Develop Bugs

Verizon Galaxy S4 (SCH-I545) Build JSSI5J.I545VRUEMK2

Okay, I just replaced my Google Galaxy Nexus with the Verizon Galaxy S4 (SCH-I545) Build JSSI5J.I545VRUEMK2
first I downloaded the odin and stock rom to have on hand, just in case...
I first tested to see if I could use odin to go from stock rom to stock rom, just as a test and we are all set there..
second I rooted the phone...awesome great, right? Wrong
after rooting and confirming root with root checker, I loaded Rom Manager, flashed it with the latest recovery...rebooted to recovery and bam I get an error message "android system recovery <3e>"
I have even manually downloaded the recovery from CWM
I have tried rooting with both saferoot&disableKNOX as well as I545ALL-IN-ONE-TOOL, the VerizonGalaxyS4RootMDK, and I have done the LOKI method, I still get the same recovery error message.
So as far as I can get is a rooted device, I cannot get a custom recovery loaded successfully even though CWM say the flash is successful
Anyone, have any ideas where I am going wrong? this is driving me crazy and I am pulling all my hair out...oh wait, I don't have any...lol
Please help, it would be much appreciated!

xanuri said:
Okay, I just replaced my Google Galaxy Nexus with the Verizon Galaxy S4 (SCH-I545) Build JSSI5J.I545VRUEMK2
first I downloaded the odin and stock rom to have on hand, just in case...
I first tested to see if I could use odin to go from stock rom to stock rom, just as a test and we are all set there..
second I rooted the phone...awesome great, right? Wrong
after rooting and confirming root with root checker, I loaded Rom Manager, flashed it with the latest recovery...rebooted to recovery and bam I get an error message "android system recovery <3e>"
I have even manually downloaded the recovery from CWM
I have tried rooting with both saferoot&disableKNOX as well as I545ALL-IN-ONE-TOOL, the VerizonGalaxyS4RootMDK, and I have done the LOKI method, I still get the same recovery error message.
So as far as I can get is a rooted device, I cannot get a custom recovery loaded successfully even though CWM say the flash is successful
Anyone, have any ideas where I am going wrong? this is driving me crazy and I am pulling all my hair out...oh wait, I don't have any...lol
Please help, it would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried UNLOCKING your device first? Sometimes this happens when the phone is locked to a certain company and when you try to do custom roms they aren't successful sometimes due just this fact, at least for me this worked on my Verizon S4 (I don't care much about warranties anymore once I change roms)
Hope this works

firemex said:
Have you tried UNLOCKING your device first? Sometimes this happens when the phone is locked to a certain company and when you try to do custom roms they aren't successful sometimes due just this fact, at least for me this worked on my Verizon S4 (I don't care much about warranties anymore once I change roms)
Hope this works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after rooting and during boot, I get the "Samsung Custom" with a unlocked padlock screen...so I assume that means it is unlocked??

firemex said:
Have you tried UNLOCKING your device first? Sometimes this happens when the phone is locked to a certain company and when you try to do custom roms they aren't successful sometimes due just this fact, at least for me this worked on my Verizon S4 (I don't care much about warranties anymore once I change roms)
Hope this works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or are you talking about CARRIER unlocking the SIM? If so do you happen to have a reference for doing this to a Verizon Phone?

xanuri said:
Okay, I just replaced my Google Galaxy Nexus with the Verizon Galaxy S4 (SCH-I545) Build JSSI5J.I545VRUEMK2
first I downloaded the odin and stock rom to have on hand, just in case...
I first tested to see if I could use odin to go from stock rom to stock rom, just as a test and we are all set there..
second I rooted the phone...awesome great, right? Wrong
after rooting and confirming root with root checker, I loaded Rom Manager, flashed it with the latest recovery...rebooted to recovery and bam I get an error message "android system recovery <3e>"
I have even manually downloaded the recovery from CWM
I have tried rooting with both saferoot&disableKNOX as well as I545ALL-IN-ONE-TOOL, the VerizonGalaxyS4RootMDK, and I have done the LOKI method, I still get the same recovery error message.
So as far as I can get is a rooted device, I cannot get a custom recovery loaded successfully even though CWM say the flash is successful
Anyone, have any ideas where I am going wrong? this is driving me crazy and I am pulling all my hair out...oh wait, I don't have any...lol
Please help, it would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i got exact same problem only i can root my device so far any solution ?

Verizon locked bootloaders. I tried this with twrp and had that issue too
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app

I realize this a 2-year-old post, but would you happen to still have the stock firmware (I545VRUEMK2) for this thing? I have an older Jellybean unit that I need to fix (and want to keep JB as I can root it easily).
Thanks

[Q] New to Android. I think I've ruined my install, wifi no longer turning on.

