Please help me,
How to root freetel kiwami samurai and custom rom for it!
It is use android 6.0 not good
Any updates?
Kingo and kingroot work, but no custom roms. No twrp or any recovery for it either.
Would like to know if anyone has any ideas or news on this.
I'm looking at one of these on ebay right now, leaning towards buying it. I'd almost certainly buy it if I knew there were custom ROMs available.
For the price, definitely an amazing phone. It really sucks that there is nearly zero support for it anywhere.
For $120 I decided to grab it to replace my constant headache with our note 4 here.
The main camera, very, very nice.
The speed seems alright. The feel, the build is great.
The battery seems to drain kinda quick, but that might be my imagination.
I'm comparing it to our Y6Max and phab2 plus.
I used Kingo root on it initially, then went to and currently have kingroot on it. Kingo had annoying floating ads.. Kingroot seems decent but I'm suspecting that it has something to do with the battery drain.
Worst part for me at the moment, trying to work around not having twrp+xposed on it.
(the nav/status bar is taking up too much of the nice 6" screen)
If anyone has any way of getting twrp or something similar on it.... Please let me know - help us all out.
After some fighting with Kingo and kingroot, back and forth, I managed to get supersu to take over, install binaries and update... Now no more Kingo or kingroot. Tempted to try installing xposed, but I'll wait for now.
Found a command to enter in terminal to use full immersive mode all the time...
Adjusted dpi as well
Now the phone is looking nice.
Just gotta wait and wish for someone kind enough to help out with getting a custom recovery on these phones.
Really loving this phone
Stock rom for freetel kiwami FTJ152D
Hi all, I need stock rom or worked rom for my freetel kiwami FTJ152D.
Can someone upload this or what is the link to download this ?
I bricked my phone after flashing custum rom MM6.0 published on needrom. No touchscreen, very bad display, no imei, no root.
Please, help me.
meteor37 said:
Please help me,
How to root freetel kiwami samurai and custom rom for it!
It is use android 6.0 not good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I used kingoroot online and mine was rooted. (Freetel samurai kuwami FTJ152D stock rom 5.1)
But now, I have a big issues, I flashed it with a MM6.0 publshed on needrom and now there's no touchscreen, screen display very bad, no imei (impossible to put imei and root with few known method) and no root.
Could you please upload your worked rom ? Stock rom or custum but work fine.
Or where can I find link to download it ?
Please help me.
Myloverboy said:
Hi, I used kingoroot online and mine was rooted. (Freetel samurai kuwami FTJ152D stock rom 5.1)
But now, I have a big issues, I flashed it with a MM6.0 publshed on needrom and now there's no touchscreen, screen display very bad, no imei (impossible to put imei and root with few known method) and no root.
Could you please upload your worked rom ? Stock rom or custum but work fine.
Or where can I find link to download it ?
Please help me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like the rom on needrom was for a slightly different phone. However the phone is so cheap now its almost disposable ($100)
I have been able to get recovery but it is in microscopic Japanese Kanji, showing off the high resolution of the screen, but I can't read Japanese.
That is actually a diagnostic menu in chinese you went into (Google Translate FTW lol). For the stock rom recovery, you can turn the phone off, hold volume up button and plug in the usb cable that is connected to a computer. You can also hold volume up and power and let go of power as soon as freetel logo comes on. You will enter stock recovery that is in english but it is useless because you cannot use stock recovery to undo what you have done to your phone since there is no place online you can find a stock rom of this phone model (I have searched for many many hours online).
I am working on getting stock rom dump off my phone using sp flash tool but biggest headache for me has been the scatter file so far. Without it, I can't use the 'read back' option to extract an image dump of working stock rom. Only scatter file i found is from extracting the needrom MM 6.0 which is for the samurai FTJ152D.
I am unable to make a scatter file using MTK Droid tools since MTK Droid tools do not work for 64-bit mtk processors like the one in Kiwami. Scatter files are CPU specific but they are further modified based on the model of the phone and the android version of the rom, so the scatter file from MM 6.0 for FTJ152D is very close to what we need for FTU152D but even a slight variation will result in a rom dump that will not work. If any of you are willing to try, I can use the scatter file from MM 6.0 (FTJ152D) on my phone that is FTU152D to extract a rom dump, but keep in mind that this will probably not work and might make matters worse for your phone. Scatter files are sort of like 'Table of Contents', and if the page numbers are wrong you end up reading wrong chapter... (you get the idea).
