[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Trainerwump:
So I was late to the dance as far as rooting and installing custom ROMS on a ATT S4. I was able to get a custom ROM on my phone but like the original post I had to do a fair amount of research. And much like the original author and contributors I wanted to try and make it a little easier for others. I will share a modified version of the original post. To be clear I created nothing I just tried to update and tie together the help that others before me left. (As you are looking at their contributions make sure to send a thanks to those folks.) Also please know I have no actual knowledge of ROMS and coding. I just have a descent amount of patience and a curiosity to find a way. If you mess your phone up I cannot help you because I have no real understanding. Good luck and please don’t take any risks if you are uncomfortable with the possibility of a broken outcome.

The changes I made are in this style text.

*I was able to use the newer OK2 kernal instead of the OC3.

* I also found a solution for what seems like the most current common issue Flashfire not working. As of March 2017.

1 REGARDING THE NEW PLAY STORE FLASHFIRE APP. APPARENTLY IT CAUSES THE ROM TO HANG ON THE ATT SCREEN. IT DOESN’T WORK. TRY AN EARLIER VERSION

2 REGARDING WHERE TO FIND A VERSION OF FLASHFIRE THAT WILL WORK http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/chainf...flashfire-0-53-android-apk-download/#whatsnew

3 REGARDING THOSE USING VERSION FLASHFIRE 53 SEE IT START AND THEN CLOSE IMMEDIATELY. THERE IS A TIME SENSTIVE FEATURE IN THE PROGRAM. YOU MUST CHANGE THE DATE SETTING ON THE OPERATING SYSTEM

Please note I grew up without computers and cell phones so if the links don’t go try the links in post #260 of this thread or post #1. For that I am sorry. Please double check that the downloads match up to what I have written since I don't really know how to embed things but just cut and copy.

Although I did more reading then is reported here the main sources used are all of these referenced in the original post as well as their corresponding threads One of note was post #260 in this thread. (Regarding post 260 I am unsure why step 2 is necessary. I have tried it both ways and see no difference in the end result.)

Interesting Reading

I came across a brief post saying that it is possible to flash Lollipop compatible ROMS from NB1 (KitKat) if you go back and also flash the appropriate kernal and module. Maybe someone looking to help the community could put a checklist together with sources for the appropriate modules and kernals. One thing I wonder about is if I use a 5.X.X ROM can I use OC3, OC4, OK2, or OK3 files since these are all 5.X.X kernals? This could really save folks time and problems.

Life requires that I be away for a while so I will be unable to reply to questions so I wish you good luck and hope this helps. Peace.

1. Preparation

1.1 READ THROUGH THIS POST 27 TIMES (NO LESS, NO MORE) AND MAKE SURE YOU "GET IT". IF NECESSARY, READ THE THREADS LINKED THROUGHOUT THIS POST. <<< THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE PROCESS. IF YOU JUST READ THE FIRST FEW STEPS AND START FLASHING CRAP, YOU ARE GOING TO F SOMETHING UP. READ IT ALL, UNDERSTAND IT, THEN DO IT. I CAN'T EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH.

1.2 Backup. Back your stuff up. Back it all up - ALL of it. Understand that whatever you do not back up now, YOU WILL LOSE. This process is going to wipe your device clean. Anything you want to save, you need to back it up now.

1.2.1 Do not use Titanium Backup - for anything. It will F your stuff up. Which is unfortunate, because TB is a great app that is incredibly useful - just not this time. Apparently TB has issues when migrating form one version of Android to another (i.e. 4.x.x to 5.x.x). Sorry, but you gotta do it manually.

1.2.2 Copy your pics/vids to your PC

1.2.3 Use "SMS Backup& Restore" from the Play store

1.2.4 Let Google sync your contacts and calendar.

1.2.5 Any apps that store your data locally (not sync'd to their server) - manually find it (I like ES File Explorer) and copy it to your PC if you care about it.

All of that said - I found that wiping my device and migrating to Lollipop was a GREAT way to clean a bunch of useless crap I no longer needed off of my phone.

2. Rooting and Flashing STOCK KitKat (4.4.2) ROM (relevant thread - see post #2, under the "NB1 - KitKat 4.4.2 > Option 2" section.

Note: The reason you have to do this is because you must have rooted Lollipop on your device in order to flash custom Lollipop ROMS. If you just want stock, non-rooted Lollipop maybe you COULD just use Odin to flash Lollipop directly? But there is no way to get root on Lollipop directly - and you must be rooted if you want to wind up with a custom ROM. So you have to do this intermediate step of flashing and rooting a 4.4.x or higher OS. This version of NB1 is easiest because you can use Odin to flash a ROOTABLE ROM which makes the root process simple with Towelroot.

2.1 Download Odin v3.09 here. Place on PC.

2.2 Download ROOTABLE NB1 ROM here. Place on PC.

2.3 Download towelroot v3 here. Place on PC and copy to device (likely your SD card).

2.4 Use Odin to flash ROOTABLE NB1 ROM to your device. When the phone boots up, just speed through the "initial setup" screens, it doesn't matter since you're going to install a couple more ROMs before the finished product.

2.5 Go to settings>more>security and check "unknown apps", and uncheck "verify sources".

2.5 Navigate to towelroot v3, and install it.

2.6 Open towelroot and click the "make it rain" button.

2.7 Consider installing supersu from play store

Congrats, you are now rooted on KitKat NB1.

