[Motorola Atrix 2] Fall of Enosis:
I have been seeing MANY threads lately involving questions such as, "How do I get on ICS?", "Should I update to ICS?", "I think I am bricked, how can I fix this?", and "How do I FXZ back to GB?" So I am creating this thread as an information only thread to answer these questions and more with links to proper threads that have already been posted for your benefit. Unless otherwise noted by the OP's or myself the following threads apply to the AT&T MB865. So without further ado....

What you need to know about ICS and your Atrix 2

The first link you need to look at is the Noob thread. I am going to be using terms like "Bootloader", "Soft-Brick", "Hard-Brick", "FXZ", "Fastboot", "OTA", and the like and user/developer JRW28 has posted a FANTASTIC thread to help you familiarize yourself with certain Android terminologies and certain HOWTO's that will help you understand and accomplish much of what I am going to be referring to. So with the Atrix 2, if you are confused with something.

START WITH THE NOOB THREAD.

Find it here: JRW28's NOOB Thread

Done? Well read it AGAIN.

Oh, what's that? You read it twice and memorized it? Okay, moving on....

The first question that needs to be answered is:

SHOULD I UPDATE TO ICS?

Well, we have all been waiting for ICS to come out, and it has officially been running on the Atrix 2 for a while via a find through Cheesecake. The initial leak is NOT the final OTA that is still trickling out. You need to first understand that. Is ICS better than GB? Of course it is. No one will argue that here, but what we are tackling is, should you upgrade to it?

When it comes to XDA, we are always looking for ways to improve our phones. That's why we're all here right? This is a DEVELOPERS site. With developing comes trials, and with trials comes ERRORS. Now when it comes to the Atrix 2 (A2 from here on) we have a locked bootloader. This means that recovering from developing, and/or modding errors is not as easy as recovering from errors and mistakes with phones that have unlocked bootloaders. Normally, on phones with unlocked bootloaders, it is easy enough to jump into Clockwork Recovery and restore a previously saved nandroid backup, because with unlocked phones the modified recovery REPLACES the original. Poof. Back to normal.

On locked down phones such as the A2, we have to depend on either a bootstrap recovery or the like to make up for the lack of our locked phones. Do we have recoveries? Sure, but they DO NOT replace the original stock recovery and therefore we depend on things such as Bootmenu and Safestrap to makeup for this. While this works it is definitely not ideal. So what happens when the recovery get's borked, ROM goes belly up, or your phone is stuck at the splash screen and won't boot into recovery?

Well this is where the ICS upgrade question comes into play. This phones DEPENDS on FXZ's (see noob thread for more info). If the above scenario(s) happen then we depend on being able to jump into Fastboot (FB from here on) and reflash our phone back to stock. With Gingerbread this was easy enough as we had an FXZ for GB.

With ICS, ONLY THE FIRST LEAK IS ABLE TO REFLASH BACK TO GB! WE HAVE NO WAY TO REFLASH BACK TO GB WITH THE LATEST LEAKS AND THE SOON TO BE OTA UPDATE!!!!!!

Only when we find an ICS FXZ will this be possible!

Now I can hear it now. Some might say at this point, "Well once I'm on ICS, I won't want to go back to Gingerbread." The point, my friend, is not WANTING to go back to GB, it is needing a way to fix your phone. I myself have a paperweight for an A2 for EXACTLY this reason. I was running the latest of the leaks (NOT the first, which we can go back with). I had made a couple of mods, as bootmenu was working for it, and I made a backup. Well, I flashed a mod, rebooted and BOOM. Bootloop. No biggie, I thought, I will just restore my backup. But apparently I had deleted my backup. I tried, with the help of Devs (whom will be named later) to FXZ back and quickly found that this was impossible to do at this point. Now I have a phone that is able to boot in FB, with no way of restoring it. Fastboot does us no good without a proper working FXZ to flash.

