[Android General] jonessl:
H, syserr, thanks for the reply!

I find the while process of flashing to be full of pitfalls and inconsistencies.

What you have proposed is entirely logical.

Since my last message, I have managed at last to reflash my original ROM (again), from which - when I next get the opportunity - my next step will be to do the backup with the script. I don't really remember (there were so many attempts) how I won in the end, but vaguely, it involved:

1. ANTIKRPICH.

2. Flashing S309 by the Multi-port Download Tool, which failed half way through (sigh).

3. Reflashing S309 with SPFT.

4. Erasing flash area again.

5. Flashing the original ROM inage (the 800 MB you showed me how to, which let me get my NVRAM back).

I needed to do 5 because I could not find a way of getting NVRAM back (which I can now backup properly, as a whole ROM backup, with the individual partitions, rather than a single file). I read the USERDATA could be set as the nvram tar in SPFT but this seemed inconsistent with a 300 KB tar file compared to a several MB img file (as found in the stocks). Why at last I managed to get the 800 MB to reflash this time when I have failed so many times before is a mystery, but I am glad.

My plan is to backup and then reflash your Foxtrot.

FOR THIS I COULD REALLY DO WITH SOME SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO THEN REINSTATE MY OWN NVRAM, because while a simple copy over of the NVRAM tree over the DATA folder worked for S307 (using Root Explorer) worked fine, it had no apparent effect with Foxtrot, and consequently I was getting continual authentication errors for Wi-Fi.

On the flashing of ZIP images, I traced this (don't ask me what is going on) to errors introduced when copying via USB. When downloading direct (not possible when Foxtroted, for the reason stated) I could flash the ZIP, hence the ability to get top the Foxtrot transiently, I have read that adding a ferrite choke to the USB lead might work, so I have some cheap ones from China on order. I have tried the old-fashioned USB connection and (only available for the latesr Foxtrot ROM) the media connection. The latter seems better but still not 100% reliable.

DO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE KNOW SOMETHING ON THIS SUBJECT?

It seems very odd that such a critical area for any computing device (data transfer) should be so flakey, and I have never exprienced this before on many tens of devices.

On the flashing of Pemergency, the file is a TAR and the contents are not a ZIP, but a set of files that would be used to update a ROM, i.e. apps, data, etc, in a load of subdirs. In general, I wonder, what does anyone do with these sort of ROMs (i.e. non-Zip), as they are not covered by any of the guides - including Pemergency's own, which simply state that one needs to flash the (non-existent) ZIP, hence my request below.

BY THE WAY (and sadly, possibly you and I are the only ones presently active here), if anyone has the file A2107A-H v9.zip, which was an earlier Pemergency ROM, I would be grateful - as the links for this are long dead.

I agree the idea of installing a whole ROM makes a lot more sense than being limitedto ANTKIRPICH. When I tried this I got a variety of failures with ClearSky and other ROMs, hence my absolute mystery and total frustration over flashing. As I indicated, my system seems to have got into a total mess, and maybe now I am back to the original partition table I might fare better.

IT REMAINS A MYSTERY WITH SPFT SHOULD GET TO 40% (4 GB) for the ANDROID partition and stop (no error, just no more uploading), or WHY the Multi-Port download tool should complain about memory mismatches when it should be creating a PMT from scratch using a Scatter File. VERY ODD.

LASTLY, how do you actually use the EBR/MDT etc files you were kind enough to supply previously, simply replace (say) the matching ones in S309 by these and then use SPFT? I ask, because part of the earlier mess (which I hope is now past) was this simple approach was rejected by SPFT.

Thanks again for your expert guidance.

OOPS... One more question. When I save stuff to a folder on my external SD, reboot, it just vanishes sometimes. Does this mean my card is corrupt? Whatever, just deleting folders without asking for it is very odd!