I need help. - Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Disclaimer: Ive searched and searched through the forums and archives and Ive hit a brick wall.
Ive read Vibrants are nearly impossible to brick, which is awesome, however I dont think thats the case here. I had originally went from my JI6 OTA update to Obsidian 4.2. and I wanted to try a new ROM. I remembered reading its a good idea to flash back to stock between ROM flashes, so thats what I was attempting to do. Well I just got a new computer, and reinstalled everything, but didnt even think to do the stuff for my phone for whatever reason, so I was without ODIN, the drivers, and my backups.
So I got to a point where I was going to just try it with ROM Manager. When I clicked the option to "Boot Into Recovery Mode/CWR", it went to the first boot screen (the one that says vibrant and samsung) and wouldnt do anything else. So I reflashed the firmware (the 513.pit) and it came back on (this happened a few times actually, but hey we learn from our mistakes, lol).
I recently reinstalled ODIN also, and I guess I used to have v1.3 and this was v1.7, and for some reason re-partition was pre-checked, and when I unchecked it, and hit start to reinstall the firmware, it checked itself, and it was to late, I didnt want to unplug it. After this it wouldnt do anything, but I managed to get it back into DL mode, and Im pretty sure I need to re-flash the stock software, so I found it, downloaded it, unzipped it and whenever I click the "PDA" button, the files 'kernal update, META-INF, and system' all show up, but its just the folders, no files.
Also, I did have the OCLF on there, but once I reflashed the firmware, and the phone booted back up the ext2 files were no longer installed, as it didnt give me the option to uninstall them, only to install them
So here I am now, with a phone that I can barely get into DL mode, and I cant get any ROM to come up in ODIN. Its always just the folders, no files.
Thanks in advance
If you dont feel like reading all that, heres the cliffs:
Phone went from 2.1/JI6 to Obsidian 4.2/JK2 with OCLF
Backups are gone
Accidentally re-partioned phone with ODIN while reinstalling firmware
Regardless of the ROM, only the folders show up, no actual files for the ROM.
Phone wont turn back on, right now.
Need help
Edit: Odin installs the pit file fine, the phone just wont boot. I guess if nothing else, I need to either know how to get the files to show up in the folder, or something. And before anyone mentions doing anything with adb, I have spent countless hours trying to get it to install and it never recognized the JDK and wants me to DL netbean, so thats kind of not a option right now

From what I can tell, you tried to load a ROM and it didn't take, then you tried ODIN and it didn't take.
I'm not 100% sure from your description of the exact steps you've taken. But you've only mentioned the 512.pit file for ODIN. There should also be an associated .tar file that you'll include in the PDA section. I'll see if I can find some detailed instructions on using ODIN and will edit my post once I find it.
EDIT: You can follow the instructions in this posting. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475
EDIT2: The JI6 ROM you can get there (in .rar format) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8511186#post8511186
EDIT3: Youtube video showing the .pit and .tar files in ODIN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnY7P14JSWQ
Also, you can use any recent version of the stock files as long as they are .tar files. Some files (like in my second Edit) are compressed as .rar files, which will need to be uncompressed into a .tar file before you can use it with ODIN. I think WinRar, 7-Zip, PeaZip, and other tools will extract .rar files.

Most of the ROMs you'll find here on the forum are meant to be flashed through recovery, not through Odin. If you unzip a ROM and it has the META-INF, system, etc then it is meant to be flashed through recovery.
You need an Odin-flashable ROM. Get it here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475
Then:
1. Open Odin
2. Select the .tar and .pit files from the above download
3. Make sure "Re-partition" is checked Use this only if you are flashing UVJFD from the link above
4. Plug in phone in Download mode
5. Flash it.

Thanks guys, its got JFD on there through ODIN and repartioned it, and were back to the goofy grass wall paper and the haptic feedback being turned all the way up!

Related

Problem rooting again....

