n00b here, so apologies always preface my post. Ditched Apple and have come to the dark side
So, I have a a rooted stock image of 4.0.4 ICS and am very eager for the upcoming official release of Jelly Bean. I've gotten mixed answers from reading past posts, so I have a few questions
- Am I even able to receive OTA updates on my rooted device?
- If I OTA update on my rooted device, will it wipe it to a clean install?
- After the OTA upgrade, will it remain rooted?
- How stable are the JB ROMS already out there? I only ask because I need the safest path possible to this upgrade. Cannot afford any mess ups.
AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III
SAMSUNG-SGH-I747
Android 4.0.4
I747UCLH9
Any other suggestions or links to reading material would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
runawayhacker said:
n00b here, so apologies always preface my post. Ditched Apple and have come to the dark side
So, I have a a rooted stock image of 4.0.4 ICS and am very eager for the upcoming official release of Jelly Bean. I've gotten mixed answers from reading past posts, so I have a few questions
- Am I even able to receive OTA updates on my rooted device?
- If I OTA update on my rooted device, will it wipe it to a clean install?
- After the OTA upgrade, will it remain rooted?
- How stable are the JB ROMS already out there? I only ask because I need the safest path possible to this upgrade. Cannot afford any mess ups.
AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III
SAMSUNG-SGH-I747
Android 4.0.4
I747UCLH9
Any other suggestions or links to reading material would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only one of your questions I can answer is the stability of available ROMs. And I must say that most of the ROMs you can find in the development sections are extremely reliable. Flashing them is easy to do and will introduce you to a entirely new side of android.
Galaxy S3 AOKP 4.1.2 JB.
CamFlawless said:
The only one of your questions I can answer is the stability of available ROMs. And I must say that most of the ROMs you can find in the development sections are extremely reliable. Flashing them is easy to do and will introduce you to a entirely new side of android.
Galaxy S3 AOKP 4.1.2 JB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work in the IT field and consider myself fairly "well exposed" to tweaking/modding/hacking. I've done similar procedures on many other devices in the past, just not on devices I need to be stable. Let's say I flash a custom ROM. From then on, what are my options for upgrading in the future? I suppose it will have to be either un-root and flash stock or stay with the custom ROMs. In the end, (and this is where the community's opinion will help), I need to keep my device reliable, but would like to have the perks of a rooted device.
Thoughts?
P.S., Since you recommended custom ROMs, I'm assuming you have done this yourself. Did it wipe everything clean for you, or are you able to maintain your data through the upgrade?
I believe if you want to upgrade to an official update from a custom ROM you must unroot and convert back to stock via Odin. But honestly, the custom ROMs you'll find are farther advanced than what your provider will provide you with via updates. Now that I am rooted and running a custom ROM, I have no desire to ever go stock again.
Galaxy S3 AOKP 4.1.2 JB.
If you are rooted on the stock "official" image (mrRobinsons method) you will get the OTA but it will break your root once you install it. If you want to keep Root, you need an app like Voodoo's OTA Root Keeper: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.projectvoodoo.otarootkeeper
cloutogu being
I downgraded my S3 from LALH1 to LALE8 using the method and root-injected stock roms in the No Tripping Flash Counter thread. Afterwards, I decided to go back to LALH1 by accepting the OTA update. Bad move as it ended up hard bricking my phone -- even recovery/download mode was inaccessible.
I'm not sure what was the cause of this and now I'm a bit paranoid with my S3. I flashed all sorts of custom roms on my old S without issue, so it's not like I'm a rookie. I'm still really not sure if it was related to being rooted, or some other issue. Maybe I should have done a factory reset after downgrading. Maybe my phone would have survived if I didn't skip installing CWM.
In any case, I think there's at least some risk with upgrading OTA from a rooted firmware.
I'm unsure of what exactly is causing the problem but My T-Mo Galaxy Note 3(SM-900t. Hltetmo) is unable to successfully flash any custom roms. It's running the official 4.4.2 kitkat as well as the bootloader installed from kies 3. Currenty I have a beta version of twrp installed that works with the 4.4 bootloader and I've tried a few different roms with varying issues. Is it just not possible to flash custom roms on this official bootloader currently?
