[Droid X General] thepolishguy:
I am by no means an expert at android. I was really into Windows Mobile until the last couple of months but was fed up with what MS did with Phone7 -so I just made the jump to android.

Root with Z4root first. then first thing create a back up so if something goes haywire - you are covered. I actually create 2 just in case.

To create your nandroid backup go to the android market and get Droid X Bootstrapper...

1. Open Droid X Bootstrapper.

2. Click "Bootstrap Recovery".

3. Get the "Success" message. Click "OK".

4. Click "Reboot Recovery".

5. Your phone will reboot into recovery (not the factory recovery -a hacked recovery).

6. Use the volume rocker to move down to "-backup and restore".

7. Use the red camera button to hit enter.

8. A new screen will open and your cursor will already be on "Backup".

9. Use the camera button to hit enter.

10. Your phone starts the backup process (black screen with a small open box and a little android). It takes about 5 minutes to complete the backup.

11. When it is done you will get a "Backup complete!" at the bottom and will it will automatically go back to the first page and your cursor will be highlighting the "-reboot system now" option.

12. Press the red camera button to hit "enter".

13. Your phone will reboot.

14. You have created your nandroid

If you dont have the app "Root Explorer" you need to give up the couple of bucks or whatever it is and get it. You can try some free file explorer apps and see how they work for you -but Root Explorer is worth the $ and I will refer to it in instructions.

Flashing the rom... I will use an example for this rom...

Apex 1.3

It is the rom I am using. It is stable and functional. It uses the ADW.Launcher as a home replacement for Blur.Home.apk -so if you are not familiar with it it takes some getting used to (a little complicated as far as all the settings). It also uses the AOSP text messaging which I do not like (but it can be changed back to Blur.

You can use whatever rom you want- but the instructions will not be exactly the same. Whatever rom you decide on -MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS NOT MINE! Usually the first post of the rom thread will contain pretty clear instructions.

START WITH A FULL BATTERY!! I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY BLAH BLAH BLAH...

For example from the above thread...

1. Download the rom.

2. If you use rom manager to download -you will have to find the rom which will be in a .zip file and it will be in some weird place in your phone's SDCard like

/sdcard/clockworkmod/download/fabdroid.com/downloads/

so you will have to move it to the root of your sdcard (meaning not inside any file folder -just on the sdcard.

3. So if you dont want to deal with that you can download from your computer and then place on your sdcard.

4. Open "Droid X Bootstrapper".

Click "Bootstrap Recovery".

5. Get the "Success" message. Click "OK".

6. Click "Reboot Recovery".

7. Your phone will reboot into recovery.

6. Use the volume rocker to move down to "-mounts and storage".

7. Use the red camera button to hit enter.

8. Use the volume rocker to move down to "-format data".

9. Hit enter (camera button).

(From here I am working on memory as I do not want to physically reflash the rom - so the instructions will not be quite as 100%)

10. You will get a "Are you sure?" message.

11. Go down to it and hit enter.

12. The phone will take a moment to format the data.

13. Use the same process to "-format cache".

14. Use the back button (the physical hardware back button) to return to the previous screen.

15. Go down to "-install zip from sdcard"

16. Hit enter.

17. Now all the files on the root of your sdcard will be listed. It is crucial that you placed the rom file on the root of your sdcard so that you can now choose it from the list. If there is no file to choose -you just completely screwed up and will have to perform the sbf. So hopefully you don't do that.

18. Use the volume button to select the Apex rom.

19. Hit enter (the camera button). I can't remember if you get a warning here - if you do - of course you want to confirm.

20. The new rom will load up.

21. If it does not automatically reboot then "-reboot system now".

The first boot up will take longer than usual. You will have to set up your phone all over again. If you have set up your phone properly then all your apps will download from the market automatically. If you have not set up your phone to do that than you will have to manually find your apps and download them.

Hopefully you are using Google to store your contacts and not Backup Asistant and the regular phone contacts. If you are using Google then your contacts should automatically be added back. If not then you are on your own bc I don't mess with Backup Assistant.

That is the best I can do with out physically flashing the rom and...

EVERY ROM HAS ITS OWN SPECIFIC INTRUCTIONS

You can use this as a guide but make sure you do what the rom developer says.