Removing the StageFright bug - AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III

I want to secure my phone from the recently discovered StageFright Android hack.
I want to remove the component/package that this bug is linked to.
I am running AT&T Rooted Stock (minus bloatware) 4.4.2 Baseband: I747UCUFNE4.
I want to remove the offending package with titanium backup until an Update can be issued.
Can someone let me know what package I need to remove?

You will be better off waiting for a xposed patch, stagefright (if you have been paying attention) is the media processor in android so if you take it out you loose most media playback
Sent from my Nexus 7 2013 using Tapatalk

crazymonkey05 said:
You will be better off waiting for a xposed patch, stagefright (if you have been paying attention) is the media processor in android so if you take it out you loose most media playback
Sent from my Nexus 7 2013 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T is never going to release an patch for my Device.

mrnapolean1 said:
AT&T is never going to release an patch for my Device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No they're not, but CM apparently has stagefright patched.
Maybe it is time to give a custom ROM a shot. :good:

jason2678 said:
No they're not, but CM apparently has stagefright patched.
Maybe it is time to give a custom ROM a shot. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have CM on my Captivate up until my screen took a ****.
Do you know any good tutorials for installing CM on the SIII?

mrnapolean1 said:
I have CM on my Captivate up until my screen took a ****.
Do you know any good tutorials for installing CM on the SIII?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some guides linked to these forums, but the ones I know of are pretty old and out of date. Samsung pushed Knox with the newer firmware updates, and that really changed how we have to handle this phone. The information you're after has been written all over this forum by many members, myself included, but I can't seem to find a decent post to link to right now. The problem is there is a lot of information, it is all fragmented across thousands of posts, hard to search (hard to find what you're after anyway), and some of the old information can be a little dangerous with the newer bootloaders.
The key to not bricking this phone is to know what bootloader and modem you're on and never, ever try to downgrade it (if you're on a newer one). First thing to do is install the Samsung phone info app from the play store and check your bootloader and baseband. Alternately enter this in a terminal:
Code:
getprop ro.bootloader
getprop gsm.version.baseband
If your bootloader ends in MJB, NE4, or NJ1 don't ever try to downgrade it. The result is a hard brick that is very difficult to recovery from. That means never Odin back to stock if you're on MJB, NE4, or NJ1. The only stock Odin package AT&T allowed to be released is the "ancient", new bootloader bricking LK3 Android 4.1.1 firmware.
If your bootloader or modem end in NE4 or NJ1 you're good to go. You can flash any newer ROM you want. If you're on MJB you're probably ok too. If you're on anything else your mobile data probably won't work with CM 12.1. You'll have to look into updating.
Another good thing to know is that the i747/d2att bootloaders are not locked and have never been locked. Do not attempt to unlock them. Any GS3 bootloader unlock procedure you come across is probably for the Verizon variant, and if you try it on a d2att you'll likely have a hard brick.
Also be aware that the i9300 was marketed as Galaxy S3 as well, but it is a totally different device on the inside. Never flash an i9300 ROM on a d2att phone.
Once you've verified what bootloader/modem you're on, and that it is good to go with CM 12.1, these are the basic steps I'd take if starting with an unmodded phone:
1) Download a SuperSU TWRP flashable zip and store it somewhere on your phone.
2) Use Odin to flash the latest version of TWRP for d2att. Uncheck everything but f.reset time so the phone doesn't auto reboot. Upon success pull battery.
3) Replace battery. Boot straight into recovery by holding vol up + home + power until you see some tiny blue text in the upper left then releasing. If you mess up and accidentally boot into your stock ROM your custom recovery will likely get overwritten with stock and you'll have to repeat step 2 and try again.
4) Flash SuperSU in TWRP.
5) Reboot to stock ROM. Use play store to update your SuperSU binary. You'll probably have to reboot once or twice, but eventually you'll get working root and Knox disabled.
6) In stock ROM open a terminal and enter:
Code:
su
reboot nvbackup
Your phone will reboot. It will seem like a pretty normal reboot, but you'll see some quick flashes of blue text in the upper left if your looking for it. This fixes a Samsung derp and makes sure you have a working EFS backup. This was the only reason we rooted your stock ROM; sorry about all that work just to do this but if your phone ever panics from a bad flash and triggers its autorestore function you'll be happy you did it.
7) Download ROM for d2att and matching gapps. Store them on external SD if you have one. Otherwise verify you can copy files from PC to phone via USB when your phone is booted into TWRP. With TWRP up an running you should just have to plug it in and phone will be recognized by PC as a media device you can transfer files to.
8) Reboot to recovery. Make a backup in TWRP. Store copies on external SD and somewhere off phone for safekeeping. In fact, always keep a nandroid backup or two, a ROM you know works, and a gapps package on an external SD - just in case.
9) Do wipe -> advanced wipe. Tick dalvik, cache, system, and data.
10) Do wipe -> format data. This is why your new ROM and gapps need to be on external SD. Otherwise you'll have a blank phone and you'll have to copy something over via usb or push it via adb to have something to flash. You don't need to do this every time you flash a ROM, but you do need to do it when switching from touchwiz to AOSP and vice versa.
11) Flash ROM
12) Flash gapps
13) Reboot - be patient. 1st boot might take 10 - 15 minutes on a lollipop ROM with this phone.
14) Profit
This probably isn't detailed enough to use as a walkthrough. It will give you an idea what to search and do more research and reading on, and I think I flagged most of the hard bricking pitfalls owners of this phone run into.. Make sure you understand the whole procedure before proceeding. Wouldn't want you to brick your phone trying to deal with a potential vulnerability there's a remote chance you might be targeted with.
Good luck. I made it sound a little scary, but as long as it is handled properly this phone is a flashing beast. If I haven't flashed mine dozens of times, then its in the hundreds. Never had anything go so wrong to the point that I could boot up into recovery and restore or flash my way out of it.

I have NE4 bootloaders

mrnapolean1 said:
AT&T is never going to release an patch for my Device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never said att, I meant Xposed framework. People release security patches on their all the time
Sent from my Nexus 7 2013 using Tapatalk

Related

[Q] CyanogenMod not getiing installed. SuperSU Crashing.

