Help Help with modern reformat of S3

[bennylava]

I need a little help with today's way of reformatting a phone. The phone is the Samsung Galaxy S3, AT&T, model SGH I747. It was my mother inlaws, now its my wife's. Hers died and so my mother inlaw gave her the old s3 she no longer uses. As is the case with many non techy people, my mother inlaw put all manner of garbage on the phone and agreed to who knows what all. Also it needs to have root access. So here are my questions.

1. Which is the best version to run on the S3? Can it run 4.4.4 fine? Or should I just stick with 4.4.2?

2. Should I be looking at cyanogen mod? The wife wants it to look largely like the factory android user interface. Is it possible to tell the latest cyanogen mod to look stock? Seems like themes would be something they would do, but I don't know.

3. What is the fastest and easiest way to install this new OS? I remember the days when Odin was what you wanted. You got your ROM, told odin where it was, and hit install. That was it. You could even get ROMS that were already rooted so you didn't have to deal with that whole mess. Is this still the preferred method?

4. I would be interested in just using what it has, which is 4.4.2. But is there a way to just wipe everything her mom did to the phone, and set it back to a bare bones factory setup? With no apps that she installed on the phone? Some of this stuff I just can't seem to get rid of without root. So I was thinking it might be best to just install a better version of android that wipes all that junk out upon installation.
Thanks for reading everyone

 

[funkylogik]

Hey mate
A factory reset from the settings menu on an unrooted phone should wipe everything your girls mum did to it.
For rooting/flashing a rom I think you'd be better off asking in your carrier - specific sub-forum at the bottom of the page.
If your Mrs wants a totally stock look then Cyanogenmod 11 (or even 12) is what you really wanna be lookin at but, again, in your carrier specific sub-forum

 

[javamann]

Hey mate
A factory reset from the settings menu on an unrooted phone should wipe everything your girls mum did to it.
For rooting/flashing a rom I think you'd be better off asking in your carrier - specific sub-forum at the bottom of the page.
If your Mrs wants a totally stock look then Cyanogenmod 11 (or even 12) is what you really wanna be lookin at but, again, in your carrier specific sub-forum

This is really good advice. Factory resets are perfect for this (and only this!)

JM

 

[bennylava]

Ok I went ahead and did the factory reset. Now onto the root issue. I went to towelroot, and downloaded the apk. Once installed I tried to run it, and it said "version not supported, cannot root" or something to that effect. Is there some better way to root this? Towelroot is how I rooted the wife's phone and my S4 about a year ago. I wonder why it stopped working all the sudden.

 

[Madbat]

Ok I went ahead and did the factory reset. Now onto the root issue. I went to towelroot, and downloaded the apk. Once installed I tried to run it, and it said "version not supported, cannot root" or something to that effect. Is there some better way to root this? Towelroot is how I rooted the wife's phone and my S4 about a year ago. I wonder why it stopped working all the sudden.

The kernel in your phone was updated. The exploit towelroot uses was patched. You should be able to use Odin on your PC to flash recovery then use recovery to install SuperSU.

 

[bennylava]

I'm afraid I don't completely follow. What exactly is this "recovery"? Is that a program of some type? Or are you suggesting that I use Odin to roll back to a previous version and then use towelroot?

 

[Madbat]

I'm afraid I don't completely follow. What exactly is this "recovery"? Is that a program of some type? Or are you suggesting that I use Odin to roll back to a previous version and then use towelroot?

No. A custom recovery like clockworkmod or twrp are recovery systems that replace the stock android recovery built into your phone. Its where you flash Roms from or install other software onto your phone. If you're not sure what custom recovery is, it may be a wise choice to read up a little more before messing with root.
You can use Odin to install custom recovery (has to be the correct build for your phone). Then you can use the recovery to "flash" SuperSU and binaries. Then you are rooted.
Are you using an s3? And what carrier?

 

[bennylava]

I'm using an S4 but this S3 I'm going to be rooting is for the wife. I had her phone all set up already, but it started doing that thing where they get really hot and we were afraid it might end up starting a fire. So her mom sent her an old S3 to use until upgrade is available. I've always rooted all my phones so I could install apps that I like that require root. Of which there are many.

Your method sounds good, but has a little more steps than I am used to. Back before towelroot when I was using Odin, you could get a pre-rooted version of android and just flash that. Then go about your business. Is that still something that is possible?

 

[Madbat]

I'm using an S4 but this S3 I'm going to be rooting is for the wife. I had her phone all set up already, but it started doing that thing where they get really hot and we were afraid it might end up starting a fire. So her mom sent her an old S3 to use until upgrade is available. I've always rooted all my phones so I could install apps that I like that require root. Of which there are many.

Your method sounds good, but has a little more steps than I am used to. Back before towelroot when I was using Odin, you could get a pre-rooted version of android and just flash that. Then go about your business. Is that still something that is possible?

You can use it odin to flash recovery, then use recovery to flash pre rooted ROM. Its just always smarter to root your own stock ROM first. Instead of trusting someone else's right off the bat. What carrier are you on?

 

[bennylava]

Im on At&T. I figured the cyanogenMod guys were pretty trustworthy. Someone would have noticed by now if they were pulling any shenanigans. Can those be flashed with odin? I was looking at their site and it almost looks as if they have their own downloader, or possibly their own installer. Not sure what they call it. Do you know anything about that?

 

[Madbat]

Im on At&T. I figured the cyanogenMod guys were pretty trustworthy. Someone would have noticed by now if they were pulling any shenanigans. Can those be flashed with odin? I was looking at their site and it almost looks as if they have their own downloader, or possibly their own installer. Not sure what they call it. Do you know anything about that?

Their software and installer is fine. But the installer only supports certain devices. And you need the proper build of cm. Everyone else uses Odin to install custom recovery then use recovery to flash a zip of their ROM of choice.

 

[bennylava]

Do you know why they patched towelroot? Does google hate root or something?

 

[Madbat]

Do you know why they patched towelroot? Does google hate root or something?

They patched a security hole. It just happened to be a hole (exploit) that towelroot used to gain root.

 

[bennylava]

So no chance of an easy root like that ever coming back, huh? Can you point me in the right direction of that custom recovery? Its an att samsung galaxy S3. So samsung sgh i747.

 

[Madbat]

Check here
Use method 2.