[GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock UPDATE 10/23

[PsYcHoNeWb]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock UPDATE 9/22

Hey man thanks for making this guide. I have to return my s3 tomorrow but I am coming up with an issue. I put my phone into download mode and only checked F. reset then PDA'd the kernel onto my phone. Then once it passed I unplugged usb from my phone and reset odin then PDA'd root66.tar. Now my phone is stuck in the verizon boot animation at the 4g lte glowing circle thing. I am gonna keep working on it tonight to see if I can get it to work but maybe you can help me. Was I supposed to install the stock rom before the kernel as well?

Just figured out what to do. I battery swiped and went into recovery mode then did a wipe factory data or something like that. Then the phone will boot regularly. Hope this helps someone. Again thanks for the guide creccaj!

Its very weird, when I did this process I didn't hang on the boot screen but others, like yourself, do. I will make a note in the guide that doing a wipe will be necessary in recovery just to be on the safe side.

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

Will be updating this thread a little later on today, had to do a restore yesterday and followed a slightly different process that worked for me perfectly.

 

[ejpark]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

So back in early September, I used this guide to revert back to stock and it looked like everything worked, but was unsure if I did a proper job (I messed up on some steps) and I was worried about getting OTA updates (here's my post in this thread). Well, I successfully managed to get the VRALHE OTA update and I felt relieved, but then I learned that it was a pretty minor update.

So here's Question 1: Does the fact that I got this OTA update without bricking my phone mean that my phone is really back to stock and I can continue receiving updates in the future, or is it possible that a bigger update (like the JB one, if we ever get it) could cause trouble for me?

Also, I've been able to verify that my phone is unrooted (I can't run apps that require root), my bootloader is locked (the Samsung screen stays on the phone for a few seconds when starting up instead of flashing and disappearing), and I haven't messed with any system files since I flashed the stock rom. I'm just worried because I might not have done a proper job wiping before flashing the stock rom (refer to my first post for details). I guess I could just go wipe and re-flash my phone, but I'd like to avoid that since it was such a headache for me the first time through.

Here's Question 2: Since I was able to successfully flash the stock rom, does that mean that everything was wiped correctly and I'm just being paranoid?

Sorry for bothering you again.

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

So back in early September, I used this guide to revert back to stock and it looked like everything worked, but was unsure if I did a proper job (I messed up on some steps) and I was worried about getting OTA updates (here's my post in this thread). Well, I successfully managed to get the VRALHE OTA update and I felt relieved, but then I learned that it was a pretty minor update.

So here's Question 1: Does the fact that I got this OTA update without bricking my phone mean that my phone is really back to stock and I can continue receiving updates in the future, or is it possible that a bigger update (like the JB one, if we ever get it) could cause trouble for me?

Also, I've been able to verify that my phone is unrooted (I can't run apps that require root), my bootloader is locked (the Samsung screen stays on the phone for a few seconds when starting up instead of flashing and disappearing), and I haven't messed with any system files since I flashed the stock rom. I'm just worried because I might not have done a proper job wiping before flashing the stock rom (refer to my first post for details). I guess I could just go wipe and re-flash my phone, but I'd like to avoid that since it was such a headache for me the first time through.

Here's Question 2: Since I was able to successfully flash the stock rom, does that mean that everything was wiped correctly and I'm just being paranoid?

Sorry for bothering you again.

You should be back to full stock. If you received an update from Verizon without any issues what so ever then you are safe to receive future updated. You will be fine when it comes to Jelly Bean. If you have altered your phone in any way (besided rooting) then you will not receive an update but the fact that you did and it worked find means you are okay. If you bootloader is unlocked, it wont be a problem that I see either way. If you are paranoid about it, relock it but that requires you to root again.

You can rewipe your phone with the stock recovery no problem. Will get you back to stock.

Flashing with ODIN doesn't wipe all your data. Doing the factory reset in recovery does. You are being a little paranoid here but I can sympathize with you, I was paranoid when I wasn't as familiar with these processes. You can easily go back to stock recovery and rewipe everything or do a factory reset on your phone if you want. Receiving an OTA and flashing it without an issue leads me to believe that you are fine.

 

[roaztb33f]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

Very helpful thread. Useful when followed correctly. Thanks to OP for combining all the information into one.

 

[95chevy]

you sir are THE BEST!! i was boot looping and none of the other methods worked. but yours did. if i had a million dollars it would be in your pocket right now thank you

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

you sir are THE BEST!! i was boot looping and none of the other methods worked. but yours did. if i had a million dollars it would be in your pocket right now thank you

Appreciate the kind words lol. I wouldn't mind that but keep the money doing this to help.

