Database Develop

[Q] 4.4.3 ? - CWM or TWRP ? ? ?

have an S4 Active (SGH-i537 - AT&T), I do not use AT&T as my carrier, and have an ST sim installed.
Currently running 4.4.2
Baseband vs = I537UCUCNE3
Kernal vs = 3.4.0-987011
MDF1
I have the phone rooted, and SuperSU is installed.
May have an issue with Samsung knox?
I'm trying to get CWM installed so I can install custom ROM's, but all attempts have failed. I have tried to install CWR using steps from xda forums, and also at galaxys4root. Also tried to use TWRP method, but that fails also.
Are there any 4.4.3 ROM's that will work on an AT&T i537? I tried every method I could to at least load CWM or TWRP, and I also tried to use terminal emulator with loki but they all failed at one step or another. Is this phone that locked down?
Method does not work on my S4 Active i537 AT&T, I have my phone rooted, but can find NO way to to install CWM or TWRP using any method.
Tried to install loki from both my phones card and my ext card. It either says “is a directory can’t execute” or “is a directory” shows the directory address, and them says Killed. Terminal Emulator is running with permission from SU.
I wanted to install the new CM11 4.4.3 ROM
I have never had a phone this tough to install ROM's on, or to prep for installing them.
Help Please!

HC1Gunner said:
have an S4 Active (SGH-i537 - AT&T), I do not use AT&T as my carrier, and have an ST sim installed.
Currently running 4.4.2
Baseband vs = I537UCUCNE3
Kernal vs = 3.4.0-987011
MDF1
I have the phone rooted, and SuperSU is installed.
May have an issue with Samsung knox?
I'm trying to get CWM installed so I can install custom ROM's, but all attempts have failed. I have tried to install CWR using steps from xda forums, and also at galaxys4root. Also tried to use TWRP method, but that fails also.
Are there any 4.4.3 ROM's that will work on an AT&T i537? I tried every method I could to at least load CWM or TWRP, and I also tried to use terminal emulator with loki but they all failed at one step or another. Is this phone that locked down?
Method does not work on my S4 Active i537 AT&T, I have my phone rooted, but can find NO way to to install CWM or TWRP using any method.
Tried to install loki from both my phones card and my ext card. It either says “is a directory can’t execute” or “is a directory” shows the directory address, and them says Killed. Terminal Emulator is running with permission from SU.
I wanted to install the new CM11 4.4.3 ROM
I have never had a phone this tough to install ROM's on, or to prep for installing them.
Help Please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This phone had a locked bootloader, so there is no way to install a custom recovery or custom ROM. There is a partial workaround (read through the SafeStrap thread in the development section) that will allow you to use ROMs that run the stock TouchWiz kernel. I'm afraid what you're looking for can't be done on the i537.

Devo7v said:
This phone had a locked bootloader, so there is no way to install a custom recovery or custom ROM. There is a partial workaround (read through the SafeStrap thread in the development section) that will allow you to use ROMs that run the stock TouchWiz kernel. I'm afraid what you're looking for can't be done on the i537.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was reluctant to put SafeStrap on it, because every time I see I ROM I want, it states it will not work with SafeStrap.
Is there a list of ROM's that work with SafeStrap @ the S4 Active forums?

HC1Gunner said:
I was reluctant to put SafeStrap on it, because every time I see I ROM I want, it states it will not work with SafeStrap.
Is there a list of ROM's that work with SafeStrap @ the S4 Active forums?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to do some reading in the SafeStrap thread as well as search for SafeStrap in the General section because there is a thread that tells you what ROMs work for 4.2.2.
The most important thing you need to know is that the ROM you want to flash must be TouchWiz-based, so no CM, no AOSP, etc. The other important thing is that the ROM you want to flash must also be the same version of android as your stock ROM. So if you're on 4.2.2, you can only flash 4.2.2 TouchWiz-based ROMs, if you're on 4.3, you can only flash 4.3 TouchWiz-based ROMs, and if you're on 4.4.2, you can only flash 4.4.2 TouchWiz-based ROMs. The reason for this is since the bootloader is locked you cannot flash different kernels, therefore any ROM you want to flash must be compatible with your stock kernel.
For custom ROMs on the i537 your only option is SafeStrap or nothing. Please do some search and reading in the SafeStrap threads, all the information above can be found by doing a little research.

[Q] TWRP Update

now that lollipop is here, prepping for a new ROM.
been so long using BadBoyz as a daily driver without flashing anything else that I'm still on TWRP 2.6.3.0. Are there any issues jumping all the way to 2.8.4.0? IIRC there was some mention of incompatible backups or changes to where it stores or lost SD location with new firmware.
I plan to update TWRP, update firmware, install new lollipop ROM and hoping for a smooth transition.
Anything I need to be aware of that would prevent that???

