Root [MetroPCS/CDMA] Odin return to stock fail "upgrade encountered an issue.."

[tonespace]

pardon me mods..i think i accidentally posted this thread in the wrong forum...so this repost is not intentional spam

Hi...I had a custom cm firmware of 4.4.4 on my white metro pcs cdma s3...i wanted to return it to stock....i followed the sticky guide here on howto do so...i used odin...got the l1 .tar stock firmware...tried to load or upload it into my device...it failed...i got the error "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. please select recovery mode in kies and try again"...so the phones firmware original or otherwise will not boot...i tried with odin 3.04 as well as 3.07...i downloaded the l1 stock file twice in case one didnt download correctly..can any of you cool folks assist me in getting my phone working again? preferrably with the stock firmware? thanks.


added info: I tried a guide involving kies and it didnt work....my phone would not get recognised in download mode or "firmware encountered issue" mode...putting my serial and model number gave a message saying it didnt recognise it....thanks.

 

[tonespace]

Update: I had a recovery .tar of some sort...i ran that through odin...and now im back on my cyanogen 4.4.2 (thought it was 4.4.4 but its .2 actually) firmware...at least...any info to successfully get back to metro pcs s3 stock...will still be greatly appreciated...thanks.

 

[Mikestony]

So your phone, as of now, is functioning but you would rather be on stock/unrooted?

By the way, I removed your duplicate thread in the "general" area for the S3

 

[tonespace]

cool...and yes..im on cyanogen now and want to go back to regular..or regular with the bloatware removed and still rooted would be ideal..mainly because my camera usually restarts my phone when i try to use it..and the battery drains fast..though that may or may not be du to the mod.

 

[Mikestony]

Hmmm, I think I understand.
So perhaps if we could find a stock, rooted rom for you, then all you need do is flash it and remove/disable whatever bloat you want correct?

 

[tonespace]

i figure i'd unroot it...return it to stock...then root it again..removing the bloatware...but if in its modded state...i can flash a rooted stock rom..then that does sound the more sensible option..So i can just find one..and wipe it and flash that through recovery..Does that sound about right?

 

[Mikestony]

I think the simplest thing would be to find a stock, rooted rom and flash it thru recovery.
Now, I briefly looked for one but not quite sure if the ones I found will work for the metro pcs model...I don't want to steer ya the wrong way.

The other thing I'm not quite sure of, is the state of your bootloader after an ODIN flash. As in, if you ODIN back to stock, what version would you go with? And what version, if any, had the bootloader locked? Did the bootloader for MetroPCS ever get locked with OTA updates?
(I only ask because I had the Verizon model, and from what I remember, the 4.3 update version locked the bootloader--severely limiting what can be done)

I just re-read what I posted...I hope I was clear enough

 

[tonespace]

for sure..thanks a billion Mikestony!

 

[confed]

If you still need help, try talking to Shabby. He hangs out in the OUDHS forums on here and this thread might give you more direction - http://androidforums.com/official-u...0m-return-stock-reset-your-flash-counter.html

As for the bootloader becoming locked, I believe Mikestony is referencing knox. Feel free to search the Metro forums for knox and it should provide some insight for you. My strong suggestion is to read a lot before attempting anything else. Good luck.