Never try custom rom for another device name ID. You can take a look here, Xiaomi EU roms are semi-official & a bit debloated miui roms good for trying before you feel the need to install full fledged AOSP custom roms.
xiaomi.eu/community/threads/7-7-20-last-miui-8.40847/
It is android 6 so quite old but the last official miui currently on your device should be same.
As much as I find it interesting about these custom ROMs, I am not sure with very little knowledge I have about installing them. May be in the future, not now.
Currently it's running Android 7.1.2 / MIUI 11.0.2 Global. Model MAI132
Yeah, I did that earlier today and found that my device codename is santoni. Tried 3 apps (AIDA64, Device id, Device Info HW) and all the three showed the same codename. So I guess Redmi 4X and 4 are same and I am good to go with santoni's build if I choose to install a custom ROM.
As much as I find it interesting about these custom ROMs, I am not sure with very little knowledge I have about installing them. May be in the future, not now.
Currently it's running Android 7.1.2 / MIUI 11.0.2 Global. Model MAI132
Is 4pda, Russian? Needed Google translate.
Yeah, I did that earlier today and found that my device codename is santoni. Tried 3 apps (AIDA64, Device id, Device Info HW) and all the three showed the same codename. So I guess Redmi 4X and 4 are same and I am good to go with santoni's build if I choose to install a custom ROM.
I checked this one, looks like the latest Unofficial Arrow OS got Android 13 for my device.
Use chrome for 4pda.ru similar website.
I think firefox also translates to English. Not checked though.
Other than those basic features if you want to use a camera, specially gcam, then stick to Android 10 or 11.
The device isn't powerful enough and A12, A13 are resource hungry.
I still use A10 Resurrection Remix rom for Redmi Note 4x (mido).
As much as I find it interesting about these custom ROMs, I am not sure with very little knowledge I have about installing them. May be in the future, not now.
You will need to uninstall bootloader first to install any custom rom & once you do that, installing any compatible custom rom is same procedure. The advantage with Xiaomi eu rom is that it is basically somewhat debloated version of miui so you won't feel any difference from official miui but with extra performance.
Other than those basic features if you want to use a camera, specially gcam, then stick to Android 10 or 11.
The device isn't powerful enough and A12, A13 are resource hungry.
I still use A10 Resurrection Remix rom for Redmi Note 4x (mido).
I could find Resurrection for Santoni, that's good. But with Pixel Experience and Lineage I couldn't find it in their official source. I don't know why they have to remove them if they stopping the support. They could've just mark it unsupported and left the downloads on.
You will need to uninstall bootloader first to install any custom rom & once you do that, installing any compatible custom rom is same procedure. The advantage with Xiaomi eu rom is that it is basically somewhat debloated version of miui so you won't feel any difference from official miui but with extra performance.
Since I have never done this before, it sounds like a looooot of work. Xiaomi eu stopped at MIUI 10, didn't get to MIUI 11. That would be like downgrading. I guess even for that I have to go through all those things like Unlocking bootloader, Format/Wipe, flash and all.
Read few threads in xda, I didn't understand. Some I have to google like What is FC, FPC, Goodix, dirty flash and I still have lot of doubts.
Even with official stable ROMs people have issues. Even the basic ones,
Issues with mic, speaker, camera, fingerprint, led notification, volte, locking the phone, asking to leave the encryption disabled...
For now I have bookmarked the links where I can download the ROMs. I don't know if I have to download them now, so that I will still have the files even if they choose to remove just like Pixel experience and Lineage.
Since I have never done this before, it sounds like a looooot of work. Xiaomi eu stopped at MIUI 10, didn't get to MIUI 11. That would be like downgrading. I guess even for that I have to go through all those things like Unlocking bootloader, Format/Wipe, flash and all.
Read few threads in xda, I didn't understand. Some I have to google like What is FC, FPC, Goodix, dirty flash and I still have lot of doubts.
Even with official stable ROMs people have issues. Even the basic ones,
Issues with mic, speaker, camera, fingerprint, led notification, volte, locking the phone, asking to leave the encryption disabled...
For now I have bookmarked the links where I can download the ROMs. I don't know if I have to download them now, so that I will still have the files even if they choose to remove just like Pixel experience and Lineage.
I agree that it is a lot of work & most likely you will face issues even in installing the custom correctly the first time(took me 1 whole day to understand the whole procedure for the first time while watching various youtube videos & reading various installation guides). At least for xiaomi phone & Xiaomi eu roms all you need is TWRP & basic rule of thumb is not to mess with encryption(aka just set a screen pin(preferably keep it same from before installing custom rom to till you finally settle on a custom rom) not pattern & that's it). I also didn't root the phone because rooting means another whole level of issues with banking apps especially in India & need to learn magisk & its various modules & how to use/update it often.
