Root [Boost Mobile] KitKat ND8 update

[wetbiker7]

There's a reason. People screwing their phones up and then wanting Samsung to replace them.

There's no doubt about it. Samsung adding Knox is pain in the butt for the guys wanting to run TW ROMs or upgrade to the newest baseband.

I have a feeling that all manufacturers will end up doing something similar. It's only a matter of time. Samsung went a little far though by adding Knox. They should have just done like Asus and given the owner a choice whether or not to unlock the bootloader instead of intertwining crap within the ROM itself. Yep, that's a little over the top. They could have stopped at the bootloader and been done with it.

As with the Asus upgrade, people were not able to revert back to the older bootloader at 1st. In time Devs made it possible. It's not an easy process but it can be done. There's a good possibility that S3 owners may be able to do the same in the future. This update is new. Given time, Devs may be able to work their magic. Remember, the Devs have only been working on this for a couple of weeks.


Edit: it took a few months before Asus Devs found a way to revert to the older bootloader.

 

[wyelkins]

The whole Knox thing was designed to make Samsung phones secure enough for use in government and corporate environments, a niche once held by Blackberry. I can see how the bootloader brick thing is part of that. They have to ensure that the product is intact and not tampered with to sell this security. It just happens to affect the phone modding community. Hard bricking seems harsh, but it kind of makes sense to prevent unforseen methods from getting around their security. At least the Knox fuse does not prevent rooting, custom recovery or custom Roms. Not yet anyway.

Not being an apologist for Samsung, more like the Devils Advocate. That being said, I don't have to like it and thank goodness I have the choice to accept the update or not. I choose not to until the development community produces something that makes it worth it. I doubt that the new TW Kitkat will do that for me.

 

[smith058]

hard bricking the phone can probably be fixed, shabby's "how-truly-unbrick-your-sgs3" should work. we just need someone that has taken the Knox dive to copy a file (download mode partition or the "unbrick.img" as shabby calls it) and send it to shabby and also have an Odin tar of the stock update made.
but i dont want to have to use shabby's method, i dont know Linux.

at the moment i don't see any reason why i would want to get Knoxed up... so i am not going to be of any help.

 

[Kreatur3]

I'm thinking I might take the update tonight. Nothing to lose really. Can't think of a reason to want to go back to the older bootloaders and that's all that Knox effects.

 

[jdsingle76]

I'm thinking I might take the update tonight. Nothing to lose really. Can't think of a reason to want to go back to the older bootloaders and that's all that Knox effects.

FWIW, that was my thought process too. I can't think of any reason to flash back to an old boot loader. And I wanted to get in and try to help solve the broken radio problem, which we did .

 

[Kreatur3]

FWIW, that was my thought process too. I can't think of any reason to flash back to an old boot loader. And I wanted to get in and try to help solve the broken radio problem, which we did .

I'm not good at trouble shooting anything android but I don't mind being on the newest ota. Especially with an overwhelming response to the plus side of having the new modem. Have you noticed an increase in reception?

 

[Kreatur3]

JD do you happen to have a tar copy of philz 6.26.6 or whatever the newest is? I want to take my steps but figured I'd do it all. However the download link for the tar is down.

 

[jdsingle76]

JD do you happen to have a tar copy of philz 6.26.6 or whatever the newest is? I want to take my steps but figured I'd do it all. However the download link for the tar is down.

Two things, first, I personally haven't noticed much difference, but most everyone has, but some have actually gone down. All devices vary . Another thing, once you take the ND8, you're stuck on that bootloader AND modem. I've tried it, and it breaks radio. And I do have a copy, but it's on my computer. I'll have to get it for you tomorrow.

 

[Kreatur3]

Two things, first, I personally haven't noticed much difference, but most everyone has, but some have actually gone down. All devices vary . Another thing, once you take the ND8, you're stuck on that bootloader AND modem. I've tried it, and it breaks radio. And I do have a copy, but it's on my computer. I'll have to get it for you tomorrow.

Flashing Philz through Odin broke your radio? :S No rush man. I just finished downloading the tar. I have a lot on my internal storage so am going to hold off until after work tomorrow to give it a go. Maybe I'll decide to wait. Who knows. I'm nothing if not impulsive haha.

 

[iMaYG]

im on stock nd8. no root, no custom recovery

im honestly fine staying like this for a while. the update sooooo smooth and stable. everything i actually want in a rom. very well worth it

i probably will end up rooting once a suitable method comes up but im fine for now. love the update

 

[jdsingle76]

Flashing Philz through Odin broke your radio? :S No rush man. I just finished downloading the tar. I have a lot on my internal storage so am going to hold off until after work tomorrow to give it a go. Maybe I'll decide to wait. Who knows. I'm nothing if not impulsive haha.

No, flashing another modem besides ND8 did. I'll put the philz into drop box in a bit.

 

[jdsingle76]

im on stock nd8. no root, no custom recovery

im honestly fine staying like this for a while. the update sooooo smooth and stable. everything i actually want in a rom. very well worth it

i probably will end up rooting once a suitable method comes up but im fine for now. love the update

Rooting is simple. Flash philz latest and let it rootv for you!

