How to Install / Restore Stock Firmware on Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (All Models)

[kanniappan]

The Galaxy Note 3 is Samsung’s latest  flagship in phablet (phone+tablet) category. The device has already been  launched in Exynos and Snapdragon variants like the Galaxy S4 and has  reached or been reaching most carriers across the world with different  model branding. On hardware side, the Note 3 bears all rings and bells  associated with a Galaxy flagship and sports a 5.7-inch Full HD super  AMOLED display with 386 ppi and 1080 x 1920 px resolution, Qualcomm  Snapdragon 800 / Exynos 5 Octa 5420 processor, Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait  400 / Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 / Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU,  and a Li-Ion 3200 mAh battery. The device comes with Android 4.3 Jelly  Bean out of the box. All Galaxy Note phablet devices are known for the  innovative S Pen stylus and, being the most advance device  of the  series, Note 3 has some awesome S-Pen features.

Android, being an Open Source platform, offers a lot more freedom that  other operating systems. If you own any popular Android device, you have  access not only to millions of apps, but also to hundreds of custom  ROMs and mods. While many users feel themselves happy without making any  custom modification to their device, there are still many who feel  Android tasteless without rooting and installing custom ROMs and mods.  They play with ROMs and root apps to get better battery, performance and  customization. However, there are times when we feel nostalgic about  the stock features of the device and then think of returning to the  official firmware firmware. Sometimes our device gets stuck and refuses  to boot properly. Flashing the stock firmware often proves to be the  only remedy to return our device to normal state.

If you ever need to restore stock firmware on your Samsung Galaxy Note  3, here is a guide that will help you install the original firmware.  However, there are a few things you need to know (especially if you’re  new) and some preparation must make before proceeding to install a  firmware.

About Galaxy Note 3 Firmwares:

Know Your Note 3′s Model:

As we mentioned above, Galaxy Note 3  comes in various models based on processor type, network connectivity  and carriers. Before installing  a firmware, you’ll have to download it  and to do so, it’s very  important that you grab the correct firmware  file first. This is how you  can check which model of Note 3 you have:  go to Settings> General> About and check Model number. Most firmware files have the model number of the device they are meant for in their very name.
For your reference, I have listed the major variants of the Galaxy Note 3 below:


Samsung Galaxy Note 3  SM-N900 (Exynos Octa Core)
    Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Duos SM-N9002 (China)
    Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9006 (China/WCDMA)
    Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9000Q (Turkey)
    Samsung Galaxy Note 3 LTE SM-N9005 (Snapdragon Quad Core)
    Samsung Galaxy Note 3  SM-N900S (Snapdragon 800 / LTE-A)
    T-Mobile Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900T
    Sprint Galaxy Note 3  SM-N900P
    AT&T Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900A
    Canadian Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900W8 (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Wind Mobile,  Virgin, Koodo, Mobilicity, Sasktel and Latin American countries)
    Latin American Note 3 SM-N900W8 (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, etc.)
    US Cellular Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900R4
    Verizon Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900V

You might find 2 types of firmwares even within a particular model  number. Such firmwares are generally known as Branded and Unbranded  ones. If your device is locked to a network provider/carrier, it’s a  branded device. Therefore you must install a firmware that is meant for  your carrier. Similarly, if you are able to use any SIM card on your  phone, it’s unbranded, and so you can install any firmware on it that is  for unbranded Note 3.

[kanniappan]

Know Your Note 3′s CSC:

Samsung is currently the most popular vendor of Android devices in the  world. Unlike any other OEM, the Korean manufacturer releases its  firmwares based on country, region and network provider. They call it  CSC (Consumer Software Customization) which denotes to a specific  geographical region or carrier. The CSC code contains the info about  software packages specific to a region, language packs and features,  carrier branding and also APN (Access Point Name) settings. All CSC  packages have a particular set of language (you’ll find English in all  of them) and therefore, if you install a firmware that is not for your  region, it’s probable that you might not find your native language in  it. In case you do not find the firmware file for the original CSC on  your Galaxy Note 3, try to find the firmware for the nearest country.

