[info] s3 sch-r530 u/c/m/x

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syserr

Senior Member
Aug 16, 2012
459
365
Idaho
[I'd like to create a thread to collect information for all variants of the R530. I'll update this first post with additional information people give during discussion. Sorry it is here in the Verizon sub, but this is the closest model]

The SCH-R530 is a special flavor of the Samsung Galaxy S3 with sub-favors: (you should probably puke now)

SCH-R530U is a US Cellular variant
SCH-R530C is a Cricket variant
SCH-R530M is a MetroPCS variant
SCH-R530X is a Generic variant

I suspect these are all the same hardware, but just different ROMs. I would like to confirm this.

I would like to know and post the newest firmware versions for each. (at least the names, if not the ROM files themselves) I'd like to know if ROMs are compatible, if modem firmwares are compatible, if bootloaders are compatible. The small community of owners need to pull together as much as possible.

Model -- Hardware Version / Firmware Versions / Baseband
SCH-R530U --
SCH-R530C --
SCH-R530M --
SCH-R530X -- R530X.01 / JSS15J.R530XWWUBMK4 / R530XWWUBMK4

Please post if you can add to this information!
 

syserr

Senior Member
Aug 16, 2012
459
365
Idaho
I'm working on my dad's SCH-R530X (Generic CDMA). It was on a regional CDMA provider that he was not happy with -- he paid $500 to them in January for the phone. :( Edit: Today, he's on PagePlus, but without data for some reason.

Concerns (that someone may be able to help me with):

Once you go to KK 4.4 you can not go back? Your bootloader is updated and will not boot 4.3?

I'm running 4.3, can I root -> replace recovery -> custom ROM ... without tripping the KNOX warranty void? I've read that saferoot will not trip KNOX?

This phone seems to have an odd Call Audio Quality problem. While listening during a phone call (on the R530), the other party's voice cuts out. Specifically, it cuts out when the other person isn't speaking in their mic close enough or loud enough. It's as if the R530 is filtering out anything under a certain volume level. I've turned off Call Equalizer and Noise Reduction to try to solve this problem. I believe I've read people say a firmware/ROM update from US Cellular fixed this problem.

So you can see, I have some constraints: Still in warranty and don't want to void it by tripping KNOX. Want to try a newer firmware for call audio problem. Don't want to brick phone with incompatible firmware, unless US Cellular will work on this X/Generic phone.

Help would be appreciated.
 
Last edited:

motoyola

Senior Member
Jan 1, 2008
112
1
SOCAL
I do have the USC and Cricket variants but the USC version is soft bricked.

HW: R530C.01
Firmware: JSS15J.R530CVVUCMK3
Baseband: R530CVVUCMK3

Also fyi, this and the USC version requires a sim card.
 

syserr

Senior Member
Aug 16, 2012
459
365
Idaho
I do have the USC and Cricket variants but the USC version is soft bricked.

HW: R530C.01
Firmware: JSS15J.R530CVVUCMK3
Baseband: R530CVVUCMK3

Also fyi, this and the USC version requires a sim card.

Thanks... I'll add the info. I think I'll make a spot to record if it has a SIM slot too -- as my 530X does not have a SIM slot and was labeled with a little sticker "3G CDMA"... but the MEID starts with a "9" and LTE visible in DFS.
 
Last edited:
Thanks... I'll add the info. I think I'll make a spot to record if it has a SIM slot too -- as my 530X does not have a SIM slot and was labeled with a little sticker "3G CDMA"... but the MEID starts with a "9" and LTE visible in DFS.

