Database Users

About phone status:Modified.?

I was just looking at the About Device/Status page, and this entry at the bottom that says that the phone has been modified. I did root so what does someone who hasn't rooted say? Did ATT just make it easy to determine if the phone's been rooted?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

questions and answers, doh!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1631

Device Status: Normal
These phones have a flash counter so they can easily tell if its been modified which voids your warranty

After doing some research on rooting the SGS3, it appears that not only there is a flash counter but also the rom itself may also contain a special flag as well. So to truly be rid of the evidence of rooting, not only would you have to reset the counter (which we don't have the ability to do yet) but it looks like you would also have to reflash the full stock firmware and wipe the phone. I got that from reading about the Triangle Away app, which won't work for the US versions of the SGS3, but I think the idea may still apply.

Thread belongs in Q&A. An that's where it's going to be

[Q] Stuck w/ Set Warranty Bit: Kernel & S4 Logo

Hey folks,
One of the forum moderators pointed me at this thread ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2586586 ) as a suggestion to getting a ROM for my S4 that would alleviate the com.android.phone process crashes I had with other ROMS.
After flashing jfltespr_mk2_deodexed from micro-sd card through the Team Win recovery, my phone is now stuck at the Samsung Galaxy S4 logo screen with (Set Warranty Bit: Kernel) in the upper left.
Having looked through numerous threads on this issue, it seems there's a number of different remedies, from reflashing to simply powercycling.
There wasn't anything that was of much use in http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2527706 either.
I have odin, and can boot into Team Win Recovery, or download mode. Suggestions/tips/ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

Seems like you already have Knox tripped. And those warnings are because Knox detected modified files on your phone at boot up. I would suggest to odinto stock MK2
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Go to this post and download the full stock mk2 tar file. Once downloaded extract the tar file from the zip file and install it using Odin 3.09 for best results. This will bring your phone to full stock unrooted. This should fix your phone problems. It is best to start with a clean slate. If you are still getting the force closes, then something on your data partition is causing your problem and you will need to do a factory reset after installing the tar file.
After you are up and running with no errors then you can re root your phone. I like safe root. It is quick and easy. Just Google Safe Root for Sprint Galaxy S4 and you will find it.
If this doesn't fix your phone than it might be hardware related. Also, just to be sure, make sure you don't have the L720T version of our phone. Because if you do, that is your problem.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=49213024
Sent from my icrap 2 using Tapatalk HD

That thread has a huge KNOX warning. I was hoping to ditch the Sprint bloatware.
Am I interpreting things right that I'm basically screwed for non-stock ROM's now?
Also, I have an SPH-L720
On the download rom screen, it reports KNOX KERNEL LOCK as 0x0, KNOX WARRANTY VOID as 0d?
cruise350 said:
Go to this post and download the full stock mk2 tar file. Once downloaded extract the tar file from the zip file and install it using Odin 3.09 for best results. This will bring your phone to full stock unrooted. This should fix your phone problems. It is best to start with a clean slate. If you are still getting the force closes, then something on your data partition is causing your problem and you will need to do a factory reset after installing the tar file.
After you are up and running with no errors then you can re root your phone. I like safe root. It is quick and easy. Just Google Safe Root for Sprint Galaxy S4 and you will find it.
If this doesn't fix your phone than it might be hardware related. Also, just to be sure, make sure you don't have the L720T version of our phone. Because if you do, that is your problem.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=49213024
Sent from my icrap 2 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

dearastronomer said:
That thread has a huge KNOX warning. I was hoping to ditch the Sprint bloatware.
Am I interpreting things right that I'm basically screwed for non-stock ROM's now?
Also, I have an SPH-L720
On the download rom screen, it reports KNOX KERNEL LOCK as 0x0, KNOX WARRANTY VOID as 0d?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not screwed for non stock ROMs, IF you don't mind tripping the knox 'counter'. If you follow @cruise350 advice you'll be back to Stock. then root (with SafeRoot maybe; search it's here or CF-Auto Root) you could then install a custom recovery (using GooManager or by Odining one), then flash away.
BUT you are going to trip the Knox counter by using a custom recovery.
Please spend a little (actually a lot) of time reading and understanding how things work on this phone and you'll really enjoy it and get the most out of it with as little frustration as possible.
Good luck

