Samsung Galaxy SII I9100 SGS2 Modding Thread

eamondunphy

Zagato wrote: »

The CF in CF-Root stands for Chainfire, who is the developer that adds root to those otherwise stock kernels, it also includes a new recovery image which he has developed called ClockworkMod Recovery, often shortened to CWM (which has an accompanying app). You can get into this recovery without booting Android, and use it to flash ROMs, backup your entire phone, restore your phone and a few other things. It is very handy. Flashing via Odin is actually easier, though, I think.
You are right in that you can stick the ROM onto your internal SD and flash it from there through CWM.
The way I would recommend to root therefore is Chainfire's method which is the one I linked to earlier. I am sure the other methods work, but personally can't vouch for them, and it is useful to be able to use Odin anyway if you run into any problems you may need to use it.

EDIT: Reread your post. Yes you should only need to root once to flash CWM flashable ROMs, but I still say Odin is a useful tool for fixing things if there are any problems. I think Shane547 was using Resurrection, but he's switched to CM9.

im still a bit confused with cf root, think im a bit overwhelmed by reading so many pages

after i root with the relevant zip file, can i flash any ics rom like resurrection or cm9 even though my phone is on gingerbread at the moment???


Edit: ive come across this video for cf root

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSFGBjtLFCs

is this the same way you would have rooted? seems fairly simple

Professey Chin

Zagato wrote: »

The CF in CF-Root stands for Chainfire, who is the developer that adds root to those otherwise stock kernels, it also includes a new recovery image which he has developed called ClockworkMod Recovery, often shortened to CWM (which has an accompanying app). You can get into this recovery without booting Android, and use it to flash ROMs, backup your entire phone, restore your phone and a few other things. It is very handy. Flashing via Odin is actually easier, though, I think.

Pretty sure CWM is Koushs. Unless they're the same person o_0

Zagato

eamondunphy wrote: »

im still a bit confused with cf root, think im a bit overwhelmed by reading so many pages

after i root with the relevant zip file, can i flash any ics rom like resurrection or cm9 even though my phone is on gingerbread at the moment???


Edit: ive come across this video for cf root

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSFGBjtLFCs

is this the same way you would have rooted? seems fairly simple

Yes, and the video is the way I rooted, and I have no doubt I am wrong about who created CWM above

WXF

I am using Checkrom revolution V6 + ICS mod over it together with Syiah kernel 2.6.13, and it is the fastest and smoothest combination for me yet very functional. The ROm itself and the kerlnel support a lot of additional features, if one needs to get extra from the smartphone.

shane547

Yeah that's some good advice above, just go the the cf-root page and find the zip file that matches your baseband version and flash it via odin.

I found cm9 to be a good deal better then resurrection, if your looking for a better performing/ better battery life though go with cm7 or checkrom.

eamondunphy

cheers lads

think i'm gonna try cf root this weekend, if its the same process as this video, i'd like to think i'd be ok doing it.

did you do it the same way as this video shane?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSFGBjtLFCs

the only reason i'm thinking of going with resurrection is because everythng works on it, think i'll hold off on cm9 until the stable rom is released

shane547

Yeah thats pretty much the way I did it.

Post your kernel version and I'll link you to the file you need to download, then you just unzip it and place the .tar file in in Odin under .pda

I actually found cm9 to be more functional han resurrection where my carrier wasn't picked up and the home button wasnt working.

eamondunphy

shane547 wrote: »

Yeah thats pretty much the way I did it.

Post your kernel version and I'll link you to the file you need to download, then you just unzip it and place the .tar file in in Odin under .pda

I actually found cm9 to be more functional han resurrection where my carrier wasn't picked up and the home button wasnt working.

my kernal version is 2.6.35.7 - i9100xwki4-cl575468 root@dell143 #2

after rooting im gonna look around at the different roms available, i read on a few sites that all the resurrection functionality worked, thats why i was going to try that one first.

the 3 i've been looking at are darkys, resurrection and cm9... can they all be flashed the same way or does any of them require any extra work.... i know cm9 doesnt include the google apps

shane547

Heres the file you want to flash with odin http://download.chainfire.eu/42/CF-Root/SGS2/CF-Root-SGS2_XW_NEE_KI4-42-v4.2-CWM4.zip

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102 That has the latest cm9 downloads and google apps. Just make a backup when your in clockworkmod recovery, wipe data and cache, then flash the rom and google apps one after the other.

eamondunphy

shane547 wrote: »

Heres the file you want to flash with odin http://download.chainfire.eu/42/CF-Root/SGS2/CF-Root-SGS2_XW_NEE_KI4-42-v4.2-CWM4.zip

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102 That has the latest cm9 downloads and google apps. Just make a backup when your in clockworkmod recovery, wipe data and cache, then flash the rom and google apps one after the other.

thanks shane i downloaded that file for rooting after work later.

i also saw this one, is this a more up to date file?

http://download.chainfire.eu/44/CF-Root/SGS2/CF-Root-SGS2_XX_XEO_KI4-v4.4-CWM4.zip

shane547

Its really not important they both serve the same purpose, best to use the one which matches your kernel version though.

