Lost Root Randomly - Re-root is Impossible - Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I upgraded my Note 4 (SM-N910C) to Android 6.0.1 earlier this year and it's been rooted ever since.
Most recently I was using the Chainfire's systemless root with SuperUserSU and SUhide.
However, when attempting to use toggle root 2 days ago I was given a "No Super User Binary installed" message.
So it seems my device unrooted itself somehow and I've been pulling my hair out ever since trying to re-root it.
Since then I've tried re-flashing SuperUserSU, tried Magisk which had worked in the past and finally tried CF-autoroot.
I've even gone so far as to re-flash my original stock rom, wipe the device and start over with no luck.
I'm 7 hours in today and out of ideas. My Note 4 has not only rid itself of root, but become immune to root.
Firmware Auto-update is off. The only idea I've had is that the device HAS reset while root was toggled off, and I hear this can cause you to lose root. But surely everything I've done should have fixed that.
If anyone has and idea's I'd HIGHLY appreciate the help.

Related

XXUAMDN or XXUAME2

Does anyone know which is newer, and what changed between the two?
I have XXUAME2, and I've updated my firmware through Kies. I don't remember what I had before. This one must be newer.
Haven't noticed any change, apart from the blue default background in the wallpapers is now a bit darker without the sun flare. I might've noticed a few very minor things in the settings, though I don't remember what they were.
Well I was on XXUAMDC when I first got my handset, and flashed XXUAMDN via Odin when getting root access. I found it removed any carrier branding and fixed a bug with the standard launcher not allowing sorting apps in folders properly. Just wondering if XXUAME2 is newer and fixes anything else.
StuartTheFish said:
Well I was on XXUAMDC when I first got my handset, and flashed XXUAMDN via Odin when getting root access. I found it removed any carrier branding and fixed a bug with the standard launcher not allowing sorting apps in folders properly. Just wondering if XXUAME2 is newer and fixes anything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll tell you a sad story about XXUAME2.
I rooted my phone a few weeks after I got it, everything worked fine. Then I saw the firmware update in Kies, sure I'll download! I already knew updating stock firmware would remove root, but I could always flash it again. So after I updated my firmware, I flashed root again. This time the phone couldn't recognise the superuser app, and kept alerting that there was a threat (meaning the superuser app) every 5 minutes but root still worked. So I removed superuser completely. The threat messages didn't stop, though. I flashed a clean stock ROM, everything was fine.
Until, an ancient evil awakens! (not really ancient, but...) My Group Play app started acting weirdly. It was constantly 50-70% of my battery drain, even above the screen, on my battery page. I freezed the app and hoped for the best, but it didn't work. I couldn't remove it because my root messed up. BetterBatteryStats didn't recognise anything odd. I asked XDA, but my thread only got 1 answer telling me to look for updates, and none were to be found. Google didn't tell me anything. So I gave up, and did a factory reset. I didn't really mind, I got the phone back running and looking the same in one evening, it's not as if I had years worth of stuff in it yet. This was 2 days ago, and everything seems to be pretty much normal.
I probably messed up somewhere, but thought I'd still write a cautionary tale about updating firmware while rooted. As I mentioned, probably nothing of importance was updated, so it would be a little safer to not update. You won't miss out.
Tozenator said:
I'll tell you a sad story about XXUAME2.
I rooted my phone a few weeks after I got it, everything worked fine. Then I saw the firmware update in Kies, sure I'll download! I already knew updating stock firmware would remove root, but I could always flash it again. So after I updated my firmware, I flashed root again. This time the phone couldn't recognise the superuser app, and kept alerting that there was a threat (meaning the superuser app) every 5 minutes but root still worked. So I removed superuser completely. The threat messages didn't stop, though. I flashed a clean stock ROM, everything was fine.
Until, an ancient evil awakens! (not really ancient, but...) My Group Play app started acting weirdly. It was constantly 50-70% of my battery drain, even above the screen, on my battery page. I freezed the app and hoped for the best, but it didn't work. I couldn't remove it because my root messed up. BetterBatteryStats didn't recognise anything odd. I asked XDA, but my thread only got 1 answer telling me to look for updates, and none were to be found. Google didn't tell me anything. So I gave up, and did a factory reset. I didn't really mind, I got the phone back running and looking the same in one evening, it's not as if I had years worth of stuff in it yet. This was 2 days ago, and everything seems to be pretty much normal.
I probably messed up somewhere, but thought I'd still write a cautionary tale about updating firmware while rooted. As I mentioned, probably nothing of importance was updated, so it would be a little safer to not update. You won't miss out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason for that is chainfire's root method doesn't work for newer versions (or should I say didn't, apparently it does now). The newer kernel didn't allow root access, making the su binary appear to be missing. The error messages are also normal on newer versions, since it detects something is trying to get root access. To get around the missing binary issue, you can use djembey's modified version of getting root instead, which afaik installs the older kernel again so it can actually get root. Then to get rid of the repeated error messages, you have to disable KNOX. Again, it says how in djembey's root thread.
XXUAMDN is one of the newer versions which didn't work via chainfire's method, yet I have root access with no issues after following djembey's thread. Might be worth a look to get yours sorted.
StuartTheFish said:
The reason for that is chainfire's root method doesn't work for newer versions (or should I say didn't, apparently it does now). The newer kernel didn't allow root access, making the su binary appear to be missing. The error messages are also normal on newer versions, since it detects something is trying to get root access. To get around the missing binary issue, you can use djembey's modified version of getting root instead, which afaik installs the older kernel again so it can actually get root. Then to get rid of the repeated error messages, you have to disable KNOX. Again, it says how in djembey's root thread.
XXUAMDN is one of the newer versions which didn't work via chainfire's method, yet I have root access with no issues after following djembey's thread. Might be worth a look to get yours sorted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, very interesting. I might look into rooting one more time, then. Thanks!
Funny how you helped me instead of the other way around. Thanks again, I hope more people notice your thread and maybe you'll get your answer!
where is this new firmware xxuamdn, havent found anything about it..
im having camera, battery drain, slowness issuess still hope it fixes..
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda app-developers app
I have none of those issues, but never did even on the older version. All I did was Google for galaxy s4 update and I found a download link for it along with Odin. But there's also XXUAME2 out there and I don't know which one I'd be better having. Unless the only difference is the radio depending on where in the world you are?

