Long story short, Im not a newbie to ADB or rooting. I rooted and had my Tbolt running TSense.. I had to unroot it, a long story. I went and re-rooted it, everything worked just fine (being lazy and using the 3 click method), it has the SU icon, and everything, but Rom Manager claims there is no root and upon reboot the S is ON again. Now it seems to have a higher firmware then it used to 1.13.605.7.. I had 1.12.605.9 I think.. I havent touched the rooting side of it in days, and I wonder if there was a sleek roll out of an upgrade like Big Red did with my D1 a long time ago.
Any Ideas guys?
nightwolf0829 said:
Long story short, Im not a newbie to ADB or rooting. I rooted and had my Tbolt running TSense.. I had to unroot it, a long story. I went and re-rooted it, everything worked just fine (being lazy and using the 3 click method), it has the SU icon, and everything, but Rom Manager claims there is no root and upon reboot the S is ON again. Now it seems to have a higher firmware then it used to 1.13.605.7.. I had 1.12.605.9 I think.. I havent touched the rooting side of it in days, and I wonder if there was a sleek roll out of an upgrade like Big Red did with my D1 a long time ago.
Any Ideas guys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend following JCase's guide on unrooting it (again) and then just re-root with adb. Hard to tell what (if anything) could have gone wrong with the 3-step process. If you're S-ON that's probably the best thing you can do.
nightwolf0829 said:
Long story short, Im not a newbie to ADB or rooting. I rooted and had my Tbolt running TSense.. I had to unroot it, a long story. I went and re-rooted it, everything worked just fine (being lazy and using the 3 click method), it has the SU icon, and everything, but Rom Manager claims there is no root and upon reboot the S is ON again. Now it seems to have a higher firmware then it used to 1.13.605.7.. I had 1.12.605.9 I think.. I havent touched the rooting side of it in days, and I wonder if there was a sleek roll out of an upgrade like Big Red did with my D1 a long time ago.
Any Ideas guys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, there is no "sleek" rollout. Return to stock and root it the manual way, don't be lazy, you saw what happened when you were. Something went wrong.
Related
For anyone who's NOT on a LEAKED version of 2.1, you can still Root.
We have verified that the PB00IMG.zip goes through its checking process, and asks to update. It looks very much like the Root PB00IMG.zip IS able to be flashed over any phones that went from 1.5 to OTA 2.1.
So anyone who's holding back on going from 1.5 to OTA 2.1, for fear that they wont' be able to root, let your fears disappear.
Special thanks to ssgtob1 from AndroidForums.com who bravely tested booting up in HBOOT with the Root PB00IMG.zip on his SD card.
Thank you for your help, and anyone who DIDN'T leak, we STILL have you covered for Root. Go ahead and follow any set of normal directions for 1.5 to root, and you should be all set to Root your phone.
FOR LEAKERS: Some exploits are still being explored. I hope something comes to fruition. You will know as soon as anyone knows. I promise.
Thanks,
Paul
Peed on yet again leaking sucks. All I know is patience is a virtue I will forever remember to have after this phone. Guess im going to update to v3 leak from v1 since cannot update.
edgeupgx said:
Peed on yet again leaking sucks. All I know is patience is a virtue I will forever remember to have after this phone. Guess im going to update to v3 leak from v1 since cannot update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you should continue to be patient with v1?.....
So, Ive updated to the OTA and did not have root on my 1.5 when I updated. Are you saying that even though I have done this that I can still root? If so, which tutorial/directions should I follow?
Don't worry, two things have been confirmed.
First the OTA will not work with the leaked ROMs installed.
Second, the OTA is exactly the same as the 2.1 leak v3.
This was confirmed on Android-forum by someone that took the time to compare every single file and CRC the binaries. The only difference was that the leaked ROMs use a different bootloader to install as they did and the actual OS and apps are exactly the same so if you got leak v3 you got the OTA.
The OTA won't install because you are already running it. The only down side is you still cannot root, but otherwise you have as good or better than the OTA.
.
