How to downgrade to 4.1.1 from 4.3 Galaxy S3 SGH-I747M

Search This thread

santij07

Senior Member
Jan 23, 2014
64
36
Clarification Note

This post was created to teach users to downgrade from 4.3 without trip Knox Waranty Bit from my experience with my own phone Galaxy S3 SGH-I747M in my first post are all the instruction for do that, for do a moded Rom without Knox.:laugh:;):cowboy:
 

Larry2999

Senior Member
Feb 7, 2014
363
78
Atlanta, GA
Thanks. Yes I did try to flash the 4.3 modem via cwm recovery but it kept failing. I'm researching the threads on QPST now although I saw that most of them have been pulled. Can understand there is a high spate of sharp practices in this area but it's unfortunate because the phone's legit and everything was OK until I got too adventurous.

---------- Post added at 05:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:08 PM ----------

Larry did you try reflashing a known working modem? Sometimes simply reflashing the modem fixes it? If you still have a no go you need to research qpst and no rebuild to inject your imei again. I'm not going too far into that due to xda not liking imei discussions much although there is no intention to defraud anyone so we should be good. Mods if I violated any rule with this conversation please edit out the part that violates.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Thanks very much. I was trying to flash the MJ2 modem all along and this kept failing. I, however, took your steer and tried flashing the MJB modem and it went through like a breeze. The baseband was also immediately restored as was the IMEI and cellular functioning etc.
 

team_hob

Member
Dec 14, 2013
9
0
My first Question you are from Puerto Rico todowngrade to 4.1.1 Claro Network? if yes for now no stock rom 4.3 from Claro PR. and if going out in a few month is better to download it and delete the file aboot.mbn sbl2.mbn, sbl3.mbn, rpm.mbn and tz.mbn from stock rom to eliminate knox bootloader. If not why you flash it with Claro network? My Phone is SGH-I747M from Puerto Rico.:confused:

I'm in Canada and I downgraded to 4.1.1 Claro, thinking I would be able to unlock it. But that didn't work. I'm new to the flashing/ROM etc.

Can you please tell me the steps to get my back to Canadian 4.2.1. I have downloaded lastest firmware for Telus from Sammobile.

Should I just use odin and install the new firmware? Do I need to do something to the ROM before?

Like I said, I'm newbie so all the help would be help.

Thanks
 

audit13

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Jun 4, 2012
12,911
5,052
Toronto
I'm in Canada and I downgraded to 4.1.1 Claro, thinking I would be able to unlock it. But that didn't work. I'm new to the flashing/ROM etc.

Can you please tell me the steps to get my back to Canadian 4.2.1. I have downloaded lastest firmware for Telus from Sammobile.

Should I just use odin and install the new firmware? Do I need to do something to the ROM before?

Like I said, I'm newbie so all the help would be help.

Thanks

You can flash the firmware from sammobile. If you were on a stock 4.3, you can't use desktop Odin to flash back to 4.2.1.
 

santij07

Senior Member
Jan 23, 2014
64
36
I'm in Canada and I downgraded to 4.1.1 Claro, thinking I would be able to unlock it. But that didn't work. I'm new to the flashing/ROM etc.

Can you please tell me the steps to get my back to Canadian 4.2.1. I have downloaded lastest firmware for Telus from Sammobile.

Should I just use odin and install the new firmware? Do I need to do something to the ROM before?

Like I said, I'm newbie so all the help would be help.

Thanks

Yes, just flash it with odin, but to unlock your phone for free you need 4.1.1 from Rogers I do it but I need 4.1.1 from Rogers because the 4.1.1 from Claro don't work to unlocked for free I do it with my wife and my I747M Phone from Claro PR.:D
 

ice_heart_010

Member
Nov 5, 2010
6
0
HALIFAX
Hello
i have questions
i have s3 i747 version 4.3 locked with tell us
but i'm with bell and i wanna know is there any possibility that i use my phone with bell for free ?

