[Atrix 4G General] The.Opethian:
[GUIDE] A detailed step-by-step "Dummies Guide" to installing CM7 on your ATRIX MB860

After reading several threads of where to go and how to do it, and being able to successfully install CM7 after going through all those threads, I took it upon myself that if I was ever successful in getting it on my device (Motorola Atrix MB860, locked to T-Mobile UK), I'd share my experience and hopefully create a how-to in the process. I am hoping this guide will be useful to many others.

Please be advised that this is the completed version of this simple guide, the actual process involved me having to back track and read several threads, then re-read some more other threads just to make sure I did the proper thing.

A big thank you to all those who took the time to make the guides I based this "all in one" guide for T-Mobile Atrix users. Some of them had an instruction or two missing (like when do you plug in the phone to the computer?) that would have been obvious to many but to some would have had trouble figuring out.

The phone in question: Motorola Atrix MB860. My phone was running Android 2.2.2. I updated the phone using a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit machine.

Since I got it as a free phone on a new contract, I'd like to assume that the phone itself was network locked. I haven't tried any other SIM with it so far. Please be advised, YOU DO NOT NEED TO UNLOCK YOUR PHONE TO GET CM7. Unlocking the BOOTLOADER, is not the same as unlocking the phone. This maybe obvious to some people, but again, not to everyone (saw a guy respond in one forum who had to pay to get his phone network-unlocked, in hoping that would make it easier to install CM7 for him).

Also, this guide is not meant to be the official way of loading it up, I just hope that it makes it easier for someone else to load up the excellent CM7 on to a Motorola Atrix. Add it to the list of many threads you'll need to read! But I hope this thread is all you need to read.

So here goes, the step by step guide (I took) in getting the latest CM7 on it. Before I start, a few necessary words:

WARNING #1 - Ensure that whenever you plugin your phone, or install something, or run a command, please let the event finish before going on to the next step. In my experience, there were several times that I had to plug in the phone, and wait for the driver installation to continue, and on one instance I got a bit impatient unplugged the phone before realizing that it was still installing. It set me back another 10 minutes just because of that.

WARNING #2 - Please make sure that you back up any data that you have just to be sure. After the end of the entire process, your phone will be back to factory settings and you will need to re-setup any customisations, and put back any media files you use, AND install any apps you use.

WARNING #3 - Just to be safe, and to make sure that your battery stats isn't messed up, make sure that you fully charge your phone first before continuing with this guide.

DISCLAIMER - As with anything regarding XDA and tinkering with your phone, you may void your warranty doing this. I cannot be 100% sure that your phone will not be bricked by this (I've been using the guides by XDA'ers over the years and have yet to brick a phone. Well I did brick my Samsung Galaxy S i9000 once, but I was able to recover it!). Proceed at your own discretion.

THE GUIDE

1. Download all the necessary files. I have taken the liberty of gathering all the files you will need in one archive. Click on any of the following download links to grab it.

* Deposit Files Main

* MediaFire Mirror

* Filesonic Mirror

* Megaupload Mirror​

2. UnRAR the archive to "C:". A warning may show up based on your security settings, just say "Yes" to this.

3. Install the necessary drivers and programs. Start with "MotorolaEndUserDrivers_5.1.0x64.msi". Then install "RSDLite5.3.1.msi".

4. Unlocking the Bootloader.

a. Turn off your phone.

b. Remove your SIM, and MicroSD card if you have one.

c. Put the battery back in, then press and hold "Power Button + Volume Up" until it acknowledges RSD.

d. The phone will say “Starting RSD protocol support”.

e. On your computer, open "RSD Lite".

f. Press the “...” button.

g. Locate the "intl-fix-try1.sbf" file. This should be located in "C:\MotorolaMB860toCM7\". Select that. For USA AT&T users please refer to this link to download the correct SBF file.

h. Connect your phone to the computer. Ensure that all the drivers are installed before proceeding.

i. RSD Lite should recognize your phone and say something similar to “Model: SE Flash Olympus” and the status should read as “Connected…”

j. Press the “Start” button. This may take a few moments. My phone rebooted and completed starting up before the timer in RSD Lite reached 100%! But I did not disconnect the phone just to be sure.

k. Press "Windows Key + R". Type "cmd" then press "Enter".

l. In the command prompt window, enter in "C:" first to make sure you're in the right drive, then execute "cd C:\MotorolaMB860toCM7\fastboot\" to go to the right folder. This will change your working folder to that of where the files are (well, a subfolder of the main folder, you should be at the fastboot working folder, I won't say folder again... D'OH!).

m. Turn off your phone. After making sure it's turned off, press "Power Button + Volume Down" until you see "Fastboot" on the phone's screen.

n. Press "Volume Up" and you should see “Starting Fastboot protocol support”.

