A word of WARNING regarding flashing roms (for the new folks)... - Galaxy Tab S General

Experienced users already know this but we have lots of new people who come in ready to flash anything and everything. Here are a few pointers to keep yourself out of trouble:
1) You CAN break your new toy and turn it into a $500 paperweight. This is referred to as "bricking" your device. There are hard bricks and soft bricks. Soft bricks are recoverable with the right knowledge. This is usually something like a bootloop or being stuck at the Samsung splash screen. If your device will boot to atleast the Samsung splash screen or recovery but no further, you are most likely soft bricked. Be patient. Seek help and get it solved. Don't start just randomly trying things as you could turn that soft brick hard. A hard brick usually means you have a black screen and no further. Although this is not as easy to do as it used to be, it is still possible and royally sucks if it happens to you. (Guide to un-"soft bricking" your tablet - http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/help/to-event-soft-brick-disaster-t2838473).
2) Check the firmware version being used by the developer against the proper firmware for your device. Make sure they match. If in doubt ask the developer. Some countries firmware are not compatible with other countries and can brick you.
3) There are 4 terms you want to know and understand - rom, kernel, recovery and firmware. Do your research and understand what these mean. Google is your friend. Don't ask the developer to explain them. This is your due diligence and your responsibility before joining the discussion.
4) If you are new please show some humility in the development thread. Give feedback ("this isn't working for me"), don't criticize ("this is rubbish!"), stay OT (on topic) and don't get into flame wars (playground arguments) with other users. If someone insults you report it and forget it. The mods will delete the offending comment and your ego will remain intact. If you simply must respond to the other user use private messaging. While the argument may be important to you no one else cares. And for gods sake, PLEASE read the OP (original post) thoroughly before asking questions. If the thread is well established there is a good chance your question has already been answered. Before asking do a keyword search. There are no stupid questions but repetitive ones annoy the locals.
5) Ask politely, never demand and NEVER be snarky or sarcastic. After you type your post reread it and ask yourself, could someone find this insulting? If the answer is yes, retype it. If someone helps you, hit the Thanks button.
6) Please, if you go into a thread for a Touchwiz rom, don't say, "wow, I wish this was CM", or "what we really need is AOSP". This is offensive to the developer and you are hijacking the thread. You wouldn't tell your girlfriend you'd rather be dating her sister - don't insinuate the developer's work is not good enough. If you want the developer to work on your behalf with a CM or AOSP rom, ask them directly in a private message so their thread doesn't get sidetracked.
7) Before flashing a new rom, ALWAYS do a Nandroid Backup of your current setup. That way if things go badly you can easily restore what you have. Don't be lazy. Do the Nandroid and give it a unique name so you know what it is later. These can be big. Clear out older ones once they are no longer useful.
8) In addition to a Nandroid backup do a full backup of your personal and system apps using a quality paid backup product like Titanium (don't be cheap, time is money and this will save you plenty). This will allow you to restore all of your apps with a click. In addition you can restore any system apps the dev may have "debloated" but which you still want. Remember, one man's bloat is another man's essential resource.
9) Be cautious, take your time and have a good experience. Roms can be awesome but they can also be trouble. Eyes wide open.
Thanks everybody

Thanks that was really nice of you to lay all that out. I would have been really grateful to have all that info in one place back when I was new to the XDA scene.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium HD app

Very well put together for sure
Nexus 5 via Tapatalk

wee bump

Thanks. Had a few hairy moments with being stuck but thankfully home, volume down and power got me out of them.

So many new roms now. Pretty exciting. Make sure to double check those firmware numbers before flashing folks.

Great thread

im just waiting for T805 Rom lol only rom for T700

Thx for Word of WARNING.

szfagir said:
Thx for Word of WARNING.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Many new people don't understand what a serious risky business flashing roms and kernels can be.