The roms I've tried flashing to name two are Tweaked and W03's Slim. I've only done clean installs and even cleaned out all of the SD card / internal before attempting but the roms either won't boot, and the phone just heats up or loop endlessly. I made a nandroid backup of my stock rooted which I have no problem going back to after each unsuccessful attempt but I've yet to figure out why. If anyone has any tips or advice it's much appreciated.
peanutsrule said:
I'm unsure of what exactly is causing the problem but My T-Mo Galaxy Note 3(SM-900t. Hltetmo) is unable to successfully flash any custom roms. It's running the official 4.4.2 kitkat as well as the bootloader installed from kies 3. Currenty I have a beta version of twrp installed that works with the 4.4 bootloader and I've tried a few different roms with varying issues. Is it just not possible to flash custom roms on this official bootloader currently?
The roms I've tried flashing to name two are Tweaked and W03's Slim. I've only done clean installs and even cleaned out all of the SD card / internal before attempting but the roms either won't boot, and the phone just heats up or loop endlessly. I made a nandroid backup of my stock rooted which I have no problem going back to after each unsuccessful attempt but I've yet to figure out why. If anyone has any tips or advice it's much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tweaked is 4.3 the ROMs are not interchangable
TWEAKED 2.0 ELEMENT V3.0 NOTE 3
That would definitely explain it for tweaked, but Will's seems to be a kitkat 4.4.2 rom. I'm unable to get that one to work either when many seem to have no issue. Due to my post count I'm not able to directly ask in each of their threads so there's it's anything I can do I'm willing. I'll research if it's possible to downgrade back to 4.3 but from what I read already it doesn't look like it.
- Edit
After some research it looks like Will's is modded in some way to have kitkat's version with the 4.3 loader. So that would explain why I'm unable to flash that as well.
peanutsrule said:
That would definitely explain it for tweaked, but Will's seems to be a kitkat 4.4.2 rom. I'm unable to get that one to work either when many seem to have no issue. Due to my post count I'm not able to directly ask in each of their threads so there's it's anything I can do I'm willing. I'll research if it's possible to downgrade back to 4.3 but from what I read already it doesn't look like it.
- Edit
After some research it looks like Will's is modded in some way to have kitkat's version with the 4.3 loader. So that would explain why I'm unable to flash that as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They need different sections here for this. One for 4.3 another for 4.4.2.
TWEAKED 2.0 ELEMENT V3.0 NOTE 3
nsaveer composed
It would probably help sort out things a lot better, yeah. Shame.. I didn't think an update could possibly go this bad but lesson learned. If anything.. I've had zero problems with kitkat it actually does run better and smoother but the locked down issues are unacceptable with Knox.
peanutsrule said:
It would probably help sort out things a lot better, yeah. Shame.. I didn't think an update could possibly go this bad but lesson learned. If anything.. I've had zero problems with kitkat it actually does run better and smoother but the locked down issues are unacceptable with Knox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What lock down issue.
TWEAKED 2.0 ELEMENT V3.0 NOTE 3
From what I understand once updated to the official 4.4.2 kitkat the updated bootloader in 4.4 makes it so you can't downgrade. It's much more locked down compared to the official 4.3 JB. As such I'm stuck on 4.4. From my research there's only one model of the note 3 that can downgrade and it's the W8 model.
Hi,
I know this information is probably available somewhere, but I have spent hours of reading, and still having some trouble getting my head around things. So I will try to be clear here as to what my issues are.
Firstly... I have Samsung Galaxy S-III, SGH-i747M, with virgin mobile canada. It started with android 4.1.2. I wanted to unlock it, and there was a way to do it with 4.1.1 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2176719), so I used odin, with firmwares (found at SamMobile.com I think) to flash a 4.1.1 ROM, did the unlock procedure, and then used odin to flash stock firmware for 4.1.2 again. Seems to have all worked out ok.
Anyway, I want to try some custom roms, like cyanogenmod, as they are purported to improve battery life, speed, clearing off bloatware, giving me more control, etc.
However, I really want to maintain the ability to go back to how it is now, if I don't like the custom roms. (or if I need warranty help, though there's not much of that left).
