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Kellen

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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122 Comments

  • after first reboot my phone force closes. i dont get a home screen so i cant use any apps. only thing i can do is use nitifaction bar. i cant even use recovery mode.

  • i just tried this process and I was able to reinstall 2.0.1 but when I try to reboot so that I can get into recovery to wipe data by holding x, I just get a picture of a triangle with an exclamation point next to a phone. There are no options or anythng so I’m unable to wipe data. Help.

  • hi i have motorola xt800w and upgrade it into ginger 2.3, how to change it into stock rom i didnt backup my phone pls help me

  • I know people will probably never see this, but thank you so much Kellex, this helped me out tremendously. I really didn’t want to flash an SBF to get back to stock and this was soo much easier. God Bless Droid Life!

  • i need help please
    i followed all these steps but after
    installing the update.zip
    my droid wont load it shuts down

  • i cannot get my phone to boot into recovery???? not even by pressing power and x???? HEEEEEEELP PLZ????

  • can you help me figure out why my fone is in a loop on the evil eye of death

  • i down loaded the file an it keeps telling me failed as it try to install .. anyway to fix this i need to get back to stock .. the phone is getting returned it keeps freezing up on me .. HELP !!

  • hello, guyss. I have a motorola driod phone and am trying to update it to the android 2.1 version but its not updating. its coming up with verification error. Its not from verizon but off the shelf. and when i tried to go to recovery mode, i cant go ther with Power + x. I go to the recovery mode with Power + Camera button. So maybe the update file for mine will be different or something like that. It doesn't have the Verizon on it…. Please i need your help updating it

  • I have a question. I had Ultimate Droid 6, and I thought the Official 2.1 Update was going to be an improvement, because I am an idiot. So I followed all the instructions for returning your droid to Stock 2.0.1 and set the whole thing back up, and applied the OTA update of 2.1 when it came though. 2.1 SUCKS compared to the Ultimate Droid ROM. So I want to go back to it. Is there a way to return back to 2.0.1 from 2.1? I cannot get DMUpdate to install now, and I only have the Free version of ROM Manager, which doesn't do crap. I tried manually installing the Stock Update file, but came up with an error. So I am still at 2.1, waiting to get back, So I can install the latest Ultimate Droid. And I am ticked, because I cannot root my 2.1, so I NEED to go back to 2.0.1. Please Help!!!!

  • ok need a little extra help, when i dl sprecovery it opens a window to burn a disc what do i do?

  • I have a question. I had Ultimate Droid 6, and I thought the Official 2.1 Update was going to be an improvement, because I am an idiot. So I followed all the instructions for returning your droid to Stock 2.0.1 and set the whole thing back up, and applied the OTA update of 2.1 when it came though. 2.1 SUCKS compared to the Ultimate Droid ROM. So I want to go back to it. Is there a way to return back to 2.0.1 from 2.1? I cannot get DMUpdate to install now, and I only have the Free version of ROM Manager, which doesn't do crap. I tried manually installing the Stock Update file, but came up with an error. So I am still at 2.1, waiting to get back, So I can install the latest Ultimate Droid. And I am ticked, because I cannot root my 2.1, so I NEED to go back to 2.0.1. Please Help!!!!

  • Thank you for posting. I had a hard time at first, but it was all my fault. I've always had a problem with following directions. I finally restarted the process and follpwed the instructions to the T. The Biggy is to make sure you run the app AS ADMINISTRATOR, and not as anything else (even if you think you have admin rights!) Also, if you type the command line wrong the first time, redownload the files again and start that part over from scratch.

  • can u just put the zip file on sd card and do power+x to install update-stock.zip?????

  • hi everyone i got the 2.1 update and i think something went wrong as now i cant gain root access and i have a error when i boot to recovery with x+power i get this message

    cant open /cash/recovery/command is this normal i wouldent think so
    i tried this methood and it failed

  • WOW!! Had some sketchy parts in there for me but managed to make it work and am now completly stock from Cyanogen 5.0.5.4 sad day but I want to try out the official 2.1 and figure it will be rooted soon any ways

  • when i reboot my phone while holding x and the power the triangle screen dose not come up my phone goes striaght to some srp recovery screen can anyone help me with this.

