Root [AT&T] New GS3 - Unlocked - Can't Update OS!?!?

rexbaum said:

The first part of this is easy, the next steps about copying to my sd card sound intimidating.

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Ah, shouldn't be that hard, Rex, we'll help you figure it out .

LOL, I see you type "la" instead of "ls" and basically got the same output (I had no idea there was an "la" alias pre-packaged in busybox (which you must also have ). Anyway, it showed what I needed it to (i.e., that there still is no saved OTA .zip file in your /cache directory where I would have expected it to be had one been downloaded and then failed to install (although it might get removed on install failure? I'm not 100% sure about that).

If you do have the "/sdcard" filesystem, which you can verify with this command:


then the cat commands I gave above should work and allow you to get them to us somehow.

Typing this should show you if you've got the files copied:


Have you ever connected your PC to your phone with your USB cable and transferred files over to your PC?

If so, then you should be able to find and copy/paste and/or drag/drop those two files over to your PC and then get them to us (they won't contain any personal info, by the way).

No, you're doing great!

Just need to do these commands to get the files copied (you didn't do them before, right?):


Then you can do the ls -ald /sdcard/last_*.txt command to verify that the files got copied.

You must have done the copies (cat commands) perfectly because that output is indeed what I expected to see.

Now, if you can transfer those files off of your SD card somehow--there are lots of ways to do this:

1. connect phone to a PC via USB cable and drag/drop and/or copy/paste those two files out of the /sdcard folder (will be the proper folder that your PC sees when it connects your phone as a mounted external drive). then you'll be able to attach them to a post here (look at the paper clip icon in the post tools for Manage Attachments)

2. send the files from your phone to your Gmail account via the Gmail app and then copy them from your PC's Gmail client and post them here or if you want, email to me (scary.alien@gmail.com) and I'll post them for you

3. use a browser on your phone and sign-in to AndroidForums.com just like I assume you are doing now from a PC and attach those two files to a post

Couple of other ways, too, but the first is probably easiest...

Id guess Alien is just sleeping bro (do scary aliens sleep?) Or feeding. He wont abandon you anyway.
Ant WHAT a genius of a guy eh :total respect:

funkylogik said:

Id guess Alien is just sleeping bro (do scary aliens sleep?) Or feeding. He wont abandon you anyway.
Ant WHAT a genius of a guy eh :total respect:

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LOL, thank you Funky!

I'm just a slow typist [and multitasking ].

Rex is doing great!

Thank you very much for the encouragement, Funky :thumbup:. You are one of many great examples of our extremely helpful and wonderful members here at AF and we're very happy you're hanging with us here (please point out any bonehead things I'm apt to post...the Mountain Dews I drank earlier today will only get me so far before I do get sleepy ).

No lack of talent from your side, Rex!

That was/is perfect and indeed shows the issue! :thumbup:

As I suspected, you've got a some component of your device (file or partition) that the OTA's update.zip file (which contains an edify script named updater-script) is cross-checking to make sure everything matches that it would expect to before it would allow the OTA to patch and update your Android OS to a new version:

[HIGH]contents of partition "/dev/block/mmcblk0p7" didn't match EMMC:/dev/block/mmcblk0p7:12583168:90aedf493ac005492e6a69e943252eb755211fe0:12583168:78960cc7f04326c3f336521062586d2171327173
file "EMMC:/dev/block/mmcblk0p7:12583168:90aedf493ac005492e6a69e943252eb755211fe0:12583168:78960cc7f04326c3f336521062586d2171327173" doesn't have any of expected sha1 sums; checking cache
failed to stat "/cache/saved.file": No such file or directory
failed to load cache file
script aborted: assert failed: apply_patch_check("EMMC:/dev/block/mmcblk0p7:12583168:90aedf493ac005492e6a69e943252eb755211fe0:12583168:78960cc7f04326c3f336521062586d2171327173", "78960cc7f04326c3f336521062586d2171327173", "90aedf493ac005492e6a69e943252eb755211fe0")
E :Error in /cache/fota/update.zip[/HIGH]

(i.e., the SHA1 checksum of the partition doesn't match what the OTA expects it to; this is a safety measure to make sure it doesn't try to patch and improperly alter your device and have you end-up with a paperweight).

So, it looks like your "/modem" partition (/dev/block/mmcblk0p7) has been altered/modified somehow... I'm not sure why or how that would be the case or someone would want to do that (I don't own an S3, so I'm not familiar with that partitions exact use), but it gets us a little closer to help you out.

I'd say let me at least chew on and research this for you (and hopefully some smart S3 root member can chime-in with some helpful info) and figure-out where we can and should go next (not tonight, though ).

Also, I just realized this thread is in the non-root area for the S3 and since this has sort-of morphed into a root-related and/or complex issue, it would probably be best if we moved your thread the proper all-things-root areas. But before I can do that, I'll need to know which carrier you have.

I think you've got options, but without doing more research, etc. I can't properly advise you on how next to proceed.

But great job tonight--you really, truly did an awesome job and were very helpful in helping us help you :thumbup:.

Thank you!

Rex,

One last/more thing: if you do get another System Update notification, hold-off in trying to install it. I'd like to have you grab the update.zip file that will be present in your /cache or /cache/fota folder (your log files confirmed that is indeed what is going on). From that, we should be able figure-out exactly what the OTA version information is and what the other commands are in the updater-script file inside the update.zip that might help us determine how to either fix or bypass the failing assertion (i.e., the apply_patch_check command).

Thanks!

While most of that stuff is French to me--no pun intended --can't rex pop in a AT&T sim and be fine?
Perhaps he has done that already and I missed that part.
If I'm totally whacked out with my thought here, just be-bop on past my post

rexbaum said:

I am with AT&T if that is what you mean by "Carrier."

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Perfect!

I've moved you to here: http://androidforums.com/t-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/791091-new-gs3-unlocked-cant-update-os.html#post6247811

:thumbup:

Mikestony said:

While most of that stuff is French to me--no pun intended --can't rex pop in a AT&T sim and be fine?
Perhaps he has done that already and I missed that part.
If I'm totally whacked out with my thought here, just be-bop on past my post

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I think his big issue (aside from receiving a French, pre-rooted phone ) is that his OTA / System Update won't install.

Not sure how the SIM fits in with that (maybe it mods the /modem partition? :dontknow.

Ah, just found a reference to "mmcblk0p7" as being the radio, which implies that a different radio got flashed.

Rex, when you get time, can you type another command for me, please?:


This should verify that the /modem partition is the same as the radio (I'm expecting to see an entry that shows "RADIO -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7").

Thanks!

rexbaum said:

Is this what you need?

:screwy:

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Yes, sir!

Thank you .

(hitting the hay soon...g'night! )

Hey Rex,

Just a few quick thoughts I wanted to get down:

1. I'm guessing your device might have originally been in Canada (which might explain the French language thing).

2. I see that this thread over on AC: ICS update, baseband I9300XXLH1

(which our own funkylogik has even contributed to ) discusses an ICS (4.0.4) update to the radio (baseband) that this device model received back in October of last year (which matches what the image you provided in your first post).

3. See if you can check for a System Update on your device--but don't try to install it! We want the update.zip to download so we can look for any other things that might have been modified so we can figure-out the plan to get the update installed.

Thanks!

Loving this thread. Its a geekumentary. Had to subscribe. lol at me on AC... me n them have beef

rexbaum said:

Scary Smart Alien,

Sorry for my absense, I work nights and off a couple days.

If I check for a system update, it begins the download automatically, it doesn't give me a chance to proceed or not. I looked at that thread you directed me to, a 25 meg radio update; the update that begins for my device is 744 meg.



Maybe I should leave well enough alone?

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Hey Rex, no worries about the delays .

So the system update won't give you the option to "install now"?

Usually how they work is that by the time you've seen a notification, the update.zip (probably won't actually be named that) will have already been downloaded in your /cache (or /cache/fota in your case, I believe) partition.

So, by the time you see a "System Update is Available" notification, the file is there and ready and waiting for install. We just want to copy that file off / over to your SD card before it gets moved/deleted due to the install failing.

If you want to try to snag the file, that would be very helpful .

Here's how I've done this in the past:

- wait for system update notification
- look in the /cache or /cache/fota partition for a large file
- use a root-enabled file explorer/manager to copy that file to your /sdcard

In your case, you might have to use the Android Terminal Emulator like we did before to find and copy the system update (OTA) .zip file:

$ su
# cd /cache/fota
# ls -al *.zip

do you see a large .zip file of the size you expect? if so, check it again to see if it's growing or has finished downloading:

# ls -al *.zip

if/when done downloading, then let's copy the file to your SD card:

# cat *.zip > /sdcard/rex-ota.zip

note: if there are more than one .zip file that shows up in the above "ls -al *.zip" output, then you should probably explicitly specify the exact filename to copy (I'm using "big-ota-file.zip" as an example below and your filename will obviously be different):

# cat big-ota-file.zip > /sdcard/rex-ota.zip

Click to expand...

(the size information you posted is very helpful and might allow me to find an already posted copy of that OTA)

Lemme know what you think!