Related

Respect this

If you in.ex brick your device, I undestand that you wanna fix it as fast as possible, and that you in panic post 100's of threads asking same question:
"I did this or that, blahblah, and my phone is dead/bricked/stuck in bootloader and so on,please help me im desperate...."
Not only do many post many threads in diffrent sections, they send several pm, and make contact on msn and mail.
DO NOT BEHAVE LIKE THAT, its damn annoying. I hate beeing contacted this way. I GET THE FRICKEN MESSAGE, and if I dont answer within a day or two then im not gonna answer. Its that easy.
So, please dont pm, msn, email or w/e to me if you have issues with bricking, flashing, soft reset, hard reset, where to find a fix to all the worlds problems and why you cant get it up......
I know I might sound like I need to calm down. But actually I am not "pissed off" I just dont have the time to help all with these issues, and when I say that word "all" I mean all, YOU included.
Im not answering anymore posts, pm, msn or email on theese issues, so dontwast your time.
thx
cheers
(please note that this was about those who contacts me in all these ways and then some, within few hours)
ps. When I say no, its NO. (you know who you are)
People should learn to use the search function a lot
Regards,
Carty..
This is funny, but then again it's not. This thread is definitely collecting views indeed. So Itje, your thoughts are indeed "felt" and "respected", by me and many others here. But those few anxious ones, I'm unsure as to why they post the same question(s) in different threads and forums. Laziness I suppose. I once was a junior noob, now I'm a senior noob helping others (as best as I can).
PS. Itje, you are a celebrity here, and those that constantly ask you for advice and complain, they are the paparazzi chasing you around. I'll be a bodyguard if you like, lol. I work in the justice system (in the states) so I know what it's like to have many people coming up to you asking for hookups, advice, and complain, and you are just trying to do what you enjoy with what you know. It's a headache and a half for sure.
Much Respect ..
lol, Im sure I can manage without a bodyguard.
I can speak for myself mostly, but a bit support from time to time is greatly appreciated not fake support, dont agree with me without agreeing with what I say
And yeah, search both using google and searchtab in xda forums are not frecuently used by newcommers, and maybe not seniors either, but what do I know?
No, but what Itje said is true. It does get annoying to be read messages or posts that deal with topics about their phones being bricked. Yes they're panicked, and yes they want to resolve the problem as soon as possible, but that's why we usualy posts warnings about flashing stuff to their phones. Realisticly, if you don't have the patience to do a search and look for answers, then you probabaly won't have the patience to follow the proper steps to flash a device, and that will result in a brick.
robosiris said:
This is funny, but then again it's not. This thread is definitely collecting views indeed. So Itje, your thoughts are indeed "felt" and "respected", by me and many others here. But those few anxious ones, I'm unsure as to why they post the same question(s) in different threads and forums. Laziness I suppose. I once was a junior noob, now I'm a senior noob helping others (as best as I can).
PS. Itje, you are a celebrity here, and those that constantly ask you for advice and complain, they are the paparazzi chasing you around. I'll be a bodyguard if you like, lol. I work in the justice system (in the states) so I know what it's like to have many people coming up to you asking for hookups, advice, and complain, and you are just trying to do what you enjoy with what you know. It's a headache and a half for sure.
Much Respect ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am a Wizard owner. My sister has a Wing behaving badly. I came here to search a fix for her and stumbled upon your thread. PROPS TO YOU!!! I know the Wizard section is constantly mucked up with multiple threads, please help me....blah blah blah. I have taken to answering those threads with my new mantra:
DO NOT ATTEMPT ANYTHING ON YOUR DEVICE WITHOUT FIRST READING EVERY WIKI AND STICKY IN THIS SECTION (at least 3 times each!)...USE THE SEARCH BUTTON, READ PEOPLE'S SIGGY'S AS LINKS ARE OFTEN POSTED THERE TO HELP. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CUSTOMIZE AND/OR FIX YOUR DEVICE WITHOUT FIRST UNDERSTANDING YOUR DEVICE.
I am sure this often comes off as rude, but I feel your "pain" and found that sometimes a panicking noob needs this tough love, and will calm down, breathe, and discover the solution is right in front of them.
Again props to you for speaking your mind about this. And yes, this needs to be respected.
akashastrega said:
I am a Wizard owner. My sister has a Wing behaving badly. I came here to search a fix for her and stumbled upon your thread. PROPS TO YOU!!! I know the Wizard section is constantly mucked up with multiple threads, please help me....blah blah blah. I have taken to answering those threads with my new mantra:
DO NOT ATTEMPT ANYTHING ON YOUR DEVICE WITHOUT FIRST READING EVERY WIKI AND STICKY IN THIS SECTION (at least 3 times each!)...USE THE SEARCH BUTTON, READ PEOPLE'S SIGGY'S AS LINKS ARE OFTEN POSTED THERE TO HELP. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CUSTOMIZE AND/OR FIX YOUR DEVICE WITHOUT FIRST UNDERSTANDING YOUR DEVICE.
