Develop Bugs

How to root and still obtain OTA 2.3.4 from Verizon?

Hi Folks,
I'm a noob, but noticed that we can root our Incredible before the new 2.3.4 OTA is accepted from Verizon, thus allowing for future ROM installs, etc.
However, I have read that using Unrevoked to root also installs a custom recovery and that the OTA will only work if my phone still has the stock recovery.
My preference would be to root the phone for enabling my ability to experiment with the inevitable 2.3.4-based ROMs that will have nicer UIs than what Verizon/HTC will provide via Sense 1.0 in the new OS update.
So, I'm curious if there's a straightforward guide for rooting an (AMOLED) Incredible but maintaining all else as stock, please. Yes, I've tried searching here but have thus far found snippets of info that have not yet gelled for me.
I suppose another option is to simply accept the OTA on my stock phone and wait for Unrevoked or another source to figure out how to root the 2.3.4 install. Does that seem likely to occur? It seems that there's still good enthusiasm for this phone, but I'm not familiar with the Developer circles and their interests.
Thanks.
- ooofest

Root, install this and continue on your way.

Oh, so root with Unrevoked (for example), install that OTA-based ROM and not wait for the Verizon OTA, I guess you're offering.
Seems a good option to consider, thanks.
- ooofest

Exactly! Not sure what other option is ever going to be available.

ooofest said:
Oh, so root with Unrevoked (for example), install that OTA-based ROM and not wait for the Verizon OTA, I guess you're offering.
Seems a good option to consider, thanks.
- ooofest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That link is to the OTA, which was taken apart to add root and a few other items to it, and made into a flashable zip. Root with Unrevoked, then flash that zip file.
Way easier than:
Rooting now, and then trying to get stock recovery instead of ClockworkMod Recovery, waiting for the OTA, accepting the OTA, then making sure it all works when it's done.

I wouldn't tell anyone to expect root to be achieved on the OTA simply because most of the effort these days is focused on working the kinks out of east root methods on other devices like the dInc2, EVO Shift, EVO 3D, and the Tbolt. There's already a rooted OTA ROM out there anyways, isn't there?

loonatik78 said:
There's already a rooted OTA ROM out there anyways, isn't there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hence the link I posted in my first response...

I'm glad there is a thread about this. I downloaded the file but I am not sure of how to install it?

socratus said:
I'm glad there is a thread about this. I downloaded the file but I am not sure of how to install it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you rooted?

Oh yeah yeah Im rooted and everything. Just dont know how to install what file or if i should just drag it all to my sd card and install from romanager

socratus said:
Oh yeah yeah Im rooted and everything. Just dont know how to install what file or if i should just drag it all to my sd card and install from romanager
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, just install with RM by choosing the "Install from SD" option.

I never install from rm. I manually wipe and install from recovery.

keeps saying htc sence has stopped unexpectedly..

It keeps force closing.. I can not get to any menu or anything, it just keeps cycling and force closing, leaving me no time to perform any actions. HELP pleasse

tried to factory restore it upon boot... didn't work...

I tried to boot into recovery cause i did backup rom before tried to install... but when I get into recovery and select an option is does nothing.
It seems it might allow me to wipe data/ factory reset and also wipe cache paritition. Not sure what i should do until I get an answer.
EDIT... Believe I am restoring right now and everything should be Ok, lol. Damn... I will post results in a little when I am done having a heart attack

Having problems @ the screen where the two balls go around the big circle... just froze..
EDIT.
Still froze.
Got it back to work somehow.. pressed the power button while @ the screen mentioned above and it took me to the home screen.

[Q] ITL41F OTA failed ... won't retry

Got the OTA today. Bog stock not rooted. update failed. After about 30 minutes a retry download button appeared. Pushing it doesn't do anything. Is there a minimum wait between update attempts? Any other ideas?

Same thing happened to me. I have waited 3 days for a repeat but to no avail. I rooted it and installed a custom ROM with the volume fix update in.

http://twitpic.com/7oody4 this?
Mine failed too... mine was just rooted; nothing else
I got the little Android logo with a !
Rebooted again, no update appears; so I decided to just put the update myself.

