Root [Virgin Mobile] [Virgin Mobile] New S3, What Should I Do?

[sirc]

Sorry to post a new thread about this (hopefully in the correct section), but I didn't really see a good thread to piggyback on.

I currently have a very old VM phone (Wildfire S) and just yesterday bought an S3 from Amazon, which should be arriving today. I'm guessing (hopefully) the MK5 update won't be on the phone yet. I was planning on rooting the phone. The main feature I'm looking for is the ability to turn my phone into a wifi hotspot so I can connect my Nexus 7 to it to access the internet. I do that with my current phone, though I had to edit the system files after rooting to turn the ability back on (I guess VM disabled it by default). Would I have to do something like that with the S3, or can I turn it on out of the box?

I'm guessing the phone will come with the MG2 update installed since MK5 is fairly new. Can I just ignore the update notification and use my phone like I want? Will that notification always be there, or can I remove it somehow? I've been running Android 2.3 for nearly year, so I obviously don't need the latest OS features. Is there any reason to upgrade and mess with the 0x1 potential headaches? Specifically if I ever need to get a replacement phone. Like I said, I just want to be able to connect my tablet to my phone and want to jump through the fewest hoops necessary to accomplish that (and ideally not have to pay VM the $15 a month, if that's even an option with this phone).

I guess I'm just wondering how I should proceed once I get my phone today. Thanks for any input!

 

[Unforgiven]

Hi sirc.

You were almost in the right place. I moved this to the Virgin All Things Root subforum for you. Enjoy your new phone.

 

[sirc]

Hi sirc.

You were almost in the right place. I moved this to the Virgin All Things Root subforum for you. Enjoy your new phone.

Dang, I actually started typing the thread there but saw this in the sticky:

If your new topic does not have to do with anything root related, please post in the main thread found here: Samsung Galaxy S3 - Android Forums

and thought it was more of a general question than how to root type stuff.

Thank you for the move and kind words!

 

[struckn]

Sorry to post a new thread about this (hopefully in the correct section), but I didn't really see a good thread to piggyback on.

I currently have a very old VM phone (Wildfire S) and just yesterday bought an S3 from Amazon, which should be arriving today. I'm guessing (hopefully) the MK5 update won't be on the phone yet. I was planning on rooting the phone. The main feature I'm looking for is the ability to turn my phone into a wifi hotspot so I can connect my Nexus 7 to it to access the internet. I do that with my current phone, though I had to edit the system files after rooting to turn the ability back on (I guess VM disabled it by default). Would I have to do something like that with the S3, or can I turn it on out of the box?

I'm guessing the phone will come with the MG2 update installed since MK5 is fairly new. Can I just ignore the update notification and use my phone like I want? Will that notification always be there, or can I remove it somehow? I've been running Android 2.3 for nearly year, so I obviously don't need the latest OS features. Is there any reason to upgrade and mess with the 0x1 potential headaches? Specifically if I ever need to get a replacement phone. Like I said, I just want to be able to connect my tablet to my phone and want to jump through the fewest hoops necessary to accomplish that (and ideally not have to pay VM the $15 a month, if that's even an option with this phone).

I guess I'm just wondering how I should proceed once I get my phone today. Thanks for any input!

Hi, and welcome! My personal recommendation:
Do not install MK5 update if your phone comes with MG2 baseband
Install custom recovery and then root your phone
Install custom 4.3.x ROM; I really like Carbon ROM, and even though I don't currently use the feature, WiFi hotspot is included in the ROM, so there should be no hoops to jump through at that point and no extra $15 to VM

Since the MK5 update can only be installed from stock, once you go away from stock it should become a non-issue

 

[sirc]

Hi, and welcome! My personal recommendation:
Do not install MK5 update if your phone comes with MG2 baseband
Install custom recovery and then root your phone
Install custom 4.3.x ROM; I really like Carbon ROM, and even though I don't currently use the feature, WiFi hotspot is included in the ROM, so there should be no hoops to jump through at that point and no extra $15 to VM

Since the MK5 update can only be installed from stock, once you go away from stock it should become a non-issue

Thank you!

I've never messed with a custom ROM (mainly since the only ones I could find for my old phone were buggy or feature-incomplete), so I didn't really think about that. If I go that route and later want to go back to stock, I can just follow the sticky here and not have any problems?

I'll definitely check out Carbon, so thank you for the recommendation.

