Develop Bugs

Flash to stock ROM - OTA?

Hi Guys!
I have plan to buy Galaxy S3 in Tmo (in retail) and have a two questions. Is it safe to flash new phone from Tmo to stock android? I don't want to have any Tmo stuff and Tmo's andro version... Question two is, when I'll have stock android on Galaxy, Do I get an OTA when it'll appear? Or I will have to flash manually when new rom will appear?
Thanks for clarification!
dzordzyk

Now someone correct me if im wrong as i still call myself a noob but i do have basic knowledge but you can always root your phone/odin a custom recovery and then flash a stock rom with all the bloat removed. You could always just remove bloat via titanium back up as well tobyour liking. Check out the development thread. Theres alot to read but theres very usefull info to get caught up on. Hope this helps. Oh and in regards to ota, im stock with root injection and im waiting for todays update to try the root keeper method.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

For android builds, or AOSP, there are options. You won't get a pure stock AOSP unless you compile and build it yourself. Though Cyanogenmod and AOKP are modified builds of AOSP that have various mods and tweaks I have been using Cyanogenmod 9 and will switch to 10 once it releases.
You will not receive OTA updates as these are custom roms and updates need to be manually flashed
There is a lot of lingo to learn and lots of mistakes to learn from. You will become addicted to flashing updates and various roms very quickly
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Thanks guys for quick response!
Every flash in Samsung which I'd like to do has to be done via Odin? Sorry for 'noob' questions but before SGS3 I had NexusOne - everything was simpler on it
Flashing doesn't void my warranty, right? AFAIK on Samsung we have something called "Flash counter" and if we'd like to use warranty, Flash counter should be "0", that's right?
After buy, Do I have unlock phone or something like that?
Thanks for patience! I appreciate it
dzordzyk

No, you would want to odin a stock injected rom or odin a recovery, boot into recovery and then flash the super user zip. I dont know anything about odins counter but the triangle away seems to be working well on our phones unless someone else knows otherwise.
Confirming that if your on the stock root injected rom, use rootkeeper, do a temp unroot and youll be able to get the ota installed. Mine just rebooted from installation. Working good and glad it was so easy. Abq nm here. Hope i helped.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

nice
so, this is a veeery good question that I've been wondering myself for quite some time...If you flash a stock rom via ODIN, and you are not rooted anymore, will you get that rom's OTA updates when available? Please, someone who's done this, reply with some precise anwser! Thank you very mutch :laugh:

sebbyromania said:
so, this is a veeery good question that I've been wondering myself for quite some time...If you flash a stock rom via ODIN, and you are not rooted anymore, will you get that rom's OTA updates when available? Please, someone who's done this, reply with some precise anwser! Thank you very mutch :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 wondering if this is true

If you are running stock do you get OTA updates? Of course.

You will get ota updates if running stock ONLY! You can be rooted, but you must not have a custom bootloader. Otherwise it will not work.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Tmobile update on stock rooted rom

Can I let the Tmobile Update download and flash if I am rooted on the stock ROM and have Clockwork recovery? I would use ota root keeper to disable root also before the update.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

When it is rooted even if you try to use the OTA update it won't let you, while rooted, you could alternatively flash the update via ODIN w/ root support. Or try some of the sweet ROMs available , the reason I switched to a custom ROM because I was going to have to erase my phone anyway if I wanted to update, so I thought why not just try a custom ROM?
I use LiquidSmoothRC7, but if you want a more stock feel with touchwiz you can try Wicked, Wicked stays true to the "official stock ROMs" and just adds roots and tweaks the ROM to make it as stable as possible

If you are rooted, with a custom recovery, there is absolutely no reason for you to be playing around with Odin or OTAs... your updates are available in the development section

cobraboy85 said:
If you are rooted, with a custom recovery, there is absolutely no reason for you to be playing around with Odin or OTAs... your updates are available in the development section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OR you could listen to this dude

cobraboy85 said:
If you are rooted, with a custom recovery, there is absolutely no reason for you to be playing around with Odin or OTAs... your updates are available in the development section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually there is. There are 10 partitions rewritten with the Odin and OTA update. Only 5 get rewritten if you flash via custom recovery, so you don't get the full update.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

zul8er said:
Can I let the Tmobile Update download and flash if I am rooted on the stock ROM and have Clockwork recovery? I would use ota root keeper to disable root also before the update.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to doc's thread, flash his firmware update, reboot, then flash whatever JB ROM you desire. there is absolutely no need to ODIN your phone with the OTA fw, resetting your device completely. you just need to make sure you flash the latest firmware first before you flash a ROM that is based off the latest OTA

