You only brick your phone if you :

1. DO NOT read developer instruction how to flash and assume all previous steps you always take will work
2. Not sure of steps ASK and ASK at XDA thread or here . Many of us here are flash-acholics and could give you proper advise of what not to do
3. Be aware of your present kernel you are on especially if it is ICS - knowing that will help you to determine best method . But as said nothing beats the developer instructions

---

Added on May 25, 2012, 8:59 amYes the nighties is small usually only 140 Mb. You just need to flash the gapps one time only. Subsequently just need to wipe caches only and flash the nightly zip to update rom. You can safely do it from its recovery
Touchwiz based romis bloated averaging 600 MB vs 140 MB of Cyanogen. Infact some aopk eg liquid only 110 MB only

Cyanogen nitely updated every 1-2 days : check updates here -
http://get.cm/?device=n7000

WARNING : DO NOT flash directly from any other ICS roms =- guaranteed will HARD BRICK IT. You must and only flash it through Abyss 4.2 kernel recovery mode. Flash this kernel first and boot into its recovery
OR start from any base GB rom with root

This post has been edited by benny888: May 25 2012, 09:04 AM

I would like to repost my earlier warning again about flashing ICS roms ( with edits done ) :


To those concerned about safety issues of the ICS kernels, this is my opinion

1. DO NOT wipe any data from its default recovery ( whether is lpy, lpf, lp9, lp5, lp6 )
2. If you wish to flash another rom, flash Abyss Kernel 4.2 and use its recovery to wipe data, caches and flash any zip rom you need
3. Do not even attempt to do factory reset from settings of phone
4. DO NOT attempt to flash latest Msian ICS roms thro KIES if you are not on original official Msian stock rom ( rooted is still OK ). One user here has his emmc partitions fried trying to update from a Taiwan ICS rom ( i think) and got stuck. He tried to reflash it using Odin in PC and got the feared factoryfs uncomplete and phone hang. This is what the seasoned XDAers called superbrick and their recommendation is to change motherboard !!!
5. DO read the developer instructions ( every line of it ) before flashing. Do not attempt any shortcuts that you used to take
Example recent case of flashing Cyanogen rom : Flash ONLY through GB root rom or must use Abyss kernel 4.2 recovery to flash if you are already on any ICS rom. DO NOT flash directly from any ICS rom using its default recovery - it will HARD BRICK your phone
6. Always do a NANDROID backup from your current recovery before flashing any new rom. However flash Abyss 4.2 kernel first and use its recovery to restore any ICS rom to have full root back. If it is Gingerbread rom, any recovery will do or at least use Abyss Kernel 3.9 recovery to do it

Follow these and I am sure you will be safe. Of course there will still be several doubting Thomas who even advise you don't even bother to use ICS roms
If you want to use ICS, use it smartly
Not sure of the steps, ASK and ASK at forum XDA or here in this thread

This post has been edited by benny888: May 25 2012, 09:55 AM

Noted ; good point and just edited my warning post

These bootup problems questions always appear every day without fail. I already tired answering them
New users flashing should at least try searching first in SEARCH TOPIC or at least take time read last 2 days postings

Switch off phone or take out battery
Manually press simultaneously vol up+home+power button
You will see recovery mode
Select wipe data and wipe cache partitions

OMG this is really spoonfeeding right to the mouth !

That is stock recovery - limited options
How come you are still on stock recovery. I thought you are already on ICS roms ?

If in CWM look under ADVANCED to wipe dalvik

This post has been edited by benny888: May 25 2012, 10:16 AM

Can you tell us again what did you do before this ?
Normally rebooting will take only 2-3 mins

Usual problems with KIES . Change to a stronger internet network with better download speeds could help. KIES is just like a spoilt kid , many times temperamental. If it works , it finishes off beautifully. If it doesn't work , you can spend countless frustrating hours using it. personally I have given up using it
Or do it the easier way : download rom ( see post #10) and use Odinin PC to flash it . If your phone is rooted use Mobile Odin Pro to flash it

