How-To: Flash to custom kernals & back to Stock Kernel/Remove System Apps

It looks like a lot to do, but it's not.  It's really a very simple process.  It just looks long because I worded it so that a 5 year-old could understand it.  If you see anything that's incorrect, please post here and I'll fix it!

BEFORE YOU FLASH YOUR PHONE:

• READ THROUGH THIS ENTIRE GUIDE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO FLASH!!  Don't attempt to flash while reading through this for the first time.  You will undoubtedly miss something or jack something up and then you'll be stuck asking a question that makes you look like an idiot.
• If your phone has/had CL14 SBL, then you will need to flash with Joey's kernel, or the patchoob version of Zefie's kernel.  If your phone has CJ05 SBL, then you will need to flash with Joey's kernel, Sam1el's kernel, or the regular version of Zefie's kernel.  The easiest way to tell if you have CL14 SBL is by checking your modem version.  To see what modem version you have, press Menu at the homescreen and go to Settings>About Phone>Baseband version -- it will say either "CL14" or CJ05" at the end.  Also, if you ever took your phone to a Sprint Store to be upgraded, or you upgraded it using Sprint's tool, then your phone has CL14 SBL.  If your phone has CL14 SBL and you want to flash with one of Zefie's kernel then you will need to follow these directions to get CJ05 SBL onto your phone so that you can flash one of Zefie's patchoob kernels.  Once you have finished that guide, then you will be able to use this guide to flash with Zefie's patchoob kernels.  There's only one version of Joey's kernel; you can use Joey's kernel regardless if you have CL14 or CJ05 SBL.
• There are 4 different things that we are currently flashing:
  
  • Custom Kernel
  • The CL14 /system update: SPH-M900_CL14_WORKING_SYSTEM_ONLY.7z
  • The CL14 Modem: SPH-M900_CL14_CDMA-ONLY.7z
  • If want to flash the CL14 /system, /data, and modem in one file, you can use SPH-M900_CL14_STOCK_FIXED_with_CJ05_SBL.7z.  This will wipe everything from your phone.
  • There currently is no CL14 Kernel-only.
• Don't take your phone to Sprint to be updated.  If you took your phone to a Sprint store to be updated to CL14, and are wanting to use Zefie's custom kernels, then you will need to follow Zefie's guide to putting CJ05 SBL back onto your phone before you can this guide to flash with his kernels.  The CL14 update from Sprint stores will jack up your phone and cause headaches when wanting to flash with any of Zefie's custom kernels.  Instead, flash with the SPH-M900_CL14_STOCK_FIXED_with_CJ05_SBL.7z update listed above.  It is the SAME EXACT update that Sprint is handing out, but doesn't run into problems with any of his kernels.
• Before you can use ADB while in Android (normal mode), you must enable USB Debugging.  Settings > Applications > Development > USB Debugging.  When the phone is in Recovery mode, adb daemon on the phone should always be running and with root access.

Also i want to reiterate that NO ONE should try to flash the Sprint's official CL14 update using any method on this forum or SDX-DEV, as it can permanently damage your phone. If you want the official one go to your local Sprint store and get it that way.  If, in the future, you want problem-free flashing of the ZE** kernels, stay away from Sprint's official CL14 update all together.  Just flash the files listed above.
-Dale


Ingredients:

• Samsung Moment
• Android SDK (not used for flashing the kernel)
• Odin 3.98 & Moment.ops
• Download Sam1el's SDX Kernel or Joey's kernel or Zefie's kernel (SDX-Developers not support any of Zefie's kernels above 10.3).
• Samsung PC Studio 3 (note: some people have better luck with PC Studio 7 or New PC Studio.)

Flashing with a Custom Kernel:

• Install Necessary Drivers
  
  • Install Samsung PC Studio 3 by setting compatibility mode to "Vista SP2" and running as Admin.  Make sure PC Studio 3 is not running in the backround while flashing.  It will cause problems while flashing.
  • Download Odin Multi Download v3.8 and Moment.ops. (NEVER EVER EVER USE ANY OTHER .OPS FILE)
  • Power down phone completely, then boot into Download Mode by holding the Volume Down, Camera, and Power button until the downloading screen appears.
  • Plug the usb cable into the phone.  Windows 7 (and possibly Vista) will try to download some drivers for the phone.  If the driver installations aren't successful, then you will need to manually update the "G" and "USB Composite Device" drivers manually:
    
    • Open Device Manager.
    • You should see 2 devices with yellow triangles that need updated drivers: "G" and "USB Composite Device".  Both of their drivers are located within the Samsung PC Studio 3 install directory, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Samsung PC Studio 3\USB Drivers\3".
    • Tell Device Manager to look in that folder for both the G and USB Composite Cable drivers.
• Upload ZE** Kernel via Odin (for screenshots, view this post)
  
  • Download Joey's custom kernel, Sam1el's custom kernel or Zefie's Custom Kernel. If your phone had CL14 SBL, then you will need to download either Joey's kernel or the "patchoob" version of Zefie's kernel.  Everyone else can download Joey's kernel, Sam1el's kernel, or Zefie's regular kernel.
  • Either select Joey's tar file, use Sam1el's custom kernel or open the SPH-M900_ZE**_KERN.7z file -- with either 7-Zip or WinRAR -- and extract the SPH-M900_ZE**_KERN.tar file.
  • Right-click Odin Multi Downloader v3.98.exe and Run-As Administrator.  The first box in the upper left should say "Detected", which means that it recognizes your phone in Download mode.  If it doesn't say detected, then most likely the G and Composite USB drivers aren't installed.
  • Check the box that says "One Package".
  • Click the "Ops" button and choose the Moment.ops file. (AGAIN, NEVER EVER EVER USE ANY OTHER .OPS FILE)
  • Click the "One Package" button and choose the SPH-M900_ZE**_KERN.tar file.
  • Click the "Start" button and let it do its thing.  Sometime the program will hang at "Setup Connection".  Just close Odin, open it back up, and try starting the procedure again. Sometimes it takes a few tries, and sometimes you need to pull the battery out of the phone and go back into Download mode.
  • When it's done, the phone will reboot automatically.  You can pull out the USB cable and close Odin once you're back into Android.
  • Congrats!  Your phone is now rooted and you are now the coolest person you know.

Flashing System and Modem from CJ05 to CL14
Thanks to joeykrim

• To Flash CL14 /system only
  
  • In Odin, instead of up flashing with the SPH-M900_ZE**_KERN.tar file, use the SPH-M900_CL14_WORKING_SYSTEM_ONLY.tar instead .  Follow the rest of the directions exactly as you would as if you were updating the kernel. Once the flash to the phone is complete it will reboot and instead of seeing the glowing Android logo there will now be a glowing Samsung logo. First boot took longer than normal for me, but 2nd and 3rd were quicker.  Thread to report and follow the bug fixes of CL14 System: http://www.sdx-developers.com/index.php?topic=87.0

• To flash CL14 Modem only
  
  • In Odin, instead of flashing with the SPH-M900_ZE**_KERN.tar file, use the SPH-M900_CL14_CDMA-ONLY.tar file instead.  Follow the rest of the directions exactly as you would as if you were updating the kernel. Once the flash to the phone is complete it will reboot. Once android has loaded, under Menu->Settings->About phone, the Baseband version should read S:M900.8.0S.CL14. This confirms the modem.bin has been updated.

• For CL14 System, Modem, and Data (pretty much a fresh install)
  
  • In Odin, instead of flashing with the SPH-M900_ZE**_KERN.tar file, use the SPH-M900_CL14_STOCK_FIXED_with_CJ05_SBL.tar file instead.  Follow the rest of the directions exactly as you would as if you were updating the kernel. Once the flash to the phone is complete it will reboot. You can use this to bring your phone back to life if you ever brick it.  This is basically a fresh install and will wipe all your apps and data.