  • Ok so I need a little help, let me tell you the sequence of events..
    -used DM Updater to root phone and install droid mod
    -installed Rom Manager Premium
    -installed cyto
    -installed ultimate droid 8.5.3
    -used DM Updater to return to stock
    -uninstall “com.google.android.voicesearch” to restore voice search

    So here is my problem, neither of my virtual keyboards(portrait or landscape) seem to be there and the home key and search key are not responding. Also when i press the power key, the only option is “power off” the other options “plane mode” are not there. and there are a lot of force closes. So I have two thoughts, should I do a factory recovery or should I just update to 2.1.

  • Hi folks!
    I installed DroidMod w/ live wallpaper as indicated in a “droid-life” video.
    Later, when the ESE81 (2.1-update 1) was available, I went back to stock using the unrooted option of the DM Updater to finally install the ESE81. Everything worked excellent (THANK YOU VERY MUCH)

    I wanted to get back to stock 2.0.1 while waiting for the OTA update but now I can't. I got stuck on step #5
    (Open ROM Manager and flash the “alternate recovery” aka SPRecovery) since I never had ROM Manager installed and also SD card has been previously formatted while running DroidMod 1.0.

    Is there any other way to go back to stock 2.0.1?

    Thank you in advance

  • Hi folks!
    I installed DroidMod w/ live wallpaper as indicated in a “droid-life” video.
    Later, when the ESE81 (2.1-update 1) was available, I went back to stock using the unrooted option of the DM Updater to finally install the ESE81. Everything worked excellent (THANK YOU VERY MUCH)

    I wanted to get back to stock 2.0.1 while waiting for the OTA update but now I can't. I got stuck on step #5
    (Open ROM Manager and flash the “alternate recovery” aka SPRecovery) since I never had ROM Manager installed and also SD card has been previously formatted while running DroidMod 1.0.

    Is there any other way to go back to stock 2.0.1? Manually maybe?

    Thank you in advance

  • My second phone has never been rooted. At what point in the above instructions do I start, to update to 2.1 with update.zip?

  • Hoping someone can help me out. I'm running Cyanogen 5.0.5.3 ROM and want to retun to stock. I'm trying to follow the directions listed here, but the “Flash alternate recovery” option is not available in ROM manager. I'm trying to follow the directions in the Droidforums.net post linked in the *Note 1* above to flash the phone and install SPRecovery, but can't figure out how to save the flash_image file without a file extension. This seems complicated, and I'm worried I might brick my phone. Is there an easier way to return to stock?

  • I've run into a problem. I downloaded the update-stock.zip and copied it to the root of my sd card, started in recovery mode, installed update.zip from sd card and rebooted. Droid M came up, got the blinking red eye and after a few seconds it disappeared then nothing. Now what.

  • Sorry if this is a repeat question….
    Ive followed all the steps above. Only thing I noticed was at the end of the steps (Step 11) I went back to reboot into recovery. I did and it should I was unrooted and had no option to “wipe data/factory reset.” part. So I am unrooted which is all good. But I want also want to make sure that I have my setting all straight. I went to settings>about phone> and it is showing 2.0.1 version. But my Kernel Version is “2.6.29-omap1-g0dd7e0b android-build@apa26 #511”

    So is that last thingy supposed to be there and is that what its supposed to say? Thanks for any help…

  • I did everything the way the instructions said. But now when I reboot. can't get recovery mode. held X+power and just stays frozen on the motorola “M”.

  • During the reboot after installing the update.zip file in SPRecovery, the motorola and “red eye” screens both appear but then the screen goes totally blank and the phone is unresponsive. I have tried pulling the battery and trying to reinstall the file (the stock recovery mode screen is back), but the same thing keeps happening… please help!!! thanks in advance 🙂

    • oh and i dunno if this helps but i was running Smoked Glass v6.0.1 before this happened…

  • I heart Kellex. 🙂 Installed with no snags. Haven't found yahoo mail feature difference yet, but had already set up yahoo mail manually. Looking to hear if there is something other than that. Lovin' the gallery now! System seems faster. DiggDroid fonts are smaller now. Not sure why, but not a biggie. Beautiful!! Thank you!

