yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I talked to the voice tech support and they said that i should first try to image the operating system at the BestBuy store. If I can't get it to work then to send it into them and they will do a "free" evaluation. However since i started with a good phone, they are liable. Although they may try and get me to pay for fixing it :(

As it is, should i really send it to them? Or is there any other software solution, or a JTAG??? (not sure all that would involve)

Thanks!
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Sachitoge:
Look, that knox protection is as good as Apple's remote iCloud lock function. It is encrypted, and it requires decryption of the system partition (i may be wrong, i just say what i believe is/can be). The Knox is a type of a Encryption, it's really secure and safe and is used widely worldwide, the decryption is hard because it must be protected with your samsung account and password, because it required that during enabling it. This indicates it is encrypted according to your specified Samsung account. I may be wrong, but try to find on internet whether it's possible to disable it remotely. Try to boot phone normally, then go on PC/Laptop and search to login to Samsung account and by any chance, look to remotely unlock this Knox security.

Other than that, without access to "Settings" app, you wont be able to disable it. Simply impossible. It is encrypted.

Same for iOS Devices that got locked with remotely iCloud lock app, it is locked and encrypted remotely and requires remotely decryption to system partition and this is why almost nobody can bypass it. There are ways but sadly are private from public to prevent Apple team patch the exploit. I do believe they use this exploit for iDevice that is stolen to afterward sell to another end-user the stolen phone, or possibly they could be unlocking devices in exchange of money. Easy money from my view, however, it is encrypted and is no way possible. MAYBE samsung can do it from their end without saying "we decrypted it and did clean install rom" instead of that, they will speak in a manner speech like "We did put the phone into a developer-only software from our end on our PC and did a full disk-clean which also killed all files, and had to re-attempt to install rom and reconfigure IMEI". Maybe not exactly like this but something close this. From what i know, whenever you do full clean, your IMEI mostly stays, this is because you mostly cant really navigate it manually or delete it, usually it is protected lol.

I hope you're not tired with this long message, you shouldn't be charged for such a mess they caused to you, so like i said, dont let your guard down and hesitate, stay behind your phrase/word! I promise, it will work!

You mentioned Voice Tech Support, talk serious, talk that you are not tech heavy, (for ur wife). Play a bit stupid-role about technology and that it happened while OS Upgrade.

Remember, they will be after your money, don't let them do it and get cash into their pocket for free, it's not worth and not your fault to cause you being charged!

Please, try my method and you will see it really saved you a couple 10 dollars. As of sending the phone, im not sure, they wont however pay the shipping fee, other than that any other cost is unacceptable so beware, dont get phished from IT experts.

Remember, reason this is long is to save you from being charged. Hope it helped, good luck buddy.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
I recommend not using Odin to flash any ROMs at this point.

The flash is failing because you are trying to flash a ROM with a bootloader that is older than the bootloader on the phone which is indicated by the failure after trying to flash aboot.mbn file.

There is not full ROM available for the i747 after 4.1.1. All OS upgrades were provided by AT&T as OTA updates.

I recommend flashing a custom recovery, booting to recovery, mounting the data partition, a copy everything you can to a PC. Then, flash a custom ROM, Gapps, and install the Samsung Phone Info app from the Play Store to find the phone's bootloader version.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Sachitoge:
You are right, it could be, i dont know how things really work in USA as i always bought unlocked phones and living in europe, so it was good to point that out. The error do happen while knox protection is on too, same type of message so its a bit tricky...

Skickat från min SM-G900F via Tapatalk
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
I have never seen Knox protection cause that error. I don't think it is not Knox that is stopping the flash, it is the bootloader security.

The only protection that I have seen that would have an effect in download mode would be re-activation lock.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Thanks for your long reply! and in helping me with this issue. I will be firm with them. My wife is not tech savvy and I don't know how my wife's phone got encrypted, or if there was someone remotely hacking her phone from our PC or over the wireless. She always complained to me that someone was listening in on her conversations and interfering with her text messages. And we had some evidence this was taking place. She does not know how to encrypt her phone, so she didn't enable knox encryption. So perhaps her phone was hacked somehow.

On the download screen of the phone this is what I am getting:

ODIN MODE

PRODUCT NAME: SGH-I747

CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official

SYSTEM STATUS: Official

QUALCOM SECURE BOOT: ENABLE

Warranty Bit: 0

BOOTLOADER RP SWREV: 3

SW REV CHECK FAIL : Fused 3 > Binary 0

Downloading.......

Does this mean anything to you that could possible help knowing what the problem is?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
I see nothing to indicate that the phone is encrypted.