Also, to get OTA updates via Kies on your Galaxy Note 3, the original  CSC of your device and that of the firmware you are going to install  must match exactly. If it doesn’t match, you’ll have to download and  install the firmwares manually. To know the CSC code of your device, the  easiest way is to download Samsung Kies on your computer and connect  the device. To know more about CSC codes for Samsung Galaxy devices, do  not forget to read out detailed article:

All Samsung Galaxy Series firmwares have three components that are as follows:

    PDA
    Phone
    CSC

The name of a firmware contains all these details. Thus, PDA refers to  the build version of the software/firmware, Phone refers to the  baseband/modem version, and CSC (Consumer Software Customization)  denotes to a specific geographical region or carrier. The CSC code  contains the info about software packages specific to a particular  region, carrier branding and also APN (Access Point Name) settings for  data connection.

In this way, unless the PDA, PHONE and CSC codes do not match correctly,  you will not be able to update your device over Samsung Kies or via  OTA.

Now remember that the product code and firmware version differs from one  device to another according to the region or country where it is sold.  In most cases you can find out the country or region of a device for  which it has been made by referring to the firmware version.

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How to Change the CSC code:

Please  note that performing the CSC change action will factory reset  your  phone. It means it will take your phone to the status as it was  when you  bought it. All data present on the internal storage will be  wiped.  Therefore, do not forget to backup you data before you proceed.

• Open your phone’s dialer and type the following code with your device IMEI number: *#272*Phone’s IMEI Here#
  
• You can find your phones IMEI number on a white sticker beneath phone’s battery.
• You will see a pop-up screen with a list of CSC codes.
  
• Select the CSC that you want and tap on “Install”.
  
• Your phone will be reboot automatically.
• Congrats! Your Samsung Galaxy phone’s CSC has been changed successfully.

[kanniappan]

Change CSC Code on Galaxy S4 and Other Galaxy Devices:

If the above set of code *#272*Phone’s IMEI Here# did not work for you,  try the CSC Changer app developed by bassie1995. I have tested it on my  Galaxy S4 and it works like a charm. But unlike the above method it  requires root access on your Samsung Galaxy device. You can later unroot  your device by choosing “Full Unroot” option present under SuperSU  Settings and then by flashing the stock Kernel.

Warning: Whatever method you chose to change CSC on your Galaxy phone or  tablet, it is sure to wipe all data and apps present on the internal SD  Card of your device. So act wisely and backup all data first.

    Download CSC Changer app and copy it to your phone by connecting to computer: CSC-Changer.apk
    If the above app does not work for you, try this app: cscselect-5.apk
    Also download the BusyBox app: stericson.busybox-141-v9.3.apk     (Google Play Link)
    Make sure you install the BusyBox first and CSC Changer requires it pre-installed to work.
    Open the CSC Changer app and select “Change CSC”.
    This will take you directly to the available CSC codes list on your device. Please note that you will be able to see

• many codes only if your device’s firmware has multi-CSC.
  
• Select your desired CSC and tap on “Install” option.
  
• You device will now reboot and when it wakes up, it’ll have the new CSC.

[kanniappan]

Finding the Latest Firmware:

While  looking for a firmware, you might see several firmwares listed  for the  model number and CSC of your Galaxy Note 3. The names of  Samsung  firmwares often start with the model number of the device  followed by  sequence of alphabets and numbers. You can find the latest  firmware by  comparing the alphabetical order between the firmware  versions. See the  examples given below:

XEO-N9005XXUBMI7
XEO-N9005XXUALQ8
XEO-N9005XXUAKL3

In the above examples of the firmware versions for Galaxy Note 3, we have four types of info. XEO with black shows the CSC code for Poland. Next comes N9005, that shows the model number of the device the firmware is meant for. In this case, it is the LTE (Snapdragon) version of the device. Then comes XX that denotes to region that is Europe. The last 5 characters show the firmware version. In the first (top) firmware, you can see that noticed from left to right, UBMI7 is greater than UALQ8, and UAKL3 is less than both. Thus the top firmware is the latest of all.
 
Where to Download Firmware for Galaxy Note 3:

To download the firmware for your Galaxy Note 3, click on the device name.

