Database Info

[Q] Help with rooting+installing custom ROMs for Samsung Galaxy 3(i5801) running 2.2?

Okay, now I know that there are other threads about this, but the issue is that none are specific to my problem. Either they are not for my phone, or my version is different or the thread is dead and with no replies. So I created a new thread.
Anyway, I was hoping that I could get a step by step procedure on how to root my phone and install a custom ROM.
The issue is, my KIES doesn't work (so help me with that also please) and moreover, I'm very new to all this so I don't quite get a few things.
Also, please tell me what are the best ROMs out there and if something does go wrong in the process, how do I un-brick my phone?
So I'm looking for active replies / repliers since I know I'll have a bunch of questions during the process.
Last, when I go to "about phone" on my phone it says "firmware version 2.2", but the little that I've looked up, people run 2.2.1. Does this mean my rooting process is different?
Thanks. And in case you want it, my kernel version is 2.6.32.9
Appreciate it.

rooting z4root
custom rom - pick a custom rom and follow instruction in that thread.
Your phone is already updated to 2.2 and that is the reason why kies doesn't show new updates. Our phone has 2.2 and not 2.2.1
If you use roms which doesnt have boot then it will not get hard bricked. soft brick can be fixed by reflashing.
What is the exact issue you are facing while using kies? Try a uninstall and reinstall. That should fix it

K, so I fixed KIES. I just had to update though, I was running on an older version. I didn't think a slightly outdated version would not detect my phone.. anyway never mind that.
So I don't really know what the best custom ROM is out there. could you suggest one? one that is fast (speed is really the priority), and not buggy, supports the apps that the stock ROM should. I'm willing to try three-four, so give me the names of the best ones out there.
Don't I need to root my phone before installing a custom ROM? If so, then I need to learn how to do that..
What do you mean it doesn't have a boot?

Well to figure out best ROm you will have to read up on each ROm. Each of them have separate thread where initial posts describe the properties of ROm. There are ROm comparison threads out there but that is just summary. I cant give you best choices. Everybody has different taste. Start with more popular ones, whose threads have more posts. More post -> more popular.
You can root using z4root.
Custom ROM are pre rooted normally so you need not root your phone before flashing custom rom

Mohit12 said:
K, so I fixed KIES. I just had to update though, I was running on an older version. I didn't think a slightly outdated version would not detect my phone.. anyway never mind that.
So I don't really know what the best custom ROM is out there. could you suggest one? one that is fast (speed is really the priority), and not buggy, supports the apps that the stock ROM should. I'm willing to try three-four, so give me the names of the best ones out there.
Don't I need to root my phone before installing a custom ROM? If so, then I need to learn how to do that..
What do you mean it doesn't have a boot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if speed is a prime consideration then i would suggest kyrillos rom..... fastest rom i ever used....... very less buggy.......
you can also flash lestatious rom..... it is damn fast and surprisingly stable!.....
and check dharam's rom collection too....... i'm using his ultra clean ultimate rom right now..... and it's good although since you are new i would recommend flashing a different rom from his collection.....
As for rooting.... you don't need to root before flashing a custom rom....
And in case you need any information about any of the features or anything.... just post it here ....... i'lll try to help you in whatever way i can.,.....

Mohit12 said:
Okay, now I know that there are other threads about this, but the issue is that none are specific to my problem. Either they are not for my phone, or my version is different or the thread is dead and with no replies. So I created a new thread.
Anyway, I was hoping that I could get a step by step procedure on how to root my phone and install a custom ROM.
The issue is, my KIES doesn't work (so help me with that also please) and moreover, I'm very new to all this so I don't quite get a few things.
Also, please tell me what are the best ROMs out there and if something does go wrong in the process, how do I un-brick my phone?
So I'm looking for active replies / repliers since I know I'll have a bunch of questions during the process.
Last, when I go to "about phone" on my phone it says "firmware version 2.2", but the little that I've looked up, people run 2.2.1. Does this mean my rooting process is different?
Thanks. And in case you want it, my kernel version is 2.6.32.9
Appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey i would suggest u to go for Indroid 4.3. I m using this and have seen many users jumping from lestatious and kyrollis to indroid.
As a begginer, u will also get many help in Indroid thread.
Z4root doesnt work in Froyo, if u wanna root, choose superone click.
U dont need kies to work, Use Odin to flash ur fone.
Make sure to learn processes better by reading through forums, if u dont wanna brick ur fone.

Hey!! I would suggest Indroid 4.3 or Kyrillos 5.6. They are fast as hey have lagfix.
And no you don t have to root your phone before installing a custom ROM. But if you want to root, use superoneclick to root.
And as for bricking, you can avoid hard brick by installing a ROM that does not have bootloader. Bootloader is a piece of code that runs before any operating system starts. So you should avoid flashing bootloader.
As for soft bricks, you can just reflash to come out of the soft brick.

