yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Deepak.V:
Hello there

I want to update from android 8 to android 9 on my samsung galaxy s9(SM-G960U). I am living in asia so i am confuse which firmware to choose(XAA or XAS).

Current firmware version is XAA/XAA/XAA

I cannot find XAA firmware in any website. What to do ?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
You want XAA. Check one of the many sites that host firmware. Samfrew seems to be popular right now.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Deepak.V:
Thanks for your reply.

Can you tell me the difference between XAS and XAA ?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
XAA is the US unbranded non-carrier specific firmware. This firmware is most compatible across a range of carriers. Off hand, I am not too sure which firmware XAS is. XAC is the Canadian firmware. I want to sat it is for an old US southern carrier but I can't remember their name to check.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] gordonzhao:
I updated to ZSC2 a while back and haven't gotten security patches, I was curious if I could update to the latest official firmware without wiping or affecting user data on the device since it's on a beta
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] markfothebeast:
The very first original post lists XAS firmware as being Sprint.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Deepak.V:
I cannot find XAA firmware anywhere, i am left with XAS and i am afraid if i go with XAS the asian sim card may not work
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
Flashing firmware does not alter the SIM lock status of device but it can alter the available bands the device can use for service. Unless you are on Sprint or whatever XAS is, I would stick to XAA firmware.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] markfothebeast:
You're in luck. Someone on this forum developed a magical little tool called Frija. This will download any firmware available from the Samsung servers. Best of all, it WORKS! That's how I managed to download XAA. This thing literally saved me a lot of headaches. Link below.

https://xdaforums.com/s10-plus/how-to/tool-frija-samsung-firmware-downloader-t3910594
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Deepak.V:
[/COLOR]

The frija did not show me the XAA version for my model no G960U but it did show for G960U1

Can i use the firmware for G960U1 ?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] butchieboy:
Note 8 thread, G960 S9. But yeah U is carrier U1 is unlocked firmware you can use either. But again this is Note 8 thread
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] japunlock:
Hello i am trying to revert my phone carrier to original but i havent been able to do so

bin 6 version on my phone i cannot execute *#243203855# after flashing csc from my operator

is this still valid for android 9? can anybody update this tutorial to work with newer versions?

thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] SomeGuy2008:
I recently gave my wife my Verizon Note 8 running N950USQU1AQH7 (Android 7.1.1 I believe) unrooted as I upgraded to a Verizon Note 10+ running Android 9 recently, also currently unrooted. I never updated my Note 8 since I got it on day 1 basically as I was hoping for a bootloader unlock which never came and didnt want to update bootloader to newer android update in worries that as soon as I did a bootloader or better root would come for the firmware I just upgraded from. lol.

Anyhow, I popped in her Sim card and basically it all just seems to work minus the voicemail app. However signal is super crappy on the Note 8 on AT&T vs her very old $50 BLU phone which signal wise seemed much better while at home.

Should I or could I flash an AT&T Note 8 firmware on it and maybe even root on android 8 or newer and maybe even get better signal/coverage? Or is there one of those carier files I can flash in odin to help? She spent the last few days getting it all setup and I was trying to avoid having her/me to setup everything all over again if can be avoided? I did set the APN profile to ATT in Android Settings but that didnt seem to help much.

Thanks for any and all comments

~SG
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] H0l@l@:
Well, the fact that your phone is still running under Android 7 shall not help. You should at least try to update it to Android 9.

According to what most users says here, the operators custom roms only brings bloatware and XAA versions are cleaner.

Anyway, in your case you should try the SM-N950U1 XAA version as ATT seems to be unsuported for the Note 8 (no AT&T specific version for note 8 according to search with Frija).

In top, it's highly feasible that you shouldn't have to worry with using all the update tricks described here as the "official" firmware update software of Samsung should even work seemeless (see https://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/). But maybe not with an AT&T SIM card.

