Database Users

[GUIDE] How to: Install CM10.2 on LOCKED bootloader [Xperia SP]

Disclaimer:
I am not to be held responsible for any actions that you take by following this guide that result in harm to your device. Sony devices are almost impossible to brick.
pre-requirements:
You're going to need the following things:
Flashtool
CWM Xperia SP Package
.266 4.3 kernel
.257 firmware
DooMLoRD easy rooting toolkit
CyanogenMod 10.2 Package & gapps
Step 1:
extract Flashtool, place the .257 firmware file in the firmwares folder and then run flashtool, flash the .257 firmware. This process could take 5-10 minutes.
To do this, click the electric bolt symbol in FlashTool, and select Flashmode, select .257 and then when the prompt says to connect your device in flashmode, power off your phone and holding volume down, plug your phone into the computer. This will then flash the files.
Turn your phone back on and enable USB debugging in android development settings.
Step 2:
Extract DooMLoRD's easy rooting toolkit and make sure that you have your phone connected and adb is enabled, while the phone is powered on run the script and this will then root your phone, do this by double clicking runme_win.bat, your phone will reboot in this process and it will be rooted.
Step 3:
Time to install a custom recovery, unpack the CWM Xperia SP package listed above. Make sure your phone is still turned on and in adb mode (USB debugging enabled) and then run install.bat from the package. You will need to accept a superuser request prompt on your phone meaning that you will need your phone screen on. Recovery is now installed.
Step 4:
Copy the CyanogenMod 10.2 package & google apps package to your phone, reboot into clockwork recovery by pressing the volume UP button once when you see the blue LED light up and feel a short vibration while your phone is booting. In CWM choose factory reset, and then install the two files we put on your phone using install zip from sd card option. Use volume rockers to navigate and power button to select options. Make sure you install CM zip then Google apps zip
Step 5:
After installing the ROM, power off your device in CWM and then connect your device in FlashMode again (hold vol down while plugging into computer) and then flash the .266 kernel only file. Reboot your phone.
Step 6:
Enjoy! You now have CyanogenMod and CWM installed on your phone, even with a locked bootloader. Recovery is now accessed with volume down.
I appreciate thanks greatly, and any issues I can help with and you can discuss them in this thread. I hope I have helped.
KeiranFTW

awesome

That. It's one good guide that anybody can follow. Just one question. Will this rom be as stable as normal cm, will it be full cm or just a stripped down version
Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

can this rom be flashed on ROOTED device running 4.3

zolaisugly said:
That. It's one good guide that anybody can follow. Just one question. Will this rom be as stable as normal cm, will it be full cm or just a stripped down version
Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see why it can't be as stable as normal CM.. The only thing that isn't working at the moment is GPS, everything else to be honest it runs smoother than stock.
I'm going to work on getting AOKP to work if they have a compilable 4.3 branch. I'm also going to try and encourage ROM devs to add locked bootloader support and I shall show them how
pchetan2 said:
can this rom be flashed on ROOTED device running 4.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just follow the steps, if you have CWM installed on your XSP with 4.3 already all you need to do is flash the ROM in CWM nothing else..
I posted method for 4.1.2 because I'm presuming the user does not have root, and this is only rootable firmware.
Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

Awesome job to able get this rom on my lock xperia sp bro. And also am looking forward from you ,that you will bring other roms on my lock xperia sp which is the best phone ever.:good:

To have root on CM I need to flash SuFix as in existenz?

I have never used cm roms before...when the gps. Is fixed I will try rhis out,sadly I use gps alot due to work and driving into towns I don't know etc...
(Q) Due to limited space on sp can we use apps like link2sd and foldermount.
Or does the scripts not run.
Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

radeon6002 said:
To have root on CM I need to flash SuFix as in existenz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, su binary is included and root is already in the ROM.
CyanogenMod also features its own root permissions app (Settings -> Superuser) so you dont even need to install supersu or any equivalent, it works out the box.
zolaisugly said:
I have never used cm roms before...when the gps. Is fixed I will try rhis out,sadly I use gps alot due to work and driving into towns I don't know etc...
(Q) Due to limited space on sp can we use apps like link2sd and foldermount.
Or does the scripts not run.
Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Theoretically yeah, these scripts should run. I will look into it soon
Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

I had just posted a thank-you in another thread for the same - outstanding work. A big thank-you from one who prefer not to touch the BL
And thanks for the lucid instructions. Will download the stuff when I am off work.:good:

yeah i did it succesfully ..need to wipe data and factory reset .then install the rom and gapps....... thank you a lot

Note: the link to the 257 firmware is dead.
[not applicable to those who already rooted their phones ]
EDIT:
Just installed the rom. Also 'upgrage' kernel to 266 (had preferred 254 as it was faster, but with this new rom...)
Question:
a. could one just live with 254 kernel instead of flashing 266 at the end?
b. Now that I have flashed 266, could I re-flash to downgrade (just the kernel) to 254 later on?
Fun time - rom is working on my device.
Thanks a million!

headache59 said:
Note: the link to the 257 firmware is dead.
[not applicable to those who already rooted their phones ]
EDIT:
Just installed the rom. Also 'upgrage' kernel to 266 (had preferred 254 as it was faster, but with this new rom...)
Question:
a. could one just live with 254 kernel instead of flashing 266 at the end?
b. Now that I have flashed 266, could I re-flash to downgrade (just the kernel) to 254 later on?
Fun time - rom is working on my device.
Thanks a million!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you flashed the .254 kernel your Phone won't boot...you just get a bootloop. You need. 266
don't downgrade kernel without downgrading rom as well.
Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

Great work by @bagyusz and @KeiranFTW for the initial spark idea. I thot all was lost when i got vendorlocked sp.
I would love to have MIUI (4.3 based) using cm10.2 as base. @OP, if you have any experience of using MIUI patchrom, please help me.
The steps i have already done are:
1. make workspace
2. Make firstpatch
3. Make fullota
now i have to diff and patch the smalis, but not sure exactly how many smalis need to be patched for boot, and how do i know when to stop.
Having LB means to test my port, i have to go thru all the hassle of flash ftf, rooting and then check for every failed attempt.
THanks in advance
Yasir
I know there is an MIUI thread already there, but the OP states its for UBL only, plus he uses 4.2.2 as base. so thot this might be the right place.
---------- Post added at 09:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 PM ----------
btw, @ keiran...
I once thot about this... can u confirm im true....
what if we dont format /system partition in updater script of cm.zip... every time, we flash, system wont be formatted so recovery will stay, and if there was something wrong with cm.zip, we can try to fix and flash the new cm.zip and it will overwrite the previous versions of every file hence we know it boots or not.
If it boots, we can do a clean install.
Correct me if im wrong here. Thanks

neXus PRIME said:
Great work by @bagyusz and @KeiranFTW for the initial spark idea. I thot all was lost when i got vendorlocked sp.
I would love to have MIUI (4.3 based) using cm10.2 as base. @OP, if you have any experience of using MIUI patchrom, please help me.
The steps i have already done are:
1. make workspace
2. Make firstpatch
3. Make fullota
now i have to diff and patch the smalis, but not sure exactly how many smalis need to be patched for boot, and how do i know when to stop.
Having LB means to test my port, i have to go thru all the hassle of flash ftf, rooting and then check for every failed attempt.
THanks in advance
Yasir
I know there is an MIUI thread already there, but the OP states its for UBL only, plus he uses 4.2.2 as base. so thot this might be the right place.
---------- Post added at 09:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 PM ----------
btw, @ keiran...
I once thot about this... can u confirm im true....
what if we dont format /system partition in updater script of cm.zip... every time, we flash, system wont be formatted so recovery will stay, and if there was something wrong with cm.zip, we can try to fix and flash the new cm.zip and it will overwrite the previous versions of every file hence we know it boots or not.
If it boots, we can do a clean install.
Correct me if im wrong here. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to, I am creating build repository that will be able to build CyanogenMod using the cyanogenmod build system, basically I just add the files that are needed for the hack into the repository and then I will be able to build CM and flash it straight off - I'll do this so when the ROM is built it includes recovery and hijack in the /system partition and so when you flash it, it will still be there.
As soon as I get access to a build server I will build AOKP for locked bootloader (jb-mr2)

All work except my wifi. It's grayed out. I got data though...
Just to note: that I was on 4.1.2 (254) rooted when I flashed this rom and GAPPS. After which I flashed the 266 kernel.
Edit:
I did a factory reset under recovery (CWM) and now my wifi has turned on (blue). Unfortunately I am away from my wifi (home) point, so can't test it out fully.
Back to reinstalling of data...

babicsbalu said:
Well done, nice job! :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't quote the whole post.

