[Q] Can't Get Rid Of Custom System Status

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GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
I rooted once upon a time using Kingo Root. Worked fine, love being rooted, been doing it for years. But as everyone knows, the GPS signal is really crap on these phones. Mine keeps cutting out randomly.

Lo and behold! KitKat is now available! And among the changes AT&T is bragging about is improved GPS performance. As much as I enjoy being rooted, I need a working GPS a lot more. So I tried installing the OTA update... but it failed. I assume because the device status is listed as "Custom".

So I used Triangle Away, did a full unroot using SuperSU, rebooted... and it still says "Custom". There didn't used to be an open padlock during boot while I was rooted, but now there is, along with the word "Custom". Check the Odin mode, and sure enough it says the system status is "Custom". However Knox flag is still 0x0, and it states I'm running the Samsung Official binary. I've never flashed a ROM on this phone, all I did was root it.

Re-rooted, installed Triangle Away again. It states my system status is "Official" and the flash counter is at 0. However whenever I check the Device status in settings, it always says "Custom". There doesn't appear to be any way to get it back to "Official". Sometimes I can get it to say "Official" for a single boot, but then it always reverts back to "Custom" within a couple minutes whether the phone is rooted or not.

What am I doing wrong?
 
C

coolmingli

Senior Member
Jan 16, 2013
194
25
San Francisco
After unroot, you need to do a factory reset, then boot into your recovery, wipe cache, reboot your phone few times the pad lock and custom logo should go away. I am not sure about the "Device status in settings" showing custom, mine always shows official.
 
S

serpent2005

Senior Member
Aug 9, 2011
241
32
GoremanX said:
I rooted once upon a time using Kingo Root. Worked fine, love being rooted, been doing it for years. But as everyone knows, the GPS signal is really crap on these phones. Mine keeps cutting out randomly.

Lo and behold! KitKat is now available! And among the changes AT&T is bragging about is improved GPS performance. As much as I enjoy being rooted, I need a working GPS a lot more. So I tried installing the OTA update... but it failed. I assume because the device status is listed as "Custom".

So I used Triangle Away, did a full unroot using SuperSU, rebooted... and it still says "Custom". There didn't used to be an open padlock during boot while I was rooted, but now there is, along with the word "Custom". Check the Odin mode, and sure enough it says the system status is "Custom". However Knox flag is still 0x0, and it states I'm running the Samsung Official binary. I've never flashed a ROM on this phone, all I did was root it.

Re-rooted, installed Triangle Away again. It states my system status is "Official" and the flash counter is at 0. However whenever I check the Device status in settings, it always says "Custom". There doesn't appear to be any way to get it back to "Official". Sometimes I can get it to say "Official" for a single boot, but then it always reverts back to "Custom" within a couple minutes whether the phone is rooted or not.

What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Did you delete system (AT&T) apps?
 
G

GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
coolmingli said:
After unroot, you need to do a factory reset, then boot into your recovery, wipe cache, reboot your phone few times the pad lock and custom logo should go away. I am not sure about the "Device status in settings" showing custom, mine always shows official.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I did all of that. Exact procedure:

- Reset flash counter using triangle away
- full unroot using SuperSU
- reboot immediately into Odin mode (system status says "Official")
- reboot immediately into recovery, do a factory reset
- reboot immediately into Odin mode (system status still says "Official")
- reboot immediately into recovery, do ANOTHER factory reset (because I'm anal that way)
- reboot immediately into Odin mode, (system status STILL says "Official")
- reboot normally, go through normal first-time setup, go into settings, check Device status... it says "Custom"
- reboot into Odin mode, system status now says "Custom"
- reboot normally, stupid open padlock is there again with the word "Custom"
- countless reboots later, it still says "Custom"

serpent2005 said:
Did you delete system (AT&T) apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Nope, none. They're all still there. Like I said, I'm still running the bone stock image, never flashed a ROM, and I never edited the image. I only use root for things like GMD S-pen control, Titanium Backup, and FS Trim.

What's really annoying is that damn open padlock is never there while the system really IS modified, it only shows up when I unroot and everything is back to stock. I call it irony.

Would region lock be affecting this? I disabled the region lock many moons ago using RegionLock Away. Does that survive after a factory reset, and would it cause my device status to show up as Custom?
 
Last edited:
G

GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
Nope, restoring the region lock did not fix the problem. It continues to revert to "Custom" Device status no matter what I try. This is infuriating.
 
the2rrell

the2rrell

Senior Member
Jun 27, 2011
2,928
610
GoremanX said:
I tried that too. Didn't work. Still says "Custom". However, part of those instructions failed for me, the Heimdall image upload did not work at all. Never could figure out why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

they work, it maybe your PC, i know Heimdall can be a bugger at times. It DOES work though. have you tried another PC if that is an option.
 
