Database Users

[Q] Downgrading Canadian Galaxy S4 & a Q about Knox

Hello,
I recently picked up a Canadian Galaxy S4. This is my first android device after using an iPhone 4 for the last 3 years. I'm a tinkering kind of guy so when I heard about the whole custom ROM community for the s4, I was excited. I've been reading up on this for the last 3 weeks and I still have a couple questions that I haven't really seen a solid answer for specifically regarding the 1337m model.
1) If I root it would be nice to be able to reverse things should I need to send it in for warranty repair. I understand that triangle away isn't working on the latest MG1 firmware (which my device came with). I know that the ME7 update on the US version included a bootloader that no longer allowed downgrading firmware. Is this the case with the Canadian models as well? If it is possible to downgrade are there any special steps that need to be taken, or can I just flash a stock MDJ image via odin/heimdall
2) I have read the whole thread about the issues with the knox warranty void efuse. I checked the download mode on my phone and it does not have any of the knox info on it, so as I understand it, knox isn't enabled and therefore as long as I don't update to new stock firmware and I shouldn't trip the efuse. I have disabled auto-update in the settings. Is there anything else that I should do or be aware of to make sure that my phone doesn't update and force the knox stuff on my phone.
At the end of the day, if my warranty is permanently void, that's fine, but if there's a way that I can still keep the ability to restore my phone to 100% stock without tripping and binary counters or efuses I'd like to make sure that I know and understand how to do that before I start flashing custom roms rather than trying to figure it out in a panic if something goes wrong on my device.

[Q] New to note 3 & samsung

hi, i just got my note 3 n9005 international a couple of days ago & now its time to root...you can say i am a little new to samsung because the last device i used was an s3 & that was a long time ago.....
i dont have any warranty so knox isnt that big of a concern unless it may cause some sort of damage to the phone...so far i have read..its only for warranty purposes like the flash counter for s3.
i was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to point me to rooting & everything else i need to do to install custom roms including recovery...
i tried to read through the instructions of root de la vega but i find it too complicated...so i was thinking of doing cf auto root....
thank you

linx1287 said:
hi, i just got my note 3 n9005 international a couple of days ago & now its time to root...you can say i am a little new to samsung because the last device i used was an s3 & that was a long time ago.....
i dont have any warranty so knox isnt that big of a concern unless it may cause some sort of damage to the phone...so far i have read..its only for warranty purposes like the flash counter for s3.
i was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to point me to rooting & everything else i need to do to install custom roms including recovery...
i tried to read through the instructions of root de la vega but i find it too complicated...so i was thinking of doing cf auto root....
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung issue a 24month warranty on the Note 3 (maybe country specific?) -
If KNOX isn't an issue for you and you do not mind tripping it, the CF-Auto is the way to go.
RDLV is complicated if you're lazy, but it does preserve KNOX status depending on your bootloader version, put in #*1234# into your dial pad and post the results. We can know if you can use RDLV.
However, if you want to flash a Custom ROM, then you will need a custom recovery, which will trip your KNOX (can't be done without) - on the Android dev section and Orginal Android dev section (in this sub forum) are some Custom ROMs and the instructions on how to do so.
I have used X-Note, Crash and am currently using AllianceROM, but there are a few others.
Just be careful with custom kernels until you're pretty confident cause you can bootloop and ruin your EFS quite easily (it is fixable 99% of the time tho, script is on here also)
EDIT : All you need is here pretty much

thank you for your reply & these are the stats
AP: N9005XXUDMJ6
CP: N9005XXUDMJ4
CSC: N9005EVRDMJ4
also RDLV is way too complicated for me & besides i do plan to install a custom recovery so i think that defeats the point ....since you seem to have tripped knox, there hasnt been any kind of system issue i hope? this whole knox business gave me cold feet when i read about it...but so far as i can see..its just a flash counter.... could you tell me the tools i need to get started with? i already downloaded the usb drivers & odin 3.09..is there anything else i should need?
p.s. i was reading about "before or later MJ7 4" whatever...& i was wondering which of these was it refering to? ap? thank you

