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Garminfone A50 / A10 How to flash ROM's

Credit to vs2 who discovered this.
This is not flashing a custom ROM, but rather flashing another official Garmin ROM onto your phone from another country.
Try this at your own risk. Consider yourself warned.
This is reportedly working fine on the A50 (Garminfone) & A10.
I found this posted over at Howard Forums by "vs2".
I wiped my T-Mobile Garminfone and put A50 firmware for Canada's Videotron on it. It works fine and does not have the "offers" etc. that bloated up the T-Mo version. Traffic works just fine too. I now have French rather than Spanish on it.
You may need an unlock code. I did after I did a Master Clear. But if I did not do the master clear, I was fine...
vs2 said:
Instructions: (worked for me)
1. Have two micro SD cards
2. On one put the same update file that is already on your phone.
2. On the other put the new firmware you want to update to.
3. With phone off practise taking phone cover off/on and removing SD card.
4. Turn phone on with SD card that had existing firmware update on. Update notice will show and ask if you want to update - say yes, then it should say update is the same as already on your phone do you still want to update, don't accept or decline. Now quickly pull off cover and exchange SD cards and put cover back on. You may get a message about battery cover - go ok. Then the same 'do you want to update' message should appear - go ok.(you may need to pull down the yellow exclamation from the top to accept the update if the window does not show) Be patient and wait your screen will show 'verifing' then reboot and could be a black screen for 10-15 minutes. (try it with out a Master Clear first, your apps will still be registered and you may not require an unlock code!) as your old settings/apps will still be on phone. It may be ok to leave them on??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interested? Here's a few links to the .update files.
Some countries have packaged them inside an .exe file (OPTUS for Australia). I used WinRar to extract them from the .exe and followed the procedure above.
http://www.garminasus.com/fr_CA/support/nuvifone-a50-software-updates.html French Canadian adds French to the languages and removes Spanish.
http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/open-a50.html OPEN market. Denmark. .exe file.
http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/telenor-a50.html telenor Denmark. Also an .exe.
http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/telia-a50.html telia Denmark. .exe file.
http://www.garminasus.com/en_AU/support/nuvifone-a50-software-updates.html an .exe for OPT in Australia
http://www.garminasus.com/en_AU/support/software/Optus-A50-Eclair-SW-Upgrade-Instructions.pdf
http://www.garminasus.com/zh_HK/support/nuvifone-A50-software-updates.html Hong Kong updates.
http://www.garminasus.com/en_MY/support/documentation/a50/A50-V5074-MYS-update.zip Mylasia update.
http://www.garminasus.com/en_MY/support/documentation/a50/A50_FW_update_and_master_clear.pdf instructions
See vs2's posts on/about page 12 of this thread: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1638376-Garmin-Nuvifone-A50-Navigating-to-T-Mobile/page12

i lost my t-mobile sim
I lost my t-mobile sim
so i will be using a Universal sim of my friend to upgrade it
then i will have 2 return the universal sim
so my question is can i open this phone without a sim ! !
And my country doesnt have this update n T-mobile sim is not available here
Plzz let me know
the details . . .

addition to Spazmogen:
when device reboots, plug in charger

Looking for a specific ROM .update file for A10
Spazmogen said:
Credit to vs2 who discovered this.
This is not flashing a custom ROM, but rather flashing another official Garmin ROM onto your phone from another country.
Try this at your own risk. Consider yourself warned.
This is reportedly working fine on the A50 (Garminfone) & A10.
I found this posted over at Howard Forums by "vs2".
I wiped my T-Mobile Garminfone and put A50 firmware for Canada's Videotron on it. It works fine and does not have the "offers" etc. that bloated up the T-Mo version. Traffic works just fine too. I now have French rather than Spanish on it.
You may need an unlock code. I did after I did a Master Clear. But if I did not do the master clear, I was fine...
Interested? Here's a few links to the .update files.
-------
Hello,
I don't know if this thread is still alive or if anyone is listening, but I'll try anyway...
I need to reflash my Garmin A10 ROM back to "out of the box" state. But I have been unable to find the proper .update file I need.
My A10 model was manufactured for European Open market with Android 2.1, European maps and all languages incl French.
Among the files you mention above, none would suit my device...The one I could possibly use would be the DK_Open market (Denmark); hoping it contains all the other European language options. But it seems to be for the A50 device; so I have some hesitation as to flashing it on my A10 model. Are both models so close in hardware features that this would work ?
Otherwise, the original ROM I need is this one :
A10:2.1-update 1/ERE27/A10-V5.071-user-20101027EUOM
If anyone has this .update or knows where I can get it, I would be so happy !
Seems it has been removed from all Garmin Support/download sites, as I was able to find all the ones you mention above, but not this particular update...Possibly it was not available for download because A10 models sold in Europe that were not Open market, could then be "jailbroken" and therefore accept any SIMM and telephony operator...My guess anyway.
But also possibly this ROM was downloadable for some time and perhaps someone would still have a copy of it...
Thank you very much if someone can help,
gtournier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/open-a10.html

