Hi all,
A couple quick questions here. I've done some reading up, but most of the information is more in depth than I need at the moment so I'm looking for some quick answers.
My SO has a Verizon S5, that has a locked bootloader, is not rooted, and is still on 5.0.
She swapped carriers a while back, so is no longer on the Verizon network. The IMEI is clean, and her Verizon account is fully paid, and everything on the phone works fine, aside from it being stuck on 5.0.
It will not update via the automated system, because I assume it's trying to reach out to straight talk for the update and gets a response that it's on the newest version.
I downloaded the Verizon OTA update file (approximately 1 gb) for 6.0.1. It's named update.zip to allow for automated updating.
Here are my questions:
1. Would it be ok to just slap the update file on her phone and let it auto-update using the built in software?
2. Are there any major downsides to updating to marshmallow, considering it's an official release on the correct version of that phone?
3. Will root be needed prior (I'm assuming not) for using the OTA update file?
4. Will her information stay intact; email accounts, contacts, apps, samsung account, etc?
5. While root would be nice for locking down some of the bloatware after, it isn't a deal breaker, simplicity is the key here as she is not an advanced user, but would updating via the OTA file remove all possibilities of rooting the device after (it seems to be the impression I get, as her bootloader is locked)?
Thank you very much for your assistance!
Hi bladebarrier, I actually just did the same thing a few weeks ago with a used S5 from Verizon going to Straight Talk.
1. Would it be ok to just slap the update file on her phone and let it auto-update using the built in software?
I'm unsure if that would work, someone else may be able to answer as to that method, however I used the Odin tool v3.11.1, downloaded the PD1 image from here. There are some good video tutorials on YouTube and on writeups on this forum as well regarding how to flash the Marshmallow update using Odin.
2. Are there any major downsides to updating to marshmallow, considering it's an official release on the correct version of that phone?
No downsides that I've noticed and seems to have slightly better battery life.
3. Will root be needed prior (I'm assuming not) for using the OTA update file?
You do not need root to flash it if using the Odin tool.
4. Will her information stay intact; email accounts, contacts, apps, samsung account, etc?
Yes, but it's always a good idea to make a backup of everything.
5. While root would be nice for locking down some of the bloatware after, it isn't a deal breaker, simplicity is the key here as she is not an advanced user, but would updating via the OTA file remove all possibilities of rooting the device after (it seems to be the impression I get, as her bootloader is locked)?
The only thing that the locked boot loader affects for now is the ability to flash custom ROMs. I was able to downgrade to 5.0 Lollipop which you can still root, even after upgrading, however I decided to just go back to Marshmallow and wait for an exploit to be found, if one ever is.
jesimpki89 said:
Hi bladebarrier, I actually just did the same thing a few weeks ago with a used S5 from Verizon going to Straight Talk.
1. Would it be ok to just slap the update file on her phone and let it auto-update using the built in software?
I'm unsure if that would work, someone else may be able to answer as to that method, however I used the Odin tool v3.11.1, downloaded the PD1 image from here. There are some good video tutorials on YouTube and on writeups on this forum as well regarding how to flash the Marshmallow update using Odin.
2. Are there any major downsides to updating to marshmallow, considering it's an official release on the correct version of that phone?
No downsides that I've noticed and seems to have slightly better battery life.
3. Will root be needed prior (I'm assuming not) for using the OTA update file?
You do not need root to flash it if using the Odin tool.
4. Will her information stay intact; email accounts, contacts, apps, samsung account, etc?
Yes, but it's always a good idea to make a backup of everything.
5. While root would be nice for locking down some of the bloatware after, it isn't a deal breaker, simplicity is the key here as she is not an advanced user, but would updating via the OTA file remove all possibilities of rooting the device after (it seems to be the impression I get, as her bootloader is locked)?
The only thing that the locked boot loader affects for now is the ability to flash custom ROMs. I was able to downgrade to 5.0 Lollipop which you can still root, even after upgrading, however I decided to just go back to Marshmallow and wait for an exploit to be found, if one ever is.