FYI, according to Frija, the last ROM is:

XAA : N950U1UES7DSK5/N950U1OYM7DSK5/N950U1UES7DSK5

Note: ATT seems to be not supported on note 8 (no results shown with Frija - but you can find Note 8 ROMs for VZW and SPR)
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] xKLEINx:
Just want to verify I'm about to flash the correct firmware. I'm using my old Verizon note 8 it's already active on metro. I just want to ditch the Verizon bloat. I was gonna just flash the unlocked firmware I found in another thread (same op). But now I'm seeing there's actually metro firmware for both Oreo and pie. My question is if my phone is still on 7.1.1 N950USQS3BRB1 do I have to flash a v3 bl version of the firmware I want or could I jump all the way up to the latest metro firmware?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
You can jump to the latest firmware, but you won't be able to flash back to any previous bootloader version once you update the bootloader. Right now, you can't flash anything lower than 3. If you update to say, 5 as an example. You won't be able to flash anything earlier than 5 from that point on.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] xKLEINx:
Cool thanks. I haven't rooted in a while so can't see any reason I'd wanna switch back. Since my phones already unlocked I skip the switch carrier portion correct? I'm set to just flash the metro firmware?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
Personally, flashing to the U1 firmware and not using the HOME_CSC with the U1 and Metro firmware is a foolproof way of ensuring a perfect conversion. Some say flashing straight from one U to another is fine, but I have always flashed to the U1 as a stepping stone.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] xKLEINx:
Alright I'll have to re read those steps better. That's the part that threw me off. For doing it that way I didn't see a matching firmware. Unless I'm totally misunderstanding it. Made the mistake of reading too many posts and other people's comments. Plus this phone sat for over a year so nothing I'm reading is from anyone coming from the firmware I'm on.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
It's fairly some when you leave out a lot of jargon. With the modded or latched Odin, you flash to a U1 firmware with the same or newer bootloader version. Just make sure the U1 bootloader version is not newer than the bootloader version of the U firmware you want to eventually flash to. Repeat the process again after skipping through the setup to enable Developer Options and USB Debugging once again on the newly flashed firmware. For a proper conversion each time, never use the HOME_CSC, because the device does need to be wiped each time.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] xKLEINx:
Sent u a pm
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
Good thing you mentioned that. I don't check my PM's very often.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] ls3mach:
I am on DSK6. Verizon Android 9. I want to run XAA. When I try to flash with Comsy it immediately fails. Trying to flash CRC1. Have tried a hard reset to no avail. I had no issues swapping my S8+ to this and my previous Note 8.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
The number in front of the last 4 characters is very important. That number before the DSK6 can not be higher than the number before CRC1. Do you have USB Debugging enabled? Do you have the drivers for your device installed while the device is in Download Mode?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] ls3mach:
I did a factory reset while in the bootloader The number before DSK6 is a "7". It is on Android 9.0. Does that mean I can't do this mod?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
If the number in front of CRC1 is less than a 7, then you can't flash to it. The bootloader version must be the same or higher than the device currently has. It is not possible to roll back the bootloader version.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] ls3mach:
I am guessing this is the issue. is there no XAA version for Pie?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] ls3mach:
For future users. I downloaded the most recent firmware from

https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-note-8/firmware/SM-N950U1/XAA/

Ran Odin 3.13 patched. Got it working like a champ.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] H0l@l@:
You don't need sammobile anymore. Better switch to frija (cf. https://xdaforums.com/s10-plus/how-to/tool-frija-samsung-firmware-downloader-t3910594).
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Jeanvo90:
Update AT&T Note 8, Android 7.1.1 Firmware

Greetings.

