Root AT&T Galaxy Note SGH-I717 running Android 4.0

Because smartphone manufacturers have become as sneaky as their consumers, flashing your handset is not as safe as in the past. Especially if you use a prerooted version of the original kernel.

So you can’t employ such a method on Samsung’s Galaxy Note SGH-I717 (the one with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich). Much to our general sigh of relief, though, there is a way to go around such strict eyes.

The solution comes from the ever so helpful folk at XDA Developers forum. One of its members devised a way to root this phone without change the real flash counter number.

The tool he created is the perfect way to root the entire device’s system partition. And we will tell you everything we know on the subject in a very short while.

Requirements

The secret to the success of any rooting, unrooting and so on lies in the fact that you have to make sure that your laptop and your handset respect some very important requirements. In the case of the Galaxy Note SGH-I717, they tell you that you must make backups of the files on the smartphone and your comp has to use Windows.

You need to close the system applications and the antivirus apps, you must download the file, Odin3 v1.85 needs to be installed (a version of Odin specially prepared for the SGH-I717 from AT&T), the battery of the handset needs to be fully charged and for the device have to be installed.

Important instructions

Only after you make sure you have all of the above in order can you start rooting the Samsung Galaxy Note SGH-I717.

1. The first step in our tutorial is made of the following advice: move the downloaded att_note_root.zip archive into your PC. Then you need to unzip the archive and look for this file: att_note_root.tar.
2. For step 2 you are required to download Odin3 v1.85. Unzip the archive, then execute the Odin3 v1.85.exe file via the double click method. Than you must wait until Odin application starts. You then have to take your phone and start the USB debugging.
3. [sc name=”banner-jos”]For the following step, number 3, you are asked to do as follows: shut down the phone and press the Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time, for about 5 seconds. The device is going to restart and to enter in the Download Mode. This means that you have to perform a connection between the phone and the PC via a compatible USB cord.
4. Step 4: you must wait until the ID:COM window changes its color in yellow. If it doesn’t, verify if the appropriate USB drivers are present on your laptop. Should it turn yellow, go to Option in Odin.
5. Step 5: Auto Reboot should be checked on. If it’s not, do it yourself and then select the PDA option.
6. For step number 6 you need to opt for a file labeled att_note_root.tar.
7. Step 7: select the Start option in Odin. By doing this, the device will start the flashing process. At the end of the procedure, the phone will be automatically restarted. After it’s done with that, you need to unplug the handset from the comp, then activate the Superuser application. It will tell you if the rooting of AT&T Galaxy Note I717 was successful or not.