Just preparing for this, I downloaded the kernel from the main thread not the one linked by KeiranFTW do we only need to flash the kernel.sin or do we need other files like fotakernel.sin like when flashing existenz?

Oblox said:
Just preparing for this, I downloaded the kernel from the main thread not the one linked by KeiranFTW do we only need to flash the kernel.sin or do we need other files like fotakernel.sin like when flashing existenz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The link on both threads only feature the .266 kernel - for use after installing cyanogenmod.
The .257 is the full firmware for rooting purposes.
I have already rooted my SP previously therefore, I merely installed CM and flashed the .266 kernel at the end of the process (actually I used my country's version, unchecked all but kernel only) - worked for me.

headache59 said:
The link on both threads only feature the .266 kernel.
I flashed the kernel at the end of the process (actually I used my country's version, unchecked all but kernel only) - and it worked for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh ok, does the countries kernel make any difference whatsoever?

New Nexus 6P, endless problems after flashing CM13

Hello,
Bought a Nexus 6P the other day and now attempting to install CM13, latest official snapshot. Of course, I ran into issues., and I am in dire need of help.
I unlocked the bootloader via Fastboot. Then installed the latest TWRP, also using Fastboot. All fine so far. Then I tried flashing CM13, which first failed because I missed to wipe the data/cache. I realised my mistake, re-did it and successfully flashed CM13.
The installation process was successful, yet when I boot the phone up and it finishes loading CM, I get the following error message:
"Android-system
An internal problem has occurred. Contact the manufacturer if you want more information."
Why is this happening? And more importantly, how do I fix it?
I did try and ignore the warning and proceeded to install OpenGAPPS from TWRP. As soon as CM loads up again however, there is an infinite stream of Google Play Service and "first time setup" crash messages, making the phone unusable.
On a related note. The guide at https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_angler tells me to "update the vendor.img", but it never tells me how I figure out which Build ID I need for my version of CM13. The guide hints at MTC19V, but I am not sure if this is right. I did try flashing this, but nothing changed.
Please advice, I am stuck.

First off you need to figure out what Vendor you need, this can be done by going to about phone/ settings and looking at what security patch level you are on. The latest is August and that would be vendor image MTC20F. you can google search or go to androidfilehost.com to download that or any other vendor image.
To flash you boot into TWRP and choose install and then choose install image in the bottom right hand corner then you choose the file and select Vendor image, then flash and you're all set.
Here's a lazy link for the last 2 vendor files: http://download.dirtyunicorns.com/files/misc/vendor_images/angler/

You need to flash CM13 and Gapps before booting and not separately.
Like the above post you need to check what vendor you need.

Wickidmasshole said:
First off you need to figure out what Vendor you need, this can be done by going to about phone/ settings and looking at what security patch level you are on. The latest is August and that would be vendor image MTC20F. you can google search or go to androidfilehost.com to download that or any other vendor image.
To flash you boot into TWRP and choose install and then choose install image in the bottom right hand corner then you choose the file and select Vendor image, then flash and you're all set.
Here's a lazy link for the last 2 vendor files: http://download.dirtyunicorns.com/files/misc/vendor_images/angler/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, I see. That makes sense now. Thanks!
therock3181 said:
You need to flash CM13 and Gapps before booting and not separately.
Like the above post you need to check what vendor you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I didn't think it would matter. Anyways, even with this part fixed, would it not continue to claim being corrupted? I understood it as if CM itself has an issue and not GApps.

Wickidmasshole said:
First off you need to figure out what Vendor you need, this can be done by going to about phone/ settings and looking at what security patch level you are on. The latest is August and that would be vendor image MTC20F. you can google search or go to androidfilehost.com to download that or any other vendor image.
To flash you boot into TWRP and choose install and then choose install image in the bottom right hand corner then you choose the file and select Vendor image, then flash and you're all set.
Here's a lazy link for the last 2 vendor files: http://download.dirtyunicorns.com/files/misc/vendor_images/angler/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, latest is from 2nd April. The only later builds of CM I see for this phone is Nightlies.
therock3181 said:
You need to flash CM13 and Gapps before booting and not separately.
Like the above post you need to check what vendor you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, I still get the warning once CM finishes loading. It did however get rid of the infinite crashes. Progress!

I was saying the latest available vendor.img was from august. I use DU so i don't know how far behind CM nighties are.

NodCom said:
Actually, latest is from 2nd April. The only later builds of CM I see for this phone is Nightlies.
Sadly, I still get the warning once CM finishes loading. It did however get rid of the infinite crashes. Progress!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The current GitHub for angler on cyanogen is showing mtc20f updated ten days ago. So if your nightly was built after that, then it would be that Vendor image.

Gizmoe said:
The current GitHub for angler on cyanogen is showing mtc20f updated ten days ago. So if your nightly was built after that, then it would be that Vendor image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am only willing to use stable builds, not nightlies.

Next time do some research before you just start flashing stuff.. especially since 5x and 6p came out Google updates every month.
So the best thing to do when you buy a new device is read and learn and i learned on both devices the best thing you can do first is flashing the latest factory images.
Also i find it strange that the first thing you flash on a nexus is cm, but that's all up to you of course. There are so many great roms out there that are way better then cm in my opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app

Pollie81 said:
Next time do some research before you just start flashing stuff.. especially since 5x and 6p came out Google updates every month.
So the best thing to do when you buy a new device is read and learn and i learned on both devices the best thing you can do first is flashing the latest factory images.
Also i find it strange that the first thing you flash on a nexus is cm, but that's all up to you of course. There are so many great roms out there that are way better then cm in my opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. CM was great on the N4 and N5 but not so much on the 6P

NodCom said:
I am only willing to use stable builds, not nightlies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would I care which release you prefer? You asked how you messed up flashing CM and people responded. It's because of mismatched Vendor images. And no one seemed to know for sure which one it is so I looked for you. I've compiled CM with the right proprietary blobs and I have had no stability issues.