and one more question , when is want to unlock my phone online web site ask me for IMEI and carrier i wanna know what should i put in carrier section? bell(the operator that im with it) or tellus (the operator which is phone locked with that) ?
and after online unlocking( which i have to pay ) can i use my phone with any carrier or only mine ?
thanks
 

audit13

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Jun 4, 2012
12,911
5,052
Toronto
Hello
i have questions
i have s3 i747 version 4.3 locked with tell us
but i'm with bell and i wanna know is there any possibility that i use my phone with bell for free ?

and one more question , when is want to unlock my phone online web site ask me for IMEI and carrier i wanna know what should i put in carrier section? bell(the operator that im with it) or tellus (the operator which is phone locked with that) ?
and after online unlocking( which i have to pay ) can i use my phone with any carrier or only mine ?
thanks

With a 4.3 bootloader, you cannot carrier unlock the phone for free.

You need to provide the carrier that the phone is locked to, not the carrier you want to use.

You can use it on any carrier except Wind and Mobilicity.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ice_heart_010

team_hob

Member
Dec 14, 2013
9
0
Yes, just flash it with odin, but to unlock your phone for free you need 4.1.1 from Rogers I do it but I need 4.1.1 from Rogers because the 4.1.1 from Claro don't work to unlocked for free I do it with my wife and my I747M Phone from Claro PR.:D

I tried flashing it with Odin but it was stuck at 'GET PIT FOR MAPPING" and it FAILED. What am I doing wrong? Do I have to root the phone first before I flash or the firmware is not uptodate/compatible?

thanks

---------- Post added at 06:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 AM ----------

You can flash the firmware from sammobile. If you were on a stock 4.3, you can't use desktop Odin to flash back to 4.2.1.

I tried flashing it with Odin but it was stuck at 'GET PIT FOR MAPPING" and it FAILED. What am I doing wrong? Do I have to root the phone first before I flash or the firmware is not uptodate/compatible?

thanks
 

santij07

Senior Member
Jan 23, 2014
64
36
I tried flashing it with Odin but it was stuck at 'GET PIT FOR MAPPING" and it FAILED. What am I doing wrong? Do I have to root the phone first before I flash or the firmware is not uptodate/compatible?

thanks

---------- Post added at 06:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 AM ----------



I tried flashing it with Odin but it was stuck at 'GET PIT FOR MAPPING" and it FAILED. What am I doing wrong? Do I have to root the phone first before I flash or the firmware is not uptodate/compatible?

thanks

When you run Odin remember in option area only Auto Reboot need to be with the check mark the others in blank, then go to PDA search for your Rom and Hit Start
 

zmikic9

New member
Mar 3, 2014
1
0
Zeljko@Zeljko-PC ~
$ tar -H ustar -c aboot.mbn boot.img cache.img.ext4 NON-HLOS.bin recovery.img rpm.mbn sbl2.mbn sbl3.mbn system.img.ext4 tz.mbn > S3ModedRom.tar
tar: aboot.mbn: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors

When I first enter the code this is what happens? I followed instructions for to a tee.
 

santij07

Senior Member
Jan 23, 2014
64
36
Zeljko@Zeljko-PC ~
$ tar -H ustar -c aboot.mbn boot.img cache.img.ext4 NON-HLOS.bin recovery.img rpm.mbn sbl2.mbn sbl3.mbn system.img.ext4 tz.mbn > S3ModedRom.tar
tar: aboot.mbn: Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors

When I first enter the code this is what happens? I followed instructions for to a tee.

You include the aboot.mbn in the directory or not whatever, I said is not necessary aboot.mbn just delete it from the command line like this
: tar -H ustar -c boot.img cache.img.ext4 NON-HLOS.bin recovery.img rpm.mbn sbl2.mbn sbl3.mbn system.img.ext4 tz.mbn > S3ModedRom.tar :good:
 

sabotage99

Member
Dec 29, 2011
6
1
Thank you so much! Worked great! In the instructions maybe tell people how or what to extract the tar files with. I figured out that i could extract them with winrar to get the files i needed out of them but it would have been helpful in the description. Thanks a million again though! Saved me lots of heart ache!
 
  • Like
Reactions: santij07

santij07

Senior Member
Jan 23, 2014
64
36
Thank you so much! Worked great! In the instructions maybe tell people how or what to extract the tar files with. I figured out that i could extract them with winrar to get the files i needed out of them but it would have been helpful in the description. Thanks a million again though! Saved me lots of heart ache!

