[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] BobMurray999:
I may see my problem -- wrong gapps file

I found a table which implies that for a Galaxy S3 I should use the gapps-jb-20121212-signed.zip. The newer gapps-jb-20130301-signed.zip is for the Galaxy S4. I'll try again.

The following is my latest draft of NOOB tips:

SAMSUNG ANDROID PHONE DEVICE USEFUL INFORMATION FOR A SAMSUNG GALAXY NOOB

I have searched and lifted the following stuff from many places and articles on

xdaforums.com. I give all credit, but no blame, to the fine folks there

who help NOOBs like me. I have made many mistakes, done many searches and bricked my

Samsung SGH-I747 phone a few times but they have come through with help every time it was

needed. You should also know that I am totally irresponsible and can accept no

liability or blame if you damage yourself or your phone with any of this stuff.

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<<<<< How to Install Custom ROM on your AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 phone >>>>>

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0. There are several prerequisites to your ROM Flash:

Phone must be rooted, if you haven't/don't know how to do this STOP NOW!;

Basic root toolkit of apps and PC applications are all useful, such as:

both root File Manager and root backup apps;

Superuser/SuperSU, ADB Insecure, Busybox apps;

ROM (or Goo) Manager apps;

the Triangle Away app (to reset your flash counter)

Odin3 ROM flash tool for Windows can help with many steps;

Skipsoft.com toolkit for Windows (includes Root/Unroot, Superuser,

Busybox, ADB Insecure and both stock and custom recovery images for flashing)

Must have a custom recovery flashed onto your phone such as CWMtouch or TWRP;

Enable USB Debugging in the phone's Developer Options settings. Make sure

you have USB Drivers and connectivity to File Explorer on your PC (i.e., you

can see and manipulate files to and from your phone from File Manager on your PC);

Backup everything on your phone every way you can think of doing it;

Download, to your PC, the firmware ROM update file suitable for your phone

>> e.g., cm-10.1.0-RC4-d2att.zip for AT&T Samsung GS3 SGH-I747 <<;

Download, to your PC, the Google Apps package that matches the ROM update file

>> e.g., gapps-jb-20121212-signed.zip for the AT&T Samsung GS3

or gapps-jb-20130301-signed.zip for the AT&T Samsung GS4. <<

Take time to familiarize yourself with the root toolkit you have assembled.

This time will pay dividends later. All ROMS are not alike. Some ROMs only

include boot.img files while others may include linux kernel.img and even

recovery.img files along with various scripts to handle them. I am not an expert

and I do not know what I don't know. However all of the stuff included in the

ROM you select must be matched to the particular processor and hardware

configuration of the phone manufacturer (e.g., Samsung) as well as the software

do dads the phone vendor (e.g., AT&T) has added to differentiate themselves from

other platforms. Model numbers don't tell the story, some Samsung Galaxy S3s have

dual processors, and some don't.

N.B., Some users report problems if you don't use the manufacturer's original USB cable.

Many times I have read suggestions to turn off any firewall or antivirus apps on your phone.

1. Move both downloaded files from the computer to your phone's SD Card using File Manager.

2. Reboot your phone into recovery mode (see note below). In recovery mode, the first thing

to do is a Nandroid backup of everything on your phone. You can't have too many backups!

Backups can gobble space fast. I installed a 32GB external micro SD Card. The internal

SD card is only 16GB on my phone and fills up fast.

3. Still in recovery mode, the next thing to do is a wipe of your phone; select:

“wipe data factory reset”, then

“wipe cache partition” and

“wipe dalvik cache”.

4. Still in recovery mode, return to the recovery menu and from there select:

“install zip from SD card” followed by

“choose zip from SD card”.

5. Still in recovery mode, install the ROM update zip file ,(from your SD card) first

and flash the ROM onto your phone. Verify the steps completed successfully.

>> e.g., cm-10.1.0-RC4-d2att.zip

6. Still in recovery mode, install the Google Apps zip package.

>> e.g., gapps-jb-20121212-signed.zip for the AT&T Samsung GS3

or gapps-jb-20130301-signed.zip for the AT&T Samsung GS4.

Again, verify success. <<

7. Still in recovery mode, to complete installation, select:

“+++go back+++”;

"fix permissions";

“reboot system now”.

If the system comes up GREAT, give it some time, the first boot up can take

10 minutes or more! If not, reboot into recovery mode and restore

from the nandroid backups you made earlier.

8. ReRoot your phone and run the Triangle Away app to reset your flash counter to zero.

9. Return to recovery mode and restore anything you need from your backup app.

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<<<<< How to Install Custom ROM on your Android phone or tablet >>>>>

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As a general rule, the following steps work for most users.

> 10 Nandroid backup

> 20 Flash experimental .zip from recovery and reboot system

> 30 IF (works) THEN GOTO 50

> 40 Nandroid restore

> 50 Eat cake

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<<<<< How to get into Android phone's Recovery Mode >>>>>

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1. Verify at least a 60% charge and Unplug the USB cable.

2. Shut down the phone and wait 20 seconds.

3. Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME UP' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for

5 seconds then let go of all buttons (you may have to try this a few times)

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<<<<< How to get into Android's Download Mode (For an Odin flash) >>>>>

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1. Verify at least a 60% charge and Unplug the USB cable.

2. Shut down the phone and wait 20 seconds.

3. Hold down the 'HOME' + 'VOLUME DOWN' buttons and press the 'POWER' button for

about 2 seconds until a WARNING! message appears (very, very tiny on my phone).

4. Press the 'VOLUME UP' button to enter Download Mode.

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<<<<< How to get into Developer Options (For Android 4.2+) >>>>>

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1. Go to main Settings, About Phone and tap the Build Number text 7 times.

2. After three taps the system will display a countdown of taps remaining.

3. After the 7th tap, You will be notified that you are anointed a Developer.

4. Go back up to Settings, choose, the now visible, Developer Options and enable

USB Debugging.

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