Hi All,
I recently purchased a Nexus 7 (2013). Its my first Android device and so far I've been really enjoying using it.
I managed to root it and installed Multi-rom. I have two roms on it. Stock 4.4.2 and another Kali based rom.
Anyway recently I saw an update for 4.4.3 and I tried to install it from my stock 4.4.2 rom ( I'm thinking this was a mistake?)
Anyway it download and the booted into recovery mode. I wasn't sure what to do and I just rebooted it again and opened up my Stock image.
The issue is now I cannot turn on Wifi for some reason. From the Wireless conections page it just says 'turning on wifi' but never does. If I boot into my other rom wifi works fine.
The version of Android on the stock rom still says 4.4.2. My Kernel version is 3.4.0-g80964c2 and the build number is KOT49H.
I'm kind of new to all of this and don't know how to proceed. If anyone could help me it would be very much appreciated.
Cheers.
MarcG

Just use this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2389107
It will even download the correct images for you.

k3lcior said:
Just use this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2389107
It will even download the correct images for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks k3lcior!
I guess I can use this to get back to a clean known state with the 'Flash Stock + Unroot' option.
However I was wondering is there a way to update my internal ROM when I've got multirom installed? Trying to update from within 4.4.2 seems to have gotten me into this mess in the first place, so I'm trying to learn how I should update my internal stock rom in the future?
cheers.

I have no idea as i've never used MultiRom so dont want to speculate.

[Q] CyanogenMod not getiing installed. SuperSU Crashing.

Hello All,
I am a beginner to all this stuff. I wanted to root my phone after seeing OnePlus One running on CyanogenMod. So, first I tried to directly install the Mod using the softwares downloaded from Cyanogen's website. But the software gave the error "Unsupported Firmware". Then I researched a bit on manually installing the mod. I followed the instructions.
- First I rooted my phone with Odin 3.09v
- Installed ROM Manger on my phone (Meanwhile the SuperSU app kept on crashing)
- Somehow I managed to install ClockworkMod (What I did was downloaded SuperSU apk, installed it again. It started working and then, not losing the chance I installed ClockworkMod).
- Then I tried to install CyanogenMod through ROM Manager
- My phone re-booted and then gave a error "Can't install package on incompatible data".
- I'm having the latest snapshot version on CyanogenMod.
- Then I left the things as it is. No rooting, unrooting, etc.
- So, now I tried to take backup of my current ROM, in case something happens at least I'll be having something with me to recover
- I used ROM Manager to take backup. But it gave the error "Can't create the image"
So, now I'm stuck between middle of nowhere. Please help me out to reach to some point.

svikramajit said:
Hello All,
I am a beginner to all this stuff. I wanted to root my phone after seeing OnePlus One running on CyanogenMod. So, first I tried to directly install the Mod using the softwares downloaded from Cyanogen's website. But the software gave the error "Unsupported Firmware". Then I researched a bit on manually installing the mod. I followed the instructions.
- First I rooted my phone with Odin 3.09v
- Installed ROM Manger on my phone (Meanwhile the SuperSU app kept on crashing)
- Somehow I managed to install ClockworkMod (What I did was downloaded SuperSU apk, installed it again. It started working and then, not losing the chance I installed ClockworkMod).
- Then I tried to install CyanogenMod through ROM Manager
- My phone re-booted and then gave a error "Can't install package on incompatible data".
- I'm having the latest snapshot version on CyanogenMod.
- Then I left the things as it is. No rooting, unrooting, etc.
- So, now I tried to take backup of my current ROM, in case something happens at least I'll be having something with me to recover
- I used ROM Manager to take backup. But it gave the error "Can't create the image"
So, now I'm stuck between middle of nowhere. Please help me out to reach to some point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, first I think your SuperSu is not working properly. Open the Supersu app to see if it needs to update binaries. If it continues to crash, go into recovery manually (not using rom manager) and flash the latest SuperSu. Wipe Cache, go to advanced and Wipe Dalvik. Reboot. Your phone will say "android is upgrading" for a bit. Once it's booted up, go back into the supersu app and see if it needs to update binaries, if so- let it update, if not- move on. Here's a link to download SuperSu 2.02
Go back into recovery manually and select backup and restore-> backup to sdcard (or sdcard1, external sd, is my preference) This will start the backup process.
Once that is done, you need to find the CyanogenMod file specific to your phone, then you can enter recovery and flash it.
If you have trouble entering recovery, you can flash a new one via recovery or with odin.

Hello absinthesummer,
I followed every instruction you told. Now I'm done till creating backup. The problem now I'm facing is this 'Status 7' error. It says "Can't install package on incompatible data.....". Now what to do?