The existence of the warranty bit line tells me the phone has at least a 4.3 bootloader which caused the Odin flash to fail: the ROM being flashed has an older (probably 4.1.1) bootloader.

Knox and encryption are not the same thing. Encryption can take place in the absence of Knox and Knox can be present on a non-encrypted phone.

Whether the phone is or is not sim-locked isn't relevant to this situation as it can happen regardless of a phone's sim-lock status.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Thank you for your suggested solution! I have an Identical phone to my wife's phone. Is there anything else useful i can grab from my phone? The info App states:

Model: SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

Device Type: d2att

Product Name: d2uc

Country origin: MADE IN CHINA

Manuf. Date: 2012.08.31

Knox Warranty Void: 0x0

Storage: 16 GB

Product Code: SGH-I747RWBATT

Orig CSC Code: ATT

Firmware CSC Code: ATT

Active CSC Code: ATT

CSC Country: USA/US

Mobile Operator: AT&T / 310410

Bootloader Version: I747UCUFNJ2

PDA Version: I747ATTFNJ2

Baseband Version: I747UCUFNJ2

Latest Firmware: Not Found

Kernel Version:

3.4.0-1514807

dpi@SWHD7408 #1

32-bit

Java Virtual Machine: Dalvik 1.6.0

Root Existence: No

Android Version: 4.4.2

Build Number: KOT49H.I747UCUFNJ2

Build Fingerprint: samsung/d2uc/d2att:4.4.2/KOT49H/i747UCUFNJ2:user/release-keys

Build Description: d2uc-user 4.4.2 KOT49H I747UCUFNJ2 release-keys

Build Date: Mon Aug 10 14:43:43 KST 2015

Changelist: 1514807

Hardware / Board: qcom / MSM8960 [32-bit]

Platform / Chip: MSM8960

GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 225

Modem Board: MSM8960

Hardware Revision: REV0.4

Firmware: KIES SYMBOL --- I747UCDLK3 --- date: 2012-11-01 ---- USA (ATandT) ---- Version: 4.1.1 --- CSC: I747ATTDLK3
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Your phone is running the latest ROM as indicated by the nj2.

The line about kies, where did that come from?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
That line came from the Firmware Browser page of the Phone INFO *Samsung* App.

Is it possible to extract all the files I need from my phone and burn them over to my Wife's semi-bricked phone?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Nope, that won't work.

If you backed up everything on her phone, I recommend flashing a custom recovery and then a custom ROM to see what baseband is on the phone. I would not flash anything until that has been confirmed.

Flashing the wrong bootloader and modem file could hard brick the phone.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I am still new here, and although I am a computer programmer, a lot of the terms are foreign to me.... i understood the custom recover and the custom ROM but what is the "baseband" that needs to be determined? Can i get the baseband information from my identical phone?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
The baseband or modem is software installed on the phone to control its functionality. The last 4 characters of the baseband/modem should match the last 4 characters of the bootloader.

From your post above, notice the fnj2:

Bootloader Version: I747UCUFNJ2

Baseband Version: I747UCUFNJ2

The bootloader and baseband/modem will change as you upgrade the phone's ROM.

If the soft-bricked phone has the mjb bootloader and you try to flash an lk3 bootloader, this will probably hard-brick the phone because the lk3 bootloader is an older bootloader. The i747 can only be flashed with an identical or newer bootloader which makes the bootloader version a very important piece of information.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
So why not just flash her phone with the newest bootloader available?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
If you want to flash the latest bootloader and modem, you'll have to install a custom recovery first. Also, I am not sure if the modem and bootloader need to be upgraded in release order. I wouldn't think so since I have flashed the Canadian version of the s3 (i.e. i747m) from 4.1.2 to 4.4.2 with no problem.

Always flash the bootloader and modem in the same session before rebooting. Don't flash a modem, reboot, and flash a bootloader as this could also cause a brick.

NOTE: flashing a custom recovery will change the warranty bit from 0 to 1 which will tell a Samsung tech that non-official software was installed on the phone and you may wind up with no recourse against Samsung.

I recommend this if you will not be pursuing the matter further with Samsung: install a custom recovery, boot into recovery, wipe cache, and reboot the phone. Hopefully, clearing the cache will allow the phone to boot as I think it is still stuck in a boot loop.

If the phone still will not boot and you have not back up all of the data, boot to recovery, mount the data partition, connect the phone to a computer, copy off what you need, wipe/format the data and cache, then reboot.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I am willing to try it. Do you know a thread i can follow or how i can get some instruction on creating and flashing a custom recovery? Also..... i still have the option to bring the phone over to BestBuy store who is a Samsung tech center. I am not sure if they can do anything other that what I have already tried
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
The Samsung tech could force flash the ROM to the phone via jtag service.

