I rooted my SGS4 when I got it, and has TWRP 2.5.0.0. I've been steadily bothered for the MF9 update for several months.
I followed several forums and flashed a couple of zips per some recommendations and at some point the update notification went away and then came back.
Frustrated, I put this on hold for a bunch of months, as I needed my phone for work and couldn't risk bricking it.
All I need is some help recommending procedures flashing all the most recent updates as I've had some LOS issues and its making it an annoyance even to use navigation.
I'm making a complete TWRP backup of all partitions and I just need to know where to go from here
If you want to skip all the hassles just odin directly to the latest MJA firmware. You can download the full MJA tar file from sammobile.com and install it through odin. You may or may not have to factory reset to do this. I did not have to. Once on MJA, you can not odin older firmwares so make sure you want to upgrade. Personally, I have found MJA to be the best and smoothest build yet, but others have had problems. Another thing to consider is with the MJA build, Samsung instituted a Knox warranty flag in the bootloader so if you root MJA it will trip the warranty flag. This may prevent you from getting warranty service from Samsung, if you have Assurian, TEP or other phone insurance programs this won't be a problem. Before you root MJA, you will want to OTA the newest software which is MK2. There currently is not a tar file available since it was just released. After you are all updated, cf-autoroot does work. Again, if you root the newest software, it will trip the knox warranty flag.
cruise350 said:
If you want to skip all the hassles just odin directly to the latest MJA firmware. You can download the full MJA tar file from sammobile.com and install it through odin. You may or may not have to factory reset to do this. I did not have to. Once on MJA, you can not odin older firmwares so make sure you want to upgrade. Personally, I have found MJA to be the best and smoothest build yet, but others have had problems. Another thing to consider is with the MJA build, Samsung instituted a Knox warranty flag in the bootloader so if you root MJA it will trip the warranty flag. This may prevent you from getting warranty service from Samsung, if you have Assurian, TEP or other phone insurance programs this won't be a problem. Before you root MJA, you will want to OTA the newest software which is MK2. There currently is not a tar file available since it was just released. After you are all updated, cf-autoroot does work. Again, if you root the newest software, it will trip the knox warranty flag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do like to have root for a variety of reasons, but the most glaring is just doing simple backups and restores with TB.
I'm not too worried about warranty - if I did get one, I would probably do Asurion anyway.
So if I got this right:
Odin flash MJA build
OTA MK2 software
CF-Autoroot (which I'm assuming works fine with an L720)
Back in business
Sound ok? (thank you for answering btw)
That looks correct. I would avoid doing restores using TWRP with MJA. A lot of people have reported problems. Philz' s recovery has just been updated and may be the best recovery for now. If you use twrp, use the latest version which is 2.6.3.0 I believe. Titanium Backup was updated and now works great with MJA.
cruise350 said:
That looks correct. I would avoid doing restores using TWRP with MJA. A lot of people have reported problems. Philz' s recovery has just been updated and may be the best recovery for now. If you use twrp, use the latest version which is 2.6.3.0 I believe. Titanium Backup was updated and now works great with MJA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
downloading SPR-L720VPUEMJA-20131030154609.zip
Sorry one more thing - should I update my TWRP Recovery or to Philz before Odin-flashing new FW or does it not matter?
RucanorX said:
downloading SPR-L720VPUEMJA-20131030154609.zip
Sorry one more thing - should I update my TWRP Recovery or to Philz before Odin-flashing new FW or does it not matter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install recovery after installing mja tar and upgrading to mk2, then root.
Related
I want to know if this is correct,I am on Stock(MDL) with Recovery and Root. If do Flash the latest OTA Firmware to MF3(from AT&T) I can not go back to my Original MDL with the Odin and the Stock.tar file? Also if I do try some of the Custom ROMs now coming out now going from my Present Stock MDL will I or won't I be able to get back to MDL Stock with Odin? One last question,once I am on mF3 no matter if it Stock or Custom my MDL Nandroids are useless?
