Develop Bugs

[Q] going back to stock after the 4.3 OTA update

I'm currently running beanstalk 4.4.1 rooted with twrp installed. I did the 4.3 OTA update before I went with the custom roms.
what is my options as far as going back to stock 4.3? I've read several threads but non of them were the exact scenario that im in. Any help is appreciated.

Are you running an AT&T phone? If you are, you cannot flash any rom that tries to flash a bootloader that is older than 4.3. If you do, it will brick the phone.

audit13 said:
Are you running an AT&T phone? If you are, you cannot flash any rom that tries to flash a bootloader that is older than 4.3. If you do, it will brick the phone.
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yes it is at&t. Also I do have my original backup but twrp doesn't recognize it

Why not load a 4.3-based ROM? If you want to go back to stock, you could try using mobile Odin to load a stock ROM.

galaxy s3 at&t variant 747 rooted 4.1.1. I747UCDLK3 update to kitkat.

Hey guys I am trying to update my galaxy s3 to kitkat. I am running galaxy s3 at&t variant 747 rooted 4.1.1. I747UCDLK3 update to kitkat. I realized I need to update to 4.1.2 first before doing the 4.3 update. I can't seems to find files I need for 4.1.2. Can someone point me in the right direction. Thank you for your help.

Are your running stock 4.1.1? If you are and your phone is not sim unlocked, unlock it using the free method. Once unlocked, use Odin to flash back to stock unrooted 4.1.1 and then run OTA until you get to KK. It's a longer process than trying to flash straight to 4.4 but is a safer method for people that are new to flashing ROMs.

I am on the stock rom 4.1.1. Does CWM recovery need to go back to stock as well? That is a good idea to unlock before I update.

If you flash back to stock 4.1.1 with Odin, it will wipe everything and put the phone back to completely unroot stock and stock recovery. Stock recovery and being unrooted is required for OTA updates.

Ok is this the link to unlock phone?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2529200

Yes, that's it.

I can't seem to find 4.1.1 rom file links seem to be bad on unlock page.

There are stock rooted 4.1.1 images here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426
You can use the free unlock method even if the ROM is rooted.

For some reason the at&t mirrors don't seem to be working either.

Mirror2 for the stock rooted 4.1.1 works for me.

I would like to root again after kit kat Is it easy to root with knox? Does unlock stick through kit kat? I really appreciate all of the help. Great website. Great people.

Many people have had success with rooting by using Towelroot.
The sim unlock is permanent.

Let me know how it goes for you @thepar. I expect to be updating to kitkat in the coming week.
For the benefit of those searching the forums to unlock their phones my experience may be of help to those on 4.1.2 or possibly even MJ2. I have had my SGS3 since June 2013 and only allowed one update, that was to 4.1.2. My phone was rooted long ago, but I just unlocked it earlier today and that was with a custom recovery in place and without unrooting. In my case I did not revert to the 4.1.1 rom. I did downgrade the modem to dlk3, that of 4.1.1 while leaving the rom and bootloader at MG2. After completing the unlock I upgraded the modem back to MG2. I have confirmed that SMS, MMS, phone, and wifi functionality is intact.
In truth, I will probably not go back to stock to get to kitkat. I am considering upgrading to the leaked MJ2/4.3 bootloader and MJB modem and then flash a kitkat rom which will work on them, there are several.

I just did the unlock yesterday. I need to find someone with a t-mobile sim to test if the unlock worked. Will I still be able to update the OS even though it is on rooted stock? What will it update me too?
I am kind of debating if I should install a custom rom minus KNOX.

thepar said:
I just did the unlock yesterday. I need to find someone with a t-mobile sim to test if the unlock worked. Will I still be able to update the OS even though it is on rooted stock? What will it update me too?
I am kind of debating if I should install a custom rom minus KNOX.
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If you want to run an OTA update, you need stock recovery and an unrooted system.

I have a stock recovery but the os is rooted. I don't mind using oden to update the os. I might be better to install a rom with knox removed. I can't seem to find 4.1.1 stock unrooted. I did find 4.0.1 ICS.

You can find a stock ATT 4.1.1 ROM on sammobile.com.
You cannot use Odin to flash a stock KK ROM because it was never released in an Odin format by ATT. ATT provided the KK update via OTA updates. Complete KK updates were provided for i747m only.

Thanks so much!! downloading now.

