Develop Bugs

[SOLVED] Oh shoot, need some help.

I flashed a ROM and now I can't make it past the boot image. I'm not sure why. It's been there for the past few minutes. So I pulled battery and went to bootloader to boot to recovery and retry. Recovery and root is working fine, but somehow it says I have an update package on my SDCard....so now my only two choices are to install or not to install and reboot.
Since I can install an update package, I think it does mean that nothing vital is screwed up. I've just been checkmated.
Now how do I enter recovery? I know I can always install an HTC update package via ADB, but I don't want to lose root and have to reroot and all.
So is there some way I can get into recovery without bootloader?
Thanks
EDIT: It looks like there's some way to boot into recovery using android SDK, but I can't figure it out. Any help?
EDIT2: I don't have a micro SD card reader, so I can't delete the pesky update package (it might be some boot.img I downloaded but never got around to)
Final EDIT+ Solved
For those who didn't understand SDK and ADB, this was a great help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6K1XLmafPc
Actually I realized that I could boot into bootloader and then recovery without an SD card. Lawd have mewcy on idiots like me When it started getting into 4ext I popped in my SDcard again and booted right in. Everything should now be fine.
On a side note, I realized I forgot to backup my previous ROM in my haste to see if MIUI Camera worked on certain ICS roms (I got it completely working in blackout, and partially working in NeroXL). I hope to god I'll like XGS, because this was more effort than I'd like to spend on my phone.
I'll leave it to the Mods decision on whether or not to delete this, maybe this info will help others.

[Q] Encryption Unsuccessful Recovery - Help!

So here is the situation:
Samsung Galaxy S3 T999 with no external SD card (at the moment).
Locked to TMobile, but running on StraightTalk.
Rooted using ODIN and Root66.
Installed CWM (whatever the most recent version is) by way of ROM Manager.
Installed Cyanogenmod 10.0.0-d2tmo.
Dorked around for a while.
Attempted to encrypt phone.
Encryption failed, and I am now faced with the ubiquitous "Encryption unsuccessful" error.
I can still access CWM, and can still put the phone in Download Mode. I have attempted to delete/clear all partitions/caches through CWM, but, unsurprisingly, that did nothing. Internal SD card will not mount.
I have been doing some reading throughout the various forums here, and while I am fairly sure how to proceed, I want to make sure before diving in:
1. Is this recoverable through ODIN / Root66?
1. a. Will I need an external SD Card for ODIN?
2. Barring that, has anyone found a better work-around than using an external SD card to boot your phone, and apparently ignoring the onboard storage?
Thanks for whatever help you can provide... I know just enough to root and flash, but this went *way* over my head .

ODIN was the trick - plugged in the phone, flashed it back to a rooted stock, it rebooted, had the whole "Encryption Unsuccessful" screen when it came back up, I may have uttered a few choice words, pushed the "reset" button, the phone sat there for a good long while, and came back up in the rooted stock. Flashed CM on the phone, and we are back at work again.
Note to self - no more whole-phone encryption. Bummer.
Coming from an HTC Incredible, this whole "ODIN" thing is downright awesome.

Glad you figured it out.

The Encyption Bug is affecting the S3s now?!?! I though it was only prevalent on the first Galaxy S Devices. Is this a Cyanogenmod issue?

I cannot say if it is THE "encryption unsuccessful" bug, but I cannot think of any other reason this would have happened - the phone was chugging merrily along at encrypting itself (about 35% last I paid attention to it) until it was not, in a safe location, away from pets / small children / etc. It was plugged in, charged adequately, and had a PIN already set.
Annoying as hell, but at least it was recoverable!

I just experienced the same issue. Encrytion fail galaxy s3 while I was on custom rom. I tried everything. First you need to go to sammobile and download the firmware that matches your device. Download the newest version of odin. Download the newest samsung drivers. Go in to odin and attach the tar file in the pda section of odin. Flash it! Ta Da! Back to stock. Now all you have to do is root and install cwm.

[Q] No ROMs taking, keep getting no MD5 message, phone close to bricked.

