[OTA Update] [Oreo] Galaxy S7 Active Update to Android Oreo Guide

[jackprieto]

downgrade to G981AUCS3BRB5

On my cloud folder there are all OTA updates. Here is SS-G891AUCU2BQF2-to-S2BQG1-UP.zip.

Russian post about all OTA updates on 4pda.ru for quick naviagation.

I’m having a problem downgrading my phone. Right now, I’m at G891AUCS3BRD1.
I don’t remember exactly which firmware I first used but it was a bunch of OTA updates. I tried loading the Nougat firmware
SM-G891A_G891AUCS2BRA7_USA_ATT_v7.0.7z
And it keeps failing.
Am I missing something? Shouldn’t a firmware over-write what ever is on the phone? I saw a post that said once the bootloader is updated it won’t allow itself to be over written.
Three of the Nougat firmware’s have a “2” before the last four characters. I presume that’s bootloader V.2 The last OTA update has my phone at “3” The one firmware with a “3” is G981AUCS3BRD1 and that’s above the G981AUCS3BRB5 suggested for the upgrade. Does that mean I don’t have a path to the two Oreo firmware’s on the cloud?

 

[khaliullov]

I’m having a problem downgrading my phone. Right now, I’m at G891AUCS3BRD1.
I don’t remember exactly which firmware I first used but it was a bunch of OTA updates. I tried loading the Nougat firmware
SM-G891A_G891AUCS2BRA7_USA_ATT_v7.0.7z
And it keeps failing.
Am I missing something? Shouldn’t a firmware over-write what ever is on the phone? I saw a post that said once the bootloader is updated it won’t allow itself to be over written.
Three of the Nougat firmware’s have a “2” before the last four characters. I presume that’s bootloader V.2 The last OTA update has my phone at “3” The one firmware with a “3” is G981AUCS3BRD1 and that’s above the G981AUCS3BRB5 suggested for the upgrade. Does that mean I don’t have a path to the two Oreo firmware’s on the cloud?

It is impossible to flash firmware with previous version of bootloader (i.e. downgrade). You can flash firmwares with 3rd or 4th version of bootloader

 

[ISILDER71a]

The bootloader refuses to downgrade.

There's more full image files,the forum post doesn't mention it, just navigate the file server website,
Just up from nougat to firmware, then you can find full firmware files, "flat" , for
nougat,marshmallow,oreo ...

You can upgrade bootloader with flat file . There's no downgrading bootloader

 

[supertac]

I’m having a problem downgrading my phone. Right now, I’m at G891AUCS3BRD1.
I don’t remember exactly which firmware I first used but it was a bunch of OTA updates. I tried loading the Nougat firmware
SM-G891A_G891AUCS2BRA7_USA_ATT_v7.0.7z
And it keeps failing.
Am I missing something? Shouldn’t a firmware over-write what ever is on the phone? I saw a post that said once the bootloader is updated it won’t allow itself to be over written.
Three of the Nougat firmware’s have a “2” before the last four characters. I presume that’s bootloader V.2 The last OTA update has my phone at “3” The one firmware with a “3” is G981AUCS3BRD1 and that’s above the G981AUCS3BRB5 suggested for the upgrade. Does that mean I don’t have a path to the two Oreo firmware’s on the cloud?

whats wrong with G891AUCS3BRD1.?

 

[Isilder]

The last OTA update has my phone at “3” The one firmware with a “3” is G981AUCS3BRD1 and that’s above the G981AUCS3BRB5 suggested for the upgrade.

The word "above" there ? the OTA is from the exact match to that new version. The "from" isn't "from at least X, to Y", its a patch that moves from version X exactly to version Y.
I think he was being confugsed by having a limitted set of OTA and full firmwares extracted from a forum post, rather than looking through the russian archive for the full, and newer, set.

 

[michaelsattler]

nothing happens

Using: MacOS Sierra, beta heimdall, JOdin r1142, Samsung S7 Active

Heimdall is able to detect the device.

Starting JOdin from JOdin3CASUAL.jar works, UI appears.

S7A in download mode, 'Connected' appears. Log windows shows ID:0/008 Added!!Device Connected

Select 'PDA', choose file CSC_ATT_G891AATT2BRA7_CL11488437_QB16651846_REV02_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar (one of the 4 S7A Nougat files)

Select the part.pit file that was retrieved in a previous run.

Hit 'Start'. The word 'running' appears but there's no output in the log window. Nothing ever seems to happen.

Stymied, I tried to use heimdall from the command line, but it doesn't boot thereafter. Cache and user data have been wiped. The command line I used was

sudo heimdall flash --PERSIST ./AP/AP/persist.img.ext4 --DEVCFG ./BL/BL/devcfg.mbn --APNHLOS ./BL/BL/NON-HLOS.bin --MODEM ./CP/CP/modem.bin --BOOT ./AP/AP/boot.img --RECOVERY ./AP/AP/recovery.img --RPM ./BL/BL/rpm.mbn --HYP ./BL/BL/hyp.mbn --DSP ./CP/CP/adspso.bin --ABOOT ./BL/BL/emmc_appsboot.mbn --LKSECAPP ./BL/BL/lksecapp.mbn --KEYMASTER ./BL/BL/keymaster.mbn --CMNLIB ./BL/BL/cmnlib.mbn --CMNLIB64 ./BL/BL/cmnlib64.mbn --APDP ./BL/BL/apdp.mbn --MSADP ./BL/BL/msadp.mbn --TZ ./BL/BL/tz.mbn --CACHE ./CSC/CSC/cache.img.ext4 --SYSTEM ./AP/AP/system.img.ext4

Questions:

1. Why does JOdin do nothing?

2. Does my heimdall command line look correct? If not, would someone please reply with the necessary syntax for the SM-G891A_G891AUCS2BRA7_USA_ATT_v7.0 ROM files?