I am sure this often comes off as rude, but I feel your "pain" and found that sometimes a panicking noob needs this tough love, and will calm down, breathe, and discover the solution is right in front of them.
Again props to you for speaking your mind about this. And yes, this needs to be respected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx mate, for the support.
and thx to others who has expressed support on this issue, both in pm and in posts.
ps
its not that ppl cant contact me and ask for help or w/e, im just not answering what i call incomplete descriptions of w/e, or provide "walk throughs" on rom building, flashing and what not
have a nice day/night/evening/morning...depending on your timezone
cheers
Yeah its pretty bad that people are just diving in without taking the time to understand what they are actually doing when they change the os on their phones. Ive bricked mine at least twice today, but I know how to fix it. Its really simple to fix half the problems that we have when we screw with our gear.
If it doesnt boot, or boot right. Hard reset.
That doesnt fix it. Boot loader. Set back to factory.
This stuff is really simple. Building Roms. Different story.
I think the mods should include a "search first" rule. If anyone posts something thats been discussed they should get a warning, and if it happens again, ban them. I've seen this on tons of forums that have this same problem and it works out quit well .
Have we all had an "oh ****" moment when we realized we were doing it wrong, or incompletely?
Yes.
But if you READ READ READ you won't brick your device. There's always a risk, there's always the possibility, but I can't remember the last time I actually bricked ANY device! I'm not a huge fan of the current flashing method for these custom Wing ROMs - largely because the official RUU flasher is just... more reliable. But regardless, I've STILL not bricked my phone, because I FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.
I think that people get so excited and think it's EASY and ANYONE can do it. And they kill their systems. It's a similar situation with people who MOD their PS2 or Wii or DS or PSP, they routinely muck it up because they can't be arsed to go read the stickies and do some research before jumping in.
Keep up the good work, itje!
Gurm said:
Have we all had an "oh ****" moment when we realized we were doing it wrong, or incompletely?
Yes.
But if you READ READ READ you won't brick your device. There's always a risk, there's always the possibility, but I can't remember the last time I actually bricked ANY device! I'm not a huge fan of the current flashing method for these custom Wing ROMs - largely because the official RUU flasher is just... more reliable. But regardless, I've STILL not bricked my phone, because I FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.
I think that people get so excited and think it's EASY and ANYONE can do it. And they kill their systems. It's a similar situation with people who MOD their PS2 or Wii or DS or PSP, they routinely muck it up because they can't be arsed to go read the stickies and do some research before jumping in.
Keep up the good work, itje!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said.
READ READ READ...and when your eyes burn and you see in triple...READ the one in the middle!!!
Modding your phone is much like sex. At first you are excited to get down and dirty so you dive right in and it often is disappointing (because you didn't know what you were doing-damn virgins), but as you do it more, you get better at it, and eventually you have moments when you go "damn I'm good"!!
The first time you mod your phone, you are excited and really likely to muck it up. But as you get to know your device, and experiment, you have those moments when you finish cooking a rom or something, and go..."damn I rock". But until you get to know the how's and why's, you will often be met with disappointments.
akashastrega said:
Well said.
READ READ READ...and when your eyes burn and you see in triple...READ the one in the middle!!!
Modding your phone is much like sex. At first you are excited to get down and dirty so you dive right in and it often is disappointing (because you didn't know what you were doing-damn virgins), but as you do it more, you get better at it, and eventually you have moments when you go "damn I'm good"!!
The first time you mod your phone, you are excited and really likely to muck it up. But as you get to know your device, and experiment, you have those moments when you finish cooking a rom or something, and go..."damn I rock". But until you get to know the how's and why's, you will often be met with disappointments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speak for yourself...I think most can say the first time might be the best ever...a feeling that can't be replicated!
rquinn19 said:
Speak for yourself...I think most can say the first time might be the best ever...a feeling that can't be replicated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lmao
"Hey itje can you help me unbrick my wing.....Please oh come on man hey help me" lmao jk man I just wanted to say that I agrea with all of you guys and the whole "read and study before you do anything" Movement....lol I don't even got my wing yet but I have been surely studying so when It finally get's here, Hopefully tommorow anyways thanks all you guys for all the info and work you put into helping us all

