Tutorial: How to use KIES Emergency Firmware Recovery (EFR)

[freakboy13]

Edit Nov 28 2013: GN3 Owners PLEASE READ!
As of the new update the ATT Galaxy note 3(possibly all carriers) IS NOT compatable with KIES EFR!
This includes KIES 2.XX and KIES 3! What does this mean?
If you took the MJ5 update you will no longer be able to use the KIES Emergency Firmware Updater.
Please complain to Samsung, locking the bootloader is one thing but no EFR??
Would you get on ship with no life boats or life preservers??
Seriously uncool of Samsung to do this.
-end of edit
/rant
So its come to my attention a lot of new guys are getting stuck soft brick, bootloop, borked recovery etc.

So .... I made this tutorial for everyone.
Please: dont flame or post useless comments.
Its great for you Odin is easy, but I made this for people who want a hassle free easy way to recover their phone.
This is also imo the fastest and easiest way back to true stock w/o a "modified"
Some people have reported a flash count of 1 but idk I always went back to 0.
If you are new, have no rooting, rom flashing or w/e experience, imo you should NOT be using odin until you have completely read up on it. I mean hey some of you super geniuses have no probs but when I see posters who have no clue about usb drivers or even how to use kies, im confused why you would want to venture to odin? 500 $ is a very expensive brick.
Ok so unsure about odin or just new and now you just borked your brand new phone?
First things first:
Can you get into dl mode.
Dont worry about recovery mode because it doesnt matter for this. This works with corrupted recovery as well.
For now lets just say download mode is achieved one way only:
Press : vol down power and home key all at the same time. Release quickly when you see the screen come up. Takes practice some times.

:thumbup: This method will remove "modified" status from your phone! :thumbup:
:beer:

Ok ready? You want step by step you got it.
If this doesnt work you are doing it wrong, so try again. Even with Odin you may have to try several times, its the nature of android.
If you can get into DL mode you CAN 100% recover your device.
If it doesnt work or you get an error, you are doing this wrong. I am pretty sure this is for ALL Samsung phones but I can only confirm this for my gs3 and note2.
Keep in mind: I corrupted my recovery on my gs3 several times and this still worked. I will assume the same for my note 2.
Download kies from samsung.com
Follow the prompts but no need to install the stupid codecs.
When you are done, (dont forget hit "yes" to dl current usb drivers)
ON your computer "run as administrator" the kies icon.
make sure you are connected to the internet.
Kies will automatically check for updates and proper usb drivers.
No need to install "myfree codecs" hit no on that.
every thing else hit yes
Step one:
Run kies as administrator as I said And do all the usb updates, kies updates
but leave the codec thing alone.
Step by step instructions just follow the pics in order:

1.Kies opens asks about update

2.

3.Dont worry about this

4. Now in top left corner hit "tools" tab. Ignore everything else

5. After clicking tools tab click the emergency fimrware recover choice as described below

6. For now ignore this button. YOu might need it later but ignore it for now

7.

8.Well last step. Hit emergency recovery ( the "ok" button wont be there )

this will probably take 20 to 30 min total. The EFR will let you know if its succesfull or fail.
IF it fails try using the method I said to ignore. Its the same thing just an extra step of in putting your phones exact model number.

Heres some xtra links: (Thanks to Bajanman for finding these btw!)
http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/1/
http://www.sammobile.com/kies/
http://m.samsung.com/us/support/

 

[Bajanman]

Nice help guide for noobs.

Good guide freak :thumbup:
Might want to go back and check some of your words tho. Lot of them misspelled... lol

Side note: All my years with Sammy I've never used Kies with any of my phone's!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Xparent SkyBlue Tapatalk 2

 

[freakboy13]

yeah yeah yeah

 

[jon3sh]

Nice tut freakboy i just hope I dont need to use it someday I subscribed anyways who know flashing games always full of surprises.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium

 

[mrnewspaper]

Please HELP

i have an at&t galaxy note 2 was rooted got OTA update now no signal and when i go to mobile networks (under settings) it says insert sim card so i am trying to do it your way and i have updated everything (drivers and kies) and when i try to connect to kies it says my device isn't supported by kies and there is no phone model in the white box to use the "emergency recovery using recovery code" is there a place to get this code?

Please help

 

[freakboy13]

Well first off there shouldnt be a need to use the kies efr with just an ota.
You can select your phone model manually.
Can I ask...did you install a recovery and make a bu after you rooted ?
im not familiar with these newer ota probs, I remember on my dx ota was no biggie due to rootkeeper. Its strange that a stock rooted phone gets borked with an ota.
Can you get into recovery?
Can you get into dl mode?
Im subscribed to this thread so ill try n help out

Edit: are you using this method because you are unfamiliar with odin?

 

[mrnewspaper]

i did install CWM recovery
i don't remember making a back up but i am sure i did
i can NOT get to recovery
i can get to dl mode
i am familiar with odin but i am on my work computer as i don't have internet at home at the moment so i cant run searches as it trips the big brother software here and i would get in trouble the phone seems to work fine other then it doesn't recognize the sim card and no recovery mode
but if i could find a stock rom i could just flash with odin

 

[freakboy13]

That may also be your problem.
Are you running kies as admin?
Sorry if these sound like stupid questions.
But 8f you dont have admin privies kies may not work.
Regardless there is a drop down for you to manually choose your phone.
You do have usb debugging?
A corrupted recovery should not affect your ability to use kies.
Your jobs software could be blocking it.

