Hi all, made an account in anticipation of my night spent mucking around with my new Galaxy S4 i9507. I had been reading about people who have had success and some who have had less success with getting custom ROMs on their devices. None said what methods they used, so I decided to compile together what I did today.
UPDATE 3/6/14
I installed a snapshot of CM 11 (KitKat) onto my device with little issues. I'll update this guide with the links to that firmware, and also update the existing links because of changes CyanogenMod made to how they aggregate their S4 devices now. They are treating them all as derivatives of 'jftle', so basically one firmware fits all devices, including the i9507! (even if not official yet).
Please read the bottom of this post if you wish to install KitKat on your device.
CUSTOM FIRMWARE ON SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 i9507 - Aus/HK
Tonight I have managed to root the device's stock firmware (I have the Australian Optus/Virgin device); install ClockworkMod Recovery on the stock firmware, and then use it to install CyanogenMod 10.2.0 (jfltexx) on the device.
If you're looking to root this device, I found that by treating it essentially as an international i9505 I was able to fulfil all three of the things I mentioned above.
UPDATE: THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND RESULT IN 'KNOX WARRANTY VOID 0x1' BEING DISPLAYED WHEN YOU ENTER DOWNLOAD MODE ON THE DEVICE. PLEASE BE SURE YOU ARE OKAY WITH THIS HAPPENING BEFORE TRYING THIS FOR YOURSELF. AS IT STANDS, KNOX CANNOT BE RESET, IT IS AT A HARDWARE LEVEL.
[ROOT i9507]
Using Chainfire's guide to CF-Auto-Root in the Galaxy S 4 i9505 Original Android Development section of this forum; I was able to root my device despite it being an i9507. Being a new user, I wasn't sure exactly what things to test out whether the root worked/was permanent, but I did install AdBlock Plus and it asked me for Superuser privileges, then proceeded to work. I also restarted the device and tested whether the root was still present; it was.
[INSTALL CLOCKWORKMOD]
I decided to install CyanogenMod as I have heard from friends that have it; and read online about it being one of the more stable custom ROMs available. It has been a while since I last owned an Android device! So, continuing with my theme of treating this device as being an international i9505, I obtained CM 10.2.0, a stable release of the jfltexx CM, based on from their website (as of December 2013, this was the most recent). Their custom installer app on Windows did not support my phone, so I had to use their guide for manual installation.
Their guide contained steps to installing ClockworkMod Recovery as well as the ROM installation. Following the guide, I installed it without a hitch. When rebooting the phone from ClockworkMod, it prompted me about the fact that the phone may reflash its own recovery tool, but this did not happen. Once again, a success.
[INSTALL CYANOGENMOD]
The last task was to install CM. This was quite an endeavour as I decided to use someone else's Windows 8 laptop (being the only Windows device I had access to at the time) and I forgot how much of a struggle it can be! Again, I used CM's guide to installing 10.2.0 (which by the way is Android 4.3.1, whereas the stock firmware is bloated and heavy at 4.2.2). This went off without a hitch once I reminded myself how the ADT works. I also did as CM suggested and installed the Google Apps pack alongside the ROM.
So, currently this is where I'm at. The device boots and reboots fine. Some users in certain threads had issues with loading 4.4 (KitKat) ROMs or custom ROMs that they didn't allude to the names of, so I don't know if they were having issues with CM or not. There are other threads, but that was the one that kickstarted my attempts to get this all to work. Their issues with the custom ROMs seemed to be related to the 4.4 ROM not recognising the modem of the i9507; I'm not sure why this is but the i9507 was made specifically for Australian/Hong Kong networks so perhaps 4.4 has not been updated yet or something of the like. Anyway, on 4.3.1, or CM 10.2.0, my SMS, calling, and internet are working fine (it displays Virgin Mobile as my carrier). My 4G reception is somewhat iffy in this town (or in particular my house), and the reception seems to be switching between 3G and H so whether that is indicative of 4G not working, I'm not sure. LTE is definitely checked in the settings, however, and my area does have 4G, but my parents' iPhone 5Ss sometimes do not have 4G in this house either. I'll report back tomorrow after having tested the phone for a day to see if the 4G does activate.
As it stands, however, the phone seems to be functioning well. Oddly the Settings report that the phone is an i9505, I assume that's normal as I'm using a ROM for that particular phone!
[CONCLUSION]
So, I hope that anyone who has been looking for a way to remove the carrier/Samsung bloat from their i9507 device will have a good time using the guides I've used. I followed them to the letter and I had no issues.
DISCLAIMER: I had no troubles, but that's not to say you won't either. Please be careful, as you may potentially risk affecting your phone negatively. I'm simply telling you what I did, not giving you a 100% correct and flawless guide that will work no matter what.
