[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] DocHoliday77:
How to Flash Firmware and OTA's!

:cowboy:How to Flash the OTA's:cowboy:​

Requirements:

Unmodified stock system

No modem or kernel changes

How to choose the correct OTA update:

The updates are named to show Current Build - Updated Build.

So if you are on UVALEM, you would use UVALEM - UVALH2.

Tools

Here are some tools/utilities you will need, along with a few extras!

Odin 3.07

USB Drivers - V. 1.5.9.0

TWRP Recovery 2.3.1.0

Zip | Tar

CWM Touch Recovery 6.0.1.2

Zip | Tar

CWM Non-Touch Recovery 6.0.1.2

Zip | Tar

Ill fix the un-linked ones shortly!​

There are a few different ways to flash the OTA updates. I will cover Stock Recovery, Mobile Odin and CWM.​

USING STOCK RECOVERY

As Samsung Intended It!

A quick note about this method

: If you want to flash in Stock Recovery, you MUST be fully stock on the correct build. For example, if updating from UVALEM to UVALH2, you must be running a fully stock UVALEM system, including recovery, kernel, modem, etc. This also means no mods, no additions/removals to and from the /system partition, no build.prop edits, etc. Otherwise the update will fail! I will explain why a little later.

Download the OTA to your phones External sdcard.

[*]Backup any important data, just in case!

[*]If you want to stay rooted, install Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper from the Play Store (skip this if you are not rooted)

[*]Preserve root with Rootkeeper

[*]Reboot into Recovery (Power off the phone. Hold Volume Up + Home + Power. When you see the blue text flash at the top, release the buttons)

[*]Select Install Zip from External Storage

[*]Find your downloaded OTA zip file, select it and confirm to flash.

[*]Once complete, reboot your phone.

[*]If you used Rootkeeper to preserve root, Open the app and restore root.

[*]Open Superuser/SuperSU and then a root requiring app to confirm you are rooted.

[*]DONE!!! :victory:

:highfive:

USING CLOCKWORKMOD (CWM) RECOVERY

Ver. 6.0.1.2 recommended.

Note about Rootkeeping

: With the CWM method, I am putting the Rootkeeper steps here simply because if anyone ever wants to try it, they won't have to ask! This method will allow you to keep CWM Recovery, however, which will let you re-root quite easily anyway!

Download the correct OTA zip to your phone. (Either internal or external storage should work just fine)

Backup any important data, just in case! (I suggest backing up your contacts using the export to vcard file function in Contacts Settings)

If you want to stay rooted, install Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper from the Play Store (skip this if you are not rooted)

Preserve root with Rootkeeper (Alternatively, you could just download the Superuser/SuperSU flashable zip, and re-root after flash)

Reboot into Recovery (Power off the phone. Hold Volume Up + Home + Power. When you see the blue text flash at the top, release the buttons)

NANDROID!!! NANDROID!!!

Select Install Zip from sdcard

Select either "choose zip from sdcard" or "choose zip from external sdcard"

Browse to and select the OTA zip file you downloaded.

Confirm to start the flash.

Once complete, (if you choose not to use the rootkeeper method) browse to your flashable Superuser/SuperSU zip and flash following the same steps above.

Select Reboot System Now.

CWM should now warn that recovery will be rewritten, choose the option which prevents this in order to preserve your CWM recovery.

If you used Rootkeeper to preserve root, Open the app and restore root.

Open Superuser/SuperSU and then another root-requiring app to confirm you are rooted.

DONE!!! :victory:

:highfive:

USING MOBILE ODIN PRO

My Personal Favorite! Highly recommend!

Note about paid vs free

: The following instructions are based upon

Mobile ODIN Pro

. The Pro version naturally has more options than the free one, most notably is its

ability to inject root during the flashing process

. It costs $5 in the Play Store and IMO, is ABSOLUTELY worth the price!!! It is also supporting

Chainfire

, one of our Elite Devs, and his amazing work! For those of you who, for whatever reason, cannot or will not pay for the Pro version, there is a Free version here on XDA! The Free version does NOT inject root during the flashing process, and is basically what you would expect from a Lite version. It will still work for our purposes here. I will explain how to use the Free version after these instructions for Pro.

MOBILE ODIN IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE APPS!!!!!

:good:

Download the correct OTA zip to your phone's internal or external storage.

Backup any important data, just in case! (I suggest backing up your contacts using the export to vcard file function in Contacts Settings)

NANDROID!!!

Start Mobile Odin Pro

If this is the first time run, allow it to download its additional files

Scroll down and select OTA / Update ZIP

Choose Internal/External Storage depending on where your OTA zip is located

Browse to and select the OTA you wish to flash

Verify that under the OTA / Update ZIP line, it shows the path to your file

Scroll down to the EVERROOT section

Make sure that all 3 are checked, Enable EverRoot, Inject Superuser (SuperSU), and Inject Mobile ODIN

Under the WIPE section you have the option to Wipe data and cache, and/or Wipe Dalvik Cache. You may choose to select one or both of these, however, I recommend leaving un-checked for now. (I have run into problems with EverRoot in the past when selecting these options. You can always wipe AFTER updating.)

Select Flash Firmware, then Continue to confirm. Also continue at the prompt about replacing Maps. (We have enough memory so it does not actually do this.)

Mobile ODIN will now take over and flash the OTA!

Once complete, it may reboot into recovery. Reboot system if it does.

Open Superuser/SuperSU and then another root-requiring app to confirm you are rooted.

DONE!!! :victory:

:highfive:

USING MOBILE ODIN FREE

Note about free version

: Mobile ODIN Lite does not have the EverRoot ability. Also it will not automatically download its required files, so you will have to manually download and install the Flash Kernel from the thread.

