yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S II General] KayDat:
So I'm curious...if you flash i9100 FW/kernel onto M250S/K, you lose DMB and NFC...is it possible to keep DMB/NFC while still using i9100 software? Which part is responsible for the hardware functionality?

Conversely, what happens if you try to flash the Korean SW onto an i9100? If it works one way, it should work the other way as well, right? I'm mainly interested in confirming, once and for all, whether there is NFC functionality on the i9100. Information is extremely mixed all over the internet; most shops state that NFC is functional, when it obviously isn't, and then you have

multiple different

FAQ threads

that state that no SGS2 models support NFC, which is clearly not the case in Korea.

Seeing as I have in my possession an i9100 (from Hong Kong, rooted running 2.3.4 XXKH3) and a Korean 2000mAh battery which has "Near Field Communication" printed on it, I'd like to see if NFC functionality is indeed onboard on the battery. Here are several ways this will pan out:

NFC is all in the battery

By flashing the correct SW part (Kernel? FW? Someone tell me), NFC will be unlocked as long as an NFC battery is in place

Only the antenna is in the battery

Doesn't matter what SW is flashed onto the phone, NFC is only available if Samsung built it in at the factory. This is probably the most popular opinion atm.

NFC has nothing to do with the battery

Samsung is trolling everyone by printing NFC on the battery. I can't actually confirm this hypothesis, only someone with a a confirmed NFC capable phone can, by installing a regular non-NFC battery and seeing what happens.

I've been doing research, and have been swinging between the first two options as my personal opinion, but I really can't decide without empirical evidence. The fact that NFC is printed on the battery is encouraging (and the fact that US SGS2 models have NFC on the battery is also helpful), but M250K/S models have the battery installed back to front, and also have the IC logo on the phone label behind the battery. i9100 phones don't have this IC logo on their labels, which may or may not mean something. I noticed the extended battery and box it came in both have the IC logo on them.

So, can anyone help me? Which SW part should I flash onto my phone to test my theory?
[Galaxy S II General] tediberus:
unfortunately what your thinking is a difficult task ..... NFC software is probably not just in one part of the firmware ..... there's the the app for the NFC in the PDA part and probably drivers for the actual hardware not sure where that would be .... mostlikely the kernel.

are you sure you have an i9100 with an NFC battery ... can you take a picture of the backplate open and the battery as well. cause from what i've read the battery contacts are placed differently ....
[Galaxy S II General] KayDat:
I bought an extended 2000mAh battery from Export Privé. International version is EB-K1A2EBEGSTD, and Korean version is EB-K1A2EBSG. Export Privé lists their battery as EB-K1A2EBEGSTD, but they're actually selling the EB-K1A2EBSG, which has Near Field Communication printed on it. There's ongoing discussion going on in the Accessories section. Main difference is NFC and backplate incompatibility, as the tabs on the side that secure the backplate are in slightly different positions.

As for battery contact location, the batteries can be installed either way; surprising huh? In fact, if you take a look at your battery, there are probably polarity markings on both sides of your battery. At least for both of my batteries, there are.
[Galaxy S II General] tediberus:
what i'd be interested in though is if korean SGS2 can use the regular i9100 batteries without the NFC

does this mean it's only flipped backwards .... ?
[Galaxy S II General] KayDat:
I'm pretty sure they can. I'd love to know what their NFC functionality would be like.

Yep =]

---------- Post added at 05:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:27 AM ----------

Hm...so back to firmware...how should I go about testing NFC capability? Flash ROM and kernel?
[Galaxy S II General] tediberus:
the only way i see to test NFC is to flash a korean firmware ........ as far i've read from news ..... AT&T galaxy S2 will or might have the NFC capability as well ..... you could wait for firmware for those as well.
[Galaxy S II General] hot ice:
I've got a SHW-M250K and I'm still havin' problems flashing it with DXKI2 even when I try my best to make sure I'm following the instructions.

Prep:

- Closed Kies

- Launched task manager and ended all processes I see with the word Kies.

Step 1: Download Odin3 v1.85

Step 2: Download I9100DXKI2_I9100OLCKH1_I9100DXKI1_HOME from SamFirmware

Step 3: I wanted to start fresh so I chose the option to restore my device to factory and erase USB data

Step 3: Checked USB DEBUGGING MODE

Step 4: Boot to recovery mode, chose to DELETE CACHE and also FORMAT USB.

