How to install Android Nougat on At&t Galaxy S6 Active

Android Nougat for the Galaxy S6 Active Active is out now. At&t hasn’t released the final build of the firmware yet. The firmware is in the 4th beta stage at the moment and it is pretty close to the final build that we are yet to see. To update your phone from Marshmallow right now, you have to flash several files one by one on your phone. The files must be flashed in a proper manner to avoid any issues.

Updating your Galaxy S6 Active Active to Android Nougat beta firmware right now will not update its bootloader. This means you can always flash a stock Marshmallow firmware using Odin and update it to a final build later on. The Nougat firmware right now will let you have a glimpse of everything new that’s going to be a part of this firmware. Samsung has made a lot of UI changes in the application drawer, in the settings application and also in the calendar of the phone. Changes have emerged in the notification panel and toggles menu as well. Samsung has also added a lot of new options and features in the phone. The update overall is worth flashing as the phone as it carries notable upgrades and changes.

While going through the procedure to update your Galaxy S6 Active Active, you have to be very much careful with the file downloads particularly. Read every single instruction carefully, once you are ready, you can go ahead to install Android Nougat on At&t Galaxy S6 Active Active SM-G890A.

Install Android Nougat on At&t Galaxy S6 Active Active

Preparation

1. The update is intended only for the At&t Galaxy S6 Active SM-G890A. Do not try this on any other phone.
2. Backup everything including text messages, contacts, call logs and media content.
3. Charge your phone up to 50%.
4. Enable OEM Unlocking on your At&t Galaxy S6 Active.
5. Allow USB debugging mode on your phone.
6. Download and install Samsung USB drivers on your computer.
7. Turn of reactivation lock in settings > Lock screen and security > Find my mobile.
8. Follow the instructions very, very carefully.

Important instructions

If your Galaxy S6 Active is running on Android Lollipop or Marshmallow build prior to the Marshmallow G890AUCU5CPK3, you will download the PK3 Odin file and flash it using this guide. The guide is for Galaxy S7, but you will follow the same procedure to flash the PK3 firmware on your At&t Galaxy S6 Active.

After flashing PK3 firmware, you will have to flash PK3 to PK4 and then PK4 to PK5 update in order to prepare your phone for flashing Nougat OTA files. You can update your phone from PK5 to PK8 as well, but that’s not necessary as you can flash a Nougat build over PK5 update as well.

You can update your phone to Android 7.0 Nougat either from CPK5, CPK8 or DBQ8 firmware.

In order to install the firmware successfully, your phone must follow the proper sequence. You have two pathways to follow. If your Galaxy S6 Active G890A is currently running CPK5, CPK8 or DBQ8 firmware, you can skip the Andorid Marshmallow OTA.zip files given below and start flashing the files of Android Nougat in the following manner: DPK5 —> DQD1 or CPK8 —> DQD1 or DBQ8 —> DQD1

Download the files now

Marshmallow build

• PK3 to PK4: v12 (G890AUCU5CPK3) to v13 (G890AUCS5CPK4)
• PK4 to PK5: v13 (G890AUCS5CPK4) to v14 (G890AUCS5CPK5)
• PK5 to PK8: v14 (G890AUCS5CPK5) to v15 (G890AUCS6CPK8)

Nougat builds 

• PK5 to DQD1: v14 (G890AUCS6CPK5) to vBeta4 (G890AUCU6DQD1)

• PK8 to DQD1: v15 (G890AUCS6CPK8) to vBeta4 (G890AUCU6DQD1)

• DQB8 to DQD1: vBeta3 (G890AUCU5DQB8) to vBeta4 (G890AUCU6DQD1)

How to install Android Nougat on your At&t Galaxy S6 Active now

Make sure that you have read all the instructions carefully.

1. Now Install and setup Minimal Android ADB & Fastboot drivers.
2. Now open your respective ADB & Fastboot drivers directory.Minimal ADB & Fastboot drivers, you will open your installation drive > program files > Minimal ADB & Fastboot folder.
3. Now copy your desired update.zip files, for example SS-G890AUCU5CPK3-to-S5CPK4-UP or SS-G890AUCS6CPK8-to-U6DQD1-UP and all other update files according to your build number in the folder mentioned above.
4. Now open the Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder and hold the shift key on your keyboard. While holding it, right click on an empty area and click on “Open command window here”.
5. Put your Galaxy S6 Active in recovery mode using Volume Up + Power + Home Key simultaneously. Once it boots up in recovery, connect it to your computer.
6. In the command window, issue the following command to verify connection: adb devices – This command will result in some code making sure your phone is connected properly in the adb mode.
7. On your phone, use Volume buttons to navigate to apply update from adb and then press Power key to make a selection.
8. Once this mode is selected, get back to the command window and enter the following commands one by one.

   1. adb sideload UPDATEFILENAME.zip

9. Replace the UPDATEFILENAME with the name of the file you are flashing. e.g.
   

   adb sideload SS-G890AUCS6CPK8-to-U6DQD1-UP.zip

10. Flash all the  files by copying in the ADB directory and replacing the name like this.
11. Repeat the process unless you have flashed all the files to reach latest Nougat build.
12. Reboot your phone after installing all files correctly.
13. That’s all.

Method#2

1. Access your phone’s external SD card either on your phone or on your computer.
2. Create a new folder named as “fota” in the root (main) directory of the external SD card.
3. Copy the update.zip file that you got above in this “fota” folder.
4. Turn off your phone now.
5. Boot it into download mode. To do so, press the Volume Down + Power + Home Key. Upon getting a warning, press Volume Up to continue.
6. In the download mode, make sure that the bootloader status is “Official” and not custom. If it says custom, then go back to the preparations and follow step# 4.
7. Now boot into recovery mode. To do so, turn off your phone again. Now turn it on by pressing and holding Volume Up + Power + Home button. As the phone turns on, leave the keys.
8. As your phone brings the recovery up, navigate using Volume Up/Down keys and press power key to select “apply update.zip from sd card”.
9. Now in the apply update.zip from sd card menu, select the update.zip file that you copied to fota folder and press the power key once again.
10. Press power key on the “Yes” option and it will quickly flash the OTA on your At&t Galaxy S6 Active.
11. Flash all required files one by one in the same sequence give above to reach the latest build of Android Nougat.
12. That’s all.

Found this method working well? Don’t forget to reach us out if you have got any queries. That’s all.

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