Database Info

[ROM][ODIN] P500VPBMB3 Sprint 4.1.2 Firmware

P500VPBMB3 Sprint 4.1.2 Firmware
For some unusual reason there is little to no development for the SPH-P500 and absolutely ZERO official firmware available for the Sprint model. This means, if you soft brick the tablet trying to install something you should not have, you have no easy way of getting back to the stock firmware. In addition, getting to the 4.1.2 version of the firmware is a royal pain due to the massive amount of "PATCH CHECKS" and assert checks built in to the OTA update. This means any deodexed system or a number of other reasons will be rejected if you try the OTA update while on non-official or approved firmware. So, for your convenience, I have compiled a simple ODIN-Flashable TAR file which will jet you up to speed installing the latest official Sprint 4.1.2 firmware.
Details:
P500VPBMB3 Stock w/ MB3 Modem
Package Includes: BOOT, RECOVERY, SYSTEM, MODEM AND CACHE ZONES
Download:
P500VPBMB3 Sprint 4.1.2 Firmware
Password on the archive is: www.mobiletechvideos.com
How To Flash:
BACKUP YOUR FILES AND DATA BEFORE FLASHING...ALWAYS. First extract this file using WinRAR or a program capable of extracting a RAR package as the package inside it is the TAR file you need. This was done to save time on the download. Once extracted, using ODIN, select PDA and choose this file. Now place your tablet in DOWNLOAD MODE by having it powered off, then power on by holding POWER and VOLUME DOWN until you see the on-screen text come up. Release the buttons and press VOLUME UP to enter DOWNLOAD MODE. Now click START on ODIN. Once completed (takes around 10 minutes), it is advised to enter RECOVERY MODE and perform a FACTORY DATA RESET for the best bug free experience since I don't know what ROM you are flashing from.
Did this help you out? Great, I'm glad it did! Click that THANKS button next to my name if you have the time. Please note, if you find yourself in a hard/soft brick situation of any type on any advice, give me a shout via PM or email through the contact page on our site. We also offer repairs on a number of other issues.

27 downloads and nothing? I'd love some feedback so others can be confident in the firmware.

It´s a disease from all P31XX and P51XX useres don´t hitting the thanks button and don´t giveing feedback... maybe they don´t want any support.... (?)...
i don´t have a P51XX - i can´t give other feddback then this... sorry....

Haha it seems that way! Well thanks for your response. Nice to hear from somebody about this. For some reason the Tab 2 10.1 forum members seem to be dead but want development anyhow without any input!

There are a lot of people here in a german forum there is mostly nobody ...
i hope you get some feedback! if not: there is not problem first things that will reported are problems

Haha, how true! No news is good news right?

problem and feedback if it works...
Hi. I am pretty new here (although I have been a member for a while, I have not really been active). I do have a Sprint Samsung Galaxy tab 2 10.1 inch display model P500VPBMB3. Perhaps I can try out what you are talking about if it helps me with my problem below and then I will be more than happy to give you feedback.
PROBLEM
I never really rooted a device before but I am at a loss here since the current version of Android that I have on my device is 4.1.2 . It's working OK but I run out of space very often since I only have 16GB of main memory. I would love to upgrade to 4.2.x so that I have the option of storing apps on the external SD card. I am not clear exactly what you are giving us here on your thread. If you can explain it to me and especially if it does what I am outlining above I would want done, I would love to give it a shot and then give you some feedback.
Either way thank you for helping is Sprint tablet people whether or not what you have above will help me.
Thanks

shmusie said:
Hi. I am pretty new here (although I have been a member for a while, I have not really been active). I do have a Sprint Samsung Galaxy tab 2 10.1 inch display model P500VPBMB3. Perhaps I can try out what you are talking about if it helps me with my problem below and then I will be more than happy to give you feedback.
PROBLEM
I never really rooted a device before but I am at a loss here since the current version of Android that I have on my device is 4.1.2 . It's working OK but I run out of space very often since I only have 16GB of main memory. I would love to upgrade to 4.2.x so that I have the option of storing apps on the external SD card. I am not clear exactly what you are giving us here on your thread. If you can explain it to me and especially if it does what I am outlining above I would want done, I would love to give it a shot and then give you some feedback.
Either way thank you for helping is Sprint tablet people whether or not what you have above will help me.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will actually want to look into custom recovery combined with a custom ROM to enable this type of option. What I have provided here is a stock firmware (stock operating system). This is actually already what you have installed on the device.

connexion2005 said:
You will actually want to look into custom recovery combined with a custom ROM to enable this type of option. What I have provided here is a stock firmware (stock operating system). This is actually already what you have installed on the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your prompt reply. You seem to be a helpful sort of person. I am sorry to be so dense but I have no idea what those things are. Is there a place where I can, sort of begin from scratch to learn all about these things or can you please fully explain what I need to do here?
I get that yo said that what you are offering is what I already have. What I don't understand is what exactly what to look for. I do know that if I install the wrong thing, I can brick my device. What I don't know if how to find what I am looking for. I already tried it in the search box-that's how I got to your thread.

This is honestly a very tough section as the P500 is a rare unit that has little to no development. You are in the right sub-forum but finding any mods for your unit may not be possible at this time unfortunately.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! You can root with Kingo root and make modifications with xposed. I just have been so busy with work.
I will flash this when I have time. Now I can be more risky with flashing because I can now go back to stock ROM.
Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

Android-Andi said:
It´s a disease from all P31XX and P51XX useres don´t hitting the thanks button and don´t giveing feedback... maybe they don´t want any support.... (?)...
i don´t have a P51XX - i can´t give other feddback then this... sorry....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, I know its been almost a year, but I tried to flash this ROM and get stuck after the tab reboots with the message "POWER RESET or UNKNOWN UPLOAD MODE", is there anything I can do to restore the tab (I did not do any backup).
Thanks a bunch

Do you have the Sprint model? If so, try re-downloading it and flashing again. Afterwards, perform a factory data reset.

connexion2005 said:
Do you have the Sprint model? If so, try re-downloading it and flashing again. Afterwards, perform a factory data reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tab comes from China but in the options i've seen SPH-P500 so I supposed it was a model made for Sprint.
I did flash again and reset factory but nothing changed.

meresis said:
The tab comes from China but in the options i've seen SPH-P500 so I supposed it was a model made for Sprint.
I did flash again and reset factory but nothing changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is definitely unusual though the fact it came from China. This likely is NOT the right firmware for your model. The back of the unit should have the model number. See what it says...

connexion2005 said:
That is definitely unusual though the fact it came from China. This likely is NOT the right firmware for your model. The back of the unit should have the model number. See what it says...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed the back says P5110 ... Chinese devices ... Thanks a lot ! :good:

P500
Wow!! I made a mistake!! I bought this tab to have some fun rooting and installing custom roms. I should have checked the forums first to see if there was any support. Thanks for what you've provided here. I'm going to at least try to root and install xposed.

I have a sprint gtab2 10.1 that's out of contract, so i'm willing to start working on things if needed.

if we no longer need to use the Sprint data can we flash a SPH-P5100 rom for wifi only ?

resurrecting an old thread. Need to find the original firmware for sph-p500. This appears to be it, but I can't find or get the password to the .rar file. I can't find the firmware anywhere else after a TON of google searches. any help appreciated in either getting the password to the .rar file, or a different place to download the firmware.

SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII SCH-S968C Rooted, Recovery Flashed, and Flashed with Custom Rom

Before I go on to give tutorial, I want to see how many people actually use this phone and if it's common enough for me to give the tutorial. I've noticed many people have tried to flash this phone and always end up bricking it or doing something wrong. I have successfully flashed it, no brick and everything working. I would love to give tutorial, but before I do so I must see how many actually need it. :good:

Jbeat69 said:
Before I go on to give tutorial, I want to see how many people actually use this phone and if it's common enough for me to give the tutorial. I've noticed many people have tried to flash this phone and always end up bricking it or doing something wrong. I have successfully flashed it, no brick and everything working. I would love to give tutorial, but before I do so I must see how many actually need it. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me first say thank you bcuz I'm just trying to get my boys phone updated from jb an he's got the st version but I can't find a recovery anywhere, so I'd u could even just inform me on where to get the recovery I'd be good lol

soupysoup said:
Let me first say thank you bcuz I'm just trying to get my boys phone updated from jb an he's got the st version but I can't find a recovery anywhere, so I'd u could even just inform me on where to get the recovery I'd be good lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your Welcome, and I want to apologize for not answering right away i'm still trying to get xda setup on my phone. I have school most of the day and will only be available at nights. But you say you only want recovery? Download an app called ez-recovery for VZW Galaxy S3 on the play store. Yes this is the Verzion Galaxy S3 Variant but it works for this device because of where it uses uses Verizon towers. Then once you download the app, open it up and flash the clockworkmod recovery, not the touch or twrp. Let me know your results You might come across some failed to mount SD card errors in the recovery menu. If you do it doesn't take a lot to fix..