Twitpik link is broke. Didn't fail during reboot though. Error msg is right in the system update page. The dowload progress bar is grayed out and it says dowload failed instead a percent progress and there is Retry Download button lower right but it doesnt seem to do anything.

texiandave said:
Twitpik link is broke. Didn't fail during reboot though. Error msg is right in the system update page. The dowload progress bar is grayed out and it says dowload failed instead a percent progress and there is Retry Download button lower right but it doesnt seem to do anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine downloaded automatically over night, and asked if I wanted to apply it when I woke up at 6am. Twitpic should work btw, I just looked at it
Mine even said it was downloaded AND verified, but still failed

Rooted on stock rom with CWM.... Without the stock recovery it can't install. Just jumped to a new Rom with the update....I have always hated the auto updates..lol

Is there a way for me to apply this update by itself? Even if I don't have stock recovery? Is it possible to re-set recovery to original without wiping the entire device?
Mine is rooted, stock ROM, CWM recovery.

OTA re-set itself and installed correctly overnight without me doing anything. Not sure why it failed or how it resolved it but it's done.

If you're still having issues try this
http://www.coolsmartphone.com/2011/12/01/galaxy-nexus-ota-patch
Basically its links to the patch (OTA) and how to root/return to stock with a link to the guide on xda
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

I eventually received the update. It downloaded and asked for a reboot. I agreed and the phone counted down, then shutdown, but didn't startup. I waited and waited, the power button would not respond, so I removed the battery, and put it back in. It then started up, but still on the old ITL41D software. What did I do wrong? And what do I do now? Is it normal for it to fail to start up aftrr the reboot? Will I get another opportunity?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm super frustrated

mirilo said:
I eventually received the update. It downloaded and asked for a reboot. I agreed and the phone counted down, then shutdown, but didn't startup. I waited and waited, the power button would not respond, so I removed the battery, and put it back in. It then started up, but still on the old ITL41D software. What did I do wrong? And what do I do now? Is it normal for it to fail to start up aftrr the reboot? Will I get another opportunity?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm super frustrated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your phone rooted? If so, I would look at the comment above yours with the link to the patch (and instructions) to flash it manually. If it is not, it will likely allow you to retry in a day or two.
Hope it all works out for you.
EDIT: I just tried flashing the patch manually as per the prior instructions posted and it didn't work. It gave me "Error (Status 7)" and aborted the installation. Although, right when it rebooted back into the home screen, it came up with the official OTA update again. I'm hesitant on trying it again, since it's likely to fail due to whatever reason caused it to fail the first time.
Either way, this is getting aggravating. I really wish there was an easier way to get this patch without needing to lose root and having to re-do things all over again. I have done a TiBu batch run of all of the stuff I need, but still...oh well.

FlareHeart said:
Either way, this is getting aggravating. I really wish there was an easier way to get this patch without needing to lose root and having to re-do things all over again. I have done a TiBu batch run of all of the stuff I need, but still...oh well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think I've ever seen an OTA which left root intact. This occurs when the OTA sets the permissions recursive for the whole directory /system/bin to 755 removing the setuid attribute on the /system/bin/su binary.
The binary will still be there, but will have to have the setuid attribute added back, chdmod 4755, which will then return root.
Does seem odd Google allows the device to be unlocked, but yet unlocked devices get root access wiped. If they claim to want open source and open devices, perhaps they could script an exception for root access and not remove it with every OTA.
Normally, when Error status 7, or any other recovery error, we're in a custom recovery with adb access and can pull the log at /tmp/recovery.log or /cache/recovery.log and examine what caused the issue as more output is stored there than presented on the screen to the user.
Perhaps googling this recovery error code or grabbing the open source from AOSP will show generally what causes it.
Does seem odd the issues other users have had *automatically* cleared themselves after waiting a while.
First idea which comes to mind is perhaps the original OTA had a bug in the scripting and they were slowly replacing and pushing out the updated OTA.
Keep us updated! I'm on the samsung version of ics so I'll probably have to manually push over all the images...but good to keep up with the *official* route.

When trying to install my update, I get signature verification failed in recovery.
Any ideas?
EDIT: Flashed the recovery posted in the Image on Googles site.
Fixed the problem for me.

joeykrim said:
Keep us updated! I'm on the samsung version of ics so I'll probably have to manually push over all the images...but good to keep up with the *official* route.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not technically official, but a MUCH easier way to get the patch and keep all of your settings and root can be done using the slightly modified stock ROM from bigxie (link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1372376)
If you clear just the cache and dalvik, then flash this. You get the patch, SU, and busybox, without losing all of your settings or data.
Worked great for me. Hope that helps!

