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Root [Verizon] {SOLVED} Root/bootloader/recovery issues.

SOCOM-HERO

SOCOM-HERO

Well-Known Member
EDIT: Thread has turned into some troubleshooting of my root being good, unlocked bootloader being good afaik but I cannot get into any recovery except stock recovery. Read on if you have any ideas how I can get either CWM or TWRP to work on my phone!

I want to make a NANDroid, then ROM...not flash a ROM that could result in my loosing all my data without a proper backup!

See post #21 for a link to the XDA thread that helped solve this problem for me.


OP Start: I am looking to root an out of warranty S3, it was purchased in July of 2012, and afaik it only had a 1 year warranty, so this post may very well be irrelevant. I am just wondering if rooting the device and installing 1 rom will trip the flash counter.

I was planning to use CASUAL, but ODIN sounds more secure, but also more time consuming.

Would either of these methods of root/bootloader/recovery (CWM or TWRP) cause a flash counter to be tripped? Or does installing a ROM trip the counter?

I am planning to install Hyperdrive tomorrow.

Haven't done anything Root or ROM related since my Droid X, which is STILL my daily driver to this day. I am rooting and ROMing a family member's phone fyi; so if you have any tips or other ROM suggestions, fire away!
 
Flashing increments the flash counter, period.

As far as which to use, Odin works. It doesn't actually take that long either. Just be patient the first time you boot the new ROM. If you don't remember, it takes long enough to have 3 heart attacks before a newly flashed ROM finishes booting.
 
I used Casual, no issues whatsoever...NOT, it sucked.
...so much easier than rooting from Froyo to GB back in the day...

I think I will go for CleanROM Seven or Hyperdrive ROM after my Titanium Backup and NANDroid finishes up here...

I have heard great things about both, but CleanROM seems just slightly more stable, with less tweaks, but that isn't why I am doing this in the first place. I really just want AOSP stock email and a few performance tweaks for better battery life.
 
SOCOM-HERO said:
I used Casual, no issues whatsoever...so much easier than rooting from Froyo to GB back in the day...

I think I will go for CleanROM Seven or Hyperdrive ROM after my Titanium Backup and NANDroid finishes up here...

I have heard great things about both, but CleanROM seems just slightly more stable, with less tweaks, but that isn't why I am doing this in the first place. I really just want AOSP stock email and a few performance tweaks for better battery life.
Click to expand...

While I am familiar with CleanRom and used it as my DD for a few months, I flashed CarbonROM and haven't looked back! It is AOSP so it is very light on size and is very stable. I am running v1.8. Just my couple pennies :)
 
OP here, Off original topic, but interesting nonetheless...

I had some issues with goomanager, it didn't install TWRP correctly, and I ended up with a nearly bricked phone because of it. I booted into recovery from the app, and it didn't work. I ran the script again {stupid me} which probably caused the recovery to become even more corrupt. I somehow got it to boot back into ODIN mode/download mode and was able to flash stock recovery.

I am still rooted, I uninstalled goomanager and now need to install TWRP or CWM using ODIN.

edit: remember to delete your old recovery file.
 
SOCOM-HERO said:
OP here, Off original topic, but interesting nonetheless...

I had some issues with goomanager, it didn't install TWRP correctly, and I ended up with a nearly bricked phone because of it. I booted into recovery from the app, and it didn't work. I ran the script again {stupid me} which probably caused the recovery to become even more corrupt. I somehow got it to boot back into ODIN mode/download mode and was able to flash stock recovery.

I am still rooted, I uninstalled goomanager and now need to install TWRP or CWM using ODIN.
Click to expand...

I also had issues updating TWRP with goo...for some reason, it never would update and install.
I just gave up and installed the latest TWRP with ODIN also :)
 
I am still having issues. I don't understand it, but I can't flash a custom recovery with ODIN, or I am doing it wrong. What are the correct steps to flash either TWRP or CWM with ODIN and actually make it work!
Could my Kernel be corrupt?
I am a tad frustrated with this whole experience now.
 
SOCOM-HERO said:
I am still having issues. I don't understand it, but I can't flash a custom recovery with ODIN, or I am doing it wrong. What are the correct steps to flash either TWRP or CWM with ODIN and actually make it work!
Could my Kernel be corrupt?
I am a tad frustrated with this whole experience now.
Click to expand...


No, I don't think a kernel would be an issue.
You need to find the TWRP .tar file and install it with ODIN.

Hang on a sec and I can find it for you:)

What state is your phone in now? Rooted, unlocked bootloader, stock rom but with no recovery?

Stand by and I'll find the TWRP file for ya ;)

Edit: found it..scroll to the bottom for the latest .tar file used with ODIN....

http://techerrata.com/browse/twrp2/d2vzw
 
Phone is rooted, not sure if my bootloader is unlocked though. I did the whole process using CASUAL and I don't think it worked right. My recovery is stock atm and running totally stock OTA rom.

So I need to find out if I am unlocked or not on the bootloader, how do I do that?
 