So upgrading to ICS at this point, is fine, but be warned, if you make just the littlest boo boo, you might have a paperweight on your hands. Myself, many of the other Senior Members, and many of the A2 developers are recommending to run the first leak, because it is the most stable and dependable as far as getting yourself out of a jam. Also, many of the the more stable leaks have been baked into the current ICS ROMS we have. Now once you are on the first leak, you will have no problems flashing these ROMS with the more stable versions on them, but you MUST be on the first leak beforehand!!!!! As always read carefully the install instructions from the developer and if you're unsure, ask a question in the ROM's thread before flashing!!!!

UDPATE 9/20/12 It seems as though Moto and AT&T are now releasing OTA updates to our leak! Remember the reasons as to why we are advising against them! IF YOU GET A MESSAGE TO UPDATE WHILE ON THE FIRST LEAK, COMPARE THE FIRMWARE INFO WITH THOSE LISTED IN THE THREAD BELOW BEFORE UPDATING!!!!!

THREAD WITH INFO ON OTHER ICS LEAKS AND WHY WE ARE ADVISING AGAINST THEM AT THIS POINT. Originally posted by alteredlikeness

The rest of this will mainly be references to threads as most questions have already been answered in other threads as I just felt we needed a place to consolidate all the info out there on this. Here goes...

In the following theads, PLEASE thank the OP's!

HOW DO I UPDATE TO ICS?

Other than the OTA method that has been trickling out at this point, I am ONLY going to refer you to the thread to get you onto the initial leak. Because at this point many of us see this is as the safest leak. As you have a way out. Because we want to do what is best for you and YOUR phone. ;)

NOTE: The rest of these threads (unless otherwise specified) refer ONLY to the first leak, and to NOTHING ELSE!!!!

How to get your phone on ICS, and how to root it: Originally posted by Jimbridgman

Ok so now that you are comfortably running ICS and rooted.....

HOW DO I INSTALL A RECOVERY?

We currently have two recoveries for the first ICS leak. Both are very stable and work well, but are slightly different. Read each of the following threads for how to install and the differences between them.

BOOTMENU RECOVERY Originally posted and developed by lukensteinz and Whirleyes

SAFESTRAP RECOVERY Originally developed and posted by Recognized Developer Hashcode

And FOR PETE'S SAKE, now that you have a slick recovery working MAKE A BACKUP!. And then copy it and put one on your desktop!!!!

I MADE A MISTAKE, HOW DO I FXZ BACK?

You are ONLY going to be doing this if you somehow messed up a MOD, didn't make a backup, and now you are in a bootloop. REMEMBER, THIS IS ONLY FOR THE FIRST LEAK. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU DID NOT READ THROUGH FAR ENOUGH AND BRICK YOUR PHONE. :) If you managed to try and FXZ back while NOT on the first leak, or your phone won't turn on or go into FB, then, well sorry mate, but you are HARD-BRICKED. But if you are on the first leak then the following should work.

HOW TO FXZ BACK TO GINGERBREAD FROM THE FIRST ICS LEAK Originally posted and developed by Jimbridgman

ROMS TO INSTALL BASED ON THE FIRST LEAK

NOTE: You must be on the first ICS leak in aforementioned post to properly install the following ROMS, unless otherwise noted by the devs! And as always read CAREFULLY the installation procedure as laid out by the developer!!!

ScV7 - ICSupercharged Originally developed and posted by rdavisct

De-odexed and De-bloated basic ROM Originally developed and posted by timmytim

ROMS THAT ARE STILL A WIP:

MIUI PORT FOR A2 V4 2.8.17 Originally developed and posted by rdavisct

CYANOGENMOD 10 - JELLYBEAN Originally posted and ported by wanggjghost with continued help and fixes by rdavisct and Jimbridgman

In closing, hopefully this will answer all your who's, what's, and how's of ICS on the A2. Please DO NOT post questions regarding the threads themselves here. Post those in the appropriate posted thread, as this is what this is for. TO KEEP THINGS ORGANIZED!!!!! :D

If I need to update the OP, or have left something out. Feel free to post it here.

Enjoy ICS! And remember! ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP!!!!!!!

Special thanks to the following: Jimbridgman, rdavisct, alteredlikeness, Apex_Strider, DX2Trip, Mtnlion and any others I left out.