[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] kobridge:
I feel like one of my daily job is flashing new ROMs these days.....

Any way, we are getting lots of ROMS that we can flash with different methods.

Because I'm flashing the ROMs almost every day in these days, I just wanted to share some information how I do my daily job. (Lot's of Devs are flashing the Roms with their own ways but I believe the general concept is same and we are always trying to avoid the 'bricks' caused by wrong direction.

In here, what I'm doing is my safest way and I never failed with this method but please do this with your own risk if you want to follow this guide. There are tons of other guide and directions that you may also want to consider.

[Most important thing is, you must follow ROM publisher's instruction first. The information in here is the way what I'm doing day to day basis. So, it may not work based on your situation. Don't blame be if you phone bricked]

* Flashing Calk rooted Stock Rom

1. if you don't have the Modified CWMRecovery kernel something like Rogue Recovery Kernel, before following this guide, you need to download 'it' first.

For me, I use Rogue's FB27 recovery Kernel until another newest stable version comes out. You can download it from

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1390393

If you use the .tar file, then I assume that you already have a odin executable in your pc (.tar file in you pc) or mobile odin in your phone (.tar file in your sdcard).

Or if you use the zip file, you need to be sure that you are able to install the zip file through the recovery (zip file in your sdcard).

2. download Calk's rooted stock Rom and place into your sdcard (or external SD).

Most recent Calk's rooted stock Rom can be found at

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1552117

Modem file also needs to be required if you want to install the modem at the same time when you flash his rom. If the modem tar file available from other Dev's post, you can flash the modem later or before the flashing his rom thru odin or mobile odin.

3. Be sure that you already have nandroid backup of your current rom or make the nandroid backup before flashing his rom.

4. Check if there's any stock kernel available. If there's no separate kernel available, you need to extract zImage file from Calk's zip file and save to sdcard (for mobile odin) or to PC (for odin). If you want to keep the current Recovery Kernel, you don't need this step.

5. Now I assume that you have all the files ready and placed those to the right places. If your current kernel is not Rogue's, then install his recovery kernel. For me, I use mobile odin and pick it up from sdcard.

After installation, phone automatically reboot. Before the first screen comes out, press vol up + power keys at the same time. It will bring you to the Rogue CWM recovery screen.

6. From recovery screen, select install from zip and point the Calk's zip file you saved. Select and install it.

7. If you want to install the modem at the same time, do the same thing as step 6 but choose the modem zip file. There's no special sequence between step 6 & 7. Anything can be installed first. If you don't have modem zip file but have modem tar file, modem can be installed later. Or you can install the modem first before starting all these steps.

8. reboot

9. The kernel went back to stock kernel. So, if you need to do some recovery task, you need to start from step 5. One example is, if you want to run Calk's Bare Rom converter tool but you missed doing it after installing the ROM, then you need to install the Rogue recovery Kernel again. Usually Rogue Kernel is behind of current Kernel. But don't worry about coming back after the recovery task. This is the reason why I added step 4 above.

Additional steps coming back to current Kernel after the Recovery Task -

1. Install Rogue Recovry Kernel (usually previous kernel version)

2. Reboot and do the recovery task (backup, running Bare Rom converter zip file, cleaning data/dalvik cache, format battery stat, etc).

3. Reboot

4. if you use mobile odin, then install the zImage file or any kernel that you want.

If you use odin, go to the download mode by pressing vol down + power button together and install the kernel.

- if the kernel zip file is also available, then you can skip the steps 3 and 4. Just after the step 2, install the kernel zip file and reboot.

* Flashing ODIN/TAR rooted stock Rom

The basic idea is same to flashing Calk's ROM.

The most recent Stock rooted odin/tar file can be found in http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1551901

1. if you don't have the Modified CWMRecovery kernel something like Rogue Recovery Kernel, before following this guide, you need to download 'it' first.

For me, I use Rogue's FB27 recovery Kernel until another newest stable version comes out. You can download it from

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1390393

If you use the .tar file, then I assume that you already have a odin executable in your pc (.tar file in you pc) or mobile odin in your phone (.tar file in your sdcard).

Or if you use the zip file, you need to be sure that you are able to install the zip file through the recovery (zip file in your sdcard).

2. download odin/tar file. For me, I use sfhub's one-click self-extractor package.

To install this ROM into your phone, please read his instruction carefully. In his package, you can install everything with just one odin or you can install modem/kernel/rom separately. Also, there are two packages available, one is for whom don't want the old data, and another one is for whom want to keep the old data.

3. after the odin finished, phone restarts automatically. Now you have the new ROM installed on your phone but there's no modified recovery Kernel. To do the recovery task, you need to follow the steps in 'Additional steps coming back to current Kernel after the Recovery Task'.

Important - if you don't know what you are doing, please be sure that you know what you are doing before doing anything by asking your questions to someone! There would be someone who can help you about your questions but there's no one who is responsible for your bricked phone!