Guide: root/overclock/load roms on your Moto Droid (original)

[khanable]

YOU WILL NEED TO SPEND AT LEAST $0.99 IN APPLICATIONS TO USE THIS GUIDE -- JUST GETTING THAT OUT OF THE WAY. USE THIS GUIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

_INTRO

So, your droid is pretty kick ass. Want to make it more kick ass? Who doesn't?! Back in the day (lols) it was a bit of a pain in the ass to root, overclock, and run custom roms on your droid. I remember having to setup the android SDK, and then use the adb shell and enter in all these commands and whatnot -- it wasn't extremely difficult.. but it certainly wasn't fun.

Luckily for you guys things have become much easier! The following guide was put together with simplicity in mind. There are other ways of rooting/rom'ing your droid that involve a computer connection and command line. I would honestly recommend attempting those methods first. If they scare the absolute piss out of you, then you can give this simple guide a shot.

_CHECKLIST

You will need the following:

-An original motorola droid running either 2.1, 2.1-update 1, or 2.2
-A paypal account and $0.99.. yes, I know you're saying, the fuck? This is the quick and easy way to do it. You'll want to just drop this $0.99 and be done with it.
-Astro File Manager (free download on the market)
-Easy Root (the $0.99 app mentioned above)
-Setcpu (purchase from the market - only needed if you intend to overclock)
-Rom Manager Free (premium edition recommended, but not needed)

A pair of balls is optional.

_ROOTING

Load up the market and search for ASTRO. Astro is a free file manager program that will let you install apk's with ease and will also allow you to browse/rename files on your SD card. A must have. Download and install this.

Next, you will need to go to settings -> applications, and check the "unknown sources" option. This will allow you to install the Easy Root application.

Now head on over to this site and purchase Easy Root for $0.99. If you want to pay more, then good for you. That is completely optional, though. It will send you an e-mail with your key that you will need to enter into the app to use it.

Next go here and download the apk. If you're on your phone it will download this file to the download folder on your SD card. On your computer it will go wherever you tell it to -- you'll need to move it to the SD card of your droid to continue, though.

Finally, open up ASTRO and navigate to your SD card, locate the apk you just downloaded or transfered. Install it. Now this is the really difficult part. You're going to have to open up easy root, punch in the key to activate it, and then click the button to root the device.

LOLS! Congrats, you now have root. YOU SON OF A BITCH!

I would restart the phone now. Loading up the Easy Root program after the restart will let you download and install more apps that are handy/awesome. You will need Rom Manager, so you can download it from this app or from the market. Doesn't matter. The rest are all optional.

**NOTES: THIS is the developers site for Easy Root. I am NOT affiliated with them in anyway.**

_ROMS

By far the easiest way to get custom roms on your droid is by using Rom Manager. Rom Manager is free on the market. Go ahead and find it, install it, and then open it up. You will probably, at some point, be asked if the application can have superuser permissions. SAY YES TO THIS, AND KEEP THE BOX CHECKED SO IT DOESNT ASK AGAIN. At the very top of the screen you will see a button to "Flash clockwork recovery". Do this now. With this you will be able to make full, complete backups of your current rom, and also load other roms. It's pretty win.

Once this is installed I would go down to "Backup current rom". I simply cannot recommend you go any further without doing this.

Once you're done with the backup you can go into the "Download Rom" section to start downloading roms! Installing them is very simple -- pick the one you want (I recommend Cyanogenmod or Sapphire for those of you running the free Rom Manager, Sapphire is located under cvpcs), select the options/kernel (see overclocking below) that you want, and let it download. When it is finished it will pop up asking you if you want to wipe data/cache (always check this) and make a backup (optional, just make sure you did a backup before).

Hit OK and the phone will restart and do its thing!

**NOTES: I noticed that when installing Sapphire with anything BUT the stock theme can sometimes cause it to have problems. I would recommend installing Sapphire with the stock theme and JUST the kernel. You can head over to this thread to download themes. To install just rename them (using ASTRO) to update.zip, move them to the root of your SD card, and "reboot into recovery". From there you can use the install update.zip option.** Thanks to Faction for this.