From the advice in this thread I was able to get back to stock ROM w/ root (CF-Auto-Root). Thanks for the tips, and for being patient.
I'm going to do some reading on Knox, because I'm getting conflicting reports on the ability to remove it.
leaderbuilder said:
You're not screwed for non stock ROMs, IF you don't mind tripping the knox 'counter'. If you follow @cruise350 advice you'll be back to Stock. then root (with SafeRoot maybe; search it's here or CF-Auto Root) you could then install a custom recovery (using GooManager or by Odining one), then flash away.
BUT you are going to trip the Knox counter by using a custom recovery.
Please spend a little (actually a lot) of time reading and understanding how things work on this phone and you'll really enjoy it and get the most out of it with as little frustration as possible.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I still can't figure out what the big deal is people have about knox. It does not effect you at all if it is tripped unless you plan on sending your phone to Samsung for warranty service. It does not prevent you from running custom roms, installing mods, or using your phone to its full functionality. It is a secure container program for corporations and government agencies that require more security for access to their networks and information. If your company is not requiring you to have a secure phone, than it means nothing. It is easily disabled or removed. The main difference in our phones after MJA firmware is Samsung made it so we can't downgrade the bootloader any more. This was so they could fully implement the knox container to prevent downgrading to older non knox bootloaders thus skirting the knox security. The warranty flag that it trips is the knox warranty flag, which purpose is to let your IT department know that you have tampered with your phone and can no longer be guaranteed to provide the secure container. It also lets Samsung know you have tampered with your phone which may violate your warranty.

cruise350 said:
I still can't figure out what the big deal is people have about knox. It does not effect you at all if it is tripped unless you plan on sending your phone to Samsung for warranty service. It does not prevent you from running custom roms, installing mods, or using your phone to its full functionality. It is a secure container program for corporations and government agencies that require more security for access to their networks and information. If your company is not requiring you to have a secure phone, than it means nothing. It is easily disabled or removed. The main difference in our phones after MJA firmware is Samsung made it so we can't downgrade the bootloader any more. This was so they could fully implement the knox container to prevent downgrading to older non knox bootloaders thus skirting the knox security. The warranty flag that it trips is the knox warranty flag, which purpose is to let your IT department know that you have tampered with your phone and can no longer be guaranteed to provide the secure container. It also lets Samsung know you have tampered with your phone which may violate your warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True but it lock the bootloader from what I’m hearing
Hence stopping the installation of custom roms

[Q] Root, Warranty, Unroot?

Hello everyone,
We all know rooting your device voids your warranty.
But if you unroot your device will the ol' techs at Samsung be aware of it?
You see I've run into this problem: I took some pictures, didn't upload them to my laptop or a cloud service and my phone RANDOMLY did a factory reset. (More like it powered off by itself and then when I turned it on everything was gone) Now in order to run decent recovery software for the pictures, I need root. But I also want to have my phone checked out for hardware faults.
I'd like to root, recover photos (or attempt to), unroot and give it to Sammy.
For the S5 is there anything I should be aware of while unrooting?
Thanks in advance!

