Complete How-To on How to Mod Your Phone (2.1 ROM, O/C, MM, Boot Animation, etc)

[Diordna]

"34. We need to back up all of our apps and whatnot before we continue because we have to wipe data and system before we actually install this ROM, so please read this step carefully. My suggestion to you is to use Titanium Backup from the Market (free) and pay the $4.00 donation and get your upgrade key because it makes the whole process quicker. You have to manually send him 3.99 or more via PayPal then he sends you a key. Basically you just take the text file he sends you and put it on the root of the SD card and you are good to go.

You can also back up using SPR and just restore ONLY the /data part but we are going to do the Titanium Backup way in this guide. Whether you have the free or paid version you will open up Titanium Backup. If it gives you an error about BusyBox, DO NOT CONTINUE. Click the problems button and download BusyBox. Make sure it says success or this whole thing won't work. Sometimes it fails several times before working (in my experience) so be patient."


Ok, I need to do it free. So how would that come about??

I use astro file manager. free and works great. it seems that for all it does, the price is fair, but i don't need any of those things so i just use astro. Hope this helps

I know about astro but why doesn't he say to use that instead?
Sorry I'm just trying to understand this step now before I actually launch myself into rooting (most likely tonight)

[The White Weapon]

"34. We need to back up all of our apps and whatnot before we continue because we have to wipe data and system before we actually install this ROM, so please read this step carefully. My suggestion to you is to use Titanium Backup from the Market (free) and pay the $4.00 donation and get your upgrade key because it makes the whole process quicker. You have to manually send him 3.99 or more via PayPal then he sends you a key. Basically you just take the text file he sends you and put it on the root of the SD card and you are good to go.

You can also back up using SPR and just restore ONLY the /data part but we are going to do the Titanium Backup way in this guide. Whether you have the free or paid version you will open up Titanium Backup. If it gives you an error about BusyBox, DO NOT CONTINUE. Click the problems button and download BusyBox. Make sure it says success or this whole thing won't work. Sometimes it fails several times before working (in my experience) so be patient."


Ok, I need to do it free. So how would that come about??

I use astro file manager. free and works great. it seems that for all it does, the price is fair, but i don't need any of those things so i just use astro. Hope this helps

I know about astro but why doesn't he say to use that instead?
Sorry I'm just trying to understand this step now before I actually launch myself into rooting (most likely tonight)

The one matth3w recommends really is the best for all file management needs (as is especially useful later in the tutorial if you want a custom boot animation, etc.) As well as backing up your apps, but if you aren't looking at doing any of this stuff right now, you can just use astro.

[Diordna]

I use astro file manager. free and works great. it seems that for all it does, the price is fair, but i don't need any of those things so i just use astro. Hope this helps

I know about astro but why doesn't he say to use that instead?
Sorry I'm just trying to understand this step now before I actually launch myself into rooting (most likely tonight)

The one matth3w recommends really is the best for all file management needs (as is especially useful later in the tutorial if you want a custom boot animation, etc.) As well as backing up your apps, but if you aren't looking at doing any of this stuff right now, you can just use astro.

Stuff right now as in what?
Sorry >.<

I think I can do the rooting and SPR part of the tutorial. It seems pretty easy to follow.

[The White Weapon]

I stated in my last post for things like loading custom boot animations, thanging the text colors, changing the status bar, whatever. there are usually easier ways to do these things (app in market called metamorph) but root exploror can assist with these things also.

No worries, I was in the same boat you were in 8 days ago, so I know what ur going through. One thing I will say though, you could have answered this question yourself if you would have read ahead in the tutorial, as he explains the other reasons for getting root explorer. Its a good thing you didn't try these things before asking questions, but there's nothing wrong with reading ahead

Have fun rooting! Hope I was able to help.

[Diordna]

I stated in my last post for things like loading custom boot animations, thanging the text colors, changing the status bar, whatever. there are usually easier ways to do these things (app in market called metamorph) but root exploror can assist with these things also.

No worries, I was in the same boat you were in 8 days ago, so I know what ur going through. One thing I will say though, you could have answered this question yourself if you would have read ahead in the tutorial, as he explains the other reasons for getting root explorer. Its a good thing you didn't try these things before asking questions, but there's nothing wrong with reading ahead

Have fun rooting! Hope I was able to help.

I really appreciate your posts(:

I don't care much about changing stuff like that, just seems pointless to me. I want more of performance enhances. So is one of the ROMs a lot better in changing the performance for the better instead of just total customization??

[The White Weapon]

the phrase to each his own really comes to mind here. Not all ROMs will work well with every root attempt or even eery phone. After trying Bugless Beast, Ultimate droid, and cyanogenmod, im definitely a fan of the latter. CM 5.0.6.2 works reallhy well and seems to be the most widly used, from my readings. Plus, most enhancements are designed to work with CM. This also includes all of the visual tweaks jRummys themes are really nice, and their made to run overtop of CM. However, the best way for you to know is to try them and see which one fits your needs. I get pretty good battery life with CM when overclocked between 800mhz-1ghz. One annoying thing though, my phone flips out when I set it to 1.1ghz using bekits kernel, but I'm not sure if that's a rom situation, a jrummy situation, a kernel situation, or a phone situation.

[purplejokr]

step 27 should get you started

Thank you, partner. I'll give it a try soon and report back my results.

Spectacular work, BTW. Your step by step instructions are really impressive. I can't wait to give it a try. Thanks for all of your work!

Matt,

I am currently stuck on step #49. I have downloaded and renamed the update file. I have rebooted into SPR.

When I choose Install the only options that I get next are:

Install /sdcard/update.tar as ROM
Install /sdcard/update.zip (deprecated)
Choose ROM from SD card

There is no option to choose allow update.zip installation. I tried to install the update.zip anyway and I get the very message that you warned about. (No such file or directory. Installation aborted.)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[snappingfish]

Matt.......
This states it is the 2.1 bb. Does that mean its going to work with the Verizon update 2.1?

[snappingfish]

Im on an iMac. The closest I found to the /sdcard location, is to drag/drop the update.zip file is into the list of other files, so when I highlight the file, and ask for info, it tells me that I have placed that file in "volumes/noname/update.zip" which would be like volumes/c:/update.zip

the harddrive icon that indicates a usb device plugged in, is named "no name on my desktop.

Am I making any sense here? I'll remove the update.zip from the "volumes/No Name/ update.zip and place the file back on my desktop until I hear from someone who can confirm that this is correct place to put it, or gives me news on how to get to /sdcard


another question....is there a time that I will unzip this file?

thanks
fish

[purplejokr]

step 27 should get you started

Thank you, partner. I'll give it a try soon and report back my results.

Spectacular work, BTW. Your step by step instructions are really impressive. I can't wait to give it a try. Thanks for all of your work!

Matt,

I am currently stuck on step #49. I have downloaded and renamed the update file. I have rebooted into SPR.

When I choose Install the only options that I get next are:

Install /sdcard/update.tar as ROM
Install /sdcard/update.zip (deprecated)
Choose ROM from SD card

There is no option to choose allow update.zip installation. I tried to install the update.zip anyway and I get the very message that you warned about. (No such file or directory. Installation aborted.)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Well, I was able to move forward without the overclocking app but now my WiFi is acting up....

Perhaps, I will start over from scratch? :thinking: