Database Users

[Q] Flash a 4,3 TW Rom with STOCK Recovey and Pre-KNOX bootloader?

I THOUGHT what I wanted was simple enough but apparently with Samsung nothing is ever simple.
I have the i9505 S4 and am currently on the Pre-Rooted I9505XXUBMGA rom. That means 4.2.2, Stock Recovery and PRE-KNOX bootloader.
My custom flash counter is also 0 as I've only ever flashed the pre-rooted stock kind of roms. No triangle has ever appeared on my screen.
What I want to do is install a 4.3 TW rom WITHOUT flashing a custom recovery (so probably through Odin) and WITHOUT having to flash the KNOX-enabled bootloader.
The reasons should be obvious enough, I want this phone kept as close to stock as possible with what I do being completely reversible without having to rely on Triangle Away as with every new firmware Samsung appears to be even more hell-bent on breaking it.
Obviously I'd want said rom to actually function correctly as I've read things like sound and/or wifi breaking or mobile data dropping with/without the phone being on sleep etc...
So, any takers?

KeyperOS said:
I THOUGHT what I wanted was simple enough but apparently with Samsung nothing is ever simple.
I have the i9505 S4 and am currently on the Pre-Rooted I9505XXUBMGA rom. That means 4.2.2, Stock Recovery and PRE-KNOX bootloader.
My custom flash counter is also 0 as I've only ever flashed the pre-rooted stock kind of roms. No triangle has ever appeared on my screen.
What I want to do is install a 4.3 TW rom WITHOUT flashing a custom recovery (so probably through Odin) and WITHOUT having to flash the KNOX-enabled bootloader.
The reasons should be obvious enough, I want this phone kept as close to stock as possible with what I do being completely reversible without having to rely on Triangle Away as with every new firmware Samsung appears to be even more hell-bent on breaking it.
Obviously I'd want said rom to actually function correctly as I've read things like sound and/or wifi breaking or mobile data dropping with/without the phone being on sleep etc...
So, any takers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
From where I am,I can see 3 options.
1.Stay where you are on 4.2.2
You just need to flash stock firmware ,and you are back to out-of-the-box state.
But....you want 4.3.... so,
2.Flash a custom recovery,and you have the choice of every custom ROM in the DEV section.4.22,4.3 ,TW,AOSP , you get my drift.As long at it does not contain the new knox bootloader,you can get back to out-of-the-box state in 2 easy steps:
Triangle Away.
Flash stock firmware.
3.Try to flash the new knox-pox 4.3 ROM and be stuck there.(because there is no coming back)
Look HERE
The [OP] explains it well.
And this is probably the ROM you would choose.(close to stock)
It seems the samsung is determined to mess things up for the user who wants to easily mod their own phones.
It has gotten so bad,that the [OP] has even jumped ship to the Z1.
He says he will maintain that ROM,but for how long,because they have already moved the goalposts twice...
I am on 2.
And I intend to stay there,because I like to be in charge of what goes on my phone.
Devs will almost certainly maintain their ROMS,and updates like 4.4 will come along in time.
Only you can make the choice.
Hopefully,I have given you some options.

Yeah, that's the thread I flashed my current 4.2.2 rom from. I saw him throw the towel and decided this just wasn't gonna work.
I guess I need to take the plunge and install Philz recovery.
Somewhat subjective I know but, which 4.3 TW custom ROM seems to work best when the OLD Pre-KNOX bootloader is being kept and with which modem? (I've seem answers vary wildly on this one).

KeyperOS said:
Yeah, that's the thread I flashed my current 4.2.2 rom from. I saw him throw the towel and decided this just wasn't gonna work.
I guess I need to take the plunge and install Philz recovery.
Somewhat subjective I know but, which 4.3 TW custom ROM seems to work best when the OLD Pre-KNOX bootloader is being kept and with which modem? (I've seem answers vary wildly on this one).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
The reason you have seen such wild variations on this,is because it is so subjective.
This is where the fun begins.
Trying out different ROMS,and seeing which is best suited to you,and your requirements.
Best advice...read the first post of a ROM,and see if it has what you want from a ROM...especially the bit about new knox bootloader removed.
And remember to make a nandroid!
As for modem,if you are having no issues or signal problems at the moment,stick with the one you are on.

