First time flash!

[akwiz]

Hey guys,

Im new to this whole flashing thing, never modded any of my phones. Did a quick search around and didint find the answers to all my questions but I just got a Galaxy Nexus and really want to put a rom on it tonight! Just had a few questions if no one minds helping me out. Dont want to brick my device! Basically Im thinking I want to go with either codename android or aokp with a franco kernel.

1. I heard/seen people talking about their android version before flashing. I dont see how this matters as am I not basically over writing that with whatever custom rom I choose? I currently have 4.0.1 (No direct updates from google in Canada, gotta wait for samsung to push them down). My question is do I need to find a rom for 4.0.1 or 4.0.2 or whatever, or does it not matter?

2. I believe I have a gsm device. Not 100% though. I know its not LTE. My phone regularly says 3G and when Im using data says 'H' I assume this is HSPA+? So I want a GSM version of my rom right?

3. Also noticed talk about having to update your baseband version. This is for compatibility with radiowaves and such I assume? Do roms like aokp and codename have this built in or is it vital that I add this in after I have flashed?

4. Finally a question about kernels. I think some roms come with a kernel built in. Any advice on which kernel to use? Anyone tried a codename built in kernel vs the franco kernel?

Any help would be awesome guys! If all you can do is link me some info that would be appreciated to

Thanks in advance

[Ads]

[Dippa]

Hello and welcome to GNF! Hopefully I can answer some of those for you...

1. As a general rule, ROMs can be loaded over any Android version, so it's fine to load a 4.0.3 ROM over 4.0.1 for instance, unless the ROM instructions specifically say otherwise. More important is making sure you're using the latest clockworkmod recovery. 5.5.0.4 is the latest version unless you have flashed one of the touch recoveries.

2. It would be GSM if it's not LTE...you can double-check by pulling the battery and checking the model number behind it. GSM is GT-i9250. And yes, you definitely want a GSM ROM, assuming that's the device you have.

3. You generally don't need to flash any newer radios...you can use an older baseband/radio on a newer Android version. Most of the time, ROMs don't update the baseband/radios, but you can download radios to update them on your own, if you want to try them. With the GSM version, there are many different radios because there are many different carriers and regions, so make sure to research prior to flashing any radios, and take note of the baseband you are currently on, in case you need to flash back.

4. ROMs will also flash a kernel...some include a custom kernel and some include a more "stock" kernel. All devices are different as far as which kernels perform best...it also depends on your usage. Franco's kernels are very popular and it should be a good kernel to try, but some prefer to just stick with the included ROM kernel. But again, each device is different, so what works best for someone else may not work well for you. Best advice I can give is to try a few and decide which you like best.

5. I know you didn't ask a question five, but I just wanted to say...make a nandroid backup before flashing anything. If anything goes wrong, it can be the difference between being able to restore in 5 minutes versus potentially a few hours.

Hope that helps and I didn't confuse you

[Droid-Xer]

Welcome. Dippa got you covered.

[akwiz]

Hey youre the man! Thanks for the advice. Ill try this tonight and hit you up if I have any trouble

Cheers!

[cynkrzy]

Welcome to the Forum, glad to have ya

[akwiz]

Thanks guys, looks like a good site

[Mujibar]

Welcome to GNF!!

Tap'd on my GNex

[akwiz]

Alright Im a little overwhelmed already! Im using wugfresh tool to unlock/root my device. This has a backup utility built in so I wont need to make a backup using titanium or anything right? Also nandroid will bsically copy my current image so I can restore that later if I need to... Am I on the right track? Theres more to this than I thought haha

Also decided to go with aokp milestone 4

[paul_gyver]

Great choice of rom. Correct nandroid is a backup image of what you have now. As far as Wug's backup I'm not too sure as I haven't used that feature.

[cynkrzy]

Wug's Toolkit does make a backup of your SDCard before it get's wiped. The Nandroid is a backup of your OS, and can be restored at anytime, but it doesn't backup data on your SDCard. Titanium is used to backup Apps & the data associated with them.

So yes you are on the right track, you'll get used to it all pretty quickly, can be a bit much at first.