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Root [Boost Mobile] Can't get any version of Kit Kat to flash to my Boost Mobile S3.

zimmertr

Newbie
May 4, 2013
18
0
Hello, everyone. I have a S3 L710 (Boost Mobile) that is currently running 4.3 stock/root and I want to update to CM11 Kit Kat. I currently have philz touch 6.07.9 d2spr recovery manager and have made a nandroid backup.

When I try and flash any version of 4.4 (I've tried various nightly builds and Bean Stalk) it just gives me a status 7 error. When I remove the asserts I just get install aborted. Here is a log of my most recent attempt: http://pastebin.com/x1AJVqqM

Here is my about device information:

Model Number: SPH-L710
Android Version: 4.3
Baseband Version: L71j0vpubmk5
Kernel Version (Line 1): 3.031
Build Number: JSS15J.L710Vpubmk5
SE for android status: permissive
Hardware version: l710.14

Any ideas? Do I have an incompatable bootloader or something? If so, how do I upgrade that?
 
You need to edit the update script file. You can edit it within the zip file.

There is a video wetbiker7 made that will make it real easy for you. I will look for it and link it if I find it. The video makes it real easy to understand.
Also I'd recommend downloading notepad++ and using it, as it tends to save in a format that android/Linux can understand as apposed to wordpad or notepad or office etc.. And its free too.
 
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Also, I would suggest NEVER deleting the asserts. Doing so.. clearly defeats the point of them.

That's not correct in this case. The only wat to get the files to work IS to delete the assert lines. I had this exact same issue on every asop/cm/aokp ROM out. I solved it by removing all the assert lines. I have also had no bad affects from this and running fine now.
To my understanding those are just modem lines.
Also it is recommended for those getting a status7 error to do this work around.
Smith has a writeup on it to do this exact thing.
 
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Well, as I said in my OP, I did try and it didn't work. Unless I was supposed to remove more than just the first 15 or so lines of the script? Is there more asserts elsewhere in it?

EDIT:

So far I've tried to get the following roms installed. They all fail with the same error that is specified in the OP.

Cyanogenmod 11 (20140116 and 20140104): http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=d2spr

Cyanogenmod 10.2.0-d2spr: http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=d2spr

Beanstalk: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2558705




EXCEPT, I did just get MOAR 7.1.0 to flash to my phone successfully: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2572102
So at least I'm on 4.3 now..
 
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Well, as I said in my OP, I did try and it didn't work. Unless I was supposed to remove more than just the first 15 or so lines of the script? Is there more asserts elsewhere in it?

No the assert lines should be it.
Are you using notepad++?
I ask because I had issues adding lines and saving them in a zip flash file. It would bail or give me fits. My good friend jsdingle maker of touched by s4 explained that normal notepad or wordpad etc have issue saving it to the correct format.... .not sure why, but after using nitepad++ it worked fine, something about it saving in a kinda android format...even though its a sort of text file it gets saved differently in nitepad ++ as compared to windows notepad.
 
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Hrmm odd. I never had 4.3 so its got me puzzled now. I'm almost home now so I'll see what I can find out. I'll ask jsdingle see if he has any ideas too.

From my side the status7 has always been the assert lines. Once I removed them install went fine. Never had a time where it was any different.

Got my curiosity up now. It'll probably catch up to me one day LOL, I just always like to find out why, then find a fix.... If possible

You probably have, but I have to ask..... you did pull up the lines where there is no space at the top right?
Thats all I think of off hand right now until I get home
 
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The only reason why the assert lines are there are for protecting people that don't know what phones they have, so they can't use the rom on the wrong phone.
The assert lines only check to see if the modem on your phone matches the modem they request that you must have inside the rom.
me personally I just delete the lines... however it would be safer to change it to your specific modem name. and if you ever post a public link then I would definitely highly suggest not deleting the lines but editing the lines just in case somebody from some other thread from some other part of the world from somewhat who knows where decides that this particular rom is the exact rom they want but they're running a completely different phone. In such a case it will break their phone and their phone would be dead...

I suggest using notepad++ and 7zip to do your editing, that's just my suggestion there are other things that you can use that have been used successfully however using those two items I have never had any issues.

thank you "talk to text" for typing all this out. If it only knew grammar and added it automatically
 
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The only reason why the assert lines are there are for protecting people that don't know what phones they have, so they can't use the rom on the wrong phone.
The assert lines only check to see if the modem on your phone matches the modem they request that you must have inside the rom.
me personally I just delete the lines... however it would be safer to change it to your specific modem name. and if you ever post a public link then I would definitely highly suggest not deleting the lines but editing the lines just in case somebody from some other thread from some other part of the world from somewhat who knows where decides that this particular rom is the exact rom they want but they're running a completely different phone. In such a case it will break their phone and their phone would be dead...

