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Root [Virgin Mobile] 3 more days till Gs3! And rooting!

rjhelgerson

Newbie
Jan 10, 2011
46
2
So I went to virginmobileusa.com tonight and I bought the gs3 for $279, so I'm pretty excited. My previous phones were the triumph and the Evo V.

I can't wait to jump right in and root my phone, and get a custom recovery onto my phone, and then find a sweet rom... Aside from reading the directions carefully, do any of you have any other helpful hints that might help make this transition smooth?

LOL... I still have nightmares over the wire-trick
 
That answers my follow up question... Yeah I'll fire up the phone in a couple days and see what's what.. If it's running 4.1.2, and I refuse all updates, I should be good to go to attain root, and get a custom recovery, and a rom, right?

You will be good to go no matter what, some scenarios just require a little more caution is all. Most likely, your phone will come with the original 4.1.2, and then try to update once you install the battery, as it has probably been sitting in a warehouse since before the official 4.3 update. You will want the MG2 bootloader if it is not installed, once again depends on how long your phone was in that warehouse. Mine, purchased in late September, had the MD7 bootloader (Ice Cream Sandwich version) and when I activated it, did the update to the MG2 bootloader (JellyBean version), but this was prior to official 4.3 and Knox, so that was the end of the updates and I promptly rooted, which I always do with a new device. On the plus side, once you have a custom recovery and are rooted, the Knox update cannot apply, as that requires a complete stock setup. Obviously, once your phone arrives we can help you in more detail based on more than just speculation! Keep us posted.
 
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Okay. Charging my phone right now. I haven't activated it yet.

It's running 4.1.2.

I have downloaded to my computer the samsung drivers, (and installed them)
I have downloaded odin, and set it up...

I have downloaded Philz......... and that's in a folder on my computer... I have downloaded the ROM Mk5 4.3 and supersu, and am about to throw those on my SD card, and put that SD card in the GS3 slot....

I feel like I'm about ready to "follow the newbie" instructions.

Any thoughts? My plan of action is to let the battery fully charge, go to virgin mobile and activate the phone.... I WON'T accept updates... and then follow word for word, the newbie instructions...
 
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Okay. Charging my phone right now. I haven't activated it yet.

It's running 4.1.2.

I have downloaded to my computer the samsung drivers, (and installed them)
I have downloaded odin, and set it up...

I have downloaded Philz......... and that's in a folder on my computer... I have downloaded the ROM Mk5 4.3 and supersu, and am about to throw those on my SD card, and put that SD card in the GS3 slot....

I feel like I'm about ready to "follow the newbie" instructions.

Any thoughts? My plan of action is to let the battery fully charge, go to virgin mobile and activate the phone.... I WON'T accept updates... and then follow word for word, the newbie instructions...

that should be fine, the guides very nice I used it myself and you deff wanna activate it first as you need it stock to activate, only other thing I'd add is the sdcard format, some s3's have issues with exfat and end up corrupting card so I went with fat32, for the time being for my 64gb cards safety lol
 
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Update.. So I successfully rooted and installed Philz... and the mk5 rom (odex). Took me a couple times to figure out what I needed to do for wifi (flashing the mk5 modem made it work)...... EVERYTHING works great. LOL I love how MMS takes a second to send, where as on my EVO V it took 15 seconds, or simply refused to send haha.
 
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I just pulled the trigger on a VirginMobile S3 not even an hour ago. (20% off, web special) Finally upgrading from my ever-faithful LG Optimus V of 3 years

I quickly scanned thru this thread--it looks like there's some important stuff here. Anything else I need to know about my shiny new friend? Might arrive by the end of the week...

Just replied to you over on XDA! Be very familiar with the info in the stickies for starters. Also, anything posted by @TheBritton or @jdsingle76 will be useful, along with input from a lot of helpful users here, there are too many to mention without forgetting a few!
 
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I just pulled the trigger on a VirginMobile S3 not even an hour ago. (20% off, web special) Finally upgrading from my ever-faithful LG Optimus V of 3 years

I quickly scanned thru this thread--it looks like there's some important stuff here. Anything else I need to know about my shiny new friend? Might arrive by the end of the week...

Same jump I made. You are going to be amazed. Just learn about knox and how to avoid letting it (the phone) get installed. Don't let it update itself until you've read all the stickies.

This is your go-to forum. Great people. You can ask anything here... we all learn from each other.
 
