[Q] Windows 7 will not pick up SGSII in USB Debugging Mode (Will not root as well)

[gidgiddonihah]

I just bought my new Galaxy SII for a penny. Great deal, and spectacular phone. Happens to be my first android phone as well (been waiting for one for years). The only problem i am having is when I put the phone in USB debugging the computer won't pick it up in explorer. If I enable USB mode I can copy files, but I cannot root (Trying the Xperia X10 Easy Rooting Toolkit, spits out crap about "cannot find the path specified", no matter what I do). Kies also seems to not work with the phone... I have tried both my Self Built Windows 7 HP 64 Bit Desktop and Windows 7 HP 32 Bit netbook and both have the same problem. Windows Devices and Printers reads the device but says that the driver has not been installed, when in fact it has...

Any and all help to resolve this problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bencozzy]

Uninstall any samsung drivers on computer and do fresh install of odin. Plug phone in let everything install unplug phone check usb debug plug back in and let.drivers install. And then have at it.

I used kies to install the drivers on my 64bit win 7.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Haha thanks, got it working. Rooted and everything, sorta excited-kid in a candy store .

OK. So if you couldn't tell, I'm a complete newb with android, wanted it for forever, but circumstances didn't allow me to until now, and now I feel a little over my head. Sooo:

1.) Could you (or someone) maybe post links to some threads or sites that would be good to ease me into the world of android?

2.) With my Samsung Galaxy SII, if I am installing ROM's and taking them off, and installing new ones, what are the chances of bricking my device?

3.) Since I rooted it, I went over to CyanogenMod and downloaded the ZIP to the latest stable ROM. I then dropped it into my SD card, and went into a app I downloaded called ROM Manager. When I went to install from SD card, and it rebooted, it gave me an error and popped back out, seemed like I did it wrong. So how do I install ROM's (CM7 in particular).

4.) How would I go about removing that ROM after its been installed and im tired of it ?

I hate feeling like a newb, and would be very thankful for any help people would be willing to give to get me started!

 

[bencozzy]

1. Theunlcker site youtube just search flahing roms kernels for galaxy s 2 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1301682

2. Incredibly likely buts its a samsung so its easy to unbrick

3. Don't use rom manager to flash its dangerous odin codeworxs kernel for cwm. Then do a wipe all and flash it twice one after the other to make sure it takes.

4. Just do a wipe of all data and flash a new rom pretty simple

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Ok, two more questions .

1.) Is there a good app to backup my current apps before doing a wipe(I have a ton of them...)?
2.) I read that ROM's cannot include google apps, so how would I get them on? Would I download the APK and then sideload them?

Thanks again!

 

[bencozzy]

1 I use titanium backup and restore app not the data.

2 thats just cm7 the have a flashable zip for cwm to install gapps. Other roms include gapps.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

The ROMs that I downloaded were all in ZIP folders and I couldn't figure out what I should link to odin as ZIP folders aren't compatable to flash . And then my phone wont reboot into recovery or download mode (can't remember which one I need to be in for Odin). I tried with debugging on and off and it just boots right back into android. This is very frustrating, as I know I must be doing something wrong...

Thanks for all your help

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App

 

[bencozzy]

Download mode-power phone off hold to buttons vol up and vol down power is still off and connect usb cable from computer. Download mode menu will pop up.

CWM or recovery-vol up + vol down plus power from phone being off until you see forst boot animation samsung.

Odin uses .tar or .tar.md5 files do lots of reading i think zedomax has a youtube video for rooting the i777 and how to get cwm.

 

[Nick281051]

Download mode-power phone off hold to buttons vol up and vol down power is still off and connect usb cable from computer. Download mode menu will pop up.

CWM or recovery-vol up + vol down plus power from phone being off until you see forst boot animation samsung.

Odin uses .tar or .tar.md5 files do lots of reading i think zedomax has a youtube video for rooting the i777 and how to get cwm.

thats the method i used for rooting and it worked flawlessly and was quick and easy

 

[gr8hairy1]

Wow you need to slow before you do something stupid. Take the time to read and just as important, if not more important, take the time to search the internet for your questions.

Learning what steps needed to do something to your phone is not the goal. Learning what you are doing and why, should be the goal, and learning how to do each step is a sidepoint that you learn as a by-product.

Most important thing to learn why and how to check for is to make sure what you're flashing does not contain bootloaders. If you mess with bootloaders and the smallest thing goes wrong, you end up owning an extremely expensive paper weight, i.e. a brick.

In general flashing what the majority flash here on xda is safe. But that's not a guarantee as any garbage can be uploaded. So read the entire thread. Some are long. If you can't be bothered to read the longer ones, at the minimum use the search tool to look for particular words to your question. Search before you post. It will be evident by what you ask that you've spent the time researching, and will attract a higher level of help.

I'm not trying to be mean or come down on you. You're already starting to do what's right by asking when you're not sure.

A NOTE TO YOU AND EVERY NOOB ON XDA:
One of the biggest reasons people's questions receive no response for a day or more, is because their question could be easily solved by using the search tool in xda or one google search.

In the wise words of tom cruise, "Help me, help you. Help me, help you!"

And yeah, he can fly.

Sent from my páhhōniē

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Yea. I goofed and I flashed an international ROM onto it. I was able to find a unrooted stack tar to flash. I plan to do a lot of reading before I do this again . If anyone has any ideas on where to start that would be great.

And no problem, I understand as I am a heavy user of tomshardware forums. It frustrates me when people ask for advice a two second search would pull up.

Again thanks everyone! XDA is awesome!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App

 

[gr8hairy1]

I know it's been a couple days since you asked, so hopefully you've already found what you're looking for, but I always recommend people read all of creepncrawly's write ups. They cover near every question and are up to date on everything.

Sent from my páhhōniē