T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant SGH-T959

posted by Jordan Peterson on Tue, 09/07/2010 - 10:29

Wait! There's a better way to Root your phone and free up the possibilities of running different and better OS's. For simple, read this article before yanking the engine out.

Everything below this line is the old ways of manipulating the Vibrant for different rom.

Everything to do with the Samsung Vibrant Phone running Android from T-Mobile.

QUICKest ROM I've used yet. GPS locks in quick, Email loads NOW, etc.. Checkout Br1ck Rom KA7 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=924209

Also, if you're trying to get into recovery mode, search for "ROM MANAGER" in the Market app; they made things a ton easier and faster to setup.

 

UPDATE: Holding Volume up and down keys simultaneously will boot the phone into a special state of restoration; a download mode if you will. If you ever soft brick your phone from switching roms, you'll become familiar with the little android sweeping icon. 

 

Old Stuff / News:

Disclaimer: Any instructions followed here or on this site are your OWN responsibility. If you decide to follow anything written on this site and break something, it is solely your fault for following them. I and JordanPeterson.me are not be held liable for any motivation, instruction, or steps followed herein.

There's a whole list of reason, but if you don't have a need for a rooted phone, leave it alone! Both the K.I.S.S. and "If it aint broke, don't fix it" concepts apply here.

Is holding volume up and down buttons while power on a hoax to get into recovery mode, or is this a T-Mobile anti-rooting thing?:

Despite all that say booting into recovery mode only requires holding the volume up and down keys while powering up, booting into recovery was successful using the command line "adb reboot recovery". Yes, several attempts were made at booting into recovery mode without the use of the SDK, and without success. Others have had similar issues. Perhaps the T-Mobile version has been modified to keep people from rooting their phones so easily. See below for ADB Reboot Recovery method.

GPS Delay Fix according to XDA:

  1. Disable "Use Wireless Networks" - Settings / Location & Security
  2. Dial *#*#1472365#*#*
  3. Under "Application settings" Change "Operation Mode" to MS Based
  4. Under "SUPL/CP Settings" Change the SERVER & PORT to supl.google.com and port 7276 [ Do not use www. in front of supl]
  5. REBOOT
  6. Turn back on the "User Wireless Networks"
  7. Praise God

Why root a phone?

  • If you're anything like me, you gotta have a smart phone that lets you walk away from your computer. Sometimes, when out in the field, I'd like to get my Mac Book Pro on the Internet using the WiFi capabilities. WiFi Tether, for instance, turns your phone into a wireless Internet access point. Now you can have your coffee away from Starbucks. :) However, WiFi needs root access. So until your phone is rooted, WiFi Tether won't work.
  • Additionally, you're able to install custom ROMS. And you know, they will be coming out!!!

Resources

ROMS

ADB REBOOT RECOVERY & ROOT

ADB Reboot Recovery & Rooting Samsung Vibrant using a Mac

The blow Mac instructions should setup the Mac so you can reboot your T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant into recovery mode.

  1. Download files:
    1. Download android-sdk_*-mac_86.zip from Android SDK
    2. Download SGH-959-Root-Update.zip
  2. Ready the Android SDK
    1. With the Safari browser still up, look for the "Downloads" window. The last couple of files you downloaded should be in there. Double click android-sdk_r*-mac_86.zip
    2. The Downloads File Browser window will appear and there should be a folder called "android-sdk-mac_86" in there.
    3. Open a terminal by holding the Apple+Spacebar keys and typing "Terminal" without the quotes or just run terminal manually from your applications folder or you may already have a terminal in the shortcut bar.
    4. Within the terminal type: "Downloads/android-sdk-mac_86/tools/android update sdk" (without quotes) and hit ENTER.
    5. Let the Refresh Sources window disappear before continuing.
    6. Select "Accept All" radio button and click Install.
    7. We'll minimize the Android SDK while it is updating and continue to the next task. Click the yellow button on the top of the Android SDK and AVD Manager window.
    8. Minimize the Terminal window by clicking the yellow button at the top of the Terminal window.
    9. Close out "Download" windows and Safari
  3. Move SGH-959-Root-Update.zip to your phone and rename it to update.zip
    1. With your phone plugged into your computer's USB system, go to your phone's desktop and drag the upper menu bar down and touch USB connected.
    2. Touch Mount
    3. On your Mac, a couple of "NO NAME" drives will appear. Iphoto will try to import as well. When you see iPhoto loading, hit Apple+Q buttons to quit.
    4. Back on the desktoop, double click the first "NO NAME" drive and see what's in there. If you see folders like "Android, data, DCIM", then this is the drive you want to copy the SGH-959-Root-Update.zip" to.
    5. Open up another finder window by hitting Apple+N buttons. Double click Downloads
    6. Look for SGH-959-Root-Update.zip. Select it and hit Apple+C to copy.
    7. Switch back to the other "NO NAME" drive window containing "Android, data, DCIM" etc. (Pressing Apple+~ will rotate through all same application windows) or just click the window if you see it, and paste the file by hitting Apple+V.
    8. Within the "NO NAME" drive you should see the file you just pasted. Click it once, wait a second, and click it again. This should give you renaming options. Hit the backspace once and type "update" and hit ENTER. Now you should have a file named "update.zip".
    9. Close out this window and others to get back to your desktop.
    10. Drag NO NAME drive that you've been working with, to the trash can in the bottom right of your screen. Once over the trash, it will show an eject icon. This is what you want.
    11. If you still see the other drive on the desktop, drag it to the trash also.
    12. Wake up your phone again and drag the upper menu bar down. Select "Turn off USB storage" and touch "Turn Off" button.
  4. Checking back on the Android SDK update process
    1. You should see a java android icon at the bottom right of your screen with a blue dot under it. Click this and the Android SDK update should come up. It should nearly be finished.
    2. Click "Yes" on the ADB Restart dialog asking "A package that depends on ADB has been updated. It is recommended to restart ADB. Is it OK to do it now? If not, you can restart it manually later."
    3. When you see "ADB: * daemon started successfully *", click the "Close" button.
    4. Close Android SDK update by hitting Apple+Q
  5. Rebooting phone into recovery mode
    1. Open a terminal or click the one running at the lower right of your screen with a blue dot under it.
    2. Within the terminal, type: "Downloads/android-sdk-mac_86/tools/adb reboot recovery" (without quotes).. and hit ENTER
    3. Phone should reboot and go into recovery mode.
    4. Using volume up and down buttons on the left of your phone, navigate to "reinstall packages" and execute by hitting the power button on the right of your phone.
    5. After the update, your phone will immediately reboot.
  6. Verify rooting process has been successful
    1. If in your phone applications you have an icon labeled "Superuser Permission", the rooting was successful.
  7. Download WiFi Tether to your phone
    1. Open the browser on your phone and browse to this page: http://www.jordanpeterson.me/node/328 to continue the WiFi Tether installation
    2. Browse to Android WiFi Tether Web site
    3. Download the latest apk file that's not experimental. At the time of this writing, wireless_tether_2_0_2.apk seems to work. Trying the experimental versions may lock your phone up.
    4. You should now have WiFi Tether, in my opinion, one of the handiest features of Android.