Have a read through this section of xda and it'll show you the various roms you can use and see what you like the look of http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1058

eamondunphy

shane547 wrote: »

Its really not important they both serve the same purpose, best to use the one which matches your kernel version though.

Have a read through this section of xda and it'll show you the various roms you can use and see what you like the look of http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1058

That's great shane thanks, I'm gonna try root in a couple of hours when I'm home

Sorry, I've just a couple of more questions

Will any of the roms I mentioned work with kies or kies air?? I know kies isnt a good program but I find it handy for backing up photos, contacts etc

And If for some reason I'd like to go back to the original touchwiz stock firmware that is on my phone now, is it hard to do? I can't seem too find to much info on going back to the official firmware... Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place

shane547

No bother, no they won't work with kies I'm afraid it's only for official samsung updates.

When you root your phone you'll be able to go into recovery mode by turning off your phone and holding down volume up/home/power buttons simultaneously. In there theres an option to backup your current setup so if theres ever a problem you can simply restore that image.

Top Dog

How do I figure out which version of the ICS firmware to install?

Zagato

eamondunphy wrote: »

my kernal version is 2.6.35.7 - i9100xwki4-cl575468 root@dell143 #2

after rooting im gonna look around at the different roms available, i read on a few sites that all the resurrection functionality worked, thats why i was going to try that one first.

the 3 i've been looking at are darkys, resurrection and cm9... can they all be flashed the same way or does any of them require any extra work.... i know cm9 doesnt include the google apps

I've no problem with Darkys, and it has 2 versions, one is a light version with basically all the Samsung apps removed, leaving a much more vanilla experience. You need to flash this one with Odin though, as I'm fairly sure the CWM flashable one (which I have because I have a Mac now and can't get Heimdall to work for me) is the less stripped out version - has Samsung dialer, contacts, and email, but no Touchwiz (thank God)

Remember flashing a Rom via Odin is the same as flashing the kernel. You just stick the .tar file into the PDA box, if you want to change the radio/modem/baseband you put the radio file in the phone box, and sometimes there is a CSC file for the CSC box. The main difference is before flashing a brand new ROM you should backup your phone and do a full wipe.

eamondunphy wrote: »

That's great shane thanks, I'm gonna try root in a couple of hours when I'm home

Sorry, I've just a couple of more questions

Will any of the roms I mentioned work with kies or kies air?? I know kies isnt a good program but I find it handy for backing up photos, contacts etc

And If for some reason I'd like to go back to the original touchwiz stock firmware that is on my phone now, is it hard to do? I can't seem too find to much info on going back to the official firmware... Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place

If you want to go back to the original stock firmware, make sure you keep the CWM backup of your phone, and then you will just need to flash the stock kernel instead of the CF-Root one. Alternatively you can download the stock firmwares from www.sammobile.com

wreckless

flashed the CM9 this evening, sweet as, so easy to do and loven the twaekability of it.

eamondunphy

shane547 wrote: »

No bother, no they won't work with kies I'm afraid it's only for official samsung updates.

When you root your phone you'll be able to go into recovery mode by turning off your phone and holding down volume up/home/power buttons simultaneously. In there theres an option to backup your current setup so if theres ever a problem you can simply restore that image.

thanks shane and zagato... i rooted, it took all of a minute to do!! cant believe i worried so much about it. thanks for all the help guys!!!

i know have 2 new apps, cwm and superuser. need to figure out how to use these next, just got titamium backup in the market too.

am backing up the phone with clockworkmod recovery at the moment... is the next step flashing a rom???

is it possible to copy my current kernal to my computer, i'd like to store if for later incase i need to flash my back to the state my phone is in now

shane547

Superuser isnt really an app its more like administrators rights on a computer it just allows stuff, CWM is just the same as the recovery mode.

Never tried moving a backup to my pc but even when you wipe your phone the backup is still there to revert to if need be. Now just download a rom, move it to your phone and do the necessary installation procedures.

eamondunphy

which rom would you recommend for a first timer??

did you like the Resurrection rom before moving to cm9?

in the link here for cm9, its mentioned that i need the ics bootloaders, what are they?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102

do i need to worry about kernals or modems, radios etc when picking a rom.

its just one version of a rom and i just flash that in odin dont i???

srsly78

Top Dog wrote: »

How do I figure out which version of the ICS firmware to install?

