Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Now, before you jump the gun and yell at me for this thread, I KNOW there are thousands of posts on rooting, how-to root, and the benefits of rooting. I understand the basics, such as backing up and what not, considering I flashed rom's for TP. But, it is so different from flashing a rom that I don't grasp everything that it entails.

1. WHY ARE THESE THEMES SO CHEESY?! They look like a flippin' hot air balloon with all these children colors and cheesy graphics-this is the number one thing from keeping me from rooting my Droid.

2. I don't understand this Metamorph. I think this utility is supposed to allow me to create my own themes, correct? I'd rather just download (decent ones at least) and install them.

It's funny that there are so many threads explaining this and how we should all stop asking what rooting is, well let me say this-there is not one thread that explains how to use Metamorph, how to back up your Droid, how update OTA when your rooted. It takes so much time for one person to go to each and every thread and read pages and pages about one specific topic instead of reading one thread that explains it ALL. Everything you could know about Rooting, Themes, UnRooting, OTA updates, Back to stock, and installing Rom's. Now please, without hesitation and/or insults, gather up all your knowledge and let us know exactly what to do and what each step requires.

Once again, I am fully aware of the warranty that is voided by rooting, and I do not need any replies that will put this post to shame. I simply want the facts, and that's it.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

actually if you follow the SBF method it is exactly like flashing a nbh for HTC, except its an SBF for motorola. You will need an app called RSD Lite, google for it.
There are many more reasons to root than themes (overclocking, anybody? wireless tethering? CPU frequency scaling?), but check out darkedge, its awesome. Way more complex than a regular theme though, there is a full 10 page or so guide on how to install it. there is also an irc channel #darkedgedev on freenode that is helpful.
Metamorph does not create themes. It simply edits existing applications on the device. You can create your themes relatively easily that can work with metamorph. The reason metamorph requires root is because it can only modify apks in the system partition. (will be fixed in future releases). s far as theming goes, all those apks are already in system (framework-res.apk among others)
when you "root" your phone, all you are doing is inserting some binaries into the system that allow escalation to root. that is all. you can now perform tasks that require elevation, which are managed by the superuser apk (comes with the su binaries). After you attain root, you can overwrite the recovery binaries with modified ones which enable you to use nandroid to backup and restore. from here, the sky is the limit. ROMs come in many different forms, the most common being nandroid backups that you simply put on your sd card and install them through the modified recovery. Darkedge comes as a nandroid and a series of metamorph themes.

if you can get that down then you will have no problems

(The droid world is different than WM, WM really holds your hand and tells you how to DO everything to the letter, like following a recipe and then you don;t learn anything. Then you end up with idiots with bricked phones. If someone were to make a post that you are asking for, there would be many more idiots with broken phones. Once you have root, if you are messing around in the terminal and you type one wrong thing, it could all be over and all that can save you would be SBF. If you are not willing to research and learn how it all works then just don't. The cons will far outweigh the benefits if you do not understand why you are doing what you are doing.)

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

i think you should get yourself a kin 2, that thing is sweet

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

completely off topic, but then again, the post I am replying to is also :)

the kin2 looks like the microsoft xbox and palm pre had a baby, and that baby was completely dependent on social networking.


haha

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

I completely understand where everyone is coming from-it must get frustrating to have all these posts about rooting. Also:

1. Can overclocking overheat your phone? Can it damage any part of the phone?

2. CPU Frequency? I have NO idea what that means. My guess is that you control what programs are running and how much of the CPU they're using?

3. And after all, I can honestly say that I don't need all the extras-I don't need wifi tethering or any of the speed boosts and all that-isn't that what Froyo is gonna give us anyways? I mainly want a different theme, I get tired of always using a different home launcher.

4. And updates; lets say that 2.2 comes out next week and I root-how do I get my phone to accept 2.2? What's the point of rooting when you have upcoming updates which will make the phone way more then it already is?

And thanks for a detailed reply, it really did help.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

I would NEVER in my life get that phone-it looks like one of those child play phones and when you press a number on the dial pad it plays a song. That thing is the cheesiest phone if I ever saw one.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Your warranty is only technically void if you root. If you return it to it's stock, unrooted form, they will never know and you will still be covered. If you totally screw your phone up by rooting (which IMO is hard to do), they will not cover it. I have had 5 replacements and all have been rooted and returned to stock. VZW never even knew. NOT THAT I AM DECEIVING OR ANYTHING. They all had issues that weren't related to rooting.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Well, I'm not as concerned about the warranty as I am about bricking. If thats even possible? I don't usually have any kind of phone problems so no worries there. And what about updating? If 2.2 comes out I'm pretty sure that's all I'll need

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

As far as themes being cheesy, many of them are. You just have to find the right ones. I prefer dark/black ones with minimal design. Not too colorful, no gaudy images. Just simple, gradual gradients and whatnot.

