[GUIDE][HOW-TO]Go from stock unrooted to 4.4.2 in 10 minutes or less! No PC needed!

DankVader · Aug 9, 2014

Thanks for a great write up. I'm currently on stock rooted GB 28 software version 4. 1.2. However I'm on a Virgin Mobile device. Is there any suggestions on what I should do differently to flash this 4.4 rom?

---------- Post added at 05:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 PM ----------

I'd also like to ask about battery life on this rom. Would it be a significant improvement over my stock jb rom? Right now I only get about a day on a charge. With a stock battery and minimal usage. I'm really looking for something that will extend my battery life. Thanks for any and all suggestions or help guys. :highfive:

EpicLordPhone · Aug 10, 2014

The CM you posted is 4.4.4 but there isnt a 4.4.4 Blasphemy Kernel?

Surj138 · Aug 10, 2014

EpicLordPhone said:
The CM you posted is 4.4.4 but there isnt a 4.4.4 Blasphemy Kernel?

No. The Blasphemy kernel is only used for its newer CWM recovery needed for flashing KitKat... Once KK is flashed, you won't be running Blasphemy anymore.

EpicLordPhone · Aug 10, 2014

Surj138 said:
No. The Blasphemy kernel is only used for its newer CWM recovery needed for flashing KitKat... Once KK is flashed, you won't be running Blasphemy anymore.

Okay thanks, I got it to work :good:

gorei23 · Aug 11, 2014

Surj138 said:
No. The Blasphemy kernel is only used for its newer CWM recovery needed for flashing KitKat... Once KK is flashed, you won't be running Blasphemy anymore.

EpicLordPhone said:
Okay thanks, I got it to work :good:

Thanks for helping Surj, and have fun EpicLordPhone

treepog · Aug 27, 2014

Hi,

I have a stock epic 4g that i rooted with framaroot. Phone is at Android 4.0.4. How can i tell if i have firmware gb27? If i dont have that firmware how do i get it?

Thanks in advance!

gorei23 · Sep 4, 2014

treepog said:
Hi,

I have a stock epic 4g that i rooted with framaroot. Phone is at Android 4.0.4. How can i tell if i have firmware gb27? If i dont have that firmware how do i get it?

Thanks in advance!

You don't have GB27, GB27 is 4.1, the only way to upgrade is with a computer, instructions here. (Use Simple Upgrade Tool.)

Although this method for custom romming may work with 4.0.4, flashing on this phone from ICS (4.0) is not recommended because of the EMMC Brickbug, which could destroy your phone if you flash from ICS. (Info below)

Background:

As many of you are aware since ICS has come out, there has been a nagging issue where in some situations flashing ROMs with an ICS-based kernel and custom recovery has left the phone with EMMC corruption. This EMMC corruption is so far non-recoverable, even with JTAG bit blasting, which should bypass all but hardware issues.

This problem is NOT limited to the Epic 4G Touch. Other GS2 models as well as Galaxy Note are experiencing the same thing as can be seen by this Public Service Announcement in the Galaxy Note section.

The problem first cropped up when people used ROM Manager to temporary "fake" flash CWM Touch onto an ICS-based kernel to do their flashing needs. In particular wipe data/factory reset seemed to often trigger the /data EMMC corruption. However later we found it wasn't limited to just CWM Touch and temporary flashing as CWM repacks with the ICS-based kernel also exhibited that behavior, albeit not as often.

Even more frustrating is that this bug is not always deterministic, in that you could do some operation 3 times and have it work fine, then on the 4th, trigger the /data EMMC corruption.

Complicating the testing/debugging is the issue that once the problem is triggered, your phone is basically not recoverable. You can try and ODIN a stock ROM on top which will basically work for all the components except the /data partition. Once it reaches the /data partition, ODIN will hang. Similarly if you try and wipe data/factory reset, it will hang or timeout after a while. Attempts to repartition and reformat using ODIN have not changed this behavior. Attempts to edit the partition info manually have not been successful. JTAG bit blasting has not been successful.

