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Hi all
A week ago a rooted my Samsung Galaxy S6 device following this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/general/root-pingpongroot-s6-root-tool-t3103016
All was OK. At that point my device is using the Android Version: 5.0.2
The question I have is that now the version 5.1.1 (Lillipop) has been released, I would like to know if my rooted device can still be upgrading when the new version is released in my region (Mexico) by the phone provider. (Telcel). In case it cannot be updated automatically, I guess I will need to do it manually or unroot my device. In that scenario, Does someone know a good tutorial how to do that?
Regards!
@LesthadMK, sure you can update rooted devices. But it may not be possible via OTA update. You will have to download the full firmware and install it manually.
Because root makes changes to system partition, OTA fails when you have rooted. If you unroot and flash stock recovery and kernel back, then OTA may work. Otherwise, simply flash the full firmware, in .tar format using Odin software, and you're good.
It's good to have full firmware saved on PC anyway, as if in case you brick your device, you can fix it by installing your device's firmware manually.
If you need help with 5.1.1 firmware installation on your s6, let me know the build no. of your device.. I will guide you to page you need to look at.
Thanks for the help. I have download Odin in case I need to do it manually.
Also, mentioned that yesterday I read an article saying that using the Samsung software "Smart Switch" in an rooted device will upgrade the device to the newest version (which I don't know if it it's true or not) Any way this is the link I found:.... Well seems since I'm newby I cannot post some external links. So just google it as: How to Use Smart Switch to Update Your Galaxy S6—Even It's Rooted.
By other hand, this is the build number for my device: G920IDVU1AOE3, so if you can help me to know how to upgrade that version that would be very helpful
Regards!
What i have: a brand new carrier unlocked samsung galaxy s7 sm-g930w8 - came with 7.0
What Id love to do: downgrade to 6.0.1 official touchwiz rom but rooted
What im reading: that the security patch is from february of 2018, which means the bootloader is too new, which means downgrading using odin wont work ( https://www.sammobile.com/forum/threads/36282-Does-Region-Matter )
... so what can i do? i bought this phone with the sole intention of downgrading, as ive seen that it is possible for that phone model (s7) in general
i hate the look of the newer OS. They took the touchwiz out of touchwiz which i loved, although mine is a rare opinion. I want the operation and exact feel of 6.0. the menus are simpler, the notifications area isnt completely stripped of features differing from total stock android. i hate having to pull down twice to see everything. I just really want that older look and feel, but all around, not just a theme.
is there anything i can do to either downgrade or fool the bootloader into letting me carry this out? is this a true limitation, or si that info i found false/old? and if I can downgrade, which build version should I use?
ive been looking here for versions
https://samsung-firmware.org/model/SM-G930W8/ but im not sure which region to go with, or if i can technically use any region
sammobile doesnt list that version anymore at all ( https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s7/SM-G930W8/ )
https://mobiletech360.co/samsung-galaxy-s7-sm-g930w8-stock-firmware-rom-android-6-0-1-marshmallow/ there are a number of options here but unsure of the different numbers/builds. or if since its carrier unlocked, i could pick any?
I know most will think im silly for wanting to downgrade or caring that much about appearance, but silliness aside... is this even possible??
a while ago, i purchased an s5 mini, and downgraded that with no issues at all.... but its honestly been so long and i cant for the life of me remember the steps i took or if i needed to care about region codes or other numbers. but it did sucessfully work.... it was really built unwell/cheap, but it did work.... its also slower than my captivate glide which is still my current phone, until/if i can get this s7 working the way i desire.
any help and guidance is appreciated. If it is needed, ill be using it with a Koodo mobile sim.
well it is too new if its from DRAG or so onwards (those with U2/S2 in the file name) so no dice, you're stuck with 7.0 unless you want to upgrade to oreo. (and 7.0 firmwares prior to DRAG cant be downgraded to either, not that theres much point doing that)
btw this is the wrong forum to post this in
teddytsen said:
well it is too new if its from DRAG or so onwards (those with U2/S2 in the file name) so no dice, you're stuck with 7.0 unless you want to upgrade to oreo. (and 7.0 firmwares prior to DRAG cant be downgraded to either, not that theres much point doing that)
btw this is the wrong forum to post this in
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But this is the forum about s7? I'm wanting to modify an s7?