cobraboy85 said:
go to doc's thread, flash his firmware update, reboot, then flash whatever JB ROM you desire. there is absolutely no need to ODIN your phone with the OTA fw, resetting your device completely. you just need to make sure you flash the latest firmware first before you flash a ROM that is based off the latest OTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stayed on 4.0.4 with the base of UVLH2 and just clean installed JB roms so should I update the base? Or is it already updated?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Towle said:
Actually there is. There are 10 partitions rewritten with the Odin and OTA update. Only 5 get rewritten if you flash via custom recovery, so you don't get the full update.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of those 10 partitions that are getting rewritten are... for one, your recovery... so that makes 9 actually...
My point is, and I'm not trying to be argumentative in any way, merely objective, is that unless it is reformatting the ext4 partition to new file structure (for example) there should be no need to do this. I suppose I would ask somebody to define in depth "rewritten" and how exactly this is being done and why. Every single update we have had since the release of this device I have not once updated my own device with odin merely to put it back to stock. And I have run into zero issues. Seems like a waste of time to me unless there is something highly critical being restructured entirely. In the end, its all the same disk, and disk size for any given partition.
---------- Post added at 05:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:47 AM ----------
neim81094 said:
I stayed on 4.0.4 with the base of UVLH2 and just clean installed JB roms so should I update the base? Or is it already updated?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on LH2, with that same baseband, I would go ahead and update your baseband via docs packaged update in his thread, and just reboot, then move on to the jelly bean updates. Do a factory reset through recovery before you flash the JB ROM tho since you are coming from a completely different version of android.

zul8er said:
Can I let the Tmobile Update download and flash if I am rooted on the stock ROM and have Clockwork recovery? I would use ota root keeper to disable root also before the update.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to avoid all the weird miscellaneous problems listed in the Q&A forum, update using Odin and the rooted rom in Docs' thread. If you choose not to use Odin do not be surprised if odd things happen.

Just stating my experience, I was rooted stock ics and ran the ota update. I was able to update, keep root and ran stock jelly bean without any problems at all.
Now I am running frosty jelly and still no problems at all. I am not saying for you to do it (dont want anyone blaming me) just stating that it can be done. Do whats most comfortable for you.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

jcbofkc said:
If you want to avoid all the weird miscellaneous problems listed in the Q&A forum, update using Odin and the rooted rom in Docs' thread. If you choose not to use Odin do not be surprised if odd things happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again looking for some technical clarity here. Haven't had a single issue myself. With anything. And I have not factory odined my device once since I got it. It is not critical to do this, otherwise I would be suffering from "weird miscellaneous problems"
Hopin doc can jump in here and set me straight if I am wrong, but it seems to me you will be fine just updating your radios and then moving to the latest build (4.1.1) as long as you clear data before flashing your ROM of choice

cobraboy85 said:
Again looking for some technical clarity here. Haven't had a single issue myself. With anything. And I have not factory odined my device once since I got it. It is not critical to do this, otherwise I would be suffering from "weird miscellaneous problems"
Hopin doc can jump in here and set me straight if I am wrong, but it seems to me you will be fine just updating your radios and then moving to the latest build (4.1.1) as long as you clear data before flashing your ROM of choice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could very well be correct. Not trying to debate you.
but....I am seeing thread after thread of issues. Based on experience I suggest using the full proof method. I have updated many phones using many different methods and never have problems, but apparently many have had issues.
I also hope Doc chimes in on this thread.

jcbofkc said:
You could very well be correct. Not trying to debate you.
but....I am seeing thread after thread of issues. Based on experience I suggest using the full proof method. I have updated many phones using many different methods and never have problems, but apparently many have had issues.
I also hope Doc chimes in on this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally dig it. And yeah, just want to know what exactly is being done differently in odin

cobraboy85 said:
Totally dig it. And yeah, just want to know what exactly is being done differently in odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understand the process correctly
ODIN flashes the entire phone OS like the kernel, Rom, baseband, etc
Using recovery to flash only updates the Rom,recovery,boot,kernel
Sent from my SGH-T999

neim81094 said:
If I understand the process correctly
ODIN flashes the entire phone OS like the kernel, Rom, baseband, etc
Using recovery to flash only updates the Rom,recovery,boot,kernel
Sent from my SGH-T999
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I will clarify, I am curious to know why Odin is such a critical issue. I know how it works as far as it being a flashing tool

I am not sure maybe it's just preference and how much you want to use your computer and what how much you want to download etc
Sent from my SGH-T999

neim81094 said:
I am not sure maybe it's just preference and how much you want to use your computer and what how much you want to download etc
Sent from my SGH-T999
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The file used to flash with Odin is much larger because it is a complete rom. The OTA is a patch that attempts to patch and modify existing files.

