OK so I rooted using the toolkit because I wasn't aware of the flash counter issue. I was able to reset the counter using the counter fewer app but I was wondering if I flash stock unrooted build and then reroot using the flash tripping free method will I then be free of the flash counter or can this not be undone at this point?
I think the app triangle away will reset you back to 0 if you do like you say. But in not 100% as I haven't tried it. You should even be able to just flash a stock Rom root with toolbox then flash stock boot and recovery. Then reset the counter and remove su. Again I'm not 100%. Also if it's not your carriers official Rom it will still say modified in the download menu.
I suppose the counter is only an issue should I need a warranty claim on it?
speaking of which, is there a thread on how to revert the phone back to FULL stock? base radio with su removed, and flash counter reset
Cobra281 said:
speaking of which, is there a thread on how to revert the phone back to FULL stock? base radio with su removed, and flash counter reset
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Triangle Away works for this model now. And you can download stock Roms and Push it to the phone using odin.
mianghuei said:
Triangle Away works for this model now. And you can download stock Roms and Push it to the phone using odin.
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http://galaxys3root.com/galaxy-s3-unroot/how-to-unroot-t-mobile-galaxy-s3-sgh-t999/
A quick google search would've came up with that.
Hey guys, I know there are a few stock images floating around that can bring you back to stock, but I wanted to put down the steps I used to get back to stock with 0 flash counter.
Just in case you need to return it for warranty work and you've flashed or rooted. This is kind of a beginner's guide to going back to stock untouched.
--Doing this is your own responsibility and I offer nothing but what is in this post.
1. Use Odin to flash the stock rom. Found here -teshxx
2. Now use Chainfire's root without different recovery. Found here -Chainfire
3. Now install triangle away via the play store or apk found at Chainfire's thread and use it. Here -Chainfire
4. Finally Odin again with the stock rom found at step 1.
The idea is that booting with a non stock recovery will trip the flash counter. Also, running a rooted rom will register "Modified" with tmobile touchwiz.
This way you can reset the flash counter and it won't be tripped by a non-stock recovery. Then remove the "Modified" device flag by going back to stock.
I know the faster way to do this would be to catch the reboot after triangle away, but if you can do that, I assume you already are pretty proficient at going back for warranty work.
Also, if and when a stock root injected odin rom becomes available, this tutorial will be pointless.
In my days with the s3, even after using odin to go back to fully stock like in step 4, sometimes it woukd still show modified until I ran a factory reset.
so far from what i read and comprehend so far is if i were to root my note (via http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1955423) and install a rom ( either one of the recently updated myroms) my warranty is void
however, if i were to download an app (triangle way i think?) it would reset a counter to 0 and then i could just flash a stock rom so that tmobile wont know the difference in case i need to use my warranty ?
anything else i should know before i root? i want to be absolutely sure. thanks for everything xda!
As long as you are able to put the phone back to stock, flash counter back to zero, you'll be fine on warranty issues.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
|OP|, what you wanna do is flash a root66 odin (check dev section) and then run triangle away. Once the counter is reset, fire up the rom and open SuperSU and click the unroot option. Now you are in the clear.
Hi everyone,
I have a Bell GS3 that I'm going to be selling to pay for a GS4 upgrade. I have it rooted and running Liquidsmooth, I'd like to restore it so it's like it came from factory. I have the I747MVLDLK4_I747MOYCDLK4_BMC file along with the Odin flashing program. I know there's something about tripping a flash counter, is there a way to check if it's been activated and if so reset it? I have an extended warranty on the phone so if the person does need a repair will not have to deal with certain problems.
I'd appreciate any help.
Your flash counter most likely has been tripped. I'm pretty sure the only way not to trip it is to use the root injected odin files. As soon as you install custom recovery and boot into the recovery the counter will be tripped though.
Here is how I have done the process.
Factory reset device.
Install triangle away to reset the counter
boot into download mode to flash stock firmware with odin.
If coming from a cm based Rom I find it best to restore/flash a touchwiz Rom first then factory reset, triangle away, Odin.
Hope that helps
Sent from my SGH-I747
Thanks for the reply. I may be misreading what you posted, are you saying that once it's been tripped there's no way to actually go back completely?
