I have a Samsung Galaxy S4, the Sprint version. I wasn't able to send or receive picture messages and I thought it might have something to do with my APN being wrong (I bought the phone on eBay and had it flashed to nTelos, my provider) but I wasn't able to edit the APN and nTelos was, as usual, no help. So I figured I'd just root it and be able to edit it then!
It was at that moment I stuck my shovel into the soft dirt and started digging.
Essentially, I believe my phone is without an OS at this point. I have tried using ODIN to put a recovery on there so I can at least do something, but now even ODIN is freezing up when I try and flash the Clockwork recovery. I am stuck on the Samsung S4 logo screen and while I can enter download mode I don't think I can enter recovery mode - at least, it hasn't been working tonight. I don't remember everything I've done to my poor phone, but it has to be hurting after the beating I've put it through. I originally tried to root it though I don't think I was successful because the Root Checker said I wasn't, though I'm not sure what I was doing wrong then. Things went downhill from there.
I've read through thread after thread hoping for something that would work, but I've given up trying to use other people's problems to solve my own. This is me saying "Uncle". I require assistance. Let me know what you need from me to provide me with the help I need.
Also - I have ADB on my computer and I think I have a basic understanding of how to use it, but since I can't enter recovery mode I can't do anything other than pat myself on the back for figuring it out. I think my first problem at this point is ODIN. I uninstalled KIES so that's not interfering (and don't even get me started on KIES - I installed KIES and it told me to install KIES3 which told me my device wasn't supported... which is crap because it's running Android 4.3 - or was before I got to it).
Thanks,
If you're sure the phone was on 4.3, then your options are limited thanks to Knox. You can only restore a 4.3 (MJA) based ROM to the phone via Odin, whether it is stock or custom. Easiest giveaway is if you see a line for "Knox" on the Download Mode screen.
At this point you should look in the ROM directory here for a full ROM (xxxxx.tar.md5), either MF9 (4.2.2) if it doesn't have Knox or MJA (4.3) if it does. If you cannot use Odin to put a full ROM on there, then you will need some more serious help.
Odin the stock 4.3 MJA OEM. Will return your phone to a stock unrooted state.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2522810
Hi all,
Phone Details:
Spring Galaxy S4
Baseband Version L720TVPUBNG5
Used CF autoroot
This all started a few days ago. The latest OTA update came out and my phone kept telling me I had insufficient storage for the update. I figured it was because I had it rooted. I followed QBking77's video for Unroot / Unbrick. Downloaded all files recommended in the video.
Every time I try to flash with ODIN I get a failure. I have tried three different .tar versions at this point, it always seems to fail after "aboot" attempts to flash. Two different cables, both came with an SGS4.
I finally had enough and used the factory reset. After factory reset I used KIES for my update. The phone took it fine and rebooted. Although now I have no WIFI.
When initiating WIFI it will tell me that the security application has rejected a request to protect my phone. I deleted lookout security even though I have never used it.
Does this have something to do with KNOX? Knox flag is at 0x1 so I know it is tripped. Is there a way to completely flash my phone back to a stock state with the original recovery and rom?
Are there any options for me to get my phone back in order. I really dont give a **** about root or roms, I just need my WIFI. Would my best bet be to use a custom firmware?
Your correct thread have to go: HERE.
Note - this is for the SM-G930A AKA AT&T model only. Unrooting and flashing firmware works the same way for other carriers, but with different files.
Hi everyone, I just thought I should share how I went about unrooting my S7. I initially rooted it while it was running Nougat already, and I liked the extra customization options. However, I found after several months of using it that the only real feature that I personally liked about having a rooted S7 was the ability to "try" paid apps for free using Lucky Patcher.
The downside of rooting, for me anyway, was severely slow laggy touch inputs and general phone performance. Sometimes - especially after a reboot - I experienced slightly better performance, but overall it just got too annoying. The app that gave me the most trouble was Google Maps. That's why I decided to cut my losses and unroot; I'd figured out which apps I actually wanted to buy since I'd already used them for a while (I will miss free in-app purchases though ).
So after some Googling and reading up, I decided to try for myself. I was already running baseband version G930AUCU4BQA4 before I rooted, so I thought maybe I could just flash stock Nougat and be done. However, all the guides I read say to flash a stock firmware, so that's what I did to be safe.
So first I downloaded the stock firmware for my phone from a website called rootmygalaxy, on the Download Stock ROM For AT&T Galaxy S7/S7 Edge (SM-G930A/SM-G935A) page (being a new user sucks).
