Database Users

What's The Best Way To Revert To 4.3 & Block OTA?

I just updated to 4.4 yesterday, now battery life is horrible and tethering is broken. This is the weakest update I've seen since I moved to Android with the N1 launch. Other than the boot animation and a slight boost in wifi speeds I'm really not seeing any redeemable qualities in Kit Kat. I want to go back to 4.3 and block the OTA. What's the best way to do it? Is there any way to stay really close to stock rooted and do that? I'd prefer not to use any highly customized and buggy ROMs but if I have no choice I'll do what I have to.
Any suggestions?

GorillaPimp said:
I just updated to 4.4 yesterday, now battery life is horrible and tethering is broken. This is the weakest update I've seen since I moved to Android with the N1 launch. Other than the boot animation and a slight boost in wifi speeds I'm really not seeing any redeemable qualities in Kit Kat. I want to go back to 4.3 and block the OTA. What's the best way to do it? Is there any way to stay really close to stock rooted and do that? I'd prefer not to use any highly customized and buggy ROMs but if I have no choice I'll do what I have to.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no expert but surly this would be a case of using something like Wugtool kit and revert to stock, then simply unlock the bootloader and flash a custom recovery this will block the update.

slugger09 said:
I'm no expert but surly this would be a case of using something like Wugtool kit and revert to stock, then simply unlock the bootloader and flash a custom recovery this will block the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was already rooted and had a custom recovery on stock 4.3 but read that OTA would still be applied unless a custom kernel was installed or other major differences. I also couldn't tell whether the OTA will just fail and not be applied or if the error encountered would fubar my phone.

GorillaPimp said:
I was already rooted and had a custom recovery on stock 4.3 but read that OTA would still be applied unless a custom kernel was installed or other major differences. I also couldn't tell whether the OTA will just fail and not be applied or if the error encountered would fubar my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as long u have custom recovery, the ota will still popup but no install, if i remember to block ota popup u need custom kernel
edit: the error on ota install would háppen b4 the ota would do anyting to the phone.

you do know that you can not judge battery life from one or two of the first battery cycles with a rom, right? first boot is when the device does most of its syncing, and you will get the worst battery life. not until the 3rd or 4th battery cycle will you actually see what the battery life is really like. and tethering isnt broken, the default tethering option works fine. third part tethering apps could be broken in 4.4, until they fix things.

opssemnik said:
as long u have custom recovery, the ota will still popup but no install, if i remember to block ota popup u need custom kernel
edit: the error on ota install would háppen b4 the ota would do anyting to the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! What I needed to know.
simms22 said:
you do know that you can not judge battery life from one or two of the first battery cycles with a rom, right? first boot is when the device does most of its syncing, and you will get the worst battery life. not until the 3rd or 4th battery cycle will you actually see what the battery life is really like. and tethering isnt broken, the default tethering option works fine. third part tethering apps could be broken in 4.4, until they fix things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give it a few days on the battery unless it's out of control. My biggest concern was that it was charging at a slower rate. For the first 8 hours it couldn't do more than maintain current charge level while charging with my MBP. It seems to have overcome that now. I checked usage and couldn't see any heavy syncing.
Many thanks on the tethering. I was using stock tethering but couldn't get any traffic to get to the phone or past it but DHCP was working. After reading your comments I tried again, this time with another Android device and it worked. I want to say I had a similar problem before tethering a Win8 system so I will investigate that more.
Thanks again for all the replies. Really appreciate it.

Update
I thought I was OK with KitKat until I saw the stock email app had been updated to look just like the awful Gmail app. K9 won't work with my exchange accounts so after failing to get the earlier stock email (4.1) to work in KitKat I went back to 4.3. After a week I got nagged by OTA alerts. For others in search of a fix for BLOCKING OTA UPDATES ON THE NEXUS 4, I BLOCKED OTA UPDATES by following this great thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1998378
I installed FOTAKILL, changed permissions, wiped the caches in recovery and renamed the otacerts.zip in /system/etc/security/ (using ES with root and mounting system with RW - plenty of other ways to do this) and no more hard update notification that you can't swipe away. There's a service manager you can try out also but reviews seemed spotty - read the linked thread for more info. Best of all I can use my phone and not be forced to use $h!tShat and I don't have to spend hours researching ROMs and kernel combinations and their respective bugs. Hope this info helps someone else. I couldn't get any hits searching for fixing the OTA problem with the N4 but the Nexus7 instructions have carried over to the N4 pretty well.