Step 5: Turn off phone

Step 6: Boot to download mode VOL DOWN + CENTER BUTTON + POWER

Step 7: Connect to PC

Step 8: Odin detects device

Step 9: Select the I9100DXKI2_I9100OLCKH1_I9100DXKI1_HOME file under PDA

Step 10: Made sure only the Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time options are checked.

Step 11: Clicked Start

Result: I still get a FAIL! message.

Help: Do any of you guys know what I'm doing wrong?

At this state I only get a message "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again." when I try to turn the phone on.

Below is what ODIN displays:

<ID:0/020> Added!!

<ID:0/020> Removed!!

<ID:0/019> Added!!

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> I9100DXKI2_I9100OLCKH1_I9100DXKI1_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/019> Odin v.3 engine (ID:19)..

<ID:0/019> File analysis..

<ID:0/019> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/019> Initialzation..

<ID:0/019> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/019> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/019> boot.bin

<ID:0/019> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/019> cache.img

<ID:0/019> factoryfs.img

<ID:0/019> hidden.img

<ID:0/019>

<ID:0/019> Complete(Write) operation failed.

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

<ID:0/019> Removed!!
[Galaxy S II General] KayDat:
Well, I think I've reached a consensus, and it isn't to my liking; NFC is indeed more than just the battery. I went the whole nine yards and flashed bootloader/ROM/kernal/modem of SHW-M250S EI21. Took a bit of back and forth with the phone getting stuck on the initial loading screen or boot looping, but after some convincing I had myself a "SHW-M250S".

Now I was pretty excited...the NFC option was even there in the Wireless and network options. I initially only flashed the kernel onto my rooted i9100 firmware, and this option didn't appear.

BUT! Once I tried selecting and enabling NFC, it would blank out.

z-DeviceTest shows NFC, but I think this is because of the ROM rather than actually having the hardware available.

Whenever I tried using any NFC apps, it would tell me to go to settings and enable NFC, which I of course couldn't do. I think this pretty much hammers the nail into the NFC coffin for international i9100 owners. I'm still going to try out M250K firmware just for kicks (Have to say, spotting slight differences between international and Korean firmware is fun), but I'm not holding my breath for working NFC.

One more possibility is that NFC is actually all in the uSIM. I think this is unlikely though, as when I enabled airplane mode/took out my SIM, call/3G options were greyed out, but I could still go into NFC settings.

Hope my experiment was useful to some people, sorry to dash the hopes of anyone holding out for a software/battery NFC rollout.

Edit: More pics.
[Galaxy S II General] hot ice:
So, I got really desperate and so I got myself a XXKG6 ROM with about 5 files in it. One of the files was a PIT file. All tutorials I read warn not to use that file. But i did. To my amazement, it flashed successfully this time.

So, I went back to odin and tried to flash my single file DXKI2. And this time, it was successful as well.

After the flash, and immediately after the phone loaded, got an error message that a certain file seized working and the option i had was to FORCE CLOSE. I then reverted to factory defaults again and chose the option to delete USB DRIVE data just so I could start fresh.

I'm still observing it for now to make sure there are no more errors.
[Galaxy S II General] KayDat:
Hm, interesting idea occurred to me: maybe US SGS2 owners could try flashing Korean SGS2 firmware on their phones, and see if NFC works. Would be worth a shot to see what happens.
[Galaxy S II General] WSimca:
Anyone can give me the latest pre-rooted firmware file?
[Galaxy S II General] SHW-M250K:
Which model?
[Galaxy S II General] H a R 0:
Are the KI3 custom roms compatible with m250k? thanks! :)
[Galaxy S II General] hot ice:
Successfuly installed XXKI3 on mine.
[Galaxy S II General] wesbalmer:
Please explain further. I'd like to do this with my ATT US SGS2
[Galaxy S II General] WSimca:
SHW-m250S

I updated the firmware to 2.3.5. How do I get root? Superoneclick doesn't support korea's s2 right? :confused::confused:

My sms is broken :( , can't send sms to anyone.
[Galaxy S II General] SHW-M250K:
Download the newest pre-rooted kernel from here:

http://w.jkh.kr/gb4/bbs/board.php?bo_table=galaxy&wr_id=147

unzip it and use odin to flash your phone.
[Galaxy S II General] WSimca:
How do you find these things? :eek:

Also should I factory reset? I can't send messages (sms).
[Galaxy S II General] H a R 0:
Can you guys recommend a kernel for rooting m250k (2.3.3) that already has a CWM?