Thanks very much.

 

[wolfiediscord]

It works great! Have been using Oreo for the past few months. However, there are some issues. The Heart Rate Monitor has stopped working, and the notification LED is not working (it isn't even in settings). How do I fix this?

 

[Alla Dino]

Heart Rate Moniter

It works great! Have been using Oreo for the past few months. However, there are some issues. The Heart Rate Monitor has stopped working, and the notification LED is not working (it isn't even in settings). How do I fix this?

Just Upgraded to Oreo a week ago (SS-G891AUCU2CRC8). Also having issue with the Heart Rate Moniter and Notification LED not working.
I used the *#0*# menu check and the LED does turn on in red, green and blue.
The Heart Rate Sensor is shown but when I press Start, It dosen't seem to turn on -i.e no red light on the back and nothing on the graph.
That's the limit of my skill level
Anyone else having similar issues, and any thoughts on possible fixes?

 

[jackprieto]

whats wrong with G891AUCS3BRD1.?

Actually nothing is wrong with that version. I wanted to try OREO. Now, I'm not sure i can go back to Nougat if I do. I guess I'll wait till I get another phone then I can play with one and always have something that works. No working phone isn't an option for me.

 

[jacoblong09]

UPDATE

Sorry i have not been online to answer questions for a while. I unfortunately ended up bricking my S7 Active while experimenting, so don't attempt to downgrade once you upgrade to oreo, it could hard brick your phone permanently.

IF anyone has any questions that need answering, please pm me or quote this post.

 

[jacoblong09]

Actually nothing is wrong with that version. I wanted to try OREO. Now, I'm not sure i can go back to Nougat if I do. I guess I'll wait till I get another phone then I can play with one and always have something that works. No working phone isn't an option for me.

as the Oreo OTA files i linked in the OP include a completely different bootloader from previous updates, it will unfortunately never be possible to go back to an older version once upgraded to Android Oreo on this phone. So if you aren't sure if you'll like Oreo, i recommend you hold off on updating until an official version is released. Unless it already has been released. I haven't been checking up on the status of the new OTA Updates for a few months.

 

[Anhthuybg]

Sorry I want to ask you guys for help because we are using U3CRG2 version. I want to update the new version via OTA (flash via zip file) that I can't update. So can you edit it so that I can keep up with the updates. Sorry for not speaking English correctly.

 

[jackprieto]

Nougat to Oreo worth the fuss

as the Oreo OTA files i linked in the OP include a completely different bootloader from previous updates, it will unfortunately never be possible to go back to an older version once upgraded to Android Oreo on this phone. So if you aren't sure if you'll like Oreo, i recommend you hold off on updating until an official version is released. Unless it already has been released. I haven't been checking up on the status of the new OTA Updates for a few months.

I was looking for a new battery and found another s7 active at a price I couldn't resist. I found that I still couldn't get the full roms to load. The slower one OTA after another and it works. BTW, the first OTA that takes you from Nougat to the first version of Oreo, takes flippin' forever to load, (over an hour) after that they take 20 to 30 minutes each. The last one G891AUCS4CRK4 is dated December 1, 2018. I don't think I can get anymore up to date than that with stock OTAs. Everything seems to work fine. I'm still waiting to see if the battery performance is better. It was working all day on one charge so it may take a bit to notice a difference. After the fact, I feel silly putting off upgrading to Oreo as long as i did.

 

[Pistker]

**** android forced update

Guessing this is not paid attention to but if it is here is a shot in the dark...
Just got an s7 active given to me and am one of those people who is banned from touching ANY computer past windows XP because it ends up a disaster, even had to just full out replace my buddie's laptop. I understand how a bit about mobile OS to know that the forced update that just happened was a v4 to v5 bootloader update which means I'm basically screwed. I don't want or need a new phone aka to spend 300-400 but I doubt anyone is cracking this new code on such a half relevant, at&t exclusive.
Samsung has the original android 6.0.1 available among other resources, is ther really no way of reverting before I sledgehammer the DirecTV bloatware outta this?


I guess I'm probably the last poster on here.
Que sera sera

 

[jack.prieto]

New ROM problems

Right now my version is G891AUCU4CRK4 and I found a newer version on the cloud G891AUCU6CSF2.
I've tried loading with with multiple versions of Odin and they all just freeze without any error message.

From what I understand the 5th character from the right is the bootloader version and why I couldn't go back to Nougat after I loaded Oreo. Is the jump from 4 to 6 causing this? Shouldn't a full ROM over write whatever? Thanks in advance for any helpful feedback.