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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.
My Dinc is rooted S-off and I'm still getting ota update notification. I tried to run the update and it does nothing....
If you're on a stock (even rooted) ROM, you'll get the ota notification. But it requires stock recovery to flash. I haven't looked into the actual zip, so I don't know if it'll flash via CWM or not. It used to not, and I doubt it's changed.
PonsAsinorem said:
If you're on a stock (even rooted) ROM, you'll get the ota notification. But it requires stock recovery to flash. I haven't looked into the actual zip, so I don't know if it'll flash via CWM or not. It used to not, and I doubt it's changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is correct, the ota will not work unless you are complete stock. Meaning stock recovery, all original and unmodified apps and framework files, and you must still be odexed.
If you just want to stop the update nag you can go to /system with a root file explorer and open for editing the build.prop file. Look for a line that starts like this " ro.build.fingerprint= ", change the whole line to look like this without the quotes " ro.build.fingerprint=verizon_wwe/inc/inc:2.3.4/GRJ22/389630.15:user/release-keys ". This tricks the update server into thinking you already have the latest update.
If you want a rom with the new update, there is the Stock 4.08.605.15 Rom and Touch of blue. One is pure rooted stock, and TOB is mostly stock but debloated and lightly themed.
I need to get the latest OTA update, but can I only get it through a new Rom or can I just gets new OTA update to work with my current Rom?
Sent from my PC36100 using xda app-developers app
Richard6292 said:
I need to get the latest OTA update, but can I only get it through a new Rom or can I just gets new OTA update to work with my current Rom?
Sent from my PC36100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to be complete stock to sucessfully update ota. Just flash the stock 4.08.605.15 rom in the dev section. You'd be getting the same thing, without all the hastle of ruu'ing, updating ota, and then rerooting.
Thanks for the info! But after that, if I were to relfash my current Rom I'd just be back in the same situation right?:/ I wish my current Rom would be update but the dev'r went away..
Sent from my PC36100 using xda app-developers app
Richard6292 said:
Thanks for the info! But after that, if I were to relfash my current Rom I'd just be back in the same situation right?:/ I wish my current Rom would be update but the dev'r went away..
Sent from my PC36100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, if your current rom is not based on 4.08.605.15, then you will get the ota notification. Even if you got the actuall ota to install, it would more than likley mess up the rom, and then you would have to reflash the rom and you would be right back where you started. If you want to stay on your current rom but stop the ota notification, do as i said a couple posts above and edit the build.prop file to make the update server think you already have the latest ota. What rom are you currently on?
Ok, thanks for the help!!
Sent from my PC36100 using xda app-developers app
I am using TOB so can I install the update without messing things up?
joeyz400 said:
I am using TOB so can I install the update without messing things up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No tob has stock apps removed and is deodexed. The ota checks to make sure all original apps and files are present and unchanged. If you wabt to get the actuall ota tou need to ruu to stock 4.06.605.3 and then ota to 4.08.695.2 and then ota to 4.08.605.15. However tob V2.1 has been updated to 4.08.605.15 already.
Experience with this OTA update
I can't post yet to the development forums and I saw that cmlusco was on here so just wanted to share my experience. I have an SMOLED Droid Incredible and I'm rooted, S-OFF on the latest CWM recovery and I was using wildstang's stock ROM from the last update back in November 2011. I got the notification, searched the forums, and ended up installing cmlusco's stock deodexed ROM, after doing all the requisite wipes and checking the md5. My initial experience was great, apart from once when the phone simply died with a black screen and was completely unresponsive. Battery pull solved that. After I was done getting all my apps back on there (mostly via downloading and then for some of them just restoring the data from Titanium Backup), I did a Titanium Backup and a nandroid backup in the recovery. After all of these were done, I started having quite a few freeze issues. I think I had three in a row before I had one while in the process of connecting the phone to my computer. Had to do the battery pull method each time but the last time, the phone must have been right in the middle of mounting to my laptop because all of my downloaded apps were "gone". As in, they were not in the app drawer and all the icons were the default Android icon on the home screens. I think something happened with the freeze in the middle of the mount. If I reinstalled an app from the market and tried to restart it, it force closed. Then, if I uninstalled and reinstalled it, it did work. But I was still getting some force closes so I figured it might just be easier to flash the ROM again, which is what I did.
