Full on Noob, need help if possible.

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May 19, 2014
5
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Okay so, I love my Infuse but getting really tired of not being able to download anything off the play store. Just tired of it's rather less than great performance right now as well. It's is running 2.3.6 GB and want to get this thing up to ICS if possible. Just something running 4.0 so I can use my phone for what I need too. It is not rooted, no cyanogenMod, NOTHING. As the title says, I'm a full on noob here and I apologize if all this is covered in other threads, however I have just gotten to the point where I have found myself even more lost than where I started on what I needed to do/get. If someone can, I will literally need this spelled out to me (no pun intended), in order of the steps I need to take with everything. I'm getting tired of confusing myself even more from all the different stuff I have seen all over the place and I know without some serious guidance, I will just brick my phone. Thanks for any help! :laugh:
 
Last edited:

bokonon9

Member
Oct 17, 2011
35
16
I understand this community can be a bit unorganized and confusing so I'll give you my process for rooting and installing custom firmware (there are other ways, but this works for my AT&T Infuse 4G SGH-i997).

First of all, no one uses ICS on the Infuse. There is a ROM, but it's underdeveloped because JB came out so quick. You will need to flash it to get to higher operating systems, but it is by no means a daily driver. Even JB is a little buggy compared to KitKat on the Infuse these days.

The first thing you want to do is root your phone and get a custom recovery.

There are more than a few options for rooting, but I prefer using ODIN (as I understand it, this is the tool Samsung uses to restore soft bricked phones). So this is a good thing to know how to do, in case you ever do soft brick your phone, you'll know exactly what to do.

Read the ODIN instructions in full as I will only briefly explain.

You're going to have to install Samsung drivers.

You'll be using UCLB3_Unbrick_root_1.1.zip. If you used UCLB3_Unbrick_1.1.zip it would just get you back to stock GB with no root added.

To put your phone into download mode, first turn off your phone. Plug a usb cable into your computer. Then with the phone off, hold down both volume buttons and plug the usb cable into your phone. A warning will come up and you push volume up to accept, realizing that you can easily soft brick your phone if you loose power or unplug during a download.

Once downloading is done, the phone will reboot and you'll be disappointed to see that nothing has changed. Except one small thing, you are now rooted and you should have an application called SuperUser that will allow you to do nifty and also dangerous things.

Now follow this step in the ODIN instructions to add the custom recovery (CWM = Clock Work Mod):
The version with root works exactly like the above version, but adds root. To add CWM recovery to the rooted version, download a custom Gingerbread kernel from HERE or HERE and flash the zImage using SGS Kernel Flasher (found in the Play Store) on the phone. If you go this route for root and CWM, your Custom Binary Download counter will not show any custom binary activity.

If you follow the link in the second "HERE," you'll get the kernel I prefer since it was most recently updated. Scroll down the downloads section and grab "2013.04.30-CWM-Synthesis-1.2Ghz.zip." (1.2Ghz is stock for our processor, anything higher will be overclocked which I don't recommend).

Extract that and grab the zImage file in the update folder. You're going to copy this to your phone in a second.

But first you need SGS Kernal Flasher, you can get it off the playstore, but I despise having to log in to an OS I'm going to write over in less than a minute so I download the APK from here. Hopefully you know how to install APKs from your SD card and that you'll have to check install from unknown sources.

Now flash the zImage using SGS Kernel Flasher. Your phone will reboot and hang on the Samsung logo and a creepy voice is going to tell you about how she's partitioning your phone and installing Voodoo lag fix. This is normal. Eventually your phone will reboot back into GB and you'll be ready to flash any ROM of your choice by rebooting into recovery.

You reboot into recovery by holding the volume up and volume down button while powering on the phone. This is different than download mode and will take you do a new screen that you control with the volume keys.

You'll be using this to put new software on your phone.

Now you can bassically follow the instructions for getting to CyanogenMod 11 (Kit Kat) from GB.

The first bullet is what I just explained in detail.

Note that I didn't include the links in these instructions, just follow the link above to get to the original post.

Obtain CWM, this can be done using Jscotts Odin back to stock (Follow instructions and use SGS kernal flasher to obtain CWM)
Run Qksters IMEI backup script here
Make certain you are on ICS, this can be done by flashing Entropy's CM9
It is recommended now that you remove your SD Card
CWM: Wipe Cache / Factory Reset
Install ROM: Scroll down for downloads sectoion
... The package will start to install..
... Phone will reboot into the install screen again...
... Continue to install [Automatically] If not manually flash again
... Phone will reboot again and be at the recovery screen...
Install Gapps: Here - Working swipe!
CWM: Wipe Cache Partition
CWM: Advanced/Wipe Dalvik Cache
Reboot

To be clear, when you flash a ROM, it won't be like flashing the zImage (that was just to get custom recovery). To flash the CM9 ROM or Qksters IMEI backup script for example, you leave the rom in the .zip file and simply put it on your SD card. Once in the recovery screen, you select "Install Update from ZIP" and navigate to the particular ROM you wish to install.