GUIDE SGS4 GSM vs CDMA, Unlocking, Rooting,Info on XDA, Flashing,4 noobs & beginners

GUIDE SGS4 GSM vs CDMA, Unlocking, Rooting,Info on XDA, Flashing,4 noobs & beginners
First off: if you find this useful, please hit the THANKS button, instead of posting thank you in the comments
Over the course of the past three months (and more specifically, over the past week), I'd like to think I've gone from complete noob to proficient android ROM flasher/ phone dude. However, it took many, many hours of searching for info scattered across this site and others, so I figured I'd give compiling all I've learned a shot, into one comprehensive thread that really covers all the stuff you need to learn from the ground up.
Will do so in the next couple 10 posts, topics being:
*Step (-1): What type of network/ phone technology does your phone use?
*Step (0): is your phone networked locked?
*Step (0.5): DECIDING YOU WANT TO ROOT YOUR DEVICE!/ Put a custom operating system on that thaaaang
*Step1: figure out what your device is- specific phone and model
*Step2: figure out how to root (gain root access to) your device looking at XDA forums
*Step3: Follow instructions, root device
*Step4: backup all your apps and app data
*Step5: Install a custom recovery either ClockWorkRecovery (CWR) or Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP), and do a nandroid backup!
*Step6: Choose which ROM or multiple ROMS you want to try out, and download the zipfile to your phone's internal memory or
*Step7: Step 7: flash the ROM and restore your apps!
NOTE: YOU TWEEK YOUR PHONE/ FOLLOW MY ADVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK
I just learned this stuff myself, so I thought now would be a good time to explain it, while I can still remember what if feels like to have no idea what I'm doing haha.
Before I go further, there are similar intro threads to this...for example, this one does a decent job of explaining that by modding your phone, you may void the warranty (although there are ways to restore your device to a state such that you can't tell you ever modded, it, like triangle away, etc.) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1118120
I posted this here because a couple of these steps use the Galaxy S4 i9500 as an example...so if you have that phone this thread should be particularly helpful.

Step(-1): What type of network/ phone technology does your phone use?
If you are OUTSIDE the USA, 99% chance the answer to this question is GSM, meaning your phone number is attached to a little plastic sim card that you can put into/ out of your phone...you should check anyways though to be sure.
If you are in the US, you may have a phone which uses CDMA, a technology that does not use Sim cards (true if your carrier is Verizon or Sprint). Phones that JUST use CDMA are sort of "Hardwired" to their networks, making it much more of a hassle to switch carriers; plus, basically everywhere else in the world uses GSM, so if you plan on traveling outside the USA, you probably won't be able to use your phone abroad. If you have a fancy new smart phone, it may have the hardware to use both CDMA and GSM networks, (for example, all Iphones models 4s and above), so check your phone specs.
In the US, the major carriers that use GSM are ATT and Tmobile. I prefer getting phones from these guys, because I know I'll be able to relatively easily use my phone anywhere in the world, and easily switch between cheap, prepaid, contract free plans (like straight talk or ultramobile), which rent out the networks of major carriers like ATT and Tmobile.