New EU firmware! (EU1.1.124b)

So, it just popped up while my phone was idle, without anyone calling it in here first, YotaPhone finally decided to give us EU users the RU124 firmware! It looks from the changelog to be the exact EU equivalent to its RU counterpart, including YotaTravel, the return of the YotaStore and other stuff. It's been so long that I don't even remember, but I should be fine flashing this and then reflashing SuperSU and Xposed without losing anything, correct?

If you have stock recovery it will install fine. If not you should be able to grab the update zip from /cache and side load. Then reflash what you want.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep I'm still on the stock recovery (I just boot TWRP every time I need it). Gotcha, then I'm just dumping my Titanium Backup folder onto my PC as a precaution, and then I'll update and report back on SU\Xposed.

Looks like whatever Yota pushed at 117MB was the wrong thing - a failed update attempt and a reboot later, it's now 0.94 GB. Seems like it's the correct size in ftp://fw.ydevices.com/YotaPhone2/Firmwares/EU/ so now it should work.

Update from RU1.1.112 to RU1.1.124 issue
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...share_tid=3436224&share_fid=3793&share_type=t
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just as expected the 0.94 GB update file worked, I reflashed SuperSU and Xposed and the phone is working great on 1.124b.

What version were you coming from?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

EU1.87. I wanted to go to the RU version but never could get a KitKat RU firmware to boot on my device, so I just gave up and went back to the latest EU firmware.

Ah OK that makes sense. Glad you got it working.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Go mine today (1.1.44HK)
Updated to EU 1.1.124b with official yotaflasher.
No Su nor any hack.
So far no bug, it's a great device.

Hi there!
I'm waiting for my yotaphone 2 from this new wave from chinese shops. I ordered the International version. Is it safe to flash the EU version firmware over the "international" version?
And please, can anyone provide an alternative downolad link for the yota flasher?
The one from offcial website:
https://yotaphone.com/us-en/ypflasher/
is a corrupted zip file.
Thanks!
Edit:
I could get it from here:
ftp://fw.ydevices.com/YotaPhone2/YotaPhoneFlasher/

Seems there's a bug.
Almost each time i try to unlock phone (with power button) from EDP the pin keyboard isn't showing up, i must tap all over the EDP screen, way it's relocking then i can have the keyboard again.

Solved by using gesture instead of pincode

satsuki_yatoshi said:
Solved by using gesture instead of pincode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gutted they removed the Instagram Cover instead of fixing it!

Rarelyamson said:
Gutted they removed the Instagram Cover instead of fixing it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they removed the Instagram Cover instead of fixing it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instagram restricted access to its API, so none of 3rd party apps now work properly. Thats why Instagram Cover was removed.

Hello
I deployed this great update a few days ago, and it clearly brings numerous improvements and fixes.
One visibly new bug annoys me a lot anyway, and that's why I am posting :
When I type a SMS on the EPD, lots of freezes occur. And today, I found a simple pattern. I type a word, and then I back-delete one or a few letters of it. Then I add new letters, and that frequently freezes the EPD for a long moment.
It's not 100%, lots of times it freezes under these conditions, few other times it does not.
I setup 3 languages to choose from (thanks to the update !) and the auto correction is ON.
Does someone else experience the same issue ? Any workaround or fix ?
Thanks

Appens to me 2 times, each time i needed to look/unlook the edp screen to solve

My problem is that with the latest update I need to restart my phone until it starts charging. Otherwise it will not charge ... does this happen to anybody else? Probably I should try to reset ...

no charge bug here

No charge bug here neither. Quite the opposite in fact, I would even say that autonomy obviously improved since this update.
And I confirm I have the same bug with the PIN keyboard not showing up on the EPD when using the Powa button. It happens very often after using the other screen, but unlocking by tapping twice is an easy and efficient workaround.
Surprising obvious bugs anyway, I hope the Yotagods watch us and intend to fix them.

[Rom] Mokee 7.1.2 for Lenovo Vibe Shot

https://download.mokeedev.com/?device=zoom

Does someone try this rom? If u ever on this rom, can u give a feedback about the rom..? I would like to know your opinion..

