General Xperia 1 IV rooted - first experiences

[ragu24]

Oh excellent, thanks for this. I'll still do a basic files backup of course but still wanted everything to stay intact after any updates. I got my phone a few weeks ago with A12 and after some initiall testing it prompted to update to A13, so thought I do that first before I rooted, after I did a slight debloat and It's been running fine since.
As you know theres been a small update, so wanted to apply that, but it seems to be flaky so I'll probably wait yet. Just wish there was an OTA incremental sized file update, than needing to do a whole 3GB+ file update for us rooted users.

Oh wow, thanks for the link. As above, I'll probably wait to do this incremental update, but it's all good to know. The crazy thing is not sure has rooting and the whole process become easier over the years or harder, does seems like a chore sometimes...but I still want it.
I've been doing it since HTC Hero and some general hacking with previous non android phones. Maybe it's age.

No worries! I went from A12 to A13 and it kept everything intact, so rest assured there's almost no risk.

And yeah, I feel ya. It's inconvenient, but at least we can still update it so there's that Feel free to reach out if it gives any fastboot recognizing issues with newflasher or driver gremlins - I've trouble shot so many already that weren't online doc'd so can probably help ya if anything!

 

[davestuarts]

No worries! I went from A12 to A13 and it kept everything intact, so rest assured there's almost no risk.

And yeah, I feel ya. It's inconvenient, but at least we can still update it so there's that Feel free to reach out if it gives any fastboot recognizing issues with newflasher or driver gremlins - I've trouble shot so many already that weren't online doc'd so can probably help ya if anything!

Hey, thanks. will do. I did have a gremlin when I rooted the first time. Bootloader and fastboot would be seen in windows 10, had to get an old laptop out that had WIN7 on, install the drivers and got it to work. Under W10 I tried everything that I knew but not worked. Any working suggestions? Though not needing yet.

 

[ragu24]

Hey, thanks. will do. I did have a gremlin when I rooted the first time. Bootloader and fastboot would be seen in windows 10, had to get an old laptop out that had WIN7 on, install the drivers and got it to work. Under W10 I tried everything that I knew but not worked. Any working suggestions? Though not needing yet.

So basically fastboot devices showed nothing, right? Despite phone being on standby and ready to go with blue light?

In my case, the Sa200 driver or whatever it's called had to be installed directly onto the android device sub list in the windows device manager itself - there will be on the android devices list one with a yellow triangle warning sign. Select it with right click and force the sony driver onto that one in the manual disk selection!

Will recognize it after it's installed. Also make sure the device is standing by in fastboot when you do this, that way it will appear on the list like I mentioned

 

[davestuarts]

So basically fastboot devices showed nothing, right? Despite phone being on standby and ready to go with blue light?

In my case, the Sa200 driver or whatever it's called had to be installed directly onto the android device sub list in the windows device manager itself - there will be on the android devices list one with a yellow triangle warning sign. Select it with right click and force the sony driver onto that one in the manual disk selection!

Will recognize it after it's installed. Also make sure the device is standing by in fastboot when you do this, that way it will appear on the list like I mentioned

Yep, it was exactly all that. I try do what you say next time. Thank for the tip.

 

[davestuarts]

@ragu24 Hey, hope you're well. Now that the latest firmware 64.1.A.0.869 was made available on xperifirm, I thought I'd download and install.
As you're well versed in newflasher and I've never used it, I know there is a guide but confused about this section:

SOME MORE THINGS:
"You do not need to unlock bootloader or to root the phone if you want to flash a stock firmware from XperiFirm.
There are no files in the stock firmware that need to be deleted. Prompts will ask you to skip some files.
Feel free to press N to every prompt since:
- TA dumping it's not related with DRM keys.
- Flash persist_* files only if you know what you are doing, since you will lose your attest keys. Backup persist partition.
If you need the firmware on both A and B slot use fastboot commands to choose the inactive partion and re-flash.".

Also, do I flash all filesin the folder, as discussed in guide?

I assume there will be a promt or option about the wipe command, as of course I dont want to lose my files or settings? Thanks

##update## after a basic manuakl backup, just in case I followed the guide someone linked previously:

Updating a rooted Sony Xperia 1 III

If you've rooted your Xperia 1 III, you will no longer receive OTA updates. This guide will show you how to update your rooted Xperia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICE You may potentially lose root access after updating until you...

blog.huenet.net

Worked like a charm and as you said, user data all saved.
Followed up with the magisk root guide. Boom! My 5IV up-to-date
Plus I followed what you said about the fastboot driver, it worked. Thanks.
Other than security update and netflix app added, can't see any difference.
Probably all under the hood.