Also after updating to a higher version of Android, your phone will sometimes hang on the install screen for a long time. If it does for more than five minutes, it's safe to pull the battery and try flashing again (and sometimes necessary).

After flashing Entropy's CM9, you will be on ICS, you can use if you want but I don't advise it. You should continue with the instructions and update to KitKat after getting to ICS. I recommend Scott's CM11 (what I linked you to) or Scott's BeanStalk (find it in the Android Development Section).

Lately I've been using CyanFox and I have to say, it's the most stable ROM I've used in a while.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask.

Best of luck and happy flashing,
~bokonon9
 
May 19, 2014
5
0
Thank you muchness!

Thank you very much for helping me in this mess! I greatly appreciate it. I love my Infuse and do not want to get rid of it quite yet so hopefully this will help! Once I get a new usb cord I will get on this. My toddler decided to get a hold of it and it has to set a certain way now and can't be moved. This, is no bueno! Anyways, THANKS AGAIN!!! :laugh:
 
Last edited:

wwr

Member
Jun 3, 2014
13
0
I'm new in the android world and I'm using a nexus 7 and an infuse to make experiments just to learn.

bokonon9, thank you! You're guide has been precious to me.

Unfortunately I only succeeded installing ICS, infact I get till here:

After flashing Entropy's CM9, you will be on ICS, you can use if you want but I don't advise it. You should continue with the instructions and update to KitKat after getting to ICS. I recommend Scott's CM11 (what I linked you to) or Scott's BeanStalk (find it in the Android Development Section).

I tried to install CM11 and even CM10 at least half a dozen times each, following step by step the instructions that I've found on the thread but all the times I have the same issue:

after the zip rom update and the reboot, the bootloader keeps launching the CWM recovery. I see the logo, the progress bar and then I land in recovery

I don't get any kind of error (and I don't know where to look for to get more information than what's shown on the screen) and I'm just stuck in the recovery and I have to start from scratch every time using Odin all the way down.

I'm not interested in Gapps so, at the beginning I tried without installing them but then I tried also using the appropriate gapps as indicated in the procedure. Either way I didn't get any solution to my problem.

Do you have an idea? Is there a way for me to provide more information or debug?

Thank you!
 

Ainz_Ooal_Gown

Senior Member
I'm new in the android world and I'm using a nexus 7 and an infuse to make experiments just to learn.

bokonon9, thank you! You're guide has been precious to me.

Unfortunately I only succeeded installing ICS, infact I get till here:



I tried to install CM11 and even CM10 at least half a dozen times each, following step by step the instructions that I've found on the thread but all the times I have the same issue:

after the zip rom update and the reboot, the bootloader keeps launching the CWM recovery. I see the logo, the progress bar and then I land in recovery

I don't get any kind of error (and I don't know where to look for to get more information than what's shown on the screen) and I'm just stuck in the recovery and I have to start from scratch every time using Odin all the way down.

I'm not interested in Gapps so, at the beginning I tried without installing them but then I tried also using the appropriate gapps as indicated in the procedure. Either way I didn't get any solution to my problem.

Do you have an idea? Is there a way for me to provide more information or debug?

Thank you!

i would say go back to stock gb with odin and basically start over but with ics i always let it reboot to get a "feel" for it then i reboot to recovery and wipe basically everything then flash the next level of android which should be cm 10 then i let that boot then repeat that to get to kitkat 4.4.3 CarbonRom....sometimes you have to flash the same rom twice to get it to flash tho
 

wwr

Member
Jun 3, 2014
13
0
I already tried all that and I can't figure out a way out ... I'm really banging my head against the wall
 

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    I understand this community can be a bit unorganized and confusing so I'll give you my process for rooting and installing custom firmware (there are other ways, but this works for my AT&T Infuse 4G SGH-i997).

    First of all, no one uses ICS on the Infuse. There is a ROM, but it's underdeveloped because JB came out so quick. You will need to flash it to get to higher operating systems, but it is by no means a daily driver. Even JB is a little buggy compared to KitKat on the Infuse these days.

    The first thing you want to do is root your phone and get a custom recovery.