The swan eating one.

wotzgoingon

eamondunphy wrote: »

which rom would you recommend for a first timer??

did you like the Resurrection rom before moving to cm9?

in the link here for cm9, its mentioned that i need the ics bootloaders, what are they?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102

do i need to worry about kernals or modems, radios etc when picking a rom.

its just one version of a rom and i just flash that in odin dont i???

For a first timer, I would recommend Lite'ning Rom. And if your on ICS you don't even have to do a wipe. All apps settings stay the same. You flash 2.0 and then when its working update to 2.1 in LRToolbox which is an app that gets installed with the ROM.

Top Dog

srsly78 wrote: »

The swan eating one.

Excellent!

In the meantime Ressurection v9.6 will have to do

eamondunphy

have resurrection rom installed now.

everything seems to be going well so far, have a couple of questions though

on the dialpad, i cant for example, type "dad" and my dads number come up, i could do this in touchwiz... now the only thing i can do is type in half a phone number before it shows a contact, this is no use to me as i dont know most my contacts numbers off by heart

also is there way to sync my calender to facebook, as i would like events and peoples birthdays created in facebook to show in my calender

eamondunphy

the dial pad problem i mentioned earlier is something i need so im gonna have to switch roms now. think im going to try darkyrom

what do people think of it??

BopNiblets

So what stable roms are using the vanilla ICS theme at the moment?
Or is there one that has TouchWiz and vanilla ICS theme in one? Something as close to stock as possible!

I have no problem flashing via Odin but I don't want to mess around with custom kernels and all that jazz, but rooting I do want for Adfree.

Cheers.

eamondunphy

BopNiblets wrote: »

So what stable roms are using the vanilla ICS theme at the moment?
Or is there one that has TouchWiz and vanilla ICS theme in one? Something as close to stock as possible!

I have no problem flashing via Odin but I don't want to mess around with custom kernels and all that jazz, but rooting I do want for Adfree.

Cheers.

im a complete newb when it comes to roms, have only used resurrection rom 9.6 but didint like that i couldnt type a name on the dialpad, i know alot of people wont mind that but as i use my phone for work i need something that lets me... and gonna try ressurection pro 1.0 to see if its fixed in this build...

until a stable cm9 comes out i think i'll be staying away from it, after resurrection, darkys rom seems to be th next one ill be trying, that one is close to stock and takes out touchwiz

Grassey

eamondunphy wrote: »

the dial pad problem i mentioned earlier is something i need so im gonna have to switch roms now. think im going to try darkyrom

what do people think of it??

Install GO dialer or similar app to get the typing name feature in dial pad

eamondunphy

Grassey wrote: »

Install GO dialer or similar app to get the typing name feature in dial pad

ha thanks grassey, have no idea how i didnt think of doing that myself!!!

what rom are you on?

Grassey

Still on CM7. Didn't like any of the Ics based roms I had tried so went back to what works perfect. I'll flash CM9 within next week though, looks like most kinks bar hd video recording are sorted, then I'll prob just stay with it.

BopNiblets

BopNiblets wrote: »

So what stable roms are using the vanilla ICS theme at the moment?
Or is there one that has TouchWiz and vanilla ICS theme in one? Something as close to stock as possible!

Well, took the plunge and tried Simplistic ICS (Lite) ROM from xda-developers, install was painless, as it was a non wipe version (install from SD card with ClockWork Mod.

However, it's not perfect, I've had a few niggles coming from stock 2.3.4:
- Messaging, Exchange Services and Email crash (I've fixed the Email app by clearing the cache. but not able to see texts is crap)
- Screenshot shortcut doesn't work
- No default Files application
- No default ringtones/notifications included (trimmed for download size but I've since found them elsewhere)
- No TW clock app (no nice gentle alarms!)
- Simple Last.fm Scrobbler doesn't work with the Google Music app in this ROM
- Statusbar doesn't show clock/icons sometimes
- "Send SMS on Sim change" security option crashes Settings
- Latest Swype theme is orange (not blue as in 2.3.4)
- Cancel and OK buttons have switched positions (just have to get used to it)
- CRT-off animation is annoying, included by default (got rid of it easily enough though)

Pros:
- Quite snappy
- Face Unlock works
- Pattern lockscreen music controls
- 15 Notification Toggles
- Battery mod (% text on icon)
- Update Google Apps

I might have to switch to Pure ICS ROM, it includes most of the Touchwiz apps I understand, and has addons for 15 toggles, latest Google Apps.