After that, I used the stock, unpatched version of Odin v3.12.3, (from Odin's website) to flash the stock firmware onto my phone. It should be noted that the steps you take to flash a firmware to download mode should be 1. Open Odin, 2. Put phone in download mode, 3. plug the phone in. I had some failures in Odin because I was doing that wrong. Steps one and two are probably interchangeable, but just make sure plugging in the phone is the last thing you do. Also, make sure you have ticked USB Debugging and OEM Unlock under developer options before you do any flashing.
Once that was complete, I rebooted my phone and set up Android 6.0.1 on the phone. After a full 24 hours, I still couldn't get any OTA updates, so I decided to manually flash Nougat because it is so much better than Marshmallow.
This guide on the website droidviews called Install Android 7.0 Nougat on AT&T Galaxy S7/ S7 Edge (SM-G930A/ G935A) was very helpful.
Take note of the fact that the guide references baseband versions by the last 4 characters, i.e. G930AUCU4BQA4 becomes just BQA4. I checked my baseband version, which ended in APJ4. According to that guide, all I had to do was flash APK1 and then I'd be set to update to Nougat, so that's exactly what I did.
After again flashing via the 4-file method with Odin, I set up the phone again so I was back at the home screen. I downloaded both the APK1 and the .zip file containing Nougat while my phone was charging (from 90%, my phone was at ~50% by the time I had Nougat up and running), and I placed the .zip Nougat update onto an SD card that I usually keep in the phone. Once APK1 was set up, I put the SD card back in, rebooted into Recovery Mode, and waited until the manual screen came up. Then I simply chose update from SD card, chose the .zip file I'd placed in there, and waited. After a while, I was greeted by a new setup screen. I set up Nougat and now it's running just fine.
The only issue I'm seeing is that I'm still not getting any OTA updates. I hope that doesn't continue, but if it does I can just update via .zip or something.
Thanks for reading!
where did you get the nougat.zip?
I have a Verizon GS5 that has been towelrooted on 4.4.4 for close to 2 years. It's worked ok, but I've started seeing various issues that required a factory reset. Since I'm back to no settings, I was thinking updating the OS would be a good idea. I would like to move to either Lollipop or Mashmallow but it looks like the latter may be a problem with my phone (CID 11 and Verizon) while keeping Knox 0x0.
I'm having a problem following the guide that I've found here:
https://www.androidinfotech.com/2016/07/root-samsung-galaxy-s5-sm-g900v-verizon.html
The issue is that I can't get the phone to connect to my PC for Kies or ODIN. It fails to load the MTP driver for my GS5 but works fine with my wife's GS5. Hers is stock Lollipop or Marshmallow and mine is still on JB but is rooted.
I guess what I'm wondering is what my options are. Should I remove root so that I can hopefully connect to the PC to transfer the files over and updating? Or, is there something else I should try first? I haven't worked on many phones and I'm a little nervous about doing something irreversible at this point. I don't know that I need Knox at 0x0, but since I can't get back if I trip it, I'd rather not trip it.
bkenobi69 said:
The issue is that I can't get the phone to connect to my PC for Kies or ODIN. It fails to load the MTP driver for my GS5 but works fine with my wife's GS5. Hers is stock Lollipop or Marshmallow and mine is still on JB but is rooted.
I guess what I'm wondering is what my options are. Should I remove root so that I can hopefully connect to the PC to transfer the files over and updating? Or, is there something else I should try first? I haven't worked on many phones and I'm a little nervous about doing something irreversible at this point. I don't know that I need Knox at 0x0, but since I can't get back if I trip it, I'd rather not trip it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to dial *#0808# in the stock phone application.
You should see a menu with several options.
Select "MTP+ADB" under USB settings and press "OK".
Then you'll be able to connect your phone via MTP or ADB to your PC.
If there's no menu, then (assuming you're rooted) open a good file browser (ES, Root Explorer or something) and open the file /efs/carrier/HiddenMenu (it's a simple text file) and replace OFF with ON there.
Save the changes and reboot the phone.
Now the menu should be operational.
Unfortunately, I already tried to update to 6.0.1 so this very helpful info is a little to late.
I followed all directions on the linked page above but didn't get things working. I repeated 2 or 3 times now and I'm clearly missing something. I can get through installing busybox, but then when I reset, it hangs at the samsung screen and just vibrates 3 times repeatedly. I'm going to have to figure this out tonight as I don't really have a backup phone.
bkenobi69 said:
Unfortunately, I already tried to update to 6.0.1 so this very helpful info is a little to late.
I followed all directions on the linked page above but didn't get things working. I repeated 2 or 3 times now and I'm clearly missing something. I can get through installing busybox, but then when I reset, it hangs at the samsung screen and just vibrates 3 times repeatedly. I'm going to have to figure this out tonight as I don't really have a backup phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently root is impossible for MM on G900V CID11.