**NOTES2: Sometimes clockwork recovery will need to be flashed a couple of times to 'take hold'. If you attempt to install a rom and it just won't go try flashing the alternative recovery image (sprecovery) and then back to clockwork recovery. These can be done within Rom Manager.**

**NOTES3: While being the most simple way to load roms, I will say that Rom Manager isn't perfect -- it can sometimes be a prick.**

_OVERCLOCKING

Before we start.. you should know that overclocking is 100% optional! When you downloaded your rom in Rom Manager it asked you which kernel you wanted. You will stay at the default, stock speed until you install Setcpu and raise the clock frequency. The kernel is simply saying what speeds it will allow (for example, 7-slot 125-800 will allow 125mhz up to 800mhz in 7 increments).

Ok, so you flashed a fresh new rom, selected a kernel, and you're ready to start overclocking. Awesome. Head onto the market and purchase Setcpu.. download, install.

When you fire it up you will need to press "allow" when it asks for root permissions. Keep the box checked so it doesn't ask again.

Select the "auto detect" button. Welcome to Setcpu. You can now move the slider and over/underclock as you see fit!

I recommend clicking "set on boot" and setting up some profiles. Profiles are great since you can have the phone underclock itself when it is standby, charging, etc.

**NOTES: Be weary of which kernel you use! There are low, medium, and high voltage ones! One phone may be fine with a 1.25ghz low voltage kernel, but another one may not! Start off with a medium voltage kernel first!**

_FINISHED

Congrats on getting custom. Welcome to the world of awesome. For more additional information on roms check out this forum. You can use other roms by downloading them as an update.zip, and installing them by rebooting into recovery and doing it manually. Or, you can purchase Rom Manager Premium to give you access to many more rom options.

For additional information on Easy Root check out this thread.

Good luck!

If anyone has anything else to add please post it!

 

[FadedSpark]

Oh khan, I love you.

Although you should know, there is a motodroid overclock app that doesn't need roms with custom kernels You can OC whatever you want, whenever you want.

It R amazing.

 

[khanable]

Oh khan, I love you.

Although you should know, there is a motodroid overclock app that doesn't need roms with custom kernels You can OC whatever you want, whenever you want.

It R amazing.

!

what is it called? I haven't seen any mention of a second overclock app anywhere.. this would make for a nice "root and overclock on stock rom" option!

 

[Faction]

this guide helped me, A+.

 

[Terry Olaes]

Props to the author. Will be trying this out this evening.

 

[Vermillion]

You don't need to purchase Easy Root much less should you support them. Easy Root was pulled from the market because the devs stole the code from the DroidMod team which has no intention of charging for the one touch rooting app when they finally release it.

It's simple (not to mention totally free) to just grab the ESE81 SBF recovery file and a copy of RSD Lite. Flash the SBF and install a custom ROM. Since this method works with any version of Android it's the best way to do it.

The program (sorry don't know it's name) that was mentioned for overclocking without a custom kernel uses the method that the Motorola Milestone uses to overclock. Neat way to get the system to overclock but also limited because you can't change the voltages.

Some custom ROM's have built in overclocking. For instance Bugless Beast doesn't require SetCPU. Pete has the CPU speed up/down on it's own. However, since SetCPU is also a free download from XDA Developers there's really no reason to not use it because of the profiles feature. The market is there in case you want to donate.

 

[khanable]

You don't need to purchase Easy Root much less should you support them. Easy Root was pulled from the market because the devs stole the code from the DroidMod team which has no intention of charging for the one touch rooting app when they finally release it.

It's simple (not to mention totally free) to just grab the ESE81 SBF recovery file and a copy of RSD Lite. Flash the SBF and install a custom ROM. Since this method works with any version of Android it's the best way to do it.

The program (sorry don't know it's name) that was mentioned for overclocking without a custom kernel uses the method that the Motorola Milestone uses to overclock. Neat way to get the system to overclock but also limited because you can't change the voltages.

Some custom ROM's have built in overclocking. For instance Bugless Beast doesn't require SetCPU. Pete has the CPU speed up/down on it's own. However, since SetCPU is also a free download from XDA Developers there's really no reason to not use it because of the profiles feature. The market is there in case you want to donate.

1) Easy Root wasn't stolen. Go read about this thing called the GPL. The source was released to the world and the author took the time to work on it and release it.

2) This is a guide for avoiding having to do that. That method requires hooking the droid up to the computer and doing stuff -- this scares people. You can do everything I listed in this guide from your droid with nothing else.

3) SetCPU is still king.

4) Bugless Beast is nothing more than a stock rom with some tweaks. Also, I've found that pete didn't optimize his default overclocks which has left my battery in a world of pain in all of his roms.

edit: I am not trying to attack you -- your methods are valid and as I hated stated I recommend trying them first -- this is just a guide for those who want it nice and simple. And the easy root thing was blown way way out of proportion.