  • OK I tried following the steps for manually installing SPRecovery, and when i get to the step to type 'su' into terminal emulator it says 'permission denied' can anyone possibly help me. I just want to get back to stock so i can get my update.

      • I ended up doing a nandroid backup to a time when I had DM1.0. Then it allowed me to use dmupdater to revert back to stock 2.0.1. Then, following Kellex's instructions i manually installed 2.1 without a hitch. Hope this helps you.

  • HELP!!! I tried the manual 2.1 update and now my Droid is stuck between the Eye and the word “Droid,” just endlessly looping back and forth. Pulling battery and rebooting does no good. I can't get to the SD card to put “Update-Stock.zip” in because I can't mount (and I don't have a micro-sd card adapter). Any ideas how to get unstuck?

    • I had a similar problem when going back to stock after coming from 2.1 root.
      The booting got stuck

      but was able to resolve it with following steps:
      (1) Reboot while holding the 'X' key
      (2) Once you see the /! on the screen, press vol+ and camera button
      (3) In the onscreen menu, select to wipe user and cache data
      (4) Reboot.

      After doing this, my droid rebooted fully; hope this helps!

  • quick question…I downloaded to the 2.1 ESE81. but i still have the super ninja icon when i pull up my app drawer. how do I get rid of that ninja dude?

  • how do i move the update-stock.zip to my root i've tried everything i can think of and it wont move it.

  • OK, so I tried to use rom manager last night do get back to stock. First thing i see is that i should have not chosen to wipe data and cache. Well it obviously didnt work and now i am back with cyanogen 5.0.4.2. I redownloaded rom manager but when i try to flash clockwork modrecovery, so that i can flash into sprecovery, it says “an error occured while attempting to run priviledged commands!”

    Should i just follow the instructions for manual installation of sprecovery?

  • I just installed 2.1

    First thing I did this AM (East Coast) was a quick 2.1 update.zip search and found this site…
    http://droidedup.com/

    which provides link and instructions for the install….

    I found a few more sites with it and decided to go for it, installed and it WORKS!!!

  • HELP!!!!! Trying to get back to 2.0.1 so I can get the update. I deleted update.zip, renamed stock-update.zip to update.zip, rebooted into recovery mode and get this error:

    ClockworkMod Recovery v1.7.8.9
    — Install from sdcard…
    Finding update package…
    Opening update package…
    Installing update…
    assert failed: !less_than_int(1259199777. getpro
    E:Error in /sdcard/update.zip
    (Status 7)
    Installation aborted.

    Please help!?!?!?!?

      • Just figured out that we are not supposed to be in ClockworkMod Recovery, I just went back to Rom Manager and Flashed to SPRecovery. Option at the bottom. Then keep following the directions.

        • When you are following instructions to get back to stock, You use ROM manager to download the update-stock.zip, My file is only 540k size. How big it should be. I have a old update-stock.zip in my PC and its about 61MB. Can any one help..

      • I was still getting an error message in SPRecovery so I found the backup for DroidMod and Backed out of it that way. Once I got into droidMod it downloaded a new stock-update.zip and took me back to 2.0.1.

  • Ok, I have both an update.zip and a stock update.zip on my sd card. Do I need to delete the update.zip? and do I need to change the name of the stock update.zip to just update.zip? Or can I just leave them both there and choose the stock update.zip when it ask? please help!!!! very NOOBY here!!

    • transfer both .zip to your pc. Drag the 2.1 update.zip to your sd card. Shut down your phone and hold the x key while you power up and watch this vid……..

      • Which one is the 2.1, it doesn't tell you? it just says update.zip and update-stock.zip? I have root explorer, and I checked the sdcard and found both zips, which one is which/

        • I dont n
          know what the hell is going to happen yall didnt say there were TWO of everything in the instructions yall gave!!! so I just pick one of each, who the hell knows ????? probably just bricked my phone!!!!!!