Stock ROMs Factory v6.1 , v8.3 , v8.4 , v8.5 , v8.7, V9.0, V9.2-patch : v21

CAUTION TO NOT LOOSE TWRP
I read two posts that say v21, now again on V8.5, put the stock recovery back instead of twrp. This is probably a side effect of a fresh stock /system and wipe of /data.
As a preventive step, when done flashing and wiping reboot to recovery FIRST, before booting the system It will allow recovery to handle removing the recovery-from-boot.p that flashes stock recovery.
I just patched the modified V7.4.2 up to the newly released 8.3 now 8.4. 8.5, 8.7,9.0 -V9.2 Patch
New update has been made from V17 to V21 of the non prime version of R1-HD, Non prime is behind on security patch (2017-05-05)
Copied ROM from phone and made twrp install ROM from it.
* No preloader change (official updates change the preloader to block your ability to use sp flash tools for rom flashing)
* No lk.bin change __ this part is what allows you to choose boot options(boot menu when power and volume pressed together)
* No "FOTA" app Fota has now been left in to make it easier to get next update, if that ever happens.
* No opera browser
* No adds (removed in the modified 7.4.2)
* Custom boot logo (only done on v8.3, there was no interest in this so abandoned)
--Newer versions of rom left stock, Leaving mods up to user.
** while it is not necessary to do a wipe with this ROM, I still recommend it.
**Thanks:
** @vampirefo needed his patched v7.4.2 in order to apply this new 8.3 patch and again for 8.4
** @ColtonDRG OR @jasonmerc I do not remember which one made it: For the image used in the custom logo
and the modified zip is here .
Roms are rootable with SuperSU, flashed in twrp after install. Must be done in systemless mode. In order to patch system veridy in boot.img
Logo update did not work on original rom changing link to updated version
BLU rolled v8.3 back to v7.4.2 because of app compatability issues. V8.4 is there fixed release. Both 8.3 and 8.4 are modified prime roms with ads stripped
V21 is the non prime update.
Unmodified V6.1
==>NON-ROOTED-logo-not-replaced-modified-V8.3
==>Fixed Logo modified NON_ROOTED V8.3
==>>modified V8.4
==>>modified V8.5
==>>Full with Ads V8.7
==>>Full with Ads V9.0
==>>Patch For V9.2 must be flashed on top of fresh V9.0
****Run debloat ==>script to remove ads if you need/ want to, or remove from zip before flashing ****
alt. manual example: before reboot, while still in twrp. Select mount and put checkmark next to system. Then run these two commands in adb terminal
Code:
adb shell rm /system/priv-app/com.amazon.*/com.amazon.*.apk
adb shell rm /system/app/Adups*/*.apk
==>>Modified V21
** stand alone logo installs

I flashed this but I didn't get the custom boot logo.

mendelgordon said:
I flashed this but I didn't get the custom boot logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had that happen to my second phone too.
I don't have an explanation yet.
I even made a separate update.zip , that one didn't make the logo change either. I did eventually change it with sp flash tool.
I tried with both recoveries.
and multiple /dev location formats. and for whatever reason my one phone did not accept the logo change from recovery.
And the other test phone it worked.

mendelgordon said:
I flashed this but I didn't get the custom boot logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither did I but it all seems to be working fine

Been using this for about a day now, likewise no custom boot logo, but that's fine. Otherwise, it's been running super well. A lot better than the previous mostly stock version did for me with the bloatware APKs removed after the install. A lot of the general idiosyncrasies of the previous version of the stock rom seem to have gone away for me. It seemed to have weird storage management issues, errors moving to SD, broken symlinks that prevent apps from moving or being reinstalled, and a lot of other little non-storage issues, but so far, none off that here.
Long story short, good work! I hope we eventually see proper 7.x roms through some of the efforts going on, but in the meanwhile, your work here has made life a little bit better on 6.

It seems that I was able to get the logo.bin to update when I applied the original update patch, but not when I used the same line in the rom install.
It is no big deal that it did not work, I was just trying to make it look different at boot time.
edit:
I think i found the problem with the logo not updating.
i used the update-binary from the official patch update. (the one that allowed the logo to change the first time)
and it changes . so since the ROM seems to install the way it is , only the logo didn't flash I put it in a separate update.zip if anyone is interested in it.
EDIT 2:
clarification.
It was not so much the binary allowing the logo to change but the format of the partition location I had been using that needed that binary.
Further test had shown me that I could have used the binary I was using but just change the partition naming line
Code:
package_extract_file("logo.bin", "/dev/block/mmcblk0p9")
the above code works with the same update-binary as rom install
But I was using
Code:
package_extract_file("logo.bin", "/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/11230000.msdc0/by-name/logo")
Taken straight from the official patch, and thats why it needed the update-binary also.
I dont know what is different in the binary other than , major size difference.
The powered by me logo was just a test file to see changes in the logo.
**logo-update is same as composite but with alt updater-binary
**composite-logo screenshot is in op
**stock logo will return to original BLU logo

mrmazak said:
It seems that I was able to get the logo.bin to update when I applied the original update patch, but not when I used the same line in the rom install.
It is no big deal that it did not work, I was just trying to make it look different at boot time.
edit:
I think i found the problem with the logo not updating.
i used the update-binary from the official patch update. (the one that allowed the logo to change the first time)
and it changes . so since the ROM seems to install the way it is , only the logo didn't flash I put it in a separate update.zip if anyone is interested in it.
EDIT 2:
clarification.
It was not so much the binary allowing the logo to change but the format of the partition location I had been using that needed that binary.
Further test had shown me that I could have used the binary I was using but just change the partition naming line
Code:
package_extract_file("logo.bin", "/dev/block/mmcblk0p9")
the above code works with the same update-binary as rom install
But I was using
Code:
package_extract_file("logo.bin", "/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/11230000.msdc0/by-name/logo")
Taken straight from the official patch, and thats why it needed the update-binary also.
I dont know what is different in the binary other than , major size difference.
The powered by me logo was just a test file to see changes in the logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha the scribbled "ME" is hilarious. Your work is awesome, I don't think anyone using this rom will have an issue with the boot image but thanks for being so helpful and explaining.
P. S. Do you have any plans with the Nougat update?

Serenitybs said:
Hahaha the scribbled "ME" is hilarious. Your work is awesome, I don't think anyone using this rom will have an issue with the boot image but thanks for being so helpful and explaining.
P. S. Do you have any plans with the Nougat update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nougat is going to take a full build from scratch. We don't have 100% identical hardware with any other nougat device to my knowledge. We might have the same MTK chipset, but there are several other differences. All we really need is an official device overlay and the vendor files released by BLU themselves. We can then apply those to the latest Lineage or AOSP (I prefer AOSP myself) and build. Then the only problem we'll run into is anything that has changed in 7.x that isn't compatible with our kernel we use in 6.0. It'd be a slight chance our current kernel would work without some patches on 7.x We can't even get our official sources for anything else, so I'm almost certain we'll not find any patches to for the kernel to work properly with Nougat, at least not from BLU or any similar devices. None The less Nougat has been well thought of, and we have been trying to debug issues with a broken Port. But a broken port from a different device is just that - Broken. We need a team of knowledgeable devs to build Nougat + Kernel from scratch and then we'll have it working. I can't do it alone with the old computer I have, the R1HD would be long forgot of by the time I got Android Compiled haha.
Mr. Mazak I flashed your rom it went smooth, I was hoping the newest update was for 6.0.1. But I didn't lose any functionality, hopefully on my Cricket Service this update has patched some things to the radio device that will retain connection more steadily. I experienced a lot of coming and going with the 7.4.2 rom. None The Less you did a good job with this update Mr. My suggestion is find the same MTK chipset with a fully working 7.x rom and just port the /System but keep all our libs and inits from this release just for a test starter. And don't replace the camera app thats in AOSP 7.x. )

