Develop Bugs

how ro undo flash counter trip?

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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Click to collapse
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.

Triangle Away Reset Counter on 4.1.1?

I've read numerous places that when I root my 4.1.1 i747 and install custom recovery, I will increase the flash counter no matter how I load the custom recovery. What I haven't read anywhere is whether or not Triangle Away will work to reset flash counter to 0. Anyone have any success using it?
I'll be loading stock rooted using Odin. Then I'll load custom recovery through ROM Manager since it doesn't really matter how I do it. Then I plan to use Triangle Away to get back to 0, hopefully. Then I can flash ROM's in my custom recovery without ever tripping the counter, right?
Successes using Triangle Away, or any other feedback or recommendations are appreciated!

robbieas said:
I've read numerous places that when I root my 4.1.1 i747 and install custom recovery, I will increase the flash counter no matter how I load the custom recovery. What I haven't read anywhere is whether or not Triangle Away will work to reset flash counter to 0. Anyone have any success using it?
I'll be loading stock rooted using Odin. Then I'll load custom recovery through ROM Manager since it doesn't really matter how I do it. Then I plan to use Triangle Away to get back to 0, hopefully. Then I can flash ROM's in my custom recovery without ever tripping the counter, right?
Successes using Triangle Away, or any other feedback or recommendations are appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I successfully did this yesterday, so flash away.

robbieas said:
I've read numerous places that when I root my 4.1.1 i747 and install custom recovery, I will increase the flash counter no matter how I load the custom recovery. What I haven't read anywhere is whether or not Triangle Away will work to reset flash counter to 0. Anyone have any success using it?
I'll be loading stock rooted using Odin. Then I'll load custom recovery through ROM Manager since it doesn't really matter how I do it. Then I plan to use Triangle Away to get back to 0, hopefully. Then I can flash ROM's in my custom recovery without ever tripping the counter, right?
Successes using Triangle Away, or any other feedback or recommendations are appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Triangle away works with 4.1.1 as long as you don't reboot otherwise it will keep the counter at 1 all the time. What you want to do is flash stock ics and go from there. Then you can flash whatever you want without worrying about the counter
Read this its all about triangle away
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2010157
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium

There is no reason to over complicate things. I was on stock 4.1.1. I loaded the rooted 4.1.1 image using Odin, then used ROM manager to install CWM. Then used Triangle Away to reset counter to zero.
Boom, done.

Triangle Away

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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:
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

[Q] Triangle Away

Do i have to be on stock firmware without root to do triangle away and reset the counter or i have to be on custom rom?
please guide me.. this is my first time.. Galaxy Note 8.0 N5100 version

ProTest Art said:
Do i have to be on stock firmware without root to do triangle away and reset the counter or i have to be on custom rom?
please guide me.. this is my first time.. Galaxy Note 8.0 N5100 version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use Triangle Away with my rooted factory ROM. It is only needed when installing a custom recovery or custom ROM, and some older Odin installed rooting.
You don't need Triangle Away to operate a custom ROM or modification... it is a nice app to remove the yellow triangle warning screen during bootup if that is happening.
I recommend Saferoot.zip as it is the safest way to root and can be easily removed within the SuperSU settings.
Right now I am happy with stock ROM, using Xposed... I don't think 4.4.x will do much better, as I get over 8 hours battery time with normal use, and have my customizations the way I like them.

ProTest Art said:
Do i have to be on stock firmware without root to do triangle away and reset the counter or i have to be on custom rom?
please guide me.. this is my first time.. Galaxy Note 8.0 N5100 version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can be in stock firmware but you need root to use triangle away. oh you also need to be using a stock recovery as well if not the counter will stick to 1. anyway it only work to clear the normal counter. it wont work on knox counter.

ProTest Art said:
Do i have to be on stock firmware without root to do triangle away and reset the counter or i have to be on custom rom?
please guide me.. this is my first time.. Galaxy Note 8.0 N5100 version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock firmware, stock recovery, and you need root. TriangleAway needs to be the last modification you make before de-rooting.
Out of curiosity, are you sending it back to Samsung or selling it? The only real reason to reset the flash counter is for warranty work, or to clean it up before selling it. There's no real need to reset that counter otherwise; there's no functional change from doing it. Just FYI.

Question about flash counter/unrooting and warranty?

Hi, sorry for these noob questions.
I have to send my device back for warranty and I just learned about the flash counter. So used triangle away to set the number back to zero but my phone's device status still says "custom." I read somewhere that a factory reset would be able to change that back to normal. I will try that soon, but I haven't unrooted yet. I was going to flash a stock rom (also read that that would change device status back to "normal") after changing the flash counter number, but wouldn't that change it to 1? How do I unroot without triggering the flash counter? Thanks in advance!

