[HOW-TO] Simplified Root + Recovery + Custom ROM

Whyzor · Aug 2, 2011

This is a simplified guide for those new to rooting & flashing a custom ROM on the Optimus V. No need to type complex commands that are hard to follow and prone to mistakes. Basically there are 3 main steps: Root, Install custom recovery, & flash custom ROM.

Windows Drivers for the Optimus V (Optional but suggested):
http://www.lg-phones.org/wp-content/uploads/LG-Optimus-V.zip

Rooting

Rooting is the process of gaining administrative rights to the phone so one can do customizations that aren't normally allowed. Root by itself doesn't do anything interesting, unless there's an app that needs it. The fancy stuff comes from custom ROMs. Just remember Virgin Mobile Activation only works on Froyo ROMs, so do it before going to Gingerbread. The easiest way to root nowadays is to use GingerBreak. It can be found here:

[26.04.2011][v1.2] GingerBreak APK (root for GingerBread) - xda-developers

Instruction Steps:

1. Turn on USB Debugging (Settings - Applications - Development)
2. Copy the GingerBreak.apk to a /sdcard dir, then using a 'file manager' app (search for one in Android Market) install it like a regular app.
3. It can take up to 10 minutes, and will reboot automatically when complete (rooted), if attempt fails, reboot manually & run it again.

Install custom recovery image

The recovery image is an alternative bootup instead of normal Android Operating System. It allows low-level operations such as backup/restore a ROM, wipe partitions, and flash ROMs.

4. Download and copy the recovery image VM670NH_recovery.img (works with new & old OV screens) onto your /sdcard.
5. Install the Flash Image GUI app (save the .apk to a /sdcard directory, then open it with file manager) Run the app & select 'Recovery Image' option with the file above.

Flash Custom ROM

I.H.O CyanogenMod 7 ROM (Gingerbread)

6. Copy the unextracted ROM .zip that you wish to install to the /sdcard dir. Also if installing a CyanogenMod Gingerbread ROM, the unextracted gapps.zip also needs to be placed in the same dir to flash right after the ROM .zip.
7. Boot into Clockworkmod recovery mode (From powered off state, hold vol-down, home, and power button until the LG logo appears).
8. FIRST, BACKUP ORIGINAL ROM! Don't continue until this is successful. Use vol-up/down, camera, & back keys to navigate in recovery.
9. Wipe Data/Factory Reset, wipe cache partition. Under Advanced submenu, wipe dalvik-cache. Then uner Mounts & Storage submenu, format all partitions EXCEPT /sdcard.
10. Flash the custom ROM.zip from sdcard and gapps.zip too if going to a CyanogenMod ROM
11. Reboot and enjoy the new ROM, the first boot takes longer than usual, also some problems may disappear after rebooting.

NOTES:

- NEVER use Android Settings 'Factory Reset' from now on, only do factory reset & wipes from within recovery mode. Most ROMs should have this option removed from the Android settings.

- Some newer Optimus V screens hardware changed, see link: [FIX]Black screen with custom recovery and custom roms (BobZHome's IHO recovery from the Wiki binary -> recovery page also works with newer screens.)

- If restoring a backed up ROM in CWM recovery gives 'MD5 mismatch' error (likely caused by renaming a ROM backup). Try this fix:
# cd /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/<name_of_backup>
# rm nandroid.md5
# md5sum *img > nandroid.md5

- If you ever want to restore to original stock ROM (ONLY on OV's with older screen), with original recovery and UNrooted:
http://www.prepaidandroid.org/index...e_your_Optimus_V_to_almost_original_condition

kurt.hewett · Aug 27, 2011

titanium backup?

Excellent guide for the likes of me (noob), you might wanna mention titanium backup too

Zachary droid · Aug 27, 2011

help

Hey u have a great step by step guide, however when I run gingerbreak to root it gives me an error I kno u said reboot manually and I did twice and I couldn't get it to work, any thoughts of to why it did this twice thanks

Whyzor · Aug 28, 2011

Zachary droid said:
Hey u have a great step by step guide, however when I run gingerbreak to root it gives me an error I kno u said reboot manually and I did twice and I couldn't get it to work, any thoughts of to why it did this twice thanks

What is the exact error you're getting? I believe you have to keep retrying, maybe up to 10 times.

