Updated to 4.3 without realizing on rooted S3 now bricked

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wesyde

Member
Jan 20, 2014
20
4
rooted phone may be softbricked

You're on 4.3 with a locked bootloader, meaning you can't install custom recovery, rom, kernel. The only thing available for 4.3 is root. Don't try to install custom recovery or you will brick your phone. At this time you may have a soft brick, go here to fix it http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2586319

i must admit i'm new to all this and most of what people are writing just confuses me more...
now you sent a reply saying my phone may be softbricked with some links, could you please tell me what should happen to the phone once i follow the instructions...
will my phone still be rooted?
will i still be on 4.3?
the bottom line for me is i want a rooted phone with the ability to add custom roms...
will i be able to do all this?

thank you for any and all time you've devoted to helping me with my problem...
 

buhohitr

Senior Member
Nov 30, 2011
5,966
1,821
i must admit i'm new to all this and most of what people are writing just confuses me more...
now you sent a reply saying my phone may be softbricked with some links, could you please tell me what should happen to the phone once i follow the instructions...
will my phone still be rooted?
will i still be on 4.3?
the bottom line for me is i want a rooted phone with the ability to add custom roms...
will i be able to do all this?

thank you for any and all time you've devoted to helping me with my problem...

If you already on 4.3 you will recover your phone with 4.3, there's no way to go back to 4.1.2 with unlocked bootloader.
If you boot into download mode (hold down 3 buttons method), read on the top of the screen, you will see bunch of text and provide the details here. You should see something like this:
ODIN MODE
PRODUCT NAME: SCH-1535
CUSTOM BINARY DOWNLOAD: No
CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official
SYSTEM STATUS: Official
QUALCOMM SECUREBOOT: ENABLE
Warranty Bit: 0
BOOTLOADER RP SWREV: 1

If you see "Warranty Bit: 0" meaning you're on 4.3.
 

wesyde

Member
Jan 20, 2014
20
4
possibly softbricked phone

You're on 4.3 with a locked bootloader, meaning you can't install custom recovery, rom, kernel. The only thing available for 4.3 is root. Don't try to install custom recovery or you will brick your phone. At this time you may have a soft brick, go here to fix it http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2586319

the page you sent me to is a little confusing to me...
i've already updated to 4.3, i've already found and deleted a lot of the KNOX files, though i'm sure i haven't found all of them, either way i'm not sure which directions to follow on that page...
there are two buttons and i'm not sure if i even need to go that route or which on to choose...
then if i do have a bad partition is that all i have to do or do i flash odin 4.3 again and then the re-partition???

what i can say is there is at least one vid on youtube where someone rooted and flashed a custom rom, only when i tried their method it didn't work for me and i can no longer find the vid...

once again thank you for your time and patience...
 

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    i'd like to thank you for taking the time to respond, however i must admit i'm even more confused..my phone is in download mode as i type this,yet i'm at a loss as to what it is i'm supposed to type, plus in download mode i don't have access to any keyboard.

    IF ANYONE OUT THERE KNOWS WHERE I CAN FIND A LINK TO A PROPER VID I'D BE MOST GRATEFUL IF YOU'D SEND ME THAT LINK...I HAVE SPENT THE LAST 2 DAYS FOR OVER 10 HRS ATTEMPTING TO FIND THE INFO OR VID I MAY NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL...
    once again thank you for the help...

    Physically type down in a reply to @BadUsername, exactly what is written when you are fully booted into download mode. Everything in the upper left of the screen where it starts with "Odin Mode" in red all caps. Someone is helping you and they can't continue to help you, unless you help them first with that info.
    1
    ok this is what is in the top left corner.

    ODIN MODE
    PRODUCT NAME: SCH-I535
    CUSTOM BINARY DOWNLOAD: YES (1 COUNT)
    CUSTOM BINARY: CUSTOM
    SYSTEM STATUS: CUSTOM
    QUALCOMM SECUREBOT: ENABLE

    You're on mf1 still.

    Flash this in Odin:
    http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23134718111254196

    Using this guide, section 5:
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1762709

    Then use this to root your phone again:
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2332825

    After this, I'd unlock the bootloader with ez-unlock version 1.2 to make sure it's unlocked.

    When you reboot, find sdm1.0.apk and fwupdater.apk and rename them to sdm1.0.apk.bak and fwupdater.apk.bak. Or use titanium backup and freeze both of them. Then you don't have to worry about an update being pushed to your phone.

    Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
    1
    You're on mf1 still.

    Flash this in Odin:
    http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23134718111254196

    Using this guide, section 5:
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1762709

    Then use this to root your phone again:
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2332825

    After this, I'd unlock the bootloader with ez-unlock version 1.2 to make sure it's unlocked.

    When you reboot, find sdm1.0.apk and fwupdater.apk and rename them to sdm1.0.apk.bak and fwupdater.apk.bak. Or use titanium backup and freeze both of them. Then you don't have to worry about an update being pushed to your phone.

    Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

    This is perfect thankyou! I will let you know how it turns out
    1
    Would those be appropriate to block if on rooted 4.1 currently and wanting to block the 4.3 update? Anything else to block/freeze?

    Here is my list:
    If the OTA already downloaded, delete it here /cache/fota
    To disable the OTA:
    Rename or freeze the apps with Titanium backup:
    otacerts.zip located in /etc/security - rename to otacerts.zip.bak
    Rename fwupdate.odex, fwupdate.apk located in /system/app
    and freeze SDM1.0 located in /system/app
    1
    Awesome thank you. And without TiBu? My wife uses the GS3, and I don't think she has a license for TiBu.

    I guess just rename the first two with a file manager, delete the update and disable sdm1 in the app settings?

    That would also work.

    Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2