Jumbled up S5? Hopefully simple question ... - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi
My OH has just bought herself a recon S5 in the UK.
But it seems to be a bit jumbled up. Sticker on the box said SM-G900A (American AT&T). Device info says it's an SM-G900F (Europe). We are in the UK. I'm believing the device info.
But it seems someone has flashed a Chinese or Korean version of the firmware on it? Factory reset starts in Korean or Chinese (I can't tell which) and the firmware version is G900FZHU1ANG1. It's KitKat 4.4.2.
She wants it up to date on Lollipop. Whatever that firmware version is, it doesn't want to OTA update to Lollipop.
So, I've downloaded the latest Lollipop BTU build for the 900F (BTU-G900FXXU1BOE5-20150601141257.zip - which I got from a link on here) and plan to flash it with Odin 3.10.6. As per instructions on sammobile. (and here, they're the same)
I've not flashed a ROM for a looooong time and I don't want to brick her phone (cos I'll have to buy the replacement!). So before I go any further, can someone quickly confirm I can just go ahead and jump straight from the current KitKat firmware to this Lollipop build? Don't want root or anything, just the latest, official, unbranded, firmware for it. Which is what I have as far as I can tell.
A simple Yes or No would be great.
Many thanks in advance.

First up ..... apologies. I didn't get any answers I suspect as this was too obvious a question.
I was in a hurry, so I signed up and asked quickly before I went out last night, hoping for just a yes/no. I should probably have posted this in the "Assist" forum anyway.
As it turns out, it doesn't matter. Further reading said I could flash it as it as is. So I tried. And it failed (didn't brick it, it barely got started, phone still works). Box sticker said 900A (AT&T - which is a horrible version as it turns out). Phone info said 900F (International - which would have been fine). Recovery mode though, also reported it as a 900A. Which is I think is why it failed very early trying to flash it with Odin. So it would appear it is a 900A version, which someone has managed to get a Chinese firmware onto somehow to hide it being an American version and sold it to a phone reclycling store in the UK. And it looks like they got away with it.
On that basis alone, I would be returning it. (It would never get auto-upadtes outside the USA, is hard to root, hard to update, and updates from AT&T are VERY slow and she wants stock, not CM or anything)
But it doesn't matter. It has a bigger fauly.
The blue LED on the top left stays on constantly. Even when the phone is powered down completely. Which is not right. Overnight last night, powered off, it lost almost 20% of it's battery. So it's fauly. It's going back.
Thankfully she bought it from a large, reputable, online store in the UK. So the return won't be a problem. Just hope the replacement isn't a dud as well!

Related

[Q] Restoring to Stock ROM

I don't always ask for help online because I believe that whatever problem I have, someone out there already has it, so I just need to look better. Not this time though. I'm literally dying.
I've installed Custom ROMs before and reverted them back to stock before but it was on a Galaxy NEXUS. It was seamless.
I have a n900W8 Note 3, this is the canadian variant. After a long day, I managed to root it and install CWM recovery, but didn't install a custom ROM. The next day (today), I installed an AOSP ROM and it worked fine but I wanted a TouchWiz ROM. After trying out 2 and getting stuck in a bootloop, I went back to the AOSP ROM. I then tried one last one, X-NOTE. Apparently it wiped my internal storage. You should see what happened to me when I realized that.
So I now just want to go back to the stock firmware but that's not easy, because I live in Jordan, which is in the middle east, but my phone is a canadian variant. But, The CSC Code for it was TTT, which is for Trinidad and Tobago. Wait, there's more. When Installing X-Note, it asked me which CSC code do I want to install. it had 5 options I think and TTT wasn't one of them. I chose BTU which is for UK.
So now I want a firmware that isn't carrier locked so I can use whatever SIM Card I put in it.
There's this article, and it says :
"You might find 2 types of firmwares even within a particular model number. Such firmwares are generally known as Branded and Unbranded ones. If your device is locked to a network provider/carrier, it’s a branded device. Therefore you must install a firmware that is meant for your carrier. Similarly, if you are able to use any SIM card on your phone, it’s unbranded, and so you can install any firmware on it that is for unbranded Note 3.", well, how the hell do I know which one is branded and which one isn't :crying:.
Seriously guys, I'm desperate for help. The phone actually isn't mine, that's why I'm freaking out. I still have my Galaxy Nexus and I love it. Even after 3 years, it is still working perfectly. The developer support for it is absolutely amazing.