Also if you're looking for a 4.4 ROM then you might be out of luck, least till some dev or coder takes notice of this device's existence and helps out to develop a specific way of rooting this phone/installing custom ROMs for this phone. Overall though, it seems to all work fine so perhaps the 4.3.1 CM isn't such a bad thing.
If you try this and want the original firmware back on your phone, use this link. I believe that OPS is the Australian firmware, the other one is for Hong Kong. So, for the second link, HK is Hong Kong, and the one without is for Aus.
UPDATE 3/6/14
I've successfully managed to install a Nightly build of CM 11, based on KitKat. Read my latest post in this forum for more info. I essentially found that upgrading from within the phone itself caused a number of issues so I did a fresh flash. Please note that such a flash of a new OS wipes all personal data but not things like images, videos, etc. I lost all my contacts, SMS, browsing history, apps etc. But my Gallery, Downloads folder, etc remained intact.
I followed my guide to flashing the phone again, but I used a Nightly build of CM 11, based on KitKat. As I write this, there are actually stable versions of CM that you can use in place of the CM 10.2.0 I used in the above guide. If you follow those steps but use this firmware you'll find no issue. Feel free to use CM's guide, but don't, under any circumstances, forget to flash Google Apps to your phone!!!
If you need a hand or want a question answered, feel free to post here and I'll do my best to help you out. Thanks!
kaiserwatson said:
Hi all, made an account in anticipation of my night spent mucking around with my new Galaxy S4 i9507. I had been reading about people who have had success and some who have had less success with getting custom ROMs on their devices. None said what methods they used, so I decided to compile together what I did today.
Tonight I have managed to root the device's stock firmware (I have the Australian Optus/Virgin device); install ClockworkMod Recovery on the stock firmware, and then use it to install CyanogenMod 10.2.0 (jfltexx) on the device.
If you're looking to root this device, I found that by treating it essentially as an international i9505 I was able to fulfill all three of the things I mentioned above.
[ROOT i9507]
Using Chainfire's guide to CF-Auto-Root in the Galaxy S 4 i9505 Original Android Development section of this forum; I was able to root my device despite it being an i9507. Being a new user, I wasn't sure exactly what things to test out whether the root worked/was permanent, but I did install AdBlock Plus and it asked me for Superuser privileges, then proceeded to work. I also restarted the device and tested whether the root was still present; it was.
[INSTALL CLOCKWORKMOD]
I decided to install CyanogenMod as I have heard from friends that have it; and read online about it being one of the more stable custom ROMs available. It has been a while since I last owned an Android device! So, continuing with my theme of treating this device as being an international i9505, I obtained the latest stable release of the jfltexx CM from their website (it was the most recent stable release at the time, may be out of date by the time you get to doing this yourself). Their custom installer app on Windows did not support my phone, so I had to use their guide for manual installation.
Their guide contained steps to installing ClockworkMod Recovery as well as the ROM installation. Following the guide, I installed it without a hitch. When rebooting the phone from ClockworkMod, it prompted me about the fact that the phone may reflash its own recovery tool, but this did not happen. Once again, a success.
[INSTALL CYANOGENMOD]
The last task was to install CM. This was quite an endeavour as I decided to use someone else's Windows 8 laptop (being the only Windows device I had access to at the time) and I forgot how much of a struggle it can be! Again, I used CM's guide to installing 10.2.0 (which by the way is Android 4.3.1, whereas the stock firmware is bloated and heavy at 4.2.2). This went off without a hitch once I reminded myself how the ADT works. I also did as CM suggested and installed the Google Apps pack alongside the ROM.
So, currently this is where I'm at. The device boots and reboots fine. Some users in certain threads had issues with loading 4.4 (KitKat) ROMs or custom ROMs that they didn't allude to the names of, so I don't know if they were having issues with CM or not. There are other threads, but that was the one that kickstarted my attempts to get this all to work. Their issues with the custom ROMs seemed to be related to the 4.4 ROM not recognising the modem of the i9507; I'm not sure why this is but the i9507 was made specifically for Australian/Hong Kong networks so perhaps 4.4 has not been updated yet or something of the like. Anyway, on 4.3.1, or CM 10.2.0, my SMS, calling, and internet are working fine (it displays Virgin Mobile as my carrier). My 4G reception is somewhat iffy in this town (or in particular my house), and the reception seems to be switching between 3G and H so whether that is indicative of 4G not working, I'm not sure. LTE is definitely checked in the settings, however, and my area does have 4G, but my parents' iPhone 5Ss sometimes do not have 4G in this house either. I'll report back tomorrow after having tested the phone for a day to see if the 4G does activate.
As it stands, however, the phone seems to be functioning well. Oddly the Settings report that the phone is an i9505, I assume that's normal as I'm using a ROM for that particular phone!
[CONCLUSION]
So, I hope that anyone who has been looking for a way to remove the carrier/Samsung bloat from their i9507 device will have a good time using the guides I've used. I followed them to the letter and I had no issues.
