Database Users

Request Rom Manager vs Boot Loader Clarification

Not a Dev, but not a Noob, either. Formerly had a SGH-i897 Galaxy S for 3 years and flashed like crazy on it, while transitioning from Eclair to Froyo to Gingerbread to ICS to Jellybean, mostly using the fine offerings from the AOCP Collective folks. While familiar with Odin, CWM was my usual go-to utility.
Upgraded recently to a SGH-i337 Galaxy S4. Must have owned it for two, maybe three hours, before I rooted it with MotoChopper. This allowed me to re-install Titanium Backup. I left it as merely rooted, while I read up on CWM and some new-fangled thing called TWRP, which I wanted to get installed before casting about for a new ROM. (At the time, AOCP did not have an offering here, or it would have been a no-brainer for me.)
One morning, I turned on the phone and noticed it was doing an OTA update. . . . . . . . .
Mildly curious, I logged onto XDA to read what the community thought about the update, only to discover that I had missed all the dire warnings by a day and my (now) version I337UCUAMF3 ROM had it's boot-loaders locked from a blown Q-Fuse, courtesy of Samsung and AT&T.
Took me a week before I found the rooting solution from jortex, but thankfully, I'm now rooted again.
This background now leads to my questions:
I have ROM Manager Premium (from previous purchase) but have not installed it.
I was aware on my previous SGH-i897 that mixing the Gingerbread and Jellybean boot loaders was like, a Bad Thing when flashing ROMs and would promptly brick the phone.
Does CWM require the ability to load from a boot loader?
I know it creates an update.zip file to restore the original ROM, and usually does so by using whatever ROM is installed at the time.
So wouldn't it just create an update based on the I337UCUAMF3 ROM?
Even if I can't flash new ROMs (unless or until somebody comes up with a Q-Fuse Fix) couldn't I at least have all the recovery and .zip flashing of apps and cache clearing menu choices available to me from CWM?
Or would the act of just installing CWM on a I337UCUAMF3 ROM immediately brick my phone?
In Other Words, how close can I dance to the water's edge?
Been to the ROM Manager web site and they claim I can do any thing at any time.
(Easy for them to say: It ain't THEIR phones!)
Been searching these threads and can't come up with anything explicitly stating yea or nay.
So far, I have been happy enough with the TW stock ROM, but I always felt better being able to boot to recovery to fix things, on those few occasions I got just a leeeeeetle too close to the Bleeding Edge!
What is the consensus out there?
Will CWM 6.0.3.6 bork a I337UCUAMF3? Yes or no?
Would appreciate any thoughts that might enlighten me! :fingers-crossed:

It sure could brick the phone, the only thing you can do at the moment is root. I have seen a couple people try running a recovery on it, and it required a jtag service to restore the device.
Be careful.

TheAxman said:
It sure could brick the phone, the only thing you can do at the moment is root. I have seen a couple people try running a recovery on it, and it required a jtag service to restore the device.
Be careful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate the response!

This phone is far different from the Captivate. There is no flashing anything on MF3. Basically you are waiting for a work around if that is even possible.
Sent from my SGH-I337 using xda premium

[Q] gs4 mf3 no bootable rom

i did some stupid stuff with safestrap. i attempted to install a rom over my stock rom. and it said it failed. now its in a bootloop. anyway i could get the original file that came with the mf3 update?

IS33D34DP30PL3 said:
i did some stupid stuff with safestrap. i attempted to install a rom over my stock rom. and it said it failed. now its in a bootloop. anyway i could get the original file that came with the mf3 update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no original file for mf3. Safestrap is new and I'm curious how you recover from what you did. Hopefully someone else is more helpful but keep us posted on your outcome. It could help someone else.

IS33D34DP30PL3 said:
i did some stupid stuff with safestrap. i attempted to install a rom over my stock rom. and it said it failed. now its in a bootloop. anyway i could get the original file that came with the mf3 update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SafeStrap instructions CLEARLY state to not touch the stock ROM. So now, you have to treat it like any other bricked MF3 S4. You can try putting it into download mode and then manually canceling out to see if it will boot, but you probably will need to go to a Best Buy and see if they can re-flash it for you.

