yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
The version of odin (3.07) you provided is writing to my sdcard in T-FLASH MODE as we speak. I am going to the post office later today, ecs, you still have a phone to try this out on? I can ship the sdcard to you. PM me an address, and lets cross our fingers and hope it works...

Yay. It worked, but I don't have a bricked phone to test on. Shows boot.img, aboot.mbn, cache.ext4, system.ext4, and whatever else is in the stock samsung recovery firmware files flashed successfully to my sdcard. And I know it worked because the sdcard is no longer recognizable by my phone.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] ecs87:
Unfortunately today was my last day of messing around with it, and I didn't get to mess with it nearly as much as I wanted to today. Sigh. I'm kind of hoping they can't JTAG it so I can do some more work on it lol. You may have better luck sending the card to msmercy42.

I'm surprised it worked... So you loaded the bootloader file in the i9300 zip above into the bootloader slot of Odin 3.07, checked T-Flash and it's successfully going? Kinda cool. Maybe that's a universal bootloader file; not just for the i9300.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
No no no, I wouldn't load the bootloader from the i9300, loaded the stock firmware for our device on sdcard. Worked like a charm. You could probably run the entire ROM at this point, but getting into DL mode is just as good. I just wanted to see if it worked, and since I knew every single file was in the stock restore, thought, what the hell...

I am good sending to Mercy also, hit me up with a PM. I leave work in 30 minutes, so get me by then...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] ecs87:
Ah, I was about to say...look at the balls on THIS guy flashing the i9300 bootloader on a working N900T lmao. I think I see what you did. Considering how if you have a 32GB SD card, it should be able to copy everything. Now...SD card mode I think is the only obstacle. A lot of guys "accidentally" got into SD Card mode. I don't know how, but it wasn't on any of the Note 3 variants. I tried vol - vol + home and power, but that didn't work. I tried the 3300k auto ignition cable from my NSPRO box while holding down vol- home and power, but still nothing. I've tried nearly every button combination and I can't get anything but a black screen. I don't think that the SD card triggers SD Card mode based on the N7100 and I9300 threads out there, but the N900A thread leads me to believe otherwise. Confusingly frustrating!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Awesome!!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Yes and the document instead of clarifying, makes it tantalizingly vague yet somehow right in our faces...what to do?

The sd card mode should work, with this card. The at&t variant method only requires the card. That is, on xda. So with that, we should be able to replicate the process.

On the other hand, the document shows a slightly different approach... perhaps there is something to short after all? Maybe the jig alone is enough. We are so close!!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
LOL. Hell yeah. I would have to be a little crazier than I already am trying that out. But since I could find absolutely nothing to flash to the damn thing, I said hell with it, try the whole damned thing. I also hear you on the sdcard mode thing. How do we get it to boot that way. The rest of the variants just suggest to pull battery and normal odin boot. I can't take an image right now as I am at work, and was going to ship the card out ASAP to see if we can consider this thing GOLD! If mercy doesn't get back to me by then, I will make an image tonight, just expect it to be extremely large (~3GB).
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Do I?! Oh yeah you are the man!! I pmed you my info and will reimburse you the cost of shipping when I send it back!

Now it's time to get all of the sd card mode boot methods in one place, the jig re-soldered (he canceled until tomorrow) and wait patiently for it to arrive as I'll be attempting to revive the note 3

before the mail guy gets to the end of the street :)
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
LOL...That's what I'm talking about!

Edit: Coming your way...I am heading out now.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Ever grateful for the outstanding work, it's really amazing what we have managed to find, and the work you guys put in is just top-notch IMHO.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2476353

Take a look at this if you didn't already. The method you acheived with odin, is perhaps replicated there, using linux?

I'm reading your above posts carefully, and it looks as if you used the jtag galaxy s3 file (thanks ecs87), to write onto the sd card, but in the boot repair fashion from samsung. I have of course been following this all, I just need to read and get a better understanding of what you used, and put onto that card.

I guess it's the way my mind works, I like to know how everything works, from the inside out. In any event you were successful, as ODIN no doubt gave you a PASS!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Some heavy tinkering there, and fascinating that the card is now not recognizable by your device. Looks as if its in a state ready-made by samsung when their phones take a dump LOL.

So this is truly starting to prove that their phones are unbrickable. I read years ago that ODIN makes that so. And all those tabs, besides just flashing modems and pit files... that is some nice software.

