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Root How to root Samsung Stellar

I may have screwed up my phone but not sure. Followed the steps outlined in the first post, on step 7 I made sure Super User was there but didn't update (could be problem).

From there installed Clockwork MOD and installed the Recovery for the Galaxy S3 (again most likely a stupid thing on my part).

Once that was running I downloaded and installed the cygnamod 10.0 without any issues.

Are you in the right forum? Your device in your profile shows to be a Motorola. This is for the Stellar. If you are using a Stellar, where did you get Cyanogenmod for it? The bootloader is locked, so we can't boot custom kernels that would come with CM. It should boot to a screen that says you're using unauthorized software and ask you to take it back to Verizon. As far as I know, the ROM I have out there is the only one fully functioning, and it's just a modification of stock, not a complete rebuild from source.

-mS
 
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Are you in the right forum? Your device in your profile shows to be a Motorola. This is for the Stellar. If you are using a Stellar, where did you get Cyanogenmod for it? The bootloader is locked, so we can't boot custom kernels that would come with CM. It should boot to a screen that says you're using unauthorized software and ask you to take it back to Verizon. As far as I know, the ROM I have out there is the only one fully functioning, and it's just a modification of stock, not a complete rebuild from source.

-mS

I did until it got run over by a truck (haven't updated my profile). This is where I probably went wrong by using the Clockwork Mod and using that to get a rom and flash my phone.

It updated successfully (or so I thought) but when I get to the lock screen, there is no touch screen usage.

Called Verizon and told them it doesn't work so they are going to send me a new phone so I'm going to hold off on the new and see if I can get the old one working.
 
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I did until it got run over by a truck (haven't updated my profile). This is where I probably went wrong by using the Clockwork Mod and using that to get a rom and flash my phone.

It updated successfully (or so I thought) but when I get to the lock screen, there is no touch screen usage.

Called Verizon and told them it doesn't work so they are going to send me a new phone so I'm going to hold off on the new and see if I can get the old one working.

Could you provide a link where you got CM10? If you got as far as you did, then somebody else has figured out something I couldn't.

Also, I recommend TWRP for the Stellar. CWM seems to have some issues.

-mS
 
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I have a samsung stellar and im trying to flash the stock ICS. I have the Odin app and the zip that has been shown to be the stock ICS. I have read the instructions but my only issue is that I cant get my phone into ODIN mode.

I press and hold Vol+ Home and Pwr till I see the warning message. Except I dont see any warning. All I see is the following:

1) Booting Recovery.....

then

2)
Android system recovery <3e>
Volume up/down to move highlight;
power button to select.

reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from cache
-------------------------------------------------

in yellow letters below I see

# MANUAL MODE #
-- Appling Multi-CSC...
Applied the CSC-code : VZW
Successfully applied multi-CSC


Yes I spelled it Appling cause thats what I see on my device. not sure why it was spelled that way. in the background I see an image of the android robot on his back with a door open on his front and a red triangle with an exclamation point. So either this is Odin Mode or I get something completely different with Vol+ Home Pwr. Please help.
 
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I am having the worst time trying to root my stellar, did you manage to do it with Jellybean on there? Could you post the zip file you used?
I've been trying SuperSU with no luck, then got ODIN but couldn't find a file to stick in there.
Seems like the stellar isn't very popular?
Thanks!
Your right Not popular at all. 2 main reasons for this: its a lowend low budget Verizon only phone. And second, the ***** locked it to oblivion and screwed any possibility to better it. Its a sad sight and gives Android a bad rap. I hate thinking people got this as their first Android phone and will run straight to crapple come update time over it. **** Verizon I tell everyone I can away from them for locking these phones up like this.
**end of rant

With that said here is how to update and keep root.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/39825-3-20jellybean-update-download-how-to/

And here is important info about the update and how Verizon ***** you even more with it.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/39875-important-info-regarding-the-jellybean-ota/
 
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Ugh lovely, I thought it was being unreasonably difficult! I got it as my first smart phone, I didn't think I really needed one, husband insisted, so I wanted to be cheap and figured they were all about the same anyway.
Now my storage is a HUGE issue, I'm at the point where I can't add anymore apps that I want, I picked maybe 5? and I can't view my pictures without deleting an app (so I delete and add them back when I need to use the camera). Went to Verizon, told the guy I wanted to store aps on the SD card, took him 40 mins, came out of a back room and said here, your pictures are on the sd card. I told him I needed room for aps and he said they were "stored on google" ???? I am not going to reinstall every time!

