Database Users

[Q] Pure Google Play Edition 9505G ROM for T-Mobile M919

Cross-posting here hoping this is a more appropriate place to ask the questions.
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Now that both Android 4.3 has been released as an OTA update and official Kernel have been posted by Samsung, I am thinking about turning my T-Mobile S4 into the 9505G (until T-Mobile releases the firmware update). I have a few questions:
- Is it safe to install the stock 9505G ROM on the M919? Do I have to worry about basebands/modems? What about the kernel? Will the new stock kernel work?
- Where do I find the latest and purest GPE 4.3 ROM? Most stock-based ROMs here are either old (not the latest) or have been modified in one way or another? Is there a link to the source?
Thanks in advance.

ferganer said:
Cross-posting here hoping this is a more appropriate place to ask the questions.
=====
Now that both Android 4.3 has been released as an OTA update and official Kernel have been posted by Samsung, I am thinking about turning my T-Mobile S4 into the 9505G (until T-Mobile releases the firmware update). I have a few questions:
- Is it safe to install the stock 9505G ROM on the M919? Do I have to worry about basebands/modems? What about the kernel? Will the new stock kernel work?
- Where do I find the latest and purest GPE 4.3 ROM? Most stock-based ROMs here are either old (not the latest) or have been modified in one way or another? Is there a link to the source?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever get any type of answer to this question? I am looking for the same thing. I am running a Google Edition ROM but it has a lot of tweaks that I'd rather not have. I want the closest possible thing to what you buy off the Play store.

kas21 said:
Did you ever get any type of answer to this question? I am looking for the same thing. I am running a Google Edition ROM but it has a lot of tweaks that I'd rather not have. I want the closest possible thing to what you buy off the Play store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am currently using this (v1.2):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2352258
Aside from a few removed apps, it's probably very close to the stock ROM. I've also odexed the ROM. Great ROM overall.
There is also this ROM, which seems to be close to the stock:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2395030

What ROMs can I flash, and how?

I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 AT&T. An I337 with a locked bootloader. It is running Android 4.3 after I followed the downgrage guide from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=50667360
So I am running a baseband version of NB1, and a build number of MK2. Everything I read says to then install Safestrap, and then flash a specific ROM that works with Safe Strap. However, under the Android Original Development, there are a bunch of ROMs that don't need safe strap and it seems like flashing regular ROMs. Why does everything I read state that I can only flash ROMs that work with Safe strap? Do the ROMs listed under Android Original Development all work with Safe Strap? I am very confused here.

More than likely NOTHING in the "Android ORIGINAL development" thread will work for you, and won't work on safestrap. Those are for those of us who got the phone when it came with MDB or MDL Firmwares that were able to use the Loki boot loader bypass. Which in turn let us use CWM or TWRP Custom recoveries. Also allowed us to flash kernels, which most if not all in the ORIGINAL development section will do/need to work.
For you on MK2/ NB1/NC1 you can ONLY use safestrap and its recovery. You CANNOT flash CWM or TWRP. You CANNOT flash kernels. So you need Roms that use the stock kernel. MANY ROM in the " Android Development" forum do work with safestrap. But do your research first. This means ONLY Touchwiz based Roms and possibly the GPE based ROM/s.
So NO Cyanogenmod, AOKP, or Other AOSP based Roms will work for you.

RockRatt said:
More than likely NOTHING in the "Android ORIGINAL development" thread will work for you, and won't work on safestrap. Those are for those of us who got the phone when it came with MDB or MDL Firmwares that were able to use the Loki boot loader bypass. Which in turn let us use CWM or TWRP Custom recoveries. Also allowed us to flash kernels, which most if not all in the ORIGINAL development section will do/need to work.
For you on MK2/ NB1/NC1 you can ONLY use safestrap and its recovery. You CANNOT flash CWM or TWRP. You CANNOT flash kernels. So you need Roms that use the stock kernel. MANY ROM in the " Android Development" forum do work with safestrap. But do your research first. This means ONLY Touchwiz based Roms and possibly the GPE based ROM/s.
So NO Cyanogenmod, AOKP, or Other AOSP based Roms will work for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much, that is all I needed to know.

If you haven't and want more info read up in these two threads:
[Index] All Things ATT, MK2 etc in General Section
HashCodes SafeStrap thread in Development Section
:good:

[Q] Recommend STABLE Sprint KitKat 4.4.2 NAE ROM?

