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Rooting Your Droid X

If you have a Droid X like I do, you will eventually want to root it. The benefits are huge, but rooting is just the first step.

What is rooting?
Root is a Linux term. Its the access you want for full control. It’s the full admin access account. When you root your phone, you are given full access to the phone.

Why root?
You can install custom applications; applications that are generally blocked. Free tethering was why I originally rooted my phone.

Were you previously rooted and you lost it during the 2.2.1 upgrade?
You will need to do a factory restore before continuing below.

Open the Applications Tray. (arrow pointing up located in the middle at the bottom of the display screen)
Touch Settings
Touch Privacy
Touch Factory data reset
Touch Reset Phone
Touch Erase Everything

How do I get started?
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BREAK YOUR PHONE.
First off I have rooted a 2.2.1 and a 2.2 with this method. These releases come out often so be sure to check your Android version (Settings > About Phone > Android Version).

Next you need to download z4root. I am going to provide them on my blog for now. If my bandwidth goes crazy or I get in trouble for hosting them (I am not the creator, just a user) I will take them down and post links to other sites.

Z4Root.1.3.0.apk – Download
Creator: RyanZA

Enable these settings:

1. Allow installation of non-Market applications. Settings > Applications > Check Unknown Sources.
2. Debug mode when USB is connected. Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging. [?]

Plug your phone into your computer via USB. Enable USB Mass Storage. [?] Copy z4root.1.3.0.apk (you should have downloaded this above) to the root of your SD card.
Disable USB Mass Storage.

Install z4root:
Settings > Files > Phone > z4root.1.3.0.apk

Before running the newly installed application, restart your Droid X.

When the Droid X is back up and running, launch z4root. Touch Permanent Root. Leave the phone alone, it will reset when it has completed. If you don’t reset your phone in between installing z4root it will likely freeze during the rooting process.

TV Fish Tank Update

Just dropping some pictures.

Sanded / Stained. The wood filler looks really odd in the flash. Its unnoticeable without the flash.

Restoring An Old TV

My friend was nice and gave me his old CRT Projection HDTV. Its a 52 inch 1080i TV. It was broken, and sitting in his garage, but I was happy to take it off his hands. They even delivered it for free. Aren’t friends are the best? I was reading on how to fix it. It had a convergence problem. There are chips on the TV main board that control the amount of power sent to the individual colors (red, blue, green). These chips were fried. Over time the vents on the TV fill with dust. This prevents air flow, and hot chips will get too hot. So I replaced the chips and also replaced the coolant in the Blue and Green CRT. It made the TV look new.

I will update the info on the images later. I used this website for the replacement of the coolant: http://www.riddledtv.com/journal/CRTCoolant/index.html