I am very happy that this post work for you, I had to spend hours working on my computer to find a way to downgrade my phone without problems and all of you can do this just in 5 to 10 minutes at most, so I wrote this post to help people like you and make life easier and thanks for the suggestion, the changes were made.:highfive::good::cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Olly76

watchsat

Member
Nov 3, 2005
49
3
Back to 4.1.1 but still locked.

I am very happy that this post work for you, I had to spend hours working on my computer to find a way to downgrade my phone without problems and all of you can do this just in 5 to 10 minutes at most, so I wrote this post to help people like you and make life easier and thanks for the suggestion, the changes were made.:highfive::good::cool:

Just tried it on my locked i317M on 4.3, went through the whole process and it back to 4.1.1 successfully, but still not be able to unlock it via *#197328640# method.
 

santij07

Senior Member
Jan 23, 2014
64
36
Just tried it on my locked i317M on 4.3, went through the whole process and it back to 4.1.1 successfully, but still not be able to unlock it via *#197328640# method.

Sorry but recently I discover that the 4.3 bootloader block the backdoor to unlock the phone.:(

We need for now to wait for Chainfire to found a way to downgrade 4.3 bootloader.:(
 
Last edited:

adrian696

New member
Mar 22, 2014
3
1
can't load ... stuck on boot

Hello,

Tried this method to downgrade and it seemed to work (passed on ODIN) but when the phone is starting, I can't seem to get passed the samsung boot. Any steps I'm missing ? thanks
 

adrian696

New member
Mar 22, 2014
3
1
So I got through with the soft brick , now how do I unlock this phone ? I tried the free method (dialing ... ) doesn't seem to work. Any instructions please?
 

Larry2999

Senior Member
Feb 7, 2014
363
78
Atlanta, GA
So I got through with the soft brick , now how do I unlock this phone ? I tried the free method (dialing ... ) doesn't seem to work. Any instructions please?

If you downgraded from 4.3 to 4.1.1, no one has yet posted any report of being able to unlock for free. It would seem you need to be on complete stock 4.1.1, including the bootloader, to use the free unlock method. If you downgraded to 4.1.1 from 4.1.2 or upgraded from an earlier ROM, you should be able to use the free unlock method...

1. Dial *#197328640#
2. Select <1> UMTS
3. Select <1) Debug Screen
4. Select <8> Phone Control
5. Select <6> Network Lock
6. Select <3> Perso SHA256 Off.
7. After you select this option, wait about 30 secs, then press the Menu button and select back
8. Select <4> NW Lock NV Data INITIALLIZ

Wait about 1 minute then power off your phone and reboot. Phone should be unlocked. You wont receive any confirmation it worked after step 8.

If you were already on 4.3, your only likely options for now would be to either contact your carrier for an unlock code, if eligible, or purchase one online via a reliable service.
 

Squish66

New member
Oct 5, 2013
1
0
having trouble with unlock

i have an S3 thats on the Bell network could i not just flash it to a rogers or fido Firmware or will that brick it or just fail.

I am trying to unlock so i can use on fido. Followed the turtorial here to the letter but i still do not have these options in my list to perform it

[6] Network Lock then choose
[4] NW Lock NV Data INITIALLIZ ..... wait for a minute then reboot your phone

please advise, i am able to flash just cant unlock and also when i am in download mode its says odin mode and warranty bit : 1 in red if that means anything or not
 

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 16
    Hi, a month ago I did something wrong with my Galaxy S3 SGH-I747M for not read here before do an upgrade that the new bootloader are locked and have a new counter called Knox but I upgrade to 4.3 from Rogers because I don't want to wait for the official 4.3 Claro Network, then I want to downgrade but Odin FAIL Oh noooo and trip the new counter to 1, when I knew what the problem was, I do a mixed Rom and works Very good on Claro Puerto Rico Network and I want to share my knowledge and what I do to this Model of S3 variation, I want to help and to be helped too. Just follow this simple instruction:

    JUST FOR GALAXY SGH-I747M DEVICES

    I don’t know if works with other variant of S3 or Samsung Devices.

