Can anyone confirm that its not possible to flash a foreign firmware unless the phone is network unlocked ?
But could it be possible to flash an efs image from an unlocked phone before flashing a different firmware ?
id012016 said:
Can anyone confirm that its not possible to flash a foreign firmware unless the phone is network unlocked ?
But could it be possible to flash an efs image from an unlocked phone before flashing a different firmware ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main concern would be that the firmware is for an identical device, because they often differ physically. Single SIM vs dual, Snapdragon vs Exynos, etc. I don't know why carrier lock would have anything to do with it.
I don't know if this is relevant or not, but on my USA T-Mobile Galaxy S4 I use Omega ROM, which changes my device from sgh-m919 to sgh-i9505 (international model). The side-effect is that it sometimes thinks I'm in the UK, even though I have my location set to where I am. For example, I can't use the Amazon app because it loads amazon.co.uk instead of amazon.com and the keyboard often tries inserting a superfluous (in an American's opinion) "u" to words like flavo(u)r and colo(u)r.
Related
Hi Everyone,
I bought Samsung Galaxy S7 Duos from Dubai.
The phone becomes so annoying as it has some kind of Adware built-in, which always opens different kinds of websites, pop-up ads and PlayStore links (after every few minutes).
I tried every possible way to get rid of it but nothing useful, even the factory reset or hard rest doesn't work. Because the OS it self is buggy.
According to its Settings, the phone has Model No. SM-G930FD, and Android 7.0
Now I want to install the fresh and updated firmware, so I can free my self from this Adware and can enjoy Android 8.0
I have downloaded Android 8.0 firmware for SM-G930FD
I tried Odin to install this new firmware but encountered a new issue:
According to Phone's Download Mode, the phone model is SM-G930S instead of SM-G930FD
This means someone installed the local ROM on the Korean Phone. (am I right?)
Now when I'm trying to install Android 8.0 firmware for SM-G930FD (of any other region) it shows the error:
"Secure Check Fail: (PIT)"
I am out of ideas on what to try next
Whatever it says in download mode is what the phone actually is, everything else has been faked.
It's a common scam to use modified firmware to make a phone appear to be a different model, as some models sells for more than others.
This is likely what has happened to you, and also the cause of the apparent adware.
Stock G930F or FD firmware will bootloop a G930S, which is probably why Odin is refusing. You would either need to flash stock G930S firmware, or use a custom ROM compatible with G930S
Beanvee7 said:
Whatever it says in download mode is what the phone actually is, everything else has been faked.
It's a common scam to use modified firmware to make a phone appear to be a different model, as some models sells for more than others.
This is likely what has happened to you, and also the cause of the apparent adware.
Stock G930F or FD firmware will bootloop a G930S, which is probably why Odin is refusing. You would either need to flash stock G930S firmware, or use a custom ROM compatible with G930S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the clarification
Now when I'm sure that my phone has G930S model, the option of stock ROM is only one: Android 8.0, Korea (SK Telecom)
1. By Googling a lot about this scam I'm afraid that changing the ROM may covert the phone into Single SIM version!
2. And if I install Korea (SK Telecom) ROM, will it lock the phone to Korean network only?
3. Do you think that "Korea (SK Telecom) ROM" will change everything into Korean?
Can you please clear my doubts
I don't know enough about the Korean stock ROM to answer those unfortunately.
But I do know many custom ROM's are compatible with G930F/FD and S, so I would assume allow dual SIM.
Hey Guys, I am in desperate need of help.
So I bought the note 20 ultra (model N986-U) from a seller in Texas (I live in Canada). The phones original csc code was ATT/ATT/ATT. I have a rogers sim card (csc code RWC). I noticed the phone is still stuck on One UI 2.5 because I am not connected to the ATT network.
So I tried changing the CSC using SamKey. I bought some credits, followed the steps and now for some reason my CSS is XAA/XAA/ATT.
