How to flash MIUI CWM and Root your Motorola A854

Hello and greetings,

How to flash MIUI/CWM and Root your Motorola A854 (de-branded Droid)

This is my very first time on showing you, the reader, how to flash anything. You see I’m not the most certified or the most knowledgeable person to be showing you this or even writing this guide, but this is why I am doing it.

A few days ago a relative of mine had a Motorola Droid, well that is what it looked like but upon further inspection it was branded A854, and he said it wasn’t working. So story short it was a bad battery so I replaced it and all, then to my very bad luck I found it was running Android 2.1. A quick Google search and I found that this model (A854) was being called “Milestone” BUT when I looked up specifications of said device, they all pointed to a GSM version of the Droid. This phone I had was not GSM but CDMA. More and more reading in random blogs and forums, someone finally posted that the A854 is hardware-wise identical to the A855 (VZW Droid). Since I was not very familiar with these devices, I was fighting within myself if it was a de-branded Droid or was a completely different device. So I did what any other “scientist” would do. I said to hell with it and I followed a Droid guide which was not very helpful because every guide was based on Android 2.2+ devices. So this is how I got to root an A854 running Android 2.1 and flashed using CWM Recovery.

Well this is it and I do apologize for the long intro but I had to tell someone just how hard it was just trying to find a guide.

I used to root the A854 a program called SuperOneClick v. 2.3.3.0. Now this was not a very good step for me since the program would stall when restarting ADB. I had installed the A854 drivers from the Motorola Site, so I was stumped. Then I read somewhere that I should use PDANet, since it helps when SuperOneClick stalls on “Waiting for device.” I downloaded it and the miracle of flawlessly rooting my device happened.

Then comes the hard part; when I searched the Android Market for CWM (ClockworkMod) there was no such app available. When I searched Google (again) I found out that CWM did not support 2.1 anymore. Well F*ck. So I downloaded from another guide in XDA. CWM 3.X (I don’t remember the version) and installed it via microSD and when it did install I was the happiest boy in the world but my dreams and hopes where soon crushed when it would not flash ANY recovery and screwed up my stock recovery. I was so angry; I was literally close to just chucking the damn thing at the wall. Now I could not update the version of Android neither by OTA nor by Motorola Software Update.

Reason 1

OTA was not available for this device because of the massive amount of users wanting to upgrade over the air.

Reason 2.

Motorola Software Update made the freaking device stay on a reboot loop, and would never go past the Reading Device Info.

So either way I was stuck on Android 2.1.

So now that my device was rooted and had a faulty CWM, was when I started to freak. I went out for a walk and had a smoke. Came back and tried more ways. There was an update.zip method which didn’t help (this was before the Recovery being screwed up). So and I was hesitant to use the ADB method, but alas I said again to myself, “you have rooted and installed ROMS on your LG G2X before, you can do this.” So I searched for APK on ThePirateBay and found version 4 and 5. So I downloaded version CMW 4.2.0.1 and uninstalled version 3.x and installed the later version. And viola! It worked this new version installed CWM Recovery quick and painless. And as the saying goes the rest was history.

Pre-requisites:

SuperOneClick 2.3.3.0
PDANet
File Manager
ClockworkMod 4.2.0.1 APK
The Internet
A854 Device
And a windows based box

STEPS:

Download PDANet (http://pdanet.co/bin/PdaNetA4126.exe ) once downloaded install and connect your device and let the drivers be installed.
Once the drivers are installed, download SuperOneClick click here. Now BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE MAKE SURE YOUR PHONE IS IN DEBUGGING MODE. GO TO SETTINGS > APPLICATIONS > AND ENABLE USB DEBUGGING. Now that you have USB Debugging enabled extract and run SuperOneClick.exe as an Administrator. Hot ROOT and watch the magic fly. Now I don’t know if this is any relevant information but I had the Android SDK installed previously so maybe that could help so download it and install just to make sure to cover all our basses.
Once your device is rooted and SOC confirms, check your device for SuperUser App now installed. If it is there then it worked if not. Do it again.
Now download the CWM APK and saved it in your phones SD card.
Dismount your phone from your computer and install CWM 4.2.0.1. To allow this make sure to allow it to install from Unknown Sources. GO TO SETTINGS > APLICATIONS > ALLOW UNKNOWN SOURCES. There.
Now go to the Market (yes Market because Play Store is not available for our device.) and download File Manager. Once it is installed open it and search your SD Card for the APK. Touch to open it and allow it to install.
Once the install is completed open CWM and select FLASH RECOVERY. It will prompt you to select your device, it should say MOTOROLA DROID. Select and continue the flashing.
Once it is done power off your device and hold the “X” keyboard key and press the Power/Lock button. When the Motorola Logo appears release the Power/Lock button and keep pressed the “X” key.
You will see that CWM Recovery 2.5.0.1 is running.
Always make a backup just in case the shit hits the fan. To do this is very simple. In Recovery go to Nandroid > Backup and let it do its thing.
Now this is where you choose your favorite ROM to install. I chose MUIU version 2.2.10 (http://roms.miui.us/sholes/MIUI.us_sholes_2.2.10_Eng_Deo_ZipA_Signed_magiman7.zip) since it is a very stable rom. There is also CyanogenMod 7, so you choose.
Now before you install any rom, you have to wipe the cache, Dalvik and the works. MUIU rom did Dalvik and the hard work once it was running. (Thanks MIUI ;D). Wipe everything manually if you can.
Then after everything has been wiped, select “install zip from sdcard”, select your rom and let it do its thing.

Now the reason I made this Long Guide is because there was none out there for this Model of the Motorola Device. It made me very frustrated but I got the damn thing working. So if you need anything don’t hesitate to either PM me or leave a comment on here while quoting.

PS: The attached APK is CWM that i pulled from my LG G2X it works and its clean and its the free version.

Attached Files

File Type: apk ROM_Manager_4.2.0.1.apk