Root Blocking the OTA updates from Sprint

[cwgraf71]

Blocking the OTA Updates :smokingsomb:

:banghead: I did some research to stop this crazy update from coming. And found good information here: Blocking the OTA Updates [Archive] - xda-developers

I deleted the update file (86cb1eb905a2.update_SPH-M930_EG30_to_FD11.zip) from the /cache folder

Then via ES file explorer changed otacerts.zip to otacerts.zip.bak found in /system/etc/security

verified the change happened to use root explorer.

Then told the update to install it.

It starts the count down from 10 seconds and normally what it does is reboots into CWM and I select reboot. Good until the next time the update download and I repeat.

This time it did the count down and when it hit zero it told me that I was already updated.

Double checked name change and should be set to never have the update download again. :smokin:

 

[notsosmrtgeek]

Blocking the OTA Updates :smokingsomb:

:banghead: I did some research to stop this crazy update from coming. And found good information here: Blocking the OTA Updates [Archive] - xda-developers

I deleted the update file (86cb1eb905a2.update_SPH-M930_EG30_to_FD11.zip) from the /cache folder

Then via ES file explorer changed otacerts.zip to otacerts.zip.bak found in /system/etc/security

verified the change happened to use root explorer.

Then told the update to install it.

It starts the count down from 10 seconds and normally what it does is reboots into CWM and I select reboot. Good until the next time the update download and I repeat.

This time it did the count down and when it hit zero it told me that I was already updated.

Double checked name change and should be set to never have the update download again. :smokin:

was this the actual file name and also was that for sprint or boost. we could use this it would help flashing the modem over.

 

[cwgraf71]

was this the actual file name and also was that for sprint or boost. we could use this it would help flashing the modem over.

Yes this was actual file names and it was on my sprint phone

 

[mydian]

Thank you for posting this! I'm so sick of these buggy 2.3.6 updates so I went back to 2.3.4 and didn't want this pesky update notification. I'm on Boost and followed these steps and it worked! However one thing I wanted to add, you have to go into ES file explorer's settings and select "mount file system" then you can rename the opencerts.zip to opencerts.zip.bak. Make sure to go back into ES file explorer's setting and uncheck this when you're done.


One side note, I now have the EG29 to FF27 update zip for Boost if anyone needs it.

 

[cwgraf71]

Thank you! I have always wanted to ask that question about mounting folders because in most cases I haven't had to do that I do not know why and should I be turn that feature off it is if it has been able to come out

 

[mydian]

I'm not sure why you have to turn that on or off as I'm no linux guru but when googling for why I couldn't rename that file with es file explorer I found a post over on xda saying to enable that but to make sure it's not left enabled. Probably for security reasons.

 

[h20]

will this work for boost?

if so do i have ths right

i would delete the update file (86cb1eb905a2.update_SPH-M930_EG30_to_FD11.zip) [mine is called b41f6244c3f2.update_sph-.zip] from the /cache folder
then Then via ES file explorer change otacerts.zip to otacerts.zip.bak i do have a [otacerts.zip] in /system/etc/security
? how to verify the change just look at the file and make sure its now a .bak file?
then click install update
then double check name change? what am i rechecking otacerts.zip to otacerts.zip.bak
how do i mount a folder wouldnt changing to read write be the same/

edit i did remove the update .zip file from cache folder to my pc for the time being

 

[PH8AL]

i did this on 2 phones and it worked. tried just telling the update to go ahead, it rebooted to cwm and then the update notice came back.
Did this and rebooted and the notice came up told it to go ahead and it again rebooted to cwm. Rebooted from there and no more notice. So when it popped up on the 2nd phone knew what to do.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[h20]

i did this on 2 phones and it worked. tried just telling the update to go ahead, it rebooted to cwm and then the update notice came back.
Did this and rebooted and the notice came up told it to go ahead and it again rebooted to cwm. Rebooted from there and no more notice. So when it popped up on the 2nd phone knew what to do.

Thanks for posting this.

i dont want to update so this is safe to hit update after doing the above?

 

[mydian]

Yes it will work with Boost. After you delete the update and rename the zip to bak tell it to update. When I did, the phone rebooted into CWM. Then I selected reboot system and it hasn't said anything about the update. It didn't say update complete or failed either.. nothing. I just checked manually for updates and it says there are none.