Once you trip the knox counter it makes no difference to the phone except not being able to use knox containers, and of course the warranty which you know. -- if you have the drivers and odin. Go grab cf-autoroot, run it thru odin and voila all done, similar for twrp or Cwm which ever you choose as your custom recovery (I use twrp) flash in odin and that's it all set.
Just make sure and I can't stress this enough, that you flash the right ROM for the N9005, and N900 doesn't work. - avoid doing restores with twrp for now also when you do a back up, some issues have arose recently and not sure of they're resolved or not yet.
Have fun man, just read everything about the ROM etc before you flash the odd one has FC's or NFC issues
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

ok so backing up & restoring with recovery is, for the time being, a no no? yes i will make sure to see if the roms are made for n9005 only....i will probably start off with omega roms as they are the 1st choice i had when i started modding the s3 ....thank you soo much mate for all the info...1 last thing to clear up is i am reading on developers talking about MJ or MK or whatever it is....are they talking about the build number i find in Settings/About??

1 thing i couldnt get a proper answer for...is how does 1 know they have the international variant of the n9005 anyway? normally if a n9005 is under some sort of carrier...the carrier logo would flash when booting up right? because thats what happens on my brother's note 3 n9005...when he boots up his phone..it shows SFR logo before going to the samsung bootanimation.....but on mine there is no such thing...the simple note 3 n9005 text then samsung boot animation & then straight to system...that means mine is the unbranded 1 am i correct?

linx1287 said:
1 thing i couldnt get a proper answer for...is how does 1 know they have the international variant of the n9005 anyway? normally if a n9005 is under some sort of carrier...the carrier logo would flash when booting up right? because thats what happens on my brother's note 3 n9005...when he boots up his phone..it shows SFR logo before going to the samsung bootanimation.....but on mine there is no such thing...the simple note 3 n9005 text then samsung boot animation & then straight to system...that means mine is the unbranded 1 am i correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah yours is unbranded, only thing that may/will apply to you is region lock (which unless you're leaving the country your purchased your phone in isn't an issue at the start.
Although I see your CSC is EVR (if I recall correctly that is EE UK's firmware on board)
EDIT: Yes MK/ML are build numbers

no i dont have region lock..THAT i checked...so can i go forwards with all the rooting recovery & custom roms? i did find a orange core services apk on my apps manager under ALL tab..... also what original firmware can i roll back to incase anything goes wrong? any specifics?

linx1287 said:
no i dont have region lock..THAT i checked...so can i go forwards with all the rooting recovery & custom roms? i did find a orange core services apk on my apps manager under ALL tab..... also what original firmware can i roll back to incase anything goes wrong? any specifics?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup can go forwards. EVR (EE aka Orange/T-Mobile) have unlocked phones so yeah you won't have region lock. Which means yours is unbranded but carrier unbranded.
As for firmware, it depends on what region you are using? And what country you are in (you could use BTU (also UK, unbranded but EVR is ok also) - You are **now I say this depending on your country/region** OK on MJ7 or MK2 IF you upgrade since you're using a UK based ROM/CSC your network obviously supports it. However battery life is better on lower than MJ6. So it's your choice really.
Most custom ROMs are MK2 or ML2 atm I think, - Not sure if any upgrade your bootloader to MJ7 (if they do, you can't roll back any lower currently)

i just need a stock firmware so as i have a fallback if anything goes wrong...nothing more really as i plan to stick with custom roms...will this do?
http://samsung-updates.com/details/17028/Galaxy_Note_3_Snapdragon/SM-N9005/EVR/N9005XXUDMJ6.html
i am in Bangladesh so i am pretty confident that there isnt any rom for my region
yea i was wondering about the battery life myself...i dont know what version my brother's note is but his battery lasts noticibly longer than mine does....i was even planning on swapping batteries as i thought it might be a cell related issue

