I just got a new Samsung Vibrant last week, and the person at the store offered to root it so we could use the wifi hotspot feature. The problem is the rooted phone wouldn't update from Android 2.1 to 2.2 through Kies Mini, so I tried updating the OS through Odin following instructions I found online.
I didn't follow them exactly it seems because I neglected to enable USB Debugging on the phone. The phone is now stuck in the Android system recovery 3e screen. Only the volume buttons (up/down) work, I can't actually select any of the options on the recovery screen.
The error message at the bottom reads "E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (Invalid argument)", etc.
From research I've done in the last few days it seems like to fix this I need to use Odin to 'reflash the phone back to stock' or something. Here is my problem:
1) I cannot get into Download Mode with physical buttons through any means. I've tried every suggest combination of buttons that I've seen and none have worked. At most I've managed to get into a new screen that says "Power reset or unknown mode" or something like that.
2) I cannot get into Download Mode through ADB because USB Debugging was never enabled in the first place, and cannot be enabled now that the phone is bricked
From what I've read it seems it's still technically possible to revive the phone... I just don't know how to do it.
i recommend you build a jig or buy one online just in case, since you want to use custom rom.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...25272&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_595wt_1139
Okay, does that mean this is the only option I have left for getting the phone into download mode?
try this:
Take out battery and put it back in (to make sure phone is off)
Insert USB to PC but remove Usb from phone and open Odin
While holding both volume bittons...insert USB into phone
Phone should go into download mode
If that doesn't work then you might need a jig
Related
I'm stuck at the Vibrant boot screen, and when I try and plug it in the USB and user adb devices, it doesn't recognize it. I've tried Droid Explorer, and I believe my Vibrant is hardware locked.
Any ideas? Sorry to make another thread but I couldn't find a solution to anyone with this problem.
What did you do to it?
Search around the forum, there is a post talking about getting into download mode with hardware lock phones.
If you are able to get into download mode you can use ODIN to install stock ROM again.
Something incredibly stupid, I tried flashing a custom kernel on the stock ROM.
Yeah that's all I've been doing. I've read all the threads I can find about how to get into download mode with a locked Vibrant, but no luck =[.
Launch Odin
Plug in USB to PC not the Phone
Insure Phone is off
Hold down Vol +/-
Plug in cable
Hold down +/- about a second
Walla you are in Download and should see a yellow triangle
Have you tried turning off your phone and turning it on holding down the Vol +/- and power and entering Recovery mode?
From there you could flash a nandroid backup if you made one that is. Sometimes I get lucky if its in the regular recovery and use the Re-do package option and sometimes I get it up and running.
Of course it just depends on where you are in your flash and what your phone will allow you to do.
Tried that oh so many times, and it just wouldn't budge.
At first I was actually able to run ADB commands... and before I had read more about it, I booted it into recovery (instead of dl mode fml) and wiped cache/user. I already tried reflashing zips to see if CW would start up so I could restore my nandroid backup I had made.
Anyways, now ADB doesn't even recognize the phone. And I tried to install the drivers on my laptop to see if that would do the trick, but I'm still stuck.
Edit: I just tried to use the method you gave in your first post again and I just get the battery charging screen. Thanks for trying to help though, I appreciate it.
Hi,
I just updated my Vibrant to the newest version. Since then, it does boot the right way - there is just the loading symbol (not the vibrant screen), which disappears after a few seconds. BUT: When I plug in the USB, I can normally boot. As I started, the USB drivers of the phone seem to be damaged: It says to be connected, when I'm not, and is not able to connect normally when I plug in the USB cable. My Laptop sometimes identifies the device (I was successful in Mounting the phone drive once), but Kies does not work (I installed both Kies, and after Kies not working the driver package from XDA-dev).
I bought the phone over eBay, so I do not exactly know whether it is rooted. But I did not seem to be rooted, since there were no special applications and the user before even did not reset the phone (I thinks someone who roots would do that).
Now concerning the recovery:
I only got once into the Download&Recovery mode, but did not do anything there. After being stuck there, I pulled the battery to get out of that mode. Since then I cannot get there anymore, when I press the button combination the phone then starts the mode where I can reinstall packages etc.
Thus a flash via Odin seems to be not available (unless I try adb), so I thought the easiest way would be flashing a Nandroid image. Would that work without accessing the Download mode? I could reinstall packages and probably could root, but would not rely on getting the USB connection to work. Furthermore, I could put that image and the update.zip for an image loader on the sd-card. Is that enough to flash a Nandroid image?