For now unroot dont give back warrant
Sent from my SM-G900M using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

matheus_sc said:
For now unroot dont give back warrant
Sent from my SM-G900M using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite sure what that means.

ellimistx99 said:
Not quite sure what that means.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It means that Samsung started using a protection method referred to as Knox. Rooting, installing custom ROMs or bricking your phone will usually trip the Knox counter which then burns a permanent qfuse. Trying to revert to stock after a qfuse is blown will still leave evidence that your phone was previously rooted.
If you root with Chainfire's mobile odin app, you may be able to avoid tripping the Knox counter. But it's not guaranteed. It's a cat and mouse game back and forth and whether your root is 100% revertible changes from time to time. Eventually someone will also mount a legal challenge to settle whether Samsung can void your warranty just because you rooted your phone. But in practical terms.. consider yourself warranty less if you trip the Knox counter on your phone.

fffft said:
It means that Samsung started using a protection method referred to as Knox. Rooting, installing custom ROMs or bricking your phone will usually trip the Knox counter which then burns a permanent qfuse. Trying to revert to stock after a qfuse is blown will still leave evidence that your phone was previously rooted.
If you root with Chainfire's mobile odin app, you may be able to avoid tripping the Knox counter. But it's not guaranteed. It's a cat and mouse game back and forth and whether your root is 100% revertible changes from time to time. Eventually someone will also mount a legal challenge to settle whether Samsung can void your warranty just because you rooted your phone. But in practical terms.. consider yourself warranty less if you trip the Knox counter on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Darn,
Well then I suppose is there any thing I can do to try and recover my photo's?

ellimistx99 said:
Darn,
Well then I suppose is there any thing I can do to try and recover my photo's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you live? If you live in the Netherlands they will not void your warranty because of KNOX, this is proven in real cases now. If you live in another country, I do not know if the law is the same as here, but you should find that out before rooting of course

Well, as suggested above.. if you happen to live in an European countries that has unusually strong consumer protections then it's moot. Otherwise do a search and find out whether other members with your exact firmware version are seeing their Knox counters tripped or not.
Breaking a hard drive seal would normally void a warranty. But Samsung will let authorized vendors break the seal for data recovery purposes. I'd imagine that they'd do the same for photos on a phone but only if you use an expensive third party vendor. If you're not in a Scandinavian country, not rich and have a very recent firmware.. you may have to choose between voiding your warranty and decent prospects of recovering your photos.
If you don't see any better prospects you may be able to run an ADB shell without root and possibly do a dd image of your deleted photos. It's key that it would be a raw sector by sector image, rather than a file by file process in the context of data recovery. And as an aside your phone should be turned off and collecting dust for the moment. Continuing to use your phone may dash any real recovery prospects.

fffft said:
Well, as suggested above.. if you happen to live in an European countries that has unusually strong consumer protections then it's moot. Otherwise do a search and find out whether other members with your exact firmware version are seeing their Knox counters tripped or not.
Breaking a hard drive seal would normally void a warranty. But Samsung will let authorized vendors break the seal for data recovery purposes. I'd imagine that they'd do the same for photos on a phone but only if you use an expensive third party vendor. If you're not in a Scandinavian country, not rich and have a very recent firmware.. you may have to choose between voiding your warranty and decent prospects of recovering your photos.
If you don't see any better prospects you may be able to run an ADB shell without root and possibly do a dd image of your deleted photos. It's key that it would be a raw sector by sector image, rather than a file by file process in the context of data recovery. And as an aside your phone should be turned off and collecting dust for the moment. Continuing to use your phone may dash any real recovery prospects.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good will look into all that. I live in Malaysia at the moment so I guess I'll have to see what Samsung says about it. I suppose if I explain it to them they might understand.
Thanks man

Knox Warranty Void=1 and OTA's

Apparently this does not prevent OTA's. Like most, I didn't like Magazine UX or Knox so I flashed. Tripped the Knox Warranty Void =1. So I went to Sammobile and downloaded the July 2014 release and flashed it. Lo and behold, when I hit software updates it started downloading. Will let you know of my progress.

pworcester said:
Apparently this does not prevent OTA's. Like most, I didn't like Magazine UX or Knox so I flashed. Tripped the Knox Warranty Void =1. So I went to Sammobile and downloaded the July 2014 release and flashed it. Lo and behold, when I hit software updates it started downloading. Will let you know of my progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. It took me from ANF4 to ANI1!

pworcester said:
OK. It took me from ANF$ to ANI1!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and from ANI1 to ANK1! Sweet!!