linuxsociety said:
Nougat is going to take a full build from scratch. We don't have 100% identical hardware with any other nougat device to my knowledge. We might have the same MTK chipset, but there are several other differences. All we really need is an official device overlay and the vendor files released by BLU themselves. We can then apply those to the latest Lineage or AOSP (I prefer AOSP myself) and build. Then the only problem we'll run into is anything that has changed in 7.x that isn't compatible with our kernel we use in 6.0. It'd be a slight chance our current kernel would work without some patches on 7.x We can't even get our official sources for anything else, so I'm almost certain we'll not find any patches to for the kernel to work properly with Nougat, at least not from BLU or any similar devices. None The less Nougat has been well thought of, and we have been trying to debug issues with a broken Port. But a broken port from a different device is just that - Broken. We need a team of knowledgeable devs to build Nougat + Kernel from scratch and then we'll have it working. I can't do it alone with the old computer I have, the R1HD would be long forgot of by the time I got Android Compiled haha.
Mr. Mazak I flashed your rom it went smooth, I was hoping the newest update was for 6.0.1. But I didn't lose any functionality, hopefully on my Cricket Service this update has patched some things to the radio device that will retain connection more steadily. I experienced a lot of coming and going with the 7.4.2 rom. None The Less you did a good job with this update Mr. My suggestion is find the same MTK chipset with a fully working 7.x rom and just port the /System but keep all our libs and inits from this release just for a test starter. And don't replace the camera app thats in AOSP 7.x. )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somebody already tried this out

linuxsociety said:
Nougat is going to take a full build from scratch. We don't have 100% identical hardware with any other nougat device to my knowledge. We might have the same MTK chipset, but there are several other differences. All we really need is an official device overlay and the vendor files released by BLU themselves. We can then apply those to the latest Lineage or AOSP (I prefer AOSP myself) and build. Then the only problem we'll run into is anything that has changed in 7.x that isn't compatible with our kernel we use in 6.0. It'd be a slight chance our current kernel would work without some patches on 7.x We can't even get our official sources for anything else, so I'm almost certain we'll not find any patches to for the kernel to work properly with Nougat, at least not from BLU or any similar devices. None The less Nougat has been well thought of, and we have been trying to debug issues with a broken Port. But a broken port from a different device is just that - Broken. We need a team of knowledgeable devs to build Nougat + Kernel from scratch and then we'll have it working. I can't do it alone with the old computer I have, the R1HD would be long forgot of by the time I got Android Compiled haha.
Mr. Mazak I flashed your rom it went smooth, I was hoping the newest update was for 6.0.1. But I didn't lose any functionality, hopefully on my Cricket Service this update has patched some things to the radio device that will retain connection more steadily. I experienced a lot of coming and going with the 7.4.2 rom. None The Less you did a good job with this update Mr. My suggestion is find the same MTK chipset with a fully working 7.x rom and just port the /System but keep all our libs and inits from this release just for a test starter. And don't replace the camera app thats in AOSP 7.x. )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was just wishful thinking. I have no idea how all of this is done. All I know is @mrmazak has helped me to fall in love with my phone again with this V8.3. The 7.4.2 did seem a bit buggy for my phone but this update works beautifully and I didn't even root it. If this remains true I will be happy with this phone for awhile even on 6.0

Really confused right now.
I was browsing through the settings menus. And found in the Settings-security- menu a toggle labeled "quick boot" ( not to be confused with "fastboot") . I enabled it then rebooted to see if it booted quicker. Didn't seem to make much if any difference. So I went back to turn it back off. And it wasn't there. I checked in my other phone , it wasn't there on that one either.
Did any body see this menu item, and if so where is is it?
Edit 1:
Few more power off , power on cycles to compare times. With other phone and defiantly seems to have turned on some faster boot option.
This phone goes from off to on in 5-6 seconds other phone takes about 20.
Edit 2:
OK , I panicked for a minute.
Couldn't find the setting and thought that it was another way to block sp flash tool by preventing you from ever being fully powered off.
But the setting was in accessibility not security.

Mrmazak, first of all, thanks for the ROM, installed it yesterday. But I have a problem with SELinuxModeChanger app. First, I'm getting a security warning when installing it, then - when running it. And another message, with this app running - "can't obtain root", although SuperSU shows its status with green #, like every other app it gives root privileges to. On my other Prime phone, running 6.1 out of the box stock ROM, FM radio works just fine with SELinuxModeChanger app behaving flawlessly (no security warnings whatsoever). Any ideas?

detroitredwings said:
Mrmazak, first of all, thanks for the ROM, installed it yesterday. But I have a problem with SELinuxModeChanger app. First, I'm getting a security warning when installing it, then - when running it. And another message, with this app running - "can't obtain root", although SuperSU shows its status with green #, like every other app it gives root privileges to. On my other Prime phone, running 6.1 out of the box stock ROM, FM radio works just fine with SELinuxModeChanger app behaving flawlessly (no security warnings whatsoever). Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The mode changer app is technically a security issue. I did have that warning a few times when using mode changer app from the XDA thread of the developer, then when I used the app downloaded from f-droid it worked with systemless root and didn't give the security warning.

The app downloaded from f-droid worked for me as well, many thanks!

Big thanks for getting this out, updated from previous debloated, rooted version to this modified 8.3 stock rom, rooted with SU v2.79 SR3, all is good - only App that won't show up nor install, even tried the ones off APK Mirror site - is my Dunkin Donuts App, LOL. Play Store now said it's not compatible and the APK started to install then failed - any ideas or suggestions on what to do ??
Otherwise, it's all good - I will survive without DD App, just run that from another device when I need my caffeine fix.

Letitride said:
Big thanks for getting this out, updated from previous debloated, rooted version to this modified 8.3 stock rom, rooted with SU v2.79 SR3, all is good - only App that won't show up nor install, even tried the ones off APK Mirror site - is my Dunkin Donuts App, LOL. Play Store now said it's not compatible and the APK started to install then failed - any ideas or suggestions on what to do ??
Otherwise, it's all good - I will survive without DD App, just run that from another device when I need my caffeine fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also had an app that previously work, say is not compatible now.
Maybe has to do with apps that have links to pay accounts. And that has something to do with trustzone. (Tee1 & tee2)
Those sections I left out of the update. I will add it back in and test. Update when I do. It is also possible this problem is why Blu rolled back there update.
**EDIT**
well that didn't go well at all.
I flashed the new trustzone.bin files from the official update. Now phone no longer turns on and no longer connects to flash tool
**EDIT 2**
After much persistence and many failed attempts to get phone recognized in pc again. Finnaly got to a point that phone was cycling between "preloader" driver and "usb serial device", and with careful timing was able to start sp flash tool at just right time and the flashing back to original trustzone files seems to have recovered phone.
for the record i am not sure what steps made it work. But I was shifting back and forth between leaving phone sit on charge, then on charge with rubber band wrapped around power button, then not plugged in , and not plugged in with rubber band on power button.

Okay... persistence is key in customization, i guess! I am getting somewhere here!
mrmazak said:
The first link is needed to get phone unlocked so you can install twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally got thru the steps in order (1-2-3-4) then Step (5) and sub-step 1. I can also boot to TWRP.
Now this brings me to this thread, 8.3 Stock ROM. The thread assumes one knows how to install it and I suspect this could be as easy as uploading it to a folder in the phone then booting to TWRP and INSTALLING the ZIP file? Could someone clarify the steps to install this 8.3 ROM?
Thanks!