I tried searching a couple of times but i cant find one for m250k. not even CF-root :(

mine is 2.6.35.7-M250K.ED25.2216-CL158222

hope you guys can help :)
[Galaxy S II General] SHW-M250K:
It wouldn't hurt to try the factory reset if the sms still doesn't work after loading the rooted kernel.

Do you know what you did to the phone that made u lose that functionality?
[Galaxy S II General] WSimca:
Not sure when it broke, been a few weeks. I installed CWM with CF-root to install cyanogenmod but found out T-money (NFC) didn't work so reverted back to korean firmware. Maybe it has something to do with APN?

And thanks :D got root!
[Galaxy S II General] SHW-M250K:
Good job.

야호~~ ^^v
[Galaxy S II General] H a R 0:
guys please help me. i followed this:

i get boot loop afterwards and dont know what to do..

i have a stock rom but im not even sure if it's compatible. it's I9100XWKF1 btw and my phone is m250k :(
[Galaxy S II General] KayDat:
Bootloop guide. Try wiping user data/factory reset in recovery mode. If still boot loop, try flashing a different kernel. If you're on M250K kernel, try I9100 kernel, and vice versa. Once you've booted up once, flash back to the kernel you prefer.

I9100 and M250 phones are pretty much completely cross compatible, barring FM radio/DMB TV/NFC. I had full fledged M250S/K firmware running off my phone the other day.

Go download a Korean ROM. I like M250S, has less bloat than M250K; M250S and M250K are basically the same anyway just different carrier. This is the one I tried, EI21. Scroll down and click "[Root]HOME_M250S.EI21.1035_CL566114_REV02_user_low_ship.zip" to download. Might take a while, ~325MB file and server is in Korea.

You probably want to keep your kernel, as it appears AT&T kernel already supports NFC; it's the framework and upper level stuff that doesn't support NFC yet.

That, and the fact that flashing an I9100/M250 kernel will screw over your bottom buttons.

---------- Post added at 11:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 PM ----------

Okay, I assume you know which files in the .tar do what, but I'll explain here anyway, for posterity's sake.

zImage - Kernel

modem.bin - phone/baseband

factoryfs.img - ROM

Sbl.bin - bootloader

Here's what I do if I just want to flash certain parts onto my phone:

Make a copy of the .tar in Explorer

Open the copied .tar in 7zip

Delete anything you don't want

I find creating .tar files or adding files to the .tar archive in Windows temperamental and unstable to flash via Odin, so simply removing files from the .tar seem most stable. My recommendation is to only flash factoryfs.img; Korean bootloader is Korean, you probably want to keep your baseband and I explained Kernel before already.
[Galaxy S II General] charon420:
Just a friendly reminder... With all these guides flying around and usinf different mods for different systems .. Please remember to backup your "/efs" folder to a safe locations... [BOLD]It contains some of the most important information for your specific phone..[BOLD] If it becomes lost or corrupt there is no way to recover that.
[Galaxy S II General] woobanger:
I'm looking to pickup a GS2 in Korea next week to use overseas (I'm currently based in Singapore). The main reason I'm considering picking up the Korean version is for the ability to use my local SKT USIM while I'm in Korea.

I had done some digging around to see if I'd encounter any issues, and I had a few basic questions, some of which have been answered in this quite informative thread. Would appreciate any inputs on the below. Thanks in advance.

1. Unlocking: It sounds like both the S and K versions come factory unlocked. Correct?

2. SMS issue: I've read about the unknown number issue and the fix. Also, it seems like there's a character restriction on the Korean FW, which isn't a biggie for me, and ultimately can be removed via flashing a 9100 international FW? I've also read elsewhere that the SMS text coding on the S version is specific to SKT and people have issues sending non-English text. Has anyone experienced this?

3. Flashing: Sounds like there are no issues with flashing international FW on the Korean hardware. Other than removing the SMS 90 character limit, what other immediate benefits are there? I understand you would lose the DMB and NFC capability, as well as some of the Korea-specific apps, but do you also lose the ability to use local USIM cards?

