Custom Smart Phone ROM = GO works where it didn't before!

[Texas Gonzo]

Hey all,
I couldn't help but share this with yall... I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 [GTI-9500] which is about 5 years old now. During my arguments with dji GO, I'd installed to this phone in the hopes it would work. Originally, it did, sort of. It took *forever* to load, if it did so without crashing, and the fpv feed was horribly lagged (>5 secs). This was after buying a fresh phone battery specifically for this purpose...

While contemplating how to deal with dji force feeding us updates constantly, I thought about what I might do to atleast have a backup device to fly my P3S. One that couldn't possibly get an update notice would be perfect. The answer for me, flash a CUSTOM ROM to the ol GS4.

So, after trudging through the learning curve, I now have a stripped down, 100% bloatware free device that is *blazing* fast! I mean wow... GO loads in <5 seconds now! Its amazing how the new ROM woke this thing up. The best part, it also runs GO smoother than any of the other half dozen newer devices I've tried. No video lag, no red-outs in status, no "low signal" crap, its just incredible so far.

Granted, this won't be for everyone. Loading custom ROMS is a crapshoot at best in my experience, but in this case, I won. It took quite a bit of reading and downloading this and that, but the effort was well worth the payoff imho. Now, instead of having another phone sitting in retirement, its been given a new life as my dedicated PS3 device.

I'm sure I'll mess around with others eventually, but the ROM I chose was Euphoria. It's based on 4.4.2 lolipop as I recall, whereas my stock ROM was 4.2.2 jellybean. Just upgrading the OS would have probably made a huge difference in GO compatibility, but it's so much faster without all the bloatware which can't be uninstalled typically. It's really cool to open the apps and see a half dozen icons or so, instead of 3 pages of crap as usual. Did I mention it's FAST now? Lol. Like, realllly fast. Unbelievably fast, especially for an antique in the world of smartphones.

Another bonus, its functional as a phone again also. Cricket was kind enough to disable my sim somehow, since they don't allow tethering unless you pay them an extra $10 for the privilege. Stock, the S4 was capable of tethering without their permission, and I guess they didn't care for that. Sorry cricket, but its baaack. While I'll probably never keep a sim plugged in, its nice to know I could use it if needed. For now, its all about keeping this one offline, away from the prying hands of dji. Mission accomplished.

If anyone is interested in going this route, pm me and I'll do my best to shorten the learning curve for you. Bad info is worse than no info, and there's a LOT of bad info online.

Hope this helps someone someday!

Happy ROM'n

 

[Neon Euc]

Have a link ? [emoji4]

 

[foconnell1]

Nice work, I'm going down the same road right now with a Samsung galaxy note 2 and hope to find similar results

 

[Texas Gonzo]

Have a link ? [emoji4]

If you mean for the actual ROM download, along with all the supporting files, there would be several...

Basically, I ran everything through duckduckgo.com (beats google in a dozen ways!). I can give you the basics of the process though. Most of my info came from W0lfdroid.com (thats a zero btw) and the XDA Devteam site. I'll provide the main link for the instructions I followed for rooting at the end of this, but the following info should save hours of frustration since they kinda omitted some important details.

First, you'll need the dll files for your phone or tablet to connect to a computer. For samsung devices, Kies should have those, but for whatever reason, kies wouldn't recognize my S4. I hit samsung.com and did a search by model number for the dll I needed.

Use ODIN 3 to dump ClockWorkMod recovery 6.0.3.2 to the *internal* SD card of the phone (in the Download folder). ODIN *must* be ran as an administrator btw.

Super SU is needed to do the root with this method, V2.82 was the one I used. Note: I had to rename that file, inserting "UPDATE" at the front of it to get it to take, once the phone was in recovery mode. (One of those missing details).

There is a .tar file needed to enable touch ability while in recovery mode. (Another important missing detail). This makes things WAY easier than trying to navigate with the volume and power buttons. I found it with a search for "ClockWorkMod and Touch Mode". I got that file linked from the XDA site or W0lfdroid. (I was pretty tired at 5am after an all night session of this). Its easy to find though, and well worth the effort to download. Could have saved myself 2 hours of frustration had I found it earlier.

Now, find a custom ROM you like the looks of. There countless ones, some basically stock, some stripped to the bone, and some that are a power user's dream. I downloaded Euphoria and Omega. I tried Omega first, but didn't have touch ability in recovery mode yet, so that attempt didn't go so well (but no bricked phone atleast!). Just search your EXACT phone's model number and "custom rom", you'll find plenty. Don't even attempt to cheat on the exact thing, that *will* give you an expensive paperweight! Your particular carrier is important also, along with having USB debugging enabled on the device you're about to root.

Once you have the CWM recovery file, Odin3 [v3.09], root files, touch enabling files and debugging enabled, the hard part is done. Charge the phone, grab a usb cable, a 12 pack of caffeine, and hit the workstation. (Might wanna pee at this point, hah).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OK, gory details are out of the way, here are the actual steps involved:

Connect the phone via USB, and using windows explorer, send the UPDATE-SUPERSU file to the [internal sdcard] download folder of your device along with the touch enabling .tar file.

Run Odin3 in administrator mode. (untick auto reboot and f.reset time btw).

Click the AP button, and load the [extracted] recovery and touch enabling .tar files.

Put your device in download mode by pressing and holding the volume down and home buttons, with a short press on the power key (hold the vol and home keys until it loads the download screen).

Once connection registers, click Start in Odin3. Wait a few seconds until you see PASS displayed toward the top. (Supposedly its ok if it displays Reset as well, but I had no luck unless it said PASS).

Eject the phone, unplug the USB cable, and select "reboot now" in download mode.

Once booted, you'll have a new app called SuperSU. Open it and find Knox, then disable it.

At this point, your device is rooted, with touch screen availability in recovery mode.

Now all that's left is to reconnect via USB, and send your chosen ROM file to the same download folder as the previous files with windows explorer.

Eject and disconnect phone again, and put it in recovery mode. Its the same procedure as download mode, but using the volume UP key instead of down.

Find "load .zip from sdcard", and navigate to the chosen ROM .zip file.
Start the load, choose any options that intrest you (if available) and grab some more caffeine, then give it a few.

That's pretty much it. I know it seems like a lot, but its not too bad in reality. I've tried to include those missing details that I had to muddle through without the proper instructions.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now, that link to the rooting instructions for the galaxy S3/4 and Note2 that I had to decipher:

How to Install CWM Recovery + Root Samsung Galaxy S3/S4/Note 2 - W0lfDroid

Feel free to PM or email me if you have trouble. The forums at XDA developers are excellent, and a great group of guys. They're almost as cool as the group here. Cheers!

Gonzo1967@gmail for a direct line to me.

 

[Texas Gonzo]

Btw, that link above does have links within it to download most of the files you'll need. Just remember to rename that SuperSU file with "UPDATE" at the beginning and all should go fine with the rooting process.

Sorry if I missed anything, its 430am again, and I'm gettin a lil dinged out after posting all this on a phone. Where's my keyboard when i need it?! (Another fine use for that OTG cable). Night all....