[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin] skullstrider:
Hello everyone, I'm a returning (or more so new) user who's been here since the tytn2 days but gone rogue for awhile. Recently I've picked up an s4 through my contract renewal and stepped into a few hickups on rooting. beforehand, i've been on the iphone for a long time and only recently gotten somewhat recognized into the android platform with the note 10.1 before getting the s4 so i'm not completely new to it, but still a noob when it comes to fixing recurring problems when it comes to rooting. Anyways... For the past week i've tried the motochopper method to root my galaxy s4 with unsuccessful results as each time i've tried it the string: "[-] Failure." would occur every time i got it to run.

Methods of rooting:

- Particularly, motochopper was the only method of rooting that i've tried and it did install the superuser apk, however when i'm prompted to install the superuser binary update within the app the following error, "There was an error installing superuser. Please send a log of the error to the developer" always occurs. installing SuperSU and attempting to use it also didn't work as it will prompt me, "There is no binary installed, and SuperSU cannot install it. This is a problem!"

Notable things:

- I've updated my phone to the most recent firmware from att as of 4 days ago. I'm aware that this is most likely the cause of my difficulties and i was foolish to not read beforehand about the update blocking root :/.

- My phone is the galaxy s4 version sgh-i337 from AT&T US

- Baseband number is i337UCUAMF3. I'm also aware that this is the version that everyone's having trouble with for those trying to root.

- After the root attempt, i've read up on a few things regarding my issue as well as a couple of posts within the motochopper thread where some people had trouble rooting. After which i figured out that the update blocked root.

- I strongly do not want to factory reset my phone and have to back up everything but, if necessary, then i will.

- So far with the information I've read I couldn't find many clear answers which is why I ended up making this thread.

- Even with the experience that I had with the note 10.1 i'm still fairly new to android, so my apologies if all of this sounds ignorant or.. "newbish".

Problems I've come across:

- Using root checker pro i've compiled the detailed results on the bottom. It should also be noted that i was prompted, "root access not properly configured or was not granted." It will say that superuser was not installed but I can assure that it's on my app drawer.

Root Access is not properly configured or was not granted.

Super User Applications Status:
Superuser application - is NOT installed.
SuperSU application - version 1.41 - is installed!

System File Properties for Root Access:
Standard Location
Check Command: ls -l /system/bin/su:
Result: /system/bin/su: No such file or directory
Analysis: File /system/bin/su does not exist.

Standard Location
Check Command: ls -l /system/xbin/su:
Result: /system/xbin/su: No such file or directory
Analysis: File /system/xbin/su does not exist.

Alternative Location
Check Command: ls -l /sbin/su:
Result: /sbin/su: Permission denied
Analysis: File system permissions restricted and denied access.

Alternative Location
Check Command: ls -l /system/xbin/sudo:
Result: /system/xbin/sudo: No such file or directory
Analysis: File /system/xbin/sudo does not exist.

Root User ID and Group ID Status:
SU binary not found or not operating properly

System Environment PATH: /sbin /vendor/bin /system/sbin /system/bin /system/xbin

ADB Shell Default User:
ADB shell setting for standard access, stored in default.prop, is configured as: shell (non root) user - ro.secure=1

- For reference, i've also tried an app that required root (GMusicFS) but it tells me "Device is not rooted"

- I read up on the site how to use odin to remove the root but my current baseband doesn't match the baseband of the md5 files supplied as the end letters like MDL do not match with my own which are MF3. My fears are that i'll brick it, especially if it isn't necessary to do so given that my root went unsuccessful.

- Tried using the Updater to see if it tells me that my phone is up to date after attempting the root, but after being stuck on "contacting DM server" for a good 10 minutes and force closing it, it prompted me that the process was interrupted and that the phone was up to date. What worries me is that the updater may or may not be broken after the root attempt

General Questions:

- Is it necessary to unroot my phone given that there is no root present to begin with? or will there be any recurring problems if i don't do so?

- Is the updater to my phone broken because of the root attempt or is it something else?

- Will Odin brick my phone if i use it with the current files and should i wait until an mf3 file shows up if i need to unroot? (my common sense tells me that if i do it will brick it, but i want to get someone else's opinion on it if it's possible)

- Can i remove the superuser app manually and will it be safe if i do it?

- Did the root attempt on motochopper work to a certain point or did it not go through at all?

- When is it expected that we'll see a fix for the mf3 baseband and see a root program for it? I'm aware that it locks the bootloader too and some deeming it impossible at the moment but i'm just curious.

Any help to these questions is very much appreciated and if there's anything that i've missed to which you need more info on i'd be glad to respond.