Root I have the stock 4.1.2 Sprint rom for the ZTE Force 4G

[sawbones999]

I may try unpacking the system.img and changing the build.prop so that the LCD density is set to 240 and see if it will boot further but probably can't work on this until next week or possibly Sunday afternoon. Gotta go to bed now. Working a double shift tomorrow.

Cheers all,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

Very strange... I just unpacked the system.img and absolutely none of that stuff I saw from the backup.log is in there. different build number, no mention of cyanogenmod, none of it! It looks exactly like you would expect a standard Sprint build.prop to look!

I wonder what was all that stuff in shinru's backup.log from the nandroid and how it got there.

Oh well. Excited for the next nandroid and still hopeful that we can make some progress.

Cheers again and goodnight!
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

About the online nandroid I had requested from shinru, he said he isn't sure nandroid will work bc he thinks that they have locked the boatloader and it might not work without the updated partition table...
I have seen online nandroid backup not work before on other devices, if that is the reason he thinks this.

I did tell him that if he has root, he can use dd to copy the partitions.

He said he will ask his client to request the update package from Sprint.

I wish they would just push it out ota. Maybe they have and I wouldn't know bc of fotakill. Or maybe bc my phone is boost and not Sprint. Why does it seem like almost all the dev for this phone is boost driven?

Cheers,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

If it is a change in boatloader, I wonder if we can unpack the new boot.img, replace the current (new) updater-script and updater-binary with the one from the old one (dsf or other stock based ROM) and still use the new zimage.

I might try that tomorrow after checking out the differences between the updater-scripts and see what happens. Gotta work all day today.

Cheers,
-SB

 

[sonicbluemustang]

I do not believe that there is such.

 

[sawbones999]

I do not believe that there is such.

Such what? I don't understand what you mean by this.

Cheers,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

I did notice that this system.img includes something like zte-krait-oc.ko. Maybe not exact spelling. Going to try this oc module on stock kernel from ics and see if it works when I get time.

Work is killing me this week....

Cheers,
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

Not in system.img but I did see it somewhere. Need ROM kitchen to unpack boot.img but no time now gotta sleep.

Cheers and goodnight.
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

I got it working!!!!!!!

What I did was replace the zimage in the boot.img with the one that I extracted from the DSF .7 ROM. Then I copied the files from DSF's META_INF into the one for this rom.

Next I replaced the updater-script and binary with the ones from DSF and made some minor changes there.

When I had tried only replacing the zimage with the one from DSF, I think this got me a boost like boot logo. Then I tried replacing it with the whole boot.img from DSF and that got me a blank screen like from Shinru's nandroid.

Also, I kept getting errors when mixing SuperR's updater with the DSF stuff.

I also did copy a lot of stuff that was in the DSF .7 rom but only missing items. I did not overwrite anything. This seemed to make some of the difference between boot and not.

So what I finally did that made it work was to take the DSF boot img. unpack it with rom kitchen, replace the contents of the ramdisk from DSF with the contents of the one from Shinru/SuperR, then recompile the boot.img, zipalign, sign, create zip.

Then I flashed with cwm 6.0.4.4, rebooted and after the android logo, I got an animated android logo! I thought holy crap I think it's booting! And then IT SURE AS HELL DID BOOT!

Awesome! I did update my profile with boost and got phone/data. So far the only thing not working is the wifi, and I'm wondering if maybe that's something simple like I need to create a symlink from lib/modules to the driver in lib/modules/prima.

So best practice for flash is wipe data/factory reset, clear dalvik, install zip, choose zip from card, wait, and then you should be ready to reboot provided to errors.

Until I can find a better hosting solution I am using my dropbox.

Here is the link
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43264469/FORCE4G_JB_4.2.1_SAWBONES-MOD.zip

I would consider this beta until we figure what all bugs are in it.

Enjoy guys! I will probably be using this as the base for the rom I was planning to use DSF base on but not sure yet. Depends on this build, and it's stability.

Might be a bit of delay before DL is possible. My dropbox is syncing.

HUGE SHOUT OUT FOR SHINRU2004, JimSmith80, and SUPERR, without whom this would not be possible!