okay so i was doing a bit of reading up and i realised the following :
1)First i need to download :
a) Odin (please post version number i have to get for my i5801 (or is it just one thing for all phones?) or a link please.)
b) some backup software. now i downloaded titanium backup, but it won't open because it says my phone is not rooted. so help me go about this.
c) a custom ROM. I think i'll start off with kyrillos rom since i've been told it's the fastest and very less buggy. i'll then move on to Dharam's ROM if i don't like kyrillos rom because Dharam seems to be a very active user, and quite friendly, and i feel he can solve the issues well. after that i'll try Indroid.
d) I also need superone click.
Question : Where do i download these? directly on my phone or on my computer?
2) I can increase my internal storage by partitioning a part of my SD card. Now I have a 4 GB SD card and i barely use it, so i don't mind giving upto 1GB of it. Please suggest the perfect amount. whether 1GB will be too much, or whether 500MB would be too less.
3) some apps do not work with custom ROMs. The app that i really want is 4shared. It's working currently on my phone with the stock ROM, so if someone can check if that will also work on the three ROMs that i mentioned.
4) soft bricking isn't much of an issue, but it's better i avoid it. so can someone give me a rather up-to-date guide (or link) on rooting, because the other ones are REALLY old. at least 4-5 months old and there have been some updates after that.
5) I can also overclock my phone. And from what I read up, SetCPU seems compatible with the above ROMs. And after flashing my phone with a custom ROM, my phone is automatically rooted. Correct me if I am wrong.
6) Flash player isn't available for our processor (V6). Since this is a hardware issue, there's no way i can make it work on some other ROM, can I? Because flash is a rather important software..
So that's it, I guess. Please add anything if i missed out anything.
PS : Does anyone know of any software using which I can download YouTube videos? Because the YouTube app kind of sucks, and buffering takes time since I don't have WiFi.

Wow!! Those are a lot of questions.
1) Link for ODIN.
ODIN>http://goo.gl/nCxCw
OPS FILE>http://goo.gl/ORin0
As for the backup software, Titanium backup is the best out there. As it can backup all the apps and all the settings. Yes you have to be rooted. So root and use.
And for rooting, use this tutorial,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011555
Don t worry about the oldness. This works. The link for superoneclicjk is available in that post as well.
Yes. Kyrillos is a good ROM. As it is prelagfixed and offer good internal memory as well after you partition your SD. Sizes, 512 MB ext4 and 128 MB linux swap. Rest of the memory you can use for storage.
As far as overclocking is concerned, in Kyrillos, you again have to flash a new kernel if you want OC.
And for the flash problem, only adobe can solve that problem.

And oh yes, most of the custom roms are prerooted. So after flashin you don t have to root again.

Mohit12 said:
okay so i was doing a bit of reading up and i realised the following :
1)First i need to download :
a) Odin (please post version number i have to get for my i5801 (or is it just one thing for all phones?) or a link please.)
b) some backup software. now i downloaded titanium backup, but it won't open because it says my phone is not rooted. so help me go about this.
c) a custom ROM. I think i'll start off with kyrillos rom since i've been told it's the fastest and very less buggy. i'll then move on to Dharam's ROM if i don't like kyrillos rom because Dharam seems to be a very active user, and quite friendly, and i feel he can solve the issues well. after that i'll try Indroid.
d) I also need superone click.
Question : Where do i download these? directly on my phone or on my computer?
2) I can increase my internal storage by partitioning a part of my SD card. Now I have a 4 GB SD card and i barely use it, so i don't mind giving upto 1GB of it. Please suggest the perfect amount. whether 1GB will be too much, or whether 500MB would be too less.
3) some apps do not work with custom ROMs. The app that i really want is 4shared. It's working currently on my phone with the stock ROM, so if someone can check if that will also work on the three ROMs that i mentioned.
4) soft bricking isn't much of an issue, but it's better i avoid it. so can someone give me a rather up-to-date guide (or link) on rooting, because the other ones are REALLY old. at least 4-5 months old and there have been some updates after that.
5) I can also overclock my phone. And from what I read up, SetCPU seems compatible with the above ROMs. And after flashing my phone with a custom ROM, my phone is automatically rooted. Correct me if I am wrong.
6) Flash player isn't available for our processor (V6). Since this is a hardware issue, there's no way i can make it work on some other ROM, can I? Because flash is a rather important software..
So that's it, I guess. Please add anything if i missed out anything.
PS : Does anyone know of any software using which I can download YouTube videos? Because the YouTube app kind of sucks, and buffering takes time since I don't have WiFi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rom is downloaded on your pc and flashed through it using odin.
I don't know any apps that work on stock rom and not on custom rom..... and 4shared works on kyrillos and indroid..... i've used it myself..
Most custom roms are already rooted and setcpu is the best app for setting CPU frequencies.
And as you said flash player isn't compatible with armv6 processors like ours.... so unless adobe makes it compatible no custom rom can do anything.
and for downloading youtube videos i'll suggest an app called you tube downloader or tube-X.......
Hope this helps...

Kernel
I flashed the indroid 4.0 Rom with Odin, and in short I will probably try to flash the indroid 4.3 Rom.
One question however, More and more I read about "kernel"(eg to get the 1% battery thing).
I know the kernel is the core of the operating system, but I don't understand how to use/apply it on my phone. Is the kernel something I have to flash separatly from the Rom, or is it included in the Rom?
If you need to install / flash it seperatly, where can I find the different kernels, and which one is recommended for my phone (Samsung Galaxy 3 Apollo)?
Hope someone can answer!
thnx

funbun77 said:
I flashed the indroid 4.0 Rom with Odin, and in short I will probably try to flash the indroid 4.3 Rom.
One question however, More and more I read about "kernel"(eg to get the 1% battery thing).
I know the kernel is the core of the operating system, but I don't understand how to use/apply it on my phone. Is the kernel something I have to flash separatly from the Rom, or is it included in the Rom?
If you need to install / flash it seperatly, where can I find the different kernels, and which one is recommended for my phone (Samsung Galaxy 3 Apollo)?
Hope someone can answer!
thnx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The kernel is included in the ROM itself. There are different kernels with different functionalities. For eg : - Most of the kernel that come with the ROMS are non-OC. So, if you want to overclock you phone, you have to flash the required kernel after flashing the ROM. The procedure is same using ODIN. Here s the link to the kernels.
http://code.google.com/p/fugumod-i5800/downloads/list

@ dhirend_6d
thnx!

Sorry for replying so late guys. Had a bit of an issue with the internet. Lightening struck somewhere near my house so it was down for a few days.
Anyway, thanks for all your help. I'll try to root+flash my phone day after as I have exams for two more days.
I'll post here if I have any other questions, but thanks a LOT for all your answers and help. But btw, what is the 1% battery mod?