Android update!

Disclaimer: This worked on my phone. I am not responsible if your phone turns into an expensive brick.
I know this isn't quite the update everyone was waiting for I managed to pull the 2.3.6 OTA files. I also managed to figure out how to flash them. Turns out CWM 5 offers root adb access, everything we need to update and root this phone. Note I tried CWM 6 but it said "possible loss of root" so apparently CWM 6 likes to reside on an already rooted phone.
Note this is not the most elegant solution. The most elegant would be a signed update.zip. The second most elegant would be something flashable with CWM or Odin. Too bad I don't know how to do those. I do know how to do this.
The first thing to do is make sure you are on the AT&T stock firmware. It doesn't matter if you've already flashed something else. No need to wipe cache or factory reset or anything (although if you run into problems you should try to do that step). Download it from samfirmware.com. Flash it with Odin. This will put you on stock 2.3.5. Even if you were already on 2.3.6, or rooted, or on Rogers, this will work. After the flash, boot the phone normally, wait a minute or so, and shut it down.
Now for the fun part. AT&T will not push the OTA to a non AT&T customer. The flash will also not work with a modified phone (hence the reflash to stock). How to gain root access to manually flash the OTA? If we install root, it will not install. If we install CWM, we will not have the stock recovery which is required to process the OTA. So...
How about this? We install CWM 5. You can find it here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1458153
Then we adb into the phone, and push the OTA files, and then reflash the stock recovery over CWM, and then manually reboot into OTA mode. That sounds crazy... crazy enough to work.
After you've flashed CWM, reboot into it and make sure your phone is still connected to your computer. We won't actually be using CWM, just the root access it provides over adb. Unzip the two zip files below (why use external hosting, I can store zips up to 11 MB on here) into a folder and run fota.bat. Ooo and ahh over your Gingerbread.
But what about root? Well, I posted in another thread a complicated method for rooting 2.3.6 using the root access from CWM, but how about easy? Boot your phone into 2.3.6 and let it sit for a minute or so, and shut it down. Reboot into Odin mode, and reflash CWM over the stock recovery (again). Copy the Superuser zip from the folder you made earlier to your SD card. Flash this with CWM. This is the beta of Superuser 3.2, courtesy of Rom Manager. Download the stericson busybox app from the Market if you want busybox as well.
This was a fun way to kill a weekend

Throws a signature verification failed error.

Try again with the new method

Had a few mild scares. After flashing CWM on stock, it refused to boot into it but after 3 tries and my screen acting up upon boot, it finally booted into CWM. Launched the bat file and it went well. Upon booting up and entering the update process, it froze up at 74% and refused to continue. Rebooted the phone and it once again entered the update process and this time it managed to finish. Phone rebooted and after checking "About phone", my phone is on 2.3.6 stock. When you initially provided the OTA files and the sig check failed, I had a good feeling this would be the only other way to do it as I tried to sign it and it also failed. Thanks for taking the time to post all of this.

Why go to 2.3.6? It´s better than 2.3.5 customized?

Better question: we're getting ICS within the month, so why bother with 2.3.6 when you can just upgrade to 4.x.x when it comes down?
-Ara

AraDreamer said:
Better question: we're getting ICS within the month, so why bother with 2.3.6 when you can just upgrade to 4.x.x when it comes down?
-Ara
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because there are some people who will want to stick with 2.3.5/6 . He made this so that those who do, can update to 2.3.6 even when they aren't with AT&T, almost hassle free.

narume said:
Had a few mild scares. After flashing CWM on stock, it refused to boot into it but after 3 tries and my screen acting up upon boot, it finally booted into CWM. Launched the bat file and it went well. Upon booting up and entering the update process, it froze up at 74% and refused to continue. Rebooted the phone and it once again entered the update process and this time it managed to finish. Phone rebooted and after checking "About phone", my phone is on 2.3.6 stock. When you initially provided the OTA files and the sig check failed, I had a good feeling this would be the only other way to do it as I tried to sign it and it also failed. Thanks for taking the time to post all of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I was testing this, I saw that behavior if you didn't completely boot up the phone between steps (ie, flash stock firmware, boot phone, flash CWM, boot phone). I don't know what would cause it otherwise. Glad to see your phone made it.