Cheers and goodnight!
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

First impression is that it's fast. Also when I updated profile it automatically provisioned everything for boost, mms, data, everything!

This maybe the only rom for this phone that will provision itself for any sprint based network without any extra work.

Gotta say, I like it! 34minutes left on my dropbox sync.

Cheers!
-SB

 

[sawbones999]

Camera app not working goes on the list of bugs with Wi-Fi. May need to revert to the older one.

Antutu score of 14461 on clean install, not bad.

Cheers,
SB

 

[sawbones999]

Right now i'm thinking that the reason wifi and bluetooth aren't working is from using the older stock kernel with the modules included in shinru's nandroid .

Since shinru hasnt responded when I asked him about the kernel version of the nandroid he made I can only speculate.

4g is working. firefox seems to be crashing more often.

Going to try replacing the bt and wifi drivers with the ones from DSF since I'm using that kernel.

Probably won't have time today bc I have to go to work fairly soon.

Cheers,
SB

 

[sawbones999]

Firefox seems better after adding ad block plus.

 

[shinru2004]

Since shinru hasnt responded when I asked him about the kernel version of the nandroid he made I can only speculate.

Sorry i've been super busy with work have like, 3 devices to do right now. Anywho the stock 4.1.2 kernel is 3.4 so if wifi isnt working then you will need to pull the modules from the 4.0 rom. Same with the camera the lib files and binary files might need to be downgraded since the kernel was changed. did you try using the 3.4 zImage with the DSF ramdisk? Sorry i probably read it just dont remember.

 

[sawbones999]

it's cool. Thanks for replying. I did try that and the only combo that has worked so far is the dsf kernel with the 3.4 ramdisk.

 

[greg1956]

Hi I have zte sonata on 4.1.2 was
Wondering if you know of any ROMs for my phone its rooted also I tried to load safe strap on here a no go could use help
Thsnks

 

[TheFatDemon]

Hi I have zte sonata on 4.1.2 was
Wondering if you know of any ROMs for my phone its rooted also I tried to load safe strap on here a no go could use help
Thsnks

They might be able to help you out a bit better over http://androidforums.com/avid-4g-all-things-root/ <-- here

 

[sawbones999]

They might be able to help you out a bit better over http://androidforums.com/avid-4g-all-things-root/ <-- here

I think the avid 4g is more like a force 4g but made for verizon/metropcs.

The sonata 4g is a totally different SOC. I dont think that it is very widely supported in the way of custom roms.

See if they have a forum somewhere, maybe?

Cheers,
SB

 

[knoober]

Things for you to know:
Flashed file from above post (the one that had DSF mixed in and finally worked)... It boots but seems unstable. System Tuner wants more than a minute to start, I got pushed down to 12000 on antutu, with other general instability ( screen tries to freeze between swipes, restarts when it thinks too hard)
I cannot verify WiFi or data as this is a spare device
Can verify camera not working (no big deal to me, just letting you know)
Settings menu lists 4.1.2... but the only thing that has changed is the wallpaper (it is pretty cool though)
... Oh and also when I forced the second cpu online it couldn't take it. My recovery is cwm 6.0.4.4 and I'mgonna ttry with the repack mentioned on the previous page to see if I get different results.
Also stock kernel no tweaks

Stuff I'm requesting to know;
How (aside from word of mouth) does a person decide which version of recovery is correct?
Shouldn't there be a lockscreen and some other setting changes when moving from 4.0.4 to 4.1.2?
Is there anything else you'd like to know for troubleshooting? BTW I'll let you know if using a different recovery makes a difference. Thanks for all the hard work

Edit: system tuner is still sluggish to load but I finally forced both cpu online and my benchmark jumped straight into the 16000. Still seeing the transition between screens lockup/stutter. I'll keep you posted as to other issues I run across (you know ones that aren't caused by my lack of correctness) WiFi isn't working on this one right? I can't test until later so I don't know if I have it yet...

 

[sawbones999]

Yeah for those of you who haven't tried this it seems that the biggest changes are in like the color scheme of system settings.