Let us know what happens. Cheers

I have decided to go custom rom route. It is better to update stock ota first then install custom rom or custom rom straight from 4.1.1?

Going back to stock from cm11?

I'm on cm11 m9 and it's been acting hellafunky lately, so I figured I'd switch back to stock to see if that cleared it up. I know TW is still on 4.4.3 but I can't find a flashable image of it anywhere. Is it possible to go back to stock, or are the cm bootloaders and such to new to be able to do this without bricking the device?

What bootloader is on your phone? Is it an i747 or i747m?
If you are on 4.3 or higher, you cannot flash back to stock unless you use a ROM that has been specifically compiled for flashing in Odin.

audit13 said:
What bootloader is on your phone? Is it an i747 or i747m?
If you are on 4.3 or higher, you cannot flash back to stock unless you use a ROM that has been specifically compiled for flashing in Odin.
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On bootloader NE4, I was able to flash back to to stock using the image in here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=56510020
Everything is working swimmingly.

'ENEWMAN17' threads are the most helpful when it comes to returning an SGS3 device back to stock KitKat ROM. You must strictly adhere to his instructions. Good luck!

Iv flashed my cm11 back to stock using cwm and flashing a odexed 4.4.2 samsung rom without any problems.

slicetwo said:
On bootloader NE4, I was able to flash back to to stock using the image in here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=56510020
Everything is working swimmingly.
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If the phone is an i747m, I recommend getting a stock ROM from sammobile. com. I'm not sure if a bootloader and modem file is included in the enewman17's thread but flashing an i747 bootloader and modem onto an i747m could result in a brick.

[Q] sgh-i747 original updates

Hi all, I have an SGH-i747 with ver 4.0.4 which has been rooted. I will like to update my version systematically with the original updates i believe there where from 4.0.4 to 4.1.1 then 4.1.2. then 4.3, 4.4.2 etcc.. its there a place where i can find the original ups, my phone will not take the original firmware updates on its own. Reason is once i try to flash any ROM pass 4.1.1 i loose the Mobile Data getting the no sim inserted msg and no signal, forcing me to go back the original state in order to work. seems there is a problem with the modem once i go pass 4.1.1. .. thank you.

What bootloader version is on the phone? Where did you get the firmware to flash? You're using desktop Odin to flash?

Are ota updates an option for you? If they are you can unroot and flash the stock recovery; it might be easiest just to Odin back to stock.
Otherwise enewman has posted firmware updates to xda. They are bootloader + modem zips you can flash in custom recovery. You have to flash them incrementally, mjb then ne4 then nj1. Search the forum here and you'll find them. Just be careful and read read read those threads. Messing with bootloaders is the best way to hard brick this phone.

I'm in a similar situation - I've been on a custom version of the Stock ROM for 4.1.2 - never bothered to update the bootloader because I had the soft unlock done, didn't want to lose it. Now I'm bored with it. I'd love to get up to 4.4, or even a 5.0 ROM... but not sure the steps needed to do so. I'm vaguely aware that I have to update the bootloader/kernel, etc... but it seems like I'm 4 years behind the curve with all the ROMs and threads about bootloaders, and I've lost my touch.
That thread with the list of bootloaders sounds good though, I'll go looking for it to start I guess.

gfinockio said:
I'm in a similar situation - I've been on a custom version of the Stock ROM for 4.1.2 - never bothered to update the bootloader because I had the soft unlock done, didn't want to lose it. Now I'm bored with it. I'd love to get up to 4.4, or even a 5.0 ROM... but not sure the steps needed to do so. I'm vaguely aware that I have to update the bootloader/kernel, etc... but it seems like I'm 4 years behind the curve with all the ROMs and threads about bootloaders, and I've lost my touch.
That thread with the list of bootloaders sounds good though, I'll go looking for it to start I guess.
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Here you go. This TLDR post has all enewman's firmware update threads linked to it.

jason2678 said:
Here you go. This TLDR post has all enewman's firmware update threads linked to it.
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Thanks! I'll give it a look, down a couple of shots of liquid courage, and give it a go this weekend.
EDIT: Yikes, didn't take long for that to fizzle out. I'm using a i747M. Noticed that my current baseband version isn't listed anywhere on that thread. Hmmm. Oh well, guess I'll do some more digging later...

With an i747m, you can flash the latest 4.4.2 using firmware from sammobile.com and desktop Odin.

Do I need to do them in sequence, or can I jump to the latest? I'm assuming once I've flashed the stock firmware, I can load any current custom ROM?

