Device Status: Modified??

[Kerry Heijn]

If u are still having this problem then I might have a solution for u. I had this same problem on my Samsung Galaxy S4 and I tried several solutions. I rooted my phone, I had the binary status as custom. Even in the device settings "About device > Status" it said "custom". While my phone is still rooted, I installed Triangle Away and did the flash counter reset, then I installed Rom Manager by CWM. I chose the reboot into recover mode and did a full factory data reset and then full cache wipe. After this my phone rebooted. Of course reinsert every setting as first boot of your phone. I checked my status again in the "About device > Status" and now it says "Device status: Official" and I can go back to getting updates by Samsung.

Just to tell you I am running on JB 4.2.2

 

[febzz]

Hi,

I bought a T-mobile Galaxy S3 LTE (SGH-T999L) from a Seller from Craigslist. He did tell me he installed a Custom ROM and right before selling it to me, he reinstalled the Stock Firmware.

What I hadn't realized until after I bought the Phone was apparently the Device Status under About Phone is now "Modified" instead of "Normal" or "Official". Now I can't receive OTA updates anymore (and I guess, not even via Kies).

I downloaded the Root Checker app from Play Store, and what the App says can be seen in the attached images:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cfht8arg16hlgdb/suNSnwF1Z8

I believe the Device is not rooted.

But when I went into the Download Mode, the Custom Binary Download says Yes (1 count), and both Current Binary and System Status shows Custom.

I am just a regular android user and have no experience in rooting whatsoever, and it seems that I may need to do something like this to get this fixed.

Can someone please guide me as to what I should do in order to restore everything to the Stock Firmware and put everything into "Official" or "Normal".

I tried looking for the answers but I ended up getting confused. I know I may need to do Triangle Away, then flash Stock Firmware again, then do Recovery, etc. But at this point, based on my phone's circumstances, where I should start? Since according to the App, it is not rooted anymore, but as far as I know, in order to use Triangle Away, the Phone must be rooted? Or, given my phone's current state, is there a way or shortcut to getting all this fixed (maybe I can skip a few steps)?

I really really appreciate the kindness and help from all Android Central members!

 

[meyerweb#CB]

It appears the previous owner didn't know enough to reset the flash counter before he unrooted.

BEFORE DOING ANYTHING, UNDERSTAND YOU'RE IN THE SPRINT SUBFORUM, and you absolutely should not follow the instructions in this forum or you'll risk bricking your phone.

You should probably post this question again in the T-Mobile forum, but as a general guideline I think you have two choices. One, leave the phone as it is. You won't be able to get OTA's, but when a new ROM update is available it will probably be extracted and made available in a file that you can manually apply. Two, root the phone, run Triangle Away, and unroot. But make sure you follow the instructions from the T-Mobile forum, and not the Sprint one:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-galaxy-s-iii-rooting-roms-hacks/

 

[febzz]

It appears the previous owner didn't know enough to reset the flash counter before he unrooted.

BEFORE DOING ANYTHING, UNDERSTAND YOU'RE IN THE SPRINT SUBFORUM, and you absolutely should not follow the instructions in this forum or you'll risk bricking your phone.

You should probably post this question again in the T-Mobile forum, but as a general guideline I think you have two choices. One, leave the phone as it is. You won't be able to get OTA's, but when a new ROM update is available it will probably be extracted and made available in a file that you can manually apply. Two, root the phone, run Triangle Away, and unroot. But make sure you follow the instructions from the T-Mobile forum, and not the Sprint one:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-galaxy-s-iii-rooting-roms-hacks/

Hi,

Sorry for the wrong location.

Can you tell me how I could manually apply the updated Stock ROM once it's available? And If I manually apply updates, will they wipe my user data or still preserve it like how OTA updates do?

And, I did the following process three times, but to no avail

I am not really sure what the problem is.

Here's what I did:
1. Rerooted using Motochopper method (successful)
2. Installed CWM Recovery using Odin v 3.07 (successful)

From Steps 3 onwards, I followed the Guide made by DocHoliday77 from XDA Forum (http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...hp?t=2308514):
3. Flashed PureStock ROM (successful)
4. Flashed the unmodified, Secure UVAMB7 Kernel (successful)
5. Flashed Stock UVAMB7 Recovery (successful)
* I flashed these using CWM Recovery, not Odin. I wasn't sure how to do it using Odin as I couldn't find any ".tar.md5" files. So I flashed the .zip files using CWM Recovery.
6. From Recovery Mode, I did Factory Reset and Wiped my Cache. (successful)
7. Rebooted Phone, used Triangle Away to reset the Counter. (successful)

Then I powered the phone off, entered the Download Mode and everything was still showing official and the Custom Binary Download showed NO at this point. I then booted the phone up again, uninstalled Triangle Away and then from the SuperUser App, I fully unrooted the phone.

Once all this was done, I powered the phone off again and went to the Download Mode and now the Counter showed YES (1 count), Current Binary = Custom, System Status = Official. So now the Device Status under About Phone is back to Modified again.

I have done this 3 times, if anyone can help me figure out what went wrong, I'd really appreciate it! So frustrated

 

[meyerweb#CB]

I wish I could offer more help, but the root procedures you mention are all foreign to me, and don't apply to Sprint. That's why I suggested you post again in the T-Mobile rooting forum.

 

[A Leap]

Hi Skunk

I work in a data clear facility and am currently tasked with helping production easily locate rooted devices at data wipe. Would this method be something that will work with ALL androids and therefore be a good method to find them? It seems like it would but you also seem like the expert, even if I do have a title. hahha

Thank you for any info you can provide.

Angel

 

[meyerweb#CB]

If you mean checking the flash count, then yes, I think that should work on any Android device, as long as you reboot the phone once before booting into download mode. If you have the ability to install an app, though, you might want to run root checker.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ails?id=com.joeykrim.rootcheck&token=eTzBmzwT