    I want to Share the way to downgrade your S3 Canadian Version to previous version, I do it with 4.1.1 no network or Wi-Fi problems, and you don’t need any patch for this.

    1- From Sammobile download your Rom 4.3 JB version.
    2- From Sammobile download your Rom 4.1.1 JB version.
    3- Download Odin307.zip and extract.
    4- Only Windows users, download this program and install it Cygwin.
    5- To extract Tar file you need 7zip or Winrar, then extract from 4.3 JB the following file: NON-HLOS.bin. I know you’re asking why NON-HLOS.bin, because this is the modem and network file and the 4.3 bootloader installed in you’re phone don’t work with the older, we need the newer from 4.3 for the phone works correctly.

    6- Extract from 4.1.1 JB all the files except aboot.mbn and NON-HLOS.bin.
    7- Go to C:/cygwin/home/'win_user_name' just cut & paste all the extracted file there without making any folder.

    8- Open Cygwin Terminal cut & paste the following codes:

    First Code:
    tar -H ustar -c boot.img cache.img.ext4 NON-HLOS.bin recovery.img rpm.mbn sbl2.mbn sbl3.mbn system.img.ext4 tz.mbn > S3ModedRom.tar

    When Finish

    Second Code:
    md5sum -t S3ModedRom.tar >> S3ModedRom.tar

    Then

    Third Code:
    mv S3ModedRom.tar S3ModedRom.tar.md5

    9- Run Odin, go to PDA bottom and Find new Rom called S3ModedRom.tar.md5.
    10-Restart you’re Phone and after it vibrate press Volume Down + Menu Button will show Download Mode press volume up and connect your device through usb cable to PC.
    11- On Odin Hit start, when it’s complete and say PASS you’re done!!

    If this helps please hit Thanks :good:
    2
    It has been suggested that downgrading stock 4.3 ROM to stock 4.1.1 may be possible as long as there is no attempt to downgrade the 4.3 bootloader otherwise, this would result in a brick. The good news is that I was able to successfully downgrade from 4.3 to 4.1.1 on my i747 (AT&T) without ending in a brick by flashing with Mobile Odin. Although it initially appeared to get stuck in reboot, booting into recovery and doing a reset worked and the phone is now running fine on 4.1.1. The bad news, however, is that going this route for the purpose of free unlock may not work as the hidden menu appears unsupported. After typing in *#197328640# in the dial pad, ServiceMode popped up but the usual menu items didn't show and the screen was otherwise blank. All other normal functions of the phone appear to be OK.

    Has anyone else tried this or could there be something I didn't do right?

    ---------- Post added at 03:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:13 PM ----------

    I have unlocked three phones (all of them were i747m ) using the free method but none of them had been upgraded to 4.3 so we'll have to wait for someone to try using the free unlock method on a phone that is running a 4.1.1 ROM with a 4.3 bootloader.

    Looks like that was what I answered in my last post. The downgrading from 4.3 ROM to 4.1.1. ROM without altering the 4.3 bootloader is possible. I just did it by flashing with Mobile Odin and my i747 AT&T is still running fine on 4.1.1. The free unlock didn't work, however, as the hidden menu appears unsupported. When I entered the code to the hidden menu, all I had was a blank screen.
    1
    NV files and IMEI Restore

    To let you know, besides having the problem for upgrade from 4.1.1 to the version 4.3 and then downgrade to the previous version apparently I deleted with the CWM-Recovery the EFS folder and NV files, but I had read a post about it and it worked, of course this is for the one who wipes these files, but since I had made a backup of the EFS folder, so what I needed was to rewrite the NV files, but I did not have a backup of my NV Files and now WHAT, but thanks to God my wife has the same phone and I copy their NV Files and everything worked fine following the steps here: (FIX)(SOLVED) Deleted or Injected IMEI and No signal or stock on Edge :good::D:highfive:
    1
    ??

    Does this work for i747 att? I mean doing this file change with the 4.3 att to 4.1.1 att..
    1
    Yes, trying to downgrade to 4.1.1, assuming you get past the Odin bootloader check, could hard brick the phone.