yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
Done and done. Neutered, flashable zip of the MF3 OTA update:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2358763

Note that there's a slight bug with the modem still. Until we find a solution, you'll be forced to choose between sound and WiFi.

Otherwise, enjoy! ;)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Stan42:
Forced OTA - any way to block?

I just picked up my S4 last night and I'd read about the pending OTA so I declined the update last night. While researching how to root it, my phone gave me a 30s warning and then wanted to reboot - no option to cancel and the home/back buttons had no effect.

I haven't let the install complete, (I pulled the battery ASAP) but is there any way to interrupt the install now that the phone has downloaded the OTA update? If I switch the phone on, it goes in to install mode and the AT&T logo appears while a progress bar slowly increments. Im not rooted yet, and Ive tried various hardware key combos to try and get access to the phone, I did enable ADB last night.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
Have you tried going into download mode
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Stan42:
Thats Power + Vol Up + Home ? If so, then it has no effect - I see "Booting Recovery" in small blue font in the top left corner of the screen but the phone still goes in to the auto-update.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
Isn't download mode "vol-" :confused:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scott14719:
How long did you pull the battery? It sounds like your phone is in mid update (finished downloading the update and is now installing) so you may be SOL. Kies might help if you can get it to recognize your phone and D/L / install the AMDL emergency firmware update, but it is a long shot.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
Yeah its volume down volume up is recovery
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] joeybear23:
I am sure our talented developers will come up with a solution to root after this update.

Until then I have the AT&T Software Update frozen...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
The bootloaders/aboot/recovery is not touched until the very end of the update.

Stan, your /system is possibly corrupted by now, but you could theoretically Odin back to MDB or MDL at this point, given you didn't let it get near the end of the update. Check out this post to see exactly what the update was trying to do.

High chances that it didn't make it through the integrity check stage (part #2 in my post).
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
thought so :good:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Stan42:
gpbligu have

Thanks, yes it is - I got the modes confused (vol up vs vol down). Ok, so I can get in to download mode, but I cant get a connection via adb. Any thoughts on how to get at the phone's OS so I can delete the pending OTA?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scott14719:
Did you try connecting to kies? And if you CAN get into download mode, have you tried ODIN yet?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
not sure on pending ota, thought there were some posts on that a ways back

did you ever use adb on your current phone/pc
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Stan42:
Acid ofersoin

Half an hour while I went to google for options. It certainly seems to be in mid update, but Im wondering if I can kill the overwrite.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scott14719:
With partially overwritten files, I would say that your only chance would be a full restore via kies or ODIN, if they will work for you. Even if ADB could be used to delete the update, the overwritten files could not be restored with it.

OK, this is a really long shot...

Maybe, just maybe, you could us ADB (if it would recognize your phone) to install a custom recovery, then boot into the custom recovery and use someone esle's Nandroid to restore yourself to a stock ROM. A real longshot if even possible. And I think you would have needed to be rooted in the first place...I just think you might be SOL.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Topher35:
So I'm not really into rooting the phone as I just want to get ride of the bloatware the phone comes with. I know the latest update stops the ability to root, but will it stop me from being able to run Truly Clean? I've read you can use this program w/o rooting, but I wasn't sure if the update effects this program too?

Also, does this void the warranty?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MoReNitO303:
Weird, I go to about device and it doesn't mention update at all
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
Does it say "software update interrupted" at the top and then "No software update available"below it? If so, there is currently no known fix for that. Current theories are that your flash counter isn't zero or you have a messed up param partition (probably by flashing a modem zip file that flashes non-hlos to block 19 instead of block one. The only workaround is to flash the OTA manually by downloading the file yourself. Anyone else know of a possible fix?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] UrDeadAgain:
I would love to move certain apps to my sdcard
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MoReNitO303:
It doesn't say anything. Just check back in 20 hours
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Kilhd:
I am rooted(motochop method) and I ran update as I didnt care if I lost root for time being, but after download it reboots goes to "booting recovery" in blue letters then shows at&t logo says "installing" gets to 21% and says "update failed" then reboots. (3 times now) What gives?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oddspec:
I don't think u can update if ur status isn't full official r u just using the stock ROM and its rooted ?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Kilhd:
Yes, stock rom. I just rooted to be able to use titanium backup.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oddspec:
Weird no clue what's going on
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
If you have removed any bloatware, it has a very high chance of failing. Also, if you are rooted, it seems that it can sometimes pick that up and force it to fail. If you were to use Odin to return to 100% stock, you should be able to do the update. But this of course will wipe everything, and applying the patch will cost you root - no more Titanium Backup for you (until a new root method is found).
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Slade8525:
i hope a root/loki exploit is found.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] devildog25pr:
Same happened to me you have to unroot and go completely stock ... That's worked for me
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] j510:
Updates great
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
That doesn't tell us a lot--:)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] visuelz:
My phone was just updated on its own....good luck all...:(
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] spectrumfox:
Gaah, it's so messed up that this is happening against our will if we're on stock. It's a very evil and backhanded move, obviously meant to strongarm our devices. I'll definitely have to re-think Samsung for my phone of choice for next round. I don't take kindly to these kinds of tactics.

