Hey guys,
I have never felt more new than in this moment. I have lurked here long as I dig for my answers rather than imposing on the community for repeating themselves.
That being the case, I am embarassed to ask but, I cannot seem to find a thread listing the Baseband and linking them to the best behavior for the user if they have them.
I BELIEVE I have MDK because I have teamwin installed, I seem to remember installing the MJ7 radio via Kernel whicj may explain the VM7 in the Baseband while only running android 4.2.2.
The problem is that now most ROMs (I just want a Stock 4.3/4.4 with vzw tethering) tell me that I need to be on MDK safestrapped, is there a way to know for sure that my baseband is, in fact, MDK? Besides Baseband?
Thanks.
mastridonicus said:
Hey guys,
I have never felt more new than in this moment. I have lurked here long as I dig for my answers rather than imposing on the community for repeating themselves.
That being the case, I am embarassed to ask but, I cannot seem to find a thread listing the Baseband and linking them to the best behavior for the user if they have them.
I BELIEVE I have MDK because I have teamwin installed, I seem to remember installing the MJ7 radio via Kernel whicj may explain the VM7 in the Baseband while only running android 4.2.2.
The problem is that now most ROMs (I just want a Stock 4.3/4.4 with vzw tethering) tell me that I need to be on MDK safestrapped, is there a way to know for sure that my baseband is, in fact, MDK? Besides Baseband?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say that if you have TWRP you're on mdk. Safestrap is based off TWRP but you'd see a safestrap splash screen when rebooting.
Verizon Galaxy S4
SafeStrap 3.71
Hyperdrive 12
It's simple. If you have any custom recovery installed (twrp or cwm) you are on the original mdk firmware. No other firmware will allow custom recovery. And safestrap really only should be used if you can't get a custom recovery installed. Flashing a radio (baseband only changes) will not alter your firmware kernel or bootloader.
Related
I'm sure this has been asked but I just wanted to verify I had my information correct, I have rooted and put custom roms on a gs3 in the past so I have little experience but don't want to brick my gs4 and it seems it may be a slightly difference process.
Essentially I want to get CM10 on my Verizon GS4
I found these root directions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2290798
They seem pretty straight forward. I would assume I follow these directions and install TWRP or clockwork mod after its rooted then just flash my roms, however I saw something about Loki on another thread and getting around the bootloader. Do I have to do anything special involving that or once I am rooted can I just install the custom recovery from the app store and start installing roms...
Also how do I check if I have the update that just came out that prevents flashing roms.
Sorry if this was asked but I didn't see my specific question anywhere and I would really appreciate the help.
Also would you recommend going with the google edition or CM10?
Questions and Help issues go in Q&A and Help section
Thread moved
Im fairly certain TWRP is pre-loki'd now, so you wont have to worry about it.
In about phone, look under baseband version, If it doesn't say i545VRUAMDK then you have the new update that isnt rootable yet.
And for your last question, i havent tried either of them yet (I'm on hyperdrive).
So my girlfriend has wants her S4 rooted. I have the S3 and its quite different as far as rooting goes. I am also on sprint whereas she is on verizon (although thats not such a big deal).
Anyways, what I would like to have clarified for me is this: She is currently unrooted with stock MK2. From what I have read you can only root and install compatible roms with safestrap. The main thing she wants is KitKat and possibly CM. Is there any way for her to get either of these. Also, would it be possible to revert back to stock and flash KitKat with the OTA from verizon when it is released?
Thanks for any help.
BioBot said:
So my girlfriend has wants her S4 rooted. I have the S3 and its quite different as far as rooting goes. I am also on sprint whereas she is on verizon (although thats not such a big deal).
Anyways, what I would like to have clarified for me is this: She is currently unrooted with stock MK2. From what I have read you can only root and install compatible roms with safestrap. The main thing she wants is KitKat and possibly CM. Is there any way for her to get either of these. Also, would it be possible to revert back to stock and flash KitKat with the OTA from verizon when it is released?