Step(0): is your phone networked locked?
ans: This is mostly a non-issue to folks outside the US, or if you don't plan on switching your carrier, but if you plan on travelling abroad or switching your carrier, and have a CDMA phone, you have a tough road ahead that I cannot advise you on . I would suggest checking out this site and buying a slightly used android gsm phone (att or tmobile branded) http://swappa.com/ .
However, if you have a GSM phone you got in the US, your phone may be configured so that putting sim cards from different carriers in it won't give you any service (aka "locked" or "network locked"). Check by taking a friend's Sim card using a different network than you and popping it into your phone; if you have service/ can make and receive calls, the phone is NOT locked. There are probably more sophisticated ways of checking if your phone is network locked, but above is probably the most straightforward.
There are some methods of unlocking your phone for free, but if you have a newer phone it may not work. Plenty of online sites that sell you unlock codes for between $7-$25, and send the code over email either instantly or a day at most after you buy it. Definitely worth it in my opinion; one site I've used a bunch is http://www.cellunlocker.net/
NOTE: if you have your phone on a contract, you are still obligated to pay your carrier throughout the time of your contract, else you pay some cancellation fee. So be aware of that.

Step 0.5 DECIDING YOU WANT TO ROOT YOUR DEVICE!/ Put a custom operating system (ROM)
SO, now let's say you've network unlocked your awesome GSM android smartphone, and you want to travel with it to another country, like for example, India. Because you unlocked it, you can buy a cheap local Sim card and use it in your phone, fully enjoying mobile 4g data (well, more like 3.5G, using HSPA+, not so much 4G LTE in India yet, but I digress). OR, you can use a $45 a month prepaid plan where you get unlimted everything and have no contract, instead of paying $80 a month or some garbage. AWESOME!
However, let's say you got a Tmobile phone and want to use the phone's capability of being a portable wifi hotspot, broadcasting the mobile data it's getting to your computer...turns out you can't do that in India (or on cheap prepaid plans in US, for that matter). I discovered that since I was using a Tmobile branded phone, the Tmobile "stock" operating system of the phone won't let you use the wifi hotspot unless you have Tmobile's special "hotspot plan"...it also hard codes a bunch of shi**y bloatware apps on your phone that suck. Some BULLS**T, eh?
Luckily, there are plenty of free and easy ways to "root" (gain root acccess) to your phone (and plenty of resources telling you how to do so!), and install custom android operating systems on your phone, which
1.) don't have any stupid bloatware apps
2.) let you use all the hardware features of your phone regardless of carrier
The result is a more powerful phone that runs faster, uses less battery life, and is generally just way more badass. Probably the best resource for how to do all of this is the xda-developers forums (http://forum.xda-developers.com/ ) Very vibrant community, and lots of people will help...just follow the rules though, explained tongue and cheeck in the following video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmvCpR45LKA ). The main site for xda-developers is www.xda-developers.com, they also do cool vides and stuff on what's up with phone stuff. HOWEVER, if you are not careful you can mess up your phone, so that it's about as good as a paperweight (called "bricking" your phone). So just read all the instructions before you do stuff, yeah?
The following is more or less the beginning steps I did to root and install a custom ROM on a friend's Galaxy S4, which is an international model and so not network locked. The same general process could be applied to your phone as well, but again--this is only a general guide--your phone can (and probably will) have it's own exceptions to the general process. LOOK THEM UP!

Steps 1,2,3: find device model, research how to gain root, ROOT!
Step1: figure out what your device is- specific phone and model
ans: for example, my friend's phone I am setting up for him is the Samsung Galaxy S4 model i9500
**************************************************
Step2: figure out how to root (gain root access to) your device
ans: Off all the devices on xda forums (http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php?tab=top), found my device ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4) , found the proper forum (http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/help) , then searched in that specific forum to find the proper thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2419762 , see Q4
**************************************************
Step3: Follow instructions, root device
ans: Instructions are at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292615
NOTE: You must have the proper USB drivers installed, meaning either installing the sdk (software developer kit) from google and getting adb (android debugging bridge) set up (this is the best way to do it, really, especially if you want to mess around with phones more...tutorial on how to setup adb here http://androidcentral.us/2013/08/how-to-install-android-adb-and-fastboot-on-windows/ ) . If you can already transfer music and stuff from your computer, it may work without adb. Be sure your USB cable is not too beat up, and if possible, is the one that came with the device.
adb is very useful for communicating between pretty much any android phone and your computer. You can use it to push files on the computer through the terminal interface, even if the phone's file system doesn't show up for whatever reason on the computer when you connect it via USB ( more on that here http://log.amitshah.net/2012/05/using-adb-to-copy-files-to-from-your-android-device/ ), and a cool little program to send files from your computer to the device in a slightly more straightforward way, if you already have adb installed (http://www.xda-developers.com/android/push-files-to-your-device-with-quick-adb-pusher/)
Also, make sure you have USB debugging enabled. It should be in the Develpors options, which you may have to "activate" to see...see here http://gs4.wonderhowto.com/how-to/enable-hidden-developer-options-your-samsung-galaxy-s4-0146687/
If you are rooting a samsung device, you will probably have to use a program called ODIN. Other android devices allow you to do root through a method called flashboot. In general there are tons of ways to root devices, just make sure the one you are using has been tested and you follow the instructions exactly.
CONGRATS! you are rooted. That's half the battle. Rooting the phone will add a "Super User" app of some kind, which will basically controll which apps have access to the internal files of the phone (located on the "root" of the phone's flash drive). Some apps that are very useful for flashing custom ROMS (like ROM manager) and backing up your apps and their associated data (like Titanium backup) require root access, so you'll need to have rooted your phone first, and then when you open those apps for the first time, tap "allow" when it asks about granting root access.
some cool apps can only be downloaded if your phone has Root, like this gameboy emulator: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.codlab.src.game&hl=en
and here are some good Root apps to have, apparently
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX4ir9r84YA