linx1287 said:
i just need a stock firmware so as i have a fallback if anything goes wrong...nothing more really as i plan to stick with custom roms...will this do?
http://samsung-updates.com/details/17028/Galaxy_Note_3_Snapdragon/SM-N9005/EVR/N9005XXUDMJ6.html
i am in Bangladesh so i am pretty confident that there isnt any rom for my region
yea i was wondering about the battery life myself...i dont know what version my brother's note is but his battery lasts noticibly longer than mine does....i was even planning on swapping batteries as i thought it might be a cell related issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as your bootloader doesn't go to MJ7 - that firmware is OK, If your bootloader updates ( I think it may with the custom ROM) you can't roll back to MJ6, you can go to MJ7 or MK2 via BTU which will work for you since EVR works.

the latest omega is ML2 so by that measure...i wont be able to roll back to MK2 either & the latest on this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2459328 is MK2

linx1287 said:
the latest omega is ML2 so by that measure...i wont be able to roll back to MK2 either & the latest on this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2459328 is MK2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can drop back as far as MJ7 ( I have at least when I've returned to stock due to mess ups) my build is MK2 atm
the bootloader only goes to MJ7 (last I checked, If it has changed then mine still lets me roll to MJ7)

csc seems a very complicated mess...GOD when did the mod friendly samsung go this crazy? the s3 was the most fun thing to mod...now this feels more complicated then Sony's!! :'( since my csc is EVR...is it possible to put BTU? i saw someone post this but didnt get any replies... http://www.usofttech.com/t128991.html
OH CRAP you said this BTU already...sorry my bad.... just trying to absorb all this

1 last query & i think i can start....with my current MJ6 build...can i do the cf auto root? or do i need to be on a lower build? if i can...then i think i will start or should i wait for the MJ7 to finish downloading & root that with cf auto root? & mate...thank you... you helped clear a lot of the confusions stopping me from modding this...now i think i can start things with a bit of confidence...thank you.... MUCH appreciated

linx1287 said:
1 last query & i think i can start....with my current MJ6 build...can i do the cf auto root? or do i need to be on a lower build? if i can...then i think i will start or should i wait for the MJ7 to finish downloading & root that with cf auto root? & mate...thank you... you helped clear a lot of the confusions stopping me from modding this...now i think i can start things with a bit of confidence...thank you.... MUCH appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can CF root straight away, - since you're triggering KNOX anyway it won't affect you. Then on with custom recovery etc, just keep MJ7 as your stock back up on your PC just incase. and IF you run into any issues with EFS (bootloops/no signal/wifi/baseband etc) use THIS It has saved me and quite a few others.
EDIT: And no problem man, glad to help, we all start somewhere with new devices

mate....the odin inside the cf root is 1.85 & the 1 got from google is 3.09 which should i use? & is PDA & AP the same thing because they are diff in the 2 versions of odin

linx1287 said:
mate....the odin inside the cf root is 1.85 & the 1 got from google is 3.09 which should i use? & is PDA & AP the same thing because they are diff in the 2 versions of odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use 3.07 personally - and flash using PDA -- Use the one with CF root if you're unsure

the phone is rooted ahhh feels like home again ....mate you said earlier that restoring backups on twrp causes system issues....i was wondering if this is true for just twrp or ALL current recoveries in general? which recovery would you suggest? also i was wondering about that script you told me about...the 1 about soft brick.... that fixes corrupt efs due to flashes yes? if so, does that mean it doesnt require my backup of efs?

linx1287 said:
the phone is rooted ahhh feels like home again ....mate you said earlier that restoring backups on twrp causes system issues....i was wondering if this is true for just twrp or ALL current recoveries in general? which recovery would you suggest? also i was wondering about that script you told me about...the 1 about soft brick.... that fixes corrupt efs due to flashes yes? if so, does that mean it doesnt require my backup of efs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP has issues *sometimes* there's a few posts about it around, I personally have had no problems and use TWRP fine, but I mentioned it because what works for one, doesn't always for another.
As for EFS backup, keep it just incase -- IT seems Android can rebuild the EFS again with that fire script. -- It's handy though, gotten a few out of the crapper including myself