I haven't found any other way of making a scatter file. If anyone knows how to get a scatter file from a phone running 64-bit processor such as MT6795, please help us out. Thanks.
Just an update, while trying to make a 'read back' dump using sp flash tool, I accidentally started a download of the FTJ152D MM firmware I was using the scatter file from... Needless to say now I have the demo version of marshmallow and have lost my IMEI info from phone. I did make a 'read back' dump of the phone before i messed up, using the guide from syserr about "Dump Full Rom" at
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2540400.
NOTE: If you are still on stock rom that the phone shipped with, DO NOT try upgrade using SP flash tool, at the very least you will loose IMEI information for both sim slots. For me, the phone connects with sim but I can only get 2g data speeds and make phone calls.
I am hoping that the following information can help others:
1) Most Important: If you root, do not use SUPERSU 2.79 or above versions or phone will be stuck in bootloader. Even if you make a backup of boot.img, sideloading it from ADB did not work for me, it kept failing. I am not sure if earlier SuperSU versions work or not, if they do work, make sure you disable auto update for SuperSU in Google Play Store.
2) Even if you make a backup of nvram.bin using sp flashtool, it will NOT restore your imei information in the phone because from what I researched so far, this information is populated using the BPLG and AP databases that are included with the stock firmware as separate files and quite possibly with 64-bit mtk processors, this information is protected and encrypted. Other possibility is that the nvram.bin i recovered from my whole rom dump is for lollipop and since phone is running on marshmallow, this bin file is invalid? I did try flashing two different nvram.bin (one i recovered from the stock dump i made when phone worked, another i downloaded from internet) using flashtool and it made the matters worse, all baseband info disappeared and both sim slots just totally greyed out in settings. If it greys out for you, just format the whole flash and flash the MM firmware again without any nvram partition. Just leave default settings for nvram in scatter file alone.
3) Currently, there is no way to root this phone when on marshmallow. Do not try the chinese one-click or other software such as miracle box, all the ones i downloaded and/or tried or not tried, were flagged by Anti-Virus as trojans and viruses.
4) Be very careful when trying to flash software on this phone, make sure you use the correct Preloader.bin file. The marshmallow firmware on needrom website has a preloader.bin file in it and it works fine. Do not attempt to try preloader from other similar phones or you will brick this phone permanently.
5) ADB and Fastboot commands do not help because the phone is not rooted anymore once you upgrade to marshmallow using the FTJ152D marshmallow firmware from needrom.
6) I have tried combinations of boot.img, and system.img from Priori 3 (it is also dual sim and rom on needrom website is android 5.1), was hoping for a miracle but no luck.
7) MTK Droid Tools works partially with this phone. Most options in the tool require root or do not work with mt67xx processors. I found mtk droid tools useful to enter recovery directly when usb debugging was enabled or to go to ADB terminal to try sideload or reboot bootloader to enter fastboot.
8) Even if you enable oem unlock in developers, the option (volume+up) in Fastboot menu to unlock the bootloader doesn't work. It seems that many MTK processors have this option disabled by the manufacturer.
9) TWRP custom recovery will not work with this phone because the 'boot script' (not bootloader) before actual recovery in the recovery partition has the touch disabled. I was able to get CWM to work by directly flashing it instead of stock recovery but installation of any zip files through recovery fail still.
10) I can confirm that the scatter file in marshmallow rom for FTJ152D available at needrom website has the right entries and address locations for our phone (FTU152D) because I was able to use that scatter file and a Hex Editor program (search for HxD on download.cnet.com) to carve out almost all the partitions from the 2gig partial rom dump I had of my phone in working state. When carving partitions from the dump, some trimming for certain folders is required because cutting the partition by size and making it a .bin or .image file will give errors in SP Flash Tool otherwise. The marshmallow rom or a Priori 3 lollipop rom, both can be used as a reference when cutting out the extra bytes.