Thanks
RonH54 said:
I want to know if this is correct,I am on Stock(MDL) with Recovery and Root. If do Flash the latest OTA Firmware to MF3(from AT&T) I can not go back to my Original MDL with the Odin and the Stock.tar file? Also if I do try some of the Custom ROMs now coming out now going from my Present Stock MDL will I or won't I be able to get back to MDL Stock with Odin? One last question,once I am on mF3 no matter if it Stock or Custom my MDL Nandroids are useless?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread should help answer your questions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357039
scott14719 said:
This thread should help answer your questions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357039
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
scott14719 said:
This thread should help answer your questions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357039
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=43512474
RonH54 said:
I want to know if this is correct,I am on Stock(MDL) with Recovery and Root. If do Flash the latest OTA Firmware to MF3(from AT&T) I can not go back to my Original MDL with the Odin and the Stock.tar file? Also if I do try some of the Custom ROMs now coming out now going from my Present Stock MDL will I or won't I be able to get back to MDL Stock with Odin? One last question,once I am on mF3 no matter if it Stock or Custom my MDL Nandroids are useless?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) To flash the latest OTA you will need to get back to stock (lose recovery and root) or it will not let you update. See next 2 posts for the possibility of "temp-unrooting" in order to update to the MF3 OTA and regain root access.
2) At this point, once you go to MF3, you cannot downgrade to MDB or MDL. Maybe someone will find a way around this in the future.
3) If you stay on MDL and then try some custom ROMs, you can always go back to MDL (fully stock) if you follow the correct procedure. Since you are already rooted with custom recovery, you will have to do this same process if you decide to go to MF3 (as mentioned in #1 above).
The process is outlined here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573
You will probably need to perform a data wipe as well in order to be fully stock.
4) Your MDL Nandroids might contain information that you can extract at a later date to help with some issues...but generally they will not help you very much. Since you cannot go back to MDL (at least for now), you cannot restore your phone from that backup.
jeffreii said:
1) To flash the latest OTA you will need to get back to stock (lose recovery and root) or it will not let you update.
2) At this point, once you go to MF3, you cannot downgrade to MDB or MDL. Maybe someone will find a way around this in the future.
3) If you stay on MDL and then try some custom ROMs, you can always go back to MDL (fully stock) if you follow the correct procedure. Since you are already rooted with custom recovery, you will have to do this same process if you decide to go to MF3 (as mentioned in #1 above).
The process is outlined here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573
You will probably need to perform a data wipe as well in order to be fully stock.
4) Your MDL Nandroids might contain information that you can extract at a later date to help with some issues...but generally they will not help you very much. Since you cannot go back to MDL (at least for now), you cannot restore your phone from that backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. I flashed the OTA while keeping and retaining root with VooDoo Root Keeper (not even temp-unrooting). The custom recovery part is accurate. Also, there are MF3 ROM's out now that are working great. No need to take the OTA at this point unless you'll never explore any further than stock.
The key to successfully retaining root is to have had a full backup made right after gaining root access, restoring that backup, using VooDoo Root Keeper (some people had success with Pro-SuperSU's Root Survival Mode) to backup root, and take the OTA. After everything is said and done you'll be rebooting and restoring root with VooDoo.
Delakit said:
Not true. I flashed the OTA while keeping and retaining root with VooDoo Root Keeper (not even temp-unrooting). The custom recovery part is accurate. Also, there are MF3 ROM's out now that are working great. No need to take the OTA at this point unless you'll never explore any further than stock.
The key to successfully retaining root is to have had a full backup made right after gaining root access, restoring that backup, using VooDoo Root Keeper (some people had success with Pro-SuperSU's Root Survival Mode) to backup root, and take the OTA. After everything is said and done you'll be rebooting and restoring root with VooDoo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right that I forgot to offer the advice about using Voodoo to preserve root (if he wants to). I should have included that...so thank you - I will update my post.
However, it is true that you need to convince the OTA update that you are not rooted in order to proceed. Whether you actually unroot or use the "temp unroot" option in Voodoo, it's the same premise. You are losing root, whether temporarily or permanently, in order for it to work.