Status 7 is a very specific error. It means your recovery is out of date. Get the absolute newest you can find and try again. This is good news though, you've got progress!
---------- Post added at 11:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------
Edit: flash the latest recovery you can find via Odin. You probably won't be able to do it in recovery while you're getting the status 7 error.

absinthesummer said:
Status 7 is a very specific error. It means your recovery is out of date. Get the absolute newest you can find and try again. This is good news though, you've got progress!
---------- Post added at 11:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------
Edit: flash the latest recovery you can find via Odin. You probably won't be able to do it in recovery while you're getting the status 7 error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I've got the latest recovery. But I figured out the problem. It was with the package I downloaded. The CM 11 M9 version was giving errors. I researched and tried few fixes, but still it didn't work.
The fixes I tried :-
1. Deleting some coding lines from the updater-script file. But this fix gave the status 6 error.
2. Changing the updater-script file format to UNIX format. Then again it gave the status 7 error.
So, what I did, when I had no more brain to fix it, I downloaded the CM 11 M6 version and tried installing it. And VOILA! It worked. Then I updated it to M9 version through phone. Now it's working. Though it has some bugs. And some features are missing too that I wanted badly.

svikramajit said:
No, I've got the latest recovery. But I figured out the problem. It was with the package I downloaded. The CM 11 M9 version was giving errors. I researched and tried few fixes, but still it didn't work.
The fixes I tried :-
1. Deleting some coding lines from the updater-script file. But this fix gave the status 6 error.
2. Changing the updater-script file format to UNIX format. Then again it gave the status 7 error.
So, what I did, when I had no more brain to fix it, I downloaded the CM 11 M6 version and tried installing it. And VOILA! It worked. Then I updated it to M9 version through phone. Now it's working. Though it has some bugs. And some features are missing too that I wanted badly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! I'm glad you got it working. You can also try comparing the two files to see what's different, or maybe swap the updater script. Maybe you'll be able to get the one you wanted working with a little modification

absinthesummer said:
Awesome! I'm glad you got it working. You can also try comparing the two files to see what's different, or maybe swap the updater script. Maybe you'll be able to get the one you wanted working with a little modification
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to you. You too helped me in working it out!
But, I have some more questions
Question 1 : If I flash stock ROM on my rooted phone, will I receive the new updates? If yes, will I be able to install them via Kies on my phone without getting into any trouble?
Question 2 : If I install stock ROM of any other phone, say Galaxy S5, will it work on my phone properly without any problems? If yes, will I receive the updates for that too and able to install them via Kies? If no, is there any way to install it? Cause I have seen people using S5 ROM on Note 2.

First question the answer is yes. As long as you have the stock recovery and stock kernel (along with the stock rom) you will receive ota updates. You can use ota root keeper (an app) to keep root during an ota update. There are many people who choose to stay fully stock but root to get rid of bloatware & stuff. However, if you want to get ota, I recommend freezing the bloatware instead of uninstalling, because an ota usually replaces old bloatware with new bloatware and can sometimes abort the ota if those apps are missing... but keep on mind this is not always the case, only certain devices.
Second question, no you cannot. Roms from other devices have to be ported to be compatible. But if you look in the development forums, you can find many roms that are basically stock but have specific features from other roms, along with the system ui (ie S5, note 3, & so forth). These rom devs have ported either parts/features or full on roms to be compatible on our device. They are excellent! I recommend reading up them and if you see some you like, try them out!

absinthesummer said:
First question the answer is yes. As long as you have the stock recovery and stock kernel (along with the stock rom) you will receive ota updates. You can use ota root keeper (an app) to keep root during an ota update. There are many people who choose to stay fully stock but root to get rid of bloatware & stuff. However, if you want to get ota, I recommend freezing the bloatware instead of uninstalling, because an ota usually replaces old bloatware with new bloatware and can sometimes abort the ota if those apps are missing... but keep on mind this is not always the case, only certain devices.
Second question, no you cannot. Roms from other devices have to be ported to be compatible. But if you look in the development forums, you can find many roms that are basically stock but have specific features from other roms, along with the system ui (ie S5, note 3, & so forth). These rom devs have ported either parts/features or full on roms to be compatible on our device. They are excellent! I recommend reading up them and if you see some you like, try them out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Stock Recovery
- Stock Kernel
- OTA Root Keeper
- Bloatware
Well, to be honest, just right now I learned these new terms but know nothing about them. Can you please give me a brief description for these four terms so that when I do advanced search on them, I'd have a idea in my mind about what these are. It will make it easy for me to understand the advance things.
And I'm looking for S5 ROM for my phone. Let's see what I get.