So now I'm back up and running, and mostly everything is okay. I did get another freeze while installing an app and waited for a while but since the phone was still unresponsive, I did the battery pull again. Stuff is working but I thought I'd share my experience and see if anyone else had something similar happen. Oh, by the way, I also updated to the latest radio but hadn't the first time I used this ROM. And cmlusco, thanks a lot for posting that and being very patient in the forums. If this ROM fails again, I might try Touch of Blue.
cmlusco said:
That is correct, the ota will not work unless you are complete stock. Meaning stock recovery, all original and unmodified apps and framework files, and you must still be odexed.
If you just want to stop the update nag you can go to /system with a root file explorer and open for editing the build.prop file. Look for a line that starts like this " ro.build.fingerprint= ", change the whole line to look like this without the quotes " ro.build.fingerprint=verizon_wwe/inc/inc:2.3.4/GRJ22/389630.15:user/release-keys ". This tricks the update server into thinking you already have the latest update.
If you want a rom with the new update, there is the Stock 4.08.605.15 Rom and Touch of blue. One is pure rooted stock, and TOB is mostly stock but debloated and lightly themed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I changed that line and the annoying system update is gone
cmlusco said:
That is correct, the ota will not work unless you are complete stock. Meaning stock recovery, all original and unmodified apps and framework files, and you must still be odexed.
If you just want to stop the update nag you can go to /system with a root file explorer and open for editing the build.prop file. Look for a line that starts like this " ro.build.fingerprint= ", change the whole line to look like this without the quotes " ro.build.fingerprint=verizon_wwe/inc/inc:2.3.4/GRJ22/389630.15:user/release-keys ". This tricks the update server into thinking you already have the latest update.
If you want a rom with the new update, there is the Stock 4.08.605.15 Rom and Touch of blue. One is pure rooted stock, and TOB is mostly stock but debloated and lightly themed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I edited the "ro.build.fingerprint" line, and I'm still getting the notification... I've tried the "fix" of renaming the /etc/security/otacerts.zip file to otacerts.zip.bak, which some suggest. Hell, I even ended up deleting the whole file. When that didn't work, I froze /system/app/updater.apk. Still nothing, so I deleted that file as well. Nothing is listed in my /cache folder, where some people have noted that the download stores itself. I had the 4.08.605.15 update before, and it caused my phone to freeze a lot, and randomly reboot over and over for hours. During those reboots, half my apps got deleted as well.
Needless to say, I don't want the stupid update!! But nothing I can find on any forum is stopping my phone from getting the notification every 15-20 minutes. I've tried flashing a few different ROMs, but my phone gets stuck in a boot cycle with any of them. Just the other day, I went to flash the newest CyanogenMod through CWM, and it just kept showing the blue android guy on a skateboard for (no joke) about 3 hours. I ended up pulling the battery and flashing my stock recovery.
Please let me know if there's anything else anyone can think of that might stop the notification. I'm still 3 months out from being eligible to upgrade my phone, and I'd rather not deal with the notification popping up over and over and over for that time
Thanks
ggoodman1022 said:
So, I edited the "ro.build.fingerprint" line, and I'm still getting the notification... I've tried the "fix" of renaming the /etc/security/otacerts.zip file to otacerts.zip.bak, which some suggest. Hell, I even ended up deleting the whole file. When that didn't work, I froze /system/app/updater.apk. Still nothing, so I deleted that file as well. Nothing is listed in my /cache folder, where some people have noted that the download stores itself. I had the 4.08.605.15 update before, and it caused my phone to freeze a lot, and randomly reboot over and over for hours. During those reboots, half my apps got deleted as well.
Needless to say, I don't want the stupid update!! But nothing I can find on any forum is stopping my phone from getting the notification every 15-20 minutes. I've tried flashing a few different ROMs, but my phone gets stuck in a boot cycle with any of them. Just the other day, I went to flash the newest CyanogenMod through CWM, and it just kept showing the blue android guy on a skateboard for (no joke) about 3 hours. I ended up pulling the battery and flashing my stock recovery.