At this point, I think I've got enough comfort that whatever compatibility issues are minor and fixable so I will go ahead and pick one up. Only remaining question is the choice between S and K, and whether I keep or ditch the Korean FW. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
[Galaxy S II General] andyhk888:
I've just spent hours trying to fix this and I've gotten the same result as you. Odin looks like it's about to complete the flashing and then fails at the very end. I have a m250k and I've been trying to flash the lastest Hong Kong stock firmware. I got tired of the 90 character sms limit and figured flashing an international firmware might also help with the problem of using a sim card without the number saved directly on it. In the past I've successfully flashed pre-rooted kernels for the m250k downloaded from links in this thread. It seems I can't flash anything else but a firmware designed for the m250k. I did successfully flash CF-ROOT CWM4 file and have root. I also successfully flashed a Hong Kong stock kernel itself, the small 8MB or so file. For the entire stock firmware packages I tried 3 different downloads and they all failed at the last step or froze without completing. I did try a cache and data wipe from the recovery menu after flashing the CWM4 file, but it didn't help. Also I found out that the first time I flashed a pre-rooted m250k firmware it screwed up the efs directory and the whole thing is missing.

One thing I did read from another user is that they tried to flash a UK firmware onto their m250k and it also failed. The person did successfully flash a custom ROM just as hot ice mentioned, though I don't know if they used a pit file or not. Any ideas or solutions to flashing official international firmware onto the m250k?
[Galaxy S II General] hot ice:
The one thing that fixed my problem was using a PIT file and the REPARTITION option should automatically be checked. When i clicked START it then went through.

You can give it a try and let me know.

You do it at your own risk though because a lot of instructions here tell you not to.
[Galaxy S II General] andyhk888:
Thanks hot ice for the advice. I downloaded the file u1_02_20110310_emmc_EXT4.pit from http://www.mediafire.com/?bzqjg7cpcd3zadz and after clicking repartition and using the pit file, I was finally able to flash a stock firmware using Odin.

I have some good and bad observations though. For the good part the 90 character sms limit has been bumped up to 160. I no longer need to add my number to the sim card to send outgoing sms messages. I tested with a roaming sim card that didn't have the number saved to the sim and no problems sending sms messages. MMS works without a problem as well and there is no problem with the roaming auto dialer option popping up everytime you want to make an outgoing call, so no need to use anycut to solve that issue.

For the bad part, I lost the call recording function built into the dialer in the m250k. The phone recognizes itself in download mode as i9100 and binary as official samsung, but Kies doesn't recognize the firmware and will not update it so I still have to use Odin when Ice Cream Sandwich and other updates are available. On the first reboot, the m250k went into recovery mode and I saw that it said download data erased and then showed downloading data, do not turn off target device. The phone froze there and I had to reboot. When you plug in the USB cable the phone now opens a program called MTP application. I don't get the USB options like charge only etc. in the notification drawer anymore. Before, if I remember correctly, I could select any usb option and still use the phone while it was connected to USB. Now if you press the home button, the phone will disconnect from the PC. Also interestingly, before I would get a drive letter in explorer and now I get a device called i9100. The path goes from i9100/phone instead of a drive letter. The phone has randomly gone to the home screen from the apps drawer, opened car mode and and done a few other odd things that are annoying, but still the phone is solidly usable. I might have a data speed problem. The phone on average is much slower in data speeds using the speedtest app to test, although it does go into 3G/4G modes without a problem. I haven't figured out if it's a network issue or phone setting.
[Galaxy S II General] tediberus:
custom roms have call recording ...... MTP is actually the default mode .... check usb debugging mode inside settings ... applications .... if u don't want MTP.
[Galaxy S II General] andyhk888:
Is there one you recommend that has the call recording function and good battery life? My m250k has poor battery life. The battery drains 40-50 percent overnight in standby. Looks like the cpu is doing something all night. I killed most of the processes and just ran battery info and juice defender.
[Galaxy S II General] charon420:
Def. Have something running draining. At most over an 8 hour period i will lose 10% battery usually less. (while sleeping)
[Galaxy S II General] Sticks02:
Wow I haven't been back here in a while.

^That battery life is definitely not right, i'd get about 1% loss/hour on standby, then it'll drop very quickly with the screen on. I'd suggest a battery/app monitoring program and see what's draining it. I've frozen most of the Korean apps (apart from NFC, I need it) and there hasnt been much trouble so far. Also try disabling JD, some people have been reporting worse battery life with it running. :rolleyes:

If you can buy one outright then most likely it will be unlocked. Ones on plans are locked I believe but the store will unlock them for you if you ask.