DISCLAIMER: I had no troubles, but that's not to say you won't either. Please be careful, as you may potentially risk affecting your phone negatively. I'm simply telling you what I did, not giving you a 100% correct and flawless guide that will work no matter what.
Also if you're looking for a 4.4 ROM then you might be out of luck, least till some dev or coder takes notice of this device's existence and helps out to develop a specific way of rooting this phone/installing custom ROMs for this phone. Overall though, it seems to all work fine so perhaps the 4.3.1 CM isn't such a bad thing.
If you try this and want the original firmware back on your phone, use this link or this one. I believe that OPS is the Australian firmware, the other one is for Hong Kong. So, for the second link, HK is Hong Kong, and the one without is for Aus.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I'll post later tomorrow when I've tested the phone for a day to see if it's still working, and to see if the 4G/LTE does actually work. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong in the meantime!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my i-9507 rooted for about a month now with foxhound rom, also on the optus variant.
One thing i've noted is, its next to impossible to update the MODEM for it.
I think because our latest modem for this variant is the one we have stock. And new updates haven't been put in terms of modem specifically for our variant yet.
We should keep this thread stickied for Australian OPTUS GT-i9507 discussion.
OR open up a sub forum for it.
kaiserwatson said:
I'll post later tomorrow when I've tested the phone for a day to see if it's still working, and to see if the 4G/LTE does actually work. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong in the meantime!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly, thank you for creating this complete description of your experiences with customising the i9507.
Secondly, just wanted confirmation that you do now have the pesky "KNOX WARRANTY VOID: 0x1" displayed when your device is in Download mode, right?
Lastly, any updates, issues? All still working, including 4G/LTE?
Hey sorry its been more than a day, I've been swamped with work, that Christmas time feel.
I do have the Knox 0x1, which I assume means my warranty is void. There's conjecture as to whether that will actually affect warranty for this device in Australia, as I've read up on the Knox system but i think the ACCC would have serious issues with this system actually affecting the warranty. But yes, it would seem my warranty is void, let's hope the phone lasts two years!
I have been able to access 4G, the phone says 4G or LTE, sometimes switching between the two. Again, the reception in the town I'm currently staying in is pisspoor so I can't say for certain whether the antenna/modem is fully functioning to the degree it would be on the stock firmware, but I can definitely access the Optus 4G network.
One issue I did have was that I sent an SMS then immediately turned my screen off, 40 minutes later the message was still 'sending'. I have recreated the same scenario but I haven't been able to get it to happen again, perhaps just a weird tower-side quirk. I know people were having issues with the modem and the phone sleeping but this doesn't seem to be related. Overall I'm really happy with how this has all gone. My battery life has been increased by at least 40% and the phone is so much faster. Very pleased.
kaiserwatson said:
Hey sorry its been more than a day, I've been swamped with work, that Christmas time feel.
I do have the Knox 0x1, which I assume means my warranty is void. There's conjecture as to whether that will actually affect warranty for this device in Australia, as I've read up on the Knox system but i think the ACCC would have serious issues with this system actually affecting the warranty. But yes, it would seem my warranty is void, let's hope the phone lasts two years!
I have been able to access 4G, the phone says 4G or LTE, sometimes switching between the two. Again, the reception in the town I'm currently staying in is pisspoor so I can't say for certain whether the antenna/modem is fully functioning to the degree it would be on the stock firmware, but I can definitely access the Optus 4G network.
One issue I did have was that I sent an SMS then immediately turned my screen off, 40 minutes later the message was still 'sending'. I have recreated the same scenario but I haven't been able to get it to happen again, perhaps just a weird tower-side quirk. I know people were having issues with the modem and the phone sleeping but this doesn't seem to be related. Overall I'm really happy with how this has all gone. My battery life has been increased by at least 40% and the phone is so much faster. Very pleased.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That occurs because the modem signal cuts out after you switch your phone off, or lock it.
This issue can be resolved by updating our modems, but with our current variant we can't update it yet apparently, until the correct new modem for our specific variant has been released.
Hi guys,
I thought I would also post here.
I have the optus 9507 and I tried a couple of different kitkat 4.4 roms. They all worked perfectly except for the fact that they lost data completely as soon as the phone went to sleep. the weird thing is, the phone showed 0 bars but i could take calls just fine, just had data issues.
i tried the slimkat rom and the echoe rom with the same issue
i went back to stock firmware, rooted, ran a debloat script i found on xda, removed a bunch more apps, then unrooted again because i need to run good for enterprise for work.
im getting decent battery life with the debloated stock rom but i would like to move to 4.4 if theres a rom that works. ive been watching the optus and sammobile site hoping there will be a newer modem for the hk version because i think optus will take their time releasing 4.3 for this model.
kaiserwatson said:
Hi all, made an account in anticipation of my night spent mucking around with my new Galaxy S4 i9507. I had been reading about people who have had success and some who have had less success with getting custom ROMs on their devices. None said what methods they used, so I decided to compile together what I did today.
