Database Users

Install Recovery and CM on Locked I9500

Hi All,
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this as I'm relatively new to posting on XDA. My girlfriend has a Galaxy S4 (I337) that I quickly and easily installed Cyanogenmod on. It's awesome and significantly better than TouchWiz. So, I bought an S4 off Ebay assuming it would be similar enough. It turns out this new S4 is an I9500 and before shipping it was updated to 4.3, which appears to lock the bootloader and prevent downgrading. I've tried Odin, Heimdall, ADB, Philz, Chainfire, Cofface, stock ROMs, etc with no luck. Today I did manage to root the phone and confirm root with TowelRoot. I'm wondering/hoping someone might have some resources to get CM on this thing. While I'd prefer not to brick it I am willing to take risks as I have a Razr (soft-bricked and unbricked) running CM and am relatively comfortable with computers/Linux.
I've been Googling and trying things for a month now and can't even find that much information on the locked bootloader. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
--
SL

The I9500 doesn't have a locked bootloader. You just can't downgrade from 4.3 to 4.2.2 with official roms. Same applies when you are running 4.4, then you also can't downgrade officially.
Just flash a custom recovery true Odin and flash away.
Why would you even want to downgrade? Are you sure you are picking the right files? You cant flash the files for the I337 on the I9500. So just go to the section for the I9500 roms and flash away.

Hi Lennyz1988,
Thanks for the quick reply. I don't specifically want to downgrade but that's the last option I've tried. Ultimately the goal is to put Cyanogenmod on the phone. When I attempt to upload any file via Odin I get "secure magiccode check fail : boot" (or fail : recovery) depending on what I'm flashing. All the reading I've done says that when these phones are updated to 4.3 a fix has been applied that stops Odin from working. Thus, I my last resort is/was to try and downgrade. As I said, I've been Googling for the last month and while few people have posted about this I have not found any solutions.
Hoping someone might have a solution or anything new to try that I haven't tried already, thanks again,
--
SL

Download the latest TWRP recovery:
http://techerrata.com/browse/twrp2/i9500
Fire it up in Odin under PDA. You need the .tar (DON'T EXTRACT IT).
If it fails:
- Different usb port
- Different cable
- Different pc
- Reinstall drivers
- Make sure Kies is not running the background.
Or you can use heimdall to flash it. Use the command line though:
heimdall flash --recovery nameoftherecovery.img (you need the .img instead of the .tar)

No luck there, Odin still fails with the same message. I have tried Heimdall on 2 different computers (4 different usb cables) and always get the libusb 12 error.
Since I have root access I figured I might be able to wipe the recovery partition from a terminal emulator. I copied recovery.img from the I9500 CWM to the internal sd card. I then went to /dev/block/msm_sdcc.1/by-name to figure out what partition is recovery, turns out its 21. I then did “dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p21”. I then booted into recovery and it just hung up. I had previously found a stock recovery partition so I flashed that via Odin (the only file I have found that works flashing via Odin). I could then boot back into the normal recovery. I then tried flashing both recovery and cache with the CF Auto files (cache is partition 18). Same result, it just hangs when trying to boot into recovery. At one point I did manage to flash a recovery that then came up with a warning about “software installed that is not supported by AT&T” and I couldn’t get past that so had to flash the stock recovery again.
On a side note, I accidentally wiped the EFS partition in this process (if found a tutorial that shows the S3 had recovery in partition 10, which is EFS on the S4). As a result 1.) the menu didn’t pop up when I hit the power button and 2.) wifi didn’t work. So, I made an .img of the EFS partition on my GT-I337 and moved it to the I9500 and that worked restoring both. In case anyone makes the same mistake.
I have now also used CWM ROM Manager and GooManger and tried installing recovery that way with no luck.

Just check if the internal memory partitioning is correct ( number, size and format) (use fdisk or parsed).
ODIN will install according to the PIT file and if drivers and cables are OK it is no other explanation than that.
PS: do not trust heimdall data because it just read the PIT file and do not give the true info from the memory part.!

Uhm on the TWRP website they say that the I9500 has it on partition 10.....
This would be the proper partition based on their website:
mmcblk0p10
Are you absolutely sure you have an i9500? Because my guess is that you don't.....
Boot into download mode. What does it say your model is?
Because on the AT&T it's partition 21.... So my guess is that you are messing up....

Thanks everyone for the input/feedback,
Something I think I had forgotten to mention previously, when the initial root/recovery attempts didn't work I downloaded an app to verify it is a genuine Samsung as I have heard of very good knock-offs. It is genuine according to the app.
Good point/catch regarding the location of the recovery partition. Under About Phone it shows as an I9500 and always has. When in download mode it currently shows as I337 but I wasn't sure if that was simply a result of all my attempts so I figured best to go with the one I am certain has been the same since I bought the phone. I had been hesitant to try wiping the recovery with for the I337 as that is how I soft-bricked my RazrHD (ultimately un-bricked it).
Tonight I will try the I337 files and see if Odin is successful. Thanks again.

Damn! Turns out my phone is an I337. The hardward (under the battery) says I9500 and when I plug it into a computer it shows up as I9500. On the weekend I thought I read that there is now the ability to flash recovery and install CyanogenMod on I337 if its updated to 4.4.2. So, I donwloaded the firmware and flashed with Odin. It flashed successfully but now I realize I am mistaken and 1.) cannot flash recovery, and 2.) cannot downgrade. For the time being I have installed Nova Launcher and removed as much of TouchWiz as possible. It's not perfect but at least usable. I'd like to start researching what it would take to flash recovery on this phone but I suspect I'm too busy at this moment.
Thanks everyone for the help,

Flashing a New Rom

I have an issue. I downloaded the ROM, ATT modules and Super SU. I made a mistake though. I extracted the files before I put them on my SD card. When I booted into Safestrap, I did the wipe but when you go to then select the ROM zip, it isn't there because the files are extracted. If I try and boot my phone back up to retry, I get stuck at Galaxy S4 screen. What do I need to do in order to try again? Thanks.