 

[struckn]

Thank you!

I've never messed with a custom ROM (mainly since the only ones I could find for my old phone were buggy or feature-incomplete), so I didn't really think about that. If I go that route and later want to go back to stock, I can just follow the sticky here and not have any problems?

I'll definitely check out Carbon, so thank you for the recommendation.

Just make a backup of your stock first thing once you have installed custom recovery and rooted. There is also a thread by lordmage which contains a download of the MG2 Kies file which will return you to stock as well.

 

[richking34]

Wait does Carbon rom have lte and mms working?

 

[sean19661]

No you have to flash mopedryder mms lte mod to get mms working but can only use 3g for mms and switch to lte for data like web

 

[sirc]

Just got the phone and I guess it has MD7. Can I just follow the directions in the OP of the sticky then? Or is there a way I can update to MG2 first (and should I)?

Also, TWRP or CWM?

Edit: Didn't have any luck with CWM so I went with TWRP and was able to get it rooted (as least I think so, seems to be working as I'm using Titanium Backup).

Now trying to decide between CM and Carbon. I'm guessing I can pretty easily switch between them to try them out? Reading the thread about modifying Sprint ROMs for VM now, very informative.

Edit 2: Just put Carbon on it. It's very nice! It seems to be working but I'll need to spend some more time with it. Much better than the stock Android and all the VM crap.

 

[struckn]

Just got the phone and I guess it has MD7. Can I just follow the directions in the OP of the sticky then? Or is there a way I can update to MG2 first (and should I)?

Also, TWRP or CWM?

Edit: Didn't have any luck with CWM so I went with TWRP and was able to get it rooted (as least I think so, seems to be working as I'm using Titanium Backup).

Now trying to decide between CM and Carbon. I'm guessing I can pretty easily switch between them to try them out? Reading the thread about modifying Sprint ROMs for VM now, very informative.

Edit 2: Just put Carbon on it. It's very nice! It seems to be working but I'll need to spend some more time with it. Much better than the stock Android and all the VM crap.

Do you guess or do you know on the baseband version? The way to find out is to go to Settings/About Phone, the baseband will be L710xxxMD7 or L710xxxMG2 (we only really care about the last two letters and the final digit, hence the references to MG2, MK5, etc.). If you want to flash to MG2, here is a thread from XDA with links to flashable zip files for both the MD7 and MG2 modems: [MODEM][JB 4.1.2][cwm][zip][md7][mg2] - xda-developers; worth downloading and keeping on your SD card just in case. If you rooted and flashed just fine, which it appears you did, then probably nothing to worry about, you may or may not see better phone signal depending on your modem would be the main reason to try them out. Good choice on TWRP and Carbon, I absolutely love both! Cyanogen did just put out a release candidate version of 10.2 last weekend, which means it should be very stable, but I have had zero issues with Carbon and the features/customization are awesome. Cyanogen is very feature-rich as well, but Carbon just has that much more to offer in that area. I also use dkp kernel on it, currently getting about 36 hours on a 100% battery charge, and even then I only let it run down to about 15% before recharging.

 

[sirc]

Do you guess or do you know on the baseband version? The way to find out is to go to Settings/About Phone, the baseband will be L710xxxMD7 or L710xxxMG2 (we only really care about the last two letters and the final digit, hence the references to MG2, MK5, etc.). If you want to flash to MG2, here is a thread from XDA with links to flashable zip files for both the MD7 and MG2 modems: [MODEM][JB 4.1.2][cwm][zip][md7][mg2] - xda-developers; worth downloading and keeping on your SD card just in case. If you rooted and flashed just fine, which it appears you did, then probably nothing to worry about, you may or may not see better phone signal depending on your modem would be the main reason to try them out. Good choice on TWRP and Carbon, I absolutely love both! Cyanogen did just put out a release candidate version of 10.2 last weekend, which means it should be very stable, but I have had zero issues with Carbon and the features/customization are awesome. Cyanogen is very feature-rich as well, but Carbon just has that much more to offer in that area. I also use dkp kernel on it, currently getting about 36 hours on a 100% battery charge, and even then I only let it run down to about 15% before recharging.

Yeah, I looked at the baseband number and it ends with MD7. Thanks for the link. I may update to MG2 as it seems pretty straightforward at this point and I don't think there's really a downside.