New to the S4. Need some help

Hey there everyone. I am trying to help my sister out with her (new to her) S4.
She bought an s4 and it is very cool (I'm having a blast playing with it.).
It is carrier unlocked at the moment (I believe, though I don't have a SIM to test it out with)
I believe that it is rooted.
It is advertised as having the MDB bootloader with a MF3 baseband. How do I check this?
When I go to setting I see that the baseband version is i337ucuamf3. I am assuming that since it ends in MF3 that is correct.​
The rom installed is GoldenEye 38.1 XXUGNG8.
I am assuming that XXUGNG8 is the base firmware from Samsung\At&T, is that correct?
It currently has a version of TWRP installed and the person it was bought from says it doesn't need SafeStrap. Is that correct? I see a lot of posts saying that safestrap needs to be installed.
Lastly, I'm trying to figure out if she wants CM11, Stock TouchWiz or something like Goldeneye. I am assuming that the "S" apps will only work on a TouchWiz ROM, is that right?
Lastly, how would i get the phone back to a stock? HTC has RUU's, is there an equivalent for Samsung devices? Or is there a download somewhere of the plain stock ROM? I didn't see anything in the development section.
Thanks in advance for all the help, I know that I am asking a lot of questions but I am coming from the HTC side of android (which seems to be a lot less confusing) so I am doing the best I can here.

waterboy100 said:
Hey there everyone. I am trying to help my sister out with her (new to her) S4.
She bought an s4 and it is very cool (I'm having a blast playing with it.).
It is carrier unlocked at the moment (I believe, though I don't have a SIM to test it out with)
I believe that it is rooted.
It is advertised as having the MDB bootloader with a MF3 baseband. How do I check this?
When I go to setting I see that the baseband version is i337ucuamf3. I am assuming that since it ends in MF3 that is correct.​
The rom installed is GoldenEye 38.1 XXUGNG8.
I am assuming that XXUGNG8 is the base firmware from Samsung\At&T, is that correct?
It currently has a version of TWRP installed and the person it was bought from says it doesn't need SafeStrap. Is that correct? I see a lot of posts saying that safestrap needs to be installed.
Lastly, I'm trying to figure out if she wants CM11, Stock TouchWiz or something like Goldeneye. I am assuming that the "S" apps will only work on a TouchWiz ROM, is that right?
Lastly, how would i get the phone back to a stock? HTC has RUU's, is there an equivalent for Samsung devices? Or is there a download somewhere of the plain stock ROM? I didn't see anything in the development section.
Thanks in advance for all the help, I know that I am asking a lot of questions but I am coming from the HTC side of android (which seems to be a lot less confusing) so I am doing the best I can here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the phone has TWRP installed, you either have MDB or MDL bootloader since newer firmwares (bootloader) do not allow for the stock recovery to be replaced.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52415064&postcount=1625 gives you the way to find your bootloader (the most restrictive component of the firmware).
When samsung releases firmware/update, it sets the version of all components to the same. So, on the stock firmware, all components have the same version. Baseband is actually the version of the modem.
Since you have TWRP installed, you should be able to install a lot of ROMs. All you have to ensure is that the bootloader is not updated. When you use ODIN to flash stock firmware, your bootloader will get updated. Since MF3, we are not able to replace the stock kernel and recovery. This brings in a lot of restrictions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2616221 has a list of ROMs that can be installed.

