/ - not all these governors are valid for our device, but it's a good technical read.
jig - a small usb device that plugs into the USB port of the S3. Designed to provoke "bricked" S3's to boot to download mode in an attempt to help recovery the device.
kernel - The kernel, it is said - is the "beating heart" of Android (or any OS for that matter). It sit's between the application layer (Android, applications etc) and the Hardware (CPU, Memory) and handles all transactions between the physical and the virtual. It passes information and instructions inbetween and translates. Very important stuff!
lulzactive - this is a governor (see governor). Governors are explained in great detail here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/governors-explained/ - not all these governors are valid for our device, but it's a good technical read.
md5 checksum - md5 checksum is a way to verify that a zip (or file) is not corrupt. A developer or uploader may provide a hexidecimal string called an md5 checksum. This checksum is a test done on the files that gives it a unique string based on it's contents. If you download the file and check the checksum and it does not match, it means the contents of the file have altered, usually meaning it is corrupt and shouldn't be flashed.
An md5 checksum is easy to check on android. My preferred method is using an android terminal emulator. Lets imaging I have a file on my external sd card called "rom.zip"...
In terminal emulator, type "md5 /mnt/extSdCard/rom.zip" and the terminal will give you an md5 string, If this matches the uploader's string, you're good to go.
If you're downloading something on Windows and then transferring it to your phone, it's a good idea to check md5 on both.
Linux is pretty much the same except the command is "md5sum"
For windows: http://www.winmd5.com/
modem - see baseband
NAND - NAND is a type of Flash memory. If anyone say's "NAND" to you, they are talking about the internal memory (Storage) of your device.
nandroid - nandroid refers to a backup taken or restored via custom recoveries. This is a universal term, although nowadays most recoveries simply say "backup" or "restore", but it is a nandroid backup they will be taking or restoring, which got it's name from the NAND flash memory that Android devices use internally. Nandroids are often only compatible with the variant of recovery you have. For example, a backup taken with CWM may not be compatible with TWRP, unless they introduce a compatibility setting in the future, which Philz recovery has done.
noop - this is a scheduler (see scheduler). There is some info that can be read here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/i-o-schedulers/
oem - Original Equipment Manufacturer. The OEM ROM for us is teh one the Manufacturer (Samsung) shipped with the phone.
overclock - overclocking is to set the CPU clock speed (frequency) higher than intended by the manufacturer. For example, the S3 has a 1.4 GHz (1400 MHz) maximum clock speed. With the use of a custom kernel and an application such as Set CPU, you can set this higher, to 1.6GHz or maybe even higher.
The risk is that the higher clock speed uses more voltage and voltage = heat. A higher clock with higher heat can permanently damage the CPU. Overclocking is usually paired with undervolting for these reasons. Another risk is instability. Each individual CPU has different tolerances due to imperfections in the manufacturing process. My CPU may be stable at 1.6 GHz, yet yours may be stable at a higher or lower clock. The side effects you will see here will be random reboots when the phone is under load.
pegasusq - this is a governor (see governor). Governors are explained in great detail here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/governors-explained/ - not all these governors are valid for our device, but it's a good technical read.
radio - see baseband
RAM - Random Access Memory. Great explanation here: http://www.androidcentral.com/ram-what-it-how-its-used-and-why-you-shouldnt-care
scheduler - built into kernels, there are schedulers to determine how CPU load is spread across different tasks. There are also read / write schedulers that spread out read and write operation priorities across the internal memory. Like Governors, there are different types of scheduler available.
sio - this is a scheduler (see scheduler). There is some info that can be read here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/i-o-schedulers/
stock - Imagine your phone is on a shelf in a shop. The phone is "stock" of that shop. If anything is referred to as "stock", this means standard for the device / as it was when shipped / as per factory set up. It is the opposite of custom. Some people refer to AOSP ROMs as "Stock Android". This may be the case for some phones, like the Nexus devices, but generally this is incorrect. Stock is whatever the phone came with as standard.
triangle away - an application designed to reset the binary counter. Warning, newer bootloaders (4.1.1+) now re-increment the binary counter at boot, so some trickery is required to get the counter to remain 0. This can be troublesome if you need to return for warranty.
undervolt - to undervolt is to lower the voltage used, either by the CPU or the GPU. Kernels assign a static voltage to each clock speed. For example, 200 MHz = 900 mV, 300MHz = 925 mV. Undervolting is the process of lowering this voltage staticaly for each clock speed, which potentially will save battery, although many people think it wont have much affect. Beware, undervolting too much can cause instability. When a clock frequency hasn't got enough power to sustain, the device will likely reboot or power off.
vanilla - meaning plain. Often used to refer to the "pure" android. AOSP without OEM skins, UI's and Launchers etc. The people who incorrectly use "Stock" to describe AOSP, really mean vanilla.
zzmove - this is a governor (see governor). Governors are explained in great detail here: http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/governors-explained/ - not all these governors are valid for our device, but it's a good technical read.