One more question. I made a backup of my rooted stock ROM via latest ClockwordMod, manually. Now, if I reset the binary counter using Triangle Away and then wipe Cache and Dalvik and then flash my stock ROM which is located on my memory card and then after flashing I use SuperSU to unroot and then a factory reset (I don't know the method of factory reseting cause I'm confused. Whether to do it manually, like going into recovery mode or just from the phone settings. So please tell me this also.), will my phone be unrooted totally?
And sorry for bugging you so much. I hate to do that, but I don't want to take risk with my phone. So I am just collecting information. I hope so many queries are not a problem for you.

Ok...
You already know what a rom is. A kernel is a lower-level base. It controls the hardware. So when you do something on the interface, in the rom, it tells the hardware how to react. (Ie if you're playing music it tells which speakers to play and how loudly). The kernel controls almost everything you can't see, it relates to performance. Most stock kernels can be limiting as they underclock the cpu by a certain percentage. Because of this, people seek out custom kernels to max out their device's potential. Louder speakers, faster cpu, better graphics, etc. This is all stuff the kernel can optimize... but because you can change so many factors there is a risk of instability if you push your device too hard (max performance) or limit it too much (max battery saving).
Recovery is exactly what it sounds like. When you boot your device the very first screen that pops up is the bootloader. It's giving you time to boot in 3 different modes. The first mode, by doing nothing, is a normal boot into the rom/OS. The second mode, which you get to by one button combination, takes you to recovery. The stock recovery is very limited. It gives you the option to factory restore, wipe cache, update, or boot normally. Stock recovery only exists for emergencies, if your phone fails to boot normally. We have custom recoveries so we can do more stuff, flash custom roms and tinker with things. The third mode is download mode/Odin mode. This is the bootloader interface itself. It's the last resort for recovery if your recovery has been damaged or corrupted. It allows you to connect to Odin or kies and perform an emergency recovery of the device. If you damage your bootloader, your device is completely bricked.
So the order of operation is this:
Lowest level- bootloader
Second level- recovery
Third level- kernel
Fourth level- rom
Bloatware is all the pre-installed apps that your carrier adds to your phone. Most people don't use it, don't like it, and don't want it. That why we root. Without root we basically are just guest users of the device. With root we become the administrators of the device. Until you root, your carrier has admin rights over your phone (to use windows terms).
When you receive an ota update, your carrier can make it to where the update won't proceed if their pre-installed apps have been removed (although this isn't always the case). Additionally, the update package itself checks the integrity of the device. It checks recovery, kernel, and rom. If any have been altered, it will not proceed because it could cause conflict and potentially brick your device. That's why those things have to be stock.
Ota root keeper is simply an app that backs up your superuser rights before an update and restores them after its done.
You should be able to find plenty of roms with S5 features. I'm using one that makes my device fully like an S5 (my device even thinks it is an S5 and every app identifies it as such) I can think of at least 2 others as well. There's plenty to choose from, and if you see a rom you like but it's mudding a particular feature, you can probably find that feature as a stand-alone installation in the forum's themes & apps section. Just about every feature of S5, S4, and note 3 has been ported to this device, so look around!
Also, for future reference, if someone helps you on the forum, hit the thanks button instead of saying it. I don't mind either way, but some people get annoyed and will stop helping them if they don't hit that button lol. It's silly, but it's part of "forum decorum"
---------- Post added at 12:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 AM ----------
svikramajit said:
One more question. I made a backup of my rooted stock ROM via latest ClockwordMod, manually. Now, if I reset the binary counter using Triangle Away and then wipe Cache and Dalvik and then flash my stock ROM which is located on my memory card and then after flashing I use SuperSU to unroot and then a factory reset (I don't know the method of factory reseting cause I'm confused. Whether to do it manually, like going into recovery mode or just from the phone settings. So please tell me this also.), will my phone be unrooted totally?
And sorry for bugging you so much. I hate to do that, but I don't want to take risk with my phone. So I am just collecting information. I hope so many queries are not a problem for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're fine, I don't mind answering your questions. Yes, you can unroot fully in the way you just mentioned but you don't even have to go through all the trouble of factory reset. Just unroot in the app. The app can be uninstalled afterwards via the play store.
You can factory reset either way, the same commands are given no matter which way you go about it. But it can be more efficient to do it from recovery because when you do it from the rom it has to create a wipe script for when it reboots, and it has to shut down the rom first. If you do it from recovery it doesn't have to anything, the rom isn't running and it can execute the wipe command immediately. (The wipe command is wipe /data /cache etc)

Thanks again for all that great info!
Questions : Is there no way to fix the Bootloader if it gets damaged by chance? And which S5 ROM are you using?