I wonder what made them make things more difficult with KNOX... I reckon that all this would not be necessary if it didn't exist? Oh well just speculating. hmm..
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
I didn't use the JTAG boot loader from the JTAG zip, only the Odin v 3.07, and since the way the modems and boot images are different from what I am used to, I just straight flashed the entire ROM to the SD card. I do know using terminal emulator I was able to find out that the boot goes all the way to 291 mb. I was able to write the image to sdcard in linux mint and verify it visually using Unix. But after the image is written, it formats the sd card into an in recognizable format (except in Unix).

My phone and Linux can see the card, but just says unrecognizable. All I can tell you about what is written is the phone boots up in a series of .MDT processes, of which I am still unfamiliar. So I just thought it best to flash the whole dam ROM to it. Again, we are still crossing fingers at this point, but a little hope is better than none at all...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
I see. So theoretically this should work. The above method does if I am not mistaken, involve reverting one's sd card back to normal after employing the method. That is the SM-N900A method that I am referring to. So far, so good. I hope as well, this works as you went out of your way and it is much appreciated. Can't say that enough. Still quite a bit to learn, so much unfamiliar information.. Learned alot these last four days.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] ecs87:
Essentially every single unbrick method involves ripping away some data from the device's /dev/block/mmcblk0. The authors just already packaged it into an image before posting the solution to make it easier on the end user. What we did with dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 of=/sdcard/unbrick.img was get the unbrick.img that you see everywhere in their original posts. The only difference between the various methods is how much to copy out of mmcblk0. IMO, just copy the whole thing. I've seen some people stop at the first 70MB of mmcblk0, but since the N900T boot may be bigger than 200MB as noobtoob suggested, might want to grab closer to 300MB or just grab the whole thing (as he did today).

And for the future readers, noobtoob isn't crazy enough to use the i9300 JTAG bootloader in the zip file I posted earlier, and I hope no one is. I posted it merely just for getting the whole leaked package for the i9300 out there. There's the documentation, the file, and the version of Odin they used. Definitely not saying that the i9300 bootloader in that file will work, but not saying that it won't work for deploying the SD Card either. Most likely what I can see happening though, is the N900T bootloader getting overwrote with the i9300, and bricking. Hence why I typed the big capitalized warning in the post with the file lol.

The SD Card after writing to it either through the Linux terminal or through Odin with T flash checked can only be read by the Android device. And no, I don't mean when already booted into Android. It seems to be some kind of format that Samsung phones can only read maybe strictly during boot?

Knox doesn't have anything to do with my particular hard brick. It wouldn't have mattered if it was on the device I was working on or not. Others may have different situations in which their hard brick could've been prevented by not having Knox. I simply overwrote my bootloader with a test file and ended up with a hard brick.

By the way, the method to recover your SD Card after turning it into "the unbrickable mod" is (I used the terminal in Knoppix Live CD for this):

fdisk /dev/mmcblk0 (or whatever your SD card is under)

-d (repeat -d as many times as needed to get rid of all partitions)

-n (insert all parameters accordingly)

-w

I was then able to reboot into Windows and format the entire portion of the SD Card.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
I am so happy you typed all this so I didn't have to. Honestly though, if you don't realize flashing another phones boot loader to another phone is a bad idea, well, you are going to go through a lot of phones... LOL. It is in the best interest people read before attempting anything.

And who knows, the 310 mb unbrick.IMG I posted (post #87) may work for someone, I just wanted to try something exciting and new.

sent from my tweaked note 3
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
My Note 3 battery I noticed is not charging. A few days after the brick I took it and had it taped into a galaxy mega. Dead as a doorknob. So somehow have to get this charged.

Thanks for the information, I am sure many will appreciate it!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
You still think it will boot totally?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Thanks for the clarification as well. I would like to think no one thought I would suggest that they flash a bootloader in Odin from a different device.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
I snapped a shot of my board to compare it to the SM-N900 board in the document. The short required at r4075 could be there, just in a different position. I'll post the pics shortly.

I'm thinking, as I posted previously, that the method covers the entire series. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a similar document for every model. If I am wrong then I'd like to see those documents. The SM-N900A sd card mode method here on XDA works without a short, yet follows a similar procedure, as far as the sd creation point. Perhaps the short isn't necessary. I'd still like to try everything i can once the sd card arrives, so I have the jig, and a way to charge up my battery.

As for the short, if I cannot obtain precision tweezers, then I was thinking paperclip, that they could provide the necessary resistance. The last part is what I am curious about, specifically what can I do to replicate... perhaps a simple battery pull, followed by the insertion of the jig, with the sd card already inserted? At that point I would expect the sd card mode menu would appear and ask for the choice of boot, or download mode.

Anyone have an opinion?

This is the last part of the document that I am referring to:

9) Turn of the PBA, using power supply.

