Database Develop

[Q]Restore Galaxy S4 Active to Stock AT&T Firmware?

Hello! This is my going to be my first post, so please bear with me.
I own a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active (SGH-I537) from AT&T. I've owned the device for about 6 months now and love it. Recently, I encountered a problem with connecting to GApps/Google services and adding a Google Account.
I rooted my S4 Active with this method from geohot I found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2347793
After tooling around with it for a day, I had trouble getting on the Play Store. My screen displayed "No Connection; Retry). After trying various solutions I removed my Google Account from the device.
When I couldn't log back in to my Google Account, I disabled 2-step verification and tried application-specific passwords. No avail.
I performed many factory reset, both from the Settings page and by a hard reset. I've wiped all the user data, so I have no apps or anything.
I keep getting this error message, see attachment below.
TD;LR #1 : I rooted my GS4a and I can't use my Google Account. Period.
My guess is that I need to restore the stock firmware onto my Galaxy S4 Active. I haven't been able to find a safe method of doing this yet. I think that this will "restore" my device as if I was doing this to an iOS device (I'm a convert from the Apple ecosystem )
Does anyone know how to flash the stock TouchWiz firmware onto the Galaxy S4 Active. I'm open to alternative solutions too, such as Cyanogenmod or stock Android 4.4.
TD;LR #2 : I need to flash stock firmware or something on my GS4a!
I appreciate all the help I can get. For now, I'm sitting with the Amazon Appstore and Google Chrome for Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, etc.
-Z3RODay

The method used for rooting shouldn't cause any problems with your phone since it only touches a couple files. I doubt that rooting your phone caused GApps to stop working, I'm guessing that either a root file got deleted or another app is incompatible and causing problems.
You're asking how to return your phone to stock and you're correct in that it will "restore" your device, but in doing so it will completely wipe your device and you will lose everything. It will essentially return your phone to the state of when you first pulled it out of the box. This question has been asked and answered a few times and you could probably find the answer by searching, but I'll post the answer here too. For the i537 below are the only known ways to get stock firmware back on your phone:
Devo7v said:
You can Odin back to a pre-release version and have a fully functioning phone, but you will no longer receive official OTA updates (read more about this option here), or
You can take it to the Samsung Experience Shop at your local Best Buy and have them restore your phone to official stock MF3 (read more about this option here).
Other than that I don't really know what else you can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Devo7v said:
The method used for rooting shouldn't cause any problems with your phone since it only touches a couple files. I doubt that rooting your phone caused GApps to stop working, I'm guessing that either a root file got deleted or another app is incompatible and causing problems.
You're asking how to return your phone to stock and you're correct in that it will "restore" your device, but in doing so it will completely wipe your device and you will lose everything. It will essentially return your phone to the state of when you first pulled it out of the box. This question has been asked and answered a few times and you could probably find the answer by searching, but I'll post the answer here too. For the i537 below are the only known ways to get stock firmware back on your phone:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much! I'm going to take my phone to Best Buy tonight. I backed up everything on my SD card which is still intact (Thank God!).

Update from 6.5

When I first got this Blu R1 HD Prime version I was able to remove the ads and such by using the SP tool and directions here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/r1-hd/development/blu-r1-hd-remove-amazon-ads-ota-updates-t3427303. It is currently on 6.5. I have never updated it since then because I did not want to deal with ads again. Now I am having issues with it not wanting to connect to any mobile data (wifi is fine though and the sim card works in another phone) I figured an update might not hurt things. So with all that said, what is the best way to get the phone updated without bringing the ads back and not losing any data/apps?