lost and xda no help

i just dont get this. i have been a member for 2 months and im just as lost as i was when i started. if i ask 1 of the people who know what to do they say search or gtfo. i search and end up more confused. the threads arent very friendly to a person just starting out like me. all of the language is written for people who already no what their doing. its not dumbed down at all. i think i will just use this site to download roms and themes since thats all i can seem to do
I am not trying to attack you or anything, but what is the purpose of this thread?
There are a lot of helpful people around here, maybe you aren't putting your questions in the Q&A thread? Or they aren't worded properly so people know how to assist you.... IDK.
Seeing as this is the only thread you have ever started here, I can't really say that it looks like you have posted much requesting help. I see one post where you were having problems flashing a new recovery image, but it looks like you probably just entered either the file name or path wrong. Or you didn't save the file in the root of your sdcard.
But, also, seeing as this is the XDA-Developers forum.... a certain level of knowledge seems to be expected by a lot of the members. I really don't see where anyone has told you to search or GTFO, in fact, I didn't really notice any responses to your posts.
If you want people to help you, post in the proper section and form coherent, explanatory questions.
jerzy448 said:
i just dont get this. i have been a member for 2 months and im just as lost as i was when i started. if i ask 1 of the people who know what to do they say search or gtfo. i search and end up more confused. the threads arent very friendly to a person just starting out like me. all of the language is written for people who already no what their doing. its not dumbed down at all. i think i will just use this site to download roms and themes since thats all i can seem to do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm home sick today. What do you need help with. I'll help you out..
bhilgeman said:
I'm home sick today. What do you need help with. I'll help you out..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See, another helpful person offering assistance..
This place isn't all that bad, now is it?
The issue is this I think...
Generally, you need to know something of what you are doing. The reasons are simple;
1) If things start to go wrong, you need to understand enough about the process to at least be able to follow instructions without them having to be written in a specific button-by-button manner,
2) People who blindly follow instructions are bound to miss a step or screw one up simply because they don't understand the instructions (this goes back to #1).
If you are a regular user of an android device, I suggest sticking with a stock build -- they are meant for people who know nothing about the platform. If you are an advanced user, you should be able to get the "gist" of things and fill in the blanks where necessary.
I'm not telling you to gtfo, what I'm telling you is that you really need to think about YOUR level of understanding of how things happen. If you aren't advanced enough to be able to fill in a few blanks here and there, then you might want to think about what you are doing, which is essentially putting a fairly expensive piece of technology into the hands of people you don't know and have no reason to trust. You also have to realize that the instructions that you get from here don't go through months of QA to verify that they are perfectly correct with no chance of, for example, bricking your phone. It is very possible that you could see a bunch of instructions that tell you what to do, but that the author maybe accidentally forgot to include a critical step, and it is absolutely UP TO YOU to be able to see that there is a missing step.
I concur. I have had numerous people ask me for help rooting their g1's. Some I help because they are computer literate and have hacked or altered software on other platforms and hardware. Those that have asked that still need help when basic things go wrong in a windows platform, I say no and tell them to enjoy their Android phone. If they are willing to dive in and learn, my offer may change down the road
What do you need help with?