 

[h20]

k thanks since i deleted the update.zip file and rebooted it hasnt redownloaded so no nag screen but its only been 2 days when or if it downloads agian i will do this

 

[cwgraf71]

I just wanted to give an update now that 29-30 days have past since opening this tread and there has been no bothersome updates.

 

[Ralkkai]

I first tried freezing System Update and it did keep it from running constantly in the background but i still got the occasional update notification and today decided to check out this method. I didnt have the /cache/(86cb1eb905a2.update_SPH-M930_EG30_to_FD11.zip so didn't have anything to delete but still went ahead and renamed otacerts.zip to otacerts.zip.bak and it seemed to work fine. rebooted had the update popup went through with it and rebooted from cwm and all seems to be working like the OP said. also instead of mounting the /root i just use Rom Toolbox since it has a root browser built in. Maybe a little tidbit of info to help some people i guess

 

[cwgraf71]

I was bored and was curious to see if I could get the OTA update if I changed the otacerts.zip.bak back to original otacerts.zip and sure enough after a little while it came across the air.

 

[h20]

worked for me to

 

[xxbones21xx]

I did this as well. Followed everything to the "T". it all worked the way you guys said it was supposed to. I started noticing my connection being a lot slower than normal while wifi tethering to my desktop. I checked the phone and it was continuously trying to download the ff27 file again. I dont get great service as it is and when its trying to download that file it kills my connection even worse.

Only things i have done to the phone are the "transformdat.zip" method of rooting 2.3.4. I haven't gotten around to installing any custom roms or even cwm (which i know i should regardless of whether i decide to go the custom rom route or not). It's a boost STU.

I attempted to trick the phone into thinking i had completed the download by first going into airplane mode. Then i deleted the partial file for the update and tried copying back the original one i removed from the cache folder when using this guide. No luck though it just said the download failed, seem to have deleted my copied file and proceeded to start downloading again.

A side note, I'm considering just going back to stock. I'm not sure how to do this though since i've rooted the phone. I used interdepths one click root method and its the only thing I've done to the phone other than get the usb and wifi tethering apps for rooted phones. Maybe if i can just start from scratch, root and install cwm then ill be able to just restore back to a clean stock rom in case my phone does update itself. Right?

Thanks in advance if anyone is able to help me out

 

[cwgraf71]

I don't know how stock will help you. I am running the custom stock rom. I do know that the service does come and go for me as a Sprint user. But haven't had any problems with wifi tethering.

 

[mydian]

I've noticed that after every reboot the phone downloads FF27 once. But then it deletes it eventually, and never seems to download it again until the next reboot. I don't get any update notification so I don't consider it a big deal as I don't reboot my phone very often.

I use FoxFi for wifi tether and don't have any issues.

My setup is as follows:
Android 2.3.4, EG29
BobzHome kernel (based off FC29)
Baseband FF27

 

[xxbones21xx]

I wonder why the thing continuously downloads the update if it thinks its up-to-date. Doesn't seem right that it downloads and then deletes it when it realizes its up-to-date. That's a lot of data usage, no? I know im on boost and it doesn't really matter but for the sprint users who may not have unlimited plans.

Edit: Now that i think about it i have been rebooting the phone quite a bit, perhaps ill get one of those task managers and avoid rebooting all the time to clear memory and what not.

Edit2: Just wanted to let you guys know... I haven't reset my phone all day and the thing still wants to keeping downloading the update. No more notification about updating but it is surely downloading over and over again in the background now. Maybe its only because i go into the update screen to see what it says. At first it says the device is up-to-date, but then i close that screen (going back one) and then i go back into the screen and suddenly its began downloading again. Since my phone acts as a router for 95% of the time, i dont really mind the update notification, but my concern is will this phone start updating itself with out permission from the user after a certain period of time?

 

[cwgraf71]

I have not heard of it continuing to try and update, you may want to double check and see if all steps listed above were executed properly.

