How To: Load a Custom ROM on the Samsung Captivate / Vibrant
I. Before You Begin
1. You must have done our How To Root the Samsung Vibrant / Captivate procedure. If not, do that then come back to this procedure to continue.
2. If you have already rooted your phone using ODIN, please flash the stock kernel through ODIN first then do our How To Root procedure then come back to this to continue.
II. Flash a Custom Recovery Image
1. On your phone, go to the Market and search for ROM Manager (the free one) and download/install it to your phone.
2. In the ROM Manager program, hit Flash Recovery, then choose your phone (Captivate or Vibrant).
3. Check ON Remember and click Allow when Superuser pops up asking for permission.
III. Flash a ROM
1. Head to our Samsung Captivate ROMs or Samsung Vibrant ROMs section of our site and choose a ROM you want to flash.
2. Save the ROM’s .zip file to your computer and do NOT extract it.
3. Plug in your phone via USB cable and mount the sd card.
4. Copy the ROM’s .zip file over to the root of your sd card (NOT in any folders, just on the sd card itself).
5. Unplug the phone
6. Turn off the phone and turn it back on by holding down Volume Up, Volume Down and Power. After the Vibrant/Captivate logo pops up for a second time you can let go.
7. Using the volume buttons and power to select choose Reinstall Packages.
8. Once ClockworkMod Recovery comes up, select Wipe Data / Factory reset, then Yes.
9. Then select Install Zip from SD Card > Choose Zip from SD Card >Select the ROM you just put on the sdcard.
10. Wait for it to finish flashing then hit Reboot System Now and you are all done!
Theres no roms for the phones!
Jackson,
Developers are working on them butthey don’t have any yet (Cyanogen’s team is even working on a ROM now too). Only a matter of time.
ROM link for captivate or vibrant is blank.
MMM101,
That would be because there aren’t any ROMs yet 🙂 Developers just got the phone to use a custom recovery screen. So ROMs will come soon (Cyanogen has announced his team is working on one as we speak).
hey guys quick question i have the samsung Galaxy S i9000M from bell in canada. will these work for that phone? also will this unlock my phone?
Galody,
No and no.
If i decide to root and load a custom rom, does my contacts get deleted?
Remember, backup, backup. And don’t faint. Many users must do several times b4 clean take…
you guys are my heros and the more i keep track of the site the more my friends want my captivate! seriously my phone is bitchin thanks to you guys!
Ezekiel,
Ha glad to help!
Whats ODIN?
I have no idea either. Can someone please answer this question?
I’ve rooted my Vibrant the way theunlockr showed us and now
want to load a custom rom but is afraid to brick the phone if I miss
the 2nd step of step one.
Thank you
There’s no roms for Samsung Captivate. can i use a vibrant rom?
Eclair 2.1 rom is up on XDA
my screen is staying blank… somehow my image recovery is gone.. i successfully rooted my phone and went to change the rom.. all the screen does is go black when i select reinstall packages. what can i do.. help.. please
Thanks Unlockr.
I have one question though. My phone is already rooted, and I understand the process of flashing a rom, but in what step do i acquire ClockworkMod in my phone?
And do you save the update.zip file to ur internal or external sd card? Thanks!
Nvm i answered my first question. But im still wondering about the second question.
By the way when you do a data wipe does that erase Avatar and The Sims??
Download ClockworkMod from market,after root.
update .zip goes into the root of your internal sd.That’s the16gb card.
The stock removable card is 2gb and contains Avatar movie and trailer.
Since Avatar is on the removable sd,it will not be wiped.The Sims will get wiped.
If the rom has The Sims as an apk then it will be there when you boot the phone.
If the rom still has access,via the apk, to the drm protected Avatar.dcf,then you’ll be able to play it.If not,then only the trailer.3gp will play.
I’ve installed and uninstalled two custom roms and am now back to the original stock rom.I am a newbie to this customization process and can’t thank the more knowledgeable contributors and developers,enough.for all there help.