 

[skedapdoob]

i converted to img its saying unspupported image in magisk any way to fix?
also it is saying its a bin file on the phones file system is that normal?

 

[ragu24]

@ragu24 Hey, hope you're well. Now that the latest firmware 64.1.A.0.869 was made available on xperifirm, I thought I'd download and install.
As you're well versed in newflasher and I've never used it, I know there is a guide but confused about this section:

SOME MORE THINGS:
"You do not need to unlock bootloader or to root the phone if you want to flash a stock firmware from XperiFirm.
There are no files in the stock firmware that need to be deleted. Prompts will ask you to skip some files.
Feel free to press N to every prompt since:
- TA dumping it's not related with DRM keys.
- Flash persist_* files only if you know what you are doing, since you will lose your attest keys. Backup persist partition.
If you need the firmware on both A and B slot use fastboot commands to choose the inactive partion and re-flash.".

Also, do I flash all filesin the folder, as discussed in guide?

I assume there will be a promt or option about the wipe command, as of course I dont want to lose my files or settings? Thanks

It's allegedly best practices to kill all the TA files since they have some unique info to them that makes them potentially cause conflicts with the device.

This guy did a video demo/tutorial on running newflasher

Expect a similar experience, and yeah it's good for non root as well, however if that's the case I'd recommend you OTA it since it's far easier and safer.

If you wish to still push ahead, the video shows how you can find and kill the TA files (I did it personally, cant attest to what happens if you dont), then drop the newflasher files onto the folder and let it rip. Phone must be in fastboot mode, however it will sometimes not recognize it, just switch to recovery mode instead (same steps as fastboot, except hold power button and down volume button instead of volume up).

Run newflasher again and it will take. Skip gordon flasher and the trim partition thing (don't play with this one, research shows it's for experimental purposes, so opt to skip it) and of course, keep your user data

Don't worry about the a and b partition, it's not a factor during newflasher, only when manually flashing the boot images during root or something. The video explains it pretty well (except for the recovery mode fallback).

Hope that clears it up!

 

[ragu24]

i converted to img its saying unspupported image in magisk any way to fix?
also it is saying its a bin file on the phones file system is that normal?

You got the boot image and upon feeding it to magisk it returns this error?

Btw, you just grab the file, no need to modify or convert it in any way. Make sure you got it off the right spot too since there's similarly named ones

 

[davestuarts]

i converted to img its saying unspupported image in magisk any way to fix?
also it is saying its a bin file on the phones file system is that normal?

Installing Magisk and rooting a Sony Xperia 1 III

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PREREQUISITES 1. An unlocked Xperia 1 III (guide coming soon) 2. XperiFirm ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/tool-xperifirm-xperia-firmware-downloader-v5-6-2.2834142/ ) 3. UnSIN (...

blog.huenet.net

I additionally followed this, worked like a charm on my 5IV

 

[buzzcut]

Oh excellent, thanks for this. I'll still do a basic files backup of course but still wanted everything to stay intact after any updates. I got my phone a few weeks ago with A12 and after some initiall testing it prompted to update to A13, so thought I do that first before I rooted, after I did a slight debloat and It's been running fine since.
As you know theres been a small update, so wanted to apply that, but it seems to be flaky so I'll probably wait yet. Just wish there was an OTA incremental sized file update, than needing to do a whole 3GB+ file update for us rooted users.

Oh wow, thanks for the link. As above, I'll probably wait to do this incremental update, but it's all good to know. The crazy thing is not sure has rooting and the whole process become easier over the years or harder, does seems like a chore sometimes...but I still want it.
I've been doing it since HTC Hero and some general hacking with previous non android phones. Maybe it's age.

Same as my case, been rooting all of my phones since HTC Hero time too, it's much easier to root nowadays compared to back then.