G

GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
the2rrell said:
they work, it maybe your PC, i know Heimdall can be a bugger at times. It DOES work though. have you tried another PC if that is an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I just tried it from my laptop, same result. The MI9_fix.img.ext4 file refuses to upload to my device. The instructions state it should fail at 95%, but it always fails immediately. I tried downloading the file multiple times from different mirrors to make sure I wasn't getting a bad one. The result is always:

Uploading SYSTEM
0%
ERROR: Failed to send file part packet!
ERROR: SYSTEM upload failed!
 
the2rrell

the2rrell

Senior Member
Jun 27, 2011
2,928
610
GoremanX said:
I just tried it from my laptop, same result. The MI9_fix.img.ext4 file refuses to upload to my device. The instructions state it should fail at 95%, but it always fails immediately. I tried downloading the file multiple times from different mirrors to make sure I wasn't getting a bad one. The result is always:

Uploading SYSTEM
0%
ERROR: Failed to send file part packet!
ERROR: SYSTEM upload failed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse


you have all the drivers and everything loaded up?

thats odd.
 
G

GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
Yep, everything called for in the instructions. I get the same result every time.

Did I mention how infuriating this is?
 
the2rrell

the2rrell

Senior Member
Jun 27, 2011
2,928
610
GoremanX said:
Yep, everything called for in the instructions. I get the same result every time.

Did I mention how infuriating this is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yes but it should work, another member just did the same thing you are trying to do. with success. it has to be drivers or maybe running odin as a admin.

Oh and you may want to move the Odin file to a folder on your desktop or just put them on your desktop and try that. im betting its something simple that we are just over looking.
 
G

GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
Finally got it restored to factory. Just about everything that can go wrong did go wrong. My USB cable failed. Then my SD card failed and was spitting out garbage. And one of my downloaded files was corrupted. At one point, I got the status back to "Official", but the phone was so screwed up it was nearly unusable, spitting out error messages every 30 seconds. When this happened, I took it to a local AT&T store hoping they would just flash a new image on there (it did say "Official" in all the right places after all). But all they wanted to do was replace it with a refurb unit. Screw that! So I went home and tried AGAIN, re-downloading everything and using an all new USB wire and SD card, and this time it worked like a charm.

Now I'm attempting to install the OTA update, hopefully all goes according to plan.
 
G

GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
Nope, complete failure. Update to NB4 worked fine, but then the update to KitKat failed at 27%. The MJ5 image being used in that thread is not a stock image. It's "fixed" to allow rooting.

Maybe I'll take that refurbished phone from AT&T after all... bastards
 
the2rrell

the2rrell

Senior Member
Jun 27, 2011
2,928
610
GoremanX said:
Nope, complete failure. Update to NB4 worked fine, but then the update to KitKat failed at 27%. The MJ5 image being used in that thread is not a stock image. It's "fixed" to allow rooting.

Maybe I'll take that refurbished phone from AT&T after all... bastards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

That is stock. It's not prepared for root. You can choose to root or not. I have not updated so I don't know. But if you made it to nb4 why do think it would do that if the mj5 was fixed for root right

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
 
G

GoremanX

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2013
64
6
Nah, everyone else in the same situation as me has the exact same problem:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2686652&page=21

We're talking dozens and dozens of attempts by sozens and dozens of people here. Downgrading to the MJ5 image in that restore thread does not actually bring the phone back to stock. The NB4 upgrade apparently just doesn't have the same level of verifying in it as the KitKat update. The author of that thread specifically mentions that the MJ5 image he's listing has been modified to allow rooting using his method, but the rooting part of it is optional. Either way, the image itself has been modified. That's why it has the word "fix" in the filename.

Others have stated that going to an AT&T retail location and having them flash a real MJ5 image DID work, and allowed the KitKat update to happen without issues.
 
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    GoremanX
    Nah, everyone else in the same situation as me has the exact same problem:

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2686652&page=21

    We're talking dozens and dozens of attempts by sozens and dozens of people here. Downgrading to the MJ5 image in that restore thread does not actually bring the phone back to stock. The NB4 upgrade apparently just doesn't have the same level of verifying in it as the KitKat update. The author of that thread specifically mentions that the MJ5 image he's listing has been modified to allow rooting using his method, but the rooting part of it is optional. Either way, the image itself has been modified. That's why it has the word "fix" in the filename.

    Others have stated that going to an AT&T retail location and having them flash a real MJ5 image DID work, and allowed the KitKat update to happen without issues.
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