Step4: backup all your apps and app data
When you do eventually install a custom ROM on onto your phone, it will start out with little to no apps. The best way to get up and running again as quick as possible is to back up all your apps and data with Titanium Backup (mentioned above), which requires root access. Here's a great video on How to use the free version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQWoWfTA88k ....the video makes a good point in that if you are backing up your apps for a new ROM you are about to flash, you should only backup the User apps. Backing up and restoring the system data as well might cause some problems in the new ROM
While you don't need to to buy the pro version, I would recommend it--7 bucks, but it allows you to restore all the apps you've backed up much faster by letting you back them up into a zip file that you'll later be able to flash on your phone. Very useful, more on that in a bit...video talking about that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRR5FONGJUA

Step5: Install a custom recovery either ClockWorkRecovery (CWR) or Team Win Recovery
By "custom recovery", i mean a custom version of the boot/ recovery interface, which lets you do a lot more with your device besides just restore it to factory settings. These custom recoveries will let you do a full backup of your device (often called a "nandroid backup"--this should be the first thing you do after you root your device!), as well as flash custom phone operating systems (ROMS) onto your phone; useful if you want to fully use all the hardware features of your phone, and not have the bloatware apps from the manufacurers hard-coded into your phone.
It's worth noting here that it's VERY important to install the correct version of CWR or TWRP. Usually to download CWR for your device, you can just download an app called ROM manager (again, after you've rooted your phone), which will recognize your device and then install the proper CWR version on it.
NOTE: If you have a more esoteric model of phone (like I do--the Samsung Galaxy S3 T999L, an LTE version of the S3 that came out in 2013, a while after the initial S3 launch), you may have to flash a custom recovery of a similar and more popular phone model to flash some custom ROMS (in my case, I had to flash the the Galaxy S3 model T999 version of CWR). For weird esoteric cases like this, it may be worth it to buy a useful app, ROMToolbox pro, which will let you flash a custom recovery for a userdefined device onto your phone in the paid version (it's like $5). Most times you shouldn't have to worry about this stuff, but just make sure you read any instrutions on XDA forums carefully before doing stuff.
As mentioned before, before messing around with your phone anymore, do a nandroid backup--super easy and essential if you make a mistake installing the wrong ROM or Recovery. Doing a nandroid backup will create a .zip file that contains a full "image" of your phone--all your data, apps, settings, a snapshot of your phone exactly the way it was when you took it. In creating this backup you can save it to your phone's micro SD card, or the phones internal memory. Regardless, always a good idea to save a copy on your computer too when you are done.
For the Samsung galaxy S4 i9500, looks like TWRP is the recovery to flash: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2361122