[Q] Safest way to load 5.0 on my rooted Note 4?

Hi guys,
Have just spent the last couple of hours trying to research this but still not quite sure what's the best (safest!!) way of upgrading to lollipop on my SM-910G. I am rooted and currently on 4.4.4 and when I try to do an OTA update, I get the msg "The operating system has been modified in an unauthorised way.... etc etc"
When I connect via Kies, I get a pop up msg telling me that lollipop is available however when I try to update it tells me that I have to be unrooted. I read an article where some guy messed up his rooted S4 while trying to update via Kies. Can't afford for that to happen on my phone, I've backed up all my apps and data via Titanium Backup but now need to know what the safest way is to upgrade and keep all my settings etc.
I've downloaded the right 5.0 ROM (N910GDTU1BOC5_N910GXSA1BOC5_XSA.zip) for my model - am I correct to say that if I flash via Odin, I will lose all my apps and settings (and root)?
If I want to update and keep all my settings, am I safe to unroot via SuperSU, then update via Kies? I've read about how unrooting via SuperSU isn't really a complete unroot?
At the end of the day unless I'm 100% certain I will probably stay on 4.4.4 since there has been some horror stories with battery drain and stuff on 5.0
Has anyone been in a similar situation?
highon2str said:
Hi guys,
Have just spent the last couple of hours trying to research this but still not quite sure what's the best (safest!!) way of upgrading to lollipop on my SM-910G. I am rooted and currently on 4.4.4 and when I try to do an OTA update, I get the msg "The operating system has been modified in an unauthorised way.... etc etc"
When I connect via Kies, I get a pop up msg telling me that lollipop is available however when I try to update it tells me that I have to be unrooted. I read an article where some guy messed up his rooted S4 while trying to update via Kies. Can't afford for that to happen on my phone, I've backed up all my apps and data via Titanium Backup but now need to know what the safest way is to upgrade and keep all my settings etc.
I've downloaded the right 5.0 ROM (N910GDTU1BOC5_N910GXSA1BOC5_XSA.zip) for my model - am I correct to say that if I flash via Odin, I will lose all my apps and settings (and root)?
If I want to update and keep all my settings, am I safe to unroot via SuperSU, then update via Kies? I've read about how unrooting via SuperSU isn't really a complete unroot?
At the end of the day unless I'm 100% certain I will probably stay on 4.4.4 since there has been some horror stories with battery drain and stuff on 5.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
highon2str said:
Hi guys,
Have just spent the last couple of hours trying to research this but still not quite sure what's the best (safest!!) way of upgrading to lollipop on my SM-910G. I am rooted and currently on 4.4.4 and when I try to do an OTA update, I get the msg "The operating system has been modified in an unauthorised way.... etc etc"
When I connect via Kies, I get a pop up msg telling me that lollipop is available however when I try to update it tells me that I have to be unrooted. I read an article where some guy messed up his rooted S4 while trying to update via Kies. Can't afford for that to happen on my phone, I've backed up all my apps and data via Titanium Backup but now need to know what the safest way is to upgrade and keep all my settings etc.
I've downloaded the right 5.0 ROM (N910GDTU1BOC5_N910GXSA1BOC5_XSA.zip) for my model - am I correct to say that if I flash via Odin, I will lose all my apps and settings (and root)?
If I want to update and keep all my settings, am I safe to unroot via SuperSU, then update via Kies? I've read about how unrooting via SuperSU isn't really a complete unroot?
At the end of the day unless I'm 100% certain I will probably stay on 4.4.4 since there has been some horror stories with battery drain and stuff on 5.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi
Just a few points ...First if you " dirty flash" official stock Rom with Odin, then you will lose root ( so to me there is no need to unroot first ) However you do not loose any 3 rd party apps or settings . Also i never use Kies as my personal experience is that it is a waist of time .Regarding Lollipop well i have flashed several newer " version"/changelog/dated of Lollipop 5.0.1 over the past months and all of them have been good to me...( ..overall.) No real battery drain ,no lag ( only recent button and one " Samsung bug in the setting " Accessibilty" .
All my "problems " on Lollipop, on and off, was caused by 3 rd party apps
eg.Past few days i had suddenly random reboots over and over .i reflashed Lollipol ,i factory reset ,but the random reboots continued .