I've been looking for this for some time now
Jbeat69 said:
Your Welcome, and I want to apologize for not answering right away i'm still trying to get xda setup on my phone. I have school most of the day and will only be available at nights. But you say you only want recovery? Download an app called ez-recovery for VZW Galaxy S3 on the play store. Yes this is the Verzion Galaxy S3 Variant but it works for this device because of where it uses uses Verizon towers. Then once you download the app, open it up and flash the clockworkmod recovery, not the touch or twrp. Let me know your results You might come across some failed to mount SD card errors in the recovery menu. If you do it doesn't take a lot to fix..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've managed to gain root and flash recovery for verizon sch-i535. would just like to know if that's correct and also need flash image and I also still looking for a compatible ROM. I've been to scared to download and install one.

Very interested!!
Jbeat69 said:
Before I go on to give tutorial, I want to see how many people actually use this phone and if it's common enough for me to give the tutorial. I've noticed many people have tried to flash this phone and always end up bricking it or doing something wrong. I have successfully flashed it, no brick and everything working. I would love to give tutorial, but before I do so I must see how many actually need it. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been driving myself crazy trying to find this information. I would be very grateful to you for the information on flashing the firmware and upgrading to KitKat 4.4 on the SCH S968C. It's impossible to get the info from ST or Samsuck.
Thanks

dijjay said:
I have been driving myself crazy trying to find this information. I would be very grateful to you for the information on flashing the firmware and upgrading to KitKat 4.4 on the SCH S968C. It's impossible to get the info from ST or Samsuck.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here for the latest roms and fixes for this device
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2516498&page=30
Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk

Jbeat69 said:
Before I go on to give tutorial, I want to see how many people actually use this phone and if it's common enough for me to give the tutorial. I've noticed many people have tried to flash this phone and always end up bricking it or doing something wrong. I have successfully flashed it, no brick and everything working. I would love to give tutorial, but before I do so I must see how many actually need it. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use this model and have been surfing these forums for some links to the stock rom since samsung doesn't provide it on their website. I was going to try to flash it back to stock but to be honest i have no idea what im doing and could use all the help i can get.

I've looked all over and watched and listened and read, and other than using oneclickroot to root my sch-968c, I'm too apprehensive on doing anything else before I know better. It's using 4.1.2 jellybean and theres a few things that I'd like my phone to be able to do considering its cost. I want to get KitKat 4.4 on my Galaxy s3. Samsung doesn't offer support, Straight Talk doesn't offer support. I understand its up to me to make this happen but I'd appreciate any help! Thanks!!
edit: So I havent used oneclickroot yet, I needed to download a samsung driver. I did use odin to flash a rom onto my device properly, but I'm pretty sure all i did was put exactly what I had on before it. Maybe I need to look for a custom rom, but I have a hard time finding the right sources. I need to look for a custom rom for sch-s968c with 4.4 kitkat? Need someone to tell me otherwise...

sch s-968c update os , help please
GS3 SCH S-968c its h2, I am trying to update the os to at least 4.4 so I can download an app that currently is'nt compatible with the 4.1.2 jellybean, for my husband. I just rooted it, using odin, first time messing with a phones insides...intimidating but I figured it out. lots of bad information for this phone...can anyone please help me figure out how and where to go to download the update for th os? thank you so much!
this would be awesome
Jbeat69 said:
Before I go on to give tutorial, I want to see how many people actually use this phone and if it's common enough for me to give the tutorial. I've noticed many people have tried to flash this phone and always end up bricking it or doing something wrong. I have successfully flashed it, no brick and everything working. I would love to give tutorial, but before I do so I must see how many actually need it. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 07:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:26 PM ----------
GS3 SCH S-968c its h2, I am trying to update the os to at least 4.4 so I can download an app that currently is'nt compatible with the 4.1.2 jellybean, for my husband. I just rooted it, using odin, first time messing with a phones insides...intimidating but I figured it out. lots of bad information for this phone...can anyone please help me figure out how and where to go to download the update for th os? thank you so much!
Droidriven said:
here for the latest roms and fixes for this device
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2516498&page=30
Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 07:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:30 PM ----------
dijjay said:
I have been driving myself crazy trying to find this information. I would be very grateful to you for the information on flashing the firmware and upgrading to KitKat 4.4 on the SCH S968C. It's impossible to get the info from ST or Samsuck.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Did you ever find the rom? I rooted my phone successfully, after much ado with tedious searching all night...any info would be appreciated. thank you!

saucyredhead said:
GS3 SCH S-968c its h2, I am trying to update the os to at least 4.4 so I can download an app that currently is'nt compatible with the 4.1.2 jellybean, for my husband. I just rooted it, using odin, first time messing with a phones insides...intimidating but I figured it out. lots of bad information for this phone...can anyone please help me figure out how and where to go to download the update for th os? thank you so much!
this would be awesome
---------- Post added at 07:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:26 PM ----------
GS3 SCH S-968c its h2, I am trying to update the os to at least 4.4 so I can download an app that currently is'nt compatible with the 4.1.2 jellybean, for my husband. I just rooted it, using odin, first time messing with a phones insides...intimidating but I figured it out. lots of bad information for this phone...can anyone please help me figure out how and where to go to download the update for th os? thank you so much!
---------- Post added at 07:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:30 PM ----------
Hi, Did you ever find the rom? I rooted my phone successfully, after much ado with tedious searching all night...any info would be appreciated. thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the ROMS from 4.4 and newer require using a SIM and some extra setup to get mobile data(3G) and stock MMS(photo/audio/video messages) working.
Fortunately for you I have a copy of a CM11 4.4 Kit Kat ROM that doesn't require a SIM for mobile data(3G) to work, the only down side is that you can't use the stock MMS app, you'd have to use some kind of 3rd party texting app such as GoSMS or Textra or Chomps or a similar app.
If you want to have working stock MMS then you'll need a CDMA SIM card.
A GSM SIM will not work. A SIM from AT&T/T-mobile or any network under them won't work, neither will the AT&T/T-mobile SIMs from the Straight Talk BYOP activation package, it has to be CDMA.
I can help you painlessly get the SIM set up and APNs configured correctly so that MMS works. Any CDMA Verizon 4G/LTE(you'll need a previously activated SIM if you use a Verizon SIM, it won't work if it's a never been activated SIM from Verizon) or a Tracfone CDMA SIM will work, or any of Tracfone's subsidiary networks (Total Wireless/Net10/Straight Talk/etc..)
As for ROMs, I suggest one of the following:
1) the d2vzw CM11 4.4 that I have a copy of along with a SIM(you'll have working stock MMS and won't need anything extra) it's a rock solid ROM with the SIM setup correctly and uses less battery than the newer ROMs.
2) d2vzw OctOS 5.1.1 if you can find it, it will need a SIM also to have working mobile data and stock MMS.
3) d2vzw OctOS 6.1.1 if you can find it, needs SIM also.
As for there being bad information out there about this device. I've been posting accurate information about this model number for 3 years or more. I've posted information about this model all over the internet. It is all accurate and works, some information is old and no longer necessary due to processes and methods changing but it isn't "bad" information. The old information can still be used, it just involves more steps and has been simplified over time due to improvements in development for this device.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Need to upgrade to at least Android 4.2
"Fortunately for you I have a copy of a CM11 4.4 Kit Kat ROM that doesn't require a SIM for mobile data(3G) to work, the only down side is that you can't use the stock MMS app, you'd have to use some kind of 3rd party texting app such as GoSMS or Textra or Chomps or a similar app."
Can you help me? You seem to be very knowledgeable about this phone. My husband just bought a new Galaxy and he gave his old S3 to our seven year old grandson who is one of those kids who loves and understands all things electronic. He has been craving an Android device for some time now. (He already has an iPod touch).
My husband returned the phone to factory settings today and I brought it over to a very excited grandson. My daughter said she was going to use her gmail account to set up the phone and then create an additional account from her account that she could use parental controls on. Alas, this feature only works if you have at least version 4.2 or higher, and this Straight Talk Model S968C has version 4.1.2
This phone will not be connected to a cellular service, just wifi. He doesn't need to be able to send or receive MMS or even texts. He mostly wants to create videos and and download and use some of his favorite apps from Google Play, and use the web (with restrictions that my daughter will set. It won't help to create a separate Gmail account for him because setting restrictions will still not be possible due to the Android Version.
Is there a relatively easy way to do this? I've never done anything like this to a phone before but I'm pretty tech literate and understand most of the terms.
Thank you very much for any help you can provide to me.
Lesa