narume said:
Because there are some people who will want to stick with 2.3.5/6 . He made this so that those who do, can update to 2.3.6 even when they aren't with AT&T, almost hassle free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I did it because I've owned this phone for exactly two weeks and discovered all the available ROMs are based on 2.3.5 even though 2.3.6 has been out since December. CWMR with root has been out since January, and since then nobody else has rooted 2.3.6 or found a way to flash it. And I thought, it couldn't be that hard? And even more amazed when I discovered CWMR comes with root out of the box, without even touching /system. The only other missing piece was the stock recovery, which also wasn't out in the wild. 3 birds for one stone
On a side note, if you want to do some cleaning after the OTA and you decide to root, you can delete /cache/fota and /data/fota safely.

Nardholio said:
Actually I did it because I've owned this phone for exactly two weeks and discovered all the available ROMs are based on 2.3.5 even though 2.3.6 has been out since December. CWMR with root has been out since January, and since then nobody else has rooted 2.3.6 or found a way to flash it. And I thought, it couldn't be that hard? And even more amazed when I discovered CWMR comes with root out of the box, without even touching /system. The only other missing piece was the stock recovery, which also wasn't out in the wild. 3 birds for one stone
On a side note, if you want to do some cleaning after the OTA and you decide to root, you can delete /cache/fota and /data/fota safely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I see. Well, still, being able to flash to 2.3.6 is nice because if anyone ever decides to stick with 2.3.6 they can easily flash the update now. Maybe more people like you will pop up and start pushing out more useful content like this for the Glide so it won't be a dead area of development anymore.

Help!! Sprint Galaxy S3 will not upgrade

Ok.. So I got my S3 (Sprint version) in November. After I upgraded to JB (Android v4.1.1) I rooted my device. Played aroubd with some ROM's, had the TWRP recovery installed. Everything worked fine, and the phone actually still works great. A couple of weeks ago it told me there was a system update available. I didn't know of it was safe to allow it to happen or not since I was rooted so I used TWRP recovery to flash a stock rom that would unroot my s3 and reset the flash counter to zero and make it all stock in one bang. So I did that, went and cleared the data in Google Services Framework so I could redownload the update, I restart to let the update install and it shows the android guy with the blue thing in his belly, but only goes about half way through the process and just stops, the android guy quickly dissapears and another pic of him pops up of him laying on his back with a red triangle over his belly, then the phone quickly reboots and goes back to my lockscreen.
As seen in the pic, I must be getting some of the upgrade as the baseband version shows MA6, but the build number still shows LJ7 and the Android Version still shows 4.1.1. Also I went to the camera and can take burst shots by holding dowb the camera button, which is a new feature.
But with things the way they are, I can continue to clear out the data from google services framework and still get notified of the 157mb update download. But every time I do it, it does the same thing as explained above. I have also tried to download the update in a .zip file and flash it in recovery mode. There it seems like it goes through the entire process but I still get the same result as seen in the pic. I also tried downloading the stock recovery and flashing that with Odin just in case. So basically I have a sprint galaxy s3, unrooted, 4.1.1 android software with a bit of 4.1.2 in there. Does anyone have an idea how to fix this?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Mike
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

I really hope someone helps with this, because oddly enough, I just had the exact same problem!
rmstorms said:
Ok.. So I got my S3 (Sprint version) in November. After I upgraded to JB (Android v4.1.1) I rooted my device. Played aroubd with some ROM's, had the TWRP recovery installed. Everything worked fine, and the phone actually still works great. A couple of weeks ago it told me there was a system update available. I didn't know of it was safe to allow it to happen or not since I was rooted so I used TWRP recovery to flash a stock rom that would unroot my s3 and reset the flash counter to zero and make it all stock in one bang. So I did that, went and cleared the data in Google Services Framework so I could redownload the update, I restart to let the update install and it shows the android guy with the blue thing in his belly, but only goes about half way through the process and just stops, the android guy quickly dissapears and another pic of him pops up of him laying on his back with a red triangle over his belly, then the phone quickly reboots and goes back to my lockscreen.
As seen in the pic, I must be getting some of the upgrade as the baseband version shows MA6, but the build number still shows LJ7 and the Android Version still shows 4.1.1. Also I went to the camera and can take burst shots by holding dowb the camera button, which is a new feature.
But with things the way they are, I can continue to clear out the data from google services framework and still get notified of the 157mb update download. But every time I do it, it does the same thing as explained above. I have also tried to download the update in a .zip file and flash it in recovery mode. There it seems like it goes through the entire process but I still get the same result as seen in the pic. I also tried downloading the stock recovery and flashing that with Odin just in case. So basically I have a sprint galaxy s3, unrooted, 4.1.1 android software with a bit of 4.1.2 in there. Does anyone have an idea how to fix this?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Mike
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I suggest you should go check out the Sprint Samsung s3 forum under the Android development section the check out for the stock rom, try using the 1 click Odin or check out in there the proper way to restore your device, then continue reading the forums to check out when or how is the proper way to apply that update it could be that its bugged or that your device lost some permissions so best way to solve it should be to restore it to its original state.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