Motorola definitely has a chance to step in here and turn the tables.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mg2195:
Motorola?? They lock all their phones down...and always have as far as I know...and its not so much samsung but the carriers...if it was ourely samsung then all their s4 would have locked bootloadera...but its only Verizon and Att

Really your best bet at costomizable devices through rom flashing and rooting straight out of the box with ease will be a nexus device...more amd more phones are getting locked down now a days...and getting harder to crack too
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] visuelz:
After my update, I noticed I couldn't use my data. Airplane off/on and reboots didn't help. Eventually it started working after I made a call. Might want to try this if you're running into problems. Overall, my phone does feel a lot smoother.

Edit: I'm still having issues with my data. It would work if I kept surfing after making a call but then it would stop working and I would have to repeat the process.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] captivated1971:
Lol@all im just gna wait till one of our glorious devs gets it all straightened out like they have from the very beginning .
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
Just flashed MF3 radio. I am getting some lte and 1-2 bars more in a spot in my house I never got lte and usually no more than one bar. So, I think the radio is a bit better. Don't think it will see much difference in strong areas, but will see.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ou812bkewl:
Bricked from Kies downgrade attempt

It looks like download mode is performing some kind of authentication check when attempting to downgrade. As of the date of this post, using Kies by selecting "Firmware Upgrade and Initialization" without being plugged in will prompt for the model and serial under the battery and instruct on getting to download mode, stating that the latest version as MDL. Attempting to downgrade with Kies fails and causes a triangle download mode screen boot-loop. DO NOT TRY IT! Hopefully once Kies gets the full MF3, it will pass whatever checks it needs to proceed with the flash. Until then, for lack of a better word, I'm hard bricked.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
Sorry to hear that--:(
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scott14719:
Someone reported earlier that kies worked for them so this is bad to see. Maybe try kies again, at this point, it shouldn't hurt you anymore. I'm assuming you tried to get into recovery (using the key sequence) to see if the stock recovery was still on the phone?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AxAtAx:
How in the he$$ you doing that? I would love to connect to my 13.04 server from the phone...oh yeah...point me somewhere please...I searched and found nothing showing this..thats way to cool. You streaming videos on it from the server..or what..sorry wrong thread...Aou start one...please.

The Ax is begging..

Thanks for your work again on what you have done with the update news also.

Much appreciated, seriously.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ou812bkewl:
Yes. Any attempt at booting into recovery, powering on normally, and plugging in the power adapter to charge the battery results in the attached photo. The key sequence for download mode boots to normal download mode screen. This sucks. I never even rooted or anything. I've only had this phone for 7 days.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scott14719:
To clarify, you did try kies again and it still does the same thing? Does kies still recognize your phone?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] pixelsquish:
is there a confirmed confirmed zip update with the new bootloader/destroy root stuff removed?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
You're welcome! It's really all just stuff I wanted for my own phone (e.g. update without losing root). It was just a matter of sharing it with everyone else is all. ;)

Nothing official yet, only that which I've created in this thread. full instructions on how to create your own, if you wish.

Unfortunately with a current bug (still working on it!), you must choose between not having sound, and not having Wi-Fi. Currently, I have no WiFi, but otherwise a 100% functional and amazing MF3-updated, rooted phone.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
question, have you had the international rom on your phone MF8 and is it any different? I might try your method and expirement and try my luck at fixing sound and wi-fi
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AxAtAx:
Wow, unbelievable. This is great. Aou you been working..good job. I'm on this.. I have to. Thanks.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jeboo:
That firmware recovery in Kies has always asked for model #/serial #. The fact that it doesn't work anymore confirms that they have essentially blacklisted MDB/MDL in the bootloader. Combine that with the anti-loki patch (assumed, but almost guaranteed) and it's looking grim..Only way back may be to JTAG to previous BL.