Which part of the file name are you referring to? Which file?
I would have thought all s7's are made at the same time, and so released with the same overall software, but it all seems so complex now. I've seen s7's running 6.0.1 stock so in my mind it seems they should all be able to...
Not sure what you're referring to with drag either? Does that stand for something?
I'm really hoping this can work somehow, its the last flagship before the edge models which was why I got it, and I love Samsung software up until 7 and 8.
My mom has an s7 as well, not rooted or anything that's too complex for her, but she did the upgrade to 8 and it's still got all the same gross appearance factors that I don't like about version 7. I got excited when her phone wanted to upgrade, maybe they had fixed some of the grossness. But, nope. Wish they had included an option even for stock based or touchwiz based appearance and menus.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Pawprints1986 said:
But this is the forum about s7? I'm wanting to modify an s7?
Which part of the file name are you referring to? Which file?
I would have thought all s7's are made at the same time, and so released with the same overall software, but it all seems so complex now. I've seen s7's running 6.0.1 stock so in my mind it seems they should all be able to...
Not sure what you're referring to with drag either? Does that stand for something?
I'm really hoping this can work somehow, its the last flagship before the edge models which was why I got it, and I love Samsung software up until 7 and 8.
My mom has an s7 as well, not rooted or anything that's too complex for her, but she did the upgrade to 8 and it's still got all the same gross appearance factors that I don't like about version 7. I got excited when her phone wanted to upgrade, maybe they had fixed some of the grossness. But, nope. Wish they had included an option even for stock based or touchwiz based appearance and menus.
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go into about phone and tell me the last 6 characters of your build number
(i was referring to the PDA file in a stock firmware zip)
(Also i meant this should be in Q&A section)
Hello,
I can understand you and also understand what you want but Samsung installed a downgrade lock in their bootloader in early 2018,
if you installed this version you can't go back to an older version, I think that was in February.
You can go back from a 6.2018 version to a 4.2018 version for example but not to a 1.2018 version!
If you have a version of for example 12.2017, you can also go back to a version of 2016, so you can also go back to Android 6.01,
if not you only have the last versions of Android 7 or update to Oreo.
I hope I could help.
teddytsen said:
go into about phone and tell me the last 6 characters of your build number
(i was referring to the PDA file in a stock firmware zip)
(Also i meant this should be in Q&A section)
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Click to collapse
the last of the build number and the last of the baseband version are the same. But i did take a screenshot of it when i was thinking rooting and changing would be no big thing. figured that would be easier. i purposely havent even hooked it up to wifi yet or anything, said no to anything non essential when i was setting it up... on the chance it was starting up in version 6, and i didnt want it upgrading on its own.
also why would they block downgrading? It seems if anything blocking upgrading would be the way to go, to stop people from updating their devices before official software is ready, not just samsung but any manufacturer. in my head it seems silly to even need to root anymore... someone always figures it out, and cell phone manufacturers must know it. it would be nice if it were included, sort of like developer options, where its hidden, but if you know what to look for its there, and if youre not that advanced youll never find it.
if the bootloader is in fact locked and that is the main prevention, has anyone ever successfully unlocked it before?
ETA: Ive done a bit more looking around and there is alot around about frp and making you sign in to a google account in order to reset.... i have *not* needed and havent signed into a google account on that device at all... does that mean a downgrade is still possible though odin? Or, are these 2 things in fact unrelated...
eta #2: Did a bit more searching around, and it seems to be that in order to root your device, in the process it must unlock the bootloader? If that is still the case, would i be able to then flash the marshmallow stock ROM? Thats what i was looking to do all along, sorry maybe i should have been more clear about my planned method initially. Its a bit more nerve wracking as it seems rooting itself has gotten a little more difficult with that dm verity thing... but I definitely want root no matter which version im running. Ive had root on all my devices and theres no way im going back to a locked down OS (cant remove microsoft stuff for example), i need to be able to declutter beyond what factory allows lol.