If you are like me and have upgraded to marshmallow using the FTJ152D software, there are not many options. I haven't given up yet though, I backtracked my steps trying to make a backup of the phone in its current state using SP Flash Tool full rom dump and it was successful. If I could get my hands on full rom dump of 5 gigabytes of a working phone with lollipop software, I am confident I can restore my phone back to lollipop. This may not fix the IMEI problem but once the phone is running lollipop, it is possible to root it again using kingroot or towelroot and then use one of the imei repair apps or a program to rebuild nvram folder using the BPLG and AP databases and use root explorer to place it in the phone.
Phew... a long write but hope this helps others, and if anyone can help by sharing any thoughts or uploading their stock rom dump if own same phone (can read syserr's method of using 'read back' in SP flash tool to make one big partition dump for the whole rom instead of making seperate partitions which is a painstaking process.
Finally, some very good news for people like me who are stuck, figured out a way to root and install Xposed both Please give credit to Magisk and Xposed developers listed below.
Root:
Root this phone while it is running the FTJ152D marshmallow stock rom using the Magisk guide here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/magisk/official-magisk-v7-universal-systemless-t3473445
Follow the "Via Magisk Manager (Only support v14.0+): ... " method to install the magisk manager and the .zip file right through it. It patches the boot and makes a patched boot image that you can transfer to your computer and then rename it to boot.img and replace the original boot.img in the FTJ152D MM rom folder. Then use the SP Flash tool, load the scatter file in the rom folder and the 'Format all + Download' option in download tab (it will give you PMT error if you try to just flash the new boot.img alone). Hit the download button, turn the phone off, and connect it to the computer via usb. Everything else should be straightforward but if any issues, ask here, and I will try help if I can.
Xposed:
There is no touch support to make custom recovery work on this phone yet and the only custom recovery i got to work was an old version of CWM which behaved same like stock recovery and refused to let me flash zip files. The workaround I found that worked was 'Flashify' on Play Store. Now that root is working, flashify seems to work (tried Flashfire too but it just hangs and phone freezes). Follow the steps below:
1) Download and install the latest Xposed Installer Apk from their page.
2) Download the appropriate xposed zip file (SDK23 ARM-64), version 89 worked for me. Use Flashify to flash the zip file. If any issues come up, ask here and I will try help.
Official Xposed post is here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3034811
This post is also very helpful:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=67696847&postcount=2
All credits go to the respective developers for their work, including @topjohnwu, @rovo89, @mGforCe, @SolarWarez, @MaArCiN074 and others. Don't forget to thank them.
I also have been able to replace the demo mode logo with logo that was in the partial stock rom dump and will share it soon.
IMEI issue:
After gaining root and installing Xposed, a number of apps can help to at least temporarily get the IMEI written to the phone, that lasts till factory reset. One issue that people like me who installed the FTJ152D MM rom is that the bands in the phone are now based on the Japan region and almost all the frequencies and bands needed for phone to get 3g and 4g signal are disabled in the phone. From researching about this issue I found out (I may be wrong but that's the only information I could find and the bands that are enabled seem to confirm this), is that the latest mediatek chips come with all 41 bands and the phone manufacturers and operators disable or enable bands based on their regions and preferences, so that this phone, FTU152D is probably the exact same hardware as the FTJ152D and the only difference is the software which disables and enables the bands based on the baseband version of the rom. This is a problem for ppl like me living here in U.S but the enabled bands may be fine elsewhere. There is no way to change the bands as they are greyed out when you go to modem information though 'Phone Information' section (apps like 'Advanced Signal Status' can help access it). It doesn't allow me to select and enable band 4 and 12 as these are greyed out (but these worked before with stock rom, so I know the hardware supports them just the baseband version is wrong now).
Anyone know or can help get the right bands working, or have any hints to point me in the right direction, please post here. Thanks.
