Samsung Galaxy SII I9100 SGS2 Modding Thread

wotzgoingon

pedatron wrote: »

Sorry I haven't been online in a few days. Getting best battery life out of dark Knight 2.3. About two days with pretty heavy usage. Very happy so far!

I actually installed Dark Knight 2.5 a couple of days ago. Didn't actually try 2.3 version.
Two days of heavy use:eek:
I never actually tried to see how long it would last as i charge mine every night. As i know it will not last the full second day and last thing i would want is for phone to run dead just when i would need it for an emergency.

Gaffs89

Ok Lads, just got an upgrade of one of these beautys . I was on a SGS 1 with Darkys rom. What do ye recommend?

wotzgoingon

Gaffs89 wrote: »

Ok Lads, just got an upgrade of one of these beautys . I was on a SGS 1 with Darkys rom. What do ye recommend?

I asked the same question over a week ago and was recommended CheckRom but my phone kept turning it self off.
My Question

Asking for Kernal

Found Problems

I found a bug. I dont know if anybody else got it but it was awful annoying so i installed a stock Rom 2.3.6 with custom kernal and a few mods as well and im very pleased with it Here

Testament1

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

How easy is the gs2 to root when compared to the G1?

I see a lot of instances of people bricking it, never heard of a G1 actually being bricked just plenty warnings.

I rooted and unlocked my phone last night. I would be a complete and utter noob when it comes to things like this since its my first Android phone but I found it very easy!

What ROM/kernel combo would be people say is the best at the moment? Now that I've successfully done one thing to the phone I'd like to see what else I can do

Cossax

Testament1 wrote: »

I rooted and unlocked my phone last night. I would be a complete and utter noob when it comes to things like this since its my first Android phone but I found it very easy!

What ROM/kernel combo would be people say is the best at the moment? Now that I've successfully done one thing to the phone I'd like to see what else I can do

Using CheckRom RevoHD, my favourite ROM so far. Using the kernel they developed for it, Dark-Knight 2.5.2 and very happy with the combination so far, stable and very good battery life. The ROM was suggested by a poster on here but I eventually went with a different kernel.

Gaffs89

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

You need to update to the latest firmware which can only be done in windows and linux.

So i needed to install windows in vmware (virtualbox did not detect the device) and update through kies and apparently then heimdall will detect it.

Samsung had problems with the usb working and osx was not able to release the phone properly so Virtualbox could not connect to it so vmware was needed.

So much effort just to root this phone.

I used this method to root .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182922
Very simple.You check which kernel you have and download the closest .Mine was xwk18.Flashed it with Odin .All done in about 20 minutes from download to flash.Just read the instructions carefully .

illumin

on checkrom here too for the fast few weeks and very happy with battery life. One thing is bugging me though, i never took down what modem i was using before i flashed and i get weak signal sometimes. Whats the best modem /default modem for vodafone ireland?

conor.hogan.2

I updated heimdall to 1.3 and now it gives me "Failed to detect compatible download-mode device" which is pretty much the same problem.

You need to update to the latest firmware which can only be done in windows and linux.

So i needed to install windows in vmware (virtualbox did not detect the device) and update through kies and apparently then heimdall will detect it.

Samsung had problems with the usb working and osx was not able to release the phone properly so Virtualbox could not connect to it so vmware was needed.

So much effort just to root this phone.

Gaffs89 wrote: »

I used this method to root .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182922
Very simple.You check which kernel you have and download the closest .Mine was xwk18.Flashed it with Odin .All done in about 20 minutes from download to flash.Just read the instructions carefully .

I do not have a problem with the steps (well from reading them anyway) my issue is the gs2 is not detected by heimdall and I kies does not update it to the latest firmware in my VM.

Kies did not update the firmaware, the phone disconnected half way through the update even after i update .NET which was apparently the problem.

I going to try Odin just purely because that is my only option left.

Odin does not work either.

So it seems I can not root the phone.

griffdaddy

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

I updated heimdall to 1.3 and now it gives me "Failed to detect compatible download-mode device" which is pretty much the same problem.

You need to update to the latest firmware which can only be done in windows and linux.

So i needed to install windows in vmware (virtualbox did not detect the device) and update through kies and apparently then heimdall will detect it.

Samsung had problems with the usb working and osx was not able to release the phone properly so Virtualbox could not connect to it so vmware was needed.

So much effort just to root this phone.

Gaffs89 wrote: »

I used this method to root .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182922
Very simple.You check which kernel you have and download the closest .Mine was xwk18.Flashed it with Odin .All done in about 20 minutes from download to flash.Just read the instructions carefully .

I do not have a problem with the steps (well from reading them anyway) my issue is the gs2 is not detected by heimdall and I kies does not update it to the latest firmware in my VM.

Kies did not update the firmaware, the phone disconnected half way through the update even after i update .NET which was apparently the problem.

I going to try Odin just purely because that is my only option left.

Odin does not work either.

So it seems I can not root the phone.