    There are more than a few options for rooting, but I prefer using ODIN (as I understand it, this is the tool Samsung uses to restore soft bricked phones). So this is a good thing to know how to do, in case you ever do soft brick your phone, you'll know exactly what to do.

    Read the ODIN instructions in full as I will only briefly explain.

    You're going to have to install Samsung drivers.

    You'll be using UCLB3_Unbrick_root_1.1.zip. If you used UCLB3_Unbrick_1.1.zip it would just get you back to stock GB with no root added.

    To put your phone into download mode, first turn off your phone. Plug a usb cable into your computer. Then with the phone off, hold down both volume buttons and plug the usb cable into your phone. A warning will come up and you push volume up to accept, realizing that you can easily soft brick your phone if you loose power or unplug during a download.

    Once downloading is done, the phone will reboot and you'll be disappointed to see that nothing has changed. Except one small thing, you are now rooted and you should have an application called SuperUser that will allow you to do nifty and also dangerous things.

    Now follow this step in the ODIN instructions to add the custom recovery (CWM = Clock Work Mod):
    The version with root works exactly like the above version, but adds root. To add CWM recovery to the rooted version, download a custom Gingerbread kernel from HERE or HERE and flash the zImage using SGS Kernel Flasher (found in the Play Store) on the phone. If you go this route for root and CWM, your Custom Binary Download counter will not show any custom binary activity.

    If you follow the link in the second "HERE," you'll get the kernel I prefer since it was most recently updated. Scroll down the downloads section and grab "2013.04.30-CWM-Synthesis-1.2Ghz.zip." (1.2Ghz is stock for our processor, anything higher will be overclocked which I don't recommend).

    Extract that and grab the zImage file in the update folder. You're going to copy this to your phone in a second.

    But first you need SGS Kernal Flasher, you can get it off the playstore, but I despise having to log in to an OS I'm going to write over in less than a minute so I download the APK from here. Hopefully you know how to install APKs from your SD card and that you'll have to check install from unknown sources.

    Now flash the zImage using SGS Kernel Flasher. Your phone will reboot and hang on the Samsung logo and a creepy voice is going to tell you about how she's partitioning your phone and installing Voodoo lag fix. This is normal. Eventually your phone will reboot back into GB and you'll be ready to flash any ROM of your choice by rebooting into recovery.

    You reboot into recovery by holding the volume up and volume down button while powering on the phone. This is different than download mode and will take you do a new screen that you control with the volume keys.

    You'll be using this to put new software on your phone.

    Now you can bassically follow the instructions for getting to CyanogenMod 11 (Kit Kat) from GB.

    The first bullet is what I just explained in detail.

    Note that I didn't include the links in these instructions, just follow the link above to get to the original post.

    Obtain CWM, this can be done using Jscotts Odin back to stock (Follow instructions and use SGS kernal flasher to obtain CWM)
    Run Qksters IMEI backup script here
    Make certain you are on ICS, this can be done by flashing Entropy's CM9
    It is recommended now that you remove your SD Card
    CWM: Wipe Cache / Factory Reset
    Install ROM: Scroll down for downloads sectoion
    ... The package will start to install..
    ... Phone will reboot into the install screen again...
    ... Continue to install [Automatically] If not manually flash again
    ... Phone will reboot again and be at the recovery screen...
    Install Gapps: Here - Working swipe!
    CWM: Wipe Cache Partition
    CWM: Advanced/Wipe Dalvik Cache
    Reboot

    To be clear, when you flash a ROM, it won't be like flashing the zImage (that was just to get custom recovery). To flash the CM9 ROM or Qksters IMEI backup script for example, you leave the rom in the .zip file and simply put it on your SD card. Once in the recovery screen, you select "Install Update from ZIP" and navigate to the particular ROM you wish to install.

    Also after updating to a higher version of Android, your phone will sometimes hang on the install screen for a long time. If it does for more than five minutes, it's safe to pull the battery and try flashing again (and sometimes necessary).

    After flashing Entropy's CM9, you will be on ICS, you can use if you want but I don't advise it. You should continue with the instructions and update to KitKat after getting to ICS. I recommend Scott's CM11 (what I linked you to) or Scott's BeanStalk (find it in the Android Development Section).

    Lately I've been using CyanFox and I have to say, it's the most stable ROM I've used in a while.

    If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask.

    Best of luck and happy flashing,
    ~bokonon9
    1
    I already tried all that and I can't figure out a way out ... I'm really banging my head against the wall

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2091900&page=370

    read the last post on that page by scmfxt