The caveat here, that should also be mentioned, is that others have reported mixed success when using Voodoo to preserve root through the MF3 OTA. It is definitely possible, but we don't seem to be 100% sure on exactly what conditions must exist for it to work. Some have tried the method and found up on MF3 without root, and no way to gain root or downgrade. Whether or not that is user error or some parameter that we missed, we don't know yet.
Also, note that if you do successfully preserve root after the MF3 OTA, if you ever lose it for any reason...there is currently no way to regain it. You will be stuck on MF3 without root.
Hello,
This is will be my first XDA post ever since I always fix the most "brickiest" problems with all the Android based devices I have ever owned but not this time.
My Galaxy S4 has been updated to the latest MJA OTA (with successful CF root) and I have attempted to re-mod the hotspot service but this caused the annoying knox message to show. When attempting to restore the JAR and ODEX files, I think I have either overwritten the files in the incorrect order (ODEX -> JAR) and the phone rebooted as FX was trying to do that. So services.odex got corrupted and it was time for my to ODIN flash the MDC full stock rom as that USED to be my solution until Samsung's brand new knox protected bootloader. ODIN is not an option for me now, since the bootloader will prevent me flashing things like the pit, aboot and probably most of the other files inside the tarball. I can flash custom recovery and the MDC kernel successfully and that's about it. With custom recovery I have flashed rooted MF8 for the base operating system, and they applied the rooted MJA rom on top. The phone shows the S4 branding but then it reboots; It cannot boot into the operating system. I do not know the condition of the flash counter atm since I cannot check that in TriangleAway but it will stay "Official" under download mode, I think. I also do not know the versions of the firmware installed either in case something from MDC tar had an succession in replace some of the partitions. I am pretty sure the kernel however is still at MDC while I managed to install the system image of the MJA stock rom.
So my question is, what can I do bring back the working MJA stock rom image (/system and kernel) using TWRP recovery? Else I will have to go to Sprint and saying that the update from OTA has bricked my phone and that I have no idea how phones work.
Thank you.
45553543 450
Sorry, I forgot to add that I know that once you have MJA flashed, you cannot downgrade back unless of course someone figured out how to disable all the bootloader security but I really do not see that happening.
Fixed my own problem. Downloaded the official MJA stock tar.md5 rom from sammobile and flashed it, and managed to restore all my data using Titanium backup. This thread can be now closed.
Hello everybody im in a little bit of a crisis.
I tried to update my modem to MK2 and I used odin to do so. It turns out that it failed for some reason.
After that whenever I boot my phone it gives me a black screen and says Firmware Upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies and try again.
After that I followed this youtube video right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1jyZ5QafAQ and downloaded this file to go back to stock: http://downloadandroidfiles.org/download-l720vpuamdc_l720sptamdc_spr-zip/
But yet it still gave me a Fail in odin. Any help would be appreciated as I am Freaking out right now
Here is the message log directly from odin when it starts
Firmware update starts
aboot.mbn
NAND write start
Complete(Write) Operation Failed
I switched USB ports now Odin is saying there is no PIT partition
88exp88 said:
Hello everybody im in a little bit of a crisis.
I tried to update my modem to MK2 and I used odin to do so. It turns out that it failed for some reason.
After that whenever I boot my phone it gives me a black screen and says Firmware Upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies and try again.
After that I followed this youtube video right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1jyZ5QafAQ and downloaded this file to go back to stock: http://downloadandroidfiles.org/download-l720vpuamdc_l720sptamdc_spr-zip/
But yet it still gave me a Fail in odin. Any help would be appreciated as I am Freaking out right now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your on MJA/MK2 firmware (bootloader) you cannot go back to MDC (the file you showed).
Also did you run PC Odin 'As Administrator'?
You can find the link to the MK2 here.
leaderbuilder said:
If your on MJA/MK2 firmware (bootloader) you cannot go back to MDC (the file you showed).
Also did you run PC Odin 'As Administrator'?