 

[jmatherly411]

im on stock nd8. no root, no custom recovery

im honestly fine staying like this for a while. the update sooooo smooth and stable. everything i actually want in a rom. very well worth it

i probably will end up rooting once a suitable method comes up but im fine for now. love the update

So the ND8 build will work on the VM 4.3 MK5 build, I'm on a 100% stock MK5 build at the moment.

Do you just download the zip, rename it update.zip, copy to SD card, boot into stock recovery, and flash ND8 update?

 

[jdsingle76]

Flashing Philz through Odin broke your radio? :S No rush man. I just finished downloading the tar. I have a lot on my internal storage so am going to hold off until after work tomorrow to give it a go. Maybe I'll decide to wait. Who knows. I'm nothing if not impulsive haha.

Here's a copy of the latest Philz recovery tar. Enjoy


https://www.dropbox.com/s/psrocxk4x3yqh8f/philz_touch_6.26.6-d2lte.tar.md5

 

[jdsingle76]

So the ND8 build will work on the VM 4.3 MK5 build, I'm on a 100% stock MK5 build at the moment.

Do you just download the zip, rename it update.zip, copy to SD card, boot into stock recovery, and flash ND8 update?

NO!!! That's the fastest way to brick yourself. In order to flash either the odex or deodex .zip that's now available on XDA, you first have to flash the ND8 tar in Odin. This will install the ND8 Knox bootloader(from which there's no escaping), as well as the ND8 modem(again, from which there's no escaping, as of yet). It's a smooth build, but to answer your question, yes, it does work over MK5, but you have to Odin the tar first. And just so you know, that will wipe all internal data, so back it up on your PC first or move it to SD Card.

 

[freesunshine]

Hey jdsingle76, great to see you back in action! Quick question, is there a difference between rooting it through your method vs just flashing CNexus's rooted stock zip file?

 

[jdsingle76]

Hey jdsingle76, great to see you back in action! Quick question, is there a difference between rooting it through your method vs just flashing CNexus's rooted stock zip file?

If you flash the Odin tar(which you must do first anyway, then CNexus's rooted stock, you will have root.

 

[freesunshine]

If you flash the Odin tar(which you must do first anyway, then CNexus's rooted stock, you will have root.

I guess I should have been more specific about the question. Yes, I meant rooting with CNexus' method: install odin tar, CWM, then flash stock rooted zip file (which I just noticed it was uploaded by you :thumbup

So your method is if you have stock OTA 4.4 update then root it manually right?

Anyway, since you make it so easy for us to root our phones, I'll just flash your stock rooted file!

Thanks again for your awesome work!

 

[steelyus1]

Guess it's back to stock to get the OTA this weekend.

 

[Kreatur3]

Guess it's back to stock to get the OTA this weekend.

Using the tar through Odin I don't believe it matters what rom you're on. It wipes all partitions and replaces them. At least from what I understand about using Odin to flash a tar file.

When I say all I mean ALL. Including your internal storage. So make sure you back it up prior to using odin.

 

[freesunshine]

Guess it's back to stock to get the OTA this weekend.

My understanding is the OTA is only with Sprint device and Boost doesn't even have Kitkat update for our device yet.

Using the tar through Odin I don't believe it matters what rom you're on. It wipes all partitions and replaces them. At least from what I understand about using Odin to flash a tar file.

When I say all I mean ALL. Including your internal storage. So make sure you back it up prior to using odin.

Like Kreatur3 said, you'll have to Odin to get the Kitkat on our device.

 

[steelyus1]

Well cool. Was only going for new modem. But boost isn't out yet, then cool.

Or will see if just MDM is available.

 

[wetbiker7]

Well cool. Was only going for new modem. But boost isn't out yet, then cool.

Or will see if just MDM is available.

I would think Boost will be getting the update soon.
____________________

Has anyone heard anything about a release date yet?

 

[Kreatur3]

Well cool. Was only going for new modem. But boost isn't out yet, then cool.

Or will see if just MDM is available.

If you find a zip of just the modem don't flash it. Flashing pieces of the ota but not taking the tar through Odin route has bricked phones as well. You've been warned.

Are you already knoxed? If so flashing pieces will definitely brick your phone. Some people who didn't take the ota for mk5 didn't brick but I wouldn't chance it.

Boost and virgin have not confirmed it yet. However it will probably come at some point. You can wait or do sprints ota. Will basically be the same thing, same hardware, bit our ota will be full of boost branded shit you'll just remove anyway.

 

[steelyus1]

If you find a zip of just the modem don't flash it. Flashing pieces of the ota but not taking the tar through Odin route has bricked phones as well. You've been warned.

Are you already knoxed? If so flashing pieces will definitely brick your phone. Some people who didn't take the ota for mk5 didn't brick but I wouldn't chance it.

Boost and virgin have not confirmed it yet. However it will probably come at some point. You can wait or do sprints ota. Will basically be the same thing, same hardware, bit our ota will be full of boost branded shit you'll just remove anyway.

Odin it is!

I saw that a different MDM with KK bricked it, but didn't see anything about KK MDM with JB.

Props for the clarification, Kreatur3!

So, firmware and MDM need to be a combo? In assuming, is the jist of it?