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What is a the Odin/Flash counter?
Many users call this by three different names, Odin counter, Flash counter, or the Download Counter ( Most Common). This counter appears when the device is in download mode. When you use Odin, or anything else to flash a non Samsung Kernel to the device, this counter will change from "NO" to a number, depending on how many times you flash a kernel using this method will depend on what your counter says.
Why should I care about this?
Normally you wouldn't have to care, however If you have to return your device to Samsung or the carrier. Their technicians are now trained to check this download counter and if it says ANYTHING but "NO" your warranty will be voided, they will either return the device unfixed to you or send you an invoice for the repairs.
My device is fine, is there any advantage to clearing the download counter?
If you have a custom recovery flashed, and are confident you will not be using download mode to flash a non Samsung kernel, I say YES. In the event your device becomes damaged and you are unable to flash it. You will have the confidence of sending it back knowing that the Counter reports "NO" so there is less of a chance that the device will be rejected for repair under warranty.
Is this dangerous?
In a perfect world things never go wrong, but our world is not perfect clearly. You are flashing a boot-loader, specifically the SBL1 (secondary boot-loader #1). You should not ever have an issue flashing this. But In the event your battery dies while flashing this or the zip file becomes corrupt. YOU WILL BRICK. This is not designed to let you reset your counter 100 times, each time you reset the counter, you play with fire. Too many times, and you get burnt. CHECK THE MD5sum! Don't be a fool.
How do i check my counter?
Power your device off, hold Vol Down and turn the device on, keep holding the Vol button until you see download mode appear. Press Vol Up to bypass the warning and your "Custom binary" counter will be the second line, it should say "NO" if you are clean and warranty intact, it will contain a number if not.
Ahhhhhhhh... I get it, so what's this flashable zip do again?
It resets your counter from a numbered value to "NO"
Get the Flash Counter Reset CWM Flashable Zip
Fear not, they have been tested.
Telus T989D
HERE
md5: 7230923eedcdb8268d6d951089eebc7c flash_counter_reset_Telus_SGH-T989D.zi
Tmo T989
HERE
md5: 3e117d2c5b290fb3f5d6f4ca01ac2691 flash_counter_reset_Tmo_SGH-T989.zip
-Mr. X- said:
Just dumped my untainted SBL1 and then triggered my flash counter. I have successfully reset it by flashing my SBL1 dump back to my device.
I can make one for the Tmobile SGH-T989 if some one cares to dump an untainted sbl1
Get the Flash Counter Reset CWM Flashable Zip
HERE
MD5 12978ff91f3682bdbad66a08e4295529 flash_counter_reset_Telsu_SGH-T989D.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome back.thanks,a TMobile version would be great.
FROM A GALAXY BETTER THAN YOURS.
I assume i need some one who has not triggered their counter to dump the t989 sbl1 for me.
Id like to do a binary compare of a triggered and un triggered one as well. I cant trip mine again because im expecting a conf call with the boss shortly.
any one who wanst to dump their sbl1 off the tmo t989 do
adb shell
su
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 of=/sdcard/sbl1.mbn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then attach the sbl1.mbn for me. also don't forget to tell me if your counter is tripped and how many times it has been tripped.
Ill check but i thijk i might have a counter of one.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
monkeypaws said:
Ill check but i thijk i might have a counter of one.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll take the dump any way and make you a flashable zip, you can flash it back and see if it still achieves a reset.
Did a compare of my untainted sbl1 to a tainted one. the counter is at the very tail end of the sbl. i may even be able to just reset yours in your sbl dump IF no one here has a tmobile T989 with an untainted counter.
X,
Just a quick question. The .zip in the OP can either be flashed through Clock Work Mod Recovery or Odin, Correct?
Thanks
Just CWM, its not an odin tar.
Can't someone reset it with a jig and then dump it clean?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
bbobarino said:
Can't someone reset it with a jig and then dump it clean?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
resetting with a jig has been disabled by samsung since the sgs international GB updates.
How to dump? I do have an untouched dl mode.
Sent from the Darkside of the Force.
I have the sbl1 file posted in this post on the other thread for the Tmobile T989:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24360211&postcount=6
Made a flashable zip and posted it in the first post. now all we need is a tmo user to flash and make sure it resets their counter as my tests have concluded for my telus device.
-Mr. X- said:
Made a flashable zip and posted it in the first post. now all we need is a tmo user to flash and make sure it resets their counter as my tests have concluded for my telus device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm that your zip is working fine. My counter went from 2 to NO. Thank you very much for this.
You're welcome. i had thought about this a while back and just never got around to testing it until a user posted a thread about a user making them for the skyrocket kids.