Hello All,
I am a beginner to all this stuff. I wanted to root my phone after seeing OnePlus One running on CyanogenMod. So, first I tried to directly install the Mod using the softwares downloaded from Cyanogen's website. But the software gave the error "Unsupported Firmware". Then I researched a bit on manually installing the mod. I followed the instructions.
- First I rooted my phone with Odin 3.09v
- Installed ROM Manger on my phone (Meanwhile the SuperSU app kept on crashing)
- Somehow I managed to install ClockworkMod (What I did was downloaded SuperSU apk, installed it again. It started working and then, not losing the chance I installed ClockworkMod).
- Then I tried to install CyanogenMod through ROM Manager
- My phone re-booted and then gave a error "Can't install package on incompatible data".
- I'm having the latest snapshot version on CyanogenMod.
- Then I left the things as it is. No rooting, unrooting, etc.
- So, now I tried to take backup of my current ROM, in case something happens at least I'll be having something with me to recover
- I used ROM Manager to take backup. But it gave the error "Can't create the image"
So, now I'm stuck between middle of nowhere. Please help me out to reach to some point.
svikramajit said:
Hello All,
I am a beginner to all this stuff. I wanted to root my phone after seeing OnePlus One running on CyanogenMod. So, first I tried to directly install the Mod using the softwares downloaded from Cyanogen's website. But the software gave the error "Unsupported Firmware". Then I researched a bit on manually installing the mod. I followed the instructions.
- First I rooted my phone with Odin 3.09v
- Installed ROM Manger on my phone (Meanwhile the SuperSU app kept on crashing)
- Somehow I managed to install ClockworkMod (What I did was downloaded SuperSU apk, installed it again. It started working and then, not losing the chance I installed ClockworkMod).
- Then I tried to install CyanogenMod through ROM Manager
- My phone re-booted and then gave a error "Can't install package on incompatible data".
- I'm having the latest snapshot version on CyanogenMod.
- Then I left the things as it is. No rooting, unrooting, etc.
- So, now I tried to take backup of my current ROM, in case something happens at least I'll be having something with me to recover
- I used ROM Manager to take backup. But it gave the error "Can't create the image"
So, now I'm stuck between middle of nowhere. Please help me out to reach to some point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, first I think your SuperSu is not working properly. Open the Supersu app to see if it needs to update binaries. If it continues to crash, go into recovery manually (not using rom manager) and flash the latest SuperSu. Wipe Cache, go to advanced and Wipe Dalvik. Reboot. Your phone will say "android is upgrading" for a bit. Once it's booted up, go back into the supersu app and see if it needs to update binaries, if so- let it update, if not- move on. Here's a link to download SuperSu 2.02
Go back into recovery manually and select backup and restore-> backup to sdcard (or sdcard1, external sd, is my preference) This will start the backup process.
Once that is done, you need to find the CyanogenMod file specific to your phone, then you can enter recovery and flash it.
If you have trouble entering recovery, you can flash a new one via recovery or with odin.
Hello absinthesummer,
I followed every instruction you told. Now I'm done till creating backup. The problem now I'm facing is this 'Status 7' error. It says "Can't install package on incompatible data.....". Now what to do?
Status 7 is a very specific error. It means your recovery is out of date. Get the absolute newest you can find and try again. This is good news though, you've got progress!
---------- Post added at 11:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------
Edit: flash the latest recovery you can find via Odin. You probably won't be able to do it in recovery while you're getting the status 7 error.
absinthesummer said:
Status 7 is a very specific error. It means your recovery is out of date. Get the absolute newest you can find and try again. This is good news though, you've got progress!
---------- Post added at 11:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------
Edit: flash the latest recovery you can find via Odin. You probably won't be able to do it in recovery while you're getting the status 7 error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I've got the latest recovery. But I figured out the problem. It was with the package I downloaded. The CM 11 M9 version was giving errors. I researched and tried few fixes, but still it didn't work.
The fixes I tried :-
1. Deleting some coding lines from the updater-script file. But this fix gave the status 6 error.
2. Changing the updater-script file format to UNIX format. Then again it gave the status 7 error.
So, what I did, when I had no more brain to fix it, I downloaded the CM 11 M6 version and tried installing it. And VOILA! It worked. Then I updated it to M9 version through phone. Now it's working. Though it has some bugs. And some features are missing too that I wanted badly.
svikramajit said:
No, I've got the latest recovery. But I figured out the problem. It was with the package I downloaded. The CM 11 M9 version was giving errors. I researched and tried few fixes, but still it didn't work.
The fixes I tried :-
1. Deleting some coding lines from the updater-script file. But this fix gave the status 6 error.
2. Changing the updater-script file format to UNIX format. Then again it gave the status 7 error.
So, what I did, when I had no more brain to fix it, I downloaded the CM 11 M6 version and tried installing it. And VOILA! It worked. Then I updated it to M9 version through phone. Now it's working. Though it has some bugs. And some features are missing too that I wanted badly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! I'm glad you got it working. You can also try comparing the two files to see what's different, or maybe swap the updater script. Maybe you'll be able to get the one you wanted working with a little modification
absinthesummer said:
Awesome! I'm glad you got it working. You can also try comparing the two files to see what's different, or maybe swap the updater script. Maybe you'll be able to get the one you wanted working with a little modification
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to you. You too helped me in working it out!
But, I have some more questions
Question 1 : If I flash stock ROM on my rooted phone, will I receive the new updates? If yes, will I be able to install them via Kies on my phone without getting into any trouble?
Question 2 : If I install stock ROM of any other phone, say Galaxy S5, will it work on my phone properly without any problems? If yes, will I receive the updates for that too and able to install them via Kies? If no, is there any way to install it? Cause I have seen people using S5 ROM on Note 2.
First question the answer is yes. As long as you have the stock recovery and stock kernel (along with the stock rom) you will receive ota updates. You can use ota root keeper (an app) to keep root during an ota update. There are many people who choose to stay fully stock but root to get rid of bloatware & stuff. However, if you want to get ota, I recommend freezing the bloatware instead of uninstalling, because an ota usually replaces old bloatware with new bloatware and can sometimes abort the ota if those apps are missing... but keep on mind this is not always the case, only certain devices.
Second question, no you cannot. Roms from other devices have to be ported to be compatible. But if you look in the development forums, you can find many roms that are basically stock but have specific features from other roms, along with the system ui (ie S5, note 3, & so forth). These rom devs have ported either parts/features or full on roms to be compatible on our device. They are excellent! I recommend reading up them and if you see some you like, try them out!
absinthesummer said:
First question the answer is yes. As long as you have the stock recovery and stock kernel (along with the stock rom) you will receive ota updates. You can use ota root keeper (an app) to keep root during an ota update. There are many people who choose to stay fully stock but root to get rid of bloatware & stuff. However, if you want to get ota, I recommend freezing the bloatware instead of uninstalling, because an ota usually replaces old bloatware with new bloatware and can sometimes abort the ota if those apps are missing... but keep on mind this is not always the case, only certain devices.
Second question, no you cannot. Roms from other devices have to be ported to be compatible. But if you look in the development forums, you can find many roms that are basically stock but have specific features from other roms, along with the system ui (ie S5, note 3, & so forth). These rom devs have ported either parts/features or full on roms to be compatible on our device. They are excellent! I recommend reading up them and if you see some you like, try them out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Stock Recovery
- Stock Kernel
- OTA Root Keeper
- Bloatware
Well, to be honest, just right now I learned these new terms but know nothing about them. Can you please give me a brief description for these four terms so that when I do advanced search on them, I'd have a idea in my mind about what these are. It will make it easy for me to understand the advance things.