Uh, I was rooting my phone. just one error. Superoneclick gets stuck at "running rageagainstthecage" and accoring to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011555 i should set touchwiz as the default launcher. how do i do that?

Mohit12 said:
Uh, I was rooting my phone. just one error. Superoneclick gets stuck at "running rageagainstthecage" and accoring to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011555 i should set touchwiz as the default launcher. how do i do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if u have any other launcher like adw then go to settings > application > Adw launcher (for example) and press clear default.
Then press the home key, It should ask u to set detault launcher. Just click on the checkbox below and select touchwiz launcher.
Tell me if it works or not.

No I do not have any other launcher installed. At least it's not showing up there.. but i did try using the more latest version. 1.9.5. that seemed to work just fine. man, i was so scared before rooting this wondering what if something goes wrong. but that was easy
Titanium backup now and maybe flashing a new rom tomorrow (or in a couple of days, after my exam.) Thanks though! =)

Mohit12 said:
No I do not have any other launcher installed. At least it's not showing up there.. but i did try using the more latest version. 1.9.5. that seemed to work just fine. man, i was so scared before rooting this wondering what if something goes wrong. but that was easy
Titanium backup now and maybe flashing a new rom tomorrow (or in a couple of days, after my exam.) Thanks though! =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st step done successfully...congo...welcome to this amazing world.
I would suggest, go for indroid but follow all the steps properly and read the forums for all the problems.

and yeah we also get awesome themes and more memory /system!!
custom roms are faster with better battery backup.
currently on indroid 6!!

[GUIDE][INFO] The beginner's info thread (aka. the noob helper)