svikramajit said:
Thanks again for all that great info!
Questions : Is there no way to fix the Bootloader if it gets damaged by chance? And which S5 ROM are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you damage the bootloader it's a hard brick and you would have to send it in for jtag services (this is a low level emmc chip flash service) The bootloader won't get damaged unless you do something to corrupt it. If you ever feel the need to flash a new bootloader, do it via Odin, never recovery! If you remember that you should be fine.

svikramajit said:
Thanks again for all that great info!
Questions : Is there no way to fix the Bootloader if it gets damaged by chance? And which S5 ROM are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant to tell you I'm using DN3 rom. It has an aroma installer that lets you choose whether you want an S5 ui, a note 3 ui or a mixed ui. Choosing S5 ui & S5 build prop allows your device to work with S5 apps & it looks just like an S5. It's not the only rom out there, but it's beautiful, fast, and stable & the team works hard on it.

absinthesummer said:
I meant to tell you I'm using DN3 rom. It has an aroma installer that lets you choose whether you want an S5 ui, a note 3 ui or a mixed ui. Choosing S5 ui & S5 build prop allows your device to work with S5 apps & it looks just like an S5. It's not the only rom out there, but it's beautiful, fast, and stable & the team works hard on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey absinthesummer!
I tried to unroot my phone with the method I told you. But in the restore option, I am stuck at 'Checking MD5 Sums..'. What to do now?

MD5 checking takes forever! You have to wait it out. Most recoveries offer a way to turn it off. You shouldn't have to factory reset though, just click unroot in the super su app and then uninstall the app from the play store.

absinthesummer said:
MD5 checking takes forever! You have to wait it out. Most recoveries offer a way to turn it off. You shouldn't have to factory reset though, just click unroot in the super su app and then uninstall the app from the play store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I waited and the system was restored. But I got an error on 'Restoring Data'. I rebooted the phone and now it's showing glowing Samsung logo from like 3-4 minutes.

I've seen that before. Can you get back into recovery? You may have to flash stock in Odin, flash recovery and then do the Restore again. Data got messed up.

absinthesummer said:
I've seen that before. Can you get back into recovery? You may have to flash stock in Odin, flash recovery and then do the Restore again. Data got messed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try removing the battery now. Let's see what happens.

Ok if you can get into recovery, do a fresh flash and then try to restore again. And see if it offers a way to turn off MD5 checking. That's why I use philz or twrp, they offer that and move much faster through MD5 check by default.
---------- Post added at 11:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 AM ----------
If you still fail on data, flash stock in Odin, flash custom recovery, then you should be able to enter recovery and have a successful restore.

SGH-T999 Custom ROM with working 4G

Greetings,
I really don't want this to be a repeat post, so I have spent many days now searching for this answer, not just here on XDA if I was honest, I have links to prove it
The aim is to give a little new life to my old phone, and get off the 4.1 build it is on.
With that said, in summary, I have tried a few different custom ROMs; Cyanogenmod 11 - 13, stable to nightly. PAC MAN ROM for Lollipop, some other roms for KitKat I found else where, but in all these I have not been able to get 4G to work. I understand about updating the Modem, and got the latest version from DocHoliday77's post for the Galaxy S3, in point of fact I tried every modem version for 4.3+ on there
But for all this, and it's been time consuming I never managed to actually get 4G to work as stated
I tried playing with settings in Test Mode (*#*#4636#*#*), changed preferred settings, added APN's, rebooting during certain phases of the moon ... but somehow it all avails me diddly.
Finally I have genuinely tried searching for info on if this just isn't going to happen and that's how it is, but somehow I found lots of posts about other models or networks that made it work more than something saying this won't work (putting aside the info on CM 11 that states it's a known issue and won't work on some build I forget).
Which leads me to this post: I wondered if anyone could point me in either the direction of a 4.4+ custom ROM or other ROM, compatible for SGH-T999 (T-Mobile Galaxy S3), that has working 4G. Or how I can get 4G to work on one of the ROMs I have already tried, kind of partial to a nice CM but I am willing to venture.
Also happy to just hear other input about giving new life to the phone so any feedback welcome
Thanks for your time!
NOTES
======
Using TWRP 3.x for flashing
Phone is rooted
IMEI is visible & fine on custom ROM
4G works on stock ROM
not experienced at this but willing to read
Edit: something I had not noticed before, I install Gapps for most of my tests but never use it. I just tried to download from Play Store, it acts as though I have no connection; waiting to download appears, then eventually it says waiting for network. Yet I am able to browse the net fine with the phone floating between 3G & H+. I don't know if that might help, so figured I should add it.