VegasJoker · Aug 31, 2011

Thanks a lot.Real helpful

KidGusto · Sep 8, 2011

Will this work for LG Optimus S? It's been difficult to find specific information for this phone.

Thanks.

bigsupersquid · Sep 8, 2011

KidGusto said:
Will this work for LG Optimus S? It's been difficult to find specific information for this phone.

Thanks.

the windows drivers and gingerbreak will work.
you'll need an optimus S custom recovery and rom, though. If you use optimus V software, your home and menu keys will be backwards, and there may be other little issues with the network.
look on android central forums for optimus S development and you'll find roms and recoveries no problem.

silviu123 · Sep 10, 2011

Thank you for this. The Rom manager method is great, i was afraid not to brick my optimus one with the adb shell crap and pc connection. They should make a nici sticky like this in the euro section, not with adb crap.

lamenramen · Sep 10, 2011

Can this guide by updated, with more details?
The menu options in ROM manager are not the same anymore, and I am flailing around trying to figure out which options to hit.
I'm stuck at the LG logo boot up screen after doing what I think is flashing the bumblebee ROM step. (step 10 in the guide).

cobraextreme · Sep 11, 2011

I used these steps and they worked great for rooting, but I'm having a problem with recovery. I flashed CWM 3.2.0.1 from ROM Manager and it appeared to work fine, but when I try to boot into recovery I just get a blank screen.

I have done the following:
Busybox 1.19.2 from Stericson, installed to /system/bin
Superuser from market, updated to 2.3.6.3, su is 2.3.2-efgh
Used ROM Manager 4.4.0.7 to flash CWM recovery 3.2.0.1

I've tried getting to recovery using Home+Vol Dn+Power, or the reboot menu option in rom manager, and just get the blank screen.

Anyone run into this or have suggestions?

bigsupersquid · Sep 11, 2011

cobraextreme said:
I used these steps and they worked great for rooting, but I'm having a problem with recovery. I flashed CWM 3.2.0.1 from ROM Manager and it appeared to work fine, but when I try to boot into recovery I just get a blank screen.

I have done the following:
Busybox 1.19.2 from Stericson, installed to /system/bin
Superuser from market, updated to 2.3.6.3, su is 2.3.2-efgh
Used ROM Manager 4.4.0.7 to flash CWM recovery 3.2.0.1

I've tried getting to recovery using Home+Vol Dn+Power, or the reboot menu option in rom manager, and just get the blank screen.

Anyone run into this or have suggestions?

[fix]black screen in custom recovery or custom roms
you probably have the newer screen type, which it appears the older custom kernels need a .config setting changed before building to support.
you'll have to use flash_image in adb or terminal.
probably. full instructions and downloads at that link.
yay, you didn't flash a rom through rom manager at the same time! or it'd be a lot harder.

cobraextreme · Sep 11, 2011

bigsupersquid said:
[fix]black screen in custom recovery or custom roms
you probably have the newer screen type, which it appears the older custom kernels need a .config setting changed before building to support.
you'll have to use flash_image in adb or terminal.
probably. full instructions and downloads at that link.
yay, you didn't flash a rom through rom manager at the same time! or it'd be a lot harder.

That did the trick! Thanks!

It would be great to get a sticky about this in here. It's pretty easy to miss the newer display issue if you're just now looking into this forum and don't check AC first.

Whyzor · Sep 11, 2011

cobraextreme said:
That did the trick! Thanks!

It would be great to get a sticky about this in here. It's pretty easy to miss the newer display issue if you're just now looking into this forum and don't check AC first.

Updated original post with link for the new OV screens.

lamenramen said:
Can this guide by updated, with more details?
The menu options in ROM manager are not the same anymore, and I am flailing around trying to figure out which options to hit.
I'm stuck at the LG logo boot up screen after doing what I think is flashing the bumblebee ROM step. (step 10 in the guide).

