Cleanest way to return to stock? - Verizon Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have a rooted rommed Note 3 with custom recovery. Time to Edge up and need to wipe this device and return to stock. I followed the advice here and even after Odining it it came back just as it was, tried multiple times. I've been Odining phones a long time now not a noob.... . Clearly there's something I'm missing. What's the most current cleanest method to get my device back to 100% stock?

neyenlives said:
I have a rooted rommed Note 3 with custom recovery. Time to Edge up and need to wipe this device and return to stock. I followed the advice here and even after Odining it it came back just as it was, tried multiple times. I've been Odining phones a long time now not a noob.... . Clearly there's something I'm missing. What's the most current cleanest method to get my device back to 100% stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To restore back to stock 4.4.2, I used Droidstyle's Restore guide here: ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=46461911 ). If you want it on 4.4.4 when you return it to Verizon, you can find that firmware at Sammobile...the same restore instructions in Droidstyle's guide should work. Or, just restore to 4.4.2 and take the 4.4.4 OTA.
I had to do a factory reset/wipe cache in stock recovery after ODIN'ing the stock tar.
I also used Chainfire's Triangle Away app to remove the Custom unlock splash that pops up after rooting with Towelroot, as the ODIN restore and stock recovery wipe still didn't remove that. Triangle Away requires root, so you'll obviously need to use that before you ODIN back to stock.

Related

Flashing back to MDL with Odin?

I want to know if this is correct,I am on Stock(MDL) with Recovery and Root. If do Flash the latest OTA Firmware to MF3(from AT&T) I can not go back to my Original MDL with the Odin and the Stock.tar file? Also if I do try some of the Custom ROMs now coming out now going from my Present Stock MDL will I or won't I be able to get back to MDL Stock with Odin? One last question,once I am on mF3 no matter if it Stock or Custom my MDL Nandroids are useless?
Thanks
RonH54 said:
I want to know if this is correct,I am on Stock(MDL) with Recovery and Root. If do Flash the latest OTA Firmware to MF3(from AT&T) I can not go back to my Original MDL with the Odin and the Stock.tar file? Also if I do try some of the Custom ROMs now coming out now going from my Present Stock MDL will I or won't I be able to get back to MDL Stock with Odin? One last question,once I am on mF3 no matter if it Stock or Custom my MDL Nandroids are useless?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread should help answer your questions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357039
scott14719 said:
This thread should help answer your questions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357039
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
scott14719 said:
This thread should help answer your questions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357039
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=43512474
RonH54 said:
I want to know if this is correct,I am on Stock(MDL) with Recovery and Root. If do Flash the latest OTA Firmware to MF3(from AT&T) I can not go back to my Original MDL with the Odin and the Stock.tar file? Also if I do try some of the Custom ROMs now coming out now going from my Present Stock MDL will I or won't I be able to get back to MDL Stock with Odin? One last question,once I am on mF3 no matter if it Stock or Custom my MDL Nandroids are useless?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) To flash the latest OTA you will need to get back to stock (lose recovery and root) or it will not let you update. See next 2 posts for the possibility of "temp-unrooting" in order to update to the MF3 OTA and regain root access.
2) At this point, once you go to MF3, you cannot downgrade to MDB or MDL. Maybe someone will find a way around this in the future.
3) If you stay on MDL and then try some custom ROMs, you can always go back to MDL (fully stock) if you follow the correct procedure. Since you are already rooted with custom recovery, you will have to do this same process if you decide to go to MF3 (as mentioned in #1 above).
The process is outlined here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573
You will probably need to perform a data wipe as well in order to be fully stock.
4) Your MDL Nandroids might contain information that you can extract at a later date to help with some issues...but generally they will not help you very much. Since you cannot go back to MDL (at least for now), you cannot restore your phone from that backup.
jeffreii said:
1) To flash the latest OTA you will need to get back to stock (lose recovery and root) or it will not let you update.
2) At this point, once you go to MF3, you cannot downgrade to MDB or MDL. Maybe someone will find a way around this in the future.
3) If you stay on MDL and then try some custom ROMs, you can always go back to MDL (fully stock) if you follow the correct procedure. Since you are already rooted with custom recovery, you will have to do this same process if you decide to go to MF3 (as mentioned in #1 above).
The process is outlined here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573
You will probably need to perform a data wipe as well in order to be fully stock.
4) Your MDL Nandroids might contain information that you can extract at a later date to help with some issues...but generally they will not help you very much. Since you cannot go back to MDL (at least for now), you cannot restore your phone from that backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. I flashed the OTA while keeping and retaining root with VooDoo Root Keeper (not even temp-unrooting). The custom recovery part is accurate. Also, there are MF3 ROM's out now that are working great. No need to take the OTA at this point unless you'll never explore any further than stock.
The key to successfully retaining root is to have had a full backup made right after gaining root access, restoring that backup, using VooDoo Root Keeper (some people had success with Pro-SuperSU's Root Survival Mode) to backup root, and take the OTA. After everything is said and done you'll be rebooting and restoring root with VooDoo.
Delakit said:
Not true. I flashed the OTA while keeping and retaining root with VooDoo Root Keeper (not even temp-unrooting). The custom recovery part is accurate. Also, there are MF3 ROM's out now that are working great. No need to take the OTA at this point unless you'll never explore any further than stock.
The key to successfully retaining root is to have had a full backup made right after gaining root access, restoring that backup, using VooDoo Root Keeper (some people had success with Pro-SuperSU's Root Survival Mode) to backup root, and take the OTA. After everything is said and done you'll be rebooting and restoring root with VooDoo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right that I forgot to offer the advice about using Voodoo to preserve root (if he wants to). I should have included that...so thank you - I will update my post.
However, it is true that you need to convince the OTA update that you are not rooted in order to proceed. Whether you actually unroot or use the "temp unroot" option in Voodoo, it's the same premise. You are losing root, whether temporarily or permanently, in order for it to work.
The caveat here, that should also be mentioned, is that others have reported mixed success when using Voodoo to preserve root through the MF3 OTA. It is definitely possible, but we don't seem to be 100% sure on exactly what conditions must exist for it to work. Some have tried the method and found up on MF3 without root, and no way to gain root or downgrade. Whether or not that is user error or some parameter that we missed, we don't know yet.
Also, note that if you do successfully preserve root after the MF3 OTA, if you ever lose it for any reason...there is currently no way to regain it. You will be stuck on MF3 without root.