X10MINISTER said:
Does someone try this rom? If u ever on this rom, can u give a feedback about the rom..? I would like to know your opinion..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rom works but it wasn't maintained. No new bug correction from february.

stuccamelo said:
Rom works but it wasn't maintained. No new bug correction from february.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing ur opinion/experiences on this rom.. Im running on latest build of this mokee rom, i think it is suitable for daily driver..but I got some problem with hotspot(maybe it is because of mod that i've installed).. Maybe u got some solution on this

X10MINISTER said:
Thanks for sharing ur opinion/experiences on this rom.. Im running on latest build of this mokee rom, i think it is suitable for daily driver..but I got some problem with hotspot(maybe it is because of mod that i've installed).. Maybe u got some solution on this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry no solution I have big problem with gmaps doesn't recalculate path after initial path and play store give "not compatible device" error in some apps.
Good thing battery drain is very very good

stuccamelo said:
Sorry no solution I have big problem with gmaps doesn't recalculate path after initial path and play store give "not compatible device" error in some apps.
Good thing battery drain is very very good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, it mean that u also facing the hotspot problem.?

Can u change/install fonts in mokee roms? Cause I have an issue with changing font style using iFont apps..its say installed but after reboot font style doesnt change. Any solution?

linux shall eternally bloat all search engines with expired ?=
as it is stated in the title: the internet is full of long expired conversations about issues which are gone, along with hardware.
back in the beginning i recall only one distro Dev, SimplyMepis, who always, promptly warned, that most if not all information online about Linux is outdated or incorrect.
now on mokee, has anyone tested mokee naugat on vibe shot as recent as September/October 2017? The reason I ask is because there are no reviews or any useful feedback on mokee download/changelog page. I used it in August and each time the phone disconnect from WiFi it would reboot with an ugly, annoying double beep.
Apart from this issue everything would work pefectly well, including both sim loaded.
Thanks for taking time to respond.

Dr Tungsten said:
as it is stated in the title: the internet is full of long expired conversations about issues which are gone, along with hardware.
back in the beginning i recall only one distro Dev, SimplyMepis, who always, promptly warned, that most if not all information online about Linux is outdated or incorrect.
now on mokee, has anyone tested mokee naugat on vibe shot as recent as September/October 2017? The reason I ask is because there are no reviews or any useful feedback on mokee download/changelog page. I used it in August and each time the phone disconnect from WiFi it would reboot with an ugly, annoying double beep.
Apart from this issue everything would work pefectly well, including both sim loaded.
Thanks for taking time to respond.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a lot of recent updates for this rom. I flashed the most recent (2017-11-21 date). I didn't make a lot of testing but the problem you refered has been solved and the performance and stability seems good.
The only issue I noticed so far is that the phone does not start automatically from the shutdown state when an alarm is set.

@piccolo2k2 Was your device flagged as certified? When I flushed the rom I wasn't able to pass the SafetyNet test and I would appear as uncertified in play store, meaning I couldn't download most apps like Messenger or Facebook. I installed a third party app store which worked fine, but YouTube wouldn't play any video, because it couldn't load any ads... I even tried Magisk with no luck..

GeorgeTsak said:
@piccolo2k2 Was your device flagged as certified? When I flushed the rom I wasn't able to pass the SafetyNet test and I would appear as uncertified in play store, meaning I couldn't download most apps like Messenger or Facebook. I installed a third party app store which worked fine, but YouTube wouldn't play any video, because it couldn't load any ads... I even tried Magisk with no luck..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not my main phone right now so I spend very limited time using or testing it but you are right, I have just checked that with this ROM the device is unable to pass the SafeNet test so far. On the other hand I have not problems at all playing videos with youtube app or rooting the device. I'm using supersu v2.82 and TRWP-3.0.2-0 for lenovo 6.0 by wzsx150 (didn't try Magisk)

has anyone managed to install this ROM?
i tried to install it but failed.
I unlocked the bootloader using the method described here, and installed TWRP recovery as described here
when i try to install it - the flashing is stopped by a long vibration and the device went off, i tried to debug the flashing process, it seems that the step of mounting "\system" fails, i tried to replace the mount/unmount calls from updater_script with respective run_program(busybox) commands, but had no success with that. when i'm using the TWRP build in funcitonlity to wipe the system partition, TWRP claims the operation was successful, but checking the system partition details shows that the partition still contains data.
ohh, and also - the device model seems strange, the script checked that the model is zoom_tdd (or something like that) but the device (the bootloader?) return Z90a40... (i also updated the script to check for Z90a40)
the current state is that the device won't boot, but i can get into recovery.
Anyone have an idea how to proceed?
Thanks.