Signature Checks on Boot

Just so everyone is aware, the kernel and the recovery partition signatures are checked on each boot, changing those will leave you with a brick, until we have proper firmware to recovery with.
I found out the hard way.
On my second Atrix now.
Casualty of war
Taking one for the team
Well that sucks..
any free partitions that we can "steal"? and basically pull a haret where it loads partially from legit bootloader and kernel, then shuffles off to a different partition we CAN write for the real kernel, unloads all that other stuff and then launches the new kernel partiion we've modified?
designgears said:
Just so everyone is aware, the kernel and the recovery partition signatures are checked on each boot, changing those will leave you with a brick, until we have proper firmware to recovery with.
I found out the hard way.
On my second Atrix now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess that when we told you this, you just had to find out for yourself. The recovery should only be checked when you attempt to access it, but the kernel is checked on every boot. I hope you did not return to store as defective.
DG, thank you for putting yourself out there, and putting together roms along with the dev work.
Its nice to see some progress being done along side all the people on here saying what we shouldnt be doing/trying with our phones.
Athailias said:
DG, thank you for putting yourself out there, and putting together roms along with the dev work.
Its nice to see some progress being done along side all the people on here saying what we shouldnt be doing/trying with our phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't thank him for repeating something which had been confirmed.
jimmydafish said:
I guess that when we told you this, you just had to find out for yourself. The recovery should only be checked when you attempt to access it, but the kernel is checked on every boot. I hope you did not return to store as defective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you told me it was checked every boot (first bold), but it should only be checked when you access it (second bold)? Confused, on drugs or what?
I just found out the hard way for you, it's checked every boot accessed or not.
If you want to be elitist and not post up a FAQ about what you know (do you even have an atrix), please stop posting in here, you've done nothing but spout off what you know about other moto devices, it is clear they tightened things down a bit more.
jimmypopulous said:
Don't thank him for repeating something which had been confirmed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
everything you guys say, along with others says it SHOULD be checked when accessed, which means I should have been able to boot normally and fail when I boot recovery.
You guys keep saying its CONFIRMED, where is it documented for the atrix. Tests performed with document results as proof.
designgears said:
So you told me it was checked every boot (first bold), but it should only be checked when you access it (second bold)? Confused, on drugs or what?
I just found out the hard way for you, it's checked every boot accessed or not.
If you want to be elitist and not post up a FAQ about what you know (do you even have an atrix), please stop posting in here, you've done nothing but spout off what you know about other moto devices, it is clear they tightened things down a bit more.
everything you guys say, along with others says it SHOULD be checked when accessed, which means I should have been able to boot normally and fail when I boot recovery.
You guys keep saying its CONFIRMED, where is it documented for the atrix. Tests performed with document results as proof.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is being elitist by my statement? That before you started playing with your shiny new toy, we advised that doing certain things with your phone without proper firmware to restore your phone, WOULD result in a "soft brick".
I do not have a motorola ATRIX, never said I did, but I can read the firmware pretty well. If your offended by my post I assume it is because offered up my standard line of "hope you did not return it as defective", because nothing else in that statement should lead you behave like a child.
Here how about this for a Facts, my rom was the first to safely remove Blur from the Droid series of phones safely, after reading the firmware from your phone, and your deodexed version of the firmware there are many portions you could remove safely.
If you have questions you could ask and get the answers, but as it stands right now, we are just trying to help you save yourselves. Many people will enter these forums, and while each person is responsible for their own device, they will try to follow what you have done and they too will soft brick their phone. I'm not sure of your ethical and moral makeup but too many people return their manipulated device to the provider as defective causing every to pay for their mistake.
I just hope you bought another Atrix outright and did not scam ATT/Motorola.
designgears said:
So you told me it was checked every boot (first bold), but it should only be checked when you access it (second bold)? Confused, on drugs or what?
I just found out the hard way for you, it's checked every boot accessed or not.
If you want to be elitist and not post up a FAQ about what you know (do you even have an atrix), please stop posting in here, you've done nothing but spout off what you know about other moto devices, it is clear they tightened things down a bit more.
everything you guys say, along with others says it SHOULD be checked when accessed, which means I should have been able to boot normally and fail when I boot recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DesignGears,
Please don't let a claim-to-know-it-all self-righteous Prick like jimmydafish discourage your efforts.
As far as I'm concerned (and probably the majority of people who mash the refresh button on this subforum multiple times a day would agree) it's people like you (people who have actively contributed to the users here at XDA in the past (all your captivate work)), that make me feel lucky to own the same type of device that you and other dedicated devs like yourself own.
Its hard to imagine how someone who probably played a very small part on a team -- a team that, as far as I can tell, has never managed to actually produce any real results on the DX -- can know so much about a device he doesn't even own.
And if reading this post encourages members of any such team to get their panties in a wad and start talking about how they are not going to contribute here now, well then to that I say: good riddance. For every one small tip you may provide it seams like you offer two holier-than-thou-doughe-bag-comments that frankly this section of this forum could do without.
But again, thank you DesginGears and Devs like you
mburris said:
DesignGears,
Please don't let a claim-to-know-it-all self-righteous Prick like jimmydafish discourage your efforts.
As far as I'm concerned (and probably the majority of people who mash the refresh button on this subforum multiple times a day would agree) it's people like you (people who have actively contributed to the users here at XDA in the past (all your captivate work)), that make me feel lucky to own the same type of device that you and other dedicated devs like yourself own.
Its hard to imagine how someone who probably played a very small part on a team -- a team that, as far as I can tell, has never managed to actually produce any real results on the DX -- can know so much about a device he doesn't even own.
And if reading this post encourages members of any such team to get their panties in a wad and start talking about how they are not going to contribute here now, well then to that I say: good riddance. For every one small tip you may provide it seams like you offer two holier-than-thou-doughe-bag-comments that frankly this section of this forum could do without.
But again, thank you DesginGears and Devs like you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can assure you I am not, glad to have support.
--
Jimmy, no hard feelins, sorry I wanted try something and learn from it, sorry you told me two opposing things in the same post(this is what I am *****ing about if you would read you would know that), sorry I act like a child, I guess calling it how I see it is childish. From all the PM's about you I just got and mburris reply, you have made my block list, have fun in there with rafy.
jimmydafish said:
I just hope you bought another Atrix outright and did not scam ATT/Motorola.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe if more people softbricked and returned phones that have locked down bootloaders, oems and carriers might finally realize that when someone buys a piece of technology, they own it, and would like to use it as such.
That includes:
1. Not having some POS skin on top of stock android (Blur)
2. Not being locked into paying twice for the data we already pay for (tethering)
3. Not being allowed to easily install non-market apps that we develop without jumping through hoops (slide loading)
4. Not having to wait for the carrier or oem mfg to release an update before we can have a current version of Android.
Call it a Brick-n-Return Protest
mburris said:
Maybe if more people softbricked and returned phones that have locked down bootloaders, oems and carriers might finally realize that when someone buys a piece of technology, they own it, and would like to use it as such.
That includes:
1. Not having some POS skin on top of stock android (Blur)
2. Not being locked into paying twice for the data we already pay for (tethering)
3. Not being allowed to easily install non-market apps that we develop without jumping through hoops (slide loading)
4. Not having to wait for the carrier or oem mfg to release an update before we can have a current version of Android.
Call it a Brick-n-Return Protest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, that would surely cause some grief over at at&t, and a good laugh.
They would probably start leasing the phones so you can't say you own them.
Closed by OP request as this is an informational thread stating results of testing.

[Q] Getting a Nexus 6 soon, what should I d to enjoy the experience to the fullest?