No major visible differences. I noticed one positive difference, which is cracked Pandora one crashes less.

Generally memory usage is higher in jb, many things are less stable (I assume bc we are mixing modules from different kernel version ATM.

Needs lots of work and I don't have time for it right now.

Cheers all. Let you know if I make progress.

SB

 

[TheFatDemon]

Yeah for those of you who haven't tried this it seems that the biggest changes in like the color scheme of system settings.

No major visible differences. I noticed one positive difference, which is cracked Pandora one less.

Generally memory usage is higher in jb, many things are less stable (I assume bc we are mixing modules from different kernel version ATM.

Needs lots of work and I don't have time for it right now.

Cheers all. Let you know if I make progress.

SB

Thanks for the status update, I've been checking in on this forum daily. I haven't had a chance to install JB but I will soon.

 

[sawbones999]

I did run this Rom for awhile to check it out. As I said not that much difference visually, I did eventually switch back to a nandroid of dsf.

Wi-Fi and other issues can be fixed easily by adding in the required symlinks. Rom kitchen keeps throwing me an error showing which symlinks need to be created manualy bc of cygwin somehow not processing them correctly.

Honestly I dunno if project is truly worth a ton of effort without the 3.4 kernel. I am going to try and see if I can get Sprint to give up the Rom but not too hopeful about that.

I am going to say that I need that Rom to repair a phone which came with jb.

Perhaps if enough of us try hammering the support for Sprint and ZTE we might get an installable Rom now that we know that it definitely exists.

Cheers,
SB

 

[sawbones999]

I have spent entirely too many hours on trying to make the wifi or BT work tonight...

I have tried replacing the config files with the ones from kernel 3.0.8, also the modules, frameworks, libraries, all kinds of stuff and still can't come up with anything better than the release I already made here.

I also spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with sprint trying to get them to release the rom to me, as well as ZTE. ZTE claims ignorance and I couldn't even get sprint to connect me with tech support bc I am not a customer (Still I tried several times on the phone and with the online chat).

I may try via email and see if I get any further. We may have to wait for someone to get their hands physically on a JB device again at this point.

Meanwhile just restored my DSF .7 nandroid....

I'm so ready to dump this phone and get a sprint galaxy S4 and activate on FreedomPop. The ZTE Force phone itself is great and has great potential, just not a large enough user base to be rocking kitkat like an HTC with the same SOC.

Cheers,
-SB

 

[MidshipAc]

Thanks Saw. Broken Jb is better than no Jb at all. Maybe down the line something will change and the Force will move Jelly Beans

 

[Golono]

I have spent entirely too many hours on trying to make the wifi or BT work tonight...

I have tried replacing the config files with the ones from kernel 3.0.8, also the modules, frameworks, libraries, all kinds of stuff and still can't come up with anything better than the release I already made here.

I also spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with sprint trying to get them to release the rom to me, as well as ZTE. ZTE claims ignorance and I couldn't even get sprint to connect me with tech support bc I am not a customer (Still I tried several times on the phone and with the online chat).

I may try via email and see if I get any further. We may have to wait for someone to get their hands physically on a JB device again at this point.

Meanwhile just restored my DSF .7 nandroid....

I'm so ready to dump this phone and get a sprint galaxy S4 and activate on FreedomPop. The ZTE Force phone itself is great and has great potential, just not a large enough user base to be rocking kitkat like an HTC with the same SOC.

Cheers,
-SB

Despite the fact that I haven't posted anything up until now, I've been keeping up with your updates on JB. I really appreciate that you and many others have tried very hard to make this phone stable (ZTE's job really).

I know exactly how you feel about the urge to get rid of this phone. I really hate the idea of buying a new phone less than two years later but this thing is garbage software wise. It has gotten progressively worse for me with constant lock ups and slow downs even with both cores running 24/7.

Looking at Freedompop again I see that its plans are a lot better than what they were a while back. I might actually switch, thanks for the indirect tip . Anyway, I think that you shouldn't waste any more time on this device unless you're positive that you're close to a major breakthrough. Good luck.