ROM Manager is only supposed to be use to flash the Clockworkmod recovery image, then everything else is done by booting into the recovery mode. ROM manager's other features should not be used on the OV.

bigsupersquid · Sep 12, 2011

Whyzor said:
Updated original post with link for the new OV screens.
...

the only big problem left is getting the "back to stock" up to par for the newer OV's...
if someone could upload the critical part of a nandroid made from the newer stock system after rooting but before installing a custom rom, a more up-to-date back to stock guide could be put up with the newer files, or at least the older files patched with the newer kernel.
anyone want to upload the boot.img from a first nandroid backup off of a newer ov? the boot.img doesn't have any personal info, and it's got the newer kernel, which is all that's needed to fix up the older back-to-stock nandroid files.

cobraextreme · Sep 13, 2011

bigsupersquid said:
the only big problem left is getting the "back to stock" up to par for the newer OV's...
if someone could upload the critical part of a nandroid made from the newer stock system after rooting but before installing a custom rom, a more up-to-date back to stock guide could be put up with the newer files, or at least the older files patched with the newer kernel.
anyone want to upload the boot.img from a first nandroid backup off of a newer ov? the boot.img doesn't have any personal info, and it's got the newer kernel, which is all that's needed to fix up the older back-to-stock nandroid files.

I think there's about an 85% chance that this contains the kernel that you're looking for; not sure if you have some way to deal with that 15% uncertainty but hopefully it's helpful.

luwizwiz · Sep 14, 2011

Questions about ROM Manager

Hi, can I get a clear clarification about installing the ROM Manager on my LG Optimus p500, when your about to install the ClockwordMod Recovery you would have to select the phone model. LG p500 is not listed. Is there an alternative to it?

Whyzor · Sep 14, 2011

luwizwiz said:
Hi, can I get a clear clarification about installing the ROM Manager on my LG Optimus p500, when your about to install the ClockwordMod Recovery you would have to select the phone model. LG p500 is not listed. Is there an alternative to it?

This thread is under the Optimus V development section, you should ask questions about the p500 in this forum section:

http://xdaforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=839

luwizwiz · Sep 15, 2011

Thanks, i didn't notice that its for Optimus V, i have a Optimus One. many thanks

ct200 · Sep 24, 2011

Complete noob here, I mean a complete noob...first cell phone.

I was hoping to tether my new OV, but i quickly found out i have software version 2.2.2 which does not allow me to turn on hot spots. So I heard I can root my phone to get around this. I did stes 1-3 without issue, now I am stuck on step 3a. When i try to install busybox (not sure what this does for me?), i get the follow error/message "It looks like you have Busybox installed, but there are multiple copies still installed. /system/bin/ is currently as RW. This means that something may have gone wrong in the installation process. Please verify on your end that everything is correctly installed and working.

What do I verify? There is no Busybox app to run, only to install so it looks like the install failed?

Whyzor · Sep 24, 2011

ct200 said:
Complete noob here, I mean a complete noob...first cell phone.

I was hoping to tether my new OV, but i quickly found out i have software version 2.2.2 which does not allow me to turn on hot spots. So I heard I can root my phone to get around this. I did stes 1-3 without issue, now I am stuck on step 3a. When i try to install busybox (not sure what this does for me?), i get the follow error/message "It looks like you have Busybox installed, but there are multiple copies still installed. /system/bin/ is currently as RW. This means that something may have gone wrong in the installation process. Please verify on your end that everything is correctly installed and working.

What do I verify? There is no Busybox app to run, only to install so it looks like the install failed?

If you go into 'adb shell' from the PC with phone connected, or open the app 'terminal emulator' to get a unix prompt, and type 'busybox', you should see a list of commands. If you get a no command found, then it's not installed. It's suggested to install so you can run unix commands, but not really needed. Root & custom recovery are the important ones. You're probably safe to continue, just make sure to make a backup in recovery mode before doing anything else.

[HOW-TO] Simplified Root + Recovery + Custom ROM

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