KNOX is mainly meant to ensure an untampered device for corporate security purposes; not to prevent OTAs.

yes it just causes to end your guarantee in case you take it to samsung service

benveq said:
yes it just causes to end your guarantee in case you take it to samsung service
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not clear that is the case either. Reports may vary, but at least some have said KNOX fuse tripped does not void warranty.
The main purpose for KNOX counter is for corporate IT staff to see that phone is untampered, and safe for enterprise use and various KNOX security apps.

redpoint73 said:
Its not clear that is the case either. Reports may vary, but at least some have said KNOX fuse tripped does not void warranty.
The main purpose for KNOX counter is for corporate IT staff to see that phone is untampered, and safe for enterprise use and various KNOX security apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came from a tab2 10.1 that I could reset completely. Wasn't sure if knox would keep me from getting updates.

pworcester said:
I came from a tab2 10.1 that I could reset completely. Wasn't sure if knox would keep me from getting updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its good to get more confirmation, in any case. There seems to be a good amount of mixed info about KNOX. So thanks for posting it.

redpoint73 said:
KNOX is mainly meant to ensure an untampered device for corporate security purposes; not to prevent OTAs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regardless of what it's meant for, if you trip Knox and then try to do an OTA you will get a message telling you you can't do that. Now, apparently manually flashing something removes that restriction, which is great, but the fact remains.

redpoint73 said:
Its not clear that is the case either. Reports may vary, but at least some have said KNOX fuse tripped does not void warranty.
The main purpose for KNOX counter is for corporate IT staff to see that phone is untampered, and safe for enterprise use and various KNOX security apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used Odin to flash the July 2014 relase. Prior to that I had the current relase falshed through Odin When I would check for updates it would tell me my device was modified. Going back to July and letting it OTA to current, now when I check for updates it says the latest software is installed.

thebobmannh said:
Regardless of what it's meant for, if you trip Knox and then try to do an OTA you will get a message telling you you can't do that. Now, apparently manually flashing something removes that restriction, which is great, but the fact remains.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, I wasn't completely clear on the details of the situation (once modded, I don't believe in OTAs) so thanks for clarifying.
---------- Post added at 09:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 AM ----------
pworcester said:
I used Odin to flash the July 2014 relase. Prior to that I had the current relase falshed through Odin When I would check for updates it would tell me my device was modified. Going back to July and letting it OTA to current, now when I check for updates it says the latest software is installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, thanks for the clarification.

It's not the Knox status that matters for OTAs. It is the flag that identifies your setup as Custom that prevents OTAs. That is a result of having a custom recovery. For example, if I root my device, tripping Knox, and later decide to Odin back to stock without custom recovery, I can (and have) receive OTAs because my status is returned to Official. I can then re-root, flash custom recovery (thus resetting status to Custom), and no longer receive OTAs.
Sent telepathically

RiverCity.45 said:
It's not the Knox status that matters for OTAs. It is the flag that identifies your setup as Custom that prevents OTAs. That is a result of having a custom recovery. For example, if I root my device, tripping Knox, and later decide to Odin back to stock without custom recovery, I can (and have) receive OTAs because my status is returned to Official. I can then re-root, flash custom recovery (thus resetting status to Custom), and no longer receive OTAs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird, all I did was root my T900 (via Odin), without installing a custom recovery, and was subsequently unable to take an OTA. I didn't really mess with it after that -- I switched to CM shortly after -- but that was my very limited experience. Could have been a fluke.

If you used CF Auto Root, part of the automated process mucks with recovery to achieve root (thereby rendering your status as Custom). One can Odin flash back to complete stock (which unroots and resets recovery to Official), but Knox remains tripped.

RiverCity.45 said:
If you used CF Auto Root, part of the automated process mucks with recovery to achieve root (thereby rendering your status as Custom). One can Odin flash back to complete stock (which unroots and resets recovery to Official), but Knox remains tripped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great info, thanks! THis is my first Samsung / Knox device so still learning the basics.