Is the phone running the latest bootloader and modem? Maybe both are needed to properly get 4g on all Roms?

audit13 said:
Is the phone running the latest bootloader and modem? Maybe both are needed to properly get 4g on all Roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a really good question, let me see if I can find out how to get my bootloader info and I'll get back to you.
May I ask what the latest bootlader is for the SGH-T999, or where I could find this so I can compare it? I couldn't seem to find it, though the most resourceful post I did find related was T999 UVDMD5 Firmware / Bootloader by mnasledov, though it is also a little outdated it appears, I haven't read my entire way through it yet sorry, I also know the phone is a little outdated too .

So that wasn't too bad to find out
I don't have the latest bootloader if that should match the baseband I install.
Where after a ROM install I get my baseband to T999UVUEOH1, but the bootloader stays on T999UVDLJA.
I haven't quite found where to get the latest bootloader just yet, though I did really spend the last few minutes discovering about the bootloader; if you or someone could find the time to point me in that direction that would be awesome

Simplest way to make sure you have the latest would be to flash the most recent stock rom from sammobile.com in Odin.

Thank you very much @audit13, I do appreciate the time you took out to help me and I also appreciate the point in the direction of what next.
I'll go dig into that for a while and see what to do to be sure, before I start
Looks like this is the latest one, so I will give this a shot : PDA T999UVUEOH1 & CSC T999TMBEOH1, version 4.3.
So just as a quick question, since I've never upgraded the bootloader in this fashion etc., from what I have read this is a one way street correct? And since I am upgrading to stock, then I guess will I lose root, which I will have to go back down the path of for a reinstall, or could I flash my old back up over this from TWRP and in that fashion have the latest bootloader, but keep everything I have for the moment as I investigate a ROM that will offer 4G.
I guess what I am getting at is even if having the latest bootloader and some other ROM with the latest baseband doesn't give me 4G still, can I go back in terms of the OS version to my 4.1.1 and keep things as is with a newer bootloader?
I will investigate this myself too, I just always preferred some additional input when discovering things where possible.
I do appreciate your time, thanks again!

No, you cannot run stock 4.1.1 on a 4.3 bootloader unless it is a custom 4.1.1 rom based on a stock touch wiz rom.
I do not think it is a problem to run the latest bootloader and modem as the latest custom ROMs often require an updated bootloader and modem.
Once on a 4.3 bootloader, you can't downgrade to something older.

Thanks again @audit13, that matches what I have read, I appreciate the confirmation!
Looks like I will be undergoing a re-root etc. so I'll get my information together, have a little more read, see what I need to back up and then jump down the rabbit hole
I'm grateful for your time and help.

If you decide to run a custom rom, just flash a stock rom, then immediately flash twrp via Odin, then install the rom and gapps. No need to root before hand.

Ahh ok, that would have made the most sense. However I didn't have an opportunity to check back on this thread until now so even though you had awesome speedy reply I missed it.
I did manager to successfully flash the stock ROM from Sam's. It did also update the bootloader so THANK YOU very much for that.
I had to fiddle a little to get Odin to recognize the my Galaxy S3 in the end it was simple: after I installed Kies to get the drivers on, I disabled WI-Fi (I use it for my dev work, and then it didn't try to spend time getting other drivers and it all went great. But that's just a note incase maybe one day someone else reads the thread and wonders how, this might help.
I'm just actually restoring a couple f things on the stock ROM, I figured I would have it ready in the event a custom ROM doesn't suit immediately, as I find one I like, then I have a back up of the stock ROM on 4.3 to revert to. Incidentally I just used TWRP manager from Google play store to install TWRP, hopefully it's the same as the flash, except now I know I rooted when I didn't have to
@audit13 Thanks, I know I keep saying that but I appreciate your time the same way I would hope someone else appreciated mine.
Incidentally once ready I will post an update here about the success of getting 4G on Cyanogenmod 12 or even 13 maybe, or someone of the other custom ROM I try, to share that info.

So just an update, I can confirm even with both an updated bootloader and matching updated baseband there is still no 4G on Lollipop Cyanogenmod 12, haven't quite tried any other yet, that was the one I liked the most but I will carry on and get a list as I have time then update here.
If there are any further suggestions I'm all open to them
Thanks [email protected]

Do you get 4G on a stock ROM? You have an LTE capabale sim? You get 4G on another phone with the same sim card?

Right, this SIM gets 4G on 2 other phones it's been in, on this phone on stock ROM it gets 4G too. Reverting back to stock backup in TWRP, from CM12 looks like it tripped knox I think it is, so now the warranty bit is 1 oops. But I managed to Odin back to 4.3 stock, so now I also need to see if I can try to flash maybe to CM 11, which is 4.4.x, or if maybe I'm stuck here. If I can find out I certainly will update the result of 4G testing.
You've been really patient & helpful thanks!