So I've tried a few of these rooting things, SuperSU and SuperOneClick, didn't get anywhere. I installed Kies before SuperOneClick but it said my phone wasn't compatible, samsung does kies but whatever. I tried Oden but couldnt find a kernel, got the kernel file from samsung but it needs to be converted and I don't have a code writing program. I thought about paying that root any phone website, but don't know if it would work as i can't even brick the thing.

So maybe I need really basic? How do I flash my phone? I have gooManager, superSU, ROM Manager and Superuser. I've downloaded all the files. Oh and my phone is already running 4.1.2

Definitly learned my lesson about free phones :(
 
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Ugh lovely, I thought it was being unreasonably difficult! I got it as my first smart phone, I didn't think I really needed one, husband insisted, so I wanted to be cheap and figured they were all about the same anyway.
Now my storage is a HUGE issue, I'm at the point where I can't add anymore apps that I want, I picked maybe 5? and I can't view my pictures without deleting an app (so I delete and add them back when I need to use the camera). Went to Verizon, told the guy I wanted to store aps on the SD card, took him 40 mins, came out of a back room and said here, your pictures are on the sd card. I told him I needed room for aps and he said they were "stored on google" ???? I am not going to reinstall every time!

So I've tried a few of these rooting things, SuperSU and SuperOneClick, didn't get anywhere. I installed Kies before SuperOneClick but it said my phone wasn't compatible, samsung does kies but whatever. I tried Oden but couldnt find a kernel, got the kernel file from samsung but it needs to be converted and I don't have a code writing program. I thought about paying that root any phone website, but don't know if it would work as i can't even brick the thing.

So maybe I need really basic? How do I flash my phone? I have gooManager, superSU, ROM Manager and Superuser. I've downloaded all the files. Oh and my phone is already running 4.1.2

Definitly learned my lesson about free phones :(
So did my little cousin to say the least. He's paying out the ass every month and after bringing it to me a few times is learning the basics and just how bad verizon is screwing everyone. With that said rooting is fairly easy but requires a downgrade to 4.0.4 which is also pretty easy. Normal method of rooting a samsung is flashing a insecure kernel/recovery and inserting superuser and the su binary into the system. Well that is not possible on the stellar hence the locked bootloader. so gaining root is not possible without first going back to ics. Once you have root access I recommend getting the biggest externel sd the stellar can hold and moving apps to the sd via a script or app. Moving apps to sd without root isnt possible anymore(was some time ago but no longer natively supported in most phones).
Ill lay out the steps to get you root access and if you need additional help you can contact me on google talk and ill guide u through it since i rarely use this site.

Now at some point in the following steps you will be factory reseting the phone and wiping its data. I will outline how to back that stuff up.I have a way to do this without the wipe but it is a little more technical and possibly scary to a new user plus it also involves downloading 2 giant files instead of just one so if u absolutely must not wipe let me know and I can provide details however my backup procedure should suffice.

First things first you want to backup your entire internal storage(only 2gb so takes about 2 mins)Do this by opening your sd folder and hitting ctrl+a (select all) then ctrl+x(cut) then move to a place on pc and hit ctrl+v(paste)
In addition to that if u want to save apps texts call logs etc i recommend downloading carbon from the play store. Run it and backup everything it will let you and sync the backup with dropbox or google drive


Next(if you havent already) install the samsung usb drivers

Then you'll need to downgrade. Now here is where things can get tricky/confusing. I always try to do this stuff without wiping but it doesnt always work hence the backups.

So get if u read this far work on getting to this step while i prepare some stuff and ill be back to finish the post
 
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Thank you!
Everything is backed up and ready to go!

First you'll need THIS FILE(which we'll call file 1 and THIS ONE(which we'll call file 2). Both are compressed and will need extracted first. You will need file 1 first so extract it to the desktop and open it when its done.Leave it open and go to the next step(were coming right back to it)

Then youll need to place your phone in USB DEBUGGING mode. Do this by going under settings and then developer options. Check the "USB DEBUGGING" box.

After enableing USB debugging, extract file 2 to the desktop as well. Go into the folder called "place on desktop" and open "-1-put phone in download mode.bat". This will place the phone into download mode. At this point the phone will have an android on it with the words "DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!" and file 1 will have a small yellow box in it that says "COM:#". the number next to COM does not matter.