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Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your thorough response. It sounds like it will be a nice smooth flash, and I will use the full Odin version instead of the OTA file, to ensure it goes through comfortably.
Odin looked like it wanted to wipe the apps, so I ended up using the stock recovery/installer that's built in, and placing the OTA update file on the external SD card.
That worked like a charm. It took a bit, as expected, but all of the apps and info were ok after.
The only thing I can't sort out is why I can't find an option for the "Themes" setting in touch wiz. Any suggestions? I realize I could have her go to a third party launcher, like nova, but I have all of the theme options on my note 3, that's ported to MM note 5, and the theme option is still right there in the settings list, per normal. Maybe I'm just not seeing it, but I couldn't find an option on her S5 during 5.0, or now on 6.0.1. Is that something they never updated for the older phones?
Currently my device doesn't support USB debugging, file transfer etc. for some weird reason. Hence, decided to reset it to factory settings and then root it. It is updated to the latest version (Nougat). Kindly help me by laying out detailed steps to root my phone and install custom roms (preferable OREO) so IMEI and other functionalities won't be lost. Also, kindly guide me how to take proper precaution like backing up stock rom and other settings, in case something goes wrong and I need to unbrick the device. TIA
Sadly, still can not access any menu from notification area, and hence no USB debugging
Want to root this for some apps (Greenify, SD Maid) but holding off as was not sure if a bootloader unlocked rooted device will receive the OTA OS update that this model will eventually never get (Oreo mid Jan 2019??)
I hear Lineage 15.X behaves like stock w the second screen and Hi-Fi bits, so in actuality I may just blow off LG and go custom very soon anyway.
frodiggs said:
Want to root this for some apps (Greenify, SD Maid) but holding off as was not sure if a bootloader unlocked rooted device will receive the OTA OS update that this model will eventually never get (Oreo mid Jan 2019??)
I hear Lineage 15.X behaves like stock w the second screen and Hi-Fi bits, so in actuality I may just blow off LG and go custom very soon anyway.
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Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure if your bootloader is unlocked you can still get an OTA update just as long as you don't have twrp or any other system mods. But if you're going to be waiting until next year to get Oreo, take like a hour out of your day, learn how to flash it, and get Oreo right now with a custom rom.
Lineage is really nice, I'd recommend Lineage 15.1. Gamma kernel is a must too and if I recall correctly the DAC automatically starts if headphones that can use it are plugged in. Regardless of the DAC I'm sure there's other audio tweaks and stuff.
I'm sure the second screen builds aren't that far behind the normal non second screen builds but I'm going with no second screen.
I remember boredsigns works well too, and Lineage 16.1 uses the second screen like a notch but isn't really to be used as a daily driver, even with gamma kernel.
Here's an article that talks about why ota's break things when rooted. This is why flashable zips are made (and usually posted on this forum) to get the updates without breaking things.
Thanks all, been flashing customs for years BTW, but decided to go a bit slower to learn stock as at the time the custom roms were not so mature. Using boredsigns now w stock.
On the fact OTA updates break TWRP, then given the choice to keep waiting for LG to use stock w Oreo - guess i'll move on to customs. 15.1 Lineage has a option that uses second screen.
Okay, so I've been trying to get some answers regarding custom ROMs for the past few days but I haven't even got one...and it seems I'm not the only one looking for them. So...lay it in this thread maybe we can start something up.
I am on stock OREO B04, phone's software has never been tampered with anything, TWRP, BL unlock and so on.
This is the premise of the thread, not only for me but for other users who find themselves in the same situation.
Oreo seems to be a bit of a hassle right now for migrating to custom ROMs, and this is not helped by the fact guides in the A7 section are all over the place as well, some may be outdated and there's no clear "Don't use this on x.x version" warning.
I am not even going to attempt to unlock the BL until I clear answer on wether it's possible or not. So let's start with this:
-Is it possible to unlock the BL on OREO?