Take it to your local Best Buy that has a Samsung Experience kiosk. They can restore it to MF3. Tell them Samsung tech support told you to go there and if they have problems to call tech support.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk 4

thank you all for the help . im going to attempt to reflash the firmware from odin. (i have a warranty and i will get my phone replaced even if it doesnt work. i wanna find out just in case other people make the same mistake)

i attempted this guide:http://www.androidrootz.com/2013/06/how-to-unroot-unbrick-galaxy-s4.html. says "failed" everytime. trying a new .tar file

Samething happend to me and best buy n my area doesn't have samsung expereince so I'm trying thngs out my self if anyone happens to have the mf3 update.zip that would be very helpful
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda app-developers app

Well I'm not an expert here... but if you have MF3 baseband which one from here http://www.androidrootz.com/p/galaxy-s4-stock-firmwares.html are you trying to flash because I can't see the MF3 ... And that could be the reason why it's failing

There is no ODIN/Kies for MF3 unfortunately. This has been discussed for the past weeks since MF3 came out
Your only option now is either take it to a Best Buy Samsung Kiosk and get it flashed to stock MF3 without the need to warranty:
distortion said:
Take it to your local Best Buy that has a Samsung Experience kiosk. They can restore it to MF3. Tell them Samsung tech support told you to go there and if they have problems to call tech support.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

trying purposely flash the wrong firmware and then attempt have kies recognize and update...long shot i know also i downloading the opensource file for mf3 to study see if that could be helpful...im most confident if i can get hold to the udate.zip file for mf3 i could see a lil success..

IS33D34DP30PL3 said:
i did some stupid stuff with safestrap. i attempted to install a rom over my stock rom. and it said it failed. now its in a bootloop. anyway i could get the original file that came with the mf3 update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this may be a long shot but im thinkg flash mdl and then the mf3 modem

deron37129 said:
this may be a long shot but im thinkg flash mdl and then the mf3 modem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're on the mf3 firmware you are not going to be able to flash mdl. When the firmware is updated a qfuse is blown on the internal circuitry which will not allow it to down grade the firmware. You're just wasting your time. Take it to best buy.

I just got bk from there they asked no question I told them I messed my phone up tryna update and handed it to the rep already in download screen
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Help!
deron37129 said:
I just got bk from there they asked no question I told them I messed my phone up tryna update and handed it to the rep already in download screen
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having a similar problem, i went to best buy and told the samsung guy that my phone won't boot after kies tried to update and if he could flash the firmware for me. He put it into download mode and tried something and said it wouldn't go through. Then he tried to do a factory reset through recovery which i told him i have already tried and it didn't work. Then i asked if he could call samsung for assistance, after doing so he put it back into download mode and was asked by samsung to read the information in the top left corner, after he read the part that said custom the guy at samsung said there was nothing that could be done because its rooted... The guy at best buy obviously had no idea what he was doing, should I try a different best buy and ask them specifically to flash the mf3 firmware? (I rooted my s4 and accidentally wiped the stock rom, now it wont boot past the samsung logo with the unlock icon underneath. i'm able to go into odin mode and recovery mode but recovery shows android with red exclamation mark. I tried recovery through kies and that failed also.) If best buy is able to flash the mf3 firmware update would that fix my phone?

deron37129 said:
trying purposely flash the wrong firmware and then attempt have kies recognize and update...long shot i know also i downloading the opensource file for mf3 to study see if that could be helpful...im most confident if i can get hold to the udate.zip file for mf3 i could see a lil success..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how it

I'm not exactly sure, but this sounds similar to the problem I had. You can read my post here to see if this is the same problem. I solved my issue via this post. Downloading the files took a couple tries (the website kept freezing), but flashing them through Odin worked the first time. Turns out AOSP-based mods won't work with SafeStrap, and you shouldn't write over the stock ROM. I made both mistakes. Here is a thread with a list of ROMs working with SafeStrap.

revel_onetime said:
how it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46888516&postcount=1
Shockndrop got all the MF3 files to flash with Odin from a Best Buy.
Make sure to thank him if you use it. He saved a lot of people by taking the risk getting that.