(note that sometimes you may see nothing on the screen of the phone rather than the android and words above. Its a glitch that happens with some stellars. Just be sure the small box in file 1 is yellow before pressing start.)
**If box in file 1 is not yellow try removing the usb cable and reinserting it**

PRESS START! Now sit back and chill for a few. This will take about 15 minutes. When done the phone will reboot to recovery and wipe then reboot to the system. When the phone reboots and file 1 says PASS, you can close it. Also note that it could take up to 10 minutes for the phone to boot all the way.

Welcome to 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Jump through activation and setup. When finished and on the homescreen. Go right into settings and enable USB DEBUGGING again. Then go to settings>security>and tick "UNKNOWN SOURCES"

Once you do that head back to the place on desktop folder and open
"-2-ROOT-MY-PHONE.bat" That part is an automated batch script. pay attention and do what it says. (Your phone will reboot 3-4 times during this.)

Now when that finishes you should have root. Congratulations, you're almost done.

Now nobody wants to be stuck on old outdated ICS 4.0.4 so lets re-upgrade to jellybean. This you will do manually. If prompted, DO NOT accept VZW's upgrade.

You will need a custom recovery to keep root through the upgrade. The OTA will kill root access and upgrade the bootloader so custom recovery won't work. (This is why Verizon are a bunch of pricks). But dont worry, you downloaded my special upgrade which leaves the old bootloader and will keep you rooted. (Suck it VZW) Its in the folder called "put on sdcard" so go ahead and put that folder on the sd card now.

Open "-3-launch command prompt to install custom recovery.bat"

in the command promp we will double check that you have root. So go ahead and type (without the quotes) "adb shell" and you should see this "$"

Now type (without the quotes) "su" and you should see this "#" <--That means you have root access. (Good Job)

if it still says "$" after typing su then something didnt work and you need to do "-2-ROOT-MY-PHONE" again.

at this point hit ctrl+c on keyboard and you should exit the phone and no longer see "#" or "$" . Open the "install recovery text.txt" file and do as it says.
When you're done your phone should reboot into your new recovery. You can close anything still open on the pc now. Now grab your phone which should be in its new recovery.

Inside recovery tap install and navigate to the "place on sd folder" that you placed on sd earlier. Then go into the "Step 1-Update to 4.1.2" folder and tap "jb-update.zip" and swipe at the bottom of the screen to confirm. Now wait for it to finish. (it will take a few mins)

When its done (Should say "successful" in blue) DO NOT hit reboot system. Instead hit the back arrow(bottom right hand corner) and hit "install" again. This time navigate to the "put on sd" folder again but choose the folder called "Step 2-ROOT AFTER UPDATING" and select "root.zip" and swipe at the bottom to confirm. It will take 3-4 seconds to finish at which point you may hit "reboot system".

At this point your phone will boot to the 4.1.2 system you know and love but now has root access. You can delete the files on the card and put all your stuff back.

Thats it, pat yourself on the back and enjoy. Your all done.

I hope this helps. If you get stuck im always on googletalk (billard412), Feel free to message me.
And if at any point you feel this is overwhelming or you cannot do it please message me or ask someone on here or rootzwiki to help. The root any phone site is nothing more than a ripoff not to mention an insult to the modding community. Sites like this are full of people willing to help without taking your money.

***EDIT*** Provided all goes well and this is a success for you there are a few things you should keep in mind as you apparently very very new to this **
1) The custom recovery you will apply has a backup function. I recommend after getting all your stuff set back up, that you go back to recovery and take advantage of this. It will save you if u screw something up in the future.
2) If you ever do something that causes this screen to come up on your phone, DO NOT go to a verizon store for help. Come here and someone will explain what to do.
3)If you do ever have to go to a verizon store for something, reflash the stock firmware and remove any signs of root. As far as you know, root is some new app in the playstore and you have no idea what it is.
4)If you would like this to be a quick 30 second process on your next device, get off of verizon. They will only continue to lock phones like this and hurting the android development community
5)And most important, do not accept any future ota updates from them. Their updates only lock the device further and patch holes that let you do this. A future update could permanently relock it so this cannot be done again.
 