-If not, what stock official ROM should we install in order to successfuly attempt to unlock the bl?
-Which guide or method is the best for doing so? I've found 2, one from 2016 on MM ROMs and one provided by TurkDevs that seems to work on some Nougat ROMs.
Then comes the recovery section:
-What TWRP should we install on a freshly unlocked device, the official releases, or the Nfound custom ones?
-Also, what are the prerequisites for installing TWRP...I hear that fastboot commands are gone since Nougat and that some flashing methods don't work, then I hear somehow you can do it by bringing back fastboot. How? There's only replies saying "type that command in fastboot" but nobody says if they had it or reinstalled it somehow.
Then comes the ROMs section:
-All custom ROMs seem to require a vendor partition as most if not all of them are Treble based. How do we get that to work?
- I am aware of the fact that the ROM threads have a prerequisites section, but none of them redirect you to a guide on how to get those prerequisites working. I understand that it's not the dev's responsability, I am not bashing anyone here, but a little bit of info cleaning and structuring should be in order in this section.
What I want for me and others in my situation is a clear answer on how to proceed, not a "flash this flash that". There's no secret that the A7 still has life in it especially with the new PIE ROMs.
I've recently seen a reply in one of the threads, encouraging the dev of one of this ROMs to not be disappointed by the seemingly low interest in PIE ROMs. I don't think there's a low interest in them, I think there are users that don't want to risk a bricked phone because of outdated guides and unlcear steps.
There's a lot of confusion going around here so I hope this thread will become a source of updated info on what's possible and what not. Thanks in advance!
Hi, I'm not the best person to help you with this since i've unlocked my Axon 7 a long time ago and I can't remember everything but I will try to help you based on my experience and on what I can remember.
Let's go
Starting with the bootloader, I unlocked mine on stock Nougat B09 using EDL Tool (Oreo wasn't even out when I unlocked my bootloader so I don't know if you can do it while running Oreo but just to be safe you should downgrade to Nougat)
It should be quite easy to unlock the bootloader, here's a simple step by step (please anyone correct me if I'm wrong)
- Download the EDL tool from the link above
- Downgrade your phone to Nougat (Using the updater on the phone itself or an EDL Package with EDL Tool or MiFlash - you can find the stock ROMs on @raystef66 's Download Center
- Once running Stock Nougat, turn on USB Debugging and Allow OEM Unlocking on Developer Settings
- Plug the phone to your computer and open EDL Tool (that should reboot the phone into EDL mode automatically)
- Navigate through the EDL Tool using the number keys on the keyboard, and it should be easy to find the Unlock Bootloader option. Unlock it and you should be done.
Once again that's the way I did it, I don't know if this is the easiest one available. You have more methods available like this one
Now onto the recovery situation, I think each developer recommends a specific TWRP version for their ROM's, like for example
@raystef66 likes NFound's TWRP 3.2.1-8 as you can see on his ROM's posts (check the first line in the installation guide)
@OrdenKrieger likes the official TWRP as you can see on Lineage OS 16.0 post
Generally, official TWRP should work just fine with any ROM.
On a recently unlocked Nougat Stock ROM, I recommend maybe an older version of TWRP, like 3.2.1 for example and you can flash it also using EDL Tool.
But when moving to Pie I recommend you use the latest TWRP version or the version that the ROM developer recommends. You probably know this but you can update your TWRP version by flashing it over the current version you have.
Now about the ROM's, the new ones have a Vendor partition so you have to create it when you're coming from Stock (because our Axon 7 doesn't support Project Treble) and to do that you can use @Oki 's PARTY Tool and after that you can flash the ROM normally, using the proper Bootstack and Modem files.
You could also try GSI's but I can't help you with that because I never tried them.
And this should be all.
I tried to keep it simple for now but i can help you further
I'm not the best person to guide you but at least I tried Feel free to ask me something and good luck!
@joaocandeias Well, dang it worked. Everything you described:
-going back to Nougat
-unlocking the bootloader with the EDL tool
-flashing TWRP-
creating the Vendor partition, and installing the new ROMs.