OldSkewler said:
Okay... persistence is key in customization, i guess! I am getting somewhere here!
Finally got thru the steps in order (1-2-3-4) then Step (5) and sub-step 1. I can also boot to TWRP.
Now this brings me to this thread, 8.3 Stock ROM. The thread assumes one knows how to install it and I suspect this could be as easy as uploading it to a folder in the phone then booting to TWRP and INSTALLING the ZIP file? Could someone clarify the steps to install this 8.3 ROM?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. You are correct
Either put the zip file on external sd card , put card into phone boot into recovery mode and install , or put file directly onto phone .
Many ways to do that.
Easiest is to copy to phone while phone is connected to PC.
Cam also download file from internet with your phone.
Bottom line is get zip file to the phone boot to recovery and install

Anyone else having wifi issues after upgrading? While watching videos it seems the internet cuts out. The phone says it's still connected but I have to turn wifi off and back on for anything to work. Could be my router also but it didn't seem to be doing this until I installed 8.3

mrmazak said:
Yes. You are correct
Either put the zip file on external sd card , put card into phone boot into recovery mode and install , or put file directly onto phone .
Easiest is to copy to phone while phone is connected to PC.
Bottom line is get zip file to the phone boot to recovery and install
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right on man! I am officially running 8.3 ROM with April 5th 2017 Security Patch Level! Geez.. it was not easy but I got this working!
MrMazak, I followed all your instructions on both links, so could you tell me what exactly I have on my phone? Is it rooted? Bootloader Unlocked? The phone seems to be working fine but I don't know what level of access I have. Honestly I don't even know exactly what the differences between all these terms are.
Also, do I have or not SU? One of the steps under the .bat I believe install it. How do I access it?
Thanks again!
---------- Post added at 10:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 PM ----------
Weasel0 said:
Anyone else having wifi issues after upgrading? While watching videos it seems the internet cuts out. The phone says it's still connected but I have to turn wifi off and back on for anything to work. Could be my router also but it didn't seem to be doing this until I installed 8.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My install is pretty fresh, couple of hours, but as far as I can tell all is working fine with Wifi, As a matter of fact this is a new device only connected with Wifi and no SIM Card.... internet works fine.

New 6P owner, returning to Android after a few years away, seeking recommendations

Hey, was big into the android scene years ago, switched to other platforms for a bit just to play with them. Got a used 64 gig 6p and was thinking about dropping a custom rom onto it, but I don't know what's good anymore. What's the most stable, daily driver, minimalist rom out there? Wouldn't mind SOME extra features like task/notification bar customization and things like that. Stability and rock solid performance with great battery life are the concerns. Thank you!

GunnermanBill said:
Hey, was big into the android scene years ago, switched to other platforms for a bit just to play with them. Got a used 64 gig 6p and was thinking about dropping a custom rom onto it, but I don't know what's good anymore. What's the most stable, daily driver, minimalist rom out there? Wouldn't mind SOME extra features like task/notification bar customization and things like that. Stability and rock solid performance with great battery life are the concerns. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running f2fs file system with ABC oreo build & superUber kernel. I'm on latest radio & bootloader from 8.1. it has been pretty solid. I was on Pure Nexus nougat & Flash kernel; this set-up is tried & true. The Superxe ROM is aroma based and has 8.1 preview although I haven't got to try it yet. Hopefully this might point you in the right direction; there is a f2fs twrp build(s) in the 6p development thread if your interested.

Samuel Holland said:
I'm running f2fs file system with ABC oreo build & superUber kernel. I'm on latest radio & bootloader from 8.1. it has been pretty solid. I was on Pure Nexus nougat & Flash kernel; this set-up is tried & true. The Superxe ROM is aroma based and has 8.1 preview although I haven't got to try it yet. Hopefully this might point you in the right direction; there is a f2fs twrp build(s) in the 6p development thread if your interested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome reply, thank you for the heads up. F2FS is new to me, I'm guessing
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ne...recovery-twrp-2-8-7-0-touch-recovery-t3234976
is the thread you were talking about? I need to get it bootloader unlocked and rooted still, i'll probably tackle it when i get home and drop that version of TWRP onto it. Thanks again!

so it looks like the tools like Wug's are all very outdated, are they safe to use anyway on my device that has all the latest stock stuff? like 8.0 and my version aren't listed in Wug's at all.

GunnermanBill said:
Awesome reply, thank you for the heads up. F2FS is new to me, I'm guessing
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ne...recovery-twrp-2-8-7-0-touch-recovery-t3234976
is the thread you were talking about? I need to get it bootloader unlocked and rooted still, i'll probably tackle it when i get home and drop that version of TWRP onto it. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the link to the unofficial twrp for 6p with f2fs support. Don't forget to check the box in twrp "Use rm -rf instead of formatting" after changing data and cache to f2fs. Make sure your rom and kernel support f2fs with kernel being mandatory for best results. Here's the link:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/development/unofficial-twrp-3-0-3-x-f2fs-support-t3543450
---------- Post added at 12:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 PM ----------
GunnermanBill said:
so it looks like the tools like Wug's are all very outdated, are they safe to use anyway on my device that has all the latest stock stuff? like 8.0 and my version aren't listed in Wug's at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure that unlocking the phone with the toolkit is safe. It's the method I used. Also in the link above or in the 6p section it should have any info you may need. You can flash recovery by vol dn & power button into bootloader(fastboot), and once you "cd /path tofolder with recovery image/" & "fastboot devices" to make sure you can see your 6p and drivers are installed correctly, you can rename twrp.img to recovery.img & they command is:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
I recommend going to xda 6p section; general, & questions, & answers & reading up on everything just to be on the safe side and very important; make backup at all times just to make sure if there is a "booboo" you can easily restore. If you need adb & fastboot installed, there is a thread here on xda "15 sec adb & fastboot installer".
I hope this could help and I hope you enjoy as much as I have.

Latest ROMs which gives me good performance and battery life are paranoid (still nougat, but always a winner), latest 8.1 with pixel 2 mod and aicp rom with kernvatore kernel.

Buying a 6P for good battery life may have been a mistake...

gman88667733 said:
Buying a 6P for good battery life may have been a mistake...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life on stock has been as good as my iPhones 6s. Does charge slower though, even when it's rapid.

GunnermanBill said:
Hey, was big into the android scene years ago, switched to other platforms for a bit just to play with them. Got a used 64 gig 6p and was thinking about dropping a custom rom onto it, but I don't know what's good anymore. What's the most stable, daily driver, minimalist rom out there? Wouldn't mind SOME extra features like task/notification bar customization and things like that. Stability and rock solid performance with great battery life are the concerns. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clockwork mod is no more, TWRP is the new standard recovery.
Nexus/Pixel line by google gives you the minimalistic ROM you would need,ie. stock ROM :laugh:
Try stock rom for a while. Heck, i got so used to stock , I havent rooted my phone since ages. Atm i have moved on to pixel, and i am perfectly comfortable with stock ROM. I guess custom ROMs only attracted me when i had devices whose software cycle were abandoned by their OEM's.

NoobInToto said:
Clockwork mod is no more, TWRP is the new standard recovery.
Nexus/Pixel line by google gives you the minimalistic ROM you would need,ie. stock ROM :laugh:
Try stock rom for a while. Heck, i got so used to stock , I havent rooted my phone since ages. Atm i have moved on to pixel, and i am perfectly comfortable with stock ROM. I guess custom ROMs only attracted me when i had devices whose software cycle were abandoned by their OEM's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just now finally rooted etc. My issue with stock was it would crash and reboot sometimes when unlocking it while something was playing over bluetooth. Not going nuts with advanced feature roms, but honestly at this point trust the devs here over the crazies that Google hires these days. Just keeping it safe simple and solid.

You should try the SuperXE Custom ROM on 8.0 with the Pixel 2 features/addons. You should also give PureNexus a try, if you're not so satisfied with Oreo just yet. I'm currently running the Android 8.1 developer preview and I love it, the battery life is great and the ROM is fluid with little bugs.

alright, i thought i had rooted, i guess not. I'm unlocked, i used wug's to root, but it's not sticking. I don't have super user, and i cannot boot into recovery without using ADB. If recovery is selected from the bootloader menu it just brings me to the default android recovery with no options and I have to hold the power button down. I've tried manually flashing the recovery via fastboot and it's the same story. I tried booting into twrp via fastboot and flashing the superuser zip there but it's not in my app drawer. Everything seems to be successful when the operations are running. What gives?

