[Util] Sboot Checker - and simple downgrade method

[Odia]

As you may or may not be aware Samsung in their wisdom have decided to blacklist old sboot.bin files from being installed when a customer has installed the XXELLA sboot, this may or may not be for a valid reason, but enforcement such as this is not nice and its always nice to be able to do what we want with our phones.

Attached is a small util which will check the sboot.bin file and give you some info, such as if it appears on the Samsung blacklist, if it's new which means boot downgrade will not be possible or if it does not appear in the blacklist which means it can be used for bootloader downgrade and you should PM me with details :laugh:

I have checked all the sboot.bin files I have and they are all blacklisted, some of these sboot.bin files are ones which have never appeared in the internet and I have gotten from my various sources, these include engineering boots and debug versions.

The blacklist is built on the date the EBL was compiled and its possible no older sboot.bin files will be missing from the blacklist, but we have to try

It's also worth noting here that this boot enforcement is also in the latest boots on the M440s, N7100 (XXDLL7), N7102, E210s (KSJLL6) and will probably spread to other models in the near future.

Enjoy and happying hunting the nice sboot.

SBOOT_CHECK.zip


How to downgrade boots on XXELLA or XXELLC and bypass the blacklist (or any other boot in existence as of this post)
(USE THESE COMMANDS AT YOUR OWN RISK)

> adb push sboot.bin /sdcard/sboot.bin
> adb push tz.img /sdcard/tz.img
> adb push param.bin /sdcard/param.bin
> adb shell
$ su
# dd if=/sdcard/sboot.bin of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1
# dd if=/sdcard/tz.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p2
# dd if=/sdcard/param.bin of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4
# rm /sdcard/sboot.bin
# rm /sdcard/tz.img
# rm /sdcard/param.bin
# reboot fota_bl

tz.img and param.bin are not required, but since they are part of AP_BOOT I included them for completeness.

You will not lose any data, since no wipe is performed or needs to be performed using this method.

Its tested method and no, I will not release any automated method.

APBOOT_I9300XXALE8.zip
APBOOT_I9300XXALEF.zip
APBOOT_I9300XXBLFB.zip

 

[75markus]

nice

as you said, my old ICS bootloader is blacklisted, ELLA is ok.

 

[Droidphilev]

Hopefully somedy can make downgrading happen. I regret i flashed the new bootloader

 

[sebarkh]

Maybe it was the cause of the mythical sudden dead...
And they wanted to be sure...
And all the previous bootloaders are blacklisted, because they ALL were dangerous...
Maybe...just a wishful thinking...but till anyone proves otherwise...

Sent from my washing machine using its tumbler.

 

[sak500]

Maybe it was the cause of the mythical sudden dead...
And they wanted to be sure...
And all the previous bootloaders are blacklisted, because they ALL were dangerous...
Maybe...just a wishful thinking...but till anyone proves otherwise...

Sent from my washing machine using its tumbler.

NOthing mythical about sudden death.. better to be quite and look stupid then open your mouth and confirm it.

read what tons of people have faced in your mythical sudden death.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993044&page=207

 

[LenAsh]

Hopefully somedy can make downgrading happen. I regret i flashed the new bootloader

Why?

 

[Perka]

Why?

Cuz you cant lol

 

[marcellocord]

I don't get it. It's good or bad to have the new sboot?

pros: some report it fixes sudden deaths; updated
cons: can't flash older sboots; ?

 

[AndreiLux]

I don't get it. It's good or bad to have the new sboot?

pros: some report it fixes sudden deaths; updated
cons: can't flash older sboots; ?

Until new sources come out and we can actually check the kernel and what was changed, it's too early to say anything.

The bootloader changes might be completely unrelated to the sudden death bug and just Samsung increasing their warranty enforcement.

 

[miro666]

Mate Odia, your file is one heavy virus attached on some system dll on my laptop. Check with Avira Amtivirus.

Regards

 

[sebarkh]

NOthing mythical about sudden death.. better to be quite and look stupid then open your mouth and confirm it.

read what tons of people have faced in your mythical sudden death.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993044&page=207

...and better to understand my words than not.
It' not the point of my post. The point is that we blame Sammy for blacklisting, but maybe they did it on purpose for users' good, as the previous bootloaders were dangerous - affected by this sudden death syndrome.
And replying to your answer: until Samsung confirms its existance we can not be sure all those brick cases have one cause:SD.

 

[marcellocord]

Until new sources come out and we can actually check the kernel and what was changed, it's too early to say anything.

The bootloader changes might be completely unrelated to the sudden death bug and just Samsung increasing their warranty enforcement.

yeah, I can now see a red ! at the top-left of the screen, on the SGSIII logo part.

 

[Tovagulet]

Samsung don't want you to downgrade because if you do and you get sudden death, they'll have to replace your S3 for a new one... and for FREE.

 

[Mothatt]

Mate Odia, your file is one heavy virus attached on some system dll on my laptop. Check with Avira Amtivirus.

Regards

Virus Total Scan
Bit suspicious...

 

[AndreiLux]

Samsung don't want you to downgrade because if you do and you get sudden death, they'll have to replace your S3 for a new one... and for FREE.

We still have zero evidence that the bootloader has anything to do with sudden death issue, please don't go spreading nonsense around.

 

[marcellocord]

We still have zero evidence that the bootloader has anything to do with sudden death issue, please don't go spreading nonsense around.

Theory 1: Samsung included a new method to validate the warranty
Theory 2: Samsung fixed those random bricks
Theory 3: Samsung fixed some bugs, but not that major bug from the point 2
Theory 4: Warranty and Random bricks
Theory 5: Another non-sence crap from Samsung, just like many

And the only theory regarding blacklisting old sboots, to prevent you downgrading to a warranty-friendly sboot. I doubt Samsung just wants users to be safe, away from faulty stuff, oh boy, I know how all the episodes begin and continue... but never end. Same plot: new thing - everybody goes nuts - this is awesome - (the f word) you Samsung - stay away

 

[Perka]

so not blacklisted then? Or does the program tell me when it is?

File: C:\cygwin1\home\tar\sboot.bin
Samsung S-Boot 4.0 -500022 for GT-I9300 (Dec 25 2012 19:52:01) Rev I9300ZSDLL1
Sboot is New

File: C:\ROM_Working\ROM_files\bootloader_check\sboot.bin
Samsung S-Boot 4.0 -742798 for GT-I9300 (Dec 22 2012 17:03:17) Rev I9300XXELLA
Sboot is New

Nvm

File: C:\ROM_Working\ROM_files\bootloader_check\sboot.bin
Samsung S-Boot 4.0 -928452 for GT-I9300 (Aug 21 2012 17:03:14) Rev I9300XXBLH3
Sboot is BlackListed

 

[Odia]

so not blacklisted then? Or does the program tell me when it is?

from OP

if it's new which means boot downgrade will not be possible

To say I9300ZSDLL1 is new and will install but contains its own blacklist.

 

[nfribeiro]

I read somewhere that it is possible to downgrade if we receive an ota with an older bootloader, because system cannot check in these situations. But in the other hand I never saw a firmware upgrade with a new bootloader, only ELLA.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Odia]

Virus Total Scan
Bit suspicious...

Its because of Execryptor, AV software not like files they cannot check, I am here to help, not spread virus infected software.

Seems only Agnitum has the correct result.