There were a few hiccups on the road, mostly driver related from my previous attempt, but nothing severe or something that would cause the device to brick.
I just installed @raystef66 's ResRemix ROM and it works fine. I'll start testing more of them in daily use and see which suits my needs best.
Thanks for the assistance!
TorqueSsS said:
@joaocandeias Well, dang it worked. Everything you described:
-going back to Nougat
-unlocking the bootloader with the EDL tool
-flashing TWRP-
creating the Vendor partition, and installing the new ROMs.
There were a few hiccups on the road, mostly driver related from my previous attempt, but nothing severe or something that would cause the device to brick.
I just installed @raystef66 's ResRemix ROM and it works fine. I'll start testing more of them in daily use and see which suits my needs best.
Thanks for the assistance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad I could help
Since you're not the only person with questions on how to migrate from stock to custom, I'm thinking about writing a full post so more people can see it.
Btw what method did you use to downgrade to nougat?
@joaocandeias Sorry for the delayed response, I've got a really f'd up sleeping schedule these days. I'll write the exact steps I've done.
1. So, I first downloaded the B09 Nougat full stock ROM from the download center and tried to downgrade using the normal software updater in the phone (OTA window, local option).
It didn't work at first, I received a compatibility error, saying that the update is for "ailsa_ii" devices, while the device is not(or to be more exact, my device was " " ), which I found odd.
But, I thought that maybe I need the linked versions(like the last Nougat ROM before Oreo) so I downloaded the B10 Nougat ROM, and used the same procedure.
2. I set up the phone as a dud(skip everything, no Google account), turned USB debugging and OEM unlocking on, installed the original ZTE drivers straight from the phone and rebooted it into EDL to proceed with unlocking the BL.
At this point, I had the QUSB_BULK driver stick from my previous use of Zadig, so one quick "uninstall device software" and relpuging the phone go me the Qualcom 9008 driver in order.
3. I started the EDL tool, navigated through it and started the BL unlock procedure.
Once the phone rebooted I was greeted by the password screen.
One factory reset later and repeating the procedure greeted me with the "Bootloader unlocked" message. Sucess!
4.Now for TWRP, Vendor and ROM, got all the files onto the SD card, I flashedTWRP 3.2.1-8 NFound, then, from TWRP, I used the party tool, then flashed the UBv2(at which point it reverted TWRP to 3.2.3, flashed the 3.2.1-8 again with EDL ), modem, ROM, GApps, rebooted, set it up, then flashed Magisk...and everything seems fine.
The only issue I have now seems to be the camera, both stock app and GCam.
Open camera works , has the correct photo and video res, 60FPS doesn't work and the flash seems a bit laggy, but for me it's ok.
The DAC however is there, alive and kicking, Neutron detected the Hi-Res codec at launch and switched to it. It sounds the same as stock OREO to me so it is great, as this was my greatest fear when migrating to PIE. The DAC-AMP combo is like 60% of the reason I bought this phone in the first place.
TorqueSsS said:
@joaocandeias Sorry for the delayed response, I've got a really f'd up sleeping schedule these days. I'll write the exact steps I've done.
1. So, I first downloaded the B09 Nougat full stock ROM from the download center and tried to downgrade using the normal software updater in the phone (OTA window, local option).
It didn't work at first, I received a compatibility error, saying that the update is for "ailsa_ii" devices, while the device is not(or to be more exact, my device was " " ), which I found odd.
But, I thought that maybe I need the linked versions(like the last Nougat ROM before Oreo) so I downloaded the B10 Nougat ROM, and used the same procedure.
2. I set up the phone as a dud(skip everything, no Google account), turned USB debugging and OEM unlocking on, installed the original ZTE drivers straight from the phone and rebooted it into EDL to proceed with unlocking the BL.
At this point, I had the QUSB_BULK driver stick from my previous use of Zadig, so one quick "uninstall device software" and relpuging the phone go me the Qualcom 9008 driver in order.