I337M Downgrade and Custom ROM Questions

Haven't played with custom rom for awhile as well as rooting/recovery.
Now that Samsung implemented Knox, I'm reading this is changing how to implement roms and upgrading/downgrading stock roms.
I am currently on MDJ from MG1 and did not want to go to 4.3 because of the full blown Knox implementation.
So my questions are:
1. Can I still downgrade from 4.3 to 4.2.2 (MDJ)? I read some in one thread you can but others you can't. Have to make sure which thread I read for I337 vs I337M which seem quite different. Reason is that I can still easily repair/modify stuff on MDJ firmware.
2. I am also considering installing Google Edition 4.4.2 ROM as I believe it does not have Knox. Can I easily revert back to 4.2.2 MDJ from a custom rom?
I've been reading for awhile and I can't seem to figure this out. Must be old age. TIA.

lg777 said:
Haven't played with custom rom for awhile as well as rooting/recovery.
Now that Samsung implemented Knox, I'm reading this is changing how to implement roms and upgrading/downgrading stock roms.
I am currently on MDJ from MG1 and did not want to go to 4.3 because of the full blown Knox implementation.
So my questions are:
1. Can I still downgrade from 4.3 to 4.2.2 (MDJ)? I read some in one thread you can but others you can't. Have to make sure which thread I read for I337 vs I337M which seem quite different. Reason is that I can still easily repair/modify stuff on MDJ firmware.
2. I am also considering installing Google Edition 4.4.2 ROM as I believe it does not have Knox. Can I easily revert back to 4.2.2 MDJ from a custom rom?
I've been reading for awhile and I can't seem to figure this out. Must be old age. TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The safest thing to do is stay on a version without the knox bootloader. I know for sure I337 can't downgrade, and i think the bootloader isn't downgradeable but the system is or something for the I337M. I'm not sure, but either way the safest bet is to stay without the 4.3 bootloader. That way you can root and use recovery and flash without worrying about knox and you'll easily be able to revert from any custom ROM back to stock as long as you either keep a nandroid backup or the ODIN files for the firmware.

DeadlySin9 said:
The safest thing to do is stay on a version without the knox bootloader. I know for sure I337 can't downgrade, and i think the bootloader isn't downgradeable but the system is or something for the I337M. I'm not sure, but either way the safest bet is to stay without the 4.3 bootloader. That way you can root and use recovery and flash without worrying about knox and you'll easily be able to revert from any custom ROM back to stock as long as you either keep a nandroid backup or the ODIN files for the firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I think I'll do that. I also understand the issue with Knox is tripping the counter voiding the warranty but I don't care about my warranty. Going to try Goldeneye when I get the chance or look at some 4.4 roms.
I don't know why Samsung or any other manufacturer just let corporate users enforce Knox or whatever and let the rest of the users alone.

its completely fine flashing custom roms with the 4.3 bootloader for us canadians. the only downside is, you will trip a knox flash counter, it cannot yet be reset. you only see this flash counter in download mode. AND if you have a non-official kernel, or recovery, you get a little yellow message in upper left corner during the first bootscreen.
BUT. if you do not upgrade to 4.3 modem, you will experience data drops (loss of signal randomly) with any custom 4.3 or 4.4 rom.
so you dont have to upgrade to 4.3 bootloaders, but you will need to get the modem, its around, if you are already on 4.3... just flash the phone as normal, you cant go back, but its not stopping you from going forward.
I have the bell smartphone protection plan, if i break the phone, they replace it, and dont care about custom software or booloader flash counters ect. So i dont care either.