[Q] Changing from Vodafone to non-branded 5.0.1/OTA

Hey everyone, I'm not necessarily new to the rooting/custom rom scene, I spent hours messing around with my Note 2, but I've got a quick question because I can't find a straight forward answer.
Basically I'm Australian and I own the SM-N910G variant of the phone, it's NOT locked and I have no logo on my boot screen. The 5.0.1 update for the 910G was released today, hazzah! But that's only on the non-carrier OTA, Vodafone has just stated "Failed testing, contacting Samsung" now due to both Vodafone AND Samsung being slow in nature, this could take weeks. I'm also SICK of Vodafone's bloatware and extreme delay with updates (over a year for the Note 2's 4.4.4), and I'm not willing to do any extreme modifying to this phone unlike my Note 2 because I'm still paying this phone off on my contract, last thing I need is to be left with a bricked or unsatisfactory phone when I'm still paying off.
Now for anyone who doesn't want to read all that,
MY QUESTION: Am I able to flash the stock SM-N910G 5.0.1, and change any future OTA's to be the ones straight from Samsung without voiding my warrenty or increasing my flash count or voiding my future OTA updates. And if I can, what's the best way to go about it?
Because I'm sick of waiting 6 months for Samsung to bring updates to Australia, then another 6 months for Vodafone to finish "testing" it.
Also I originally posted this in the wrong section, which I apologize for.
I upgraded to the indian 910g non branded 5.01 lollipop a week ago and had no problems whatsoever. My phone was unlocked and originally optus.
Debranding
I recently this something you want. I debranded my Note 4 taken from Orange România. My phone was locked and with a rom full of Orange blotware. I've downloaded the unbranded German rom, installed with Odin, and so far no problems. Knox counter it's 0x0, the new CSC it now the German unbranded. Nothing wrong happened. I don't know about carrier lock but I was not interested in that.
As long as it is the same model number there should be no problem. But carrier lock will still be there. Good luck

[Q] Factory unlocked Note 3 updated with TMO OFW on Kies?

I purchased a factory unlocked note 3 about 2 days ago and out the box was 4.4.4 i presume. The manufacture date was in late 2014. I've been dying to get my hands on the official lollipop update knowing kies is about the only way. Long story short after the reboot i turned my head and i heard the T-mobile boot sound! I look over and see the tmobile boot playing. After that i suddenly have all TMO's bloatware and annoying little offers but weirdly half of the bloatware doesnt work. It all gets errors and so forth. I'm slightly confused as to why this happened. I purchased the note from an official licensed samsung retailer and the box was sealed. I just want to know why or how this could happen? IT just baffles me.
Its a TMobile branded phone is the most likely answer .
Kies has updated by the firmware details etc on the phone .
JJEgan said:
Its a TMobile branded phone is the most likely answer .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But i purchased it brand new, factory unlocked, directly from samsung. I had to order it from the official retailer but i had tracking VIA samsung's official support mail.
Did you try to contact the place you got it from?
What details re CSC firmware etc .
Use Phone Info from Play store .
Kies can only read what's on the phone .
Are you sure Kies gave you an update to lollipop .
Could it be that someone flashed a firmware ???

