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Having issues with your ICS ROM? Let me make a Suggestion

Toward the end of last month we showed you guys a look at an ICS port that was being built for various Galaxy S device. My primary interest in this port was the fact that they had a Vibrant version. Being a faithful Vibrant owner, I had to give it a go. The ROM moved to beta 2 only a few days after the initial release. Bringing with it some need changes. But even with these changes I kept running into a few issues. Not knowing if it was user error, a bad flash or issues in the ROM I started exploring all possibilities that I could do my self. Which is pretty limited since I am not a developer of any sorts. I did however discover a few things that I think may have been causing my issues that some of you may never have thought about.

From general experience, a high majority of us use Titanium Backup to back up our apps and associated data so we don’t lose our progress on games or have to reinstall them 1 by 1. Although it is a great time saver, I think it was the root of my issues. After having FC issues with apps and gapps starting to close out, I became rather frustrated. Not a big deal, wiping the cache and Dalvik usually fixed it. It would eventually re-present itself 4 or 5 hours later. The second issue I had that seemed to occur was the drop and function of service. It would essentially freeze leaving me with no coverage. A reboot solved this as well. Still, an annoyance. So I got to thinking about past experiences with other devices and ROMs. Thinking permission issues. Fixing permissions seemed to do no good. I am not even sure if you can fix permission yet on ICS. My next thought was gapps issues. Since that is where I got FC issues that ultimately made me reflash a few times. What I didn’t expect was 18 hours with no issues after the last flash.

Which got me to thinking, what did I do this time that I didn’t do before. I didn’t restore any apps yet. I got so busy with my day that I forgot to restore my apps. This time instead of restoring them via TB, I went to the market and pulled up a few free apps that I use. To my surprise many of the apps I use often give a snazzy little, “this app is not supported by your device” message. Which then doesn’t allow me to download it. I found this issue on Astro, EStrong File manager, Kindle and a whole slew of other apps that I use. Knowing that the ROM is an I9000 ROM and having flashed other builds of 2.3 that were from an I9000 without ever running into this issue I came to the conclusion that many of the apps available don’t support ICS yet.

36 hours after wiping and flashing again I have had nearly no issues. At least none that I experience before. Signal never drops off, no gapps FC and no reboots needed. My conclusion is that I had installed so many apps that weren’t compatible from TB that it freaked out the device and didn’t play nice at all. We all know that apps can do that pretty easily if not built for the correct OS. If you are experiencing similar issues that are driving you insane, or ultimately made you restore to your previous ROM, try a fresh install and only install apps via that market that it lets you install. See how it goes. I can’t say this will work for ever ICS ROM out there, but I know it has sure made a world of difference on my day-to-day usage of the Vibrant version.

I wonder though, anyone out there sporting a Galaxy Nexus finding basic apps in the market not available for your device? I would love to know if this was truly my issue or if the last flash just went better than the last 5.

Leave a comment or any suggestions you might have below. I know I would love to hear them.