Root for ZE500KL and ZE500KG

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Jhyrachy

Jhyrachy

Senior Member
Dec 5, 2011
458
127
Moto G 2014
Amazon Fire HD 8 and HD 10
Compatible models:
Original posts by @miau9202: (Go and leave a thanks to him!)
>ZE500KL
>ZE500KG

Compatible System Version:
>WW_12.8.5.118 (Original relase)
>WW_12.8.5.156 (Tested by me and some user) [There is also the version made by @gavrila with the new kernel version, see above]
>WW_12.8.5.172 (Tested by @aschitaka and @96DANGER96 )

How To:
1 - Install adb and fastboot driver (follow THIS guide)
>Now you can connect the phone to your computer​
2 - Reboot in fastboot mode with one of the following method:
a -Volume Up while booting up​
b -With adb, after enabling USB debugging in developer settings, using:
Code: 
 adb reboot bootloader
3 - When you are in the bootloader, run this command:

Code: 
fastboot boot mod_boot.img
IMPORTANT: DON'T FLASH IT OR YOU WILL GET BOOTLOOP!!!

>Now your phone should automatically reboot with root installed and working!

Bug:
>While not everyone had it, there was a case where com.asus.services started crashing every boot after rooting, the only way to fix it was to reflash the OTA and wipe the data partition
>While new version come out, new bug may appear, please let us know!

Note:
NO ONE IN THIS FORUM, NOR THE FORUME ITSELF, IT'S RESPONSABLE OF YOUR ACTION!
THIS GUIDE COULD BRICK YOUR PHONE, FOLLOW IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Download:
ZE500KL: Original Post - Mirror
ZE500KG: Original Post - Mirror

Version .156 kernel made by @gavrila: Original Post - Mirror

Tested root apps:
Code: 
Link2SD - Working
ES File Browser - Working
No-frills CPU Control - Not Working (feqs locked)
ADB Shell - Working
Xposed Framework - Working
AdAway - Working
Greenify - Working
Titanium Backup - Working
ROM Toolbox - Working

To install Xposed framework go HERE!

To remove root:
1 - Download from the Asus site your firmware version or above
2 - Put it in your external sd card (IMPORTANT. It will NOT work if it's in the internal memory)
3 -Reboot your phone and enter in recovery with one of the following methods:
a -Volume Down while booting up​
b -With adb, after enabling USB debugging in developer settings, using:
Code: 
 adb reboot recovery
4 - When in recovery select "Install from zip" and select the zip you downloaded
5 - When done, wipe cache and reboot your phone. Now root is gone and all the system apps are back.

Credits:
@miau9202 - Original developer
@shakalaca - For technical and knowledge support
@Jhyrachy - Tester ZE500KL
@96DANGER96 - Tester ZE500KL
@visioncored - Tester ZE500KG
@gavrila - For updated root and twrp

Resources (for Asus ZE500KL)
> Asus Official Firmware and Kernel Source
> Original boot.img
> Decompressed original boot.img (with unpackbootimg)
> Official recovery (linked by @miau9202, credits to @shakalaca )
> Original dt.img (extracted from official recovery)
> Device Tree
> Rooted boot.img
 
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cAmiat

cAmiat

Member
Dec 17, 2014
38
9
Jhyrachy said:
Hi everybody!

First of all i want to say I'm not a "devoloper", just a guy with a phone and a little background in programming, so anything i may write is an interpretation or an idea i made up of something and probably it's wrong, so feel free to correct me (obviusly with proof and documentation)

In another thread we (people with a ze500kl) started to think a way to root our phone and made some try (especially thanks to @wiiliamchung )

Actually we menaged pretty nothing but since we are a community we can share tought and ideas to try to make something working!

For now our best bet is inspired from the root method of the ZE551ML (Point 3.1, method 2)

So we are trying to compile a new recovery to push supersu in the /system folder

@williamchung already tried compiling the CWM but it didn't worked.