So, I used to play around a lot with my old htc desire 3-4 years ago, during its golden days of software development here on xda. I know my way around flashing, rooting, radios, kernels, etc. pretty well I'd say.
This time with my new nexus I'll probably keep things simple, I like stock lollipop and getting updates faster. But in any case, what are (in your opinion) the modifications that needs to be done to this phone to enjoy a perfect experience? Talking about things like would you unlock bootloader right away? Root? New kernel? What makes it better for you?
In my opinion the "must have" is to unlock bootloader then root and finally buy the Light Flow app to enable notifications led, because when I'm for example play game in fullscreen I can't see latest notifications. It's very useful.
When mine arrives in a couple of days I'll be unlocking, flashing SlimLP and elementalx as soon as its out of the box. Really, you just have to find what you like. Stay stock for a while to get used to it. If you want quicker updates, go to aosp
Unlock Bootloader
Flash TWRP
Create Stock Back Up (EFS and what not)
Flash Root through Recovery
You are golden.
Now you can go flash happy with all of the wonderful things on the site.
Personally > I am running CM12 / Faux Kernel
There are so many of these threads, you can go to any one of the existing threads and already see whats out there. This is nothing different than one of those "best ROM / kernel" threads. Everybody is just going to recommend whatever they're using because thats what they're comfortable with. What another person uses doesn't necessarily mean that its what you should be using.
For sure you should, bootloader unlock (you'll have to enable "OEM unlock" in developer options) before anything and if you want to, you can decrypt your phone (you can find that out by finding the thread).
If you want to enjoy the fullest experience, browse through the forums and find out what appeals to you. Think of it as shopping through a store to find something you're interested in, the only difference is that you don't have to pay.
Toneman07 said:
Unlock Bootloader
Flash TWRP
Create Stock Back Up (EFS and what not)
Flash Root through Recovery
You are golden.
Now you can go flash happy with all of the wonderful things on the site.
Personally > I am running CM12 / Faux Kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This seems quite reasonable. Any particular reasons why you should run a stock rom with root privileges? Also, do you get OTA with root (I( cannot remember this one)?
zephiK said:
There are so many of these threads, you can go to any one of the existing threads and already see whats out there. This is nothing different than one of those "best ROM / kernel" threads. Everybody is just going to recommend whatever they're using because thats what they're comfortable with. What another person uses doesn't necessarily mean that its what you should be using.
For sure you should, bootloader unlock (you'll have to enable "OEM unlock" in developer options) before anything and if you want to, you can decrypt your phone (you can find that out by finding the thread).
If you want to enjoy the fullest experience, browse through the forums and find out what appeals to you. Think of it as shopping through a store to find something you're interested in, the only difference is that you don't have to pay.
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Click to collapse
XDA being XDA I guess, telling you that the thread can be answered by searching, lol. In my mind, this is a different kind of question, I want to know what are the simplest modification you can do to get the best experience, let's say to get the best with minimum effort, if you want. Anyway, I do appreciate your input, I did thing that unlock and maybe even custom recovery are a must (at least, you need those if you want to start doing anything else, IIRC).
qweasdfzxc said:
XDA being XDA I guess, telling you that the thread can be answered by searching, lol. In my mind, this is a different kind of question, I want to know what are the simplest modification you can do to get the best experience, let's say to get the best with minimum effort, if you want. Anyway, I do appreciate your input, I did thing that unlock and maybe even custom recovery are a must (at least, you need those if you want to start doing anything else, IIRC).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because searching is a rule here. I browse the forums and help people out all the time and posts like this show up on a everyday basis.
The question is not different at all, they all share similar elements to what others have asked and if you read through other people's threads you would have what you were asking for answers in their threads.
In development or using mods, there is no "best." if you want to do anything relating to flash able mods kernels roms then you'll need twrp. It's a necessity. For everything else more than that, you'll have to browse through the forums and find what interests you.
Interests you? Try it. Not happy with it? Try something else. Feeling adventurous? Try something else. The best possible experience is using something new every couple of days until you find that sweet spot where you can settle down with a ROM and kernel set up.
If you're looking for something to narrow down your choices. Look for a kernel or rom based on the following attributes.
How active is the thread? Does the developer release updates often? How many views and posts?
Popularity usually leads to a good experience and it's popular for a reason. Check it out and see why it is so popular. I'm not saying popular is the best but it's a good start.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Same Here!
I'm also going to get one soon. Most probably I'll unlock that effin bootloader without even unboxing the phone completely lol
I would like to try Official CM12 for Nexus 6 first
whats funny about threads like this, and the op as well, is that the op says he knows whats up about flashing and all the good stuff, but goes ahead and asks what he needs to do. lol! the right thing to do would be not to ask what needs to be done, but to play around with the device and do what YOU want to do to your device. not what others think you should do to your device.
Anyway, thanks for all the people that, instead, came here to have a nice discussion! Some comments were rather helpful!
qweasdfzxc said:
3-4 years ago people were way less *****y here, what happened? Y'all need to lay back.
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Click to collapse
3-4 years ago, xda was also not as popular to this day. People were more independent and didn't rely so much on having information fed to them.
When I first started out on xda, I pretty much lurked on the forums since I was new to flashing anything on my phone. The first phone I had was a g1 and rooting that phone took over 40 minutes using terminal emulator and telnet.
There wasn't a one click root toolkit for that phone. I spent weeks and months learning the ways and when I finally felt comfortable I started helping others. I rarely ever asked any questions unless it was super necessary.
You haven't even purchased the phone, you have all the time in the world to browse through the forums to see what roms and kernels interest you. The resources to your answer is already there, you're just not finding the answer but yet want others to answer for you.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Enough with the snide remarks. The OP is asking for some help. If you don't like the question, move on and don't respond. There is no need to post on every thread you see....
To the OP: There is a ton of information in the N6 fora. Do some searching of specific things and browse around. You'll find all the info you need.