This is my current setup as an example:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_IM8WnucNDOQ/TA...604_081536.png

1. Overclocking CAN make it run a little hotter but the app that overclocks (SetCPU) has a built in "FailSafe" profile. You can set it to any temperature and when your phone hits that temperature, SetCPU will drop the CPU speed down to whatever you choose. So you can set that failsafe temp as low as you want to avoid unwanted heat. :)

3. Kinda. Froyo will add wifi tethering on some phones but so far it looks like the Droid won't be getting it. It also won't overclock. It WILL add JIT and improve performance a lot but now imagine that PLUS overclocking. Super fast. Also, everything Froyo will add WILL be in ROMs in no time. Sometimes ROMs get the code and release new features before updates even hit the network.

4. When an update comes out, it only takes a few minutes to download it and install it if you think that you'd rather have the new update than a rooted phone. Official updates will remove root. Now what most rooted people do is just wait a little while. Once an update is released, ROM builders usually have a rooted version out right away or at least take all the features from that new update and integrate them into their ROM. ROMs will always have more features than official updates, that is just how it is. I already have Apps2SD, wifi tether, wired tether, PIN lock, etc. Those are main points of Froyo. :)

Another thing to think about are small features that may not seem big but are handy. I am running CyanogenMod right now. Some options I use all the time that come with it are:

- While phone is sleeping, hold Vol up/down to change tracks in Music
- Change the "User Agent" on the browser to make it think you're on a Desktop.
- Change the color of the clock, notifications, "Verizon Wireless" label, etc with a simple dialog.
- Remove the clock from status bar with a simple check box.
- Change vibration and LED color for text messaging.
- "Turn over silence" silences ringtone when phone is flipped.
- Set custom message on the lockscreen using Settings.
- Hide the "USD Debugging" notification.
- Remove unwanted apps like Amazon, Facebook, VisualVoiceMail, etc.

Those are just a few. None of the above requires any special apps, its all built into the rom. There are also a lot more settings in the Phone, Messaging, and Browser apps.

Hope this helps a little.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Hey, that was a great reply. So, as my main point was-when Froyo comes out all I would have to do is accept the OTA update and it will install with no problems and will unroot the phone? I want all the FEATURES of these rom's but they all come with those super unrealistic themes that make the Droid like a lame phone.

And I've looked into backing the phone up before you root-it seems kind of confusing. I'm not sure what files/folder to copy and I definitely want to be able to return to stock if need be.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

You can always return to stock in like 5 minutes. There are stock backups available for download in various places. So don't let that worry you.

As far as making backups, they are easy. You don't pick out files or anything, it is all automatic. You boot into recovery (hold X while booting) and then choose the option to make a nandroid backup. It's as easy as that.

And as far as Froyo goes, a rom version was just leaked out. I'm currently running 2.2 with Flash. See why rooting is worth it? :P

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Oh and as far as themes, you really just need to find the right ones. I agree that many are cheesy. This is the one I am currently using with Froyo and don't find it cheesy at all. The logo on the notification window borders on it but everything else is nice and clean and monotone, no crazy colors of gaudy textures.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/tea...ack-froyo.html

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

OK now I'm in Recovery Mode on my Droid and I don't see the option to create a backup. Is nandroid only associated with Root? I thought you did it BEFORE you root so when you unroot your phone will be exactly like it was before.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Nandroid backups require root to work. If you worried about going back to absolute stock then there is an .sbf that you can use to return to stock.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

So I'm gonna have to root before I can nandroid back up?

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Yeah. You root and install the custom recovery. That recovery allows you to make backups.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Well, here we go. I'm gonna get to rooting. I wanna thank all of you for helping me out with this and thanks for the great replies! I will update you as soon as I'm done!

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Well, I've run into a problem. When I go into Recovery Mode (btw I'm following the stickie here that guides you on how to root) and I try to apply the update.zip from my SD card it says that there is no such file in my SD card and it aborts the operation. This is the first step too, where I have to downgrade from 2.1 to 2.0.1. I would also like to have a rooted 2.1 but that seems kind of difficult. Any ideas?