I recently recovered my phone through ODIN and then upgraded to JI6 through Kies.....I wanted to re-root the phone and get it back to where it was before, but I'm having problems. I loaded the root file and put the update.zip in the root (not the avatar folder) and tried to update packages through recovery. I get an error message that says e:can't open /sdcard/update.zip no such file or directory. I checked the file type in both drives (avatar is on e: and everything else on g, the avatar folder shows a FAT file type, but the g: drive shows an unknown file type. I had received information to try a different update.zip file, but it won't change the error message I get when select update packages in recovery. What can I do? I've searched a lot of posts (and I risk a flaming on this one, I know), but I can't seem to find one that seems to follow my trail of getting to where I am at today. One last thing, when I was recovering through ODIN, i did not select repartition because i could not get the 512 pit file to populate in ODIN. Thanks to anybody who can help me (again).....
gtiryan said:
I recently recovered my phone through ODIN and then upgraded to JI6 through Kies.....I wanted to re-root the phone and get it back to where it was before, but I'm having problems. I loaded the root file and put the update.zip in the root (not the avatar folder) and tried to update packages through recovery. I get an error message that says e:can't open /sdcard/update.zip no such file or directory. I checked the file type in both drives (avatar is on e: and everything else on g, the avatar folder shows a FAT file type, but the g: drive shows an unknown file type. I had received information to try a different update.zip file, but it won't change the error message I get when select update packages in recovery. What can I do? I've searched a lot of posts (and I risk a flaming on this one, I know), but I can't seem to find one that seems to follow my trail of getting to where I am at today. One last thing, when I was recovering through ODIN, i did not select repartition because i could not get the 512 pit file to populate in ODIN. Thanks to anybody who can help me (again).....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok....
are you SURE you are putting update.zip on the right sd card....it goes on the INTERNAL CARD ( the 16gb one )...
I'm pretty sure I am, this is the one where all of the apps and apk were stored previously?
ok then start over...
odin back to stock and re-root
ok, ODIN back to stock. No change for the update.zip. This time when I flashed I added the pit file, and also checked repartition. No change in anything regarding the message or anything from before. I have tried tyhe update before and after I went from JFD to JI6. I really have no basis to speak from, but it seems that the path from my e drive (avatar) to g drive (everything else), is where the problem is, or else I got a bad flash. They all look the same though. I assume I would need root to get anywhere other than JI6 anyway. Thanks again for your help with this. I do appreciate it.....
gtiryan said:
ok, ODIN back to stock. No change for the update.zip. This time when I flashed I added the pit file, and also checked repartition. No change in anything regarding the message or anything from before. I have tried tyhe update before and after I went from JFD to JI6. I really have no basis to speak from, but it seems that the path from my e drive (avatar) to g drive (everything else), is where the problem is, or else I got a bad flash. They all look the same though. I assume I would need root to get anywhere other than JI6 anyway. Thanks again for your help with this. I do appreciate it.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok....
1. when you Odin you are supposed to load both pit and tar files and not check repartition...
2.read that...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=849028
3. are you trying to go to a stock JI6 ROM?? If so...why??
My suggestion:
Click on the Noob Guide (signature)
Download files
Load ODIN
Get phone in download mode
follow my instructions in the guide
You will then have a stock froyo leak + root
at that point I would backup, then flash something, maybe NeroV3 and then enable voodoo (if you like).
I don't see how the alt method could lead you wrong.
I apologize, I sincerely didn't notice anything that mentioned not to partition. Going forward, if I reflash through odin with the right pit and tar files WITHOUT checking partition, do you think I should be ok? As a note (if it even matters), all of my files and things were still in the internal sd card, although the new market is there from my old 2.1 rom. Not sure if it matters, just more information.
gtiryan said:
I apologize, I sincerely didn't notice anything that mentioned not to partition. Going forward, if I reflash through odin with the right pit and tar files WITHOUT checking partition, do you think I should be ok? As a note (if it even matters), all of my files and things were still in the internal sd card, although the new market is there from my old 2.1 rom. Not sure if it matters, just more information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just follow s15274n's guide...he wrote a nice guide for noobs (no offense)...it'll walk u through going back to stock and you'll be ok...