I basically said that on the last post not the one you quoted
Sent from my SGH-T999

Finally got the time to Odin Route66 Jelly bean.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Everything good?

[Q] Unable to flash Stock ROM

I bought a T-Mobile Galaxy S 3 LTE with model number SGH-T999L. I used Odin V3 1.85 to flash TWRP recovery and CyanogenMod 10.0.0.
Everything went well but my camera doesn't work. On launching the camera, I get a "Can't connect to camera" error and it quits. The same behavior is observed when using other camera apps. I tried the instructions in this thread(http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239414) but it did not fix my problem. I now want to go back to my stock ROM. I successfully downloaded and flashed stock recovery using Odin. However, Odin fails when I try to flash the stock ROM obtained from the samsung website. It gives me a "write failed" error and stops. Any tips or suggestions to help me out would be appreciated. Thanks

Is it supposed to use T999 firmware?

Only odin flash T999L firmware. I dont see it released yet at samsing-updates.com though.
Maybe samfirmware.com? I can look later.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

re: sure fix
newidforu said:
I bought a T-Mobile Galaxy S 3 LTE with model number SGH-T999L. I used Odin V3 1.85 to flash TWRP recovery and CyanogenMod 10.0.0.
Everything went well but my camera doesn't work. On launching the camera, I get a "Can't connect to camera" error and it quits. The same behavior is observed when using other camera apps. I tried the instructions in this thread(http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239414) but it did not fix my problem. I now want to go back to my stock ROM. I successfully downloaded and flashed stock recovery using Odin. However, Odin fails when I try to flash the stock ROM obtained from the samsung website. It gives me a "write failed" error and stops. Any tips or suggestions to help me out would be appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not reflash the stock ODIN flash rom and make sure it all works ok for you, that will tell you exactly what the problem is.
If the stock rom is working properly, then there is only one thing left which is the culprit and that is the CM10/AOKP/AOSP
or PORTED roms which many people seem to like flashing.
The CM10/AOKP/AOSP and ported roms are excellent if you are a developer or if you like to do a lot of experimentation with your phone.
So the thing to do now is reboot your phone to recovery mode, do a "Factory Reset", "Wipe Cache", "Wipe System" and "Wipe Dalvik".
When that's done Open Odin and put the stock rooted T999 Tmobile Jellybean 4.1.2 into Odin's PDA slot, go into download mode
and once you see Odin is connected to the phone start the flash. Have patience for the phone to boot after its done flashing.
Here is the stock rooted Odin flash T999 Tmobile Jellybean 4.1.2 rom that you can download if you like: T999_UVDMD5
Official JB Firmware - Latest JB 4.1.2 Firmware
My suggestion to you is to only flash Samsung T999 Tmobile stock based Jellybean 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 roms in the future.
But who am I to say whats best..... This is just my personal opinion...... Which usually is not worth a dime. LOL

Sorry, but untill we know more about it, I would not flash T999 firmware onto the T999L.
Its only been out a day and tgey are different model phones with different hardware.
If you decide to try anyway, please post your results
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

DocHoliday77 said:
Sorry, but untill we know more about it, I would not flash T999 firmware onto the T999L.
Its only been out a day and tgey are different model phones with different hardware.
If you decide to try anyway, please post your results
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am a newbie. I thought the T999 was the same as the T999L. That would explain why Odin doesnt flash stock T999 onto my device. Can anyone here post a link to the stock SGH-T999L ROM?

Just did a quick check and I dont see that the firmware has been made available for download yet.
If you want stock I would flash one of the stock based custom roms via recovery for now.
Out of curiosity, what is your current baseband version?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

DocHoliday77 said:
Just did a quick check and I dont see that the firmware has been made available for download yet.
If you want stock I would flash one of the stock based custom roms via recovery for now.
Out of curiosity, what is your current baseband version?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Baseband version is T999LUVAMB7. Still waiting for stock ROM to be released on samsung-updates or sammobile.

newidforu said:
Baseband version is T999LUVAMB7. Still waiting for stock ROM to be released on samsung-updates or sammobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue with the same phone. Got it 2 weeks ago haha. Did you happen to make a backup first using CWM Recovery? If so, you can just restore that backup and you'll have your camera functionality back. It's pretty annoying switching back and forth from CM10.1 back to stock just to take pictures but Rom manager makes it pretty quick and effortless.