10) About 2 ~ 6 seconds from supplying power, remove short. → When current of PBA is around 500mA, remove short
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
The photo with the red square is from the document, for those viewing who haven't looked at it. My board is the other one. I see several places where r4075 is located.

I personally do not see it in the same spot. That was pointed out to me, by someone today. I definitely agree, and wonder if anyone that looks at these pics, can tell me where they think it is. I see a spot where I think it is that I will mark in smemo on my s4.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
These are two possible places where I think r4075 could be.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] xneolithicspx:
It should be the one closest to the black chip as i believe that you said it was supposed to be a resistor that is to be shorted.

Don't quote me on it though, I'm only basing it off the pictures that you just posted.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Ok, I believe it is a resistor that needs the short xneolithicspx.

It seems like you have a deeper understanding of this than I do, so please give me your best guess, at the least, it is a start.

Right - as I posted above the resistor needing that in the document photo (there are tweezers in that one) seems to be moved, on the SM-N900T model ( the right of the top two photos, and the lower one).

Not to be repetitive. there are a few like that around that black chip in the tmobile photo. which one are you referring to?

And I believe you are onto something as the photo from the document shows like you said - the one closest to the black chip.

Any ideas about that text I pasted at the bottom of post #112?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
well, for now I would just hold Off trying to short anything until we Know for sure nothing else works...

tweaking my note 3-alpha style
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Point taken, could not agree more. Really just more curious about it than anything. What we're doing could work on its own.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] xneolithicspx:
[MENTION=562574]mercy[/MENTION] I see some differences in the two devices. Any chance i can get you to re-upload the PDF file that you linked to a few pages back and a high quality, less zoomed in picture of the board? The picture would be super helpful.

Edit = Do not need the better quality picture, the resister your looking to short is one that is on the side of the Nand Flash. it does look like the sm9000 uses a different flash than the 900t/a so i really need to see a better picture of the other phone. Just so i dont give you and idea and truly kill you phone.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
Yes. That is why I was saying to wait a bit before trying to short anything. I opened my phone and saw nothing like the same type resistor in there. We need a spec sheet of wine sorts for this phone.

tweaking my note 3-alpha style
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
I'm always logged into this place even when I'm not using it I have to make certain that I am locked out somehow no matter what I do I'm still logged in. If you need a better picture I think I have it, with less zoom. I'll post it, let me know if it's okay. At the least, though you are correct in waiting, at least we have an idea where this could be. That is, again, if this is even needed.

I personally think its GOLD :)
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] ecs87:
The thing that I don't understand is why can the N900A get into SDCARD mode easily whereas the N900T needs a short? I'm 100% sure I did the sdcard method correctly. Has anyone else tried it on their N900T with various class and sized sdcards?

Also does anyone have a picture of a N900A board? If it's similar to the N900T I don't see why something would need to be shorted out unless it's programming in the bootloader that's triggering it. Too many questions and not enough public documentation... :(
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Well got the sd card just now! Battery is totally dead and I have to wait until later to charge it, and to finally get the jig re-soldered. Now the suspense is killing me:) Apparently the qhusb_download mode prevents charging and only allows pc device detection. I wonder exactly how full I need to have the battery anyway.

[MENTION=4959296]ecs87[/MENTION]: I agree, if it works on the tmobile s3 with no short, and note 3 at&t with no short, then it should work with the tmobile note 3 similarly. Also like we discussed prior a good point was made - in that a usb jig, in fact provides resistance, that could also be the short required in the documentation.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
Suspense is not just killing you, but me as well. I must know if this type of fix is possible. And I agree with the both of you as well. There should be no reason to short anything out. Get that d**** battery charged so I can know... Lol.

And my sd card is a class 6 or 8, 16 gb. Took the t-flash like a champ.

tweaking my note 3-alpha style
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
I think I got like 15 % charged, tried it and nothing... But I can't be sure because it was a cheap Chinese external charger. Took it to a shop and had two different note 3 third party batteries plugged in, nada. Not sure if they were even juiced up though because the rep is a ditzy girl... and they were out of that package.. and the jig won't be done until tomorrow.. ARGH

btw it is a class 6. Logicboard is open, should I do the short???
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
Yeah, couldn't remember the class, but it has never failed me. I have had that card since 2011.

Things aren't looking that great if the other batteries are charged. We need some more inside information...