I seriously think,that if my Vibrant could be “bricked”,I would have already done it.
If your new to this stuff,you have to be patient when modding and search forums for answers to your questions.
Use this site and http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php and you should be able to educate yourself and hopefully contribute to the android community.
P.S.Keep the flaming to yourself,rather than blowin off steam to someone you don’t even know and will never meet.
hey i rooted my phone and installed a rom but 4 some reason i dont have 3g i always have to connect to wifi ne help?
update: nvm fixed it connected it to my laptop and turned on usb debbuging and it came right on.. weird lol for a secong there i was going to unroot it.
Unlockr – Great tutorials – thanks!
After going through the XDA forums for a few days, it looks like those guys might have some roms pretty close to ready for the Captivate. I haven’t checked modaco or cyanogen tho. Are there any Captivate roms ready to be linked on your rom page here? How about a handy link for the stock captivate rom?
Thanks again!
how do I go about getting my vibrant back to stock.is there a stock rom to flash?and how do I flash stock recovery back as well?
what are the chances that my phone will be bricked? and that i wont be able to use anymore?
okay i have put the ROM onto my phones sd card, not in ANY files… and once i hold down the vol-up, vol-dwn, and pwr button, i wait for it to flash the second time, and then i release… well when i hit reinstall packages at (3:18) on the video, its suppose to reboot and then take me somewhere else, but it doesnt, it just starts my phone back up, and yes my phone IS rooted… please help me
i gotta quick question, what should u do if u can not use oden (am on a mac) any time i try to install the rom it look like it freezes at the installing update screen i wait 20 min and no changes
Nydj4ever,
I’d recommend borrowing a friend with a PC and using that to do it (unfortunately, most programming software is made for PC, not Mac).
Unlockr, i think i bricked my Vibrant phone using Cognition v2.1.2 ROM. it stays stuck on boot screen, it wont go into recovery or download mode using the Hard keys (vol+ & – plus power) and the PC cant read anything thru the usb, so i cant even use Odin, or command prompt. I need some help on how to undo this, and boot into recovery. any idea on what i can do ?
kevin, leave your phone off then plug in usb the battery screen will start to load up. hold the vol. keys and power and as soon as the screen goes black let go of power (not vol keys just power) a digging andriod will appear then when you use odin if you dowloaded odin3 use the pda and pit files in came with it should set your phone back to factory settings. i had the same problem and it took me awhile
I did the root thing right now when i power off and hold both volume keys to turn on it blinks vibrant twice i let go now i cant get the menu to pop up. please help
Please don’t do anything…I have the same issue. After charged, it turned off by itself. I did exchange the battery with my co-worker. And it is fixed. I have been 2 days now without any turn off.
Good luck….
If I select the wipe user data, what exactly gets erased, as in apps, and personal settings?
Also, Is that step necessary?
Thanks in Advance
I downloaded Vibrantfroyo_r3.zip and i am “installing update” on my rooted vibrant. it has been going for probably 20 minutes. How long does it normally take to install a new ROM? I am a total noob. thanks.
I figured it out. Basically Safari was unzipping the file automatically and I was compressing it again to get it back to a zip, which was probably corrupting it. Go to Preferences>General> Uncheck “open safe files after downloading”. Re-download the Vibrantfroyo_3 zip and did the process over. Each time I tried and failed I had to go into nandroid and restore, which I sort of crossed my fingers on, being a total noob and not knowing what was going to happen. When I would restore in nandroid, it was restoring to factory Vibrant 2.1 with TW. The tutorial above was actually really fool proof. I blame safari default setting for my extra time spent.
thanks
i have a question~!~!~!
Everytime when new Rom comes out, do we have to step III #8 which is a factory reset???????????
After rooting, i downloaded many apps. from the market..
