VEEERY SAD NEWS: MY gt-i9300i HAS A LOCKED BOOTLOADER !!
Apparently our Samsung galaxy S3 NEO has its "bootloader" locked... Ie. We can't install a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP.
And I managed to discover this the hard way :-)
Apparently not all s3 variants are locked.. as I found some youtube videos showing guys installing custom recoveries..
Anyways... I was trying to install a custom recovery image on my phone (Clockwork Mod Recovery to be specific) and I ended up being stuck at the odin mode screen...
By the way.. There are multiple methods to install a custom recovery (ODIN Flashing - Flashify - RomToolBox - TWRP Manager).. and multiple recoveries too (CWM - TWRP)..
But non of them worked for me.. and some methods (like flashing cwm img by flashify) left me stuck on a screen looking like this:
Every time I start the phone it says "Could not do normal boot - Odin Mode"
So here is how I got myself unstuck - out of odin mode :-) :
1. Turn the phone off completely.
2. Hold Volume Down + Home and power up.
3. You will get a screen like this.. press Volume Down to restart.
Thats it.. the phone will reatart normally.. Even if you do not have a recovery partition at all.
Apparently our Samsung galaxy S3 NEO has its "bootloader" locked... Ie. We can't install a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP.
And I managed to discover this the hard way :-)
Apparently not all s3 variants are locked.. as I found some youtube videos showing guys installing custom recoveries..
Anyways... I was trying to install a custom recovery image on my phone (Clockwork Mod Recovery to be specific) and I ended up being stuck at the odin mode screen...
By the way.. There are multiple methods to install a custom recovery (ODIN Flashing - Flashify - RomToolBox - TWRP Manager).. and multiple recoveries too (CWM - TWRP)..
But non of them worked for me.. and some methods (like flashing cwm img by flashify) left me stuck on a screen looking like this:
Every time I start the phone it says "Could not do normal boot - Odin Mode"
So here is how I got myself unstuck - out of odin mode :-) :
1. Turn the phone off completely.
2. Hold Volume Down + Home and power up.
3. You will get a screen like this.. press Volume Down to restart.
Thats it.. the phone will reatart normally.. Even if you do not have a recovery partition at all.
Apparently that was a false warning...
ReplyDeleteUpdating to android 4.4.4 solved the problem..
Now I can flash whatever I want!!