I have an Atrix 4g that was about to be retired or sold, and decided to instead make it an android project to learn about modding and possibly make something useful out of an old device.
After combing the forums on this site and others, realized there was some risk involved of a hard brick, but since this is not my main phone anymore, I wasnt too worried about. I'll share the results...
The phone was running gingerbread 2.3.6, ATT 4.5.145 build
#1) Root phone (
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1769497)
Step 10 did generate an error for me, I had to issue the alternate command and it worked fine.
I downloaded root checker by JOEYKRIM on google play store to ensure it was rooted properly afterwards.
#2) Backup the phone in case of trouble (I used titanium backup from google play store, requires rooting from step 1)
Add a schedule to backup all and execute the schedule now. Pretty easy stuff
#3) Unlock bootloader (
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1182871)
This is probably the most dangerous step. I used the link above and would like to add a few comments. The link above is a script written to automate the process for those not terribly familiar with the android tools ADB and fastboot. This script is capable of unlocking your bootloader, fixing some common problems that happen along the way, and installing clockworkmod so you can access android recovery mode to install custom ROMs. However, it seems to come with an older version of the clockworkmod, therefore I used it for the bootloader only (option 1 from main menu). I also had to execute option 3 afterwards as I did get the failure to boot 0x1000 error. Long story short.. I used option 1, then option 3 and skip the rest.
#4) PUSH ROM files of your choice to phone (I used Cryogenmod 7.2 latest from
http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=olympus)
You should also copy any other addon ROMs of your choice to the phone at this time as well. Google store app is one that is not included with CM 7.2 and you can get here (make sure to pick the one for the version of CM you are choosing)
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps
To push the files to your phone, simply boot your phone in the stock ROM, connect it to your PC with usb, and make sure the USB connection notification is set to USB mass storage. You can then copy the ROM files in zip form to the root directory of the drive letter of the phone from your PC just like you'd copy to a USB stick. Change the USB notification/communication mode on the phone back to stock setting of motorola phone app afterwards, as this dismounts the internal SDCARD storage and the phone wont remount it until you do.
This is out of order from some of the other guides. The reason to place the ROM files first before anything else, is so you can install clockworkmod to make recovery possible, then go right into it and install the ROMs from recovery mode. I had some issue with installing recovery with CWM first, then CWM not working if the phone booted into the stock rom (looks like the recovery was overwritten. I simply had to have the ROM files ready to go then do CWM all at once to make this work.
#5) Install CWM clockworkmod. (
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_olympus#Installing_recovery_using_fastboot)
Follow the steps under installing recovery under fastboot. A link is provided for the latest CWM 5.0.2.0, which is what I used instead of the 4.0 version included in the unlock bootloader script mentioned in MY step 2.
At step 7, my phone appeared to hang at Flash boot: SOS. Some other users reported this as well. I just let the phone sit there for 3-5 minutes to make sure it was done with the operation. I then manually rebooted the phone holding down volume down button and holding power button until the phone powered down. If the phone is still connected to the PC, it will automatically power back on, so continue to hold the volume down until fastboot appears, then tapped volume down to cycle through the menu and chose Android recovery from the boot menu and press volume UP to execute it. CWM loaded up just fine and I was able to choose recovery ROMs we pushed in step #3 of my guide there and reboot.
Sorry if this is not as detailed as it could be, but I wrote this a bit after the fact without taking screenshots or writing down every step of the way. This is my best recollection of what I went through and figured I'd share as many consider this a gamble with the Atrix 4g and ATT 4.5.145.
Overall experience with the CM 7.2 ROM:
I've been running the phone for a bit now with cryogenmod 7.2 without issue. The battery life is fanastic and there are many nifty options included with CM 7.2 I have not experienced the random reboots or overheating some others have mentioned.
The only issues I've ran into so far, the latest youtube app from google store does not seem to play videos. You can install a QR code scanner app from google play store of your choice, then download the youtube app that worked for me via QR code from
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=18157961#post18157961
Additionally, internal storage (what's considered the SDCARD on this phone) was not mounted by default in CM 7.2. Reference this to fix it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1481252
I hope this helps users out there with old Atrix 4g's considering giving them new life. I'm going to try CM 10.x soon to see how jellybean runs on the Atrix 4g. Wish me luck!
Vengaence