First let me say I'm a noob. I've rooted and jailbroken devices but I admit it's all from falling instructions. I rooted my s3 a while ago and installed twrp 1.0.8.7 yesterday. I did a full wipe including system and all catches and installed the latest nightly of cm13. Everything is running great. I don't know if this helps but maybe it's your process. Good luck!
Sent from my Amazon Jem using Tapatalk

Shack70 said:
First let me say I'm a noob. I've rooted and jailbroken devices but I admit it's all from falling instructions. I rooted my s3 a while ago and installed twrp 1.0.8.7 yesterday. I did a full wipe including system and all catches and installed the latest nightly of cm13. Everything is running great. I don't know if this helps but maybe it's your process. Good luck!
Sent from my Amazon Jem using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's really helpful thanks @Shack70, since updating to 4.3 I have only tried CM 12, I can certainly give 13 a shot, & you have 4G working then please?
incidentally I have actually recorded every step I performed, in the event I repeat this again or I had to explain it. But my process maybe at fault I agree; I rooted my phone with towelroot. Installed TWERP manager (3.0.2 something, maybe I should try 1.0.8?), rebooted into recovery & first thing was take a full backup on stock. Then I did a factory wipe, & advanced wipe. Then installed the ROM, wiped dalvik/cache. Installed Apps, wipe dalvik/cache, reboot
Hopefully that's not too much? I just wonder if any of those steps raise alarm?
Edit: mind if I throw a few questions on here at you please @Shack70?
what do you wipe from the options please?
after the install, do you run any other wipes please?
how did you get TWRP on your phone? Not sure if that or version matters but I'm willing to try

Morrigon said:
That's really helpful thanks @Shack70, since updating to 4.3 I have only tried CM 12, I can certainly give 13 a shot, & you have 4G working then please?
incidentally I have actually recorded every step I performed, in the event I repeat this again or I had to explain it. But my process maybe at fault I agree; I rooted my phone with towelroot. Installed TWERP manager (3.0.2 something, maybe I should try 1.0.8?), rebooted into recovery & first thing was take a full backup on stock. Then I did a factory wipe, & advanced wipe. Then installed the ROM, wiped dalvik/cache. Installed Apps, wipe dalvik/cache, reboot
Hopefully that's not too much? I just wonder if any of those steps raise alarm?
Edit: mind if I throw a few questions on here at you please @Shack70?
what do you wipe from the options please?
after the install, do you run any other wipes please?
how did you get TWRP on your phone? Not sure if that or version matters but I'm willing to try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In twrp I wiped system and all caches before installing the rom and gapps. I installed an older version of twrp using Odin and updated it to 2.0.8.7 using the twrp app in the play store. Yes I have 4g/lte. I've seen it switch from lte to h+ to 3g depending on my location so I'm sure it's working correctly. The camera and Bluetooth also work fine. I hope this helps, I'm still learning and most of what I've done is just by following others instructions here at XDA.
Sent from my Amazon Jem using Tapatalk

I definitely appreciate the reply thanks!
I gave the latest nightly CM 13 a shot just now, 7/31/16 version essentially. Not finding any issues with the ROM, can't get 4G to show up no matter what though , even with changes and attempts to APN settings etc. None the less maybe to give my phone a rest I'll just stick with this a while and decide if a newer nightly comes out I want to try, or better yet a stable version at some point. Then I can verify how much I really miss my 4G I guess.
All the previous attempts, including this one always results in 3G to H+ network with no issue, it's just that 4G that never shows up for me.
Incidentally without a serious search around I couldn't even find TWRP 2.0.8.7, it's not on the TWRP manager version I have so curious, I ended up just going with 2.8.0.7, thinking maybe it was a typo?
Otherwise I basically run the same type of install you mention, I also clean dalvik, cache, system & data in my case. Just to confirm that.
I have a slightly off topic question here, if I decide to go back to to stock I was wondering, if i went from UVUEOH1 4.3 JB build, to the previous UVUENC2 4.3 JB build; because I've seen this available as a clean route 66 version, is this still considered a downgrade and a bad idea? I'd be flashing with Odin from @DocHoliday77 post here.
@Shack70, thanks for the input, thanks for the guide on your steps, glad I've confirmed I'm doing the same even if I can't get my 4G, hopefully someone on a Galaxy S3 T-Mobile, went through this found a solution, and maybe will let me know what they did too, not sure if you are on T-Mobile or not. 
 @audit13, also thanks, you've been replying plenty too and I appreciate that also!