The main thing that's concerning me is that while I was playing with this phone before, I read in a number of places that if I had updated to Android 4.3 or 4.4.2 when those had become available from my carrier, I would not have been able to downgrade to 4.1.1 (which I needed to be able to do to use the built-in unlock method). This is because of Knox, which would be installed, and gets "tripped." So now I'm scared: if I did that upgrade, I wouldn't have been able to revert; so now, if I flash a CGM ROM, will I also be unable to revert?
I think there are a few pieces of android to sort out in my mind... If I'm not mistaken, there's bootloader, there's recovery, and there's the ROM. Flashing a ROM with Odin apparently would restore recovery and the ROM? But not the bootloader (that's where knox is? though I still don't understand, if an upgrade can modify the bootloader and put knox there, where it wasn't before, shouldn't there be a way to put a pre-knox version back there?)
Oh, there's also EFS, which some say should be backed up before doing anything (though you need to root first, which in my mind counts as doing something before backing it up).
Anyway, please let me know if you can help clarify these issues, thanks!!
There is a lot to cover to address all that you bring up.
Regarding EFS, there are a number of ways to back it up. Use several. This thread is an excellent place to start for more info and several ways to make the backup. I was rooted, so I used A2 and B. I believe you can use A1 without being rooted, probably B as well. Long after that post was written wanam came out with two backup apps available in the PlayStore. One was specifically for EFS, but I do not think it is still supported. The other is a more comprehensive app, both require root.
As a rule, bootloaders and modems are not installed with custom ROMs. If you are flashing a stock ROM from these forums that is installed from within a custom recovery it probably does not install a bootloader and modem either, but read the relevant thread to be certain. Full stock ROMs flashed from with Odin, or Heimdall, almost certainly install a bootloader and modem.
Prior to 4.3 there was an ability to downgrade bootloaders and modems, nor were they required to match - be at the same version. Once you upgrade to the official 4.3 bootloader you can no longer downgrade it. Once you have upgraded to 4.4.x the bootloader and modem versions must always match. If they are mismatched you risk soft bricking your phone at a minimum. For the i747 there was an unofficial 4.3 release; ROM, bootloader, and modem. I do not recall seeing mention of an unofficial release for the i747M, so I will not go into the exceptions on the above the unofficial bootloader/modem introduced.
For TouchWiz ROMs, custom or stock, the bootloader (and modem) version should match or be more current than the ROM Android version. (One of the unofficial 4.3 release exceptions applies here, I make use of it.)
For CyanogenMod, CM based ROMs, AOSP ROMs, and their derivatives the bootloader and modem version can lag behind Android version of the ROM. With your 4.1.2 bootloader and modem you could run the earlier releases of 4.4.x CM and AOSP ROMs. Later in the 4.4.x development, around Oct or Nov 2014 IIRC, I began reading reports of needing to be on 4.3 or later, there were a few said the 4.1.2 firmware still worked for them. For the 5.x.x LP releases of CM and AOSP most report that they must be on a 4.4.x bootloader and modem.
Knox is in the ROM, not the bootloader and modem. It was introduced with the official 4.3 releases. It is not present in CM/AOSP nor most of the custom TW ROMs. It will be present in stock ROMs from official sources or sites like sammobile. Many of the stock ROM images/dumps have Knox disabled, especially those from enewman17, but read to make sure what you are getting.
I don't feel qualified to discuss tripping the Knox counter, I am still on the unofficial 4.3 bootloader, which has not kept me from running 4.4.x ROMs. I am not the only Luddite, but I feel we will all be updating bootloaders and modems due to the Stage Fright bug. I am long out of warranty so there is no loss.
ABOVE ALL, read thoroughly before taking any action. Keep in mind that I am on the i747 and not the i747M as you are, I am not be correct on all comments for your device. @audit13 should be able to clear any gaffs I have made.
@dawgdoc is correct about everything said.
It is not Knox that prevents downgrading from 4.3 to an earlier version, it is the code in the bootloader itself.
Ok, starting to feel a bit more comfortable with the whole system and relationships, thanks!
audit13 said:
@dawgdoc is correct about everything said.