Step6: Choose which ROM or multiple ROMS you want to try out, and dl zipfile to phone
Now comes the fun part. Do some research on what custom ROM you'll want to try out. Some basic principles about ROMS:
Roms based on the Stock OS: These ROMS are based on the manufacturer firmware/ OS that the phone shipped with. So for Samsung devices, for example, these types of ROMS are Touchwiz based (because "TouchWiz" is the name Samsung has given to it's proprietary software that is responsible for a lot of the bell and whistle tricks you see in Galaxy S4 commercials, for example) These Roms are usually about 700 MB in size, and may still have some of the samsung apps installed if you do like to use them.
AOSP or AOKP ROMS:
AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROMS are those that ship with "vanilla" android, meaning they don't have any manufacturer bloatware--they come with more or less the bare bones apps required to run the system. These ROMS will be much smaller, around 100-150 MB in size. The most popular of these is CyanogenMod, which is often referred to as just CM (for example, CM11.0.1 stands for CyanogenMod version 11.0.1). The guy who made clockworkrecovery, Koush (a legendary android developer of sorts, it seems), now works for the CyanogenMod development team ( think)
AOKP is the name of another popular AOSP based ROM. AOKP stands for Android Open Kang Project, Kanging being some jargon for stealing code and messing with it or something. Apparently it was used as a joke and then stuck, in the same sense that their mascot being a unicorn stuck (which I think is awesome haha).
IMPORTANT POINT ABOUT AOSP ROMS:
If you flash an AOSP Rom, the google play store will NOT be installed by default. In order to fix that, you'll need to flash another zip file containing the play store app as well as other basic google apps (gapps for short) as soon as you flash the Rom itself. You can find the proper gapps zips that go with the proper AOSP roms here: http://goo.im/gapps
There are couple apps that will let you download the ROM files directly to your interal storage from the app itself, like Rom Manager. However, to make sure you have the most up to date version of the ROM, you should visit the ROM's website directly.
Custom ROMS will often have a most recent stable build, and a most recent "nightly" build. The nightly builds may have some new experimental features, but may be a little buggy.

Step 7: flash the ROM and restore your apps!
So here's a pretty good short video walking through how to flash a ROM, although uses a different recovery interface besides CWR or TWRP : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxTwGwtUBbk ....this does a good job of explaining the basic idea, however--
A.)you get the zip file of the ROM you want to flash on your internal or removable SD card
B.) reboot into recovery mode (often by holding down the volume down key and power button at the same time when your power is off, but you should look up what it is for your specific device)
C.) do a Wipe or Factory Reset. THis should not wipe the data on your SD card or phone's Internal SD card
D.) Wipe the Cache or the Dalvik Cache, whatever it is called (though on TWRP, the wipe feature does both a factory reset and cache wipe at once)
E.) install from SD card the zip file containing the ROM you are going to flash
F.) If the Rom is an AOSP based ROM, install the zip file containing the proper package of google apps
G.) reboot system
Again, the above are just general steps. If you want to see someone flashing a ROM with the recovery you are using (and I would recommend CWR or TWRP), just search for it on Youtube.
Now, if you plan on restoring your apps by flashing a Titanium Backup zip file, you first want to reboot into the new ROM, and skip the part when it asks you if you want to restore your phone using your google account (you can do that later). Then reboot into recovery and flash the Titanium backup zip file. got this info here: http://www.s3forums.com/forum/galax...backup-pros-update-zip-restore-your-apps.html
And that's about it! let me know if I got anything wrong. If you do have questions, I'll try my best to answer them, but again, I've just learned all this stuff as well, so I may not know.

[Q] Who to root thsis one: Caterpillar S50, framaroot fails

Processor: Qualcomm MSM8926 Quad-core 1.2Ghz
Platform/OS: Android 4.4.2
Kernel: 3.4.0-gc6284e5-dirty
Buildnr: LTE_S0201121.0_S50_0.015.00
Framaroot shows Aragorn as only exploit (although this is not a Samsung) whichs fails with error #6.
Any advise on more testing that is available or other remedies & possibly known path to investigate?
(The device is new & out since oct, 1 2014)
There is more technical info on: http: // catphones.com / en-gb / phones / s50-smartphone /

Cat s50 root
Hi,
Whenever you insert a micro SD card in the device, the device the same complains or can not connect to download images, videos, music ...
The device we complains micro sd card but can not do anything with it. From the Play Store I downloaded the app "ES File Explorer". When transferring the images from internal memory to micro sd card, notice was that it must be the root device.
How to root the device, have you anything to it?

external sd-card ist useable without root
You dont need root to use an external sd-card. But you cannot write directly into the external sd-card for security reasons. Only installed apps are allowed the store their data there.
When you insert the sd-card, android put a folder named Android/Data into the root-folder of the sd-card. Apps who are modified for external sd-card use, put their own folder in there, which is writable only for this app. For instance, my navigation app store its data to the external sd-card.
If you want to copy your music to the external sd-card, you have to use a computer. The phone is mounted as external device. Then drag and drop your mp3 to the external sd-card. I have made a folder Music on the external sd and copyied my mp3 collection in there.
Greetings
hannesausmwald

My original question about rooting the device is not for storing data on SD. It is more about controlling the device and be able to make a proper backup. Under my control.
So the question still is How to attack this problem. Searching leads to a lot of unusable approaches. (Mostly because they reference OLDer firmware. This firm ware is from last summer).
If more info is needed please indicate what is needed.