Please let me know if there's anything else anyone can think of that might stop the notification. I'm still 3 months out from being eligible to upgrade my phone, and I'd rather not deal with the notification popping up over and over and over for that time
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
make sure your file explorer is in r/w (read/write) mode or the changes that you made will not save. there is a button in the upper right part of root explorer if that is that app you are using.
nschiwy said:
make sure your file explorer is in r/w (read/write) mode or the changes that you made will not save. there is a button in the upper right part of root explorer if that is that app you are using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also you must be s-off, or adb pull edit and push the file while in recovery.
Try flashing this. Got rid of the nagging when I was on GB. Should take care of it.
http://db.tt/zPhTShuA
sorry...I was on the phone...
nschiwy said:
make sure your file explorer is in r/w (read/write) mode or the changes that you made will not save. there is a button in the upper right part of root explorer if that is that app you are using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is definitely in r/w mode. I restarted the phone, cleared cache, then checked the file again to make sure the edit was still there. And it was...
cmlusco said:
Also you must be s-off, or adb pull edit and push the file while in recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had s-off since a few days after I got the phone last year.
omniatic said:
Try flashing this. Got rid of the nagging when I was on GB. Should take care of it.
http://db.tt/zPhTShuA
sorry...I was on the phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I restored from a prior backup to undo all the changes I made, so I'm going to try each of the methods again, and if nothing works, I'll flash this.
Thank you all. I've been relying too much on "one-click" solutions in the past, but I'm now trying to get more into the actual dev side of things, so I can help out with this kind of stuff as well
ggoodman1022 said:
It is definitely in r/w mode. I restarted the phone, cleared cache, then checked the file again to make sure the edit was still there. And it was...
I've had s-off since a few days after I got the phone last year.
I restored from a prior backup to undo all the changes I made, so I'm going to try each of the methods again, and if nothing works, I'll flash this.
Thank you all. I've been relying too much on "one-click" solutions in the past, but I'm now trying to get more into the actual dev side of things, so I can help out with this kind of stuff as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I retried all the methods, and flashed the file mentioned above. Still no luck
Stupid notification pops up over and over and over... Guess I may either have to update, or deal with the notification until October when I can upgrade my phone. Or try flashing a custom ROM, even though I like the stock ROM
You could always flash cmlusco's touch of blue ROM which is an optimized version of the latest OTA, so you wouldn't have to worry about update notifications on that one for sure (at least on the latest version).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1492720
but there are lots of options here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=638
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.
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
...because as an avid forum user, I can't stand when someone writes a new post when all of the information is right at their fingertips. BUT WAIT! This isn't one of those situations! Well sorta. The last time I was on this forum was probably when I was tapping this great resource when I got my S3 and wanted to root it. I read and read until I was fully versed on how to go about doing so. Haven't been back since. The phone has been great until about a month ago.
When the kitkat OTA update became available, I along with many other naive fools, decided to go for it only to softbrick the device. I came here and found THIS thread. I have been having some major difficulties getting through the process due to my general lack of knowledge.
I digress...when in recovery mode, my phone shows Clockwork Mod 6.0.1.4 at the top. When trying to boot normally, I get stuck on the AT&T splash screen and it goes no further.
Can anyone point me to a simple guide other than the one I linked in this post? Should I even be following that method? Any help is MUCH MUCH appreciated as I am stuck with my old Skyrocket (which isn't half bad still, except i have a lot of app compatibility problems).
I might add that I don't use custom ROMs (never got that far into it) and would like to be able to use the latest ATT rom if possible. Keeping the root would be ideal but at this point I just need my phone to WORK.
Have you tried wiping cache, dalvik, and data in recovery? Just remember that doing all 3 will wipe out any data and apps on your phone.
Before flashing anything at this point, what exactly happened when using the ota? Did it fail after a certain percentage, did it fail immediately? Error messages?
Also, that method needs to be followed EXACTLY, from using twrp to flashing back to 4.3 stock before the ota.
I don't know about cwm, but tarp has a built in terminal emulator. Go there and enter this,
getprop ro.bootloader
Let us know what it returns before doing anything else.
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