rmstorms said:
Ok.. So I got my S3 (Sprint version) in November. After I upgraded to JB (Android v4.1.1) I rooted my device. Played aroubd with some ROM's, had the TWRP recovery installed. Everything worked fine, and the phone actually still works great. A couple of weeks ago it told me there was a system update available. I didn't know of it was safe to allow it to happen or not since I was rooted so I used TWRP recovery to flash a stock rom that would unroot my s3 and reset the flash counter to zero and make it all stock in one bang. So I did that, went and cleared the data in Google Services Framework so I could redownload the update, I restart to let the update install and it shows the android guy with the blue thing in his belly, but only goes about half way through the process and just stops, the android guy quickly dissapears and another pic of him pops up of him laying on his back with a red triangle over his belly, then the phone quickly reboots and goes back to my lockscreen.
As seen in the pic, I must be getting some of the upgrade as the baseband version shows MA6, but the build number still shows LJ7 and the Android Version still shows 4.1.1. Also I went to the camera and can take burst shots by holding dowb the camera button, which is a new feature.
But with things the way they are, I can continue to clear out the data from google services framework and still get notified of the 157mb update download. But every time I do it, it does the same thing as explained above. I have also tried to download the update in a .zip file and flash it in recovery mode. There it seems like it goes through the entire process but I still get the same result as seen in the pic. I also tried downloading the stock recovery and flashing that with Odin just in case. So basically I have a sprint galaxy s3, unrooted, 4.1.1 android software with a bit of 4.1.2 in there. Does anyone have an idea how to fix this?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Mike
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cant install an OTA update unless you have the official stock rom and the stock recovery because custom recoveries will install it and I believe im correct when I say that to flash an OTA update you have to odin to stock and then do the update.

There is absolutely no need to go back to stock to take the update. If you head over to freezas stock rooted thread, you can flash the updated firmware there and thats really all you need
Most roms have already updated their bases to MB1 (4.1.2), so I suggest you either wait till your rom is updated or flash an updated rom, you're not missing out on huge changes either way

Most custom touchwiz roms will allow updates, but you have to flash stick recovery 1st. The 157mb update is for mb1. You could just change your build prop to get the notification nag to go away
sent from my GS3 using XDA app

If you're on stock rooted with no apps removed, do what I did. Plug phone into odin, flash stock recovery, update, flash custom after update done, re root, done.
Sent From My Rooted, S-OFF'd Blackberry Curve using the iOS XDA Application for Android.

Just flash a updated rom issue should go away there is a flashable I can't seem to find right now that stops the nag. I think it is a build prop mod.

tazfanatic said:
Just flash a updated rom issue should go away there is a flashable I can't seem to find right now that stops the nag. I think it is a build prop mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, if you just wanna make it go away, go into your build.prop and change all instances of "LJ7" (or "MA6" ) to "MB1"

CNexus said:
There is absolutely no need to go back to stock to take the update. If you head over to freezas stock rooted thread, you can flash the updated firmware there and thats really all you need
Most roms have already updated their bases to MB1 (4.1.2), so I suggest you either wait till your rom is updated or flash an updated rom, you're not missing out on huge changes either way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's all I do. Once an update comes out I just head over to Freezas page and update my rom. Stock look and feel with the root in place.
Sent from my stock rooted Galaxy S3

Any update on this? I have the same issue.
Thanks

coderaja said:
Any update on this? I have the same issue.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's several ways to fix this issue posted on the other page. Use one of them.
D

How to update from stock root 4.1.1 to current?