Help on s5 identification and possible downgrade

Dear all,
I lost my S5 recently, and since I was very much happy with this model I went to buy another one.
There was a chain of unfortunate events which I will skip here, but shortly - I fund the phone running android 5.0. Tried to downgrade - it didn't work. Starting from this point I became very curious, because I've downgraded that lost phone after automatic OTE update.
So, if I go to the Settings - About the phone I can see next thing:
Model Name: SM-G900F
Baseband version G900FXXU1BOC7
AP:G900FXXU1BOC7
CP:G900FXXU1BOC7
CSC:G900FITV1BOC1
So first I thought it's an Italian version of S5 somehow came to Malaysia (we live in Malaysia, yes) and they sold it to me.
Well, I went and downloaded appropriate (as I thought) firmware from sam-mobile and tried to downgrade. No success, Odin failed.
Then I was trying different versions of Odin, different firmwares - all without success until , at some point,I noticed that in Odin mode , right at the top of the screen was MODEL VERSION is SM-G900V (V, not F!!!)
Things became really ugly at this point, I realized that it's probably Verizon phone. I went to googleplay and Downloaded Z-CPU to check some more info, and this is what I found:
Model Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F)
Brand Verizon
Bootloader G900VVRU2BOG5
At this point I'm almost gave up. This phone was absolutely new, I opened the box by myself, and all stickers and protecting films were on place.
How is it possible that it was refurbish?
But it's not that important.
what is important - in view of aforementioned things, - can I downgrade it to 4.4.2 or 4.4.4? Lolipop 5.0 drains battery in about 4 hours from 100 to 10%, it's not possible to use the phone in this conditions.
If yes (I really hope) , then would you kindly provide me with step by step instructions?
Thank you
PS I don't need any root access, just bringing back old good kikat
Check which model it says in download mode, that's the info you can trust, anything else can be changed with firmware / edits / stickers
Agreed.....download mode is what counts......
If it is the V variant, it'll have a locked bootloader.......
Verizon and AT&T are the two main culprits for this behaviour, and it's certainly the case for the AT&T variants that the locked bootloader will prevent downgrading.....I can only assume that Verizon's locked bootloader will cause similar problems......
http://i.imgur.com/rVnFwJM.jpg
Guys, thanks for reply.
So, no chance, right?
If the bootloader is locked to the same extent as with AT&T, then downgrading won't be possible.....sorry fella...
http://i.imgur.com/rVnFwJM.jpg

G900P in Europe?

Hi!
I've bought a Galaxy S5 (G900P) from Ebay last year, but I wasn't aware that the Sprint variant is meant for the US. (just realized that now, since I ran into problems). I've used it for almost a year now, running Android 5.1.1 with Cyanogenmod custom ROM on it - here comes the thing - as G900F. (which I just realized aswell, thinking back, and checking screenshots / Windows logs). The About Phone section, the usb drivers in Windows, several other things claimed it was G900F firmware on it - and I was able to use 3g mobile internet on it, was connected to Vodafone Hungary without problems. (turns out I can't use 4g in Europe with this variant, that's my bad). The Recovery mode (used Phil'z) and the Download mode both displayed G900P..I'm not sure what to think now.
The problems started when a few days back, Cyanogenmod announced the 13rd version, and my auto-update on CM12 took its curse, and updated it. The whole thing went smooth, phone rebooted, and instantly got hotter and hotter, draining the battery seriously fast. I've tried several apps, methods, none could help it, so I decided to just stick with Android 6.0.1 (since it came with the CM13).
Through 2 days of suffering and reading forums, pages till my eyes bled out, I managed to have a stock G900P 6.0.1. Android on my phone, it's currently charging, but here comes the fun, I'm not able to get mobile internet (3g). I could connect to Vodafone Hungary somehow, calling, and receiving calls, but there are several other things wrong with the phone like this. I've also tried to revert back to 5.1.1 (even the Stock ROM would be fine, I'd gladly skip on CM12), but Odin failed and failed each and every time.
So my question is: I know it's possible, because I DID have it, but I don't know how to anymore - G900F firmware on a G900P phone. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(current status - Android 6.0.1 with stock G900P firmware - unrooted / I think/ ; without custom recovery, in Download mode both things say Official)
P.S.: if this subforum isn't the place for a thread like this, I'm asking a mod to please move it to a rightful section, thank you!

Categories

Resources