Tonight I have managed to root the device's stock firmware (I have the Australian Optus/Virgin device); install ClockworkMod Recovery on the stock firmware, and then use it to install CyanogenMod 10.2.0 (jfltexx) on the device.
......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your experience sharing,
I also started with Cyanogen and shared about the same experience.
Just didn't know the Knox thing before I started.. should had read up more before doing it.
So you did the Recovery with Heimdall also? What has made you switch to the customized Rom camp
kaiserwatson said:
Hey sorry its been more than a day, I've been swamped with work, that Christmas time feel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, no worries at all, anyone who works weekends can take all the time they need...
But yes, it would seem my warranty is void, let's hope the phone lasts two years!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, I've done some reading also and you're right, it seems to be all conjecture, I really doubt handset warranty refusal can be based on the KNOX Warranty chip. I think the Samsung Enterprise Security Group VP explains it well here.
Overall I'm really happy with how this has all gone. My battery life has been increased by at least 40% and the phone is so much faster. Very pleased.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great to hear, based on this I can ge ahead and 'burn out' my eFuse, happy in the knowledge that my Knox warranty has gone to a good cause. :fingers-crossed:
---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 PM ----------
opelcalibra said:
then unrooted again because i need to run good for enterprise for work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only assume your "enterprise for work" has nothing to do with KNOX, right? Coz that option would be closed for you now...
CuriosityBrah said:
That occurs because the modem signal cuts out after you switch your phone off, or lock it.
This issue can be resolved by updating our modems, but with our current variant we can't update it yet apparently, until the correct new modem for our specific variant has been released.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That odd message not sending was the only issue I've had with this sort of thing; I can still download things, receive messages and calls just fine while my phone is sleeping, how do you know if the modem signal is cutting off? Perhaps it's just a selective thing, not sure. Don't know how to test if it's happening to me because it doesn't seem to be, lol.
opelcalibra said:
I have the optus 9507 and I tried a couple of different kitkat 4.4 roms. They all worked perfectly except for the fact that they lost data completely as soon as the phone went to sleep. the weird thing is, the phone showed 0 bars but i could take calls just fine, just had data issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mate if you check the forum that I linked to the Knox issue; someone on there posted a fix for sound/WiFi issues post-Knox voiding, maybe that fix'll work for you. Sorry I can't link you to the exact post but it was about 10-20 pages in.
opelcalibra said:
i went back to stock firmware, rooted, ran a debloat script i found on xda, removed a bunch more apps, then unrooted again because i need to run good for enterprise for work.
im getting decent battery life with the debloated stock rom but i would like to move to 4.4 if theres a rom that works. ive been watching the optus and sammobile site hoping there will be a newer modem for the hk version because i think optus will take their time releasing 4.3 for this model.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I reckon they'll take ages, they have pretty much left everyone who's getting this phone in the next couple of months in the dark because of the (as I can tell) severe lack of devs etc in Aus who have Samsung phones and are willing to hack them to the ****. I wish I could help out somehow, but I don't have the time to learn so I figured I'd help out by putting up my experiences. I'm still learning as I go haha.
As for your KitKat problem, I have read that 4.4 didn't do so well in terms of battery life and bloat, what are your reasons for wanting to go to it? I wanted the most recent build also but I figured that if they're still having issues with it then it was better to go with something I knew would work (ie. 4.3.1).
phileasx said:
Thanks for your experience sharing,
I also started with Cyanogen and shared about the same experience.
Just didn't know the Knox thing before I started.. should had read up more before doing it.
So you did the Recovery with Heimdall also? What has made you switch to the customized Rom camp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed the Windows process on the CM wiki to the letter, so yeah I did the Heimdall also.
Mate legitimately I went from my stock firmware taking up so much space on the hard drive to the real lightweight CM, seeing as I haven't bought a micro SD yet that was a big deal. Also battery life was a major reason for me buying the S4 so to be able to further improve it is just hella.
siganid said:
Hey, no worries at all, anyone who works weekends can take all the time they need...
Yea, I've done some reading also and you're right, it seems to be all conjecture, I really doubt handset warranty refusal can be based on the KNOX Warranty chip. I think the Samsung Enterprise Security Group VP explains it well.Great to hear, based on this I can ge ahead and 'burn out' my eFuse, happy in the knowledge that my Knox warranty has gone to a good cause. :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Australia I think we're pretty good. Funny that Samsung and Optus have given us this nice present and it's only a matter of time before someone cracks it open and remains above the warranty voiding
I have read that Knox may be software-based, which would make sense, and maybe it's a matter of time before someone cracks that too. Hehe.