GunnermanBill said:
alright, i thought i had rooted, i guess not. I'm unlocked, i used wug's to root, but it's not sticking. I don't have super user, and i cannot boot into recovery without using ADB. If recovery is selected from the bootloader menu it just brings me to the default android recovery with no options and I have to hold the power button down. I've tried manually flashing the recovery via fastboot and it's the same story. I tried booting into twrp via fastboot and flashing the superuser zip there but it's not in my app drawer. Everything seems to be successful when the operations are running. What gives?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the recovery does not stick on stock ROM if you don't flash either supersu or magisk. So you need to put the .zip of either one of those on your phone, then boot to bootloader and fastboot flash the recovery. Next, you boot into the recovery and flash the zip that you put on your phone.
you are now rooted, and your recovery will stick.
I'm currently on stock 8.0 waiting for paranoid android 8.0 update

knevelsg-j said:
the recovery does not stick on stock ROM if you don't flash either supersu or magisk. So you need to put the .zip of either one of those on your phone, then boot to bootloader and fastboot flash the recovery. Next, you boot into the recovery and flash the zip that you put on your phone.
you are now rooted, and your recovery will stick.
I'm currently on stock 8.0 waiting for paranoid android 8.0 update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had flashed the super user zip in the wug kit myself while in TWRP but it still didn't stick. I mentioned that previously but i said a lot of other stuff too i'm not suprised you missed it. I guess I'm probably flashing the wrong SU and will look for another.
edit - grabbed the latest stable super user and it seems good now

What's this vendor image that's a thing now? You have to be tethered to a PC to flash most roms due to it nowadays it seems. Radios used to come in zips i could flash in twrp as well, what happened to that?

N00b w/ "new SGH-I337 that is running original kernel & 4.2.2 & needs to be updated

N00b w/ "new SGH-I337 that is running original kernel & 4.2.2 & needs to be updated
I am going to apologize from the start. I've read through a lot of threads here and have ended up more confused (and somewhat scared lol). I am a tad more skilled than average when it comes to PCs but I'm a complete mess when it comes to phones!
For various reasons, I like my old ATT Samsung S4 SGH-I337 but am hard on them and need to replace them about every 2 years (I usually wear out the power port among other things). I buy a replacement, copy over my apps, etc, maybe run a minor update and I'm good to go. This time, I bought a "new" open box S4 on Ebay for a great price but when I went to install all my apps, discovered that it was STILL (since it was "brand new") running Android 4.2.2 and the original kernel from the release in 2013! Ok, no big I thought, I will just run the ATT update and I will be good. Nope. Too far out of date and no one at ATT or Samsung is willing to help. I did learn that if I can get 4.4.4 on the phone, then I should be able to update it via ATT to 5.0.1 but I can't even find those files (or at the least any links to them that are still any good!)
Due to life issues, it is critical that I get this phone updated ASAP. Please, can someone spell out step by step in N00b-speak where I can get the needed files and how I update this phone to 5.0.1 or better? I'd really rather not root it if I can avoid it but will do what is needed. I'll buy you a beer (or reasonable beverage of your choice! )
Samsung Galaxy S4 (ATT) SGH_I337
Android 4.2.2
Baseband ver: I337UCUAMDL
Kernel ver: 3.4.0-453947
[email protected]#1
Sat April 27 17:06:05 KST 2013

SilkRoadDog said:
I am going to apologize from the start. I've read through a lot of threads here and have ended up more confused (and somewhat scared lol). I am a tad more skilled than average when it comes to PCs but I'm a complete mess when it comes to phones!
For various reasons, I like my old ATT Samsung S4 SGH-I337 but am hard on them and need to replace them about every 2 years (I usually wear out the power port among other things). I buy a replacement, copy over my apps, etc, maybe run a minor update and I'm good to go. This time, I bought a "new" open box S4 on Ebay for a great price but when I went to install all my apps, discovered that it was STILL (since it was "brand new") running Android 4.2.2 and the original kernel from the release in 2013! Ok, no big I thought, I will just run the ATT update and I will be good. Nope. Too far out of date and no one at ATT or Samsung is willing to help. I did learn that if I can get 4.4.4 on the phone, then I should be able to update it via ATT to 5.0.1 but I can't even find those files (or at the least any links to them that are still any good!)
Due to life issues, it is critical that I get this phone updated ASAP. Please, can someone spell out step by step in N00b-speak where I can get the needed files and how I update this phone to 5.0.1 or better? I'd really rather not root it if I can avoid it but will do what is needed. I'll buy you a beer (or reasonable beverage of your choice! )
Samsung Galaxy S4 (ATT) SGH_I337
Android 4.2.2
Baseband ver: I337UCUAMDL
Kernel ver: 3.4.0-453947
[email protected]#1
Sat April 27 17:06:05 KST 2013
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too was lucky enough to snag a S4 off ebay with the original kernel still on it. So with that said....do NOT update your phone! You're on the very special Android 4.2.2 jelly bean MDL bootloader! If you update, you will lose the ability to boot AOSP ROMs and install a custom recovery like TWRP.
AOSP ROMs can take you past Android 5.0.x lollipop and give you Android 6.0.x marshmallow or 7.0.x nougat. You can also boot custom touchwiz ROMs that will take you to Android 5.0.x lollipop. Use the towel root app to root the phone and then freeze any OTA with the titanium backup app. You can also benefit from my guide here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-att/general/how-to-one-guide-to-mdl-bootloader-t3584122

StoneyJSG said:
I too was lucky enough to snag a S4 off ebay with the original kernel still on it. So with that said....do NOT update your phone! You're on the very special Android 4.2.2 jelly bean MDL bootloader! If you update, you will lose the ability to boot AOSP ROMs and install a custom recovery like TWRP.
AOSP ROMs can take you past Android 5.0.x lollipop and give you Android 6.0.x marshmallow or 7.0.x nougat. You can also boot custom touchwiz ROMs that will take you to Android 5.0.x lollipop. Use the towel root app to root the phone and then freeze any OTA with the titanium backup app. You can also benefit from my guide here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-att/general/how-to-one-guide-to-mdl-bootloader-t3584122
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply. So I root it, then where do I go from there? How do I know what ROM is what and which one will give me at the least what I had on the old phone (less bloatware would be nice but right now I am so up a creek that I would be ok with stock)? Also, do you have good links to the tools you recommend? One issue I have been having searching here is that the 3-4-year-old posts here have sketchy or dead links.

SilkRoadDog said:
Thank you for your reply. So I root it, then where do I go from there? How do I know what ROM is what and which one will give me at the least what I had on the old phone (less bloatware would be nice but right now I am so up a creek that I would be ok with stock)? Also, do you have good links to the tools you recommend? One issue I have been having searching here is that the 3-4-year-old posts here have sketchy or dead links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, I always try to help when possible. After rooting you can follow my guide to get Loki doki installed. Then you can install a custom recovery like TWRP or clock work mod. My guide gets you clock work mod recovery installed but it's an old version. I use it though and it works fine for me. If you want TWRP recovery, you will have to search the web on how to install it with loki doki.
After a custom recovery is installed you can choose to boot touchwiz based ROMs or AOSP based ROMs like cyanogen mod. Custom touchwiz ROMs will look just like stock only modified (deodex, debloated, etc.) and AOSP ROMs will look like bone stock Android only with added features.
You can find AOSP ROMs in the original Android development forum here in the s4 forums. You can find touchwiz ROMs in Android development which is right under original Android development forum. Sorry, but I don't have any links to tools handy except for the link to my guide which I posted above in my last post. I use golden eye ROM on my s4 which is a stock based touchwiz ROM on Android 5.0 lollipop.
When booting ROMs, be sure that they do not have a bootloader update or else it'll override everything and will patch the loki doki exploit and lock down everything for good.