And I'm looking for S5 ROM for my phone. Let's see what I get.
One more question. I made a backup of my rooted stock ROM via latest ClockwordMod, manually. Now, if I reset the binary counter using Triangle Away and then wipe Cache and Dalvik and then flash my stock ROM which is located on my memory card and then after flashing I use SuperSU to unroot and then a factory reset (I don't know the method of factory reseting cause I'm confused. Whether to do it manually, like going into recovery mode or just from the phone settings. So please tell me this also.), will my phone be unrooted totally?
And sorry for bugging you so much. I hate to do that, but I don't want to take risk with my phone. So I am just collecting information. I hope so many queries are not a problem for you.
Ok...
You already know what a rom is. A kernel is a lower-level base. It controls the hardware. So when you do something on the interface, in the rom, it tells the hardware how to react. (Ie if you're playing music it tells which speakers to play and how loudly). The kernel controls almost everything you can't see, it relates to performance. Most stock kernels can be limiting as they underclock the cpu by a certain percentage. Because of this, people seek out custom kernels to max out their device's potential. Louder speakers, faster cpu, better graphics, etc. This is all stuff the kernel can optimize... but because you can change so many factors there is a risk of instability if you push your device too hard (max performance) or limit it too much (max battery saving).
Recovery is exactly what it sounds like. When you boot your device the very first screen that pops up is the bootloader. It's giving you time to boot in 3 different modes. The first mode, by doing nothing, is a normal boot into the rom/OS. The second mode, which you get to by one button combination, takes you to recovery. The stock recovery is very limited. It gives you the option to factory restore, wipe cache, update, or boot normally. Stock recovery only exists for emergencies, if your phone fails to boot normally. We have custom recoveries so we can do more stuff, flash custom roms and tinker with things. The third mode is download mode/Odin mode. This is the bootloader interface itself. It's the last resort for recovery if your recovery has been damaged or corrupted. It allows you to connect to Odin or kies and perform an emergency recovery of the device. If you damage your bootloader, your device is completely bricked.
So the order of operation is this:
Lowest level- bootloader
Second level- recovery
Third level- kernel
Fourth level- rom
Bloatware is all the pre-installed apps that your carrier adds to your phone. Most people don't use it, don't like it, and don't want it. That why we root. Without root we basically are just guest users of the device. With root we become the administrators of the device. Until you root, your carrier has admin rights over your phone (to use windows terms).
When you receive an ota update, your carrier can make it to where the update won't proceed if their pre-installed apps have been removed (although this isn't always the case). Additionally, the update package itself checks the integrity of the device. It checks recovery, kernel, and rom. If any have been altered, it will not proceed because it could cause conflict and potentially brick your device. That's why those things have to be stock.
Ota root keeper is simply an app that backs up your superuser rights before an update and restores them after its done.
You should be able to find plenty of roms with S5 features. I'm using one that makes my device fully like an S5 (my device even thinks it is an S5 and every app identifies it as such) I can think of at least 2 others as well. There's plenty to choose from, and if you see a rom you like but it's mudding a particular feature, you can probably find that feature as a stand-alone installation in the forum's themes & apps section. Just about every feature of S5, S4, and note 3 has been ported to this device, so look around!
Also, for future reference, if someone helps you on the forum, hit the thanks button instead of saying it. I don't mind either way, but some people get annoyed and will stop helping them if they don't hit that button lol. It's silly, but it's part of "forum decorum"
---------- Post added at 12:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 AM ----------
svikramajit said:
One more question. I made a backup of my rooted stock ROM via latest ClockwordMod, manually. Now, if I reset the binary counter using Triangle Away and then wipe Cache and Dalvik and then flash my stock ROM which is located on my memory card and then after flashing I use SuperSU to unroot and then a factory reset (I don't know the method of factory reseting cause I'm confused. Whether to do it manually, like going into recovery mode or just from the phone settings. So please tell me this also.), will my phone be unrooted totally?
And sorry for bugging you so much. I hate to do that, but I don't want to take risk with my phone. So I am just collecting information. I hope so many queries are not a problem for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're fine, I don't mind answering your questions. Yes, you can unroot fully in the way you just mentioned but you don't even have to go through all the trouble of factory reset. Just unroot in the app. The app can be uninstalled afterwards via the play store.
You can factory reset either way, the same commands are given no matter which way you go about it. But it can be more efficient to do it from recovery because when you do it from the rom it has to create a wipe script for when it reboots, and it has to shut down the rom first. If you do it from recovery it doesn't have to anything, the rom isn't running and it can execute the wipe command immediately. (The wipe command is wipe /data /cache etc)
Thanks again for all that great info!
Questions : Is there no way to fix the Bootloader if it gets damaged by chance? And which S5 ROM are you using?
svikramajit said:
Thanks again for all that great info!
Questions : Is there no way to fix the Bootloader if it gets damaged by chance? And which S5 ROM are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you damage the bootloader it's a hard brick and you would have to send it in for jtag services (this is a low level emmc chip flash service) The bootloader won't get damaged unless you do something to corrupt it. If you ever feel the need to flash a new bootloader, do it via Odin, never recovery! If you remember that you should be fine.
svikramajit said:
Thanks again for all that great info!
Questions : Is there no way to fix the Bootloader if it gets damaged by chance? And which S5 ROM are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant to tell you I'm using DN3 rom. It has an aroma installer that lets you choose whether you want an S5 ui, a note 3 ui or a mixed ui. Choosing S5 ui & S5 build prop allows your device to work with S5 apps & it looks just like an S5. It's not the only rom out there, but it's beautiful, fast, and stable & the team works hard on it.
absinthesummer said:
I meant to tell you I'm using DN3 rom. It has an aroma installer that lets you choose whether you want an S5 ui, a note 3 ui or a mixed ui. Choosing S5 ui & S5 build prop allows your device to work with S5 apps & it looks just like an S5. It's not the only rom out there, but it's beautiful, fast, and stable & the team works hard on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey absinthesummer!
I tried to unroot my phone with the method I told you. But in the restore option, I am stuck at 'Checking MD5 Sums..'. What to do now?
MD5 checking takes forever! You have to wait it out. Most recoveries offer a way to turn it off. You shouldn't have to factory reset though, just click unroot in the super su app and then uninstall the app from the play store.
absinthesummer said:
MD5 checking takes forever! You have to wait it out. Most recoveries offer a way to turn it off. You shouldn't have to factory reset though, just click unroot in the super su app and then uninstall the app from the play store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I waited and the system was restored. But I got an error on 'Restoring Data'. I rebooted the phone and now it's showing glowing Samsung logo from like 3-4 minutes.
I've seen that before. Can you get back into recovery? You may have to flash stock in Odin, flash recovery and then do the Restore again. Data got messed up.
absinthesummer said:
I've seen that before. Can you get back into recovery? You may have to flash stock in Odin, flash recovery and then do the Restore again. Data got messed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try removing the battery now. Let's see what happens.
Ok if you can get into recovery, do a fresh flash and then try to restore again. And see if it offers a way to turn off MD5 checking. That's why I use philz or twrp, they offer that and move much faster through MD5 check by default.
---------- Post added at 11:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 AM ----------
If you still fail on data, flash stock in Odin, flash custom recovery, then you should be able to enter recovery and have a successful restore.