You can read about the past experiences in the Stuck at "Data.img" thru odin thread. By the time you get to ODIN, the damage to /data EMMC is already done. ODIN is NOT causing the damage. ODIN is hanging on data.img because the hardware won't let it write successfully to that area of EMMC.

This has led to many custom ROMs giving special procedures to go back to a GB-based kernel repacked with CWM recovery to do all your flashing (EL26+CWM). It is also the motivation for the How Not To Brick Your E4GT thread.

DrakonVolk · Sep 7, 2014

Awesome! Thanks so much for this great walkthrough guide. I couldn't successfully perform the backup before flashing, but other than that, it went perfect! Thank you!

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

DrakonVolk · Sep 7, 2014

Question, guys! Mine is a FreedomPop flavor of D710. I can't get mobile data working after installing CM11. Any advice?

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

gorei23 · Sep 7, 2014

Volkrik said:
Question, guys! Mine is a FreedomPop flavor of D710. I can't get mobile data working after installing CM11. Any advice?

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

Unfortunately I don't have much experience with FreedomPop.
Most people get 3G, I've seen some problems with FreedomPop's SMS/Calls but not 3G data.
Note: Kitkat cannot get 4G on our devices.

DrakonVolk · Sep 9, 2014

gorei23 said:
Unfortunately I don't have much experience with FreedomPop.
Most people get 3G, I've seen some problems with FreedomPop's SMS/Calls but not 3G data.
Note: Kitkat cannot get 4G on our devices.

I'm not getting 3g either. Any ideas? Much appreciated!

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

erickrocks1126 · Sep 18, 2014

Thanks! Running great so far

Was on SlimBean ROM but just did this process this morning. Since this process starts you from stock unrooted GB27, I first used the official Samsung update tool (SimpleDownloader) to reflash the phone back to bone stock GB27. Had to do it twice...first time, I flashed to GB27, it would boot loop to the 4G screen. Reflashed it again and stock GB27 was working just fine.

When I flashed this, I used FI27 modem not FL24 (as initially indicated in first post). Upon first boot into CM11, I was getting a lot of "...process.android..." errors, but after rebooting a couple times, linking up to WiFi, and letting it go through the "Android is updating" process, it all seemed to work itself out.

Have only had it on a couple hours on this ROM so, but the basic functions "seem" to be working: hooks to wifi, internet works, cameras work (well, just turned them on to see if they would turn on), messaging app opens, phone app opens, file manager, settings, etc. Need to check GPS since some have posted that might be working correctly. However, I'm only using this as a game/web-surfing/music player device, so I probably wont check if phone or messaging or cellular data is actually working. Otherwise, seems to be doing fine.

Thanks to the op for posting this process, and all those others that built/provided the various files necessary! :good:

erickrocks1126 · Sep 18, 2014

numanair said:
I have gotten to the point where you flash the modem. I have tried with both FL24 and FI27, but I get error status 6 with both. The phone will still boot CM11 correctly. Would I not get any signal if the modem failed to flash? I seem to have a signal. Not so sure about data connection though...

EDIT: I went back to EL29 using Odin oneclick (I think that's it?) and then used the Samsung supplied simple downloader to get to GB27. When I first tried using the downloader the phone was stuck on the 4G splash, even after multiple attempts with the downloader. Odin got around this. I used a different computer than on my first attempt (first PC didn't detect the phone through USB) and put everything on the internal storage. I think there was something wrong with either the first micro SD I was using or how I was writing to it. It looks like it's all working now.

I had a similar issue where I went back to stock GB27 using the Samsung tool (I was already rooted and running SlimBean ROM). First attempt at flashing back to stock GB27 it kept looping to the 4G screen. Powered off, pulled battery/put back in, and tried the Samsung tool again. Seemed to work that time for me and was then able to proceed.