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Great thanks! I guess I am rooted now, though I am still having problems deleting things like Amex Serve. The app2sd app doesn't work with my phone.
I do have 800mb available now though, up from 133.
Do you know of any good apps to use rooting with?

Look into Link2SD... and buy a 16 or 32G SD card... What this does is mount a partition you created on the external card, then symbolically links, tricking your phone into thinking the file is on internal storage. It has it's limitations though... some apps that store external data, like Chrome, Google Music, some games, that data can still be on internal, but it can still free up a TON of space.

Titanium Backup is a must as well. With root and that, you can give a ton of bloatware. BUT MAKE GOOD BACKUPS (using ADB, or TWRP... that one can be tricky if you don't have the old bootloader... which you might have). I haven't heard any first hand stories, but I suspect if you bring in a broken phone that's been modded up the whazoo... VZW might give you a hard time.
 
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I second that link2sd is great.i currently have a note 2 which had 16gb ( well 12gb that you can actually use anyway). and even with all that space still am rocking link2sd. All the apps2sd apps you'll find are made for older phones that nativly supported it (and believe me its been awhile since any phone nativly supported that function). Link2sd is the one you want. And if you are trying to delete system apps normal file managers won't work you need something that says it will do that. https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=file+manager. Theres a good file manager for the job. Download and install but before trying to delete something like a system app with it you have to open it, hit menu and then all the way at the bottom tick the boxes that say"root explorer" and"Mount system folders." I also second titanium backup so you can freeze the apps instead of deleting. And most important if your going to be deleting stuff from the system then do as I said and backup the system in recovery first. Youll Thank me later when you delete something and important and it causes problems. . And yes she still has the old bootloader. Thats why I supplied a modified ota. Has the old bootloader and the files that overwrite custom recovery with stock were replaced with dummy files so twrp should still be intact too
 
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Wow haven't even got all the bloatware off and i've managed to free up 1gb with all the apps I wanted and couldnt fit before AND I can still view my pictures.
Thank you so much! I hope other Stellar people can find this post it was the only thing that rooted my phone!
Going to use titanium and rythm to see what else i can purge :)
 
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Glad to hear it. Ok this should be a simple process overall and I will detail it as good as i can. And sorry for the delay I was talking to a few people on rootzwiki about a potential issue that has been squared away as a result. So lets get started.

First you'll need THIS FILE(which we'll call file 1 and THIS ONE(which we'll call file 2). Both are compressed and will need extracted first. You will need file 1 first so extract it to the desktop and open it when its done.Leave it open and go to the next step(were coming right back to it)

Then youll need to place your phone in USB DEBUGGING mode. Do this by going under settings and then developer options. Check the "USB DEBUGGING" box.

After enableing USB debugging, extract file 2 to the desktop as well. Go into the folder called "place on desktop" and open "-1-put phone in download mode.bat". This will place the phone into download mode. At this point the phone will have an android on it with the words "DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!" and file 1 will have a small yellow box in it that says "COM:#". the number next to COM does not matter.

(note that sometimes you may see nothing on the screen of the phone rather than the android and words above. Its a glitch that happens with some stellars. Just be sure the small box in file 1 is yellow before pressing start.)
**If box in file 1 is not yellow try removing the usb cable and reinserting it**

PRESS START! Now sit back and chill for a few. This will take about 15 minutes. When done the phone will reboot to recovery and wipe then reboot to the system. When the phone reboots and file 1 says PASS, you can close it. Also note that it could take up to 10 minutes for the phone to boot all the way.

Welcome to 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Jump through activation and setup. When finished and on the homescreen. Go right into settings and enable USB DEBUGGING again. Then go to settings>security>and tick "UNKNOWN SOURCES"

Once you do that head back to the place on desktop folder and open
"-2-ROOT-MY-PHONE.bat" That part is an automated batch script. pay attention and do what it says. (Your phone will reboot 3-4 times during this.)

Now when that finishes you should have root. Congratulations, you're almost done.

Now nobody wants to be stuck on old outdated ICS 4.0.4 so lets re-upgrade to jellybean. This you will do manually. If prompted, DO NOT accept VZW's upgrade.

You will need a custom recovery to keep root through the upgrade. The OTA will kill root access and upgrade the bootloader so custom recovery won't work. (This is why Verizon are a bunch of pricks). But dont worry, you downloaded my special upgrade which leaves the old bootloader and will keep you rooted. (Suck it VZW) Its in the folder called "put on sdcard" so go ahead and put that folder on the sd card now.