Removing System Apps from Moment:

• Enable USB Debugging.  Settings>Applications>Development>USB Debugging.
• The safest way to remove system apps is to adb into your phone while in Recovery Mode:
  
  • Boot the phone into Recovery Mode by holding Call, Trackpad, and Power while the phone is off.
  • Download Android SDK and extract the SDK folder onto your desktop or wherever you want.
  • Open CMD as Admin and type the following commands:

• Some of us are born-renegades, and would rather just do it within Android instead of in Recovery Mode.  From the Market, download ConnectBot (when you open ConnectBot, connect to Local) or some other terminal emulator.  Now, to start removing stuff...
• First we're gonna give ourselves sudo (root permissions).  Type "su" and press enter.  The "$" will turn into a "#".
• Next, we're gonna remount the filesystem as read/write.  This will allow us to remove system files.  Type in "remount rw" and press enter.
• Then, we're gonna navigate to where the systems apps are located.  Type in "cd system/app" and press enter.  Now we're ready to do work!
• Use the following commands to backup Bejeweled to SDCard and from phone:

• Follow the same steps to remove other System Apps.
• Once you're done removing apps, type in "remount ro" to put the filesystem back into read-only state, and press enter.
• Type "reboot" to reboot the phone.
• **If you're doing this in Android, make sure the app you're removing isn't running.  Android will pee in your mouth if you try to remove an app while the app is running.

Flashing back to Stock Kernel:

• If at any time you wanna go back to the stock CL14 kernel and /system, just follow the same procedures as you did to flash to Zefie's Custom Kernel, but flash with the "SPH-M900_CL14_WORKING_SYSTEM_ONLY.7z" located in his custom kernels folder.

Flashing back to completely Stock out-of-the-box:

• If at any time you wanna go back to the way your phone was straight out of the box, just follow the same procedures as you did to flash to Zefie's Custom Kernel, but flash with the "SPH-M900_CL14_STOCK_FIXED_with_CJ05_SBL.7z" located in his stock kernels folder.

Commands:

• su = either sudo or super user/root.
• remount rw = remount the file system as read/write capable.
• remount ro = remount file system as read-only.
• pwd = print working directory.  Tells you what directory you're currently in.
• cat (filename) > /sdcard/(filename) = prints (or in this case, copies) the file from your working directory (/system/app) to the destination directory (/sdcard).
• rm (filename).apk = delete or remove (filename).apk from whatever folder you're in.
• busybox sh = replaces the default android shell with the busybox shell, which gives you tab completion and command history, amoungst other things.

Possible errors while flashing:

• Error: Odin displays the text in the following code box after you press the "Start" button...
  
  • Fix1: Make sure PC Studio 3 isn't running in the backround.  Close Odin and kill PC Studio 3, then reopen Odin and start over.
  • Fix2: If Fix1 didn't work, make sure Firefox is closed.
  • Fix3: If Fix2 didn't work, reboot.

• Error: Windows doesn't detect phone while in Download mode:
  
  • Fix1: Make sure you installed all the PC Studio drivers as described earlier in this post.
  • Fix2: Try uninstalling PC Studio 3 and installing PC Studio 7 or New PC Studio, or vice versa.
  • Fix3 (thanks to kuscoot): Make sure you've installed all Windows Updates and then reboot your computer.

AKA...USE AT YOUR OWN RISK
Dale

thank you .....That should help many users. cookie for you.
Dale

I however have a problem with it constantly staying at " <1> setup connection... " and I have the ZE08.3 and moment.ops. It IS "DETECTED" Com Port Mapping is "1 (COM 3)" Under Option all three boxes (One Package, Reboot, Protect OPS) are checked. Anyone have any ideas? Oden 3.98 is the one Im using.

Thanks Dale, I figured it out LITERALLY seconds before I clicked this link to see if there were replies....haha it was the PC Studio. You've got a PM btw!

USB Root Hub --> 2 ports  Microsoft USB Intellimouse  and Unknows Device.
I believe the Moment should show up in the device manager as a modem and something G.
Make sure when you are loading the drivers you follow this exactly:
    * Open Device Manager.
    * You should see 2 devices with yellow triangles that need updated drivers –“G” and “USB Composite Device”.  Both of their drivers are located within the Samsung PC Studio 3 install directory, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Samsung PC Studio 3\USB Drivers\3".
    * Tell Device Manager to look in that folder for both the G and USB Composite Cable drivers.
Good luck
dale

odd question...but do you have USB debugging turned on in the settings of your phone?
Dale

in the settings/Applications/Development....
Dale