I'll do the steps like you suggested. Thank you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzydHUG7XZE
EGM92 said:
Thanks for the reply. I may be misreading what you posted, are you saying that once it's been tripped there's no way to actually go back completely?
I'll do the steps like you suggested. Thank you.
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If you use triangle away before you flash stock it will be the same as it was before you rooted = 0 counter. You can root with the root injected stock images and keep the counter intact. Once you install a custom recovery it will trip your counter.
It doesn't matter to someone who flashes roms if the counter is tripped until you need to sell or return for warranty. Triangle away before flashing stock will reset the counter and give you stock with a clean counter and ready to sell/return for service.
Sent from my SGH-I747
Thanks for the help guys, really appreciate it.
Do you need to use triangle away when you first root your phone? Or can you just use it when you need to return the phone back to stock? I want to root and if I need to return my phone for warranty I want to be able to put the phone back to stock with 0 flash counter.
later not needed right away
hold on but.....
dpshptl said:
Do you need to use triangle away when you first root your phone? Or can you just use it when you need to return the phone back to stock? I want to root and if I need to return my phone for warranty I want to be able to put the phone back to stock with 0 flash counter.
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U can just hold on on if u need to return it for service, u don't have to use it rite now since u most likely will be flashing roms and u will be triggering ur counter everytime u flash or root ur device.
ONE THING TO KNOW ABOUT TRIANGLE AWAY, IS THAT AS FAR AS I KNOW ( I DON'T KNOW ANYONE THAT HAS TRIANGLE AWAY WORKING AFTER THE 1ST JB UPDATE ) TRIANGLE AWAY WON'T WORK ON OUR DEVICES PAST JB, SO IF U NEED TO RESET YOU COUNTER U NEED TO ODIN BACK TO ICS STOCK ROOTED AND THEN USE TRIANGLE AWAY.
sorry about the caps, just tryin to make my point clear, if anyone has triangle away working on JB please feel free to post about it.:laugh:
Mr_Jay_jay said:
U can just hold on on if u need to return it for service, u don't have to use it rite now since u most likely will be flashing roms and u will be triggering ur counter everytime u flash or root ur device.
ONE THING TO KNOW ABOUT TRIANGLE AWAY, IS THAT AS FAR AS I KNOW ( I DON'T KNOW ANYONE THAT HAS TRIANGLE AWAY WORKING AFTER THE 1ST JB UPDATE ) TRIANGLE AWAY WON'T WORK ON OUR DEVICES PAST JB, SO IF U NEED TO RESET YOU COUNTER U NEED TO ODIN BACK TO ICS STOCK ROOTED AND THEN USE TRIANGLE AWAY.
sorry about the caps, just tryin to make my point clear, if anyone has triangle away working on JB please feel free to post about it.:laugh:
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This is not even close to the truth.
Aerowinder said:
This is not even close to the truth.
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and u say this because? I mean I'm just talking on my experience with triangle away and JB It didn't work, I would use it and it would reset but once I restarted the counter would go back to "1" and honestly I'm not the only one, so please if u know the rite answer please explain, just calling me a liar is not helping anyone at all.
Mr_Jay_jay said:
and u say this because? I mean I'm just talking on my experience with triangle away and JB It didn't work, I would use it and it would reset but once I restarted the counter would go back to "1" and honestly I'm not the only one, so please if u know the rite answer please explain, just calling me a liar is not helping anyone at all.
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I'm not calling you a liar. I simply stated that your post was not factually accurate. TriangleAway does indeed work as intended on even the new MD5.
Using a custom recovery will cause your flash counter to trip on newer JB builds. This may be what you meant, but the issue is not related to TA. It's a bootloader "feature". You can witness this yourself by resetting the flash counter, then rebooting into download mode. Count will be 0.
Aerowinder said:
I'm not calling you a liar. I simply stated that your post was not factually accurate. TriangleAway does indeed work as intended on even the new MD5.
Using a custom recovery will cause your flash counter to trip on newer JB builds. This may be what you meant, but the issue is not related to TA. It's a bootloader "feature". You can witness this yourself by resetting the flash counter, then rebooting into download mode. Count will be 0.