kameleon25 said:
When I first got this Blu R1 HD Prime version I was able to remove the ads and such by using the SP tool and directions here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/r1-hd/development/blu-r1-hd-remove-amazon-ads-ota-updates-t3427303. It is currently on 6.5. I have never updated it since then because I did not want to deal with ads again. Now I am having issues with it not wanting to connect to any mobile data (wifi is fine though and the sim card works in another phone) I figured an update might not hurt things. So with all that said, what is the best way to get the phone updated without bringing the ads back and not losing any data/apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not knowing what is causing the data connection problems, it is not positive making update will help, but worth a shot.
I have posted updates that can be installed without being forced back into the ads system.
Will need to install TWRP recovery to install them.
Rooting the system is not needed to remove ads with twrp installed, if you do not want to have room rooted.
Since you are on 6.5 and not 6.6 you can use spft to flash recovery, or you can also use the dirty-cow method "tool" to unlock bootloader and then install recovery with fastboot(built into the tool )
If you don't have recovery then my opinion is use this to get recovery installed
https://forum.xda-developers.com/r1-hd/how-to/unlock-tool-t3561333
Then use twrp to install one of these ROMs (recommend v21)
https://forum.xda-developers.com/r1-hd/development/modified-8-3-stock-rom-t3602672

in my case two amzn 8.7 will show that it recognize sim, but no service, would need root to try and change IMEI, probably these phones are from a batch reported lost or stolen, but to be blacklist even in my country, a bit farfetched.

Gizmosis350k said:
in my case two amzn 8.7 will show that it recognize sim, but no service, would need root to try and change IMEI, probably these phones are from a batch reported lost or stolen, but to be blacklist even in my country, a bit farfetched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could just be an APN setting needs set to your carrier number/ settings.

Rebooting about a dozen times seems to have fixed it. I double checked the APN and everything but nothing worked. It just started working again. However I do still want to update it just to make sure it has more recent bug fixes. Thanks all.

!HELP! cannot unroot Note 8 via flash with odin and reinstall stock android firmware

Greetings from germany,
a buddy of mine got a Note 8 from a shady seller and it turned out that it had a custom rom:
Basisbandversion: N950FXXU1AQHB
Kernel-Version: 4.4.13-theGreatDream-v1.0.0
[email protected] #1
But he couldn't do any updates with it and quite a few apps didn't work because they said: "device is rooted and because of security policy etc..." (crudely translated from german)
such as the samsung and banking apps.
So we tried to go with the guide on how to flash and restore the device to stock firmware with odin.
For that i downloaded the N950FXXU1AQH9 version which is for the region germany and that seemed to be the most reasonable choice in the vast variety of approx. 200 available versions.
We did everything exactly as described in the guide and everything seemed to work perfectly. Updates were working again and also the banking app worked.
But the day after he wanted to try the Samsung Health app and it reported to not work because "security policy, can't open on a rooted device" (crudely translated from german again)
and others like the banking app also stopped working and reported the same.
Although we installed the N950FXXU1AQH9 version it now says in the softwareinformation that N950FXXU2BQKG is installed Oo
Strangely he also tried some apps to root/unroot like superSU etc. and they all told him "your device isn't rooted"
So regular apps tell "can't work because device is rooted" and root apps tell "can't unroot because device isn't rooted"
So i ask humbly: where is the error in this mess? What shall we do to make this device into a perfectly funtioning unrooted freshly fabricated note 8 again?
Thanks in advance

puzzlednerd said:
Greetings from germany,
a buddy of mine got a Note 8 from a shady seller and it turned out that it had a custom rom:
Basisbandversion: N950FXXU1AQHB
Kernel-Version: 4.4.13-theGreatDream-v1.0.0
[email protected] #1
But he couldn't do any updates with it and quite a few apps didn't work because they said: "device is rooted and because of security policy etc..." (crudely translated from german)
such as the samsung and banking apps.
So we tried to go with the guide on how to flash and restore the device to stock firmware with odin.
For that i downloaded the N950FXXU1AQH9 version which is for the region germany and that seemed to be the most reasonable choice in the vast variety of approx. 200 available versions.
We did everything exactly as described in the guide and everything seemed to work perfectly. Updates were working again and also the banking app worked.
But the day after he wanted to try the Samsung Health app and it reported to not work because "security policy, can't open on a rooted device" (crudely translated from german again)
and others like the banking app also stopped working and reported the same.
Although we installed the N950FXXU1AQH9 version it now says in the softwareinformation that N950FXXU2BQKG is installed Oo
Strangely he also tried some apps to root/unroot like superSU etc. and they all told him "your device isn't rooted"
So regular apps tell "can't work because device is rooted" and root apps tell "can't unroot because device isn't rooted"
So i ask humbly: where is the error in this mess? What shall we do to make this device into a perfectly funtioning unrooted freshly fabricated note 8 again?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that once rooted and Knox has been triggered the banking apps and certainly Samsung Pay will never work! I'm not thinking of rooting my SM-N9500 (I don't think I can anyway as it's Snapdragon), I used to root to get rid of adverts but Samsung have an app for that!
Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk

Once KNOX hasa been tripped its a can't be restored... You might b able to trick some of the apps into working by using a custom kernel but secure folder and KNOX are gone like the dinosaurs...
You should be able to find out about the custom kernels & how to flash by doing some reading.

robmeik said:
I think that once rooted and Knox has been triggered the banking apps and certainly Samsung Pay will never work! I'm not thinking of rooting my SM-N9500 (I don't think I can anyway as it's Snapdragon), I used to root to get rid of adverts but Samsung have an app for that!
Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this, I know that once rooted, some apps will not work anymore on that particular device, regardless of what you will plan on doing with that device.

knox is tripped.
the phone has most likely been successfully unrooted, but rooting it permanently makes alterations to a chip on the motherboard.
some apps will never trust this phone again, unless you can hide the knox fuse status.
so to get full use of the phone again you'll have to root it again and look into some root hiding apps/mods.
unfortunately I can't help you any further with that, I haven't rooted a knox-enabled device since the note 2.

Firstly thanks for all the enlightening answers. Now we are getting a bit closer.
I have just started with those topics on modding (rooting) of smartphones a few days ago and none of the guides i read mentioned anything about knox.
But yeah everything is gonna be more complex than anticipated. I will have to start digging deeper into this matter and try out a lot more of modded kernels and root hiding tools etc. to restore funtionality.
I will keep you updated on my progress... or lack of it :]

puzzlednerd said:
On another matter: The guy that "sold" my buddy this Note 8 seemed to be very eager to give it to him. At first he made an offer on local ebay and said that he didn't want his note 8 because it is rooted and modded etc.
My buddy made an agreement with him to exchange his older less worth samsung, which was all original and unrooted, for the sellers note 8. The seller complied although the difference in worth was approx. 250 Euro.
My buddy was happy that he made great deal... at first...
Later we found out that the same seller is selling my buddies old phone on local ebay again and surprise surprise it's rooted and modded again and offered for a much smaller price than what it's worth.
Now... is it possible to root and hack those phones with lets say... keyloggers and give them to unsuspected customers that enter all their account data and banking information?
Otherwise i have no idea why this seller is practically almost giving them away for nothing and is rooting formerly unrooted devices and sells them with the point that he doesn't want rooted devices and losing money with every trade.
Scam detected? What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we think it does not belong here. create your own thread on another forum and the topic of speculation-conspiracy

Then please pardon me dear sir. above part moved to offtopic:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/off-topic/scam-detected-topic-speculation-t3740922

Questions on flashing ATT firmware- unlocked S10+

Hi everyone, longtime lurker on XDA, just signed up today I recently purchased an unlocked S10+ which I would like to use with ATT. Been an ATT subscriber for almost 8 years now, and this is my first time buying an unlocked and not ATT branded phone. That being said, I have gone through the forums and have a rough idea how to flash ATT firmware on my new phone. I guess my questions are as follows:
1. I know that ATT firmware is not available without paying at most sites, but what about the user data file? I see that question being asked, do the sites hosting ATT firmwares also have user data files? If not, how to get them?
2. I'm assuming flashing firmware is still possible on the phones without needing root.
3. Should I flash the ATT firmware as soon as I receive the phone, without going through the setup process? Or can I flash after testing the phone for a couple of days.
4. Any major pitfalls by flashing ATT firmware?
I'm planning to do all this because I would like to use visual voicemail and HD voice if possible. I know that since my phone isn't whitelisted at ATT, those services may not work anyways, but I figured the first step is for me to flash the firmware, and then try to beg/cajole ATT to somehow help me with getting the phone working. Thanks in advance for your inputs and please excuse the noob questions :fingers-crossed:

samphonefan said:
Hi everyone, longtime lurker on XDA, just signed up today I recently purchased an unlocked S10+ which I would like to use with ATT. Been an ATT subscriber for almost 8 years now, and this is my first time buying an unlocked and not ATT branded phone. That being said, I have gone through the forums and have a rough idea how to flash ATT firmware on my new phone. I guess my questions are as follows:
1. I know that ATT firmware is not available without paying at most sites, but what about the user data file? I see that question being asked, do the sites hosting ATT firmwares also have user data files? If not, how to get them?
2. I'm assuming flashing firmware is still possible on the phones without needing root.
3. Should I flash the ATT firmware as soon as I receive the phone, without going through the setup process? Or can I flash after testing the phone for a couple of days.
4. Any major pitfalls by flashing ATT firmware?
I'm planning to do all this because I would like to use visual voicemail and HD voice if possible. I know that since my phone isn't whitelisted at ATT, those services may not work anyways, but I figured the first step is for me to flash the firmware, and then try to beg/cajole ATT to somehow help me with getting the phone working. Thanks in advance for your inputs and please excuse the noob questions :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an AT&T branded S10+ here.
1. The sites hosting the AT&T files that you have to pay for should have the AT&T user data file.
2. Yes, you just need a special patched version of ODIN that's here in the forums. Other versions won't work.
3. You can flash whenever as flashing will automatically do a data factor reset.
4. No pit falls, just they changed a few things from ASI6 to BSIW. BSIW is the current firmware with the November 2019 security patch.
You're not going to find AT&T firmware past SG8 or SGB I think it is here in the forums. You could flash that, then take the OTA to the current firmware. If you want the ASI6 firmware or later, you gotta pay for it.

StoneyJSG said:
I have an AT&T branded S10+ here.
1. The sites hosting the AT&T files that you have to pay for should have the AT&T user data file.
2. Yes, you just need a special patched version of ODIN that's here in the forums. Other versions won't work.
3. You can flash whenever as flashing will automatically do a data factor reset.
4. No pit falls, just they changed a few things from ASI6 to BSIW. BSIW is the current firmware with the November 2019 security patch.
You're not going to find AT&T firmware past SG8 or SGB I think it is here in the forums. You could flash that, then take the OTA to the current firmware. If you want the ASI6 firmware or later, you gotta pay for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a ton for your response StoneyJSG! I need to search for a site hosting the ATT firmware I guess.

samphonefan said:
Thanks a ton for your response StoneyJSG! I need to search for a site hosting the ATT firmware I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, let me know if you find a site that doesn't charge. I am so close to downloading the ASI6 firmware off of a pay site.

StoneyJSG said:
No problem, let me know if you find a site that doesn't charge. I am so close to downloading the ASI6 firmware off of a pay site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just went with the BSIV uploaded here to the forums, it's one version behind the latest, BSIW. Everything is working fine mostly. Contrary to public opinion, I do indeed seem to have VoLTE, WiFi calling and visual voicemail. Checked them all and they work. No idea about HD voice, that setting is no longer showing up in the settings menu, not a big deal anyway. The only problem I see so far is that ATT video calling doesn't work (never used it anyway), and more importantly, I'm unable to OTA update to the latest firmware BSIW. Have to dig into it further. But a huge thanks to the esteemed users of XDA, couldn't have done it without you! :good::good:

Did you eventually get OTA's?
I'm thinking my next phone will be an unlocked Note 20, but flash ATT firmware (I'm a prepaid subscriber and it's easier to buy from Samsung)...

Shanghai.Knight said:
Did you eventually get OTA's?
I'm thinking my next phone will be an unlocked Note 20, but flash ATT firmware (I'm a prepaid subscriber and it's easier to buy from Samsung)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am happy to report that I did indeed get OTAs! I had to flash manually for a few months, but the last manual flash did the trick, and have been getting OTAs since then. Not sure if I would do it again, but at least it worked for me.

I actually paid to download the ASI6 firmware and haven't even used it. Kind of a mistake as I see BSIW or BSIV would have worked fine. Doh! Oh well.

StoneyJSG said:
I actually paid to download the ASI6 firmware and haven't even used it. Kind of a mistake as I see BSIW or BSIV would have worked fine. Doh! Oh well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too bad, better luck next time I guess

Lol yeah. I can still flash ASI6 though as my S10 is still on an old firmware. I use my S10+ as my daily driver. It just sucks I paid like $12 for it and didn't need to.

