Trying to get S3 back to stock after CM12.1

[numero9]

I got an S5 and want to sell my S3 that I've been running CM12.1 nightlies on now for the past year.

I'm having issues though just getting it back to complete stock through various stock TARs I've downloaded. I've soft bricked it a few times but it has bounced back after installing a recovery again in Odin. They're all on the front page of the Sprint S3 Android XDA forum, so it's not like I'm flashing something non-Sprint.

Here's what I've been doing:

I wiped and factory reset within TWRP recovery.

Then I flashed the stock recovery in Odin. That worked just fine.

Go into download mode, tried to flash the Stock NJ2 tar and it fails at aboot. Phone then says: SW REV CHECK FAIL: Fused 2 > Binary 1

I get the 'connect to Kies' error both when powering up and in recovery. Throw it back into download mode, flash stock recovery again. Works fine -- boots in CM12.1 again with no data fresh.

I then tried to flash stock MK3 and it failed too.

I've tried the latest Odin and 3.07 but both give me the same results.

Re-flashing any recovery (I've used stock and TWRP) both get it back to where it boots into CM12.1.

Any guidance on how I can get this thing back to a stock Touchwiz ROM with OTA updates so I can sell it on Craigslist or Swappa or something? I'd appreciate anything, I'm a loss here!

 

[numero9]

Nevermind! Thank goodness I found an old nandroid backup on an HD and it worked.

 

[zoB6T]

Nevermind! Thank goodness I found an old nandroid backup on an HD and it worked.

Any chance you could share your nandroid backup with me? I'm having the same problem getting my S3 back to stock.

 

[madbat99]

I got an S5 and want to sell my S3 that I've been running CM12.1 nightlies on now for the past year.

I'm having issues though just getting it back to complete stock through various stock TARs I've downloaded. I've soft bricked it a few times but it has bounced back after installing a recovery again in Odin. They're all on the front page of the Sprint S3 Android XDA forum, so it's not like I'm flashing something non-Sprint.

Here's what I've been doing:

I wiped and factory reset within TWRP recovery.

Then I flashed the stock recovery in Odin. That worked just fine.

Go into download mode, tried to flash the Stock NJ2 tar and it fails at aboot. Phone then says: SW REV CHECK FAIL: Fused 2 > Binary 1

I get the 'connect to Kies' error both when powering up and in recovery. Throw it back into download mode, flash stock recovery again. Works fine -- boots in CM12.1 again with no data fresh.

I then tried to flash stock MK3 and it failed too.

I've tried the latest Odin and 3.07 but both give me the same results.

Re-flashing any recovery (I've used stock and TWRP) both get it back to where it boots into CM12.1.

Any guidance on how I can get this thing back to a stock Touchwiz ROM with OTA updates so I can sell it on Craigslist or Swappa or something? I'd appreciate anything, I'm a loss here!

Don't try to flash mk3, you will hard brick if you've updated to nd8 or newer. You don't flash stock recovery at all. Just the stock tar in odin. Have you flashed the stock nd8 or nj2 .tar? Those are the ones you should be flashing. Just the stock .tar, nothing else. It has the right recovery in it. You may be messing up flashing stock recovery. Every build has a different version of recovery ,( like nd8 or nj2).

 

[numero9]

Yeah I flashed both and they didn't work from Odin. I was on NJ2. MK3 just soft bricked me only. Anyway it's a moot point now that I got it working.