So far, I have not come across a cooked ROM for root that does not have bugs or that functions as well as the OTA (which also has a few bugs). I'm hoping that the development will continue or even increase so we will have better ROMs soon.
xtremeskier97 said:
So, Ive updated to the OTA and did not have root on my 1.5 when I updated. Are you saying that even though I have done this that I can still root? If so, which tutorial/directions should I follow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The exact directions, as if you were 1.5. You have a few options. If you have Windows, an easy way to go about it is this:\
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=661413
The manual method does, literally, the EXACT same thing, it's just a teeny bit more technical, but you learn a lot about your phone in the process (that you wouldn't have learned using the Eris Master Application). If you're pretty technical (or using Mac OSX or Unix or Linux) then I would use the following tutorial (except, if you have Unix/Linux, you don't have to worry about drivers, and it's "./adb" instead of "adb" when you're running commands).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=647707
Good luck!
DigitalMD said:
So far, I have not come across a cooked ROM for root that does not have bugs or that functions as well as the OTA (which also has a few bugs). I'm hoping that the development will continue or even increase so we will have better ROMs soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must vouch for Ivan's Eris_Official 1.0 being as bugless as the OTA, in my experience. This guy's been cooking ROMs for all kinds of phones for YEARS, and knows what he's doing. 100% clean, looks like stock, and is a lot faster.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=652044
Root after 2.1 OTA upgrade from 1.5
OK,
Let me get this straight and understand it crystal clear. Are you saying that an Eris with 1.5 without root can get the 2.1 OTA upgrade and later get root? Has anyone done this? Hoping it's true as I just got the OTA and installed it based on this thread. BTW, 2.1 .......NICE!
Bill
bczygan said:
OK,
Let me get this straight and understand it crystal clear. Are you saying that an Eris with 1.5 without root can get the 2.1 OTA upgrade and later get root? Has anyone done this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is possible, and yes it has been done. I believe if you got the 2.1 OTA from a stock 1.5, the documented root method will work fine.
If you got 2.1 from any of the three leaks, you are stuck without root.
(Someone correct me if I'm wrong though! )
Add on question about rooting the OTA 2.1
I amn in the process of trying to root from the 2.1 OTA. Am I correct in thinking that following the walkthrough, that I will be replacing the OTA with another ROM which is functionally the same, but not the same exact one? Can I later redo the OTA from a file? Will this eliminate root?
Bill
bczygan said:
I amn in the process of trying to root from the 2.1 OTA. Am I correct in thinking that following the walkthrough, that I will be replacing the OTA with another ROM which is functionally the same, but not the same exact one? Can I later redo the OTA from a file? Will this eliminate root?
Bill
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Following the walkthrough OR using the Eris Master Application (if you have Windows) will work JUST fine. (even though those things say you NEED 1.5, that's not exactly true, because OTA 2.1 works as well).
Once you Root, put a Recovery on there, then flash a nice ROM from Recovery, you will flash a ROM (like Ivan's Eris_Official_1.0) that has AT LEAST the exact same functionality as the OTA.
Later, if you want, you can follow the method documented on http://www.androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/ in the All Things Root section, and click on AcidBath's thread, stickied at the top (then scroll about one page down) for DOWNGRADING from Root 2.1 back to Stock 1.5 (yes it is possible), then follow the tutorial for applying the MANUAL OTA update.
This will take you back from Rooted 2.1 back to OTA 2.1, if you should so choose (though I can't think of a good reason why you'd do that).
Once you have root, and you're using things like WiFi tether and so on, I'm guessing you won't go back. But the option IS available. And yes, if you go back to 1.5 then manual OTA, you will lose root, but you can GET IT BACK the same way you're getting it right now.
pkopalek - Very good info.
I'd just like to add that I manual upgraded from 1.5 to OTA 2.1 and hated it,
and found it possible to go from OTA 2.1 back down to 1.5..and I found the
process to be much easier than the manual OTA install.
I'd like to root now but after reading your instructions, (android forums site is
down right now), I'm still confused.
Root after 2.1 OTA upgrade from 1.5
I did the root last night. Took a while, but everything worked good. I now have recovery and can try other ROMS. Not quite sure yet how to access root or use su. But I love the wireless tethering. Using it right now. Used to use a wired tether program but this is better. I did lose all my apps and settings, but will rebuild it all. I don't think I'll use the OTA again. Love having root. Thanks to all who make this possible.
Bill
BlazeD OnE said:
pkopalek - Very good info.
I'd just like to add that I manual upgraded from 1.5 to OTA 2.1 and hated it,
and found it possible to go from OTA 2.1 back down to 1.5..and I found the
process to be much easier than the manual OTA install.
I'd like to root now but after reading your instructions, (android forums site is
down right now), I'm still confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting, you just follow the directions for Rooting a 1.5 phone. If you're on the OTA, that's fine, if you're on 1.5, that's fine. The directions are 100% exactly the same.