jmjoyas said:
Since the phone has TWRP installed, you either have MDB or MDL bootloader since newer firmwares (bootloader) do not allow for the stock recovery to be replaced.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52415064&postcount=1625 gives you the way to find your bootloader (the most restrictive component of the firmware).
When samsung releases firmware/update, it sets the version of all components to the same. So, on the stock firmware, all components have the same version. Baseband is actually the version of the modem.
Since you have TWRP installed, you should be able to install a lot of ROMs. All you have to ensure is that the bootloader is not updated. When you use ODIN to flash stock firmware, your bootloader will get updated. Since MF3, we are not able to replace the stock kernel and recovery. This brings in a lot of restrictions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2616221 has a list of ROMs that can be installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
So my bootloader is reported as i337ucuamdb (So MDB Bootleader)
My baseband is 1337ucuamf3 (MF3?)
Does this just mean that i have an older bootloader that was rooted and had newer radios installed?
That that a problem for anything? Should they be the same?

waterboy100 said:
Thanks.
So my bootloader is reported as i337ucuamdb (So MDB Bootleader)
My baseband is 1337ucuamf3 (MF3?)
Does this just mean that i have an older bootloader that was rooted and had newer radios installed?
That that a problem for anything? Should they be the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're on the mdb bootloader which is a good thing, don't update the firmware you can still use twrp or cwm. The baseband is the modem and does not need to be the same version as the bootloader
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Out of the game for a while advice welcome

The last time i flashed a rom was about 6 months ago and the last time i had to get my hands dirty in a root and recovery process was even longer, probably as much as 2 years back with my old S2.
With this in mind i was hoping for a little guidance on a couple of things.
1) I'm not too concerned with triggering knox that i heard could be a problem in the early days for the note 3 as it's nearly 2 years old but I'd prefer not to, what is the best way and the best order to root, flash recovery and then flash a rom?
2)i know there isn't much love for people asking what is the best rom but what i would like to have is a stable rom even if it isn't the most recent and i do like touchwiz. However i do like the idea of extra features and tweaks. So, are there roms around that meet these requirements?
Cheers guys.

There are ROMs.. but Xposed is still not stable for Lollipop Samsung phones...
I'm not a fan of Touchwiz either but Lollipop Touchwiz is awesome (coming from a CM Fan)
Also ROMs like AryaMod are promising

cheers mate.
any other advice for the rooting and recovery processes from anyone?

You are not out for long enough to forget stuffs Welcome back anyway.
Rooting can't be more easy. Just flash any custom recovery (TWRP/ Philz), and flash the SuperSU zip package which can be found in Chainfire's website from it, https://download.chainfire.eu/696/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip
Done, you are rooted.
And for stable ROMs, well some are out there, but my favourite is AryaMod. It is based on stock TW ROM and comes with lots of customisations. If you are looking for purely stock based ROMs then just download those cooked ROMs by Alexandar (pardon if the spelling is wrong), they are as close to stock as you will get. And I don't like S6 based ROMs, I have a Note 3 and I want it as a Note 3, but there are few out there which will give you some S6 features. But the ones I mentioned are purely Note 3 based, you won't find any other phones' feature in them

marc.knuckle said:
...1) I'm not too concerned with triggering knox that i heard could be a problem in the early days for the note 3 as it's nearly 2 years old but I'd prefer not to, what is the best way and the best order to root, flash recovery and then flash a rom?
2)i know there isn't much love for people asking what is the best rom but what i would like to have is a stable rom even if it isn't the most recent and i do like touchwiz. However i do like the idea of extra features and tweaks. So, are there roms around that meet these requirements?
Cheers guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I triggered Knox ages back so haven't kept up on things but if you flash a custom recovery, AFAIK you WILL trigger it. There are ways to flash custom ROMs etc without triggering Knox but I think you have to flash a pre-rooted ROM. Do some reading around - I've seen a number of threads about it.
2. I am currently on Temasek's CM12.1 ROM and have been for some time. I occasionally try others but have always come back to his - it's everything I like. Even on stock though, I run Nova launcher. For a stock-based ROM I'd recommend Sparx's Alliance ROM - I used it for months and it is easily the most configurable ROM I have seen - you don't need Xposed or other app to mod things, it's all built in.