You can find the link to the MK2 here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on MDC bootloader. What I did was download the tar file from stockroms.net for MDC. And I ran the 3.07 odin as adimistrator and it worked. Thank you cause I think that it was me not clicking run as administrator. Another question: Is it worth upgrading to MK2 if I wanna root again or should I just keep MK2. I have the geeksquad warrenty from bestbuy so it shouldn't matter if it trips the knox flag because I give them rooted phones all the time.
88exp88 said:
I am on MDC bootloader. What I did was download the tar file from stockroms.net for MDC. And I ran the 3.07 odin as adimistrator and it worked. Thank you cause I think that it was me not clicking run as administrator. Another question: Is it worth upgrading to MK2 if I wanna root again or should I just keep MK2. I have the geeksquad warrenty from bestbuy so it shouldn't matter if it trips the knox flag because I give them rooted phones all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't update to the knox bootloader (take the OTA or flash the full .tar) but that's me, for now.
Since you're on the earlier bootloader you can still update to any number of ROMs that have the knox bootloader removed.
Also I would definitely update the modem firmware - Unknownforce has a thread for that here.
Spend some time and read and you'll find loads of stuff you can do.
Good luck.
leaderbuilder said:
I wouldn't update to the knox bootloader (take the OTA or flash the full .tar) but that's me, for now.
Since you're on the earlier bootloader you can still update to any number of ROMs that have the knox bootloader removed.
Also I would definitely update the modem firmware - Unknownforce has a thread for that here.
Spend some time and read and you'll find loads of stuff you can do.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I can use the files http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2338919 in odin to update. Also since I am on mdc could I just use the latest in odin or do I have to go incrementaly.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
If you truly are on MDC and did not trip the knox bootloader you can Odin back to stock MDC. That will wipe the phone completely, giving you an all MDC phone - bootloader, recovery (stock), kernel, modem and ROM.
But I would just jump to MF9. It was the last official without the Knox bootloader. You can grab that here.
This is the FULL system tar. All stock, kernel, recovery, ROM Modem.
Extract the .tar.md5 and place that in the PDA slot and that's it. Make sure you don't check 'repartition'!.
Then use CF-Autoroot to root and again be careful NOT to check anything like repartition etc.
Once rooted you can then open up supersu, update the binaries. Go to playstore and download GooManager. User that to install custom recovery and then you can flash away.
I do suggest you spend some time here reading a whole bunch. You'll learn a lot about these methods and how and what you can do.
Good luck.
leaderbuilder said:
If you truly are on MDC and did not trip the knox bootloader you can Odin back to stock MDC. That will wipe the phone completely, giving you an all MDC phone - bootloader, recovery (stock), kernel, modem and ROM.
But I would just jump to MF9. It was the last official without the Knox bootloader. You can grab that here.
This is the FULL system tar. All stock, kernel, recovery, ROM Modem.
Extract the .tar.md5 and place that in the PDA slot and that's it. Make sure you don't check 'repartition'!.
Then use CF-Autoroot to root and again be careful NOT to check anything like repartition etc.
Once rooted you can then open up supersu, update the binaries. Go to playstore and download GooManager. User that to install custom recovery and then you can flash away.
I do suggest you spend some time here reading a whole bunch. You'll learn a lot about these methods and how and what you can do.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man, just wanted to say thanks for continuing your tradition of quality posting. It is responses like this that made the E4GT forums such a great place to be.
leaderbuilder said:
If you truly are on MDC and did not trip the knox bootloader you can Odin back to stock MDC. That will wipe the phone completely, giving you an all MDC phone - bootloader, recovery (stock), kernel, modem and ROM.
But I would just jump to MF9. It was the last official without the Knox bootloader. You can grab that here.
This is the FULL system tar. All stock, kernel, recovery, ROM Modem.
Extract the .tar.md5 and place that in the PDA slot and that's it. Make sure you don't check 'repartition'!.
Then use CF-Autoroot to root and again be careful NOT to check anything like repartition etc.
Once rooted you can then open up supersu, update the binaries. Go to playstore and download GooManager. User that to install custom recovery and then you can flash away.
