[General Questions and Answers] quicksite:
I've been working on

a step-by-step CLOSE-UP VIDEO guide to Flashing a ROM

, including how to HARD SPL, to make available to users here. Here are things I'm still not clear on.

(These were posted recently to the Guide written by mskip in the Kaiser forums. He answered some questions, but these are still unanswered. )

** When is this step necessary &

required

(whether during initial HARD SPL or FLashing a ROM post-HardSPL) , as opposed to simply "Best Pratices"? What is this step accomplishing?

** Please explain #9, what it is accomplishing & thus why recommended?

"Active Sync" vs "USB connection"

Please tell me if this is accurate or not:

(1)When installing via PC vs installing via Storage Card: After data has been backed up to PC by way of "Active Sync", thereafter, when performing any ROM updates (HardSPL or flashing a new ROM) the app "Active Sync" is technically no longer involved in the flashing process, but rather, what's necessary is simply having a USB connection from device to PC, correct? Is the distinction that Actice Sync can foul up the basic data connection from phone to PC necessary to flash a ROM. I want to be very clear. Is this accurate?

** same as above: Are these just more compensations in order to disable MS's incorrect assumption that the insertion of a USB cable always equals "launch an Active Sync session" ?

Why, exactly, is it required to unplug the USB cable? Is it, again, a "Best Practices" precaution to prevent any kind of accidental read/write of data?

A few questions re entering Bootloader mode, various scenarios:

1. In some older guides, even for when flashing a rom to phone device

from your PC

, sometimes a step is specified to "enter Bootloader mode by holding & pressing the xxxx and xxx keys on your phone, and then xxxxx".

2. But if you have an RUU folder that includes the Bootloader.exe app, along with the RUU.exe and .nbh file, then by running the RUU.exe app, the entering bootloader mode is handled automatically, sending the commands to phone, which automatically place the phone into the tri-color screen mode? -- as opposed to one having to manually press xxxx and yyyy on phone to enter bootloader mode? Correct or not?

3. If correct: then, does it matter on which screen or in which mode your phone is currently on in order to begin the flash-ROM process? Could I just as well be on a Total Commander app screen or on a TouchFlo Today screen?

4. Some guide-writers recommend users hard reset their phones

before

starting a new flash-rom session, just for "best practices". Others consider this superfluous & irrelevant, and what matters most is a Hard-Reset be run immediately AFTER flashing a new ROM. ... Any opinion on this?

** Would it be more accurate to say here "until your PC confirms it has a USB connection to your phone"? (You're not looking to run a sync session, but rather just getting a USB connection for files to be transferred from PC to phone.) I think the term "Active Sync" often creates more confusion than helpfulness in this whole realm of moving files from PC to phone. )

Question re RUU.exe file on PC:

From what I have seen in the ROMS I have used in years 2008-2009, the extracted ROM folders I've downloaded from the chefs have typically all had the file " Bootloader.exe " within the RUU folders, and that (in the case of mskip's Flash Guide for Kaisers) KaiserCustomRUU.exe calls the Bootloader.exe app which sets the phone into bootloader mode from the PC, without one needing to manually set the phone into bootloader mode.

But this is your response from your initial quick-reply, which confuses me"

** This confuses me. I am principally trying to distinguish between when one needs to manually set phone into bootloader mode -- and when this step is handled by the PC's RUU.exe process. In the older (around year 2007) "How to flash" guides, users were often told they needed to create a folder, make sure they have the correct RUU.exe file inside it, make sure they have the correct .nbh file, make sure they don't have files that are there for those with soft SPL phone, etc. And as far as I can recall, in those older Guides, this bootloader.exe file was not included. And thus users were instructed to manually put their phones into bootloader mode...

The difference being that for the past year or more, chefs currently are now providing the whole contents of the RUU folder in the .rar file, so that if you've hard-SPL'd, then that .rar file has eveything you need, and all you need to do is launch the RUU.exe -- never having to set your phone manually into bootloader mode.

Yet you are saying

I'm not a coder, but I don't get this. Why would bootloader.exe be inside practically every RUU Folder nowadays if it were unnecessary to set the phone into bootloader mode to initiate the flashing process? You were saying the RUU.exe app itself would contain some method of setting phone inot bootloader mode without even needing that bootloader app present in the folder.

Could someone please clarify.

And secondly: Does it matter one bit of difference which screen your phone is on when you commence with running RUU.exe ?

And third : If users happen to be confused, and think they must manually set their phone into bootloader mode, as part of running RUU.exe, and they do manually set their phone inot bootloader mode and get the tri-color screen: Does that conflict with or hamper in any way the running of the RUU.exe program from the PC? Or does the RUU process just simply proceed, and send an "enter bootloader mode" instruction to the phone, which then causes the phone, already in tri-color screen, to be reset again into bootloader mode (and there is no problem that the phone was already in bootloader mode) ?

After New Rom is Completely Installed and You Have Customized Your Phone:

** I think it in dutty's guide where he says "after customizing your phone, power down your phone, then power it back up". Is this power-down/ power-up cycle equivalent to just doing a soft-reset? What is the difference as it pertains to that specific step after customization?

** Where does one get the correct 4-LETTER CODE for their phone if one has a DIFFERENT phone than Kaiser and wants to flash via MicroSD card?

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Thanks to anyone who can please clarify these points