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Well once you downgrade from 2.1 to 2.0.1 you'll install a rom that is based on 2.1 or 2.2 so don't let the downgrade turn you against anything. You only go back to 2.0.1 so that you can root, then you upgrade again.

I'm not sure which guide you are following but if you are on stock 2.1 then your first step would be using RSD Lite and flashing a .sbf file. Have you done this yet?

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Actually, yes. I plugged in my Droid, went into bootloader phone, RSD Lite detects the phone-but when I go to click start it ends the operation. Is it supposed to give me all the info about my phone too? Like the ESN and all that? Because it says N/A next to every input field.

Just my luck, can't even get past the first step. ](*,)

Edit:
I've even tried different versions of RSD and every time I get "Failed flashing process." and the result field says "FAIL". It doesn't give me me ESN, Software version, Flex version-none of that. It just says N/A for each field. And yes, I do have the SBF file uploaded to RSD so I don't think that's the problem.

Edit AGAIN:
I finally got it working! I'm rooted at 2.1! FINALLY. Now, I have installed ClockWorkMod and I've tried to install the new Froyo Rom but when it goes through the update process in recovery mode it goes too fast for me to read anything, and then takes me back to the recovery menu. I select reboot now and it makes me log into google just as if it was a new phone.

But, the rom I loaded did not actually load? It's the same as before-almost as if it took a backup that I created and just installed that instead. Any help?

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Hmm have you installed the right drivers?

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Ahh, Sorry. If you read the edit of my last post I got that problem fixed-now I'm onto a new one; the rom didn't actually install.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Okay, sorry I haven't been back all day!

Are you trying to install it as a zip file?

Here, I wrote this for a friend. This should help you. If you follow these directions then you'll end up with the latest Froyo with a new baseband (there is newer out but I'm waiting to hear about other experiences before using it), a kernel that will allow you to overclock, and a nice clean black theme. If you don't want any of the above, just skip that file/install and the rest will still work. Hope this helps:

How to install Froyo (Leak #2) on a Droid that is rooted with Clockwork Recovery:

Your data will be erased so you will have to reinstall apps and change settings again.
Your SD card will not be touched.

Needed Files:
Froyo Leak 2

Optional Files:
1GHz Kernel
New Baseband
Clean Black Theme for Froyo
(Screenshots of theme here for you to decide if DFW or DNFW)

Directions:
Put the baseband, kernel, and theme (if you decide to) zip files on your sdcard.

Then on your computer, unzip the Froyo file and it should give you a folder (2010-06-08.blah.blah.blah). Put that folder on your sdcard in the /clockworkmod/backup directory. You should already have some other in there so you'll know you're in the right spot. I recommend renaming it to 2010-06-08-FROYO or something so you can find it easier later.

Now, on your phone, go into Rom Manager and flash the recovery (first option) once. Then choose the second option (Reboot into Recovery).

Go to nandroid > backup and let it do its thing.

When done, go to the main recovery screen (power buttons goes back if you forgot) and go to "wipe data/factory reset" and then Yes.

When thats done, go to nandroid > restore and pick the one that you extracted earlier. Let it install.

When THATS done, go to "Install zip from sdcard" > "Choose zip from sdcard" and then pick the baseband-update.zip file. Let it install. Then do the same for the kernel zip file. Then if you chose to install the theme, do that also.

Now you can go back to the main screen and choose the reboot option. First boot might take a while, then you'll be in Froyo goodness with an overclockable kernel.

To install flash, install this APK like you normally would: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HO8UZSDW

Hopefully I didn't miss anything.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Gahh, I'm sorry to bog you down with questions! But I'm kinda worried about the overclocking? Does it heat up the phone more than usual? Use a lot of battery power? How safe is it really?

Edit: When I go to install Froyo from nandroid-restore it goes for about 2 seconds and then gives me a message saying "MD5 mismatch!" and quits. Is this what it should be doing? Or is it not working?

Edit: Oh, it did just as before. It didn't actually install Froyo. It looks as if its 2.1 re-install. I'm not sure why-I followed the exact instructions from above.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

The MD5 mismatch isn't supposed to happen. That means that your download was corrupt or when you extracted/copied files they became corrupt. The MD5 check is just making sure that was you are about to install is exactly what the person who built the nandroid wanted it to be, with no errors or modifications.