What rom were you trying to flash ? What was your previous rom
You need not flash rom second time

Answer my question above first

Did you flash it through Abyss 4.2 kernel recovery ? If you did not, flash Abyss 4.2 kernel . Do not reboot phone. At advanced select reboot recovery - you will see redpill recovery : wipe data n all caches than select install zip

If you did, than just take out battery
Reboot to recovery mode :volup+home+power - wipe data and all caches select reboot

If phone still fail to reboot after more than 10 mins - your phone soft brick

Take out battery - boot to download mode ( vol down +home+power than vol up ) : connect phone to PC . launch Odin and flash any rom to revive phone

Vol Up+home+power will boot you to stock recovery ( if your rom is not install with CWM)
If doing such you cannot see recovery mode - your phone soft brick

Switch off phone. Boot to download mode and use Odin in PC flash rom again - this time select PIT and repartition

I suggest you select ONLY the N7000_CODE_N7000ZSLPF_CL558430_REV02_user_low_ship.tar as PDA. Ignore the rest
Do not even consider flashing its new bootloader since you have intention of changing rom

It is the same as Galaxy S II and also other Galaxy Series
Just press down these 3 buttons till you see the first splash screen and than released all 3 buttons simultaneously
The tip is press down first HOME button and than simultaneouly press the volup+power

Download mode is Vol DOWN + home+ power : this is to flash roms or kernels directly to phone using Odin in PC
Recovery mode is Vol UP + home+ power : this boots to recovery mode - to do wiping data, cache, flashing rom n kernel , doing full rom backup n restore( for clockworkmod recovery only)

This post has been edited by benny888: May 25 2012, 11:33 AM

Use Syncmate : found this in another android forum


It's an app for the phone and a prog for PC or Mac. The free version will sync only your contacts and calendars but they do a pro version that will sync/backup just about anything you could want - iTunes music, pics, vids etc. I used the free version.

You can sync the entire Google calendar that's in iCal (I use a Mac) back out to the phone. Google calendar only directly syncs the previous 30 days of non-repeating events to the phone. You run the app on the phone after putting it into USB debug mode then plug it into the Mac/PC, then run the prog on the Mac/PC.

I then sync'd the iCal Google calendar back to the phone. It still means you have two calendars running but at least you have access to your entire Google calendar. I still make all my entries into Google calendar and keep the second calendar hidden unless I need to check an entry older than 30 days. The other great thing is if you sync again in the same way it only adds the new entries. This sounds obvious but Kies couldn't do that either; it copied everything over creating duplicates. So, all you have to do is sync once a week and you've always got your entire up to date Google calendar available on your phone. \o/

Obvious fail flash. You should see 4.0.3 as android version
What method you use to flash
If through Odin did you download correct rom. Give name of rom you have downloaded

MSIAN ics rom is a builtin everything modem n csc plus firmware packaged in one file
Taiwan ics is broken down into separate files so you can choose what you want to flash. Minimum flash the file named core as PDA. Others not necessary if you want to maintain present modem n CSC. In addition this Taiwan ics comes with new bootloader. Not necessary to flash it if you do not need it. And advisable not to flash if you plan to change roms later on.

Quickpanel settings can only work if you have flash the 15 toggle zip which is not available yet for rr2. You can try other 15toggle zip from other roms but read properly risk involved

---

Added on May 25, 2012, 1:17 pmThat is gingerbread rom not ics


This post has been edited by benny888: May 25 2012, 01:17 PM

Since rooted use titanium backup which is many times better than mybackuppro
Are you sure lpf kernel can use on lp9 rom. Try see whether you can get cwm recovery. If cannot flash Dr ketan cwm.zip as temporary recovery. Refer post 10 for download link
Make sure you download correct tmt file as first file wrong md5 signature. Main download link should be correct. Only don't know whether mirror links corrected or not

---

Added on May 25, 2012, 1:25 pmFirmware is same as rom
You have obviously flash a gb rom not ics rom


This post has been edited by benny888: May 25 2012, 01:25 PM

Definitely yes