Hello,
I have a VZW S4 that is currently running 4.4.2 from an OTA update sometime ago.
Prior to that, and the previous OTA update from Verizon to go to Jellybean(I believe) I had root on the device with the unlocked boot. Root was killed when I mistakenly allowed an OTA update to take place. Ever since then, the phone has been running stock roms BUT it has always shown an Unlocked padlock icon at boot. Also, since then, I have given this phone to my GF and her work has now remotely detected the phone as rooted even though it is not. I am assuming the unlocked icon has something to do with it but I do not understand enough to know that for sure.
Now that the device has 4.4.2 and there looks to be a way to restore root, I am wondering if I go through that process of rooting, if I will be able to undo whatever settings that linger that triggered her employer to detect that the phone was at least at one point rooted - is that possible? I.E., Re-root the phone, alter any settings that need to be altered/deleted, then return the phone to a stock unrooted room and bootloader.
Hope I am being clear.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you!
Odin back to stock.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
Related
OK so here is the story and I was debating if this is the right place to post but I do feel it is more on the developing side. I originally rooted and unlocked my bootloader following Casuals method and everything was just fine. I had an option to sell the phone in preparation for buying the GS4 so I used the return to stock method posted in the forums to return my device completely to stock. After doing so everything was also fine. I received an update to LL4 and that went OK straight from Verizon but last night when the VRAMC3 update was pushed to my phone it soft bricked it. It ultimately was stock on the splash screen stating Samsung Note 2. After trying to ODIN back to stock with multiple FAILS I was able to get it back to the Root66 MR Robinson by using the pit file but every time I try to update and or root/unlock bootloader it soft bricks again. I am assuming that the update that was pushed updated my bootloader and as of now I am stuck till there is a new bootloader Jailbreak. If not I would love some instruction on how to get my phone rooted with an unlocked bootloader or a flashable ODIN file that will at least get me to the latest VRAMC3 fully stock ROM. Thank you for the HELP.
want relocked BL running newest stock via odin flash without tripping flash counter
Edit; I never did manage to relock the bootloader. However, Verizon still accepted the device since it appeared close enough to stock. I used the alternative restore and triangle away to bring it 95 percent to stock. So I can safely say from my experience that if this is your problem you will probably be fine. It's been a few months and still no new charges on my bill for out of warranty device but YMMV
Shawnkanan said:
OK so here is the story and I was debating if this is the right place to post but I do feel it is more on the developing side. I originally rooted and unlocked my bootloader following Casuals method and everything was just fine. I had an option to sell the phone in preparation for buying the GS4 so I used the return to stock method posted in the forums to return my device completely to stock. After doing so everything was also fine. I received an update to LL4 and that went OK straight from Verizon but last night when the VRAMC3 update was pushed to my phone it soft bricked it. It ultimately was stock on the splash screen stating Samsung Note 2. After trying to ODIN back to stock with multiple FAILS I was able to get it back to the Root66 MR Robinson by using the pit file but every time I try to update and or root/unlock bootloader it soft bricks again. I am assuming that the update that was pushed updated my bootloader and as of now I am stuck till there is a new bootloader Jailbreak. If not I would love some instruction on how to get my phone rooted with an unlocked bootloader or a flashable ODIN file that will at least get me to the latest VRAMC3 fully stock ROM. Thank you for the HELP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in a similar situation. I am sending the device back for warranty service since the screen must have burnt out or something. The digitizer catches a touch but there is no light emanating from the screen and since the device was purchased March 28th it is completely under warranty. As it is obvious the root modifications did not cause the screen issue, I do not wish to get a new device via insurance claim and so I am getting another sent.
but my issue is after managing to run triangle away via screencast/adb, how the hell does one relock the device if it's been upgraded to vramc3? from what I have searched, and trust me I have been searching the past two days, which led me here and a few other threads btw, it appears that once the device is on vramc3 it cannot odin back to anything else or it will fail on sboot.bin. And I am not finding any stock odin packages for vramc3, so how the hell does a person take this bad boy back to stock and relock the bootloader for sending to vzw for service? not only that but I can no longer activate recovery since I wouldnt have access to screencast and there is absolutely no way I am sending this device back with even the most minute amount of data in tact so it can be sold to the highest bidder or handed over via an illegal court order for mass search and seizure. anybody have experience with this? i am at the point where i think the only thing I can do is flash the alternate restore for vral but wouldnt that trip my flash counter, and then when they check the device it would probably OTA and softbrick, which I do not want them to have to deal with.