I suggest using notepad++ and 7zip to do your editing, that's just my suggestion there are other things that you can use that have been used successfully however using those two items I have never had any issues.

thank you "talk to text" for typing all this out. If it only knew grammar and added it automatically

HAHA nice smith, looks like it did really well lol.

I've tried adding my modem in the line, but it never took, not sure why, so that's why I always just delete all the lines....it always works that way for me.

I just got home though so I'm kinda multi-tasking, got 3 things I'm after now, camera recording in 1080 and why cm11 isn't allowing it and this thing, I wanna find out why now, and just in case, I wanna try and find a volume increase mod/hack/fix for TW, as my app doesn't work on this phone now....so also looking for that

Is there possibly something is the 4.3 update that could affect it not to install? as I said I never had it as I didn't want the knox, but I have had 4.3 installed fine using jdsingle's mk5 4.3 rom, and flashed off that just fine, so dunno what the deal is.

Just throwing ideas out ther e for the time being, perhaps permissions are set different or wrong?
If your like me I have had 2 files in different places, one was edited and one was the one with the assert line in it, and I had forgot about the other modified file I had placed it in a different area, so I basically jsut installed the same file....doh! lol.....perhaps this is the case maybe?
I'll keep plugging at ideas and try and think of things.

Also have you done the normal fresh install? IE: wipe cache, fatory reset, wipe dalvik.

Again not sure what you've done nor not calling or insinuating your stupid by any means just wanna make sure I try and cover the bases.


I noticed on the link it shows swipeing.....I wasn't aware that phils recovery does swipeing

Swipe up/down to change selections.
Swipe to the right for enter.
Swipe to the left for back.

I always thought that was TWRP. So did philz change something and maybe I am on an older version?
 
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Watch the video in my ROM etc thread. I made a video that shows you how to completely remove the asserts.

To Zimmertr about saying never to remove the asserts. Bro, get with the program and do some research about Sprint, Boost, and Virgin Mobile GS3's . Don't pop in here telling people not to do something we've been doing for months on our phones. The only way to get Sprint AOSP ROMs to flash on a Boost phone is to (1) remove the asserts or (2) add the Boost baseband (modem) to the asserts.

The asserts are there as a form of protection so users don't flash a ROM that doesn't belong on the wrong phone. Sprint/Boost/VM GS3's are an exception to that rule. Basically the only difference between the phones are the APNs.
 
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Watch the video in my ROM etc thread. I made a video that shows you how to completely remove the asserts.

To Zimmertr about saying never to remove the asserts. Bro, get with the program and do some research about Sprint, Boost, and Virgin Mobile GS3's . Don't pop in here telling people not to do something we've been doing for months on our phones. The only way to get Sprint AOSP ROMs to flash on a Boost phone is to (1) remove the asserts or (2) add the Boost baseband (modem) to the asserts.

The asserts are there as a form of protection so users don't flash a ROM that doesn't belong on the wrong phone. Sprint/Boost/VM GS3's are an exception to that rule. Basically the only difference between the phones are the APNs.

Thumb up Thumb up Thumb up!!! Well put brother. Just got done reading his thread over on XDA for this problem, was about to link him here but saw he already found this forum. To @zimmertr, do you have the latest SuperSU installed? I wonder if Knox is stepping in, which is generally prevented by the SuperSU app. Also, there is a zip that can be flashed called DeSamsungnizer which will make sure the Knox related apps are neutralized (Knox related apps are not the same as the Knox bootloader, if you have that, it is there for the life of the phone). Additionally, there are several threads in this forum with links to ROM's that I personally guarantee will flash if everything on the user end is working properly. I guarantee the flash because I modified and posted them, and yes, I deleted the asserts. Also, I don't post ROM links if I haven't already flashed them myself; I am on VM, but that makes no difference, VM and Boost are brothers in arms in this case.
 
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I can verify Struckn's modified ROMs work beautifully. I've flashed several of them and he definitely knows what he's doing. @zimmertr, if you want to try out CM11, I would give Struckn's links a try. I can guarantee they'll work and it'll save you the trouble of removing the asserts yourself. It will also save you a little debloating. If something has been removed that you want, all you'll need to do is pull the apk out of the original CM11 ROM, put it on your SD card and install it. I've been doing it that way for years. :D

I would still recommend learning to remove the asserts because it's a good thing to know in case you want to try other AOSP ROMs. As I mentioned earlier, the only way to get them to flash is to either totally remove the asserts or add the Boost baseband to the script.
 
