[Q] Total noob here, need (probably very basic) help

[MrDinner]

Hello, first time poster here!

I bought Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 GT-I8160 and I want to flash CM 11 on it, because the stock Samsung's ROM is very bloated and slow.
I am looking at CM 11 from NovaFusion, which can be found novafusion.pl website.

I have currently downloaded:

• cm11.0_codina.nova.20141215.zip
• pa_gapps-modular-pico-4.4.4-20150106-signed.zip

I chose pico gapps because I want as less bloat as possible (only actually need Play Store).

The problem is, I don't know what to do next...

Now, I have a few questions:

1. Can I just flash CM trough the stock/default recovery mode that is already on the phone?
2. Can I use Odin to flash CM? If so, where is a trusted Odin download?
3. How do I restore the stock ROM that came with the phone if something goes (terribly :silly wrong?
4. Is it possible to reset flash counter and any other traces of root & custom ROMs on this phone in case I want to return it to warranty?

I added the "About device" info in the attachment!

 

[RyxeL]

1. flash it trough cwm temporary
2. no, you can't. novafusion didn't release Odin package for codina now.
3. backup your stockrom using cwm temporary
4. flashing rom trough cwm not increase flash counter

 

[MrDinner]

1. flash it trough cwm temporary
2. no, you can't. novafusion didn't release Odin package for codina now.
3. backup your stockrom using cwm temporary
4. flashing rom trough cwm not increase flash counter

Thanks a lot for responding!

Can you link me to CWM for this phone?
Also, how does the "temporary" mode work? Does it load up recovery from the microSD card? Just curious.

 

[Nieon.]

Hello, first time poster here!

I bought Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 GT-I8160 and I want to flash CM 11 on it, because the stock Samsung's ROM is very bloated and slow.
I am looking at CM 11 from NovaFusion, which can be found novafusion.pl website.

I have currently downloaded:

• cm11.0_codina.nova.20141215.zip
• pa_gapps-modular-pico-4.4.4-20150106-signed.zip

I chose pico gapps because I want as less bloat as possible (only actually need Play Store).

The problem is, I don't know what to do next...

Now, I have a few questions:

1. Can I just flash CM trough the stock/default recovery mode that is already on the phone?
2. Can I use Odin to flash CM? If so, where is a trusted Odin download?
3. How do I restore the stock ROM that came with the phone if something goes (terribly :silly wrong?
4. Is it possible to reset flash counter and any other traces of root & custom ROMs on this phone in case I want to return it to warranty?

I added the "About device" info in the attachment!

1. Well, I think the stock recovery doesn't allow you to install zip from sdcard. That's why we use CWM instead (plus it does more things than stock recovery). I recommend CWM
2. No, Custom ROM should be flashed through CWM, I think...
3. You can backup your current ROM (includes apps installed) through CWM and if something goes wrong, you can easily restore it from CWM again. BUT, if somehow you can't get to CWM, you can use ODIN to flash stock ROM and your phone should be back to its original state
4. Yup, it can be done from CWM or ODIN.. same method as in my 3rd answer

PS. I only gave answers to stuff I've done before.. basically, my answers are based on self-experience hope it helps!

---------- Post added at 12:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM ----------

Thanks a lot for responding!

Can you link me to CWM for this phone?
Also, how does the "temporary" mode work? Does it load up recovery from the microSD card? Just curious.

Mm.. from what I remember... Temporary CWM will not replace your stock recovery, and you will need to flash the CWM everytime you want to get into CWM Recovery .-.

 

[shadow252]

Thanks a lot for responding!

Can you link me to CWM for this phone?
Also, how does the "temporary" mode work? Does it load up recovery from the microSD card? Just curious.

Here : Temporary CWM.

 

[MrDinner]

Thank you everyone, I got CM 11 working easy and nice! :good:

Also, looks like the NovaFusion CM 11 ROM did something to the recovery, now it always boots to CWM even without a microSD card.

Does that mean that I can't get back to old recovery? Can I just flash stock ROM and get it back?

P. S. everything is so damn fast and smooth compared to stock ROM!!!

 

[shadow252]

Thank you everyone, I got CM 11 working easy and nice! :good:

Also, looks like the NovaFusion CM 11 ROM did something to the recovery, now it always boots to CWM even without a microSD card.

Does that mean that I can't get back to old recovery? Can I just flash stock ROM and get it back?

Yes, Custom ROMs like CM 11 have CWM Recovery or TWRP instead of Stock Recovery because they have functions such as backup your system and more. If you really want to have Stock Recovery then you have to flash Stock ROM using Odin.

P. S. everything is so damn fast and smooth compared to stock ROM!!!

Right. Probably that's why most of the people here use Custom ROMs.