[18.07.2012][ROOT] TriangleAway v1.70

This app can reset your flash counter and triangle on ICS builds. The download is added.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS OPERATION AND COULD POTENTIALLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. A USB JIG IS PREFERRED IF YOU HAVE ONE.
( and by brick I mean brick - only a board replacement or a JTAG unit will be able to save you, don't mess with boot(loader) stuff unless you really mean it! )


Please check the values the app displays are correct before resetting the counters. There really isn't much more to say about it, except for the technical details, which most of you will likely skip.

Also, Samsung may well change behavior for this in the future, so with any major firmware updates you should check and doublecheck if this app still works before attempting a reset.

CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK THE INFORMATION UNDER "CURRENT STATUS" IS CORRECT BEFORE RESETTING THE COUNTER !
( If triangle, counter, or device is not showing or not correct, DO NOT USE but report back here )

Note: using Triangle Away may unmount your SD card. Reboot or manually remount it from Android settings.

Technical details (Updated 13.02.2012)

The flash counter and triangle state had to be stored somewhere. Everybody knew that. Guesses have been made in the past where it could be, and I have personally compared the raw flash disk contents between different amount of custom flashes in the past, unable to find any differences. You can dump and compare the entire /dev/block/mmcblk0 and you won't find a difference (you'll find a few unallocated and unused gaps, though).

The solution comes with the new kernel uses by ICS builds. The flash disk actually has two hidden boot partitions, /dev/block/mmcblk0boot0 and /dev/block/mmcblk0boot1 . The MMC driver in the kernels used for Gingerbread did not present these partitions in the past, the MMC driver in the ICS kernel does.

Teamhacksung members said something about having found the location, so I retried locating the position on ICS. Until recently I had always ran the KH4 Gingerbread build because until the LPB ICS build USB host was not properly supported on ICS, and I need that for other apps I make. It's really easy to find now on ICS. Dump and compare the partitions and you'll have found them in no time. I've already done it, so here is the information.

Structure /dev/block/mmcblk0boot0 @ 0x00020000:

0x00020000 header magic: 32bit - 0x12340011
0x00020004 flash count: 16bit
0x00020006 future: 16bit - 0x0000
0x00020008 type: 16bit - 0x0000 unknown, 0x0001 custom (triangle), 0x0002 Samsung Official
0x0002000A name: max 16 chars
0x0002001A end: 16bit - 0x0000

The boot partitions are presented as readonly by default, but allowing modification is a simple matter of executing the following before writing the data:

echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblk0boot0/force_ro

That should give you all the information you need to replicate this. A number of bytes trailing this structure also change between flashes and appear to be checksum related.

As stated above, this isn't easily doable on Gingerbread. That is also why this currently does not work on the SGNote. When ICS is released for the SGNote it'll probably be compatible out of the box, or trivial to make it compatible. I say on Gingerbread it is not easily doable, but it is not impossible. If you put a lot of effort into it, you can probably talk to the MMC device directly and modify these partitions, I personally don't feel it is worth the effort for Gingerbread, as (at the time of this writing) official ICS firmwares should be available for both the SGS2 as well as the SGNote very shortly.

Update 16.02.2012: Users have confirmed TriangleAway works on the I9220 SGNote ICS leak !
Update 13.05.2012: TriangleAway does *not* work on the latest official SGNote ICS firmwares. There will be a fixed version soon, but it has to wait for my Note to return from repairs, else I cannot test it
Update 04.06.2012: v1.50 should work with the I9220 and N7000 SGNote's again

Changelogs
18.07.2012 - v1.70
- Support for:
--- Samsung Galaxy S3 AT&T
--- Samsung Galaxy S3 Sprint
--- Samsung Galaxy S3 T-Mobile
--- Samsung Galaxy S3 Verizon
--- Samsung Galaxy S3 Canadia
06.06.2012 - v1.51
- Support for Galaxy S3 GT-I9300*T*

04.06.2012 - v1.50
- Fixes for Galaxy Note GT-N7000/GT-I9220
- Support for Galaxy S3 GT-I9300

02.03.2012 - v1.25
- Updated icon
- Updated some texts
- Added automatic reset at boot option
- Uploaded to Market

13.02.2012 - v1.10
- Updated technical details
- Device check removed, instead the app checks the header magic
- Internal structure changed

FAQ

- Triangle Away shows a negative counter ?
If you have a very large flash count (over 127) this is known to happen. Please confirm in download mode that you actually have that large a flash count before resetting the counter.