I don’t want to keep reinstalling it everytime new roms come out
any suggestion???????
use app2sd then back up your apps after you update or install new rom simply go onto the app2sd applacation and install them off the card to your phone
use app2sd then back up your apps after you update or install new rom simply go onto the app2sd applacation and install them off the card to your phone
use app2sd then back up your apps after you update or install new rom simply go onto the app2sd applacation and install them off the card to your phone
you can use my back up form the market to back up everything from contact log to apps and their settings. There is a free version and a paid version and a version for rooted users. You might also try titanium backup.
I’m only trying to put 1 app on my AT&T Sam Captivate… I did use your Root Step by Step Video… I must say I really was thinking I can’t do this… I DID THO!! AWESOME Video great step by step Thanks a billion…. Now my next Problem and boy this has been MAJOR!! I have the Secret sms repilicator in my downloads and on my sd card … It still wont work… it wont let me install this? it states that “market” has blocked all non market apps…. HELP!!! PLEASE……. I just am at a loss here. Mel
i had this same problem… att has removed the unknowns sources check from the applications menu,,, found this out after some research and had to get “Non-Market Apps Enabler” worked like a charm
whnever i try to download a rom it says insttallation aborted
How can I reverse this process…. If at all? I did this on my Cativate and BAM
Rooting the phone went real well… Then I went through this process… And Well…….. Everything else seems to work except my “DATA” everything in my phone settings, texts, imei number all of it is gone…..?
I’m so frustrated… All I am looking to really even do to the phone was to put 1 outside market app on and run it… ( Secret sms replicator ) can anyone help here or should I just trash the phone?
when im in the last step …which is turning on the phone/volume up/volume down i go to reinstall packages i select it and its like if i turned my phone normally ..keeps doing that-_-
every time after i select reinstall packages over and over again it never takes me to clockwork recoveryy, all it dose it reboot phone. -captivate , please helppp
For those of you who cant get to the clockwork when selecting reinstall packages mount the phone to your computer normally the delete the update.zip folder then reflash clockwork in rom manager the try again worked for me good luck.
Guys for those people who are not able to get clockwork to work or if it freezes and gives you an error code e:signature verification failed, please follow this link, it worked for me. here’s the link: http://androidforums.com/captivate-all-things-root/203679-clockwork-recovery-cant-recover-signature-verification-failed.html
I am confused as to where i put the unzipped ROM. you say my rooted SD card but exactly how do i get to that?
I am confused as to where i put the unzipped ROM. you say my rooted SD card but exactly how do i get to that?
I am confused as to where i put the unzipped ROM. you say my rooted SD card but exactly how do i get to that?
Do NOT extract (unzip) the ROM, leave it as a .zip file. And I say to put it on the “root of your sd card” not a rooted sd card. It just means put it on the sd card and not inside any folders it needs to be on the sd card itself.
After I downloaded ROM Manager on my Vibrant and I pressed “Flash ClockworkMod Recovery,” but nothing happened… What’s wrong?
First you must be rooted… second you have to wait a while for it to flash recovery (a little yellow status bar should be filling up at the top of the screen.
I cant get it to go! it says installation aborted cant open sd……… What do i do?
so my question is if i already had busybox installed and after i undo the oclf and do a factory reset, will busybox still be install and if so would that mess it up? im currently running 2.1 update1 kernal version 2.6.29 eclair.uvji6 on my virbrant. never flashed b4 but shouldnt i do a nandroid backup first just in case? … and is that just the stock rom.zip file that gets saved to my sd to flash it again. keep the nandroid in the root. then flash the rom and select which rom i wanna flash… ok im feeling pretty confident, seems easy. was just if’y about the busybox
When I make a Nandroid back up with rom manager it goes to my phone storage
and not my SD card and when I move it from the phone storage to my SD card
rom manager can’t find it. Anyone have any ideas? What am I missing here
Thanks
Can I use a ROM zip file off of xda’s website the same way? or does it have to be one from your ROM category?
Can I use a ROM zip file off of xda’s website the same way? or does it have to be one from your ROM category?
