JakeDHS07 and Ohmster's CyanogenMod Q&A Thread

End of an era

Ladies and gentlemen I have returned. Unfortunately I return with some bitter sweet news but its not all bad. I will be moving to the Droid Turbo as my main device (hope to have root and etc working ASAP) and I hope to see a few of you over there.

As far as the RAZR goes I love this community and am KEEPING my RAZR not trading it in so I will be able to continue helping out and developing here for that device as well for as long as it remains active. I haven't heard anything as far as 5.0 or CM 12 for the RAZR but I will keep my eyes open and see what I can do for all of you.

This Q&A was initially started by me to gain some more reputation and recognition around here as my quest to become an admin went into full swing. I was called back to Ireland for a couple of months on family business and handed off the duties to Ohmster and the rest of our brilliant community. They have done an amazing job. Now that XDA has setup an "Official" Q&A Help Thread directly under the parent developer thread, this "Handy at the Time" Q&A thread is now redundant and a tad confusing for new members to ask the questions they cannot yet ask in the developer thread. So in the best interests of the Razr Community, I am going to concentrate my efforts to help in the official Q&A thread where I feel my efforts will be utilized to it's best potential. This way all questions to a common thread can all be consolidated in one convenient place and will be easier for new members to find. It has been a lot of fun but the fun is not over, I will see you all in the [Q&A] [ROM][4.4.4][CDMA/GSM] Official CM11 thread soon, right here:
http://xdaforums.com/droi...lable-t2901995

This Q&A thread will close in one week and members are referred to the official Q&A from now on.
Thank you everyone and I will see you over there!!!

Cheers,
Shaun AKA JakeDHS07

Hello everyone. My name is JakeDHS07 (real name Shaun) I will respond to both and for those of you uninitiated I have been a debugger, tester, and troubleshooter since the ICS days way back when. I'm pretty well versed in Android and especially CM Roms. So does anybody have any questions or issues they would like to ask. Please keep in mind while I will do my best I can't guarantee anything. Just doing what I can to help out.

DROID RAZR MAXX CM 11 JBX KERNEL

mikeoswego said:

Yes, the LED flashes about every 3 seconds no matter what interval or duration you set. Again, I'm not complaining about this, just an observation. Also, I have to follow up and say that setting the LED to always on does not work as I said it did; it still flashes about every 3 seconds.

I'm not surprised that the notification LED goes away after going into the settings for it; just like it goes away if you just open the notification drawer and don't actually dismiss the notification there.

Just to add something new, here is a website that gives the correct hex values for various colors which I find easier than working the sliders to set them up: Color Hex Color Codes

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you for the backup on that. I too find typing in named colors easier than that slider thing and I use the 216 safe, non-dithering colors in this chart more comprehensive. It shows all the colors and hex code to type in. It is a link from the mac daddy of all colors that I use here when doing web or logo color work.

I am now back to 06/21 and my LED comes and goes, with nightly builds, Forrest Gump got it right. "cm11 is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get".

One sec I'll post a step by step what I did.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 05:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------

Apps i used . Root Explorer and Hex editor ( free from app store ) Any file explorer will probably work i like root explorer cause i can set permissions with it when i am done. TURN OFF WIFI BEFORE STARTING THIS .
1. Get Current mac address goto wifi hit menu goto advanced and write that down.
2. Write down what you want it to change it to below it.
3. open root explorer (or your file browser ) and go to system/etc/firmware/ti-connectivity and copy wl1271-nvs.bin then paste it to your sd card external or internal will work.
4. open wl1271-nvs.bin (the one you copied not the original) with hex editor app and look on the first 2 lines and you will see your current mac address it will be listed backwards for me the first 4 were on line 2 and the rest on line 1 change them to match what you want . thats why i said write what you want it to be below the original so you can change 2 at a time . once you are done hit menu and save.
5. copy your wl1271-nvs.bin ( the one you edited ) and paste it over the original found in system/etc/firmware/ti-connectivity ( you will need a root explorer to paste here) then set permissions to match the picture below. now go back and check that your mac has changed to what you want it.

brkahughes said:

@Ohmster, he said he had the original address on a letter from the IT department, so he's good to go: now spill it! How did you change the MAC using wifical?
- Brian

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

What say, Bri? teachme said that his WiFi MAC changed when he flashed cm11 and that is very possible. Not normally a big deal, WiFi MACs are rarely used for wireless access but then can and are used mostly for the workplace. Teachme said his workplace IT department are pricks and will give him a lot of crap about changing it on the router to grant access to his phone. So, he wanted to "change it back". That information is held on the device, in the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file. What wifical.sh does is read that file and restore the MAC addy back to what is in the file.

