S9+ They say there is an update to Q but

/e/OS Devices Samsung
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This thread about Samsung Galaxy S9+ (star2lte) and S9 (starlte) was closed four good hours ago:

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Thanks for the help @SuzieQ so far. Do you know a good resouce to flash firmware. I have Samsung SM-G965F/DS and having a hard time flashing updated Firmware. Currently v8. Tried v10 all night with different sources from the net, I think I also tried V9. Using all sorts of software…no success. Usually states something wrong with the file…

Not my first time doing this, never had so much of a problem. Hoping something silly I am missing

BTW Live in USA, phone not sold here so I am using other CSC of course.

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Hi @Randy,
Samsung stock firmware is available on various channels. Two reputable ones are sammobil and samfrew. Samfrew has the slightly faster free download, but it still takes hours to download the zipped 4.6 GB ROM.

Right now I can’t tell you why you might be having such “big problems” because your details are too skimpy and not specific enough for me. The number of possible firmware versions is too large, so first tell me which bootloader version is installed on your Galaxy S9+. It can be found under > About > Software Info > Buildnumber QP1A …G965F… The baseband version can also help: G965F…

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So… screwed up, as:

Now I have a bunch of .bin ans .img file, BUT I don’t want to flash blindly according to the PIT output, as I want to keep TWRP installed.

Is this even possible ?
What partitions should I flash to “update the Android firmware” to Q, and then be able to install latest /e/ q image for S9+ (without bricking my phone if possible :hot_face:)

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Well tried odin one more time now phone appears to be bricked…stuck in endless loop of booking and rebooting…

I am done for a few days taking too much time.

Will get back if I am able to get this to work

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This HowTo is not suitable in all respects for upgrading from 8-Oreo to 10-Q on a Galaxy S9+ (hero2lte) and S9 (herolte).

The S9 / S9+ and stock Android 10 and therefore AOSP 10, on which /e/OS ‘Q’ is based, have limited comparability with lower Galaxy devices and OS versions.

In order not to lose TWRP Recovery, you should not install the recovery.img file - but I would not flash individual files, but use Heimdall to flash the four unzipped files AP_ BL_ CP_ CSC_ G965FXX*.tar.md5. In the process, TWRP is completely replaced by the stock Android recovery. But this is not a problem, because TWRP 3.5.0_9-0 can be very easily and cleanly reinstalled with Heimdall.

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I started going the “flash individual files” path (but I’ll probably follow your advice finally…), and comparing the device PIT content and the files (.img and .bin) available in the stock rom, I see corresponding filenames / partitions:

–BOOTLOADER sboot.bin --KEYSTORAGE keystorage.bin --BOOT boot.img --CACHE cache.img --CM cm.bin --RECOVERY recovery.img --RADIO modem.bin --DQMDBG dqmdbg.img --SYSTEM system.img --VENDOR vendor.img --ODM odm.img --HIDDEN hidden.img --OMR omr.img --USERDATA userdata.im

But I also see several partitions holding files that are absent from the stock ROM:

Partition Name: ECT / Flash Filename: ect.bin
Partition Name: MD5HDR / Flash Filename: md5.img
Partition Name: EFS / Flash Filename: efs.img
Partition Name: PARAM / Flash Filename: param.bin
Partition Name: UP_PARAM / Flash Filename: up_param.bin
Partition Name: DTB / Flash Filename: dtb.img
Partition Name: DTBO / Flash Filename: dtbo.img
Partition Name: NAD_REFER / Flash Filename: nad_refer.bin
Partition Name: STEADY / Flash Filename: steady.bin
Partition Name: CP_DEBUG / Flash Filename: modem_debug.bin

Is this expected, and what are these partitions for ? (just trying to understand before bricking the phone with too much hurry !!)