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So what u're saying is that my custom recovery is to blamed? I can say that statement is partially true. Wait.. u think I havent tried to reset my counter while on JB before?? I'm telling it didn't work why don't you go head and try to reset your counter and show that it did work.
check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxpL46-Zd0A&feature=youtu.be
Mr_Jay_jay said:
So what u're saying is that my custom recovery is to blamed? I can say that statement is partially true. Wait.. u think I havent tried to reset my counter while on JB before?? I'm telling it didn't work why don't you go head and try to reset your counter and show that it did work.
check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxpL46-Zd0A&feature=youtu.be
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Click to collapse
He's correct. Having a custom recovery will always trip the flash counter to 1 after every subsequent reboot. If you use Ta and reboot, you'll see 0. But the next time you reboot and don't use Ta you will see 1. It doesn't matter what ROM you run or how you've rooted in the end, the custom binary (TWRP / CWM) will Always trip the counter.
That being said if you don't want to continously trip the counter you're going to need to go back to stock recovery.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
TheLastSidekick said:
He's correct. Having a custom recovery will always trip the flash counter to 1 after every subsequent reboot. If you use Ta and reboot, you'll see 0. But the next time you reboot and don't use Ta you will see 1. It doesn't matter what ROM you run or how you've rooted in the end, the custom binary (TWRP / CWM) will Always trip the counter.
That being said if you don't want to continously trip the counter you're going to need to go back to stock recovery.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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I do Agree with his statment, however while I was on any ICS rom even with custom recovery, TA would work even after a reboot, so my counter would stay at "0" it wasnt after I upgraded to JB when the TA would reset after reboot. I will upload a video of doing TA on ICS and everything just to prove I'm not just arguing just because. but it will have to wait til l8er tonite.
Mr_Jay_jay said:
I do Agree with his statment, however while I was on any ICS rom even with custom recovery, TA would work even after a reboot, so my counter would stay at "0" it wasnt after I upgraded to JB when the TA would reset after reboot. I will upload a video of doing TA on ICS and everything just to prove I'm not just arguing just because. but it will have to wait til l8er tonite.
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There is no need for a video. I understand what you are saying, and I'm telling you, it's because of the bootloader. Not TriangleAway.
I am on 4.1.1 and TA 2.90 works FINE, the Counter shows "0" after a bunch of reboots, and "Allow tracker to run" is checked...
The ONLY time the counter trips is when/if I boot into the recovery or downloader modes.
I guess some structure of the setup makes a difference. I am using Root66 SGHT999 Build JR003L.T999UVDLJA with a T999UVDMD5 Baseband
bobolinko said:
I am on 4.1.1 and TA 2.90 works FINE, the Counter shows "0" after a bunch of reboots, and "Allow tracker to run" is checked...
The ONLY time the counter trips is when/if I boot into the recovery or downloader modes.
I guess some structure of the setup makes a difference. I am using Root66 SGHT999 Build JR003L.T999UVDLJA with a T999UVDMD5 Baseband
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kool. maybe that's a good workaround. thanks. but in my case still won't work.. but then again i'm 4.1.2. thanks!
Mr_Jay_jay said:
U can just hold on on if u need to return it for service, u don't have to use it rite now since u most likely will be flashing roms and u will be triggering ur counter everytime u flash or root ur device.
ONE THING TO KNOW ABOUT TRIANGLE AWAY, IS THAT AS FAR AS I KNOW ( I DON'T KNOW ANYONE THAT HAS TRIANGLE AWAY WORKING AFTER THE 1ST JB UPDATE ) TRIANGLE AWAY WON'T WORK ON OUR DEVICES PAST JB, SO IF U NEED TO RESET YOU COUNTER U NEED TO ODIN BACK TO ICS STOCK ROOTED AND THEN USE TRIANGLE AWAY.
sorry about the caps, just tryin to make my point clear, if anyone has triangle away working on JB please feel free to post about it.:laugh:
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Click to collapse
You can avoid using Odin and flash old firmware (excluding system / kernel) directly via heimdall or dd (which can be nicely bundled into an update.zip), avoiding the whole mess of needing Odin/Windows and having to backup+restore your system.