[Q] Bricked AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4

Hello all, if anyone could please help me, I would be extremely grateful.
I updated my Cyanogenmod nightly to the release for December 8th, 2013. The download seemed to be fine, it rebooted into the twrp, and then it rebooted, but then my phone never loaded back up. I tried restarting my phone with the power button, and eventually resulted to the battery pull, but yet my phone still wouldn't load.
I then tried going into the twrp again, and tried to flash a nightly upload that I had used from December 4th, it seemed to of loaded, but again my phone never loaded up.
I tired all day to use Odin to flash the ATT stock firmware, but I kept getting an ODIN FAILED error. I tried several different firmware downloads for ATT, and again, still no luck.
I am really upset over this, and would love to know why the update didn't work, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, how do I fix my device???

Samsung experience shop
Go to a Best buy with a local Samsung Experience center. They can flash the Latest 4.3 software on it from your carrier as long as it turns on and gets to download mode. I did the same thing to mine a month or so back and it saved my phone haha. Its a cool tool they have that i wish i could some how pirate haha
jonathanml86 said:
Hello all, if anyone could please help me, I would be extremely grateful.
I updated my Cyanogenmod nightly to the release for December 8th, 2013. The download seemed to be fine, it rebooted into the twrp, and then it rebooted, but then my phone never loaded back up. I tried restarting my phone with the power button, and eventually resulted to the battery pull, but yet my phone still wouldn't load.
I then tried going into the twrp again, and tried to flash a nightly upload that I had used from December 4th, it seemed to of loaded, but again my phone never loaded up.
I tired all day to use Odin to flash the ATT stock firmware, but I kept getting an ODIN FAILED error. I tried several different firmware downloads for ATT, and again, still no luck.
I am really upset over this, and would love to know why the update didn't work, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, how do I fix my device???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I'd still try Odin. If you go to best buy, once you get 4.3 no custom recovery or cyanogen
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

HiTideBlastoise said:
I'd still try Odin. If you go to best buy, once you get 4.3 no custom recovery or cyanogen
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was actually able to unbrick my phone using the Kies app for Mac. I don't know why I didn't try this earlier. I suppose I was trying to hold onto my root, and ability to flash custom roms onto my phone. Less than 24 hours of stock firmware, and I'm already annoyed. I also ran an update from At&T, and now I'm on 4.3. I'm still a n00b when it comes to the rooting and flashing. Yes, I can manage to follow and read directions to get my phone loaded with custom roms. But here's where I'm at now....
I'm running an unrooted AT&T Galaxy S4 with 4.3. I want Cyanogenmod back, and I want it now!!!
What do I do next????

jonathanml86 said:
I'm running an unrooted AT&T Galaxy S4 with 4.3. I want Cyanogenmod back, and I want it now!!!
What do I do next????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PRAY?

hnldriver77 said:
PRAY?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, but seriously. what can i do? and how do i do it?

you can root it, but that will trip the knox counter to 0x1,
id suggest going into download mode to see if you've tripped the knox counter to 0x1, if not and you want no warranty go to the original dev thread and look for ways on rooting there
if your wanting warrenty, your pretty much hooped then bud...

sopra rsorsifi
hnldriver77 said:
you can root it, but that will trip the knox counter to 0x1, but if thats not a issue then look in the original development thread...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the overall summary and importance of this knox counter?