          • Well phone locked up!! but thanks to this site I was able to boot into recovery again try a different update and so far so good, I hope, time will tell. I don't know why the dm updater won't work? It is practically useless now. I rooted to droidmod 1, then to cyan 5.0.4.2 then to cyan 5.0.5, then just updated the rom as it updated. everything went pretty well till this morning, my droid started going haywire for some reason. I thought it might have something to do with the 2.1 update, but it still says my phone is up tp date and now I'm back to stock 2.0.1. I will wait to see if it comes in soon, I HOPE!! Thanks for all the help I was given in helping me get my droid back working, yall are lifesavers!!! my wife was fixing to strangle me for bricking my phone!!…..lol

  • Just tried this and runing good.

    3 screens
    No launcher
    No new dock
    New gallery
    News and weather widget

    Updated nexus live wallpaper with new background

  • I have and installed the 2.1 update for the Verizon Moto Droid. Uploading the video to youtube as am typing. My username is rdunseith76 on youtube. I was a skeptic but this is for real. Also have 720p video of me updating in the process. I failed twice,then the got it to work. No shit, no joke…

  • I have and installed the 2.1 update. NO JOKE! I have it and I have 720p video proof .

    • Damn you beat me to it, hopefully this works well and just noticed koush updated the radio band on cyanogen mod with one from the 2.1 ota so maybe a new rom build is already in the works

      • yeah, forgot to say much thanks to Kellex and all here at droid-life. from root, to cyanogen and back to stock. you've guided me the whole way!

        update works, install was a breeze at 5 mins or so.

      • I think this part is key to keep in mind. In no time, these custom ROMs will be using the official 2.1 as a baseline. I think it you just stay rooted, you're going to get all of the official 2.1 goodies.

    • can someone walk me through this really quick im non-rooted but cant figure it out… please help me obiwan kenobi your my only hope…

  • I have video proof to show you the update from 2.0.1 to 2.1. Will provide links, I SWEAR!

  • Question??? I am running 2.0.1 on my Droid now, My Phone is Rooted. Do I need to Unroot or revert anything to get 2.1 Update? Now runnings:
    1.Model Droid
    2.Firmware 2.0.1
    3 Baseband C-01.2E.01P
    4 Kernel 2.6.29-omap1-hgb9fcbc3e35d9-dirty walter@lanbox #49
    5 Build ESD56
    I have quite a few apps and settings that I wish not to lose.
    Is there an easy way to leave everything and ONLY unroot my Droid
    Help Please ! By the way this is the BEST site….

  • Kellex your the best and I tell everyone about this site…….
    Hopefully we can all enjoy the new update together and then root that lol
    Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!
    I am so happy I found this site

  • K.
    Say latter on I want to root again—-after 2.1.0 OTA will there be another update.zip file or will I have to find the original one?

  • does the update-stock.zip file also unroot your phone, or does it just return it to stock 2.0.1 rooted?

  • So am I to understand that update-stock.zip returns your phone to stock, and also unroots it?

    • It does both, I no longer have the superuser (ninja with a gun) app in my app menu

  • I agree with this website being awesome.

    I decided to take the plunge and go back to stock, since I just got my droid like 2 weeks ago and rooted within hours of getting it.

    We will see how 2.1 goes. So far without being overxloxked sucks, the browser is super laggy, maybe I need to just reboot one more time, seeing as how I just factory reset.

  • 10. When it boots, go into Settings>About and make sure you are now on 2.0.1.
    (IF YOU ARE NOT BACK TO 2.0.1 DO NOT GO ON TO THE NEXT STEP.)
    11. If you are back to 2.0.1 boot back into recovery (Power + X) and choose “wipe data/factory reset.” Scroll down and choose “Yes.”

    when I start on 11 and boot into recovery I get a triangle with a yellow “!” and nothing else? do i need to flash recovery again or something

    • hold volume up and push the camera key and it will get you into the stock recovery program and then continue with step 11.

  • UM, I performed a factory reset before I saw your “Note 3.” I had to activate my phone but everything seems to be running fine. Did I screw something up I don't know about?

    Thanks!

  • UM, I did a factory reset and it seemed fine. I did that when I couldn't find directions and my stock ROM wasn't loading correctly. After I did it I activated my phone and everything loaded correctly.