In my years of rooted phones (Galaxy S2 E4GT, Galaxy S4 (destroyed USB port), Galaxy S4 #2... neither of the S4's have Spark), I have always stuck with stock rooted ROMs. My Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 is currently on NAE stock rooted TouchWiz with the MF9 bootloader (no-Knox). I have developed a strange issue with loosing my mobile connection and GPS, referenced here: [Q] NAE started loosing mobile connection & GPS? and here: [Q] Loosing mobile connection & GPS. The best suggestion I feel I have received to deal with my issue is to flash a 4.4.2 NAE ROM that already has the Knox removed from it, which means looking for a non-stock ROM, so I am looking for recommendations...
My main priority is STABILITY over bells and whistles. I would prefer a TouchWiz based ROM, because I like the interface, however the only 4.4.2 NAE TouchWiz ROM I find is Negalite WondeROM X, and the developer of that ROM has not posted here since April, so it appears to be abandoned. Also, I'm not so keen on being stuck with a blue theme anyways.
That then leaves me with AOSP ROMs I believe. It occurs to me that because I'm use Nova Launcher, assuming that works under AOSP, rather than the TouchWiz launcher, my interface isn't going to change anyway, correct?
I would prefer to be able to use the KT-SGS4 kernel, only because I like it. I prefer to be able to make choice for myself than to have choices made for me (I might not prefer a ROM that removes a lot of bloatware if I don't consider some of it bloatware, or forces me into a certain color scheme, for example).
So any recommendations for AOSP ROMs that fit my needs? I haven't even started looking yet, but thought I'd throw this out there. CyanogenMod certainly seems to be the most well know ROM (and that is AOSP, correct?), but to my way of thinking, any ROM that needs nightly updates must have a lot of issues that need fixing (correct me if I am wrong about that... and I'm not the nightly flashing type anyways). I have always stuck stock rooted to avoid problems, so I DON'T want flash a ROM that will CAUSE problems! Thanks!

Well... I don't seem to be getting much (ANY) response to this. Having looked around myself, I am finding it difficult just finding ANY 4.4.2 ROMs, everything seems to have gone on to 4.4.4. My reason for AVOIDING 4.4.4 at this point is that 4.4.2 is still the official release level for my phone, plus the ext sd card issues I've heard about (which may or may not be an issue). SO... ARE THERE ANY VALID 4.4.2 NAE CUSTOM ROMs to flash? At least tell me that. I still strongly dislike ANYTHING that has NIGHTLY updates. Thanks.

Previous versions are Nae based newest 2.0 version is ng2 based
[ROM][NAE/NG2][TW 4.4] [TEAM ACHERON] SuperS4 [ODEXED] UPDATED 8-22-14
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773162

pontif said:
Previous versions are Nae based newest 2.0 version is ng2 based
[ROM][NAE/NG2][TW 4.4] [TEAM ACHERON] SuperS4 [ODEXED] UPDATED 8-22-14
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773162
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, but I'm figuring since my phone hasn't officially received a NG2 update yet (unless I am missing something... I think the Spark version has), I don't want to make that jump yet (stupid or not...)

rsngfrce said:
I know that, but I'm figuring since my phone hasn't officially received a NG2 update yet (unless I am missing something... I think the Spark version has), I don't want to make that jump yet (stupid or not...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the older version 1.6 it's nae based. The link is in the OP for older versions. You don't have to take the leap.

Well, right now, based on what I have found, or based on recommendations, these seem to be my options:
[ROM][NAE][4.4.2] Negalite WondeROM X | Aroma | Xposed | Performance | Kernel | 04-11
[ROM][NAE/NG2][TW 4.4] [TEAM ACHERON] SuperS4 [ODEXED] UPDATED 8-22-14 (older version 1.6)
[ROM] ***Sacs_Custom_Rom_4.4.2_KITKAT_v6*** (I am still really not clear at all what the features of this ROM are).
[ROM][Official][4.4.2] SlimKat Stable 3.0 (older 4.4.2 NAE version, BUT I cannot find 4.4.2 NAE gapps on their site anywhere).
Does anybody have any opinions?

