[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Joker_i9305:
Hi there,

i'm having a weired problem with my Samsung Galaxy S III LTE (GT-I9305 - DBT), after

updating from official 4.3 (DBT - PDA:MKC / Phone: MK1 / CSC: MJ4) to a yesterday via OTA provided update to Kitkat 4.4.4

(recovery says KTU84P.I9305XXUFNI3)

The device has only seen official firmware and has never been rooted or tried to be manually manipulated.

I did these steps.

1.) OTA update was available, downloaded via WLAN on the device (took a while), then the update was initiated

on the device directly (no kies). Update went ok so far, after the first reboot the "app optimisation process" began

, at this point there were some pop ups saying some of the google "play" apps were stopped (Play movies, play books, play kiosk.

also a so called "setup assistent").

The device was "normally" usable at this point, but the above mentioned apps have been left unusable, also some "apps stopped"

pop ups show up after every reboot on the device.

2.) So i decided to boot up in recovery mode to do an "wipe cache partition" - but this didn't help. The error messages concerning

some of the system apps were still there.

3.) Although i knew, that i had to some re-setup after it, i thought "ok, let's give a factory reset a chance" (a wipe dalvik cache was

no option, because of the original bootloader and an unrooted device). After the factory reset, the device came up with the samsung

setup assistant, which seems ok to me, BUT at this point the device gets stucked in the first setups steps because there were so many

"apps stopped" messages concerning critical system apps (in my opinion). Here a just a few: "samsung account", "google play services",

"youtube", "google play music", "setup-assistant". The devices is now stucked at the point to accept the eula, no chance to get any step

further.

After this and the informations i found online, i would call this device a "soft brick"?

My idea was to reinstall the original 4.3 firmware to reanimate the device via odin (tried 3.09 and 1.85). I got the official one file package

from the previously android version (I9305XXUEMKC_I9305DBTEMJ4_I9305XXUEMK1_HOME.tar). But there is no way to flash this via

odin. The process always aborts with an write failed message. Only selected options are "Auto Reboot" and "F Reset Time", the image

ist selected via the AP-Button, "ID-COM" went blue after connecting device).

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

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

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> I9305XXUEMKC_I9305DBTEMJ4_I9305XXUEMK1_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/011> Added!!

<ID:0/011> Odin v.3 engine (ID:11)..

<ID:0/011> File analysis..

<ID:0/011> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/011> Initialzation..

<ID:0/011> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/011> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/011> SingleDownload.

<ID:0/011> sboot.bin

<ID:0/011> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/011> FAIL!

<ID:0/011>

<ID:0/011> Complete(Write) operation failed.

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

Could it be, that flashing the downgrade to official 4.3 is impossible because of a newer installed bootloader on OTA update process?

On the device there ist follwing message at download mode after failing the flash process:

ODIN MODE

PRODUCT NAME: GT-I9305

CUSTOM BINARY DOWNLOAD: No

CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official

SYSTEM STATUS: Official

Secure Download: Enabled

KNOW WARRANTY VOID: 0

AP SWREV: A3

SW REV. CHECK FAIL, DEVICE:3, BINARY:2

Has anyone an idea how to bring this device back to life? Unfortunaly there are no update packages for 4.4.4 DBT at this moment, to give it a try with the latest

android version. Firmware restore and initialisation via kies is also not availabe because it says the device is not supported.