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Help with understanding samsung/android ROM

Hi all, im new to android and i recently purchased a samsung galaxy S. i come from htc windows mobile and i need help understanding the different components of ROM in the galaxy S/android.
right now i have
PDA: I9000XXJF3
Phone: I9000XXJF3
CSC: I9000XAJF3
basically, i dont really understand what are those things. Im assuming phone=modem/radio, and pda=ROM revision.
1.what is CSC?
when i downloaded a new ROM from samsung-firmware, there is only one file in it, which is PDA.
2.do i need all 3 components to ensure the phone is usable after flash?
3.can i mix and match any phone and csc file from different ROMs?
4.im trying to get my phone to work in china, is there any region specific PHONE or CSC file that i should use, or can i just use any Europian files and they will work automatically in china?
5.is there some kind of HSPL thing in android phones i need to take care of before flashing so i wont brick my phone?
i find them really complicated, in htc windows mobile phones, there are only 2 things to consider and they are straight forward. Radio ROM is what it is, Radio. and there is the ROM version, which is straight forward as well. and they can be mixed and matched as long as the phone model is the same. no region problems. can someone help me to understand this from a windows mobile user perspective please? thank you.

Hi
I'm newbee too - and it seems that we are on our own, since nobody here answers Q unless the Q is top dollar relevant :-(
I've f/w updated my Galaxy S Gt-i9000 twice.
I did it PRECISELY as described in the "how-to-doc" that U-ll find on Samsung-firmware. And YES; they say use PDA if there's only one file.
What I did, was looking carefully at the printed screens in the how-to-guide.
CSC: Language-something.
PDA: ...?
After fW update I "reset-to-factory". Don't know if thats needed. Maybe it resets original fw? Does it load settings/fw from ROOT.... Don't know; but would like to know if somebody would be so kind.
Kindly (but...)

I think the reason for no answers is that they have already been answered in the forum.

Frezore is right. Questions like that stay unanswered because they have been asked 100 times before. I'll make an faq thread tomorrow morning.
Basically:
CSC is country specific code. It's some app as well as settings for 3G network providers and things like that. However, as of now only russian and region independent CSCs are available with the newer ROMs. In order to get internet on your phone in china you'll have to enter the APN manually. Info like that varies per provider and its easily found using google.
The phone file is what you would call the radio rom.
The PDA is the ROM. The software/firmware. It include android and all the apps that get installed along with it like samsungs touchwiz and swype.
It is preferable to update all three at the same time, however, not always necessary. An outdated modem (phone) firmware might result in compatibility issues (although very unlikely) and old CSCs can cause problems if the apps are outdated or apn settings are wrong.
However, CSCs, phone and pda files ate always distributed in complete packages so there really isn't abig deal.
There is no such thing as HSPL. Firmwares on samsung phones are installed using Odin (samsung-firmwares.com).
If you factory reset (just like on the wimo phones) you'll revert to the original settings of the rom/firmware you currently have installed. To get your phone completely back to factory settings you'll have to flash the factory rom that came with your device.
FAQ thread tomorrow.
Sent from my GT-I9000

FrezoreR said:
I think the reason for no answers is that they have already been answered in the forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but i not see any sticky about that, and yes, Im same like alexnvidia , old WM user, but dont know much, aka nothing, about Android, because it is relative new OS, and total otherwise than Windows Mobile.
Example: No where i cannot read, how i can enter in terminal mode on Galaxy ? No sticky, no wiki, no google, and nowhere...
Thanks any on answer forwarding
Best regards

miro666 said:
Example: No where i cannot read, how i can enter in terminal mode on Galaxy ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Terminal mode? It's a kind of Linux. Just download and install terminal software, there are plenty of them on Market.

[Q] 3 button recovery/download help please

I have read the thread about how to get this function enabled on my device. There was a list of countries listed but unfortunately did not include New Zealand. The thread I'm talking about is http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=785201&page=13, post number 124. My CSC is I9000VNZJH2 which is not listed on there.
I would like to root my phone, but don't want to go ahead with it until the 3 button recovery/download is enabled. Could anyone suggest as to what CSC I should use please?
Once rooted I would like to get the latest/best current firmware, as mine is out of date. Any suggestions which I should use and where I can download it from?
Any other tips are much appreciated.
Thanks in advance. :>

this topic might give you some ideas / solutions
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=812933

Hey AllGamer, thanks for the suggestion. Yeah I saw that thread previously. It's more talking about how to fix semi bricked phone. I actually don't want to risk getting to that point. Would be nice to be able to have the recovery enabled. I'm wondering if I can use the Australian version maybe. Such a bummer that NZ is a small market for Samsung to worry about their customers over here, which automatically cuts your choices. hehe

I'd suggest PM'ing richthofen and asking if he has a CSC for NZ available. He mentioned in his JM9 thread that he has access to 'most' firmwares.
That said, I flashed with the post #1 method from PDA: JG4 and had no issues with that fix.
When I flashed up to JM9 I couldn't find a HK CSC from his posts either, but found a JH1 firmware from HK which included one on samfirmwares. If you can find a NZ leaked firmware somewhere that has PDA/MODEM/CSC separated files you can probably just nab the CSC from that and use it.