When I got my replacement phone, Stargo told me to immediately backup my phone's /pds folder and contents to keep it safe. Here is a direct quote from teachme to help clear this up:

Yeah they use mac filtering at work and I T are kinda pissy about changing things. WiFi Mac changer works but must be done on every reboot. Thanks for the info above I'll read up. I'm about 3 weeks from an lg g2 so I may just wait and give them that Mac Addy when I get it.

So, he used Wireless Mac Address Changer, NOT wifical.sh to change his WiFi MAC addy. That is a temporary fix and you lose it when you reboot. When I said "I "restored" my original WiFi MAC address and then verified it with screenshot #1 I sent you.", I meant I did the wifical.sh in a root terminal and it was neat to watch, it did "restore" my WiFi MAC addy to what is in the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file. Since my phone is a new replacement, it didn't "change anything" but would have, if my MAC addy had changed. Since I got this phone with insurance, paid $99 for a replacement from money I do not have, I dare not modify my own device because if I wreck it, I will be charged again for a replacement plus lose my insurance for putting in two claims in one year. Next year I could restore the insurance if this did happen.

To permanently change your WiFi MAC Address, is a bit of a procedure, not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. You need the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file, a Hex Editor, and the instructions on how to do it are posted here:
Modify the MAC address

About ¾ way down the page are "the instructions". They are for a different device and a different situation, but what you have to do is pretty clear. That is why I offered my nvs_map.bin file. It is easier to modify an existing file than to "create one from scratch". Those instructions are clear about what to change, but in NO WAY easy to understand as you have to just use the part about modifying the MSB and LSB part of the number, save it, put it back in the phone where it belongs, reboot, run wifical.sh, done. I don't really think teachme has the experience to perform this but now you have me curious. I want to Hex Exit my own file on my PC just to see "how easy this is". Doing it now, file opened in Hex Workshop and this is scary, man. I am going to try and edit this file but I don't think I want to mess with this replacement phone. I do not have the money to replace it if something goes wrong.

Holy crap, this was rough, man. The instructions by themselves will not help you if you do not know what you are looking for and what you need to replace it with. I just located my own WiFi MAC Address in the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file by opening it in Hex Workshop, and color coding each part of the MAC address to show you where it is. By modifying these values, in order, to what you want the MAC address to be, save the file. Then restore the file to it's original location and permission set, /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin, system, system rw-rw-r--.

This one jpg picture pretty much is the entire procedure but for saving the file, putting it back, rebooting, and performing wifical.sh one more time. That will do it.

You really got me working here, Bri. Not so much because it is needed right now, nor because you want to know "how I did this" because I didn't actually do it. But the challenge was out, the gauntlet tossed, and curiousity drove me to actually go through with it, other than changing my own device's MAC address because I cannot take the chance of an unforseen failure and having to pay the insurance company again, ship it to me again, and then lose my insurance for one year for putting in two claims in one year. But yes, this will and should change the WiFi MAC address, permanently, SFAIK. And yes, I would do it on my own phone if I were in his situation.

Satisfied? Great. Save this post and picture and there you have your instructions.

EDIT:
For anyone that wants it, I have attached an instruction kit of the image and post in a clickable pdf file all in one zip file as a How-To Change your WiFi MAC Address. Attached File: Permanently_Change_XT912_WiFi_MAC_Address.zip

Since I never saw instructions like this before, might as well post them. One caveat is that you must know the MAC Address you wish to restore and then you can restore it. For anybody that wants to do this, you need a good Hex Editor. What better place to go than Sourceforge? So here is a totally free, 5 star Hex Editor you can download for Windows for free. Hexplorer