 

[xxbones21xx]

I mean this isn't exactly an advanced means of stopping the update. Very simple instructions... delete file, rename specific file, follow through with install, confirm everything stayed the same (file name etc...) and like i said when i first followed the guide everything happened just like others have said it did. it told me i was up to date and i have yet to get a "notification" saying i needed to update, but for some reason i go into that screen where it shows the download progress for the update file and it shows its downloading. once its finished downloading (after ive let it sit for a considerable amount of time, almost certain it is completely downloaded) i go into that same screen and it says its up-to-date. I exit that screen one back and then go into it again and once again its started downloading the update file.

Since the only thing i've done is root the device, would i be able to do a factory restore? The default recovery program on the phone just restores a default rom right?

if so i will do that and then start fresh giving this guide another try to ensure i didnt do something wrong, which again i highly doubt considering how easy this guide is to follow.

I'm not a programmer by any means but i have a strong common sense for programs and how they function for the most part.

Edit: now that there is an official way to root the 2.3.6 version would it just make more sense to let it update and not bother with this? since the new update brings touch screen fixes and so on? or is the 2.3.6 still not good candidate?

 

[mydian]

If you're rooted and want to try the update your best off using CWM and updating with this:

http://androidforums.com/transform-...nt-ff27-update-rooted-final-ver-8-1-12-a.html


It's probably just downloading it because you keep checking for updates. It sees there is some kind of update, downloads it, and then because of the stuff you did to stop the notification it deletes the update until you reboot, or check for updates manually again.

You could always look into this:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-tr...-auto-ota-update-samsung-transform-ultra.html

I haven't tried that but it may stop the update completely. Make sure you make a new CWM backup before messing with that.

 

[xxbones21xx]

If you're rooted and want to try the update your best off using CWM and updating with this:

http://androidforums.com/transform-...nt-ff27-update-rooted-final-ver-8-1-12-a.html


It's probably just downloading it because you keep checking for updates. It sees there is some kind of update, downloads it, and then because of the stuff you did to stop the notification it deletes the update until you reboot, or check for updates manually again.

You could always look into this:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-tr...-auto-ota-update-samsung-transform-ultra.html

I haven't tried that but it may stop the update completely. Make sure you make a new CWM backup before messing with that.

I know I'm straying from the topic of this thread a little but... If I make a CWM backup I'd like it to be of a fresh out of the box state. Not of my current setup. Is it possible to do a factory restore on 2.3.4 with root access and not have any complications (removing the root access as well)?

 

[mydian]

After doing some experimenting from what I learned here: http://androidforums.com/samsung-tr...-auto-ota-update-samsung-transform-ultra.html and here: http://androidforums.com/droid-all-things-root/165681-ota-notification-stopota-zip-bb0-4-a.html the following 2 lines need to be edited in the /system/build.prop using a root explorer (I used ES File Explorer)

change:

ro.build.description=SPH-M930BST-user 2.3.4 GINGERBREAD EG29 release-keys

to:

ro.build.description=SPH-M930BST-user 2.3.6 GINGERBREAD FF27 release-keys

and change:

ro.build.fingerprint=samsung/SPH-M930BST/SPH-M930BST:2.3.4/GINGERBREAD/EG29:user/release-keys

to:

ro.build.fingerprint=samsung/SPH-M930BST/SPH-M930BST:2.3.6/GINGERBREAD/FF27:user/release-keys

If you change any of the other 2.3.4 or EG29 info in the build.prop the phone will report the wrong version in settings, about phone, so only change those two lines.

I know I'm straying from the topic of this thread a little but... If I make a CWM backup I'd like it to be of a fresh out of the box state. Not of my current setup. Is it possible to do a factory restore on 2.3.4 with root access and not have any complications (removing the root access as well)?

I used Odin to install CWM on my phone before I rooted it. Made a backup, then rooted my phone, then did another backup just for this reason. I've never tried a factory reset as I always just reinstall my rooted backup.

 

[xxbones21xx]

I used Odin to install CWM on my phone before I rooted it. Made a backup, then rooted my phone, then did another backup just for this reason. I've never tried a factory reset as I always just reinstall my rooted backup.

That's what I was afraid of... I'm not sure if doing the factory reset will remove any files... Actually I'm not entirely sure what the factory reset actually does... Assuming its not like an image backup that gets restored. Correct me if im wrong but when you do a factory reset with this phone some information stays?