I understand now that my phones model does not have a RWC firmware. Frija can't find the software for the SM-N986U running RWC but has no problem finding the software for the SM-N988W running RWC.
Is there any way for me to update my phone without bricking it? In an ideal world I would get OTA updates. Can I download the CSC_HOME file from the SM-N986W and flash it on my SM-N986U?
I'm really sorry for the noobish questions, I read so many threads and watched so many videos but I don't have the balls to experiment with such an expensive phone.
I know you can flash U1 firmware on a U device without any issues.
That's what I did to mine.
As for flashing W software on a U/U1 device, it's technically possible considering they are identical hardware, but I cannot say for sure what impacts it might have to the phone's performance.
You can always manually flash current U firmware.
rjohnstone said:
I know you can flash U1 firmware on a U device without any issues.
That's what I did to mine.
As for flashing W software on a U/U1 device, it's technically possible considering they are identical hardware, but I cannot say for sure what impacts it might have to the phone's performance.
You can always manually flash current U firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks for the answer,
I ended up flashing the W firmware on the phone and it worked flawlessly! Now the phone shows that it's a model N986W. OTA updates still don't work tho, even though the csc shows RWC
tripleaaa123 said:
Hey thanks for the answer,
I ended up flashing the W firmware on the phone and it worked flawlessly! Now the phone shows that it's a model N986W. OTA updates still don't work tho, even though the csc shows RWC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad it worked. Grab the latest firmware for RWC and then wait for the next update. (N986WVLU1DUB5)
A question from a noob here. I have a T-Mobile S22 Ultra phone which is network unlocked. As I recently I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon, I'm missing some of the features that are Verizon specific, while not needing anything that is T-Mobile specific anymore. From what I understand, Samsung installs multi SCS firmware on most of the phones these days, which can be changed by a dialer code. That however did not work at all.
Another option I've come across is by flashing provider specific (in my case Verizon) firmware as long as firmware version is the same (S908USQU2AVDC). There are a number of articles on how to do it by using Odin. The issues is no matter what I do and what files I select (like by using CSC file instead of HOME_CSC with or without flashing USERDATA file as well) the result is the same. It shows success and reboots and then reports an error and does the full factory reset which ends up back on T-Mobile version.
The question I have if it's even possible? And if so what I'm doing wrong here. Unlocking a bootloader is not really an option for me...
samirski said:
A question from a noob here. I have a T-Mobile S22 Ultra phone which is network unlocked. As I recently I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon, I'm missing some of the features that are Verizon specific, while not needing anything that is T-Mobile specific anymore. From what I understand, Samsung installs multi SCS firmware on most of the phones these days, which can be changed by a dialer code. That however did not work at all.
Another option I've come across is by flashing provider specific (in my case Verizon) firmware as long as firmware version is the same (S908USQU2AVDC). There are a number of articles on how to do it by using Odin. The issues is no matter what I do and what files I select (like by using CSC file instead of HOME_CSC with or without flashing USERDATA file as well) the result is the same. It shows success and reboots and then reports an error and does the full factory reset which ends up back on T-Mobile version.
The question I have if it's even possible? And if so what I'm doing wrong here. Unlocking a bootloader is not really an option for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory, flashing the correct firmware (VERIZON) should work. I would honestly first wipe the device, then flash (clean, not dirty) the Verizon firmware and setup accordingly. I had a similar case with a TMBILE unit (I had changed carriers) and I had managed to use XAA CSC and then when I reverted to TMOBILE SIM it would not "restart and install carrier updates". I had to basically switch the unit to U1 and then revert to U and it finally pulled all the TMO crap.
I may be mistaken since I haven't done this type stuff since S10, but I think you need to first reset the device and flash the unlocked version then when you put the verizon sim in it should provision it. Then you can flash the verizon package if you want the bloat apps. The features may be hit or miss. You may need to activate the features on the verizon website. Some features may never work as the carrier wont push them to IMEI not in their database of branded phones. There may be things you can do in hidden settings with "Activity Launcher" or other methods.