Every phone specific section needs something like this.
Very well done!:beer:

abaaaabbbb63 said:
Every phone specific section that can be rooted needs something like this.
Very well done!:beer:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now you need the difficult part, people to actually read it.

Nice work @rootSU
Needs to be stickied and a humongous "READ ME" sticker attached! :thumbup::thumbup:
Edit........Reported©®™ so it gets stickied!

Its getting noobs to actually bother to read is the problem .
jje

True but i'll start with the "read my sig" method. At least if it's here, thats a small part of the battle. Anyone anything to add to post 1? Slappy? jje?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Add backup EFS first ??
jje

Some of the stickies in the roll up thread are badly out of date, you also might want to link to Mike Skip's toolbox, which reduces the chances of bricking considerably.

rootSU said:
True but i'll start with the "read my sig" method. At least if it's here, thats a small part of the battle. Anyone anything to add to post 1? Slappy? jje?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seeing as this may well attract lots of attention, possibly add a reminder about reading the rules and link? I know it's not relevant particularly, but any chance to ram the message home is good :thumbup:

rootSU said:
True but i'll start with the "read my sig" method. At least if it's here, thats a small part of the battle. Anyone anything to add to post 1? Slappy? jje?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of [REF] you should write [BOOBS]. That would attract attention.

Added:
Link to forum rules and "post in Q&A" threads
Important links and resources
efs (in partitions)
backups

I'm sure there's still loads missing, I just can't think of much so all suggestions welcome.

Added "The advantages of rooting". Miss anything?
EDIT > added disadvantages too.

OP, I have moved your thread to the q&a section and stuck it. It is a great FAQ type thread and will serve a good purpose being stuck where people go to ask these types of questions. :good:
Towle
XDA Moderator

Towle said:
OP, I have moved your thread to the q&a section and stuck it. It is a great FAQ type thread and will serve a good purpose being stuck where people go to ask these types of questions. :good:
Towle
XDA Moderator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks @Towle
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I've updated the following to sections to read as below:
Bootloader - this is what handles what you boot into. When you see the black Galaxy s III text, thats the bootloader. Its job is to handle the boot. It is responsible for booting into android, or if you manipulate the buttons in a certain way, it will boot into recovery or download mode. PLEASE NOTE, i9300 Bootloader is NOT LOCKED. DO NOT TRY TO UNLOCK IT.
Download mode is part of the bootloader itself. Again, it is a mini OS. It is designed for flashing stock (official) ROMs onto the phone. It is also used by Samsung to detect the status of your phone (if you have modified it or not).
If you have an official ROM above 4.1.1, Your bootloader flash counter in download mode will change to "1" at every boot, if you have a custom kernel or recovery - even if you reset it with Triangle Away. See the return for warranty link later in this post to get around this.

oops
first i thought it was typo but after i check out dictionary i just learn a new and rare word ... teh ....:fingers-crossed:

qtwrk said:
oops
first i thought it was typo but after i check out dictionary i just learn a new and rare word ... teh ....:fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not new, not rare:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teh