Bought Rooted Droid, Update issues, hand holding needed.

[Zzyzxman]

To start with, I'm not really a "phone" guy. Meaning that I'm not savvy or terribly interested in any of the awesome nuts and bolts stuff you guys deal with on this forum. I just want my stupid phone to work so I can send texts, look at maps, and do other mundane stuff.

I bought this Droid A885 used and it had been rooted by the previous owner. Everything worked great for several months until verizon decided to send out some sort of update. When I try to perform the update my phone rejects it. Something about whole-file signature verification.

I'm getting pretty annoyed at having to press "Install Later" every time I want to use my phone. I didn't want to have to set up my entire phone again so I was hesitant to factory reset it. If that would even fix my problem. I'm not sure if I am now enjoying any overclocking or whatever set up by the previous owner, but if I'm not I don't think I'd miss having the thing rooted.

Can someone please help me tell the update to piss off for another year? Unless it's the gingerbread update then I'm not sure I even care to have it.
Here's what my phone says after the update fails, hopefully it will help you:


ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.0.1
-reboot system now
-apply sdcard:update.zip
-wipe data/factory reset
-install zip from sdcard
-nandroid
-partitions menu
-advanced

ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.0.1
Finding update package…
Opening update package…
Verifying update package…
E:failed to verify whole-file signature
E:signature verification failed
Installation aborted.

 

[patmw123]

It sounds like your going to need to sbf back to stock. This can be done on a windows computer or linux (which is a lot easier IMO). There are tutorials on how to do this all over the site so just for it. Just follow directions and you'll be fine.

Edit: and by the way, once you sbf you'll be back to how the phone comes from the store. So you won't have to deal with any other annoyances with root that you don't understand. I hope the thread below helps!

 

[patmw123]

Here is the thread your going to want to look at.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/rescue-squad-guides/39254-sbf-root-unroot.html

 

[jchammer123]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can just install a custom rom from this site and it will illiminate OTA's from coming to your phone. I know I don't get them.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[patmw123]

That may be true but as he said, he had no interest in really being rooted at all so I feel like his best bet would be to sbf to stock for his needs. If anything, the ota will fix bugs and provide for a more stable experience. Its probably best to take the ota when you get back to stock.

 

[jchammer123]

True, but he did say that he has overclocked the phone which does make a difference in how the phone runs. Just research bot options. Also, installing a rom is a hell of a lot easier then flashing back to stock in my opinion.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[patmw123]

Yes but he obviously has no idea what he's doing so there's a good chance he might have to sbf anyways. I just feel like for his needs its best to go back to stock. Otherwise I feel like "problems" like this will continue to occur and hell only get more frustrated.

 

[patmw123]

Droid 1's run a heck of a lot better on stock now than they did when I had my droid 1 around release. After all of the ota updates it has seen, I feel like its a decent smartphone even for todays standards

 

[jchammer123]

I just see it as, I had no idea what I was doing when I rooted and started flashing roms and its so hard to mess this phone up. On the other hand, I agree with you that if he's not gonna use any of the features of a rooted phone there's no point in having a rooted phone.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[patmw123]

If anything, I feel like he would enjoy rooted features such as free tether and what not (god knows how much longer that will last though) I just feel like with his inexperience (considering he didn't even root the phone and doesn't know any terminology) he would just run into more problems than its worth.

 

[jchammer123]

Could be true! I'm just so partial to rooting now that I've sat down and learned!!! I love it!

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[Zzyzxman]

Thanks so much for your help guys. I've been reading around the forum and on lifehacker.com and now all of a sudden my interest is peaked. I am enticed by promises of better keyboards, lock screen music players, and smoother map performance.

So, now I have a few questions to ask about how to proceed. I have installed ROM Manager and have flashed to the newest version of Clockwork. I have no idea what ROM I am currently using but it's probably an unofficial Froyo 2.2. This makes me wonder why the developer didn't disable these updates already. Anyhow, I'm not very impressed with it and am willing to try out something different. Here are my newby questions:

1. Can I save all my apps to my SD card before I install a new ROM so I don't have to download them all from the Market again? What about apps with data like AK Notepad, and Mileage. How can I keep my notes and data while switching between ROMs?

2. What ROM should I Install? Cyanogen gets a lot of talk but most of the articles I've been reading are three years old.

3. Is it really going to be as simple as I'm about to say it is (I'm sure the answer is no): I'll install a new ROM, Install Overclocking Kernels (I know noting about this), and then set my phone back up and enjoy learing the new System.

Here's a link to one of the articles that got me thinking about doing this : Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

 

[jchammer123]

Once you get into rooting you won't turn back, lol! When you flash a new rom google automatically installs all the apps you had for you, just not the data. You can use titanium backup and backup apps plus data and then restore it to the new rom. However, if you flash a gingerbread rom I wouldn't use titanium! If you want to save the data check in the app itself under settings and see if there is an option to backup the information.

I started with rom manager as well and it makes things easy, just make sure you do a backup before flashing anything that way you can simply go back to that. Once you learn more you will probably get away from rom manager.

As far as the rom goes, until you learn more about rooting, I would stick with froyo roms before you go to gingerbread. I always loved the simply stunning roms, and Chevyno1's kernels!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[bplewis24]

Thanks so much for your help guys. I've been reading around the forum and on lifehacker.com and now all of a sudden my interest is peaked. I am enticed by promises of better keyboards, lock screen music players, and smoother map performance.

Welcome to the dark side... assimilation is complete.

Brandon

 

[Zzyzxman]

Nice, I'm running Cyanogenmod 6 now.
Lots of extra settings, it'll take me a while to digest.

Overclock kernel?
Any suggestions on something modest? 800MHz?