lirn44 said:
"Fortunately for you I have a copy of a CM11 4.4 Kit Kat ROM that doesn't require a SIM for mobile data(3G) to work, the only down side is that you can't use the stock MMS app, you'd have to use some kind of 3rd party texting app such as GoSMS or Textra or Chomps or a similar app."
Can you help me? You seem to be very knowledgeable about this phone. My husband just bought a new Galaxy and he gave his old S3 to our seven year old grandson who is one of those kids who loves and understands all things electronic. He has been craving an Android device for some time now. (He already has an iPod touch).
My husband returned the phone to factory settings today and I brought it over to a very excited grandson. My daughter said she was going to use her gmail account to set up the phone and then create an additional account from her account that she could use parental controls on. Alas, this feature only works if you have at least version 4.2 or higher, and this Straight Talk Model S968C has version 4.1.2
This phone will not be connected to a cellular service, just wifi. He doesn't need to be able to send or receive MMS or even texts. He mostly wants to create videos and and download and use some of his favorite apps from Google Play, and use the web (with restrictions that my daughter will set. It won't help to create a separate Gmail account for him because setting restrictions will still not be possible due to the Android Version.
Is there a relatively easy way to do this? I've never done anything like this to a phone before but I'm pretty tech literate and understand most of the terms.
Thank you very much for any help you can provide to me.
Lesa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to settings>about>build number, tell me if it has H1 or H2 on the end of that number.
If you have H1 I can make it very easy for you with just a couple of apps, a good internet connection and about 30-45 minutes.
If you have H2 you'll need a PC, about 1.5 hours and a good USB cord.
Or you can skip all of that and just go straight for the PC method, it works on H1 and H2. You'll probably need to get familiar with the tool that is involved in the process so that you'll know how to restore the device if there are issues later on. The device will be rooted(stock devices do not ship with root access), root means the system partition has been "unlocked" to write permissions, which means the daughter/grandson could inadvertently delete the wrong thing and render the device inoperable.
Of course, you could also remove root from the device, then he wouldn't be able to modify the system partition, he could install and modify/customize everything else though. But that can, in some cases, also cause issues, which then requires flashing the stock firmware via PC or using custom recovery to restore a backup or reinstall your ROM.
This device has the potential to do many things, there are a lot of custom 4.4 and newer operating systems for this device, each with their own flavors of UI and features. If you're not going to have the device activated on a network then you can probably use any of the 4.4+ ROMs without the SIM, probably all the way up to the newest 7.1 or newer builds. Maybe even the new Android Oreo 8.0+ if they build it for this device, someone probably will, the OctOS team still builds new ROMs weekly for this device. If he likes Pokemon Go you might have issues with it seeing that the device is rooted or you might have GPS issues on this device. They can be solved in most cases though.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Upgrading s3
The build number ends in H1.
I wouldn't want it to be easy for him to accidentally render it inoperable.
I have a good internet connection and the time to do this, if you can take me step by step through it. I'm a visual learner, I learn very well from watching videos of people doing things, so I really need clear step by step written instructions. Do you have the time to help me? That would be SO great!
And if it's just as easy to install a more up to date version of the OS, of course I'd rather do that! (and my grandson would be thrilled!)
Thank you so much!
Droidriven said:
Go to settings>about>build number, tell me if it has H1 or H2 on the end of that number.
If you have H1 I can make it very easy for you with just a couple of apps, a good internet connection and about 30-45 minutes.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 03:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:17 AM ----------
He probably doesn't care about Pokemon Go. he likes to create his own emojis, make videos with visual and sound effects, use graphics programs, stuff like that. Also loves music and likes to download apps to create his own music. The more photography and graphics stuff he can do the happier he'll be.
I just want him to be able to use it and he can't without the parental restrictions in place. Whatever you recommend, I'll try.

It's H1, cool. You'll be amazed how easy this is. You'll be doing all of this, except downloading your ROM and Google apps, directly from the device.
Use PC to download these files then connect the S3 to PC and copy them to external SD card.
1) download this file, it's the last release of Octos 6.0.1 marshmallow(there is also 7.1.1 available but I haven't used it so I can't verify stability), it's a very good ROM, I used it for over a year on this device, store it on an external SD card as a file by itself, not in a folder.
https://basketbuild.com/filedl/devs...lease/d2vzw/OCT-M-R3-6.0.1-20161025-d2vzw.zip
2) Go to http://opengapps.org/, select:
ARM
6.0
Micro
Then click the red download circle. This is the Gapps(the stock Google apps) package that you need to flash with the ROM, they are flashed separately because they can't be included in the ROM file. Place this file on the SD card with the ROM file, as a file by itself, not in a folder.
Now, on the device:
1) Go to system settings>security> unknown sources and enable it (it will prompt you warning that it can be dangerous to install apps from unknown sources, you only need it to install the Towelroot app to root on the device).
Also, go to system settings>about>build number, tap it repeatedly until you see the message saying you are a developer, this unlocks developer options, go back to system settings>developer options>USB debugging and enable it.
2) using the devices mobile browser, go to https://towelroot.com/ and tap the big red lambda symbol to download the Towelroot app. (you might get a warning about the site being dangerous, don't worry, this is because Google sees the Towelroot app as a virus because it can be used to modify your system partition which is actually what you want, you will be removing root when you're done but right now you need it)
3) Drag down the notification in status bar for the app that you downloaded, tap on it and install the app, once installed, open it, tap the "make it rain" button, you'll be rooted in about 10 seconds, you can uninstall the Towelroot app now, it isn't needed anymore.
4) Go to PlayStore and search for "SuperSU", install it, open it, it will ask you to update binaries, when it asks which method, choose "normal", reboot the device if it doesn't do it automatically. (if you get a prompt asking you to grant superuser permission while doing this, grant it, this is what allows you to write to /system)
5) when the device reboots, go to PlayStore, search for "TWRP Manager", install it, open it(grant superuser permission if prompted at any time while using TWRP Manager)
Now you're ready to follow my guide, starting from the ***FLASHING WITH TWRP MANAGER*** section.
When you get TWRP installed, skip to the ***BACKING UP YOUR STOCK ROM** section and continue from there, you can ignore all the stuff about SIM and APNs. I recommend doing a clean install of your ROM, coming from stock to custom ROM usually causes a bootloop, clean install avoids this. After you get your backup created, read the troubleshooting section in post #2 of my guide, it explains how to perform a clean install, just make absolutely sure that you create your stock backup before you do it. You will be wiping the operating system and everything on the device out before installing the new ROM, don't worry, everything is still safe in the backup you created. This is similar to wiping a PC and reinstalling Windows, the device won't boot without OS so you must flash the new ROM before trying to reboot the device. Sounds scary but it's really simple.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...de-to-flashsetup-sim-apn-cm-cm-based-t3351290
After you get the device signed in with Google, you can go ahead and remove root permission from the device. To do this, open the SuperSU app, open its app settings menu, find the option to "cleanup for unroot and uninstall", it will remove root. Reboot the device and you should be done. You're ready to setup for the grandson.
Just make sure you charge the battery to full before you start flashing the ROM and Gapps, if the battery dies before it is finished, it will damage the device and it's a headache to fix yourself.
If you have questions I'm here.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Thank you!
Thanks so much. I have cleared the rest of my afternoon to attempt this.
---------- Post added at 06:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------
Did I mention this S3 is from Straight Talk? When I look at a list of supported devices for TWRP, it doesn't list ST as one of the S3s supported. Just want to make sure before I start.