You could also brick your device flashing junk to the sbl1 block, but that would be unethical for warranty purposes wouldn't it
Thanks for this? Quick question is the only benefit to this for insurance purposes or would this benefit the device by cleaning partitions or the counter and such? Sorry if noobish question lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
The counter is only for warranty purposes. so unless you have to send it back, clearing the counter serves no purpose unless you have OCD like me.
Noob question. How do I check my counter
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium
dachinaman said:
Noob question. How do I check my counter
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get your phone into Odin Mode. Power it off, remove battery, place battery again, pres Volume up+down and press the power button. keep Vol Up +down pressed until you are in Download mode
solracarevir said:
Get your phone into Odin Mode. Power it off, remove battery, place battery again, pres Volume up+down and press the power button. keep Vol Up +down pressed until you are in Download mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you left out that he needs to be connected to the computer. easiest way is to hold the vol buttons and connect the micro usb cable to your phone..should be connected to your computer
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
dachinaman said:
Noob question. How do I check my counter
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you've followed the above instructions to get into download mode, you'll see 2 lines that say whether you have a custom binary installed and your current binary. If it says "NO" to custom binary and "Samsung" to current binary installed, your counter is 0. Otherwise it will show the number your counter is at.
I just grabbed a tmobile galaxy S2 yesterday, and have read through the root via odin thread.. along with the whole flash counter increase because of using odin.
Now on the galaxy note, I was able to bypass using odin (no counter increase), and flashed the recovery.img directly with adb - using "dd if" command to push directly to the recovery partition ...
This leaves me with 2 questions for the devs on this forum.
Anyone know the recovery partition location on this device? dev/block/mm.....?
Any reason someone thinks this isn't feasible?
Thanks for any input.
Sent from my phone using xda premium app
BlownFuze said:
I just grabbed a tmobile galaxy S2 yesterday, and have read through the root via odin thread.. along with the whole flash counter increase because of using odin.
Now on the galaxy note, I was able to bypass using odin (no counter increase), and flashed the recovery.img directly with adb - using "dd if" command to push directly to the recovery partition ...
This leaves me with 2 questions for the devs on this forum.
Anyone know the recovery partition location on this device? dev/block/mm.....?
Any reason someone thinks this isn't feasible?
Thanks for any input.
Sent from my phone using xda premium app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used Odin to flash cwmr to my phone and my counter is still at 0. There is also a flashable zip available to reset the counter. I will find the link
Edit poster under me was faster
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
BlownFuze said:
I just grabbed a tmobile galaxy S2 yesterday, and have read through the root via odin thread.. along with the whole flash counter increase because of using odin.
Now on the galaxy note, I was able to bypass using odin (no counter increase), and flashed the recovery.img directly with adb - using "dd if" command to push directly to the recovery partition ...
This leaves me with 2 questions for the devs on this forum.
Anyone know the recovery partition location on this device? dev/block/mm.....?
Any reason someone thinks this isn't feasible?
Thanks for any input.
Sent from my phone using xda premium app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hot off the press, developed today:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1578184
Also, rooting via odin doesn't trip your counter. Only trips your counter if you flash a kernel through odin. I rooted through odin and counter is still at 0.
Awesome. Thanks for the info.
Sent from my phone using xda premium app
yoft1 said:
Hot off the press, developed today:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1578184
Also, rooting via odin doesn't trip your counter. Only trips your counter if you flash a kernel through odin. I rooted through odin and counter is still at 0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can I check where my counter is @? And what does it all mean?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using XDA
deathknellx said:
How can I check where my counter is @? And what does it all mean?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll have to go into download mode (the first thing you did to root):
1) Pull battery, put battery back in
2) hold vol +/- while plugging your phone into your computer and continue holding until download warning pops up
3) press vol + to enter download mode
There will be two lines to the effect of "Custom Binary Download" and "Current Binary". If they say "NO" and "Samsung Official", respectively, then your counter is at 0. Otherwise it will say "YES" and some counter of what number you're at.
What it means is how many times you have flashed a kernel through odin (NOT CWM; flashing through CWM does not trip any counter). The "big deal" is that this could theoretically be used against you for warranty purposes. If your counter is not at 0 and you send it in for warranty and Samsung checks it (rather unlikely, but possible), they will see that you rooted your phone and can choose to not honor the warranty. But thanks to Mr. X, we now have a flashable zip in CWM that will reset your counter to 0.
have we figured out a way to wipe the flash couter on our phone? or should we be able to ask anyone else that runs the tegra processor?? cause i kno alot of pplz on sprint that will be glad to help
there is a flash counter on the glide?