• Galaxy Note 3  SM-N900
  
• Galaxy Note 3 Duos SM-N9002
  
• Galaxy Note 3 LTE SM-N9005
  
• Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9000Q
  
• Galaxy Note 3  SM-N900S
  
• T-Mobile Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900T
  
• Sprint Galaxy Note 3  SM-N900P
  
• AT&T Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900A (firmware not available)
  
• Canadian Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900W8
  
• US Cellular Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900R4 (firmware not available)
  
• Verizon Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900V (firmware not available)
  

[kanniappan]

Installing Firmware on Note 3:

 
Download Odin:
Odin is the unofficial version of Samsung’s tool for installing  firmware to its Android devices. To be able to install a firmware on  your Note 3, you will need this tool. Unfortunately, Odin is not  available for Mac or Linux and so you must have a Windows PC to use it.  If you have a Mac or Ubuntu computer, you can download and  use Heimdall  for the purpose.

Odin_v3.09.zip
Dev-Host - Odin_v3.09.zip - The Ultimate Free File Hosting / File Sharing Service

To download all versions of Odin, click here or here
Dev-Host - Odin_v3.09_v3.07_v3.06_v3.04_v1.85_v1.83.zip - The Ultimate Free File Hosting / File Sharing Service
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84115590/Odin_v3.09_v3.07_v3.06_v3.04_v1.85_v1.83.zip

 
Booting Galaxy Note 3 in Download Mode:
All Samsung Galaxy devices need to be booted into Download Mode before  installing a firmware using Odin. You can put your Galaxy Note 3 into  Download mode by pressing Volume Down + Home + Power buttons together  for 2-3 seconds. When the screen turns up, you’ll be asked to press  Volume Up to enter Download mode.

Do it.

 
Enable USB Debugging on Note 3:

Before installing a firmware, USB Debugging must be enabled on your Galaxy Note 3 by going to Settings> General> Developer options.  Developer options are hidden by default on all Android device running Android 4.2 and up. To make them visible, go to Settings> General> About on your Note 3 and tap Build Number for 7 times.

When it is done, go back to Settings panel and you’ll be able to see Developer Options there. Tap on it and select USB Debugging. This mode prepares your device by allowing the computer to make changes to your device.

[kanniappan]

Using Odin to Install Firmware:

• Download  the appropriate  firmware file. If it is packed in a .Zip or .Rar  archive, extract it on  your computer. All firmware files have .tar.md5 extension.
  
• Download and extract/unzip the Odin zip file and launch the .exe file by double-clicking it.
  
• Boot your Note 3 into download mode by turning it off and pressing the following key combination: Volume Down + Home + Power.
  
• Connect   the device to computer using USB cable and wait till Odin detects it. A   successful connection is indicated by Blue signal at ID:COM and “Added!!” text at the message box on Odin.
  
• “Auto Reboot” and “F. Reset Time” options are selected on Odin by default. Let them be as they are and do not check any other option on Odin.
  
• If you are using Odin3 3.09, click on “AP” button, navigate to the firmware file and select it.
  
• Finally, hit the “Start” button and wait till the installation finishes. It might take a few minutes to complete.
  
• When the firmware is installed, you will see “PASS!!” message on Odin and your Note 3 will reboot automatically.
  

The   first boot after installing a firmware takes a longer time than it   takes usually. Wait for a while and then your phone should be ready to   use.
 
Fixing a Bootloop on Galaxy Note 3:

Sometimes  a little obstacle pops up while your phone tries to boot up.  Bootloop  is a situation where your see the device logo or animation  repeated  constantly. The clash between two incompatible files in the  system after  installing a new firmware often causes bootloop. To fix  it, do the  following steps:

• Pull out the back cover of your Galaxy Note 3 and  take out the battery.
• Wait for a minute and place the battery back to it place.
• Then press and hold the Volume Up + Home + Power   keys simultaneously till you see the Samsung logo   appear-disappear-appear and disappear again. It’s just the moment when   you have to release the Power button. Keep the other buttons pressed   till you see a green Android robot followed by Android System Recovery.
  
• Here   you’ll see a small list of options in blue text. This screen does not   support touch, so use the volume keys to scroll/highlight and the power   key to select an option.
• Go to “wipe data/factory reset” option and confirm your choice by selecting “yes”.
  
• Finally, select “reboot system now”.
  
• Your Note 3 will boot normally now.