Pawprints1986 said:
the last of the build number and the last of the baseband version are the same. But i did take a screenshot of it when i was thinking rooting and changing would be no big thing. figured that would be easier. i purposely havent even hooked it up to wifi yet or anything, said no to anything non essential when i was setting it up... on the chance it was starting up in version 6, and i didnt want it upgrading on its own.
also why would they block downgrading? It seems if anything blocking upgrading would be the way to go, to stop people from updating their devices before official software is ready, not just samsung but any manufacturer. in my head it seems silly to even need to root anymore... someone always figures it out, and cell phone manufacturers must know it. it would be nice if it were included, sort of like developer options, where its hidden, but if you know what to look for its there, and if youre not that advanced youll never find it.
if the bootloader is in fact locked and that is the main prevention, has anyone ever successfully unlocked it before?
ETA: Ive done a bit more looking around and there is alot around about frp and making you sign in to a google account in order to reset.... i have *not* needed and havent signed into a google account on that device at all... does that mean a downgrade is still possible though odin? Or, are these 2 things in fact unrelated...
eta #2: Did a bit more searching around, and it seems to be that in order to root your device, in the process it must unlock the bootloader? If that is still the case, would i be able to then flash the marshmallow stock ROM? Thats what i was looking to do all along, sorry maybe i should have been more clear about my planned method initially. Its a bit more nerve wracking as it seems rooting itself has gotten a little more difficult with that dm verity thing... but I definitely want root no matter which version im running. Ive had root on all my devices and theres no way im going back to a locked down OS (cant remove microsoft stuff for example), i need to be able to declutter beyond what factory allows lol.
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Click to collapse
TL;DR
your bootloader is currently on version 3, and you cant downgrade to marshmallow
see that "U3BRB2"? that "U3" means your bootloader is on version 3. i assume the marshmallow firmwares use bootloaders pre-version 3 so you cant downgrade to firmwares using bootloaders with version 1 or 2. (this is how it works for F/FD models and im pretty sure samsung made it like that too for the W8 models)
eta 1) unrelated
eta 2) F/FD/W8/S/K/L variants (basically all the exynos models) have unlocked bootloaders. only SD variants have locked bootloaders so it's just your misconception
So, it's literally impossible? Has nobody ever figured out a way to downgrade or mod the bootloader itself? It seems to me the rom makers wouldn't stand for this at all and would figure out a way around it...
I can see an old bootloader can't run new software, but it seems much easier for newer bootloader to run older software, isn't it? You can buy a windows 7 pc and install Windows xp on it much easier than you could buy a windows XP PC and install Windows 7 on it... It's just boggling my mind a little
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Pawprints1986 said:
So, it's literally impossible? Has nobody ever figured out a way to downgrade or mod the bootloader itself? It seems to me the rom makers wouldn't stand for this at all and would figure out a way around it...
I can see an old bootloader can't run new software, but it seems much easier for newer bootloader to run older software, isn't it? You can buy a windows 7 pc and install Windows xp on it much easier than you could buy a windows XP PC and install Windows 7 on it... It's just boggling my mind a little
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
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Click to collapse
Off course you can downgrade to Marshmallow. To unlock the bootloader, enable OEM unlocking in devlopper options. After flash TWRP 3.1.0 for Herolte and wipe everything from the recovery. Install any 6.0 roms on XDA for G930F then flash Magisk 17.1 to root and you're done. You can't FRP if OEM unlocking in devlopper is enabled.