Thanks for the reply. I will flick richthofen a pm and see what his suggestions might be. :>

Let me know how you go with this, as I'm in NZ, and have same firmware as you.
Thanks
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

sargorn said:
I'd suggest PM'ing Richthofen and asking if he has a CSC for NZ available. He mentioned in his JM9 thread that he has access to 'most' firmwares.
That said, I flashed with the post #1 method from PDA: JG4 and had no issues with that fix.
When I flashed up to JM9 I couldn't find a HK CSC from his posts either, but found a JH1 firmware from HK which included one on samfirmwares. If you can find a NZ leaked firmware somewhere that has PDA/MODEM/CSC separated files you can probably just nab the CSC from that and use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I ran into a smiler issue, I'm in aus but I picked my phone up before it came out here from a HK warehouse, it's unbranded, and as far as I know an international version, I've yet to hear back from Richthofen, as I pm'd him with a similar question but with csc I90000ZSJH1 in place of the nz one. I was wondering if since it's an international version, it could pretty much take any of the unbranded firmwares? or as it's a JH1, which is fairly new if I could just do the fix on it's own as per original method? I'm desperate to play around with roms and lag fixes but won't do it until I have the 3 button recovery option set up.
What was your experience with a HK I9000? I'd like to confirm how you did it (in more detail) so I could do the same. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this so any help would be very appreciated.

To a fellow kiwi, Richthofen said to use the method desplayed on the first page of this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=785201, as it's most up to date one, and it should work. I will attempt it at some point on the weekend. Will report once done.

Well, I used the method on the first page, just flashing the pbl/sbl. Exactly as it is there.
However, I was flashing from an Australian Firmware/csc (JG4). I bricked my HK phone two months ago trying to flash up to JH1 and sent it to Australia to get it serviced. (Wasn't released in Japan yet, and Samsung HK didn't want to deal with me at all).
That said, if you want to use the flashing a full firmware method (and when you do have to flash a full firmware later) just use the JH1 CSC (On samfirmwares under Asian firmwares). Haven't had any issues with that CSC on JM9 PDA.

I decided not to go ahead with the enabling. The phone needed to rooted in order to use those instructions. The phone is still under warranty, so I'm going to request for the 3 button recovery/download mode to be enabled. Plus I have some weird errors when taking photos, might be just a corrupt external SD card. But I'd rather take it back to Samsung and let them fix it while still under warranty. :>

[Q] Kies Not Showing the Newest Open European Firmware for my Note

I recently purchased a Galaxy Note (Unlocked) and am loving the device. I was reading online that there was a newer open european firmware (LA3) but was perplexed as my phone was saying there are no upgrades for it. I installed Kies (the UK version) and it updated it's self to 2.2 yet it still does not show any newer firmware than what is on my phone (KKA).
Is there a way to force Kies to let me update? or am I missing a step (I never did create a samsung account).
Thank you in advance...

Hi there,
I also recently purchased a Note, and have been spending FAAAR tooo much time lurking on this forum trying to work out whats what with rooting/roming and all things GNote.
Fairly new to all this android malarky and tbh i'm kinda just responding to your question as a way to clarify what, i have, thus far, gleaned from by lurksome xda ways! And as an attempt to stop lurking so much and try and give back some of the understanding xda has given me.
Your question is something I was also rather confused by, but from what I understand - It seems that Samsung rolls out OTA and Kies updates to phones with different CSC codes at different times.
I think it is only the German (DBT) phone which has had the latest LB1 update. I know that my XEU phone is also still on KKA, with no ota or kies updates available.
From what I understand, the way one gets the updates without rooting is through flashing them with a Windows app called PC Odin with the phone in download mode.
Or via rooting your KKA rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1329360
and then flashing the updated firmware with either Mobile Odin or Clockwork Mod.
In all cases I believe you must download the firmware from either the sammobile site or http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1424997
If any (or all!) of that is totally wrong - please someone with greater experience wade in and put me straight, but I just thought that seeing as no-one else had responded - i'd try and make something of all the hrs i've spent lurking on here since i got this phone
Anyhow I'm sure if you just follow the links i've posted to the brilliant work of Dr Ketan - you won't go far wrong
Personally, I've not actually put any of this to the test yet - wanna make sure I really do know my arse from my elbow or in this case - my dalvik from my build.prop before I go messing with a £500 phone....