3. Upgrading to ROOTED STOCK OC3 (Lollipop) using "keep root" method (relevant thread)

As mentioned, this process takes you from ROOTED NB1 (KitKat, 4.4.x) to OC3 (Lollipop, 5.x.x). The only way to get rooted OC3 is to first get root in any 4.4.x version or higher and then upgrade to OC3 using the "keep root" method. There is (as of this writing) no way to root OC3 Lollipop directly. "keep root" reference thread - post #1

3.1 Download Flashfire app using below steps.

3.1.1 Go to http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/chainf...flashfire-0-53-android-apk-download/#whatsnew

3.1.2 I Downloaded [root] FlashFire 0.53 (September 21, 2016) It seemed like other folks were having good success during this time frame.

3.1.3 Place on SD card.

3.2 Download I337_OK2_Stock_Rooted_ROM

B]

Original post #260 https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=69432294&postcount=260 Thank you eevee67. If the links above are wonky go to post #260.

[/B]3.3 Place ROM on SD card.

3.4 Make CERTAIN that the Android system date is before February 1, 2017. Even if you turn off the “Automatic Date and Time Option” if you are getting updates in the background Google automatically updates the date. Double and triple check. If Flashfire installs and starts but doesn’t do anything this may be the issue.

3.4.1 Install Flashfire

3.5 Use Flashfire to flash ROM (see "keep root" reference thread from above for specific details of using Flashfire)

Congrats, you are now on rooted (stock) Lollipop.

4. Install your CUSTOM Lollipop ROM

4.1 Download ROM and prepare Safestrap recovery

4.1.1 Download your chosen ROM. I chose Goldeneye v53 here. (I chose Goldeneye because after brief reading, Goldeneye seemed to be one of the more stable options, and stability is what I wanted when going through this the first time.) Place it on your SD card. Here are other options for Lollipop custom ROMs on AT&T GS4. If you happen to wander into the development section and see all the shiny, new, intriguing ROMs floating around, keep in mind that most of them won't work for the AT&T GS4. Any custom ROM on this device must be based on Touchwiz and setup to be compatible with safestrap - only a handful meet those criteria.

4.1.2 Download Safestrap v3.75 here. Place it on your SD card. Do not install it at this point, Safestrap is currently not compatible with Lollipop - you are going to flash a different Kernel in Step 4.2 to work around this.

4.1.3 Download BusyBox from Play store

4.1.4 Install BusyBox on your device.

4.1.5 Install Safestap 3.75

4.1.6 Open Safestrap

4.1.7 I did not do this step because I did not start this process with any previous version of SS on my phone. But if you did have a previous SS recovery installed, use the Safestrap to "uninstall" the previous recovery version. It is my understanding that you can't install v3.75 on top of another version, you need to first remove the old version before installing the new version. The "uninstall" option is done from within the SS app, not the Android application manager - you are uninstalling the custom recovery, not the SS app.

4.1.8 "Install Recovery" (from within Safestrap). NOTE: this only INSTALLS safestrap, it does not boot you into safestrap recovery. There is no need to go into safestrap recovery yet. That's later.

4.2 Flash NC1 Kernel

As mentioned above, you need to flash the NC1 Kernel so that you can do your thing in Safestrap. But then you MUST remember to reflash the OC3 Kernel after using Safestrap to install the ROM, or else your phone will explode (probably).

4.2.1 Download NC1 flasher app from here.

UNZIP THE APK. Place the APK

on your SD card.

4.2.2 Download

I337_Stock_OK2_kernel

. Place it on your SD card.

4.2.3 Download

ATT_OK2_modules

. Place it on your SD card.

Original post #260 https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=69432294&postcount=260 Thank you eevee67. If the links above are wonky go to post #260.

4.2.4 Open NC1 flasher app and press "flash" (it's the only button)

4.2.5 Wait for completion and press reboot. NOW you will get automatically rebooted into safestrap recovery.

4.3 Install your custom ROM!!!

(note: all the below is done in safestrap recovery)

4.3.1 Go to "Wipe" and perform factory reset (will wipe system data, cache, and dalvik)

4.3.2 Flash your ROM. For Goldeneye ROM, it uses the AROMA installer. Choose the options that you like, but make sure to READ THEM ALL BEFORE SELECTING ANYTHING - IF ONE OF THE OPTIONS MENTIONS AT&T/SAFESTRAP, YOU MUST CHOOSE THAT OPTION. HELLFIRE, BRIMSTONE, AND ETERNAL DAMNATION WILL AWAIT YOU IF YOU CHOOSE ANOTHER OPTION.

4.3.3 At the end of the ROM installation, uncheck the "reboot now" option and continue - it will send you back to safestrap.

4.3.4 From within SS, install the

OK2

modules from your SD card.

4.3.5 From within SS, install the I337_Stock_

OK2

_kernel_recovery_flashable from your SD card.

4.3.6 Reboot > system

4.3.7 Keep hitting "continue" when you get the safestrap recovery screen. This is a symptom of Lollipop not being compatible with Safestrap. Hit "continue" repeatedly (like 4 or 5 times) and eventually you will get into your ROM.

4.3.8 (Optional) Install safestrap.apk (that you d/l to your SD card) to your phone, and then use it to UNINSTALL recovery. This will avoid the above step 4.3.7 happening every time you reboot your phone.

Congrats, you now have a custom Lollipop ROM running on your device.