Open "-3-launch command prompt to install custom recovery.bat"

in the command promp we will double check that you have root. So go ahead and type (without the quotes) "adb shell" and you should see this "$"

Now type (without the quotes) "su" and you should see this "#" <--That means you have root access. (Good Job)

if it still says "$" after typing su then something didnt work and you need to do "-2-ROOT-MY-PHONE" again.

at this point hit ctrl+c on keyboard and you should exit the phone and no longer see "#" or "$" . Open the "install recovery text.txt" file and do as it says.
When you're done your phone should reboot into your new recovery. You can close anything still open on the pc now. Now grab your phone which should be in its new recovery.

Inside recovery tap install and navigate to the "place on sd folder" that you placed on sd earlier. Then go into the "Step 1-Update to 4.1.2" folder and tap "jb-update.zip" and swipe at the bottom of the screen to confirm. Now wait for it to finish. (it will take a few mins)

When its done (Should say "successful" in blue) DO NOT hit reboot system. Instead hit the back arrow(bottom right hand corner) and hit "install" again. This time navigate to the "put on sd" folder again but choose the folder called "Step 2-ROOT AFTER UPDATING" and select "root.zip" and swipe at the bottom to confirm. It will take 3-4 seconds to finish at which point you may hit "reboot system".

At this point your phone will boot to the 4.1.2 system you know and love but now has root access. You can delete the files on the card and put all your stuff back.

Thats it, pat yourself on the back and enjoy. Your all done.

I hope this helps. If you get stuck im always on googletalk (billard412), Feel free to message me.
And if at any point you feel this is overwhelming or you cannot do it please message me or ask someone on here or rootzwiki to help. The root any phone site is nothing more than a ripoff not to mention an insult to the modding community. Sites like this are full of people willing to help without taking your money.

***EDIT*** Provided all goes well and this is a success for you there are a few things you should keep in mind as you apparently very very new to this **
1) The custom recovery you will apply has a backup function. I recommend after getting all your stuff set back up, that you go back to recovery and take advantage of this. It will save you if u screw something up in the future.
2) If you ever do something that causes this screen to come up on your phone, DO NOT go to a verizon store for help. Come here and someone will explain what to do.
3)If you do ever have to go to a verizon store for something, reflash the stock firmware and remove any signs of root. As far as you know, root is some new app in the playstore and you have no idea what it is.
4)If you would like this to be a quick 30 second process on your next device, get off of verizon. They will only continue to lock phones like this and hurting the android development community
5)And most important, do not accept any future ota updates from them. Their updates only lock the device further and patch holes that let you do this. A future update could permanently relock it so this cannot be done again.


This step-by-step was incredible! Props to Billard412!!!! I've been digging around the interwebz for hours and this was the only post that could do me any good!! Thanks again!
 
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This looks really awesome and I want to do it, but when I run the 'put phone in download mode' it just makes a black screen only, have to hold power for a long time to get it to shut off and it's picky about it

I followed all the instructions prior to the letter, am familiar with dev options in general on android

Is there some piece of software not mentioned here that is required or something on the phone?

I have jellybean want to downgrade/root/upgrade etc

thank you
 
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This looks really awesome and I want to do it, but when I run the 'put phone in download mode' it just makes a black screen only, have to hold power for a long time to get it to shut off and it's picky about it

I followed all the instructions prior to the letter, am familiar with dev options in general on android

Is there some piece of software not mentioned here that is required or something on the phone?

I have jellybean want to downgrade/root/upgrade etc

thank you
Reread my post a Lil more carefully. You have one of the oddball stellars that have trouble displaying download mode. The black screen is download mode. Proceed as normal
 
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I'm back! Verizon sent an upgrade or something to my phone and I keep denying it but it won't go away!!! There doesn't seem to be an option to opt out either. I tried deferring it for 3 years, it wouldn't do that either.

So, I'm assuming I have to back everything up with titanium backup and then unroot?
I saw an unroot function somewhere in an app but can't find it again
Then once I am unrooted I would do the download
then reroot (do I have to go through all the steps like last time?)
and THEN restore from Titanium?

Then I am good until Verizon screws with my phone again?

Thanks a million! I have to keep rebooting the system when the upgrade is accidently activated, its driving me nuts :/
 
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