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Hrmm odd. I never had 4.3 so its got me puzzled now. I'm almost home now so I'll see what I can find out. I'll ask jsdingle see if he has any ideas too.

From my side the status7 has always been the assert lines. Once I removed them install went fine. Never had a time where it was any different.

Got my curiosity up now. It'll probably catch up to me one day LOL, I just always like to find out why, then find a fix.... If possible

You probably have, but I have to ask..... you did pull up the lines where there is no space at the top right?
Thats all I think of off hand right now until I get home


The assert lines are failing when they detect the bootloader. That's why I'm led to believe it's a bootloader issue.

See this snippet from my pastebin attachment:

assert failed: getprop("ro.bootloader") == "L710VPBLJ7" || getprop("ro.bootloader") == "L710VPBMA6" || getprop("ro.bootloader") == "L710VPBMB1" || getprop("ro.bootloader") == "L710VPBMD4" || getprop("ro.bootloader") == "L710VPAMD7" || getprop("ro.bootloader") == "L710VPUCMK3" || getprop("ro.bootloader") == "S960LWYAMD6"
And yeah, I did remove all of the asserts. Any idea how to fix the bootloader issue?




Is there possibly something is the 4.3 update that could affect it not to install? as I said I never had it as I didn't want the knox, but I have had 4.3 installed fine using jdsingle's mk5 4.3 rom, and flashed off that just fine, so dunno what the deal is.

Just throwing ideas out ther e for the time being, perhaps permissions are set different or wrong?
If your like me I have had 2 files in different places, one was edited and one was the one with the assert line in it, and I had forgot about the other modified file I had placed it in a different area, so I basically jsut installed the same file....doh! lol.....perhaps this is the case maybe?
I'll keep plugging at ideas and try and think of things.

Also have you done the normal fresh install? IE: wipe cache, fatory reset, wipe dalvik.

Again not sure what you've done nor not calling or insinuating your stupid by any means just wanna make sure I try and cover the bases.


I noticed on the link it shows swipeing.....I wasn't aware that phils recovery does swipeing


I always thought that was TWRP. So did philz change something and maybe I am on an older version?

1) I did do a clean install
2) I think it was added in a new version, recently.

Watch the video in my ROM etc thread. I made a video that shows you how to completely remove the asserts.

To Zimmertr about saying never to remove the asserts. Bro, get with the program and do some research about Sprint, Boost, and Virgin Mobile GS3's . Don't pop in here telling people not to do something we've been doing for months on our phones. The only way to get Sprint AOSP ROMs to flash on a Boost phone is to (1) remove the asserts or (2) add the Boost baseband (modem) to the asserts.

The asserts are there as a form of protection so users don't flash a ROM that doesn't belong on the wrong phone. Sprint/Boost/VM GS3's are an exception to that rule. Basically the only difference between the phones are the APNs.

I understand what they are for. I was under the understanding that if your phone met the tentative requirements it wouldn't matter, though. That's only because I've done a lot of jUnit testing in my life haha. Would adding the boost baseband to the asserts fix my issue?



Thumb up Thumb up Thumb up!!! Well put brother. Just got done reading his thread over on XDA for this problem, was about to link him here but saw he already found this forum. To @zimmertr, do you have the latest SuperSU installed? I wonder if Knox is stepping in, which is generally prevented by the SuperSU app. Also, there is a zip that can be flashed called DeSamsungnizer which will make sure the Knox related apps are neutralized (Knox related apps are not the same as the Knox bootloader, if you have that, it is there for the life of the phone). Additionally, there are several threads in this forum with links to ROM's that I personally guarantee will flash if everything on the user end is working properly. I guarantee the flash because I modified and posted them, and yes, I deleted the asserts. Also, I don't post ROM links if I haven't already flashed them myself; I am on VM, but that makes no difference, VM and Boost are brothers in arms in this case.

1) I do have the latest supersu installed.
2) I have used desamsungizer
3) Which 4.4 roms in particular would you recommend that should work I'm willing to try anything. Sounds like you have a very similar phone.