I apologize in advance if any of this makes you roll your eyes at my stupidity.
Good Afternoon
I have an ATT samsung galaxy s3, Because of the glitches with 4.3 I was experiencing I decided to install custom software on my phone. So I looked up guides and got everything I needed. I did manage to get root access, and verified with super user. I also installed TWRP and CWM because each kept giving me errors when I tried to install CM 11 onto my phone. I tried CWM first, and when that didn't work I tried TWRP. It says there was no MD5 information found when I try to install any mod. how ever I have used the md5 file checker program and the MD5 matches up to what was listed in this one for example.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2518998
Download:
CM 11.0 Unofficial Beta 7 for d2tmo and d2att
MD5: ef93957db1e6704f23f9015231a82826
So the MD5 matches, yet when I try to install it keeps giving me errors. I also tried other versions of CM that I found on here via links. Right now my phone has no OS as another guide I read some where also said to wipe system data (sorry if that was stupid, I was just following a guideline) And even more stupid, no I don't have a backup because in my naivety and stupidity I didn't think I'd need one as it seemed so simple from all the guides and videos I'd seen.
Yesterday a friend of mine knowledgeable with tech stuff took one of the original stock Image ROMs I'd downloaded and using linux and some program he managed to do some crazy stuff I can't even describe on here. All I saw was a lot of typing of command lines and it got my phone working again, how ever it wasn't exactly the stock image I guess because the phone would not make or receive calls/texts.
Since my phone was powering on again and the android OS was loading I figured I could connect it to my computer and use KIES to download the official latest update so my phone would be back on the legit software. But trying to do that...well broke my phone again. So I'm at a loss now of what to do. Right now I can still get to download mode on my phone, but when I try to get into recovery mode I get an error that "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in KIES & try again." Which I've tried, and every time I try it gives me an error message.So I'm at a loss of what to do next.
So I'd like to get a working OS on my phone asap so I can get calls and texts.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. And being new I'm sorry if I broke any taboos or did not give some information that is typically given when describing a problem.

gvazquez82 said:
I apologize in advance if any of this makes you roll your eyes at my stupidity.
Good Afternoon
I have an ATT samsung galaxy s3, Because of the glitches with 4.3 I was experiencing I decided to install custom software on my phone. So I looked up guides and got everything I needed. I did manage to get root access, and verified with super user. I also installed TWRP and CWM because each kept giving me errors when I tried to install CM 11 onto my phone. I tried CWM first, and when that didn't work I tried TWRP. It says there was no MD5 information found when I try to install any mod. how ever I have used the md5 file checker program and the MD5 matches up to what was listed in this one for example.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2518998
Download:
CM 11.0 Unofficial Beta 7 for d2tmo and d2att
MD5: ef93957db1e6704f23f9015231a82826
So the MD5 matches, yet when I try to install it keeps giving me errors. I also tried other versions of CM that I found on here via links. Right now my phone has no OS as another guide I read some where also said to wipe system data (sorry if that was stupid, I was just following a guideline) And even more stupid, no I don't have a backup because in my naivety and stupidity I didn't think I'd need one as it seemed so simple from all the guides and videos I'd seen.
Yesterday a friend of mine knowledgeable with tech stuff took one of the original stock Image ROMs I'd downloaded and using linux and some program he managed to do some crazy stuff I can't even describe on here. All I saw was a lot of typing of command lines and it got my phone working again, how ever it wasn't exactly the stock image I guess because the phone would not make or receive calls/texts.
Since my phone was powering on again and the android OS was loading I figured I could connect it to my computer and use KIES to download the official latest update so my phone would be back on the legit software. But trying to do that...well broke my phone again. So I'm at a loss now of what to do. Right now I can still get to download mode on my phone, but when I try to get into recovery mode I get an error that "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in KIES & try again." Which I've tried, and every time I try it gives me an error message.So I'm at a loss of what to do next.
So I'd like to get a working OS on my phone asap so I can get calls and texts.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. And being new I'm sorry if I broke any taboos or did not give some information that is typically given when describing a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same error happened to me yesterday and spent the whole day figuring it out. get into download mode. boot up ODIN and reflash your preferred custom recovery. after that, i couldn't find anything else to restore my phone with so i installed 4.3 leaked from here. doesn't matter which one you select. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2498233. place it on your sd card and head into recovery mode, wipe data/factory reset and cache. head to install zip from sd card and select the 4.3 zip you downloaded. reboot system and it should work. the at&t boot screen takes a while so be patient