I do suggest you spend some time here reading a whole bunch. You'll learn a lot about these methods and how and what you can do.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I have upgraded to MF9 now should I use Unkown Forces links: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2338919 to upgrade the firmware and modem?
And when I try to root with CF auto root on MF9 it fails on complete write operation failed.
Strike that its all good
If you're on MF9 full rooted you can update your firmware/modem following Unknownforce's instructions.
HOWEVER PLEASE take heed about the MJA(MK2 too) Notes: ...
some people report better success with turning Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time unchecked. Do the same flash, but when you see PASS on Odin, unplug the phone and Hold the Power key for 10 seconds to reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And read through the whole post not just the OP. Some people had to flash it a few times to get it to show up (in system info) properly - mainly because they didn't follow directions precisely and skipped the note part on MJA/MK2.
Since you're now on MF9 fully rooted (stock) you can install yourself a custom recovery (Philz or TWRP - the latest Philz;philz_touch_6.08.9-jfltespr, seems to be the most reliable for now) and flash some ROMs. Virtually all of the 4.3/4.4 ROMs require the MK2 modem so know that too.
One thing I would highly recommend is to spend some time reading through the sections to get a clearer understanding of how this device behaves vs others (HTC, Moto etc.). Every device has it's peculiarities and caveats and not paying attention to them could ruin you day.
i have a different problem. i think my sprint sph-l720 bricked because my screen is stuck on kernel is not seandroid enforcing and it also says set warrant bit: kernel. need help as soon as possible
Tonymontana2421 said:
i have a different problem. i think my sprint sph-l720 bricked because my screen is stuck on kernel is not seandroid enforcing and it also says set warrant bit: kernel. need help as soon as possible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People need to know the difference between soft bricked and hard bricked. Most say bricked and they mean soft. Hard is nearly impossible to get the phone back up and running. I have that same problem when I try to install a kernel. You need to reflash a ROM.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
daniel4653 said:
People need to know the difference between soft bricked and hard bricked. Most say bricked and they mean soft. Hard is nearly impossible to get the phone back up and running. I have that same problem when I try to install a kernel. You need to reflash a ROM.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you tell me which rom i need to flash because i cant figure out what rom i need to use in odin
Hello all, I rooted my wife's phone when it first came out and told her not to take any updates.
Well She's still on 4.2.2, software/baseband L720VPUAMDL and want to know what is the best route to get her updated to the latest while staying rooted?
Im not to used to Samsungs and its been a while since I attacked anything samsung related and am currently searching to get me familiarized again. :good:
Best way is back everything up, Odin the NAE .tar file, let the phone take the NG2 OTA, then reroot and restore.
Would I need to unroot first or can I simply run the latest update?
You would have to unroot in order to accept an OTA update. And if you have removed any bloatware, it will still probably fail unfortunately.
ok thank you. now to find the files and see if the drivers are still installed.
There are no issues rooting the latest update correct?
You can go to sammobile.com to get the NAE firmware.
The only method that doesn't work to root the latest version (NG2) is Towelroot. The other methods still work.
Don't download the NAE tar from samobile, the speeds are horrible. Get it from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2663619
Mulitpart question. I have a L720, rooted. I wanted to install Philz and the OTA update. Here is my question. Can I install Philz (and then backup), unroot, install the OTA and then root again? Will Philz affect the OTA install or unrooting, etc? I haven't seen any questions that specifically address these series of steps.
Thanks
You have complicated questions so i don't understand you... But you may want to unroot and take NG2 update.
You have to be official in your Android and your recovery then after that you can take the NG2.
I flashed the stock NAE tar file 2 times until all became official then i could take NG2.
anees02 said:
You have complicated questions so i don't understand you... But you may want to unroot and take NG2 update.
You have to be official in your Android and your recovery then after that you can take the NG2.
I flashed the stock NAE tar file 2 times until all became official then i could take NG2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was trying to figure out how to backup my phone before unrooting and installing the OTA. I ended up backing up using Titanium Backup. I'll try unrooting and then installing. Thanks