So I TWRP'd my partition with a format. Now what?

I did a dumb thing while flashing a rom. Used the format rather wipe. Now I get stuck on reboots. Can reflash a ROM and get going again but get stuck on the next reboot.
Back to Stock via Odin, right? So, AdamOutler has a thread on Odin back to stock.
1) Does this alone fix the partition or do I then factory reset to fix the partition?
2) Will I be on a stock recovery then or will I the retain custom recovery?
At this point, what's the next step to get back my root and way cool custom ROM?
I'm finding scattered info, but nothing that spells it out and I don't want to mess this up.
Thanks!
.
As long as you aren't on mf3 booloaders it is okay to use the back to stock Odin package. It will fix your partitions. You will be stock recovery and no root. An out of the box experience. Reroot with adams tool. I suggest philz touch recovery (the latest). Stay away from twrp
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
here's a link and posts by some experienced members--don't know if you saw it
you may always get multiple suggestions
good luck
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2405127
Locoman_ said:
I did a dumb thing while flashing a rom. Used the format rather wipe. Now I get stuck on reboots. Can reflash a ROM and get going again but get stuck on the next reboot.
Back to Stock via Odin, right? So, AdamOutler has a thread on Odin back to stock.
1) Does this alone fix the partition or do I then factory reset to fix the partition?
2) Will I be on a stock recovery then or will I the retain custom recovery?
At this point, what's the next step to get back my root and way cool custom ROM?
I'm finding scattered info, but nothing that spells it out and I don't want to mess this up.
Thanks!
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you're running TWRP so you are obviously not on MF3. Just Oden back to stock and re-root and loki away again. Its just a mistake you wont make again... Trust me I learned the hard way too.
fosser2 said:
Well you're running TWRP so you are obviously not on MF3. Just Oden back to stock and re-root and loki away again. Its just a mistake you wont make again... Trust me I learned the hard way too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys. Odin to stock, facrory reset, reroot and back to xvision. compulsively did this late into the night.. now its smooth sailing