While the phone was in recovery mode, you could have used adb to push the ROM to the phone. Since you booted out of it, you cant. You need to start over by flashing the stock using Odin.

How do I flash to stock with Odin. I have only used Odin to change my Kernel version so I could use Towelroot. Which slot do I use in Odin and where to I get a stock NI1? Thanks.

Need some help quick flashing ROM through SafeStrap

I'm trying to flash a ROM on a i337 S4 running 4.4.2 NB1, I have it rooted SuperSu installed and Safestrap custom recovery install. I boot into recovery create a new ROM slot (standard sized) flash ROM, flash NB1 modules, flash SuperSu (per ROM's instructions) then reboot. Now heres the problem, it will boot show Safestrap and the Samsung boot but right after that where you would normally see the AT&T boot or the ROM's boot it just goes black. Black screen nothing there no button press work nothing, I know the phones on because if I have it plugged into the computer through USB it will recognize it as an Android device. I let it sit for a good 10 minutes and nothing. Has happened on a couple different ROM's. The one I'm currently trying to flash in Empty Galaxy http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2768183

[Q] Reflashed Stock w/ Odin, Still No Boot

Hello all,
I am looking for some advice, on getting my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 working again. I will keep this as short as I can:
I originally had 4.3 rooted with the MK2 firmware, and used Odin to flash my phone to 4.4 NB1, using the ROM in the Guide to Stock/Updating/Rooting thread.
This worked fine, and I was able to boot and use the phone, but my root access was gone.
I tried Towelroot, Kingo, etc... to no success.
I then followed http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2692825 thread to semi downgrade to MK2 and was able to obtain root again. I also installed Safestrap recovery.
At this point I could not successfully boot back into the phone, though I could access Safestrap.
I flashed the stock kernel for NB1 again, but still could not boot.
I then flashed the stock NB1 ROM again.
After this, the phone would show the android icon and a progress bar, then restart, reach the Samsung load screen, start the AT&T load screen and then boot loop.
Once I reached this point, I could no longer access recovery, only download mode.
In my attempts since then. I've found if I stop the phone from ever getting to the Samsung load screen after flashing the stock ROM, I can then access recovery. As soon as I let it boot, I cannot access recovery.
I've flashed the stock ROM multiple times at this point, gotten into recovery and wiped the devices then rebooted multiple times.
I just don't know what else I can do.
Does anyone have any ideas? A place to look? Any help appreciated!

safestrap....unable to mount /system...potential brick??

have rooted s5 on 4.4.4 nk2. Have been trying to install custom roms via safestrap. Apparently i am missing a step. I wipe data, try to install twi5ted Lollipop on custom rom slot....blank screen for over 30 min after reboot, phone gets real hot, take battery out. Try to install on stock rom slot, reboot then get stuck in boot loop and keeps booting into system recovery. I then saw through my hours of searching to format instead of wipe....so i format then try to install, get stuck again, take battery out, get back to safestrap dash now when i try to wipe/format/or even restore my backup it says unable to mount system. When i click reboot system it says no OS installed. After reboot, my custom slot gets erased.
I was about to try an odin flash back to stock but some how was able to get my phone back to a system restore. Why can i not get anything installed? Do i have to have odin to do a custom rom install?????? i know every rom is different but wtf. I have seen multiple videos and threads of people flashing zip via safestrap and rebooting into new rom without flashing kernals via odin or safestrap after rom install.
Also...my phone will not let me download zip files (ex. cm12.1) says unable to create download folder....how close to F'in my phone up am i? I have successfully rooted all phones in the past...s5 is giving me hell!
I just tried installing rom after format, then flash nk2 kernel from odin, still gives boot loop....ive tried everything i have found..never this much problem with custom rom..

When you try to install twisted it needs lollipop firmware which is flashed on odin, and based on your statement it says you're on NK2, a kitkat firmware. Try flashing a stock ncg tar and rerouting, downloading apps, etc. on the phone to see if that works. Also, I noticed you mentioned a cm 12.1 zip not downloading which, while unrelated to your current problem, will cause a bootloop when flashed due to the locked bootloader on the S5, so it isn't a smart idea to even attempt an install.

mrjiggywiggy said:
When you try to install twisted it needs lollipop firmware which is flashed on odin, and based on your statement it says you're on NK2, a kitkat firmware. Try flashing a stock ncg tar and rerouting, downloading apps, etc. on the phone to see if that works. Also, I noticed you mentioned a cm 12.1 zip not downloading which, while unrelated to your current problem, will cause a bootloop when flashed due to the locked bootloader on the S5, so it isn't a smart idea to even attempt an install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, i will try fresh from start ncg. so you have to be on the current kernel that you are flashing a rom for, whether its CM, Twi5ted, Alliance...etc i need to be on rooted 5.0 kernel then flash rom via safestrap?

i was having problems downloading from internet on phone, not downloading rom if thats what you thought i meant. I just tried installing zip for CM 12 via safestrap and got same issue. Phone reboots, goes to black screen and eventually heats up like crazy. .... I just noticed, after my restore ...again... it says safestrap disabled in red on the boot screen, why is that? it says installed and tried reinstalling.

FIXED
So i flashed ncg from odin on the messed up phone and got messed up worse. Ended up getting stuck on first boot image of samsung android s5 boot screen. Finally found original stock firmare file and used odin to complete install stock os and got rid of root. Now back to normal... luckily i figured it out my self! thanks to the 100's who viewed and didnt help and thanks to mrjiggywiggy for giving me some input to help out!