You'd be surprised how much i could forget haha
So, would it be - 1) root (which method and how?) 2) flash recovery (which one and how?) 3) if I'm to use arya rom it says I'd need a stock lollipop installed first so would i do this before the root and recovery (again which one and how?)
Thanks guys for advice and patience.

devilsdouble said:
You are not out for long enough to forget stuffs Welcome back anyway.
Rooting can't be more easy. Just flash any custom recovery (TWRP/ Philz), and flash the SuperSU zip package which can be found in Chainfire's website from it, https://download.chainfire.eu/696/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip
Done, you are rooted.
And for stable ROMs, well some are out there, but my favourite is AryaMod. It is based on stock TW ROM and comes with lots of customisations. If you are looking for purely stock based ROMs then just download those cooked ROMs by Alexandar (pardon if the spelling is wrong), they are as close to stock as you will get. And I don't like S6 based ROMs, I have a Note 3 and I want it as a Note 3, but there are few out there which will give you some S6 features. But the ones I mentioned are purely Note 3 based, you won't find any other phones' feature in them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi and thanks for the referral to Arya. i see it mentions having to come from an existing stock lollipop. could you take a look at my post just before this one and see if you can guide me a little as i dont want to brick my note 3 by doing something either wrong or in the wrong order. thanks for your help.

marc.knuckle said:
You'd be surprised how much i could forget haha
So, would it be - 1) root (which method and how?) 2) flash recovery (which one and how?) 3) if I'm to use arya rom it says I'd need a stock lollipop installed first so would i do this before the root and recovery (again which one and how?)
Thanks guys for advice and patience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1,2- Root: Simple as I said before. Just head over to Development section and find TWRP recovery. Flash that via Odin. Then go to Chainfire's website, to download the SuperSU zip package, 2.46 I believe is the latest version. Have that zip package copied to your internal or external memory, enter Recovery (I am sure you remember Vol Up + Power button combo will help you to enter recovery) and flash that SuperSU zip file. Just reboot the phone and you are now rooted.
3- Yes, you will be needing to flash a stock Lollipop ROM to be able to use Arya. I am not sure but I think its because of the bootloader. If you want to flash a stock ROM, just head over to sammobile.com and download any Lollipop ROM you want and flash it via Odin. Then download Arya ROM, it will be a zip package, and install that from TWRP, just like you would flash that SuperSU zip for rooting.

devilsdouble said:
1,2- Root: Simple as I said before. Just head over to Development section and find TWRP recovery. Flash that via Odin. Then go to Chainfire's website, to download the SuperSU zip package, 2.46 I believe is the latest version. Have that zip package copied to your internal or external memory, enter Recovery (I am sure you remember Vol Up + Power button combo will help you to enter recovery) and flash that SuperSU zip file. Just reboot the phone and you are now rooted.
3- Yes, you will be needing to flash a stock Lollipop ROM to be able to use Arya. I am not sure but I think its because of the bootloader. If you want to flash a stock ROM, just head over to sammobile.com and download any Lollipop ROM you want and flash it via Odin. Then download Arya ROM, it will be a zip package, and install that from TWRP, just like you would flash that SuperSU zip for rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers mate, i think I'm nearly there. Flashing the stock lollipop will wipe out root won't it? Do is it best to first flash the stock lollipop, then flash twrp then root then arya?
Lastly, when i looked on sammobile there were many different regions of it. I'm in the uk on an unlocked international model which i believe is btu. I know btu hasn't had it yet so which one is best? I know I'll be flashing arya over it but would like it to be the right one as i might try it out for a few days before flashing arya.