For the modem, find a copy of MK6 modem assuming your in Canada, flash it through odin from your pc. If you get a fail, chances are you have a bad download (happened to me) download from a different source then. Before you flash any rom... root.... install custom recovery.... nand backup your current "stock but rooted rom" If you flash a 4.4 rom (not sure if this applies to 4.3) do a full wipe... System/cache/dalvic.... then factory reset... then flash.... I flashed 4.4 the first 2 times without wiping system and though the phone worked fine, data was inconsistant at times.....

lg777 said:
Yeah, I think I'll do that. I also understand the issue with Knox is tripping the counter voiding the warranty but I don't care about my warranty. Going to try Goldeneye when I get the chance or look at some 4.4 roms.
I don't know why Samsung or any other manufacturer just let corporate users enforce Knox or whatever and let the rest of the users alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Bell S4 with Google Play Edition 4.4.2 running perfectly so far. I had an MDJ modem, and tried flashing many custom ROMs on it. All 4.3 ROMs worked fine, and only AOSP 4.4 ROMs also worked fine. The only problem was the GPE 4.4 ROMs that gave me constant signal drops. So I tried to upgrade my modem to MK6 to fix the issue. Even when I upgraded to Samsung's stock 4.3 through Odin, it still didn't upgrade my modem. I had to manually flash the modem in Odin to get it to upgrade successfully. Then I just flashed a GPE ROM and everything went well.

Downgrading to 4.2.2

Hey guys i have a galaxy s4 19500 running android 4.4.2 kitkat ( argentian (aro) firmware )
My phone was recently on 5.0.1 lollipop (indian ) version and i downgraded to 4.4.2 argentian firmware following a thread here on xda
I was wondering if a downgraded to 4.2.2 JELLYBEAN was possible ?
I mean i know it's super messy becuase of knox but if we take all the precautions like backing up efs partition then can the downgrade be done ?
I really think that jellybean is the perfect firmware for s4 and kitkat and lollipop have both made my s4 experience only worse
It would be awesome if i could go back to 4.2.2 jellybean and enjoy my old device

If you downgrade to 4.2.2 you will brick the device. Since new bootloader( version of Android 4.4.2 i think), you are not able to install 4.2.2 without brick.

@sgalchev: Not true at all. It is possible to replace 4.4.2 with 4.2.2 as I have done it in order to resolve issues I had with my S4. What ends up happening after doing the downgrade is that upon every boot and upon every trip into the recovery you will get a notification that the kernel or recovery is not SEAndroid enforcing. Other than that everything works normally.
Now, downgrading from 5.0.1 to 4.2.2 may be a completely different matter, but I suspect it too is possible.

Yea, shure, but you can't do it without ticking the Knox flag[emoji6] Goodbye warranty...

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@sgalchev: Not true at all. It is possible to replace 4.4.2 with 4.2.2 as I have done it in order to resolve issues I had with my S4. What ends up happening after doing the downgrade is that upon every boot and upon every trip into the recovery you will get a notification that the kernel or recovery is not SEAndroid enforcing. Other than that everything works normally.
Now, downgrading from 5.0.1 to 4.2.2 may be a completely different matter, but I suspect it too is possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man it feels awesome to know that it is possible to do can you please give detailed explanation of how you did it
I would really like to do it no matter how much hard or risky it is and i have already downgraded from 5.0.1 to 4.4.2 now i just need to downgrade to stock out of the box jellybean software