The link I posted above was for DOWNGRADING from Root 2.1 to normal 1.5. Ignore that. Here's where you want to be:
The Eris Master App works GREAT if you have Windows:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=661413
Or do the normal manual Rooting method (it's exactly the same thing, just the App does the commands for you, or you do it yourself -- this is the method that I use, every time):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=647707
I suggest Ivan's Eris_Official 1.0 for a ROM, instead of 0.8t2 or whatever is suggested in that thread (that thread is kind of old).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=652044
bczygan said:
I did the root last night. Took a while, but everything worked good. I now have recovery and can try other ROMS. Not quite sure yet how to access root or use su. But I love the wireless tethering. Using it right now. Used to use a wired tether program but this is better. I did lose all my apps and settings, but will rebuild it all. I don't think I'll use the OTA again. Love having root. Thanks to all who make this possible.
Bill
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend Ivan's Eris_Official 1.0 for you too. Download and put it on your SD card.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=652044
Boot your phone into recovery, do Backup/Restore > nand backup (to back up your phone) then go back to main menu (volume down), Wipe > Wipe factory/data reset, wipe Dalvik Cache (both), back to main menu (volume down), Flash Zip from SD Card, flash Ivan's Eris_Official.
You'll be doing great.
ALSO:
anyone who's rooting and flashing these ROMs should also be flashing the latest Radio that comes with the OTA:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6469408&postcount=113
yeah i rooted from the OTA and it worked fine it just took a bit longer than it should've because i had some trouble doing it on a mac but i figured it out eventually.
just follow the instructions and you should be fine *only if you are the 2.1 OTA or 1.5*
Hi! I'm on 2.1 OTA, and my droid Eris has never been modified in any way at a software or hardware level. I am running HBOOT 1.47.0000. Whenever I use the PB00IMG.ZIP (of which I have checked the MD5 sums) and reboot into the bootloader screen (The one with "HBOOT" and searches for images) I always get "No Image or wrong image!" and am never presented with the option of "push activate" as a result. Any tips? Yes, the PB00IMG.ZIP is in the root of the SD card. I can't really think that I'm doing anything wrong, as I've read the instructions a billion times, and checked every site with instructions, to see if there was any variation in methods.
Any input or tips (other than "don't root your phone" ) would be greatly appreciated!
It Works!!!
I gave up root for the OTA...never again. I'll 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) if you are on the OTA you can get root. Thank God...so glad to be back. ;-)
Ok so I have what might be a very elementary question. And I apologize in advance if this is not the right thread or just generally a dumb question.
Is there any advantage or disadvantage to rooting from 2.1 OTA vs. 1.5? Also is there any real difference between my phone rooted from 1.5 and my wife's phone rooted from 2.1?
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Monkeypuppet said:
Ok so I have what might be a very elementary question. And I apologize in advance if this is not the right thread or just generally a dumb question.
Is there any advantage or disadvantage to rooting from 2.1 OTA vs. 1.5? Also is there any real difference between my phone rooted from 1.5 and my wife's phone rooted from 2.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I understand it, after rooting, you will have both of the phones on 2.1 rooted.
Simple question and hopefully different from all the other "It's here!", "Where are our ROM" threads..
I upgraded (if you can call it that) to the Galaxy Nexus literally like a week ago and deactivated my TB but it remains rooted.
Anyone know if there are dangers trying to activate it rooted with the intent to unroot, wait for the OTA, just in the hopes it will sell for more.
Or would you recommend unrooting then activating and then waiting for the OTA?
Hopefully you understand the question. I had the impression from a friend that if I tried to re-activate with root, it would red flag me for modified software. Thanks in advance.
DNak206 said:
Simple question and hopefully different from all the other "It's here!", "Where are our ROM" threads..
I upgraded (if you can call it that) to the Galaxy Nexus literally like a week ago and deactivated my TB but it remains rooted.
Anyone know if there are dangers trying to activate it rooted with the intent to unroot, wait for the OTA, just in the hopes it will sell for more.
Or would you recommend unrooting then activating and then waiting for the OTA?
Hopefully you understand the question. I had the impression from a friend that if I tried to re-activate with root, it would red flag me for modified software. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock rooted roms are posted on the Infected forums if you just want to flash the stock rooted ICS.
OR, you could unroot and flash the OTA, but doing so I believe will upgrade your hboot, so you'll have to wait a bit until get the s-off on the new hboot.