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no way for her to get KitKat or CM or anything AOSP. Hopefully the next OTA will have an exploit, but there hasn't been a cracked bootloader since the first version of firmware on the initial releases. Realistically, never going to happen.
So I just got handed an S4 from a co-worker, I just spent an hour looking up info on root and stuff to load custom roms (looking mainly for CM11). My main problem seems to be all the shortened terms and everything associated with this phone, root vs unlocked bootloader vs etc, MK2?? NC5??. I can't seem to find any "newb" friendly breakdown of all of this. This isn't my first hacked device by far (I got an old DiNC and a ReZound for my last 2), but definitely the most confusing one. So here's the info I got on my phone: Galaxy S4, Verizon, SCH-I545, Android 4.4.2, VRUFNC5, hardware version: I545.06.
Can anyone point me in the right directions to understand better, and get me to my final destination of Custom rom? Or at least get me to understand this better?
I did search the first 5 pages of every section to see if there was a "newb-friendly" sticky but didn't seem to go anywhere fast, just made me more confused.
tong6998 said:
So I just got handed an S4 from a co-worker, I just spent an hour looking up info on root and stuff to load custom roms (looking mainly for CM11). My main problem seems to be all the shortened terms and everything associated with this phone, root vs unlocked bootloader vs etc, MK2?? NC5??. I can't seem to find any "newb" friendly breakdown of all of this. This isn't my first hacked device by far (I got an old DiNC and a ReZound for my last 2), but definitely the most confusing one. So here's the info I got on my phone: Galaxy S4, Verizon, SCH-I545, Android 4.4.2, VRUFNC5, hardware version: I545.06.
Can anyone point me in the right directions to understand better, and get me to my final destination of Custom rom? Or at least get me to understand this better?
I did search the first 5 pages of every section to see if there was a "newb-friendly" sticky but didn't seem to go anywhere fast, just made me more confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with a simple "newb friendly" page is that every update to the phone changes what you need to do to root and what you can run.
For your NC5 phone, you need to use Towelroot to root it. That gets you root, but you're stuck with the stock bootloader. That means that you can't directly run a custom ROM. You can use Safestrap to allocate space for an alternative ROM, which is almost the same as a fully unlocked phone. The big thing you lose is that you can't run arbitrary ROMs, just what's compatible with the stock kernel. No CM, no AOSP.
So, read up on Towelroot and Safestrap. Once you have those down, you should be n the way.
Yeah, I got towel root already installed, supersu running and added to system and Knox disabled. Where should I be looking at roms that I can run under safestrap? Or should I say which section of the forums? Thank you for your response btw.
tong6998 said:
Yeah, I got towel root already installed, supersu running and added to system and Knox disabled. Where should I be looking at roms that I can run under safestrap? Or should I say which section of the forums? Thank you for your response btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually, roms that are compatible with safestrap are labeled as such. Since nc5 doesn't allow custom kernels, you will stuck with touchwiz kernels, so usually the roms will look like the stock samsung experience or a themed version. If you want an aosp themed safestrap rom, get eclipse rom. If you want a 99% gpe s4 rom download the gpe edition safestrap rom( it has some bugs though).
Usually roms are located at the "Android development" section of the forum. The gpe rom thread is in the general section.
tong6998 said:
Yeah, I got towel root already installed, supersu running and added to system and Knox disabled. Where should I be looking at roms that I can run under safestrap? Or should I say which section of the forums? Thank you for your response btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing to keep in mind, is that safestrap loads too late to be able to replace the kernel. This is the limiting factor, your stuck on the stock kernel... Different versions of android and different versions of kernels may have slightly different functions/parameters coded into the kernel, so calling a newer function or calling a function with parameters that no longer match the new style will fail.... so if the rom wasn't directly designed for the stock kernel of the same version your using it likely won't work.