Impossible means you cannot gain it now, most likely it's forever.
There's no internet site which can help.
You must choose: root on LP or unrooted MM.
You must decide if you want a stock ROM or something (TW-based) else too.
It's a good idea to flash and use a stock firmware for the time while you're thinking.
Interesting... I guess I must have been reading things wrong because I thought I could go to MM with root. I'll try going to Lollipop then but first I'm going to just flash back to JB 4.4.4.
I downloaded 4.4.4 from Samsung and was going to write it with Odin, but it says FAIL when I try to flash. I suspect I just tripped Knox...
SW REV CHECK FAIL : [aboot]Fused 2 > Binary 1
I'll look around to find a guide, but if you have a suggestion, I'd certainly listen!
bkenobi69 said:
SW REV CHECK FAIL : [aboot]Fused 2 > Binary 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This means that you've upgraded your phone's firmware while experimenting.
Now you cannot directly flash 4.4.4 with Odin, you're limited to 5.0 (BOK3) and above.
Ok. I'll read the guides on the head of this list and see if I can find the right information.
FWIW, I was following the same how-to that most of the stickies point to and say is safe. I wonder how I got to a position that I'm in now when I did the same as recommended. Painiac's thread points to the same thing I did:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve...al/guide-painiacs-essential-guide-to-t3319848
I think I may have tried to flash a MM stock rom though when it got into a boot loop. I suspect that would be the issue.
Bootloop is not a problem in this case.
Just reboot to the recovery and perform a factory reset from there.
The phone will boot but the first boot will take 10-15 min.
bkenobi69 said:
I have a Verizon GS5 that has been towelrooted on 4.4.4 for close to 2 years. It's worked ok, but I've started seeing various issues that required a factory reset. Since I'm back to no settings, I was thinking updating the OS would be a good idea. I would like to move to either Lollipop or Mashmallow but it looks like the latter may be a problem with my phone (CID 11 and Verizon) while keeping Knox 0x0.
I'm having a problem following the guide that I've found here:
https://www.androidinfotech.com/2016/07/root-samsung-galaxy-s5-sm-g900v-verizon.html
The issue is that I can't get the phone to connect to my PC for Kies or ODIN. It fails to load the MTP driver for my GS5 but works fine with my wife's GS5. Hers is stock Lollipop or Marshmallow and mine is still on JB but is rooted.
I guess what I'm wondering is what my options are. Should I remove root so that I can hopefully connect to the PC to transfer the files over and updating? Or, is there something else I should try first? I haven't worked on many phones and I'm a little nervous about doing something irreversible at this point. I don't know that I need Knox at 0x0, but since I can't get back if I trip it, I'd rather not trip it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Marshmallow can not be rooted on CID 11 devices. The Samsung drivers are found here: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/galaxy-s5-verizon You can follow the 5.0 root guide here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve.../testers-required-easier-root-method-t3561529 to downgrade to 5.0. If you want to downgrade past that to a version lower than 5.0, you will still have to follow that guide then follow the instructions here (I recommend you to follow the root guide for 5.0 above then skip steps 1 and 2 on this page): https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve.../guide-downgrade-to-kk-nk2-ncg-mm-lp-t3686858 . You can find stock firmwares here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2784880 (stock firmware, kernel, and modem files) and if you get bootlooped or bricked, just reflash the combination file from the root guide. If you want to root 4.4.4, follow the downgrade method using all of the NK2 files but the flash the NGC kernel, run through the setup, then use towelroot and flash the NK2 kernel after that. If you ever get stuck on the red Verizon screen, just pop the battery out and reboot.
That's about all anyone can do and a run down of everything.
Thank you for posting specific guides. I'll go back to step 1 and try again. The primary issue I have at this point isn't reading the guide and following directions, its finding the right guide to reduce the number of images I need to download. I'm on 1.5mbps DSL so d/l a 2GB file takes most of a day. I have several that don't appear useful at this point which means I've lost several days.
bkenobi69 said:
Thank you for posting specific guides. I'll go back to step 1 and try again. The primary issue I have at this point isn't reading the guide and following directions, its finding the right guide to reduce the number of images I need to download. I'm on 1.5mbps DSL so d/l a 2GB file takes most of a day. I have several that don't appear useful at this point which means I've lost several days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understandable, I can't believe it is 2018 and we still haven't invented a way to compress 1.7GB into 1.7MB archives to make life easy on low connections. How is battery life on 4.4.4 and which update of 4.4.4 are you on? I've been having an issue with my phone dropping a percent every 2 minutes on 5.0/6.0. It would be nice find a version to root along with excellent battery life.
