Samsung Galaxy s9 Demo Security Error

[Oronto]

Hello! This is my first post on any forum ever, so please be gentle.

Recently I dumpster dove behind a U.S. Cellular that had just gone out of business and I found this neat Samsung Galaxy S9 Live Demo phone. It was originally flashed with an SM-G960XU Firmware, but I wanted to de-demo mode it, so I thought I would flash an SM-G960U firmware on it instead.

This failed miserably and I now have the following error: "Security Error: This phone has been flashed with unauthorized software...". A picture of the error, as well as the other information I have been able to glean from the locked phone is attached.

Unfortunately, I knew nothing about androids before attempting to flash the phone, so I have no other data about the phone other than what is in the pictures.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much,
Oronto

 

[blackhawk]

Meh... you have a parts queen, less the mobo.

 

[effry]

Demo unit should be missing the baseband chip hardware inside, so even if you could flash the stock firmware you would be limited to using it with wifi.

Apart from that, what happens if you try to flash again with odin? i would try flashing the precedent firmware G960XU

 

[Oronto]

Demo unit should be missing the baseband chip hardware inside, so even if you could flash the stock firmware you would be limited to using it with wifi.

Apart from that, what happens if you try to flash again with odin? i would try flashing the precedent firmware G960XU

Hi effry,
Thank you for your response. I would love to reflash it with its original firmware but I can’t find it anywhere on the internet! I did not realize I was supposed to back up the firmware before flashing it which was quite the mistake. Do you happen to know where I might be able to find this firmware?
Thank you very much,
Oronto

 

[effry]

Start from here and check the exact phone model with the IMEI, it is printed on the bottom of the back of the phone (use a strong light, it's a small and light text)

Check Samsung IMEI information in SamFw.com

You can check Samsung IMEI information like Model, Region. And you can choose the exact firmware

samfw.com

After that you can use the same site to search for the correct firmware , donwload it and flash it with Odin

 

[Oronto]

Meh... you have a parts queen, less the mobo.

Hi Blackhawk,
Thanks for the response. What do you mean by a parts queen? Do you mean I should sell it for parts on eBay?
Thanks,
Oronto

 

[blackhawk]

Hi Blackhawk,
Thanks for the response. What do you mean by a parts queen? Do you mean I should sell it for parts on eBay?
Thanks,
Oronto

A hangar queen is the actual terminology. An aircraft used for donor parts to keep others flying.
The display, frame, battery, C port pcb, cam module should be good. The mobo is useless for use as a phone except as noted with wifi.

So if you have another phone of the same model... you now have an Android queen

 

[Oronto]

Start from here and check the exact phone model with the IMEI, it is printed on the bottom of the back of the phone (use a strong light, it's a small and light text)

Check Samsung IMEI information in SamFw.com

You can check Samsung IMEI information like Model, Region. And you can choose the exact firmware

samfw.com

After that you can use the same site to search for the correct firmware , donwload it and flash it with Odin

Hi effry,
Thank you again! I input the model’s serial number into the website you linked and it returned that the firmware is SM-G960XZKUXAR. Unfortunately, that website doesn’t have the firmware that it tells me the phone is supposed to have. I checked elsewhere on the internet but I can’t seem to find it. Is there an obscure website you know of that might have it?
Alternatively, do you think it is possible that I could flash it with another equivalent firmware? If so, what might you suggest?
Thank you very much,
Oronto

 

[Oronto]

A hangar queen is the actual terminology. An aircraft used for donor parts to keep others flying.
The display, frame, battery, C port pcb, cam module should be good. The mobo is useless for use as a phone except as noted with wifi.