Thanks a lot for your help,
Martin
What nandroid image exactly are you trying to flash? Did you make a backup prior to updating? For root, check to see if there is a "superuser" app in your applications drawer. Also, can you refine the questions you are asking exactly? It seems like you have multiple issues.
Thanks!
Thanks for your reply!
Sorry that I wrote the post a little bit to complicated
I would like to flash this image (unrooted): ht*p://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7329357&postcount=2
I would use Clockwork Recovery. And then try the update again.
And I didn't do an backup before I just got the phone and didn't know that an official update could also brick it.
And my question is: Could I flash the image in the following scenario?
- I cannot boot normally (without power supply)
- I'm already on JI6 (the actual version) and can boot the phone having it connected to USB (because it "preboots" to the loading screen, and from there I am able to boot)
- the USB does not seem to work in the right way (thus cannot rely on using adb to enter the download mode)
- I cannot enter the download mode (just the one to reinstall packages)
Or is the chance to high that I completely brick it?
Thanks for helping me!
If you can enter stock recovery, then you should be able to enter download mode.
-Try holding the volume keys and then plugging in the usb cord.
-Try plugging in the phone, wait for the battery icon to show charging, then hold the volume keys and push the power button, let go of the POWER BUTTON IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SCREEN TURNS BLACK. MAKE SURE YOUR STILL HOLDING VOLUME KEYS
-Try those steps a few times...
So, your telling us that you cannot boot up the phone without usb power? What happens if you try removing the usb while it's booting up?
Did you have adb setup correctly before with all the right drivers?
...To answer your original question: try getting into download mode before you attempting any nandroid. If you successfully get into download mode, whether it be through adb or physically, Odin can be your backup if a nandroid fails. Try a nandroid after following these steps only. Make sure you can get into download mode!
* I'm not responsible for bricking you device. Just doubly make sure you can get into download mode just in case of a soft-brick.
Ok, I flashed back to stock using Odin, but Settings->About phone still says Firmware version 2.1-update1 and the bugs still exist. Is it possible to get completely back to the state before the update?
Thanks so far!
The OTA caused a lot of problems for me too, I was rooted only. My bone stock Vibrant also got the ota, and it went smooth.
I had backed mine up completely, and flashed it back.
However both ended up vary laggy afterwards.
I just ended up flashing a custom rom. Fusion 1.1 on both. Very Happy now.
Does flashing a custom ROM also change the "firmware version" of the phone? Maybe I could get back to 2.1 from my actual 2.1-update1 that way.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I'll try and keep this short but here goes...
Got a Bell GT-I9000M from a friend with latest stock firmware according to Kies (I should've taken note of what it was, stupidly, I didn't).
Eventually rooted phone using OneClickRoot.
Fast forward to me trying to flash it using Odin with some custom Roms.
Stupidly forgot to select a PDA file in Odin, so needless to say the phone was soft bricked (would not turn on, would not do ANYTHING), would only go into Download Mode via USB + holding down volume buttons + putting in battery.
Tried flashing with several other ROMs but none worked except for Eugene_2E_JK2_Froyo.mp5 + s1_odin_20100512.pit.
Phone now appears to work properly (boots up, etc), but it has several severe problems:
-connecting USB at ANY time will shut off the phone after a few seconds. Tried several USB ports, different PCs, even using just a wall charger.
-downloading anything from the Play Store results in a "no free space" kind of error.
-SD card will not mount properly. All SD info says "unavailable".
-Browser keeps saying not connected to internet, even though it is.
-Cannot access Download Mode this time. Tried all sorts of button combos + timing. I suspect hardware lock. May try a USB jig at some point.
-Recovery Mode cannot be accessed using button combos, it will only work using Factory Reset (Settings>Privacy>Factory data reset) and the phone will reset into Android system recovery (2e), but I can't load an update.zip because of the problems listed above.
So because I can't seem to find a way to copy a file onto the internal SD at this point or connect it via USB, I can't find a way to flash the phone. I'm very stuck. I'm hoping that a USB jig can force it into Download Mode so that I can flash it with something else.
Any help would be appreciated.
Update: made a USB jig, got it into download mode. Now I just need to reflash it with an appropriate Rom. Will update when I get it working.