I was able to finish dicing up the raw dump to make back a working FTU152D stock rom with good baseband. Here is the link for instructions and download link:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/general/kiwami-samurai-ftu152d-stock-lollipop-5-t3750068
I have a question for any and all kiwami samurai owners /users. Is it just me, or does your WiFi seem to cut off regularly? I have been fighting with this from pretty much day one. When I'm using a sim card in the phone, I don't notice anything because the mobile data from the sim is working. But, I have 2 of these samurai phones now, and I bought a blackberry passport for my main phone and now both samurai phones are usually only using WiFi. Funnier thing... They both seem to have WiFi issues at the same time. How I know?... Well, I use an app on all of our phones and devices here - Zello. When the connection is lost, Zello sounds an alarm and lets me know. So if the phones are acting up, we'll hear this all day, disconnecting and reconnecting. I got one more for you, the disconnects seem much worse when I use the phones compared to just having them there sitting around. I even went as far to install many WiFi watching, locking, reconnecting apps to try and force the connection to stay on and alive. They have their work cut out for them seeing as when these phones decide they want to drop the WiFi connection, they will fight these apps to maintain WiFi connection until these apps pretty much give up. I have these as back up phones basically, so it doesn't matter so much but of course, this is extremely annoying and a huge inconvenience at times. Any one else out there experiencing this? The only thing I did do that may have a place in all this... Rooted the phones, and also I removed every google app. I have a note 2, note 4, doogee y6 Max, Lenovo phab 2 plus, tab s and an HTC one m8 that are all the same... Rooted and google removed. Playstore play services all that stuff - gone. Those phones don't act up anywhere close to as bad as these samurai phones. Many times I fight the WiFi off because doze and all that power save crap but these samurai phones are tough to figure out. Anyone have any ideas? I also froze and deleted a bunch of system apps(I know, I know) but that was only after I noticed the WiFi issue on the phone and was trying to see if possibly one of the system apps had anything to do with the WiFi disconnects or any power save features or control. So anyone.... Ideas?
J&G said:
I have a question for any and all kiwami samurai owners /users. Is it just me, or does your WiFi seem to cut off regularly? I have been fighting with this from pretty much day one. When I'm using a sim card in the phone, I don't notice anything because the mobile data from the sim is working. But, I have 2 of these samurai phones now, and I bought a blackberry passport for my main phone and now both samurai phones are usually only using WiFi. Funnier thing... They both seem to have WiFi issues at the same time. How I know?... Well, I use an app on all of our phones and devices here - Zello. When the connection is lost, Zello sounds an alarm and lets me know. So if the phones are acting up, we'll hear this all day, disconnecting and reconnecting. I got one more for you, the disconnects seem much worse when I use the phones compared to just having them there sitting around. I even went as far to install many WiFi watching, locking, reconnecting apps to try and force the connection to stay on and alive. They have their work cut out for them seeing as when these phones decide they want to drop the WiFi connection, they will fight these apps to maintain WiFi connection until these apps pretty much give up. I have these as back up phones basically, so it doesn't matter so much but of course, this is extremely annoying and a huge inconvenience at times. Any one else out there experiencing this? The only thing I did do that may have a place in all this... Rooted the phones, and also I removed every google app. I have a note 2, note 4, doogee y6 Max, Lenovo phab 2 plus, tab s and an HTC one m8 that are all the same... Rooted and google removed. Playstore play services all that stuff - gone. Those phones don't act up anywhere close to as bad as these samurai phones. Many times I fight the WiFi off because doze and all that power save crap but these samurai phones are tough to figure out. Anyone have any ideas? I also froze and deleted a bunch of system apps(I know, I know) but that was only after I noticed the WiFi issue on the phone and was trying to see if possibly one of the system apps had anything to do with the WiFi disconnects or any power save features or control. So anyone.... Ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a lot of variables that could be causing your WiFi issues. Since it is happening on two identical phones, have you installed Zello on a different phone to notice if it happens on that phone at the same time as well? It is possible that it is your WiFi causing the issue more than the phones themselves. How far from the wireless router are you when this happens? It could be that the radio/antenna range on the Samurai phones is lower than other phones and when WiFi signal is weaker, these phones just disconnect. Also, in WiFi settings if you have changed 'Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep' from 'Always' setting to another setting? Another possibility is that 'Scanning always available' setting, if turned on, and you have uninstalled Google or system app(s) that interact with this setting, it could cause a bug where network is disconnected momentarily (see if this setting is on, turn it off).