Excellent information, but one question since I'm still learning. Not in the way I had hoped, but trial-by-fire.....If I download the leaked froyo with root, don't I need root access first. Also if I can flash this through ODIN, where does the update file go in the ODIN screen, do I need the 512 pit file, what about the pda, phone csc windows, what do i poopulate in those options, if any. I do bow to your experience and knowledge. I promise once I get back to where I was before I may never do this again! All this from trying to flash a new kernal that was supposed to be compatible with all bionix platforms (I was running 1.9 w/jac's ocuv). Thanks again....
gtiryan said:
Excellent information, but one question since I'm still learning. Not in the way I had hoped, but trial-by-fire.....If I download the leaked froyo with root, don't I need root access first. Also if I can flash this through ODIN, where does the update file go in the ODIN screen, do I need the 512 pit file, what about the pda, phone csc windows, what do i poopulate in those options, if any. I do bow to your experience and knowledge. I promise once I get back to where I was before I may never do this again! All this from trying to flash a new kernal that was supposed to be compatible with all bionix platforms (I was running 1.9 w/jac's ocuv). Thanks again....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(sigh)....
ok in Odin....as long as the phone is in Download mode...Odin has root access to the phone(technically) so just make sure you're in download mode...
Odin needs 2 files to flash a VIBRANT to stock...the pit and tar files...load the pit file in the PIT field and the tar goes in the PDA field..( i know its tricky) dont mess with any other settings...click start and WAIT
Odin is a flasher's best friend....learn to use it and you'll love it
In process now. I do like ODIN although yesterday afternoon, I would have rather taken a sharp instrument to the neck rather than use it. I preferred to use ROM manager or other methods. I know it means nothing to you guys that have experience, but this is a learning experience and one I am grateful for with all of the experience on these forums. I know you devs don't like these dumb questions, but sometimes kids just want to be professional football players but end up working in a supermarket instead....get back to you soon.
it said updating firmware then it's sitting on cache.rfs for about 5 minutes. no green loading symbol like when I flashed before. Not sure if I should unplug and retry....
waited about 20 minutes with it stuck at the cache.rfs line. Unplugged and retried. Same thing. I need to get a working phone at least for tonight. I tried one more time, but check repartition and it started loading completely. Maybe there's something wrong with one of the files? Not sure. Will update when I get home to my laptop.....
Use this version of ODIN (older versions are known to hang)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8863820&postcount=138
The files you need to get the leaked froyo + root: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
(IGNORE THE OLD OLDN VERSION IN THIS .ZIP - USE THE ONE I POSTED ABOVE)
1 - download the files to your pc
2 - open ODIN on your pc
3 - connect USB to pc (not to the phone)
4 - power off phone
5 - go into download mode (hold both volume keys... then insert usb to the phone)
6 - ODIN should be connected, and you should be in download mode
7 - load pit file
8 - load tar file
9 - click start
10 - it will run it's course, once done the phone will reboot
11 - once rebooted, go to stock recovery and wipe data/cache (I made this bold below for emphasis since not in the video)
I gotta hand it you guys, you really bailed me out and for that I am eternally grateful. I will have to scrape the funds together for whomever needs a donation, but it is well worth it. I have one last remaining question. Now that I have Eugene's Rom, am I safe to flash another ROM by update.zip, or is ODIN the only reliable way for me to get one on the phone. I like the phone better now, but it seems like it is an out of the box ROM, which is fine. I didn't mind bionix 1.9 on 2.1 either. I just made a big mistake. Anyways, thanks again, and whomever can answer my last question I will extend my thanks in advance!!
Download rom manager
Flash cwr
Make backup in cwr
D nownload nero v3
Flash it in cwr
Enable voodoo if you desires
Enjoy your much improved phone that has a stable backup for an emergency.
I you need detailedsteps for this, read my sticky threads.
I dowloaded ROM manager last night and flashed recovery. I went to recovery and applied packages. I'm still getting this error that says the update.zip file is invalid through my e: drive (avatar folder). I just looked on both e and f. I can't seem to find any update.zip file on either card and I can't seem to flash any other ROM or even enter CW recovery. I looked at another post from someone and noticed that I never pulled my external sd card when I used ODIN to go back to stock or flash Eugene's ROM that I was suggested to use. Any formats I could try or tricks to suggest. I've looked around, but I'm not sure if this is a partition issue, an sd card (internal or external), or otherwise. Thanks again....
i noticed that there were a lot of additional file in places i didn't notice originally. I found in the CW file a recover-update and I thought that might be confusing things, I put it in a seperate folder and retried cw recovery, but that didn't work.