I thought once you guys are settled with a custom ROM you will lock the bootloader. Just found that's not the case. I was like are you guys left the bootloader unlocked and using the custom ROM for years? I guess everyone felt this way when they learned it for the first time.
One of the suggestion I see online is that I need to know how to go back to stock ROM before I even attempt to unlock bootloader/flashing custom ROM.
Xiaomi official don't have Redmi 4 stock ROM, they only have them for newer models. Have to get it from third party source. But there is a discrepancy in file size downloaded and the file size mentioned in the description. I am bit unsure whether it is what they say it is. This is the file and it's link. Is there anyway we can tell whether the image is of fastboot or recovery by seeing the files?
Since rooting isn't must, I guess I will pass that.
I checked that link before, looks like the ROM download link is dead. I got it from the link I posted.
I don't know if I need that 50MB firmware file I see on that site. I don't know how I can check the firmware I got and if I must flash one for custom ROM.
Luckily, I don't have much to backup other than contacts and photos.
Something I bumped into today and that's another red flag. People talking about backing up of persist and EFS which again I needed google to know what they are. Looks like the list (red flag) keeps growing. And the discussion about how they messed up their Volte function, radio and all. I don't know if I missed this before or this isn't an issue now.
I have downloaded about a handful of custom ROMs mostly from official site except Pixel experience.
I don't know if I need that 50MB firmware file I see on that site. I don't know how I can check the firmware I got and if I must flash one for custom ROM.
Luckily, I don't have much to backup other than contacts and photos.
Xiaomi EU roms already contain the firmware but other custom roms need firmware. Basically, firmware sets the foundation on which custom rom is installed so if you are planning on installing a custom rom based on A10 then it is recommended to update firmware to latest official A10 based update from manufacturer site. Manufacturer official roms always have firmware included.
I thought once you guys are settled with a custom ROM you will lock the bootloader. Just found that's not the case. I was like are you guys left the bootloader unlocked and using the custom ROM for years? I guess everyone felt this way when they learned it for the first time.
You will soon know that "settling on a custom rom" is almost impossible because of frequent updates so re-locking bootloader all the time can be quite a hassle.
Something I bumped into today and that's another red flag. People talking about backing up of persist and EFS which again I needed google to know what they are. Looks like the list (red flag) keeps growing. And the discussion about how they messed up their Volte function, radio and all. I don't know if I missed this before or this isn't an issue now.
if you are planning on installing a custom rom based on A10 then it is recommended to update firmware to latest official A10 based update from manufacturer site.
Is the firmware device specific or Android specific? Here in this link I can only see firmware for my device and it's Android 7.1 and that's the one I have downloaded.
Tried google but looks like people interchangebly using the term firmware for custom ROMs as well.
Not all the custom ROM installation instruction suggested flashing firmware. Is this because that doesn't need a specific mentioning or they don't need firmware flashing/ROM includes the firmware like stock ROM?
Not all the custom ROM installation instruction suggested flashing firmware. Is this because that doesn't need a specific mentioning or they don't need firmware flashing/ROM includes the firmware like stock ROM?
You have to read the instructions for each custom rom to find out the answer but xiaomi eu rom does not need separate firmware flash because just like official miui rom they also contain firmware.
You have to read the instructions for each custom rom to find out the answer but xiaomi eu rom does not need separate firmware flash because just like official miui rom they also contain firmware.
Checked over half a dozen custom ROM threads for my device in XDA, up until Nougat they have asked to update the firmware and even given a link to one if we needed. From Pie I don't see any custom ROM instruction asked for firmware update.
The last manufacturer provided firmware for my device was Android 7. I don't know how to check the firmware version I have, all google suggestions are pointing to the ROM version. Both ROM and firmware got the same name - V11.0.2.0.NAMMIXM. Since the version I am running is Android 7.1, I should have the latest firmware. I guess I don't need to flash any firmware.
I see an option for taking backup of EFS in TWRP but I don't see persist there. I don't plan to root but the instructions I seen so far for taking backup of Persist suggest root only method. Do you guys know how to backup Persist without root for my device?
Checked over half a dozen custom ROM threads for my device in XDA, up until Nougat they have asked to update the firmware and even given a link to one if we needed. From Pie I don't see any custom ROM instruction asked for firmware update.
