[Verizon Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] newuser134:
Hi,

Thanks for your offer to help. I wish that would work. I'm assuming you have a retail version Note 3 that was bootloader unlocked with the CID conversion method, right?

I can always do it that way, but then I will have to change my phone's CID, which is a unique number to the device. That's what converts any retail Note 3 into a dev edition Note 3.

The phone I have came as a dev edition (unlocked bootloader) from the manufacturer. That means it has a bootloader from factory with a signature in it matching my original CID. Obviously that makes it impossible for me to use anybody else's bootloader other than my own, unless I also change my CID to theirs (which defeats the purpose because my phone already has an unlocked bootloader).

My problem is that my bootloader is Android 4.3-based (JellyBean), not 4.4 (KitKat). Any Android version above 4.3 WILL run on the 4.4 bootloader. That's why your Lollipop-based (Android 5.x-based) rom will run on a 4.4 (KitKat)-based bootloader. The bootloader I have is older than KitKat, it's from Android JellyBean (4.3). The version of the bootloader that you have is exactly what I need, but not just from any phone, it would have to be "signed" with the CID from my phone.

You CANNOT backup the bootloader (aboot) with twrp, what you have backed up, is the BOOT partition, boot.img, which is the kernel image or backup. Bootlader is even at a lower level on your phone than kernel, it's the very first thing that runs when you power up your phone, which shows the "Note 3 - Custom" screen while it's booting up. It's what you overwrote when you unlocked your bootloader, if that's what you did. Be very careful that you NEVER overwrite it from what you have now, otherwise you will either lock your phone back, or you will hard brick it.

You can backup your bootloader (or aboot) using either ADB from a pc, or from Terminal Emulator app (if your phone is rooted) with this set of commands:

su <enter>

dd if=dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/aboot of=/mnt/extSdCard/aboot.mbn <enter>

Don't type <enter>, that just means you hit enter after typing the command(s).

That set of commands will produce a backup file called "aboot.mbn", which is exactly 2.0 Mb, on the main directory of you external sd card if you need to keep it for later. DO NOT ever try to write to the aboot partition unless you know what you're doing, and DO NOT enter the commands above incorrectly, it could easily hard-brick your phone, it cannot be recovered from that if it gets hard-bricked.

Anyway, what you have backed up with twrp, is boot.img, a backup of the lean kernel you use. It should be stored in your TWRP "BACKUP" folder, along with an MD5 file, they are called boot.emmc.win and boot.emmc.win.md5 depending on your version of twrp, the first file should be between 10 to 12 Mb, the md5 file is under 1Kb, like maybe 48 bytes. Could you get those two files and share them with me, I might be able to use the lean kernel to fix my issue. If you are unable to post a link to share those with me, or link them on this thread to share, could you point me to where you downloaded the lean kernel you use from? You should be able to share those files with dropbox or google drive or something similar.

Thank you again