Can I use a ROM zip file off of xda’s website the same way? or does it have to be one from your ROM category?
question: is there an alternative way to flash my captivate s to stock besides odin. i’ve tried almost every method from other peoples’ methods (ie: created jig and force download mode) yet still no luck. thanks in advance
question: is there an alternative way to flash my captivate s to stock besides odin. i’ve tried almost every method from other peoples’ methods (ie: created jig and force download mode) yet still no luck. thanks in advance
question: is there an alternative way to flash my captivate s to stock besides odin. i’ve tried almost every method from other peoples’ methods (ie: created jig and force download mode) yet still no luck. thanks in advance
This is awesome! So helpful and let me flash to cognition smoothly on my Captivate. One noob question – now that I have congnition do I need to keep flashing to get the updates? How will I know when an update is ready?
This is awesome! So helpful and let me flash to cognition smoothly on my Captivate. One noob question – now that I have congnition do I need to keep flashing to get the updates? How will I know when an update is ready?
This is awesome! So helpful and let me flash to cognition smoothly on my Captivate. One noob question – now that I have congnition do I need to keep flashing to get the updates? How will I know when an update is ready?
Will following these instructions cause me to have to reinstall all my apps? What about contacts, messages, etc?
so i installed a custom rom on my samsung cativate and dont know if i did something wrong but now that i have the new rom my camera fb app and clockworkmod app freeze,, ive tried rebooting and evrything else i could think of ,, still does the same thing.. solution please??
well i turned it back on and…welcome back to the UI of samsung! I LOST EVERYTHING >:[ good thing i used app2sd
well i turned it back on and…welcome back to the UI of samsung! I LOST EVERYTHING >:[ good thing i used app2sd
After i did everything on this video and rebooted my vibrant it wont turn on it just say vibrant samsung how can i fix this
ok …. i rooted the phone…. but on that last part where you turn off and press the volume top and bottom key with the power key…. everything is good then i reinstall packages… then after that is done it reboots the phone all over again…. did i miss a step that i am not aware of???
ok …. i rooted the phone…. but on that last part where you turn off and press the volume top and bottom key with the power key…. everything is good then i reinstall packages… then after that is done it reboots the phone all over again…. did i miss a step that i am not aware of???
ok …. i rooted the phone…. but on that last part where you turn off and press the volume top and bottom key with the power key…. everything is good then i reinstall packages… then after that is done it reboots the phone all over again…. did i miss a step that i am not aware of???
man i have a problem here please i need your help as soon as pasible here is what happen to my phone samsung vibrant t mobile i was watching you videos here on How To – Load a Custom ROM (www.TheUnlockr.com) and than i did excultly what you was doing on the video so after the last step to restart the phone i stock on welcame vibrant samsung logo my phone now it cant reboot and i rooted i did installed rom manager from android market and i did flash recovery like excultly you tool me you know so any help please it look like there’s no image like custom roms to show up and i download the roms from this website ROM name is Hyrbid ROM and i also had a superpermission root user so please any help
i have the same exact problem…. been at it now for a couple of days… still got no answer
What do you do when you can no longer get the load from sd card prompts and have only, clear user data, or clear cash or reboot?
hey theunlockr, i downloaded cog rom 2.5 3 months ago, worked fine, now i tried to install cog rom 3.4, and it just says E; failure at line 15, tried 3 times nothing, so i just re-up 2.5 and worked again, any thoughts on why cog 3.4 wouldnt work, or do have a better rom that i might try….any thoughts would be great
ok well i figured out that on the new rom manager there is a install rom from sd….you know longer have to press and hold power and volume up/down to install rom manager will automatically do it for you….
We never recommend using ROM manager to install ROMs simply because there have been a lot of issues doing so in the past is all. It may take a few more seconds to do it manually but it’s safer for most people and its good for people just starting out to understand how to do it manually. But if you find it easier than by all means use ROM manager. Thanks for sharing!
