[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Cordial Humanoid:
Dear XDA-Developers members, I have acquired a Mediatek MT6572 chip phone ("Jiake M4" brand) running Android Kitkat 4.4.2, and am trying to root it or install a better ROM in order to get rid of possible malware on it. I need help understanding what to do - there are a lot of mediatek related guides, but I am unsure if any of them apply to my situation. At the end of this message I have tried to put as much information as I can find about the phone - let me know if there is anything more I could find out.

What I have already tried to do:

- The stock ROM on the phone contained malware/adware - ad overlays on the browser etc.

- I downloaded a ROM from EasyFirmware.com and installed it using the SP Flash Tool. However, it turns out the ROM is slightly incompatible: camera picture is vertically flipped. I can live with that, but I think the phone still may contain some malware apps/processes: it shows some app ads in notifications, and autodownloads some "feedback" app.

- I would like to download some other MT6572 rom and "port" it, which I understand is needed for Mediatek devices. But I am unsure how to do it: all the guides I have seen start with requiring a backup, and that in turn requires root.

- A root checker app I downloaded said the phone is rooted but I think the phone/rom does not have a "proper" root, as I do not have a visible "SuperUser" app and I am unable to run root browser/busybox/superSU without error. Details below.

- I also tried downloading a version of MT Droid Tool and pressing the "Root

I am not sure how to continue from here:

- Should I try to install a "proper" root, how could I do that?

- As far as I understand, porting another rom requires copying some files from the stock ROM to the ROM I want to install. I don't have the stock ROM, only the one I installed (link below): will the contents of that work in place of the stock ROM, since I was able to install it on the phone? I am also unsure which files to copy - basically, I am willing to try any ROM you think would work for the phone.

Basic phone details:

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Brand: Jiake M4

SoC: MediaTek MT6572

CPU: ARM Cortex-A7, 1000 MHz, Cores: 2

GPU: ARM Mali-400 MP1, 500 MHz, Cores: 1

RAM: 512 MB, 266 MHz

Storage: 2 GB

Memory cards: microSD, microSDHC

Display: 5 in, TFT, 480 x 854 pixels, 24 bit

Battery: 2800 mAh, Li-Ion

OS: Android 4.4.2 KitKat

Camera: 1600 x 1200 pixels

SIM card: Mini-SIM, Micro-SIM

Wi-Fi: b, g, n, Wi-Fi Hotspot

USB: 2.0, Micro USB

Bluetooth: 4.0

Positioning: GPS, A-GPS

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Currently installed rom: "Jiake-M4_4.4.2_MT6572_SCATTER.7Z" from https://easy-firmware.com/index.php?a=browse&b=category&id=13386

How did I install it: by using the SP Flash Tool that came with the ROM download.

Contents of the ROM:

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30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 4,216,832 boot.img

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 6,152,400 cache.img

19-Aug-15 01:20 PM 308 Checksum.ini

04-May-13 01:21 AM 167,936 CheckSum_Gen.exe

19-Aug-15 10:26 AM <DIR> database

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 512 EBR1

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 264,796 lk.bin

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 244,889 logo.bin

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 512 MBR

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 7,213 MT6572_Android_scatter.txt

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 100,812 preloader_yuanda72_cwet_kk.bin

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 4,593,664 recovery.img

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 135,168 secro.img

30-Oct-14 04:07 AM 646,223,152 system.img

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 24,158,776 userdata.img

Contents of the "database" subdirectory:

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 164,284 APDB_MT6572_S01_KK1.MP7_

30-Oct-14 02:36 AM 5,562,957 BPLGUInfoCustomAppSrcP_MT6572_S00_MOLY_WR8_W1315_MD_WG_MP_V43_1_wg_n

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"About phone" details:

Model number: V9 (notice this is not the same as M4! Apparently the ROM I installed was designed for V9 instead of M4)

Android version: 4.4.2

Baseband version: MOLY.WR8.W1315.MD.WG.MP.V43, 2014/09/17 10:10

Kernel version: 3.4.6 root@zy-19 #1 Mon Oct 20 14:43:01 CST 2014/09/17

Build number: A100_72KK_KK_3G_EMMC_32_4_XLD_Z10 20141028-170856

Custom build version: 1414486936

Developer options: USB debugging is enabled.

Recovery details: I can enter recovery by holding the power button and volume down at bootup.

The phone has the following recovery:

Android system recovery <3e>

A100_72KK_KK_3G_EMMC_32_4_XLD_Z10 20141

Installing and opening Root Browser says: "Unfortunately, Root Browser has stopped."

Installing and opening BusyBox Free says: "There was a problem opening a shell with root access. This is either being caused by superuser/supersu or by a device that is inproperly rooted. Try removing superuser/supersu permissions, uninstalling this application, reinstalling this application, and then regranting superuser/supersu permissions for this application. You can check your device to see if it is properly rooted by downloading RootChecker from the Android market."

Installing and opening SuperSU Free says: "SU Binary occupied"

Installing "Terminal Emulator for Android" and typing 'mount' says:

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rootfs / rootfs ro,seclabel,relatime 0 0

tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0

devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0

proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0

sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0

selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0

none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0

none /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=750,gid=1000 0 0

tmpfs /mnt/secure tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=700 0 0

tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0

tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0

none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0

/emmc@android /system ext4 ro,seclabel,noatime,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,data=ordered 0 0

/emmc@usrdata /data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0

/emmc@cache /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0

/emmc@protect_f /protect_f ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodelalloc,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,data=ordered 0 0

/emmc@protect_s /protect_s ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodelalloc,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,data=ordered 0 0

/dev/block/loop0 /mnt/cd-rom iso9660 ro,relatime 0 0

/dev/block/vold/179:7 /mnt/media_rw/sdcard0 vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0

/dev/block/vold/179:7 /mnt/secure/asec vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0

/dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0

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