Write up a guide on how to do everything the long/free method and we can combine guides!

 

[Bohica69]

What exactly does custom roms get you? Since I installed launcher pro - which fixed my one major gripe with my droid (that stock android doesn't have a phone button at the bottom, because you know, I'd like the phone to remember it's primary use is as a PHONE).

What else does a custom rom do? More homescreens, ok, I get that, and?

Props to the original poster for the guide btw!

 

[T4rd]

What exactly does custom roms get you? Since I installed launcher pro - which fixed my one major gripe with my droid (that stock android doesn't have a phone button at the bottom, because you know, I'd like the phone to remember it's primary use is as a PHONE).

What else does a custom rom do? More homescreens, ok, I get that, and?

Props to the original poster for the guide btw!

Custom ROMs can add all sorts of eye candy and functionality to your phone. For example, I just installed Simply Stunning 4.7 (just released today and awesome so far!). This ROM has a nice blue theme and custom icons for everything. But most of all, he adds an extra selection menu in the phone settings called "ChevyNo1 Tools" (the devs online alias). In this menu, there's options to enable/disable/hide/change pretty much everything about the UI and notification bar/menu. You can change the color of the text, hide the clock and other icons, hide/delete stock apps that you don't want or use, backup and restore all your phones data and settings, and much much more. Also, there's supposedly a lot of behind the scenes tweaks to the OS to optimize stability and performance. Couple this with a LV (Low Voltage) and OC'd kernel and you're phone not only runs faster and smoother, but it saves a little battery life too. Yesterday, I unplugged my Droid at 8 AM, texted all day and did some moderate browsing, got off work at 5 PM and still had 80% of my battery left. I'm running Chevy's LV 1.1 GHz 7-slot kernel. And yes, SetCPU is still king of OC profiles and temp monitoring.

I'm sure I'm missing a bit more to what custom ROMs bring to the table, but that's the gist of it .

Great guide, Khan. I wish I had this option when I rooted back in the 2.0.1 days . Back then, we had to do it with only the SDK and command prompt, hah. RSD lite made it easy enough to do a couple friends phones though a couple months ago. But this just makes it stupid easy, just not free.

 

[khanable]

What exactly does custom roms get you? Since I installed launcher pro - which fixed my one major gripe with my droid (that stock android doesn't have a phone button at the bottom, because you know, I'd like the phone to remember it's primary use is as a PHONE).

What else does a custom rom do? More homescreens, ok, I get that, and?

Props to the original poster for the guide btw!

----->>

Custom ROMs can add all sorts of eye candy and functionality to your phone. For example, I just installed Simply Stunning 4.7 (just released today and awesome so far!). This ROM has a nice blue theme and custom icons for everything. But most of all, he adds an extra selection menu in the phone settings called "ChevyNo1 Tools" (the devs online alias). In this menu, there's options to enable/disable/hide/change pretty much everything about the UI and notification bar/menu. You can change the color of the text, hide the clock and other icons, hide/delete stock apps that you don't want or use, backup and restore all your phones data and settings, and much much more. Also, there's supposedly a lot of behind the scenes tweaks to the OS to optimize stability and performance. Couple this with a LV (Low Voltage) and OC'd kernel and you're phone not only runs faster and smoother, but it saves a little battery life too. Yesterday, I unplugged my Droid at 8 AM, texted all day and did some moderate browsing, got off work at 5 PM and still had 80% of my battery left. I'm running Chevy's LV 1.1 GHz 7-slot kernel. And yes, SetCPU is still king of OC profiles and temp monitoring.

I'm sure I'm missing a bit more to what custom ROMs bring to the table, but that's the gist of it .

Great guide, Khan. I wish I had this option when I rooted back in the 2.0.1 days . Back then, we had to do it with only the SDK and command prompt, hah. RSD lite made it easy enough to do a couple friends phones though a couple months ago. But this just makes it stupid easy, just not free.

