[Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sharain:
Greetings developers, superusers, and all those far more knowledgeable in all things tech than I....! (Given that the last time I considered myself 'knowledgeable' computers were still running DOS, that pretty much means all of you here). I humbly implore you for your help in rooting my Note 3 for the first time. Given that I have just learned what rooting is and the basics of how to do it in the past 24 hours, I will provide as much information as I can regarding my specific issue, and ask that your answers be detailed enough that I may follow your instructions step by step.

Phone: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9008) from China

Build: LRX21V.N9008ZMUGPA1

Android Version: 5.0

Current Provider: T-Mobile

Reason for Rooting: A family member received this phone free from his company, and in turn gave it to me, as I needed a new phone at the time. Unfortunately, since China and Google weren't on the friendliest terms, Google services are not installed on the device, and there is no option for adding a google account, google play services, google play store, etc. This severely limits the practicality and function of the phone here in the US by not allowing me to install or run any apps that require google play services. There does not appear to be a way to install Google services on the phone without rooting it first.

Additional Phone Information: (in case you need it)

[IMG="Screenshot 1"]https://www.dropbox.com/s/0y22zxuvllyml5q/Screenshot_2016-10-05-13-21-41.png?d[/IMG]

[IMG="Screenshot 2"]https://www.dropbox.com/s/0y22zxuvllyml5q/Screenshot_2016-10-05-13-21-41.png?dl=0[/IMG]

Actions attempted thus far:

1. Downloaded latest version of Kies from Samsung website, which in turn downloaded Samsung USB drivers. Confirmed that phone has latest firmware. Backed up phone contents. Disconnected phone and closed Kies.

2. Downloaded CF AutoRoot for sm9008 (tar.md5 file) and Odin 3.10.6 from following link: https://download.chainfire.eu/359/CF-Root/CF-Auto-Root/CF-Auto-Root-hlte-h3gzm-smn9008.zip, as was instructed in this post from 2013: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=46098951&postcount=3

3. Enabled developer options in phone, and selected USB debugging. This is currently the only option enabled under developer options. Verify apps via USB is unselected.

4. Put phone in download mode, connected to PC (6+ year old Toshiba laptop running Windows 10) using original Samsung USB cable, successfully connected to Odin, and followed instructions as outlined in following post from 2013: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=46098944&postcount=2

5. Received nand write start fail error as shown below:

[IMG="Screenshot 3"]https://www.dropbox.com/s/zdvruvso9pvok4f/Screenshot%20(3).png?dl=0[/IMG]

6. Repeated step 4 with a different USB port, Odin version 3.12.3, Odin version 3.11 and a .tar file (no md5 extension), and Odin version 3.07, all with same exact result: nand write start fail. Still able to restart phone and use it normally (thank goodness).

7. Discovered the following thread from 2014: http://xdaforums.com/chef-central/android/nand-write-start-fail-odin-soluction-t2851096 but did not take any further actions, as I do not completely understand why the error is occurring, and do not completely understand the specific instructions in the thread, or whether they pertain to my particular phone and situation. (Is the fact that I have Android 5.0 running on the phone part of the issue?)

8. Post my plea for help on XDA forum, which you are reading now. Please explain in layman's terms why I am getting this error, if there is a reliable fix that is not likely to brick my phone (with detailed instructions), or if there is another method by which to get google play services on my phone.

Thank you in advance for your time, effort, and consideration!

Sharain

Screenshot 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0y22zxuvllyml5q/Screenshot_2016-10-05-13-21-41.png?d

Screenshot 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0y22zxuvllyml5q/Screenshot_2016-10-05-13-21-41.png?dl=0

Screenshot 3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zdvruvso9pvok4f/Screenshot (3).png?dl=0