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Same jump I made. You are going to be amazed. Just learn about knox and how to avoid letting it (the phone) get installed. Don't let it update itself until you've read all the stickies.

This is your go-to forum. Great people. You can ask anything here... we all learn from each other.

I came from the OV. I really lucked out with the community there. Such great devs and users on the ov made it a great phone. I did my research before I bought my s3. I found this forum, and as soon as MopedRyder put up his sprint patches, I pulled the trigger. No regrets at all. I love the s3, and I love the members on thus forum.
 
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I haven't read the stickies yet--but got the tracking number already! It should be here tomorrow afternoon!

I notice that it looks like the phone comes pre-loaded with 4.3. Something I saw somewhere said "don't let it update from 4.1.x"? It's not already too late for this phone, is it??

[edit] Ah. That "4.1.2" comment was from THIS thread. (Post #6) Knew I saw it SOMEWHERE last night... ;-)
 
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I haven't read the stickies yet--but got the tracking number already! It should be here tomorrow afternoon!

I notice that it looks like the phone comes pre-loaded with 4.3. Something I saw somewhere said "don't let it update from 4.1.x"? It's not already too late for this phone, is it??

[edit] Ah. That "4.1.2" comment was from THIS thread. (Post #6) Knew I saw it SOMEWHERE last night... ;-)

If it does come with 4.3, then you will already have KNOX. It's not a huge deal, but it does make for some challenges. Read all the stickies, but pay particular attention to this one.
 
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I haven't read the stickies yet--but got the tracking number already! It should be here tomorrow afternoon!

I notice that it looks like the phone comes pre-loaded with 4.3. Something I saw somewhere said "don't let it update from 4.1.x"? It's not already too late for this phone, is it??

[edit] Ah. That "4.1.2" comment was from THIS thread. (Post #6) Knew I saw it SOMEWHERE last night... ;-)

Chances are that it has been sitting in a warehouse with 4.1.2 loaded, and it will want to upgrade as soon as you put in the battery and activate the phone, because that will be the first chance for the 4.3 update to be received by the phone via OTA.
 
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Chances are that it has been sitting in a warehouse with 4.1.2 loaded, and it will want to upgrade as soon as you put in the battery and activate the phone, because that will be the first chance for the 4.3 update to be received by the phone via OTA.

Reading thru THIS thread (I just read thru the KNOX thread, too) it sounds like the stock ROM needs to be present to ACTIVATE, but that if, in fact, the "4.1.2 warehouse scenario" applies--then I'll be given the OPTION to update or not. And that's when I would refuse the update...

Correct?

Plus, there would seem to be a handful of new acronyms I'll need to learn...! ;) (JTAG, RiffBox, Philz, Odex, MK5 ... :D
 
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Reading thru THIS thread (I just read thru the KNOX thread, too) it sounds like the stock ROM needs to be present to ACTIVATE, but that if, in fact, the "4.1.2 warehouse scenario" applies--then I'll be given the OPTION to update or not. And that's when I would refuse the update...

Correct?

Plus, there would seem to be a handful of new acronyms I'll need to learn...! ;) (JTAG, RiffBox, Philz, Odex, MK5 ... :D

Correct. Actually, the 4.1.2 scenario is very likely, I have yet to hear of anyone receiving their SGS3 on VM or Boost where the phone was truly "preloaded" with 4.3. My suggestion is to get Philz Touch installed first thing and then get SuperSU flashed to achieve root; if the phone nags you about updating there are ways to remove that as well, but it won't be able to perform the operation if you don't have stock ROM and stock recovery (both are necessary for the OTA to work). Also, beware of the Samsung Kies program, it can also try to sneak in the update. I downloaded Kies just to get the Samsung drivers on my computer, then uninstalled the program. If you have a newer version of Windows don't worry, Windows will automatically find the drivers you need when you connect the phone via USB.
 
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A scenario that is also likely, in conjunction with the 4.1.2 Android build being present on your phone, is that you will have the MD7 bootloader. This was the "original" setup for these phones, and then an update was released to give us the MG2 bootloader, which has better compatibility to flash any Android build higher than Ice Cream Sandwich. Unfortunately, my understanding is that you can't just do this upgrade OTA without also getting the Knox/MK5 upgrade. However, you can use the program Odin to push that specific upgrade, and then proceed with rooting and making your phone truly "yours." We can go over these things in more detail when your phone arrives, anything up until then is kind of just speculation and educated guesses as to what firmware your phone will have. We will definitely get you taken care of properly no matter what situation actually ends up being reality!