lirn44 said:
Thanks so much. I have cleared the rest of my afternoon to attempt this.
---------- Post added at 06:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------
Did I mention this S3 is from Straight Talk? When I look at a list of supported devices for TWRP, it doesn't list ST as one of the S3s supported. Just want to make sure before I start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Verizon S3 d2vzw and the Straight Talk S3 d2tfnvzw are the same device, they use the same TWRP and ROMs. That is all explained in the guide that I created, starting from the top of the thread. My guide has pretty much everything you need to know about this device as far as what you can flash, how to flash it and how to get it set up correctly.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Guide
---------- Post added at 09:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
I'm having a little trouble with downloading towelroot to the phone. Found the link/lambda symbol fine. When I tap it to download and swipe down the notifications, it just shows that it's in progress. This went on for about ten minutes before I canceled it and tried again. It's now been about three minutes and it's doing the same thing. I have a very fast internet connection with Xfinity so it's not that. Just keep canceling and trying? (I even tried holding down the lambda symbol and saving the link--same problem). The phone is fully charged. I have unknown sources checked and also USB debugging.
ADDENDUM: I've tried this a few times now. I tried using Chrome to see if that would help--it didn't. The download is in progress for about ten minutes, then says download failed no matter what browser. I've double and triple checked all the settings are correct.
Is it possible to download it to my laptop and transfer it to the phone?
ADDENDUM: finally got it!
Thanks.
Sorry to have so many questions! I appreciate your help.

flashing recovery
Got to the point of using TWRP Manager. Selected device ( Verizon S3 d2vzw) and it downloaded the file and asked if I wanted to flash the recovery and said please make sure the bootloader is unlocked. (I didn't see that in the guide but will go back and look again). I said yes. I got an error message:
Something went wrong
flashing recovery was unsuccessful. Either you already have this recovery installed or another error has occurred. Would you like to attempt rebooting to recovery now?
I'm just going to leave the phone on until I get your opinion of how I should answer that question. Reboot or no?
Thank you!

lirn44 said:
Got to the point of using TWRP Manager. Selected device ( Verizon S3 d2vzw) and it downloaded the file and asked if I wanted to flash the recovery and said please make sure the bootloader is unlocked. (I didn't see that in the guide but will go back and look again). I said yes. I got an error message:
Something went wrong
flashing recovery was unsuccessful. Either you already have this recovery installed or another error has occurred. Would you like to attempt rebooting to recovery now?
I'm just going to leave the phone on until I get your opinion of how I should answer that question. Reboot or no?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had issues using TWRP manager.
Are you sure that you have rooted the device before trying TWRP manager? There is an option in TWRP manager that will show you the "installed recovery" that you have currently on the device, it should tell you whether you have stock recovery or custom. Don't reboot until you're certain that it has flashed the recovery. If it did something wrong before, it might not reboot, slight chance but possible. Still fixable if it doesn't, just more junk to do to get there.
Can you find the folder that TWRP manager downloaded the recovery.img file to? If so, you can install the Flashify app from Playstore, also linked in my guide. Then use it to flash the recovery.img from the folder that TWRP manager downloaded it to. I mention in my guide to use Flashify if you have issues using TWRP Manager.
This should be a simple process, I've done this many times. Since you're having issues, I'd rather have some form of faster communication. Do you know how to use Google hangouts? If you have Firefox on PC you can install the hangouts add-on in Firefox, then I can text in real time to make this much simpler to walk you through. I can send you a PM here with my Gmail address, use it to find me in hangouts and start a conversation thread.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

THANK YOU!
Well, all these hours later, with your amazing patience, I have Android 6.0.1 running on my old Galaxy S3 from Straight Talk!
I can't thank you enough! My grandson is going to be ecstatic!
Thank you again for spending so much time taking me through it step by step!

Purchased a galaxy s3 for straight talk with cyanogenmod on it.

I bought a galaxy s3 for straighttalk from some one cuz it was really cheap. I want to remove cyanogenmod from it because the camera doesn't work and I can't save pictures. They didn't back up though so when I factory reset it, it brings it right back to cyanogenmod. How do I get the original OS for the s3 back on it? Im new to this kind of stuff so I didn't even know where to look on the forums here. And the person I bought it from is no help, I think they didn't even know how they really did it. Can some one help me or point me in the right direction please?
Sincerely,
Unmarked civillian

Hello and thank you for using XDA Assist,
please check this thread.
Kind regards and good luck
Trafalgar Square
XDA Assist

Trafalgar Square said:
Hello and thank you for using XDA Assist,
please check this thread.
Kind regards and good luck
Trafalgar Square
XDA Assist
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That guide was a bit confusing for me, the links didnt work, but i donloaded odin v3.04 and i downloaded kies. what do i do from their? both those were suppose to download on the laptop right? not on the phone? sorry im really new to all this.

Unmarkedcivillian said:
That guide was a bit confusing for me, the links didnt work, but i donloaded odin v3.04 and i downloaded kies. what do i do from their? both those were suppose to download on the laptop right? not on the phone? sorry im really new to all this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to know if you have the Sprint version (S960L) or the Verizon version (S968C). Most likely you have the S968C.
When you tell me your device model number, I can link you to your firmware and you can flash that via Odin.

Droidriven said:
I need to know if you have the Sprint version (S960L) or the Verizon version (S968C). Most likely you have the S968C.
When you tell me your device model number, I can link you to your firmware and you can flash that via Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh sorry it was originally sch s968c, I appreciate you helping me out, I'm a nub when it comes to this stuff.

Unmarkedcivillian said:
Oh sorry it was originally sch s968c, I appreciate you helping me out, I'm a nub when it comes to this stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you tell me how to use odin? i downloaded it, but its got so much goin on in their haha

Unmarkedcivillian said:
can you tell me how to use odin? i downloaded it, but its got so much goin on in their haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to flash the stock firmware, you will need to go to Sammobile.com and enter your model number in the search feature there. It will lead you to your firmware, download it on PC.
Make sure you have installed "USB drivers for Samsung phones", you can find them with a Google search, or if you already have Kies installed then you've got the drivers.
On the device, go to system settings>developer options(if you don't see this in settings, you need to go to the "About Phone" option, scroll down to the "Build Number" and tap it at least 7 times to enable Developer Options). In developer options, turn on "USB debugging".
Charge your battery to at least 75%.
Once charged, press and hold the volume down+home+power buttons, at the caution screen, press up to enter download mode.
Open Odin(make sure Kies is closed and isn't running in the background, it interferes with Odin), connect the device to PC with device in download mode. If the device is recognized, you'll get a colored COMM# box. If you don't have that, try a different USB port, make sure your cable is the stock cable.
In Odin, select the AP or PDA button(older Odin has PDA button, newer Odin has AP button). Go to where you downloaded and stored the firmware on your PC, select it.
When you get back to the Odin screen, make sure the only options that are checked are auto reboot and F. reset time.
Click start, when it is done, you will get a green PASS! and the device will reboot, go through setup wizard and enjoy your device.

you are the true MVP of the internet tonight! thanks so much for breaking it down for me haha ive asked all over, here and reddit and few other sites, no one would help me like that! the download for the firmware is going to be an hour from sammobile since im not paying for membership haha but i have work in the morning so ill let it run while i sleep, and do everything in the morning. ill post here tomorrow either in the morning or at night after work and let you know how it went! once again thanks again!

Droidriven said:
If you want to flash the stock firmware, you will need to go to Sammobile.com and enter your model number in the search feature there. It will lead you to your firmware, download it on PC.
Make sure you have installed "USB drivers for Samsung phones", you can find them with a Google search, or if you already have Kies installed then you've got the drivers.
On the device, go to system settings>developer options(if you don't see this in settings, you need to go to the "About Phone" option, scroll down to the "Build Number" and tap it at least 7 times to enable Developer Options). In developer options, turn on "USB debugging".
Charge your battery to at least 75%.
Once charged, press and hold the volume down+home+power buttons, at the caution screen, press up to enter download mode.
Open Odin(make sure Kies is closed and isn't running in the background, it interferes with Odin), connect the device to PC with device in download mode. If the device is recognized, you'll get a colored COMM# box. If you don't have that, try a different USB port, make sure your cable is the stock cable.
In Odin, select the AP or PDA button(older Odin has PDA button, newer Odin has AP button). Go to where you downloaded and stored the firmware on your PC, select it.
When you get back to the Odin screen, make sure the only options that are checked are auto reboot reboot and F. reset time.
Click start, when it is done, you will get a green PASS! and the device will reboot, go through setup wizard and enjoy your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It said pass and then phone reboots without cyanogenmod, but its stuck at screen where it says A service of TracFone Wireless, did I do something wrong their?

