FIXED: Unable to flash "bricked" Samsung Galaxy S20 (SM-G981U1) - Auth Failed

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NobleX13

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A friend of mine came to me with a 128GB SM-G981U1 that will not boot. It throws the "Secure Check Fail: boot" error after briefly flashing the Galaxy boot logo, and sits at the teal exclamation point screen "Security Error: This phone has been flashed with unauthorized software..." message.

According to him, he bought this phone brand new from a third-party seller on Amazon, and used it for a couple of months before it started throwing some sort of error at boot. He sent it in for RMA, and it then presented this error when he got it back. He contacted Samsung again regarding this, and they told him "This isn't covered under warranty because you flashed it", and voided the warranty on his device then and there. He claims he never attempted to root or flash the phone, and I believe him. He also mentioned that he found a third-party repair shop business card in the box after getting it back the second time. I am unsure how that could happen. Is Samsung really outsourcing device repair to third-party shops?

I assumed that this device was mistakenly flashed with the wrong firmware, so I put it into download mode. It says:

Code:
Carrier: XAA
RPBM Fuse Set
RPMB PROVISIONED
Current Binary: Custom (0x022)
FRP LOCK: ON
QUALCOMM SECUREBOOT: ENABLE
RP SWREV : B1 (1,1,1,1,1,1) K1 S1
SECURE DOWNLOAD: Enable
SPU [VALID]: 5
HDM STATUS: NONE

Based on this, I assume that the bootloader is locked, and that some genius either flashed the wrong ROM, or a custom ROM, to the device through Odin.

I used Frija to download the latest XAA ROM, and I can never get Odin to do anything other than throw an "Auth failed" message whenever I try to flash it. I have installed the Samsung USB device drivers, and I have tried both Odin 3.13.1 , 3.13.3, and 3.14.4 without success (both the vanilla and patched versions). I have also tried three different XAA ROMs for the SM-G981U1 going back several versions, the VZW ROM for this device, and a SM-G981U ROM without any luck.

Am I unable to flash this phone because FRP is enabled? Everything I have ready up until this point made it seem like that should not matter.

I have also tried three different USB cables, and three different Windows 10 Pro Build 2004 PCs.

This phone is so hooped that I cannot enter the recovery, just Download mode. I have wasted at least six hours messing with this device at this point, and I am at my wit's end here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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