[Samsung Galaxy S8 ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Oth] partcyborg:
DEPRECATED

This firmware is old and deprecated.

See the below link for new firmware and a better root method.

https://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s8/development/root-partcyborgrom-aqi6-deodexed-t3702988

You can just flash the BL_ tarball if you don't want to install a new system

but want the better screen and modem drivers.

PART 2: FIRMWARE RELOADED

I have done extensive research into the issues reported by those of you who are still experiencing screen issues.

I was unable to reproduce the screen issue on my then-current firmware with this update.

Not being content to leave people with buggy screens, I learned as much as I could about the s8 firmware.

This is what I did with that information.

Flashable Custom Firmware Package For ALL SM-G950U/U1 ON US CARRIERS

If you have a non-us G950U and want to install this pm me or ask in the thread and ill make one. Its very simple but I wanted to get this out to everyone else ASAP

​

NOTICE!

This an UPDATE (and More) to the Green/Garbled Screen Issue firmware.

There is NEW firmware to download below, and everyone who is rooted should read on, even if you installed the previous version.

Background

At the core of the issue with the garbled screen, modem panics, and sd card issues are two central themes: Bugs, and Incompatibilities. The S8 family of phones was fraught with issues early in its release, including the infamous "Red Tint', Fingerprint scanner malfunctions, mysteriously poor battery life, and surely a bunch of smaller others. Many of these bugs were caused by issues in the device's underlying firmware. Like most devices, Samsung has worked to fix these bugs and improve device performance throughout the phones lifetime for sale in public.

Root Bugs

The problem was unfortunately worse for users of one of the rooting methods for the S8. The biggest reason for this is that in order to relax security constraints enough to make rooting possible, a "non-user oriented", "factory" combination firmware was used. This firmware, being designed apparently for configuration/repair processes inside a factory, was not tuned to the normal level as the public firmware, likely did not go through the same testing, and ultimately any bugs unique to this "Combination" firmware that did not directly affect basic functionality or also stock were probably largely initially ignored.

This is where most of the issues that you all have had come from.

Finding a Solution

As I was unable to reproduce the issue on my device without resorting to the original firmware shipped out with the root method I used, I decided to think about what made my device different than the other devices reporting these issues. While sure we may have slightly varying hardware and that may contribute to these issues as well. What I am absolutely certain of is that most of us have different releases of software from each other. Not only have people essentially ad-hoc upgraded from the original firmware they rooted with until now, many have not upgraded at all or, only partially upgraded (such as with the pervious version of this).

While I could have simply packaged up my firmware/bootloader flashfire backup, I decided to take it a step further.

THE GOODS

Without further ado, I present to you:

S8Root Improved: A SM-G950U1 Custom Firmware Package for Root Users

This package contains a custom mix of the latest AQH3 STOCK (not combination) firmware used wherever possible with the Necessary boot/kernel images from the combination firmware necessary to keep root working with permissive SELinux. It contains all of the improvements from the previous version, and many more.

RESULTS

I can only speak for myself, but the results I experienced were amazing:

- Better UI Responsiveness.

Things surprise me how they move

- Sharper/brighter screen colors

I thought it couldn't get better than the last version but it has! Everything just looks crisper and are super bright without being oversaturated like with the Adaptie Mode.

- POSSIBLY Improved LTE network connectivity.

Note I said POSSIBLY. I personally regularly experienced 8-10Mb/s download bumps and 2-3Mb/s upload bumps in LTE while moving back and forth from this new firmware. I have my LTE radio locked to a specific channel (there are two i pick up at my place and one is terrible) and I carefully measured -107 to -112 dBm RSRP and -13 to -14 dB RSRQ prior to each measurement. I almost left this out but I figured it would be better to give you the information with no conclusion either way. It ABSOLUTELY could be Atmospheric changes, Traffic level changes, or any other of a million thins. YMMV

- Could POTENTIALLY still any remaining fix long-standing SDCard issues

I did not experience this, but had a few reports from users that did. The same pieces used in that version that would touch SDcard usage are used here, so that fix/improvement will carry over.

DISCLAIMER

Unfortunately proving beyond any shadow of a doubt that this package fixes the issue was impossible . I have TRIED AND TRIED AND TRIED to trigger the screen issues, including tweaking on and off every setting (auto brightness, multiple DPIs, different graphs modes, etc) I could get my hands on and it just was not happening. I used every software/systems trick I could think of to break this again, and I was completely unable to tickle the bug on this firmware, despite being able to reliably trigger it almost on command using my previous firmware.

The only thing left to do is either:

- Get the source from samsung, fix the bug myself, and get them to sign my new kernel image with their key so our locked bootloaders would allow it (HAHA I DOUBT IT)

- Acquire a large fleet of S8s (and S8+s) to run distributed integration testing (like the kind Android use at Google). Well if someone wants to buy me a few dozen s8s and s8+s (each) sure I'll take a month off work and squash this, but otherwise not gonna happen either.

If it STILL happens for you, I'm sorry.

I have done everything I can think of, and if it happens to you and you have suggestions, I'm all ears.

BUT HEY, but this is XDA right? Land of mods like Xposed which will brick one persons device and work flawlessly on the identical one next to it. And we love Xposed don't we?

Despite absolutely hilarious comments to the contrary, this package absolutely meets the (aka "BugFix") as well as just about any android update ever does, given the wide variety of environments, usecases and software configurations out there. I surely hope that this works for you.

Instructions

1) Download the package from the link above.

- Here it is Again for good measure.