Yep. I remember rooting during the 2.0.1 days.. what a pain in the nuts

anyway, as to the 'why custom?' question.. here is a feature list on the rom I am using:

-Built from source [JRummy]
-FRG01B proprietary files & gapps [p3droid/cvpcs]
-Fully zipaligned and deodexed & optimized
-Bash shell and compiled Busybox 1.16.2
-Absolute system app [canvs2321]
-Lithium Mod custom settings [Billygalbreath/JRummy] (more to come)
-Added Jrummy's all in one script (type allinone in terminal)
-10% battery increments [CyanogenMod/JRummy]
-Reboot and reboot recovery options [billygalbreath/CyanogenMod]
-WyContacts for more customization [Wysie, port to Froyo by Sileht]
-cyphone app for more customization/tweaks [cytown/CyanogenMod]
-Full exchange support [cavillis]
-Modified stock kernel for increased performance
-Added 7 screens and 2D Launcher2 [JRummy/Insanenemisis]
-270 degree rotation in Launcher2
-Increased snap velocity and 3D fly in effect time for Launcher2
-Added 16 custom wallpapers [JaeThemes/Prash]
-Full MusicMod [Eliot Stocker]
-Transparency in status bar [Xeudoxus]
-Custom live wallpapers based on Chris Soyar's Sexied up lwp
-Custom MagicSmoke & Music Visualization Live Wallpapers (themes only)
-DeskClock style tweaks [Nathan Zachary]
-Reduced ring delay & wifi scan time (battery savor)
-Spare parts for nice tweaking
-Disabled ads by default
-Updated to FRG01B build.fingerprint

Custom Scripts:

allinone - Downloads/installs BootAni, Fonts, LWP's and extra apps. apps2sd, setcpu, zipalign, flash recovery, free memory, backup/restore, show/block ads, camera soud off, othe kewl stuffs.
sysrw/mountsys - mounts system read/write
sysro/unmountsys - mounts system read only
rb - reboots device
rr - reboots into recovery

something I LOVE about it is the ability to control the music player while the phone is in standby with the volume buttons. The extra contacts options and everything else is pretty cool too.

it takes a great device and makes it better!

 

[T4rd]

----->>



Yep. I remember rooting during the 2.0.1 days.. what a pain in the nuts

anyway, as to the 'why custom?' question.. here is a feature list on the rom I am using:

*snipped list*

something I LOVE about it is the ability to control the music player while the phone is in standby with the volume buttons. The extra contacts options and everything else is pretty cool too.

it takes a great device and makes it better!

Which ROM is that? Chevy's SS I think has all those same features and those scripts too. He just added the music controls in standby in this revision and lowered the screen brightness threshold to pretty much go all the way to dark, hah. Also, apparently he fixed the sound quality issues with Pandora and other streaming apps that have plagued all 2.2 ROMs. He even added a feature to be able to push updates/patches OTA which is crazy. If you haven't tried his stuff out, I highly recommend it.

 

[Vermillion]

Which ROM is that? Chevy's SS I think has all those same features and those scripts too. He just added the music controls in standby in this revision and lowered the screen brightness threshold to pretty much go all the way to dark, hah. Also, apparently he fixed the sound quality issues with Pandora and other streaming apps that have plagued all 2.2 ROMs. He even added a feature to be able to push updates/patches OTA which is crazy. If you haven't tried his stuff out, I highly recommend it.

I just finished loading SS 4.7. So far it's pretty nice. Quick too.

Google actually fixed the Stagefright (streaming AAC sound quality) issue but Chevy has added that to SS 4.7.

Overall a lot of the ROM's are starting to look the same script wise. So now I just find which one seems the most stable for my Droid. I am looking forward to CM6 though. Nearly at final release. Can't wait!

 

[khanable]

Which ROM is that? Chevy's SS I think has all those same features and those scripts too. He just added the music controls in standby in this revision and lowered the screen brightness threshold to pretty much go all the way to dark, hah. Also, apparently he fixed the sound quality issues with Pandora and other streaming apps that have plagued all 2.2 ROMs. He even added a feature to be able to push updates/patches OTA which is crazy. If you haven't tried his stuff out, I highly recommend it.

I will give that rom a shot.. that is what is so great.. do a rom dump and load something else.

I'm using lithium mod.

I just finished loading SS 4.7. So far it's pretty nice. Quick too.

Google actually fixed the Stagefright (streaming AAC sound quality) issue but Chevy has added that to SS 4.7.

Overall a lot of the ROM's are starting to look the same script wise. So now I just find which one seems the most stable for my Droid. I am looking forward to CM6 though. Nearly at final release. Can't wait!

CM never ran right for me

but yea.. it is getting to the point where you *really* have to look for differences in roms and just go with whatever runs best for you/has the ideal theming options.

 

[T4rd]

I just finished loading SS 4.7. So far it's pretty nice. Quick too.

Google actually fixed the Stagefright (streaming AAC sound quality) issue but Chevy has added that to SS 4.7.