i then started to install all my +_ 162 ..?? apps one by one and checked
Eventually found my culprit ..'Greenify " (the experimental paid ,bolt on package, which is meant mostly for Xposed module with few functions you can also use without Xposed eg "don't remove Notifications " and Greenify system apps l)
After using Greenify for months with no issues it suddenly started giving problems .
So i could have given Lollipop the blame for my woes but i did not .
Yes I do believe Lollipop has issues ,but overall i cannot complain .
yes ,Titanuim is the way to go .
Also i "unrooted " via SuperUser app once, no problem at all, but then why do this if you just flash over it and root is gone
Bottom line ,
you can be "stuck " on Android v4.4.4 hoping and waiting .......?
or faceup to Lollipop ?
its your choice ?
good luck
Hey willcor thanks for the reply! Good to hear your experiences with this. Interestingly I've had a similar problem of sluggishness, lag and random rebooting (multiple times a day) on my Note 4 running kitkat. This went on for about 2 or 3 days. Tried installing some recently installed apps thinking it might have caused it, and now it seems it's fixed itself, I think??
Even pulling the battery and restarting often took ages to boot. Took my 128GB SD card out and tried to boot thinking maybe it was the card but it still lagged and restarted by itself. Like I said it seems ok now and has been ok for the last few days, but now that you mention Greenify, I have that installed too along with a few exposed modules. This rebooting problem is what motivated me to think about upgrading to lollipop to see if it would fix it.
Going by what you said, if I am not going to lose apps, data and settings, then I might flash to lollipop, then re-root. Sounds like the way to go. Maybe...
willcor said:
hi
Just a few points ...First if you " dirty flash" official stock Rom with Odin, then you will lose root ( so to me there is no need to unroot first ) However you do not loose any 3 rd party apps or settings . Also i never use Kies as my personal experience is that it is a waist of time .Regarding Lollipop well i have flashed several newer " version"/changelog/dated of Lollipop 5.0.1 over the past months and all of them have been good to me...( ..overall.) No real battery drain ,no lag ( only recent button and one " Samsung bug in the setting " Accessibilty" .
All my "problems " on Lollipop, on and off, was caused by 3 rd party apps
eg.Past few days i had suddenly random reboots over and over .i reflashed Lollipol ,i factory reset ,but the random reboots continued .
i then started to install all my +_ 162 ..?? apps one by one and checked
Eventually found my culprit ..'Greenify " (the experimental paid ,bolt on package, which is meant mostly for Xposed module with few functions you can also use without Xposed eg "don't remove Notifications " and Greenify system apps l)
After using Greenify for months with no issues it suddenly started giving problems .
So i could have given Lollipop the blame for my woes but i did not .
Yes I do believe Lollipop has issues ,but overall i cannot complain .
yes ,Titanuim is the way to go .
Also i "unrooted " via SuperUser app once, no problem at all, but then why do this if you just flash over it and root is gone
Bottom line ,
you can be "stuck " on Android v4.4.4 hoping and waiting .......?
or faceup to Lollipop ?
its your choice ?
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
highon2str said:
Hey willcor thanks for the reply! Good to hear your experiences with this. Interestingly I've had a similar problem of sluggishness, lag and random rebooting (multiple times a day) on my Note 4 running kitkat. This went on for about 2 or 3 days. Tried installing some recently installed apps thinking it might have caused it, and now it seems it's fixed itself, I think??
Even pulling the battery and restarting often took ages to boot. Took my 128GB SD card out and tried to boot thinking maybe it was the card but it still lagged and restarted by itself. Like I said it seems ok now and has been ok for the last few days, but now that you mention Greenify, I have that installed too along with a few exposed modules. This rebooting problem is what motivated me to think about upgrading to lollipop to see if it would fix it.
Going by what you said, if I am not going to lose apps, data and settings, then I might flash to lollipop, then re-root. Sounds like the way to go. Maybe...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