Unmarkedcivillian said:
It said pass and then phone reboots without cyanogenmod, but its stuck at screen where it says A service of TracFone Wireless, did I do something wrong their?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you make sure that the options I mentioned were set and ONLY those options when you flashed?
Try booting to stock recovery and do a factory reset and wipe cache partition in recovery then reboot.

i had auto reboot and f reset time and PDA checked. booting it in stock recovery, factory reset, and wipe cache partition worked! thanks so much for all your help! i have one more question for ya though. the reason i wanted to delete cyanogenmod is because the camera wouldnt load and i couldnt save images and i wasnt able to go online using data, i could only use wifi. so when out all i could do was call and text, and the mms didnt work. any clue as to why?

Unmarkedcivillian said:
i had auto reboot and f reset time and PDA checked. booting it in stock recovery, factory reset, and wipe cache partition worked! thanks so much for all your help! i have one more question for ya though. the reason i wanted to delete cyanogenmod is because the camera wouldnt load and i couldnt save images and i wasnt able to go online using data, i could only use wifi. so when out all i could do was call and text, and the mms didnt work. any clue as to why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ROMs were actually built for the Verizon S3(SCH-I535), they are 4G devices, this makes them require a SIM card to regulate the 4G data they use, this makes our device require a CDMA LTE SIM(Verizon 4G LTE SIM or Straight Talk CDMA LTE SIM from the BYOP kit, the LTE version, not the GSM AT&T/T-Mobile kit). I'm actually the one that figured out that a SIM was needed for the ROMs to work. I can explain in detail, but I'll keep it short instead.
Even though our device is 3G and doesn't require a SIM under normal circumstances, with the SIM inserted in our device with those ROMs, we then have working mobile data and MMS, sometimes it requires setting APNs in the ROM along with using the SIM to get stock MMS working, otherwise, MMS would only work when using a 3RD party app for MMS.
A lot of people bricked this device trying to figure out why mobile data wasn't working before I discovered this SIM dependency. I've actually worked with a few developers trying to remove the SIM dependency so our device could use the ROMs without a SIM but nothing works, anything done to remove the dependency, kills all chances of connectivity, even call and text. I also helped with creating the first and only TWRP custom recovery specifically compiled for our d2tfnvzw(Tracfone on Verizon network Straight Talk S3) device. The other recoveries are actually d2vzw(Verizon Wireless S3) but they work on our device also, just not specifically.
The Straight Talk S3 can use the Verizon recoveries and ROMs because it is actually a rebranded Verizon S3(SCH-I535) and actually has the I535 model number stamped on our motherboards and other hardware inside our device, the only difference is that the 4G capability was disabled in the radio(no, using the 4G SIM will not give you 4G data). It is not "similar" to the Verizon S3, it IS the Verizon S3 modified for Straight Talk.
I can actually get you set up with some very good 5.1.1 Lollipop custom ROMs packed with features including working camera(we have marshmallow but front camera isn't working, that is always an issue with new ROMs because stock camera is closed source software, developers are not allowed to use it, they have to piece the coding together from scratch so it takes a while to fix), if you can get a used, previously activated Verizon 4G SIM($3-5 on eBay, used SIMs are better than new SIMs, new SIM gives aggravating issues) or Straight Talk BYOP LTE SIM. The ROMs are MUCH better than the stock JB 4.1.2 firmware. Let me know and I can get you setup and you won't even need the PC to do any of it. It can all be done with apps and your mobile browser. Using WiFi to download on the device instead of mobile data to download the ROM files you'll need, the apps that will flash the files you need are very simple to use. After the files are downloaded all you need is a click here and a click there and about 30 minutes of time and you'll be running something much better than stock with everything working as it should.
I have a guide posted here for flashing CM/CM based ROMs on our device and how to set up SIM and APNs, along with precautionary steps for your protection and troubleshooting steps for data issues after flashing the ROM and how to restore data connectivity if you do something wrong along the way.
If you do a google search using our model number, you'll find stuff everywhere that I have posted about this model number.

wow thats impressive stuff! i wish i could learn to do all that haha. I would love a working ROM on my s3 though, touch whiz is lame! i wont be able to buy the card till tomorrow because i dont have a card right now because i just moved to CT and had a bank that was only in TX and havent opened anything here yet, so ill have to give the cash to a buddy and have him order with his. I actually did the BYOP to straight talk as well when i couldnt use my s3 and i bought my friends s5, it had at&t, and thats where my straight talk service is on right now.. You have ROMs that would run on that by chance? Either one of them would be fun, I dont mind toying with the s3 a bit more though since its basically my side phone incase something happens with my s5.

Unmarkedcivillian said:
wow thats impressive stuff! i wish i could learn to do all that haha. I would love a working ROM on my s3 though, touch whiz is lame! i wont be able to buy the card till tomorrow because i dont have a card right now because i just moved to CT and had a bank that was only in TX and havent opened anything here yet, so ill have to give the cash to a buddy and have him order with his. I actually did the BYOP to straight talk as well when i couldnt use my s3 and i bought my friends s5, it had at&t, and thats where my straight talk service is on right now.. You have ROMs that would run on that by chance? Either one of them would be fun, I dont mind toying with the s3 a bit more though since its basically my side phone incase something happens with my s5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ST S5 is the Verizon S5 developer edition, the same as the ST S3 is the Verizon S3, the ST S5 is a Verizon rebrand also. Fortunately since it's a developer edition, that means it has an unlocked bootloader so that means you can safely flash the device with custom ROMs if there are any for the Verizon S5, I haven't looked but I'm sure it has ROMs(the other Verizon devices have locked bootloader and they will NEVER be able use anything but stock and modified stock ROMs, they can't use true custom ROMs like Cyanogen because it hard bricks the device because of the locked bootloader).

Droidriven said:
The ST S5 is the Verizon S5 developer edition, the same as the ST S3 is the Verizon S3, the ST S5 is a Verizon rebrand also. Fortunately since it's a developer edition, that means it has an unlocked bootloader so that means you can safely flash the device with custom ROMs if there are any for the Verizon S5, I haven't looked but I'm sure it has ROMs(the other Verizon devices have locked bootloader and they will NEVER be able use anything but stock and modified stock ROMs, they can't use true custom ROMs like Cyanogen because it hard bricks the device because of the locked bootloader).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow thats good to know haha, so even though it was originally bought from at&t its now verizon because of the byop plan? and what kinda of ROMs are available for the S3? Do you have a link I can check out some of the features? Im definitely going to be grabbing a used 4g sim. its the micro right? sorry if im buggin ya man, like i mentioned im real new to this and ive heard of ROMs and stuff before but never really seen them until i bought the S3 from my friend, and you are really knowledgeable about this so I hope you dont mind me picking your brain a little bit with these questions

