notes from a noob to other noobs

[tujiro]

Hello. Let me first start by saying I have no idea what I'm talking about or what I'm doing so there's no need to reply a post saying that. This is totally personal opinion for those that want one from a noob. I just wanted to take a moment to post to other people that are thinking about rooting their phones.

A while back I was getting impatient waiting for the Froyo 2.2 update to come out so I decided to check out what I heard about people rooting their phones to get this update early. Took me a while since I have very little (or you could say none) knowledge about programming. I googled around found some web sites and after a long time trying to sort out the google searches I found this forum. I would like to mention it's a great forum but a few people with "why the f*ck can't you figure this out yourself" answers that are kind of annoying.

For those average users out there I probably wouldn't recommend rooting your phones. It doesn't magically turn your phone into HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey. Doesn't make it into anything different that what it is now unrooted. Your friends more than likely aren't going to be impressed and will just nod and act like they're listening when you tell them you just rooted your phone. It's still the same phone to what I would call the average user. BTW, your phone company won't know that you rooted your phone so don't expect a call asking you wtf you're doing to their phone.

On the up side though, there are a few kinda neat things about rooting it if you do decide to do it. There are a few tweaks that are easy to do that you might like to personalize your droid. I personally like the smoked glass theme that makes your windows (ie your pull down notification box) have a kinda... well... smoke glass effect.

The other thing that is kinda nice is the ability to get the new operating system updates before they are officially released. When I went from 2.1 to 2.2 I did notice the system run a little faster and I like the new soft keys they added at the bottom. Personally the faster system wasn't that big of a deal for me because I don't really care that I get to save 0.25 seconds swiping from one page to the next.

If you do decide to go through with it it's really pretty simple to do. There's great posts by people much smarter than me that show how to do from step to step that are hard not to follow correctly. I will warn you that if you do screw it up that you may be stuck with a phone that doesn't work and your phone company might not replace it.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-hacks/49671-stock-2-1-2-2-froyo-step-step-installation-2.html#post528613

That was the link I used to root my phone and would really recommend using that.

FLASH 10.1 is now available on the marketplace, so no need to go through those instructions, just go search for it on marketplace.

If your wondering about the baseband and Kernels, I never messed with them and I'm not having any problems with my phone. I have no idea what they do and I'm too lazy to do the research to figure it out. Maybe someday someone will post a short explanation that anyone can figure out and understand, but I haven't seen one yet (and yes it's because I haven't really looked).

One final note. You will get messages from time to time that asks you to install a system update. The backup program you installed will block that when you reboot if you hit "install now". Your phone will still work fine, and it will keep asking you to install it. Eventually someone on this forum will post a new root update.zip that you have to install that will stop if from asking you to update your droid.

I hope this was helpful to some people that don't know what they are doing. If I run across some useful info that I think might help others (like just what a kernel is and why you need to change it) I'll try to post it here.


Tujiro

Edit 9/16/2010

For some of you that need a quick definition guide I'm just going to post it here.

OTA: Over the Air. It's when you get a message for updates on your phone when you turn it on.

Kernel: Basicly adjustments to your CPU speeds, voltages, and other hardware settings for your phone. Like the BIOS for your computer.

Baseband: Baseband is the subsystem of the phone that controls radio communications. It's a chipset on the phone that directly controls cellular hardware and communications with cell towers. With Froyo 2.2, the baseband was updated. This is to give the Droid 1 (or any droid) better reliability with the cell towers. Less drop calls and better 3g connection. (Thank you jrmdroid for the good explaination)

Deodexed: Here's a quick link to another thread on these forums to explain what this is. What is deodexed?

BTW, if you are kind enough to post on this thread, please remember it's for us that are hard of thinking and we have no idea what your acronyms stand for. If you are going to abbreviate, please spell it out the first time you use it so we know what you're talking about.

T

[guitarboy1193]

I've rooted a few other peoples phones and I rooted my own about 4 months a go. I've learned a lot though. And I could help with any kernel questions you might have. all droids are different, some peoples run better with one kernel while others run better on another kernel. I personally like chevyno1's kernels. I usually run a low/medium voltage with a 7 slot 1ghz/1.25 ghz (those numbers being the max clock speed I will run). the stock speed a droid runs is 550 mhz max, the highest I've seen kernels for are 1300mhz (1.3ghz) and the highest I've run is 1.25 ghz. The best thing about these kernels is it can significantly speed up your phone and make it run smoother when on certain apps. But your cpu/battery can get really hot. I've had mine get around 135 degrees farenheit. But my cousin, who's I rooted, has had his higher. But using the set cpu app, ill run lower than the max during regular use, run real slow when screens off, and run slow when battery is low or hot. So if it gets above 122 degrees it will slow down to help cool down. Some kernels run cooler than others so you should try a few different ones at a time. Before downloading any, make a back up of your current set up (very simple if you don't know how to), and install as an update.zip or through rom manager (which is even easier!! How I got started)
Hope this helps

[tujiro]

So.... that's all the kernel is? Just basically a settings adjustment for your CPU speeds, voltage adjustments, etc? Kinda like the BIOS for your computer?

T

[guitarboy1193]

Yup they're basic but very helpful. What rom are you running?