I want to know if I can manually update my AT&T Galaxy Note 8 (SM-N950U) using firmware. right now I'm stuck on Android 7.1.1 baseband N950USQU1AQIA, and I have downloaded Android 8.0 firmware with baseband N950USQS5CRK1, but I don't know if it's going to work jumping from that old firmware to the newest, or I need to update gradually to get the Android 8.0. I will be very thankfull for someone to help me here.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] stonedpsycho:
It will be fine to jump to pie, just make sure you have Samsung drivers installed and you use Odin 3.13.1 or higher (required for Pie)
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] maxshop:
Hello,

I have a T-Mobile Note 8 SM-N950U and followed this guide to "switch carriers" and flash the Verizon firmware (baseband version: N950USQS5DSF6). So far so good, and everything works fine. I now want to flash the latest US unlocked firmware XAA and get rid of the Verizon bloatware. I don't care about losing VoLTE, wi-fi calling, etc.

1). Do I need to follow the steps in post# 2 (carrier switching) and then post# 4 (flashing unlocked firmware)?

2). My intention is to still continue with Verizon after switching to XAA - so do I need to flash any Verizon specific files to get proper service?

3). Also, where can I get the latest version of the US unlocked firmware XAA?

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] yaantra01:
Ver 7 - help request

Hello,

I am on the latest firmware and have ver. 7... I downloaded the latest V7 factory binary and the V7 XAC stock files (N950WVLS7DTA1_N950WOYV7DTA1_XAC). Followed instructions for carrier switching and got to point where i enter the code in IME. Here i am only seeing the one option "ATT" at the very top and nothing below it.

Flashing the V3 XAC file here fails (since this is V3 on a V7)

How should I proceed? Trying to change the ATT phone over to Sprint (XAS). Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
XAC is the Canadian firmware. You need to flash to the U1 XAA firmware.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] yaantra01:
Thanks, will try with HOME_CSC from XAA with Bootloader 7... Now not sure if this will work with combination binary for N950U that i have currently installed (cant find Factory binaries for Bootloader V7 for N950U1)

All instructions showed XAC for HOME_CSC, that was the reason i was trying with the XAC in CSC (Post 2 Steps 14 through 22).
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
If you use the HOME-CSC on any flash to change the firmware to a different carrier firmware version, it will not work. You need to use the proper CSC that will wipe your device!
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] maxshop:
Anyone?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] yaantra01:
Not sure about your 1st 2 questions, but you can download the latest XAA firmware from Sammobile.com - recommend using Chrome browser.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] maxshop:
Thanks. Which one is better: unlocked SM-N950U1 XAA or unlocked SM-N950U1 VZW firmware?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
The only real U1 firmware, is XAA. Any carrier specific U1 firmware is mixed in with other firmware, which will break OTA's because it isn't stock.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] maxshop:
Got it - thanks!

I guess my only other concern was whether U1 XAA will work with Verizon. I don't care about losing VoLTE, wi-fi calling, etc., but would need SMS, MMS, etc.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] pelerxws:
Hello everybody.

I bought a refurbished N950U. It has 950USQU6DSH3 (VZW) UNLOCKED. I would like to install N950USQS7DTA5 (TMB, USC) simply by Odin. If I do it the device became T-Mobile SIM locked or the phone now is permanently UNLOCKED, so I can do it ?

Please help me...

Thank you a lot

Best Regards
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] realbbb:
Put a foreign Sim in the phone. Does it accept the Sim? If not, get the Sim port unlocked before flashing other carrier firmware. If the phone is truly unlocked, flash as desired.

Realbbb

Here There
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] pelerxws:
Now I can insert SIM of any operator with 950USQU6DSH3 (VZW) an the device works, but I would like to flash the newest N950USQS7DTA5 (TMB, USC). My question is: does the phone remain unlocked? In other words, the lock/unlock is in the fw that I'd like to flash or is to another level?

Thanks a lot

BR
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
Flashing the device, even to a different firmware, does not affect the SIM lock status at all!
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] wthigon:
I have a Sprint Note8 and would like to switch it to Tmobile. It currently has software version N950USQS5CSA1. Can I follow the steps on post 1 to flash it to the Tmobile variant? Phone is already sim unlocked.

Thanks in advance

EDIT: Im planning to use the phone with my current Metro account thats why I wanna flash it to Tmobile. I had an old Tmobile sim and it changed the splash screen to Tmobile. I inserted my Metro sim and the phone restarted and still showed Tmobile. Only thing is VoLTE and WiFi calling dont work.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] treysky54:
Bootloader ?