3. I started the EDL tool, navigated through it and started the BL unlock procedure.
Once the phone rebooted I was greeted by the password screen.
One factory reset later and repeating the procedure greeted me with the "Bootloader unlocked" message. Sucess!
4.Now for TWRP, Vendor and ROM, got all the files onto the SD card, I flashedTWRP 3.2.1-8 NFound, then, from TWRP, I used the party tool, then flashed the UBv2(at which point it reverted TWRP to 3.2.3, flashed the 3.2.1-8 again with EDL ), modem, ROM, GApps, rebooted, set it up, then flashed Magisk...and everything seems fine.
The only issue I have now seems to be the camera, both stock app and GCam.
Open camera works , has the correct photo and video res, 60FPS doesn't work and the flash seems a bit laggy, but for me it's ok.
The DAC however is there, alive and kicking, Neutron detected the Hi-Res codec at launch and switched to it. It sounds the same as stock OREO to me so it is great, as this was my greatest fear when migrating to PIE. The DAC-AMP combo is like 60% of the reason I bought this phone in the first place.
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Click to collapse
Thanks! That will help me a lot to write a full guide. You'll be credited, don't worry
And yeah, when you migrate to custom roms you'll have to sacrifice camera quality and functionality and also a bit of speakers sound quality (all dolby atmos ports I tried are quite buggy and don't work well ; i only use atmos with the speakers). Headphones sound quality is great though.
If you don't use camera that much (not my case) and you're okay with the speakers sound quality then custom roms are probably the best option out there.
@joaocandeias
I was fully aware of the camera issues I might encounter, this has been the case with my old Mediatek devices when going to custom as well, same camera issues, but at least...it works here. Yeah, I lost some functionality, but to me it's a good trade-off. It can still take snaps and film properly so it's enough for me.
I am kind of going to miss Dolby on speakers (never liked it on headphones though), as it did a really good job for podcast style videos on YT, but it still sounds way better than a lot of phones without it so it's fine. I just need to crank the volume up a little more than usual.
I've heard that treble Pie Roms require a oreo bootloader, is this true? I am still confused how to install on my A2017G. In which order would I install bootloader and vendor partition?
my first g6 had a broken screen last week. me being abusive to it. from frustration.
bought a used g6 as a backup very quickly but im not liking v9.0
id like to install the first 7.0 version it ever had available H870. I have 3 apps total installed more of a pro privacy advocate so no browser and would like to shut those annoying update popups which are extremely intrusive and come at the worst times. would like to block as much as possible to also have battery life
I dont understand what the roo does, what the bootloader does and I understand I need to flash a kdz rom. if I understand, I need to install 7.0 (not 7.1 or later) then use the root and bootloader to block updates notifications and to remove default apps in the phone.. basically tweak system things...is this correct?
I used to tinker with windows mobile back in the days but after years of fear of bricking and only have one phone, I had to suffer through annoyances in the OS they give. it is time to have a phone that doesnt annoy me and isnt intrusive. I really do need calmness after 18 months of hell with covid.
inevitably I will move to pinephone once it gets mature. for now using this g6. I dont run after the newest models.
any insight or experiences or tips you could throw at me would be appreciated as I think i may be mixing things up
stay afe
i have a used H870 here. Did the root+twrp, up to PIE and tryed/flashed many things, but wasn´t that happy at all. That was a few month ago. A week ago I replaced my battery and tada, sweet runner. So again I wanted more and bricked it to "no sim" after restoring from a kernel here. Since there isnt much for Pie, roms, deadlinks, broken twrp etc. the only tool which worked and helped me was LG bridge to restore to latest stock pie.
I would recommend u to root without recovery via magisk/fastboot method and go for some adaway, acc battery charger, lsposed + gravity, debloat and maybe a kernel manager + etc.
dont forget, when u have sporadic lags, go for the battery.
gl on ur way mate
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ps just for info
the only working usb drivers where delivered via the LG bridge tool driver update for me, i tryed many..