Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- hardware:samsung-galaxy-s3 [2013/08/22 09:56] – remove i9300 from headline stybla
+++ hardware:samsung-galaxy-s3 [2016/04/17 01:43] (current) – Use WRAP plugin stybla
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Samsung Galaxy S3 ======
+<WRAP center round alert 60%>
+I'm not responsible for any bricked devices! Some actions described here may void your waranty! You have been warned!
+</WRAP>
+All information here relate to international version of Samsung Galaxy S3(GT-I9300). 99% of information can be found on intranets.
+These are just personal notes/summary on given topic and you might want to go and do your research/read up on the topic in detail.
+===== Hardware =====
+Detailed information can be found at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_III|wiki]], therefore I see no reason to duplicate it here.
+  * CPU - ARM Cortex-A9, quad-core, 1.4GHz
+  * GPU - ARM Mali-400 MP4
+===== Required tools =====
+  * [[http://www.glassechidna.com.au/products/heimdall/|heimdall]]
+  * Android SDK, resp. adb(search for "adt-bundle-linux-x86_64", requires "compat" libs)
+===== First things first =====
+==== Know your Baseband version ====
+Knowing your //Baseband version// might come handy later when you want to flash stock ROM.
+It seems there is a stock ROM for each //Baseband version//, or at least by group. As I'm no
+expert, I'd not risk flashing stock ROM for //Baseband version// A to phone of version B.
+How to find out this number?
+  * go into //Settings// -> //About device//
+  * or you can use code ''*#1234#'' -> AP/CP/CSC
+==== Download PIT ====
+PIT – the PIT file refers as ‘Partition Information Table’
+You should download PIT as a guide and for backup if things go bad. What's there to study?
+Partition names, where which image belongs in case you need to flash stock ROM etc.
+<code>
+# heimdall download-pit --output my-sgs3.pit --no-reboot
+# strings my-sgs3.pit
+COM_TAR2Mx
+BOOTLOADER
+sboot.bin
+TZSW
+tz.img
+mx.pit
+MD5HDR
+md5.img
+BOTA0
+BOTA1
+efs.img
+PARAM
+param.bin
+BOOT
+boot.img
+RECOVERY
+recovery.img
+RADIO
+modem.bin
+CACHE
+cache.img
+SYSTEM
+system.img
+HIDDEN
+hidden.img
+BACKUP
+USERDATA
+userdata.img
+remained
+\xUW;
+Z3hzGO0
+J       F+=y
+</code>
+==== Backup, backup, backup ====
+Create backup before you flash anything. Boot into ClockworkMod recovery and do backup there as I'm
+not sure whether "backup" in 'droid would be sufficient.
+  * //backup and restore// -> //backup// + //create image zip// -> off-load via ''adb''
+This might save you some trouble, time and downloading later.
+==== Always do wipe data + factory reset ====
+It seems like any 'droid based firmware doesn't like old stuff hanging around. And it seems like
+//wipe data/factory reset// mends this. Also, //wipe cache// and //wipe dalwik// if the former alone
+doesn't help. I'm not exactly sure whether you should wipe and reset before or after you flash.
+==== Get into Recovery mode ====
+  * hold down //Volume Up// + //Home// + //Power// buttons
+  * red exclamation mark appears in the top left corner of the screen
+  * ''# ./adb reboot recovery'' will work as well
+==== Get into Download/ODIN mode ====
+  * hold down //Volume Down// + //Home// + //Power// buttons
+  * or via 3x100K resistors in series connected to the two pins closest to the headphone jack on the USB port(unverified)
+  * ''# ./adb reboot-bootloader'' will work as well
+===== ClockworkMod, root, CyanongenMod =====
+==== ClockworkMod ====
+  * get CWM [[http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager|here]]
+  * reboot SGS3 into ODIN mode
+  * # heimdall flash --RECOVERY <path_to_CWM> --no-reboot
+  * reboot SGS3 into recovery mode manually
+  * once in, create full backup of your phone and off-load it via ''adb''
+==== Get root on S3 ====
+It's fairly easy:
+  * boot into ClockworkMod recovery
+  * push SuperSU(search xda-dev forums) via ''adb''
+  * install image from zip
+==== CyanongenMod ====
+There is not much to be written about CM as it's all described [[http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_i9300|here]].
+CM works on SGS3, however I was scared off by contacts, "you must create an account" and the fact camera didn't work for some
+reason(despite not being on bug list; might have been mistake on my part).
+  * download pre-build CM release or create your own
+  * reboot phone into CWM recovery
+  * push CM release via ''adb''
+  * //install zip//
+  * //wipe data + factory reset//
+  * reboot
+It's possible CM will stuck in an endless loop on boot up. Possible fix is to do //wipe data + factory reset//, //wipe /cache//, //wipe dalwik//.
+At least this did trick for me.
+===== Restore stock ROM =====
+If you find yourself in a need to restore stock ROM like I did, use backup zip image you've created earlier. You did that, right?
+If you haven't created backup zip image like, for example, me, there is another way.
+Find stock ROM based on your //Baseband version//. You can find these on intranets. They're being extracted from Samsung Kies
+software. And having said that, I don't understand why are these files being taken down under DMCA. So it might take you a while
+to find stock ROM for your SGS3.
+After you've downloaded stock ROM, unzip it and unpack tar inside. Then compare files/images from stock ROM pack with your PIT file
+to see what goes where. Once you're clear on that, get SGS3 into ODIN mode and issue the following command(which is just an example!)
+and have fingers crossed:
+<code>
+heimdall flash \
+  --BOOT boot.img \
+  --BOOTLOADER sboot.img \
+  --CACHE cache.img \
+  --HIDDEN hidden.img \
+  --RADIO modem.img \
+  --SYSTEM system.img \
+  --TZSW tz.img
+</code>
+===== Alternatives to 'droid =====
+==== FirefoxOS aka Boot2Gecko ====
+I found couple posts related to B2G port on i9300, but it seems to me these efforts grinded to halt. More investigation
+(= clone B2G git and try to build it) is required.
+==== Tizen ====
+Despite Samsung got S3 with Tizen officially certified, there is no public release and, pretty much,
+no other information related to Tizen on S3.
+==== Ubuntu ====
+Information can be found at [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Devices/i9300]]. However, it seems there are some issues and phone
+isn't much of use on the phone part. This isn't much of a surprise.
+===== Links =====
+There seems to be a lot of written about SGS3 on intranets and quite a lot of useful information too:
+  * http://galaxys3root.com/galaxy-s3-root/how-to-root-galaxy-s3-on-linuxubuntu/
+  * http://www.teamandroid.com/2013/04/02/update-galaxy-s3-i9300-xxemc2-android-412-jelly-bean-official-firmware/
+  * http://www.teamandroid.com/2013/04/02/update-galaxy-s3-i9300-xxemc2-android-412-jelly-bean-official-firmware/
+  * http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2098642 - keypad codes
+  * http://www.smartphonejam.com/2012/06/how-to-return-back-samsung-galaxy-s3-to.html - nice elaborate on stock ROM
+  * http://www.android.gs/root-samsung-galaxy-s3-with-cwm-recovery-and-supersu/