I'm here trying to figure out the same things for Tmobile and a factory Unlocked phone, before I buy.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions guys! I managed to do what I wanted. This is what I ended up doing, first flashed the unbranded U1 version on my phone and on the first boot Verizon sim was provisioned. Then I flashed Verizon firmware and it worked!
My Moto Z2F has gone insane & I need to replace it. My boss has an S10e that's google locked, ATT but can go to Android12. It's 2 years newer than my Z2F which is stuck at Android8. Good idea? I'm on T-Mobile, but my understanding is that except for firmware, the hardware is identical. Can/should I try to burn T-Mo firmware? What would I gain/lose? If I should do it, how? I've never messed with any phone's firmware before, other than accepting OTA's.
Bill Stuntz said:
My Moto Z2F has gone insane & I need to replace it. My boss has an S10e that's google locked, ATT but can go to Android12. It's 2 years newer than my Z2F which is stuck at Android8. Good idea? I'm on T-Mobile, but my understanding is that except for firmware, the hardware is identical. Can/should I try to burn T-Mo firmware? What would I gain/lose? If I should do it, how? I've never messed with any phone's firmware before, other than accepting OTA's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can't use the moto firmware on the Samsung device. Android firmware is built specifically for the model number that it is installed on. You could flash S10e AT&T firmware on a T-Mobile S10e and vice versa but not a firnware from a completely different device manufacturer, regardless of how similar the hardware is. There are very rare occassions where firmware is interchangeable between to completely different manufacturers but 99% of the time, this leads to a bricked device. Samsung devices can only flash Samsung firmware for the specific model number of the device or from another Samsung device with the exact same hardware, such as AT&T S10e to T-mobile S10e. Samsung uses Snapdragon and Exynos CPUs, an S10e with snapdragon can flash a firmware from another S10e that has snapdragon CPU but not a firmware from a S10e that has Exynos CPU and vice versa.
If you want to use the S10e, you need to bypass the FRP lock(Google lock) then flash the most up to date firmware available for that specific model number of S10e for your specifc region/carrier.
Droidriven said:
No, you can't use the moto firmware on the Samsung device. Android firmware is built specifically for the model number that it is installed on. You could flash S10e AT&T firmware on a T-Mobile S10e and vice versa but not a firnware from a completely different device manufacturer, regardless of how similar the hardware is. There are very rare occassions where firmware is interchangeable between to completely different manufacturers but 99% of the time, this leads to a bricked device. Samsung devices can only flash Samsung firmware for the specific model number of the device or from another Samsung device with the exact same hardware, such as AT&T S10e to T-mobile S10e. Samsung uses Snapdragon and Exynos CPUs, an S10e with snapdragon can flash a firmware from another S10e that has snapdragon CPU but not a firmware from a S10e that has Exynos CPU and vice versa.
If you want to use the S10e, you need to bypass the FRP lock(Google lock) then flash the most up to date firmware available for that specific model number of S10e for your specifc region/carrier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I didn't intend to try to use Moto firmware, I meant Samsung TMo firmware on ATT Samsung. But I'm not clear about limitations of ATT firmware with TMo carrier. Will that be a problem? And I don't know which CPU. I've been able to obtain a little info from the S10e via USB, but I don't think I should list it in the open here. Can I PM it to you for info about my exact hardware? And as I said, I'm totally new at trying to flash it. Is this something that can/should be done via a local TMo store? I've been a PC tech for 30+ years, but messing with cell phones is new to me.
T
Bill Stuntz said:
Thanks. I didn't intend to try to use Moto firmware, I meant Samsung TMo firmware on ATT Samsung. But I'm not clear about limitations of ATT firmware with TMo carrier. Will that be a problem? And I don't know which CPU. I've been able to obtain a little info from the S10e via USB, but I don't think I should list it in the open here. Can I PM it to you for info about my exact hardware? And as I said, I'm totally new at trying to flash it. Is this something that can/should be done via a local TMo store? I've been a PC tech for 30+ years, but messing with cell phones is new to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T and T-Mobile are interchangeable, you can flash both ways. But, you should be able to flash AT&T firmware and then use a T.-Mobile SIM to use it on T-Mobile network.