Strangely, most of this thread is about the modem...Do not assume the new BL can be compromised with a new loki. JTAG may very well be the future.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AxAtAx:
+1 is it? I'm on MF8 now.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
That sucks, I'd buy a JTAG / Riff but cannot find them anywhere :|
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ou812bkewl:
Kies fully recognizes the phone as being in download mode and starts the flashing sequence, but fails the same way every time. It's the same issue that's in the top of the Q&A forum right now. Looks like some might have bricks, others don't. I even pulled out the old jig I bought years ago and it gets into download mode just fine, but it seems like the boot-loaders or whatever controls the download mode part is performing some kind of check that is causing the flash to abort. I've tried Kies about 10 times.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AxAtAx:
When I get to work in the morning I will PM you, where we got ours, forgot what we paid for it. I know it was out of the country.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jlay06:
Its just an AT&T update. It gives users a few more options with the sd card and a quick link to battery saver and data usage. I'm sure there are a few other tweeks but besides a yellow about phone button I havent found anything
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
A lot of people are saying it is MUCH smoother, now MF8 is smooth but im wondering if AT&T tweaked it even more or if samsung did at all
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ou812bkewl:
Well, I had not yet rooted. With my phone being only a week old, I think I'll just let Samsung worry about this one and get a new one through their warranty. I hope Sammy's firmware update servers open the links for the full ROM images to Kies soon. I'll report back here if the full MF3 rom flashes correctly.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scott14719:
You can keep an eye on the SamMobile website in their firmware section and see when Samsung releases the full MF3 firmware and also see when it available via kies.

But I think exchanging your phone is a good bet for now.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ou812bkewl:
Could the 2400258.cfg update file posted earlier be flashed with Odin somehow?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
No.. odin files are in .tar format
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scott14719:
The AT&T S4 has a locked bootloader. That means nothing will flash through ODIN that doesn't contain Samsung's Encrypted key. The encryption Samsung uses is for all practical purposes unbreakable. A leak or release from Samsung would be the only way to obtain it. Apparently, the S4s that now have the new OTA firmware's aboot file render the previous AMDB and AMDL firmwares as unsupported. I am speculating that when Samsung releases the new full firmware that it will flash through ODIN, but it has not been released yet. In any case, ODIN will still only be usable (for those with the new firmware) to reflash that firmware.

So, to answer your question, no, not on the AT&T S4s.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] sholsten:
Disable OTA

What pr0ogram do you use to run commands?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
Carriers don't usually contribute code to smartphone firmware. They simply make requests to OEMs who actually implement the changes. As far as AT&T goes, they requested a locked bootloader. So, the fact that it was vulnerable to motochopper and loki is nothing more than a bootloader bug in the eyes of Samsung or AT&T. Patching this was simply a bug fix.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] orlandoxpolice:
look up how to install adb, and then use your cmd prompt in the run window. there are many tutorials on the internet.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] lyall29:
I just got my phone yesterday and updated via the ota. I have noticed absolutely no lag what so ever. I really like this phone.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mathieulh:
It won't work, a Qfuse gets blown while the bootloader is updated, you cannot go back to a previous build, even if forcefully flashed.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
Ouch. So basically once you update to MF3, that phone is on a minimum of MF3 for eternity?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Stan42:
Kies firmware recovery

Since I only got my S4 a couple of days ago and I have 14 days to return it (for a princely sum of $35) I'm giving the Kies recovery a go. I was unable to stop the forced install of the MF3 firmware and I'm not happy about that - if I wanted an iPhone I'd have gone to the Apple store.

I disconnected the phone, ran Kies in firmware recovery and initialization mode, entered the model (SGH-I337) and serial number and Kies downloaded the MDL firmware, which it's currently 30% of the way through transferring to the S4. I'll post an update if/when this finishes (its taking a while)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mathieulh:
As far as the bootloader build is concerned, yes, short of finding another bootloader exploit, or using a leak, you can forget about custom kernels.

Though you can probably use signed kernels from an earlier build so long as you do not flash the older bootloader.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jeboo:
Confirmed?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
what no...

no way?

MOTOROLA again ;O
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Stan42:
How do you know this 100%? Let's say that somehow there was a bug in the new bootloader - this could potentially render every S4 being forced to upgrade unusable. Thats a heck of a gamble for AT&T/Samsung to take isn't it?

Ive accepted OTAs on my S2 Skyrocket before today, and then rooted and installed custom kernels and ROMs without any issue. Is the S4 different in this regard?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mathieulh:
Well, I don't own a SGH-I337 so I couldn't test to flash the bootloader myself through jtag, however there is a function in the (current and older) bootloader that is meant for this very purpose (to blow a Qfuse if a specific flag is set while any part of the bootloader gets updated), feel free to confirm it if you like (sorry, I am at work and I don't have the sbl binary opened with IDA in front of me right now).

You may also check the Qualcomm SOC specs for the snapdragon S600 which specifically make mention of the Qfuses and the way they are used for manufacturing and securing purposes.

They (Samsung/AT&T/VZW) would have to be incredibly dumb to not use a feature that is built into their SOC and manageable from their bootloader.