So just to clarify, if I am on Pie with bootloader 6 (6DSI1). The only firmware that I can flash has to contain a 6 bootloader? I would love to go to 7.1.1 (2BQL2) but that is bootloader 2 and I can't downgrade to this firmware? What if take the latest and greatest (7DTB2), that is bootloader 7 and I'm stuck even further?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] treysky54:
Some firmwares "can not be downgraded"

There are two firmwares for instance shown on page one that says *can not be downgraded". That's great to know, is there any other specific firmwares that "can not be downgraded"? Specifically these:

5CSB1

5DSF3

6DSI3
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] BluePhnx:
Q1: That it's correct! You can flash firmwares with 6 or higher.

Q2: Once on bootloader 3, ..., 6, 7, 8, or higher You can NOT downgrade to bootloader 2 period! So kiss android 7.1.1 goodbye!

If you go to bootloader 7 you can not go back to bootloader 6!

So you can always go UP in bootloader versions BUT you CAN NOT go DOWN in bootloader versions.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] treysky54:
IF there any reason to not go to v7 (or to go)? Like if an root exploit happens to come out for 6, but sol then. I know it may be a long shot for that ha, but I've learned with many devices, going new can and has, screw you in the future when wanting to mod.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] BluePhnx:
Search for these 2 threads in note 8 forums:

Extreme Syndicate

And

Safestrap

Android Nougat is the only one that has root! Pie has NO root!
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] treysky54:
How did I miss those?? Much thanks my friend
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] treysky54:
CSC Mismatch

So in order to switch carriers, I am to use VZW 7DTC1 CSC with the already installed XAA 7DTC3 even though they dont match? There is no match dow the list until 6DSI3 which is an older bootloader, so no go. Is this mismatch okay since they are both the same security patch date?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] treysky54:
v7 combination (update?)

Did you find a v7 combination file? How did you get this resolved? I am in the same boat and struggling. Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] mountaineermh:
My Note 8 N950U1 is stuck on 7.1.1 & Odin won't flash

Been following this guide to attempt flashing Odin the past 3 days with no success. Is it worth trying to switch carriers in order to flash the desired firmware, or will that not change anything, in people's experience? At the moment I keep getting the message "All threads completed. [Succeed 0/Fail 1]".

Some things I'm keeping account of/trying:

-using various Odin builds (including patched)

-making sure Smart Switch processes aren't running on computer

-Waiting until the blue COM box shows in Odin

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - N950U1

Product code: VZM

Baseband version: N950USQU3BRA5

Android version: 7.1.1

Samsung Experience version: 8.5

---------- Post added at 11:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 PM ----------

Been following this guide to attempt flashing Odin the past 3 days with no success. Is it worth trying to switch carriers in order to flash the desired firmware, or will that not change anything, in people's experience? It's an unlocked Verizon, but I'm using it on T-Mobile. Have tried both the Verizon and and T-Mobile firmware files just trying to get to Android version 9. At the moment I keep getting the message "All threads completed. [Succeed 0/Fail 1]".

Some things I'm keeping account of/trying:

-using various Odin builds (including patched)

-making sure Smart Switch processes aren't running on computer

-Waiting until the blue COM box shows in Odin

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - N950U1

Product code: VZM

Baseband version: N950USQU3BRA5

Android version: 7.1.1

Samsung Experience version: 8.5

Knox version: 2.9
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Daltonyx:
is this possible for android 9? (Pie) I'd assume not. sorry, not used to samsung phones yet and this is all wonky to me
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jacdavben:
Everything detailed in this guide is still perfectly do-able on pie. If you are trying to do the "carrier switching" part, you will need the combination firmware to match your bootloader. For U7 or S7 bootloaders, you can use the combo from here https://xdaforums.com/galaxy-note-8/development/root-t4060707. This will not work if you are running the newest V8 bootloader that was just updates like a week ago, and you cannot downgrade bootloaders. EDIT: Make sure that you use the latest N950W firmware to get the Canadian Home_CSC file, don't use the one from the guide since it's for much older firmware.