I installed Carbon without any problem, but flashing the TeamEpic Root From Recovery zip didn't seem to actually give me root after changing ROMs, so I flashed a SuperSU zip I saw linked here and it worked after that. The only odd thing is my lockscreen says Sprint instead of Virgin Mobile, but I assume that's because I flashed a Sprint ROM? I thought maybe that was populated by the carrier when service was detected, but everything seems to be working okay. I can't tell if 4G LTE is working because I get a really weak signal at my house (always have with VM, but can't beat the price), so I'll test that out more fully when I go back to work on Monday. I did flash one of mopedryder's mod files, so hopefully that's working.

Carbon does seem really nice so far and has a ton of customization options that I'm still digging my way through. Mobile Hotspot seems to work, so that's awesome. I had rooted before but never messed with custom ROMs, and now I feel this rabbit hole going deeper.

Thank you for all of the help so far. I really appreciate it. It's pretty scary to be doing this stuff the first time with something I just dropped $285 on!

 

[struckn]

Yeah, I looked at the baseband number and it ends with MD7. Thanks for the link. I may update to MG2 as it seems pretty straightforward at this point and I don't think there's really a downside.

I installed Carbon without any problem, but flashing the TeamEpic Root From Recovery zip didn't seem to actually give me root after changing ROMs, so I flashed a SuperSU zip I saw linked here and it worked after that. The only odd thing is my lockscreen says Sprint instead of Virgin Mobile, but I assume that's because I flashed a Sprint ROM? I thought maybe that was populated by the carrier when service was detected, but everything seems to be working okay. I can't tell if 4G LTE is working because I get a really weak signal at my house (always have with VM, but can't beat the price), so I'll test that out more fully when I go back to work on Monday. I did flash one of mopedryder's mod files, so hopefully that's working.

Carbon does seem really nice so far and has a ton of customization options that I'm still digging my way through. Mobile Hotspot seems to work, so that's awesome. I had rooted before but never messed with custom ROMs, and now I feel this rabbit hole going deeper.

Thank you for all of the help so far. I really appreciate it. It's pretty scary to be doing this stuff the first time with something I just dropped $285 on!

Oh, that rabbit hole goes quite deep! Nothing wrong with becoming a flashaholic though. Well done figuring out the SuperSU zip flash, that's the method that worked for me as well in conjunction with TWRP. If you want to change the carrier text (it is also going to show "Sprint" on your notification panel), that option is available under Settings/Carbon Fibers/Statusbar/Notifications, you can make it be any word or phrase you want. Changing modems may also help with LTE and phone signal issues as well, probably just a matter of experimenting. Good luck!

 

[sirc]

Just a slight update/question:

Once I got in a better coverage area, LTE seemed to kick in just fine (currently using the MK5 modem and mopedryder's mod). I haven't really messed with MMS much, though. Overall, everything seems to be good!

My question is I think I still have the MD7 bootloader/firmware since I think I only updated the modem. If I'm at a point with 4.3 Carbon, MK5 modem, and everything seemingly working fine, is it worth the hassle/easy at all to flash the MG2 bootloader? If I don't, will I potentially run into problems later? Am I going to have to redo stuff if I update it? Just wondering if it's worth messing with at this point.

 

[struckn]

Just a slight update/question:

Once I got in a better coverage area, LTE seemed to kick in just fine (currently using the MK5 modem and mopedryder's mod). I haven't really messed with MMS much, though. Overall, everything seems to be good!

My question is I think I still have the MD7 bootloader/firmware since I think I only updated the modem. If I'm at a point with 4.3 Carbon, MK5 modem, and everything seemingly working fine, is it worth the hassle/easy at all to flash the MG2 bootloader? If I don't, will I potentially run into problems later? Am I going to have to redo stuff if I update it? Just wondering if it's worth messing with at this point.

Pretty much if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I would recommend putting the MG2 Kies file from this thread http://androidforums.com/virgin-mobile-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/763114-mg2-kies-recovery-file-virgin-mobile.html on your computer just in case. As long as you don't have the official update with the Knox garbage as part of the bootloader, you can flash the MG2 file provided by lordmage, which will give you stock, unrooted MG2 bootloader version. It is then just the same process to re-root (custom recovery via Odin, SuperSU zip flash from recovery) and you can then proceed as normal-restore your backup(s), flash new ROM's, etc. Just make sure you make a backup of your current setup before doing anything else. Again, it sounds like you have everything running fine "as is," but this option is available if you want it.