Actually i'm downloading on a server the Omnirom source to compile the TWRP.

For compiling TWRP and CWM you need the boot.img, that I have extracted from the official Asus firmware , that is a simple .zip file, so i just opened it and extracted the boot.img, that you can also download HERE, if you don't want to download the 1.3Gb of firmware.

Using THIS guide we can extract the required info from boot.img and start building our recovery, at least in theory!

I'll update this post when we discover something new!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Nice! I used cm10.1 to compile cwm6 on the previous build and at the time of this writing, I'm compiling cwm on the cm12.1 branch. Let's just hope it works! :fingers-crossed:
Good luck on your twrp build! :D
Edit: I'm also doing a twrp build too. What branch are you using? I'm using Omni 5.1 or is it 5.0 I have to check again
 
Last edited:
Jhyrachy

Jhyrachy

Senior Member
Dec 5, 2011
458
127
Moto G 2014
Amazon Fire HD 8 and HD 10
Ok, i smashed up together what i can found about the BoardConfig.mk and make this stuff:

Code: 
# Data from https://github.com/TeamWin/android_device_samsung_serranoveltexx/blob/android-4.4/BoardConfig.mk

TARGET_BOARD_PLATFORM := msm8916
TARGET_BOARD_PLATFORM_GPU := qcom-adreno306
TARGET_BOOTLOADER_BOARD_NAME := MSM8916

TARGET_ARCH := arm
TARGET_ARCH_VARIANT := armv7-a-neon
TARGET_ARCH_VARIANT_CPU := cortex-a9
TARGET_CPU_ABI := armeabi-v7a
TARGET_CPU_ABI2 := armeabi
TARGET_CPU_SMP := true
TARGET_CPU_VARIANT := cortex-a7

DEVICE_RESOLUTION := 720x1280

# Data from https://github.com/TheSSJ/device_asus_zenfone2/blob/master/BoardConfig.mk
HAVE_SELINUX := true
ANDROID_COMMON_BUILD_MK := true
TARGET_USERIMAGES_USE_EXT4 := true
BOARD_HAS_LARGE_FILESYSTEM := true
USE_OPENGL_RENDERER := true
TARGET_BOOTLOADER_IS_2ND := true 
COMMON_GLOBAL_CFLAGS += -DNO_SECURE_DISCARD
BOARD_FUNCTIONFS_HAS_SS_COUNT := true

TARGET_KERNEL_CONFIG := msm8916_sec_defconfig
TARGET_KERNEL_SOURCE := kernel/asus/ze500kl
BOARD_KERNEL_IMAGE_NAME := bzImage

BOARD_FLASH_BLOCK_SIZE := 2048

BOARD_KERNEL_BASE := 0x80078000
BOARD_KERNEL_PAGESIZE := 2048
BOARD_MKBOOTIMG_ARGS := --kernel_offset 0x00008000 --ramdisk_offset 0x01f88000

#I do not understand this line at all, so if someone could help me about this would be good
BOARD_KERNEL_CMDLINE := init=/init pci=noearly loglevel=0 vmalloc=256M androidboot.hardware=mofd_v1
BOARD_KERNEL_CMDLINE += watchdog.watchdog_thresh=60 androidboot.spid=xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx androidboot.serialno=01234567890123456789
BOARD_KERNEL_CMDLINE += snd_pcm.maximum_substreams=8 ip=50.0.0.2:50.0.0.1::255.255.255.0::usb0:on debug_locks=0 androidboot.selinux=permissive
#This line is provided by [user=5097283]@miau9202[/user] data
BOARD_KERNEL_CMDLINE += console=ttyHSL0,115200,n8 androidboot.console=ttyHSL0 androidboot.hardware=qcom msm_rtb.filter=0x237 ehci-hcd.park=3 androidboot.bootdevice=7824900.sdhci lpm_levels.sleep_disabled=1 earlyprintk

