[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Blasz:
People that can't get the roms beyond stock to work, are your phones activated?

Is it possible to use the Pac Man Rom or CM10 on an unactivated phone?

I'm having similar issues to others trying to flash Pac Man and CM10.2. The first boot was fine and I can access everything on the phone fine, including settings. I rebooted and the activation screen (which I skipped as this phone doesn't have service) always pops up but I would like to use it without putting it on a cell network. I can skip the screen fine (until I decide to disable it) but then have issues like the keyboard (physical and touch), systemUI or NAV Bar crashing with a constant message pop up telling me it has crashed. I have returned to stock using RSD and reflashed Pac Man and CM10.2 MANY (15+?) times, doing a clean install 99% of the time but also trying a couple dirty installs to cover my bases. I should also note that I flashed the phone to Cricket but have no plans to activate it anytime soon.

Another thing to note is that I had issues getting the custom roms to boot at all as the initial setup would take hours. One time I though it was a boot loop but I left it on all night and it had booted in the morning. I believe it has something to do with the file check at boot (with my 32GB low speed class SD card) but that seems to be resolved and I can get the custom roms to boot fine (on the first boot) even with my 32GB (witch is fine and has no errors nor is generic, before you ask.) I also have tried 2 4GB cards and a 2GB card, all different brands, with no change in behavior.

I have done everything below multiple times and in different orders.(If needed I can give a direct breakdown step by step but if you could do it with the files below, I have probably tried it)

Wipe the phone (including all storage internal and external SDs included)

Using RDS v6.15

RDS asanti_c_sprint-user-4.1.2-9.8.2Q-122_XT897_FFW-5-6-release-keys-cid9.xml.zip (Works 100% of the time and never has issues. I keep reverting back to this if I actually need to use the phone)

RDS ClockworkMod, TWRP, and Open Recovery without TWRP (Tried different versions when available)

Then used each recovery to install Pac Man or CM10.2 (tried 10.1 once but had the same issues and I didn't see the need to troubleshoot a rom people seemed to not want to develop for. So 10.1 was only tried once but has the same issues)

Installed GApps at this point but I also tried alternate versions of GApps and not installing it at all. All have the same effect and don't seem to be contributing to the problems at all.

A few installed I tried wiping the phone again or installing each zip multiple times. I also verified the zips were good when on the device to make sure there was no corruption at transfer.

I also tried multiple (confirmed working) SD cards and installing from the internal storage.

I have tried installing arrrghhh's Kernel too.

The issue ether seems to be boot loop (if it's doing a file check) or more often it works until I get one of the said crashes after a reboot.(blame Tyler message is getting SO old...) The time I see the errors seems to be accelerated if I mess with the settings a lot but I don't believe it is directly related to the settings.

My next recourse is to try and flash it back to Sprint (maybe check my Cricket settings) and see if that helps, without it being activated.

On a separate note.

If people need help I can help get you back to stock easily. The instructions/guides on here are all but useless if you don't know what you are doing already. I have seen down to "USE RDS" or "DELETE LINE MD5" like people would just know what that means. I understand RDS Lite is a standard tool for flashing phones but it's nigh impossible to find real explanations on what stuff does in context. I understand the basics though, so if anyone has any questions I can walk you through it.

To start with if you are stuck in a loop at the start of a new rom and it loops between the 'Welcome' Screen (Select your Language) and Activation screen just skip the initial setup by tapping the corners on your screen in a clockwise manor when on the 'Welcome' screen to skip the setup there is a video to explain it here

pocketnow(can't post links >:( )com/how-to/android-quick-tip-how-to-bypass-touch-the-android-to-begin-video

Without doing this or activating the phone it seems to loop between those 2 screens forever (might indicate part of the problem with customs roms....)

I hope this is enough info to go off of ;) I can give you a play by play with the actual files if you need. Maybe a video if needed and I'm feeling extra fancy.

Thanks for your time.