MrHaPpY66 said:
same error happened to me yesterday and spent the whole day figuring it out. get into download mode. boot up ODIN and reflash your preferred custom recovery. after that, i couldn't find anything else to restore my phone with so i installed 4.3 leaked from here. doesn't matter which one you select. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2498233. place it on your sd card and head into recovery mode, wipe data/factory reset and cache. head to install zip from sd card and select the 4.3 zip you downloaded. reboot system and it should work. the at&t boot screen takes a while so be patient
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all thank you for trying to help me, I hope you are having a good Thanks Giving.
I used the thread you linked to, and downloaded the version with out knox. I followed the instructions
transferred ROM and flashed kernel file to SD card
used odin to flash TWRP,
used twrp to flash rom and kernel file.
and it takes the file thankfully, there's only one issue. My phone can't make or receive calls/texts. Is yours able to?

I messed up and was playing with things That I had no business playing with and decided that I should do a restore of a backup (TWRP) I made as soon as I rooted the 4.3 OTA. well it has soft bricked my phone. it was a TWRP 4.3 Nandroid and has me messed up a little.
so far I tried My nandroid (no dice now a soft brick) cleared cache and dalvik, It was booting as far as the white at&t spinning thing,
Factory reset same on booting,
Tried a format of the internal sd this is where it gets sketchy it now goes as far as the second samsung screen(the one that says Samsung GALAXY S III)
4.3 OTA .zip (no dice TWRP wont flash it) same on the booting 2nd samsung boot screen
Tried the files in the link above and got a Hard brick
Used the debricking .IMG file and got TWRP and download mode back
Any suggestions?
Looks like I might need a JTAG/RIFF BOX for this one. If nothing else I spent many Hours of darkness discovering the darkness of android 4.3
If I get recovered from this and with a different rom like 4.1.2 I will be happy. the 4.3 OTA was very stable but I did miss wifi tether and the whole hardbrick thing was kind of a bummer. it would be real nice to have an ODIN file to fix this (AHEM samsung) or atleast perhaps stopped the progression of it to a hard brick.
New update
I got my phone booting up again however there is a catch. That unbrick.img file on my 16GB sd card is still required to boot the phone and I have no cell service what so ever. Tried to check apn settings because at home I sometimes get poor service and I run net10 so I was going to fix my apn and it says insert sim??? the sim is properly inserted???
Next Update
the bootloader I flashed apparently flashed to the external sd card? I flashed another one and it is booting from the internal sd. I had to flash a different modem the one in the bootloader/modem file I flashed from the link above didnt take? I got most everything sorted out, but im getting tired, it has been an all night adventure. its 08:23 est now
sorry for the delay in updating this I had to get some rest.

theramsey3 said:
I messed up and was playing with things That I had no business playing with and decided that I should do a restore of a backup (TWRP) I made as soon as I rooted the 4.3 OTA. well it has soft bricked my phone. it was a TWRP 4.3 Nandroid and has me messed up a little.
so far I tried My nandroid (no dice now a soft brick) cleared cache and dalvik, It was booting as far as the white at&t spinning thing,
Factory reset same on booting,
Tried a format of the internal sd this is where it gets sketchy it now goes as far as the second samsung screen(the one that says Samsung GALAXY S III)
4.3 OTA .zip (no dice TWRP wont flash it) same on the booting 2nd samsung boot screen
Tried the files in the link above and got a Hard brick
Used the debricking .IMG file and got TWRP and download mode back
Any suggestions?
Looks like I might need a JTAG/RIFF BOX for this one. If nothing else I spent many Hours of darkness discovering the darkness of android 4.3
If I get recovered from this and with a different rom like 4.1.2 I will be happy. the 4.3 OTA was very stable but I did miss wifi tether and the whole hardbrick thing was kind of a bummer. it would be real nice to have an ODIN file to fix this (AHEM samsung) or atleast perhaps stopped the progression of it to a hard brick.
New update
I got my phone booting up again however there is a catch. That unbrick.img file on my 16GB sd card is still required to boot the phone and I have no cell service what so ever. Tried to check apn settings because at home I sometimes get poor service and I run net10 so I was going to fix my apn and it says insert sim??? the sim is properly inserted???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into Settings, About Phone, Status and check to see if your IMEI and Serial Number are present. If you only lost your IMEI there's a guide on how to inject it back (I'm not sure where the guide is). However if you've lost your serial number and don't have a Nandroid that can restore it I don't know what to do.