Try downloading the Froyo zip again and extracting it again. Delete the folder you created in /clockworkmod/backup/ that had the bad MD5.

As for overclocking, I have had mine at 1ghz since they figured out how to overclock these things lol and I've had no issues. My brother and friends all have theirs at 1ghz also. Also, when you OC you can set it to slow down when the battery gets hot so it will never go over whatever temperature you set. You can also make it run SLOWER while asleep, this makes it run cooler when its just sitting in your pocket.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Ahh yes. That's the answer I was looking for! I'm re-downloading now and I'll let you know.

And I actually decided to OC, but only too 800 mhz. It does get a little warm but not too hot. I have heard that you can control what temps it stops at and what not using SetCPU but I'm not really caring enough to buy it. Lol that's just how cheap I am.

Now I am using a kernel that has 7 frequencies? The highest is 800 but if I'm not using the full 800 I assumed that it will use the smaller, other frequencies to keep from overheating and battery drainage? I may be wrong. I just assumed this.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Kernels default to stock speed until you install SetCPU. So even if you get a 1.3ghz kernel, without SetCPU it will run stock speed.

If you don't want to pay, the developer gives SetCPU away for free in a thread on xda-developers. Go have a look. :)

And yeah you can set the max/min speed that it runs while you use it, while its sleeping, charging, speed when it gets too hot, you can even set it to slow down when your battery reaches certain percentages.

It's pretty nice.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Alright I'll have to take a look.

And I got Froyo to install-theres ANOTHER problem. It gets me to the welcome screen where you are supposed to press the Android to begin, well when I go to press anything (even power to turn the screen on) it vibrates longer then usual and turns off. It doesn't even reboot, just turns off.

Edit: I went back and restored just to Froyo without the theme/kernel/baseband.
What does the baseband do exactly? Sort of like a radio?

Edit Again: I guess I should stop editing my posts and just wait to see! lol I actually got it to work. I did what I said I was going to do in my last edit. Thanks man, it means a lot. I'll let you know if anything else goes wrong.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Well once you flash the baseband, it stays that way. It isn't affected by loading new roms or wiping. So you have the new baseband now. It is like a radio yeah, it helps to improve reception and battery life supposedly.

I've had others follow the guide and so far it has worked for everyone. Not sure why it gave you some trouble but I'm glad you are moving in the right direction.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Well I do know that the kernel I was using doesn't work with Froyo. I dl SetCPU and then installed the kernel I was using before and when I rebooted it kinda froze up and turned itself off. I finally just restored back to Froyo without using that kernel.

Thanks for your help man I really appreciate it.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Here are the kernels that work with Froyo: http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/05...ed-fixes-wifi/

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Yeah I just went with your 1 ghz you gave me earlier and that's working great with setCPU.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Good. I'm glad you finally got through it all lol

Did you decide to install the theme or no?

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

The only thing that kept me from installin the theme was the pull down bar-it has some weird lookin star shape thats real cheesy to me.

I'd like to find something that has just mainly one color, with not a lot of graphics. Very minimal-hopefully they'll make one.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Yeah the star on the notification window is a little cheesy but not enough to bother me. If it was somewhere that was visible at all times or if it was a bright color or had words or something on it, then to hell with that.

I can ignore the star though. The bootanimation with the theme is amazing though lol

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Now, let me ask you this: If I install this theme (since you pretty much JUST persuaded me) how do I go about uninstalling it? That's my only problem, and I don't wanna restore back and have to do everything I've been doing all day to get back to where I am. lol

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

You should make a full Nandroid backup of your device before you install the theme. That way if you decide to ditch the theme you roll back to a version that has everything setup the way you like it.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Exactly. Any time you are going to apply something via recovery or even apply a metamorph or something, MAKE A BACKUP. It is free, only takes a few minutes, and can save you a LOT of trouble. This way if the theme installs wrong or you don't like it, you just boot into recovery and restore your most recent backup. Easy peasy.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Well, as usual, I have another problem. It won't let me boot into Recovery Mode. I sit there holding the X and the Moto Logo just stays on screen. After I let go it reboots and boots as normal. I even tried to boot into Recovery from Rom Manager-no luck.

Re: Rooting & Themes-The Basics Please
 

Reinstall the recovery from ROM Manager. Might need to do it 2 times for it to take. I'm not sure why that is happening but it does. It should work after that.