Hi noci2,
I've succesfully rooted my S50 with Root Genius BUT new OTAs may not work.
In my case the new update (LTE_S0201121.0_S50_0.017.00_E01) has unrooted the phone and left it crippled (root is lost, partly removed and can't be gained till now and worst thing is: I can't update/root/unroot the phone hence I'm stuck with the 0.016 firmware). Anything else works fine so I'm just waiting for a stock rom + recovery / flash tool + image of the original firmware to undo the "damage" (no root and no updates).
kevin22
P.S.: I would be very grateful if anybody could support a backup image or something (one day)

borstie22 said:
Hi noci2,
the new update (LTE_S0201121.0_S50_0.017.00_E01) ...
I would be very grateful if anybody could support a backup image or something (one day)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New OTA? My baseband number is LTE_S0201121.0_S50_0.015.00 and a new update is not available till now via OTA (here in Europe/Germany) What is changed?
I would like to have a backup image too.

Well, that's odd. I'm living in Germany, too.... maybe it depends on your carrier (mine is o2). In version 0.016 the Cat App Store was removed (I've contacted the support and they told me that it'll be back in 0.017 with some improvements). Further LTE was optimized (in 0.016).
Summary:
0.015 - base firmware
0.016 - first update (LTE improvements and Cat App Sotre removed)
0.017 - Cat App store should be back and maybe some minor changes (size is 45,4MB) ... and I can't test it :crying:
kevin22

borstie22 said:
Well, that's odd. I'm living in Germany, too.... maybe it depends on your carrier (mine is o2). In version 0.016 the Cat App Store was removed (I've contacted the support and they told me that it'll be back in 0.017 with some improvements). Further LTE was optimized (in 0.016).
Summary:
0.015 - base firmware
0.016 - first update (LTE improvements and Cat App Sotre removed)
0.017 - Cat App store should be back and maybe some minor changes (size is 45,4MB) ... and I can't test it :crying:
kevin22
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Kevin,
I am also an o2 - customer, so that cannot be the reason. I will contact the support. Maybe they can tell me whats wrong.
Greetings
Hannes

Hi guys,
I'm on 0.016 as well and it shows me I can upgrade to 0.017, but it always fails (download - reboot - after reboot there is a message in notification area, saying that upgrade failed). Do you know more about this?
Regards

I'm in Holland, no OTA available
mine only gives "server error" when explicitely checking if an update is available.

Hi herdt,
I've got exactly the same problem with the update. Seems like my "partly rooted" ROM isn't the troublemaker after all. Maybe there's a flaw in the OTA itself?

Hi!
I am in Estonia and today I got my first update (had .15). It installed successfully and now I have _0.017.00. I had only tried rooting it before with towelroot which failed.
Framaroot still shows Aragorn as only option. Towelroot fails.
Cat appstore looks the same.
Kernel version: 3.4.0-gd73c047-dirty

Hey guys!
Same problem in Switzerland. Unrooted so far (though have been desperately trying to). No OTA yet, still on 015. OTA update doesn't complain when checking for updates, just saying that none are available. Had to turn off LTE since it has been pretty volatile.

hannesausmwald said:
I will contact the support. Maybe they can tell me whats wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wrote to support and asked about the OTA 0.017.00 The support-staff member wrote me back, that this update is only available via OTA, but not for all regions. The availability depends on the CID-Number which is displayed when you call the #02# (Mine is E01) When the update is available I will get a push message.
On my further askings, on which point in time I will get the OTA and about the purpose to upgrade the phone to Android 4.4.4 or 5, comes nothing concretely. Version 0.015.00 is up-to-date, wrote the staff-member, and I will get a push message. Upgrades are not decided till now.
But when it is up-to-date, why we have other users like borstie22, who has got 0.016.00 via OTA?