Someone help? 1st time brick since July

Hi all, I've never bricked my vibrant, seen so many horror stories and today it seems the "fully operational" rom I flashed has screwed me over big time. So i've seen the "odin back to stock" suggestion many times, but what exactly is stock now, JI6? so it wouldn't be ok to go to stock 2.2 since it's official now? Can someone point me to the most helpful walkthrough you specifically have ever used? Thanks guys.
Edit: This is where I'm at:
Came from Trigger, disabled voodoo, booted into rfs. Rebooted into rfs. Rebooted into recovery, flashed explodingboys ROM, flashed fine. Had 0 application storage upon boot/sd wiped. Never used dead horse previously (probably never will again). Now I can mount my phone and load stuff onto my sd, and even flash things. tried flashing a voodoo kernel and it failed upon converting, linda even said "not enough space" got stuck on boot splash. Got back into recovery and flashed this cursed ROM again and it did get my phone on again, so at least I got something, but i cant install any apps, roms, and not really sure what kernel if any would help me.
If you have flashed 2.2 roms and you can get into recovery then, this will work for you:
You will need:
Odin 1.7 or higher
Pit512 file for mapping
JFD file (stock 2.1)
Eugenes Froyo that does not brick
Of course the Samsung drivers in the computer
PLEASE READ S15274N Sticky for Noobs in the Gen section it has all the methods better explained for you.
1. Download Eugenes 'Froyo that does not brick' file.
2. Extract the files.
3. Open Odin, plug in your phone, then put it into download mode.
4. load the PIT file in appropriate area.
5. load the .tar file in the PDA area.
6. DO NOT check 're-partition'.
7. Click start, let it finish. Your phone will load and reboot into stock recovery. It will error out again. DONT panic! This is what's supposed to happen.
8. Now, pull your battery.
9. Load the JFD rom for the vibrant'.
10. Extract the files.
11. Once again, open Odin, plug in your phone, put into download mode.
12. Load the PIT file into the appropriate area and the .tar in the PDA area.
13. THIS TIME you want to check the 're-partition' box.
14. Now click start, let it finish, and this time your phone will load up just fine!
15. Then, root the phone and you can flash your new Rom.
doing this method will everything back to normal and the phone will work just like it did right out of the box
hope that helps
Thanks very much man, I'll try this out tomorrow, I think its just too late and i'm too frustrated. Sometimes you just gotta go to bed. Thanks again!
Everything you need to do you can do with this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=954509
I believe in you, I just bricked MY FRIENDS vibrant and fixed it after about 6 hrs of work. Save yourself the time and get the right drivers for odin and just use that. Good night, and good luck.
I've always wanted to say that
Can anyone point me in the direction of a place that would have links / downloads to all the up to date filess as far as drivers go? don't want to use anything outdated..