I have problem with my samsung vibrant. I followed the instructions in the video and use the Hyrbid ROM. all good but now when I restart the cell phone just goes black screen with the Vibrant logo and does nothing more. help me pleace !!!
everytime i get to the recovery menu and reinstall packages it say e signature verification failed. any ideas?
im not getting a response from my phone now it just stays on the att screen
phones stuck on the att screen makes all the sounds but wont do anything what can i do to fix it?
I am at the REINSTALL PACKAGES selection, and I select it and get the following error.
Finding update package…
Opening update package…
Verifying update package…
E: Signature verification failed
Installation Aborted.
Tried this many times, any ideas?
did anyone ever solve your problem?, im having the same issue
This fixed my problem:
http://www.enewsplus.net/how-to-fix-e-%E2%80%93-signature-verification-failed-error-on-samsung-vibrant-running-android-2-2-froyo-update/
Hey, the problem is that when you put restore on your root of your sd you put .exe. So what you need to do is you need to go plug your phone into your computer trun on usb debugging and than go on your computer, Go to start computer what ever drive it is on and check to see if it says restore.exe if it does your good click on it and erase the.exe it happend to me and i was just like you looking every where and nobody put it up for me, so here ya go it will work trust me
you must download recovery v2 for vibrant. This is because you updated to 2.2 and that has recovery v3 which has extra security. just search vibrant (or captivate) recovery v2 on google and an install program will come out in the results. worked for me!
Hes right. If you download recovery v2 it works flawlessy! thanks dude your a lifesaver
Hi, where exactly do you find recovery v2 file? Cant find it anywhere….
For anyone that has bricked their phone doing this, and when I say bricked I mean that your phone is frozen on the Galaxy S GT I9000 screen or if in recovery and won’t let you reinstall packages and says “Installation Aborted or Failed”, follow the link I posted below and it will restore your pnone to factory settings. It saved my life. I thought that there was nothing I could do but with a little research and a will, we will prevail! And dont worry, it’s a simple process.
Link:
http://www.samsungvibrantforum.com/custom-roms/how-to-install-and-use-odin3-with-the-samsung-vibrant/
the rom manager displays that I don’t have a clockwork mode?
I have the recovery mode, but what is the clockwork mode?
the rom manager displays that I don’t have a clockwork mode?
I have the recovery mode, but what is the clockwork mode?
does this method work with all custom roms like darky’s rom
i jus rooted my tmo vibrant but the recovery isnt working and i hav uninstalled nd reinstalled a few times—- i evn watched nd read the directions on gettn it wrk but no luck wat am i missing???
Did my phone 5 months ago and another one today. Ran into problems this time with the ClockworkMod Recovery but when I went back into ROM Manager and reconfirmed the current version for the Flash, it worked like a charm. Thanks again!
i did everything right but when the step to reinstall packages comes up it keeps saying failed. i’ve spent 8 hours doing it over and over and researching what to do and what i did wrong. Please if you can instruct me with some knowledge im desperate samsung_vibrant looking for mod android 2.3 buy eugene_373 email me for results Csumpter89@gmail.com
great guide! Worked perfectly to put Bionix on my phone!
I have some problem after install new rom. Phone reboot and freeze on vibrand and samsung screen. Can anyone help how to fix it.
I’ve all the steps up until step 7 of the Flash a ROM instruction. I select Reinstall Package, but the phone resets and I’m returned to the same reboot menu as before. I keep selecting Reinstal Packages but I haven’t once been able to get ClockworkMod Recovery to come up. Has anyone else had this problem or know of a solution?
I also tried unrooting and rerooting, and uninstalling ROM manager and restalling it and nothing has worked.
i did everything he said, now when my phone turns on it sounds like a robot talking super fast and the screen gets all crazy messed up
did not get the “superuser” request after doing the clockworkmod recovery for i9000
i have superuser installed… amidoingitwrong?
i follow instructions to the letter and when i boot into recovery it keeps saying
Finding update package…
Opening update package…
Verifying update package…
E: Signature verification failed
Installation Aborted.
i am going to kill myself
same thing is happening to me! it seems no one wants to answer this question!
