[Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II] farrellts:
Please, I hope somebody doesn't start berating me for not reading XDA posts about my Verizon Galaxy Note II more thoroughly. I have read many over recent years and been saved by quite a few during the hacking of my SCH-I605. Furthermore, I've been working in software development and network administration for decades now, so please don't somebody suggest I not mess with rooting my phone, custom recoveries, et cetera. I am here asking questions to make sure I don't hard brick my phone. Not asking resulted, about two months ago, in almost succeeding at Kobol's very interesting "short the tiny resistor" mode of getting out of a boot loop. I have a fully functioning phone now running rooted Kitkat and it's a sturdy platform, runs really great after I melted most of the bloatware and froze the rest (in case I ever need it), but I'd still like to move on to Lollipop and there is only one means for doing so which I know of (CyanogenMod), which I think may be problematic unless I am able to reflash an earlier ROM with unlocked bootloader.

The basic question I need verified is multi-part but basically boils down to this:

1. Is it or is it not true that if one is at baseband version I605VRUFND7, the bootloader is locked and one cannot install a custom recovery? (I think I read that in a few places anyhow.)

2. Is it or is it not possible to flash back to I605VRALJB from rooted I605VRUFND7?

3. Is flashing back to I605VRALJB, then installing TRWP or CWM, then using custom recovery to flash the latest CM12.x the best and only way to get from rooted Kitkat to rooted Lollipop?

4. I know there are some functional improvements in Lollipop but are they really that significant? I like the whole "material" thing which comes with Lollipop, but not at the price of loss of functionality.

Anyhow, here's my little sob story, which has a happy ending -- perhaps some of these details will elucidate my situation and lead to better answers:

I got tired of waiting around for Lollipop and had been unrooted by Kitkat for almost a year when I rooted again back in July 2015. I had wanted to go with the latest CyanogenMod Lollipop version, but ran into problems first using Heimdall (which refused to properly connect and write) and then trying Odin (against best advice post-root) to install a custom recovery (preferred TWRP but would go with CWM). Always led to that "unauthorized software" boot screen, which then necessitated reinstalling stock Kitkat and rerooting (I found the Ghettoroot .BAT file worked okay.) All was well, I was too busy to think about Lollipop but I woke up one morning about a month after I rooted Kitkat to find my Note II was stuck on red Verizon book splash-screen. Found a great article and YouTube showing all the keypress sequences which might exit a Note II from been stuck in boot -- but unfortunately not until after my further finagling just left me with a dead no-display-at-all device. I undertook Kobol's method, which requires partially reassembling the Note II's electronics outside its case and attempt to reboot with a very tiny screwdriver shorting a minute resistor on the motherboard right adjacent to the CPU -- I did in fact see the screen flash on briefly -- but I held my little screwdriver down too hard, accidentally gouged out the tiny resistor, and ended up buying a refurbished motherboard which very likely may have been scavenged from a stolen phone before going on sale on eBay. New motherboard worked great, I erased the original owner's info and data and proceeded to reinstall and root Kitkat. (Motherboard was already at I605VRUFND7) when I received it.

Anyhow, I also tried to install a custom recovery after I had new motherboard and rooted Kitkat. Using the TWRP Manager app put me back on the "unauthorized software" boot failure screen from Verizon, but I was able to Odin back Kitkat easily enough without losing my apps and configuration data. I believe I tried to use ROM Manager and Flashify as well -- but didn't find those apps very cooperative (though I didn't bother to upgrade to "pro" level on any of these in cast that matters). Unless I am mistaken, all these apps just place a zipped update file in the root of my internal SD card and then just hand it over to the Note II's stock recovery. I figured I just needed to stop and regroup later. That was a few weeks now.

Honestly, after the ordeal of having to replace a broken motherboard, and also -- after having looked at Verizon, Sprint and AT&T and the new Galaxy devices with no removable back and cracking the phone open necessary to replace the battery or upgrade the hidden microSD card and not liking that one would have to pay $600 over two years for a smartphone even further crippled at the cell carriers' requests -- it's even more important to me to be careful not to damage my Note II. (In fact, my Note II had turned out to be irreparable, I might even have even bought a refurbished unlocked Note 2 or 3 or 4 -- Samsung has made a real error on their latest generation of phones with their sealed backs and no user-accessible microSD reader.)

Yet, perhaps naively, I really do want to move on to Lollipop and even Marshmallow when CyanogenMod makes that available. So I really would appreciate it if you guys can verify whether what I intend to do (downgrading to pre-Kitkat in order to install custom recovery and then CM12.x) is workable? Or if there's a better solution? Or if I should just be content to have Kitkat rooted with all the fat cut off?

Many thanks. Hope my digression was not too long. Please don't anybody yell at me. XDA Developer's web forum is so full of very useful write-ups but unfortunately also some incorrect information and a lot of just plain useless posts -- it's really difficult sometimes to tell posts by guys who are actually experts from post by well-meaning folks with a lot of ideas but not so much expertise specific to SCH-I605 and VRUFND7. And I really need to get this right. (Granted that nobody on the forum can be held culpable should on mess up my phone based on their advice.)

Thanks once again!