Actually now that I think of it, they prob wont release the original firmware. Seems like the first build is never available, only when an update is released do we get firmware we csn download.
I am working with another member on getting something going for the T999L, but right now we are stuck until a verified safe method of rooting is found. (Dont want to flash a recovery or cf autoroot w/o knowing it wont screw something up)
Itll happen, but we just gotta be patient.
Just reread the op and see that you say you flashed TWRP. So you were able to initially gain root without any problems?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

DocHoliday77 said:
Actually now that I think of it, they prob wont release the original firmware. Seems like the first build is never available, only when an update is released do we get firmware we csn download.
I am working with another member on getting something going for the T999L, but right now we are stuck until a verified safe method of rooting is found. (Dont want to flash a recovery or cf autoroot w/o knowing it wont screw something up)
Itll happen, but we just gotta be patient.
Just reread the op and see that you say you flashed TWRP. So you were able to initially gain root without any problems?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used Odin to flash Clockwork Mod recovery first. I did not like Clockwork Mod's interface and reflashed with TWRP. I had no problems to gain root with either of these methods. I also tried Cyanogenmod stable 10.0.0 and then 10.1 RC2 without any problems. As far as I can tell, all apps work except for the camera. One word of caution though. As you can see from my posts, I am new and dont know what I am doing. I might have just gotten lucky since my device is still unbricked. I had only one "scary" moment during the entire process. I used TWRP to wipe my phone clean and was stuck with no OS install file. ADB sideload did not work since it could not recognize the device at that point. Luckily, I had a micro SD card lying around and was able to put in a new OS install file using my laptop and then TWRP was able to handle it.

tsticge aye
faytx1 said:
I had the same issue with the same phone. Got it 2 weeks ago haha. Did you happen to make a backup first using CWM Recovery? If so, you can just restore that backup and you'll have your camera functionality back. It's pretty annoying switching back and forth from CM10.1 back to stock just to take pictures but Rom manager makes it pretty quick and effortless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish I had made a backup! Could you zip up the files contained inside "/system/cameradata/" folder and post a link here? It would help me and anyone else with the same problem restore the camera's functionality. In case you want to try it out, follow the instructions in this link but using the files from your stock backup
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239414

newidforu said:
Wish I had made a backup! Could you zip up the files contained inside "/system/cameradata/" folder and post a link here? It would help me and anyone else with the same problem restore the camera's functionality. In case you want to try it out, follow the instructions in this link but using the files from your stock backup
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2239414
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the cameradata folder from the T999L.
http://d-h.st/Ciy
Good Luck!

How did you get Cyanogenmod installed on the t999l every time i try it aborts with status 7

Mine was failing with this same error. I reverted back to stock, re rooted, then downloaded the flash directly to the phones internal storage. Worked like a champ. I think in my case, there is an issue with the SD card, its kind of old.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Beefstew said:
Mine was failing with this same error. I reverted back to stock, re rooted, then downloaded the flash directly to the phones internal storage. Worked like a champ. I think in my case, there is an issue with the SD card, its kind of old.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You reverted to stock on the T999L? please exspain how that was done

Re flashed stock ROM using Odin. I believe I got the file from Samsung's website, but I'm not positive of that. I do know its huge, over 1 gig. If you need help with the re flash I know there are already how to's on here about that, so I won't go into it here.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

You must be using a T999 as your sig indicates, not a T999L. Am I correct?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Don't I feel like a tool now. Yes Doc, plain old t999 here. Now that I read back through the whole thread here I see that I was being a bit redundant. Now I will return to my closet under the stairs.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

No worries! We all do stuff like that from time to time!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

[Q] Galaxy S3 downgrade from android 4.3 to 4.1.2

I have a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGH-T999) and I made the mistake of allowing an upgrade??? to android 4.3 which has been very unstable for me. T-Mobile, Samsung, and Google all say that there are no updates to 4.3 and I can’t downgrade, so basically I’m out of luck.
Can I downgrade 4.3 to 4.1.2 without bricking my phone and hopefully without voiding my warranty? If so, please give me some instructions. I downloaded Odin 3.07 and firmware: root66_TMO_T999UVDMD5.7z. Thanks a million.