This guide is intended to be an all-in-one resource for people coming to Samsung phones after using other devices. It is a general introduction to the S4 and a glossary/explanation of terms you may see here in the forums.
This thread is slightly out of date but the info is still good, I will be updating again soon!!! Remember to hit thanks if this was useful
Disclaimer "Just because I am trying to be helpful does not make me responsible for anything that you do to your phone. Playing with any of this stuff could destroy your phone"
The layout of this post is as follows:
Welcome
FAQ
Glossary of terms
First off, welcome to XDA
The XDA community is home to the most talented and helpful phone developers on the planet.
These developers spend lots of their free time working on making all of our phones better. You should be nice and respectful to them and follow the rules. WHY? If the statement above isn’t enough reason then think selfishly, the less time they are dealing with redundant questions, the more time they have to develop stuff for all of us!
Help them help you by following the following basic rules:
1.If you are confused or have a question, the first thing to do is READ! Read lots, look things up both on xda and using google.
2.If after searching you still have not answered your question, then post in the Q&A forum.
3.Asking for ETAs on ROMs, updates, etc. is considered rude.. DON’T DO IT!
4.Don’t report bugs to a developer unless:
a.You know 100% that it hasn’t already been reported,
b.You know how to reproduce it
c.You can get a logcat of the problem (more on this later)
Some advice if you are new to all this and don’t want to ruin your phone:
1.Be patient. Don’t be the first or even the tenth person to flash anything. Wait until you see others using whatever Rom or kernel with success.
2.If you have any doubts about what you are doing, read more. Don’t flash.
3.Make sure you are in the forum for your device, not some similar or related device.
FAQ:
Q. Is my bootloader locked?
A. Only if you have an AT&T or Verizon phone
******* Info for AT&T users *******
Q. What is LOKI?
A. Loki is an exploit for phones with locked boot loader that allows us to bypass the locked boot loader in order to install custom roms or recoveries. More Loki info down below
Q. Whats the deal with MF3?
A. MF3 is the current firmware from AT&T that comes on any new phone. Your phone may also auto update to MF3 if you are not careful. MF3 patched the ability to use Loki to install custom roms/recoveries so if you are on MF3 things are much more difficult.
Q. How can I keep my phone from updating to MF3?
A. If you want to avoid the update, you should root your phone and freeze the following three apps using titanium backup or some similar app.
1. AT&T Software update Vxx_x_xxxx_x_x
2. FWUpgrade x.x.x
3. LocalFOTA vx_xxxx_x_x​
Why flash?
by flashing your device you can make your phone act differently, look different, and enable new or disabled options. you could ,for example:
enable native tethering
enable call recording
change the look of your phone
add custom toggle buttons
overclock or undervolt
increase battery life
etc..
Kernel vs Rom vs Recovery vs Modem
Kernel is the layer between the phone hardware and the rom. it controls things like Wi-Fi power, touch sensitivity, possible range of screen brightness, phone logging, and processor max and min speed. kernel must be designed not only for your device but also for the type of rom you are using (Sammy rom or Aosp) some kernels support all roms, others are specific.
Rom is the operating system of your phone. there are three main categories of roms.
roms that are based off of the Samsung stock rom (Sammy rom)
roms that are based off of Android open source project aka AOSP (AOSP, AOKP)
roms based off of the miui project (these used to be a branch of AOSP but recently they have also used Sammy base for miui)
recovery is a partition that you can access at boot by holding down a combination of keys. (volume up and home button in the case of our sgs4) every phone has recovery stock but it doesn't do much. you can replace stock with clockwork mod recovery which is extremely useful for flashing all kinds of things and making backups before you do. There are other alternative recoveries besides clockwork but that seems to be the most common. TWRP is also gaining popularity these days. You can easily switch between recoveries and or upgrade your current recovery. All that needs to happen is for a new image to be flashed onto the recovery partition. See the rooting guide for more info on how to flash a custom recovery.
modem is a file that controls the cell radio of the phone. Helps determine what frequencies to use and settings for a particular network. It is important when flashing a radio that you flash a radio that is for the AT&T sgs4
Methods for flashing files - Odin vs mobile Odin vs. clockworkmod(cwm) vs adb
Odin is the internal Samsung tool for flashing. I believe it only exists on Windows platform. This tool is mostly used to initially flash an insecure kernel or rooted kernel, OR to return to completely stock rom.. Files for flashing in odin generally should end in .tar or .tar.md5 although sometimes they come zipped and the tar is inside the zip. Read more about Odin before using it as it can easily break your phone. !!!as a general rule make sure you never check the "partition" checkbox EVER!!!
Mobile Odin (THIS TOOL DOES NOT SUPPORT ALL S4 MODELS...make sure you check that it specifically works with yours first. I think at this time it works on your phone unless you have locked bootloader but STILL DOUBLE CHECK) is a phone based version of Odin made by the very talented developer Chainfire. It can be installed on a rooted phone and used to flash the same .tar based files as the desktop version. Mobile odin has a few advantages. 1 you can use it from your phone. 2 it can auto root a stock rom (nice if you want to try out a brand new update that has not been rooted yet)
clockworkmod(cwm) or TWRP is recovery based tool that can make backups of your entire phone, flash new roms, kernels etc.., and do many other useful tasks. Once you have this on your phone my guess is that most of your flashing will be done through this tool. The files for flashing through clockworkmod are .zip files.
ADB is the android develpment bridge. It allows for command line interface with your phone through its debugging options. ADB can do most anything as I understand it. In my several years of flashing I have only had to use it once, and i could have waited for someone to come up with another solution. In general as a noob i recommend you stay away from ADB.
open source vs Samsung base(aka Touchwiz or TW) vs miui
Open Source Roms such as AOSP/AOKP are built using Google's open source android code as a base. The developers then add functionality specific to the device. The advantages of these builds are that they often have tons of options built in to the rom that change the behavior and look of the phone. They usually allow you to change the toggles in your notification pull down, change the battery display, make all kinds of adjustments to sounds, vibration etc... Some people also prefer the "vanilla" android look and feel. These roms often provide "bleeding edge" concepts, design, and modifications. The Disadvantages of these roms is that some of the hardware coding is done closed source by the phone manufacturers, which means that things like Infrared, bluetooth, camera, video recording, and MHL video out often don't work or take much longer to get working by the developers. Basically anything that relies on the Samsung framework will not work in an open source build. This means Svoice, Snote, and the Samsung camera app will not work.
Samsung based roms (aka Touchwiz/TW) are taken from the Samsung original phone software and modified by the developer. Usually, these roms are modified in order to be faster and to make changes to some of the features. Expect to see changes to the stock rom like: debloated (ATT and samsung software removed), de-odexed (explained later), enable tethering, unlimited sms recipients, added notification toggles, etc. Most of these changes are made to: make the phone faster, improve battery life, make the phone easier to theme. The advantage of these roms is that they still use the Samsung framework so all the proprietary stuff like camera, bluetooth, MHL still work, the disadvantage is that they will never be as customisable as open source roms.
MIUI is a rom that focuses on theming. Official MIUI (Chinese) gets updated weekly on Friday and then there are lots of miui developers who adapt it to other languanges and make some tweaks to it. MIUI can be built from AOSP source or Samsung source and depending will have different features. The first MIUI rom for our phone just appeared in these forums and it is based off of AOSP. MIUI has a unique look and is also highly customizable through theming. There are tons of themes available for download through the rom itself and you can mix and match any part of any theme you want. This includes icons, lockscreen style, etc.. Some people criticize while others praise MIUI for being very "iphone like". This is because the icons look more iphone like and there is no app drawer in the MIUI launcher. However, you can still use any launcher you like within MIUI.
odexed vs de-odexed
odexed is how the phone comes stock from Samsung. Odexed means that system files and apps are split into two pieces and kept in different places on the phone. This is done to speed things up a bit. However, it makes it harder to theme the phone because the apps are split up. Most custom roms choose to de-odex (basically regroup the files back into one) so that custom themers can make themes more easily for the phone.
Flashing "dirty" vs flashing "clean"
Clean
Doing a clean install of a rom means erasing or formatting all the data from the previous rom before you flash the new one. This is the prefered way to flash a rom to ensure that it will run smoothly. It is necessary if you are switching from one rom type to another (CM to Samsung base). In order to do a clean flash you need to boot into recovery and select the following options: wipe user data (this wipes all apps and personal data, but not your photos/videos), wipe cache, advanced>wipe dalvik cache, storage/mounts>format system. This will ensure that no trace of the former rom is left on the phone. Beware that at this point your phone will not boot until you install a new rom. I suggest using titanium backup to backup apps and smsbackup+ for texts to make getting your new rom configured easy.
Dirty
Doing a dirty install means just flashing a new rom right over the top of the old one without wiping any data. The advantage to this is that you don't lose any apps or account info. The disadvantage is that you open up the possibility for problems. Generally you only want to flash this way if you are upgrading a rom (CM10 nightly to the next nightly, or from one samsung based rom to another). If you decide to flash over the top and have any issues, you should not report bugs, but try flashing clean first.
Logcat
Logcat is a way to access the android system log for everything that is going on behind the scenes. This tool is used to help developers pinpoint problems in a rom. If you want to actually be helpful to a dev when reporting a bug, you should really learn to use this tool. I am no expert on logcat but you can find some good information in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1726238
What is the Bootloader?
The bootloader is basically what it sounds like...it loads the boot image of the device. Basically it is one of the first things to run on the phone and it shows the phone where to find the boot image and how to start. The bootloader is also responsible for allowing access to the recovery part of the phone.
Locked Bootloader?
This seems to confuse a lot of users so here goes: The AT&T and Verizon versions of our phone have a locked bootloader. What does this mean? To the noob, it means that the devs had to figure out how to bypass or unlock this part of the phone in order to be able to boot custom recoveries such as CWM and TWRP. Getting a custom recovery means being able to backup the phone as well as flash custom roms. Luckily for us, Djrbliss (make sure and thank him! his thread is here:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292157) figured out how to bypass the locked bootloader. The exploit he used is known as Loki. Please remember that the loki exploit is not the same thing as unlocking the bootloader, it is a bypass/trick. AT&T and Verizon have fixed the exploit that allowed loki to work in there newest firmware. Loki patch will not work for MF3 firmware or later.
Loki
refers to the exploit that allows us to run custom recoveries as well as custom roms. You only need to have a loki'd rom if you have a model with a locked bootloader (AT&T). Thankfully, you can install a custom recovery that will auto-Loki any rom you flash so that you can install almost any rom built for our model phone (see below). I strongly recommend flashing an auto loki recovery if you have a phone with locked bootloader. I use this one here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2291956
Compatible Roms
you should be able to run any rom built for AT&T, TMobile, or the I9505 international model (NOT I9500!!) as long as you flash with an auto loki recovery. You can check out this thread for more info. Make sure and thank TheAxman! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2295557
You may have to manually set the APN. If you encounter problems with the rom look in that roms thread for answers.