SOCOM-HERO said:
Phone is rooted, not sure if my bootloader is unlocked though. I did the whole process using CASUAL and I don't think it worked right. My recovery is stock atm and running totally stock OTA rom.

So I need to find out if I am unlocked or not on the bootloader, how do I do that?
Click to expand...

Well, there is no way of physically seeing if it is unlocked.
However, there are 2 ways of knowing it is unlocked.
The first way is when you power up the phone (from being shut off)...you will see the word "Samsung" flash for about 1 second before the phone starts to boot.
The second way is to try to flash a rom. If you cannot, your bootloader is locked...if you can, your bootloader is unlocked.
If you ran the casual method, I am sure it is unlocked...wasn't there an option in casual to flash something unsigned or something? Edit: unsecure aboot it's called.. Sorry, I don't remember what others have done as I did not root with Casual.

Anyhow, try to flash the TWRP .tar with ODIN and see how that goes...I foresee no issues doing it :)
 
TWRP through ODIN results in a fail in ODIN.
My screen says:
ODIN Mode
Product name: SCH-I535
Custom binary download: Yes (1 counts)
Current binary: Samsung Official
System Status: Official
Qualcomm secure boot: enable
Secure check fail: recovery (in red)

With regard to flashing a ROM, how can I do that if I don't have access to CWM or TWRP. I want to make a NANDroid before proceeding with ANY ROM installation.

With regard to the unlocked bootloader, when I turn the phone on, SAMSUNG appears like you said, but the Samsung Galaxy SIII splash doesn't have an unlocked key image below it. I had seen this image before I uninstalled goomanager, which caused the phone to not restart properly from recovery and left me with the dreaded SECURE FAIL: KERNEL + VZW message and triangle of death screen... I don't ever want to see that again.

I am stuck with a rooted/unlocked bootloader from what I can see. I don't understand how I can have this, but no way of going into recovery.

Edit: Would there be any value in using the Samsung GS3 toolkit? I have seen it looks archaic, but has a lot of features, just wondering if something along those lines might fix my issue?
 
:hmmmm: , not sure at this point, but would it hurt to run Casual again?
The other option is to unroot by installing a firmware via ODIN, then doing Casual again.
 
SOCOM-HERO said:
....snipped quote......

Edit: Would there be any value in using the Samsung GS3 toolkit? I have seen it looks archaic, but has a lot of features, just wondering if something along those lines might fix my issue?
Click to expand...
Just saw your edit...not sure...I'm not familiar with the Toolkit nor have I checked it out, sorry :(
 
What about your second recommendation "unrooting by installing a firmware via ODIN." Would that make running Casual again easier? I guess I could even try Samsung Toolkit.

I am open to either, but I think just running Casual again to "re-root" and "re-unlock" the bootloader would probably either fix everything, or make things worse somehow.
 
SOCOM-HERO said:
What about your second recommendation? Would that make running Casual again easier? I guess I could even try Samsung Toolkit.

I am open to either, but I think just running Casual again to "re-root" and "re-unlock" the bootloader would probably either fix everything, or make things worse somehow.
Click to expand...

Well, personally, I would unroot by "flashing" the firmware with ODIN.
Hang on and I'll give you the link for it.

Question though, are you using the "PDA" box in ODIN to "flash" the .tar files?

Edit: found it:
http://hotfile.com/dl/182822657/9f6...WBLK3_381038_REV09_user_low_ship.tar.md5.html
It takes forever to download, trust me....I think it took about an hour but that could have been my connection at the time. (I used this file personally a while ago)
I followed this guide on how to unroot to "out of the box" condition: (which links to the same file I just posted above)
Section 5:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1762709
 
Downloading that combination file..it is gonna take about an hour. Not sure, but won't that wipe my data or just unroot the phone? Without a NANDroid, I don't want to wipe my phone clean. If that is the case, I think I will just run Casual again and see if it can fix my problem by correctly installing recovery via TWRP or CWM so that I can finally backup my phone and get to a new ROM tomorrow or whenever I have time.

I guess I will just have to settle for now with a stock rooted phone. Which is ok, since this isn't my phone, so I don't want to risk wiping any data without a proper backup.

Thanks anyway!
 
Yes it will wipe the phone but can't you use TB to backup your apps and data?
I think it also has the option to backup SMS texts too
The contacts and emails should be already backed up to the Google account
I don't see an issue with running casual again either if you desire.
I'm about to go to bed now
I wish you the best of luck and I'll check back in the am:D
 
I am gonna sleep on it as well. I posted my issue on XDA in the CASUAL thread to see if I get any other advice. I have a full TB backup and a separate app for SMS backed-up to SD-card. Mail is through exchange, so it may or may not sync correctly...no biggie though, since I think it will.

Thanks thus far!
 
Well, consider it SOLVED!

Someone over on XDA recommended that I install EZ-Unlock 2.0 (the only version that works...) and EZ-Recovery. I "re-unlocked" my bootloader, and was able to flash CWM through EZ-Recovery and successfully made it into CWM to make a NANDroid backup!

All is well now with the phone and I can proceed to ROMing it tonight!
 
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