So I made the switch from my hyperdrive S3 to the s4 yesterday. Best buy did the update to me7... Am I understanding that I'm stuck with stock because it has an unlockable bootloader? I rooted it last night and it was fine but now what?
I can't stand a bloated stock phone anymore after my slimmed s3.
Everything I've read seems to indicate there's no way around the bootloader
As of right now, yes, you're stuck on stock. You do have root, so you can at least freeze the Samsung/carrier apps you don't want, but the bootloader is locked and nobody has figured out a way to bypass it yet. If you unroot you might be able to return it on the excuse that the phone is having performance issues, and tell them you've heard the new software update is to blame so you don't want it installed on the replacement.
Alright, I don't really know what happened or what I did, but something bad happened. To begin with, I rooted my phone with Stump and that went fine. After a month or so my phone started to lock itself out and sometimes not unlock. This bug, I don't know what it was, was probably from one of the roms. I uninstalled and removed all the roms and "unrooted" my phone. When I try to root my phone again, it sees the phone as unsupported. I did a hard reset/ I even used towelroot and that was bad. My phone also can't be used on my computer because it won't read it as an LG device with a driver. I've hard reset several times and tried many things. What I know for sure is that one rom or something didn't get removed. For example, I had an emoji switcher rom and I still have Google's emoji's instead of the default LG after reset. I can also lock my phone by double tapping the top left corner, which was another rom. This is all when "unrooted"
Can someone help me fix this? I don't have a warranty on the phone and SuperSU doesn't let me do anything on it.
Andorew said:
Alright, I don't really know what happened or what I did, but something bad happened. To begin with, I rooted my phone with Stump and that went fine. After a month or so my phone started to lock itself out and sometimes not unlock. This bug, I don't know what it was, was probably from one of the roms. I uninstalled and removed all the roms and "unrooted" my phone. When I try to root my phone again, it sees the phone as unsupported. I did a hard reset/ I even used towelroot and that was bad. My phone also can't be used on my computer because it won't read it as an LG device with a driver. I've hard reset several times and tried many things. What I know for sure is that one rom or something didn't get removed. For example, I had an emoji switcher rom and I still have Google's emoji's instead of the default LG after reset. I can also lock my phone by double tapping the top left corner, which was another rom. This is all when "unrooted"
Can someone help me fix this? I don't have a warranty on the phone and SuperSU doesn't let me do anything on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after removing root, you need to flash back to stock to get it working again with the exploit.
Andorew said:
Alright, I don't really know what happened or what I did, but something bad happened. To begin with, I rooted my phone with Stump and that went fine. After a month or so my phone started to lock itself out and sometimes not unlock. This bug, I don't know what it was, was probably from one of the roms. I uninstalled and removed all the roms and "unrooted" my phone. When I try to root my phone again, it sees the phone as unsupported. I did a hard reset/ I even used towelroot and that was bad. My phone also can't be used on my computer because it won't read it as an LG device with a driver. I've hard reset several times and tried many things. What I know for sure is that one rom or something didn't get removed. For example, I had an emoji switcher rom and I still have Google's emoji's instead of the default LG after reset. I can also lock my phone by double tapping the top left corner, which was another rom. This is all when "unrooted"
Can someone help me fix this? I don't have a warranty on the phone and SuperSU doesn't let me do anything on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to flash back to stock via the link below. Once you Unroot it is the only way of getting root back. Plus it is always nice to know how to return to stock before someone starts rooting, flashing roms etc... so when you get into this positions you already know the solution.