SOB!
well wheni rooted last night i seen it said (0) so i havent checked to see if it acutally counts or not. guess i should and see if we can figure out a way to rig it to not count if it is working
After flashing with ODIN just now I now have a yellow triangle every time I boot up.
I think it has a flash counter.
Before using ODIN just now I flashed using CWM recovery quite a few times. It looks like that method was not incrementing the flash counter.
Yea I didn't do anything till we had a CWM so I didn't get a triangle or anything... just didn't kno if we had one or not rly
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927 using XDA
No flash counter on my Developer Edition i927, but there definitely is one on the non-developer edition. used the ODIN method for both and there was a count(0) that incremented to (1) on the non-dev handset.
Lookin4Trouble said:
No flash counter on my Developer Edition i927, but there definitely is one on the non-developer edition. used the ODIN method for both and there was a count(0) that incremented to (1) on the non-dev handset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Developer edition? What is this? Did you get something from Samsung directly for Developing your apps?
Hello all,
I have a friend that is wanting to uninstall the T-Mobile pre installed CRAPPS. Since the only way to do so is by rooting, he has questioned if rooting his GS2 will void his mfg warranty. Since I Sid not know and do not own a galaxy I figured I would ask here. Thanks in advanced.
-T
Sent from H1S using xda Prem
Yes it does but if your friend messes up his phone and needs to send it to tmobile I recommend to flash stock on it via Odin and then send it in.
pyrocide said:
Hello all,
I have a friend that is wanting to uninstall the T-Mobile pre installed CRAPPS. Since the only way to do so is by rooting, he has questioned if rooting his GS2 will void his mfg warranty. Since I Sid not know and do not own a galaxy I figured I would ask here. Thanks in advanced.
-T
Sent from H1S using xda Prem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically it does, and if Samsung finds out that you did root it, they have the right to not honor the warranty. However, it's relatively easy to keep them from finding out that you rooted it. The basic outline of how to do it is this:
1) Flash this in CWM.
2) Flash stock kernel in CWM.
3) Flash stock ROM in Odin.
The order is important as you should only flash ROMs (and not kernels) through Odin otherwise you will trip a flash counter that Samsung can see. The first link resets the counter if you have already flashed a kernel through Odin.
Rooting will void your warranty; however, as the previous poster said, you can "unroot" and tmobile/samsung wouldn't find out in case you need a warranty repair/replacement.
yoft1 said:
Technically it does, and if Samsung finds out that you did root it, they have the right to not honor the warranty. However, it's relatively easy to keep them from finding out that you rooted it. The basic outline of how to do it is this:
1) Flash this in CWM.
2) Flash stock kernel in CWM.
3) Flash stock ROM in Odin.
The order is important as you should only flash ROMs (and not kernels) through Odin otherwise you will trip a flash counter that Samsung can see. The first link resets the counter if you have already flashed a kernel through Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was curious about the flash counter because I see that there is a flashable zip to reset it but I've flashed everything I can think of to this phone at least once and never made it say anything but no lol so thanks for the clarification :thumbup:
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
yoft1 said:
Technically it does, and if Samsung finds out that you did root it, they have the right to not honor the warranty. However, it's relatively easy to keep them from finding out that you rooted it. The basic outline of how to do it is this:
1) Flash this in CWM.
2) Flash stock kernel in CWM.
3) Flash stock ROM in Odin.
The order is important as you should only flash ROMs (and not kernels) through Odin otherwise you will trip a flash counter that Samsung can see. The first link resets the counter if you have already flashed a kernel through Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock file you flash in Odin includes the kernel either way. I've never had it trip the flash counter.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Towle said:
The stock file you flash in Odin includes the kernel either way. I've never had it trip the flash counter.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as it's the stock official kernel it will not trip the counter
Hello, I just received my Galaxy S3, I came from the S2. I'm seeing multiple ways to root/new recovery this device, From your general experience with this device what is the safest way? I do not want to trip the flash counter. Thanks!
-John
Probably easiest way to do this is to Odin a stock image with root already injected.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426
The link above will provide this. As always be sure to read and understand before going ahead, it is important to download the proper image for your model and carrier. After a successful flash, you may encounter a Bootloop . If this happens boot into recovery and do a factory reset, reboot and enjoy your newly rooted phone.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Thanks!
Also keep in mind, especially with stock Jellybean, that installing and booting into any custom recovery, like CWM or TWRP, will trip the flash counter.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
ghangunt additional
Just get triangle away app if you trip the counter. works great
there's a thread in android development about rooting
but tbh though, S3 is one of the easiest device to root since we don't need to unlock bootloader, etc...and rooting s3 is fast too