Would it be safe to dirty flash (flash without wiping /data, only /cache and dalvik) latest stock ROM over older stock ROMs (modified with custom recovery)?

Sorry to necro-ish-post. Just got one of these on sale and I'm getting used to the "Samsung Way" after a Nexus tablet.
Suppose I've rooted my ROM without tripping Knox. I'd imagine if another OTA comes along it might fail due to modifications to the ROM. Can I use Odin to reflash the system part of the ROM back to stock without tripping Knox, so that the OTA will subsequently work?

cmstlist said:
Sorry to necro-ish-post. Just got one of these on sale and I'm getting used to the "Samsung Way" after a Nexus tablet.
Suppose I've rooted my ROM without tripping Knox. I'd imagine if another OTA comes along it might fail due to modifications to the ROM. Can I use Odin to reflash the system part of the ROM back to stock without tripping Knox, so that the OTA will subsequently work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. You can get a stock ROM and flash it with ODIN. Knox won't be tripped and you will loose root. Other thing you can do is stay rooted, and flash with ODIN the new ROMs as soon as they are available. Instead of re-flashing the same ROM you are on right now, so you can get an OTA, why not wait until a new ROM is released and flash that new ROM then? You can reroot then, if you want (towelroot). Of course you have to keep an eye on the forum so you know when a new ROM is available. Or check samfirmware from time to time :good:

Good to know. I don't know if Lollipop is ever on the agenda for Tab Pro, but if so I'd imagine there won't be a way to get it Towelrooted.

HELP!!! U.S. version of sm-T520
I have the Sm-T520nzwaxar. I needed to flash a firmware to revert it to stock. I was aware of the region based firmwares, but I still flashed one. The process failed near the end. Odin said "Failed" and my tablet remained in download mode, didn't boot. Now, I have a tablet that is pretty damn bricked. It will only go to a screen saying "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again" and Download Mode.
I have determined that there is no such firmware for T520nzwaxar, despite being the U.S. model. The only thing I can hope for now is that such a file does exist or another firmware from another country would work.
PLEASE any help that can be given to a frimware that would work with this would be HUGELY appreciated.

Upgrade from B0A8?

I have a Verizon S5 that currently has g900VVRU1B0A8 on it.
Recently the screen has started flashing green and not coming on whrn the power button is pressed.
Im not sure if this is hardware or software so I factory reset it and the issue is still there, maybe not as frequent though.
Do you think it would do any good to upgrade it, can i just odin a new firmware on now, as long as im not going backwards?

If this is a stock factory phone that has never been rooted I would venture a guess that your phone is failing from a hardware standpoint. If it is still under warranty I would replace it before trying any rooting/flashing ... If you want to root it however, DO NOT take the OTA upgrade. That will put you on the latest build but you will not be able to go backwards and root it after taking the update. The version you are currently on can be rooted. And no, you can not just flash a new firmware. If you want to root, you have to follow the steps in the rooting threads and revert back to NCG first to root. Don't flash anything without reading everything thoroughly and understanding what you are doing BEFORE you flash anything.

Oh, its been heavily screwwed with, used to be mine but i gave it to my wife.
Knox is tripped and it says custom on boot.
I took it back to stock when i gave it away....just thinking a updated driver may help.
Been out of the scene for awhile, what are my options?

f4u5t said:
Oh, its been heavily screwwed with, used to be mine but i gave it to my wife.
Knox is tripped and it says custom on boot.
I took it back to stock when i gave it away....just thinking a updated driver may help.
Been out of the scene for awhile, what are my options?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because it says custom on boot doesn't really mean knox is tripped. All my earlier root versions said that without being tripped. Download the Samsung phone info app from the play store. Run that and if knox says 0x0 it is not tripped. It doesn't really matter though if the phone is out of warranty.