Sticky!!

Well damn, I thought I knew a lot, but after reading this thread, I really didn't. Well done. :good:

Incredible resource for those coming in from a different ecosystem.
Thanks much!!

Thread stuck!! Nice work!

Got my new At&t Samsung Galaxy S4 and this will definitely help me!!

this is another thread that really helped me as well these two have really helped me so far i have rooted several divices and just relied on everyone else and not i am starting to take a lot more of an interest ant these threads have been the most helpful
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42055644#post42055644

WoW
Great work! I'm sure this thread will be very helpful to a lot of people (Myself included). Tanks bro! :victory:

More! More! :d

I've been searching high and low ive read everything and maybe im not understanding but after I root my phone how do I do the whole loki thing??... I'm eager to start flashing roms... Ive read of some recoveries that do this is that an accurate assessment??

KINGDROID25 said:
I've been searching high and low ive read everything and maybe im not understanding but after I root my phone how do I do the whole loki thing??... I'm eager to start flashing roms... Ive read of some recoveries that do this is that an accurate assessment??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly are you trying to do?
If you want to install a custom ROM or kernel, you need a custom recovery. The ROM or Kernel developer will have LOKI-fied it for you.
For TWRP (my custom recovery of choice) Download GooManager from the Play Store and install.
Inside the goo.im app, go to menu>Install OpenRecovery Script
then you can boot into recovery to apply kernels, ROMs, etc to your hearts desire

joeybear23 said:
What exactly are you trying to do?
If you want to install a custom ROM or kernel, you need a custom recovery. The ROM or Kernel developer will have LOKI-fied it for you.
For TWRP (my custom recovery of choice) Download GooManager from the Play Store and install.
Inside the goo.im app, go to menu>Install OpenRecovery Script
then you can boot into recovery to apply kernels, ROMs, etc to your hearts desire
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its tht ez just root and add custom recovery??.. The whole loki thing is what's been throwing me off
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

KINGDROID25 said:
Its tht ez just root and add custom recovery??.. The whole loki thing is what's been throwing me off
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes... the difficult part is if you are a developer. They make our lives much easier.

joeybear23 said:
Yes... the difficult part is if you are a developer. They make our lives much easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx ima root tonight I jus need to get a copy of the stock firmware
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

KINGDROID25 said:
Thanx ima root tonight I jus need to get a copy of the stock firmware
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock Firmware:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573
That is a HUGE download, but the process is simple.

im not a newb but i need to boost my post count lol...soooo spam

KINGDROID25 said:
I've been searching high and low ive read everything and maybe im not understanding but after I root my phone how do I do the whole loki thing??... I'm eager to start flashing roms... Ive read of some recoveries that do this is that an accurate assessment??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have updated the OP to explain Loki, hope that helps :good:

Noob here first time posting I rooted my phone and installed cwm using casual method, created backup and installed mint rom love it but after a couple of post I see I didn't backup EFS should I be worried?

I'm not sure what the deal is with backing up the IMEI number on our phones yet. I have not seen anyone post about losing their IMEI yet so I wouldn't be too worried. On the s3 only the international model phones could be backed up by saving the efs folder. The backup process for AT&T phones was much more complex. I assume the same holds true on the s4. Will update when I find out more
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

I wanted to make sure Thx. Is it to late to back EFS or can I just restore my backup and do it?

[Q] i535 - Custom Recoveries Cannot Mount Anything!

UPDATE: See post #5 for the fix. It's really simple!
Hi,
First of all, I've been using this website as a resource for the last couple years. THANK YOU to all of you who dedicate your free time to helping the Android community!!!
K, now on to the issue:
This isn't my first rodeo. I'm not a dev, but I have a lot of experience with the Verizon S3. This is the second one I've owned, and I bought it off of craigslist. I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with the internal memory.
Stock recovery works perfectly, but both ClockworkMod and TWRP cannot mount anything -- cache, data, internal/external SD, etc.
My only computer is a MacBook Pro, and I have been using Odin 3.07 running inside a VMWare Fusion virtual machine running Windows 8.1. Luckily, Odin gets me back to stock every time, but I really need to get a custom recovery so I can get away from Touch Wiz.
I have tried 2 different versions of Casual as well as manually pushing everything through Odin.