Compatible ROM for N920P

Hi,
A question I hope someone can answer:
The short version; would this (N920PVPS3DQF1_N920PSPT3DQF1_SPR.zip) ROM be compatible with the N920P Note 5 variant that's currently on this (NRD90M.N920PVPS3DRH1) build number?
The long version; My GF has a Note5 of the Sprint N920P variety which she bought new in 2017(? The hardware version is N920P.04, if that matters). The phone is still on Android 7.0 (build number NRD90M.N920PVPS3DRH1)
The phone has (always had) lousy battery life and a tendency to crash at random, so I thought I'll take a crack at rooting the device to get some of the Sprint crap out, and maybe even install a more recent version of Android.
Apparently the latter will not happen (or is not worth trying as GF can't/will not deal easily with any obstacles/work arounds) as there seems to be no ROMs that's fully working on this Sprint version [is this really true?!]), but Magisk root route is still available, with one caveat.
When I went to look for a backup factory firmware (here), just in case something goes wrong, I could not find the ROM GF's phone has, and the closest one is this ROM (N920PVPS3DQF1_N920PSPT3DQF1_SPR.zip). Would it be compatible with her phone?
Also, is TWRP the only recovery available for this phone?
Thanks for any pointers

Rooting it is easy just use Magisk. The version of the zip looks ok. TWRP is the best - Not sure why you would want to use anything else. Also use TWRP to make a backup if possible. I used an OTG drive to make a backup.
Best rom so far is MOAR.Check XDA. Be aware banking apps detects rooted phones.

MarSOnEarth said:
Hi,
A question I hope someone can answer:
The short version; would this (N920PVPS3DQF1_N920PSPT3DQF1_SPR.zip) ROM be compatible with the N920P Note 5 variant that's currently on this (NRD90M.N920PVPS3DRH1) build number?
The long version; My GF has a Note5 of the Sprint N920P variety which she bought new in 2017(? The hardware version is N920P.04, if that matters). The phone is still on Android 7.0 (build number NRD90M.N920PVPS3DRH1)
The phone has (always had) lousy battery life and a tendency to crash at random, so I thought I'll take a crack at rooting the device to get some of the Sprint crap out, and maybe even install a more recent version of Android.
Apparently the latter will not happen (or is not worth trying as GF can't/will not deal easily with any obstacles/work arounds) as there seems to be no ROMs that's fully working on this Sprint version [is this really true?!]), but Magisk root route is still available, with one caveat.
When I went to look for a backup factory firmware (here), just in case something goes wrong, I could not find the ROM GF's phone has, and the closest one is this ROM (N920PVPS3DQF1_N920PSPT3DQF1_SPR.zip). Would it be compatible with her phone?
Also, is TWRP the only recovery available for this phone?
Thanks for any pointers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's true that the N920P doesn't have a fully working custom rom available right now. You could try flashing noblelte but mobile data may not be working, and if it is, you may not get LTE, let alone CDMA.
Yes, N920PVPS3DRH1_N920PVPS3DRH1_SPR is the currently most recent that the stock rom version, so there is no benefit or reason to flash QF1 on it, since R comes after Q in the alphabet
TWRP is the only recovery for N920P.

Crossfire81 and ripee, thank you both.
GF lived, suffered, survived, and now with the T-mo/Sprint merger, she's moved on to an unlocked N10+ just last month, so the N5 is my to play with.

MarSOnEarth said:
Crossfire81 and ripee, thank you both.
GF lived, suffered, survived, and now with the T-mo/Sprint merger, she's moved on to an unlocked N10+ just last month, so the N5 is my to play with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, if you want to give any feedback on roms on the SPR variant, find our threads and let us know.

Crossfire81 said:
Rooting it is easy just use Magisk. The version of the zip looks ok. TWRP is the best - Not sure why you would want to use anything else. Also use TWRP to make a backup if possible. I used an OTG drive to make a backup.
Best rom so far is MOAR.Check XDA. Be aware banking apps detects rooted phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello bro do you know if the n9020p has an lock or unlocked bootloader?