Database Users

Running rooted MF3, want to flash 4.3 GE

I have done a lot of reading about a lot of roms here at xda... I've flashed several roms on my s4 so far in the few months ive owned it.
Currently running scroslers mf3 from 7/15, rooted, with ktoonsez kernel, mdl baseband.
Trying to be sure I dont brick my phone, cuz I like it.
If I want to flash one of the 4.3GE roms in this forum, do I need to flash back to mdl rom before flashing 4.3? For example, kangabean 4.3 rom says to flash from mdl rom with mdl baseband... if not mdl, odin back to mdl, then flash 4.3GE. But other 4.3 roms don't say this.... since I read and re read kangabean about 10 times, im wondering why they say to start from mdl and other roms dont seem to say that?
Any wisdom you have on this would be appreciated...
For the record, running twrp 2.6 and I have loki-doki available and ready to flash as needed.
Thanks for your help.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

Any ROM you want to flash should have full instructions on how to flash it on the OP. I'd it does not, message the OP of the ROM to ask that they update their thread. Each ROM can and will have a different process.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Thanks for the reply... I have flashed lots of roms on various devices, but for some reason I thought I recently read something about bricking your device if you try and flash a rom after mf3.
I do appreciate your response and agree I will only flash a rom after clearly understanding each specific roms install instructions.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

dandroid7 said:
Thanks for the reply... I have flashed lots of roms on various devices, but for some reason I thought I recently read something about bricking your device if you try and flash a rom after mf3.
I do appreciate your response and agree I will only flash a rom after clearly understanding each specific roms install instructions.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is only with the official MF3 OTA update.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

I suspected that might be the case, but thought I'd ask just to be sure. Rather not brick my phone, this thing is amazing.
Thanks for the help.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

Questions about safestrap on MF3

Right now I am on MF3 (just got a replacement phone) and have it rooted with safestrap recovery installed. I'm on Graviton 1.6, root and all.
A couple of questions arise regarding the rom slots:
Can you install more than one rom at a time (and switch seamlessly if you're booting with a different rom slot)?
Can you install a different base (i.e. MDL) so I can install AOSP/CM 10.x?
Thanks in advance!
Sent from my SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Gfrt94yn said:
Right now I am on MF3 (just got a replacement phone) and have it rooted with safestrap recovery installed. I'm on Graviton 1.6, root and all.
A couple of questions arise regarding the rom slots:
Can you install more than one rom at a time (and switch seamlessly if you're booting with a different rom slot)?
Can you install a different base (i.e. MDL) so I can install AOSP/CM 10.x?
Thanks in advance!
Sent from my SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a few places you can read about that answer your question, here is the Q&A and here is the development thread. I'm fairly certain that you can ONLY use MF3 TW based ROMS, however some report that a few 4.2.2 ROMS like GPE Roms work. Yes you can switch seamless to another slot, I would suggest taking a look at the tread(s) since the OP's explain it better

Awesome, thanks for the links!
Sent from my SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

safestrap help! Please

Can someone help me understand why I'm not able to create a custom rom slot on safestrap..I was able to before don't know what happened.. Thanks please
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

@BxBrotha730 said:
Can someone help me understand why I'm not able to create a custom rom slot on safestrap..I was able to before don't know what happened.. Thanks please
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe cause your not reading. Questions go on the Q&A forum. You don't have enough space to create a ROM slot try deleting some stuff than try creating a ROM slot again.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

Thank u. that def worked.. I tried installing the omega ROM n then gaps.. both said successful install but when i boot up custom ROM I get just the blank screen.. I'm so close I think but can't nail it...n it's not just that I'm not reading.. I tried reading different things for 4days its just a lot o read through in order to find ur solution
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

@BxBrotha730 said:
Thank u. that def worked.. I tried installing the omega ROM n then gaps.. both said successful install but when i boot up custom ROM I get just the blank screen.. I'm so close I think but can't nail it...n it's not just that I'm not reading.. I tried reading different things for 4days its just a lot o read through in order to find ur solution
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.. No you aren't reading if you are trying to flash omega. Go back to the thread. Only certain Touch wiz based roms work, and only the 4.2.2 versions
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.

Believe me I am... Actually going back to read thru the massive pages there is... appreciate the response
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

TheEgonSpengler said:
.. No you aren't reading if you are trying to flash omega. Go back to the thread. Only certain Touch wiz based roms work, and only the 4.2.2 versions
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sucks , but i have stock 4.2.2 running through Safestrap...

TheEgonSpengler said:
.. No you aren't reading if you are trying to flash omega. Go back to the thread. Only certain Touch wiz based roms work, and only the 4.2.2 versions
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@BxBrotha730 said:
Believe me I am... Actually going back to read thru the massive pages there is... appreciate the response
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't have to be a touch wiz rom it only has to be 4.2.2. This why GPE version 4.2.2 works.
Are you sure you installed the 4.2.2 version of Omega?
The correct link to the working version of Omega can be found in the OP here.
Edit: Just looked at the link and it appears he pulled the 4.2.2 version of Omega. I know the 4.2.2 version works because I am running it.
May look through the Omega thread and see if you can find a link to the 4.2.2 version.

rayburne said:
It doesn't have to be a touch wiz rom it only has to be 4.2.2. This why GPE version 4.2.2 works.
Are you sure you installed the 4.2.2 version of Omega?
The correct link to the working version of Omega can be found in the OP here.
Edit: Just looked at the link and it appears he pulled the 4.2.2 version of Omega. I know the 4.2.2 version works because I am running it.
May look through the Omega thread and see if you can find a link to the 4.2.2 version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Per the post you linked in bold blue text : Also, at this time, only TW based ROMs will work with SS. CM, AOSP, AOKP, MIUI, etc will not work
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.

