Korean G4 F500 S/L/K with Stock Nougat 7.0 Help & Tips 2019!

[Gold Mix]

Hello LG fans,

There is an old thread with a similar title, but since it is inactive I started this one. For certain reasons I got this G4 phone only few days ago. The model number on the box and under-battery tag as well as in settings showed F500 (just F500 without any suffix S, L, or K). It came with Android 5.1, and everything was working well. Online search showed that F500X phones can be officially updated to Nougat 7.0, but the phone OTA update said no update was available.

As per LG website, I installed LG Bridge to get the updates. It identified the phone as F500K and found two updates. First it installed 6.0 Marshmallow and then 7.0 Nougat software version F500K30c. Also the model no changed to F500K in settings. I think this probably means it is is a refurbished phone

The Installation was successful, but it installed a Korea Telecom version with some Korean stuff. I uninstalled or disabled all the Korean bloat I could without root, but there are still a few things remaining, and some Korean language here and there.

In general, I’m quite satisfied with the phone. The only thing I wish to get rid of is the KT Wifi manager app which is all in Korean, and I don’t know what it does or which settings to select. It is a system app, and I can’t uninstall or disable it, but my wifi and data networks seem to be working fine, so no complaints. I’ve seen several people here and elsewhere complaining about network issues, boot loops and bricks, but so far I haven’t experienced any. I hope it stays this way :fingers-crossed:

I was wondering about the other variants F500S and F500L, do they also have Korean bloat and is it more or less than F500K? I have read somewhere that these three firmware variants can be interchangeably installed. Is this the case, and if so, is it advisable to install another variant? I have been reading about this phone, but this is my first time to use an LG phones, and I have no experience with their software and tools, so any help, ideas or suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[steadfasterX]

Hello LG fans,

There is an old thread with a similar title, but since it is inactive I started this one. For certain reasons I got this G4 phone only few days ago. The model number on the box and under-battery tag as well as in settings showed F500 (just F500 without any suffix S, L, or K). It came with Android 5.1, and everything was working well. Online search showed that F500X phones can be officially updated to Nougat 7.0, but the phone OTA update said no update was available.

As per LG website, I installed LG Bridge to get the updates. It identified the phone as F500K and found two updates. First it installed 6.0 Marshmallow and then 7.0 Nougat software version F500K30c. Also the model no changed to F500K in settings. I think this probably means it is is a refurbished phone

The Installation was successful, but it installed a Korea Telecom version with some Korean stuff. I uninstalled or disabled all the Korean bloat I could without root, but there are still a few things remaining, and some Korean language here and there.

In general, I’m quite satisfied with the phone. The only thing I wish to get rid of is the KT Wifi manager app which is all in Korean, and I don’t know what it does or which settings to select. It is a system app, and I can’t uninstall or disable it, but my wifi and data networks seem to be working fine, so no complaints. I’ve seen several people here and elsewhere complaining about network issues, boot loops and bricks, but so far I haven’t experienced any. I hope it stays this way :fingers-crossed:

I was wondering about the other variants F500S and F500L, do they also have Korean bloat and is it more or less than F500K? I have read somewhere that these three firmware variants can be interchangeably installed. Is this the case, and if so, is it advisable to install another variant? I have been reading about this phone, but this is my first time to use an LG phones, and I have no experience with their software and tools, so any help, ideas or suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

You could

downgrade to MM,
backup with SALT (CRUCIAL important),
unlock by UsU ,
extract with SALT: system ,modem and boot partitions from a f500 kdz,
root and debloat or (if you like to) install a custom ROM

Check the UsU and SALT threads (you can find both in my signature)





Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

 

[Gold Mix]

You could

downgrade to MM,
backup with SALT (CRUCIAL important),
unlock by UsU ,
extract with SALT: system ,modem and boot partitions from a f500 kdz,
root and debloat or (if you like to) install a custom ROM

Check the UsU and SALT threads (you can find both in my signature)

Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

Thank you @steadfasterX for your reply,

It's quite an honor the Guru himself was the first to reply to my post. I have seen many of your posts and replies in the forum before, and now looked at some of the stuff in your signature. Pretty impressive work. I definitely need to spend some time learning about them particularly SALT and FWUL, as I have also started learning and using Linux lately. How come FWUL is not shown on distrowatch?

For the time being, I was thinking to stick to stock Nougat 7.0 as it's a fairly recent OS, and the phone is fine even with the remaining little Korean stuff. My main dissatisfaction really is with the mysterious kt wifi manager app which is all in Korean and has some settings which I don't know what they are. If just replacing the current Nougat 7.0 with another variant S or L is actually possible, and these variants don't have a similar app, this would be great.

I have been searching for information about these S/L/K firmware variant differences but couldn't find much. I hope other S & L phone owners could tell us about their phones. The only thing I could find so far is that each is for a different carrier in Korea, and that they can be interchangeably installed as per a Reddit post. I don't know how reliable this information is!

From a purely technical perspective for G4 F500 , is it possible to flash another F500 variant using LGUP, or is this something that shouldn't be done? I have seen many people getting in trouble for flashing wrong firmware. If this is safe to do, do I need to do any preparation work like downgrading to MM first, and should this be done as an upgrade or a refurbish? For what it's worth, my ARB value is 0.

Thanks

 

[cooledi]

You could

downgrade to MM,
backup with SALT (CRUCIAL important),
unlock by UsU ,
extract with SALT: system ,modem and boot partitions from a f500 kdz,
root and debloat or (if you like to) install a custom ROM

Hi Sfx,

1. to downgrade to MM... use uppercut, right? I'm using latest 20u for F500l is OK for UsU?
2. after backing up with SALT, can I revert back anytime after unlock and with new custom ROM?
3. after rooting, do I install twrp and load custom ROM? and can I extract 30b Nougat's modem from KDZ to use with the custom ROM?

thanks so much in advance for answering...:angel:

 

[steadfasterX]

How come FWUL is not shown on distrowatch?