Don't know about the jump of versions on TWRP. I can say I have missed an incremental upgrades, ie 2.4.1 to 2.4.4, without issue.
The main purpose of my response is to urge you strongly to make a back up of your current, functioning ROM. I tried several different Lollipop ROMs on my Sprint M7 before I found one that functioned. I could not connect on data, and could not send text messages on most of the ROMs.
There is a new Lollipop RUU for the M7. I flashed it earlier today. It is stock, and has all the Sprint and Google bloat. And it appears that there isn't a true root, can't uninstall bloat using Root App Delete.

retiredtrebor said:
Don't know about the jump of versions on TWRP. I can say I have missed an incremental upgrades, ie 2.4.1 to 2.4.4, without issue.
The main purpose of my response is to urge you strongly to make a back up of your current, functioning ROM. I tried several different Lollipop ROMs on my Sprint M7 before I found one that functioned. I could not connect on data, and could not send text messages on most of the ROMs.
There is a new Lollipop RUU for the M7. I flashed it earlier today. It is stock, and has all the Sprint and Google bloat. And it appears that there isn't a true root, can't uninstall bloat using Root App Delete.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah - I wouldn't ever take an OTA at this point. Waiting for the BadBoyz team to release their L ROM.

Htc desire 510 vm help

Hello, so I have a question about my Virgin Mobile HTC DESIRE 510. I rooted it awhile back with TWRP and I went to advanced wipe where my Recovery Rom stuff was and when I went to reboot it, it said NO OS INSTALLED so I looked around on here and downloaded a stock Rom for it and it worked but it will not let me install system updates it just takes me straight to TWRP and that's all. I was wondering if there was a way to just unroot it and install updates?

ROM Flash not working - multiple attempts, different ROMs

I soft bricked my Sprint HTC One M7 and can't get a new ROM working. I'll start by saying I am probably in over my head and never should have done this to begin with. On the bright side, this is a backup device essentially being used as a toy. I have spent hours trying different things and searching the forums without finding any threads with the same issue. My apologies in advance if there is a thread I could have read but I could not find one. So, on to what I have done and the current issues I am having.
I'm not sure all of this background is necessary but it can't hurt. I successfully unlocked the phone, loaded TWRP, and I thought, rooted the phone, all using the guide on htconeroot.com. I attempted to run a program that requires root access and it said "no root access". I then used fastboot to load SuperSU 2.46 and it all went south. After I loaded SuperSU 2.46, the phone hung on the HTC One load screen.
At this point, I decided I would just Flash a new ROM to the phone. After spending hours trying to get adb to recognize the phone (a whole different story), I finally managed to get adb sideload to work and flashed the most recent version of Android Revolution. I went through the entire install process and got a message saying the install was successful. However, when the phone rebooted, as it was loading it switched to say recovery at the top and loaded into TWRP. I noticed the message icon at the bottom, center of the screen and tapped it. It switched to a gray screen which said "updating partition details..." at the bottom. It just hangs on that screen. I wiped cache with no luck and had same result when I re-flashed.
I tried Viper ROM 8.0 and had the exact same issue as Revolution.
I attempted Bad Boyz 1.4 which got a little further but still wouldn't load. I tried Bad Boyz 1.2 to see if their ROM with Sense 5.0 would work. That version said install successful and rebooted. I got really excited when it showed updating Android and started counting through app updates. It got to the unlock screen with the time and HTC default background picture. When I pull up the lock to unlock the phone, I get error messages that messages stopped unexpectedly and HTC Sense stopped unexpectedly. It then sits on a white screen with the green HTC logo for ~10 seconds and then reboots. If I let it go without trying to unlock it, it still reboots after 20-30 seconds, caught in an unending boot loop.
I am at a loss at this point. Do I try a few other ROMs until I find one that works? Am I doing something wrong? I should add that the guide I used said nothing about a Nandroid backup so I don't have one ?, and I really don't want to go back to stock anyway.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Bucknut816 said:
I soft bricked my Sprint HTC One M7 and can't get a new ROM working. I'll start by saying I am probably in over my head and never should have done this to begin with. On the bright side, this is a backup device essentially being used as a toy. I have spent hours trying different things and searching the forums without finding any threads with the same issue. My apologies in advance if there is a thread I could have read but I could not find one. So, on to what I have done and the current issues I am having.
I'm not sure all of this background is necessary but it can't hurt. I successfully unlocked the phone, loaded TWRP, and I thought, rooted the phone, all using the guide on htconeroot.com. I attempted to run a program that requires root access and it said "no root access". I then used fastboot to load SuperSU 2.46 and it all went south. After I loaded SuperSU 2.46, the phone hung on the HTC One load screen.
At this point, I decided I would just Flash a new ROM to the phone. After spending hours trying to get adb to recognize the phone (a whole different story), I finally managed to get adb sideload to work and flashed the most recent version of Android Revolution. I went through the entire install process and got a message saying the install was successful. However, when the phone rebooted, as it was loading it switched to say recovery at the top and loaded into TWRP. I noticed the message icon at the bottom, center of the screen and tapped it. It switched to a gray screen which said "updating partition details..." at the bottom. It just hangs on that screen. I wiped cache with no luck and had same result when I re-flashed.
I tried Viper ROM 8.0 and had the exact same issue as Revolution.
I attempted Bad Boyz 1.4 which got a little further but still wouldn't load. I tried Bad Boyz 1.2 to see if their ROM with Sense 5.0 would work. That version said install successful and rebooted. I got really excited when it showed updating Android and started counting through app updates. It got to the unlock screen with the time and HTC default background picture. When I pull up the lock to unlock the phone, I get error messages that messages stopped unexpectedly and HTC Sense stopped unexpectedly. It then sits on a white screen with the green HTC logo for ~10 seconds and then reboots. If I let it go without trying to unlock it, it still reboots after 20-30 seconds, caught in an unending boot loop.
I am at a loss at this point. Do I try a few other ROMs until I find one that works? Am I doing something wrong? I should add that the guide I used said nothing about a Nandroid backup so I don't have one ?, and I really don't want to go back to stock anyway.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a CDMA Sprint htc one (M7WLS variant) ARHD is a rom for GSM htc one (M7_UL or M7_U variants). You can only flash custom recovery, custom roms, kernels ect that are made for the Sprint HTC One (M7WLS).
So you can flash twrp for sprint, then flash a sprint custom rom
or
return to your stock rom using a sprint RUU.
You can find the sprint roms in the "Sprint HTC One" section of xda. TWRP recovery for sprint can be found on their website, the filename should ends with "wls.img"
If your phone was running on android lollipop then using a lower version than supersu2.46 is what caused the bootloop. Thats why you shouldn't follow outdated guides from 2013 like the one at htconeroot.com
We can help you flashing the custom recovery/rom or the RUU, its up to you.