What bootloader are you on?

serio22 said:
What bootloader are you on?
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how do I check that?
Also, I tried flashing stock firmware with Odin before, but nothing happened except I lost root. And I forgot about the flash counter, so I rooted again and used Triangle Away. What do I do from here? I just went into download mode again, and binary status says "custom" instead of samsung official, even though I just used triangle away.

Can you post a picture of your download screen? Reason I ask is if you got knox bootloader your knox counter is most likely tripped and you can't reset it.. and to get official status you need to be completely stock, the system will check on every boot so no matter how many times you reset it, it will detect custom. You need to run triangle away, reboot straight to download mode and flash back to stock, after that reboot straight into recovery and do a factory reset. Those are the steps if I'm not mistaken

serio22 said:
Can you post a picture of your download screen? Reason I ask is if you got knox bootloader your knox counter is most likely tripped and you can't reset it.. and to get official status you need to be completely stock, the system will check on every boot so no matter how many times you reset it, it will detect custom. You need to run triangle away, reboot straight to download mode and flash back to stock, after that reboot straight into recovery and do a factory reset. Those are the steps if I'm not mistaken
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you mean a picture of my download mode screen? basically, this is what it says (I guess typing it out is better, since the words are very small anyways)
Odin Mode
product name: SGH-M919
current binary: custom
system status: custom
CSB-OEM_Config_LSB: 0x30
Write protection: enable
and then there's the big green android, and "downloading.. do not turn off target" under it.
I don't think I have the knox bootloader, because I never upgraded to 4.3. I was always using 4.2.2 android before I flashed a custom rom, and I also don't have the two knox lines showing up. I'm guessing I'm fine as long as I can revert back to original stock and get my phone to stop showing "custom"
I first flashed the stock rom with Odin, then I used triangle away, and then I factory reset it, which is why I don't understand why it still says "custom" in download mode, because I should be on the stock rom already. If I boot into download mode immediately after I use triangle away, it shows "official samsung," but if I try again later, it reverts back to "custom."
If I follow the steps you mentioned, would flashing the stock rom cause the flash counter to go to 1?

No it will not because it is official and unrooted.. was it rooted or did you have custom recovery? Just do it the way I posted and see if that works

serio22 said:
No it will not because it is official and unrooted.. was it rooted or did you have custom recovery? Just do it the way I posted and see if that works
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Click to collapse
your method worked! my phone's device status now says "official" and it no longer says custom when I boot into download mode. So, as long as my phone says those things and I reset the flash counter following your steps, I'll be fine right? Thank you so much!!

Yes.. no problem!

serio22 said:
Yes.. no problem!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, I have one more question. you said to boot straight into download mode after using triangle away, so I pressed the top volume button to reboot normally, but then I immediately pulled out the battery, and then booted into download mode. The phone never had a chance to reboot, so there isn't a problem with what I did right?
I did the same thing after flashing. I just pulled out the battery, and then booted into recovery mode.
Thanks again!

Yeah that's not problem, that's actually what you want, to not give the system a chance to boot at all

serio22 said:
Yeah that's not problem, that's actually what you want, to not give the system a chance to boot at all
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Click to collapse
okay, again, thanks a lot!!

lalachata0 said:
okay, again, thanks a lot!!
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Click to collapse
I am trying to do something similar. I want to reset counter but it does not stick. ie when I use triangle away then reboot it still shows the count as 10.
Is there any way to get a stock kernel?
I am running stock rom that is rooted but kernel does not appear to be stock.
Right now I am looking for zip flashable NB4 kernel??
Looked for hours and cant find.
Or also would like any hints on how to get triangle reset to stick.
Thanks

shortbus1234 said:
I am trying to do something similar. I want to reset counter but it does not stick. ie when I use triangle away then reboot it still shows the count as 10.
Is there any way to get a stock kernel?
I am running stock rom that is rooted but kernel does not appear to be stock.
Right now I am looking for zip flashable NB4 kernel??
Looked for hours and cant find.
Or also would like any hints on how to get triangle reset to stick.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure you need to be on the stock kernal and recovery in order for triangle away to work. Maybe you should try flashing the stock rom, reroot and then use triangle away? that's what I did, because I wasn't using the stock samsung firmware

I flashed stock Firmware. It took 2 times with ODIN. The first flash added knox then I had to flash a second time to reinstall everything else. I now have a Knox 0x0 rooted phone. I was curious so I used towelroot and rooted the phone. Still 0x0 and root was succesful. I installed triangle away and it showed the counter was at 0.
Just unrooted and I will take back to tmobile to replace under warranty.
What they don't know will not hurt them.
It would encourage everyone wishing to have root to look into and support towelroot. It works great!!!!
Knox will still be tripped 0x1 if you flash custom ROM......but IMO it is worth it