---------- Post added at 05:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 AM ----------

gorei23 said:
Where are you browsing? Do you have an external SD card? If so, the downloads folder will be there, if you choose external SD card, and don't have one, it will show nothing.

For me, I had to load to the phone's internal storage. Mobile ODIN, for me, doesn't see my external SD, even though the phone itself recognizes it.

allenj2020 · Oct 23, 2014

Update on 4.4.4

I updated my Virgin Mobile flavor E4GT to 4.4.4 two weeks ago (10/4) using the files available at that time, here's my review so far:

Good:
Much faster and more stable than my previous supported 4.1 version, I like it and really appreciate all the work put into it! Camera, calls, 3G, 2.4 ghz wifi all work great, battery life is better also.
I used the FC14.zip file from the Modem download page, was that the right one to use?

Issues:
1. The 5 ghz WiFi range has dropped to the point of unusability. There is a 5 ghz WiFi router at work that I was using before with strong signal from 25 feet away, now I can't even detect it unless I'm standing within 6 feet of it. It's the only 5 ghz WiFi I've tried, but it works fine with three other 2.4 ghz routers.

2. I'm using the default launcher / home screen. When rebooting, or sometimes during calls, I lose one or two app icons from the main screen. This has happened several times.

3. YouTube doesn't work, sound can be hear but the video is black when playing.

On balance I'm happy with the upgrade, I'm curious to hear whether anyone else has experienced the problems above or knows of a fix?

Thanks!

numanair · Oct 23, 2014

allenj2020 said:
I updated my Virgin Mobile flavor E4GT to 4.4.4 two weeks ago (10/4) using the files available at that time, here's my review so far:

Good:
Much faster and more stable than my previous supported 4.1 version, I like it and really appreciate all the work put into it! Camera, calls, 3G, 2.4 ghz wifi all work great, battery life is better also.
I used the FC14.zip file from the Modem download page, was that the right one to use?

Issues:
1. The 5 ghz WiFi range has dropped to the point of unusability. There is a 5 ghz WiFi router at work that I was using before with strong signal from 25 feet away, now I can't even detect it unless I'm standing within 6 feet of it. It's the only 5 ghz WiFi I've tried, but it works fine with three other 2.4 ghz routers.

2. I'm using the default launcher / home screen. When rebooting, or sometimes during calls, I lose one or two app icons from the main screen. This has happened several times.

3. YouTube doesn't work, sound can be hear but the video is black when playing.

On balance I'm happy with the upgrade, I'm curious to hear whether anyone else has experienced the problems above or knows of a fix?

Thanks!

1. I haven't tried any 5ghz wifi
2. Do you mean the icon turns into the little green android but the shortcut remains? Or does it entirely disappear from the launcher?

allenj2020 · Oct 23, 2014

2. The shortcut disappears from the launcher completely. I have to go back into the full apps list and re-add it to the launcher. It has happened with different app shortcuts, I haven't noticed a consistent pattern or way to reproduce it yet.

ameer.alansiy · Oct 27, 2014

اين الروم

tallnproud · Nov 30, 2014

I recall reading (can't remember where) that the Google Now launcher has issues with maintaining desktop shortcuts for apps that are stored on an sd card.

Does that jive with what you're experiencing?

Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using XDA Free mobile app

navpal93 · Mar 29, 2016

the Blasphemy Kernel links are not working any help on where i can get it from. I have epic 4g touch fl24

lvpre · Aug 23, 2016

navpalsingh93@gmail.com said:
the Blasphemy Kernel links are not working any help on where i can get it from. I have epic 4g touch fl24

Flash this file in your current recovery. It will install Philz recovery which is basically a modded CWM recovery. It allowed me to install CM 11....runs pretty good.

[GUIDE][HOW-TO]Go from stock unrooted to 4.4.2 in 10 minutes or less! No PC needed!

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