Go ahead, post here if you have any issues and I'll see if I can help you out. What ROM would you be planning on using? A 4.3.x one?
kaiserwatson said:
I followed the Windows process on the CM wiki to the letter, so yeah I did the Heimdall also.
Mate legitimately I went from my stock firmware taking up so much space on the hard drive to the real lightweight CM, seeing as I haven't bought a micro SD yet that was a big deal. Also battery life was a major reason for me buying the S4 so to be able to further improve it is just hella.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the rom flashing side
After read up more, I realize Odin is a more popular method for Galaxy S4 flashing,
Besides that, Stock rom battery life should also be all right. Samsung did quite some efforts to make the software user friendly.
Anyway, the Bloatware chunk are really irritating have to say.
because i cant keep still i have flashed my phone again lol.
i flashed the official CM 11 (4.4.2) and gapps for kitkat and all is working awesome so far.
no issues with losing signal when going to sleep. seems very fast. right now im happy with it.
Could someone please find new links for the original software posted in the OP?
Links are dead, would be greatly appreciated! =)
Also, Opelcalibra, you have no issues with network/signal on CM 4.4.2 with the Optus i9507?
I better give it a try then lol
RE: Signal issues
Hi,
I also have the AU i9507 Opus S4, I flashed the Omega based 4.4.2 KitKat (i9505 version) and had wifi problems (Greyed out) I tried various fixes and went back to 4.3 based Omega, this had its problems with cell signal being lost when locking the mobile.
I fixed this by going into settings and experimented with mobile networks i.e. Settings, more networks, mobile networks, network mode and tried all 4x options with (for me at least) the GSM ONLY option selected, great rom and worth losing the 4g which is very patchy in my part of Melbourne.
D
Anyone else had any sort of success rooting this phone without tripping Knox.
Also, is it just me, or does it suck pretty hard that we Aussies get stuck with an inferior version of a phone? (Snapdragon 600 in the I9507 vs the 800 in the other international versions)
Update
Hi
Just wondering if anyone has an update on this? Success or otherwise...
One of the main reasons I'm looking to root is to boost volume levels - I find the volume to be way too low. Does anyone know of a way to do that without rooting? Of course I'd like to remove bloatware but could live with it if volume was fixed.
Thanks in advance.
thestuntman80 said:
Anyone else had any sort of success rooting this phone without tripping Knox.
Also, is it just me, or does it suck pretty hard that we Aussies get stuck with an inferior version of a phone? (Snapdragon 600 in the I9507 vs the 800 in the other international versions)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey bro, no one has cracked without tripping Knox yet because as far as I can tell it's a phone specific fix/hack. So, because our phone is a different and 'rare' model, I doubt that the major heads in the Knox-proofing scene (CF comes to mind) will have the time to make a fix for the knox trip. So for now, either suffer in your jocks (QQ) get a different phone (uh, not likely) or wait for the minute chance that someone actually cares about Aussies )
As for your second point, yeah, it does suck. We get shafted with all sorts of things like prices, release dates, localization...the list goes on. Unfortunately the people who make these ploys know we're desparate and will pay the exorbitant prices anyway :/
jameshef said:
Hi
Just wondering if anyone has an update on this? Success or otherwise...
One of the main reasons I'm looking to root is to boost volume levels - I find the volume to be way too low. Does anyone know of a way to do that without rooting? Of course I'd like to remove bloatware but could live with it if volume was fixed.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mate, the rooting was probably the easiest part of the whole situation. You can follow my guide in the OP if you're having trouble. Just be aware about the warranty issues etc because your audio issue may be hardware related rather than software? Is the volume issue in the headphones or the speaker? Some apps may not utilise the phones full volume and also be sure to go into the settings of the phone and make sure the volume limiter is turned OFF. This **** me to tears for the longest time but once I figured out what the issue was, all good!
The only thing I'd say is just make sure its not a hardware issue because you don't want to root your phone, find out that it wasn't a software issue, take your phone into Samsung and have them tell you that your warranty is voided because you rooted. Obviously that's a worse case scenario but just be on the safe side.
I hope I helped you guys!
kaiserwatson said:
Hey mate, the rooting was probably the easiest part of the whole situation. You can follow my guide in the OP if you're having trouble. Just be aware about the warranty issues etc because your audio issue may be hardware related rather than software? Is the volume issue in the headphones or the speaker? Some apps may not utilise the phones full volume and also be sure to go into the settings of the phone and make sure the volume limiter is turned OFF. This **** me to tears for the longest time but once I figured out what the issue was, all good!
The only thing I'd say is just make sure its not a hardware issue because you don't want to root your phone, find out that it wasn't a software issue, take your phone into Samsung and have them tell you that your warranty is voided because you rooted. Obviously that's a worse case scenario but just be on the safe side.
