GS3 model confusion

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xoxo_xdagirl91

xoxo_xdagirl91

Senior Member
Jun 17, 2013
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So my dad bought a GS3 and it shows that it's a t999 model in the settings. It's on UVDMD5 has the UVDMD5 radio as well. I was going to odin flash to the new 4.3 root 66 but it threw out an error. I looked at the phone and in download mode it shows it's a i-747 so I'm super confused right now. I also have an s3 myself and when I remove the battery and check my phone it shows model: sgh-t999 and also shows t999 in download mode as well. On the new phone my dad purchased it shows model: GT-T999 where the battery goes. So yeah I'm pretty confused. I managed to flash the tmo twrp and flashed superuser zip and rooted it sucessfully but I wanted to update it to 4.3 but now I'm not even sure what firmware to flash
 
DocHoliday77

DocHoliday77

Senior Member
May 10, 2011
9,403
6,892
HuntsVegas!!!
Looks like yet another frankenphone. Wish I knew where these things were coming from!
Its hard to tell you what to do, but if it currently had MD5 on there, you probably need to stick with T999 firmware. Well, maybe....

Install terminal emulator and enter this:

getprop ro.bootloader

This will tell you what the firmware is. You cant judge by the rom or baseband.

Anyway, almost every time ive seen these things, the recommendation is usually to see if you can return the device. Theres just too many questions and things that dont match up. If you plan on using it as is, and never care about updates and such, I guess it might be ok, but otherwise theres just too great a chance for future problems!

For starters, there's no such thing as a GT-T999. And If download mode says its an I747, id guess youre using the I747 base firmware/bootloader. However, your system and baseband are from the T999 firmware, so we can be pretty confident that flashing I747 firmware will not work. But you probably can only flash I747 firmware because thats what your bootloader appears to be! Very confusing, very messed up, I know! Its highly possible, judging by the GT-T999, that it might be a chinese knock-off.

It may or may not help, but install Phone Info - Samsung app. Then let me know what it tells you. I dont think theres going to be a lot we can do though, but ill be glad to take a look anyway.
 
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xoxo_xdagirl91

xoxo_xdagirl91

Senior Member
Jun 17, 2013
115
53
DocHoliday77 said:
Looks like yet another frankenphone. Wish I knew where these things were coming from!
Its hard to tell you what to do, but if it currently had MD5 on there, you probably need to stick with T999 firmware. Well, maybe....

Install terminal emulator and enter this:

getprop ro.bootloader

This will tell you what the firmware is. You cant judge by the rom or baseband.

Anyway, almost every time ive seen these things, the recommendation is usually to see if you can return the device. Theres just too many questions and things that dont match up. If you plan on using it as is, and never care about updates and such, I guess it might be ok, but otherwise theres just too great a chance for future problems!

For starters, there's no such thing as a GT-T999. And If download mode says its an I747, id guess youre using the I747 base firmware/bootloader. However, your system and baseband are from the T999 firmware, so we can be pretty confident that flashing I747 firmware will not work. But you probably can only flash I747 firmware because thats what your bootloader appears to be! Very confusing, very messed up, I know! Its highly possible, judging by the GT-T999, that it might be a chinese knock-off.

It may or may not help, but install Phone Info - Samsung app. Then let me know what it tells you. I dont think theres going to be a lot we can do though, but ill be glad to take a look anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yes it was super confusing! It's so weird. I did the getprop ro.bootloader and I got I747UCALI5. I'm kinda scared to odin anything since I really have no idea what model I actually have so I just ended up flashing the latest PA rom & so far everything seems fine
 
DocHoliday77

DocHoliday77

Senior Member
May 10, 2011
9,403
6,892
HuntsVegas!!!
Yup, its exactly as I expected! I747 bootloader/base firmware with T999 system and modem. These are not things that should work together and it also means there is no safe way to update your firmware. LI5 sounds like its really old btw. But tbh, I dont know if its even a real build number! I can say you will not be able to run TW kk roms and might not be able to run 4.3 ones as well. CM/aosp, im not sure about, but I know they were known to be really buggy on older firmware.

If it is an option, I strongly suggest seeing if you can get a refund. May I ask where it was bought from? I think whenever we run into these we need to start letting people know not to purchase from those sellers. For one, to protect folks from having this happen to them, but also to try and discourage this type of business practice (if you even want to call it that!). Its almost as bad as people who sell devices and then report them lost!

---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------

Just checked and LI5 is a real build, but it is old. 4.1.1
 
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xoxo_xdagirl91

xoxo_xdagirl91

Senior Member
Jun 17, 2013
115
53
DocHoliday77 said:
Yup, its exactly as I expected! I747 bootloader/base firmware with T999 system and modem. These are not things that should work together and it also means there is no safe way to update your firmware. LI5 sounds like its really old btw. But tbh, I dont know if its even a real build number! I can say you will not be able to run TW kk roms and might not be able to run 4.3 ones as well. CM/aosp, im not sure about, but I know they were known to be really buggy on older firmware.

If it is an option, I strongly suggest seeing if you can get a refund. May I ask where it was bought from? I think whenever we run into these we need to start letting people know not to purchase from those sellers. For one, to protect folks from having this happen to them, but also to try and discourage this type of business practice (if you even want to call it that!). Its almost as bad as people who sell devices and then report them lost!