spongdangly said:
Go into Settings, About Phone, Status and check to see if your IMEI and Serial Number are present. If you only lost your IMEI there's a guide on how to inject it back (I'm not sure where the guide is). However if you've lost your serial number and don't have a Nandroid that can restore it I don't know what to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have my serial number showing but no IMEI number. So is that all that's needed for me to be able to call and text again?

gvazquez82 said:
i have my serial number showing but no IMEI number. So is that all that's needed for me to be able to call and text again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I updated my post above and showed my soultion. I simply had to flash a new modem and almost everything was kosher. I also had to flasah a different kernel but that was for preference not because things werent working.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47817339&postcount=23 Modem download
I used that modem, flash it and see if your problems go away. I use Net10 so after I flashed the Modem I had to create an APN aswell, but that is nothing new for me.

theramsey3 said:
I updated my post above and showed my soultion. I simply had to flash a new modem and almost everything was kosher. I also had to flasah a different kernel but that was for preference not because things werent working.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47817339&postcount=23 Modem download
I used that modem, flash it and see if your problems go away. I use Net10 so after I flashed the Modem I had to create an APN aswell, but that is nothing new for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will give that a shot, but what's an APN, sorry. And how do I create one, and is it needed for me to do so?

gvazquez82 said:
i have my serial number showing but no IMEI number. So is that all that's needed for me to be able to call and text again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be, I'm working right now so I don't have time to fine the guide on how to inject your IMEI. If I remember correctly it involves using QPST. If you have an old (or any) working Nandroid backup that should fix the problem.
FYI, make sure you don't use the guide for the international S3 as it has different hardware and folder structure/contents.
As for the APN, it should automatically fill itself in since it reads it off the SIM Card (I might be wrong).

theramsey3 said:
I updated my post above and showed my soultion. I simply had to flash a new modem and almost everything was kosher. I also had to flasah a different kernel but that was for preference not because things werent working.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47817339&postcount=23 Modem download
I used that modem, flash it and see if your problems go away. I use Net10 so after I flashed the Modem I had to create an APN aswell, but that is nothing new for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it and it work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
67 texts just came in. Sir, I thank you oh so kindly. You have made this gloomy rainy day oh so joyous.

No problem. Glad I could help you.
The real credit should go to -Mr.X-, loserskater and anyone else(no disrespect there were alot of files) whose stuff I tried to flash lastnight thank you all in the dev community who contribute.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

So I guess the next question, do I try again to install kit kat on my phone.
I've already made bucks of my existing working phone haha....but I'd still like to have kitkat in place. I believe the issue of my phone not reading MD5 confirmations would still be in place, does anyone know how to remedy that situation?
At the same time I'm more than happy to leave my phone as is.

gvazquez82 said:
So I guess the next question, do I try again to install kit kat on my phone.
I've already made bucks of my existing working phone haha....but I'd still like to have kitkat in place. I believe the issue of my phone not reading MD5 confirmations would still be in place, does anyone know how to remedy that situation?
At the same time I'm more than happy to leave my phone as is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure you can turn off MD5 checks in TWRP. Probably in CWM too. Sorry if this has been mentioned. Didn't have time to read the whole thread. Just skimmed through.
2nd, there is a major difference between an IMEI that reads 0 and an IMEI that shows unknown. If it shows an unknown simply reflash your ROM and modem and you will be good to go. Sometimes a reboot is all you need. If your IMEI is showing a 0 on the other hand its gone and will require that it be injected back in which is a messy situation that usually results in tour phone being stuck on EDGE.
3rd, as someone mentioned on the previous page, restoring a working nandroid will NOT reinject your IMEI if it shows up as 0. No amount of flashing anything will get it to come back. Not even stock. It needs to be reinjected manually.