[Q] Flash to stock with custom recovery

Hi,
I'm currently downloading the firmware for my Note 3 from SamMobile.
I was going to flash back to stock, and assume by doing this I would lose root.
What would happen about me having TWRP installed? I know the Note 3 has Knox, so would I get stuck in a bootloop or anything else bad by having a custom recovery on a stock, unrooted phone?
Thanks.
paulschofield76 said:
Hi,
I'm currently downloading the firmware for my Note 3 from SamMobile.
I was going to flash back to stock, and assume by doing this I would lose root.
What would happen about me having TWRP installed? I know the Note 3 has Knox, so would I get stuck in a bootloop or anything else bad by having a custom recovery on a stock, unrooted phone?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah root will go and twrp
Thanks for that. Losing root wouldn't be a problem, I was just worried about what would happen if twrp stayed in the phone. I didn’t realise flashing back to stock would also put the stock recovery back on my phone too
paulschofield76 said:
Thanks for that. Losing root wouldn't be a problem, I was just worried about what would happen if twrp stayed in the phone. I didn’t realise flashing back to stock would also put the stock recovery back on my phone too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did for me when i had to go back to stock

[Q] question about restoring with safestrap

So I am rooted with bajarom on my stock rom slot. I also odin the nc2 baseband.
I am sending my phone back to verizon since they are sending me a replacement phone and I want to restore it back or factory settings.
I did create a backup of my phone using safestrap on the mje baseband when I first got it. Do you think it will be ok to wipe the stock rom slot and use safestrap to restore the original rom?
Do I need to odin back to mje or can I leave it?
Will this also remove the unlock sign in the front?
Thanks
urahoho said:
So I am rooted with bajarom on my stock rom slot. I also odin the nc2 baseband.
I am sending my phone back to verizon since they are sending me a replacement phone and I want to restore it back or factory settings.
I did create a backup of my phone using safestrap on the mje baseband when I first got it. Do you think it will be ok to wipe the stock rom slot and use safestrap to restore the original rom?
Do I need to odin back to mje or can I leave it?
Will this also remove the unlock sign in the front?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try restoring a backup from one device onto another but it may not work.
Yes, you should Odin back to MJE before you send it back, before you use Odin download the Triangle Away app (search xda for it) and once installed hit "reset flash counter" to be sure the unlocked sign gets removed.
airmaxx23 said:
Yes, you should Odin back to MJE before you send it back, before you use Odin download the Triangle Away app (search xda for it) and once installed hit "reset flash counter" to be sure the unlocked sign gets removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want full stock unrooted use odin to flash a stock tar, whether it is MJE OR NC4 if you're getting a new phone it doesn't matter. Flashing via odin will completely wipe your system and restore it to stock. There is probably no need to pay for Triangle Away because using Safestrap doesn't trip the flash counter, I have Triangle Away for cosmetic purposes, but I have flashed several roms and zips and the app says I have 0 flashes. The custom icon (padlock) at the boot screen will go away after flashing the stock tar via odin. If you see it after the first boot it will be gone after you reboot so long as you don't reroot.
kinstre11 said:
If you want full stock unrooted use odin to flash a stock tar, whether it is MJE OR NC4 if you're getting a new phone it doesn't matter. Flashing via odin will completely wipe your system and restore it to stock. There is probably no need to pay for Triangle Away because using Safestrap doesn't trip the flash counter, I have Triangle Away for cosmetic purposes, but I have flashed several roms and zips and the app says I have 0 flashes. The custom icon (padlock) at the boot screen will go away after flashing the stock tar via odin. If you see it after the first boot it will be gone after you reboot so long as you don't reroot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's been a few times for me where flashing and rebooting the stock tar did not remove the unlock icon. You can get Triangle Away for free from the Developer right here on XDA.
airmaxx23 said:
There's been a few times for me where flashing and rebooting the stock tar did not remove the unlock icon. You can get Triangle Away for free from the Developer right here on XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know.
Custom Icon will go away with flashing stock .tar file in odin if you pull battery when you see Android dude and boot in to stock recovery and wipe data/factory reset...or at least in my experience it does. Seems like sometimes when you odin the stock .tar and do not wipe data/factory reset it doesn't completely wipe data.
bkabner1 said:
Custom Icon will go away with flashing stock .tar file in odin if you pull battery when you see Android dude and boot in to stock recovery and wipe data/factory reset...or at least in my experience it does. Seems like sometimes when you odin the stock .tar and do not wipe data/factory reset it doesn't completely wipe data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot the importance of factory reset. I flashed a stock tar through odin once and everything was messed up. After factory reset everything was fine.