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@alci , my impression is: You are skating on thin ice!
Samsung’s Stock Android 10 comes as a packed file. Depending on the download source, as a single file with the file extension *.zip or *.tar in which there is then either a single file with the extension or as 4 or 5 files included with the extension .tar.md5

AP (System & Recovery)
BL (Bootloader)
CP (Modem / Radio)
CSC (Country / Region / Operator)
HOME CSC (Country / Region / Operator)

The first four *.tar.md5 files are conveniently installed with Odin/Heimdall without the user having to worry about which file to flash where. The procedure presented here is the much riskier method and is an invitation to brick your device. If you know exactly what you are doing, the situation looks different again. Do it right!

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As you might have guessed, I really don’t know exactly what I’m doing !
So I’ll stick to the way you advice !
I was just trying to postpone the moment where the dice is cast… and to understand a bit more.

So, let go flash the *.tar.md5 :slight_smile:
I’ll keep you informed…

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Yes, a few words of feedback are always welcome to me and much preferable to wordless “Heart”

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Good evening,

Unfortunately I have some issues with the upgrade as well.
My Glaxy S9+ was flashed to /e/ with the Easy Installer. When I wanted to update to O the option “OEM Unlock” was not visible. I tried all recommended fixes, but nothing worked.

Next things I did, smart or not (probably the last):

I updated TWRP to the latest version (which succeeded)
I flashed the /e/ recovery image: recovery-e-0.13-q-2021012097133-dev-star2lte.img (succeeded too)
I tried to flash e-0.13-q-2021012097133-dev-star2lte.zip by using TWRP. Unfortunately, my phone is in a bootloop when I restart it, I get the error:

=====================
Vendor image on device is NOT compatible
Expected Android 10 vendor

Does this mean I have to upgrade to the latest Samsung Firmware? How do I do that, since I can’t find the exact model number of my phone in recovery.

Thanks

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Yeah, that’s exactly what it means!

Read all current threads, e.g. Galaxy S9 'starlte’ and Galaxy S9+ ‘star2lte’ to find the solution to your problem. Under no circumstances should you currently use the /e/asy installer. It does not load the latest /e/ ROM ‘Q’ at the moment.

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Ok, I finally got the phone to boot with stock Samsung ROM… I had to find a Windows box, find version 3.14.1 of Odin (as neither Heimdall (on Linux) nor Odin 3.10.1 (on Windows) worked*).
Now… how do I get back to /e/OS (Q)…!?
Is the easy-installer v0.11.2-beta compatible with Android Q, or will it somehow try to downgrade and eventually break the phone ? If it iss not compatible, is there an howto I should follow ?

Thanks again for your support
Franck

  • heimdall failed with ERROR: Failed to receive session end confirmation!
  • Odin 3.10 was just stuck with no message
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Oh… I just read your last comment right now ! So no easy_installer, I’ll read the relevant thread for S9+ star2lte.

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Excellent. All signs are now set for success!

  1. First, you unlock the OEM Unlock in StockROM 10 of the S9+. Without it, you will not be able to continue.

  2. Then flash a custom recovery: eRovery or TWRP 3.5.0_9-0.

  3. Finally, install the e-0.13-q*.zip with the help of this custom recovery. A reliable help is here.

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Hurray ! Back to /e/, with e-0.13-q !

Many thanks

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How do you like it so far?

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:+1: Do not forget to set more privacy!

Settings
Network and Internet

DNS
DNS Configuration
Use network DNS - disable -

DNS
Set DNS Use
Enter DNS IP
9.9.9.9

Back to Network and Internet

Advanced
Data Saver, VPN, Private DNS

Private DNS
Selcet private DNS mode
[x] Private DNS provider hostname
anycast.censurfridns.dk [for example]
Save

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Hi.

Well, for now it’s not son different from e 0.13 in its aosp 8 version
Main difference for me is that text and icons are very small… I had to set accessibility options to make it readable :slight_smile:

But I still have to explore it a bit, obviously !

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i did that, thanks. Notice however that Private DNS option does not play well with TrackerControl. I had to disable it.