The last manufacturer provided firmware for my device was Android 7. I don't know how to check the firmware version I have, all google suggestions are pointing to the ROM version. Both ROM and firmware got the same name - V11.0.2.0.NAMMIXM. Since the version I am running is Android 7.1, I should have the latest firmware. I guess I don't need to flash any firmware.
I see an option for taking backup of EFS in TWRP but I don't see persist there. I don't plan to root but the instructions I seen so far for taking backup of Persist suggest root only method. Do you guys know how to backup Persist without root for my device?
It does not matter if you update your firmware or not.
I already tried downgrading to 10.1 from 11.
Also sometime i forgot to flash it.
It really doesn't matter. But i don't know exactly. Any ROM developer can answer that. Ask in the telegram group or contact the developer directly or in official santoni group or in official device rom group.
Why do you need to backup persist?
You have a stock ROM then revert to it if something goes wrong and try again.
There are many methods to get persist.img from ROM.
For your device telegram channel and group should have persist and all other necessary backups. Just use search. Within the official santoni group or official device rom group.
I see an option for taking backup of EFS in TWRP but I don't see persist there. I don't plan to root but the instructions I seen so far for taking backup of Persist suggest root only method. Do you guys know how to backup Persist without root for my device?
I didn't take any specific backup of EFS, all I did was taking backup of all the partitions selected by default when using TWRS backup option. I also never installed any root or decrypting storage module. I simply set & use the same screen pin I was using with my stock miui rom with all the xiaomi eu versions I tried. I don't think you should use anything involving root especially as a new user with little experience in installing custom rom.
Any ROM developer can answer that. Ask in the telegram group or contact the developer directly or in official santoni group or in official device rom group.
Why do you need to backup persist?
You have a stock ROM then revert to it if something goes wrong and try again.
There are many methods to get persist.img from ROM.
For your device telegram channel and group should have persist and all other necessary backups. Just use search. Within the official santoni group or official device rom group.
Okay, I will ask that abour firmware update in XDA.
The telegram link you gave and also in some XDA threads they asked to keep a backup of EFS and persist. Here is a snapshot of one. And also in one of the XDA thread they were discussing about lost IMEI, VOLTE feature, radio etc and they needed EFS and persist to fix the issue. So you know why I am asking.
I see a file called persist.img in fastboot stock ROM I downloaded. If that's good enough, I guess I don't have to worry about persist backup. I will ask in XDA.
I don't know if/when I will flash custom ROM, but definitely I am not rooting.
I wasn't even looking for custom ROM, I came here for something else. Tiger's post about custom ROM got me hooked and I really find it interesting. You know the device I have is a 2+16GB variant and I have installed no other apps, only the ones came with the phone. I was hoping with no other apps installed it won't be sluggish, but even after removing over half a dozen apps using ADB tool it was still the same. And this time after factory reset, I didn't even bother removing those apps as it didn't help and didn't even free up the space. With custom ROM, people claiming phone got lot smoother and responsive. And that claim got me even more curious about trying custom ROMs. I can just install vanilla build and use. If needed Gapps, I can flash Pico or Mini variant.
I installed necessary tools and drivers and checked. I can see my device using adb commands and using MiFlash tool.
I wasn't even looking for custom ROM, I came here for something else. Tiger's post about custom ROM got me hooked and I really find it interesting. You know the device I have is a 2+16GB variant and I have installed no other apps, only the ones came with the phone. I was hoping with no other apps installed it won't be sluggish, but even after removing over half a dozen apps using ADB tool it was still the same. And this time after factory reset, I didn't even bother removing those apps as it didn't help and didn't even free up the space. With custom ROM, people claiming phone got lot smoother and responsive. And that claim got me even more curious about trying custom ROMs. I can just install vanilla build and use. If needed Gapps, I can flash Pico or Mini variant.
I have only tried xiaomi eu roms because they are kind of semi-official de-bloated miui & I had gotten used to miui themes & features. On my 20k original price mid range phone with SD730G, A10 based miui 12 works much smoother compared to A11 based miui 12 while A11 based miui 12.5 is practically impossible to run because of extremely aggressive ram mgmt which kills any background app(even music player) within 10-15min running in background.
Tried to Unlock bootloader but couldn't as they want to verify by sending sms while the phone is in Fastboot mode. They asked me to keep the mobile data on when adding mi account, then switch off and go to fastboot mode. It said it will verify the phone, but why phone number why not email? Anyway, now waiting for them to approve new recovery phone number and reset everything.