PLEASE HELP ME! my phone is "rooted" with 3 third-party apps my BF installed!

PLEASE HELP ME! my phone is "rooted" with 3 third-party apps my BF installed!
I noticed that my nexus 6 was acting funny, and since my boyfriend purchased this phone for me- he set the entire thing up. The day it arrived, he plugged my phone into his laptop and started typing away at what looked like a black screen and a boxy white font with a bunch of rom codes etc(at this point, i was totally clueless and oblivious to what he was doing)...
Then, he would sporadically bring up specific texts that i had sent, and at times would randomly pinpoint specific addresses and times and asked me about them(mind you, they were my friends homes) which left me to wonder "how the hell did he even know about that text or specific location unless my phone is hacked??"
so, i took my phone to a specialist who confirmed that my phone was rooted with a custom ROM along with 3 third-party apps "kernel adiutor", "pure nexus", and "xda labs".
Once i called tech support for my phone, they said they couldn't help me because they're third party apps that are not legal to use in the first place.
long story short, his mom confirmed recently that he in fact has my phone hacked. can somebody please give me insight on the apps he installed and the purpose they serve?? what kind of access/capabilities does he have now that my phone is rooted even if i restore my phone???
Kernel Auditor Xda labs and pure nexus are not phone hacking apps Xda lab is app by xda community and Kernel Auditor is for tweaking the kernel and i think Pure Nexus is a Custom Rom for the Nexus
If you want to get rid of this you can ask service centre to flash Stock Rom of Nexus phone
Sent from my SM-A9000 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Download a factory image from here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Follow the instructions on the webpage. Doing this will wipe your phone and put it back to 100% stock.
Also lol @ this:
vneedshelpASAP said:
Once i called tech support for my phone, they said they couldn't help me because they're third party apps that are not legal to use in the first place.
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Click to collapse
You have a very *very* serious problem.
As khanboyz007 says, the apps you mention are entirely pukka, totally normal, nothing suspicious.
But...
If you can't trust your boyfriend so much that you have to post for help from anonymous strangers, then your problem is far deeper than your Nexus 6. From the technical side of your description, he's done nothing at all wrong, but from reading between the lines you don't trust him, and *that's* a dealbreaker.
Why are you asking us instead of him? Give him a chance to explain. Maybe there's nothing more sinister than you (clearly without any technical knowledge... sorry...) don't have your phone password-protected and he's just looked at your texts - in itself a breach of trust, but still not justifying posting in a public forum to strangers.
dahawthorne said:
You have a very *very* serious problem.
As khanboyz007 says, the apps you mention are entirely pukka, totally normal, nothing suspicious.
But...
If you can't trust your boyfriend so much that you have to post for help from anonymous strangers, then your problem is far deeper than your Nexus 6. From the technical side of your description, he's done nothing at all wrong, but from reading between the lines you don't trust him, and *that's* a dealbreaker.
Why are you asking us instead of him? Give him a chance to explain. Maybe there's nothing more sinister than you (clearly without any technical knowledge... sorry...) don't have your phone password-protected and he's just looked at your texts - in itself a breach of trust, but still not justifying posting in a public forum to strangers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt say that at all. If he can tell where she has been and what text she is sending then he installed one of the many monitor apps onto her phone which is illegal.
My advise would be to completely wipe your device. Flash a stock rom and dont let him touch your device.
As for your personal life no one can or has any right to say anything about that. Do what you think is best.
If he knows the locations you've been at its possible he has your google+ share location set where it's shared with him. Or possibly he had set up an email for you on it and is signing into it to track your location. As far as the apps you mentioned they are %100 percent legal, most carrier don't know anything about rooting or custom Roms and will not give you adequate advice. But as they said, you can just flash the stock image, make your own Gmail to sign in or make sure to change your Gmail password. After you do make sure that that you put a password on your device that he doesn't know.
"then he installed one of the many monitor apps onto her phone"
Isn't that what I said...? No trust. This isn't in any way a technical question - it's about their relationship.
And since I've seen your many posts here over the years I know you've got a fair amount of life experience, in which case I can assume that you know of Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is likely to be the correct one, and the simplest explanation here is not that he's installed a monitoring app but is simply looking at the phone. I stand by my comments.
"no one can or has any right to say anything about that"
Yes, I agree, it would be none of my business - *if* she hadn't asked for my advice (as well as yours).
If she has so little trust in her partner, and has asked for advice (technical or otherwise), then the answer has to be "Look very carefully at your relationship".