Download these pieces of software:

TWRP (tar version) for the d2att: https://dl.twrp.me/d2att/

Odin 3.07: https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=...5QWImOPDJboTA_V3D5S9eA&bvm=bv.103073922,d.aWw

I assume you have the Samsung USB drivers installed already since you tried to flash the phone in Odin.

Boot the phone into download mode, open Odin 3.07, uncheck everything except f.reset time, click on the PDA button and browse to the twrp.tar file and select it, connect the phone via USB to computer, flash TWRP. When you see the word "reset" appear in the window, remove the USB cable, remove the phone battery, replace the battery, use the button combination (home, volume up, pwer) to get into recovery. Once in recovery, wipe cache and reboot.

If the phone still won't fully boot, go back into TWRP and wipe cache and data. Note that this type of wipe causes the loss of all data (pictures, messages, etc.).
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mrrocketdog:
+1 on the flashing in order. i think enewman makes a combo bootloader/modem flashable zip. will try and find link.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2808654

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2941792

you may have already gotten these , or dont need. in which case just disregard. :D

apolopies [MENTION=4673498]audit13[/MENTION] for butting in.

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I have everything backed up from my wife's phone before following Samsung tech support.... so basically the phone is ready to wipe clean.

I currently have Odin 3.10.7 installed..... will that work or should i go back to the earlier version 3.07?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
mrrocketdog, any advice you have is welcome :) , right now i will try the custom recovery TWRP and go from there. .... i think that is the first thing.... unless i am wrong.... which being new at this stuff i could very well be :o
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
.... audit13, thanks for all your help so far...... do i have to go through some type of unlock for this to work?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mrrocketdog:
yes , twrp 1st. and if [MENTION=4673498]audit13[/MENTION] doesnt reply about the odin version ; i believe he recommends the 3.07. but you might want to wait for his confimation/denial. :)

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
No need to unlock anything before flashing twrp.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Miracle of miracles! Odin worked!!! I got into the TWRP recovery and got to the recovery window and wiped the Cache only.

Now I am getting the message "Your device does not appear to be rooted. Install SuperSU now?"

Should i do this?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
No, don't root yet. Get it booted first.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Ok, i am at the point i was before when the OS asks me to choose my language..... after selecting English.... it gives me the message: "Unfortunately, Settings has stopped"

This is still progress :) .... but now how do I proceed from here?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
additionally, do i also wipe the D Cache or not? I only wiped the Cache and Data.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Only cache first. Data only if the phone won't boot.

If you don't need anything on the phone, wipe cache and data.

Edit: if it still won't boot, go to twrp, advance wipe, select everything except system and internal storage.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I think the problem is that it is rebooting into the OS, getting the Samsung logo and tune, however the ROM that was there still has the "Settings Stopped" error whenever It gets to the language selection part of the re-boot. Therefore it seems the ROM may be corrupted. Since the stock ROM from my previous Factory Reset with Samsung Tech support is the last ROM installed and that was the message i was getting before. But I will go ahead and try the advance wipe to see if that works. Or do you think i should try to Factory Reset from TWRP ?????
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
I suggest this: boot into recovery, select wipe, format data, go back and select wipe again, advanced wipe, check Dalvik, Data, and cache, then reboot.

If it still doesn't work, try this to replace the existing ROM with a custom ROM:

download CM11 (https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=d2att&type=snapshot) and saved it to your computer;

boot to recovery, select wipe, advanced wipe, select Dalvik, data, cache;

go to the TWRP home screen and select mount and mount the data partition;

connect phone to computer and copy cm11 to the phone;

go to the TWRP home screen, select wipe, advanced wipe, and wipe the system;

go to the TWRP home screen, select install, flash cm11, reboot.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Two questions before i start this:

1. Do i also need the gapps?

2. Do i need to root the phone before i begin this?

Thanks!
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
If you are able to read the baseband from settings, about, software once cm11 is installed gapps isn't required.

Gapps is required if you want the Play Store app. cm11 gapps are here: https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps

Root is not required. If you want root, flash supersu in recovery from here: https://download.chainfire.eu/696/SuperSU

I would wipe, flash cm11, and reboot.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Thank you.... no matter how many wipes i always get stuck in a settings failure after selecting the language.

Therefore i will go ahead with the plan above an hope it works.