Either way, I'm sure it'll be all squared away in the next couple of weeks.
Personally, if it were me, I would unroot and go OTA. Fly around completely stock for a while on your phone. I did that when 605.19 came out and I was actually surprised how well it performed being completely stock (battery life aside). But that didn't last long for me--I rooted it pretty shortly after.
Also, I'm not sure if you'd be red-flagged for trying to update OTA from root. I mean the worst that could happen is the update won't go through, and more likely, the update will go through, but will completely remove root and s-off.
Don't take the OTA expecting to reroot!
wazup7 said:
The stock rooted roms are posted on the Infected forums if you just want to flash the stock rooted ICS.
OR, you could unroot and flash the OTA, but doing so I believe will upgrade your hboot, so you'll have to wait a bit until get the s-off on the new hboot.
Either way, I'm sure it'll be all squared away in the next couple of weeks.
Personally, if it were me, I would unroot and go OTA. Fly around completely stock for a while on your phone. I did that when 605.19 came out and I was actually surprised how well it performed being completely stock (battery life aside). But that didn't last long for me--I rooted it pretty shortly after.
Also, I'm not sure if you'd be red-flagged for trying to update OTA from root. I mean the worst that could happen is the update won't go through, and more likely, the update will go through, but will completely remove root and s-off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There may not be a "re-root" after you take the new hboot!!!!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
I've been saying this and not enough people are listening and stuck not being able to root again.
I know one person even trying to work on the hboot right now and his device will no longer boot, so think again before taking the OTA.
It's up to you and doesn't effect me either way, just a few words of advice if you will.
Maybe this will change and another miracle as big as this release will happen and an exploit will be found on a 2 year old device with less then a handful of devs even looking at it.
This could change, but right now I would not count on it.
I took the update unrooted but still had revolutionary's hboot. I can confirm that the hboot was not overwritten by the new one.
Edit
Didn't realize there was a thread about this already lol. My bad.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
Seems there is a LOT of revert to stock and unroot threads, is there a consolidated place or simple means of doing this? I think I'm going to undo everything I did and just her activate it stock. If she *****es down the road about not having root (unlikely), I'll worry about it then.
Thanks guys.
Greetings,
I know the easy answer to this is going to be to flash a new rom, but if I wanted to do that I would have already. I'd rather find and repair the source of the issue and learn from it.
That being said, shortly after getting my tbolt (when they were first released) I used the revolutionary root and added in VPN software for work. Being unaware that OTA updates hadn't been blocked during the rooting, the phone took an update and went into a death-boot-loop. I found a clean updated OTA rom, flashed and unrooted the phone as the VPN software didn't work well for what I intended anyway.
Great, now the phone is all back to stock (or so I thought).. After a while, another OTA update came down, it asked to update, I allowed, and it said update failed.. Repeat ad nauseum for the next several weeks. Since I was happy with the way the phone was operating, I didn't care if it got the updates or not.
So last week, I decided that since the phone is out of warranty anyway, I might as well root and get rid of some of the bloat, and while I'm at it, get rid of the damn nag screen every tine I hook it to a computer. Searched around, found thunderbolt tool 1.0.1, downed it and tried it out, and it proceeded to say unable to lock my phone.
After a little screwing around, the "update status" on the phone itself reports ROM Version: 2.11.605.9, while the tool was getting a response of 2.11.605.5, so it was using the wrong method to get into the phone. So I edited the batch file to use the .9 method no matter what it reported back, and it proceeded to root, add the recovery, and superuser.
Ahhh, life is good, the phone is rooted again, time to start doing my own customization.
Except that after a couple reboots, everything loses the root rights.
Running titanium backup says "asking for root rights" and then "titanium has been granted superuser permissions" but it just hangs there at the "asking for root rights" screen.
Wireless tether similar story... Start the app and it says "press to start tethering" and touching the screen gets "wireless tethering has been granted superuser permissions", then hangs at "please wait while starting".
Won't do anything that requires root, unless I run the tool again and select "S-off but no root", and it will go through a procedure and root will work again for a while.
Also, as I'm typing this, I discovered that it doesn't necessarily require rebooting to lose root. I had root working last night, but when I picked up the phone to get the proper messages to type, it is not showing root again, and it hasn't been rebooted since root was working.
Thoughts on how to repair this without flashing a rom?
Have you attempted to run the "fix permissions" option in your recovery?