jmsclbwmn said:
Hi,
First of all, I've been using this website as a resource for the last couple years. THANK YOU to all of you who dedicate your free time to helping the Android community!!!
K, now on to the issue:
This isn't my first rodeo. I'm not a dev, but I have a lot of experience with the Verizon S3. This is the second one I've owned, and I bought it off of craigslist. I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with the internal memory.
Stock recovery works perfectly, but both ClockworkMod and TWRP cannot mount anything -- cache, data, internal/external SD, etc.
My only computer is a MacBook Pro, and I have been using Odin 3.07 running inside a VMWare Fusion virtual machine running Windows 8.1. Luckily, Odin gets me back to stock every time, but I really need to get a custom recovery so I can get away from Touch Wiz.
I have tried 2 different versions of Casual as well as manually pushing everything through Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should work. Once latest version of casual is done try upgrading to latest version of whichever recovery you are gonna use. All the recoveries in casual are out of date and may just need to reflash recovery. Sounds like gonna use AOSP base so might as well stick with CWM as that is what you are going to end up with and what the AOSP devs support. While on TW can try upgrading it also as it the dev preferred recovery on TW. Shouldn't be the Mac if everything is actually unlocked, rooted and is flashing a recovery.

prdog1 said:
While on TW can try upgrading it also as it the dev preferred recovery on TW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please clarify this particular thought for me? I understood everything else.

jmsclbwmn said:
Hi,
First of all, I've been using this website as a resource for the last couple years. THANK YOU to all of you who dedicate your free time to helping the Android community!!!
K, now on to the issue:
This isn't my first rodeo. I'm not a dev, but I have a lot of experience with the Verizon S3. This is the second one I've owned, and I bought it off of craigslist. I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with the internal memory.
Stock recovery works perfectly, but both ClockworkMod and TWRP cannot mount anything -- cache, data, internal/external SD, etc.
My only computer is a MacBook Pro, and I have been using Odin 3.07 running inside a VMWare Fusion virtual machine running Windows 8.1. Luckily, Odin gets me back to stock every time, but I really need to get a custom recovery so I can get away from Touch Wiz.
I have tried 2 different versions of Casual as well as manually pushing everything through Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must have a newer GS3, the newer devices (made within the past few months) have a higher revision internal card reader that breaks some recoveries. (I know because I flashed a sprint gs3 that had the same exact issue).
The fix for this is to have a recovery built with the fix in it, which is upstream in the cm-10.2 kernel, but not in any official recoveries yet.
Let me see if I can find the exact commit for you... I know invisiblek fixed it
EDIT: heres the sprint thread of info (DO NOT FLASH THE FILES THO THEY WILL MESS UP THE VZW GS3)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2391616&page=31

I found another thread on here with a guy having the exact same issue. That thread combined with the above information about outdated recovery images guided me to my solution. Here's how simple it was:
1) Use Casual to root/unlock.
2) Download Flashify
3) Download most recent ClockworkMod Recovery image
4) Use Flashify to flash said image
I really hope this info helps someone else!

jmsclbwmn said:
I found another thread on here with a guy having the exact same issue. That thread combined with the above information about outdated recovery images guided me to my solution. Here's how simple it was:
1) Use Casual to root/unlock.
2) Download Flashify
3) Download most recent ClockworkMod Recovery image
4) Use Flashify to flash said image
I really hope this info helps someone else!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh man! Thanks for posting how you got it to work. I've been trying to figure out what to do for almost 2 days.
I would of probably still be googling away if I hadn't found this. Thanks!

[Completed] Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid ( DTH-A1300L ) android needs custom rom or stock bad

I have a Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid ( DTH-A1300L ) android version needs help in so many ways. I bought it because I really need one for one of my jobs, yet can't really afford the crazy overpriced insanity that is a new Wacom so the reason it was so cheap was "can't connect to the Play Store. I know, hella foolish, I thought I could fix it by rooting it, but this thing is like level 10 as there is so little info as no one wanted to touch them it seems. I did find one guy on this forum that at one point rooted I am fair to average at rooting and the understanding of all that surrounds it. I have happily and successfully rooted my phones and tablet but I am no pro and fairly good at having gaping invisible holes in my info or logic when it comes to things like this.
Most frustrating is this thing is stuck on android 4 . 1 . 1 for no good reason I can imagine. It has dev tools installed after factory data reset but no google apps. (It arrived factory data reset)
I tried the relevant framework and store and the delete the cache trick to no avail. It can not update and can not even get to the Play Store.
Sooo the bad news is; no Google apps. No updates offered and stuck on some weird what looks like not stock version of 4 .1 .1 Jellybean.
When I plug it into my PC via USB it does not even show up in device manager.
The good news is I rooted it. Checked with root checker (unfortunately for now its Kingroot)
1. I have no idea how to make a back up from here. (no USB connection to PC issue)
or
2. what rom will work as my device is not listed on any of them. It would be great to find the stock rom as I am afraid this things cool and weird cintiq mode, pen function like abilities may be disabled or rendered useless with just any android rom.
Is there anyway to somehow find the stock OS on my device through boot loader? A place to find my stock or like rom. A clever work around?
Thanks in advance. for any who take up the challenge and offer any help or thoughts.
Cheers
Anyone know
What clockwork or custom recovery should I use?

