Galaxy Note 8

Tsepz_011 said:
This is very worrying. I can see that Samsung is updating the phone monthly in SamMobile firmwarea, but Vodacom have not pushed anything out for us, WTF. So it seems Samsung are working on blocking us from doing this is future but it cans still be done right now?
Click to expand...

No. It seems the whole "blocking" thing was a hoax. I'm trying to find out more information about why michellej experienced what she experienced.
 
Tsepz_011 said:
Okay cool. I am going to download a BTU FW for now and then research as well before I try flash.
Click to expand...

I have switched between XFV and XFE on an XFA handset (bought from Samsung directly), multiple times, using the default Odin method.

Provided the correct CSC file was flashed (resulting in a full factory reset), I have not had issues. CSC has always played along, except for the third indicator in Settings-About Phone-Software Information-Service provider SW ver, which is fixed to the CSC the handset originally came with.

No VoLTE on XFE, but I have not missed it, and OTAs have been more regular than XFV. I always download and flash a full factory firmware set to update before the OTA is out anyway.

XFE is also unbranded and can be updated with any of the European firmware packs for the OXM region.

I am currently running this one: https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-note8/SM-N950F/XEF/download/N950FXXU3BRA8/205807/

It initially sets the CSC as XEF (France), but asks to do a reset on first boot (In French), after which it settles on XFE. Make sure that you have your SIM card in the handset on that first boot, else it will stay on XEF!

Note that Sammobile reckons flashing via Odin invalidates your warranty, so do this at your own risk.

CSC Regions: https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39186
 
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simp said:
I have switched between XFV and XFE on an XFA handset (bought from Samsung directly), multiple times, using the default Odin method.

Provided the correct CSC file was flashed (resulting in a full factory reset), I have not had issues. CSC has always played along, except for the third indicator in Settings-About Phone-Software Information-Service provider SW ver, which is fixed to the CSC the handset originally came with.

No VoLTE on XFE, but I have not missed it, and OTAs have been more regular than XFV. I always download and flash a full factory firmware set to update before the OTA is out anyway.

XFE is also unbranded and can be updated with any of the European firmware packs for the OXM region.

I am currently running this one: https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-note8/SM-N950F/XEF/download/N950FXXU3BRA8/205807/

It initially sets the CSC as XEF (France), but asks to do a reset on first boot (In French), after which it settles on XFE. Make sure that you have your SIM card in the handset on that first boot, else it will stay on XEF!

Note that Sammobile reckons flashing via Odin invalidates your warranty, so do this at your own risk.

CSC Regions: https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39186
Click to expand...

do you mind running this app and posting a screenshot?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.vndnguyen.phoneinfo
 
faniebraai said:
do you mind running this app and posting a screenshot?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.vndnguyen.phoneinfo
Click to expand...
Sure. Let me know if you need more.

7af99ea71b386103b99921828eb236b6.jpg
6bbc1ed1abf78b828b7d54d1399ff869.jpg
 
simp said:
Sure. Let me know if you need more.
Click to expand...

wait, hang on, i'm confused.

So your region is XFE... so you won't get XEF updates OTA? That's kinda what we want to resolve here. Do you just then reflash the main file with every update manually?

So you are saying that if you do the flasher thingy without a sim in your phone, you will get the region that the firmware was from, ie. XEF (France). And after the reboots necessary, you can insert your SIM and stay on that region?
 
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faniebraai said:
wait, hang on, i'm confused.

So your region is XFE... so you won't get XEF updates OTA? That's kinda what we want to resolve here. Do you just then reflash the main file with every update manually?

So you are saying that if you do the flasher thingy without a sim in your phone, you will get the region that the firmware was from, ie. XEF (France). And after the reboots necessary, you can insert your SIM and stay on that region?
Click to expand...

Thats what i am saying. Mine says xfe /xfe /xfv
And apparently you need that countries sim card to do the country change. Go look on sammobile forums under note 8.
 
My original set was XFA/XFA/XFA
Flashing XFV made it go to XFV/XFV/AFA
Flashing XEF made it : XFE/XFE/XFA (check lower down for how this happens).

The last value never changes, as it is hardcoded based on your phone's original CSC configuration. As long as the first two match, you should receive OTA updates matching the first value.

I do get OTA updates for XFE, just elected to not wait for them, and update with a full firmware version from the OXM region as it becomes available on Updato. Because the CSC is aready set and is available in the OXM region firmwares, it is retained when flashing anything from the same region.

The OXM region contains both XFA, XFE and XEF, with XEF being the default. This means the initial flash from a different region (XFV is in OJV region I think), defaults to XEF. The first reboot after flash then looks at the sim card in the device to auto-pick what it thinks is the best matching region for the sim card. As XFV is not available in the OXM region, it picks XFE. You have zero control over what it thinks the best match is.

For some reason I have not been able to get it back to XFA/XFA/XFA, and have tried sim cards from Telkom, CellC and MTN.
 
Yup, those are all in the OXM region, hence uses the default CSC for our SA sim cards, which seems to be XFE.
 
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