o. Connect your phone back to the computer via USB. Again, ensure that any driver installation prompts are finished before proceeding.

p. Back at the command prompt, type "fastboot oem unlock".

q. A warning will appear, along with a "Unique Device ID".

r. Type "fastboot oem unlock *****". Where ***** will be your "Unique Device ID".

s. Type "fastboot reboot".

t. Your phone will now reboot. Now, your phone has an unlocked bootloader!​

5. Flashing CWM Recovery using FASTBOOT.

a. Turn off your phone. Then boot into "fastboot". This is done by pressing "Power Button + Volume Down" when turning on your phone.

b. When you see "Fastboot" on the phone's screen, press "Volume Up" to select it.

c. Connect your phone to your computer. Again ensure any prompts are finished before proceeding.

d. Your command prompt should still be open, and your working directory should still be "C:\MotorolaMB860toCM7\fastboot\". Now type "fastboot flash recovery recovery.img".

e. After the process, type in "fastboot reboot".

f. Your phone will now reboot, and you have successfully installed CWM Recovery.​

6. Installing Cyanogen Mod 7!

a. Turn the phone off then put back your SIM, and your MicroSD card.

b. Turn on your phone, and after the phone completely boots up, connect it to your computer. You should use Mass Storage as the connection option in the phone.

c. Copy the files "Ba2tF.zip" and "gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip" into the phone's internal memory.

d. Disconnect the phone properly from the computer, then turn off the phone.

e. On the phone, press "Power Button + Volume Down" until you see "Fastboot".

f. Press "Volume Down" several times until you see "Android Recovery". Then press "Volume Up". Your phone should say "Entering Android Recovery Mode".

g. Using the volume keys for movement (Up & Down) and the power button for selection, choose "install zip from sdcard".

h. Then select "choose zip from internal sdcard".

i. You might see a lot of folders and files here. You will need to select "Ba2tF.zip".

j. After which, it will ask you to confirm. Select "Yes - Install Ba2tF.zip".

k. After it completes the installation, you will need to run the "wipe data/factory reset" command in CWM Recovery. Follow the prompts to complete this.

l. After that, you will need to run the "wipe cache partition" command in CWM Recovery. Again, follow the prompts to complete this.

m. When it completes, choose "reboot system now".

n. Be enchanted by the excellent Cyanogen Mod 7 loading screen!​

7. Due to an arrangement (more like a request) from Google, the Cyanogen Mod 7 release does not contain any Google Apps. To install the necessary Google Apps:

a. Turn off the phone.

b. On the phone, press "Power Button + Volume Down" until you see "Fastboot".

c. Press "Volume Down" several times until you see "Android Recovery". Then press "Volume Up". Your phone should say "Entering Android Recovery Mode".

d. Using the volume keys for movement (Up & Down) and the power button for selection, choose "install zip from sdcard".

e. Then select "choose zip from internal sdcard".

f. You might see a lot of folders and files here. You will need to select "gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip".

g. After which, it will ask you to confirm. Select "Yes - Install gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip".

h. When it completes, choose "reboot system now".​

8. That is it! That's the whole process I believe. Can easily be done in 30 minutes, but I would recommend alotting an hour to this project just to be safe.

I have found that once going on to Cyanogen Mod 7, it would be very hard, nay, would be insane for me to go back to the Stock ROM (or any other ROM for that matter!). I personally think that all this hard work is worth it. Bottom line, I appreciate what my phone is and has to offer thanks to the Cyanogen Mod team (specifically the Atrix-Dev-Team!).

Most importantly, donations to the Atrix-Dev-Team (http://code.google.com/p/atrix-dev-team/) will be most appreciated (I'm not a part of them but I support what they do, hey). They do a fantastic job and giving them some beer money is the least we can do to show our appreciation.

Last and not the least, this guide is a combination of all the other guides that I have had to read and peruse in order for me to get my phone on to CM7. All I did was get the necessary important information that was useful to me, but the credit of the actual content and the guides go to the following:

1. Motorola Atrix 4G Forums

2. * Official CM7 for Atrix Stable only (No Nightly )* Atrix CM Ba2tF RELEASED!!

3. CM7 Q&A

3. [Updated 10-30-2011] THE BEGINNERS (N00B) GUIDE!!! N00BS LOOK HERE FOR YOUR HOW TOs

4. [PUDDING] International House of Pudding! BL Unlock/root thread (Updated 07/23/2011)

5. BriefMobile - How To: Unlock the Atrix 4G Bootloader

6. Atrix-Dev-Team Backup/Restore​

* In case you were wondering what "preinstall.img" is, well according to this thread, it should help with ROOTing your phone. I haven't done so, haven't used it, but I've attached it for your convenience should you feel extra adventurous.

I wish you success in the installation of CM7 on to your Motorola Atrix!