[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] expat42451:
Problems installing Safestrap

Newbie to the SGH I337. First thanks to everyone here for the expertise and sharing the experience.

I am in Quito Ecuador. Bought from a cell shop here and I 337 AT&T branded. Running Android 4.4.2 with the 3.4.0-1125940 kernel. Build # KOT49H.I337UCUFNC1. Bootloader version I337UCUFNC1. Secure Boot Status type :Samsung. Security software version MDF v 1.0 Release 2. Made it rain and rooted the phone no problem after KingRoot failed (didn't try the desktop method). Verified this with RootChecker Basic.

Also installed per instructions SE Linux permissive(fromFDroid), changed to permissive and on boot looking at "about device" it indicates SE for Android status as Permissive.

Downloaded Safestrap 3.72, installed and tried to install recovery. When I touch install recovery it goes through a number of things then cleans up and at the bottom of the page says installation complete. State does not change at "Not Installed". Safe System says Not Active. The Reboot to recovery button is grayed out .

The phone is great but a disappointment in that I didn't do enough research before purchase. There are a number of things I can't do that I need to do with it, most notably use it as a wifi hotspot for my tablet. There is no control to turn on and off mobile data in the buttons on the pull down menu (AT&T doesn't want it turned off LOL) you have to go into settings. Likewise no button to turn on mobile hotspot. Only way I have found to do it is with the mobile hotspot button in the app drawer. Through that configuration wizard, I get a message that states " Mobile Data is not available or invalid SIM". Have Mobile data because I can check e mail browse &c&c. So mobile hotspot won't work as the phone currently sits. Additionally (and I don't understand any significance this may have) I get the Samsung "Custom" screen on boot with the unlocked lock. After that, the AT&T Deathstar.

In my efforts I earlier installed ROM Manager after doing several web searches. It attempted to install CWM Recovery- from researching it, it appeared to be compatible with this phone (what they indicated anyway). When I attempted to boot into recovery the phone instead would go into Download mode. When turned off, the phone would turn itself back on and go back to download mode. Only way to break that cycle was to force the phone into Download mode (vol down/home and per) and from the choices given (up to continue to download, down to reboot) then the reboot cycle could be broken. After that the phone powers on and boots as normal. ROM Manager when told to "reboot to recovery" would reboot to download mode.

What I want to do is install some sort of debloated rom for the phone. I have, since rooting, installed Root Browser and removed all of the Knox crap I can get my hands on but 1) given that I do NOT have a recovery installed 2) Have so far not been able to get any recovery installed I am a little hesitant to go too far.

Finally I am on the stock 4.4.2 ROM so I did not go through the first part of the NC1 "Odin to stock", I only did the latter half, rooting and trying to install Safestrap. Should I go through the "Odin to Stock" part at this point?

Any help or recommendations would be very very much appreciated. Not my first rodeo , have Odin installed and know pretty much how to use it, have rooted, and installed various ROM's on several phones past as well as rooted and rom'ed my tablet (Note 8 running Slimkat). However it is my first time to deal with this kind of locked boot loader. I know just enough to be dangerous.

Expat