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Root [ROM] ZV4 updated stock ROM

Got the drivers working, got the v4 update flashed, but didn't have root and supersu wasn't working. I figured I would try towelroot just to see if it worked, and surprise, it worked. So now everything seems good, got the v4 update, c8 radio, and root is working.
 
hey donjuro,

i was looking at the updater script in your rom zip, and didnt see anywhere about a kernel/boot.img flash.

is there a script somewhere else in the rom that defines flashing kernel, or was that intentional to leave it out? just asking, it kinda threw me for a loop at first

also, 2nd question, is this a signed rom package or can we flash pretty much anything unsigned through cwmod recovery and be good? if we dont need to worry about signed firmware or any of that jazz, then im thinking about working on a debloated stock with a few extra cm/aosp apps and possibly features.

thanks for this, zv4 is working great on my phone.
 
Cwmod can be used to flash signed images, but its nice to know we dont have to worry about it in this case. I didn't know if there was some sort of security in place like how the bootloader is unlocked but danhalen said something is still locked about it, so that's why I asked.

Thanks for the response, I'll flash what I have so far and see what happens.
 
donjuro said:
As for the boot.img, I used archikitchen and I placed the boot.img in the folder with it.
Click to expand...

im gonna go out on a limb here and say that archikitchen didnt set up boot.img to flash. i havnt used kitchens in a long time, and have never used archikitchen so i dont know what its process is. this from the updater-script:

# This updater-script segment isn't touched by ArchiKitchen
# You can add your own entries here
# updater-script-90_KERNEL
# updater-script-91_MODEM
# updater-script-99_TAIL
Click to expand...

got me thinking, and i popped open the ramdisk of what was on my phone after the zv4 flash, and the boot.img in the zv4 zip and found a few differences, which leads me to believe that the boot.img didnt flash. (at least mine didnt) would we be cool just making an update zip to flash boot, or would aboot stop us from doing that?

attached is a image with 2 sections of diffs from 2 different files, init.zetaw.rc, and init.zetaw.ssr.sh. on the left is what was on the ramdisk of the phone after flashing zv4, and on the right is the ramdisk of zv4 zip.

I didnt really dig too deep other than just checking file sizes for changes and noting the changes when something was different, and i'm not really sure if the changes I found even really help us at all, they seem really insignificant. It looks like it deals with wifi in some way. There could have been more changes in the zimage, but someone who is better with kernel stuff could check that from the sources lg posts on their opensource website.

i guess the question is, how do we go about finding the line to put in the updater-script to flash boot? i legitimately have no idea, i dont usually cook roms until all this kind of stuff is hashed out already, and 2nd question is should we just try to fastboot flash boot?

on a related note, thanks again for providing this and all your doing for us, its awesome to continue breathing life into this phone :D
 

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Flashing boot is completely fine as long as you have a backup and a way to restore it. Flashing your boot isn't going to hard brick your phone like flashing aboot will. I could try it out first if you want. I'll try and do it soon and update you guys. Thank you for taking your time to test out the ROM and find the little (or big) things wrong in it.
 
Many people have reported success using towelroot to root their phones after updating with this ZV4 ROM. I suspect the reason why is the fact that towelroot uses an exploit in the kernel to gain root. The updated boot.img contains a new kernel that has patched this exploit, and causes towelroot to fail...This flashable ZV4 zip file DOES NOT install the updated kernel, thus, towelroot continues to be effective until the updated boot.img is flashed...
 
On the other hand, if that is the case, as long as you still have fastboot access you can still root. I believe rooting is simply a change of permissions to certain folders and the su binary + app installed.
 
bg4m3r said:
So wait, do I need to flash the boot.IMG? I thought I saw it go through the first time.
Click to expand...

if you run
adb shell
cat /proc/version
Click to expand...

and it spits out something like the below with a build date of Thu Mar 6, then you are probably on zv3 kernel.

Linux version 3.4.0+ (lgmobile@LGEACI1R3) (gcc version 4.7 (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 6 12:48:55 KST 2014
Click to expand...

zv4 kernel on mine outputs:

Linux version 3.4.0+ (lgmobile@LGEACI2R14) (gcc version 4.7 (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Aug 18 17:45:38 KST 2014
Click to expand...

So it all comes down to the build date. Check that and it will tell you if it flashed or not.

edit: on a semi related note, i restored my laf.img after flashing the zv4 kernel in fastboot, and booted into download mode to make sure it worked. Download mode tells me im rooted in big red letters. Never saw that before.
 
Code: 
u0_a160@x5:/ $ cat /proc/version
Linux version 3.4.0+ (lgmobile@LGEACI1R3) (gcc version 4.7 (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 6 12:48:55 KST 2014
u0_a160@x5:/ $

So that's still the old one right?
What's the benefit with the updated kernel?
 
Yeah the march one is the old one, I really don't know what the benefits are to the updated kernel, someone who can understand code better would have to look through kernel source, not a whole lot changed in the ramdisk.
 
So I'm reading through this.

Is the ZV4 ROM for Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile? I'm a little unclear at this point. Also, is it basically the same ROM that would be on the phone (with bloatware appropriate to the carrier) as if it came out of the box? I know both are on Sprint's network so that's not that much of an issue, but I'm kind of leary about, say, flashing a Boost ROM to a Virgin phone.
 
tgambitg said:
So I'm reading through this.

Is the ZV4 ROM for Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile? I'm a little unclear at this point. Also, is it basically the same ROM that would be on the phone (with bloatware appropriate to the carrier) as if it came out of the box? I know both are on Sprint's network so that's not that much of an issue, but I'm kind of leary about, say, flashing a Boost ROM to a Virgin phone.
Click to expand...
It's a universal ROM. It works on both Virgin and Boost Mobile. :cool:
 
A ROM I believe is not carrier specific, except for maybe the bloatware. Your carrier stuff gets downloaded whenever you activate.
 
tgambitg said:
So it's not a 'stock' ROM, per se... It's stock device, not stock BM or VM....?
Click to expand...
For instance.. I had installed the "stock" non carrier specific LG Rom and i have a boost mobile phone awhile back and then i flashed the ZV4 update from scratch and i didn't have a ton of bloat ware etc to remove or freeze. On the other hand my wife had the boost mobile stock software on hers and when i flashed the ZV4 update on her phone like donjuro said there were apps like mobile id, boost zone and the list goes on. Again, very easy to remove the bloat. Her and i have the same boost plan, same exact Volt but we started from different ROM's. She likes her boost ROM, i prefer mine to be non carrier specific. It's all about what you are starting from i guess. :cool:
 
LG_OG82 said:
Any more input on if reception seems better or not? Only thing I really care about is better reception.
Click to expand...


My reception is a little better after flashing zv4. I mainly use my phone at home and at work. At work I was already getting full coverage, but at home I was only getting 1 or 2 bars. After flashing the update I am getting 2 or 3 bars consistently at home.

Also, I am a very light data user, but my battery life has been even better after flashing the update. As of this post I am at 133hrs 45mins since last charge and I am at 59% battery. On this same charge, I went 36+hrs before dropping off 100% charge.
 
donjuro said:
I did fastboot flash boot boot.img and everything went fine.
Click to expand...


Did you download a new boot.img or just go into fastboot and flash?

Did it update your kernel? and did you still have root after?

How can you check what kernel you have? I have never used adb shell, can you check on the phone or with terminal?

Thanks
 
Yes you can use terminal it will say something about not finding the process or something after the adb shell but when inputting the rest of command will display the kernel info
 
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