Go to Chainfire's thread for

Mobile ODIN

Read, Read, Read, and Read! Read all of Posts 1-3.

Download and install Mobile ODIN Lite attached to Post 1.

Go to Post #8 and download and install the correct Flash Kernel. MobileODIN_FlashKernel_T999-v2.0.apk

Download the correct OTA zip to your phone's internal or external storage.

Backup any important data, just in case! (I suggest backing up your contacts using the export to vcard file function in Contacts Settings)

NANDROID!!!

If you want to stay rooted, install Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper from the Play Store (skip this if you are not rooted)

Preserve root with Rootkeeper

Start Mobile Odin

Scroll down and select OTA / Update ZIP

Choose Internal/External Storage depending on where your OTA zip is located

Browse to and select the OTA you wish to flash

Verify that under the OTA / Update ZIP line, it shows the path to your file

DO NOT CHECK WIPE DATA OR DALVIK!!! This will prevent Rootkeeper from working! (You can always wipe AFTER updating.)

Select Flash Firmware, then Continue to confirm. Also continue at the prompt about replacing Maps. (We have enough memory so it does not actually do this.)

Mobile ODIN will now take over and flash the OTA!

Once complete, it may reboot into recovery. Reboot system if it does.

If you used Rootkeeper to preserve root, Open the app and restore root.

Open Superuser/SuperSU and then another root-requiring app to confirm you are rooted.

DONE!!! :victory:

:highfive:

:cowboy:How to Flash the Stock Firmware:cowboy:​

The stock firmware comes in a .tar or .tar.md5 file format intended to be used in ODIN. The root66 version of the firmware is the full official stock firmware with ONLY ONE CHANGE! It is pre-rooted! Don't forget to follow the link to the original thread so you can Thank mrRobinson for all of his work on these! Flashing EITHER the original or the root66 versions will NOT trip the flash counter! They are identical except for root.

Tip: I keep a copy of the root66 firmware on my computer for use in ODIN. This way I am always ready to go if I have to Odin back to stock for any reason. I also keep an unmodified copy of the firmware on my phone for use with Mobile Odin PRO. (No need for root66 version since Mobile Odin injects root during flash)

I will cover flashing the full stock firmware .tar files using both regular (or PC) ODIN, and Mobile ODIN Pro.

USING ODIN

Download and install the latest Samsung USB Drivers

Download and extract Odin

Download the firmware of your choosing (use the root66 version if you want root)

Run Odin by double clicking the Odin.exe within the folder you extracted

Turn off your phone and boot into

DOWNLOAD MODE

(Volume Down + Home + Power Hold until phone powers up, then release and press Volume Up to enter Download Mode)

Once in Download Mode, connect the USB/Charger cable to the phone and plug into the USB port on your computer.

You should now see a COM** port listed toward the top-left of Odin (under ID:COM)

Click on the PDA button in the middle-right area of Odin.

Browse to and select the FW you downloaded

Make sure Auto-Reboot and F. Reset Time are the only options checked and that PDA is the only other thing checked.

TRIPLE CHECK your settings and that you have selected the correct firmware for your model phone and are using the correct options.

If you are using a laptop, make absolutely sure you are plugged in, or if on battery, that it is charged enough and will not go into sleep mode during flash.

Click Start to begin the flash. This will take a while, so be patient!

Once complete, in the top-left box in Odin, it will say PASS and the phone should have automatically rebooted.

You may unplug the phone and close Odin if you wish.

Wait at least 5-10 minutes for the system to boot the first time and then build its cache! (It may seem to hang during boot, this is normal and you must be patient!!!)

DONE!!! :victory:

:highfive:

USING MOBILE ODIN PRO

Note about EverRoot: With Mobile Odin Pro, you can flash the unmodified stock firmware and using the EverRoot option, root will be injected during the flash. This has NEVER failed for me!

Download the firmware of your choice to your phone's internal or external storage.

Backup any important data, just in case! (I suggest backing up your contacts using the export to vcard file function in Contacts Settings)

NANDROID!!!

Start Mobile Odin Pro

If this is the first time run, allow it to download its additional files

Scroll down and select Open file...

Choose Internal/External Storage depending on where your firmware .tar or .tar.md5 is located

Browse to and select the firmware you wish to flash. Mobile Odin will tell you which partitions will be flashed.

Depending on the contents of the file, each of the partitions listed will show the path to the selected firmware.

You have the option of selecting which partitions you want to flash. For example, if you do not want to flash recovery, just press the recovery option and select Clear. Mobile Odin will now flash the firmware minus the recovery partition! (Alternatively, if you want to only flash recovery, you can either deselect everything else, or extract the recovery.img, press Recovery in Mobile Odiin and browse to the .img file. Yet another great function of this app!)

Scroll down to the EVERROOT section

Make sure that all 3 are checked, Enable EverRoot, Inject Superuser (SuperSU), and Inject Mobile ODIN

Under the WIPE section you have the option to Wipe data and cache, and/or Wipe Dalvik Cache. You may choose to select one or both of these, however, I recommend leaving un-checked for now. (I have run into problems with EverRoot in the past when selecting these options. You can always wipe AFTER flashing.)

Select Flash Firmware, then Continue to confirm. Also continue at the prompt about replacing Maps. (We have enough memory so it does not actually do this.)

Mobile ODIN will now take over and flash the firmware!

Once complete, it may reboot into recovery. Reboot system if it does.

Open Superuser/SuperSU and then another root-requiring app to confirm you are rooted.

DONE!!! :victory:

:highfive: