Do I really need Clockworkmod recovery to update Android?

jsmoke

jsmoke

jsmoke

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17 Jun 2012
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Trying to update phone to kitkat 4.4, I have the kitkat ROM however the guide says to install CWM recovery first, I have installed ROM manager and it turns out the CWM recovery doesn't support this phone.

But the phone has a default recovery console which allows to update from the SD card and wipe the phone etc, so shouldn't this be enough to update?
 
If you're using a custom ROM, then you need a custom recovery to flash the update zip file. This is not just CWM. What phone and ROM are you using?
 
Orcvader said:
If you're using a custom ROM, then you need a custom recovery to flash the update zip file. This is not just CWM. What phone and ROM are you using?
Click to expand...

Motorrola XT389, my phone was nicked so using this till get a better phone, on Android 2.3.

It's on stock Android ROM just now.

What do you mean 'This is not just CWM'?

Do you mean if the phone has a custom ROM like Cyangenmod, or do you mean if the version of kitkat is a custom version?
 
Yup, sorry was typing that on a phone, did mean you can usually use other custom recoveries.

Checking the phone I don't think it has an official KK update from Motorola, what guide are you following and where did you get the ROM?
 
Orcvader said:
Yup, sorry was typing that on a phone, did mean you can usually use other custom recoveries.

Checking the phone I don't think it has an official KK update from Motorola, what guide are you following and where did you get the ROM?
Click to expand...

The phone is unusable with the current Android version so may as well try.

This is the guide, ROM links are there, the ROM comes to about 1gb.

http://romkitkatupdate.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/upgradeupdate-motoluxe-xt389-to-44.html

I assume that installing a custom ROM updates the kernel also?

Also what about the firmware, I am not even sure the difference between the FM and the ROM, would I need to update this also?
 
Yup, that guide mentions getting to a later version of Android requires jumping to a custom ROM. That explains the need of CWM, but as I mentioned before any custom recovery will do. I prefer TWRP these days but with older devices I found CWM to be better. The stock recovery will not work as it only accepts files from Motorola and not any custom ones.

Reading the guide, this is the steps I would take:

1) Install ROM manager and then install CWM (or any other custom recovery if it offers a choice, wouldn't really make a difference).
2) Copy the complete ROM zip file to the base of the storage, so it's not in any folders.
3) Restart the phone into recovery mode via ROM manager. Then back up the phone.
4) Wipe the following partitions: system, data, cache and dalvik cache. Do not wipe any other partitions like internal or SD card, otherwise you will delete the ROM you copied over.
5) Now choose the flash option and select the ROM file. This will flash everything. This will take a good 10 minutes or so to complete. Once it finishes it will either auto reboot or asks to reboot (depends on the custom recovery). Reboot the phone and it will load up the custom ROM.

You will not need to flash anything else. Firmware usually contains files like basebands and stuff for the modem, wifi, bluetooth, etc to work but you should not need to do that.
 
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