(P.S. To avoid the inevitable "sexist" comments, yes, I've assumed it's a female poster, but I'm aware that there are alternatives).
To be honest I think it might be a moot point as he is most likely part of this forum and has seen this post.
Then he's got the message...
Or this is just a prank. Like I'm getting private messages from people who haven't even posted yet to fix their phones.
istperson said:
Or this is just a prank.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that same thought had occurred to me. I give the benefit of the doubt unless there's a clear sign that it's a joke, and this one does come close to the edge...
A lot of effort for a not-funny joke though. It would be good if the OP provides some feedback - I do get very fed up with people asking for advice, which is given maybe by half a dozen people who have taken the time and trouble to provide it, only for the OP to vanish into the ether without so much as a "thank you" button press.
Step one, flash the phone back to stock using the links provided eariler posts.
Step two, dump the loser - he is too controlling, and this will never change...
Now that the personal advice has been given, let's bring this thread back to troubleshooting device issues, not relationship issues . Thanks for your cooperation.
vneedshelpASAP said:
.... my boyfriend purchased this phone for me- he set the entire thing up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your friend has set up your phone the same way as he should do for himself.
There nothing wrong with rooting and the apps you mentioned.
My idea is that ask him very friendly to flash the latest official stock Rom.
Tell him that you prefer the official rom of Google.
Because you want official support when there is something wrong. And you don't need root acces because you only use 'normal' apps.
As everything there are disadvantages.
A rooted phone allows you to install layers. That makes it possible to choose dark themes. And that's important when you need a better battery life.
I Bet he's using Cerberus. Go into your settings>apps, select to include system apps. You'll be looking for a app name: system framework. If you see this He is tracking you using Ceberus, . This app/service is pretty awesome. I was able to track my phone down, see the texts sent, turn the mic on and listen to where my phone was at. .
Like everyone said flash a new rom. clean slate. Then dump dude, there should be no need for that crap.
Here's the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lsdroid.cerberus&hl=en
vneedshelpASAP said:
I noticed that my nexus 6 was acting funny, and since my boyfriend purchased this phone for me- he set the entire thing up. The day it arrived, he plugged my phone into his laptop and started typing away at what looked like a black screen and a boxy white font with a bunch of rom codes etc(at this point, i was totally clueless and oblivious to what he was doing)...
Then, he would sporadically bring up specific texts that i had sent, and at times would randomly pinpoint specific addresses and times and asked me about them(mind you, they were my friends homes) which left me to wonder "how the hell did he even know about that text or specific location unless my phone is hacked??"
so, i took my phone to a specialist who confirmed that my phone was rooted with a custom ROM along with 3 third-party apps "kernel adiutor", "pure nexus", and "xda labs".
Once i called tech support for my phone, they said they couldn't help me because they're third party apps that are not legal to use in the first place.
long story short, his mom confirmed recently that he in fact has my phone hacked. can somebody please give me insight on the apps he installed and the purpose they serve?? what kind of access/capabilities does he have now that my phone is rooted even if i restore my phone???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to me, a "specialist", it sounds like he did you a favor, by rooting your device, and adding apps that you will need to control your own phone. your "own" i say because otherwise you are just using someone elses device, that you happened to pay for with your money. so, instead of posting a pissy thread, id do a little more research on how to control your own phone, and then tell him thank you.
oh, btw, just because the apps arent from the play store, it does not make them illegal to use, at all. you can use whatever app you want, from wherever you want, LEGALLY.
I'm coming round to istperson's point of view - this thread is beginning to look more and more like an elaborate pointless hoax, and not a very funny one.
There are far too many of these threads where people ask a question and then disappear without the courtesy of a sign-off or even a "thank you". Very discouraging, and makes me less keen on spending my time here trying to help timewasting ingrates...
I'm gonna close this thread for now. If the OP has anything else to add they can contact me again to reopen it.
Not all apps are legal. It really depends on where you are living. As an example. Things like keyloggers, call recorders (depending on local laws) screen recorders and things of this nature are completely legal in some countries like China, while being completely illegal in other places in the world.
Also installing tracking software of any kind on someone's device is also illegal.
We have to remember that many people search for help on something, reg to the forum to get the answer and dont come back until they have another issue. This is becoming far more common as of late.

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