The short I do not suggest until we have tried the jig, and even then it is extremely iffy.

tweaking my note 3-alpha style
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] ecs87:
I wouldn't say shorting is iffy since it's in the confidential Samsung "JTAG" document but rather not having an exact picture or schematic of where to short out is the bigger issue. I wouldn't have a problem doing it (if i still had the N900T I was working on) as long as the correct documentation is provided for the specific model.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
That's the biggest issue, not even sure if I have enough juice to work with. I can get the jig to boot the s4 by just holding the resistors to pins 4 and 5. Its a trick I figured out previously when

only one solder end fell off. When I connected the other via a tiny crevice and let it go (ground), proper download mode was acheived. I have yet to know for certain if it works with the note 3, due to the battery...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] xneolithicspx:
The resistor you need to short is a loop back to the nand flash. But that is on a n9000. Which is an exynos device. Do you know anyone around with a note 3 you could put your battery in to charge? So I'm having doubt's you would need to short anything.

Edit = explanation on why.

The reason the particular chip gets shorted is that that resistor has a high value (unknown how high) so by shorting it causes it to read a low value therefore it tells the board to boot from a second day source which in this case would be the SD card.

I'm trying through other sources to see if I can get a pin out of our chip to see if there exists such a resistor. Unknown of how long it may or may not take at this moment.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
I rigged the s4 and can charge it to full. I tried at 50% and no sd boot. ideas? Perhaps 100%
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] xneolithicspx:
Something has to tell it to look at the SD card. Whether it is told with a jig or by shorting a resistor I'm unsure. Are you able to test with a jig? And for the AT&T version of this phone there is nothing else requires to force boot from SD card?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Nothing is required to boot the at&t variant but the reformatted sd. When I get it soldered tomorrow it should do the trick so if the jig is required for boot, it could work. It boots download mode on the s4 no problem when you're NOT touching the resistors with your hands and it's soldered. Still cool that it can cause a reboot. I was supposed to have that done today but tomorrow, again.

So that's why it's not working. The sd card was written correctly, and this is how samsung boots their bricked devices and then sends them back to the customer working.

Don't tell me it's what I thought - The jig, and the short?!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] xneolithicspx:
It depends on how the eMMC controller is programmed it will be either a resistor to short (exynos device) or a jig or nothing.

It definitely will not be both.

And I know the 900t and 900a are the same phone so i dont think it should require either so maybe its possible to use the 900t sdcard files?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
Exactly, which is what noobtoob did with his flash, using Odin. So why isn't it working? $!#/!!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] xneolithicspx:
It may be that it isn't a bootable media. Do you have Linux available? If so mount it in there to see what it shows. And compare it to the 900a unbrick file.

O and I ment the 900a unbrock files haha.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
I can't, pc was swiped by some turd recently
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] msmercy42:
I noticed that the battery takes alot longer than it seems to be in this phone. I'm going to charge it to 100 % and see if that is the problem.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
I tried this after I flashed the stock restore image. After flashing, Linux does not recognize as a "searchable" device. It is listed as sdX in /dev but the file system is unknown. It recognizes it as s form of media. Has a ton of .mdt files in them.

I was only able to open the image in Unix in order to see what was there, I couldn't even perform a

parted /Dev/sdX print

On the device. Frustrating, but who knows, maybe someone else will have better luck.

[MENTION=2767839]Msmercy[/MENTION] you know anyone with a Linux or Unix box? Get them to compare the files...

tweaking my note 3-alpha style
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] ecs87:
I'll compare them in Linux when I get to work. I did take a look at them in a hex editor in windows and didn't see any differences in the first few pages. I was under the assumption that the beginning of the file would determine if/how the device boots and since there weren't any differences I stopped there. It'd be nice to know what exactly happens when they boot the N900A into SD Card mode. Does it immediately go into it? Does QCHSUSB still show up in device manager? Does it go away in SD CARD mode? Etc. That way at least we can tell when/if it's going to go into that mode instead sitting there staring at a blank screen for half an hour praying that the SD card mode screen will pop up.

EDIT: I was wrong. There's a ton of differences between the N900A unbrick file and the N900T one. Oddly enough, a unbrick image I pulled from my L900 is EXACTLY the same, bit for bit, as the N900A unbrick image. I used vbindiff for windows to compare the files in hex. Yes it runs in a command line. Yes I kick it old school.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
Has anyone tried the N900A unbrick image?

tweaking my note 3-alpha style
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] ecs87:
I did. However, I think it was the first image I tried, and it was on a 2GB SD Card. I only tried it once, and since it didn't work, I started lurking for the N900T image, which is how we crossed paths in this thread. I didn't even try it on the 16 and 32GB SD cards.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] noobtoob:
HMMMM...

Any word back from mobiletechvideos JTAG? I am curious if they were able to restore it to it's former glory. And maybe reach out to them to see if they have some sort of repair image...

tweaking my note 3-alpha style