Can you not borrow a windows pc for 20 minutes and make the whole thing much easier?

Zagato

griffdaddy wrote: »

Can you not borrow a windows pc for 20 minutes and make the whole thing much easier?

Exactly you only really need the PC to Root, and then you can do pretty much everything through Recovery.

BenEadir

Guys,

I've been on the setup outlined below for a good while now but in the last few days the phone is just powering off for no apparent reason. It's real annoying as it could be off for an hour before I notice it's off and I end up missing calls etc. It was happening once or twice a day to begin with but it's happened three times already today in just 4 hours of use.

Any ideas what might be causing this or how to diagnose the problem??

Any ideas for a solution other than flashing the latest version of CheckROM?

Ben

conor.hogan.2

griffdaddy wrote: »

Can you not borrow a windows pc for 20 minutes and make the whole thing much easier?

I do not think that will help, it connects to kies in the windows VM but half way through the update it disconnects from the phone.

I will have to borrow a windows laptop, as I have nothing else to try.

Stupid samsung, if they would just make kies cross platform and work fully with all phones or allow OTA updates even there would be no issue.

griffdaddy

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

I do not think that will help, it connects to kies in the windows VM but half way through the update it disconnects from the phone.

I will have to borrow a windows laptop, as I have nothing else to try.

Stupid samsung, if they would just make kies cross platform and work fully with all phones or allow OTA updates even there would be no issue.

Virtual machines always create annoying small little problems with drivers etc. I remember trying to do something on the XP VM feature of windows 7, maybe I was flashing an xbox drive or something, and it just kept giving driver errors and driving me around the bend. Eventually I used an actual XP PC and it worked first time. Besides, there's no point risking your 400 euro phone on a driver or flash error because sometimes, although rarely, something will get messed up. AFAIK the phone goes into a few different modes during rooting, each one with different drivers and I'd like to be certain they were all gonna work. (Edit) it is ridiculous that Samsung don't make their software more compatible though. There's constantly problems with people on macs, and they're hardly rare or unusual computers these days (edit)

conor.hogan.2

griffdaddy wrote: »

Virtual machines always create annoying small little problems with drivers etc. I remember trying to do something on the XP VM feature of windows 7, maybe I was flashing an xbox drive or something, and it just kept giving driver errors and driving me around the bend. Eventually I used an actual XP PC and it worked first time. Besides, there's no point risking your 400 euro phone on a driver or flash error because sometimes, although rarely, something will get messed up. AFAIK the phone goes into a few different modes during rooting, each one with different drivers and I'd like to be certain they were all gonna work. (Edit) it is ridiculous that Samsung don't make their software more compatible though. There's constantly problems with people on macs, and they're hardly rare or unusual computers these days (edit)

True, but I am now only going to update through kies and then if that works see if heimdall then sees my phone then I can root it in OSX and if Kies does not work i will have to try on a windows laptop.

The kies disconnecting the phone during the update was supposed to be fixed if you updated .NET but that did not work either.

Gaffs89

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

griffdaddy wrote: »

Can you not borrow a windows pc for 20 minutes and make the whole thing much easier?

I do not think that will help, it connects to kies in the windows VM but half way through the update it disconnects from the phone.

I will have to borrow a windows laptop, as I have nothing else to try.

Stupid samsung, if they would just make kies cross platform and work fully with all phones or allow OTA updates even th
ere would be no issue.

Kies is crap .It struggles even on windows. The version I had would not update.It kept freezing during the update.
To get the latest I had to uninstall and then download again from the Samsung site.Good job we only need it for the drivers.

conor.hogan.2

Gaffs89 wrote: »

Kies is crap .It struggles even on windows. The version I had would not update.It kept freezing during the update.
To get the latest I had to uninstall and then download again from the Samsung site.Good job we only need it for the drivers.

Yes and without the latest drivers I can not get heimdall to work so therefore no root.

I can try on a windows machine but I doubt if Odin in a VM could not see the phone I doubt an actual machine will make any difference.

It seems my phone needs the latest drivers to root it, which needs kies which disconnects the phone during the update.

Very circular.

Gaffs89

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Gaffs89 wrote: »

Kies is crap .It struggles even on windows. The version I had would not update.It kept freezing during the update.
To get the latest I had to uninstall and then download again from the Samsung site.Good job we only need it for the drivers.

Yes and without the latest drivers I can not get heimdall to work so therefore no root.

I can try on a windows machine but I doubt if Odin in a VM could not see the phone I doubt an actual machine will make any difference.

It seems my phone needs the latest drivers to root it, which needs kies which disconnects the phone during the update.

Very circular.

Maybe you've tried this already,but why don't you remove your current version and than download the latest from the Samsung site .

Stuxnet

my nearly 4 year old dropped my S2 down the jacks today was there for minute before i got it, the screen was flicking on and off under the water, quickly pulled out battery & sim and towel dried it... :eek:

its been in a bag of rice on a hot radiator all day, ill leave it 24hrs before trying to turn it on....fingers crossed

conor.hogan.2

Gaffs89 wrote: »

Maybe you've tried this already,but why don't you remove your current version and than download the latest from the Samsung site .

