[Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Namenottaken:
Hello out there.

I purchased an in box Samsung Galaxy S5 900A from At&t on Ebay. I purchased this phone because I knew that it was volte compatible with the phase out happening this month with old phones not compatible with volte. I use this phone with straighttalk and I am satisfied with it. The thing I discovered though is that I could not upgrade this phone from Android 5.0 to anything higher because I was not an ATT customer so these ota updates were pretty much out of my reach. I then stumbled onto this forum knowing that i needed to root my phone to continue. I followed the following guide which I will add here but please excuse me if I am doing it incorrectly:

Rooting the G900A

*Note for Mods: if you could sticky this thread that would be great, I think its really helpful ;)

NO THIS DOES NOT WORK ON THE G870A

Updated with even newer-er method on 03/04/2017

DISCLAIMER:

Code:

Your warranty is now void. I nor XDA is responsible for the effects this may have on your device or your life, whether that be bricking, loss of data, combustion, nuclear war, or the election of businessmen as President (wait what).

Remember, its not root that puts your device in danger, its how you use it.

If you don't know what a locked bootloader is, or think that Chainfire is a new video game, you shouldn't be here, go read a little about Android and the Galaxy S5 before continuing

So let's begin:

What You'll Need:

This *experimental* firmware: https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=745425885120704448 (Thanks @NavSad !)

The SuperSU APK, Towelroot, and FlashFire, all available from this zip: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=673368273298935990 Mirror

This modified "from-noship" pre-rooted OF3: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=673368273298933039

What To Do:

Step 1: Goin' Wayy Down

Use ODIN to flash the experimental firmware.

MASTER CAUTION: This will wipe ALL data on the device!! Backup your stuff before proceeding. I nor XDA is responsible for loss of your memes!

Simply flash the .TAR.MD5 file in the zip using the AP slot in ODIN, and then wait for the phone to boot (which is literally all of 10 seconds).

Step 2: Our Old Friend

After the OS is installed, go to the file manager and install Flashfire, SuperSU, and TowelRoot.

Run towelroot. Simply hit "make it ra1n" and 3 seconds later you'll have the root binaries installed.

Now open the SuperSU app and hit "new user", let it do its thing and then update the SU binaries (don't worry, its safe to reboot!)

At this point you've got root! Now, let's get back to the present!

Step 3: Back to the Future!

Open FlashFire, grant it root access, and flash the modified OF3 with these settings:

Mount /system read/write

A wipe isn't required, but it is recommended (if you do wipe, make sure to put that card B E F O R E the flash zip/ota card!)

Hit "flash", let it flash, reboot, and load.

Guess what? You're done! That's right, you've done all the steps!! Simpler than before, right?

The OLD Method:

This method is not recommended and is only here for historical purposes.

Thanks @NavSad, @DejaVuAgain, and everyone else for their help and hard work!

Last edited: Dec 4, 2017

Twitter @AptLogic_XDA | Former Android ROM Dev | Aviator, Student, Developer.

Need Assistance Fast? discord.gg/Android | Contact me directly on Discord: The Munsta#1106

I have done everything to the letter up to the start of step 3 but am uncertain what series of events I need to complete first. At the end of step two it states to update the binaries. I did that, but I did it "Normally" and not through TWRP. Was that the correct thing to do? When it comes to flashfire, I am uncertain what I need to set to what. I am unsure what correlates with mount/system read/write in relationship to this app. Am i doing this flash process with flashfire, rebooting and then using odin to flash the prerooted os3? I am confused as hell and am scared to death that I am going to screw my phone up. All i want is my phone to be unrooted, which is done and a way to complete this process with my phone looking somewhat like it did before. Right now, it's in a working limbo state, albeit with limited features. My phone is currently on version 4.4.2, Baseband G900AUCU44OF1, Kernel 3.4.0-2166968

Thank you.