PSA: Don't Odin 5.1.1!

T-mobile has introduced rollback protection for both kernel and bootloader. There is no going back or flashing a non signed kernel for now.
More info as this develops.
This is true, this OTA does NOT allow you to odin @eousphoros TWRP version. It also does not allow you to downgrade kernel or bootloader, this leaving you on stock until @Chainfire and @bigbiff can have a look at the OTA..This is a sad day for T Mobile users
Notice the splash screen as well, it says "RECOVERY IS NOT SEANDROID ENFORCING". Youl will get the same message when attempting to downgrade your kernel...
Bl rollback protection
so does the switch to unlock the bootloader in the developer options not have any bearing on the rollback protection?
This is great news, not more than 1 hour prior to the message getting posted i had finished loading 5.11, without greenify in rooted mode, it's already using more battery life than previously with root.. This totally stinks.
Dangit. If only I had waited 2 hours more.
bsimpson1 said:
so does the switch to unlock the bootloader in the developer options not have any bearing on the rollback protection?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It didn't for me. After switching that enable oem unlocking to on, I still had the above mentioned issues
Surge1223 said:
Bl rollback protection
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it possible that this is fundamental to all 5.1.1 builds? The same thing happened to us on the Nexus 6. There were a few whom unknowingly downgradded their bootloaders, and ended up hard bricking their devices.
Even on reboot, in developer options, the toggle for "Allow OEM Unlock" would switch to the off position. This didn't mean that the bootloader was locked, but it did mean that you had to reset it. Most rom devs have since flipped the switch on startup.
My hope is that you will soon have working recovery and root on the latest firmware, irrespective of whether you can or cannot downgrade.
Curious, can we build a new ROM that includes the @eousphoros kernel, the OF6 system.img, and modem.bin? (without including the new OF6 kernel or the new sboot.img?)
Edit: Upon further thinking, there'd be no reason to use a different kernel, just NOT include the new bootloader, right?
Aou said:
Curious, can we build a new ROM that includes the @eousphoros kernel, the OF6 system.img, and modem.bin? (without including the new OF6 kernel or the new sboot.img?)
Edit: Upon further thinking, there'd be no reason to use a different kernel, just NOT include the new bootloader, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's what's interesting about that....the eousphoros leaked 5.1.1 kernel is NOT seandroid enforcing, and the new bootloader recognizes that and doesn't let you boot with it.
It also recognizes the 5.0.2 kernel is another android version and it will fail during an odin flash
bajasur said:
Here's what's interesting about that....the eousphoros leaked 5.1.1 kernel is NOT seandroid enforcing, and the new bootloader recognizes that and doesn't let you boot with it.
It also recognizes the 5.0.2 kernel is another android version and it will fail during an odin flash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm talking about for those who haven't already taken the OTA or haven't Odin'ed the new one yet.
Aou said:
I'm talking about for those who haven't already taken the OTA or haven't Odin'ed the new one yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think if you can include the leaked 5.1.1 bootloader you might be golden
bajasur said:
I think if you can include the leaked 5.1.1 bootloader you might be golden
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I'm just going to include system.img, boot.img, cache.img and modem.bin.
anyone know wtf cm.bin is? I can't seem to find out any info on what it is or if it should be included.
Edit: well, I upgraded from the unofficial 5.1.1 to OF6, only flashing the four partitions mentioned above. It booted fine, rebuilt the dalvik cache for all my apps, and was doing OK.... except that the fingerprint reader wasn't working and LTE was also not working. Strange. So, I rebooted.... and bootloop.
So, I boot into TWRP (because I still have that!), and wiped cache/dalvik. Stilla bootloop (immediate bootloop). Dang. Wiped cache/dalvik again. Still the same.
So, I flashed the unofficial 5.1.1 via TWRP. This time, it's stuck at the first "galaxy s6 edge" screen.
So, I've re-created my odin package again. This time without cache.img, but I included cm.bin. Let's see if I just shot myself in the foot?
Edit2: Well, it's booting again, for what it's worth... at least to the Android is Starting screen again... it'll be a few minutes...
Aou said:
Actually, I'm just going to include system.img, boot.img, cache.img and modem.bin.
anyone know wtf cm.bin is? I can't seem to find out any info on what it is or if it should be included.
Edit: well, I upgraded from the unofficial 5.1.1 to OF6, only flashing the four partitions mentioned above. It booted fine, rebuilt the dalvik cache for all my apps, and was doing OK.... except that the fingerprint reader wasn't working and LTE was also not working. Strange. So, I rebooted.... and bootloop.
So, I boot into TWRP (because I still have that!), and wiped cache/dalvik. Stilla bootloop (immediate bootloop). Dang. Wiped cache/dalvik again. Still the same.
So, I flashed the unofficial 5.1.1 via TWRP. This time, it's stuck at the first "galaxy s6 edge" screen.
So, I've re-created my odin package again. This time without cache.img, but I included cm.bin. Let's see if I just shot myself in the foot?
Edit2: Well, it's booting again, for what it's worth... at least to the Android is Upgrading screen again... it'll be a few minutes...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong but I believe the bootloader may be in more than just sboot.bin, @Surge1223 would know better than I.
A quick update: It booted fine, but the fingerprint reader still borked. I was thinking that the LTE wasn't going to work again (stuck on Edge), but I think I just didn't give it enough time last go-around. The LTE cam up after turning mobile data off/on again.
The phone was going very slow, not snappy at all. So I rebooted. And, this time, no bootloop! yay. The fingerprint reader is still not working, though. The speed picked up. I'm also noticing that the brightness sensor isn't working right, perhaps?
Now the next question: Can I still downgrade?
Edit: Well, so far, it's letting me Odin back to OCG stock. The "RP SWREV:" is 1 and "Kernel RP SWREV:" is also 1. Downloading...
(I've had issues using Odin-to-stock after running the unofficial 5.1.1 update, so I might not be able to boot after this...)
Edit2: Well, it worked. I'm back on OCG stock. I can't fully boot (I can only get as far as the TMobile screen), but that's a side-effect of trying to Odin back to OCG without wiping data/cache/dalvik. If I were to do that, I'd be back on OCG stock fully. For the meantime, though, I'm going to jump back on the unofficial 5.1.1 update.
Edit3: Well, for some reason I'm not able to seamlessly boot back into the unofficial 5.1.1. I was able to flash TWRP just fine and flash the 5.1.1, but I get stuck on the "galaxy s6 edge" screen on subsequent boots. Tried formatting System/cache/dalvik. Not willing to format Data yet, though.
Older kernels often don't boot on new bootloaders. This is fairly common on Samsung devices (and also very annoying). This would in fact often halt at the "kernel is not SEAndroid enforcing" line. Rolling back bootloaders to older versions also usually doesn't work.
A rebuild of TWRP or whatever custom kernel you're using may be all there is needed. I wouldn't be scared of bootloader locks just now. On the other hand, I wouldn't flash it yet either
Chainfire said:
Older kernels often don't boot on new bootloaders. This is fairly common on Samsung devices (and also very annoying). This would in fact often halt at the "kernel is not SEAndroid enforcing" line. Rolling back bootloaders to older versions also usually doesn't work.
A rebuild of TWRP or whatever custom kernel you're using may be all there is needed. I wouldn't be scared of bootloader locks just now. On the other hand, I wouldn't flash it yet either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for dropping in and shedding some light on this Chainfire. We all greatly appreciate it.
Hopefully this is just a minor hiccup.
The kernel revision is in the decrypted boot.img signature, and the bootloader rollback protection is in eFuse bank. I've not yet researched any Exynos devices before, but in the past they've used the RPMB (a special, protected hardware partition on the eMMC) to store their 'fuse' bits. However, with recent hardware trends, I wouldn't be surprised if they implemented a true one-time-programmable fuse bank. This is the future of Samsung.
Alright, screw it. I'm just going to flash the full OF6. Chainfire has a very valid point. We faced this same kind of crap on the T-Mobile Galaxy S5. It wasn't really a problem with locked bootloaders, it was a problem of downgrading the kernel/recovery (or trying to downgrade the bootloader itself). He's absolutely right.
Yes, there's some chance that they've added some sort of hash-checking for flashing new binaries (essentially locking the bootloader), but I'm not terribly worried. I've been using the leaked 5.1.1 update for a while now without root, and I've been "mostly" okay with it. I'm really just waiting for Chainfire to graciously invest some of his time in finding a root for the Samsung version of Android 5.1.1. I can wait.
So, here goes taking the plunge, the full OF6 and all... 3...2...1...
Chainfire said:
Older kernels often don't boot on new bootloaders. This is fairly common on Samsung devices (and also very annoying). This would in fact often halt at the "kernel is not SEAndroid enforcing" line. Rolling back bootloaders to older versions also usually doesn't work.
A rebuild of TWRP or whatever custom kernel you're using may be all there is needed. I wouldn't be scared of bootloader locks just now. On the other hand, I wouldn't flash it yet either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I remember the downgrading bootloaders and modem issue on many other Samsung devices kit kat on up, ie s3, s5, note 3 excluding the engineered bootloader work around. But we were still ok moving forward, but I think I'll hold off on the update to see what happens now