One other question: The purpose of flashing the cm11 by itself.... is that so we can try to determine the baseband from the settings inside cm11?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Ok an interesting development..... i get the following error in the install:

"E:Error executing updater binary in zip '/sdcard/Download/cm-12.1-20150919-NIGHTLY-d2att.zip"

do you think there is something wrong with the ROM memory?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Maybe download the latest cm12.1:http://www.cmxlog.com/12.1/d2att/
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I only did a wipe of the System, is that sufficient before the install? or do i need to do other wipes?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
SUCCESS!!!!

I went back and wiped the System, Cache and D Cache, then redid the install and it worked!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH audit13!!!!!

What next? :))))
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Go to settings, about, and look at the baseband and let me know.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
the baseband version is I747UCUFNJ2
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Okay, that is the latest. If you installed the Play Store App, I suggest installing the Samsung Info App and using the app to ensure that the bootloader is also nj2.

If it is, great. You now have a choice: run a custom ROM like you are right now or go back to a stock nj2 ROM.

If you decide to go with a custom ROM, you can flash any ROM designed for the d2lte or d2att.

If you decide to with back to stock nj2 ROM, boot to recovery, perform a fill wipe, including the system, and flash the nj2 ROM from here: http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s3-att/general/rooted-ucufnj1-stock-rom-t2985006

Glad you got it working and hope that you learned a lot about flashing ROMs along the way.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I will have to get my wife's reaction to the new interface. Of course there are many variations.

I did learn a tremendous amount from you and others.

Many thanks to you for sticking with me!!!!!

a couple of more questions:

1. How do i get the App Store app or any of the installed applications i had before to show up on the desktop?

2. Is it possible to do a restore from Kies of the backup i made of her phone before embarking on this venture?

thanks again!!
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mrrocketdog:
again not be buttin in. but here is "samsung info app" from playstore if you need.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0vheemuv9ln5qgs/org.vndnguyen.phoneinfo.apk?dl=0

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
To get the apps back, you would need to log into the Play Store using the gmail account that was used to install the apps on your wife's phone. Once logged in, look under the apps to see the apps that had been installed using the particular gmail account.

You can't use kies unless you are running a stock ROM.

Now that you know how to wipe and flash in TWRP, you could try installing the nj2 ROM I linked using TWRP. Once the nj2 ROM boots and is setup on the phone, you may be able to use Kies to restore everything. I'm not 100% sure as I have never used kies to backup from or restore to any of my Samsung phones.

We're all here to help and learn from one another :)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
When i get a chance i will investigate how to populate the cg11 with the applications that were on her phone before. I can go the App Store and look at my Apps, but see no info on how to reinstall them. So will need to spend more time looking. The camera app seems to not work. Other than that she loves how nice and crisp the sound is and how she can hear voice clearly!

Thanks again!
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Thanks! I still don't see how when i download these apps, they fail to appear on the cg11 desktop (scratching my head)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
The only google apps i need is the Gmail. And contacts.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
Just in case i need to go back to the stock ROM link downloads a zip file named:

UCUFNJ2_rooted.zip

This includes both the system image and the boot image.

There is also a note to remember the MD5?

The md5 for this file is 0a0be9edeb99da058b3730ac5fc27d6d and a file size of 947.5MB.

what is this?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mrrocketdog:
they should be in your file manager under "downloads". simply tap "downloads" and that folder will open. then tap the app and it will prompt you to install or cancel. take your pick. will look for gmail and contacts.

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"

---------- Post added at 02:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 AM ----------

whats the date of the CM 12.1 nightly that you installed ?

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
The stock file is huge because it is the complete rom with Samsung apps. You download it and flash it via twrp.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mrrocketdog:
[MENTION=4673498]audit13[/MENTION] , the S3 is an "ARM" device cotrect ? or not so much. :what:

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Yup, I believe so.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Snapdragon
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mrrocketdog:
ok. here is link for gmail [MENTION=6947671]tautkusm[/MENTION]. harder for me to find the contacts app. (p.s. that gmail is direct download from playstore).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2m0t2mox5ygmisz/com.google.android.gm.apk?dl=0

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Flashing gapps should include gmail and the play store.

The gmail app is not necessary in my opinion because the stock email app will work with gmail and other imap, exchange, and pop3 services.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mrrocketdog:
+1 , better option cause will have it all and the google frame work services (?) to run playstore and other related google ..... stuff. lol.

"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] tautkusm:
I have the gapps file, do i wipe anything before i install it?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] audit13:
Did you install the stock Samsung ROM? If you did, do not flash gapps.

If you still have cm12.1 on the phone, don't wipe anything before installing gapps.