The reason I was looking at updating was due to battery issues. I had the phone for around a week before I rooted it (a couple years ago). After rooting, I started seeing immediate battery issues. My wife has the same unrooted phone (currently on MM) and has never had the type of issues I have. I figured the issue was likely a bad kernel and was thinking I'd just update to something newer (LL or MM) to help. I assume a new battery would help since mine is 1-2 years old, but I swapped with my wife's phone and she still gets lots better performance. Once I get this back up, I'll probably buy a new battery for each phone.
So it appears that I must have upgraded the bootloader to a point where towelroot no longer works as was previously suggested. I believe then that I need to follow the second guide to be able to downgrade to a rootable Lollipop version:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve.../guide-downgrade-to-kk-nk2-ncg-mm-lp-t3686858
I am downloading the PB1 rom and lolliroot and need to also get a system restore, kernel, and modem. As I said, my connection is terrible so it would be great if someone could suggest which version of restore I should go with. I was going to install Lollipop in the end (that was the original goal). I figured I'd just get OC4 since it's likely to have the least bugs and best performance. If that is a mistake and I should go with an earlier version of LL PLEASE throw it out there!
Ok, I tethered to my wife's phone and am burning her data (shhhh, don't tell her).
I grabbed all of the OC4 files, the PB1 rom, and lolliroot. I think I have everything I need so long as OC4 is a good place to end up.
bkenobi69 said:
The reason I was looking at updating was due to battery issues. I had the phone for around a week before I rooted it (a couple years ago). After rooting, I started seeing immediate battery issues. My wife has the same unrooted phone (currently on MM) and has never had the type of issues I have. I figured the issue was likely a bad kernel and was thinking I'd just update to something newer (LL or MM) to help. I assume a new battery would help since mine is 1-2 years old, but I swapped with my wife's phone and she still gets lots better performance. Once I get this back up, I'll probably buy a new battery for each phone.
So it appears that I must have upgraded the bootloader to a point where towelroot no longer works as was previously suggested. I believe then that I need to follow the second guide to be able to downgrade to a rootable Lollipop version:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve.../guide-downgrade-to-kk-nk2-ncg-mm-lp-t3686858
I am downloading the PB1 rom and lolliroot and need to also get a system restore, kernel, and modem. As I said, my connection is terrible so it would be great if someone could suggest which version of restore I should go with. I was going to install Lollipop in the end (that was the original goal). I figured I'd just get OC4 since it's likely to have the least bugs and best performance. If that is a mistake and I should go with an earlier version of LL PLEASE throw it out there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here are some files (that I been hunting for about an hour for). Just gonna reference this for future use and anyone who comes across this thread. http://rootjunkysdl.com/files/?dir=Galaxy S5
Nice find!
I have the phone up and running on stock PB1 currently. I'm going to let it sit to see what the battery is like prior to rooting. While I haven't gotten it hooked back up to my account yet nor do I have it rooted, I feel pretty confident now that I'm on the right track. Thanks!
Just to finish out this topic, I have not successfully completed attaining root on 5.0. I flashed PB1 to the phone and then followed this guide for installing KingRoot:
https://androidforums.com/threads/root-question.1120150/
I got the lolliroot files from here:
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=312968873555011514
Thanks to all who offered help!
Qyuck question... I've got my phone working well bow, but there's one issue with apps I'm not sure how to address. I want to use Verizon Visual Voicemail but I can't find it on the Play store. I disabled updates so I wouldn't get the marshmallow update and break root. but, with updates turned off, VVM won't get pushed. Any suggestions?
Hello!
I've never used a phone that is specific to one carrier. All my phones have been unlocked.
My girlfriend has a Verizon Samsung S7 edge and I've convinced her to ditch Verizon and go with StraightTalk with a Verizon compatible SIM. I hadn't considered software updates since I typically update my phone directly from the manufacturer or by flashing a custom ROM.
is it still possible to install an OTA update to her phone since she no longer has an account with Verizon? Or do i have to unlock her bootloader, download the latest update, and use Odin to manually install it?
Her phone is not rooted and it will be a battle to convince her to let me do it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Probably the easiest for you is to install on the phone and on PC the Samsung SmartSwitch: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/
Inside that app, while the phone is connected via USB to the PC, if there are any updates for the phone, they will show up and you can install them.
BTW, if you want to change the firmware to "U" version, Odin flashes the official files without root, phone remains in original untouched state.
Personally I have flashed "U" firmware over my "V" S7 Edge, just to gain access to hotspot, using this thread to make the switch (I was on Nougat then). I am using Total Wireless (same SIM as StraightTalk, both owned by Tracfone) and, since then, I got the updates for Oreo and the following security update.