So I flashed it with I9000UGKG3_I9000BMCKG3_BMC from sammobile.com which is supposed to be stock for the phone, now I believe it's fully bricked. Even the USB jig won't work. I'm guessing it's a lost cause. Not sure why it bricked it, though.
Anybody got any idea? I'm getting a new fine-tip soldering iron soon for other projects anyways so I'll be able to try the Unbrickable mod.
I think this should work for people who cannot get into recovery mode, computer cannot detect the phone or have security error message.
How I bricked my LG-E450b
I thought rooting for this phone was like my Samsung phone, so I installed Kingo-oneClick-root, got root and deleted all of the bloatware.
Little did I know that I could actually brick my phone by deleting some LG apps (Stupid LG).
Symptoms of my bricked phone
Secruity error message
Phone would not be able to go into recovery mode (Volume down + Camera button + Power button). It would restart after 3 seconds or so after the android loading gif.
Phone would not be detected by the computer
LG support tool could not detect phone (since computer cannot detect phone)
LG support tool would stop at 4% when trying "upgrade recovery"
I was basically stuck and thought my phone was hard bricked. So I started playing with the phone hoping for some magic thing to happen and I got lucky!
How I fixed my issues
Remove case and connect the phone into the computer with standard usb cable
Power into recovery mode (Volume down + Camera button + Power button)
Just before the phone displays the security error, remove the battery (phone still connected to computer).
Put battery back in and turn on the phone normally (no recovery mode)
If it worked then there should be a white message on the bottom left of the phone saying "Download mode: "
Optional: If the computer shows that the device attached has an error then you are in the right direction! Go into device manager (run devmgmt.msc) and right-click on the device that is not detected and uninstall
Optional: Hold power button until the device shuts down and repeat from step 2, the next time you get into download mode the computer will detect your device
Open the LG Support Tool (almost done) (attached in this other forum post)
The phone should get detected by by the LG support tool. Try to update the firmware. If the Support tool says that you already have the latest firmware then go in Options->Upgrade Recovery and put the model number or IMEI/ESN/MEID of the phone and click ok; the recovery process will start and your phone should work
Note: If the phone is not detected by the LG Support tool, then it will not work (it will stop at 4% when doing the upgrade recovery). The phone has to be detected for this to work.
Conclusion
These are things that worked for me, but I am no expert. This is not a full proof guide and I am only posting the steps that made the phone work. It might possibly be that you don't have to do all the steps described above to get into download mode, i.e you would just have to remove the battery at the right time to activate the download mode.
I am posting this describing the exact steps I took, so this can hopefully work for someone else.
Good luck!
TL,DR : Remove battery just before the security error message and reboot phone to get into download mode.
I have this I9100 smartphone, that I really liked once, but I bricked it. It is too long ago so I don't exactly know what happened.
I think I was using some tool to change the partitions or have done something similar .
I tried to use the search but it did not really help me, maybe I don't know what words to use, as english is not my native language.
this is what it does or does not:
power -> nothing
power and vol+-> nothing
power and vol--> nothing
so Recovery does not work, download mode does not do anything but show the following message(this happens only with usb cable) so I think it also does not work
"
Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in kies & try again."
when I try to use KIes and do a recovery it does not show the device.
But once I managed to get it connected to windows 7 and it was shown as Samsung usb composite device(Or something like that).
But it is a real pain as the usb port of the smartphone is not stable, so this annoying sound of connecting and disconnecting is heard everytime I touch it.
maybe I should use hotglue to fix this or bend the plug to get it stuck really tight.
I also tried download mode without battery and then put in the battery. it says battery is to low to do download or something like that. written in small red letters in the first line.
so is it possible to get it back or is it dead? I just want to know if I should try to fix the usb port and keep on trying and searching or forget about it..thank you very much, this is a great community and it helped me already a lot in the past
Hi,
This does sound like the symptoms of a broken usb port. You should fix it as it seems that there is a chance you may be able to revive the device (just from reading).
My general assumption however is that if you can't boot up using hardware buttons and using a usb jig doesn't help, you device is probably dead.
Saber.
You don't use Power+Volume keys for Download and Recovery mode.
But Power + Volume+ + Home for Recovery (and Volume- for Download mode).
Complete tutorial to reformat and install CM13 : https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2/help/guide-tutorial-samsung-galaxy-s2-i9100-t3538601