TheEgonSpengler said:
Per the post you linked in bold blue text : Also, at this time, only TW based ROMs will work with SS. CM, AOSP, AOKP, MIUI, etc will not work
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for catching that. You are correct. The one linked is for a TW version.
Thanks for correcting me however Omega for the I9505 is TW based and works.

rayburne said:
It doesn't have to be a touch wiz rom it only has to be 4.2.2. This why GPE version 4.2.2 works.
Are you sure you installed the 4.2.2 version of Omega?
The correct link to the working version of Omega can be found in the OP here.
Edit: Just looked at the link and it appears he pulled the 4.2.2 version of Omega. I know the 4.2.2 version works because I am running it.
May look through the Omega thread and see if you can find a link to the 4.2.2 version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what I did wrong.. Downloaded wrong omega file
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

Just a careful issue, as it appears to be possible to ensnare yourself in a situation only a authorized retailer like Best buy can get you out of.
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.

TheEgonSpengler said:
Just a careful issue, as it appears to be possible to ensnare yourself in a situation only a authorized retailer like Best buy can get you out of.
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need for Best Buy anymore as the MF3 ODIN files have been released.
Matter of fact people are flashing over their MF3 stock slots now with Safestrap since this is now released and you can recover back to MF3 without Best Buy.

Can you still get to flash mode? Thought it went to the dreaded contact ATT boot screen.
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.

As long as you can get into download/odin mode you should be able to recover.
Lot's of people have recovered the MF3 devices without going to best buy.
If you can't get into download mode, I'm not even sure if BB would be able to flash the phone to recover.

[Q] Custom Rom Help

Hello all, long time lurker here with a couple if questions. Not new to rooting: I've rooted an HTC Inspire, HTC One X, and finally this bad boy. This is definitely a different experience and there seems to be a lot of info that developers assume you know but even after reading everything recommended I still feel very confused. I am on the MDL baseband, rooted and flashed with the 4.3 GPE version which I think was pulled from a nexus variant. Here are my questions:
1) Are there any stock, rooted, Touch Wiz ROMs with the AT and T bloat removed?
2) What does Loki do, and if not explicitly stated that it's used in a ROM, do I install it before flashing the ROM or after?
Sent from my SGH-1337 using xda app-developers app

There's plenty, and you can flash ROMs from any S4 variant though you might need to flash an at&t kernel. Loki is our method to bypass the locked bootloader, and if you flash a ROM without it then it won't boot.
Sent from my SGH-I337 running Blackbox 3.0

Thanks for the reply! I can't seem to find any ROMs in the Android Development forum that are described as such.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app

1.) Check out Shostock. It's built from stock source and works very well. It is pretty close to what you are looking for.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I like iB's GoldenEye rom. Has zip to delete bloat. You can open zip and delete lines you don't want deleted. IE I delete S-Memo from script so it doesn't delete it from rom. Perfect rom for me, good battery life also. Very smooth.

Can I flash nc4, nc8, nc9, etc. Roms over a nb1 ROM?

In the Att all thing mk2 nb1 section it has all this ROMs that are all 4.4.2 based but I wasn't sure if they would work and could be flashed over a nb1 ROM in another slot
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

jsimsfour said:
In the Att all thing mk2 nb1 section it has all this ROMs that are all 4.4.2 based but I wasn't sure if they would work and could be flashed over a nb1 ROM in another slot
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be on this forum and understand your phone you got to do some reading. This question has been made hundred of times. When i join this forum they would be really nasty for asking the same question over and over.
I will give you an answer anyway.
Since you have one of the latest builds. AT&T has locked the bootloader which makes very hard the process of rooting and installing custom roms. In other words you can only flash TW roms.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

netomel said:
To be on this forum and understand your phone you got to do some reading. This question has been made hundred of times. When i join this forum they would be really nasty for asking the same question over and over.
I will give you an answer anyway.
Since you have one of the latest builds. AT&T has locked the bootloader which makes very hard the process of rooting and installing custom roms. In other words you can only flash TW roms.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i knew that nb1, mk2, and mf3, all have lock bootloaders which mean i can only flash tw based roms. I was asking if the others like nc8 nc9 build numbers are like variants of nb1 or something like that since they are listed under 4.4.2 tw based roms. now im thinking that those are for people who had what ever build came before mf3 that can use loki to flash the latest roms.lease tell me if im wrong.

jsimsfour said:
Yes i knew that nb1, mk2, and mf3, all have lock bootloaders which mean i can only flash tw based roms. I was asking if the others like nc8 nc9 build numbers are like variants of nb1 or something like that since they are listed under 4.4.2 tw based roms. now im thinking that those are for people who had what ever build came before mf3 that can use loki to flash the latest roms.lease tell me if im wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can flash any build that is the same android version. The only thing that people with Loki get are AOSP ROMs. Other bases like nc9 and others are still Touchwiz.
Sent from my SGH-I337 running BlackBox 3.0

DeadlySin9 said:
You can flash any build that is the same android version. The only thing that people with Loki get are AOSP ROMs. Other bases like nc9 and others are still Touchwiz.
Sent from my SGH-I337 running BlackBox 3.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK and if a rom has I9505 for the model of the s4 I can flash that from as long as it to based and I flash the 1337 kernel ?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

jsimsfour said:
OK and if a rom has I9505 for the model of the s4 I can flash that from as long as it to based and I flash the 1337 kernel ?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Any Touchwiz ROM from any S4 except the 8 core I9500 will work.