Unfortunately at this point, you have root through vroot or kingo and that is all I can say. You cannot install a custom recovery, so no cyanogen
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Phone refuses to boot with a rom

Hi, I've been trying to install a custom rom (at this point ANY custom rom) on my friend's phone. I have worked on several phones before, including my own sprint GS3, but this is my first time trying to work around a locked bootloader, and BOY is it a pain, haha. I'm no dev, but I would like to think that I'm pretty competent.
First a few things to note, are that the phone is currently on NI1 (Been too much of a sissy to go to NJ4 in case it screws something up, I don't even know why), it is the 16Gb version, I am using an external sd card to flash everything, and yes I am flashing loki-doki after everything.
So what I've done so far is:
- Try to install TWRP
- Find out that won't work and finally figure out I need safestrap
- Successfully install safestrap after using towelroot by ODIN-ing the NC1 kernel then going back to the NI1 kernel
- Try to flash Resurrection Remix and KToonsez kernel using a new rom-slot, and wind up soft-bricking (stuck on bootloader screen, can get to download mode)
- ODIN NB1 tar then ODIN NI1 update
- Repeat the last few steps several times because I'm too idiotic to realize that it JUST ISN'T GOING TO WORK!
- Finally find a reference to flashing the ATT kernel modules after the rom. That got me past the soft brick and safestrap screen, but I don't even see a boot animation
As of right now my sequence to successfully not soft-bricking (what an accomplishment) is to flash the rom>gapps>ATT kernel module>supersu>loki-doki>wipe dalvik/cache
Now, is it worth it having already spend a good 7 hours, just to get a custom rom? Of course not, it's not my phone and my friend isn't picky. He'd be just fine with rooted TW. However, It kills me that I don't know what's going on, so here I am lol.
TL;DR: Phone has safestrap, is rooted, but any time I flash a rom it gets past the boot loader/safestrap screen and never shows a boot animation, or anything past that. Can anyone help figure out what's going on please?
Thanks in advance.

You can only flash touch wiz based roms with safestrap and you can't flash kernels with safestrap. That's been your problem with soft bricking.
Edit, see this for roms you can flash http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53758227
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2616221

Thanks guys. I thought I read through the whole thread, but there is so much information, it's pretty scattered, I must have missed the thing about only TW roms working.
Now a few more questions:
1) Is it worth updating to NJ4? The phone is new and doesn't have any app data or anything that would be missed by updating. I see quite a few roms in 4.4.4, but it looks like most of them are AOSP based, which leads me to my next question...
2) Is there a way to get AOSP roms to work? I see all of these AOSP based roms, obviously for this phone, but it would be pointless to make them if they don't work.

Masterjuggler said:
Thanks guys. I thought I read through the whole thread, but there is so much information, it's pretty scattered, I must have missed the thing about only TW roms working.
Now a few more questions:
1) Is it worth updating to NJ4? The phone is new and doesn't have any app data or anything that would be missed by updating. I see quite a few roms in 4.4.4, but it looks like most of them are AOSP based, which leads me to my next question...
2) Is there a way to get AOSP roms to work? I see all of these AOSP based roms, obviously for this phone, but it would be pointless to make them if they don't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't hurt to update to nj4. But it's not going to help you either. Only phones on mdb or mdl bootloader can flash non touch wiz based roms using loki. And you can't go back to those bootloaders
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

Alright then. Hyperdrive looks pretty good, I'll try that along with Ktoonsez kernel. I'll report back later to let you know how it goes. Thanks again!

Masterjuggler said:
Alright then. Hyperdrive looks pretty good, I'll try that along with Ktoonsez kernel. I'll report back later to let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, you can't flash a kernel in safestrap
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

Oh, I get it now. That didn't quite register before. So just to confirm, after I flash the rom (which already has its own custom kernel included), I still need to flash the stock ATT kernel, correct?

Flash the rom, super su, and the att module for your base. Hyperdrive is a very good rom, good luck. Also the rom doesn't include a kernel, your original kernel stays put. That's why only tw roms work, because your new rom has to be compatible with the kernel already on your phone.

Just reporting in, I now have the phone up and running using Hyperdrive Rom. Thanks for the help!
I actually had a problem where it would not shut down correctly, but found out it was because I was installing the rom in a rom-slot in safestrap. As soon as I tried the stock rom slot, it worked flawlessly.

