Bootloop with SLiMM 3.6/3.7
Hi there, I have experience with flashing ROMs and getting out of bootloops, but this is my first time flashing a custom kernel. Despite having read every post in this thread, I'm still having trouble understanding some of the installation steps.
First of all, do I need to clean flash the SLiMM ROM, which apparently means wiping the system partition from recovery before flashing the new ROM? And if this is true, I need to wipe data, dalvik and cache afterwards? The only time I tried to wipe system first, my phone rebooted while I was flashing the ROM and I had to flash the old 2.8.0.1 recovery from fastboot to be able to do anything.
Second, the DRM Fix thread says I need to wipe data before installing it. Does anyone know why? And if I've made a Nandroid backup before wiping it and installing the DRM fix or custom kernel, does restoring the data partition mess it up? If I install the custom kernel instead of the DRM fix, do I need to wipe data before or after, or both? I honestly don't remember whether my latest Nandroid backup was before or after I flashed the DRM fix, so restoring data might cause problems with the kernel.
And finally, some people here say that we need to flash the kernel from the recovery, and others say from fastboot or flashtool. Is there any essential difference between what can be flashed in these different cases? I have only been flashing from recovery.
So now to my problem. I can boot the SLiMM 3.6 ROM fine (and install the 3.7 OTA) and restore the data partition, but any time I try to flash the custom kernel (with or without restoring data) I get a bootloop. On first boot I generally make it to the "Optimizing apps" screen, and at a certain point it reboots and goes into a bootloop that only shows the Sony logo. Perhaps this means that one of my apps is incompatible with the kernel?
I can get out of the bootloop by restoring the boot partition in the kernel recovery. Each time before the last time I flashed the kernel I only had one recovery (solid orange), but the last time I managed to have both. I haven't tried Nut's uninstaller, but does anyone think this would fix my bootloop?
I also flashed TWRP to the FOTAkernel partition at a certain point. I don't know whether this could cause an issue.
So for installation, is the following order correct?
1. Enter recovery.
2. Wipe system (for some reason, SLiMM creator Wajk is very insistent about not using advanced wipe if we need a clean flash).
3. Flash SLiMM ROM 3.x + any new OTAs (or any other compatible ROM).
4. Wipe data, cache and dalvik (factory reset).
5. Flash the Elite kernel (although one person said he had to boot into the SLiMM ROM first, then go back into recovery and flash).
6. Install system apps such as Xposed, Cerberus, etc.
7. Restore data.
8. Reboot into kernel recovery.
9. Run Nut's recovery uninstaller to wipe second recovery.
10. Reboot and pray.
Does this sound about right? If not, what am I missing?