[Q] I hope I didn't brick my 10.1 Wifi Tab... HELP

So I am not sure what happened. I started with a stock rom (and what I thought was) a rooted tab. I wanted to try the new ICS nightly so I downloaded the ROM and attempted to install it from ROM Manager (install from SD Card option). That didn't seem to do anything so I booted into recovery and tried to install it from there. That's what it all went wrong. After rebooting, my tab stays at the screen that says "Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1" (picture). I've rebooted several times but it still comes back to this screen. I've left it for over 30 minutes just to be sure it wasn't stuck building the cache or something (I did try deleting the cache).
I am able to get into Download mode and connect with ODIN and have tried flashing several stock ROMs and others. The load successfully but after rebooting, it still gets stuck at this screen.
Any suggestions?
Well, simple enough, when you flash a stock ROM, you boot into the recovery, and do a factory reset, I know it sounds silly but there are some files that are in the tablet, since the tablet has no SD card slot, it will try to read the sectors that were replaced and not replaced. If the nightly build files are in the system, it ends up reading that since some files don't get replaced as they have roman's name on it, (You can confirm this by checking in Titanium Backup )
You can however flash with a PIT file if you feel lazy to do that and would want to start without the hassle of booting into several options, just flash the file to completely wipe and repartition the thing, that would be your best bet. Should be on the Overcome thread to grab the pit file. That should do the trick
Thanks for giving me hope! I just did some reading and I am afraid to download and attempt the wrong .pit file. Any chance you can give me a link to the correct .pit file for my tab (GT-P7510UWYB)?
Thanks again for the help!
Thanks again Misledz! I found this thread over on the Overcome site (link) that had all the files and very detailed instructions. Ran the PIT to bring it back to stock and it looks like it worked! You saved another tab!
! Yeah I don't really keep track of the websites But I do know where most of the files are, and Overcome thread seems to be doing a good job of hosting the files required to save every man, woman and child's tab
It's all good, Don't mention it , Glad it's alive

[Q] Samsung I717 won't start

I finally decided to update my AT&T Galaxy Note this Sunday. I already had a root on GB, so I decided to update to a ROM with root. I chose bigfau's {ROM}{UCLF6} Official ICS Stock Odexed, Deodexed, Rooted, Zipaligned, CRT ROM for the Note. However, when I went to update via Odin, I found out that I needed CWM.
Therefore, I found a GB rom with CWM, and installed that via Odin.
Then the phone restarted. It started just as normal, and I placed the ICS ROM (see above) on the internal SD card. I then restarted to CWM (this was the first time I had started CWM on this phone). I went and installed the ICS ROM via CWM. Apparently it came out fine (according to the screen). So I went all the way up, back to the original menu.
I chose the reboot option.
It rebooted, and the Samsung logo appeared.
The logo disappeared. And reappeared with more brightness.
So far, still normal.
Then the screen went black. No buttons I pushed did anything, no matter how long they were held. Only a battery reset would let me do anything with the phone. I took out the battery and put it back in, and restarted it in download mode, then re-flashed it with GB. Nothing happened. I re-flashed GB w/ CWM. Then I went back to CWM and tried installing ICS again. Same thing happened.
I went around looking for some helpful post on AndroidAuthority and XDA. Nothing.
I've run out of ideas.
So today, I ask for help.
Any help leading to a solution is appreciated.
If the .tar file using Odin did not restore the device, you can attempt the direct push of the recovery software from samfirmware.com.
That is the official website for firmware images, and the rom will contain "all " of the device files....and will restore the device if possible.
If the official method fails ....you may need a JTAG repair.
But since download mode still works, then the official restore will too ....g
The file is zipped!
gregsarg said:
If the .tar file using Odin did not restore the device, you can attempt the direct push of the recovery software from samfirmware.com.
That is the official website for firmware images, and the rom will contain "all " of the device files....and will restore the device if possible.
If the official method fails ....you may need a JTAG repair.
But since download mode still works, then the official restore will too ....g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, however, the file from samfirmware.com is a zip file, which I believe I'd need CWM to install (Odin only accepts tar files, as far as I can tell). However, when I unzipped it, I found a .tar.md5 file and a dll. What should I do now?
For clarification, I can't access the internal SD without it functioning, and I don't have access to a microSD card.
Unzip the file you got. The .tar file is in there.
I already did that.
I already did that. Like I said in the previous post, it contains a .tar.md5 and a .dll. What should I do next?
(Thanks for the suggestion, anyways)
the .tar.md5 is called a tarball and has the pda file, csc file, and modem file. just put the tarball in the pda section of Odin3 and flash. Make sure Kies isn't running in the background. Reboot is checked but nothing else is.
Just getting back ...
Many thanks for jumping in ranger ....
It sounds like the OP has it now ??
Time will tell I suppose ....g