flexfulton said:
Pretty sure you can turn off MD5 checks in TWRP. Probably in CWM too. Sorry if this has been mentioned. Didn't have time to read the whole thread. Just skimmed through.
2nd, there is a major difference between an IMEI that reads 0 and an IMEI that shows unknown. If it shows an unknown simply reflash your ROM and modem and you will be good to go. Sometimes a reboot is all you need. If your IMEI is showing a 0 on the other hand its gone and will require that it be injected back in which is a messy situation that usually results in tour phone being stuck on EDGE.
3rd, as someone mentioned on the previous page, restoring a working nandroid will NOT reinject your IMEI if it shows up as 0. No amount of flashing anything will get it to come back. Not even stock. It needs to be reinjected manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you know of a good stable kit kat like ROM I could use for the s3? And any speculation as to why the ROMs werent taking for me?

[Q] I need a little guidance... (I'm desperate)

Hello everyone. I'm quite new to this whole fiddling with my S3 thing. I mean, I successfully flashed a previous version of Danvdh's Dandroid ROM a few months ago but was not pleased when it would not pick up ANY GPS satellites even after 20 minutes of waiting to get a fix. Of course I tried everything from tightening screws (none of my screws were loose) to that aGPS patch (for which it gave me the wrong location even after trying what the notes suggest).
Having said that, yesterday, I tried flashing other ROMs (like Beanstalk) in hopes of getting better GPS. Now Beanstalk worked fine and gave me GPS, but with that I then ran into problems mounting and formatting a new SD card. So then I flashed the newest version of Dandroid and successfully mounted the SD card, but it still gave me GPS problems, at which point I was kind of disheartened and decided to give saranhai's StockMOD ROM a try.
I ran into all kinds of problems.
1. I'm sure this isn't the dev's fault, but my CWM version 6.0.3.7 (is that old?) won't recognize any kind of change in my internal SD card since late yesterday. My desktop and ES file explorer both register the same files and folders, but CWM still sees old files like the zip files for Beanstalk and Dandroid which don't appear on my computer??? And it won't see any new files??? What did I do wrong? Therefore, I flashed things from my external SD card from there. (Was that wrong to do?) Also, every time I try to reboot through CWM, it says root access may have been lost and asks if I want to try and fix it. I say no because my SuperSU still works?
2. After FIRST flashing Dandroid 5.1 I noticed Wi-Fi wasn't working. A post from the Dandroid thread said to flash a kernel "or update to the newest bootloaders." I flashed the kernel he provided and found out too late that it was for T999L or something and my phone is T999. I'm kinda surprised my phone didn't brick then. Anyway, I got Wi-Fi, but whenever I tried to turn on mobile data, it said to insert a SIM card?? I'm sure it's because I flashed that wrong kernel. When I go into Settings > About Device it says the Baseband version is unknown and the Kernel version is as follows:
3.0.31-1804024
[email protected]
Sat Oct 5 00:13:48 KST 2013
and the build number: JSS15J.T999UVUEMJC
EDIT: I FOUND OUT MY PHONE WAS ACTUALLY T999L NOT T999. Currently trying to fix things. I'll get back to the thread.
3. So hoping saranhai's StockMOD ROM would give me the fresh start I so desperately needed, I followed his instructions step by step from flashing the right modem FIRST then flashing the ROM, but alas, the same "Insert SIM card...." error still plagued me. You would not believe how sad I got. (I'm still pretty sad.) At that point I tried REALLY hard to familiarize myself with what I was doing, reading the thread carefully, looking through that glossary thread to help me keep up with the techie terms, and searching for instructions on how to get it fixed, but I couldn't find anything and I was stuck.
4. This morning I flashed the Insecure kernel the StockMOD ROM thread provided and I still get the error.
5. I tried to restore from a backup I made last week on CWM, but it kept saying "checking MD5 files" and them giving me an error about not being able to restore.
As you all can see, I probably made a HUGE mess out of my phone and it might come as a huge surprise that I haven't bricked it completely. I'm extremely desperate at this point and I've admitted that I don't know what I'm doing. :crying:
It's come to the point where I just want a stable handset that will give me the services I want (GPS, mobile data, Wi-Fi, etc.) and I'm beginning to think this root lyfe isn't for me. I searched for guides on how to return to stock and unroot, but all the guides are different and I'm so confused and overwhelmed as to what I should do at this point. Please, please, please! A little guidance would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks for your time!