---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------

Just checked and LI5 is a real build, but it is old. 4.1.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Just asked my dad & he said he bought it from a pawnshop which isn't surprising why there is so much confusion about the model lol. Would having an old bootloader cause problems? I was able to flash the latest PA beta but I haven't encountered any issues as of yet
 
DocHoliday77

DocHoliday77

Senior Member
May 10, 2011
9,403
6,892
HuntsVegas!!!
I dont use non touchwiz roms, but I do remember they all started requiring certain bootloaders nrcsuse they were encountering too many bugs on older ones. I dont know any details though.

Id imagine youll encounter issues flashing any rom thst has the assert check. It checks to make sure you have a certain bootloader, and most here will be checking for T999 builds. Since yours has the I747 bootloader, it may cause trouble flashing certain roms.
That and you wont be able to easily or safely update the firmware...
Not sure theres much that could be done since it came from a pawn shop though.
 
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xoxo_xdagirl91

xoxo_xdagirl91

Senior Member
Jun 17, 2013
115
53
DocHoliday77 said:
I dont use non touchwiz roms, but I do remember they all started requiring certain bootloaders nrcsuse they were encountering too many bugs on older ones. I dont know any details though.

Id imagine youll encounter issues flashing any rom thst has the assert check. It checks to make sure you have a certain bootloader, and most here will be checking for T999 builds. Since yours has the I747 bootloader, it may cause trouble flashing certain roms.
That and you wont be able to easily or safely update the firmware...
Not sure theres much that could be done since it came from a pawn shop though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yeah this whole situation has been odd. I'll advise my dad to avoid pawnshops from now on lol. Whenever I was in download mode I noticed the flashcount had shown 3 and I ended up using triangle away to reset it when I was still on 4.1.2 for the moment. Before I rooted it or anything it already had supersu installed but I don't think the phone was actually rooted cause everytime I would open supersu it would tell me to update the binary and it would fail each time and any other root apps I installed were denied root. The phone still had stock recovery as well. I honestly thought it was a t-999 up until I was going to flash the nc2 update and it failed and that's when I realized hey this isn't really a t999. I ended up flashing twrp instead and flashed the supersu zip to get root. I flashed paranoid android afterwards and when I went to about phone i noticed everything changed from t-999 to I747 including the modem. It was weird. I ended up reflashing att twrp just to be safe, I flashed the latest modem from at&t, and I crossed my fingers & bravely flashed a zip that updated my bootloader to the latest one for the I747 and it actually worked which was a huge sigh of relief. I reflashed paranoid android afterwards and so far no issues. Now that I updated everything I might end up just flashing a touchwiz rom from the at&t forums. Thanks for your help though, I greatly appreciate it! :good:
 
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    DocHoliday77
    DocHoliday77
    Looks like yet another frankenphone. Wish I knew where these things were coming from!
    Its hard to tell you what to do, but if it currently had MD5 on there, you probably need to stick with T999 firmware. Well, maybe....

    Install terminal emulator and enter this:

    getprop ro.bootloader

    This will tell you what the firmware is. You cant judge by the rom or baseband.

    Anyway, almost every time ive seen these things, the recommendation is usually to see if you can return the device. Theres just too many questions and things that dont match up. If you plan on using it as is, and never care about updates and such, I guess it might be ok, but otherwise theres just too great a chance for future problems!

    For starters, there's no such thing as a GT-T999. And If download mode says its an I747, id guess youre using the I747 base firmware/bootloader. However, your system and baseband are from the T999 firmware, so we can be pretty confident that flashing I747 firmware will not work. But you probably can only flash I747 firmware because thats what your bootloader appears to be! Very confusing, very messed up, I know! Its highly possible, judging by the GT-T999, that it might be a chinese knock-off.

    It may or may not help, but install Phone Info - Samsung app. Then let me know what it tells you. I dont think theres going to be a lot we can do though, but ill be glad to take a look anyway.
    View
    1
    DocHoliday77
    DocHoliday77
    Yup, its exactly as I expected! I747 bootloader/base firmware with T999 system and modem. These are not things that should work together and it also means there is no safe way to update your firmware. LI5 sounds like its really old btw. But tbh, I dont know if its even a real build number! I can say you will not be able to run TW kk roms and might not be able to run 4.3 ones as well. CM/aosp, im not sure about, but I know they were known to be really buggy on older firmware.

    If it is an option, I strongly suggest seeing if you can get a refund. May I ask where it was bought from? I think whenever we run into these we need to start letting people know not to purchase from those sellers. For one, to protect folks from having this happen to them, but also to try and discourage this type of business practice (if you even want to call it that!). Its almost as bad as people who sell devices and then report them lost!

    ---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------

    Just checked and LI5 is a real build, but it is old. 4.1.1
    View
    1
    DocHoliday77
    DocHoliday77
    I dont use non touchwiz roms, but I do remember they all started requiring certain bootloaders nrcsuse they were encountering too many bugs on older ones. I dont know any details though.

    Id imagine youll encounter issues flashing any rom thst has the assert check. It checks to make sure you have a certain bootloader, and most here will be checking for T999 builds. Since yours has the I747 bootloader, it may cause trouble flashing certain roms.
    That and you wont be able to easily or safely update the firmware...
    Not sure theres much that could be done since it came from a pawn shop though.
    View

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