I have a regional version of the s3 as well, d2xar (sch-r530x) on Inland Cellular, primarily based in the north west US. as far as i can tell, i havent dissasembled my phone to see if there is a lte radio, in the original build.prop for my phone it is disabled on boot so it will not consume power since it is not being used. thus the 3g cdma only sticker. for the us cellular version i do not know if there is a kitkat firmware but if there is there is always the possiblity you will not beable to go back. as for the generic version it is only on 4.3 right now. eitherway the higher the bootloader version is better for customroms due to recoveries and features working better. as for saferoot i dont remember if it trips the warranty bit or not since ive long since written a custom recover to the device which tripped it but i do know itll make the stock rom list itself as custom in the settings after being rooted. also something to keep in mind with a custom rom is, unless you have the apns for your carrier eg, pageplus, usc, ect. you will not have mms capabilities. Im still tearing my build.prop and apn back up apart to see if i can include some of that info into a custom rom to fix mms, or a recovery that will inject it after a rom flash.
 

uplusion23

Member
Jun 10, 2014
26
0
Update?

I have a regional version of the s3 as well, d2xar (sch-r530x) on Inland Cellular, primarily based in the north west US. as far as i can tell, i havent dissasembled my phone to see if there is a lte radio, in the original build.prop for my phone it is disabled on boot so it will not consume power since it is not being used. thus the 3g cdma only sticker. for the us cellular version i do not know if there is a kitkat firmware but if there is there is always the possiblity you will not beable to go back. as for the generic version it is only on 4.3 right now. eitherway the higher the bootloader version is better for customroms due to recoveries and features working better. as for saferoot i dont remember if it trips the warranty bit or not since ive long since written a custom recover to the device which tripped it but i do know itll make the stock rom list itself as custom in the settings after being rooted. also something to keep in mind with a custom rom is, unless you have the apns for your carrier eg, pageplus, usc, ect. you will not have mms capabilities. Im still tearing my build.prop and apn back up apart to see if i can include some of that info into a custom rom to fix mms, or a recovery that will inject it after a rom flash.

Any update to this? I have the sticker too and it'd be great to have LTE on since this phone supports it, it seems. I've made this post
http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s3/general/s3-d2xar-cdma-how-to-set-straight-talk-t3012846
 
Any update to this? I have the sticker too and it'd be great to have LTE on since this phone supports it, it seems. I've made this post
http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s3/general/s3-d2xar-cdma-how-to-set-straight-talk-t3012846

Last I checked there was a bug with the d2lte builds that break the ability to set apns... I made a cm10.2, I think, build that allowed changing the APN. Um if I remember right the physical design of the d2xar has hardware similar to the Verizon s3. I still don't know if there is an lte modem in the phone since there doesnt seem to be a sim card slot, though there maybe an integrated uicc. I haven't played with it much since I switched to using my nexus 5 on T-Mobile.
 

uplusion23

Member
Jun 10, 2014
26
0
Last I checked there was a bug with the d2lte builds that break the ability to set apns... I made a cm10.2, I think, build that allowed changing the APN. Um if I remember right the physical design of the d2xar has hardware similar to the Verizon s3. I still don't know if there is an lte modem in the phone since there doesnt seem to be a sim card slot, though there maybe an integrated uicc. I haven't played with it much since I switched to using my nexus 5 on T-Mobile.

I got to the service mode settings, which oddly enough it listed GSM and CDMA. Quite weird. To get there was even weirder. Sadly the D2xar doesn't support TWRP Recovery, and the only one that works is CWM by Philz.
 
I got to the service mode settings, which oddly enough it listed GSM and CDMA. Quite weird. To get there was even weirder. Sadly the D2xar doesn't support TWRP Recovery, and the only one that works is CWM by Philz.

Yah I noticed that to when I was digging around for apns for my old carrier. As for twrp I got around that problem by building my own version using cyanogenmod and the d2lte device files. It made cyanogenmod delta updates possible on the d2lte build. Which are really nice. My source is floating around github, though you'd have to do a little digging to find everything. I do have precompiled twrp images on my webserver that I try to keep up to date for my friend who's brother has the same phone. If you go to my site its safe to ignore the certificate warnings, I have it set to force HTTPS and the reason the warning pops up is because I self signed it instead of paying for a company like verisign
 

uplusion23

Member
Jun 10, 2014
26
0
Sorry for my superbly late reply. I've done a ton of digging with this phone. Turns out it only supports Evdo. So no LTE sadly. Even worse, using the Test Menu I can't bands to USA bands, only the (800 or 850?) Hz Global band. I can't get a connection. Well. The bars are listed as 2-3 generally, but it says "Roaming Indicator Off". I have the latest and only baseband, too.
(Wow. After two months of fiddling, as of typing this, I turned on cellular service, which is usually in Airplane mode, I got a " 3G" connection for the first time. Only for a second.)
I don't think I'll be able to switch this over to Straight Talk any time soon, though. I'll check your GitHub soon for that TWRP.