marc.knuckle said:
Cheers mate, i think I'm nearly there. Flashing the stock lollipop will wipe out root won't it? Do is it best to first flash the stock lollipop, then flash twrp then root then arya?
Lastly, when i looked on sammobile there were many different regions of it. I'm in the uk on an unlocked international model which i believe is btu. I know btu hasn't had it yet so which one is best? I know I'll be flashing arya over it but would like it to be the right one as i might try it out for a few days before flashing arya.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, you got it right, you should flash the stock Lollipop ROM first, then flash TWRP, then root the phone (SuperSU zip package from recovery) and then flash AryaMod. That way you won't have to repeat any steps, cause flashing any stock ROM will restore stock recovery anyway, but I am sure you've already figured that.
About the ROMs on sammobile.com, well I can't really say which one you should download. I once downloaded a German or UK ROM (can't recall really) and it wouldn't flash on my UAE Note 3, someone told me that mine is 32 gigs phone and that ROM was meant for 16 gigs phone, since then I really didn't put much thought about those ROMs anyway, and obviously I had found Arya by then. You can ask in on the UK only topic in general section, they should be able to help you. The ROM from sammobile which worked for my phone was Polish Lollipop ROM, but again, it worked on my phone, so you get the point.

HELP REQUIRED to choose a ROM for Galaxy S4 i9505 android 4.3 version~~

Hi guys, Newbie to forum and rooting here! I own a Galaxy S4 i9505 android version 4.3 and want it to upgrade to a higher, better and stable version. I've been doing a lot of research and found that the latest 6.0.1 gives issues with wifi on s4! I always wanted to root my phone but never did but since pokemon go doesn't run on 4.3 I'm glad that I'm forced to root it ! So, which is the best ROM and android version that I should upgrade my phone to that'll not show any bugs or issues! I don't care if the android version's not latest..I own only one phone! Just want to run pokemon go and exploit some features that rooting will provide! Thanks for help~

There aren't any ROMs that are 100% bug free. Even Samsung ROMs have bugs.
Also, the matter of "which ROM is better" is subjective.

GDReaper said:
There aren't any ROMs that are 100% bug free. Even Samsung ROMs have bugs.
Also, the matter of "which ROM is better" is subjective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks for the reply! I'm aware that no ROM maybe 100% bug free but maybe there are some which have insignificant bugs?? and also perhaps the older ROMs..say the ones with android 5.0.x maybe so because of more updates? In that regard, I would really like if you would recommend one such ROM to your knowledge! Thanks!

phoenixs4 said:
Hey thanks for the reply! I'm aware that no ROM maybe 100% bug free but maybe there are some which have insignificant bugs?? and also perhaps the older ROMs..say the ones with android 5.0.x maybe so because of more updates? In that regard, I would really like if you would recommend one such ROM to your knowledge! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Google Play Edition ROM has always been working well for me.

Roll ultra
Enviado desde mi GT-I9505 mediante Tapatalk

Me, ive come from many years of custom ROMs on my S2, and due to all the issues with CM13 which was the last ROM i ran on it, i retired the S2 the other day and got a cheap second hand S4, and i have to say after all the drama of custom CM13 on the S2, i am actually enjoying the stock 5.01 LP ROM on the S4. All ive done is run CF Auto Root and then run this debloat app on it Until i do enough research on what a good custom ROM to install, im just going to stick with the stock 5.0.1...
Stock 5.01 is available here at sammobile
It should be enough of an upgrade over 4.3, plus you should probably flash this at least once before going to a custom ROM anyways...for reasons i wont bore you with
You can try this first up as an alternate to sammobile.com (because they limit your speed):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/tool-samfirm-samsung-firmware-t2988647
This backdoors a fast download from Sammobile...much faster
I just got it to finally work to download my ROM!
Or if you try the main sammobile.com website
If you choose to go this route, pick your country, and if you want an unbranded, no carrier bloat version, pick the one form your country with no carrier name after it in brackets, i.e. pick the one with just the 3 letter region code in brackets after it. Note: its about 1.4Gb to download, and unlike the old days sammobile will make it fricking painful to get without paying them...they throttle the download. Im on my 8th go trying to get my ROM, every time it fails you have to restart, so they soak up your data allowance the bastards, but theres nowhere else i know of to get my ROM
Or another alternate:
http://fw.updato.com/

Ok so I've decided to flash this ROM: http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...om-untouched-google-play-edition-5-1-t3198177
But I'm getting confused between the meanings of rooting and flashing ROM. Do I need to "root" my phone (I would use Super SU) before flashing it? Because I'm following this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDlV3plfnVA
and his recovery screen looks different than mine. Apparently, he's using clockworkMod CWM but how do I do that? So, if I root my phone first then will my recover screen look similar to his? It's confusing! Please help!