First off don't get disheartened. You did demonstrate a genuine attempt to help yourself and try your best on your own. Yes mistakes happen. We all do that. For what its worth, no one is born knowledgeable in these areas. We all learn.
Ok so what do we do next ? Lets start with a clean slate and put that all behind you. Yes your current recovery CWM is indeed dated and that's the reason for some of the issues you have.
Follow these steps.
1. Take UVDMD5 version of Root66 from here. Use ODIN to flash it to your phone. If you need a guide on how to use ODIN, read this thread carefully.
2. Once that Stock firmware has been updated and your phone boots fine, check if you have GPS and all the other features working to your satisfaction. Given your problems with GPS, I strongly recommend taking a GPS fix at this time.
3. Once that's working fine, flash the latest CWM Touch Recovery (version 6.0.4.5 for D2TMO). You can use Rom Manager from Play store.
4. Take a Nandroid before proceeding. When you do, uncheck the generate MD5 and enable Compression.
5. Now its your choice. You could flash Saranhai's Stock Mod or Danvdh's Dandroid. Both are good Roms and its your call. Check the GPS working after you flash Rom of your choice.
If you do choose to go after Saranhai's Rom and get into the Wi-Fi Problems, post here before you try any solutions. With Danvdh's Rom, there are certain steps to enable Root. You can't just flash SuperSU and hope to gain Root.

Perseus71 said:
First off don't get disheartened. You did demonstrate a genuine attempt to help yourself and try your best on your own. Yes mistakes happen. We all do that. For what its worth, no one is born knowledgeable in these areas. We all learn.
Ok so what do we do next ? Lets start with a clean slate and put that all behind you. Yes your current recovery CWM is indeed dated and that's the reason for some of the issues you have.
Follow these steps.
1. Take UVDMD5 version of Root66 from here. Use ODIN to flash it to your phone. If you need a guide on how to use ODIN, read this thread carefully.
2. Once that Stock firmware has been updated and your phone boots fine, check if you have GPS and all the other features working to your satisfaction. Given your problems with GPS, I strongly recommend taking a GPS fix at this time.
3. Once that's working fine, flash the latest CWM Touch Recovery (version 6.0.4.5 for D2TMO). You can use Rom Manager from Play store.
4. Take a Nandroid before proceeding. When you do, uncheck the generate MD5 and enable Compression.
5. Now its your choice. You could flash Saranhai's Stock Mod or Danvdh's Dandroid. Both are good Roms and its your call. Check the GPS working after you flash Rom of your choice.
If you do choose to go after Saranhai's Rom and get into the Wi-Fi Problems, post here before you try any solutions. With Danvdh's Rom, there are certain steps to enable Root. You can't just flash SuperSU and hope to gain Root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for your detailed reply!
After a little bit of browsing the forum, I found that my IMEI seems to be missing and simply flashing the correct modems/kernels/whatever you call them does not fix it. I will go through your instructions and then report the results.
I read on here that sometimes it just happens randomly after flashing 4.3 ROMs? Well I certainly hope I get back my IMEI and hope it's not blacklisted :/ Apparently I can't access signal or data without it.
Thank you again!
EDIT: Does an "Unknown" IMEI mean I've totally lost it?
EDIT 2: Okay now I know God hates me. I downloaded the Root66 file and Odin will NOT let me flash it onto my phone. Keeps giving me aboot (???) errors no matter what port I use! I know I took a risk tinkering with my phone but I don't think I deserve this!
Honestly now I don't want anything to do with rooting and custom ROMs anymore. I think I'm too stupid for this. I think I just want it back to the way it was when I bought it. Could you please help me to do that?
I'm done with this root stuff, I can't do it anymore.
Sorry, I honestly don't mean to come off as whiny or ungrateful, I've just spent two days trying to figure this stuff out and it's getting me VERY tired and VERY irritated.