mrtowel said:
i tried to install it but failed.
I unlocked the bootloader using the method described here, and installed TWRP recovery as described here
when i try to install it - the flashing is stopped by a long vibration and the device went off, i tried to debug the flashing process, it seems that the step of mounting "\system" fails, i tried to replace the mount/unmount calls from updater_script with respective run_program(busybox) commands, but had no success with that. when i'm using the TWRP build in funcitonlity to wipe the system partition, TWRP claims the operation was successful, but checking the system partition details shows that the partition still contains data.
ohh, and also - the device model seems strange, the script checked that the model is zoom_tdd (or something like that) but the device (the bootloader?) return Z90a40... (i also updated the script to check for Z90a40)
the current state is that the device won't boot, but i can get into recovery.
Anyone have an idea how to proceed?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need a different TWRP version. Try this one:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Sms71Oe6FIQnl4STlhSk96b0E/view?usp=sharing

Help me!
I'm new to these things. Installing roms and ****s. Can someone help me with the step by step procedure of installing this room on my Lenovo vibe shot. Thanks in advance.

The same probvlem with TWRP
piccolo2k2 said:
I think you need a different TWRP version. Try this one:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have exactly the same problem.
Did you resolved it? Tried also mentioned "Twrp by rahul.rar", but the same problem - unable to mount /system partition.
Thanks for reply,
st

bug fix?
does anybody tested it?
is it still any bug on release version MK71.2-zoom-180914-RELEASE?

hhaekal said:
does anybody tested it?
is it still any bug on release version MK71.2-zoom-180914-RELEASE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im using it right now.. Im still have the problem with:
-hotspot tethering,bluetooth tethering
-usb mtp
-suddenly shutdown when on wifi
Have someone had the problem with delay in receiving whatsapp messages?

Hello,
has anyone tested the MK71.2-zoom-181107-RELEASE version? Is the bug with the WiFi still there?

Alex_135 said:
Hello,
has anyone tested the MK71.2-zoom-181107-RELEASE version? Is the bug with the WiFi still there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm using the release and there is no bug with WIFI.

Linaxx said:
Hi,
I'm using the release and there is no bug with WIFI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about wifi tethering problem? Does it remain error when wifi tethering are enabled?

bringing Nexus 6P to active duty but must've missed a direction ...

Greetings.
Due to events beyond my control, I had to give up my Pixel 3 XL (packing it as I type this)
Until funds become available, I decided to bring the Nexus 6P - with pre-mature battery shutdown issue - back to duty. I have new battery, lens cover, etc. waiting in the wings so it may become my primary whip after all. That is "if" I can undo whatever mistake I made tonight (knocking on wood).
The 6P was unlocked already before being retired (Idon't know if it matters or not). Stock image (I think it was 8.1) with security update from December 2018 I think.
Here's what I think I did tonight that lead to the current situation:
1. installed TWRP 3.3.1
2. along the way wiped one too many partitions - my stupidity
3. thanks to TWRP for warning me that there was no OS so went back, found USB-A to USB-C adapter, copied "PixelExperience_angler-10.0-20191113-2124-OFFICIAL," and used TWRP's "Install" option
First problem is that I noticed in the text log within TWRP that the vendor image was missing
Second problem, or perhaps because of above, after restarting the 6P it never gets out of the welcome screen of Android 10
Third problem, again may be related to #2 in the things I did tonight, when I reboot into TWRP recovery, first thing it does ask is "Mount, Decrypt Data" and "Enter Password" to which I don't know the password. If I select "Cancel" I get to TWRP main menu but I can see that "Internal Storage" is now at 0MB.
I know I did wrong here but is there any way to recover? Since it doesn't boot into Android 10 (just stuck at welcome screen, I guess using ADB on laptop, if it helps, is out of question? Can I fix this through TWRP?
Thank you for any help/advice.

