Questions tagged [rom-flashing]

Flashing is the process of writing a firmware image (and the root file-system) to the memory of an Android device

What is rom-flashing?

Other then installing an OS on your PC, there's no "generic image" fitting all Android devices. Mostly due to proprietary hardware components, each ROM is specific to exactly the device it was created for.

rom-flashing refers to getting those images on your device. For what exactly a ROM is (and related questions), please see the tag.

Questions (including answers) giving you more details include:

Related tags with further information:

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Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

There are several reasons to be looking for a ROM: Upgrading or downgrading your stock ROM Looking for firmware from a different region/language Flashing a custom ROM for different features, removing bloat, etc. But where can one find ROMs in the…
Matthew Read
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Why Do I Need to Wipe Dalvik Cache?

When I'm updating a custom ROM, there's always an instruction to wipe the Dalvik cache. I don't see a reason why this is necessarily. Watching the logcat while the system is booting I can clearly see that if an app changed, its dex file is…
user13391
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What do the terms "BL", "AP", "CP", and "CSC" mean in Odin?

I'm trying to Use Odin to download a OS to my phone (Trying to put Raspbian. Raspbian runs on the raspberry pi which has an ARM processor my android phone also has one so hopefully it'l work.) (does something like an ISO file work? i dunno i'm gonna…
user223559
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How can I reboot into recovery from fastboot?

I have a phone that is bootlooping after a power failure + battery depletion during system encryption. How it got bricked isn't important here, the trouble is that I can't get into the recovery mode. Usually turning on the phone¹ via Volume Up+Power…
Caleb
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What is the relation between ROM Manager, ClockworkMod and Nandroid? Which one(s) do I need?

So I understand the first thing I need to do with my phone, after rooting, is to back everything up. But I was confused about 3 of the apparently popular tools used for this. For example, is Nandroid an application I run on a computer connected to…
Oak
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What does "fastboot oem lock" do?

I've had my phone for months, loading with several firmware, ROMs and OTAs, without ever running this command. What does it do? What I know is that "fastboot oem unlock" displays the confirmation screen and obliges me to wipe my device data, and…
William C
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What is the meaning of "flashing a custom ROM"?

Possible Duplicate: What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreak, ROM, Mod, etc.? What is a custom ROM, and what does "flashing a custom ROM" mean?
sat
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What to do before root and flash my phone?

Right now I have in my phone the stock rom and I haven't rooted it. I want to root it and change the rom. What should I do first, root or flash the rom? I don't want to lose all the configuration, apps, apps data or files (images, music, videos,…
Diego
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How to unpack and edit boot.img for ROM porting?

I recently downloaded this ROM for my Allview P5 (Allview P5 is the equivalent of Gionee GN700W/FLY IQ441/QMobile Noir A8). It`s called Primonex ROM and is made for the Gionee version of the phone. Firstly, I tried to install it as it is but it got…
user3448167
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Why are there not generic phone OS installers?

I am used to install and remove various operating systems in my PCs, even having several at a time. Usually, to install a new OS means: Burn the ISO to a CD/DVD/USB. Insert it. Boot. (Maybe you have to tweak a bit the BIOS first). The only…
Yajo
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Why is it that Android still can't be installed as regular OS?

Are there any technical or others reasons why Android is still a firmware and not an OS which can be just installed without a lot of hassle? Why there is no universal image which could detect appropriate drivers (kernel modules), partition NAND in…
Alex Bolotov
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Why is there no option to choose size in TWRP's resize partition feature?

I'm trying to reflash an old Galaxy Note N5100 but I realized that the system partition is too big (~1.5GB). The current ROM uses only about 40% of the partition so I want to shrink it to make space for cache and data. I heard that newer TWRP has…
phuclv
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Why is root access required for a custom ROM?

I'd like to be clear, and as my question indicates, I'm very ignorant of mobile devices in general so my apologies if this is common knowledge. Say I want to install a custom ROM onto a device, then it would appear I need root access. I'm able to…
R4D4
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Flashing Nexus 5 factory image fails on writing userdata

Recently, I purchased a used Nexus 5. I would like perform a full reset, so I’m trying to flash the factory image using Google’s official instructions. However, I keep getting the message FAILED (remote: 'Bogus size sparse and chunk header') for the…
Jonathan
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What is actually happening when you hard brick a phone?

I've never hard bricked a phone. I've never seen one either. But hard bricking is everyone's worst nightmare. I wan't to know what exactly happens when you hard brick your phone. What happens that makes it irrecoverable without professional help? To…
daltonfury42
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