---------- Post added at 11:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ----------

Sorry for my superbly late reply. I've done a ton of digging with this phone. Turns out it only supports Evdo. So no LTE sadly. Even worse, using the Test Menu I can't bands to USA bands, only the (800 or 850?) Hz Global band. I can't get a connection. Well. The bars are listed as 2-3 generally, but it says "Roaming Indicator Off". I have the latest and only baseband, too.
(Wow. After two months of fiddling, as of typing this, I turned on cellular service, which is usually in Airplane mode, I got a " 3G" connection for the first time. Only for a second.)
I don't think I'll be able to switch this over to Straight Talk any time soon, though. I'll check your GitHub soon for that TWRP.

Yeah, just of now I've been unable to re-acquire the "3G" that caused me to have a boost of hope. Now even when I attempt calling which it usually would bring me to the Verizon automated system, asking to make a collect call, since around here is primarily Verizon, I can't even get it to call. It now states that no mobile network is available, even when I have 2-3 bars.
 

nxb

Senior Member
Aug 19, 2010
141
21
You have no "3g" because your keys are wrong. Y'all need some QPST and see the whole logon process and baseband messages. Then you can really troubleshoot your phone.
 

Brandi223

Senior Member
Jul 5, 2015
76
2
Kingston
I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 on the Straight Talk network. I check for software updates and it tells me the software is up to date however it says my phone is running off of 4.4.2 instead of the Lollipop or the one just under. Does anyone know if Lollipop 5.0 or 5.1 has reached the S3 yet? Or how to manually update my phone software so its not so low?
 

nxb

Senior Member
Aug 19, 2010
141
21
you will have to root, trip knox and lose your warranty... there is no way to go back. on verizon you may be screwed if you have signed/locked bootloaders. search on XDA about unlocked bootloaders for verizon. also: http://androidforums.com/threads/verizon-verizon-bootloader-unlock.856221/

aaaand... make sure to back up your mmc boot partitions so you can debrick if you mess up.

p.s. prepare to learn a lot of technical things. if that sounds annoying and you don't want to spend a lot of time on it you might be better off buying a used phone.
 

Brandi223

Senior Member
Jul 5, 2015
76
2
Kingston
you will have to root, trip knox and lose your warranty... there is no way to go back. on verizon you may be screwed if you have signed/locked bootloaders. search on XDA about unlocked bootloaders for verizon. also: http://androidforums.com/threads/verizon-verizon-bootloader-unlock.856221/

aaaand... make sure to back up your mmc boot partitions so you can debrick if you mess up.

p.s. prepare to learn a lot of technical things. if that sounds annoying and you don't want to spend a lot of time on it you might be better off buying a used phone.

I'm not using Verizon. I'm using straight talk on a Verizon phone

Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Free mobile app
 

nxb

Senior Member
Aug 19, 2010
141
21
ST only has GSM AT&T and CDMA verizon... if you have an I535 past 4.3 you have locked bootloader problems.
 

DaMoose517

New member
Jun 22, 2016
4
0
Needing the pit file for the SCH-R530C. PLEASE! I am at the end of my tether. Thank you in advance, DaMoose
 

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    I do not know. I'd love to take the chance, but the risk of totally bricking the R530C is there . . . heck, let me try it.

    Well here it is. sorry it took a while.
    the standard liability waiver applies. eg, you are responsible with what you do to your device, etc., etc.
    that said good luck.

    The pit file was extracted using heimdall for linux.
    1
    Needing the pit file for the SCH-R530C. PLEASE! I am at the end of my tether. Thank you in advance, DaMoose

    Do you have any idea if the 530c and the 530x share a similar partition table? If they do then I can pull the one from my 530x