This is a fresh windows install, it is the latest version of Kies as far as I know I will double check.

Oh jesus the Windows update is only 38/99.

EPM

Stuxnet_Duqu wrote: »

my nearly 4 year old dropped my S2 down the jacks today was there for minute before i got it, the screen was flicking on and off under the water, quickly pulled out battery & sim and towel dried it... :eek:

its been in a bag of rice on a hot radiator all day, ill leave it 24hrs before trying to turn it on....fingers crossed

Leave it longer than that, if it was me I'd leave it a week tbh.

Gaffs89

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

This is a fresh windows install, it is the latest version of Kies as far as I know I will double check.

Oh jesus the Windows update is only 38/99.

OK Conor ,I'm a bit confused.
You have Kies installed on your PC,but not open.
When you connect your phone in download mode, Odin 1.85 doesn't see it.
Am I right?

conor.hogan.2

Gaffs89 wrote: »

OK Conor ,I'm a bit confused.
You have Kies installed on your PC,but not open.
When you connect your phone in download mode, Odin 1.85 doesn't see it.
Am I right?

That is correct. I have kies completely killed to all processes and then I start Odin.

No yellow ID:Com bar and when I click start "<OSM> All threads completed. (suceed 0/failed 0)".

In osx Heimdall fails to detect device in download mode.

Gaffs89

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

That is correct. I have kies completely killed to all processes and then I start Odin.

No yellow ID:Com bar and when I click start "<OSM> All threads completed. (suceed 0/failed 0)".

In osx Heimdall fails to detect device in download mode.

On the phone is USB debugging ticked?

conor.hogan.2

Gaffs89 wrote: »

On the phone is USB debugging ticked?

For using Odin, yes and it is in download mode.

Gaffs89

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

For using Odin, yes and it is in download mode.

Jazus I'm stumped mate.

conor.hogan.2

Gaffs89 wrote: »

Jazus I'm stumped mate.

You and me both, I have tried every combination possible I even installed Windows in VmWare (which innvolved me moving vms from virtualbox off my HDD to make space) and tried several combinations there too.

I wish this was as simple as a G1 to root, just lash on files to the sd and run them from recovery mostly.

It seems to be an issue with the phone needing the latest firmware for heimdall or odin to be able to see it but Kies insists on disconnecting the phone during the update.

Kies continues updating the firmware, despite the phone showing up as disconnected, once it reaches 100% the picture dissapears in Kies and the phone boots into "downloading… do not turn off target!!" mode which is different to the download mode you boot into using down, home and power but stalls at 0% in kies.

Then it shows an error about failed to recognize the phone and fails without updating.

---

Has anyone used this method? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1321582

This also stalls at "pushing zergRush" stage. Seriously nothing is allowing me to root.

---

back to OSX and heimdall is getting somewhere after lots of chasing and googling, libusb was needed but now it wants 2.0.0 which does not exist according to google and libusb site, using macports to try something I found on google.

"Dyld Error Message:
Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libusb-1.0.0.dylib
Referenced from: /usr/bin/heimdall
Reason: Incompatible library version: heimdall requires version 2.0.0 or later, but libusb-1.0.0.dylib provides version 1.0.0"

ffs.

Jesus this is such a PITA.

conor.hogan.2

Right so Virtualbox, VmWare and Paralells all suck when it comes to rooting or updating a GS2.

If you have a mac, do not bother with Heimdall and do not bother with virtualization.

Either borrow a windows machine (or a linux machine) or install it fully on a partition and use Odin and it will root in seconds.

The phone was rooted in seconds, now I think I will just clean out the crap and wait for CM9 for ICS.

Gaffs89

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Right so Virtualbox, VmWare and Paralells all suck when it comes to rooting or updating a GS2.

If you have a mac, do not bother with Heimdall and do not bother with virtualization.

Either borrow a windows machine (or a linux machine) or install it fully on a partition and use Odin and it will root in seconds.

The phone was rooted in seconds, now I think I will just clean out the crap and wait for CM9 for ICS.

Great to hear you sorted it.I guess Macs and android are not meant to be together I just rooted and unlocked myself.Will wait for a stable ICS.

conor.hogan.2

Gaffs89 wrote: »

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Great to hear you sorted it.I guess Macs and android are not meant to be together I just rooted and unlocked myself.Will wait for a stable ICS.

Cool, well the G1 had no problems with OSX.

Cm9 is apparently due january or february.

Cossax

With CheckROM RevoHD v4, KI3 modem, Dark Knight 2.5.2 and ondemand governor, got 2 days of what I consider heavy usage out of it - Viber, WhatsApp, Tweetdeck, stock messaging app, email, Facebook - all in about 2 1/2 hours of screen on time and still had ~20% battery after 40 hours.