[ROM][TAR] SM-N910P Stock OF5 Odin Flashable

This is NOT ROOTED. Its the original TAR file for people who need an Emergency Recovery for their phones, and don't want to wait hours for it to download from slow file hosts.
Edit: New link added 6/21/16
Download Link: Google Drive
Do NOT rename the tar file, it may cause Odin to fail the md5 check.
Code:
(N910PVPU3BOF5_N910PSPT3BOF5_N910PVPU3BOF5_HOME.tar.md5)
Instructions:
1. Download and Extract tar above and download Odin
2. Put phone into download mode (power off, then power button + Volume Down, then volume up when prompted)
3. Open Odin (right click > open as administrator)
4. Load stock tar into the PDA slot
5. Start flashing
6. Grab some popcorn because it will take a while
7. Profit
@random45, PSA: more direct link available here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=61880147&postcount=14
itskapil said:
@random45, PSA: more direct link available here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=61880147&postcount=14
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not for the Note 4...
random45 said:
That is not for the Note 4...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@random45 Corrected.. ! pls check now.
Here's the OF5 TAR: http://www.theandroidsoul.com/download/download-sprint-galaxy-note-4-update-n910pvpu3bof5/
I just used this and it worked flawlessly. Thank you.
Thanks alot
This link is dead, it's actually deemed "dangerous", which of course is crap... Does anyone have a link to this firmware?
grmcrkrs said:
This link is dead, it's actually deemed "dangerous", which of course is crap... Does anyone have a link to this firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No but the next update up though
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3250864
Sent from my Not4 Mod using Tapatalk
Does anybody still have this firmware version available? The latest marshmallow updates are destroying Galaxy phones left and right with no solution other than paying Samsung to fix the problem and waiting 2 weeks without your device.
random45 said:
This is NOT ROOTED. Its the original TAR file for people who need an Emergency Recovery for their phones, and don't want to wait hours for it to download from slow file hosts.
Download Link: MediaFire
Do NOT rename the tar file, it may cause Odin to fail the md5 check.
Code:
(N910PVPU3BOF5_N910PSPT3BOF5_N910PVPU3BOF5_HOME.tar.md5)
Instructions:
1. Download and Extract tar above and download Odin
2. Put phone into download mode (power off, then power button + Volume Down, then volume up when prompted)
3. Open Odin (right click > open as administrator)
4. Load stock tar into the PDA slot
5. Start flashing
6. Grab some popcorn because it will take a while
7. Profit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tommacco said:
Does anybody still have this firmware version available? The latest marshmallow updates are destroying Galaxy phones left and right with no solution other than paying Samsung to fix the problem and waiting 2 weeks without your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its still in my mediafire folder. I'll upload it to another site since mediafire has flagged it
Edit: Here is the new link
Thank you so much. I will let you know if this actually fixes my woes.... this ROM may become a major fix for a lot of people while Samsung continues to argue with us that there isn't a problem worth filing a bug report for.
random45 said:
Its still in my mediafire folder. I'll upload it to another site since mediafire has flagged it
Edit: Here is the new link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bah, giving me a software revision check error in odin. I guess this means I have to replace the bootloader? samsung is killing me here, they issued a faulty update and blocked off all means of recovery... won't buy one of these devices again.
tommacco said:
Bah, giving me a software revision check error in odin. I guess this means I have to replace the bootloader? samsung is killing me here, they issued a faulty update and blocked off all means of recovery... won't buy one of these devices again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know what problem you're experiencing but most likely you can't go back to Android 5.0 through Odin.
Did you try OG5 or higher stock tar? Actually, I'd recommend OK1 or latest. If older ROMs are your goal, backup, wipe everything but extSdCard and Odin OG5 and up to match bootloader of ROM, flash the ROM. Do not Odin any tar below OG5.
If the ROM is Android 5.0 or KitKat, I think you still need to flash an Odin tar that's Android 5.1 and you need to flash an Android 5.1 kernel, like Beastmode 2.2 Flash ROM and then kernel before booting.
Can't imagine latest ROMs are to blame for ruining your phone. Marshmallow is a bit if a prude until you get familiar with it and setup properly. But if that's not to your liking, give Moar 2.1b a try. Backup and wipe as above and Odin back to OK1 if you don't have a backup. Follow the OP install instructions.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
samep said:
Don't know what problem you're experiencing but most likely you can't go back to Android 5.0 through Odin.
Did you try OG5 or higher stock tar? Actually, I'd recommend OK1 or latest. If older ROMs are your goal, backup, wipe everything but extSdCard and Odin OG5 and up to match bootloader of ROM, flash the ROM. Do not Odin any tar below OG5.
If the ROM is Android 5.0 or KitKat, I think you still need to flash an Odin tar that's Android 5.1 and you need to flash an Android 5.1 kernel, like Beastmode 2.2 Flash ROM and then kernel before booting.
Can't imagine latest ROMs are to blame for ruining your phone. Marshmallow is a bit if a prude until you get familiar with it and setup properly. But if that's not to your liking, give Moar 2.1b a try. Backup and wipe as above and Odin back to OK1 if you don't have a backup. Follow the OP install instructions.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock OTA update from Sprint (PE1) started all these shenanigans with the phone, and it's done the same for many people across a few different carriers from what I've seen on the internet.
tommacco said:
The stock OTA update from Sprint (PE1) started all these shenanigans with the phone, and it's done the same for many people across a few different carriers from what I've seen on the internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I updated bootloader and baseband only to PE1 and flashed a custom ROM. Later flashed a custom PE2 ROM. The ROMs are Note 4our by @freeza beta 2 and beta 3.
I see nothing wrong with PE1 or PE2. Did you try a factory reset? It does seem data from Lollipop can interfere with custom ROMs on Marshmallow. Main issue I saw with that was ItsOn on the root folder: /carrier/ItsOn The apk in that folder can partially activate on a factory reset and continually reboot a phone trying to setup the ItsOn bootstrapper but cannot so the cycle continues until you fix it. Wiping internal memory and factory reset prior to custom ROM (especially after stock tar update) will help but the developers may have removed that possibility in recent ROMs.
OTA may be suspect too but may only apply if rooting it. ItsOn and Knox don't play nice with root.
I'm not aware of cross carrier issues though?
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
samep said:
I updated bootloader and baseband only to PE1 and flashed a custom ROM. Later flashed a custom PE2 ROM. The ROMs are Note 4our by @freeza beta 2 and beta 3.
I see nothing wrong with PE1 or PE2. Did you try a factory reset? It does seem data from Lollipop can interfere with custom ROMs on Marshmallow. Main issue I saw with that was ItsOn on the root folder: /carrier/ItsOn The apk in that folder can partially activate on a factory reset and continually reboot a phone trying to setup the ItsOn bootstrapper but cannot so the cycle continues until you fix it. Wiping internal memory and factory reset prior to custom ROM (especially after stock tar update) will help but the developers may have removed that possibility in recent ROMs.
OTA may be suspect too but may only apply if rooting it. ItsOn and Knox don't play nice with root.
I'm not aware of cross carrier issues though?
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done factory reset, wiped cache partition, reflashed PE1 and PE2 to no avail. This all started with OTA updates- I didn't touch the software or try flashing anything myself until these problems persisted and didn't go away with factory resets. I've seen others report these same issues in sprint/other forums, seems they ran into similar issues with recent OTA updates of the S5 as well. Sprint claims they're aware of this and are working with Samsung, Samsung support claims it's my problem and I have to pay to get them to reflash the latest update (which I've proven to myself is futile), in the meantime I'm left with a device that is essentially crippled by these frequent restarts and crashes. That's what I get for sticking with stock software ::sigh::. I may start exploring custom ROMs, which I tend to not trust due to the obvious security concerns, so I'm not left with a $700 brick as Sprint and Samsung worry exclusively about devices launched in the last 6 months.
tommacco said:
I've done factory reset, wiped cache partition, reflashed PE1 and PE2 to no avail. This all started with OTA updates- I didn't touch the software or try flashing anything myself until these problems persisted and didn't go away with factory resets. I've seen others report these same issues in sprint/other forums, seems they ran into similar issues with recent OTA updates of the S5 as well. Sprint claims they're aware of this and are working with Samsung, Samsung support claims it's my problem and I have to pay to get them to reflash the latest update (which I've proven to myself is futile), in the meantime I'm left with a device that is essentially crippled by these frequent restarts and crashes. That's what I get for sticking with stock software ::sigh::. I may start exploring custom ROMs, which I tend to not trust due to the obvious security concerns, so I'm not left with a $700 brick as Sprint and Samsung worry exclusively about devices launched in the last 6 months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's things like Carrier IQ, ItsOn, Knox, infrequent kernel updates (well that may be corrected now with monthly security updates) and bloat that prohibits my trust of carrier and manufacturer to get things right where my battery doesn't drain, phone doesn't lag and get warm for no apparent reason. Just hate the feeling that someone else just used my phone when I wake it out of standby.
I may have to agree to those terms to run the software but it doesn't prohibit developers from using open source code and methods to make things work better. IMO, that improves personal security rather than put me at risk. It may only be network meta data that Sprint retrieves with ItsOn but that doesn't come without a loss of battery and resources (induced drain and lag).
I trust little but the ROMs I run are mostly stock. Just have the garbage removed or under control with some added custom features. But I still can't deal with Sprint Zone running on my phone but I may not be in the majority on that one. I freeze it.
You mentioned checking custom ROMs out, freeza has a PE1/PE2 ROM out that takes an additional step to prevent some of the things I've brought up with rooted phones. It may help with your frequent reboots. I'm running it with PE1 bootloader and baseband until those flashes are available for PE2 in the bootloader baseband thread.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
samep said:
It's things like Carrier IQ, ItsOn, Knox, infrequent kernel updates (well that may be corrected now with monthly security updates) and bloat that prohibits my trust of carrier and manufacturer to get things right where my battery doesn't drain, phone doesn't lag and get warm for no apparent reason. Just hate the feeling that someone else just used my phone when I wake it out of standby.
I may have to agree to those terms to run the software but it doesn't prohibit developers from using open source code and methods to make things work better. IMO, that improves personal security rather than put me at risk. It may only be network meta data that Sprint retrieves with ItsOn but that doesn't come without a loss of battery and resources (induced drain and lag).
I trust little but the ROMs I run are mostly stock. Just have the garbage removed or under control with some added custom features. But I still can't deal with Sprint Zone running on my phone but I may not be in the majority on that one. I freeze it.
You mentioned checking custom ROMs out, freeza has a PE1/PE2 ROM out that takes an additional step to prevent some of the things I've brought up with rooted phones. It may help with your frequent reboots. I'm running it with PE1 bootloader and baseband until those flashes are available for PE2 in the bootloader baseband thread.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I don't really trust Sprint at all to be honest with you, or any US carrier for that matter... my options seem to be limited toward trying to deal with this nonsense, flashing custom ROMs for which I can't verify the security integrity (sure a lot of folks doing this stuff mean well, but it only takes one bad actor and all of the sudden what little privacy I have is gone), or switching to Apple who thoroughly QAs all of their releases, gives loaners out when problems arise, etc. None of those options are particularly appealing to me unfortunately.
---------- Post added at 05:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------
samep said:
I updated bootloader and baseband only to PE1 and flashed a custom ROM. Later flashed a custom PE2 ROM. The ROMs are Note 4our by @freeza beta 2 and beta 3.
I see nothing wrong with PE1 or PE2. Did you try a factory reset? It does seem data from Lollipop can interfere with custom ROMs on Marshmallow. Main issue I saw with that was ItsOn on the root folder: /carrier/ItsOn The apk in that folder can partially activate on a factory reset and continually reboot a phone trying to setup the ItsOn bootstrapper but cannot so the cycle continues until you fix it. Wiping internal memory and factory reset prior to custom ROM (especially after stock tar update) will help but the developers may have removed that possibility in recent ROMs.
OTA may be suspect too but may only apply if rooting it. ItsOn and Knox don't play nice with root.
I'm not aware of cross carrier issues though?
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems as though the PD1 firmware (had to remove the cache.img.ext4 and repackage it) has since fixed these problems. I will update this thread if I noticed the problems again, but if anyone else is coming across the problems I noticed I would highly suggest atttempting this line of remediation since Sprint and Samsung support will not help you.
tommacco said:
Yeah I don't really trust Sprint at all to be honest with you, or any US carrier for that matter... my options seem to be limited toward trying to deal with this nonsense, flashing custom ROMs for which I can't verify the security integrity (sure a lot of folks doing this stuff mean well, but it only takes one bad actor and all of the sudden what little privacy I have is gone), or switching to Apple who thoroughly QAs all of their releases, gives loaners out when problems arise, etc. None of those options are particularly appealing to me unfortunately.
---------- Post added at 05:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------
It seems as though the PD1 firmware (had to remove the cache.img.ext4 and repackage it) has since fixed these problems. I will update this thread if I noticed the problems again, but if anyone else is coming across the problems I noticed I would highly suggest atttempting this line of remediation since Sprint and Samsung support will not help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why did you repackage cache? It only contains csc related things and I assume won't flash with odin unless the entire tar is repacked with a different md5