Tried two roms, getting the 'com.android.phone' has stopped responding (immediately)

I've tried Paranoid Android 4.6 and CM 11, both with the same result.
I could not get any custom bootloader to install, aside from safestrap. This seems to be on there ok now, and I can install PA or CM roms from my sd card.
When they are finished installing though (along with Gapps), when it boots into the OS I instantly get the popup telling me the process com.android.phone has stopped. I hit ok and it comes back immediately, no matter how many times I hit it. I can't get into the menus or setup screens, the popup comes back instantly.
Since PA and CM both did this same thing, I am guessing my problem is perhaps not the rom. Any ideas please on what I might try next? The phone is basically bricked at this point.

Taymar said:
I've tried Paranoid Android 4.6 and CM 11, both with the same result.
I could not get any custom bootloader to install, aside from safestrap. This seems to be on there ok now, and I can install PA or CM roms from my sd card.
When they are finished installing though (along with Gapps), when it boots into the OS I instantly get the popup telling me the process com.android.phone has stopped. I hit ok and it comes back immediately, no matter how many times I hit it. I can't get into the menus or setup screens, the popup comes back instantly.
Since PA and CM both did this same thing, I am guessing my problem is perhaps not the rom. Any ideas please on what I might try next? The phone is basically bricked at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, you can't flash cm or pa on your device. They can only be flashed on devices with the mdb or mdl bootloader. If you're using safestrap, and it's the only recovery you can use, you're probably on 4.4.4, nb1 or nc1 or nj4, bootloader. You'll need tw based roms. See the ones that work with safestrap.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

Thank you,
I flashed to NJ4 after rooting. Could you recommend any custom rom that is tw based please, or am I basically limited to stock?
I tried flashing a new TW rom but now I'm stuck in a recovery mode bootloop (safestrap seems to be gone).
edit: tw = touchwiz? (Sorry, I'm new at this).
Really appreciate the explanation, thanks again.

Taymar said:
Thank you,
I flashed to NJ4 after rooting. Could you recommend any custom rom that is tw based please, or am I basically limited to stock?
I tried flashing a new TW rom but now I'm stuck in a recovery mode bootloop (safestrap seems to be gone).
edit: tw = touchwiz? (Sorry, I'm new at this).
Really appreciate the explanation, thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your stuck to 4.4.4 unless you do the method mentioned on the forums and GoldenEye comments.
But a caution its not for the new, is risky and you lose the safestrap recovery boot because safestrap is not lollipop compatible right now.

Got it. Thank you.
I finally found a 'stock' firmware that I managed to load via Odin. Looks like AT&T just pushed the lollopop update to my phone as well so I guess stock lollipop will work for me until I upgrade my phone.
Out of interest, I'm looking at the oneplus one phone. Am I correct in thinking I should have way less problems trying to root & install custom roms on that, since it comes loaded with CM and the carrier isn't going to be constantly fixing exploits that allow root?
Really appreciate the help guys, thanks again.

Taymar said:
Got it. Thank you.
I finally found a 'stock' firmware that I managed to load via Odin. Looks like AT&T just pushed the lollopop update to my phone as well so I guess stock lollipop will work for me until I upgrade my phone.
Out of interest, I'm looking at the oneplus one phone. Am I correct in thinking I should have way less problems trying to root & install custom roms on that, since it comes loaded with CM and the carrier isn't going to be constantly fixing exploits that allow root?
Really appreciate the help guys, thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't own it so I couldn't tell you but I would look up the forum for it before hand and see what they say about it.
If it's not an ATT and Verizon phone most likely it's not boot loader locked.

Taymar said:
Got it. Thank you.
I finally found a 'stock' firmware that I managed to load via Odin. Looks like AT&T just pushed the lollopop update to my phone as well so I guess stock lollipop will work for me until I upgrade my phone.
Out of interest, I'm looking at the oneplus one phone. Am I correct in thinking I should have way less problems trying to root & install custom roms on that, since it comes loaded with CM and the carrier isn't going to be constantly fixing exploits that allow root?
Really appreciate the help guys, thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oneplus you will be able to root and recovery, I believe even unlock the bootloader. You just have to pay full price of the phone of course, but it's separate from carrier so no root patching OTAs.

Awesome. Thank you so much guys. I think I'm going to try out the oneplus one. Sounds like it'll be a lot more straightforward than with AT&T's devices.