Just a quick remark. When i was on Android v4.4.4, most of my issues eg. Private mode S HEALTH... (yes i know there was quick fixes /patches , that you could apply) Play store not installing apps, lags from time to time etc was caused by Xposed Framework. As far as i can remember Xposed was never optimise for Android v4.4.4? As "good" as Xposed was, it gave me "terrible headache /problems" on my Note 4....... even after uninstalling Xposed it broke some apps functionality! (This is a fact for me) . but yet, on all my other devices, no issues ! As stated in my previous post, that Lollipop experience, has been over all, very good for me.,(I have accepted the few bugs, that comes with every software update be it Android v4.4.4 or Android v 5.0.1.)
Lollipop also enabled me to use other apps /features eg Network Toggle app (change network only to LTE or LTE/3G or 3G only.. root required)
Bottom line
for me is.... yes, Lollipop has issues, but most of mine was caused by 3rd party apps not optimised 100% , work smoothly on Lollipop.
good luck
..............................
post note....
Titanium, i forgot, you might have some minor issues at first. Titanium could not find backup folder on my ext sd same as on Android v4.4.4) , so i used NextApp Sdfix (Play store, free app) Titanium, then was able to locate back ups. Again yesterday, i factory reset my device because of a Nova launcher, toggle notification issue and because i also wanted to for a period of time.
Titanium could not write and above NextApp Sdfix said i had no write premisson after running NextApp. i formatted my ext sd on laptop and NextApp did its work and Titanium working 100%
Just thought to make you aware if issue arrived.
Thanks... I forget all these root features have to be redone. I've also given extsd access on kitkat after rooting. Will have to do it all over again I guess!
Ok just a quick update. Flashed to 5.0.1 with Odin and rooted with CFautoroot. Everything seems to be ok apart from after rooting and rebooting, I got a "could not do normal boot" msg, saying that the phone was in download mode and not to disconnect the target. I pulled the batt and booted up normally ok. Checked in Titanium and found root access ok, activated write to SD and all seems normal.
Things seem a bit sluggish with lollipop, so I uninstalled xposed (which now won't work on this version), greenify and some other apps, and booted into recovery to wipe cache partition. When it was done wiping the cache and said to reboot, I got the same "could not do normal boot" msg. Once again I pulled the battery and it booted ok.
Not sure what has happened or if anything is affected - should I re-flash 5.0 with Odin and re-root all over again?
highon2str said:
Ok just a quick update. Flashed to 5.0.1 with Odin and rooted with CFautoroot. Everything seems to be ok apart from after rooting and rebooting, I got a "could not do normal boot" msg, saying that the phone was in download mode and not to disconnect the target. I pulled the batt and booted up normally ok. Checked in Titanium and found root access ok, activated write to SD and all seems normal.
Things seem a bit sluggish with lollipop, so I uninstalled xposed (which now won't work on this version), greenify and some other apps, and booted into recovery to wipe cache partition. When it was done wiping the cache and said to reboot, I got the same "could not do normal boot" msg. Once again I pulled the battery and it booted ok.
Not sure what has happened or if anything is affected - should I re-flash 5.0 with Odin and re-root all over again?[/QUOTE
hi,
i am sure i read somewhere about.re: your remark, when you rooted and got a msg, with
"could not do a normal reboot... I am sure it could be ( @ Chainfire,) Cf autoroot website not sure.?
I would have search for a answer /reason!/ explanation Then i would afterwards, reflash Rom. (depends on you)
Just a quick question.... At what stage did you uninstall Xposed....? before /after flashing etc. i stated before that i found Xposed "broke /caused issues after i uninstalling it. (facts about two or three times it happened , in past )
Also i had no problem in using Greenify again (i have re installed it) its just the donation /paid / experimental package i am a bit hesitant with.
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys, I have since reflashed and rerooted and now seem to have less problems, although the phone is still sluggish, randomly locking up and restarting , and sometimes restarting to the green android "could not do normal boot" screen.
Question now is, can I boot into stock recovery to do a factory reset? I've done some research but the views seem conflicting. Is this recommended, will I be stuck in a bootloop and will I still be rooted after the reset?
I never did a factory reset when flashing from 4.4 to 5.0.1 so I'm hoping this will fix the issues I've got now.
Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk
Anyone?
Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

