Hopefully this will set the record straight on what an RPM file is, when and why you should or shouldn't flash it.
At least it should at some point, currently its just my experiences with this.
It seems every thread (at least every one that I follow) has someone asking about this and it's getting a bit overwhelming.
DO NOT FLASH ON ANY OTHER DEVICE THAN THE VERIZON GALAXY S3 (SCH-I535)
Do not unplug while this is happening, unless you are in dire need of a paperweight.
Odin tends to seem like it hangs for a short bit toward the end of the flash. Be patient, it will finish and automatically reboot.
If anyone has any concrete evidence of this improving anything, please share with appropriate links and I'll update this post.
Source
At least it should at some point, currently its just my experiences with this.
It seems every thread (at least every one that I follow) has someone asking about this and it's getting a bit overwhelming.
Q: What is RPM?
A: Many people claim it to be "Resource Power Management" and apparently it controls power to things like your modem and radio.
I'm not sure that this is 100% accurate, as I've not seen anyone with a ton of credibility claim this.
Q: Does it matter what modem/rom/kernel/etc I am running? Do I need to flash an RPM with a certain modem?
A: No, and no. It is completely separate, I've not seen any noticeable improvements with any rpm/modem combination.
Q: Where can I get these RPM's?
A: Here: http://goo.im/devs/invisiblek/i535/rpm or http://truelinux.net/sch-i535/rpm/ (flashable via recovery)
IMPORTANT:DO NOT FLASH ON ANY OTHER DEVICE THAN THE VERIZON GALAXY S3 (SCH-I535)
Do not unplug while this is happening, unless you are in dire need of a paperweight.
Odin tends to seem like it hangs for a short bit toward the end of the flash. Be patient, it will finish and automatically reboot.
Q: Does this need to be flashed each time I flash a rom?
A: No, unless a rom includes this (which would be very odd) it will survive a rom flash/data wipe.
Q: How do I know what RPM I have installed?
A: Its not the easiest thing to find out. You could technically dump the rpm partition (/dev/block/mmcblk0p6) and compare it to each rpm.mbn in the zips from the link above.
Q: Should I flash this?
A: Up to you, in my experiences this really doesn't do a lot.
Q: Can I revert to a previous RPM?
A: Yes, just flash whatever one you want, it will overwrite the currently flashed RPM.
Q: Can't we look at this partition and see what's in it?
A: I suppose we could a few different ways, here is the I5 rpm ran through strings: http://pastebin.com/6mUTq1jB
You could also look at the mbn with a hex editor if you'd like
Linux sees it as:
$ file rpm.mbn rpm.mbn: data
This makes it more than trivial to just mount it like you'd do a system or modem partition (yes we can look at modem partitions, they are fat32)
If anyone has any concrete evidence of this improving anything, please share with appropriate links and I'll update this post.
Source
