Should/Can I update my modem and bootloader? - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I am on a quite old bootloader and modem as I have not ran any new Roms, or updates to my phone in quite awhile. I was going to try out a new 5.0.1 rom (I am on 4.4.2 now) and was not sure if I would need to update my modem and/or bootloader before I do so.
On SamMobile there is certainly new firmware for my model and carrier, so I was considering flashing the modem and bootloader thru Odin before I try a 5.0.1 rom. Is this recommended/necessary? By flashing a new bootloader, will I lose root or my ability to flash custom roms/kernals/etc?
I tried googling and searching on here first, but could not quite fine the answer. Thank you for any help or guidance.

If you're going to flash a 5.0 touchwiz rom it will update the modem and bootloader I think.
Updating them is not necessary.
People say that flashing newer modems will give you a better signal reception. I have yet to see that "better" signal reception.
You won't lose the ability to flash stuff.
You will only lose root if you flash a stock Samsung rom.

Related

HELP PLEASE ! want to upgrade from 4.2.2 to Lollipop

Hey Everyone!!
Thank you for looking at this thread.
In a nutshell, I got my i9505 galaxy s4 since June 2013, rooted it straight away when i got it, its got twrp recovery, and im on omega v9 4.2.2. Havent touched it since to date
It does not have knox.
Is there a way I can simply upgrade to something like cm 12.1 with 5.1.1 with everything working, by simply flashing latest cm with gapps using twrp, or will I have to upgrade bootloader, radio, get knox, or even just start over, flash stock samsung lollipop firmware with knox using odin, in order to do so?
I already a while back tried updating twrp to latest, and tried flashing cm with lollipop 5.0 when it first first came out, but only 2g was working, and signal would cut if i lock my phone. Im guessing this is due to bootloader/radio incompatibility, or maybe because it was early builds? Apparently i cant flash lollipop bootloader and radio over old 4.2.2 stuff without consequently installing knox? Is knox that bad? I heard its better to not have knox but if its the only thing stopping from lollipop then so be it.
Any help and advice much appreciated.
Hope to hear soon,
DJ
You can try upgrading just the modem to be able to flash an Android 5.x ROM, but it likely will not work and thus you will have to flash an updated bootloader as well. The good news is that since your S4 is out of warranty, whether you trip the Knox flag or not will not matter.
You should be able to flash the updated bootloader and radio without having to install an entire ROM, though you might want to download the latest ROM for your S4 anyway. There is a thread in I9505 General that has a list of bootloaders and modems that can be downloaded and flashed through Odin. From there, you should have no problem flashing the custom ROM of your choice through recovery.

how to downgrade from lollipop to jellybean?

Can it is possible? I have official firmware of jellybean dwnlded from sammobile.
Help.!
Not possible as the Knox-enabled bootloader prevents downgrades. Even if you were able to downgrade, say by perhaps not downgrading the bootloader while downgrading everything else, it's unlikely the radios on the device will ever function. About the only use there is for such a downgrade is to carrier unlock the S4 using RegionLock Away, and even then you only have to flash a modem to do that.
Downgrading to Android 4.4.2 should be possible, if you really want to. I'd recommend flashing a custom ROM instead. All the custom ROMs, regardless of whether they are Touchwiz-based, GPE-based or Cyanogenmod-based, all include the battery drain bugfix that stock ROMs lack.
Thanks but i dont want now bcz voltaqe kernel has solved my problem i.e sound gain
Excellent! Good to hear you got things resolved.

A little help, please.

I'm coming from 4.4.1 I want to flash a Lollipop ROM, I haven't flashed for very nearly 2 years. I'm obviously rooted already.
Is coming from KitKat as simple as just flashing a Lollipop ROM? I'm an SM-9005, I've got Odin 3.10 and I want to flash Resurrection-Remix-LP-v5.5.5.
I've seen that I need to backup my PIT and obviously backup my current ROM, do I need to update my baseband or radio etc?
No one?
No need to backup your baseband or radio. RR is an AOSP ROM as far as I know, so you won't be able to flash it with Odin I'm guessing, as it comes as a zip package? I don't have any interest or idea about it, but you can only flash via Odin if the ROM comes as tar image.
Also as you are coming from KK, you 'might' need to flash a stock Lollipop ROM first to update the bootloader from KK to LP, read RR topic, see if its mentioned or not. If its not then you probably don't need to, but as I said no idea.

OK2, Android 5.0.1--what are my options?