[V2][Update][Root][G955U]PartCyborgRom - SamFail Rooted/Debloated/Audio/More

SamFail presents...
PartCyborgRom
BQL1
A Rooted Custom Rom
For G955U/W, Bootloader Revisions 1, 2, 3​
Updates
NOW Supporting Bootloader V3!
I am happy to announce that BL version 3 phones are now supported by PartCyborgRom!
Just download the Version 3 BL further down in this post (after reading everything in between!) and use it in place of the normal BL Part2 file.
NOTICE: Rooting Process Steps Updated!
Enough people are coming from later bootloader revisions that have some extra protections that I updated the process to use an additional step. Many of you have used this step already at my suggestion when your AP flash was failing with Auth Error without a reboot to Upload.
Featured Modifications
Deodexed
Deodexed for all devices.
I found a way that works!
It should keep working as long as nougat
(is that a haiku?)
Xposed Preinstalled
PCR now comes out of the flasher with xposed pre-installed!
NOTE: Xposed Installer may crash on first boot. It will not crash after setup finishes and you reboot
New Boot Animation
Another great one from @Ryan-refoua.
This one is my favorite so far.
JamesDSP
I added another DSP style audio mod. JamesDSP is similar to V4A in how it operates and what features it has, but it has some really awesome features that have made me a fan and a regular user. Among other things, it has a better convolver (IRS processing) implementation, and its bass boost is significantly better than v4a. If there are things you like about V4A you can use both at the same time.
ITYBP Modded YouTube
A last minute addition, this is a really nice youtube mod brought to you by @laura almeida, @Razerman and @ZaneZam. It features some cool additions like native adblocking (no more xposed module), overriding your max youtube resolution (you can watch 4k videos on your phone, but not 4k hdr). I have been using it for a while and really like it. A big thanks to them for letting me include it with PCR
Improved Debloating
Found better stuff to delete. Added back some stuff I took out before that some of you asked for.
If you find something missing that you want back, pull it from the stock rom and install it in /system/app or /system/priv-app, wherever you got it from.
Improved Battery Life
Thanks to some battery sleuthing by @TheMadScientist, this release comes with a nice big bump in efficiency. With just some very minor tuning using amplify and a service disabler, I can get around 1%/h drain.
Performance Improvements
That increased battery life does not come at the cost of performance. In fact performance is better too. Part of that is due some personally tested build.prop tweaks. Another part is some data optimisation scripts that now run at boot. You wont notice those, but they are there doing their thing.
Other Features
New for first time flashers
- Pre-Rooted with SuperSU installed
- CSC OYN pre-installed. Tested working on several carriers
- RCS and VoLTE icons removed from status bar.
- High quality audio mods, including
- Viper Audio (V4A)
- Dolby Atmos from the Axon 7
- Pandora hifi audio framework
- Native Google Dialer & Contacts support, including local search, spam call blocking
- Oreo 8.1 Emoji Icon Set
- Custom Lockscreen Clock font
- Stock system display fonts replaced with Apple's original San Francisco Font
Special Thanks
- @ahiron and @Zackptg5 for the killer sounds from V4A and Dolby Atmos Mods!
- The Aiur crew for Pandora (now a legacy mod but works great on the s8)
- @syndre for the Google Dialer and Contacts framework mod
- @rayan-refoua for the beautiful Tech Lines Custom boot and shutdown animations!
- Last but not least, my new friend @laura almeida, along with @Razerman amd @ZaneZam for letting me include the iYTBP - injected YouTube Background Playback Mod
- everyone who tested
Warnings/Disclaimers/Known Issues
- 80% Battery life like every other rooted US snapdragon device
- Flashing on a USB 3.0 port will likely cause corruption in your flash that can cause kernel panics, loss of root, and occasionally very strange other errors. If you get something like this, its not the rom its a hardware conflict that can only show up with larger images like are used in SamFail flashing. See the section below on Kernel Panics for more.
- If there is an app or apk from the stock rom that you wish you had installed, the best solution is to extract it from your stock rom image and copy it to the same place in /system using a root file manager.
SamFail Rooting Process
and Rom Installation
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING WILL ERASE YOUR WHOLE PHONE
If you have a SDCard, remove it from your device. Occasional firmware incidents have wiped SDCards in the past. It has neer happened to me, but I have a backup of my sdcard so I can be a little more risky. Better safe than sorry.
Prepare the Following:
- complete stock rom at your bootloader rev in case things dont work
- Everything backed up
- Both Prince Comsy Odin, and Regular Odin for flashing stock
- A USB 2.0 Port. If you attempt to flash with a USB 3.0 port it may work, but if you get kernel panics, or unexpected bad behavior and/or crashes your usb3 is absolutely to blame. some people get lucky and suceed after a few tries, YMMV. If you can not acquire a machine with a usb2.0 port, get a usb2.0 hub and run your phone into that & that into your machine. Reports are that has made things work for some, but we get few reports back.
What is my Bootloader Revision?
Your bootloader revision is part of the baseband build number of the firmware you are currently running. Lets use this rom as our example. The full build number is as follows: G955USQS2BQL1
Start from the right and count 5 characters back. See that 2? That is the bootloader revision for the firmware that came with this rom. But we are not flashing the BQL1 firmware (or Baseband), We are using an older version because it works better. The version we are flashing is: G955UEU2AQK2. Can you tell which revision it is?
Is my Phone Compatible?
Is it a G955U? Is it a G950W? If you answered "yes" to one of those questions, then the answer is "yes". That being said, flashing this rom if you are on bootloader revision 1 will upgrade your bootloader revision to 2, which means that any previous rom you were running wont work, so be prepared by having a copy of stock for bootloader version 2. If you don't want to move to version 2, you can still run the latest PartCyborgRom though, just use the G955UEU1AQk1 BL_ tar under Old Downloads in place of the one that came with this one. It will work just fine. However if you are unsure I suggest you go ahead and upgrade, there are not really any benefits to staying on 1 at this point.
Steps to Root
1) Download and unzip AP Part 1 and BL Part 2 zip files.
2) Download and unzip Prince Comsey Odin and start it up
3) Reboot device into Download mode and connect it to your pc
4A) Open Comsy Odin and Reboot into Download mode. Add Only the BL Part2.tar.md5 file. Go to the options tab and remove the checkbox next to "Auto-Reboot". Do not check any additional checkboxes and leave the other ones alone. Connect your phone and Start. Odin will flash the BL file to your device and will say PASS, but will just sit in download mode (because we turned off auto-reboot!). This makes the next part a little easier...
4B) Reset Comsy Odin and use the "three button salute" on your device to Reboot back Download mode. This time only add the AP Part1.tar.md5 file. Select only the following options:
- "Auto-Reboot"
- "F-Reset Time"
- "Nand Erase All"
NOTE: Odin will freeze while checking the AP tar.md5 hash.
Be patient, it will come back. If your computer is old this will take even longer.
5) Click "Start" and wait for the system.img.ext4 file to flash fully to your device. This will take a while.
ATTENTION
When the flash finishes, this is when the SamFail magic happens. Instead of saying "Failed (Auth)" like it should, the device will crash into upload mode with "Unknow Error".
If your device stays in Download Mode:
If your device does not do this, and just says "Failed (Auth)" or something similar and stays in download mode, you need to start again from the beginning, but using a different set of usb ports as you have likely suffered from the usb3 corruption
When you see the upload mode page, do the 3 button salute to reboot into download mode again.
WARNING: When you reboot from upload mode, it wont look like download mode. You will see an error.
When you reboot back into download mode, your screen will say that you had a failed update and you need to do emergency repair or take your device to a service center.
Rest assured, your phone is actually in download mode, and Odin will have recognized it and said "Added!" along with the com port lighting up underneath the progress bar. Just continue the process. It is safe to do so and that error will go away after the next step.
6) Close and re-open Comsy Odin or hit the reset button, and once again add BL_PartCyborgRom-BootLoopEdition-<version>.tar.md5 to the BL section.
7) Do not change any of the options checkboxes, thus leaving the checkboxes checked for "F Reset Time" and "Auto Reboot". Click "Start" and flash the BL (part 2) to your device.
Note: Flashing BL twice is necessary as some newer stock BLs have patched the Root method we use, but the Combo Factory firmware is still vulnerable. In other words, the SamFail nickname continues to be prolific :good: :good:
Note: If you forgot to uncheck nand erase all, don't worry. You are just wasting time doing something again that you already did, the outcome is the same. "All" in "Nand Erase All" means "all userdata", which means cache and, well, userdata. Nothing else is deleted.
8) Wait for the flash to finish . It won't take very long at all as the files are small.