I'm sure this has been addressed but I can't seem to find a definitive answer. I am bone stock (stock recovery and no custom rom) with just root on AT&T.
There are no missing deleted apps, as I replaced them previously but I still have never been able to do any of the OTA updates. It's starts and then fails.
Is there a way to unroot and the do an OTA update? I am trying to avoid Odin so I dont have to wipe everything and then have to start all over and adjust settings to my liking an also reinstall all of my apps.
I seen there is an option in the Super User app to "completely unroot and uninstall". Will choosing this option allow me to finally do OTA?
I've never installed a custom recovery or a custom rom so I don't know why OTA's always fail. At this point, I dont really care about having root since the only reason I previously wanted it was to remove at&t bloatware but I'd rather have OTA's at this point.
Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated! Please speak slowly and in layman's terms as I am an old fart that is still a bit of a n00b, lol.
Thanks!!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using XDA Free mobile app

n01un0 said:
I'm sure this has been addressed but I can't seem to find a definitive answer. I am bone stock (stock recovery and no custom rom) with just root on AT&T.
There are no missing deleted apps, as I replaced them previously but I still have never been able to do any of the OTA updates. It's starts and then fails.
Is there a way to unroot and the do an OTA update? I am trying to avoid Odin so I dont have to wipe everything and then have to start all over and adjust settings to my liking an also reinstall all of my apps.
I seen there is an option in the Super User app to "completely unroot and uninstall". Will choosing this option allow me to finally do OTA?
I've never installed a custom recovery or a custom rom so I don't know why OTA's always fail. At this point, I dont really care about having root since the only reason I previously wanted it was to remove at&t bloatware but I'd rather have OTA's at this point.
Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated! Please speak slowly and in layman's terms as I am an old fart that is still a bit of a n00b, lol.
Thanks!!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on stock and have a valid AT&T SIM card in the device with full access to Wi-Fi and the AT&T network, you should be able to get an OTA update. Root could, however, indeed prevent an OTA update so your best bet may be to unroot. You could unroot and uninstall SuperSU from the SuperSU app just as you suggested. This should do it. However, if it doesn't and you would really want to avoid Odin and custom recovery, then you could do a 2-step manual update to 4.3 via stock recovery - first to 4.1.2 and then to 4.3. This will naturally update your phone to (full) stock 4.3 and we can then see if the phone will take the Kit-Kat OTA update from there.
You can see the instructions for the 2-step update via stock recovery in the thread below ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2387423
1) Download the 2 zip files under update412.zip and update43.zip respectively to your computer
2) Copy the zip files to a good quality (micro) SD card
3) Place the card in your phone and boot to recovery mode by simultaneously holding down the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons
4) Hold the buttons until you see a blue message flash across the screen. Then release the Power button but continue to hold the Volume Up and Home button until you see the Android image appear. Then release the buttons
5) Use the volume up/down key to scroll to <mount from external storage> and the power button to select
6) Navigate to the first zip file (update412.zip) and install. Wait for installation to finish and your phone to reboot.
7) Complete set up. Check your phone settings. Then power off and reboot to recovery again.
8) Repeat the process for the second update file.

Well I tried the unroot feature in SuperSU and then uninstalled it.
I then tried the OTA update again and as usual, it failed about 30-40% in.
Ive never installed a custom recovery or a ROM so I don't get it. All I did was use Mr.Robinsons thread/directions on "how to root without tripping...." just for root only in the sticky.
I give up.:banghead:
Thank you though for responding. I may try the alternative way you suggested when I get time tomorrow and see what happens. Either that or screw it, im stuck with 4.1.1 and now I don't even have root. :banghead:
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using XDA Free mobile app

n01un0 said:
Well I tried the unroot feature in SuperSU and then uninstalled it.
I then tried the OTA update again and as usual, it failed about 30-40% in.
Ive never installed a custom recovery or a ROM so I don't get it. All I did was use Mr.Robinsons thread/directions on "how to root without tripping...." just for root only in the sticky.
I give up.:banghead:
Thank you though for responding. I may try the alternative way you suggested when I get time tomorrow and see what happens. Either that or screw it, im stuck with 4.1.1 and now I don't even have root. :banghead:
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using XDA Free mobile app
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There have been several reports of failed OTA update so you may not be alone here. The process I advised is sure to take you to 4.3 JB without hassle. There is, of course, a manual update process from 4.3JB to 4.4.2 Kit-Kat (the latest OS). You will, however, require custom recovery for this ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2788357