Like i said id flash a stock ROM first before going custom....GPE still counts as a custom ROM
Be sure to read this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=67514801&postcount=1380 and more than just the front page of any ROM, this one has a few issues, i assume fixed.....
As for recovery, you should forget about Phliz (it can have issues with newer ROM's) and use TWRP instead (i used to hate TWRP, but CWM based recoveries seemingly arent being updated to fix issues lately)
I did a quick post about installing it (and fixing a potential niggle) here earlier: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=67769031&postcount=6

How to return to original firmware from CM13

Hello everybody,
I have a Moto x play running CM 13. I followed the process listed somewhere in this forum and successfully installed cm 13.
Bad news is my laptop got stolen at uni. I had installed Motorola drivers and all that stuff in there, so now I'm wondering if I can go through this process without that laptop. I hope I can.
I only have the cellphone and I would like to return it to its original firmware so I can sell it.
Is there a safe way to do this without "bricking" my phone? I'm not very well versed in these processes and managed to install cm13 only because the procedure was very clear. I hope you guys can help me!
The original carrier is Iusacell (Mexico), although the cellphone itself is unlocked and takes any Sim.
thanks in advance!

gabrsmn said:
Hello everybody,
I have a Moto x play running CM 13. I followed the process listed somewhere in this forum and successfully installed cm 13.
Bad news is my laptop got stolen at uni. I had installed Motorola drivers and all that stuff in there, so now I'm wondering if I can go through this process without that laptop. I hope I can.
I only have the cellphone and I would like to return it to its original firmware so I can sell it.
Is there a safe way to do this without "bricking" my phone? I'm not very well versed in these processes and managed to install cm13 only because the procedure was very clear. I hope you guys can help me!
The original carrier is Iusacell (Mexico), although the cellphone itself is unlocked and takes any Sim.
thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to flash original firmware without PC you can use Chainfire's Flashfirehttp://forum.xda-developers.com/general/paid-software/flashfire-t3075433, however - it's still kinda experimental, needs some knowlege, and I'm not really sure if it supports our device. Reading through its thread may give you some clues. This will not revert your phone to out-of-the-box condition - that would take relocking your bootloader and PC is needed to do so (warranty will be still voided anyway). So maybe just try flashing some stock ROM in TWRP. The procedure will be the same as flashing CM.

minimale_ldz said:
to flash original firmware without PC you can use Chainfire's Flashfirehttp://forum.xda-developers.com/general/paid-software/flashfire-t3075433, however - it's still kinda experimental, needs some knowlege, and I'm not really sure if it supports our device. Reading through its thread may give you some clues. This will not revert your phone to out-of-the-box condition - that would take relocking your bootloader and PC is needed to do so (warranty will be still voided anyway). So maybe just try flashing some stock ROM in TWRP. The procedure will be the same as flashing CM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel more comfortable with the second option. I found this github with MXP ROMs for my country and carrier: https://github.com/motoxplay/stock
I honestly can't remember if I had it at the beginning with Android 5 or 6. What happens if I flash Android 6 and it originally was 5? I suppose I should make a backup "nandroid" first.
BTW, can the bootloader be locked again via a new PC?

gabrsmn said:
I feel more comfortable with the second option. I found this github with MXP ROMs for my country and carrier: https://github.com/motoxplay/stock
I honestly can't remember if I had it at the beginning with Android 5 or 6. What happens if I flash Android 6 and it originally was 5? I suppose I should make a backup "nandroid" first.
BTW, can the bootloader be locked again via a new PC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing newer firmware won't break anything, it's a normal update. Worse thing would be if you tried to flash Lollipop over Marshmallow.
Making backup is always a good idea, do mind however, that flashing full stock firmware means overwriting your TWRP with stock recovery. Also, be aware the files you linked are actually firmware and not TWRP flashable zips.
And yes, you should be able to relock bootloader with original firmware.