I hope I helped you guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm fairly certain it's a software issue. I've done a fair bit of reading on it and the low volume is a very common complaint about the S4. My volute limiter is turned off - thanks for that tip though!
I'm going to try to root this weekend. I really hope that it works and I don't have any issues with reception dropping when the phone goes to sleep! Feels risky.
I've changed my firmware from Optus to XSA, but am still on 4.2.2, how do I upgrade now?
Kies says I have the latest release.
has anyone got links to newer modem files for this phone? been given one to update it to 4.4, but i know from experience that doing so without at least a 4.4 GSM modem, it wont behave right.
to the people without working wifi after updating: flash the Ktoonz kernel, he has a fix for that.
Hi All,
I recently updated to the new official 4.3 update from optus in order to update my baseband etc.
Then i immediately updated to the i9505 Goldeneye 4.4.2 rom. Ran a ebloat script to get rid of alot of the extras and its running very nicely.
Since updating the modem I get 4g at home which i never did before.
optus rom here
http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/3/?download=27109
flashed via odin (will lose root and custom recovery). re-root and install recovery after flashing this room.
goldeneye rom here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2313469
obviously this will flag knox, mine was flagged long ao
Hey there y'all!
I have a messy situation right here, looked for answers all around and coulndn't get a clue anywhere... so I'll try to explain in the clearest way possible my weird issue... (sorry for my English, will try my best to be rightfully understood)
Six days ago, I got this cute Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate SCH-i500, my cousin sent it over from the States down here to Mayan lands of Mexico... I had ZERO knowledge on Android, and in these past six days (including it's sleepless nights, and mostly thanks to this amazing forum with tons of useful resources and really helpful, cooperative people) I just learnt a WHOLE LOT about the marvels of Android devices...
First, I started rooting my SCH-i500 succesfully (yay!), then came the attempt of activation with the only local CDMA Carrier (Iusacell) and the equipment's "Homologation" (that's the term they use here for the programming cellular hospitals and workshops have to do to one's device in order to function properly with the carrier's infrastructure, no need to say this is something a little bit dumb, I consider the carrier should help their customers, specially the new ones, to set-up their data plans... I found out about carriers like Cricket who even help you with a flashing tool, if I'm not misunderstanding, to get your cellphone working with them), well, voice activation was pretty neat, 5 minutes and I had a line... be it a MDN, a MIN and the correct HomeSID for my area, and then came the "hard" part for the newbie... After trying to and succesfully figuring out how to use QPST, and hours of desperate search for faulty info on latinamerica carriers to dump to my Fascinate, I did it, for some reason I changed my ROM to "powerwashed_20_b3_Full_ec09modem.tar" and began working with it, it wasn't until today that I got 1X connection with my carrier, it was awfully slow!! managed my way to get 3G, and I DID! But it was still clumsy, only green arrow sending a lot of data and no orange incoming data to my device... which was desperating because the carrier said "they don't guarantee the phone is going to work being from another country, but I had to try and pay for a pre-paid data plan in order to make my tests... well, I knew something was not going well with the data I was using to fill the required fields in QPST... went back to my stock VZW ROM and went over and over the process of reprogramming my phone's service... I found out that VZW settings were somehow stuck to the phone, and no matter how many times I entered the info, it wasn't changing to my carriers info, I used first QPST 2.7 build 323 to fill up what was needed, uninstalled and then switched to build 215 (as I read around here) in order to get the PPP settings to stick to the device and override the Verizon old settings... and then was the nasty "nightmare-ish" moment I could never foresee... QPST threw a pop-up window marking an error, saying I was using the wrong SPC, and that I needed it for writing the QPST info to the device, THE SPC CHANGED!!! It just pops me out (in QPST as well as in the ##DATA# or anywhere in the phone) the sign: "INVALID LOCK CODE". Is that even possible? So sorry for being ignorant, but couldn't find an answer that could really solve the problem... yes, I tried CDMA Workshop with no luck at all... my cellphone actually lost contact with the carrier and had to go to the PowerWashed custom mentioned above (Im still in the network, but can't do any significant change without the SPC code)... so, any kind suggestions?? any expert around looking for helping a fast-learning noobster like me?
Hope there's something silly I'm missing because of ignorance or something like that (nothing "deadly" for the device)
Thanks a lot in advance for taking the kind time to read my long query, and for any help your knowledge may allow me to get out of the unpleasant issue
Have a great day!
My bad! I'm sorry...
Just 5 minutes ago I found this... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.patternedsoftware.getmymsl&hl=es
and this as well... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2546659
Won't delete it, perhaps someone will suffer from the same someday (I just hope they're not as half as desperate to get their devices working properly, lol!) Sorry!