So if you have another phone of the same model... you now have an Android queen

Hi blackhawk,
Thank you for your insight into which parts seem useful for scrapping. It is looking like I might have to do that. Unfortunately, I do not have an equivalent model, so I will have to sell it for parts if it comes down to that.
Thanks again,
Oronto

 

[effry]

Hi effry,
Thank you again! I input the model’s serial number into the website you linked and it returned that the firmware is SM-G960XZKUXAR. Unfortunately, that website doesn’t have the firmware that it tells me the phone is supposed to have. I checked elsewhere on the internet but I can’t seem to find it. Is there an obscure website you know of that might have it?
Alternatively, do you think it is possible that I could flash it with another equivalent firmware? If so, what might you suggest?
Thank you very much,
Oronto

By looking online it seems that flashing the firmware with odin should fix the issue. Maybe you did something wrong in the process? i would try another odin flash using this firmware

Download Galaxy S9 SM-G960U (XAS) G960USQS9FUG2 in Samfw - Samsung firmware download

Galaxy S9 SM-G960U (XAS - United States) G960USQS9FUG2 Q(Android 10) samsung firmware download all model, lastest, fast update, completely free and fast speed in Samfw.com ✅

samfw.com

 

[effry]

If it doesn't work, i found the SM-G960X files here, this should be the full DEMO firmware

G960XUSQU3CSAB-(VZW)(Firmware 5 Files + USERDATA) (Android 9 Pie) File By (www.needromarab.Com).zip

drive.google.com

There are also some interesting download here, they say to be the complete firmware but for some reason they are just 1 gb size instead of 4.4gb like the others so i don't know

Samsung SM-G960X Combination File ROM (Flash File)

Download Samsung SM-G960X Combination File (original flash file, rom) without any password for Free. We also provide the combination file for all Samsung devices.

samsungcombinationfile.com

 

[Oronto]

If it doesn't work, i found the SM-G960X files here, this should be the full DEMO firmware

G960XUSQU3CSAB-(VZW)(Firmware 5 Files + USERDATA) (Android 9 Pie) File By (www.needromarab.Com).zip

drive.google.com

There are also some interesting download here, they say to be the complete firmware but for some reason they are just 1 gb size instead of 4.4gb like the others so i don't know

Samsung SM-G960X Combination File ROM (Flash File)

Download Samsung SM-G960X Combination File (original flash file, rom) without any password for Free. We also provide the combination file for all Samsung devices.

samsungcombinationfile.com

Hi effry,
Thank you very much for all of these options! I will try them all when I get home and let you know if I have any success.
Thanks again,
Oronto

 

[Oronto]

If it doesn't work, i found the SM-G960X files here, this should be the full DEMO firmware

G960XUSQU3CSAB-(VZW)(Firmware 5 Files + USERDATA) (Android 9 Pie) File By (www.needromarab.Com).zip

drive.google.com

There are also some interesting download here, they say to be the complete firmware but for some reason they are just 1 gb size instead of 4.4gb like the others so i don't know

Samsung SM-G960X Combination File ROM (Flash File)

Download Samsung SM-G960X Combination File (original flash file, rom) without any password for Free. We also provide the combination file for all Samsung devices.

samsungcombinationfile.com

Hello again effry,
I tried your firmwares and bad things have happened. It got to where the download was almost finished and then it displayed this error. Unfortunately Smart Switch Emergency Software Recovery does not register it as connected.
I believe I am boned. Thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Oronto

 

[billa]

Hello again effry,
I tried your firmwares and bad things have happened. It got to where the download was almost finished and then it displayed this error. Unfortunately Smart Switch Emergency Software Recovery does not register it as connected.
I believe I am boned. Thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Oronto

You could just replace the motherboard from Ebay for around 50 bucks (USD). Make sure it's a regular unlocked version (both FRP and network), any carrier will do since you can cross flash any firmware of your choice (no need for the demo anymore). Just a heads up, demo units sometimes are missing some of the LTE antenna cables/connectors, which would prevent the good replacement main board from working on cellular.

 

[Oronto]

You could just replace the motherboard from Ebay for around 50 bucks (USD). Make sure it's a regular unlocked version (both FRP and network), any carrier will do since you can cross flash any firmware of your choice (no need for the demo anymore). Just a heads up, demo units sometimes are missing some of the LTE antenna cables/connectors, which would prevent the good replacement main board from working on cellular.

Hi billa,
Thanks for the advice. I’ll look into it, but I might end up just selling it for parts.
Thanks,
Oronto