@gfinockio, is your phone sim unlocked? If not and you don't see any mention of the warranty bit in download mode, you could flash back to stock 4.1.1, use the free method to sim unlock, and then run OTA updates until you are running the latest ROM. OTA updates are the safest route to upgrade the phone.
If you phone is sim unlocked already, you could flash directly to the latest ROM; however, you will not be able to downgrade the bootloader as any attempts to downgrade the bootloader could hard brick you phone.

audit13 said:
@gfinockio, is your phone sim unlocked? If not and you don't see any mention of the warranty bit in download mode, you could flash back to stock 4.1.1, use the free method to sim unlock, and then run OTA updates until you are running the latest ROM. OTA updates are the safest route to upgrade the phone.
If you phone is sim unlocked already, you could flash directly to the latest ROM; however, you will not be able to downgrade the bootloader as any attempts to downgrade the bootloader could hard brick you phone.
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I used the "free unlock" in 4.1.2 (so it's unlocked) but I thought when you upgraded the bootloader you lost that lock. Now that I believe that isn't the case (and I've used a different tool to unlock as well), I may just try the OTA updates. I was with MTS (Manitoba), but now I'm with Rogers, so I guess I would just use the Rogers OTA images to upgrade from 4.1.2 to 4.4? Do I use Odin or whatever to do that? Once I upgrade to a "stock" image, won't the updater just prompt me to upgrade again and again until I'm "up to date"?

Unlocking the phone via code or the free method is permanent even after upgrading the ROM, bootloader, and modem.
The carrier ROMs for the i747m are pretty much identical but I always recommend sticking with the original carrier's ROM. If you download the stock image from sammobile.com, use Odin to flash the ROM.
OTA updates will not work with a rooted stock ROM too.

When i search for the stock firmware on sammobile for the i747m, it doesn't have any listings. Are you able to find it on there? I don't see it.

Search for the sgh-i747m.

komali2 said:
When i search for the stock firmware on sammobile for the i747m, it doesn't have any listings. Are you able to find it on there? I don't see it.
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Check here: http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/database/SGH-I747M/
you can sort by carrier or country.

delete

Flash New bootloader and modem while on Old Rom?

I have a Canadian Galaxy S3, on 4.1.1 DLK4 Official. I rooted it, and have TWRP.
I want to upgrade my rom to a CM12/13 but of course with root and custom recovery, OTA updates are blocked.
I need newer bootloaders and modem to run the newer android versions.
Should I install them now, while on 4.1.1, and then flash CM12, or should I sequentially update each of the AT&T firmwares until I get up to 4.4.2?
Do official roms have the bootloaders and modems in them and install them automatically?
Should I use the Kies restore method?

The Canadian and att s3 phones are not the same model number. Don't flash an att bootloader to your Canadian phone as this may brick the phone.
Flash latest stock rom from Sammobile.com, flash twrp, flash cm.

audit13 said:
The Canadian and att s3 phones are not the same model number. Don't flash an att bootloader to your Canadian phone as this may brick the phone.
Flash latest stock rom from Sammobile.com, flash twrp, flash cm.
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Okay, but i can use AT&T roms tho?

The i747m will work with d2can, d2lte, and d2att Roms.

Is it safe to flash straight from 4.1.1 to 4.4.2 using a sammobile rom? will i brick due to Knox bootloader and modem?
Can I flash it using TWRP?
If someone could link a tutorial that would be very helpful.
I keep reading stuff that says to flash the newer bootloader before flashing a 4.3 firmware, and some that say the opposite. Others say that people should incrementally update.
I want to go from 4.1.1 original with Root and TWRP, to CM13.
Thank you.

Yes, you can flash the latest stock 4.4.2 rom from Sammobile.com directly to your phone. No need to do anything other than backing up your data.

audit13 said:
Yes, you can flash the latest stock 4.4.2 rom from Sammobile.com directly to your phone. No need to do anything other than backing up your data.
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Thank you!
Now I just need to get the balls again to use odin. Flashing the custom recovery using the Universal Tool Kit that had step by step walkthrough was adrenaline rush enough LOL.
I could also use Kies, as that has 4.4.2 OB3 (telus), and also has "emergency firmware recovery" feature if a brick ever happens. Though ideally the only time boot.img gets flashed is only with Full Stock Firmware files.

I find kies to be unreliable when I have tried to restore firmware so I always stuck with Odin.