You should note that part of the guide isn't really necessary as long as you have a sim card for whatever carrier you want to switch to. If you want the carrier agnostic firmware, install the N950U1 FW via odin and don't worry about sim cards. If you want carrier firmware, install the N950U FW. The carrier name on the firmware doesn't actually matter, as long as it's N950U it will convert itself to whatever sim card is in the phone after installation (or whatever the last sim card was if the slot is empty upon installing). USERDATA files also don't matter, it just contains pre-compiled dalvik-cache files to make the first boot faster. If you wipe data in recovery after flashing firmware with a USERDATA file, it deletes it's contents anyway.

If you are looking for a source to download the latest firmware, use SamFirm. Just google search "samfirm xda" and you should be able to find it. The application itself is deprecated but it works fine, and will download much faster than any of those sketchy firmware sites.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] treysky54:
Anyone have any feelings about that Mysterious-Dev Change CSC tool?

link: https://www.mysterious-dev.com/2020/05/changecsc-all-samsung-free-tool-android.html

* To air it out, my issue has been that I have a Note8 N950U (says N950U on the back on the phone) that I just can't activated on Verizon. I have flashed XAA and VZW firmwrae both (using CSC, not home CSC and w/o the userdata file), with the VZW being installed right now. It still shows XAA/XAA/SPR with the Verizon SIM in. It will not recognize the SIM. Verizon CS has repeated messed with it to no avail, including sending a new SIM. Also have officially activated it on their website with no change. I have even flashed the SPR firmawre and back again with no change, just in case. We are all lost on it. Now it did have a sprint lease lock on it originally and I got someone to remove that in the past and it seems to be gone AFAIK. One more odd thing, is the default browser homepage keeps listing a forward to Sprint. Very confused here. I shouldn't have to change the carrier CSC as it is factory unlocked from birth. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for everyone here on XDA, it's an invaluable source.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] techyrock:
what about pie based ROMS? I got a refurb TMB Note 8 with N9500 CSC and CP want to restore it to original

please help someone 4g is not working on this nonsense
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] w8wca:
I have a SM-N950U1 (N950U1UES8DTG2) and Flashed N950U1UES8DTG2_N950U1OYM8DTG2_ATT -

It went fine and phone is working as normal - almost all apps back on too

but

I "thought" I would get AT&T Apps and WiFi Calling but I did not.

Did I miss something? (I would guess I got the wrong ROM from SAMMOBILE site)?

Maybe N950USQU8DTI1 and CSC N950UOYN8DTI1 then just flash USERDATA?

I just did that and I now have WiFi Calling!

I guess I should state I use Red Pocket Mobile and their AT&T service on my Note 8
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] w8wca:
My Firmware is N950U1UES8DTJ1 is there a COMBINED for that?

I do not fully understand the Bootloader version (unless mine is 8)

I thought I saw a post that said no can do with 8 ?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dragon1278:
I have an SM-G950U, with N950U1UES8DTF2 installed. I have a combination file that works, I have followed the steps I did switch the carrier to AT&T.

However when I put an AT&T sim card in it just shows invalid sim. I have tried the AT&T firmware, The Unbranded firmware and the Canadian Firmware all with the same result.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
Flashing the device does not remove or alter the SIM lock state. If it was locked to a carrier before flashing, it will remain locked to that same carrier after flashing. Remove the SIM lock before flashing your device!
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dragon1278:
I thought thats what I was doing with the combo file and the Canadian XAC Home file. Did I completely misunderstand this thread?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] jcsww:
I guess. As I mentioned, flashing does not alter the SIM lock or unlock state of the device, regardless of what firmware you flash.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dragon1278:
How would I switch the carrier from Sprint to AT&T? I have searching for days and everything I have seen says this is the way to do it.