 

[Bigfire]

I apologize if this has been asked and answered in previous posts. I'm stuck in a boot loop and pulling the battery and using the home/volume up/power combo only restarts the CM10 boot, so I'm unable to get back to recovery. I did a nandroid when I got root set up, but is there a way to force the device into booting to that nandroid when connecting to pc? Or will I have to download sdk and odin and lose everything?

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

I apologize if this has been asked and answered in previous posts. I'm stuck in a boot loop and pulling the battery and using the home/volume up/power combo only restarts the CM10 boot, so I'm unable to get back to recovery. I did a nandroid when I got root set up, but is there a way to force the device into booting to that nandroid when connecting to pc? Or will I have to download sdk and odin and lose everything?

Very strange, you are trying to boot into you recovery after a battery pull? I found that you need to keep holding the buttons to make sure it registers. Try holding vol up, home and power until the recovery screen pops up. If that doesn't work you may need to use ODIN.

 

[Bigfire]

Actually got lucky, after trying the boot to recovery trick 5-6 times, I plugged in my phone as it was getting late and somehow in plugging in and trying again I managed to get the recovery to start up.

 

[popkurn611]

Is it true that if I restored back to the original stock gs3 that shipped with the phone (VRALF2 4.0.4) that my bootloader is not locked? I heard this on xda developers "VRALF2 4.0.4- Goo.im Downloads - Browsing H...w_ship.tar.md5(This is the original firmware the gs3 shipped with on release date...it does not lock the bootloader"

I just want to make sure I don't soft brick my phone when flashing a rom if I don't unlock my bootloader.

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

Actually got lucky, after trying the boot to recovery trick 5-6 times, I plugged in my phone as it was getting late and somehow in plugging in and trying again I managed to get the recovery to start up.

Thats very interesting. That is also a problem with the Nexus 7, plugging into a PC works if you can't access recovery either. Glad you got it worked out though, first time I am hearing of this on the GS3.

Is it true that if I restored back to the original stock gs3 that shipped with the phone (VRALF2 4.0.4) that my bootloader is not locked? I heard this on xda developers "VRALF2 4.0.4- Goo.im Downloads - Browsing H...w_ship.tar.md5(This is the original firmware the gs3 shipped with on release date...it does not lock the bootloader"

I just want to make sure I don't soft brick my phone when flashing a rom if I don't unlock my bootloader.

It will NOT lock your bootloader. They are correct. If you want to relock your bootloader you must follow the same procedure that you did when you unlocked it while you phone is still rooted.

 

[mrjoker]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock UPDATE 9/22

Posted a new link that provides links to all stock Samsung builds. Original link isn't working because website apparently exceeded its bandwidth.

Is there a different link I can use to download the stock rom? When I download it from samsung-updates.com it gets to 99% and then fails. When I try to resume it tells me I've exceeded my bandwidth today. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


**EDIT** Finally got the file to finish the download.

 

[Emilmoller94]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

Hello! i have an samsung galaxy s3. i rooted it and everything went smooth, but when i tried with a font installer to install a new font my phone is stuck on the samsung logo when i starting it. I have tried most of the guides to do a factory reset and i tried in recovery mode to delete cashes and wipe al data, but without results. plz help me!

 

[bigjobber69]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

Will there ever be an all in one odin package to restore the phone once soft bricked? With this I see you have to odin 4 different times with different things checked off. Coming from another Samsung phone(fascinate) i am very comfortable with odin but I have never seen steps that werent just one main odin package that did all of it in one shot. Thanks Guys.

 

[Bruce Montford]

works like a charm. i recently loaded the leaked jb and i hated it could not get back to stock o save my life. I tried to go back to the cyonogen rom and still was stuck at boot screen. this really helped me thanks alot

 

[DarkSorrow]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

I upgraded to 4.1.1 and when I try to use this to downgrade it will not let me. It continues to show 4.1.1 no matter what. Tried to downgrade 4 times already.

 

[closers7]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

Should be fine, sent you a PM with a link. If that doesn't work I will post a dropbox link for you.

Hi ... I can't get the unrooted stock file to download either. The other files downloaded fine. But not that one. Can you or anyone post a mirror?

Edit: Disregard. I see you posted the link to all the builds. Oops.

 

[DarkSorrow]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

Hi ... I can't get the unrooted stock file to download either. The other files downloaded fine. But not that one. Can you or anyone post a mirror?

Edit: Disregard. I see you posted the link to all the builds. Oops.

Uploading now. The file I'm uploading you will just use the PDA area. It will automatically put you back to ICS 4.0.4.

Will Post link A.S.A.P. It's uploading at 15mbps and it's 1.15 GB

 

[DarkSorrow]

Re: [GUIDE] Restore Back to Clean Factory Stock

Stock NON Rooted ROM: Netload Serious Filehosting - Netload
STOCK NON Rooted ROM https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-7cDDPg-ScrRy1tOGVSek1FdlU