I think I'll make an update.zip just to flash the oldest firmware onto our phones -- I just made one that flashes the latest UVDMD5 firmware. The ROM shouldn't make a difference as far as trying to clear the flash counter really, it's the firmware that would be blocking that.
Also, flashing ROMs through CWM Recovery (and probably other custom ones) avoids tripping the flash counter. If you can root your ROM and dd the recovery directly to your eMMC, it avoids tripping the flash counter. Then you can use CWM Recovery to flash things without tripping the counter as well.
Remember, these are just computers with Linux + kernel modifications + custom Java VM running on them, essentially. It's good to become comfortable with UNIX commands like dd.
mnasledov said:
Also, flashing ROMs through CWM Recovery (and probably other custom ones) avoids tripping the flash counter. If you can root your ROM and dd the recovery directly to your eMMC, it avoids tripping the flash counter. Then you can use CWM Recovery to flash things without tripping the counter as well.
Remember, these are just computers with Linux + kernel modifications + custom Java VM running on them, essentially. It's good to become comfortable with UNIX commands like dd.
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I think you might be a tad off on this ......
just booting into recovery when you use anything other than a stock recovery will trip the flash counter. the ONLY way that counter won't trip is when you use a stock recovery. At least that's been the case with all of the doings on my rooted gs3 and Note 10.1
bobolinko said:
I think you might be a tad off on this ......
just booting into recovery when you use anything other than a stock recovery will trip the flash counter. the ONLY way that counter won't trip is when you use a stock recovery. At least that's been the case with all of the doings on my rooted gs3 and Note 10.1
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Really? I mean I'm no authority on this, so I could be wrong but I based this off my findings last night. I was in Download mode quite a few times and got to see my Flash Counter which was at 3. I've gone into recovery dozens if not hundreds of times by now on this device as well as flashed dozens and dozens of things ...
Even if it was just an 8-bit counter that overflowed, I'd need to have flashed over 256 things which I don't think I've reached yet and it would be totally silly if Samsung made the counter so easy to defeat that an 8-bit numeric overflow would bring it back to 0.
Can anyone else chime/weigh in? I'm curious now. I heard that using dd is supposed to avoid the flash counter. As a software engineer, I'd think there has to be some hook to trip that counter and that hook would belong to whatever firmware is on the phone for flashing (i.e. the stock recovery) and that if any other software gains control of the phone, all bets are off.
bobolinko said:
I think you might be a tad off on this ......
just booting into recovery when you use anything other than a stock recovery will trip the flash counter. the ONLY way that counter won't trip is when you use a stock recovery. At least that's been the case with all of the doings on my rooted gs3 and Note 10.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know who told you all of that or where you read it but you are wrong.
The only things that trip the flash counter is when you flash a custom rom or a custom kernel.
Simply booting into stock or custom recovery will not trip the flash counter at all.
Think about it, that's why it's called a FLASH counter, it counts the number of rom and kernel flashes. LOL
Misterjunky said:
I don't know who told you all of that or where you read it but you are wrong.
The only things that trip the flash counter is when you flash a custom rom or a custom kernel.
Simply booting into stock or custom recovery will not trip the flash counter at all.
Think about it, that's why it's called a FLASH counter, it counts the number of rom and kernel flashes. LOL
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It trips whenever I boot into TWRP though. Maybe some phones are different?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
re: unlocked?
TheLastSidekick said:
It trips whenever I boot into TWRP though. Maybe some phones are different?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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Perhaps since I have an unlocked phone it might make a difference?
I have a Galaxy S3 AT&T I747 Unlocked phone and am using it with Tmobile service.
That makes sense actually lol as it says I have an SGH-T999 and mine isn't unlocked. Probably the model of the phone acts slightly differently with Ta and recoveries.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
In my case My counter won't move from "1" no matter what I do, Restart to download or Recovery ( TWRP), or flash a new rom which I do alot, only way it goes from 1 to "2" is when I do something to my phone and I need to odin back to stock and re root(which I did for research) ... it's then it gets trigger again.