#change this to "twrp" to make a TWRP recovery, or any other recovery which might be released
RECOVERY_VARIANT := twrp

# TWRP
ifeq ($(RECOVERY_VARIANT),twrp)
	TARGET_RECOVERY_FSTAB := device/asus/zenfone2/twrp.fstab
else
	TARGET_RECOVERY_FSTAB := device/asus/zenfone2/recovery.fstab
endif

TARGET_RECOVERY_PIXEL_FORMAT := "BGRA_8888"
TW_INCLUDE_CRYPTO := true
TW_NTFS_WA := true
RECOVERY_SDCARD_ON_DATA := true
RECOVERY_GRAPHICS_USE_LINELENGTH := true
TW_FLASH_FROM_STORAGE := true
TW_INTERNAL_STORAGE_PATH := "/sdcard"
TW_INTERNAL_STORAGE_MOUNT_POINT := "sdcard"
TW_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_PATH := "/external_sd"
TW_EXTERNAL_STORAGE_MOUNT_POINT := "external_sd"
TW_NO_SCREEN_BLANK := true
TW_NO_SCREEN_TIMEOUT := true
TW_EXCLUDE_SUPERSU := true
TWRP_EVENT_LOGGING := false
TW_NO_USB_STORAGE := true

since the phone should be the same, i have some hope it would work.

Like always, no idea if is going to work.

EDIT: updated with @miau9202 data
 
Last edited:
miau9202

miau9202

Member
Jan 30, 2013
46
60
Taichung
I use the ZenFone2-boot-tools extract the boot.img and get the cmdline
here's the full info:

page_size : 2048
base_addr : 0x80078000
kernel_offset : 0x00008000
kernel_size : 16481272
ramdisk_offset : 0x01f88000
ramdisk_size : 1168673
cmdline : console=ttyHSL0,115200,n8 androidboot.console=ttyHSL0 androidboot.hardware=qcom msm_rtb.filter=0x237 ehci-hcd.park=3 androidboot.bootdevice=7824900.sdhci lpm_levels.sleep_disabled=1 earlyprintk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
 
CTXz

CTXz

Inactive Recognized Developer
Apr 11, 2015
1,000
2,215
Prague
Good luck with the project :) Just PM me on XDA or maybe you can find me on the TWRP chat again if you get more issues ;)
 
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  • 26
    Jhyrachy
    Jhyrachy
    Compatible models:
    Original posts by @miau9202: (Go and leave a thanks to him!)
    >ZE500KL
    >ZE500KG

    Compatible System Version:
    >WW_12.8.5.118 (Original relase)
    >WW_12.8.5.156 (Tested by me and some user) [There is also the version made by @gavrila with the new kernel version, see above]
    >WW_12.8.5.172 (Tested by @aschitaka and @96DANGER96 )

    How To:
    1 - Install adb and fastboot driver (follow THIS guide)
    >Now you can connect the phone to your computer​
    2 - Reboot in fastboot mode with one of the following method:
    a -Volume Up while booting up​
    b -With adb, after enabling USB debugging in developer settings, using:
    Code: 
     adb reboot bootloader
    3 - When you are in the bootloader, run this command:

    Code: 
    fastboot boot mod_boot.img
    IMPORTANT: DON'T FLASH IT OR YOU WILL GET BOOTLOOP!!!

    >Now your phone should automatically reboot with root installed and working!

    Bug:
    >While not everyone had it, there was a case where com.asus.services started crashing every boot after rooting, the only way to fix it was to reflash the OTA and wipe the data partition
    >While new version come out, new bug may appear, please let us know!

    Note:
    NO ONE IN THIS FORUM, NOR THE FORUME ITSELF, IT'S RESPONSABLE OF YOUR ACTION!
    THIS GUIDE COULD BRICK YOUR PHONE, FOLLOW IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!

