[Q] AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 mini (sgh-i257)

[doomfrawen]

Hello guys,

Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this or if I'm breaking the XDA rules, I will delete the thread and move it if this is not the right place.

Just wondering if any of you have been able to root the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (sgh-i257). I have tried several times with different tools without success.

Could you please share something or guide me in the right direction with this stubborn cellphone?

Thank everyone!

 

[arco68]

Didn't know it was released in the US yet. Is it released on other carriers as well?

 

[doomfrawen]

Didn't know it was released in the US yet. Is it released on other carriers as well?

Thank you for the reply.

Officially is not released yet, I think it will be released by Thanksgiving day or before since it features VoLTE, same for Telus and I'm pretty sure TMO too.

It is running 4.2.2 , so I already tried to root it with different tools but I'm afraid the bootloader is locked, so just wondering on how to pre-root an Image but haven't find good info so far.

 

[arco68]

It should be pretty easy if you have a copy of the stock boot.img, but you would need to at least compile an insecure kernel to replace the stock one. I don't think they've released kernel sources for that device yet, but the sources for the GT-I9195 contains device files for a variety of US variants, so it might be possible to use that. However, regarding locked bootloaders, I know a few of the US variants of the regular S4 have that, and requires a hack called Loki to circumvent it. Looking at the sources, the AT&T and Verizon variants need it, so it might be quite possible that the AT&T S4 mini is also locked.

 

[doomfrawen]

It should be pretty easy if you have a copy of the stock boot.img, but you would need to at least compile an insecure kernel to replace the stock one. I don't think they've released kernel sources for that device yet, but the sources for the GT-I9195 contains device files for a variety of US variants, so it might be possible to use that. However, regarding locked bootloaders, I know a few of the US variants of the regular S4 have that, and requires a hack called Loki to circumvent it. Looking at the sources, the AT&T and Verizon variants need it, so it might be quite possible that the AT&T S4 mini is also locked.

Cool, thanks again! I have access to the complete IMG (1.5GB) not a separated boot.img.
Is there a way that i can extract that partition from the IMG, maybe with dd? I know is not a HDD or USB but should be a way.

I just checked and seems that it has a locked bootloader since the Download option reads: WRITE PROTECTION: Enable.

So i checked the site that you provided me and reading the examples seems that I need root beforehand in the device.

[email protected]:~$ adb shell
[email protected]:/ $ su
[email protected]:/ # dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot of=/data/local/tmp/aboot.img
[email protected]:/ # chmod 644 /data/local/tmp/aboot.img
[email protected]:/ # exit
[email protected]:/ $ exit
[email protected]:~$ adb pull /data/local/tmp/aboot.img
3293 KB/s (2097152 bytes in 0.621s)

Is it possible to add temporary root to the device?

Thanks!

 

[arco68]

You can copy the boot image using dd, but you probably need root to do it, or from CWM recovery or something.

dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/boot of=/sdcard/boot.img


Don't know about temp root, but I guess not since the kernel won't allow su to run unless it's insecure (root prevention removed).

 

[theshakl]

What makes you say it might be released around Thanksgiving? Did they tell you that when they gave you the phone?

 

[dovid]

Where did you get it?

Hello guys,

Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this or if I'm breaking the XDA rules, I will delete the thread and move it if this is not the right place.

Just wondering if any of you have been able to root the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (sgh-i257). I have tried several times with different tools without success.

Could you please share something or guide me in the right direction with this stubborn cellphone?

Thank everyone!

Where did you get that phone? I didn't think it was released yet?