[Completed] Continuation of closed thread: I cannot update my wife's S3 due to a Status 7

This is a continuation of http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2769405 which is now closed.

I spent several hours trying the various suggestions and all of them failed for one reason or another. I spent the most effort in returning to stock since that is the cleanest approach. The one click link provided in the original thread has a dead link to the files necessary for it to work. I tried another thread for returning to stock but I am receiving the ODIN error "FAIL! (Auth)". I tried following the instructions in this thread to resolve this ODIN error but it also did not work after several attempts.
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2519669

This is just a suspicious, but I believe what has happened is that when I initially tried applying the 4.4 OTA it knox'd the boot loader and will only take 4.4 or greater ROMs. Forgive me if I used those terms improperly, but that's the impression I am getting from all of the searching I have been doing on this. All return to stock guides I have found start by flashing 4.3, but this results in the ODIN error that I haven't been able to resolve.

Any additional help pointing me in the right direction will be greatly appreciated.

I read through most of the thread. It doesn't explicitly address my situation but it definitely reads like it might implicitly have the information I'm looking for. If not, it is definitely the place to post questions. Thanks for that help! I did a ton of searching and never came across that thread.