One small thing I just came across looking over the logs of the install.
When flashing CM 13 with TWRP, I noticed it said the Target: samsung/d2tmo/d2tmo:4.3/JSS15J/T999UVUEMJC:user/release-keys.
Is it normal and OK for it the be referencing a different baseband/bootloader than what I actually have on my phone?
UVUEMJC vs the UVUEOH1? Where the one as named by TWRP flash is 2 versions older than what I have installed? Not necessarily stating this is an issue, just asking please if this is normal, and I also understand it could be something I have overlooked in my reading, it's been a lot of reading

I would not worry about the referenced baseband as flashing CM13 does not change the bootloader or baseband during the flash process.

audit13 said:
I would not worry about the referenced baseband as flashing CM13 does not change the bootloader or baseband during the flash process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes sense thanks @audit13, just a few of the questions I had building up.
So that my previous question doesn't get lost, and although I know it's a dying phone for users hopefully this might get some visual
if I decide to go back to to stock I was wondering, if i went from UVUEOH1 4.3 JB build, to the previous UVUENC2 4.3 JB build; because I've seen this available as a clean route 66 version, is this still considered a downgrade and a bad idea? I'd be flashing with Odin from @DocHoliday77 post here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Virgin Mobile USA HTC Desire 816 (A5_CHL) root/custom recovery/backup help!

Hi all,
I know I'm a little late to the rooting-816 party, but I hope some of you experts are still around to give me some advice.
Here's my backstory:
I began learning to root for the first time a few weeks ago and soft-bricked my device a bunch of times in the process. I'm starting over and want to do everything right, once and for all, so I can get on with a functional, customized, rooted device and stop dealing with a variety of technical issues. So I'd like to ask your help in verifying if my resources are correct and up to date for the A5-CHL (Virgin Mobile USA HTC Desire 816).
The first time I tried to root, I used v_superuser's guide, installing the Clockworkmod recovery (CWM_Recovery_En.exe) and the SuperSU program they linked. Then I flashed a CyanogenMod ROM that probably wasn't meant for this device - it tried to recognize Sprint instead of Virgin Mobile as the carrier and refused to connect to the carrier's network, working only on WiFi and thus disabling call/text functionality. I considered this a soft-brick and found a way out by installing a stock ZIP (without replacing custom recovery) from insanelycool on VMRoms.
I then stuck with the stock ROM, OTA upgraded back to Lollipop, disabled HTC write protection thanks to Flar2 and CaptainTiiti, used the Clockworkmod recovery listed above to create a backup using default settings, installed this system app uninstaller, and started excising the copious amounts of VM/Google/HTC bloatware.
However, I got a little too cocky in thinking the backup would keep me safe, and uninstalled Google Account (because I despise the swipe up for Google thing). Upon realizing it caused some annoying "_____ has crashed" popups, I decided to restore from the CWM backup... aaaand my phone soft-bricked again. The ROM wouldn't load; I could only access the recovery (and maybe bootloader, I don't exactly remember).
So I reinstalled the stock ZIP I listed above, this time clearing out my custom recovery as well, because OTA updates were refusing to install. Finally, with the stock ROM+recovery, I was able to OTA update to Lollipop 5.0.2 (HTC's "software version 2.33.652.5") and now have a clean slate to start over.
Now, here are my questions:
CWM or TWRP recovery? As far as I can tell, CWM recovery's backup soft-bricked my phone, so I'm considering giving TWRP a shot.
If CWM, is this (CWM 6.0.4.7) the correct & most up-to-date CWM recovery installer for the A5-CHL? https://forum.xda-developers.com/devdb/project/?id=3490#downloads
If TWRP, is this the correct & most up-to-date TWRP recovery installer for the A5_CHL? https://twrp.me/devices/htcdesire816.html
Is there a working-for-Virgin Mobile, well-supported, lightweight ROM you would recommend I use instead of stock?
Does anyone have a list of what stock apps (VM, HTC, Google) I can safely remove?
Is there a backup/restore utility out there that ACTUALLY restores a system to exactly how it was at the backup point? I've had failed restores over the last month on both my phone and my PC so I'm very cynical and skeptical. I hear people talk about Titanium but I don't understand how to use it.
Thank you so very much in advance for your help!! I really appreciate all the resources you folks have put together on XDA - I'm just hoping to make sure all of the resources I'm using are the best and most recent versions.

If you're still looking for advice, my VM D816 uses TWRP 3.0 and has worked very well with an unofficial CM 13.1 ROM for many months, and before that I used the stock ROM with decent enough success. I got the ROM I'm using from xda but I can't currently find the thread for it, but I'll post it if I can find it.
I'm planning however to flash the latest version of TWRP via the TWRP app on the Play Store, and perhaps update to the latest version of Lineage 14.1 which is here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/orig-development/rom-unofficial-cm14-a5-t3468631
Good luck on your quest.