I have a Galaxy S 2, I777 from AT&T. I had been running UnNamed 2.0 for a while. I started messing around with different modem files trying to get my data rate a little higher. When those failed to work, I decided to go back to stock and start from scratch. This is where my trouble begins:
I flashed with ATTGalaxyS2Unroot_SGH-i777.tar using Odin 1.85. I've used that before and all was well. After this flash, I'm stuck in a boot loop. The galaxy s 2 logo just keeps recycling.
I have tried a lot of other items I've found on here in various threads about getting out of a boot loop, but have not been successful. I was able to get to the stock recovery mode, chose to wipe user data and did the "yes I'm sure" option. The phone rebooted and I have not been able to get back to it. When it tries, I get in yellow "deleting cryption meta data" and then the phone reboots.
My last attempt was flashing with i777uckh7-cl503881 full. Odin writes everything, says pass and the phone reboots. After it restarts, it quickly goes through some items:
-- Intalling package...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
Installing update...
Successfuly installed package...
-- Copying media files...
successfully copied meida files (yes, media is misspelled on the screen)
-- Wiping cache...
Formatting /cache...
Cache wipe complete.
--Updating application...
Successfully updated application.
--Appling Multi-CSC...(again yes, applying is mispelled on the screen)
installing Multi-CSC
Can't access to '/system/csc/02U/system/'.
Successfully applied multi-CSC
Rebooting.
then I get the boot loop all over again. I am still able to get to download mode using the volume button, and my jig still boots to download mode too, so I think there's still hope, but I don't know what to do next.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The "deleting cryption meta data" error has been a particularly difficult one to get out of. I only remember seeing one person solve the problem, and I believe that the solution was to flash the siyah kernel. But you may find more details if you search on "deleting cryption meta data xda" or possibly "deleting cryption meta data siyah" as keywords.
Creepyncrawly:
Thank you for your post. I didn't find anything searching for that, but, I downloaded and flashed siyah kernel and was able to get to a recovery mode.
I am now restoring the nandroid backup that I made (luckily I was smart enough to do that) before I started messing with modems and stuff.
We'll see how this goes
you sir are a life saver. I was able to restore the nand backup and boot into the os again.
creepyncrawly said:
The "deleting cryption meta data" error has been a particularly difficult one to get out of. I only remember seeing one person solve the problem, and I believe that the solution was to flash the siyah kernel. But you may find more details if you search on "deleting cryption meta data xda" or possibly "deleting cryption meta data siyah" as keywords.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think (but I'm not sure), but any custom kernel with CWM should be able to do this... It's only the stock kernel that has a recovery which does anything when device encryption is found.
Entropy512 said:
I think (but I'm not sure), but any custom kernel with CWM should be able to do this... It's only the stock kernel that has a recovery which does anything when device encryption is found.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not think of that, but it makes sense now. At the time, I figured I would stop and get help before I made it worse. Why I didn't restore to my backup to begin with is beyond me.
Do you think I could return to stock now, or is it more of a "once you have this problem you always have it" type thing? I'm going to leave it as is for now because it seems to be working fine. There may come a day though when I need to return to stock.
For those who are experiencing the "Deleting Cryption Meta Data" problem, creepyncrawly is correct, it is difficult to solve, but the following steps seem to solve it reliably:
Download and install the I777UCKH7-CL503881 Stock Binaries from creepyncrawly's download repository. Use heimdall or odin to load the stock binaries. You may need to load the param.lfs and/or the bootloaders. However, it may work without loading these files (and loading the bootloaders can be in the "danger zone")*.
With the stock binaries installed, the device will be in a boot loop, and entering recovery mode will either indicate that the device is installing CSC (unsuccessfully), or indicate that it is "Deleting Cryption Meta Data". In either case, you will be unable to actually access anything in the recovery.
In order to get to a working recovery, load the SGH-I777_ClockworkMod-Recovery_5.0.2.3. You'll need to untar this file to get to the zImage kernel file*.
With the CWM kernel installed, you should be able to actually enter recovery mode by holding down Volume Up + Volume Down + Power until the Samsung logo appears for a second time. Note: In this version of CWM recovery, the home button is the 'select' button and the power button acts as the back button. This is different than most versions of CWM.
Using the recovery run both clear data/factory rest and format sd card (in mounts and storage).
Finally, install the Siyah Kernel, using either heimdall* or CWM.
At this point, the phone should be restored, and you can re-flash the I777UCKH7-CL503881 stock kernel (on any other compatible kernel).
onecoolpilot said:
Do you think I could return to stock now, or is it more of a "once you have this problem you always have it" type thing? I'm going to leave it as is for now because it seems to be working fine. There may come a day though when I need to return to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can re-flash any kernel you like.
Thanks everyone who directed me to the steps for solving this problem!
* To load these kernel files, put the phone in ODIN mode by holding down the "Volume Down" button while the phone is connected to USB. Use either the ODIN or Heimdall tool to actually flash the device. See this post for complete instructions on flashing the files.
I've followed these directions multiple times but I can't seem to get past the Rethink Possible screen.
Steps I have taken:
Flashed full binaries
Went back into download mode with no reboot and flashed CWM (listed above)
Went straight into CWM
Wiped Data
Formatted SD
Flashed Siyah via CWM
Rebooted
Saw I was stuck at Rethink Possible
Cussed
I seem to get stuck at the boot screen on ANY Gingerbread rom I flash. I can flash ICS roms and they boot successfully. However, my device has the 0x19 FW bug and I would like to not make it a paperweight.