PS-I hope you never really need to know JTAG, that is for when your phone has gone sideways and south all at the same time!
 
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Okay, I'm starting to study for my SGS3 final. ;-)

I've learned that PhilZ is the recovery I'll need. It's been so long since I had a 'stock' phone, I've forgotten: Do stock phones come with a recovery?

And there will apparently be one of three versions of firmware/bootloader on the phone to start: MD7, MG2 or MK5? I see "Rooting MK5 for Noobies"--it the rooting process the same for the other two firmware(s)? Is the goal to get to the MG2 or to jdSingle76's MK5?

Is an SD card optional or mandatory to get rooted and CM'd? I've got a good one in my Optimus V, but I'd rather not reformat that and move it to the new phone until the SGS3 is good-to-go. I might have another (smaller,slower) one somewhere. Will it need to be FAT32? Multiple partitions, or...? (My OV SD card has an ext2 partition, if I recall correctly.) If I need to run to Fry's to get a new one, what specs would you recommend?

I think that's it for now! ;-)

You guys are awesome! Thanks for all the reassurance and hand-holding so far!

[edit] This must be the Carbon of which you speak? Is the most-recently nightly (late-Oct) solid and stable enough for everyday use?

[2nd edit] I see late November on this other page. I guess they've been hard at work on 4.4 since...
 
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Philz recovery is definitely the best choice. He starts with CWM, adds his features and for whatever reason, ends up with a finished product that's better than (bug free) CWM. It's simply not possible to describe how "nice" it is to use and it has some advanced settings (several) that set it apart from everything else. It is also getting enormous support from every "phone" community out there which is probably why it's proving to be the most reliable.

As far as SD cards, partitions, etc. go, learn whatever you can but don't worry too much. A lot of the discussions are real issues but not as common as they may seem. I'm 90% sure that anything brand new will work fine right out of the box. I use a 32G from my previous phone but I'll get a 64G if I replace it.

This phone will surprise you. Where you used to have just enough to internal memory for a ROM and a few apps you now have essentially unlimited space for a ROM along with a large "virtual" SD already built in. Most people never need to move apps to the "external" SD card. The best reason to get one ready now is to have a place to put things you want access to from recovery. There's plenty of room internally but you might end up "wiping" something accidentally... I try to backup, flash, etc from external...
 
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As far as SD cards, partitions, etc. go, learn whatever you can but don't worry too much. A lot of the discussions are real issues but not as common as they may seem. I'm 90% sure that anything brand new will work fine right out of the box. I use a 32G from my previous phone but I'll get a 64G if I replace it.

This phone will surprise you. Where you used to have just enough to internal memory for a ROM and a few apps you now have essentially unlimited space for a ROM along with a large "virtual" SD already built in. Most people never need to move apps to the "external" SD card. The best reason to get one ready now is to have a place to put things you want access to from recovery. There's plenty of room internally but you might end up "wiping" something accidentally... I try to backup, flash, etc from external...

My immediate concern was whether I'd need an SD card to get something like Carbon installed ASAP. I'll certainly put an SD card in eventually, but I wondered if I'd need one right away...
 
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It's been so long since I had a 'stock' phone, I've forgotten: Do stock phones come with a recovery?

To answer my own question here, it would seem that that what Odin is for... :D

[edit] Ah. I missed this on my first pass:

Files in .tar format are available as well if you need to install Philz via Odin instead of flashing from current recovery (custom recovery that is, stock can't perform this function)
 
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You can do it all without an sd card. You can flash a custom recovery via odin, put the ROM and Gapps on the internal memory and flash them.

Yes, I should have made that clear. I have however lost a few things by wiping... only meant that it's convenient.

Also, you probably set up that extra partition on the Other for links-to-SD. You may need to study a little before you reformat that particular SD. I remember fighting with that...

If you don't install an SD first then make sure you put that first nandroid backup... you know, the one we always make FIRST... somewhere that won't get wiped as you start flashing, pushing etc.
 
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Also, you probably set up that extra partition on the Other for links-to-SD. You may need to study a little before you reformat that particular SD. I remember fighting with that...

Yes. Exactly. Link2SD on the Optimus V.

I'm vaguely remembering that newer versions of Android allow you to move apps to the SD without an app/script, correct?

And are you saying that an SD card for the Samsung needs to be formatted/partitioned differently than for the Optimus?

Any links to a discussion about that would be most appreciated...! :)
 
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