UPDATE: Reading some more threads on XDA & decided to try Lineage. At one point seems to have things working following the directions but the SIM card was not recognized.
Thinking of trying again with Lineage but maybe with Lineage16 instead of 17. But what is the best stable ROM that is plain Android but perhaps based with up-to-date security patching?
Thank you!

ur2punk said:
UPDATE: Reading some more threads on XDA & decided to try Lineage. At one point seems to have things working following the directions but the SIM card was not recognized.
Thinking of trying again with Lineage but maybe with Lineage16 instead of 17. But what is the best stable ROM that is plain Android but perhaps based with up-to-date security patching?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been running aicp for the past few months, which is 9.0 they still put out weeklies with security updates. Not sure how long they plan on supporting 9.0 though

Lawlrus said:
I've been running aicp for the past few months, which is 9.0 they still put out weeklies with security updates. Not sure how long they plan on supporting 9.0 though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. Because the SIM was not recognized, I was going to restore to the last Android. I may just try the aicp ROM first.

ur2punk said:
Thank you. Because the SIM was not recognized, I was going to restore to the last Android. I may just try the aicp ROM first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I haven't noticed any issues with Sim with this device. You said you had it on a shelf for a while though, if it was before the last update the device got, DEC of 2018 did you DL the ota a d make sure the radio was up to date ?

ur2punk said:
Thank you. Because the SIM was not recognized, I was going to restore to the last Android. I may just try the aicp ROM first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this SIM card issue when I was trying to flash RR, tried twice with same results. Came across a post once about a bug and it said to remove all screen locks, low and behold it worked... weird

redshirt110 said:
I had this SIM card issue when I was trying to flash RR, tried twice with same results. Came across a post once about a bug and it said to remove all screen locks, low and behold it worked... weird
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yeah, I've seen that before no idea why people have to do that. I've never had my Sim stop working because of a screen lock. I never looked onto why it happens. I always chaulked it up to a not a US problem because most of the people that posted about it seemed to be from a different country lol.

Update!
I thought it would be a good idea for me to try this routine of wipe & install the Android 8.1 again to get myself comfortable with the process. Long story short, I did exactly that:
(- Bootloader was already unlocked)
- TWRP
- flashed/installed Dec 2018 OTA images/zip
- Installed Magisk
Everything seemed to be working fine when I found out ,while on road, that Google Maps don't work after 5 seconds or so (the navigation part). Read up & they suggested safe mode so I did that. Happy to report that it works so it is not the GPS antenna as some had reported. Whew.
Is there any particular image I need to reflash to see if that was the problem? Or should I just reinstall again? At least I'm getting more comfortable with the various commands - LOL.
Thank you!

Flashlight being used by another app. Camera doesn't work

After flashing the unbranded firmware and rooting the phone, I'm not able to use the camera app. Opening it just says "Camera Failed. In the slide down menu, the flashlight icon is turned on even though I'm not actually using the flashlight. and I cant turn it off either. How do I fix this?
I've tried: clearing data & cache of camera app, clearing the cache partition, setting default settings of the camera app, changed camera storage from SD card to internal & vice versa

TommyQuid said:
After flashing the unbranded firmware and rooting the phone, I'm not able to use the camera app. Opening it just says "Camera Failed. In the slide down menu, the flashlight icon is turned on even though I'm not actually using the flashlight. and I cant turn it off either. How do I fix this?
I've tried: clearing data & cache of camera app, clearing the cache partition, setting default settings of the camera app, changed camera storage from SD card to internal & vice versa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sucks no one responded to your post. I rooted my sons S7 Edge and sometime after it acquired the same issue yours has/has. I had another S7 Edge phone so I ended up rooting that one and giving it to him. I still have his old one with the camera fail issue but I've yet to try to figure out what caused it to happen. I know my response doesn't help with info or duration from OP post to reply, I just wanted to let you know that your post wasn't ignored by everyone. Unfortunately I have nothing substantial to contribute.

kanesglove said:
Sucks no one responded to your post. I rooted my sons S7 Edge and sometime after it acquired the same issue yours has/has. I had another S7 Edge phone so I ended up rooting that one and giving it to him. I still have his old one with the camera fail issue but I've yet to try to figure out what caused it to happen. I know my response doesn't help with info or duration from OP post to reply, I just wanted to let you know that your post wasn't ignored by everyone. Unfortunately I have nothing substantial to contribute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I ended up putting that phone back to stock then rooting it again and it had the exact same issue yours has. I did a clean root too and the issue is still present. From there I decided to again run it back to stock and this time do a nand erase all and repartition the device. After all was finished I checked the device and I'll be goddamned... it still has the same issue. So if the problem persists after all that reformatting is it safe to say that it's a hardware issue? I'm out of ideas. Sorry I couldn't help you.