How strong, how many bars does your WiFi signal show? Mine shows full bars up to 30 feet from gateway and at least half strength in my bedroom and WiFi is not affected or dropped even at half strength. Are you using 2.4Ghz or 5.0Ghz frequency? Try using 2.4Ghz as 5.0Ghz although faster, has a much lower range and if signal is weaker it does disconnect the phone to save battery life.
You could also check WiFi settings using the *#*#4636#*#* if it shows any issues in there.
Android# said:
There are a lot of variables that could be causing your WiFi issues. Since it is happening on two identical phones, have you installed Zello on a different phone to notice if it happens on that phone at the same time as well? It is possible that it is your WiFi causing the issue more than the phones themselves. How far from the wireless router are you when this happens? It could be that the radio/antenna range on the Samurai phones is lower than other phones and when WiFi signal is weaker, these phones just disconnect. Also, in WiFi settings if you have changed 'Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep' from 'Always' setting to another setting? Another possibility is that 'Scanning always available' setting, if turned on, and you have uninstalled Google or system app(s) that interact with this setting, it could cause a bug where network is disconnected momentarily (see if this setting is on, turn it off).
How strong, how many bars does your WiFi signal show? Mine shows full bars up to 30 feet from gateway and at least half strength in my bedroom and WiFi is not affected or dropped even at half strength. Are you using 2.4Ghz or 5.0Ghz frequency? Try using 2.4Ghz as 5.0Ghz although faster, has a much lower range and if signal is weaker it does disconnect the phone to save battery life.
You could also check WiFi settings using the *#*#4636#*#* if it shows any issues in there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for the help....
so, the other phones( we have many) are mostly all set up the same way, all have zello...and no, they don't have the same issue disconnecting at the same time the freetels do.
The router here probably needs to be replaced but, cant get around to that for now.
a little update to this problem... I didn't want to try installing xposed before, because I didn't have recovery installed...got it done using flashfire. this got me xposed and I did this just for the hell of it since i didn't care so much about the phones since they were just being pains. However, after doing this, i also decided to install Lspeed. I remembered that I checked this app out before and i seen that It had some settings in it for tweaking wifi and Lnet. Not even sure what these would do, I started to mess around in there and toggled a few things on...just to see what would happen. also, i just happened to see something in xposed to download "Wifi regional problem solver". again, not sure what this would do, or if it would do anything, i said lets do it...installed it. and believe it or not, haven't had any issues like before with wifi since. Now, not sure what actually fixed the problem or if the problem is actually fixed or if it just took a break from driving me mad, but yeah...it's actually not a bad phone now.
as for Lspeed....using version 1.4.27(like this more than the latest for some reason) and I set up most things in the app to "balanced". not performance , not for battery. Under LNET Optimizer .... NET buffers : BIG. RIL tweaks enabled. NET TCP tweaks enabled. NET speed+ enabled. wifi scanning ...while i've always had off on all devices for as long as i can remember having androids...here in Lspeed i toggled on and set supplicant scan interval to 15secs and wifi idle ms to 1. left google dns off.
just if anyone wanted to know or cares ....and hey, maybe someone knows what any of that stuff means and might be able to say..hey, none of that would've changed anything so it's worthless....or maybe explain what each means or does and why it might have helped.
thanks again.
S8+ /S8 Global Unlocked Variants, (ie: G955FD, etc) Desperately need help w/issue After 8.0 Update...
Hi, I have a G955FD & have family members with this same model, as well as the Global unlocked regular S8-dual sim. We all have the same issue after the Samsung 8.0.0 update. The phone is no longer reliable. Randomly, these devices will not have any ring on incoming calls. If they don't leave a VM, then you have no indication of a missed phone call. In addition, random periods where text messages will also just not come thru. Difference on the texts is, when you reboot, they all populate in the message app and notifications. But the incoming calls are not known and lost forever w/o a VM left for you by caller.
I have been in contact with Samsung, although they indicate right off that I have no warranty because I didn't buy a carrier device from an authorized vendor for my local use, they were open & helpful to reveal that they are aware of '8.0 ringer issues' on the unlocked global devices. BTW, this must be a huge number of people across the world with this problem, but like my friends/family, originally think they have signal/carrier issues etc. Samsung says that it should be addressed in a patch or update..... but, WHEN? I have had a messed up phone for over 3months and counting.