StoneyJSG said:
No problem, I always try to help when possible. After rooting you can follow my guide to get Loki doki installed. Then you can install a custom recovery like TWRP or clock work mod. My guide gets you clock work mod recovery installed but it's an old version. I use it though and it works fine for me. If you want TWRP recovery, you will have to search the web on how to install it with loki doki.
After a custom recovery is installed you can choose to boot touchwiz based ROMs or AOSP based ROMs like cyanogen mod. Custom touchwiz ROMs will look just like stock only modified (deodex, debloated, etc.) and AOSP ROMs will look like bone stock Android only with added features.
You can find AOSP ROMs in the original Android development forum here in the s4 forums. You can find touchwiz ROMs in Android development which is right under original Android development forum. Sorry, but I don't have any links to tools handy except for the link to my guide which I posted above in my last post. I use golden eye ROM on my s4 which is a stock based touchwiz ROM on Android 5.0 lollipop.
When booting ROMs, be sure that they do not have a bootloader update or else it'll override everything and will patch the loki doki exploit and lock down everything for good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for the reply. While I am very grateful, with all due respect, I understood only about half of it. Here is the deal. I'm an older guy N00b with chronic pain issues under an extreme amount of stress, and my cognitive abilities are not what they should be. There was a step by step guide posted back in 2015 that is what I need but most of the links are bad or sketchy. Like I said above, I really need something along the lines of "go here and here to get this software and put it in "X" place. Then press these keys and do "Y", then press those keys and do "Z". I'm really sorry to be so difficult but I am trying my best to get it.

SilkRoadDog said:
Thank you so much for the reply. While I am very grateful, with all due respect, I understood only about half of it. Here is the deal. I'm an older guy N00b with chronic pain issues under an extreme amount of stress, and my cognitive abilities are not what they should be. There was a step by step guide posted back in 2015 that is what I need but most of the links are bad or sketchy. Like I said above, I really need something along the lines of "go here and here to get this software and put it in "X" place. Then press these keys and do "Y", then press those keys and do "Z". I'm really sorry to be so difficult but I am trying my best to get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gotcha, no problem. Okay so what's the status of your phone now? Rooted? Not rooted? To root, goto https://towelroot.com on your phone and click the big red thing in the middle of the page. Make sure you have a Wi-Fi or data connection to the internet, as this will root your phone. Then goto https://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-...tt-or-verizon-galaxy-s4-sgh-i337sch-i545/amp/ to get loki doki installed and clockwork mod recovery. You can also install TWRP recovery instead of clockwork mod recovery, I THINK this is the link: https://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-...rp-on-rooted-galaxy-s4-using-goo-manager/amp/
Galaxys4root.com is a reputable site ran by Mr. HIGH ON ANDROID himself, Xedomax aka Max Lee. The tools you need should be on his site for download and the links shouldn't be dead. He also has a YouTube channel with videos on how to do different things with your phone. My guide I wrote that I linked before, has step by step instructions on how to root and install a custom recovery and how to boot custom ROMs.

StoneyJSG said:
I gotcha, no problem. Okay so what's the status of your phone now? Rooted? Not rooted? To root, goto https://towelroot.com on your phone and click the big red thing in the middle of the page. Make sure you have a Wi-Fi or data connection to the internet, as this will root your phone. Then goto https://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-...tt-or-verizon-galaxy-s4-sgh-i337sch-i545/amp/ to get loki doki installed and clockwork mod recovery. You can also install TWRP recovery instead of clockwork mod recovery, I THINK this is the link: https://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-...rp-on-rooted-galaxy-s4-using-goo-manager/amp/
Galaxys4root.com is a reputable site ran by Mr. HIGH ON ANDROID himself, Xedomax aka Max Lee. The tools you need should be on his site for download and the links shouldn't be dead. He also has a YouTube channel with videos on how to do different things with your phone. My guide I wrote that I linked before, has step by step instructions on how to root and install a custom recovery and how to boot custom ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, It's not rooted yet so I will start down the path laid out. What do you recommend as a source for Touchwiz (wth is that anyway? lol) ROMs? I don't know enough about Android 6.0.x marshmallow or 7.0.x nougat to make the call there but I do want to be able to access the Google apps and play store as before.

SilkRoadDog said:
Ok, It's not rooted yet so I will start down the path laid out. What do you recommend as a source for Touchwiz (wth is that anyway? lol) ROMs? I don't know enough about Android 6.0.x marshmallow or 7.0.x nougat to make the call there but I do want to be able to access the Google apps and play store as before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your instructions say " Next, you're going to want to freeze the OTA update so the phone won't update off the MDL bootloader (after installing SuperSU of course). You can do this via the Titanium Backup app or the MyBackup Root app (now called just MyBackup I think).
Let's recap...you will need a copy of the towel root app, then SuperSU, then TB or MyBackup Root app. SuperSU will kill the evil KNOX for you." Do I do that before "loki doki installed and clockwork mod recovery."? If so, where is a good source for them? If not, when do I do I install them?
".

StoneyJSG said:
I gotcha, no problem. Okay so what's the status of your phone now? Rooted? Not rooted? To root, goto https://towelroot.com on your phone and click the big red thing in the middle of the page. Make sure you have a Wi-Fi or data connection to the internet, as this will root your phone. Then goto https://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-...tt-or-verizon-galaxy-s4-sgh-i337sch-i545/amp/ to get loki doki installed and clockwork mod recovery. You can also install TWRP recovery instead of clockwork mod recovery, I THINK this is the link: https://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-...rp-on-rooted-galaxy-s4-using-goo-manager/amp/
Galaxys4root.com is a reputable site ran by Mr. HIGH ON ANDROID himself, Xedomax aka Max Lee. The tools you need should be on his site for download and the links shouldn't be dead. He also has a YouTube channel with videos on how to do different things with your phone. My guide I wrote that I linked before, has step by step instructions on how to root and install a custom recovery and how to boot custom ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, forget anything I typed here in the last hour lol. Somehow there were two locals and I was in the wrong one. So far so good. So back to the other question above. " " Next, you're going to want to freeze the OTA update so the phone won't update off the MDL bootloader (after installing SuperSU of course). You can do this via the Titanium Backup app or the MyBackup Root app (now called just MyBackup I think).
Let's recap...you will need a copy of the towel root app, then SuperSU, then TB or MyBackup Root app. SuperSU will kill the evil KNOX for you."" I still need to do that, right? if so, where do I find those apps?
Thank you so much.