[Q] Noob loses root on Safestraped 4.4.2 custom ROM. Now what?

Oh boy, I really screwed this one up...
I purchased a used Note 3 from eBay, hoping to be able to root it after it arrived. Much to my surprise, it arrived rooted with Safestrap, Hyperdrive ROM in Stock slot, and a different Hyperdrive ROM in Slot1. I was also impressed that KNOX had not been tripped. (It said Custom, but the KNOX flag showed 0x00)
Sweet looking phone in hand, I was thrilled! I wasn't going to have to cut my teeth on rooting the device myself prior to having an opportunity to explore a rooted Android and a custom ROM. The very first thing I did was to use Safestrap to backup both the Stock slot and Slot1. After the backups, I booted the stock slot first, to see how a factory Note 3 should look. Surprise again, the stock slot booted a Hyperdrive ROM. I was a bit nervous that I didn't have a truly stock ROM, but wasn't too worried about it because I had no plans to resell or seek repairs under warranty.
I then spent a couple of days tinkering with the device. Unfortunately, half asleep during the wee hours of the morning, I was tinkering around with SuperSU -- setting grant/deny/prompt flags for different apps. Somewhere in the midst of that, SuperSU informed me that I had lost root. I checked with RootChecker, and sure enough NO Root.
Things got worse from there, as I'm sure you can imagine. RootChecker had a button to relaunch SuperSU, so I tapped it. This time, SuperSU wanted to re-install itself. Being the ignorant noob that I am, I told SuperSU to proceed, and crossed my fingers. After a few seconds of thrashing around, SuperSU wanted to reboot, so I said okay...
Now the device attempts to go into recovery, reboots itself, attempts recovery, reboots, again, and again... boot loop... and no way to charge the battery... I believe I am around 55% to 60% charged at the moment.
So I read great things about Odin and downloaded a copy -- not yet sure exactly what I was going to do with it. I have been trying to wrap my head around this for a couple of days now, but I have several questions that I hope somebody can shed some light on.
Does the rooting take place in the boot image, or in the ROM image? I am assuming it has to be in the boot image, but then I've heard you can have rooted and unrooted ROMs in different slots.
If I use Odin to flash fresh firmware, will this firmware will have a functional recovery tool bundled with it?
Since the phone is no longer rooted, the recovery will not be able to re-flash a ROM onto the device?
If an Odin installed recovery can't re-flash a ROM due to being unrooted, am I faced with JTAG options only?
If I were to use Odin to flash this firmware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2726558 , could I perhaps get SafeStrap back and be able to restore the backups I made? The links on that page appear to be to the same (or very similar) firmware that was running prior to this disaster. NC2, Safestrap, etc.
If I can't use Odin to flash the firmware linked in the previous paragraph, and get Safestrap to restore my backups, can I use the firmware, ROMs, and PIT file linked here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2576104 to restore the phone to factory conditions and re-root from there?
Finally, is there any way for me to avoid tripping KNOX at this point? I'm not really sure I care if it gets tripped, but if I can avoid it then I probably should. Am I likely to need KNOX container support on a private device in the near future? Is there any other reason to be spooked about losing KNOX? I really don't care much about the warranty.
Any help with this mess will be **greatly** appreciated!
lintex said:
If I were to use Odin to flash this firmware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2726558 , could I perhaps get SafeStrap back and be able to restore the backups I made? The links on that page appear to be to the same (or very similar) firmware that was running prior to this disaster. NC2, Safestrap, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, if anybody comes across this thread looking for answers -- I did successfully use Odin to get this firmware back onto the device. Upon booting, I had Safestrap, was able to boot Slot1, and had root. When I boot from the Stock slot, still no root.
I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup, because I first want to see if I can boot Slot1 (to get root), and then find/mount the Stock slot image and see if I can find a way to re-root it manually.
lintex said:
Ok, if anybody comes across this thread looking for answers -- I did successfully use Odin to get this firmware back onto the device. Upon booting, I had Safestrap, was able to boot Slot1, and had root. When I boot from the Stock slot, still no root.