kanesglove said:
So I ended up putting that phone back to stock then rooting it again and it had the exact same issue yours has. I did a clean root too and the issue is still present. From there I decided to again run it back to stock and this time do a nand erase all and repartition the device. After all was finished I checked the device and I'll be goddamned... it still has the same issue. So if the problem persists after all that reformatting is it safe to say that it's a hardware issue? I'm out of ideas. Sorry I couldn't help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you guys offer little information at all so this is why no one helps you. Maybe tell what firmware version you flashed what root version you did etc. There is a big difference between bootloader revB/11 and the others

Holy ****. Did I just get constructive suggestions from jrkruse?! Dude if you told me I could fix my phone by sucking a fart out of a wallaby's ass I'd do it cuz the advice came from you, and if there's one thing I know it's that you know your ****. You're ****in' awesome. I feel so special now. Ok sorry about that...
Well, I'm not too sure about the OP but I can tell you about the phone I have that seems to have the same issue.
My S7 Edge is a SM-G935V on android 7.0 on update 4BQK2. Prior to rooting I put everything to stock then I did a NAND erase and repartition. No issues with any of that.
I rooted my phone from this post
G935V Root Method. No Lag! No Heat!
G935V Root Method. No Lag! No Heat!
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOUR ISSUES! ALL I CAN DO IS RECOMMEND A GOOD PSYCHOLOGIST! Hey guys. Stumbled on this by accident. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHY IT WORKS, BUT IT DOES. THE METHOD HAS BEEN TESTED BY ME AND A FEW OTHER PEOPLE HERE...
forum.xda-developers.com
which directs to your older method for gaining root privileges.
[DISCONTINUED] ROOT Method For Nougat
DISCONTINUED New Thread Found Here This Root Method For S7 Nougat Nougat_S7_Root_2_82_All_Carriers_V2.zip Includes Fingerprint Fix [Latest Verison] Nougat_S7_Root_2_81_All_Carriers_V2.zip Includes Fingerprint Fix Nougat_S7_Root_2_79_All.zip...
forum.xda-developers.com
I also flashed Unzip the Nougat_S7_Root_2_82_All_Carriers_V2.
Then I flashed the BL file in the BL slot from the G935U firmware with odin checking "Phone Bootloader Update". I used the BL file from G935UUES4BRA1 since it's the closest update for the U brand to the firmware this phone is on (G935VVRU4BQK2)
I'm aware that there are newer methods for gaining root access but I chose this method cuz I used it back in 2017-2018, I had read all the posts in the thread, and I knew it worked.
I currently have 3 S7 Edge phones all on the same firmware and build and are all rooted with the same combo method I just explained. The other 2 phones also have xposed installed and they both work well.. expect mine says weird stuff instead of the callers information. I think it only does it if they're a contact but in the notification tab it says an example like this 5556661234;verstat=No-TN-Validation. No clue how to fix that.
The phone that is having the same issue as the OP still had access to the private/secure folder when it was rooted; which I thought was weird cuz mine doesn't and from what I understood private mode gets disabled if the phone's rooted. Maybe it only gets disabled if you install xposed? I don't know. My son had the phone with the issue and it was his first smart phone and he dropped it a few times (with a case) so I was thinking it's an effect from something he downloaded from the play store (he's 20 now but pretty still very ignorant with android). Now I'm not sure if it's a software or hardware issue since the problem persisted after the NAND erase.
Something to note about my sons old phone also is that it has 2 thin pink lines running down one side of the screen (defective/dead pixels) and when the screen turns off it it flashes once before actually turning off. One time over the phone I tried troubleshooting the issue with him and he ended up being able to use his camera immediately after rebooting the phone though once he exited the camera app it wouldn't open again. We were trying a bunch of things, force closing any app I thought would be related to the issue. Not sure what allowed it work when it did, but even now right after a reboot the camera app still crashes.

This was long ago, I've since lost the phone. But, I was on the A bootloader and on OREO rooted using @/billa's method using an ENGboot file. I tried everything possible to get the camera to work including flashing back to stock but nothing helped. I just gave up finally. @kanesglove maybe try safely updating the firmware. Hope it helps