[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] drothenberger:
[GUIDE] AT&T CWM-flashable UCALG1 update | no wipe, leaves root and universal search

I've put together a zip file with the I747UCLG1 AT&T OTA update that can be flashed using CWM. This file

does not trip the flash counter

preserves root

does not include the Google search update to remove universal search

does not wipe /data

does require removing all themes and modifications

Standard disclaimer: I am not responsible if this bricks your phone,

destroys your IMEI

or kills your kids.

Prerequisites: You have to be on stock I747UCALEM for this to work. It may be rooted, but all the standard AT&T and Samsung bloatware must be there with no modifications. It's okay if some of the apps are frozen with Titanium Backup. You must not have any other mods or themes applied. The updater will check this stuff and abort if anything is wrong. I personally restored a nandroid backup I made right after rooting. If you didn't make one, you can use Odin and the instructions here to go back to stock.

To apply it:

Boot into recovery and make a nandroid backup.

Go back to AT&T UCALEM rooted stock if necessary (see above). If you're already on stock UCALEM but have framework-res.apk modications applied, you can flash this zip to restore framework-res.apk to UCALEM stock.

Make sure CWM recovery from clockworkmod.com is installed. The recovery from Team Epic will not work. You can get a zip file to flash in your current recovery to install v5.8.4.5 from here. Use one of the first two files; the ones that start with "recovery-clockwork". After you flash the zip, restart recovery through the "advanced" menu. Your recovery should say "ClockworkMod Recovery" at the top and not "CWM-based Recovery".

Put one of the zip files from below on your internal or external SD card.

Boot into recovery

Wipe cache and dalvik cache (optional?)

Flash the attached zip

(Optional) Go to Backup and Restore, Advanced Restore and restore the /data from the nandroid backup you made in step 1. If you used a nadroid backup in step 2, this should restore your data and apps. If you used Odin to flash the rooted UCALEM image, this step isn't necessary.

Reboot

Open Settings / Application Manager. Choose All tab. Click on AT&T Software update. Clear "Clear data". If you were getting OTA notifications before, this will prevent them from recurring. After doing this, your phone will know it's up-to-date.

This worked for me. I checked that my flash counter is still at 0 and Google search is still finding local stuff like apps. I still have root.

DOWNLOADS:

I747UCALG1_OTA.zip: This is the full OTA, with kernel and bootloader. You must be using the stock UCALEM kernel for this to work.

I747UCALG1_OTA_No_Bootloader.zip: This is the full OTA without the bootloader.

I747UCALG1_OTA_No_Bootloader_No_Kernel.zip: This is the OTA without the bootloader or the kernel. You can use this if you're already running a non-stock kernel.

I747UCALG1_OTA_Bootloader.zip: This is just the bootloader. You can apply this along with the "no kernel no bootloader" zip above in case you want everything but the kernel.

MODS:

This process requires the stock framework-res.apk, so at this point you'll need to reapply any mods you already applied. Here are some mods that I've rebuilt against LG1. Both are zip files you can apply through recovery.

Tether and Cell Standby Fix: This includes the mod to enable native Bluetooth and WiFi tethering from here and the fix for the incorrect reporting of Cell Standby time from here.

Tether, Cell Standby Fix, Increase Autobrightness: The same as above, but also with a mod to bump up autobrightness levels from here.

No Increasing Ring: This removes the increasing ringtone volume. The mod is from here.

OTHER PIECES:

Kernel: The UCALG1 kernel and kernel modules.

UCLG1 Modem: Just the modem from the OTA.

UCLEM Modem: The modem from the stock UCALEM firmware.

UCALG1 Bootloader

UCALG1 Bootloader (no checks): This is the LG1 bootloader will all the checks for AT&T ROMs removed from the flashing script. This can be flashed even if you're running a non AT&T ROM, but only flash it on AT&T phones!

UCALEM Bootloader

UCALEM Bootloader (no checks): This is the LEM bootloader will all the checks for AT&T ROMs removed from the flashing script. This can be flashed even if you're running a non AT&T ROM, but only flash it on AT&T phones!

LIST OF CHANGES IN OTA:

A full list of the files and partitions changed by the OTA is attached to this post.