Thanks for the quick reply. I probably should have realized the CDMA vs GSM issue. I used to sell Sprint phones 20 years ago.
I would rather go with a custom ROM on the phone without all of the bloatware/sprint garbage.
I understand the issue with ARHD but what about Bad Boyz? I am using their Sprint ROM v 1.2 from the Sprint M7 section with no luck. It loads Android all the way to the lock screen with the time, status bar, and sense skyscraper wallpaper but then crashes. I tried 1.4 first and it got to the unlock screen but no status bar or sense background (skyscraper wallpaper).
You mention TWRP for Sprint. Is there a specific Sprint version and if I used a different version would it have gotten that far? Should I install a different version of TWRP and try flashing Bad Boyz again?

Bucknut816 said:
Thanks for the quick reply. I probably should have realized the CDMA vs GSM issue. I used to sell Sprint phones 20 years ago.
I would rather go with a custom ROM on the phone without all of the bloatware/sprint garbage.
I understand the issue with ARHD but what about Bad Boyz? I am using their Sprint ROM v 1.2 from the Sprint M7 section with no luck. It loads Android all the way to the lock screen with the time, status bar, and sense skyscraper wallpaper but then crashes. I tried 1.4 first and it got to the unlock screen but no status bar or sense background (skyscraper wallpaper).
You mention TWRP for Sprint. Is there a specific Sprint version and if I used a different version would it have gotten that far? Should I install a different version of TWRP and try flashing Bad Boyz again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there is a specific version of twrp mentioned in bad boyz thread, use that one. Otherwise any recent version should work but yes it must absolutely be a sprint twrp recovery.
Here are all the sprint version: https://dl.twrp.me/m7wls/
The M7_UL have different partition layout than the Sprint version (see both links below). The kernel (/boot partition), the OS (/system partition) and the radio (/radio) are not located at the same place on the memory. If flashing a M7_UL rom a Sprint phone you'll end up with the OS flashed on the Kernel partition, the Kernel flashed on the radio partition etc... This should be easily fixed by re-flashing a custom rom (if the rom does include its own kernel and radio to overwirte the bad flash). In the worst case, you'll have to flash a RUU to fix everything and then relfash sprint twrp and a sprint custom rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317621
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2236254

Thanks for all the help. I was able to work on it again last night. I updated TWRP and was able to get viper ROM loaded and working...mostly. I had to delete HTCSetupwiz.apk to get out of the hands-free activation loop. The only problem is, the home key does not work. I get the haptic response from it but it doesn't do anything.
I tried Viper 8.0 and 9.0 and had same issue. I tried to switch to Bad Boyz and adb was hanging at ~7%. I am feeling much more comfortable with all of this and I think I can fix the loading issue with Bad Boyz. I just tired of fiddling with it last night. Before I do that, any idea how to get the home key working with Viper?
Would it be best to flash the ruu and start over just to make sure there are no lingering problems from screwing up the partitions?
Thanks again for all the help.