I currently have AT&T stock (I used to have a custom ROM then had to flash to stock ROM to be able to flash to another custom ROM--however, I accidentally flashed a newer version of the AT&T stock ROM which locked my bootloader and I could no longer flash to a custom ROM). I updated my AT&T stock ROM recently and now my back/menu buttons don't work, so I want to see if I can flash to a custom ROM now.
I don't remember the procedure to flash a custom ROM--do I first need to get root in order to unlock the bootloader to be able to flash ROMs (i.e. if I have root then I am guaranteed to be able to unlock bootloader in order to flash ROM)? Is the baseband version the only thing that determines whether I can unlock the bootloader and then be able to flash ROMs?
I currently have OK2 as broadband version and checked one of the stickied threads which said this:
" ROOT
OK2 -- No direct root method. Must Odin OC4 kernel, use Kingroot, then Odin OK2 kernel back."
Does that mean what I have to do is use Odin to get OC4 kernel, then use Kingroot, then Odin OK2 kernel and then I will be able to have root, which means I can then unlock my bootloader and be able to flash to ANY ROM (not just TouchWiz-based ROMs)? Is there anything else I need to consider or is this 100% foolproof? In the future, what should I be careful of in order to prevent getting my bootloader locked again--just that I don't flash a stock (AT&T) ROM that is known to lock back the bootloader?
Thank you all!
There's no way to unlock the bootloader if you have updated your device to the lastest firmware version. The only thing you can do is flash SafeStrap and use Stock Kernel Based ROMs which are compatible with Safestrap.
As regards to the procedure of rooting an OK2 firmware, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you.
Have a happy new year.
mindstormer said:
...however, I accidentally flashed a newer version of the AT&T stock ROM which locked my bootloader ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just about to sit down and flash a stock ROM. Can you explain what you mean by this? Did you flash OK2 and it caused you a problem?
smock9 said:
I was just about to sit down and flash a stock ROM. Can you explain what you mean by this? Did you flash OK2 and it caused you a problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a while ago but I used to have I believe an MDL broadband version which meant I could flash any ROM available. I tried a different ROM, didn't like it, then decided to flash back to the stock ROM but accidentally flashed a newer version of it, which meant that my bootloader is now locked. With a locked bootloader, apparently I can only flash to a newer stock ROM (not other ROMs like Cyanogenmod) via Safestrap.
I think if you don't have the MDL broadband version you shouldn't worry about it anyway because it is locked and you will only be limited to flashing stock ROMs.
Slight correction
The previous entry is not entirely correct. Like the OP, I was originally on an unlocked bootloader on my i337. I'd purchased my i337 on the first day and eschewed OTA updates. I wanted to try a touchwiz based ROM, Hyperdrive, and in doing so I recall flashing the stock NB1 firmware. Every firmware beginning with NB1 has a locked bootloader and there has been no progress for more than a year in unlocking the bootloader again. This can limit you to either stock ROMs OR other touchwiz based ROMs like Hyperdrive. I love the Hyperdrive ROM (now on release 21) but its developer has moved on to a newer phone, so it's stuck at Android 4.4.2 and no one has picked up the project in many months. There are several other touchwiz based ROMs for the i337 version of the S4 which I have also tried but I prefer Hyperdrive's myriad customization, even without proper patching. I'll be moving on soon to the Nexus 6P as my daily driver, but would very much like to keep my S4 up to date with a custom ROM. Given the number of people that have been in this same situation, where a newer stock ROM from AT&T locked a previously unlocked bootloader, it's been surprising that the issues have not been overcome on a phone as popular as the Galaxy S4 was and continues to be. I've seen unlocked versions of the S4 selling for just under $400 in the last week of 2015.
Use the desktop version of Kingoroot to root and use Super su and update the binary. Don't forget to hit thanks if this helped.
The bootloader for the at&t s4 was never unlocked. The MDL bootloader had a flaw in it that allowed you to use LOKI which is a lock bypass, not a way to unlock the bootloader.

[Q]Can I Maintain marshmallow modem and Bootloader and flash kitkat rom

I don't want to repeat the steps from the beginning and i want to flash a kitkat rom and keep the MM modem nd bootloader !! can I? (the KK rom work using the mm stuff but navigation hardware key don'!)
Thanks
It's always advised to use the original things. Even if a KK ROM works fine with MM stuff (I think it won't), it's better to just flash a completely stock firmware through Odin and work from there.Why do you want to keep the MM modem and bootloader though? Just curious.
swear that it works tried with kk aosp roms ..
well flashing through Odin will makes my bootloader locked again(I'm g900v Verizon user)
haha nothing genius I'm just lazy to flash things from beginning and maybe there will be an upcoming interesting ROM that work only with MM BL and Modem.
Thank for the answer.

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