I think they are momentarily a little bit confused themselves. My S50 is also E01 and I get an update notification (0.017) but the support told me that 0.016 is the current E01 firmware yada yada yada ("you'll get a push message when the time has come").
Once again: I think we need the help of some clever xda-developers to unleash the true performance of this phone and it's software (Bullitt seems to be somewhat overchallenged with that).
borstie22

Got the E01 (0.015) as well, no updates so far. I'm really looking forward for it since it will hopefully solve the terrible LTE instability I'm experiencing, in general the network (voice as well) is much worse than my old nexus 4. Do you guys made the same experience or is yours stable? I already asked for a 2nd (new) SIM but got the same flakiness. I guess its time to contact support.
Edit: I just realized they don't even list the s50 in their support section nor in the contact form. Weird.

I haven't had any issues, but that support thing is a bit weird. I tried contacting them through contact form, regarding windows USB drivers to get the phone recognized for ADB. There was no response at all.
Stumbled on this thread looking for root, as It would've been Ok for me to read logs from phone directly.
Driver problem got sorted by updating SDK and explicitly telling Windows to use the generic android drivers that came with it.

That doesn't sound very promising. I just ordered my s50, should arrive tomorrow. I'll report back what CID and firmware I have and if I can update.
The LTE thing doesn't sound good at all.

So I sent them an email 2days ago late in the evening and got a reply concerning the LTE issues this morning: They basically recommend to turn LTE off which indeed improves the stability, no random blackouts anymore but general network reception (voice calls) is still beyond good and evil. My dear co-workers with other phones and LTE enabled have no problems at all (same carrier, same place, same contract). About the missing S50 info/support on their site: They're working on it. Anyway I just replied to see whats going on with the updates, lets see. Well at least they answer to support requests :good:
---------- Post added at 10:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:04 PM ----------
d3l1 said:
That doesn't sound very promising. I just ordered my s50, should arrive tomorrow. I'll report back what CID and firmware I have and if I can update.
The LTE thing doesn't sound good at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got any news on your device? LTE works fine?

Lots are talking about firmware update, but what about actual root ?

[ROM][TWRP]TouchWIZ BETA De-branded Debloated SM-G550T/SM-G550T1

!!!!!!!!!!!!m4dh4x0rz-d3br4nd3d!!!!!!!!
Hello XDA !! I am posting a STOCK TW Debranded ROM this requires ROOT and/OR TWRP
ROOTED!
Removed branded Bootsplash-- Replaced with Android AOSP
Removed ALL Metro Branded APPS! (THIS WILL ALSO WORK WITH T-Mobile Phones Do Not Worry!)
Replaced Branded files with Stock Samsung files from SM-G550FY
Fixed video calling bug-- (Video calling unavailable) Please PM if you have an issue i will try to resolve
Please NOTE I have removed the UNLOCK APP MAKE A BLOODY BACKUP IM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR UNLOCKABLE PHONES AND/OR BRICKS!!! :good::silly:
THIS WILL FLASH YOUR MODEM!!! IF YOU ARE ON THE TMOBILE VERSION DO NOT SKIP THIS !!!!
Flash through twrp as back-up
( to do this please extract the .zip file to your sdcard in the directory /TWRP/Backups/ROMENAMEHERE)
PLEASE FULL WIPE Cache/Data AND DALVIC As I have modified system files!!!
Download HERE
https://mega.nz/#!51ZUiKaa!hl6rLxNNAcaCqCzEDGt-J6XnBCgdNowBnovVeOTCqBk
(Please submit screenshots!!!)and reviews Don't be shy!
If you want to thank me Buy me a beer!!! VIA paypal
Coming soon will be de-odexed and even more mods!!!

Reserved

Yay first download! have fun and let me know what you think!
timba123 said:
Who tried it? I'm downloading now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank you! Great news. What's the footprint of this ROM on the internal hard drive post install? Does it have much more free space compared to the 100% stock ROM?

SM-G550T1
Missing META file...?

Can anyone with a G550T confirm that WIFI Calling is still functional after flashing this ROM? I need it. I can't do without it. I don't care about branding, I just need the official T-mobile WIFI calling feature to work.
Thanks!

I cant connect to my sim card it says not detected ! The ROM is great no bugs just this one.

