[myTouch 3G Slide Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] thegreat1dev:
Hello all,

Introduction:

My name is Dev, and I have purchased a phone from Craigslist about a year ago. I used to use Windows Mobile phones. I had no problems with them. I have used the T-mobile MDA, Wing, and Touch Pro 2. They have been good phones for me, until recently. I have always wanted a faster phone and the Touch Pro 2 seemed to be quick enough for me. Nope. It slowed down just like the others. My brother is younger than me, and he has been attracted to the Android market since the T-mobile G1. I never got an opportunity to enter this operating system market. I am very tech savvy however, and it has merely been a case of me not wanting to "change." However, I am past that and I want to contribute to the Android community. My first Android phone is the T-mobile myTouch 3G Slide. (I like sliding phones in case you haven't noticed. I must have the physical keyboard. I text a lot.) I bought it used from Craigslist, and it seemed to work fine then. The previous owner was nice enough to clear all the data off of it, and give it to me fresh. I have been using it since.

Leading into my problem/question:

Lately, however, it has been slowing down too. I want to reset it to a clean slate. I know how to do it. It is in the menus. However, I do not like how this phone has been modified. Why would you modify a phone? I have never had to do this with my Windows phones. There has never been a need to flash any roms or anything. They had updates which were simple to use. Plug the USB into the computer and follow the simple steps. Make sure it doesn't shut off during flash. Simple. I've done this plenty of times with printers, motherboards, CD-ROMs, and all other flashable devices. I understand how big of a risk this is. If the flash doesn't complete (or is the wrong rom), then the device will not work again. Unless, you J-TAG the device and flash it again correctly. But, that requires a lot of work, and a wiring schematic to figure out where the J-TAG ports are. I have learned this information from back in the day when I used to do dish testing. You would flash roms to satellite TV boxes and experiment with new encryption technologies for satellite TV. That being said, I am terrified of flashing phones, because I would have no idea where to look for J-TAG ports for phones, if I mess something up. So, in conclusion, my experience in flashing has been for testing purposes only.

Problem/Question:

How do I figure out what the status of my phone is? It says Cyanogen Mod on start up. My brother tells me this is a very good rom. Who decided that though? Is it a bad idea to go back to stock T-mobile rom? I've always had this thought nagging me to try it and see why people go through all this headache of S-OFF and rooting phones. However, if I go back to the stock rom, will I be able to gain access to the phone's internal memory again? I don't like the idea of losing the S-OFF and rooting privileges the previous owner worked so hard to do. I would like to flash the latest T-mobile rom to the device, but how do I know if it will mess up everything and clash with some code leftover from the modified rom of Cyanogen Mod? Also, how do I backup all my stuff? I want to keep all my setting for the programs I have downloaded from the Google Market. I want to keep my contacts and notes. I want to keep my text messages and MMS messages. I am one of those idiots who keeps all his text messages and MMS messages archived. I go back through the messages from time to time for retrieval of important information I may have spoken about with someone in the past. I know this is a loaded post. I am sorry. If anyone is willing or able to help me, then please pick any point in this post and we'll go from there. This was just an outline of everything so you guys can help me find a starting point.

What I Know About the Phone:

T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide

Android 2.3.3

Baseband 47.63.35.21U_7.15.35.16

Kernel 2.6.32.17-cyanogenmod-g501281a shade@toxygene #1

CPU ARMv6-compatible process rev 5 (c6l)

Mod CyanogenMod-7.0.0-Slide

Build GRI40

I believe it is S-OFF and it is rooted. I would like a procedure to verify though. Please.

Memory Card:

Memory card has a lot of folders and stuff on it from which I have no idea. Some of it says nervous stuff like ".android_secure" "clockworkmod" "2111.zip" "signed_Froyo_Slide_Radio.zip" "gapps-gb-20110120-signed.zip" "update.zip" "update-cm-7.0.0-Slide-signed" and "Android" I like it when my memory card is clean with nothing but a few folders like "Pictures" "Videos" "Movies" "Data" "Programs" "Software" "Music" and other general stuff like that. I like this so I can use the memory card elsewhere and know where everything is. Basically, I want to know if I can delete everything without shooting myself in the foot. How do I find out what each .apk is for? Will a stock T-mobile rom come with all the stock backgrounds, contact pictures, and all the other stock goodies? I feel like some of those were on the SD card too.

Things I like:

Speed.

I like things to be fast.

Utilitarian.

I don't want any fancy effects, typically. I like everything simple. For example, my desktops are all using the Classic Windows Theme, and all fade in / fade out have been disabled. I want my phone to be the same way. Nothing I don't need.

Minimalistic.

I don't like to keep many programs running at once. This was something I liked about the Windows phones. I could click in the upper right hand corner and it would present a list of running programs. I could close specific ones that I did not want to run in the background. Android doesn't seem to have a feature like this, but it does seem like they close if they are not being displayed on the screen.

WIFI

How do I fix the WIFI in this phone? It seems like the radio drivers are wrong are outdated. It keeps dropping the connection immediately after the phone connects to a wireless network. I noticed a thread, but I cannot post to it. I wanted to ask how I would apply this patch to my phone without having a rom or anything. I thought maybe I could boot the phone into the recovery mode, and install the radio drivers maybe? I don't know what I am doing though, and want some guidance.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1177650

And, why does the GPS take so long to get a fix?

Moderators/Thanks

I am very sorry to anyone and everyone whom I may offend in this post. If all my questions are answered somewhere else, please direct me to the correct area. I have been searching and researching for so long and I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I gave up about two months ago, and now I am back again trying to fix this phone. Please do not be mad at me for pestering you guys with annoying questions from new users like me. I know you guys are tired of answering these questions over and over again. Please. Just give me a little guidance. Thank you so much for any and all help. I really truly appreciate this. Android seems to be a very good operating system, and I am looking forward to all your posts.

P.S.

Sorry about the length of this post. It is my first time.