The only thing that can be done to attempt having the phone work 'more often' is to do a restart every hour all day long and hope that your phone will ring when someone is calling.
I, personally, being the family tech guy, am the one working on the issue so I'm here to ask for help/input.
Been dealing with this issue for over 3 months now, here's some of what I have done and what I'd like help with please...
I have attempted 5x to install a custom ROM from XDA to alleviate this issue completely, but as of now, still unsuccessful. I've been rooting/hacking my android devices since my 1st but somehow can't get the process to work thru. At this point, using Odin, I have no issue to get my phone running TWRP and rooted. Somehow, after that point something isn't going right and my phone has to be re-odin flashed with OEM ROM and then wait 1 week for OEM unlock to re-appear to try again. So, If I could complete this process next time the OEM-unlock is back up, my problem would be over.
Now, since I am having issue with completing a custom ROM install... I thought, why not flash a previous OEM ROM (7.0 NOUGAT) and again, my problem should be over and I could wait until a 9.0 update to see how that goes. So far, any 7.0 stock ROMS I have been able to find/download, have 'failed' install in Odin. (I have standard Odin, patched and Prince Comsey) so I always try them all before I say it's a true fail.
Can anyone help me to understand why, with all the root/roms Ive done, cannot get custom ROM to complete install. I was trying for the CarHD or Batman. after rom flash, something goes wrong and the phone either goes bootloop or failed verify. (BTW, couple X I did flash the no-verify to alleviate that issue but still get bootloop or no new rom boot up)
The other thing I'd love to be able to do right now that 'should' be a piece of cake, (but hasn't been) until I figure out the custom rom install issue, is to ask for anyone that can post a link to a valid ODIN-flashable Stock 7.0 NOUGAT ROM for my S8+ G955F/FD. That would solve everything for now and I'd just disable updates for the interim. As previously mentioned, the couple I have found would only FAIL on Odin flash attempts. Seeing that this is a global, unlocked device, is it possible to flash a stock rom or flash a diff CSC that can get me North America Tmobile setup (my USA provider) I noticed that the global phone has no options to disable LTE or turn wifi calling on/off etc.
I apologize if I have jumped around in my post, not provided enough details or not written very eloquently, but I am happy to provide any other needed info to move forward if any of you have ideas here. I'm just at the end of my rope with this right now.
Any help, input here is much appreciated! TIA! mark~
Trying to be helpful here.
For some folks flashing with Odin the first run through errors/fails. That issue was a PITA. I found a post somewhere which said when you hook up the phone to flash with Odin, the first attempt will fail, but to leave the phone connected, go back into download mode, and flash again. Do not unplug the phone when you do this.
For some reason there's a kink in Odin with some folks.
That info, wish I could recall who by - they deserve the recognition, anyway it solved all my Odin errors.
JeffDC said:
Trying to be helpful here.
For some folks flashing with Odin the first run through errors/fails. That issue was a PITA. I found a post somewhere which said when you hook up the phone to flash with Odin, the first attempt will fail, but to leave the phone connected, go back into download mode, and flash again. Do not unplug the phone when you do this.
For some reason there's a kink in Odin with some folks.
That info, wish I could recall who by - they deserve the recognition, anyway it solved all my Odin errors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey jeff, thanks for checking in when the OEM unlock button returns again tomorrow, I'll keep this in mind on my next attempt. i did encounter that fail several times with some OEM firmware flashes (trying to go back to 7.0) and this should resolve that problem. overall though, my real issue seems to be when attempting a root/custom rom instead of a stock replacement... and 'after' i get TWRP completed. I'm doing something wrong with a button hold sequence or something else. maybe need flash 'do not verify' right off too. I'm gonna go extra slow/careful following each step from a great, detailed post for TWRP/ROOT/ROM procedure that i found here over weekend written by 'jesec' what i hate the most is, i only have 1 shot doing this with the oem unlock button, if messed up, have to re-flash a stock rom and wait another 7 days to try this all again.
i still cannot believe its been about 13wks and samsung says they are aware, yet still has not patched this problem. i love my samsungs but im so fed up, i almost ordered a oneplus 6 this weekend just because of this random no ring issue.
thanks much!