I don't think it's possible to downgrade anymore due to Knox. There was a thread talking about it
Maybe you should check it out.
Sent from my C6916

You cannot downgrade without voiding your warranty
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

Dont flash md5root66 after update!
newbee123 said:
I have a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGH-T999) and I made the mistake of allowing an upgrade??? to android 4.3 which has been very unstable for me. T-Mobile, Samsung, and Google all say that there are no updates to 4.3 and I can’t downgrade, so basically I’m out of luck.
Can I downgrade 4.3 to 4.1.2 without bricking my phone and hopefully without voiding my warranty? If so, please give me some instructions. I downloaded Odin 3.07 and firmware: root66_TMO_T999UVDMD5.7z. Thanks a million.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you flash the root66 of the md5 firmware via odin after you have already upgraded to 4.3 you will HARD BRICK your phone. Taking the 4.3 ota updates your bootloader and flashing anything other than 4.3 in odin will wreck your life.
You need to download the root66mjc firmware here:
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23212708291682181
And flash it in odin. Then from there install a custom recovery and download a rom of your choosing and the compatible modem. I recommend you download the md5 modem. Then you're gonna wanna boot into recovery and flash the rom and the modem only (kernels are ok of course) JUST NO BOOTLOADERS. I don't even know if you can do that in recovery but trying to mess with the new BL will brick your face I mean phone.

full steps?
so does anyone have any full list of steps and links on where to get the modems and all to downgrade 4.3 with knox down to 4.1.2

pamma83 said:
so does anyone have any full list of steps and links on where to get the modems and all to downgrade 4.3 with knox down to 4.1.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you try reading the thread before posting ? Its not that long. You will see your answer provided by 3 different individuals.

Perseus71 said:
Would you try reading the thread before posting ? Its not that long. You will see your answer provided by 3 different individuals.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this thread had 4 posts before i posted and only 1 talks about what to do..where are you seeing 3 different people saying what to do and how???
and i asked where to get the modems and all.. do you see anyone saying where to get them??

pamma83 said:
this thread had 4 posts before i posted and only 1 talks about what to do..where are you seeing 3 different people saying what to do and how???
and i asked where to get the modems and all.. do you see anyone saying where to get them??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was referring to the 3 persons who responded to the OP's question similar to yours. @jtl_777's response is pointing to the 4.3 Firmware.

Its more implied in this thread than stated matter of factly. This thread is several months old, and I know your question has been asked countless times in many different threads, much more recently than in this one.
I suggest you read the stickies in each section. Just by doing that you will find all firmware and modems and more. You will also find that the answer is no, you cannot downgrade your full firmware from 4.3. And you never will be able to.
If your having problems I suggest flashing the latest 4.3 build via Odin, then factory resetting. Start over clean with minimal restoring of backups (only the essentials).
Every time an update comes out there are people who have problems. The majority are solved by doing what I just said because most bugs are caused by using old data created by old apps on the new build.
Even if you could downgrade, chances are youd run into even more issues and still have to factory reset.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
... You will also find that the answer is no, you cannot downgrade your full firmware from 4.3. And you never will be able to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks but I read online and some youtube videos showing that people have gone from 4.3 back to 4.1.2, just trying to make the phone the way it was before any updates were done and wondering if anyone knows the proper steps without bricking the phone.

They probably just flashed a rom. It is simply not possible to downgrade the firmware though.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

so i found this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48758977&postcount=1412 and i have the same case as Christopher4tw with a stock 4.3 T999UVUEMJC and just want to get back to T999UVDMD5 so its running the 4.1.2 version of android
so do i just download the below file, extract and flash via odin then do a wipe via recovery? If not can you please explain how to go about this so i can have 4.1.2 running on the phone
April 2013 - 4.1.2 JellyBean
Note: This is based off of the stock image TMO T999UVDMD5
Perm Mirror: Download - root66_TMO_T999UVDMD5.7z

You cannot downgrade your firmware.
Flash an older rom with cwm or twrp if you need to be running md5
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
You cannot downgrade your firmware.
Flash an older rom with cwm or twrp if you need to be running md5
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so can I use this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2276645 and flash via cwm or twrp recovery and it will make the phone run 4.1.2 without bricking or having issues with knox or does that have the bootloader issue with it as well?