 

[freakboy13]

Also you do realise you cannot take ota with custom recovery?
Thats why your phone is borked.

 

[mrnewspaper]

i do realize it now lol but i didnt even think about it when it happened
yes running kies as admin
no to usb debugging don't event remember how to get to usb debugging but if it is in settings under mobile networks i cant get there it just says insert sim card

 

[freakboy13]

Justvto be sure this is an sgh-i317 correct?
Try doing the upgrade first that may give you the code.
First make sure you have usb debugging
Home>Settings> developers options> make sure usb debugging is checked.
Also since it sounds like your recovery is corrupted do not do a factory reset.

 

[freakboy13]

Ok so try this:
Make sure you have latest drivers from samsung for YOUR device.
Make sure kies is the latest version.
Make sure antivirus is off orvput kies in the whitelist/allowed.
Turning off is better.
Go to dl mode on phone .
Sincevkies is already running go to thetop menu :
tools> emergency firmware recovery
You should get a drop down list of devices. If this is an att phone and not another carrier model ported to att, you should choose sgh-i317 (att galaxy note 2). You shouldnt need a number thats only if you try to upgrade and it fails ( as I mentioned you may want to try upgrade first to trick the que to give you a number)
Post back.

 

[Note2Hunter]

+1

Sent from my SGH-I317M using xda premium

 

[mrnewspaper]

Ok so try this:
Make sure you have latest drivers from samsung for YOUR device.
Make sure kies is the latest version.
Make sure antivirus is off orvput kies in the whitelist/allowed.
Turning off is better.
Go to dl mode on phone .
Sincevkies is already running go to thetop menu :
tools> emergency firmware recovery
You should get a drop down list of devices. If this is an att phone and not another carrier model ported to att, you should choose sgh-i317 (att galaxy note 2). You shouldnt need a number thats only if you try to upgrade and it fails ( as I mentioned you may want to try upgrade first to trick the que to give you a number)
Post back.

thanks so much for all your help there is no drop down box on my version of kies however i found stock firmware some where else and it is working now again thanks so much

 

[freakboy13]

thanks so much for all your help there is no drop down box on my version of kies however i found stock firmware some where else and it is working now again thanks so much

Nice job! Isnt it great figuring things out yourself?
Love hearing happy endings!
Now... go into recovery and :
Make a backup/boot img .
:thumbup:

 

[activepassive]

Hello,

I am trying to fix my Korean Note 1. It is not being listed in the list of devices. I have it in D/L mode but it isn't listed. Can I use the code and, if so, what is the right code?

 

[freakboy13]

Hello,

I am trying to fix my Korean Note 1. It is not being listed in the list of devices. I have it in D/L mode but it isn't listed. Can I use the code and, if so, what is the right code?

Hmmm not that familiar with note 1 or international version but ill assume its the same?
If you are not listed in the database you may want to try using odin.

The code needs to be generated by kies.
Is kies recognizing your phone?
I may be mistakwn but isnt their a kies for your country or some thing like that?

Have you submited this question in your forum?

Edit: I found this I hope it helps you!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1740367


sent from my T.A.R.T.I.S
(Time And Relative Tarts In Space)

 

[gefilus]

so this will restore my phone to stock and will instal stock recovery and reset my flash counter and modified status? no need for tiangle away and unroot??

 

[dapwnager]

i tried doing exactly what was in the OP and it's now stuck at 0% at restoring. It's given me an error message a few times before and i tried again but it still stays at 0%. I tried doing it with the button you said not to click and running as admin.
Now i've got two problems, one is the phone not getting out of this mode and 2 is it not even giving me an error message meaning i can't try again since it's still busy restoring.
What can i do now? Should i just pull the plug out of it and try again? Will this not break anything?
What should i do now OP?

further info:
model: galaxy S3 GT-19300
i've had it rooted using CF-root and i did a firmware update to trigger emergency recovery mode.
I got into emergency recovery mode on purpose but expected to get out of it...

---------- Post added at 08:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 PM ----------

Hooray! it's now actually installing it and i didn't mistake it for downloading this time. I switched USB ports and now it works apparently.
Also something people that do this in the future should know: if you unplug the cable, it just gives you the error message saying that it couldn't find it which shouldn't cause any trouble. BUT only do this once it is stuck at 0%.

 

[E4gt007]

Possibly stupid question..

Having rooted the Note 2 att with mr skips toolbox, I then noticed a few days later the modified status.. So due to concern for warranty being voided, I'd like to return to stock: ( Heres the stupid question part).. I did install stock recovery via same toolbox, But How do I tell if it is stock vs twrp? I dont see where/how to check if it succeeded. Next- Why wont factory reset work to clear the flash counter, modified status to normal with full wipe? and as much as I admire mr Cortex method to full wipe ( 10 min process..) is that repetitive process of wiping, triangle away,unroot, reroot etc..necessary? I had a rooted samsung epic 4g touch before this note 2 and All I did to return phone to stock firmware for trade in was factory reset! yes- it was Not jellybean, was Gingerbread android.
Perhaps someone or some devs can explain this bit of mystery to me, and perhaps others... who are in search of a more direct and straightforward reset without complicating the steps. I will probably reroot and run a custom rom after warranty runs out.. but for now..stock again.