Larry2999 said:
There have been several reports of failed OTA update so you may not be alone here. The process I advised is sure to take you to 4.3 JB without hassle. There is, of course, a manual update process from 4.3JB to 4.4.2 Kit-Kat (the latest OS). You will, however, require custom recovery for this ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2788357
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Well I finally was able to update via OTA. I had to actually use Kies and reinstall firmware and then go through all the updates, starting from scratch and took forever. What an absolute pain in the ass. Plus, after all this work to go from 4.1 to 4.4..........I can't see where it was worth it. I am now going through the tedious task of setting up all the settings and widgets and everything else the way it was or the way I like. So much for Kies actually backing up and "restoring" anything.
I have a couple of questions though....
1. Now that I am on 4.4..........how do I root this version (that works). I was reading the thread saying to use towelroot but it's not confirmed if this is still working after I guess you do the OTA after a certain date and it's now patched. I DO NOT want to install custom roms or anything else. All I want is root so that I can remove the AT&T crapware that is now even worse with this phone on 4.4.
2. I have a battery percentage that is in the LEFT upper corner that I can not figure out what program or app it is associated with and I can not get rid of it. This is not the % indicator that is part of Android and next to the battery icon on the right which is on and is okay, this is one the left.
3. I hate the new PIN lockscreen because the keypad/numbers are so small compared to old version. Any way to fix this?

n01un0 said:
Well I finally was able to update via OTA. I had to actually use Kies and reinstall firmware and then go through all the updates, starting from scratch and took forever. What an absolute pain in the ass. Plus, after all this work to go from 4.1 to 4.4..........I can't see where it was worth it. I am now going through the tedious task of setting up all the settings and widgets and everything else the way it was or the way I like. So much for Kies actually backing up and "restoring" anything.
I have a couple of questions though....
1. Now that I am on 4.4..........how do I root this version (that works). I was reading the thread saying to use towelroot but it's not confirmed if this is still working after I guess you do the OTA after a certain date and it's now patched. I DO NOT want to install custom roms or anything else. All I want is root so that I can remove the AT&T crapware that is now even worse with this phone on 4.4.
2. I have a battery percentage that is in the LEFT upper corner that I can not figure out what program or app it is associated with and I can not get rid of it. This is not the % indicator that is part of Android and next to the battery icon on the right which is on and is okay, this is one the left.
3. I hate the new PIN lockscreen because the keypad/numbers are so small compared to old version. Any way to fix this?
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Glad to know you were finally able to update. To try to answer your questions ....
1. Towelroot indeed comes well recommended for rooting on Kit Kat. You could, however, first try CF Auto Root which is one of the simplest approaches to rooting. If this doesn't work, you could try Option 2 in the thread below ... The thread also contains instructions to CF Auto Root.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2538991
2. I'm not sure what that battery indicator is. I run 4.4.2 also on my S3 but I cant see this. Can you try a reset to see if it would go away?
3. You can try removing this from settings.

Im glad you asked this...
I too noticed Im on 4.1.1 stock but rooted. I wondered if you could go to 4.4.2 as my phone tried to OTA update on its own last week and failed. I did not know if it was worth it to try or not another way. About the only thing I see that would want me to try is Google Wallet now working with S3 on 4.4.2 without having to jump through all kinds of hoops, mine used to work fine, but now GW will not open up all the way. Im not sure its worth doing if I have to re setup all my crap as I will be upgrading my phone whenever I want, just holding out to see if the Nexus 6 will be out end of the year and on AT&T..Im not liking that all the new phones are getting so freakin big, the S3 is just right and I dont want to have to end up with a damn Note sized phone but that is a whole other discussion

If you're still on 4.1.1, BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, UNLOCK YOUR PHONE IF HASN'T ALREADY
otherwise you'll regret it
then the rest, tbh, you don't need to unroot at all to upgrade, just flash the firmware in ODIN or recovery..
edit: nvm it seems like you've already upgrade yours to KitKat