9) When it has finished, Odin will say PASS and your device will reboot into recovery.
From this point forther the scary download error message will be gone for good (or until next flash). Don't go looking yet though, you have more work to do to get root.
Warning: Failure to follow this step could lead to a corrupted instance with no cell coverrage
10) When in recovery issue a factory reset. This ensures that your device has a userdata and cache partitions that are valid, and that the csc is processed correctly. Failure to do the reset could cause issues with either.
11) Boot the device as normal. Wait for it to come up. Its deodexed so it will take longer than even your average odexed rom.
All done!
FlashFire Instructions
- Get the ROM on your phone and unzip it
- Open up FlashFire
- Add a Wipe task, select the top 3 items only
- Select Flash Firmware and load up the AP_PartCyborgRom-BootLoopEdition-<version>.Part1.tar.md5 file to flash your new system
- Select Reboot to Recovery
- Make sure "Inject Root" is NOT checked
- Press go. Wait for the rom to flash and your device to reboot into recovery
- From recovery do a factory reset
- Then select reboot to Download Mode
- When device reboots into Download mode, flash BL_PartCyborgRom-BootLoopEdition-<version>.Part2.tar.md5
You have to use odin for the BL file because flashing bootloaders in FlashFire is a bad idea.
Dirty Flashers
Yes, you can dirty flash this rom to upgrade, however it is problematic and can cause issues. I did it for a long time, but my install was a mess by the time I gave up and reset.
To dirty flash, follow your preferred method of flashing above, but skip the Wipe step.
Odin
Skip "Nand Erase All" during the Part 1 flash. Do everything else the same
FlashFire
For the first Wipe task, instead of selecting the top 3, select only Dalvik like the second wipe task.
NOTE: This procedure is ONLY for people upgrading from an earlier PartCyborgRom version. If you are coming from stock you can not dirty flash because you userdata is encrypted which is not supported by the Factory firmware. If you are coming from other rom, or stock, I have no idea man but don't look at me if it blows up.
ANOTHER NOTE: This method of flashing is unsupported! If you do this and you have issues, you are on your own. If you think they are the rom, then back up your entire rom, wipe and reproduce them.
Help! I Got a Boot loop!
If you get a boot loop or your device hangs at boot, try the following:
1) Reboot to recovery and factory reset again.
To get to recovery hold power+vol-down until screen goes black, then wait till upload mode (press power key for 7+ secs) comes up. Then press vol-down+power again and hold it till it reboots and as SOON as the screen goes black switch to holding vol-up+power+bixby. Hold it for 5-7sec then let go and you will wind up in recovery mode. If this doesnt help, or you can't get to recovery because you cant press the buttons right, proceed to the next step.
2) Try flashing just Part 2 (the BL) again. not only will this get you back in recovery, it will also format your cache again. Its worth a shot and doesnt take long.
Kernel Panic, Invalid Argument
Start Over
Go back to the beginning and do everything again. If it fails again, even in a slightly different way this time, bad interaction between the s8 and your USB port/controller/cable/etc are causing the image to be corrupted as its being written to disk. Try the following:
1) New USB Ports. If you have them, use a different set of usb ports (not the one next to it, but one further away). Its possible that that will be your "good" port, and that will be enough. Lots of machines also have some USB3 ports and some USB2.
2) New Cable. Its less likely, but maybe a new cable will help. Do the whole thing over with a new cable.
3) Try a few times. It sounds silly, but people who have had this issue have reported that eventually it just works. Try a few times until you get sick of trying. If you try like 10 times it probably wont work on the 11th though.
I Dont Have Another USB Port!
Try to borrow your partner/spouse/roommate/friends computer for a quick flash. Ask about the USB ports though, because another 3.0 port may not help you.
If you can't get someones computer, you can purchase a USB2.0 Hub online or at your friendly neighborhood electronics store. They arent very expensive, and I have heard positive reports from people saying it did the trick.
None of that Worked! I'm Screwed!
No you probably arent. I can count on one hand the number of people who someone couldnt get this working eventually. Some of us will be here to help. Check out our telegram channel, where people will be around that can help you. Its right here!.
And they all rooted happily ever after.
The End.​
XDA:DevDB Information
PartCyborgRom, ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S8
Contributors
partcyborg
ROM OS Version: 7.x Nougat
ROM Kernel: Linux 4.x
Based On: TouchWiz/Samsung Experience
Version Information
Status: Stable
Current Stable Version: BQL1
Stable Release Date: 2017-12-10
Created 2017-12-11
Last Updated 2018-2-10
Downloads
BQL1 (G955U and G955W)
AP_PartCyborgRom_G955U_BQL1.Part1.zip
[Alternate Mirror]
BL_PartCyborgRom_G955U_BQL1.Part2.zip
[Alternate Mirror]
NEW: Bootloader V3 Support!
BL_PartCyborgRom_G955U_U3BQL1_R5.zip
[Alternate Mirror]
Other Downloads
Do Not install any of these unless you are running an older version.
BQL1 has all of these mods already!
Remove OTA apps, downloads and debug messages
Remove RCS and VoLTE Icons Zip (Flash in FlashFire)
Odin3-v3.12-PrinceComsy-.zip
​
Previous Versions
SM-G955USQU2BQK5
AP and BL Parts 1 & 2
AP_PartCyborgRom-G955USQU2BQK5_Part1.zip
BL_PartCyborgRom-G955USQU2BQK5_Part2.zip
SM-G955USQU1AQK3
AP and BL Parts 1 & 2
AP_PartCyborgRom-BootLoopEdition-G955USQU1AQK3.Part1.zip
BL_PartCyborgRom-BootLoopEdition-G955USQU1AQK3.Part2.zip
​
One more
@partcyborg , nice work and thank you for posting your PCB ROM for S8+!
Thank you @partcyborg!
You ARE the f'ing man!!!!! THANK YOU!!!
And to the peeps whining, over the past 5+ months that there wasn't a custom ROM available for this phone, I would hope to see you hitting the 'Thanks' button.
You said you would do it, and you did it! Thanks for doing this for us! Very excited to give this a try.
Can't wait to get home and try this out!!!!!!
Im sooooo excited to try this .... Sucks im at work !!!!! Ahhhhhhhh no laptop !!!!!!
im wondering to get to this ROM and start from scratch .... do initial root process from https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...root-g955u-g955u1-snapdragon-sampwnd-t3658911 ... then just flash this via flashfire in part II ... sounds correct yes?
ok so i have wiped everything before install and then followed install instructions all the way....
scratch that a reboot fixed the rotation issue
Wow ! I watched you actually say you wouldn't mind doing a rom for us and you did do it. AMAZING. I gotta try this when i get home ! time to back everything up lolol. Do you know if xposed works for this ? and also can we change the font with iFont now since you managed to? Once again thanks for port !
Flashed . No service. Cant upload picture because tapatalk is garbage. (Wrong file extension garbage)
On Sprint. Do i have to reflash the csc.?
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
matthewd769 said:
Im sooooo excited to try this .... Sucks im at work !!!!! Ahhhhhhhh no laptop !!!!!!
im wondering to get to this ROM and start from scratch .... do initial root process from https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...root-g955u-g955u1-snapdragon-sampwnd-t3658911 ... then just flash this via flashfire in part II ... sounds correct yes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope you can do samfail. See the directions in op. It's super easy unless you only have usb3.0 ports in which case it probably won't work
partcyborg said:
Nope you can do samfail. See the directions in op. It's super easy unless you only have usb3.0 ports in which case it probably won't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any ideas?
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
partcyborg said:
Nope you can do samfail. See the directions in op. It's super easy unless you only have usb3.0 ports in which case it probably won't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks dog ... appreciate the hard work and answer .... i might start coughing and leave early
Goddly said:
Flashed . No service. Cant upload picture because tapatalk is garbage. (Wrong file extension garbage)
On Sprint. Do i have to reflash the csc.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I solved this problem though flashin the bl through odin and doing a factory restore, i can use phone and data, but i can not message other people
Stovall Family said:
I solved this problem though flashin the bl through odin and doing a factory restore, i can use phone and data, but i can not message other people
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory restore?
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Goddly said:
Factory restore?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory restore through stock recovery.
Goddly said:
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you fire up PreConfig and try and set your csc?
Also try flashing 1 more time. If you have a usb2 port absolutely use that. Several people have had major issues with flashing on usb3.0 ports and every one whose had a usb2 port to try it's worked flawless after. This rom will fail when stock doesn't because of its size. In order for samfail to work we have to use a raw image not a sparse one like in the stock AP. This means the image is the full size of the partition despite not being completely full