If that does not help, You could use something like OTA RootKeeper to protect root, if you loose it you would just click one button to get it back.
Last thing I can think of is to just reflash the same ROM you are using now on top of what you have so you loose no data and any messed up settings or files will be rewrote.
**edit**
You should really think about installing a custom ROM, because until you do, or you block OTA updates, this will be a reoccurring issue.
You could easily install a stock rooted ROM of the exact same thing you have now. nothing would change except it would be properly rooted and OTA updates would be blocked.
That is because only temp root is applied to the official 605.19 Ruu. You need to downgrade back to 605.5 after getting temp root on the 605.19 Ruu then apply the perm root zip in recovery and then flash a newer rom from recovery. If that doesn't work don't lose hope. I may be misunderstanding the situation you have but it sounds like you're only applying temp root. The tool doesn't need to be edited and you may need to flash the 605.19 stock Ruu, relock and s on and then run the tool again.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
Milimbar said:
Have you attempted to run the "fix permissions" option in your recovery?
If that does not help, You could use something like -edit- to protect root, if you loose it you would just click one button to get it back.
Last thing I can think of is to just reflash the same ROM you are using now on top of what you have so you loose no data and any messed up settings or files will be rewrote.
**edit**
You should really think about installing a custom ROM, because until you do, or you block OTA updates, this will be a reoccurring issue.
You could easily install a stock rooted ROM of the exact same thing you have now. nothing would change except it would be properly rooted and OTA updates would be blocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't seen the fix permissions option anywhere I've been, care to point me in the right direction?
I'll check out the rootkeeper.
disconnecktie said:
That is because only temp root is applied to the official 605.19 Ruu. You need to downgrade back to 605.5 after getting temp root on the 605.19 Ruu then apply the perm root zip in recovery and then flash a newer rom from recovery. If that doesn't work don't lose hope. I may be misunderstanding the situation you have but it sounds like you're only applying temp root. The tool doesn't need to be edited and you may need to flash the 605.19 stock Ruu, relock and s on and then run the tool again.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never took the .19 update, and both the tool and phone report as .05 now. (if I remember correctly the .09 reverts back to .05 to get in)
damm315er said:
Haven't seen the fix permissions option anywhere I've been, care to point me in the right direction?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What recovery are you using?
I only use 4ext and would recommend that.
The fix permissions will take up to 5 min and may not help your particular issue, but shouldn't hurt to try.
If 4ext - Boot into recovery, select tools then select fix permissions.
If CWM I think its in the advanced menu.
and If TWRP I think it is in the advanced menu again.
Good luck and listen to the others here, they go out of their way to help people a lot
Ok earlier I misread your post. I thought it said 605.19. Still though something you're doing is causing you to only get temp root. Reread the op of the allinone tool and make sure you meet the requirements before you start it. That away when you run it this time you are in the best possible situation for it to work. Trter is very helpful and if you post your issue in his thread he will probably assist you with anything you need.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
I remember having a similar problem about 6-7 months ago.
I would randomly loose root, though not as often as he is describing.
In my case it was a combination of an outdated root method and a flawed ROM.
If everything he is using is current, including the ROM, he shouldn't have an issue.
If it were me I would flash Santod's stock deodexed ROM and be done with it.
It is the stock ROM with nothing changed except it is prerooted.
I understand that you would like to "fix" this issue without flashing a ROM, however the ROM itself could be the problem. this solution is the simplest I can think of.
Using everything from the thunderbolt toolkit, so yes, 4ext.
Found and ran the fix permissions, ran for 15 minutes before it finished so we'll see how it goes.
I get what you're saying about the rom being screwed up, and am starting to think my only choice is to reflash it, so I'll start looking into a new rom.. That being said I'm still pursuing fixing this until I find a rom that serves my purpose.
Is there a good stable ICS for thunderbolt, pre-loaded with root and good battery life?