Great instructions…i followed your rooting video as well, however, my superuser app errors out and force closes, and when I run flash recovery from rom manager, it doesn’t prompt for phone type, and runs a minute, then just sits there…it ends the flash, without prompting me and seemingly without doing anything. Any thoughts?
clock work mod isnt coming up it just reboots my phone what am i doing wrong
how do i get the stock kernal if i didnt use odin? i used one click root? I know i need to modify recovery3e to function as 2e but i dont know where to get the download or how to do it,could you help?
wont load the clockwork bootloader. i go through all the steps and when i get to reinstall packages it just goes back to the stock loader not the clockwork
Okay so about 2 months ago rooted and put a new rom on my samsung vibrant. Last night I decided I wanted to go back to the original stock rom by restore my phone back to its original factory settings (at the time it made sense to me). I did this by turning the phone off, holding the volume buttons and power button until a menu came up where I selected wipe to factory setting. In doing this I cleared the rom I had on my phone and am now stuck in a loop where my phone keeps trying to turn itself on but has nothing to boot up. I am able to get to the menu that enables me to wipe my phone to factory setting etc but that hasnt helped all too much. I’m obviously a noob when it comes to this stuff but I believe the first step to getting my phone back is getting it to mount to my mac in order to load a new rom to the sd card (which I do not know how to do without turning the phone on). If anyone has any clue what has happened to my poor phone or what I could try to do at this point PLEASE HELP HELP HELP!
Got pass all the signature verification. But the roms won’t install. the error now is status 0, before it was status7. Once that happens it aborts installation. Help Please!
you guys would have to go back to samsung vibrant 2,1 to be able to flash any sorts of roms on to the vibrant….you would do that by using odin and finding the stock rom for vibrant and then you would not have anymore problems running into signature errors and such
after rom installs phone keeps rebooting
Nice tutorial. Thanks. & props for the Beasties byte
Hello, I removed the unzipped file after I believe rooting it, the blue screen said it was ok to remove unzip in sd area??? Did I mess up?
I couldn’t get ROM Manager to flash ClockworkMod for Captivate because it just kept using the stock Samsung recovery. I had to use Heimdall Suite to flash ClockworkMod manually:
1. Follow instructions for rooting w/SuperOneClick http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682
2. Follow instructions for installing ClockworkMod Recovery at CyanogenMod wiki
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Samsung_Captivate:_Rooting
3. Follow instructions for Method via Recovery (alternatively, should be able to use ROM Manager instructions once ClockworkMod is flashed)
This worked perfectly for me. to answer alot of the installation aborted error questions, simply restart everything, and dont forget to install the Rom Manager, without that you will simply root and stop there. it will not verify anything without that installed, hit me back if you have any questions or pm me at http://forums.androidcentral.com/ (awatters0723@gmail.com)
i dont have ROM manager in my market
I have a samsung captivate, its already rooted, i want to install a custom ROM, but every time I go into recovery mode and go to REINSTALL PACKAGES, its says E: Signature verification failed installation aborted, what do I do? please help
I have a samsung captivate, its already rooted, i want to install a custom ROM, but every time I go into recovery mode and go to REINSTALL PACKAGES, its says E: Signature verification failed installation aborted, what do I do? please help
This is link is dead, do possibly have another link? I think Im dying of frustration…….
Hello i’ve watched your root and custom ROM guides and i successfully rooted and downloaded ROM Manager from the market on my samsung captivate. However when I launch the ROM Manager app and press “Flash ClockworkMod Recovery”, the only options that appear when I try to confirm my phone model are Google Nexus S, Google Nexus S 4G, Samsung Epic4G, and the Samsung GalaxyS i90000. I cannot find a Samsung Captivate option on the list so I am stuck here, please help and tell me what is wrong!!! Thank you and please reply!!!