In practice that means you need a rom based on TW, that is the same version (NC5) as you are currently using. Not sure but there are likely a few changes the Rom make needs to add for safe strap compatibility... Basically when you look at the Rom's thread it will list a baseband (NC5) and say its safestrap compatible.
Thanks to all of you, that clears up a lot of confusion I had. Now where do I find out (or how do I decifer) if I'm MJ7/MK2/ME7/MI1? Or am I correct in assuming I'm NOT (all the builds I see for safestrap mention those only no NC5.
Hi all,
I've got an S4 on Verizon (SCH-I545) with Jellybean 4.2.2 and VRUAMDK. I see that there are updates to builds such as VRUAME7 and beyond. I'm not too familiar with these and how they effect compatibility and customization. I searched the forums and saw threads which said that the newer builds hinder compatibility, however, they are old threads from a year ago and I can find nothing recent.
Is there any reason for me to accept these updates and will doing so give me any perks? If I did update, will this limit my options in terms of what I can do with rooting, installing recoveries or ROMS?
If there's a post that explains it in more detail I'd want to see too. I couldn't find anything about this
Thanks in advance!
If you plan on trying out any AOSP/CM12 roms then I'd stay on MDK. Once you update all the way to 4.4 you'l no longer be able to use any of these roms and will be limited to roms that are only able to be flashed through SafeStrap.
well
Lockett said:
If you plan on trying out any AOSP/CM12 roms then I'd stay on MDK. Once you update all the way to 4.4 you'l no longer be able to use any of these roms and will be limited to roms that are only able to be flashed through SafeStrap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MDK boot loader with Loki implemented recovery = unlocked boot loader which means you can use just about everything here. Almost every rom has an MDK procedure and will be flashing kernels. . Unlike safestrap
Thanks! I may stay on the MDK build then. It seems like it would only serve to limit my options if I upgrade and give me no tangible benefit.
Thank you!
Hi,
Just got an i545. It is currently on NK1 with 4.4.2. I understand to root it I can follow this (thread closed so can't post there). My confusion is: once I root, can I install safestrap or TWRP and flash custom roms? I read somewhere else on the forum that NK1 is limited to certain AOSP roms. I really like Carbon but am open to trying others and I don't want to screw things up. Sorry if this is noob-ish but I think I gave myself information over-load trying to find the correct steps.
Also, I will be using this with AT&T so would I want to stick to the unified builds?
Thanks,
SS only, no twrp/cwm.
Only TW roms aside from this aosp:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3019132
I used it before LP, a few bugs but overall ran well
Thanks for the info. If safestrap must be used, would these roms work? From what I gather so far, it's also not possible to downgrade from NK1 to NC5 or other, is it? I don't see the point of flashing another TW rom...but that's just me. I guess I can just root and customize for now, and experiment with TW roms if I get bored.
EDIT - I am wrong, it appears that I can odin back to earlier images (MDK, NC5, etc...) Is this feasible? Would it allow me to root, install custom recovery, and any rom I wish?
That list should be good. You can go back to nc5, can't downgrade past KK.
Also, there are threads on how to upgrade to 5.0.1, however if you take the official ota you'll lose root and can't downgrade back
I appreciate your help. Just to confirm, if I downgrade to NC5, will I be able to use ANY custom recovery and flash ANY rom? Or will I still be limited to safestrap and TW roms?
EDIT - Found my answer here. Anything over MDK can only use safestrap and TW roms. Bummer. No point in down-grading then.
Edit 2 - It seems that if I want to run any kind of rom I do need to down grade to NC5 as most seem to be based on it. I assume I would use the full wipe from this guide.
This S4 is my 7th android and it's, by far, got the most hoops to jump through and/or limitations. All my other phones were easy-peasy! Or is it just because it's Verizon branded? All other phones were T-Mo or ATT.
It's this phone & Verizon, they both suck