Still...
dnuuk said:
it wasn't until today that I got 1X connection with my carrier, it was awfully slow!! managed my way to get 3G, and I DID! But it was still clumsy, only green arrow sending a lot of data and no orange incoming data to my device...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still, any help on this Issue could help me a lot though, thanks a zillion!
Hey guys, i'm going to copy/paste my post from Tom's Hardware (I felt this may be a better place for the question):
Alright, so, i've been all over google the last two days and I just can't seem to find the right person/post having the exact same problem I am so I figured I'd ask myself.
So, as part as my effort to complete one of the various project I have going on around the house, I rooted and flashed custom recovery on my HTC One m9. Then, I flashed skydragon 10 onto it. This part seems to be fine and dandy.
But I just realized that I have ZERO Sprint software or options on my phone. As in, I can't update my profile and prl (the option is gone), I have no operator or mobile data, and my sim card appears to not be recognized as a Sprint SIM. How do I return those options and my phone's "identity"?
I tried various MMI codes to try and update PRL or somehow get my sprint profile back, but it just says "phone connection error or invalid MMI code". Of course, I assume I'm using MMI codes since that's what my phone's calling them (##72786# or something or other). But, right now, I don't really trust my phone.
As far as first experiences go with ROM flashing, this part has been a nightmare. It's like my phone is having an identity crisis and doesn't know that it's Sprint. I feel like shaking it and screaming "Damn it, Carl, you're not a tablet! You're a Sprint Phone!".
I literally feel 2 steps away from a solution, but I feel like I forgot to do something after flashing the ROM.
Here's what I know so far:
All my settings appear correct (APN, Phone Identity, Software Information)
If I search for Network Operators, Sprint comes up (there are 3 more with X's on them, assuming because it's not carrier-unlocked), but when I try to register, it just says the SIM is not a Sprint SIM i.e. my phone has lost it's identity.
As I'm certain you realize, I don't know much at this point. I saw a lot of answers and jargon and I know what it all means, I just don't know what to apply to my problem specifically. I haven't tried much beyond messing with settings since I'm trying to be cautious., but gosh darn (substitute the appropriate swear).
As far as backups go, I have none. I didn't realize that you could back up the stock ROM (not a single one of many guides mentioned nandroid, which I thought was the android folder misspelled, nor an EFS backup, which I thankfully, don't need... hopefully)
UPDATE: So, my phone keeps the annoying as 2am alarm I'm too lazy to get rid of, but ditches it's wireless carrier. Some priorities...
ACTUAL UPDATE: I'm going to call Sprint and see if I can have my SIM reactivated. First solution I've found that makes a little sense. Will post update later.
the_lost_dev said:
Hey guys, i'm going to copy/paste my post from Tom's Hardware (I felt this may be a better place for the question):
Alright, so, i've been all over google the last two days and I just can't seem to find the right person/post having the exact same problem I am so I figured I'd ask myself.
So, as part as my effort to complete one of the various project I have going on around the house, I rooted and flashed custom recovery on my HTC One m9. Then, I flashed skydragon 10 onto it. This part seems to be fine and dandy.
But I just realized that I have ZERO Sprint software or options on my phone. As in, I can't update my profile and prl (the option is gone), I have no operator or mobile data, and my sim card appears to not be recognized as a Sprint SIM. How do I return those options and my phone's "identity"?
I tried various MMI codes to try and update PRL or somehow get my sprint profile back, but it just says "phone connection error or invalid MMI code". Of course, I assume I'm using MMI codes since that's what my phone's calling them (##72786# or something or other). But, right now, I don't really trust my phone.
As far as first experiences go with ROM flashing, this part has been a nightmare. It's like my phone is having an identity crisis and doesn't know that it's Sprint. I feel like shaking it and screaming "Damn it, Carl, you're not a tablet! You're a Sprint Phone!".
I literally feel 2 steps away from a solution, but I feel like I forgot to do something after flashing the ROM.
Here's what I know so far:
All my settings appear correct (APN, Phone Identity, Software Information)
If I search for Network Operators, Sprint comes up (there are 3 more with X's on them, assuming because it's not carrier-unlocked), but when I try to register, it just says the SIM is not a Sprint SIM i.e. my phone has lost it's identity.
As I'm certain you realize, I don't know much at this point. I saw a lot of answers and jargon and I know what it all means, I just don't know what to apply to my problem specifically. I haven't tried much beyond messing with settings since I'm trying to be cautious., but gosh darn (substitute the appropriate swear).
As far as backups go, I have none. I didn't realize that you could back up the stock ROM (not a single one of many guides mentioned nandroid, which I thought was the android folder misspelled, nor an EFS backup, which I thankfully, don't need... hopefully)
UPDATE: So, my phone keeps the annoying as 2am alarm I'm too lazy to get rid of, but ditches it's wireless carrier. Some priorities...
ACTUAL UPDATE: I'm going to call Sprint and see if I can have my SIM reactivated. First solution I've found that makes a little sense. Will post update later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Thanks for using XDA Assist.