I can verify Struckn's modified ROMs work beautifully. I've flashed several of them and he definitely knows what he's doing. @zimmertr, if you want to try out CM11, I would give Struckn's links a try. I can guarantee they'll work and it'll save you the trouble of removing the asserts yourself. It will also save you a little debloating. If something has been removed that you want, all you'll need to do is pull the apk out of the original CM11 ROM, put it on your SD card and install it. I've been doing it that way for years. :D

I would still recommend learning to remove the asserts because it's a good thing to know in case you want to try other AOSP ROMs. As I mentioned earlier, the only way to get them to flash is to either totally remove the asserts or add the Boost baseband to the script.

1) I don't know why everyone is assuming I don't know how to deal with asserts. I said that I removed them in my op.... It's pretty easy. I just said it was risky because it defeats the purpose. Though I now see why it's needed for these spinoff phones.

2) I don't know what you mean by pulling an apk out of a rom?
 
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The assert lines are failing when they detect the bootloader. That's why I'm led to believe it's a bootloader issue.

See this snippet from my pastebin attachment:

And yeah, I did remove all of the asserts. Any idea how to fix the bootloader issue?






1) I did do a clean install
2) I think it was added in a new version, recently.



I understand what they are for. I was under the understanding that if your phone met the tentative requirements it wouldn't matter, though. That's only because I've done a lot of jUnit testing in my life haha. Would adding the boost baseband to the asserts fix my issue?





1) I do have the latest supersu installed.
2) I have used desamsungizer
3) Which 4.4 roms in particular would you recommend that should work I'm willing to try anything. Sounds like you have a very similar phone.





1) I don't know why everyone is assuming I don't know how to deal with asserts. I said that I removed them in my op.... It's pretty easy. I just said it was risky because it defeats the purpose. Though I now see why it's needed for these spinoff phones.

2) I don't know what you mean by pulling an apk out of a rom?

We understand that you have posted specifically about the asserts, no one is questioning that. However, the flash cannot give an assert fail if you modified or deleted them properly, which is what we are trying to help you with. Feel free to download any version of CM11 posted in the OP of my CM11 thread here:

http://androidforums.com/boost-mobile-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/804415-official-cyanogenmod-11-nightlies.html

As I said earlier, I have run all of these on my phone before posting them, so I know they work. If you want to try CyanFox, Vanir, or Beanstalk, I have guaranteed working versions of those on my DevHost account as well.
 
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As far as debloating and restoring .apk files, I always remove things I don't use like the live wallpapers and email/exchange. I also remove all the unnecessary language packs from the keyboard app, as in I only need English. If you want one of those system apps back, you just download a full version of the ROM, navigate to the system/app (and now sometimes the priv-app folder too) and drag/drop the desired .apk file into the correct location on my modified/debloated version.
 
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Thanks for explaining the apk questions Struckn. Another way to do is a little easier than placing them in their actual location. Most will install themselves if you place them on the SD card, tap the apk and choose install.

Edit:

@zimmertr, if you are wanting to run CM11, Why not save yourself some time and just flash Struckn's version?
 
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I just got it to accept a version of beanstalk 4.2.2. I upgraded my modem to md5 and then copied my baseband into the asserts instead of removing them all. Worked and installed great! I just spent the last hour or so getting data and wifi tether to work!

There is something kind of strange, still. I only have 2/5 bars. I usually have 4 or 5.

Is there anything else I should know?
 
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You could possibly try a few different modems. PRLs also make a difference. I'm running the older 31104 Boost PRL right now because it gets better signal in my area than the newest one they've got out now.

It's just trial and error when it comes to finding the right combination to get the best signal strength in your area.

I will say this though. No matter what AOSP ROM I flash, I always notice less signal bars when coming from a Touchwiz ROM on the S3. It's not been limited to just my S3 either. It happened with my Marquee with CM9 and AOKP. It also happened with my Prevail and CM7.
 
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You're absolutely right Kevin. Koumajutsu explained that to me back in the Prevail section and that just because the bars were less, it didn't necessarily mean it was actually getting a weaker signal. The only true way to measure the signal is to switch to a dbm setting where you can compare the numbers. Unfortunately there are only a few none AOSP custom ROMs that have the dbm signal option.

I glad you mentioned that.
 
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I read somewhere once that on TW, the bars represent phone signal strength, and on AOSP they represent data strength. Have no idea if it's true or not. As @kevindroid mentioned, the proof really is in the use. Trial and error, try different modems and settings and find what works best for you in your area of the world. I am lucky enough to live really close to a Sprint tower, even though I don't have LTE, so that my signal at home is always full bars, regardless of modem choice.
 
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