They approved new recovery number and reset everything, lot sooner than I expected. When they said it will take upto 3 days, I was hoping it will be done in 3 days, not before. Anyway, unlocked bootloader. Looks like I didn't have to went through that process. I could've just stayed on until I complete the sms verification process and then go to fastboot mode. The tutorial I followed suggested to go to fastboot mode, no mentioning of any verification. Anyway what's done is done, let's move.
Initially, I thought about doing it after few months, but I jumped and installed a custom ROM. Starting with oldest (android) and the lightest of the lot. Found the last Lineage official version for my device, LineageOS 16.0 - Android 9. I have 3 more in queue to try. Wanted to try Resurrection as Tigerking suggested, but that being the heaviest of the lot and overwhelming amount of customization made to keep it in the queue to try it later.
Needed more than few attempts to get it installed. There were hiccups in every point from unlocking boatloader, flashing custom recovery and making it permanent (in fact I wasn't sure if the installed recovery is permanent even after installing custom ROM), had to install Lineage twice as the first one got stuck @ boot animation and I waited over 25min. The second time it just took about 3 min to boot. Eventhough I just installed Pico - the smallest package, it took more time than Lineage to install.
With MIUI, I got about 8.5GB of free space after factory reset and that went down to 5GB after google play services and other apps got updated. With Lineage I got about 9.7GB of free space, let's see how much it takes in few weeks. Since it's not officially supported anymore, there won't be any updates from Lineage side. I don't know if there will be any OTA updates from Google and other apps.
Earlier today there was no tower for one of my sim card, I thought it's something to do with the preferred network type I chose after installing Lineage as there was no network for both the sim at the time of installing last weekend. Don't remember what was the default but I guess it was GSM only for Jio (it was in the second slot) and LTE??? something for BSNL. I changed to one of the two dozen options available and it worked fine until today morning.
At first I thought "this poor BSNL network" but after it stayed that way for more than an hour, I thought of changing it to 2G only mode. Around that time I experiemented with 2 dozen options and now I keep getting this pop up (Spoiler: Image). It's non-stop, you swipe and it come back again. I don't want to turn off that alert. I don't know what went wrong, I can access internet, I see towers for both the SIM, I can call and I can receive call, but this alerts keeps coming. Googled, but not much of a help, as their issue is they can't call and/or access internet, no tower etc. But still I tried the solutions, but no fix.
One thing I did was when I forced BSNL to LTE only, I could access internet but can't make a phone call or receive a phone call. At that time I got this message, "mobile network not available". I never bothered about using 4G in BSNL, was just trying and figuring out why I can't make phone calls in 4G. If I don't force 4G only, internet would work in 4G and when calling it won't be in 4G, probably 2G I assume. I think after this, the issue started. I thought of changing the network type would fix this alert, but didn't. Reset network settings, restart device, reset to default - APN, removed Jio and used BSNL only. None fixed.
How do I stop this alert? In MIUI there was only 3 options, if I remember right they were Prefer 4G, Prefer 3G, 2G only. But here about two dozen choices, can't figure out what would be the default. Definitely, Lineage default didn't work for me. So that's out. Had to figure out what would be the Prefer 4G/Prefer 3G/2G only MIUI equivalent here. Currently, BSNL is in 2G only and Jio is in LTE.
Have to check with MIUI user and see if that fixes it. If you guys are using MIUI, you can check and let me know the equivalent of Prefer 4G/3G/2G only.
Factory resetting custom ROM doesn't look like a simple one like we do in MIUI. That would be the last resort.
GSM WCDMA PREFERRED
GSM ONLY
WCDMA ONLY
GSM WCDMA AUTO
CDMA EVDO AUTO
CDMA W/O EVDO
EVDO ONLY
CDMA EVDO GSM WCDMA
CDMA + LTE/EVDO
GSM WCDMA LTE
GLOBAL
LTE
LTE WCDMA
TDSCDMA ONLY
TDSCDMA WCDMA
LTE TDSCDMA
TDSCDMA GSM
LTE TDSCDMA GSM
TDSCDMA GSM WCDMA
LTE TDSCDMA WCDMA
LTE TDSCDMA GSM WCDMA
TDSCDMA CDMA EVDO GSM WCDMA
LTE TDSCDMA CDMA EVDO GSM WCDMA
I turned off the notification sound and ignored the alert. The alerts disappears on it's own and comes back again. Most of the time the alert icon is there in the status and it's bit annoying. Don't know what else to do other than turning off the notification for this service. This service may give other alerts than this, if I turn off I wouldn't know what I would miss.
Tried Factory reset, but still issue persists. So I guess the it's nothing to do with me fiddled with the settings. It's still there even after factory reset.
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I guess everyone felt this way when they learned it for the first time.