    Did I screw something up I don't know about by doing that?

    Thanks

    • twohawks, I am thinking of doing a factory reset as well cuz I am out of all other options, did it turn out alright for you?

  • @evltwn – uh, like me too 1) a rooting/ROMing n00b and 2) couldn't get this to work first time cos I skipped over the 'allow update.zip install' thing (it was different text adn in a submenu than what TFA said but still easy enough to spot now you put me onto it)- once I did that it proceeded to install just fine and now I'm unrooted (no Superuser ninja app) – phew!

  • Alright guys and gals….I have to give BIG UPS to Kellex. I'm naming my 1st child after him. I sent him an email early this afternoon about not being able to un-root. That was about 7 hours ago. He and I have been trading emails back and forth since then. It's been crazy, but I have finally un-rooted my phone. Yes teejay, you're right..you have to select “allow update.zip install” then select “install/update.zip. It's been very frustrating to say the least. But Kellex has been patient with me (I'm a total noob), but we got it done. Thanks Kellex, this site is the BEST Droid forum on the web. Can't say enough about it.

  • 2.1?? does anyone know if it has VAD im tired of dialing from my phone I need VAD Bluetooth working!! Will a brain BT work that has VAD with the droid–im not sure–anyone know???

  • Noob question but can I boot into recovery while the phone is on just by pressing power and X? or do I have to hit power and choose “reboot”? I turned the phone off and booted into recovery but the “update.zip” option has the word “deprecated” next to it and it blocks me every time i try and install the update. Please help guys

    • Click the above option that says “Allow update.zip” or something like that and then go back to install update.zip and it should work. The same thing happened to me and it worked fine. But I am not even CLOSE to amazing at this stuff. So dont hate me if it doesnt work the same way.

  • This is truly the best site I have ever used. I have already pointed my friends that have Droids here and they love it as well. Kellex – thanks so much for the hard work that you put into this – and for putting up with us demanding users.

  • Right when I gave up going through forums looking for an answer to this problem, you post something like this. You're King $h!t of Droid Mountain. I feel as if I should pay you for your service.

    • DROID LIFE is really one of the best tech sites around…….. really laid back not some emo tween site like DF.net

      sorry to say that but someone has to call them out.

      btw.. i did a factory reset. my apologies. somehow, someway i'm back to plain jane.

  • Question. I first rooted with DM Updater. I flashed Cyanogen later but wasnt really diggin it so I just used Nandroid and went back to DroidMod 1.0. I still have the clockwork recovery on my phone but am running DroidMod 1.0, couldnt I just use DM Updater and flah 2.0.1 back on my phone?

  • Is it just like the last time they rolled out the 2.1 updates where only VZW employees get it?

    If so, I don't see it being posted online.

    Off topic but of great importance, Ultimate Droid V9.0.0 came out and it is insanley smooth. They only thing that would make me go back to stock is FLASH!

  • lol, wish i had this about an hour ago….i was returning to stock and my phone went all crazy. first i could get the motorola screen and nothing else, then i go as far as the red droid eye and it would hang forever. but i got it worked out. thanks, kellex!!!!! awesome work!

  • seriously i need flash if im going to acualy go through with this crap……………….it didnt have it in the photo o no dmnit

  • When I had ROM Manager. I just used DroidMod (1.0) app. to flash SPRecovery. While on DroidMod ROM, just open the app. and install the (2.0.1). That was the fastest way I knew how to do it. { I hope that was helpful }

  • Are we going to keep track of people who have it like we did on the 18th? If so then, Nothing here is San Antonio, Texas. Keep us posted people!

    • Not surprising, still 40 minutes left… I'm still rooted so I won't be able to tell anything

      • Wow, I feel really stupid. I did the conversion from EST to CDT wrong. I really should change the post considering that I am the first one on the list and everone will read that. Thank you for pointing that out before someone else did.

        • Oh hell. It won't let me edit it. Well then. Either way, keep us posted if you happen to receive the update and excuse my typo and stupidity in the above posts. :- I now know that EST is 1 hour ahead of CST.

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