    Download:
    ZE500KL: Original Post - Mirror
    ZE500KG: Original Post - Mirror

    Version .156 kernel made by @gavrila: Original Post - Mirror

    Tested root apps:
    Code: 
    Link2SD - Working
ES File Browser - Working
No-frills CPU Control - Not Working (feqs locked)
ADB Shell - Working
Xposed Framework - Working
AdAway - Working
Greenify - Working
Titanium Backup - Working
ROM Toolbox - Working

    To install Xposed framework go HERE!

    To remove root:
    1 - Download from the Asus site your firmware version or above
    2 - Put it in your external sd card (IMPORTANT. It will NOT work if it's in the internal memory)
    3 -Reboot your phone and enter in recovery with one of the following methods:
    a -Volume Down while booting up​
    b -With adb, after enabling USB debugging in developer settings, using:
    Code: 
     adb reboot recovery
    4 - When in recovery select "Install from zip" and select the zip you downloaded
    5 - When done, wipe cache and reboot your phone. Now root is gone and all the system apps are back.

    Credits:
    @miau9202 - Original developer
    @shakalaca - For technical and knowledge support
    @Jhyrachy - Tester ZE500KL
    @96DANGER96 - Tester ZE500KL
    @visioncored - Tester ZE500KG
    @gavrila - For updated root and twrp

    Resources (for Asus ZE500KL)
    > Asus Official Firmware and Kernel Source
    > Original boot.img
    > Decompressed original boot.img (with unpackbootimg)
    > Official recovery (linked by @miau9202, credits to @shakalaca )
    > Original dt.img (extracted from official recovery)
    > Device Tree
    > Rooted boot.img
    View
    13
    miau9202
    miau9202
    OK, it seems to be ok to release the root.
    at least, I hadn't face any problem these days.

    root I use:
    Code: 
    1. Link2SD               - Work
2. ES File Browser       - Work
3. No-frills CPU Control - Not Work (feqs locked)
4. ADB Shell             - Work
5. Xposed Framework      - Work

    Compatible model:
    Code: 
    ZE500KL

    Compatible System Version:
    Code: 
    WW_12.8.5.118 (tested)


    I recommend you reboot into recovery and wipe data/factory defaults before you root, espeacially who had logined the ASUS service

    after root completed, it will self reboot into system.


    Root Command:
    Code: 
    fastboot boot mod_boot.img

    DON'T FLASH IT OR YOU WILL GET BOOTLOOP!!!

    please note:
    I and XDA, don't take responsibility for damages.

    CREDIT:
    @shakalaca - I couldn't root without him
    @Jhyrachy - tester
    @96DANGER96 - tester
    View
    8
    miau9202
    miau9202
    rajlko said:
    congratulation to you dear.:D

    ---------- Post added at 04:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:23 AM ----------

    @miau9202

    would you like to share your work, so that we may modified it for ze550kl.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    please wait few days for testing, I will release when ensure it can work properly.

    I don't want to brick your device.
    View
    7
    miau9202
    miau9202
    Ok, it's a double kill.

    Now I present ZE500KG root, thanks @visioncored help me to test root

    ScreenShot:
    bAbZSLq.jpg


    Compatible model:
    Code: 
    ZE500KG

    Compatible System Version:
    Code: 
    WW_12.8.5.118 (tested)

    Root Apps:
    Code: 
    Link2SD - Work
ES File Explorer - Work

    method is same as ZE500KL, read first post to learn how to root.

    BIG THANKS:
    @visioncored - tester


    off-topic note:
    if you want to keep your adb works, don't remove ASUSPCSuite, but you can delete iso under /system/etc and device will not notice you to install PCsuite when you plug usb.
    View
    6
    miau9202
    miau9202
    I'm using a very traditional way to prove root permission.

    Use "adb shell" and "su"
    remount / and /system as rw, remove random files and it successfully crash after reboot.

    I think we get root.

    I'm in ASUS royal club now (customer center in Taiwan), I ask them to restore my device to test modified kernel again.

    I will reply result asap.
    View

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