[Q] Rooting issues - 4.3, IMEI, not actually rooted etc....

Hi All

So firstly I should say I only have myself to blame. I'm quite a techy guy so I just assumed i'd be able to root my phone without any issues and pick it up as I go. What i've quickly found out is i'm in way over my head and i'm an absolute noob!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated from those guys out there that actually know what they are doing. I have read many forums but i'm still lost.

My story is as follows:

- I have a Z1 that was locked on stock firmware 4.4
- I read that it would be a good idea to unlock the bootloader so i did this
- I wanted to root my phone but from what I read I could see I would have to downgrade the firmware to 4.2. So this is what i did.
- By doing this I lost my IMEI number, got very worried i'd ruined my phone. I tried many things to restore it, there were a variety of different solutions online, none of them worked. I eventually flashed a 4.3 firmware i found on this forum which restored my IMEI.
- I then read through a few posts of people who had similar issues and advice was given to downgrade again (if i wanted to root) but this time exclude the baseband etc. I did this, but lost my IMEI again! the advice didn't work
- So I then went and updgraded again! to 4.3 to restore my IMEI and network access

- There doesn't seem to be a way to root on 4.3 so my phone isn't rooted, that's ok. But when i try to use my banking apps they don't work! they say my phone is rooted even though it isn't! I have checked with root checker

- Like an idiot, i didn't back up the phone when i first started doing all of this, i didn't really know what i was doing so I am now in a situation where i have the worst of both worlds. They are, i can either 1. downgrade the firmware to 4.2, root my phone but not have a valid IMEI and network access or 2. stay on 4.3, have a valid IMEI and not be rooted but certain apps think i'm rooted so i can't use them.

So all in all i've just messed things up and i'm in way over my head. I would really appreciate some advice

Thanks

6317

gregbradley said:

Yes you are right.

Also, there is no issue with losing IMEI when downgrading, it happens to everyone, but it comes back when you upgrade.
Also, if you unlock the bootloader there is no need to downgrade, that is a locked bootloader method of rooting
You should root before unlocking the bootloader in order to backup the TA partition, but you are too late now...

Solution

1) Use flashtool to relock the bootloader
2) Use pccompanion to update to latest firmware
3) Unlock the bootloader again with flashtool
4) Flash a custom kernel for stock based ROMs
5) Install SuperSU from the play store.

DONE!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Hi Greg

Thank you very much for your quick response. I will try and follow your advice to the letter tonight/tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Thanks again

conflicting messages?

gregbradley said:

Yes you are right.

Also, there is no issue with losing IMEI when downgrading, it happens to everyone, but it comes back when you upgrade.
Also, if you unlock the bootloader there is no need to downgrade, that is a locked bootloader method of rooting
You should root before unlocking the bootloader in order to backup the TA partition, but you are too late now...

Solution

1) Use flashtool to relock the bootloader
2) Use pccompanion to update to latest firmware
3) Unlock the bootloader again with flashtool
4) Flash a custom kernel for stock based ROMs
5) Install SuperSU from the play store.

DONE!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Hi Greg, can you give me a bit more advice please.

i'm just looking at the tutorial to relock by bootloader. It says "before u relock bootloader u have to be on pure stock kernel (flash only the kernel.sin using flashtool), else the device WILL NOT BOOT after relock"

The problem is i'm already flashed on to an FTF image that was on this site. From so by doing this am i going to brick my phone? i'm confused and i don't want to make things work so your advice would be apprecaited

thanks

retro100386 said:

Hi Greg, can you give me a bit more advice please.

i'm just looking at the tutorial to relock by bootloader. It says "before u relock bootloader u have to be on pure stock kernel (flash only the kernel.sin using flashtool), else the device WILL NOT BOOT after relock"

The problem is i'm already flashed on to an FTF image that was on this site. From so by doing this am i going to brick my phone? i'm confused and i don't want to make things work so your advice would be apprecaited

thanks

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Hi Greg

it's fine, i am just being stupid again, i just relocked without a problem, thanks again