Oops I think I forgot to mention that you will have to put the phone in Download mode before you plug it in for ODIN. In order to get into Download mode you turn off the phone and press Volume Down AND HOME AND POWER simultaneously. If you are doing it for the first time, it may seem hard. Be patient.
Yes I suspected you to be "Missing IMEI". That's why suggested going to Stock. Your Call & Data problems come from there.
My steps do take you back to Stock.

[Q] Phone restoration question

So recently I had a Galaxy S3 whose charger port failed and I could no longer use the phone. So I had a replacement sent to me via my phone insurance company.
I stuck with TouchWiz for a few days since the phone was new, and everything worked just fine, camera, snapchat, chrome, you name it. I attempted to use the CMInstaller to remove Touchwiz and go to CM. However, during the installation process, everything appeared to be going smoothly, then the android with its chest open with the red triangle popped up briefly and the phone asked me to choose to root the phone. I hit yes, and the phone rebooted, at first with the CM logo, then it proceeded to boot into TouchWiz, with no sign of Cyanogen.
I did some research and found that this is because the replacement phone has Knox on it, preventing tampering. While I'm fine with TouchWiz for now until I can get a new phone in November, my phone has been acting a bit strange.
I can't download pictures from anywhere, whether its Chrome or Facebook or Twitter (where profile pictures won't even load). In Snapchat, I can only view pictures sent to me, but I can't view videos, I can't send pics or videos, and I can't load stories. Instagram closes when a video post pops up in my feed, but photos are fine. The Spider-Man game that I downloaded from the Play Store won't download the additional file that's needed to even start the game. My camera tells me to insert an SD card before using the camera, even though there is an SD card in the phone that I store music on for Poweramp (which works fine).
Other than these instances, the phone works fine. I'd just like to be able to use the apps I want. I did a factory reset from the settings menu to wipe stuff off the phone and see if that would get these apps to function correctly with no success.
Device info:
Model: SGH-I747
Android 4.4.2
Baseband: I747UCUFNE4
Kernel: 3.4.0-1514807
Build: KOT49H.I747UCUFNE4
I checked with Kies to see what it would do with the Firmware upgrade and initialization, since that was what the guide on here said to do. It's saying it will initialize my phone to 4.1.1 Baseband I747UCDDLK3, but downgrading will brick my phone, if I'm not mistaken.
So I don't know what to do now.
So my question is this: Can/Should I use Kies to attempt to restore my phone or did I permanently bork the hardware?

Try flashing the stock NE4 rom from enewman17s thread in development section. If im not mistaken it will have tge fix for external sd and the insecure kernel should solve the internal sd issues.
This is due to seLinux primarily, not knox. So its something we will have to deal with on every device running stock from now on. The alternative I believe is to format the card and factory reset. If you start everything fresh it should work ok when full stock.
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The problem I'm having with that idea is that I'm not sure I have root access, so I don't think I can flash a rom. If I can boot into recovery, I'll give it a try, but I'm not positive if it'll work.
Thanks for the tip!

You dont need to be rooted. Just need custom recovery.
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DocHoliday77 said:
Try flashing the stock NE4 rom from enewman17s thread in development section. If im not mistaken it will have tge fix for external sd and the insecure kernel should solve the internal sd issues.
This is due to seLinux primarily, not knox. So its something we will have to deal with on every device running stock from now on. The alternative I believe is to format the card and factory reset. If you start everything fresh it should work ok when full stock.
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Hi again,
I tried formatting and factory resetting. So I'm going to try the NE4 ROM, but I can't seem to find it. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction? Thanks for all your help!

This thread may help: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2789917

Okay, so I flashed that ROM from enewman's thread and it said it flashed successfully.
After it flashed, I went to do all three wipe options, and it rebooted in the middle of doing so. My phone rebooted normally into TouchWiz, and nothing was wiped and all my apps were still present.
I'm still having the same persistent problems as before. I think attempting another wipe may help, but I figured I'd check in with progress and see if anyone has any suggestions.
Thanks again.

Boot back into recovery and instead of factory resetting, choose Format /data.
This will wipe your internal sd card, just so you know. If that doesn't help, go back to the thread audit13 linked, reflash the rom, then the stock recovery. Reboot recovery and factory reset again. Then reboot and test. Pretty sure choosing format /data will be enough though.
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