alray said:
If there is a specific version of twrp mentioned in bad boyz thread, use that one. Otherwise any recent version should work but yes it must absolutely be a sprint twrp recovery.
Here are all the sprint version: https://dl.twrp.me/m7wls/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to bug in... yeah I know, no need to tell me, people have been telling me plenty enough of their kind thoughts..., but the universal builds http://android.cmphys.com/twrp-m7/
should work on M7_U, M7_UL, M7_WLS, M7_WLV
they use "by-name" partitions, etc
maybe even the official builds, as mdmower is the maintainer, but unsure, since I haven't checked.
Obviously, still doesn't allow you flash a ROM not meant for your particular device, especially that many installer-scripts still use hardcoded mmcbkls, which would seriously break things
hmm, that reminds me.... have to check on something else too

3 different custom ROMs won't install/boot, what else?

I tried installing several different ROMs onto my AT&T Galaxy Note 3 (N900A). I managed to downgrade to Android 4.4.2 and root the phone (from the current AT&T-forced OC3). I had different results for each ROM I tried. I used Safestrap to perform a Wipe of everything except my MicroSD card in the ROM Slot (#1) I was using before each ROM installation attempt.
Cyanogenmod (cm-13-20151101-UNOFFICIAL-hlte.zip) - Immediately produces a "failed" message trying to install from SafeStrap 3.75 hlteatt, because my phone is hlteatt and not hlte.
MagMa NX (MagMa_NX_UX10_Ultimate_XDA.zip) - Trying to install from Safestrap: progress bar freezes at 0% done.
Resurrection Remix (RR-N-v5.8.2-20170309-hlte.zip) - Installs successfully, but won't boot. First try reboot just stops on a black screen. 2nd reboot gives me the menu seen when booting with Vol Up + Home held down. (Is this the AT&T's firmware "bootloader?")
Any suggestions on getting any of these working? From reading other's experiences, it appears that some are successfully using some custom ROMs with this model phone. Barring that, what (stable) ROM works?

The phone has a locked bootloader; therefore, you can't install twrp. Only custom ROMs that are based off a stock rom and that can be flashed with safestrap will work.

I have yet to understand what it means for a bootloader to be "locked" in firmware/software terms. My initial reaction from the name is that the very first program the phone runs upon starting is the bootloader like a BIOS (apart from hardware self-testing), and the one that came with the phone cannot be bypassed to run a user-made one. But the existence of SafeStrap (originally leaked from Samsung iirc) shows the phone is capable of installing additional OSes. I would be very thankful if someone could provide a link or fill in my lack of knowledge about this.
From screenshots SafeStrap and TWRP almost look identical. I'm not sure what TWRP would do that SafeStrap can't. SafeStrap installed the Resurrection Remix ROM without complaining.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Bootloader

Awesome, I'll unlock my bootloader then give it another try. Thanks!
EDIT: aha, that won't work. AT&T's "unlock" feature only allows the phone to be used with another carrier.
Solution: time to get a non-Samsung phone (definitely not from AT&T). This is all to stop being forcefed so many "offers" and "opportunities"—aka "spamware." For the life of me I can't think of a reason other than unchecked greed to deny the ability to remove unwanted software.

Only phones from att, sprint, and Verizon have locked bootloaders.

HTC is a good choice. M8 is a good cheap phone m10 is a good newer phone for 350ish
HTC phones are mostly all unlockable either for free by htcdev or if you require more then by sunshine for $25
Safestrap was not leaked by Samsung it was made by a dev named @Hashcode. He is very talented and worked hard also on the kindle scene. I believe he currently works for lenovo.
The software you are thinking of is odin.
It allows Samsung devices to flash firmware and software but it needs to be signed or your hardware needs to be unlocked. It will help a bootloop it will help you upgrade or get back to stock but it will not help you here.

Oh, thanks for the correction. That would explain why TWRP and SafeStrap look similar. (Neither looks like it is from a corporation.)
Do you mean that AT&T is technically capable of unlocking my phone so it can be flashed with a custom ROM that is not signed, e.g., Resurrection Remix?

Att is responsible for your locked bootloader.
Fun fact note3 was the first Samsung phone to be bootloader locked..
They requested it (demanded) of Samsung.
Verizon is even more demanding.
No, they will not unlock it.
It would be nice if after a device is no longer supported by a carrier they offered bootloader unlocks but that isn't happening either.
It is depressing that a 3 gig ram phone is stuck on lollipop.