Edit: Make sure you do not take the System update after you flash back to 10b otherwise you will not be able to root any way.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-lg-g3/general/guide-flash-to-stock-10b-kdz-method-t2928140
Jimi Mack said:
You have to flash back to stock via the link below. Once you Unroot it is the only way of getting root back. Plus it is always nice to know how to return to stock before someone starts rooting, flashing roms etc... so when you get into this positions you already know the solution.
Edit: Make sure you do not take the System update after you flash back to 10b otherwise you will not be able to root any way.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-lg-g3/general/guide-flash-to-stock-10b-kdz-method-t2928140
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the Help. I got my phone back to stock. I don't actually plan on rerooting it for a while. But, do you know why my phone won't take the system update? I tried to and an error appeared.
Andorew said:
Thanks for the Help. I got my phone back to stock. I don't actually plan on rerooting it for a while. But, do you know why my phone won't take the system update? I tried to and an error appeared.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you get back to stock via the method I supplied? It has to be done that way and then check in your "about phone" and verify you are on "10b". From here the phone should take the 11c update.
Jimi Mack said:
Did you get back to stock via the method I supplied? It has to be done that way and then check in your "about phone" and verify you are on "10b". From here the phone should take the 11c update.
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Click to collapse
Yes, I have 10b, but it fails to update to 11c
Andorew said:
Yes, I have 10b, but it fails to update to 11c
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you disable anything ?
If you returned to stock v10b via the .kdz file, you will not get the OTA because your are on an earlier version of v10b than the phone released with.
You are in a perfect situation to flash bumped TWRP recovery and then the v11c modem, system, and boot images, effectively updating you just like the OTA would have.
If you require the OTA to self-apply, then you need to restore using the .TOT method.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
trent999 said:
If you returned to stock v10b via the .kdz file, you will not get the OTA because your are on an earlier version of v10b than the phone released with.
You are in a perfect situation to flash bumped TWRP recovery and then the v11c modem, system, and boot images, effectively updating you just like the OTA would have.
If you require the OTA to self-apply, then you need to restore using the .TOT method.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can I flash a newer version such as 11c(Or upcoming Android L)? Without .tot
You can't. You kdz back to keep from getting the update so you can root and bump and flash roms. You tot to get to the right version to take the update
Once L is released OTA, our noble developers will make it possible for us who have root and recovery to flash the OTA components safely, retaining root and custom recovery.
We hope.
Why would you want to take the current locked OTA?
If you TOT you can still root. Before you take the update.
I am giving two VZW GS4's to my parents for Christmas and I would like to make things as simple as possible for them, which means getting rid of all the boatware that Verizon/Samsung includes. I'm familiar with rooting/flashing etc. with my Sprint GS4, but I am still somewhat bewildered by all the info regarding the VZW phones and all the different versions.
These VZW phones are on the NC5 baseband (?) and if I understand correctly they can be rooted with towelroot but cannot install a custom recovery because the bootloader is locked.
Once I root, will the phone still receive OTA updates and install properly, or will there just be a continual message saying that the update failed?
I don't plan on trying to install a custom ROM, but if I understand correctly the only way to do so is by using safestrap?
Is it possible to backup the phone, similar to a ROM backup in TWRP for example? Will I be able to return to a full stock state after root? In other words, after I root what happens if I do a factory data reset?
Thanks in advance.
buckeyestargazer said:
I am giving two VZW GS4's to my parents for Christmas and I would like to make things as simple as possible for them, which means getting rid of all the boatware that Verizon/Samsung includes. I'm familiar with rooting/flashing etc. with my Sprint GS4, but I am still somewhat bewildered by all the info regarding the VZW phones and all the different versions.
These VZW phones are on the NC5 baseband (?) and if I understand correctly they can be rooted with towelroot but cannot install a custom recovery because the bootloader is locked.
Once I root, will the phone still receive OTA updates and install properly, or will there just be a continual message saying that the update failed?
I don't plan on trying to install a custom ROM, but if I understand correctly the only way to do so is by using safestrap?
Is it possible to backup the phone, similar to a ROM backup in TWRP for example? Will I be able to return to a full stock state after root? In other words, after I root what happens if I do a factory data reset?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. You are correct. The nc5 can only be rooted. The bootloader is not unlocked or even possible to workaround; safestrap is your only option.
