[Fire TV General] TripFlex:
Rooted AFTV purchased on 8/13/14

Rooted AFTV purchased on 8/13/14, rooted 8/14/14

Saw all the conversations going on about rooting any newly purchased AFTV devices and wanted to let everyone know how, and what I did to root mine that I just ordered from Amazon yesterday and received today.

The AFTV I ordered yesterday came with Firmware Version 51.1.0.1_user_510055620

You guys shouldn't have any problem with ordering an AFTV and getting the new firmware on it for a little while. Reason being, when they manufacturer the devices they probably pre-load them with firmware or Amazon loads it when they receive shipment. Unless Amazon is packaging the devices themselves (which it does not appear to be the case), I think it will be a while before they start shipping ones with the new firmware.

The packaging (wrapping, etc) all leads me to believe they are packaged in China, and probably loaded with firmware there as well. Meaning the stock Amazon has in their warehouses are all probably using the same firmware.

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How I rooted my AFTV

So I read a bunch of the concerns on here about auto upgrade happening, requirements to have network connection, etc, so here's what I did to make sure I did not have this problem. I want to point out, you must have internet connection at first for the device to get to menu, otherwise it will keep giving you an error.

If you have access to your home router, I STRONGLY suggest blocking the IP/domain for amazon just in case...here's a good tutorial of how to do it:

http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-block-amazon-fire-tv-update-to-ensure-rooting/

I didn't follow that tutorial (which should work), all I did was login to my router and add a static DNS entry. I then pointed that DNS entry to my router for each of the following domains, that way when the AFTV tries to connect to those domains it actually connects to my router and fails.

firs-ta-g7g.amazon.com

amzdigitaldownloads.edgesuite.net

updates.amazon.com

I did monitor the traffic through my router and these were the only ones that stood out to me

This may not be necessary but I did it just in case.

First boot on AFTV

So on the first boot of your device it's going to make the network connection, you must have internet connection available during this period otherwise you will never get past the setup screen. What I did was to boot the device and let it connect to the network, it will then show a brief screen that says Checking for updates... and then start a tutorial on the device (white background with guy walking you through it), when the tutorial video starts playing is when I unplugged my cable modem.

Unfortunately you have to sit through the entire video (if you hit back key you will have to go through it again), and once the video was done, the AFTV showed the main menu. Voila!

Now that you're at the main menu you can follow the normal instructions to root the device, but keep in mind if you use TowelRoot it does require internet connection. Once I had sideloaded the towelroot APK (sideloaded using adbFire) and started it from Applications menu in settings, I then reconnected my cable modem, gave it a minute to obtain an IP, then rooted the device, installed SU and BusyBox ... profit!

Hopefully this helps someone else out or gives others a nice warm and fuzzy to root theirs with the recent update out, I didn't have any issues and "technically" you shouldn't either ... either way, GOOD LUCK!