Duende101 said:
I have a Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid ( DTH-A1300L ) android version needs help in so many ways. I bought it because I really need one for one of my jobs, yet can't really afford the crazy overpriced insanity that is a new Wacom so the reason it was so cheap was "can't connect to the Play Store. I know, hella foolish, I thought I could fix it by rooting it, but this thing is like level 10 as there is so little info as no one wanted to touch them it seems. I did find one guy on this forum that at one point rooted I am fair to average at rooting and the understanding of all that surrounds it. I have happily and successfully rooted my phones and tablet but I am no pro and fairly good at having gaping invisible holes in my info or logic when it comes to things like this.
Most frustrating is this thing is stuck on android 4 . 1 . 1 for no good reason I can imagine. It has dev tools installed after factory data reset but no google apps. (It arrived factory data reset)
I tried the relevant framework and store and the delete the cache trick to no avail. It can not update and can not even get to the Play Store.
Sooo the bad news is; no Google apps. No updates offered and stuck on some weird what looks like not stock version of 4 .1 .1 Jellybean.
When I plug it into my PC via USB it does not even show up in device manager.
The good news is I rooted it. Checked with root checker (unfortunately for now its Kingroot)
1. I have no idea how to make a back up from here. (no USB connection to PC issue)
or
2. what rom will work as my device is not listed on any of them. It would be great to find the stock rom as I am afraid this things cool and weird cintiq mode, pen function like abilities may be disabled or rendered useless with just any android rom.
Is there anyway to somehow find the stock OS on my device through boot loader? A place to find my stock or like rom. A clever work around?
Thanks in advance. for any who take up the challenge and offer any help or thoughts.
Cheers
Anyone know
What clockwork or custom recovery should I use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greetings and welcome to assist. If you have root yoy can try installing gapps through flashify it may work. For custom rom there is an excellent guide here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/guide-android-rom-development-t2814763
and for custom recovery an excellent guide here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/guide-how-to-compile-twrp-source-step-t3404024
Good luck
Sawdoctor

sawdoctor said:
Greetings and welcome to assist. If you have root yoy can try installing gapps through flashify it may work. For custom rom there is an excellent guide here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/guide-android-rom-development-t2814763
and for custom recovery an excellent guide here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/guide-how-to-compile-twrp-source-step-t3404024
Good luck
Sawdoctor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will see what I can find out and report back. Also editing from device to check date

sawdoctor said:
Greetings and welcome to assist. If you have root yoy can try installing gapps through flashify it may work. For custom rom there is an excellent guide here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/chef-central/android/guide-android-rom-development-t2814763
and for custom recovery an excellent guide here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/guide-how-to-compile-twrp-source-step-t3404024
Good luck
Sawdoctor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excuse my noobness. Flashify looks good, I installed it, but don't I need some image from somewhere either the stock OS or a new one for it to work? Not sure how to get Gapps from there.
It did I think, find something, a "restore kernel" and "stock recovery" I am unsure did it find my stock kernel and recovery and or ROM and I should boot from that? ( again apologies a-lot of new info and its getting a bit swirly) In otherwords since my device is not listed any where and at this point any working Android version will do, I am wrong to try and reboot from this? These devices are supposed to come stock on 4.2.2, so I am hoping perhaps incorrectly it will go back to that? That would be ideal at this point.
So I can work again whatever works.
Also I a bit concerned about the "date" I posted from on one of these. I think I posted from the Wacom. Perhaps the problem in deeper than I thought as that is Linux time 0?
I think it self corrected but originally it said I posted on Jan 1 1970...
As for custom ROM, I probably wont be able to make my own custom ROM, even though I would love to take to the time to learn, for now I have too many art and work related deadlines.
I was hoping for one that already existed that would work with my device.
Perhaps I misunderstood something about how all this works? Also I do not have Unbuntu. I should as I support an open internet, but WINE really does not run the Adobe products I need for work so
I am stuck with Windows.

Duende101 said:
Excuse my noobness. Flashify looks good, I installed it, but don't I need some image from somewhere either the stock OS or a new one for it to work? Not sure how to get Gapps from there.
It did I think, find something, a "restore kernel" and "stock recovery" I am unsure did it find my stock kernel and recovery and or ROM and I should boot from that? ( again apologies a-lot of new info and its getting a bit swirly) In otherwords since my device is not listed any where and at this point any working Android version will do, I am wrong to try and reboot from this? These devices are supposed to come stock on 4.2.2, so I am hoping perhaps incorrectly it will go back to that? That would be ideal at this point.
So I can work again whatever works.
Also I a bit concerned about the "date" I posted from on one of these. I think I posted from the Wacom. Perhaps the problem in deeper than I thought as that is Linux time 0?
I think it self corrected but originally it said I posted on Jan 1 1970...
As for custom ROM, I probably wont be able to make my own custom ROM, even though I would love to take to the time to learn, for now I have too many art and work related deadlines.
I was hoping for one that already existed that would work with my device.
Perhaps I misunderstood something about how all this works? Also I do not have Unbuntu. I should as I support an open internet, but WINE really does not run the Adobe products I need for work so
I am stuck with Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you just want to be able to install apps from the playstore then this is a simple alternative
https://www.xda-developers.com/unshackle-your-device-from-the-google-play-store-with-apkupdater/
If your phone is rooted then flashify can flash zips like gapps without the need for a custom recovery. If you are serious about trying to make your own rom/recovery then use a virtualbox in windows. http://www.osboxes.org/ has plenty of prebuilt virtual linux machines that will run on windows
Regards
Sawdoctor