I am not 100% sure the function that blows the fuse gets called in this particular update, but it's there, if you wish to spend more time looking into it to remove any doubts as to this matter, feel free to do so.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Stan42:
Kies recovery (update)

This attempt failed. Kies states: "Failed to upgrade firmware due to unexpected error"

Phone displays the following in the top left corner:

ODIN MODE

PRODUCT NAME: SGH-I337

CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official

SYSTEM STATUS: Official

CSB-CONFIG-LSB: 0x30

WRITE PROTECTION: Enable

START [224,1440]

SW REV. CHECK FAIL : fused:2, Binary: 1

So I guess the new bootloader from MF3 is permanent.

And now that the firmware upgrade failed, my phone wont reboot due to the "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue". Kies wont upgrade this in emergency recovery mode - it just directs me to contact the Samsung service center.

So, I can confirm that Kies firmware recovery attempt from MF3 --> MDL does brick your phone. (Latest Kies run on Windows XP)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mathieulh:
Samsung usually performs extensive QA testings to make sure such obvious bugs do not happen. Not to mention very little changes are performed from one build of the bootloader to the next, most of it comes directly from LK anyway. Finally, it's needless to say blowing a Qfuse is optional but nothing prevents Samsung from releasing a new build of the aboot that does comply with the new Qfuse state/counter, after all, it's not like they don't have the private key to sign it...

The difference between older Samsung phones and the "S4" is that the old Exynos SOC did not feature any post production OTP area while the current one does, this is thanks to Samsung Knox that does require the feature and provides similar chain of trust management solutions to companies and government agencies.

Therefore it is easier for Samsung to handle and become aware of post production OTP area when it's used on all of their handsets rather than only a minority of variants

Here is a bit of documentation if you are interested: https://www.samsung.com/global/busi.../Samsung_KNOX_whitepaper_April2013_v1.1-0.pdf

here is the nice bit from it:

That should give you little doubt as to the fact that those features are already implemented in the SOC, the software running on top of it, and the fact that Samsung is very well aware of its existence.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
This post answers a lot of questions. Thanks for this. Looks like we just need to hope someone finds a new root exploit, and there's not much else we can do beyond that. I personally couldn't care less whether or not a root exploit is found since I never root my devices, but still, the vast majority of XDA members who own this phone are probably saying a prayer right now. haha
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mg2195:
Nevermind...post above says exactly what I wanted to say
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mathieulh:
Wow! It seems the status is even visible !

this line

SW REV. CHECK FAIL : fused:2, Binary: 1

states that your binary is flagged for a fuse counter set to 1 but your fuse counter is currently set to 2 so the verification fails.

In fact, from what I saw in the bootloader assembly, it works like this:

- Upon updating, the current (old) bootloader will verify the signature of the new bootloader binaries

- If the counter matches the one of the current device, the check passes and the bootloader gets written.

- If the counter is lower than the one of the current device, the check fails and the update process is halted, if the counter is higher than the one of the current handset, Qfuses are blown to match the ones of the new binary and the new binary is written.

You get the idea.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
Makes a lot of sense. We're screwed. Thank god I didn't update.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
Yeah, in a way, though, I understand why Sammy blew the fuses. In the name of full security with that new KNOX suite, it would be a gaping security hole if someone could get a hold of it and flash back a known-insecure bootloader like MDB or MDL. So yes, it sucks for us, but I can see things from their point of view too.

By the way, where in the ocean state are you? I left RI almost 2 years ago. Before here, I lived in Providence for 10 years.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
Yeah I know what you mean from what I've heard though (not sure) samsung has 2 bootloaders (in a way) one that we run in our device daily and another one when KIES is active. As far as I know kies is almost dormant in our phones as its mostly meant for companies that need increased security. Idk though.

But I live in Warwick I used to live in Providence as well, been here all my life but I've lived in Florida and Maine as well, also been to NC very nice there. Just love this little state though ahah
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mathieulh:
Upon using KNOX (and not KIES) secure boot, Samsung issues a new signed bootloader for the agency's handsets which contains the agency's public certificate, they then blow a Qfuse that invalidates Samsung's own retail bootloader so that only the agency's bootloader build may be used on their specific KNOX enabled handsets. That's how it works, it's not rocket science.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] chevelleguy:
How do I know if I updated? It seems like I did but when it finished it said it failed. I still have root but it seems like I have some of the extra data and battery app as well as the extra quick setting toggle.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] scarmon25:
This is my first day back at work since I updated the modem. I will say this. I can go farther away from our hotspot and still maintain connection. Before I couldn't stand outside and stay connected. Now I can and have two and three bars.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] joeybear23:
Check About Phone...