knowayback said:
Hi there,
I also recently purchased a Note, and have been spending FAAAR tooo much time lurking on this forum trying to work out whats what with rooting/roming and all things GNote.
Fairly new to all this android malarky and tbh i'm kinda just responding to your question as a way to clarify what, i have, thus far, gleaned from by lurksome xda ways! And as an attempt to stop lurking so much and try and give back some of the understanding xda has given me.
Your question is something I was also rather confused by, but from what I understand - It seems that Samsung rolls out OTA and Kies updates to phones with different CSC codes at different times.
I think it is only the German (DBT) phone which has had the latest LB1 update. I know that my XEU phone is also still on KKA, with no ota or kies updates available.
From what I understand, the way one gets the updates without rooting is through flashing them with a Windows app called PC Odin with the phone in download mode.
Or via rooting your KKA rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1329360
and then flashing the updated firmware with either Mobile Odin or Clockwork Mod.
In all cases I believe you must download the firmware from either the sammobile site or http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1424997
If any (or all!) of that is totally wrong - please someone with greater experience wade in and put me straight, but I just thought that seeing as no-one else had responded - i'd try and make something of all the hrs i've spent lurking on here since i got this phone
Anyhow I'm sure if you just follow the links i've posted to the brilliant work of Dr Ketan - you won't go far wrong
Personally, I've not actually put any of this to the test yet - wanna make sure I really do know my arse from my elbow or in this case - my dalvik from my build.prop before I go messing with a £500 phone....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the help to answer your question you are in part correct (from what I can gather). Samsung does issue updates based on CSC codes and there is nothing for the UK CSC code. However they also release what is called open updates. Meaning any carrier in a given country can use a open update for that country. Beyond that they release what is called open European updates that any unlocked phone in Europe can use.
My question is the latest open European update is LXA or LLA or something like that which is farther along than the KK5 I am on. Since it is open European I should be able to update to it I would think. There could be something to the fact that the UK is considered part of the EU so it might not fall under even an open European release and if that is the case than so be it.
I am just trying to find out why my unlocked international version of the note can not seem to update to the latest open European update

Ok, so from the sounds of it - i think your definitely better informed than me on Samsung update protocol
Haven't heard any of that before. I was under the impression that the XEU code was the unlocked open euro code....
Anyway, just thought i'd let u know that i took the plunge today - deciding that I trusted XDA more than Samsung to update my phone
Rooted my stock KKA rom using dr ketans posts as my guide, then flashed the stock LB1 firmware and have since flashed Franco's kernel.....all seems well so far
Although one thing i did notice is that my Antutu score was significantly lower after flashing Lb1, but before flashing Franco's kernel (haven't tested since)....
Anyway good luck waiting for an official update - in my limited experience - I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for OEM's to issue OTA updates...

Valdeck said:
I am just trying to find out why my unlocked international version of the note can not seem to update to the latest open European update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is cool. But how to find whether my phone is locked or not?
And what about if we try to involve the Samsung support on this question? I'm also stuck with kk5 and i'm also in Europe.

Spo0f said:
This is cool. But how to find whether my phone is locked or not?
And what about if we try to involve the Samsung support on this question? I'm also stuck with kk5 and i'm also in Europe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to know what region your phone is from plug it into the computer after you have installed samsung kies. Once you do if you look at the screen for your phone you will see three sets of letters and numbers. The last one in the string will have your CSC once you get that do a google for where it is from.
If you are on kk5 like me then you probably have a UK code.
An phone is unlocked by default when you import it from Europe as they use a different model for cell carriers than we do in the states.

The simple way to get the latest updates is....change your CSC with *#272*imei# in the dialer pad to the lastest update ( csc)! You don't need root or odin or mobile odin. Just change your country code. This will wipe your phone...but after restart you will get a promt to update your software as soo. As wou are connected to a wifi. There are many post about it...the csc change is described in sgs2 foruns and all over the net. About the country code, please visit sammobile.com and in firmware section you will find detailed info about those codes.
P.S. My note was originaly in XEH ( open Hungary), I'm from Romania so I changed my CSC to Open Germay (DBT-debitel) and after restart i got 2 consecutive updates.
Hope to help, sorry for my bad english
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

The easiest way to get updates is via XDA. Download PC Odin, and choose whatever Rom you fancy from the first sticky thread in Note development.

Can anyone point me to Stock Firmware for N920i?