Do you own the Sprint One M9 or the International one?
___
v7
XDA Assist
The Sprint version.
the_lost_dev said:
The Sprint version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moving your thread to Sprint HTC M9 Q&A,Help and Troubleshooting
Skydragon is for the international HTC M9.You can find the development for your device in Sprint HTC M9 Android Development.Reflashing stock or any compatible ROMs should solve the issue.
___
v7
XDA Assist
Are you serious? That's it? But... I just got to like skydragon... Ah well. Here I was thinking it had to do with flashing the radio's firmware. So glad I didn't do anything like that. Thanks for you help!
I have been using a K1 wifi tablet for several months. I really do love it. I had an opportunity to pick up an almost new US LTE version and it should be here any day now. Since T-Mobile just gave me a free line of service, I figured this tablet would be a nice upgrade.
I see that the US LTE has not got the Nougat upgrade yet and am looking for recommendations as to what I should do. I see the options reading through what others have done and want to make sure if I understand the pro/cons:
1-Do nothing and wait for Nougat.(not much of a con, but I hear it has AT&T bloat)
2-Flash the wifi Nougat.(LTE will not work)
3-Flash the RoW LTE Nougat.(No LTE just 3G, but no AT&T bloat)
Let me know if I am missing something or might have misunderstood what I was reading.
Thanks
caseyatbt said:
I have been using a K1 wifi tablet for several months. I really do love it. I had an opportunity to pick up an almost new US LTE version and it should be here any day now. Since T-Mobile just gave me a free line of service, I figured this tablet would be a nice upgrade.
I see that the US LTE has not got the Nougat upgrade yet and am looking for recommendations as to what I should do. I see the options reading through what others have done and want to make sure if I understand the pro/cons:
1-Do nothing and wait for Nougat.(not much of a con, but I hear it has AT&T bloat)
2-Flash the wifi Nougat.(LTE will not work)
3-Flash the RoW LTE Nougat.(No LTE just 3G, but no AT&T bloat)
Let me know if I am missing something or might have misunderstood what I was reading.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha..this was exactly what I was thinking of. I am actually looking for a good LTE tablet. Will definitely love to hear your experience.
Wait
Just wait. No need to be impatient, all your games will still work just fine. I don't know that the updates provide any significant improvements in that area, it's mostly about bragging rights and wanting to have the 'latest and greatest'.
Take it from someone who got his LTE tablet early and has been through this for EVERY update.... Just wait. It's really not a big deal so don't take any risks flashing a different ROM. Some people have had issues getting LTE to work again when trying to go back to factory and even if you're a pro at this like me, I simply don't want to deal with the hassle of it. I'd rather be playing games on the unit than wasting time trying to get various features working again because didn't want to wait 3-4 months for the new ROM.
Your call though!
-Han
Hannover2k said:
Just wait. No need to be impatient, all your games will still work just fine. I don't know that the updates provide any significant improvements in that area, it's mostly about bragging rights and wanting to have the 'latest and greatest'.
Take it from someone who got his LTE tablet early and has been through this for EVERY update.... Just wait. It's really not a big deal so don't take any risks flashing a different ROM. Some people have had issues getting LTE to work again when trying to go back to factory and even if you're a pro at this like me, I simply don't want to deal with the hassle of it. I'd rather be playing games on the unit than wasting time trying to get various features working again because didn't want to wait 3-4 months for the new ROM.
Your call though!
-Han
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what I decided to do. I figured I would just wait, it does get frustrating to watch updates get released for every tablet variant but this one.
It makes you wonder what the hold up is.
OS updates only eat storage and usually slows down performance. So far my experience. Hence I never update!
Many of us with either T-Mobile or AT&T report no LTE service in most locations with this tablet. The modem appears to be incompatible with recent LTE network updates. We are hoping for a patch ... since October or so... and at the moment i only get HSPA speeds except in a few spots.
i am doubtful now that this will ever be fixed.
It doesn't relate to trying new ROMs or anything... stock tablets see it too.
This has ruined an otherwise excellent device.
Best wishes to you. Please report your experience when you can.
To clear up a point of misunderstanding here: flashing the row LTE ROM will not restrict you to 3G only. The modem firmware is what determines available bands and that will remain on the North American version. In actuality, none of us devs even know a way to force flash between row and na modem firmware, so you're not going to accidentally switch that. You're plenty safe to upgrade to N using the row image.
Side note: the icera modem is unfortunately unstable, and it appears to be a hardware issue, not software. So not something a firmware/software update can fix. If yours is stable on M, it should continue to work fine on N, whatever ROM is used. For those of us with issues (like my current tablet won't recognize a sim anymore period), there will be problem no matter what we run.
It's a gaming tablet. Try WiFi. That's all I will say.