2013-11-04, 18:31
I’d like to create, with your help, a guide to upgrade ROM in our phone when we cannot find the exact one for our (chinese) telephon.
FIRST : BACKUP MY ROM
First of all we need a backup of our original ROM (with MtkDroidTools and SP_Flash_Tool, last version is important). Very important is scatter files, where I can understand the memory allocation of the various ROM component.
Backup also your IMEI with Root Explorer (I can find it in : /data/nvram/md/NVRAM/NVD_IMEI/MP0B_001) and with the specific function of Mobile Uncle Tools. Maybe useful to backup all /data folder…
SECOND : FIND A “PROBABLY” COMPATIBLE ROM
In my search I understood that critical are Baseband (radio part) and display resolution (graphic drivers in uboot.bin). While I found that is possible to tweak graphic drivers in uboot.bin, I didn’t understand how to tweak baseband (my is MAUI.11AMD.W12.22.SP.V5, but I can find tens of it with only the last Vx different…).
I downloaded a lot of possible compatible (for me…) ROM and the first verification was on the same scatter file. I choose only that I can flash with SP_Flash_Tool (no that .zip to upgrade with CWM).
Now a question : If the scatter is the same, is the ROM compatible and/or I don’t brick my phone ?
My idea is that I never wonna flash the original PRELOADER and DSP_BL. Is it enough ?
Must I add to them MBR, EBR1 and/or any of __NODL or other scatter file’s element ?
Here there is my scatter file :
PRELOADER 0x0
{
}
DSP_BL 0x40000
{
}
MBR 0x600000
{
}
EBR1 0x604000
{
}
__NODL_PMT 0x608000
{
}
__NODL_NVRAM 0xa08000
{
}
__NODL_SECCFG 0xf08000
{
}
UBOOT 0xf28000
{
}
BOOTIMG 0xf88000
{
}
RECOVERY 0x1588000
{
}
SEC_RO 0x1b88000
{
}
__NODL_MISC 0x2188000
{
}
LOGO 0x21e8000
{
}
__NODL_EXPDB 0x24e8000
{
}
ANDROID 0x26e8000
{
}
CACHE 0x227e8000
{
}
USRDATA 0x428e8000
{
}
__NODL_FAT 0x629e8000
{
}
__NODL_BMTPOOL 0xffff00a8
{
}
My idea is to try to flash with SP_Flash_Tool only : System.img (where is Android), Boot.img (where is the kernel). Is it a nonsense ?
So I could have the original uboot.bin (display and camera OK ?) and no problem with the boot of my phone (original Preloader, DSP_BL,MBR, etc).
But most important of all, I can restore my original files and resolve the possible brick of the phone. Am I right or wrong ?
Here you can help me to avoid errors and to understand better the problem
Now the last question : why I want to change my ROM ? The answer is because my faked Chinese Note2 clone works only in GSM/EDGE mode (I tested UMTS sim card…), the GPS is dead (I tried tweaks, soldered stripe antenna on the motherboard, modified gps.conf, etc.) and wifi is very slow…, so I hope in a ROM upgrade…
My last consideration on Chinese phone :
They are able to fake everything in the kernel writing all that they want (my is an original Samsung, the kernel version is 4.1.9?? (real 4.0.4), the resolution is 1280x720 (the real is 854x480), the hw is not Exynos but MTK 6577 and so on..). I tested it with CPUZ applet and for it is a genuine Samsung…, also Antutu make some mistakes..
So what about our privacy in the source code of this Chinese kernel/devices ? We haven’t source code so they can do all that they want…
Thanks all of you for every type of support to this post !
THANKS
FIRST : BACKUP MY ROM
First of all we need a backup of our original ROM (with MtkDroidTools and SP_Flash_Tool, last version is important). Very important is scatter files, where I can understand the memory allocation of the various ROM component.
Backup also your IMEI with Root Explorer (I can find it in : /data/nvram/md/NVRAM/NVD_IMEI/MP0B_001) and with the specific function of Mobile Uncle Tools. Maybe useful to backup all /data folder…
SECOND : FIND A “PROBABLY” COMPATIBLE ROM
In my search I understood that critical are Baseband (radio part) and display resolution (graphic drivers in uboot.bin). While I found that is possible to tweak graphic drivers in uboot.bin, I didn’t understand how to tweak baseband (my is MAUI.11AMD.W12.22.SP.V5, but I can find tens of it with only the last Vx different…).
I downloaded a lot of possible compatible (for me…) ROM and the first verification was on the same scatter file. I choose only that I can flash with SP_Flash_Tool (no that .zip to upgrade with CWM).
Now a question : If the scatter is the same, is the ROM compatible and/or I don’t brick my phone ?
My idea is that I never wonna flash the original PRELOADER and DSP_BL. Is it enough ?
Must I add to them MBR, EBR1 and/or any of __NODL or other scatter file’s element ?
Here there is my scatter file :
PRELOADER 0x0
{
}
DSP_BL 0x40000
{
}
MBR 0x600000
{
}
EBR1 0x604000
{
}
__NODL_PMT 0x608000
{
}
__NODL_NVRAM 0xa08000
{
}
__NODL_SECCFG 0xf08000
{
}
UBOOT 0xf28000
{
}
BOOTIMG 0xf88000
{
}
RECOVERY 0x1588000
{
}
SEC_RO 0x1b88000
{
}
__NODL_MISC 0x2188000
{
}
LOGO 0x21e8000
{
}
__NODL_EXPDB 0x24e8000
{
}
ANDROID 0x26e8000
{
}
CACHE 0x227e8000
{
}
USRDATA 0x428e8000
{
}
__NODL_FAT 0x629e8000
{
}
__NODL_BMTPOOL 0xffff00a8
{
}
My idea is to try to flash with SP_Flash_Tool only : System.img (where is Android), Boot.img (where is the kernel). Is it a nonsense ?
So I could have the original uboot.bin (display and camera OK ?) and no problem with the boot of my phone (original Preloader, DSP_BL,MBR, etc).
But most important of all, I can restore my original files and resolve the possible brick of the phone. Am I right or wrong ?
Here you can help me to avoid errors and to understand better the problem
Now the last question : why I want to change my ROM ? The answer is because my faked Chinese Note2 clone works only in GSM/EDGE mode (I tested UMTS sim card…), the GPS is dead (I tried tweaks, soldered stripe antenna on the motherboard, modified gps.conf, etc.) and wifi is very slow…, so I hope in a ROM upgrade…
My last consideration on Chinese phone :
They are able to fake everything in the kernel writing all that they want (my is an original Samsung, the kernel version is 4.1.9?? (real 4.0.4), the resolution is 1280x720 (the real is 854x480), the hw is not Exynos but MTK 6577 and so on..). I tested it with CPUZ applet and for it is a genuine Samsung…, also Antutu make some mistakes..
So what about our privacy in the source code of this Chinese kernel/devices ? We haven’t source code so they can do all that they want…
Thanks all of you for every type of support to this post !
THANKS