I have found official stock firmware for every single note 5 model EXCEPT for the N920i.
Does anyone know if it is out there? Much appreciated!

HERE you go

Thanks so much! There are a million n920i firmware, lol.
I ordered my n920i from monoprice ebay for 590.00 I wonder which one I should use?
Any idea? I am trying to have the correct firmware downloaded ahead of time just in case I make a mistake.

stu5797 said:
Thanks so much! There are a million n920i firmware, lol.
I ordered my n920i from monoprice ebay for 590.00 I wonder which one I should use?
Any idea? I am trying to have the correct firmware downloaded ahead of time just in case I make a mistake.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should take any NOT carrier related and take a look into settings-about phone-software info.

I had a hard time figuring out my CSC on my n920i purchased from monoprice via ebay. Use *#1234# to see CSC and match it to the firmware on the page linked above.
I was happy to see my n920i was the XSA variant which is unlocked version for Australia. Fingers crossed they get samsung pay sooner than later. It's the only sacrifice made by getting this version, other then that, really loving the unit on Cricket/At&t. Pretty sweet you don't need any hacks to get wifi tethering working and no att bloatware!

Sampson0420 - When you installed the firmware did it wipe everything off your phone. I too have the N920i and I believe mine is from Singapore. When I used ODIN to reinstall my firmware is does not wipe the phone. I think I have a Bluetooth issue and wanted to start from scratch. Please let me know if your firmware started you at the beginning. Thanks.

Flashing SM-N960W Canadian firmware on a SM-N960FD UAE phone for samsung pay?

Hi,
I recently bought a Note 9 (SM-N960FD) from Duabi and went back to Canada. Now Samsung Pay is not working here at all. It gives me an error message that it is unable to connect to server.
I have been looking for solutions around for the past 2 days with no luck.
What I reached is that I have to change the CSC of my phone (which seems to be a much more complicated process than just flashing a firmware with ODIN). And some suggested that this will be of no use as my phone is exynos and Samsung Pass will not work in Canada unless it is a Snapdragon phone!!
Also the model is different here in Canada. It is SM-960W (with XAC as the unlocked version).
What do I do? I want samsung pay to work on my phone. Shall I change the CSC and flash the Canadian firmware? Is it Okay to do that with the Canadian firmware designed for a different model (960W and not the 960FD)
Please advice.
Thanks

sammobile firmware to change csc
hello,
I was in a similar case when i bought my note 9. It was from Taiwan and I am from Spain.
I flashed the spain firmware from sammobile
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/recent/
and now my Samsung pay and other apps work natively. I was told by Samsung Taiwan that flashing other csc can cause incompatibility, so take that in mind because although it may not seem real, the different versions of smartphones have different hardware.
Research a little bit from the forums.
I had the sm-n960f/ds and i installed the software from the sm-n960f from Spain.
Also, install cpu-z so that you know well what chip is installed inside and more info that could help you to fix this issue.
This is only informative, I don't take any responsibility of any damage.

dra3b said:
Hi,
I recently bought a Note 9 (SM-N960FD) from Duabi and went back to Canada. Now Samsung Pay is not working here at all. It gives me an error message that it is unable to connect to server.
I have been looking for solutions around for the past 2 days with no luck.
What I reached is that I have to change the CSC of my phone (which seems to be a much more complicated process than just flashing a firmware with ODIN). And some suggested that this will be of no use as my phone is exynos and Samsung Pass will not work in Canada unless it is a Snapdragon phone!!
Also the model is different here in Canada. It is SM-960W (with XAC as the unlocked version).
What do I do? I want samsung pay to work on my phone. Shall I change the CSC and flash the Canadian firmware? Is it Okay to do that with the Canadian firmware designed for a different model (960W and not the 960FD)
Please advice.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately you cannot flash different model firmware on different chip.
so ure stuck. the only way id see ure spay working again might be using a vpn and choosing one of the region phone is from. but id doubt this would be a good long term solution. but as a proof of concept, it might be nice to try.

bober10113 said:
unfortunately you cannot flash different model firmware on different chip.
so ure stuck. the only way id see ure spay working again might be using a vpn and choosing one of the region phone is from. but id doubt this would be a good long term solution. but as a proof of concept, it might be nice to try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can root the phone and has alternative to flash csc for your region but for this need a rom with spay working

ebusuhejbi said:
You can root the phone and has alternative to flash csc for your region but for this need a rom with spay working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no custom rom has spay working.

See dr ketan rom has s pay working on

ebusuhejbi said:
See dr ketan rom has s pay working on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a difference between spay for watches and spay for phones. not everyone has a watch. please read dr. ketan's rom thread title extremely very carefully. and then read the contents of the thread with just as much care.
reading is key.