Yes, that one you can flash.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
Yes, that one you can flash.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great thanks so much for your help, can I flash the recovery via odin mobile app or is it safer to do it via pc?

Safer via PC.
It is possible via Mobile Odin. But that's one of the partitions I don't want to mess with when Phone is Booted/

If you know how to use Mobile Odin then it should be fine. I agree that its better to use pc odin if youre not familiar with Mobile Odin. However, it actually doesnt flash the recovery while booted. It flashes the flash kernel which is MO's temp recovery. It then boots to this and flashes. (So, perseus is right in that regard. But I personally love Mobile Odin and find it extremely useful and consider it safe unless you are brand new to all of this).
In fact Mobile Odin is another way you can flash 4.1.2. Itll flash the firmware, but only the system, kernel, recovery and modem. (I didnt bring this up previously because I didnt want to confuse, or go too far too fast).
If youre thinking about flashing recovery via MO, though, you can also instead just flash the rom you found. No need to flash the recovery unless you just want to. Put the rom in the update.zip slot and itll flash just fine.
If any of this is confusing, just stick with the original plan for now. The rest will come easy if you dont rush things.
One more thing, while you can usually update stock without wiping, you may find you have to factory reset after downgrading as the old system was not built for using data created on a new version.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

thanks for all the help.. had to do the wipe since it kept showing the samsung logo but after that it booted just fine.

t999L
I have tried so many times to downgrade to 4.1.2 using odin but I havent be able to. I always get an error message

On LK3 Should I up to new BL/BB?

I am pretty overwhelmed by all the searching I have been doing on the different basebands and modem upgrades.. Most people seem to want to downgrade in the posts I have been finding.
I have not ran stock TouchWiz for over a year, I believe I was still on 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 back then.
Currently, I am running a custom ROM (GZ Rom Validus or Spirit Rom) which are both on 4.4.4. My current Baseband and Bootloader are LK3.
It was suggested in on of the G+ Communities I update my BB and BL, is NE4 the current one? Should I still go about this? and if so, Which guide should I follow? I have the current CWM Recovery installed. Do I use enewman's guide from the General Discussion? Do I need to install the full stock 4.4.2 firmware or can I just flash the modems and bootloader?
I have never installed 4.3 OTA update, have never had Knox on my phone.
Is knox that big of a deal? Does it make things that much tougher to get around things?
Sorry, if this has been covered before, and I have searched the forums and done a bit of reading, but I think I may have read too much and just confused myself further..

If youre warranty is up, knox doesnt really matter, except that you cannot downgrade to older firmware. Most who want to just want to use the free sim unlock.
There will always be people who disagree, but I personally feel updating is a good idea. Better performance, more features....thats up to each person to decide though.
If you decide to update, everything you need is in General.
Ive linked to some threads in this post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54800327

Thanks will go through that tonight..
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Wouldn't hurt to do the free unlock before updating...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 running TMS3KK-2.0

Viper67857 said:
Wouldn't hurt to do the free unlock before updating...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 running TMS3KK-2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with him

Lol, oops.. just flashed the MJB Firmware.. I read about what an unlock was for.. We had been with Centennial before AT&T bought them and are still on AT&T today, so probably over 14 years and never really thought about changing.. Guess it would have been useful if I was going to sell my phone, but I can't seem to let things go sometimes Still have my iPhone 3GS, which I probably could sold when I was done with it, but I thought I would need it again sometime (I didn't)
Anyway, DocHoliday, I came back here because I started to go through this thread you linked to in the link you posted above (enewman17's thread for updating to 4.4.2 (high success rate) http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2789917
I decided to not flash TWRP and just flash the MJB in his Step 3 in the CWM Recovery I already had.. Then I stopped and read a few more pages of that thread, then I saw you posted this "Do not flash an ota over a custom modified rom. The chances of it going way wrong are too great. OTA's patch existing files on the device, and if those files have been modified there's a very good chance either the patch just wont take, or it'll really screw things up."
In my OP I stated I was already running a custom rom, so had a finished that guide, I probably would have messed something up somewhere right?
So I guess, where do I go from here? I am on the MJB firmware bootloader modem (that I flashed from enewmans guide) right now running Spirit Rom Android 4.4.4. I don't care about going back to stock, I want to maintain root and continue using non-touchwiz ROMS.. Though I did consider using a TW Rom a few months ago..

Ok, no problem there! Use enewman17's other thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2808654
It will update your base firmware (bootloader/modem/etc) without touching your current rom.

Thanks.. Didn't see that thread..
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