Flashing the firmware is fairly simple.
Do a Google search for:
"Return to stock (your model number)"
That should find the tools and instructions.
Thank you. I've seen something about perhaps not being able to use wifi calling on TMo with ATT firmware because ATT left it out. I've seen other stuff that says it works. Somebody else said that TMo's Visual Voicemail won't work without the TMo firmware. Do you know anything about that? I've seen quite a bit of contradictory information & don't know what to believe. It already has ATT firmware, so if I don't NEED to flash TMo to enable those, I may leave well-enough alone. How do I determine which CPU I have? The info I got via USB doesn't tell me.
Hello, I would like to preface this by saying that I don't actually live in the US. I got this used unlocked AT&T Galaxy S21+ a few months back and an issue I noticed after using it for a while was the fact I was not receiving any OTA updates due to the fact I was not using an AT&T SIM card.
Now I want to switch AT&T to carrier-free firmware where I will be able to get regular OTA updates automatically
My current specs:
Model: SM-G996U
chip: Snapdragon 888
Baseband version : G996USQU1ATLF
CSC : G996UOYN1ATLF
AP/CP : G996USQU1ATLF
Is it suitable for installation?
https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/g.../SM-G996U/USC/download/G996USQU5CVDB/1640229/
N.B/: May doing this flash will brick or damage my phone?
On SamMobile, underneath my device model, there list of several firmware labeled with different US carriers. As long as the firmware I flash is under the model number I have (SM-G996U), nothing should break, right?
Please suggest me firmware. I want to get rid of carrier barrier and want to get regular updates automatically safely.
Did you try the rom? I have the same problem
OTA is CSC based. You'd have to use Samkey to unlock the CSC to a unlocked US one.
Flash the u1 xaa firmware. Works on my phone in canada
I have a similar issue!
So I received a refurbished S21+, it is unlocked and all but it has AT&T bloatware and I can't update to oneui 5.0... I live in italy but this phone comes from Germany and apparently has a US AT&T firmware (SM-G996U-OYN-ATT). I was following a tutorial with odin to flash to SM-G996B with ITV, which is the italian version with android 12 and oneui 4.1.1 is it safe to do so and then get the android 13 update the standard way? Could I straight up get android 13 and oneui 5 flashing the most recent rom or is it even worse?
The other solution I thought about is that I could just get the U1 XAA, but i have U for now and I don't quite understand if it's completely risk free or not.
Shohan112 said:
Hello, I would like to preface this by saying that I don't actually live in the US. I got this used unlocked AT&T Galaxy S21+ a few months back and an issue I noticed after using it for a while was the fact I was not receiving any OTA updates due to the fact I was not using an AT&T SIM card.
Now I want to switch AT&T to carrier-free firmware where I will be able to get regular OTA updates automatically
My current specs:
Model: SM-G996U
chip: Snapdragon 888
Baseband version : G996USQU1ATLF
CSC : G996UOYN1ATLF
AP/CP : G996USQU1ATLF
Is it suitable for installation?
https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/g.../SM-G996U/USC/download/G996USQU5CVDB/1640229/
N.B/: May doing this flash will brick or damage my phone?
On SamMobile, underneath my device model, there list of several firmware labeled with different US carriers. As long as the firmware I flash is under the model number I have (SM-G996U), nothing should break, right?
Please suggest me firmware. I want to get rid of carrier barrier and want to get regular updates automatically safely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issue with my Samsung S20 Ultra 5G SM-G988U i bought the device yesterday and it accept my local Sim here but the issue is that there is limited features, for example I can't turn On/off my mobile data on and I can't change network mode like selecting from 4G to 5G