[Q] Installing Geewiz Media; confused about Odin, CWM, .tar and .zip ROM files

I have a new stock Gingerbread Fascinate, and want to install the Geewiz Media 4.4/JB 4.2.2 ROM/Kernel on it (making it an ipod-like device). I really really hate having to ask, especially after spending the past week reading a couple of hundred pages of posts, including the dev's, droidstyle's guide, and others, learning as much as I can. I have rooted a Motorola Droid 2 before, but this is all new, and I am still unsure.
So Geewiz comes as Edify .zip files or Odin-compatible .tar files. Based on the dev's provided information, I choose to start with the Odin-compatible .tar file named "GeeWiz Media 4.4 ROM/Kernel/Modem/Recovery/Data Wipe Full Update". As I understand it this is includes everything I need to start: a rooted JB OS with modified EH03 kernel, plus CWM, data folders reformatted to ext4, and an EH03 recovery. I need to start on stock EH03, which I already am.
I have plenty of threads saved (& many printed), so I don't need help with the button-pushing. My confusion stems from the different file types (tar vs. zip) and software (Odin and Clockwork), and what I am supposed to do in what order.
So my questions:
1. Does the .tar file to be installed by Odin go on my SD card or stay on my computer?
2. Since the .tar contains everything at once, what process do I follow after installing it? (Reboot into recovery, download mode, etc.)
3. Should I expect a CWM .zip file on my SD card after installing the tar?
I seems like I should have been able to figure this out on my own, but the dev thread doesn't get into the basics, and I haven't found explicit instructions for the all-in-one Geewiz ROM, or other instructions that I am comfortably sure are completely relevant.
Thank you.
I'm by no means an expert, but I've flashed a lot of roms including Geewiz before so I'll try to help you out.
1) Odin pushes files to your device from the computer, so there's no need to have anything saved on your phone
2) Once everything completes simply reboot the phone and you should be good to go
3) I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure Geewiz has it's own recovery included with the rom and there will be no need to separately install CWM recovery
If anything goes wrong, simply follow droidstyle's guide to go back to stock and start over again. The Fascinate is extremely hard to break (luckily).
Thank you, Crawshayi! :fingers-crossed:
Wow, after all that worry, it was a piece of cake. If its any use to someone, I installed with Odin, following this procedure:
1. Remove battery
2. Fire up Odin (I used 1.85)
3. Plug in the factory USB cable and hold the volume down button
4. Wait for download mode and yellow box in Odin
5. Put my Geewiz full-wipe / kernel / recovery .tar file in Odin's PDA box
6. Hit start.
7. Wait till Odin box turns green and says pass
8. Reboot phone. (I wasn't sure about clicking the "Auto-Reboot" box. Some say yes and some say no, in my readings. I clicked it, but it didn't auto reboot anyway. I also had "F. Reset Time" checked as instructed.
9. First there was a brief message about wiping phone & ext4. Then, a pretty long wait time, watching a big colored "X". Just when I was starting to worry a little bit, a message from Google popped up and I was "in".
This is the first time I've ever looked at Jelly Bean. It's beautiful and really different from Gingerbread (which is my only exposure to Android since moving from Blackberry)
Yeah Jelly Bean is really great, Google hit a home run with that one and we're lucky enough to have a lot of good Jelly Bean roms to choose from on the Fascinate

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