Questions regarding upgrade from ICS .206 to .211 or .212

[hradek422]

Okay, here's my situation, and hopefully there are others out there wondering the same things I am:

I'm on ICS .206. I am NOT rooted, nor do I want to be rooted at this time. I would, however, like to go to the latest ICS leak. I know there are plenty threads out there, even so much as a "Simplified Version" thread, but all of these threads seem confusing for someone who isn't rooted and doesn't want root. At the very least, I'd like to be unstuck to get back on the OTA path (don't know if that's possible just yet). The main point is, I'm smart enough to know that if I don't know what I'm doing, I probably shouldn't do it, which is why I haven't attempted to follow any of the instructions out there yet.

My questions are as follows:
1) What are the correct, and most easy to follow instructions out there as of the time of this post?
2) Can a person upgrade directly from .206 to .211 or .212? (I believe I saw a thread somewhere that jsnweitzel said you could jump without installing .208 first, but I want to make sure)
3) When downloading the "Droid RAZR Utility Tool for D4" (or whatever it is) does this need to be downloaded to the phone, or to your PC? Is the program executed through your PC, or do you use the program via your phone on the bootloader menu?
4) What is "Fastboot?"
5) Is RSD Lite needed in any way, shape, or form?

These may seem like stupid questions, but I've searched around, and can't seem to find the answers I need. If anyone can be of any assistance answering these questions, I would be greatly appreciative of that. I'd prefer doing this all correctly the first time, and there aren't any "So Easy A Caveman Could Do It" instructions.Thanks in advance!

 

[GigaJake]

No question is a dumb question and I'd be happy to help. It is completely possible to upgrade ics leaks without rooting or the need to root. First off, the thread here:
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=212634
Can be used as a skeleton guide for upgrading ics leaks. I've gone from .206 to .212 hitting every build in between. You are able, however, to go straight from .206 to .212. You do not need to hit every build.

First of all you'll need a few files in preparation.
1 - Droid 4/Razr Utility. I recommend downloading one from the forum I linked. It should be over a gig, this means it includes the .219 Gingerbread fastboot files. If you download a program specifically designed for the Razr you will need to copy these fast boot files yourself.
2 - Newest leak .zip file. Place this zip in your external sd card.
3 - Newest leak boot image. This will look like a file named boot212 or similar (around 8 meg or so).
4 - Unstick ICS tool (found in linked thread).

I'll try to make the steps easy to follow:
1 - Place phone is Fastboot mode (when turned off hold PWR and VOL-)
2 - Use the Droid 4 Utility to fastboot to Gingerbread .219 (your phone will be inoperable now, there will be errors, this is normal)
3 - Make sure it is still in Fastboot mode and use the Unstick tool to flash the newest boot img. NOTE: if the tool doesn't have your img listed you will need to paste it into the files folder within the program and rename and replace it with an existing one (for example delete boot206, rename boot212 to boot206 and select that option from the program)
4 - Put your phone into recovery mode (when turned off hold PWR, VOL+, and VOL-. Navigate to Recovery by pushing VOL- and select it with VOL+)
5 - Push both VOL buttons when the dead droid appears and navigate to select zip from sdcard. Flash the zip you placed on your sd card.
6 - your phone will now be on the newest leak

Rooting is optional but not required. After flashing the GB .219 give your phone a minute (a droid loading screen will take place somewhere during this process, that is normal)

To answer questions:
1 - these programs must be used on a computer, not your phone. The only item that needs to be on your phone is the update.zip
2 - "Fastboot" is a shortened version of SBF'ing a phone. This will flash the core parts of the phone to factory condition.
3 - RSD Lite is not required. WARNING: these Utilities avoid flashing specific areas to your phone. Attempting a full SBF while on ICS to a GB build will result in a brick!

Hope I answered your questions! Let me know if you have any more or any issues.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[hradek422]

Thanks so much for all your help. That really helped clear up a lot of the confusion. I think I'll be confident enough to make the jump now. Now if I can only find the time.

*UPDATE*

Okay, so just a quick update: I had to go to the "Simplified .208" instructions to grab the "UnstuckICS tool." The one in the .211 thread would only let me select .208 or .211 boot images. I wanted to follow your instructions exactly on which image to boot, so that's what I did, and it seems to have worked for me. I put the phone into recovery, and I got some Andy with a spinning tetrahedron with a blue loading bar underneath. I let it do its thing, it rebooted. I put it BACK into recovery mode, got the dead droid, and it let me select my .zip file. It's updating now. I'll let you know what happens.



**UPDATE**

After a very scary wait, it looks like this was a huge success. I'm now on .212. Thanks GigaJake and everyone else who makes this possible for all of us.