Because they are ignorant and/or just arrogant enough to ignore my requests. I even offered to pay advertisements as this should be (according to their website) a way to get listed instant. but nothing. Even not on the waiting list..

From a purely technical perspective for G4 F500 , is it possible to flash another F500 variant using LGUP, or is this something that shouldn't be done?
I have seen many people getting in trouble for flashing wrong firmware. If this is safe to do, do I need to do any preparation work like downgrading to MM first, and should this be done as an upgrade or a refurbish?
For what it's worth, my ARB value is 0.

ok so one thing first. the most important one: Ensure you keep your ARB at 0. This is crucial important. So never ever flash anything (including QFIL restore files!!!) where you are not 10000% sure it wouldn't increase your ARB.
If you are about to flash a KDZ then check that file with SALT first (simply press extract and it will display the ARB). If you flash anything else.. well ensure that the files offered have that information listed and hope and pray its not wrong (e.g. there are QFIL files around which are labeled for a ARB 0 model but contain ARB2 files..). Never heard about a wrong labeled KDZ file but who knows.

The second important thing is (maybe its even the first): before doing anything, do a full backup with SALT (basic is fine) and (!!) move that to a secure place! (I saw so many ppl who lost their backup through several ways).
So when going on through the UsU process you will have 2 SALT backups: the one before downgrading to MM and another one after you downgraded to MM (tbh the more important one). If you can keep them both.

so about flashing other variants: yes it IS technically possible to even flash e.g. h815 ROMs to a F500 and so converting it that way! but never try that with h811 KDZs or others..
anyways yea you could flash other F500 variants without fear (just carrier bloat is different) as long as you follow the above advises.

Hi Sfx,

1. to downgrade to MM... use uppercut, right? I'm using latest 20u for F500l is OK for UsU?
2. after backing up with SALT, can I revert back anytime after unlock and with new custom ROM?
3. after rooting, do I install twrp and load custom ROM? and can I extract 30b Nougat's modem from KDZ to use with the custom ROM?

thanks so much in advance for answering...:angel:

1. I dunno the latest MM F500 version but "20u" sounds good. Can't help in the downgrade process but there are plenty of guides here in the G4 forums.
2. dunno that you mean here.. but if you wanna know if you can stay on STOCK after UsU'ing yea sure. flashing UsU does not require to go for a custom ROM. It just gives you the freedom to do so.
3. if you follow the UsU guide you will have TWRP already and that's the place where you install a custom ROM if you like. Sure extract the 30b modem and flash it in fastboot should work fine (after UsU).

.-

 

[cooledi]

..

1. I dunno the latest MM F500 version but "20u" sounds good. Can't help in the downgrade process but there are plenty of guides here in the G4 forums.
2. dunno that you mean here.. but if you wanna know if you can stay on STOCK after UsU'ing yea sure. flashing UsU does not require to go for a custom ROM. It just gives you the freedom to do so.
3. if you follow the UsU guide you will have TWRP already and that's the place where you install a custom ROM if you like. Sure extract the 30b modem and flash it in fastboot should work fine (after UsU).

.-

Thanks sfx, I'm now on MM and ready to get SALTed I want to flash AEX v6.7 But there are two offerings H811 and H815, and my F500L in SALT say GPT compatibility is H811 /ARB0, so do I flash H811 version of AEX?? If so, is there a H811_UsU_baseband_flash-in-twrp I need to flash as well? thz

 

[steadfasterX]

Thanks sfx, I'm now on MM and ready to get SALTed I want to flash AEX v6.7 But there are two offerings H811 and H815, and my F500L in SALT say GPT compatibility is H811 /ARB0, so do I flash H811 version of AEX?? If so, is there a H811_UsU_baseband_flash-in-twrp I need to flash as well? thz

if you would flash h811 on yours you will increase your ARB so do NOT flash that.
Use a h815 based ROM even when SALT compat shows different. your partition layout is somehow weird..
for non-UsU ROMs flash the f500(!!) baseband package once

.-

 

[cooledi]

You could

downgrade to MM,
backup with SALT (CRUCIAL important),
unlock by UsU ,
->> extract with SALT: system ,modem and " boot partitions from a f500 kdz, "
root and debloat or (if you like to) install a custom ROM

Sent from my OnePlus 6T using XDA Labs

If I wanna go back to stock, what boot partitions should I extract from the f500 kdz image?

so namely I need to flash;
system.img
modem.img

do I need modemst1 & modemst2.img? what else do I need to flash?

thx!

 

[steadfasterX]

If I wanna go back to stock, what boot partitions should I extract from the f500 kdz image?

so namely I need to flash;
system.img
modem.img

do I need modemst1 & modemst2.img? what else do I need to flash?

thx!

system, boot, modem
nothing else

 

[benkaesy]

Pls i had f500s please can someone help withbsome detail process of rooting this phone.i am currently on stock rom android 5.1.its my first time usong lg g4 .i used sumsang and i had no problems around sumsung but lg g4 is a whole new level. I dont understand the UsU terms and SALT.pls help i need root pls.

 

[benkaesy]

please i need you help.
Pls i had f500s .i am currently on stock rom android 5.1.its my first time using lg g4 .i used sumsang and i had no problems around sumsung but lg g4 is a whole new level. I dont understand the UsU terms and SALT.pls help i need root pls