[Verizon Droid Incredible 2] oxlong27:
this q and a section will be a work in progress as well. If anyone has suggestions for questions that you think should be here, by all means let me know.

Q: I think I bricked my phone what should I do?

A: calm down 99 percent of the time people think they are bricked they really aren't. If your device shows any sign of life your chances are good that your ok. If you can access hboot by holding volume down and power while the device is off your in good shape you can still flash the ruu and get back to stock.

Q: I put the ruu on my sdcard but hboot cannot find it

A: when flashing anything from hboot it must be named exactly PG32IMG.zip and yes it is case sensitive. Also if you have to rename the file, if doing it on a computer be careful because a computer will automatically add a .zip to the end of it and hboot will not recognize it.

Q: I flashed a kernel a now my "insert issue here" don't work

A: did you flash an aosp kernel on a sense Rom or vice versa? If so things will not work as they should always make sure the kernel you are flashing is compatible with your Rom.

Q: will sense apps and widgets work on aosp roms?

A: short answer is no

Q: my phone is stuck in a bootloop what should I do?

A: some time in your flashing career you will encounter a bootloop, there are a couple of ways to fix this number one is start adb (which every Rom flasher should have set up in my opinion) and type adb reboot recovery and hit enter then once in recovery you can reflash and try again. Your other option is to pop the battery out, put it back in then hold volume down and power to get into the bootloader once there select recovery. If you can not navigate in the bootloader that means the PG32IMG.zip is on your sdcard still. Remove that and it will let you navigate the bootloader. If you have no way to remove that .zip pop out your sdcard boot into bootloader select recovery then pop your card back in.

Q: what is the best Rom out there?

A: there is none its all a matter of opinion. Just a warning, don't start a new thread asking this question you will be flamed into oblivion and the mods will lock it. I've seen it a million times

Q: I just flashed an aosp Rom (miui, cm7, omgb) why is my earpiece volume so low?

A: as of now this is a known issue for our aosp Roms, the tiamat kernel is said to fix it.

this is the start of my q and a and it is far from complete, if you think there is something important that is not here by all means let me know.

Ok guys here is some basic terms you should be familiar with before rooting and flashing

1. Flash or flashing, basically just means to install something from recovery or bootloader

2. Rom- the word rom is kind of an outdated term (read only memory) because we can in fact write to it, nonetheless a rom in the simplest of terms is basically your operating system.

3. Kernel- the kernel is the heart of your o.s. It basically communicates with your software and hardware, wifi and processor speed are a few examples of things your kernel controls among many other things. Sense kernels should not be used on aosp roms and vice versa things will not work as they should.

4. Overclocking- to increase your processors stock speed to increase performance

5. Underclocking- pretty self explanatory underclocking is used to help save battery

6. Undervolting- to decrease your voltage to save battery. Undervolting is a slightly controversial topic some people swear by it and others say it can actually decrease your battery life. Undervolting can cause stability issues so educateyourself before attempting.

7. Radio- basically the software that works with your hardware to give you your signal and mobile network, on other phones they are also reffered to as modems

8. Aosp- android open source project, aosp roms are roms built from the original google source code, some examples of these are cm7, miui, omgb, these are typically lightweight roms that you can customize yourself, they are preffered by many users because of the great battery life and performance

9. Sense roms- these are roms based on an original htc rom, sense is th ui that htc adds to android, sense roms have many nice apps and widgets, and usually are packed with eyecandy, however many people say that sense it a resource hog and needs a lot more ram to run than aosp roms

10. Port- a port is a rom or theme originally made for another device but made to work with ours

11. Wipe- it is usually recommended to wipe before flashing a rom, but not always mandatory, read the forum of the rom your flashing to see if a wipe is recommended or not. Some roms will wipe data automatically some will not. A wipe is just basically giving you a clean start like when you first got the device and is done in the recovery menu. When in doubt wipe, you will run into less issues.

12. Ruu- an ruu is a stock signed rom that is flashed in hboot, an ruu is your get out of jail free card, if you mess your phone up too bad an ruu will bring your device back to its stock state

13. Hboot_ this is basically your bootloader from hboot you can enter recovery, do a factory reset, and flash an ruu, a radio, and other things not flashable in recovery

there is some more basic definitions that I overlooked, see post 28 by artvandelay440