Unmarkedcivillian said:
wow thats good to know haha, so even though it was originally bought from at&t its now verizon because of the byop plan? and what kinda of ROMs are available for the S3? Do you have a link I can check out some of the features? Im definitely going to be grabbing a used 4g sim. its the micro right? sorry if im buggin ya man, like i mentioned im real new to this and ive heard of ROMs and stuff before but never really seen them until i bought the S3 from my friend, and you are really knowledgeable about this so I hope you dont mind me picking your brain a little bit with these questions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I misunderstood you, if your S5 came from AT&T then it is AT&T. I was saying that the Straight Talk version of the S5 is a Verizon S5 dev edition. AT&T is not. It will need to use the AT&T S5 ROMs if any exist.
There are a plethora of ROMs for the S3, they are all different so you'll have to check them out for yourself. OctOS 5.1.1 is my favorite and is the most stable and has everything working including front camera. I will have to link you to my copy of it though because it is no longer available for download on XDA. I'm using OctOS marshmallow right now but front camera isn't working yet.
To find the other ROMs, view this forum in a PC or mobile browser, find the Compact tab, click it, then find the Verizon SIII on the list, click it and it will take you to the Verizon S3 forum, then you'll see an Original Android Development and an Android Development subforum there. The ROMs can be found in threads in those two forums, use ONLY the ROMs that specifically say "d2vzw" in their names, do not use anything that says stock or TW or anything that mentions locked bootloader, modem, firmware, Safestrap recovery or Fashfire, that stuff is specifically for the Verizon S3 ONLY and will brick your device, read the threads, the first post in each ROM thread will list the ROM features and instructions for flashing(ignore these instructions and use the ones I link you to instead), but you'll need to be rooted and have custom recovery installed(my guide will explain how to get custom recovery).
Install the Towelroot app on your device, open it, tap the "make it rain" button and you'll be rooted.
Then go to Playstore and install SuperSU, open it to update the binaries.
Then, once you've found the ROM you want and its' compatible Gapps package(Google apps, the thread should mention which one you need), download them and put them both on extsdcard.
Then follow this thread to get a custom recovery installed, flash the ROM and Gapps and setup SIM/APNs. It is a very long guide but it is detailed step by step as simple as I could make it. Pay attention to the warnings and do the things I listed as safety measures for future reference.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...de-to-flashsetup-sim-apn-cm-cm-based-t3351290
If you need help with anything you can reach me with a personal message here instead of posting in the thread.

Droidriven said:
Sorry, I misunderstood you, if your S5 came from AT&T then it is AT&T. I was saying that the Straight Talk version of the S5 is a Verizon S5 dev edition. AT&T is not. It will need to use the AT&T S5 ROMs if any exist.
There are a plethora of ROMs for the S3, they are all different so you'll have to check them out for yourself. OctOS 5.1.1 is my favorite and is the most stable and has everything working including front camera. I will have to link you to my copy of it though because it is no longer available for download on XDA. I'm using OctOS marshmallow right now but front camera isn't working yet.
To find the other ROMs, view this forum in a PC or mobile browser, find the Compact tab, click it, then find the Verizon SIII on the list, click it and it will take you to the Verizon S3 forum, then you'll see an Original Android Development and an Android Development subforum there. The ROMs can be found in threads in those two forums, use ONLY the ROMs that specifically say "d2vzw" in their names, do not use anything that says stock or TW or anything that mentions locked bootloader, modem, firmware, Safestrap recovery or Fashfire, that stuff is specifically for the Verizon S3 ONLY and will brick your device, read the threads, the first post in each ROM thread will list the ROM features and instructions for flashing(ignore these instructions and use the ones I link you to instead), but you'll need to be rooted and have custom recovery installed(my guide will explain how to get custom recovery).
Install the Towelroot app on your device, open it, tap the "make it rain" button and you'll be rooted.
Then go to Playstore and install SuperSU, open it to update the binaries.
Then, once you've found the ROM you want and its' compatible Gapps package(Google apps, the thread should mention which one you need), download them and put them both on extsdcard.
Then follow this thread to get a custom recovery installed, flash the ROM and Gapps and setup SIM/APNs. It is a very long guide but it is detailed step by step as simple as I could make it. Pay attention to the warnings and do the things I listed as safety measures for future reference.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...de-to-flashsetup-sim-apn-cm-cm-based-t3351290
If you need help with anything you can reach me with a personal message here instead of posting in the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! Thanks a bunch again droidriven for all your time and effort in helping me out! Ill order the sim tomorrow and hopefully be flashing a few roms by the beginning of next week!

Unmarkedcivillian said:
Awesome! Thanks a bunch again droidriven for all your time and effort in helping me out! Ill order the sim tomorrow and hopefully be flashing a few roms by the beginning of next week!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, just don't forget to use Towelroot or Cydia Impactor to root the S3 then install SuperSU, that must be done before you do anything else.
Let me know if you need anything.

Droidriven said:
Cool, just don't forget to use Towelroot or Cydia Impactor to root the S3 then install SuperSU, that must be done before you do anything else.
Let me know if you need anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just rooted and downloaded supersu, I tried to pm you but its saying you aren't accepting them. I have one last question before I head to bed. I just realised, I can still flash a rom in here without the 4g sim still just won't have service, is that correct?

Unmarkedcivillian said:
Just rooted and downloaded supersu, I tried to pm you but its saying you aren't accepting them. I have one last question before I head to bed. I just realised, I can still flash a rom in here without the 4g sim still just won't have service, is that correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I forgot that I blocked messages from the public because I was getting too many people asking for help. I have it set to only allow friends and forum administrators. Oops!!
There are older builds of Kit Kat 4.4.4 that can be flashed without SIM and everything works, but they probably aren't available for download anymore.
Yes, you can flash the ROMs just fine, you'll still have call and text, you'll just need to put the SIM in when you get it and reboot the device then set up the SIM and APNs like my guide says and then reboot again and you should be good to go, make sure you backup your IMEI(NVdata backup) like the guide says also, then be careful when you flash. If you flash and you lose all service including calling then don't do anything until you get in touch with me, if you make the wrong move from there, you'll make a mess that will be difficult to fix.

Samsung Galaxy Sol SM-J321AZ_A little help please...

Ok everyone that has this device. Ive managed to get the stock firmware and files off of the latest update from Samsung. Now all I need is some help to compile a working TWRP, or Philz. Ive been at it a little today and not much progress. But here is the link to the stock firmware. http://www.mediafire.com/download/pk25ey721x6i9oj/Sol_Firmware.zip
So if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. Its running on the Exynos 3,( "Universal3475") chipset, Android 6.0.1, sdk23, 1.3GHZ quadcore processor, and 1.5 gigs of ram and 8 gigs of internal storage.
ok ive managed to get the firmware extracted and processed through Android Kitchen adding Su, Superuser.apk, And also BusyBox. That was the good news, the bad news is that for the life of me I cant get the zip to flash through the stock recovery, and when I compiled a .tar to flash with Odin, Odin would just crash as soon as I hit the start button. So if anybody out there can take this a little further than I could please feel free. Here is the link to the new processed zip. http://www.mediafire.com/download/vka0271hu8mz02l/Kitchen_Processed_SOL_Firmware.zip

Very nice, thanks for this. Were you able to find a root for this phone? I tried a couple ones and they didn't seem to work.

No root yet but I'm going to set my PC up tomorrow with some .IMG decompilers and see if I can inject su and the binaries and flash through Odin. Will keep everyone updated as I go. It's the first "custom" ROM for me, and of course it's on a device with little to no support.

Anyone?
Trying to root here too, anyone have any luck yet?

zMILWAUKEE said:
No root yet but I'm going to set my PC up tomorrow with some .IMG decompilers and see if I can inject su and the binaries and flash through Odin. Will keep everyone updated as I go. It's the first "custom" ROM for me, and of course it's on a device with little to no support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck?

zMILWAUKEE said:
No root yet but I'm going to set my PC up tomorrow with some .IMG decompilers and see if I can inject su and the binaries and flash through Odin. Will keep everyone updated as I go. It's the first "custom" ROM for me, and of course it's on a device with little to no support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried almost all of my Samsung tricks. I came across an article once saying that the AT&T trick is that there is something like a folder that can replace itself after root but I've lost that article. I gave up a while ago on this waiting for something to surface but there hasn't been much. My stuff are well cared for lab-rats and if anyone's got any ideas, I have Odin!

I have some questions with this... Can i use this firmware with ODIN and flash to stock my Samsung Galaxy Sol without any problems?
EDIT: My model says: SAMSUNG-SM-J321AZ - I don't know why you put "AZ_A" in the end.
SRSRoot has an update saying that support this device for Root, you can see and test this from here:
https://twitter.com/srsroot/status/742070536172371970
EDIT AGAIN: It doesn't work, it's fake the "SRSRoot".

legnison said:
I have some questions with this... Can i use this firmware with ODIN and flash to stock my Samsung Galaxy Sol without any problems?
EDIT: My model says: SAMSUNG-SM-J321AZ - I don't know why you put "AZ_A" in the end.
SRSRoot has an update saying that support this device for Root, you can see and test this from here:
https://twitter.com/srsroot/status/742070536172371970
EDIT AGAIN: It doesn't work, it's fake the "SRSRoot".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No like I said Odin is having a hard time with this. But the Smart Switch desktop app from Samsung flashes the phone to stock no problem, in case we mess the phone up to bad. And on good note, I can run adb shell commands on my Linux laptop so now I just gotta find the right command lines to kill Knox, cause Knox is the thing that's stopping any "one click" root method from working. I am making progress but it's at a slow crawl, I'm more used to working with Media Tek devices, not a big fan of Samsung and all the bloat they force on the consumer. Anyways getting there slowly but I will get this rooted one way or another.