@sgalchev: Changing the goalposts? You flat out stated the OP would brick his S4 if he attempted to downgrade. When called on it, you switched your argument to tripping the Knox flag. As he mentioned in his latest post, he had downgraded to Android 4.4.2 from Android 5.0.1, so it's likely his Knox flag is already tripped. Even if it wasn't, I can't comfirm whether the Knox flag will get tripped as my Knox flag was tripped when I bought my I9505. Tripping the Knox flag != bricking the S4.
@tdssmarty16: Keep in mind that while everything worked, it took two flashes of the ROM to do it, and I only kept it on 4.2.2 long enough to verify that the hardware and firmware issues I was having were resolved. I then went back to 4.4.2. In downgrading to 4.2.2 I went to sammobile.com and downloaded the 4.2.2 firmware from them. Other than that, I simply treated it as if I was doing an upgrade through Odin. Unlike going from Android 5.0.1 to Android 4.4.2, going from 4.4.2 to 4.2.2 should be a piece of cake.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@sgalchev: Changing the goalposts? You flat out stated the OP would brick his S4 if he attempted to downgrade. When called on it, you switched your argument to tripping the Knox flag. As he mentioned in his latest post, he had downgraded to Android 4.4.2 from Android 5.0.1, so it's likely his Knox flag is already tripped. Even if it wasn't, I can't comfirm whether the Knox flag will get tripped as my Knox flag was tripped when I bought my I9505. Tripping the Knox flag != bricking the S4.
@tdssmarty16: Keep in mind that while everything worked, it took two flashes of the ROM to do it, and I only kept it on 4.2.2 long enough to verify that the hardware and firmware issues I was having were resolved. I then went back to 4.4.2. In downgrading to 4.2.2 I went to sammobile.com and downloaded the 4.2.2 firmware from them. Other than that, I simply treated it as if I was doing an upgrade through Odin. Unlike going from Android 5.0.1 to Android 4.4.2, going from 4.4.2 to 4.2.2 should be a piece of cake.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay bro i will try to do it this way thanx for info

Hi I would appreciate alot if someone can teach me how to downgrade form 5.0 to 4.4.2 or at least 4.2.2 . I spent the whole day yesterday figuring out how to do it i'm not good with technology and I'm using a macbook. I'm using S4. Thank you.

Which model S4 do you have? Only certain models can be downgraded to 4.2.2.

Downgrade i9505
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Which model S4 do you have? Only certain models can be downgraded to 4.2.2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downgraded my i9505 from 4.4.2 to 4.2.2 but had no sound so I went back to kitkat.It is possible to downgrade but I don't know is it possible to be fully functional.

I did it long enough to both check my SIM tray at the time, and to unlock the device. I wasn't getting any signal (expected), but I didn't check sound. I do suspect that if the 4.2.2 modem is flashed a second time everything would work. The only indicator that you were ever on anything higher would be the warning the bootloader pops up on every reboot about SELinux.

No sound,no wifi
I forgot first time to say wifi also didn't worked.I don't care for my warranty because flag was already tripped and now my device is older than 2 years so I can try some solution If someone has one.

anyone active here? it's not possible to downgrade to jelly bean anymore as the bootloader is locked to downgrade max at 4.4 as 4.2 will not work at all
if anyone has a ideea on how to do it (some people did it) i would be verry happy if you could share that info

I have not seen a post where someone running a 4.4.2 or 5.01 bootloader had successfully downgraded the bootloader to 4.2.2

Rooting Note 3 need confirmation

Okay so I'm fairly new to the forums but I'm somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to rooting and flashing custom Roms.. At least one the Galaxy S3. So I now have a note 3 and I'd like to root and install a custom recovery and then from there a custom Rom after a little more research.. Because.. Eff touch Wiz. Now I got the note from a friend and it's been fully updated knox hasn't been enabled but has been fully updated and I believe the same thing for the security policies. Now this is where my question comes in I found a method on google (galaxynote3root.com) to root and install the recovery I just wanna know if anyone can confirm this method is safe with the new updates and what not? I'd rather not brick the phone obviously lol anyways the phone model is sm-n9008w unlocked but was a Rogers phone.. Android 5.0 stock firmware and recovery knox 2.3 any help would be appreciated

Which note 3 do you have? Are you sure it's not the sm-n900w8? Depending on the ROM you install, you may need to update to the latest bootloader and modem.
Edit: read your post again. Since stock LP is on the phone, Knox has been installed and the phone would be running the doc4 or doh1 firmware.
The simplest way to root would be to install TWRP and flash supersu from TWRP. You're going to trip the knox counter from 0x0 to 0x1. Also, make sure reactivation lock has not been enabled.