[Flash Counter Reset][AT&T, Rogers, Telus, Bell] Reset your flash counter

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braway

Retired Recognized Developer
Aug 29, 2010
243
707
MN
First of all, big thanks to mastibeta for testing and confirming that it works.

Disclaimer
This is a dangerous method and could potentially brick your phone. The CWM update makes it a bit more foolproof, but if something fails, it is not my responsibility!

AT&T i717, Rogers i717R, Telus i717D & Bell i717M ONLY! (according to jpeg42, it also works with the ics leak)

Description
This resets the flash counter (kernel/recovery/... flashed through Odin) back to stock.

How to use
Download the zip file. Its an update-zip for cwm.
Put it on your sdcard, boot into recovery and flash it.

Fun Fact
- Samsung knows how many kernels/recoveries you've flashed through odin.
- The single counters are up to 255, so theoretically you can "reset" by flashing 256 of each (Samsung will still know you flashed something)
- Samsung knows what was the last thing you've flashed
- Flashing System is not counted.

Image (Thanks to sfb14)

Thanks to
Dagr8, Ciku, bigbiff, lpsi2000 - for providing the data to figure this out
Tearrek, loftydan - for rogers data
Jckpsa - for telus data
MrJoran - for bell data
mastibeta - for testing the first version it

Download
 

Attachments

  • flash_counter_reset_att.zip
    188.2 KB · Views: 12,718
  • flash_counter_reset_rogers.zip
    185.6 KB · Views: 2,087
  • flash_counter_reset_telus.zip
    185.7 KB · Views: 1,323
  • flash_counter_reset_bell.zip
    185.7 KB · Views: 1,417
Last edited:

itsjusttim

Senior Member
Aug 12, 2010
1,924
173
SoCal
My count is 38 already... Will try this later today.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
 

DAGr8

Inactive Recognized Developer
Feb 27, 2010
3,713
6,309
Montreal
Now we need someone with 0 counter to post his rogers block if you have a rogers with 0 counter pm me I will guide you to the process .
 
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sfb14

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2007
195
47
SFO
just tried it heres a pic
pic.jpg
 

00mred00

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2010
2,980
408
Princeton Tx
Again...accomplished with no device. Mad props

I am completely broke but sending a donation man. Cant wait to see what you accomplish with a device

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
 

deeken

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2009
393
60
I am getting the following error message when trying to apply this patch:
E: failed to verify whole-file signature
E: Signature verification failed
 

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  • 156
    First of all, big thanks to mastibeta for testing and confirming that it works.

    Disclaimer
    This is a dangerous method and could potentially brick your phone. The CWM update makes it a bit more foolproof, but if something fails, it is not my responsibility!

    AT&T i717, Rogers i717R, Telus i717D & Bell i717M ONLY! (according to jpeg42, it also works with the ics leak)

    Description
    This resets the flash counter (kernel/recovery/... flashed through Odin) back to stock.

    How to use
    Download the zip file. Its an update-zip for cwm.
    Put it on your sdcard, boot into recovery and flash it.

    Fun Fact
    - Samsung knows how many kernels/recoveries you've flashed through odin.
    - The single counters are up to 255, so theoretically you can "reset" by flashing 256 of each (Samsung will still know you flashed something)
    - Samsung knows what was the last thing you've flashed
    - Flashing System is not counted.

    Image (Thanks to sfb14)

    Thanks to
    Dagr8, Ciku, bigbiff, lpsi2000 - for providing the data to figure this out
    Tearrek, loftydan - for rogers data
    Jckpsa - for telus data
    MrJoran - for bell data
    mastibeta - for testing the first version it

    Download
    13
    Thanks

    Was a scary 10 seconds, but it definitely works. Need to get this man a Gnote.
    12
    Just to clarify based on your fun facts... this will reset the flash counter, but Samsung will still know that we had flashed the device with *something* (but may not know what)? So they could theoretically still deny warranty based on that even if the flash counter says 0?

    Or does resetting the flash counter prevent Samsung from knowing anything about us ever flashing the device?

    It wasn't clear if the fun facts were pre or post flash counter removal, or both, that's all.

    Thanks for your hard work.

    maybe I wasn't clear enough, i'll try to clarify it

    if you flash through odin (like a kernel or recovery) a counter will increase.
    basically there is a counter for every kernel flash, for every recovery flash
    and possibly for other flashes as well (modem, ...) (not for system though)

    So basically samsung (or someone who knows how to read that stuff) can tell at least the following data:
    - did you flash something custom
    - how many kernels and recoveries (and possibly other stuff) did you flash
    - what was flashed last (like was a kernel flashed the last time)

    the method described in the op resets that data back to stock, so basically samsung should not be able to tell that you flashed anything custom anymore
    of course, if you leave a custom rom on the phone, then they will still be able to tell... ;)
    7
    Again...accomplished with no device. Mad props

    I am completely broke but sending a donation man. Cant wait to see what you accomplish with a device

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App

    im gonan post a bounty for this guy to get a note ..
    7
    back to stock with reset

    Huh? Flash thru clockwork or manually thru clockwork? Same thing there.. I guess we need to know can it be flashed thru stock Samsung recovery. This will truly reset it to factory look. Otherwise wouldn't you push it to 1 when you Odin the stock recovery back in afterflashing this in cwm?

    sent from my Samsung Galaxy tab

    ok, simple guide:

    requires that cwm is installed!

    1. flash stock system, kernel, modem and so on (not recovery yet) through odin (or cwm, if you have that stuff as update.zip)
    2. flash this reset through cwm to reset the counter (now you should have everything stock, except for recovery)
    3. in cwm, now you can either flash a stock recovery using an update.zip (if you have it), OR follow this:
    a) extract recovery.img from the odin stock recovery tar file
    b) put it on your sdcard
    c) boot to cwm
    d) use adb to connect to cwm (adb shell)
    e) in the cwm shell, use one of the following commands:
    recovery.img on external sdcard:
    Code:
    dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p22
    recovery.img on your internal sdcard:
    Code:
    dd if=/emmc/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p22
    WARNING: a typo in that line could hard brick your phone!

    f) reboot

    now you should have everything stock, with no counter, and so on...

    Note: i haven't tested that, but that's how it should work...
    as usual, i give no guarantees :p