2. Once you root, your phone will not be stock anymore so OTAs will not work. You must unroot and restore your phone back to stock in order to update via OTA. However, if you learn how to use ODIN, your life will become much easier.
3. Safestrap is the only way.
4. You can backup with Safestrap. Yes you will be able to return back to a full stock state using ODIN. If you use ODIN to factory reset, your phone becomes back to stock i.e. unrooted.
Raymondlikesroot said:
2. Once you root, your phone will not be stock anymore so OTAs will not work. You must unroot and restore your phone back to stock in order to update via OTA. However, if you learn how to use ODIN, your life will become much easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. One more question: Once rooted, if I stay on the stock rom, will the phone still receive OTA update notifications (even though it will fail install)?
I'm a little familiar with odin so I should be able to go back to full stock if necessary.
buckeyestargazer said:
Thanks. One more question: Once rooted, if I stay on the stock rom, will the phone still receive OTA update notifications (even though it will fail install)?
I'm a little familiar with odin so I should be able to go back to full stock if necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, unfortunately, you will receive constant update messages. However, if you are rooted, you can stop these messages. Download an app called "titanium Backup" and freeze fwupdate.apk. That specific app is what causes all the update messages to appear.
Hey everyone. I decided I would unlock my bootloader and trip Knox about two days before towelroot came out. Yay.
I've since gotten the OPO, so I wasn't that concerned. I wanted to give the phone to my mom who lives in another state, so I Odin'ed back to what I believe is the most current OEM firmware available (NK2) because I want my mom to be able to get updates OTA and not have to worry about troubleshooting her phone as much as if it were a custom ROM, or a phone with root.
Unfortunately, checking for a system update says the system is modified (ROM is all stock though) and device status is custom. I also discovered while testing the phone (it had been sitting in a drawer for months) that the microphone isn't working very well. I tried different sims, calling different people on different networks, I'm sure it's hardware problem. Is there any way to re-enable the OTAs? I'd like to get this hardware problem warrantied. The knox tripping didn't destroy the mic, so please no judgement here. I'm also not comfortable in removing the glass to replace the mic. If the mic could be replaced without that step, I would simply do that.
Thank you.
rockingondrums said:
Hey everyone. I decided I would unlock my bootloader and trip Knox about two days before towelroot came out. Yay.
I've since gotten the OPO, so I wasn't that concerned. I wanted to give the phone to my mom who lives in another state, so I Odin'ed back to what I believe is the most current OEM firmware available (NK2) because I want my mom to be able to get updates OTA and not have to worry about troubleshooting her phone as much as if it were a custom ROM, or a phone with root.
Unfortunately, checking for a system update says the system is modified (ROM is all stock though) and device status is custom. I also discovered while testing the phone (it had been sitting in a drawer for months) that the microphone isn't working very well. I tried different sims, calling different people on different networks, I'm sure it's hardware problem. Is there any way to re-enable the OTAs? I'd like to get this hardware problem warrantied. The knox tripping didn't destroy the mic, so please no judgement here. I'm also not comfortable in removing the glass to replace the mic. If the mic could be replaced without that step, I would simply do that.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. Last time I Odined back to stock, using the tar file of the firmware version that came before NK2, my device was totally fine to receive OTA, despite Knox being tripped. Try removing root first, then Odin stock NK2, then factory reset.
Hm, so I now need to install SuperSU in order to use the un rooting function? I would've thought a full stock image file would've eliminated root...
EDIT - Simple Root checker says SuperSU is not installed BUT terminal app "does Rooted".
Installed SuperSU, but binary is not installed, so it doesn't run. WTH? What happened to the good old days of just flashing stock images and not worrying about it anymore?
SOLVED
I looked at the slightly outdated stock collection thread, flashed the NG4 stock image, then was able to take the OTA update to NK2. Went ahead and told T-Mobile the whole problem and they really only seemed to care if there was physical damage or water damage (which there is not).
Just leaving this here for future searches. How do I get this thread closed?