 

[rdrlima]

Have anyone tried the pixelify magisk module? I just bought the phone and would like to use it

 

[mrbonine]

You literally get the software, you drop the Newsflasher software in the update folder after connecting your phone via fastboot or recovery, voila

It unroots after updating, but to fix it, after the update, you unsin the vendor image with magisk, flash the magisk vendor image - root is back

You lose no data unless you use the wipe command. Only reason it happens initially on first root is since you unlock the bootloader, it has a defense mechanism if you may (to protect user data). After this, you can just apply the new software and keep your data moving forward.

I've been on Samsung rooted for years but moving to Xperia. The answer above is 100% correct. My advice is any OTC workaround is dicey and to be avoided, even if theoretically possible. I suggest everyone accept that as a minor inconvenience. On the plus side it could prevent you from an automatic update you didn't want.

 

[SonicSamZ]

The phone becomes incredibly sluggish when it gets hot. I don't know if it's framerate alone, or CPU throttling, but it feels like absolute garbage.

Anything on the root side to help with that? Either by forcing 120Hz or by disabling throttling (again I'm not entirely sure what the "issue" is yet so I am being vague)

 

[ragu24]

The phone becomes incredibly sluggish when it gets hot. I don't know if it's framerate alone, or CPU throttling, but it feels like absolute garbage.

Anything on the root side to help with that? Either by forcing 120Hz or by disabling throttling (again I'm not entirely sure what the "issue" is yet so I am being vague)

I'm on Pro-I but this still applies...

You can use FKM and set per app profiles to switch the CPU and GPU dynamically

I set some apps to disable the prime core, or even more cores depending on which app.

I also undervolted the GPU and made custom frequencies for it (overclocked from 840Mhz to 855Mhz and also as low as 150Mhz now possible).

I also used a magisk module to remove thermal limits so it does away with throttling, although battery has hardware based throttling that starts at 52°C and ramps up at 56°C. Mind you this is battery temp. Camera apps and such no longer show warning or stop you though.

And yes, there are modules to force 120Hz, but they can impact your experience with Game Enhancer (mess with the 240Hz mode).

Dfps is the name of the module

GitHub - yc9559/dfps: Dynamic screen refresh rate controller for Android 10+

Dynamic screen refresh rate controller for Android 10+ - GitHub - yc9559/dfps: Dynamic screen refresh rate controller for Android 10+

github.com

If you want to streamline all of the above, you can also go with the Uperf module. Im more of a DIY custom tailored guy tho

 

[SonicSamZ]

Dfps is the name of the module

Starting with dfps first, already impressed with this. Thank you!

 

[ragu24]

Starting with dfps first, already impressed with this. Thank you!

No worries!

Definitely try the GPU mods btw, you can find the granular konabess app here

Adreno | Konabess support

Adreno Gpu and konabess support group

t.me

It allows fine voltage control unlike the main one. Either download someone's settings and hope for the best, or fine tune it yourself as per your silicone lottery!

Backup your stock image onto a pc before touching anything tho (has an integrated option to do this, just save it onto your PC in case it soft bricks).

Makes a massive difference when gaming

 

[Doom Slayer]

Considering to root my device...
Would be nice to know a few things.
1. Will it have that startup message that device is unlocked and can't be trusted?
2. Any root fix for green tint or more advanced gamma correction?
3. Have anyone tried using Repainter app to switch dark grey theme to pitch black?

 

[SonicSamZ]

1. Will it have that startup message that device is unlocked and can't be trusted?

It's more pretty than I'm used to for other phones, but it's a simple centered message in the screen that says device integrity can't be verified (or something like that, I returned my Xperia 1 IV)

You don't need to "dismiss" it, it goes away on its own a second or 2 later.

 

[Doom Slayer]

I also used a magisk module to remove thermal limits so it does away with throttling, although battery has hardware based throttling that starts at 52°C and ramps up at 56°C. Mind you this is battery temp. Camera apps and such no longer show warning or stop you though.

Can you please share this module?

 

[ragu24]

Can you please share this module?

Here's all the must have Root stuff I use. I included godly torch too, to use max torch brightness, and my undervolt presets if you feel like trying konabess (backup your image from the app if you wish to do so though)

The thermal module is the Vivo8Gen1.zip

It was meant for a vivo phone but happens to work well with 1 and 5 mk III/IV and Pro-I

Doesn't impact screen throttling, although for that you can use 'dfps' (didn't include it here). I avoid dfps though as it goes extra hard on screen which I do care for, as well as interferes with the Game Enhancer refresh rate controls since it's a force override.