AoEKiller said:
Off course you can downgrade to Marshmallow. To unlock the bootloader, enable OEM unlocking in devlopper options. After flash TWRP 3.1.0 for Herolte and wipe everything from the recovery. Install any 6.0 roms on XDA for G930F then flash Magisk 17.1 to root and you're done. You can't FRP if OEM unlocking in devlopper is enabled.
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You'll trip knox (which breaks features like secure folder, private mode, shealth and Sbrowser private mode) and lose the comfort of OTA updates if you do this tho. Not to mention that you can encounter signal reception problems because your flashed ROM is on marshmallow and your bl/cp is on Oreo or nougat. So I wouldn't advise this method as it may break so many things.
Id like to downgrade my S7 from nougat to marshmallow. My current lowest factory reset option is nougat on bootloader version 3. Id like to downgrade to a downloaded stock firmware that uses version 1 of the bootloader.
my device is currently rooted and carrier unlocked
ive made a full backup of the nougat system, before ive done anything to it other than the rooting.
ive been reading around that some people were able to bypass the downgrade bootloader lock error in odin by first going into their desired downgraded firmware tar files and deleting any file that ends in .bin , and then successfully been able to flash the older firmware. what I want to know is if i decide to try this, and it still doesnt work in odin, or something still doesnt work properly - am i still able to fully restore from that backup ive just made? has anyone done this without issues? i hate the look and feel of nougat and oreo looks and feels the exact same...
i did make another thread about downgrading, but i didnt know nearly as much at the time. Been told downgrading is impossible and thats true, officially speaking. Id just like to know if anyone has been successful with this workaround.
What model, SM-G930F? Is OEM Unlocking turned on?
If it's a G930U/V/T/A/P then you won't be able to.
For the G930F so long as you don't have the latest Nougat version it shouldn't prevent downgrading. Otherwise upgrading up to Oreo then back down just by flashing in Odin should work, as Oreo doesn't have the downgrade lock that the newest Nougat has.
Beanvee7 said:
What model, SM-G930F? Is OEM Unlocking turned on?
If it's a G930U/V/T/A/P then you won't be able to.
For the G930F so long as you don't have the latest Nougat version it shouldn't prevent downgrading. Otherwise upgrading up to Oreo then back down just by flashing in Odin should work, as Oreo doesn't have the downgrade lock that the newest Nougat has.
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model is sm-g930w8 but yes OEM unlocking is on, and so is usb debugging just to be on the safe side. It is running the very first version of nougat right now, 7.0. But the security patch is from feb 2018. Ive read that the bootloader itself is unlocked on this version of the phone though, its just that downgrade protection in the software that could get in the way, if what i read was correct? in the same place was where i read that deleting those bin files from the firmware i want to install would be a good workaround, it would make the bootloader not check it at all if i read it correctly.
i havent tried anything yet, ive been doing my research first to stay on the safe side. it might work without issues, but I want to be prepared for if issues do arise, what the correct next step should be to keep the device itself not bricked
Yea not 100% sure for the G930W8, it's the same SoC as the G930F but the firmware restrictions could be different since it's the Canada specific version
so, i decided to brave it and try it, since to read around you find alot of conflicting information... i was suspecting that odin would fail shortly after starting at sboot.bin if it was the bootloader thats the issue. but it didnt. it failed the very next step after that at param.bin.
anyone happen to know what param.bin means?
What files are you trying to flash? I have had the same problem, even though the bootloader is unlocked the device has efuses that prevent downgrade to older binary. I was using U2 binary and only managed to downgrade to nougat u2 binary version. Even when I skipped bootloader files, marshmallow would still give an error that system.img is version 0 where as device is v1
Hi all, I'm relatively new to the Android world and seeking help from experts here.
I recently bought a used S7 (SM-G930K), it came with Android 8.0 and I want to downgrade to 7.0.
I tried downgrading using its stock firmware with Odin. Attempted many times but only realized that it can only be downgraded as far as the bootloader version goes.