It is not Knox that prevents downgrading from 4.3 to an earlier version, it is the code in the bootloader itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for verifying that. There could have easily been small, but very important, differences in the devices that had slipped my mind since I don't have the i747M.
This is the way xda should be. Good questions from a concerned user & great answers from @dawgdoc. Nice job guys!
canodroid15 said:
This is the way xda should be. Good questions from a concerned user & great answers from @dawgdoc. Nice job guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to extend similar praise and thanks to @mrrocketdog and @audit13
more uncertainty
Hi,
I'm a lot more experienced now, having rooted (I flashed root66_BMC_I747MVLDMF1 by MrRobinson, since CF-autoroot just made the phone show "booting recovery" then blank screen indefinitely), I backed up EFS by a couple methods, flashed TWRP, did a nandroid backup, and flashed a couple versions of CM. Still a few things I want to clarify though.
Unsurprisingly, after flashing the final CM 11 release, data did not work, as I'm still on the 4.1.2 (MF1) bootloader/modem. In general, I see a lot of posts simply saying "update the modem." From what you've said though, that will create problems, unless I update the bootloader as well, correct? Just feels like the phrase "update the modem" is said so casually, without also mentioning the bootloader, and the inability to go back.
(an older CM 11 worked with data just fine)
(a big issue is that S3 is over 3 years old, so there are over 3 years of posts, so there's a lot of conflicting information, likely due to different versions, new discoveries, etc. )
I'm not quite sure myself what I'm trying to ask, I guess it's something along the lines of "am I just being silly by not updating?" There are a lot of "Never update to 4.3 (or above) because of knox!" comments. But also in general, it seems the only real issue with knox is that warranty bit, otherwise it doesn't have too big an impact on our lives? Seems the consensus is that we can still root, install custom roms, and everything else. (Do you know if this remains true with latest bootloaders and modems (OB3 for i747M). There are also "My battery life became way worse after the upgrade" or "more FCs" or other issues, which is a significant concern if my phone which currently comfortably lasts a day starts to not last a day after updating. Though it's likely a small percent noting that, while the quieter majority are fine. Meanwhile, by not updating, we may be missing out on features and security improvements (and maybe actually improved performance). What do you guys think? (I know dawgdoc was sticking to an unofficial 4.3 rather than updating, so it's not an obvious choice).
As for updating, I think somewhere one of you suggested the better (or at least safer) way is to use odin to flash stock ROM, then do the OTA updates, or, directly flash the latest stock ROM, rather than trying to flash modems and bootloaders directly?
Once I have a 4.3 or 4.4.2 bootloader/modem, I can delete any old TWRP nandroid backups from when I had 4.1.2 since restoring them would cause a brick? Same for EFS backup (which backed up EFS, Modem, Modemst1, and Modemst2 partitions)
Thanks again!
I almost wish I'd just taken the blue pill at the start of all this
For XDA members that are new to rooting, flashing, etc., I always recommend the safest route which is to flash back to a completely stock ROM and just upgrade to the latest bootloader and modem via OTA updates. There's always a risk of something going wrong when flashing anything, be it a custom ROM, recovery, or OTA update.
If the phone still had warranty, I recommend not flashing any non-Samsung software until the warranty has expired. Once expired, flash away
Knox should not interfere with root if supersu is flashed from a custom recovery, regardless of the bootloader. I have used supersu to root the latest s3, s4, Note2, and Note3 ROMs without a problem.
Restoring old nandroid backups should not cause a brick as TWRP does not change the modem or bootloader.
sacrawfo said:
....Still a few things I want to clarify though.
Unsurprisingly, after flashing the final CM 11 release, data did not work, as I'm still on the 4.1.2 (MF1) bootloader/modem.....
(an older CM 11 worked with data just fine)
I'm not quite sure myself what I'm trying to ask, I guess it's something along the lines of "am I just being silly by not updating?" ....(I know dawgdoc was sticking to an unofficial 4.3 rather than updating, so it's not an obvious choice).
Once I have a 4.3 or 4.4.2 bootloader/modem, I can delete any old TWRP nandroid backups from when I had 4.1.2 since restoring them would cause a brick? Same for EFS backup (which backed up EFS, Modem, Modemst1, and Modemst2 partitions)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the change date for CM11 requiring the newer bootloaders, at least NE4, is Nov 2014. Releases prior to that date would run fine on older bootloaders.