[BuglessFan]

But your cpu/battery can get really hot. I've had mine get around 135 degrees farenheit. But my cousin, who's I rooted, has had his higher. But using the set cpu app, ill run lower than the max during regular use, run real slow when screens off, and run slow when battery is low or hot. So if it gets above 122 degrees it will slow down to help cool down. Some kernels run cooler than others so you should try a few different ones at a time. Before downloading any, make a back up of your current set up (very simple if you don't know how to), and install as an update.zip or through rom manager (which is even easier!! How I got started)
Hope this helps

I used to get pretty hot on BB and chevy at 1.25 ulv. It never really bothered me. Now, though, my phone is frighteningly cold most of the time. When I run WiFi tether I crank up the heat, but with slayher's 1.25 and LFY 1.6 I really rarely get above the 80sG (low 30sC battery temp), though CPU temps will sometimes get up in the upper 40s. LFY1.5 was still pretty warm for me. I don't care about temps, but if you do, you should give it a shot. Juice Plotter doesn't grab CPU temps, but looking at 3-4 times where I was killing time playing games/web browsing for 2+ hours at a time, 36 C is the highest battery I've seen (over about a week or so).

Oh, and a night or two ago while using Places to find an ATM, my phone randomly rebooted. It's the first time I remember it happening in a week or two. I never went that long without one on BB, which was still pretty stable.

[jrmdroid]

Tujiro, with the new OTA's (Over The Air software from Verizon/Motorola) being pushed to the Droid 1's and if someone using the link in your OP to root their Droid 1 could cause them some issues and headaches if they do not do the research beforehand on the ins and outs of rooting. However,in my opinion, Stock 2.1 to 2.2 Froyo Step By Step installation post is really is for people who have stock 2.1 or 2.1_update1 OS (Operating Syetem) and want to get to rooted Froyo 2.2 OS. This is the same post I read over and over along with other posts and is a good rooting guide. But, in my opinion, anyone wanting to root the FRG01B or FRG22D OTA, (since August 2010) releases for the Droid 1 should read/root with MotoCashe1's ROOT DROID 1 regardless of OS. This link is also in my signature below.


Anyone wanting to root should read the following links beforehand (I cannot stress this enough). These are the post that helped me learn and understand why I wanted to root to install those nice ROMs, Kernels, & Themes. The poeple that put these together realy know their stuff so read them.


What You Need Know About Rooting
Learning the Lingo
Using RSD Lite to flash an SBF file -- correctly
FRG01B OTA enables a feature to undo custom recovery partitions

After feeling comfortable and still want to root the below post should be use
Root Droid 1 - regardless of OS version

To Overclock the kernel (if their feeling good)
Overclock 101

After rooting and there are issues with the Droid 1 and need to take it in for repair/replacement use one of these guides to unroot the phone and take off SPRecovery. Both are great guides.
Unroot/Back to Stock (2.2) Without .sbf or RSD Lite - Droid 1 Only
SBF to root and to unroot

This is good info, great write up. My advice is for anyone wanting to root, read, read, read somemore. The last thing anyone wants is an unworkable Droid. Of cource the rescue squad and other droid fourmers are here to help in case they get into trouble.

[jrmdroid]

With this post I hope it will help someone who is reading the OP. At the end of this post there is a link, OTA Update Blocking which is good aproch to what I did.

To stop the OTA's below is what I did.

1) Copied system/build.prop to SD Card via Astro File manager
2) connected via "turn on USB storage"
3) opened up build.prop (where you saved it to your SD Card) using notepad in windows
4) found
ro.build.fingerprint=verizon/voles/sholes/sholes:2.1-update1/ESE81/29593:user/release-keys (may look like this or not)
5) change to: ro.build.fingerprint=verizon/voles/sholes/sholes:2.2/FRG22D/50454:user/release-keys
6) saved it
7) turned off USB Storage
8) Open a cmd window (in windows) in your /tools/ dir of your SDK
9) Type the following
9.1) adb remount (press enter. Should say "remount succeeded)
9.2) adb push build.prop /system/ (press enter. Should say success or something like that)
9.3) adb reboot (this will reboot your phone)

You must have the android-sdk_r06-windows (from google) loaded on your computer to do step 8 & 9.
If you have Root Explorer you can edit this file via your phone. I do not so teh above steps is what I did.

you can also see post: OTA Update Blocking
link with ADB information: how to adb and why you will love it

[tujiro]

Updated original post 9/16.

[tujiro]

I would like to thank you guys for replying but some of this needs explaining or a link to where an explaination is. What is 1.25ulv? JRMDroid, I don't know if I'm reading it wrong or your wording is off, but your first post didn't make sense. Are you saying that link that I posted will make you keep rebooting if you follow thier directions?

If you're running 2.2 from the OTA this doesn't work?
UPDATE FROYO 2.2 FRG01B(From Here) TO FROYO 2.2 FRG22(From Here):


T

[jrmdroid]

I would like to thank you guys for replying but some of this needs explaining or a link to where an explaination is. What is 1.25ulv? JRMDroid, I don't know if I'm reading it wrong or your wording is off, but your first post didn't make sense. Are you saying that link that I posted will make you keep rebooting if you follow thier directions?

If you're running 2.2 from the OTA this doesn't work?
UPDATE FROYO 2.2 FRG01B(From Here) TO FROYO 2.2 FRG22(From Here):


T

I will fix my first post to make it better. UPDATED

1.25 ulv equals. 1.25 ghz (CPU speed) ultra low volt kernel


UPDATED: Also, baseband is your phones radio. This is how it talks to the tower. Let me do some searches and see what I can find.

Baseband is the subsystem of the phone that controls radio communications. It's a chipset on the phone that directly controls cellular hardware and communications with cell towers. With Froyo 2.2, the baseband was updated. This is to give the Droid 1 (or any droid) better reliability with the cell towers. Less drop calls and better 3g connection.