Yea the one in the post above yours. If you want something a that is faster and has better battery than it then head over to infectedrom.com and check out all the different options santod has made.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
So long story short. I got this phone 12/20. I stump rooted it, and noob move took the ota to zv6. Lost root as we all know. Thing is I opened root check by mistake the other day and it shows as rooted. Just to see I tried to install super su, but it says binary not installed. Any ideas? The lg og was the first phone I played with and had it rooted and unlocked right after getting it. Never took an ota on that phone. This g3 is a bit of a different animal then I'm used too.
likwidkool said:
So long story short. I got this phone 12/20. I stump rooted it, and noob move took the ota to zv6. Lost root as we all know. Thing is I opened root check by mistake the other day and it shows as rooted. Just to see I tried to install super su, but it says binary not installed. Any ideas? The lg og was the first phone I played with and had it rooted and unlocked right after getting it. Never took an ota on that phone. This g3 is a bit of a different animal then I'm used too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think, it's not really rooted. If you do want to root, you can follow this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/sprint-lg-g3/general/guide-how-to-restore-sprint-lg-g3-ls990-t2852042
Sorry if this doesn't help answer your question.
Thanks. I've been thinking of trying the roll back to zv4. Unfortunately my wife went and bought an iMac and my PC is in the closet. I do have an old laptop lying around I might be able to try it on. Thanks.
I'm thinking its not rooted either because of zv6 breaking root. Thinking maybe its just a side effect of me taking the ota on a rooted device like I shouldn't have?
I read about trying to flash twrp with flashify just to see if it would take but scared to even try as I don't want to screw this phone up. I sold my og so I have no backup.
likwidkool said:
Thanks. I've been thinking of trying the roll back to zv4. Unfortunately my wife went and bought an iMac and my PC is in the closet. I do have an old laptop lying around I might be able to try it on. Thanks.
I'm thinking its not rooted either because of zv6 breaking root. Thinking maybe its just a side effect of me taking the ota on a rooted device like I shouldn't have?
I read about trying to flash twrp with flashify just to see if it would take but scared to even try as I don't want to screw this phone up. I sold my og so I have no backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you can do is flash back ZV4, use stump root to root again, flash recovery, then flash superuser. You can also flash the deodexed zv6.
Thanks. Kinda what I thought but figured it didn't hurt to ask.
I've had my VZ S4 since sometime around Dec of 2013. Previously was on a DroidX, I've really honestly never had any problems rooting or installing custom rom's on my phones (A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU HERE that made that possible) so I'm not a noob...but I'm not an expert either. I usually wait and read a lot of threads, follow the instructions and I've always been good to go. My S4 started at MK2, (took the OTA right out of the box, now I now better ) and with the help of K1mu's post on rooting the S4 with Saferoot everything went off with out a hitch (thank you!!). After successfully rooting the phone, I installed Safestrap, backed up the stock rom slot, created a custom rom slot and installed Hyperdrive 11...everything is working flawlessly.
So fast forward a year to KitKat I returned to XDA...read and read and read and followed the Dev's instructions and was good to go again. I know it involved Safestrap-I545-3.75-KitKat-A03.apk, TowelRoot, Odin and ALL_VZW_I545VRUFNC5_I545VZWFNC5_1151670_REV06_user_low_ship_Multi_Cert_Tar.md5. Definitely was one of muniz_ri post. Any way I basically used Odin...flashed back to factory stock followed muniz_ri post and was good to go again with KitKat(Thank You!!)
So now to the present, about a week or so ago I had an OTA screen pop asking to update, it actually showed 2 updates available (don't know if there is a log in the S4 that keeps track of the updates). So I came back here of course and started reading and reading and reading...and I was ready to begin the process in this thread by muniz_ri: http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...-to-update-to-i545oc1-5-0-1-keeproot-t3096558 which again I am sure would have went flawlessly. Then I had an accident...I had been dismissing the update (it popped up a lot ) when the unthinkable happened...I pressed yes, the phone went thru the update process and I don't know what update it was but it wasn't Lolllipop...so I was like phewwww, clicked on my RootCheck (JRummy) and it said Rooted 4.4.2 KitKat (NK4), SuperSu 2.46 so I figured everything was ok. Not so, I don't know what the upgrade was but I no longer have root or access to safestrap, SuperSu or any apps that require root...and this is where I need guidance from the masters. I have a TWRP/Safestrap back up (stock-2014-12-08--19-33-37 KOT49H.I545VRUFNK1) from right after rooting for KitKat, nothing else...just root I'm pretty sure of that. So what would be the best way to fix? Is there a way to re-root the phone in it's present condition? Can I use the TWRP back up some how with out SafeStrap? How far back can I down grade with Odin using a VWZ factory image? Any idea what happened with the update prior to Lollipop? Sorry if this was long winded, just trying to figure out the best way moving forward. I don't really care about the data on the phone. Before going forward I'll do A Keis back up of the stuff I want to save. I appreciate any help/answers/suggestions...Jinx