Note 4 5.0.1- Wont Factory Reset After CF- Auto Root

Note 4 5.0.1 Not factory resetting after CF- Auto Root
Hello Everyone,
This is the first time I have ever posted anything on any forum online. I have used XDA to get help while fiddling with my devices before so I would just like to thank all of those who share things on forums.
I have a Note 4 SM-N910c running Lollipop 5.0.1. A few days ago I used CF Auto Root Method to root my device. Needless to say, it worked perfectly. However, today I wanted to factory data reset my device just to remove all the files that I have in my phone. I should mention that I am not trying to 'unroot' my phone. Just reset it.
So I went to the settings and factory data reset my phone but this is where the problem began. After clicking 'Erase All' my phone turned off but then a small android animated figure appeared with the words 'Installing System Update' visible beneath it and then suddenly a red faced down android appeared with the words 'error' beneath it. Then my phone went into the stock recovery where I rebooted my system and my phone turned back on without resetting it.
So my question is that, what in the world just happened and how can I reset my phone? I should also mention that I have no custom recovery installed and I have no custom rom intalled. Can anyone please guide me thru this, I would very much appreciate it.
Thank you for your help.

What changed? Why could I root before, but not now?

I've spent a full day on this and no further ahead.
This is my wife's phone. A few months back (after Lollipop update) she was running into problems that I needed root to solve. I was lazy and tried Kingo Root and it worked on the first shot. Golden.
No problem but I screwed something up by being overzealous with deleting system apps and her cell data stopped working.
No biggie, I unrooted and did a factory reset and all seemed fine. But now I go to root it and... can't. Kingo Root fails.
Why?
But beyond that, I've followed every other tutorial on various other methods and every attempt ends in failure (stalls at startup screen, pre-animation. I've waited >1hr). I've had to reflash stock ROM several times.
In the stock bootloader under Check Root it says the bootloader is locked.
I've put on TWRP no problem, but that's what seems to stall the boot. I've read that TWRP is problematic with this phone and to use CWR (?) instead, but every link is dead, every tutorial regarding it is sketchy.
Advice?

I've had root for years, but now there's probems.

So, I rooted back in 2015 or so, but Nintendo Online App won't load. After a bit of googling I discovered it's because I have SuperSU, with Xposed, and can't pass safetynetcheck.
It's the Verizon SM-N910V model.
My problem is, when I originally rooted it, it took so many attempts. It took probably two days of just non-stop rooting, and failing, and rooting and failing. There were times I got locked into a bootloop. But finally I got there, I got SuperSU, and I haven't looked back.
But I really want to pass safetynetcheck.
I've heard there are new root methods, and I fear I'm going to need to re-root my phone to get this to work......but I'm scared of doing that.
I've tried hiding Nintendo app in Magisk, and then I straight up hid literally everything on that list including system apps. Nintendo still crashes. I've tried running boot core mode. Nintendo still crashes.
Does anybody have anything I'm overlooking?

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