Think my S7 was on bootloader version 2. So as checked for the available stock firmwares, the "earliest" version 2 was still on Android 8.0 (PDA G930KKKU2ERJ1 and CSC G930KKTC2ERJ1).
Anyone can advise me how to go about downgrading to Android 7.0? Though this S7 may not be my primary phone and there's obviously no warranty, I won't want to brick anything.
Do I have to downgrade the bootloader version to 1.0 first? And how do I do that?
Apologies, do excuse these noob questions, I'm not familiar with many Android terms. Cheers!
Model: S7 SM-G930K (KT Telco)
Android version: 8.0
Baseband version: G930KKKU2ERJ1
Security patch: Oct 1, 2018
Basically, on Samsung phones, once you upgrade your bootloader, they put a lock on it, so you can never downgrade it, for security reasons, of course.
The only thing you can do is flashing custom rom, or stock rom with custom recovery & kernel.
Mohamedkam000 said:
Basically, on Samsung phones, once you upgrade your bootloader, they put a lock on it, so you can never downgrade it, for security reasons, of course.
The only thing you can do is flashing custom rom, or stock rom with custom recovery & kernel.
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I see, now i understand why..
"Custom roms" - does this mean it's made by users like us? And what does "stock rom with custom recovery & kernel" mean?
Can you point me where can i find these roms for my S7? Is it the same as flashing them on Odin?
Many thanks!
Yes custom ROM's are community made. The kernal is kind of like the foundation that sits beneath the ROM, so you can use the official ROM but run a custom kernal to tweak phone behaviour.
Flashing ROM's involves using TWRP instead of Odin. If you're going down that path I would recommend you read very carefully and educate yourself, instead of just gung ho'ing it. Wouldn't want to brick your device.
It's also worth mentioning while you can flash an older custom ROM via TWRP, that doesn't downgrade your bootloader with it. Having a newer bootloader on an older ROM can cause issues.
Most custom ROM's are also made for G930F, while some also support the G930K you may want to make sure before flashing anything.
Beanvee7 said:
Yes custom ROM's are community made. The kernal is kind of like the foundation that sits beneath the ROM, so you can use the official ROM but run a custom kernal to tweak phone behaviour.
Flashing ROM's involves using TWRP instead of Odin. If you're going down that path I would recommend you read very carefully and educate yourself, instead of just gung ho'ing it. Wouldn't want to brick your device.
It's also worth mentioning while you can flash an older custom ROM via TWRP, that doesn't downgrade your bootloader with it. Having a newer bootloader on an older ROM can cause issues.
Most custom ROM's are also made for G930F, while some also support the G930K you may want to make sure before flashing anything.
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Click to collapse
Definitely will be more mindful as rooting does involve some kind of risk of bricking my phone.
Wow that's great info, really appreciate you explaining this to me.
Something new I've learnt! :good:
Good evening ladies and gents,
I got a phone today from Amazon Galaxy Note 10 Plus. SM-N975F/DS.
Got it activated on AT&T which took a bit of trickery but finally got it activated.
So now I am in the process of rooting it and noticed that there are many region specific firmware (you have to use Magisk to patch the firmware (the .md5)). For example mine is N975FXXU6FUCD-MID which was difficult to find and difficult to identify. I have located this (MID) region and its Iraq. As I type this that exact firmware is downloading from SMAMOBILE. I will be flashing a custom ROM within the next few hours. I was wondering tho, since there is no USA Firmware version, will the custom ROM change the firmware thus rendering this entire post irrelevant? Does the firmware matter if the phone is activated and functioning, or is there anything else anyone would suggest? For example should I flash a firmware from perhaps Mexico since its the same continent?
I ask because as I stated above, I am downloading the N975FXXU6FUCD-MID firmware now, and I have to use Magisk to patch the firmware so I just figured I would patch the exact same firmware that is on the phone currently but should i patch a different firmware instead?
Anyway, If anyone has any insight into this I'd love to hear it. Thank you!