I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup, because I first want to see if I can boot Slot1 (to get root), and then find/mount the Stock slot image and see if I can find a way to re-root it manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using any other slot other then stock is going to be problematic. So use the stock slot. You are using the nc2 firmware if you have the reboot to recovery bootloop issue. You can flash the nc4 patched firmware in beans firmware thread if you want. Reboot to recovery is not the same as reboot to safestrap. Download a fresh rom. Wipe everything but external sd under the advanced wipe button in safestrap. Flash your new rom making sure stock slot is the active slot. Setup phone like normal. Make a backup with your now freshly setup rom. Rinse and repeat for new roms. Label your backups if you want to rom jump. Always use stock slot. Odin the nc2 kernel if you have a blackscreen on first boot of a new rom.
RomsWell said:
Using any other slot other then stock is going to be problematic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case, Slot1 is simply a rooted ROM that I can use when the Stock slot gets messed up. I have no desire or intent to tinker with Slot1. I consider it as an emergency tool only. It does seem to have an issue though. It never seems to want to power all the way down for some reason.
RomsWell said:
So use the stock slot. You are using the nc2 firmware if you have the reboot to recovery bootloop issue. You can flash the nc4 patched firmware in beans firmware thread if you want. Reboot to recovery is not the same as reboot to safestrap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using the NC2 firmware, but I no longer have the bootloop problem. After using Odin to re-install the NC2 firmware from BeansTown, the device was once again able to boot to Safestrap. From there, I was able to select and boot either of the existing slots. Slot1 still boots to root, Stock slot is still unrooted. I should be able to use Safestrap to restore my Stock slot backup and regain root on Slot1, right?
The only reason I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup is because I hope to boot my rooted Slot1 ROM, mount the Stock ROM image, and fix the Stock ROM image. If not, then I will try to restore the Stock slot backup.
RomsWell said:
Download a fresh rom. Wipe everything but external sd under the advanced wipe button in safestrap. Flash your new rom making sure stock slot is the active slot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely plan to flash a new ROM, soon. I want a fresh clean ROM for personal use, and I also need to find a ROM that supports HDMI -- because I want to get Debian to display on a larger screen. My ultimate goal is to create my own ROMs. I have a bit of experience with kernel tweaking/building, and created a bootable Linux-based DVD image by hand. I believe I will someday be able to tweak phone ROMs as well, but I'm still fuzzy about much of the Android system. Stuff like locks and KNOX seem like quite a mine field and make me very nervous. A blank DVD coaster is one thing, an expensive smartphone is scary.
lintex said:
In my case, Slot1 is simply a rooted ROM that I can use when the Stock slot gets messed up. I have no desire or intent to tinker with Slot1. I consider it as an emergency tool only. It does seem to have an issue though. It never seems to want to power all the way down for some reason.
I am using the NC2 firmware, but I no longer have the bootloop problem. After using Odin to re-install the NC2 firmware from BeansTown, the device was once again able to boot to Safestrap. From there, I was able to select and boot either of the existing slots. Slot1 still boots to root, Stock slot is still unrooted. I should be able to use Safestrap to restore my Stock slot backup and regain root on Slot1, right?
The only reason I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup is because I hope to boot my rooted Slot1 ROM, mount the Stock ROM image, and fix the Stock ROM image. If not, then I will try to restore the Stock slot backup.
I definitely plan to flash a new ROM, soon. I want a fresh clean ROM for personal use, and I also need to find a ROM that supports HDMI -- because I want to get Debian to display on a larger screen. My ultimate goal is to create my own ROMs. I have a bit of experience with kernel tweaking/building, and created a bootable Linux-based DVD image by hand. I believe I will someday be able to tweak phone ROMs as well, but I'm still fuzzy about much of the Android system. Stuff like locks and KNOX seem like quite a mine field and make me very nervous. A blank DVD coaster is one thing, an expensive smartphone is scary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you stick to the known exploits like safestrap and towelroot then theres no worrys about knoxs. And no real way to perma brick the device. Make sure you stick to offical firmware when using odin and abuse your device like you would any other.

Categories

Resources