.

zMILWAUKEE said:
No like I said Odin is having a hard time with this. But the Smart Switch desktop app from Samsung flashes the phone to stock no problem, in case we mess the phone up to bad. And on good note, I can run adb shell commands on my Linux laptop so now I just gotta find the right command lines to kill Knox, cause Knox is the thing that's stopping any "one click" root method from working. I am making progress but it's at a slow crawl, I'm more used to working with Media Tek devices, not a big fan of Samsung and all the bloat they force on the consumer. Anyways getting there slowly but I will get this rooted one way or another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh i'm sorry, i didn't read well. I hope you get root this device, good luck mate !

parrotgeek1 said:
Hi, I own J320AZ which is the same phone but with 16 GB storage, so I am very interested
there is a phone called the Galaxy On5 is basically identical but has LCD instead of AMOLED screen. It has official twrp! You could try to unpack on5 twrp and replace the kernel and dtb files from the J321 boot.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry took so long to reply, I will definitely look into the On5 TWRP build and see what I can get done. Thanks for the tip..

.

Had any one made any progress.

spec019 said:
Had any one made any progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately no progress has been made. Ive been to busy and frustrated with it that i took a little break. If anyone knows of somebody with the knowledge to work with the firmware i posted feel free to send them this way.

zMILWAUKEE said:
Unfortunately no progress has been made. Ive been to busy and frustrated with it that i took a little break. If anyone knows of somebody with the knowledge to work with the firmware i posted feel free to send them this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sigh. Storage killer. Might have to replace the daily phone

spec019 said:
Sigh. Storage killer. Might have to replace the daily phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I stopped by here before I bought one of these. Looks like the Galaxy Grand Prime is still the best option in this size (not too big, not too small). Has very similar specs too albeit less screen resolution (don't think it matters too too much with a 5" screen), but has better front and back cameras. But most importantly there's root and alternate ROMs for the Grand Prime (very important IMO when you're only working with 8gb of space).

ryanl2299 said:
Glad I stopped by here before I bought one of these. Looks like the Galaxy Grand Prime is still the best option in this size (not too big, not too small). Has very similar specs too albeit less screen resolution (don't think it matters too too much with a 5" screen), but has better front and back cameras. But most importantly there's root and alternate ROMs for the Grand Prime (very important IMO when you're only working with 8gb of space).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah this one is like fort Knox when it comes to root. No memory and crummy screen. Not a phone to recommend when there are others for a little more money and a lot more bang for the buck.

Help Please!
I have the same phone Samsung SM-J321AZ so the Galaxy Sol from cricket and it came pre-loaded with 7GB of stuff which left me with 1GB to put what I need and I installed a 16GB sd card and still unable to store hardly anything to it. If any one can help me on root or even how to save to the sd card i would greatly appreciate it.

Ortega79 said:
I have the same phone Samsung SM-J321AZ so the Galaxy Sol from cricket and it came pre-loaded with 7GB of stuff which left me with 1GB to put what I need and I installed a 16GB sd card and still unable to store hardly anything to it. If any one can help me on root or even how to save to the sd card i would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but I still haven't had any luck yet, I have one more trick up my sleeve. I'll post as soon as I get something working.

zMILWAUKEE said:
Sorry but I still haven't had any luck yet, I have one more trick up my sleeve. I'll post as soon as I get something working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ill donate if you get something working or ill donate to any project that does get something working ...the 8gb with 6gb bloat is unacceptable..thank you for your courageous work

Hard bricked

I just hard bricked my phone, and I'm hoping I can try to get it working again.
I have made backups using flashfire in the past. (I had a few different backups I made).
Prior to getting hard bricked, I was running the PIA firmware, but I was trying to restore from a backup that I had through flash fire, and due to a total rookie move I ended up restoring (or attempting to) restore to a PG1 unintentionally, and well now I can't do anything.
I think I may have a jig at home from a previous samsung phone (I believe an S3), would that work for my S7?
I also came across this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2476353
Would that work for me?
I have a macbook pro I can use terminal with, I have a microSD card and reader, and I already have the stock PIA rom on my hard drive.
Is there hope still?
Right now regardless of what key combination I hold down my phone has a black screen.
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

If you can't get into download mode then you don't have much to lose by trying what the other thread suggested.

@sacnotsack, thanks for the response, and that is my intention, however I am missing 1 crucial part to that thread and that is the debrick.img
Can someone with the PIA (G930TUVU4APIA) rom please post a dump of a partial system img for me? If I'm not mistaken, you can dump it with these commands in ADB.
adb shell
dd if=/dev/block/sda20 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=4096 count=128
Just to clarify...
sda20 should be the system partition. Any way that's what it is for me.
You can check yourself by doing typing this in ADB:
ls -al /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name
You will get something like this:
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2016-01-08 10:35 system -> /dev/block/sda20
And to get the block size you would type this:
blockdev --getbsz /dev/block/sda20
So the command
"dd if=/dev/block/sda20 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=4096 count=128"
If I get this working, I'll compile a nice tut for S7 users and post all the results with files in case anyone else runs into this issue.
Thank you in advance

I don't mean to be an annoyance, but does anyone have any thoughts or could point me to some direction? I know there are a lot of you that are much more knowledgable in this than I am, and all I'm hoping I can get assistance for is if someone can just make a dump of the debrick.img file so I can try to load it on my SD card.
Thanks

Hi, the easiest way to restore back to stock is to download Odin. I think it's Windows exclusive so you'll need bootcamp and install windows. After that, download Odin and extract it. Download stock firmware from androidfilehost.com, then extract. Open Odin and you'll see the options BL, AP, CP, and CSC. The firmware will have 4 or 5 files and will include these labels. Put each respective files into each options in odin. (Sometimes Odin will freeze, but let it do it's thing) After that, go into download mode (hold Volume down, Power, and Home whole turning on). Wait for Odin to recognize your device, if it doesn't, then download Samsung drivers. After it recognizes, press start and wait for the process to finish. That's it! Hopefully I was able to help.

MetalPhoenix45 said:
Hi, the easiest way to restore back to stock is to download Odin. I think it's Windows exclusive so you'll need bootcamp and install windows. After that, download Odin and extract it. Download stock firmware from androidfilehost.com, then extract. Open Odin and you'll see the options BL, AP, CP, and CSC. The firmware will have 4 or 5 files and will include these labels. Put each respective files into each options in odin. (Sometimes Odin will freeze, but let it do it's thing) After that, go into download mode (hold Volume down, Power, and Home whole turning on). Wait for Odin to recognize your device, if it doesn't, then download Samsung drivers. After it recognizes, press start and wait for the process to finish. That's it! Hopefully I was able to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MetalPhoenix45, thanks for your response. I have a Windows computer as well and I am very familiar with ODIN. The issue is, that in your explanation my guess is you are thinking the phone is in a "soft bricked" mode. The difference between a hard brick phone and a soft brick phone is that in a hard brick phone nothing is recognized when plugged in, it doesn't power on and it also doesn't show any sign of charge when it's plugged into the power.
In a soft brick mode, your phone can be stuck in a boot loop, or at the very least it still shows signs of it getting power. In which case I can just force into download mode and do what you stated above. I don't think that the things you mentioned above would work for me because when I have my phone plugged in to my computer, in device manager it doesn't detect anything. It doesn't even say unknown device or unrecognized hardware. It doesn't see it at all, and I have loaded the Samsung drivers on my pc because ODIN recognized the device prior to my issue.
I do have the stock firmware and everything on my machine, but I just can't get my phone to power or on into download boot even with a JIG.