Upgrading to latest Android OS

Hi, I'm completely inexperienced with rooting phones and upgrading firmware. But I think I've found the experts =)
I've got a Samsung S3 SGH-I747 which is running Android 4.4.2. I use it strictly with wifi and it has a AT&T SIM card that doesn't have a plan.
My goal is to upgrade the OS so that I can use the TD Bank ap. 2-3 months ago they stopped supporting Android 4.x. So I want to upgrade to Android 7 or 8. Which OS would you recommend? How can I do this?
I've got nothing on the device that I care about too much (just a couple aps that I'd need to reinstall). So wiping it would be fine.
I've also got a Windows PC and a SD memory card (from my camera) - which could be used.
Are you in Canada? If you are, isn't your phone an sgh-i747m?
audit13 said:
Are you in Canada? If you are, isn't your phone an sgh-i747m?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not in Canada. TD Bank is in the US.
Gotcha. TD Bank (Toronto-Dominion) is headquartered in Canada which is why I thought you were in Canada.
Before flashing anything, be aware of the fact that there is always a risk to flashing a phone with the possibility of a hard brick. Be prepared to deal with such a situation.
I have used the following instructions with great success; however, you may not be so lucky. Proceed at your own risk.
In order to run a custom ROM, you need to flash TWRP: https://twrp.me/samsung/samsunggalaxys3att.html. Download the tar version.
I recommend flashing TWRP using Odin 3.07: https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1168421
Open Odin, uncheck everything except f reset time, put the phone into download mode, flash TWRP in the PDA box. When you see the word reset in the status window, remove the USB cable from the phone, remove the battery, replace the battery, use the buttons to boot into recovery. Your phone should boot to the TWRP screen. Reboot the phone to ensure that the phone boots to the existing ROM. Reboot the phone and create a backup of the existing ROM and EFS folder to the SD card. Save both in a safe place.
Select the ROM you want to try and the appropriate version of GAPPs. Copy both to the micro SD card and place the card into the phone. Boot into TWRP, wipe data, system, cache, flash ROM, flash GAPPs, reboot.
I guess I'll order a micro SD card. My camera one is bigger.
Should I install Android 8? Can the phone handle it?
Thanks for the advice!
audit13 said:
Gotcha. TD Bank (Toronto-Dominion) is headquartered in Canada which is why I thought you were in Canada.
Before flashing anything, be aware of the fact that there is always a risk to flashing a phone with the possibility of a hard brick. Be prepared to deal with such a situation.
I have used the following instructions with great success; however, you may not be so lucky. Proceed at your own risk.
In order to run a custom ROM, you need to flash TWRP: https://twrp.me/samsung/samsunggalaxys3att.html. Download the tar version.
I recommend flashing TWRP using Odin 3.07: https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1168421
Open Odin, uncheck everything except f reset time, put the phone into download mode, flash TWRP in the PDA box. When you see the word reset in the status window, remove the USB cable from the phone, remove the battery, replace the battery, use the buttons to boot into recovery. Your phone should boot to the TWRP screen. Reboot the phone to ensure that the phone boots to the existing ROM. Reboot the phone and create a backup of the existing ROM and EFS folder to the SD card. Save both in a safe place.
Select the ROM you want to try and the appropriate version of GAPPs. Copy both to the micro SD card and place the card into the phone. Boot into TWRP, wipe data, system, cache, flash ROM, flash GAPPs, reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try different ROMs until you find one that suits your needs.
Android 8 may not work that well on your phone without bugs as 8.0 is quite new in comparison to the s3.
You can still flash a custom ROM without an SD card if you have TWRP installed. You can boot into TWRP, wipe cache, data, system, connect the phone to a computer, copy over the ROM and Gapps, and flash.
Only flash a custom recovery if you don't care about the Knox counter that voids the warranty. If you like touchwiz, you're out of luck because there are no Android 7 or 8 touchwiz ROMs, only AOSP/CM based ROMs for the S3.
Thanks for the advice! I've made it all the way to installing a ROM. What ROM should I install? I tried installing a Lineage OS one (https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/rom-lineageos-14-1-t3680656) but got an error saying it was for the wrong device. My device is a d2att.
Do I need something like this?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3-att/development/lineage-14-1-d2att-rom-t3774764
So next I tried installing: OCT-N-WEEKLY-20170811-1820-d2att.zip which gave me an error because another package was already partially installed. I used the "wipe the cache" option. It prompted me to install root (second time). It rebooted and had a message about updating approximately 100 aps. Ask for wifi. Said "Just a Sec". Failed to find software on my PC to sync (good - as I don't want it to sync). Booted back into reset mode. Wiped it. Tried installing OCT-N d2att for a second time. And it finally worked!
Then I had to go back to reset mode to install Google Apps.
All in all this took about 3 hours of work and research.
Sidenote: For reset mode it was necessary to remove the battery for 30 seconds to get into reset mode (and then hold the volume up, middle key and power button until the second Samsung screen appears - I found instructions that said wait for the Samsung screen - but there are three Samsung screens!). I was unable to get into reset mode when I didn't remove the battery.
s3hacker said:
Thanks for the advice! I've made it all the way to installing a ROM. What ROM should I install? I tried installing a Lineage OS one (https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/rom-lineageos-14-1-t3680656) but got an error saying it was for the wrong device. My device is a d2att.
Do I need something like this?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3-att/development/lineage-14-1-d2att-rom-t3774764
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can install any ROM you want that's compatible with your phone on the NE4/NJ1/NJ2 bootloader. You just have to find one you like the best.
s3hacker said:
So next I tried installing: OCT-N-WEEKLY-20170811-1820-d2att.zip which gave me an error because another package was already partially installed. I used the "wipe the cache" option. It prompted me to install root (second time). It rebooted and had a message about updating approximately 100 aps. Ask for wifi. Said "Just a Sec". Failed to find software on my PC to sync (good - as I don't want it to sync). Booted back into reset mode. Wiped it. Tried installing OCT-N d2att for a second time. And it finally worked!
Then I had to go back to reset mode to install Google Apps.
All in all this took about 3 hours of work and research.
Sidenote: For reset mode it was necessary to remove the battery for 30 seconds to get into reset mode (and then hold the volume up, middle key and power button until the second Samsung screen appears - I found instructions that said wait for the Samsung screen - but there are three Samsung screens!). I was unable to get into reset mode when I didn't remove the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That ROM you installed, OCT-N-WEEKLY-20170811-1820-d2att.zip is a weekly. Meaning it's probably not suitable for daily use and may have non working functions and bugs. Good that you got custom ROMs booting though.
s3hacker said:
Hi, I'm completely inexperienced with rooting phones and upgrading firmware. But I think I've found the experts =)
I've got a Samsung S3 SGH-I747 which is running Android 4.4.2. I use it strictly with wifi and it has a AT&T SIM card that doesn't have a plan.
My goal is to upgrade the OS so that I can use the TD Bank ap. 2-3 months ago they stopped supporting Android 4.x. So I want to upgrade to Android 7 or 8. Which OS would you recommend? How can I do this?
I've got nothing on the device that I care about too much (just a couple aps that I'd need to reinstall). So wiping it would be fine.
I've also got a Windows PC and a SD memory card (from my camera) - which could be used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure how many of us are out there, tinkering around with the 8+ year old Samsung Galaxy S3 i747 . While I am a newbie, I have enjoyed flashing Custom ROM's , from CyanogenMod, thru various versions of Lineage, and now CrDroid. The newest O/S that I flashed is CrDroid ( based on Android 8 ). Runs great. Stable. Long battery life.
I have always used ODIN to INSTALL a 'recovery' system such as TWRP ( which is a .Tar file )
After TWRP is installed ( using ODIN ) I unplug phone from my computer. Then boot into TWRP recovery ( holding down the three buttons ). I do a clean install (flash) of the newest O/S that I can find ( Android 4.4.2 is really old ). It is that .Zip file that I flash, then reboot the phone. Always works for me. Eventually I learned how to back up all my contacts, SMS, logs, photos, etc.
My banking app works just fine.
BTW I am totally free of Google; no Google Play Store, no Google Pay, no Google Framework, no Gapps, no Google spyware, no Google bloatware, no Google tracking etc. I download all my apps as APK's which are readily available on the Net ( Google them . . . just kidding! ).
My older Samsung S3 i747 was a 'd2att' originally locked to Rogers, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Then switched over to MTS (Manitoba Telephone System). Now running on Bell Canada. My replacement is also a Samsung S3 i747, originally running T-Mobile in Arizona, now running on Bell Canada.
These are damn fine phones.

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