Overall a lot of the ROM's are starting to look the same script wise. So now I just find which one seems the most stable for my Droid. I am looking forward to CM6 though. Nearly at final release. Can't wait!

Yeah, I saw that they fixed it. I should have specified. I never really heard much difference between 2.1 and 2.2. I even edited the build.prop file to disable Stagefright before Google fixed it to enhance the quality. I guess I'm not much of an audiophile, heh.

 

[dirksquarejaw]

Ive been running mine rooted and oc @1.1Ghz for about 3 months now and no problems what so ever.Also have the droid 2 sitting on my desk when I get home to play with.
Good guide!

 

[Vermillion]

I will give that rom a shot.. that is what is so great.. do a rom dump and load something else.

I'm using lithium mod.




CM never ran right for me

but yea.. it is getting to the point where you *really* have to look for differences in roms and just go with whatever runs best for you/has the ideal theming options.

I never tried CM until CM6 RC1. It was nice but fairly buggy at the time. A buddy was just running CM6 RC3 and it was pretty damn nice so I'll certainly give it a shot once CM6 is released.

Must say I'm very impressed with SS 4.7 right now though. Chevy does good work. Stable, fast, good battery life, and low temps considering I'm at 1GHz now.

 

[Sixthsense]

I tried SS 4.6 I'm not a big fan on the boot animation and couldn't find a way to make the home button clear opposed to being blue when pressed. Currently using Cyanogen 6 RC3 with a P3droid kernel @ 1.1/250 LV. Horizontal scrolling for the app drawer is nice for a change

 

[kirbyrj]

I just rooted a Droid today using this method from a 2.2 phone. I haven't loaded any custom roms on it, but I did install the wireless tether and setcpu. Still looking for the "perfect" custom rom...lol.

 

[T4rd]

I just rooted a Droid today using this method from a 2.2 phone. I haven't loaded any custom roms on it, but I did install the wireless tether and setcpu. Still looking for the "perfect" custom rom...lol.

You're going to be busy for a while looking then . I'm still pretty damn happy with Chevy's SS 4.7. It pretty much has the same features as all the other ROMs and also has the official Google fix for the crappy Pandora/streaming audio fix and a lot more customization features (you can pretty much make the notification bar display or not display whatever you want and in any color with one click). It's been damn fast and great on battery for me too running a LV kernel.

 

[kirbyrj]

You're going to be busy for a while looking then . I'm still pretty damn happy with Chevy's SS 4.7. It pretty much has the same features as all the other ROMs and also has the official Google fix for the crappy Pandora/streaming audio fix and a lot more customization features (you can pretty much make the notification bar display or not display whatever you want and in any color with one click). It's been damn fast and great on battery for me too running a LV kernel.

Yeah, I'm definitely looking into that. I hear good things. Haven't decided to try Chevy, DroidMod, or Cyanogen at this point.

 

[Vermillion]

Yeah, I'm definitely looking into that. I hear good things. Haven't decided to try Chevy, DroidMod, or Cyanogen at this point.

Chevy so far is my new favorite. 4.7 is great on my Droid. Fast and stable and source built. No redraw lag with the latest ADW launcher. Cyanogen has always been good for many people. Once CM6 is released I'll give it a whirl. Same with DroidMod once they get project Durden out the door. I used DM 2.0.1 back in the day and it was my favorite ROM at the time.

 

[kirbyrj]

I'm a little confused at loading a new kernel. Is it hard to figure out? Looks like you can do it right from the rom manager. But I have no idea what would happen if it doesn't work right.

 

[T4rd]

I'm a little confused at loading a new kernel. Is it hard to figure out? Looks like you can do it right from the rom manager. But I have no idea what would happen if it doesn't work right.

Yeah, you can load kernels from ROM manager. Just go to "Install ROM from SD card" (if you've already downloaded it outside of ROM manager, or just "Download ROM" and choose a kernel of your choice and install it just like any other ROM (installing ROMs, themes and kernels are the exact same procedure).

If you're afraid your phone won't like the kernel, just make sure you have the .zip of the existing kernel you're using now (or any other known good kernel). That way if it boot loops on you on the new kernel, you can just go back into the recovery console (hold x while booting the phone) and install the original kernel you were on to restore it. Or you can just tell ROM manager/recovery to back up your whole phone and restore the backup if something goes awry.

 

[kirbyrj]

I think I'm going to give one of the Chevy kernels a try. I already have a good backup of everything from the Rom manager, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal once I download everything. Thanks.