2) Reboot into download mode and flash using Comsy Odin

Thats it! I packaged this in a way to make the process as smooth as possible.

There is NO reinstall, NO wipe of any kind, nor ANY further work on your part needed to install and use this.

The file size is small so the download is fast, and again, there is NO WIPE or config change needed.

if (for some inexplicable reason) you want to roll back, or go to 100% stock sans root, that process should not be made any more difficult as well.

Legacy Information

If you were here before and either looked at or downloaded the previous version, AND YOU HAVE NO QUESTIONS you can skip this part.

If you have questions, please read through to the end of the post before asking them, as I tried to answer as many as I could before hand and all of this information still applies.

WHAT IT IS NOT:

I wanted to outline a few things it is NOT about, to make a valliant effort to stem off the flow of questions before they begin (ha!):

NOT: A new Stock ROM for Your Phone

THIS IS NOT A FULL OS BUILD! DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE THING AND FLASH IT EXPECTING AN ENTIRELY UPGRADED OS.

There is no full stock AQI1 image I have found. Believe me I looked a bunch of places after I found it

NOT: Oreo Early Preview

Given the predictions that the next release from Samsung would likely be Oreo, there was some initial over excitement. This wound up being NOT the case and if you read at least current Samsung Oreo projections they are predicting AQB now.

NOT: A Fix for the 80% Battery Issue

I know this is completely futile to hope for but:

THIS DOES NOT FIX THE 80% BATTERY ISSUE!!!!

NO WE DO NOT HAVE A FIX FOR THAT OR ONE COMING ANY TIME SOON!

YES SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL TRYING!

PLEASE DO NOT ASK! OFF TOPIC FOR THS THREAD

NOT: Currently Tested by ANYONE but ME

Since the moment I installed this I have not had ONE SINGLE screen issue, where previously I would have them several times throughout the day (at least 3 sometimes upwards of 6). For the case of ME and MY device, I am confident in declaring that this boot ROM does not have the same kernel bug that was causing the issue on the boot.img provided as part of your traditional root method.

NOTE: This is for the s8 G950 US Snapdragon models ONLY! Do NOT Flash this on your exynos, your Chinese/HK S8, your N8, your MOTO RAZR flip phone, whatever else you have. Kernels/boot.img files are very device specific and you will surely break it if not completely brick it.

DISCLAIMER:

YOUR WARRANTY IS ALREADY VOID if you are paying attention and are doing this to fix bugs with the existing sampwnd root.

HOWEVER IT IS EVEN VOIDER NOW. FLASH THUS TO YOUR DEVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

and if you break it I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE! FLASH AT YOUR OWN RISK!

As I said I have not tested this anywhere but my phone as I dont have any other s8s nor do I have access to any locally. I hope it works for you as well as it has for me.

STEPS

Download Boot Image

Use the URL here to Download the AQI1 boot.img file: Go Download the New Hotness

Prepare Phone for Flashing in FlashFire

If you did not download it on your phone, copy it somewhere FlashFire can see it.

Flash it

Open up FlashFire

Hit the "+" button

Select the "Flash Firmware Package" option, NOT the "Flash Zip or OTA" option!

You should see a popup window thing that has a checkbox next to the word BOOT, with "boot.img, 22MiB" underneath.

Make sure the checkbox is checked.

Make sure that it says BOOT above boot.img.

I have no idea if its possible for this to get messed up, but BOOT implies flashing the BOOT partition so if it says something else you are headed towards brick town, abort immediately.

Press the Check mark at the top right corner once you have confirmed the two things above.

MAKE SURE EVER ROOT IS DISABLED!!!

Click on the "Reboot" box, and choose "Recovery". MAKE SURE PRESERVE RECOVERY IS NOT CHECKED!

Back at the main menu, click the lightening bolt next to the word FLASH. Confirm.

Wait for FlashFire to do its thing. Sometimes it takes a minute for FF to wake up and start flashing. Occasionally for me it never happens, if this happens DO NOT PANIC ITS FINE. Hold down power+volDown until you eventually wind up in upload mode, then just reboot normally and everything will come back fine.

When FlashFire finishes (it will go really fast, the image is only 22MB we arent flashing a 5GB system here), it will auto-reboot your device into the recovery men

Select Wipe Cache and Confirm

This will wipe cache which is fine and safe. Again maybe not needed, feel free to skip if you know what you are doing. If you mess up and accidentally click factory reset instead, please tell me so I can laugh at you.

Reboot into a Clear New World

Select reboot and boot the system normally. If you formatted the cache partition above, it will take a little longer to start your phone. This is just the first time per normal.

Thats it! Welcome to the world of clear screens and bright colors. It could be a total placebo effect but I actually think this kernel drives the display better sometimes.

Please let me know what you think, and if this works for you. I wi;; be here for a while to answer questions or fix anything i typoed above or whatever.

FYI: A s8+ thread is coming too, as I sprung for purchasing both downloads to be an equal opportunity XDAer (at least with US flagship Samsung devices lol) but since I have an s8 and thus had the files locally already I made this one first :)

[MENTION=7308704]jhofseth[/MENTION] for nerding out with me the last few nights on trying crazy **** to get a bootloader unlock which prompted me to dig at this in the first place

Most of all, all of the tons of you who have made so many aewesome mods, themes, apps, what have you that I use every day and that make me enjoy my device all the more. I could not be happier to have the opportunity to give back a little.

Here is the restof the s8 combo firm if you are interested, but don't just flash this as its not a full OS:

EDIT: DOWNLOAD THE NEW ONE ABOVE