The file you are trying to download is no longer available.
The file you are trying to download is no longer available.
This could be due to the following reasons:
The file has been removed because of a ToS/AUP violation.
Invalid URL - the link you are trying to access does not exist
The file has been deleted by the user.

[Mod]Fortnite Galaxy Skin (Samsung Device)

***Please excuse the current limited details as I'm on mobile and not at pc yet. Will post more details bout version used and bulid.prop***
++++I'm no expert and when you do this you WILL get alot of force closes! Also network will not work, YOU MUST use WiFi! This is only to get your skin and then flash back to your preferred rom+++++
××××To verify after first boot that the modifications worked, check under settings and you should have an S-pen option now. Also if you press the power button it Should say Tablet and not phone.××××
So the Galaxy Skin redemption period is almost over, and as I promised I would release the method I used to redeem the skin on S8+ (g955u) devices. This may work for other devices, your results may vary. I have used this method on about 10 G955u devices and has worked everytime and I don't know anyone else doing this method.
Looking at the specs between the Tab S4 and the G955U they both use the 835 so that's why I chose this device to try and get it to work since they were more similar.
The steps in this guide are gonna be specific to the U variants since the Bootloaders are locked, so ways of altering the system are different than bl unlocked devices (aka exynos), but making the changes im doing on your device might work. I have no exynos variant to test.
**proceed at your own risk. You will be doing alot of flashing for the Rom. This is required to enter and exit safestrap. **
Required:
-T830 (Tab S4) Oreo AP Image (Need System Folder)
AP_T830XXU1ARGH - Version I used
-G955U Oreo Safestrap (These have Locked BL/No root on Oreo so we need safestrap mod system)
1:
Download a T830 Oreo Rom and get the system folder from the AP.Tar (I'll post my exact version once at PC)
2:
Modify the System folder, we want to delete some stuff to try and keep use from not booting due to incompatibility. The only folders we need are:
App/Bin/Etc/Framework/Lib/Lib64/priv-app/build.prop
3:
Now we want to flash our device with Oreo, and before boot modify the system. For U variants get the Oreo Safestrap build. After flashing the Rom, immediately follow the steps to boot into safestrap!!! We do not want to regular boot!!
4:
Copy over your folders to internal or an sd card for flashing in safestrap. Using any method you want you want to copy and overwrite the files on your phone. I do this in the command line but you can do it graphically but will take much longer. Lastly, copy over the build.prop attached at the bottom; setup is disabled because phone would never allow me to go through it and would lock up.
5:
After you have flashed over the files and the build.prop, you need to flash the device out of safestrap and proceed with a normal boot. This is SLOW don't panic, you should immediately be on home screen with a couple of force closes.
***You must do the following using Samsung Apps only!****
6:
Start the Galaxy App Store it should update. Note: if you can't see the app store, this happened to me a few times. Go to settings>accounts>Samsung and sign in. After you sign in click the apps option and then it should update.
You MUST have the current version of app store!
7:
Inside Galaxy Apps, make sure Samsung Billing is up-to-date. If you can't find it to update don't worry. There is a method in another step were we verify it's updated that will update it as well.
8:
Install the fortnite installer through Galaxy Apps! Doing any other install method will keep you from getting skin! You should get a pop-up about getting the skin.
9:
After fortnite is installed and running, DO NOT START A GAME!!!!!! Go to the STORE!! Not skins but the store where you buy V-Bucks!!!
10:
Click to buy any pack of bucks, were not buying anything here. It will most likely ask you to sign-up. Sign in using your Samsung account. You will get 1 of 2 messages. 1 saying you need to update Samsung Billing OR a message asking you how you would like to pay.
You need to get to the point where it asks for your payment method. If you are not getting Samsung, go to settings and there should be an option for Payment that allows you to change to Samsung
11:
Now everything is verified and setup, play 3 games and should have your skin in about 12-24 hours. All of mine took about 12-16 hours to appear.
Note: The first time I did this the skin did not show up on my phone after the time period. I logged into the account on my Xbox and got the redemption message, but the others did redeem on phone. So if after 24 hours if you don't have it login to another platform.
I had actually wrote this guide about 5 days ago but when I was posting it got deleted and I got frustrated. I will try and get the files uploaded so it's an easier process, I just wanted to get this up quickly as skins can't be redeemed after March 7!!