SilkRoadDog said:
Ok, It's not rooted yet so I will start down the path laid out. What do you recommend as a source for Touchwiz (wth is that anyway? lol) ROMs? I don't know enough about Android 6.0.x marshmallow or 7.0.x nougat to make the call there but I do want to be able to access the Google apps and play store as before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchwiz is the "skin" user interface that Samsung puts on top of Android. It is the stock SAMSUNG rom. Just Google touchwiz then Google stock Android, you'll see a difference. I like touchwiz so I am running a custom ROM called "Golden eye". You can download it from the Android development forum here in the S4 section. Other people like stock Android. The magic of being on the MDL bootloader is that you can boot touchwiz and bone stock Android ROMs. Most custom ROMs both stock Android and touchwiz based will let you access Google apps and the play store.
---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 PM ----------
SilkRoadDog said:
Ok, forget anything I typed here in the last hour lol. Somehow there were two locals and I was in the wrong one. So far so good. So back to the other question above. " " Next, you're going to want to freeze the OTA update so the phone won't update off the MDL bootloader (after installing SuperSU of course). You can do this via the Titanium Backup app or the MyBackup Root app (now called just MyBackup I think).
Let's recap...you will need a copy of the towel root app, then SuperSU, then TB or MyBackup Root app. SuperSU will kill the evil KNOX for you."" I still need to do that, right? if so, where do I find those apps?
Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get all those app except towel root on the play store. Once installed you can use ES file explorer to back them up to apk files then use the my files app that's on ya phone to move them to your SD card for use with your new ROM or keep them where they are since my guide tells you how to keep your data in tact...well for touch wiz ROMs anyway.

StoneyJSG said:
Touchwiz is the "skin" user interface that Samsung puts on top of Android. It is the stock SAMSUNG rom. Just Google touchwiz then Google stock Android, you'll see a difference. I like touchwiz so I am running a custom ROM called "Golden eye". You can download it from the Android development forum here in the S4 section. Other people like stock Android. The magic of being on the MDL bootloader is that you can boot touchwiz and bone stock Android ROMs. Most custom ROMs both stock Android and touchwiz based will let you access Google apps and the play store.
---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 PM ----------
You can get all those app except towel root on the play store. Once installed you can use ES file explorer to back them up to apk files then use the my files app that's on ya phone to move them to your SD card for use with your new ROM or keep them where they are since my guide tells you how to keep your data in tact...well for touch wiz ROMs anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since this is a "new" phone and I have nothing to back up yet, do I need to run a backup or can I follow your guide from that point, clean things up and install the ROM of choice?

SilkRoadDog said:
Since this is a "new" phone and I have nothing to back up yet, do I need to run a backup or can I follow your guide from that point, clean things up and install the ROM of choice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's always good to make a backup in case anything goes wrong with your phone down the road you can get back to where you started without having to flash the MDL stock Rom in ODIN by connecting your phone to your computer. You should though keep a copy of ODIN and the MDL bootloader .tar ODIN file. However, it's entirely optional to make a back up so you could just follow the guide from that point and clean up for a ROM install if you don't want to make a backup.
You can also boot a ROM and then make a backup after you have everything set up. You can back up the stock Rom or any ROM you boot/install. That's the magic of having a custom recovery like TWRP or clock work mod.

StoneyJSG said:
It's always good to make a backup in case anything goes wrong with your phone down the road you can get back to where you started without having to flash the MDL stock Rom in ODIN by connecting your phone to your computer. You should though keep a copy of ODIN and the MDL bootloader .tar ODIN file. However, it's entirely optional to make a back up so you could just follow the guide from that point and clean up for a ROM install if you don't want to make a backup.
You can also boot a ROM and then make a backup after you have everything set up. You can back up the stock Rom or any ROM you boot/install. That's the magic of having a custom recovery like TWRP or clock work mod.
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately, since I already started the install before seeing this, I have no idea what I backed up or where it is. :crying:
First off, I want to thank you so much for the help. I owe you and would like to buy you a beer or the like. I have my phone back now! There were issues with the Golden Eye install (it froze at the Samsung logo for over an hour) and I had to wipe everything and start over then I was able to get it up and running. Is this the right one? https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2313469
Quick question: Do you know if that ROM supports an external SD card larger than 32gig?
I am having some issues and so far am not thrilled with this ROM and am wondering if it's the right one or if I screwed up. It hasn't been worked on since 2015 and the dev is hasn't been responsive in years. On my phone, it's really buggy. It boots slow, apps hang when loading, a few don't work right, the screen can flash or freeze and TouchWiz keeps crashing like it was doing at the end on my old phone's life. Any ideas as to why?

SilkRoadDog said:
Unfortunately, since I already started the install before seeing this, I have no idea what I backed up or where it is. :crying:
First off, I want to thank you so much for the help. I owe you and would like to buy you a beer or the like. I have my phone back now! There were issues with the Golden Eye install (it froze at the Samsung logo for over an hour) and I had to wipe everything and start over then I was able to get it up and running. Is this the right one? https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2313469
Quick question: Do you know if that ROM supports an external SD card larger than 32gig?
I am having some issues and so far am not thrilled with this ROM and am wondering if it's the right one or if I screwed up. It hasn't been worked on since 2015 and the dev is hasn't been responsive in years. On my phone, it's really buggy. It boots slow, apps hang when loading, a few don't work right, the screen can flash or freeze and TouchWiz keeps crashing like it was doing at the end on my old phone's life. Any ideas as to why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you made a nandroid backup with TWRP recovery or clockwork mod recovery, then the backup file will be on your phone SD card or internal memory. Use the my files app to find it. It should be under a folder called TWRP or clockwork mod.
Hey no problem man, I know how it is to goto a forum and have 87,000 people view your post yet nothing is said. Yes that link is the correct link to golden eye ROM. When booting a ROM for the first time it will get stuck at the Samsung logo for awhile, this is normal but it shouldn't be more than 20 minutes. I think the S4 can handle SD cards up to 128GB, it might only be 64GB though.
Very odd golden eye ROM is giving you issues, I have only had one problem with it and that was the text message app acting up every so often. When you booted golden eye did you use the Aroma installer so it just asks you questions and you pick what you want? If not wipe and start over using aroma, it's built into the ROM. Also be sure to tell Aroma you want to use the "imperium kernel". That's the kernel I am using. Golden eye ROM doesn't have a bootloader update in it, so you'll stay on MDL and not have to worry about your phone patching the loki exploit.
I think you can also use the hybrid max kernel, but I don't think it's in the Aroma installer so if you want it you will have to download it from the forums here and flash it separately.
Another thing you can try is just "nuking your phone" as explained in my guide that wipes everything and gives you a nice clean install. The only reason I included the "keep your data" method in my guide is because I just stumbled upon it by doing it on my phone.
If all else fails and as a last ditch effort, you could send the phone to me and I will see if I can get it up and running with golden eye ROM, then send it back. No guarantees though as I'm no developer or anything, just a guy that knows the basics of Android ROMs and root.

Final report. It turns out the problems I've been having were related to the SU Super App. There have been complaints about the recent version. I thought that it was a corrupt install of Golden Eye so got a clean DL from another mirror and was getting ready to start all over. This time I was going to follow the dev's install instructions step by step instead of yours and his. However, I couldn't install TWRP as he instructed. It hung at 100% and never completed. I thought that maybe Super SU was the issue there so I uninstalled it and all of my other problems went away! So happy. Thank you for everything. I do owe you a drink!

SilkRoadDog said:
Final report. It turns out the problems I've been having were related to the SU Super App. There have been complaints about the recent version. I thought that it was a corrupt install of Golden Eye so got a clean DL from another mirror and was getting ready to start all over. This time I was going to follow the dev's install instructions step by step instead of yours and his. However, I couldn't install TWRP as he instructed. It hung at 100% and never completed. I thought that maybe Super SU was the issue there so I uninstalled it and all of my other problems went away! So happy. Thank you for everything. I do owe you a drink!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey glad it finally worked out for you. You will need superSU though, try a different version of it and that might fix the issue you're having with the latest version. That is unless you have the kingroot super user app, then you can use that but it's not as good as superSU. I had problems with it authorizing my root apps so I got rid of it and installed superSU. No problem glad to help and no thanks needed but if you really wanna buy me a beer go for it lol.