Flashing ROM help please!

Stallingrad

I have a Xiaomi Mi2s that is giving problems. When I tap on an icon it opens, then closes right away, the problem is intermittent but frequent. Rebooting helps for a while.

The Amazon company I bought it from has asked me to:

3. Flashing MIUI V5 and stock Android 4.1 when phone is connected to a computer

And sent me this link, option 3 is what I need to do.

http://en.miui.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=11043&highlight=MIUI%2BROM%2BFlashing%2BGuide

Problem is I am out of my depth here and really can't follow the procedure, I also only have a Mac, and I think the above will only work on a PC.

Can anyone help me, or guide me to someone whip is familiar with this kind of thing. One of those small Chinese shops perhaps? I am sure it straightforward for anyone in the know. Really need to get it sorted as the problem is driving me mad. Great phone otherwise!

tallus

You don't need a PC by the looks of it.

Just download the rom for the link supplied and copy it to the folder called downloaded_rom on your phone.
Presumably when you connect the phone to the Mac it will display a folder structure on the desktop ?
I think if you go through the instructions one at a time you will find it easier to do.
Also, I find if I print out instructions they are easier to read on paper as opposed to reading from a screen which I find hard sometimes.
Best of luck.

maki

tallus wrote: »

You don't need a PC by the looks of it.

Just download the rom for the link supplied and copy it to the folder called downloaded_rom on your phone.
Presumably when you connect the phone to the Mac it will display a folder structure on the desktop ?
I think if you go through the instructions one at a time you will find it easier to do.
Also, I find if I print out instructions they are easier to read on paper as opposed to reading from a screen which I find hard sometimes.
Best of luck.

You're looking at the instructions for updating from MIUI to a newer version.
The OP is following the third method for a fresh install from further down the page, which includes a bunch of exe files which won't run on a Mac.

OP, since you're on a Mac you're much better off flashing from recovery (method 2 in that link). But you'll need to flash MIUI recovery first to do that. I've found it here but of course there are no instructions on how to flash.
Usually you'll need to download the Android SDK and flash recovery via fastboot, but that's a whole other story.
(EDIT: I didn't know that Xiaomi actually make MIUI, so it's possible you'll already have that recovery installed. If you do then option 2 is definitely your best bet).

Unfortunately your phone is a pretty obscure one so there's precious little third party support for it, so you're not going to get easy to use programs like Nexus Toolkit which will allow you to do these things with a few clicks.

Your only other option is to find a Windows pc and try the original way.
Also, be aware that doing any of this will wipe your device completely, so back up whatever you need.

Stallingrad

Many thanks maki and tallis. Still struggling here, I really am clueless about this whole flashing malarkey and associated lingo, but will try option 2 tonight. If I took the phone into one of those Chinese shops they would be able to do this for me?

irishpancake

Can you not access the internet on your phone??

I would honestly go with the first option shown, it seems to be easy and only requires the ROM file on the phone.

If you can, don't worry about using a PC/Mac, just go to:

http://en.miui.com/download-2.html

on your phone browser.....you could do it now, by clicking on the above link on your phone, on this forum.

You will then have the latest MIUI Rom on your phone, wherever it downloaded to, you should be able to find this or know it already.

You just then need to move that file to the path suggested, looks like it is \sdcard\downloaded_rom with a file manager....

use the Updater App on the phone, and follow the instructions from there.

Looks easy enough, but I'm not fully familiar with MIUI, so the sd card folder may not be called \sdcard, I don't know.....but it should be easy enough to find.

Isn't there a MIUI file explorer which should help?

Stallingrad

irishpancake wrote: »

Can you not access the internet on your phone??

I would honestly go with the first option shown, it seems to be easy and only requires the ROM file on the phone.

If you can, don't worry about using a PC/Mac, just go to:

http://en.miui.com/download-2.html

on your phone browser.....you could do it now, by clicking on the above link on your phone, on this forum.

You will then have the latest MIUI Rom on your phone, wherever it downloaded to, you should be able to find this or know it already.

You just then need to move that file to the path suggested, looks like it is \sdcard\downloaded_rom with a file manager....

use the Updater App on the phone, and follow the instructions from there.

Looks easy enough, but I'm not fully familiar with MIUI, so the sd card folder may not be called \sdcard, I don't know.....but it should be easy enough to find.

Isn't there a MIUI file explorer which should help?

Trying that now, will let you know. Thing is I have done a factory reset on this phone, installed the latest Rom, but the problem returned. But will try again and let you know. Thanks.

Is it possible that a rogue app is causing this, only apps I've downloaded are FB, Doubletwist, BBC, Evernote, nothing scary.

Stallingrad

Thanks Pancake, did that, now lets see if that solves the erratic closing windows problem...

Stallingrad

Update:
Pancakes procedure seems to have worked, phone seems to behaving itself perfectly. (Touchwood). Was very straightforward in the end.

Can't thank you enough has I had tried all sorts and nothing helped, next stage was returning it.

Buy yourself a drink and send me the bill!

irishpancake

Stallingrad wrote: »

Update:
Pancakes procedure seems to have worked, phone seems to behaving itself perfectly. (Touchwood). Was very straightforward in the end.

Can't thank you enough has I had tried all sorts and nothing helped, next stage was returning it.

Buy yourself a drink and send me the bill!

That's great

as I said, I don't have miui, but it can't be much different under the hood from any other Android based device.

[You can send the €20 by PM!!!!]

If I were you, I'd keep an eye on that forum/site for future updates....it also seems to have extensive help and support, more than one would expect tbh.