- After using Triangle Away I get no bootscreen at all or an error message on screen ?
Try flashing the attached "param.tar" as PDA in ODIN (no repartition!), that may clear up the issue. Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100 ONLY

- What about future updats and devices ?
Please read this article I wrote about this: http://www.chainfire.eu/articles/118...ay_vs_Samsung/

- On the SGS3, Download Mode says my System is modified, and Triangle Away does not reset it
Triangle Away attempt to reset this status and block it from coming back, but it depends on the firmware. It works on the ALE8 firmware, try flashing that if you absolutely must reset this value.

- On the SGS3, System->Settings->About device->Status still shows "Modified"
This is outside the scope of Triangle Away. The "system" status is not even always resettable in the bootloader. If you are going for warrenty, you need to also reflash a full stock firmware and wipe your device. If they boot up your device and find root apps, you're not going to get any warranty anyway. If you do such a full stock reflash and wipe, the "Modified" value will go away.

Download

Download from Google Play

The Google Play download is not free - it costs about a beer (thanks!). The download listed below is 100% the exact same program, but free. I provide it for free because I believe this app should be available even to people who cannot pay on Google Play. If you are able to purchase on Play, please consider that I have spent a great many hours on this, and the latest version also uses server resources I have to pay for.

REDISTRIBUTION IS NOT ALLOWED

( 1.00: 634; 1.10: 12795; 1.25: 59699)

Download V1.70 for FREE
  ----------------------
Download V1.51

Download V1.50
 param.tar
 
 ----------------------

Download V1.25

OR

Download from the Android Market

The Android Market download is not free - it costs about a beer (thanks!).

Please do not redistribute for the moment (soon?)

( 1.00: 634; 1.10: 12795 )

Tutorial to remove yellow triangle

Hi, because I have seen a lot of people asking for this, I decide to make a quick tutorial,

(I was inspired highly by lot of post every where, and of course by this one : CF-ROOT POST)

Here quick step :

• Download and install CF-ROOT through ODIN
• Download and install Stock kernel through ODIN
• Extract the zImage from any kernel you want (you could do it directly on the phone with Root Explorer)
• Open CWM Apps, use flash kernel, and select your kernel, flash it
• Done !

Let me explain now :

Step 1) Install CF-ROOT through ODIN

Here the link : CF-Root Thread
Take the better version for your rom, example: if your rom is based on KG3 kernel, take the KG3 version

CF-ROOT will install CWM Apps, that allow you to flash kernel directly on your phone without ODIN.

To flash it through ODIN, it's simple, just follow the instruction on CF-ROOT thread. In short, your PDA and select your rom, put your phone in download mode and click start.

After that your phone will boot with yellow triangle.

Step 2) Flash stock kernel through ODIN

Here the link : Stock Kernel

Same for CF-ROOT kernel, find the most accurate kernel and flash it through ODIN, tuto inside the thread too

The yellow triangle have disappear, and any root tools is still there !

Step 3) Extract a zImage

I advice to use Root Explorer to do this, you can find it in the market. You put your kernel in your sdcard (zip, tar, ...), you can try with CF-ROOT you have used for example,
Then from the phone open the file with root explorer. You need to go in "sdcard" directory to find it.
You will be able to open it, then click on the file and click extract.
It will extract in /sdcard/extracted
If the zip contain a tar, then open again and extract the zImage.

Another way, it to extract the zImage with your computer. And you can do it from a ROM too ! it's just a tar or a zip !

Step 4) Flash it through CWM Apps

Then open CWM Apps, click on flash kernel, choose your zImage (probably in /sdcard/extracted if you use Root Explorer)
Flash it, it will reboot on it, you will be in the new kernel, without the yellow triangle !

Step 5) Enjoy !

Now you can flash any kernel you want directly from your phone, even if they are not compatible with CWM ! You have just to use this method for any other kernel (from Step 3 to Step 4).

If you have any question, fill free to tell me.

If you want to download rom from my mirror, follow my signature.

If you find this usefull, say Thanks

For people for whom the rom doesn't support this method, you can follow this tuto, it should work :
I figured out how to get rid of the triangle when on cm7:
1. backup in recovery
2. wipe, flash VillainRom and cf-root
3. flash stock kernel in odin, in cwm flash kernel from cf-root (same as original tut)
4. reboot to recovery and restore backup
done!

Enjoy !