2. SMS issue: I've read about the unknown number issue and the fix. Also, it seems like there's a character restriction on the Korean FW, which isn't a biggie for me, and ultimately can be removed via flashing a 9100 international FW? I've also read elsewhere that the SMS text coding on the S version is specific to SKT and people have issues sending non-English text. Has anyone experienced this?

[/QUOTE]

I'm using the K variant so I have no idea. You'll be better off with it anyway compared to the S variant hardware wise (the SMS limitation is hardware based to my knowledge...) Also KT seem to better cater to foreigners so less trouble obtaining one if you're getting it through a KT outlet.

3. I can't answer, i've never used a foreign USIM with it outside of Korea, though other people have and there don't seem to be any problems.
[Galaxy S II General] m77m7:
Stock 2.3.5 Update --> Auto Reboot/Shutdown

Hi Everyone,

I need some help here. I have a stock M250K and just updated my firmware from 2.3.4 to 2.3.5 using Kies and how I get random reboots and/or shutdowns.

What is the best solution without having to root my phone and/or use Odin? I don't want to void my warranty or mess up my phone as I'm using the phone outside Korea.

Thanks,

M77m7
[Galaxy S II General] Sticks02:
Wouldn't you be worried about voiding warranty if you were INSIDE Korea? :confused:

Without going to a Korean service center (to my knowledge Samsung won't service parallel imported phones) you're out of luck. Only choice without voiding warranty is to reflash your phone with an official firmware for your phone model.
[Galaxy S II General] :
I heard that at&t 3g works with shw-250k..?

does anyone know if it does? or with it run edge..?
[Galaxy S II General] Sticks02:
Depends what AT&T's cellular frequencies are.

And now i'm not sure what frequencies the S/K model supports. =\
[Galaxy S II General] m77m7:
I meant, I don't want to root my phone and use Odin and possibly be stuck with a bricked phone which I may or may not be able to recover.

How do I reflash my phone with an official firmware? I assume you mean I need to find an image and flash it with Odin? I'm surprised nobody else is having this problem - it's stock.
[Galaxy S II General] Sticks02:
Yes, find a stock image and flash it with Odin. As long as you don't pull the USB cable out halfway through flashing it'll be fine.
[Galaxy S II General] :
Thanks for the reply.

I'm a bit new to android and I was wondering..

How do I root and flash to i9100 to my shw-250k..?

Model Number

SHW-M250K

Firmware Version

2.3.5

Baseband version

M250K.EI01.0951.KT

Kernel Version

2.6.35.7-M250K.EI21.1056-CL556226

Build Number

GINGERBREAD.EI21
[Galaxy S II General] johcorjerbk:
Hey I got T-Mobile Sim Card and after one week my phone got stuck in Airplane mode one day and I haven't bee able to get it to work again ever since. When the SIM did work I only got 2G speeds. I will never use T-Mobile again.
[Galaxy S II General] SHW-M250K:
You should have checked what frequencies your phone supports before signing up with t-mobile.

I don't think the SGS2 has an AWS antenna.
[Galaxy S II General] altltkrk:
Does anyone how to fill in the RF band for kt shw-m250k i really need wcdma 850 the phone is rooted and the kernel version is bell canada version
[Galaxy S II General] hot ice:
Anybody know the part number for an extended battery for the shw-m250k?
[Galaxy S II General] andy_pandy:
I flashed litening ROM on a m250s a few weeks ago, all good, no problems at all.

I heard that ice cream will be out soon, so I want to flash back to the original fw.

I tried matpclub.com, but I don't know korean.Can someone give me one of the m250s fw (maybe a direct link with the download, as I don't even understand a word in korean)? It doesen't matter which one, as I will soon update.Also, I would appreciate a mini-tutorial....but only if you can and it doesen't take much out of your time :) Thank you very much!
[Galaxy S II General] Sticks02:
There's a few DDL links along with a no-nonsense quick tute earlier in the thread, dig around. Really far back. :rolleyes:

Also, anyone else getting random restarts/crashes?
[Galaxy S II General] luzemi1:
:eek:HELP!!! I got a SHW-M250S and I just love it and would like to make it work for me.....but I put my T-Mobile sim card and it's stuck on EDGE. I've tried every thing but notthing has worked so far. it's unlocked and I got at Ebay,:confused: seller willl not give me refund, so is there anyone that can help me make this phone work and get off Edge cause it's so slow.:(