Hey man. I was sort of in the same boat as you. Years of flashing but prefer stock for stability. Lately my s4 felt not only sluggish, but there have been odd jitters in audio, terrible battery life when I'm actually using it very little. So I decided to install CM in a whim.
Last I used CM it was trash. The rom was absurdly unstable and it was just a bad experience, however, with over a year on the market I thought that the S4 version might have changed and be better. And change it did. This rom is better, more stable, absurdly faster, and to top it off battery has improved about 30%. Maybe even more. The system settings are not only extremely decluttered and well laid out, but it also has lots of features that I used apps for, such as NFC profiles baked into the OS.
As for the nightly, I strongly recommend against flashing them, pick the "Stable" version of the rom, the "Milestone" build. Also, CM unified all S4s to 1 master build so our device would be this: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Jflte_Info That's great news as that means that all of the resources have been focused on one rom and it works very well. No issues with any radios, GPS, BT, WiFi, they all switch on faster than they did on the stock s4 build and GPS locks fast. Everything for me is working perfectly after a week. I advice you flash stock, root, then you flash a recovery(I used TWRP) and do a full wipe, flash the latest CM M build and see for yourself. I'm thoroughly impressed with the ROM, I'm sure you will be too.

Thanks very much for the informative post! I will have to give CM a look as you suggest. :thumbup:

Safestrap ROM Development

Forgive me, but I unable to find this information anywhere, so I am now asking:
How can one turn a ROM into a Safestrap ROM? For example, it would be great to have a Safestrap-compatible Cyanogenmod, but perhaps this is not possible. XDA developers, please share your knowledge and insight on this and thank you.

There's no such thing as a "Safe strap compatible Rom".
But if you are running safestrap then you need a TouchWiz based Rom, so a cyanogenmod Rom is not possible using safestrap.

and wrong thread lol. he is correct ∆
we have a locked BL so it wont flash the kernel therefore we cant flash an aosp kernel which prevents us from having an aosp rom.. closest you can get to aosp on here is eclipse rom

[Q] [ROM] AT&T Galaxy S4 root and ROM

Ive been looking at forums for awhile and it seems as though my device is not supported for root or custom ROMs. i had CM on my S2 and liked it. so when i look up the process for the S4, the posts are from 2013 saying that I cant root or install CM without tripping Qfuse and bricking my phone. its mid 2015 and i am wondering if there are CM mods available, or at least root options. there seem to be some, but the link i provide implies that modding the phone might brick it due to qfuse.
Model:
SAMSUNG-SGH-1337
Android Version:
5.0.1
Kernel version:
3.4.0-4408911
Build Number:
LRX22C.1337UCUG0C3
Knox version:
2.3
h t t p ://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_jflteatt
an older post about bricking the device on ATT phones.

There's a keep root method during the upgrade process to 5.0.1, and I'm fairly confident the developers involved with Cyanogen/Cyanogenmod are intentionally ignoring AT&T and Verizon S4's because the bootloaders are locked and uncrackable.
Oh also because they don't feel like or are incapable of (I got my money on the first one) porting it for safestrap use.

DankHeals said:
There's a keep root method during the upgrade process to 5.0.1, and I'm fairly confident the developers involved with Cyanogen/Cyanogenmod are intentionally ignoring AT&T and Verizon S4's because the bootloaders are locked and uncrackable.
Oh also because they don't feel like or are incapable of (I got my money on the first one) porting it for safestrap use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not possible to port it for Safestrap and have it run correctly and fully featured actually. Since they could only use the stock kernel, we can't set SELinux permissive on Lollipop, which breaks things, and AOSP and TouchWiz kernels are different so you get issues like on the Google Edition ROMs of WiFi issues, no USB, and other incompatibilities.

DeadlySin9 said:
It's not possible to port it for Safestrap and have it run correctly and fully featured actually. Since they could only use the stock kernel, we can't set SELinux permissive on Lollipop, which breaks things, and AOSP and TouchWiz kernels are different so you get issues like on the Google Edition ROMs of WiFi issues, no USB, and other incompatibilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot about the SELinux issue, but there have been successful AOSP/Google edition ports for the S4.
Not for lollipop yet, but I had a KitKat one for a while.
Only issue was needing to soft reboot after a hard reboot to get WiFi to work.
I'd put up with that for a CM port if the SELinux policies issue can be resolved.

DankHeals said:
I forgot about the SELinux issue, but there have been successful AOSP/Google edition ports for the S4.
Not for lollipop yet, but I had a KitKat one for a while.
Only issue was needing to soft reboot after a hard reboot to get WiFi to work.
I'd put up with that for a CM port if the SELinux policies issue can be resolved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was still luck that those even booted, and that only worked becasue the GPE S4 kernel shared enough similarities to work. Straight AOSP builds seem not to work as well, and either way I don't think anyone wants to do so if most of the features that make it CM won't even work.