I have since updated to NE4 in order to run ROMs patched with the StageFright fixes, specifically CM11 20150831. Knox isn't installed on this ROM or even the newer custom TouchWiz based ROMs. I am not concerned about Warranty Bit being triggered. My device is long past being covered by any warranty and I have no intentions of using Knox features on this phone in a corporate environment.
Keep the EFS backups, those are from partitions not changed by flashing roms; stock or otherwise.
Finally went through the OTA updates, surprised how long it took but all done, at OB3.
Ok makes sense, restoring an old Nandroid would effectively result in a 4.1.2 OS with a 4.4.2 bootloader/modem, which != brick.
Still surprised that modem updates do not effect the "modem" partition that EFS backup saved.
Thanks,
Restoring a nandroid backup should not brick the phone brick the phone as twrp does not restore the modem or bootloader.
sacrawfo said:
...
Still surprised that modem updates do not effect the "modem" partition that EFS backup saved.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are quite a few partitions not affected by flashing, not only the EFS partitions. IIRC there are secondary modem partitions, more than two extra bootloader partitions, etc.
How to downgrade from 4.4.1 OEM to 4.3? OEM, no rooting really needed, I tried to go to 4.1.1 first and then flash to 4.3 but it keeps the 4.4.1 bootloader so the charging does not work when the phone is off...
There were no responses for almost 3.5 months however I keep hoping!
I know Note 2 is almost antique, however need to downgrade 4.4.1 bootloader UCUCNJ1 to original 4.1.2 LJ2 or 4.3 as the latest. I was able to go down to 4.1.1 but bootloader remained the same new one. It's an older phone, so there should be a way to get this done.
Maybe there is a way to make bootloader UCUCNJ1 work properly with 4.1 or 4.3?
I believe the bootloader on the i317 is locked and cannot be downgraded unlike the i317m.
Thanks!
All I need is 4.1 or 4.3 even with late NJ1 bootloader I have, as long as the phone would charge while being off
Need SOME advise, there must be a way of doing this.
I know of no way to unlock the bootloader to downgrade it to 4.1 or 4.3.
This is the picture of the real phone, OS 4.1.2 with NE5, correct?
I'd be fine with late NJ1 bootloader working properly with OS 4.1....
I was able to go down to 4.1.1 using this method http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2618447 sadly NJ1 bootloader did not allow the phone to charge properly while off...
The phone can have a rom and bootloader that don't match but it is unlikely that an older rom will work properly with a newer bootloader.
Have you tried flashing the latest rom to see if that solves the issue? I don't have the 317, I have the 317m and I'm not sure if nj1 is the latest rom for the 317.
audit13 said:
The phone can have a rom and bootloader that don't match but it is unlikely that an older rom will work properly with a newer bootloader.
Have you tried flashing the latest rom to see if that solves the issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I'm back to 4.4.1 everything works as it should (charges while the phone is off without locking the phone up), but I NEED to downgrade to 4.1 or 4.3 as the latest. Getting down from 4.4 to 4.1 or 4.3 is the whole point. The phone is so old, it's hard to believe that my question does not have a positive answer
I see people downgrade from 4.3 bootloader down to 4.1 no problem http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2502464
I understand your frustration but 4.3 to 4.1 was possible, but 4.4.2 to 4.1 is not.
audit13 said:
I understand your frustration but 4.3 to 4.1 was possible, but 4.4.2 to 4.1 is not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4.4.2->4.3 would work for me - is it possible?
Downgrading the bootloader to 4.3 from 4.4.2 is not possible based on my everything I have read and heard. I have never come across a post to indicate that the downgrade was successful.
Being in Canada, the phone I had was the i317m which, if I recall correctly, did have a downgradable bootloader. It's been a couple of years since I had a Note 2.
So we can make it official: on AT&T SGH-I317 there is no way to downgrade Android 4.4.1 to any earlier version.
As far as I am aware, once the AT&T Note 2 is on stock 4.4.2, there is no way to downgrade everything to 4.3, although there may be ways to downgrade parts of ROM/modem to 4.3 but not the bootloader.