I appreciate all your help. I got the "google of every kind from Gapps on has stopped" is over, which was intense as it popped up every few seconds, I somehow got that to quit by reloading the proper one from the APK Pure app which was an odd work around but nothing else was working. Still have this unsettling bare bones screen and none of the stock apps as well as it being stuck in 4.1.1. This device was made for 4.2. and I assume it was on here at one point.
I wonder if that alone could cause hardware issues. I thought about taking out the battery, until I realized that thing is inaccessible as a thing can be without wrecking the industrial glues and taking the entire thing apart which sounds
like an accident waiting to happen and possible making things worse. I imagine that is last case scenario.
Like I said I would love to make my stock reload, at this point that would be great as this thing seems unstable and no trick makes the play store work or allow me to sign into the device with my google email.
I think you are saying to make my own recovery/ROM of my own device I need to do the virtual box thing. Correct? Or is that for writing your own custom ROM? I can try that; make my own recovery that is, as it is not on CWM or TWRPs supported devices list so I have no choice and all in all would prefer the thing to load as if it was fresh out of the box not this 4.1. One serious hiccup I have found trying to use my PC is my device is not recognized as a storage device or otherwise. Not sure if this is due to the weird settings of Cintiq mode or simply because the thing is in a very weird state of 4.1.1. So that may make making changes via computer impossible. I am not the type to give up. Thanks again Saw
Here also is a sum up I added to a the just basic question of Can you find the Stock from a recovery device. Basically is there any way to return a device to stock with no ROMs available to do so, as in extract if from the device itself.
Additional backstory if helpful.
"I have a Wacom Cintiq Hybrid running Android 4.1 that is ( now ) rooted..
This is a very bad thing. The Real Stock ROM has palm rejection and all the drivers to make it work as a tool. So stock is the ideal but it is clearly not stock as my device supposedly came in the
box running 4.2 and with software and drivers to make it work properly with the pen. This has nothing. No software and the smallest amount of apps possible. Worse this is no custom ROM its on ( I think) as it would be the worst one ever and it was not rooted on arrival. I have no idea what happened before I got it. I may have made the mistake of rooting it really as I found out to my dismay there is no ROM support. So back to square one. I bought it ( very cheap for one of these ) "stuck and unable to go to the play store" and I did not realize until I got it, on a version of Android it was not meant for. Wacom is totally and woefully unhelpful in every way. They seem to want to quietly put this device behind them at the expense literally of their customers."

Need help with custom rom etc

Okay so there's a few things I need to go over for this.
The main issue I have is I'm not able to install magisk. I only want it so I can hide my root/custom ROM from pokemon go so I can still play the game. I have a Galaxy S7 UK locked to Vodafone carrier. When I was first rooting I followed a guide on tenorshare (I can't post links as I just signed up on here and don't have 10 posts. A google search of "root s7" should come up with the result from this site. It's a guide with pictures.)
I think this was my mistake though. I was dumb and didn't make a backup of my stock ROM in any way so once I installed this there wasn't really any going back.
Now you might ask, why not just download the stock ROM and flash it with Odin? Well, I looked around on sammobile, looking at Galaxy S7 G930F - my specific model number, but couldn't find a stock ROM to flash. Even the most recent one listed gave an error, then on my phone it showed the error about trying to flash a v2 bootloader to a v4 bootloader, which obviously cannot be done.
So then I bit the bullet and installed The Galaxy Project custom ROM. Everything is working completely fine apart from the aforementioned issue with Pokemon GO.
Magisk fails to install with the boot.img already patched by something, but I can't *unpatch* it because I don't have stock. I did some research and learned that you can use suhide-lite to do the same job, however it doesn't work at all even with setting Pokemon GO to be hidden away.
I just want to know how I'm supposed to go about getting magisk installed, or how to get back to stock without an actual backup. I'm new to rooting and stuff but I'm not new to tech modding, so I did a lot of research before doing all this. The sad part is I seem to have messed up even despite looking things up.
If they're necessary, my phone is currently running Android 8.0.0 Oreo even when it was on stock.

bobfacemoo said:
Okay so there's a few things I need to go over for this.
The main issue I have is I'm not able to install magisk. I only want it so I can hide my root/custom ROM from pokemon go so I can still play the game. I have a Galaxy S7 UK locked to Vodafone carrier. When I was first rooting I followed a guide on tenorshare (I can't post links as I just signed up on here and don't have 10 posts. A google search of "root s7" should come up with the result from this site. It's a guide with pictures.)
I think this was my mistake though. I was dumb and didn't make a backup of my stock ROM in any way so once I installed this there wasn't really any going back.
Now you might ask, why not just download the stock ROM and flash it with Odin? Well, I looked around on sammobile, looking at Galaxy S7 G930F - my specific model number, but couldn't find a stock ROM to flash. Even the most recent one listed gave an error, then on my phone it showed the error about trying to flash a v2 bootloader to a v4 bootloader, which obviously cannot be done.
So then I bit the bullet and installed The Galaxy Project custom ROM. Everything is working completely fine apart from the aforementioned issue with Pokemon GO.
Magisk fails to install with the boot.img already patched by something, but I can't *unpatch* it because I don't have stock. I did some research and learned that you can use suhide-lite to do the same job, however it doesn't work at all even with setting Pokemon GO to be hidden away.
I just want to know how I'm supposed to go about getting magisk installed, or how to get back to stock without an actual backup. I'm new to rooting and stuff but I'm not new to tech modding, so I did a lot of research before doing all this. The sad part is I seem to have messed up even despite looking things up.
If they're necessary, my phone is currently running Android 8.0.0 Oreo even when it was on stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming your UK Vodafone so www.sammobile.com /firmware or use SamFirm tool from this forum to download stock direct from Samsung servers.

cooltt said:
I'm assuming your UK Vodafone so (link retracted) /firmware or use SamFirm tool from this forum to download stock direct from Samsung servers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stated in OP that I already tried getting it from sammobile however it wasn't working, explained why in the OP.

Ok Batman so this is your firmware with boot loader V4 on Sammobile >>here<<
However it takes a while to download with a free account.
You can get Samfirm Tool from this thread but make sure it's version 0.3.6.zip, then read the tread on how to use it, it's easy. >>here<< Ignore the message at the top of the post about it not working etc, it still works. SamFirm is much faster then Sammobile.
I will also tell you that you can install BTU (UK Unbranded) if you don't use any Vodafone crap installed on your phone. Still be locked to Voda though. Now then there you go.

Is there apps like sgs screenbooster for better sensitivity??also who use sgs?any reccomended settings for this app??