m0d hipp¥ said:
I just hard bricked my phone, and I'm hoping I can try to get it working again.
I have made backups using flashfire in the past. (I had a few different backups I made).
Prior to getting hard bricked, I was running the PIA firmware, but I was trying to restore from a backup that I had through flash fire, and due to a total rookie move I ended up restoring (or attempting to) restore to a PG1 unintentionally, and well now I can't do anything.
I think I may have a jig at home from a previous samsung phone (I believe an S3), would that work for my S7?
I also came across this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2476353
Would that work for me?
I have a macbook pro I can use terminal with, I have a microSD card and reader, and I already have the stock PIA rom on my hard drive.
Is there hope still?
Right now regardless of what key combination I hold down my phone has a black screen.
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you had any luck on fixing s7 I've got same issue I've even got device broken down minus the charger port due to cost of screen replacement! Not sure exactly how to test battery itself but every combination of testing battery externally I've nothing any ideas? I'd rather replace the battery vs charger port or is it completely done? This is.the first root I've ever had go wrong and haven't found any solutions yet and been looking since November
Thanks in advance for any advice
On rooted 910v now have a 920t rooted but let's just say my temper got the best of me and we'll will be replacing screen? Oddly enough as many times as the note 4 has been dropped either by myself or son not even a single scratch s7 definitely a pot more brittle!!

crazynate121 said:
Have you had any luck on fixing s7 I've got same issue I've even got device broken down minus the charger port due to cost of screen replacement! Not sure exactly how to test battery itself but every combination of testing battery externally I've nothing any ideas? I'd rather replace the battery vs charger port or is it completely done? This is.the first root I've ever had go wrong and haven't found any solutions yet and been looking since November
Thanks in advance for any advice
On rooted 910v now have a 920t rooted but let's just say my temper got the best of me and we'll will be replacing screen? Oddly enough as many times as the note 4 has been dropped either by myself or son not even a single scratch s7 definitely a pot more brittle!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I had no luck. I ended up haing to replace the PCB to fix the issue. Basically I learned the hard way that samsung isn't very "dev friendly". I don't blame them, but for any phone enthusiasts that plan on tinkering with their phone if you get the snapdragon version of the S7 vs the exynos version, you WILL run into trouble.
This is because the bootloader can't be unlocked on the SD models. Furthermore, if you get flagged for custom roms your warranty gets void. Over the years I've noticed Samsung is getting more and more strict about this. Honestly if you want a phone that will play nice with modding it, you should look into the google variants, Nexus, or the OnePlus. I can tell you from personal experience, OnePlus plays well with dev users. In fact they don't void the warranty for using custom roms or anything like that; in fact they're very pro and open about supporting the user base and providing a phone that the user is happy with.
Any way, that was my experience. I don't want to go off topic here, so if you have any questions you can PM me if you like, but the short answer is, if you're hard bricked then you will need to replace the motherboard/pcb. I even contacted places to see if they can jtag or jig or anything and they're not able to do it with the snapdragon S7.

bah double post, sorry I can't delete this

Funny you said nexus just ordered 2 two days ago older 7 but 4g and and what not strictly for experimental and ethical purposes of course was actually shocked at the still high priced note 5 Screen tbh but we live and learn!! SOMETIMES? LOL

m0d hipp¥ said:
Unfortunately, I had no luck. I ended up haing to replace the PCB to fix the issue. Basically I learned the hard way that samsung isn't very "dev friendly". I don't blame them, but for any phone enthusiasts that plan on tinkering with their phone if you get the snapdragon version of the S7 vs the exynos version, you WILL run into trouble.
This is because the bootloader can't be unlocked on the SD models. Furthermore, if you get flagged for custom roms your warranty gets void. Over the years I've noticed Samsung is getting more and more strict about this. Honestly if you want a phone that will play nice with modding it, you should look into the google variants, Nexus, or the OnePlus. I can tell you from personal experience, OnePlus plays well with dev users. In fact they don't void the warranty for using custom roms or anything like that; in fact they're very pro and open about supporting the user base and providing a phone that the user is happy with.
Any way, that was my experience. I don't want to go off topic here, so if you have any questions you can PM me if you like, but the short answer is, if you're hard bricked then you will need to replace the motherboard/pcb. I even contacted places to see if they can jtag or jig or anything and they're not able to do it with the snapdragon S7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in the same boat, and considering your experience after this sore event, maybe you can help a lot of us guys here in the same situation.
My case is even worst, because, here in my country, there are NO Snapdragons, just G930F Equinoxes.
You may help im providing us lames the debrick.img file, but you must be rooted to do so. This would ve much appreciated.
Another way is to insert a blank 16GB+ SD card on the phone and format it through Odin. You just insert the card on the slot, enter download mode in the phone and load all files in Odin including the .pit. In Odin options select "Re-format" and "T Flash" that will say to the phone to format the ExtSDCard and use the ExtSDCard as destination instead of the internal emmc!
Post the image of the SD, that you can extract it with the Win32DiskImage, and you and your family will be blessed for ten generations. Also save the file in case you mess things again.
There is one method using QFil,but i'm stil trying to asemble all required files and don't now if it will even work. Should work...!!!
Anyway, can you please help us?
Best regards..

PadsPCB said:
I am in the same boat, and considering your experience after this sore event, maybe you can help a lot of us guys here in the same situation.
My case is even worst, because, here in my country, there are NO Snapdragons, just G930F Equinoxes.
You may help im providing us lames the debrick.img file, but you must be rooted to do so. This would ve much appreciated.
Another way is to insert a blank 16GB+ SD card on the phone and format it through Odin. You just insert the card on the slot, enter download mode in the phone and load all files in Odin including the .pit. In Odin options select "Re-format" and "T Flash" that will say to the phone to format the ExtSDCard and use the ExtSDCard as destination instead of the internal emmc!
Post the image of the SD, that you can extract it with the Win32DiskImage, and you and your family will be blessed for ten generations. Also save the file in case you mess things again.
There is one method using QFil,but i'm stil trying to asemble all required files and don't now if it will even work. Should work...!!!
Anyway, can you please help us?
Best regards..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I won't be of much help. If you have the exynos S7, you would need to ask someone else with the same version of your phone for the software because the SD versions would run on different software due to different hardware.
Is there a reason why you don't try sending it out to get serviced so they can replace your PCB ?
I tried to get the debrick.img file a while back as well, but had no luck in doing so and actually I don't have my S7 phone anymore. I bought the OnePlus 3T and it's been working much better for my needs. I'm sorry to say this, but If you have any intention of modding a phone you have 2 options. 1. Get a phone that supports modding and allows you to unlock the bootloader 2. Get the unlocked variant of the phone.
If I have learned anything from my experience, it's that it is incredibly important to do your research. Not only look at the specs of the phone, but look at reviews from other users with the phone. Also if you plan on modding it, go through some threads and see how easy/difficult it is to mod that version of phone you're interested in.

m0d hipp¥ said:
Unfortunately, I won't be of much help. If you have the exynos S7, you would need to ask someone else with the same version of your phone for the software because the SD versions would run on different software due to different hardware.
Is there a reason why you don't try sending it out to get serviced so they can replace your PCB ?
I tried to get the debrick.img file a while back as well, but had no luck in doing so and actually I don't have my S7 phone anymore. I bought the OnePlus 3T and it's been working much better for my needs. I'm sorry to say this, but If you have any intention of modding a phone you have 2 options. 1. Get a phone that supports modding and allows you to unlock the bootloader 2. Get the unlocked variant of the phone.
If I have learned anything from my experience, it's that it is incredibly important to do your research. Not only look at the specs of the phone, but look at reviews from other users with the phone. Also if you plan on modding it, go through some threads and see how easy/difficult it is to mod that version of phone you're interested in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then i think got stuck, beacause in these forums there is no one willing/able/interested in helping anyone.
I said i'm in the SAME boat == I got an SM-G930T (from T-Mobile) that has a SnapDragon cpu but HERE in my country THERE ARE NO Snapdragons only Equinoxes. If we had such phones here surely i would have done this already, but G930F's won't do, as i have already tried.
So, as you know how i feel about a brand new SM-G930T Bricked, you wold be my last hope. There is no way to send it back to Samsung beacause it was bought from a friend and surely no warranty.
Anyway, best regards and rest in peace

Oh sorry, I misunderstood you. I'd like to think that it's not so much people don't want to try to help out, it's just that there is nothing that can be done for users on the snapdragon device so no one bothers unfortunately. Sorry to hear about this, and it really is unfortunate that you had to go through the same thing I went through with no help. Trust me, if I was able to do anything to provide any guidance I would.
Good luck!