Red_81 said:
I've followed these directions multiple times but I can't seem to get past the Rethink Possible screen.
Steps I have taken:
Flashed full binaries
Went back into download mode with no reboot and flashed CWM (listed above)
Went straight into CWM
Wiped Data
Formatted SD
Flashed Siyah via CWM
Rebooted
Saw I was stuck at Rethink Possible
Cussed
I seem to get stuck at the boot screen on ANY Gingerbread rom I flash. I can flash ICS roms and they boot successfully. However, my device has the 0x19 FW bug and I would like to not make it a paperweight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this the "Oh crap its stuck in a bootloop I'll sell it cheap on eBay" SGII that you bought on ebay for cheap, or a different phone?
Do you know the history of this phone? Knowing it can help with troubleshooting.
Did you ever see the "Deleting cryption meta data" error message?
As far as having vulnerability to the eMMC firmware bug, you are safe as long as you don't use the buggy kernel, which is pretty much out of the picture by now.
LOL, you read my other post. It is one and the same. The standard story from the seller. "I gave it to my Brother in Law and now it is like this." He stated it did boot properly before. Liquid indicator checks out (haven't pulled the back off to check the full indicator).
I don't get the "Deleting cryption meta data" but I do get the "multi-csc error". Wiping data doesn't seem to take care of that one.
It's really odd because I can flash ICS roms with no problems, but the GB ones stick at the bootscreen every time. Even CM7 stuck there.
I may have to try to rule out hardware damage at this point
OK, so you don't really know exactly what was done to the phone. I wouldn't rule out hardware damage, but I seriously doubt it, at least let's assume that there is some explanation in firmware. Really, the only things that could be wrong:
bootloaders
param.lfs
partitioning
Which stock package did you flash, the one from the return to stock guide (that doesn't have bootloaders, etc.) or the one from the Download Repository that does have bootloaders?
And where exactly is the phone right now firmware wise?
creepyncrawly said:
OK, so you don't really know exactly what was done to the phone. I wouldn't rule out hardware damage, but I seriously doubt it, at least let's assume that there is some explanation in firmware. Really, the only things that could be wrong:
bootloaders
param.lfs
partitioning
Which stock package did you flash, the one from the return to stock guide (that doesn't have bootloaders, etc.) or the one from the Download Repository that does have bootloaders?
And where exactly is the phone right now firmware wise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one from the repository with bootloaders. I tried the one without bootloaders first, but it did not fix it.
Currently I flashed over to ShoStock2. However, I'm getting alot of problems on that too (Com.android.phone not responding).
I can try to flash back to stock at any moment because I have no data on the phone.
I did try using the latest version of Heimdall, but it kept crashing at 42% (from what I read that is a known bug)
So the one thing you have not tried is flashing PIT? I wouldn't try that next if it was my phone, however, since it is the area I know the least about. There is not a whole lot of information available about using PIT with the I777 (as in nothing I could find).
The behavior of flashing to ICS and running OK but bootlooping on Gingerbread is new to me.
If you have a jig, does the jig boot the phone to download mode?
The phone should be recoverable. If it was mine, I would start by flashing the full stock package with bootloaders and param.lfs again. Then wipe data/factory reset from 3e recovery. Then flash the Gingerbread Siyah kernel. And then wipe data/factory reset from CWM Recovery.
Actually, I thought I typed that before.
I did flash the PIT file at one point out of desperation.
I have a jig that works beautifully (wipes the counter too) and has been a big help through this whole thing. That tells me I should at least have the correct bootloaders.
Do I need to let it attempt to boot between each flash or just go directly one to the other?
After a little Google, I think your phone has a problem with efs, corrupted or some such. Read this.
creepyncrawly said:
After a little Google, I think your phone has a problem with efs, corrupted or some such. Read this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually found and tried that a few days ago. Never got that error message before. But I flashed the repair anyway. No change.
I did manage to just let the phone run for a while and all the process error messages went away, but the dialer refuses to start. I also noticed I don't think I'm getting any sound out of the earpiece.
I think I'm going to have to take the back off to check for water damage and to make sure they didn't bleach the dot.
I'll attempt to do some more flashing later tonight if the wife lets me.
Under normal circumstances, if you get the multi csc error after flashing back to stock, a wipe data/factory reset will clear it, and it will boot successfully.
creepyncrawly said:
Under normal circumstances, if you get the multi csc error after flashing back to stock, a wipe data/factory reset will clear it, and it will boot successfully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. Under normal circumstances indeed. I appreciate all the help so far. I wonder if there is something borked with the chip.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA
Not sure if it helps much since you said you think the correct bootloaders are there but I had the exact same problem as you a couple months back. Like an idiot I flashed the original "one click" ATT ICS leak from Rootzwiki that updated my bootloaders. After this attempting to go back to CM7 resulted in me soft bricking the phone. The ONLY rom that would flash and work was that same ICS one click. Everything else Odin just failed on. Eventually I managed to get the complete stock GB back on it by flashing the full package in creepys guide several times. I gave up on Odin on my pc and had to remove Kies from my Mac so Heimdall would work but it flashed finally and I was saved. If you search through my posts here and find that thread maybe there's something in there that will help cause it sounds like you're having a bootloader issue like I did..
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
Thanks. I'll take a look.
On a side note.... I can't get any sound from the device. I'm thinking now that it might be hardware related.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
Related
Hello, sorry if this has already been answered but I did look around at similar scenarios and it seems to me that using odin to flash the stock kernel should fix it but on my device, however, it doesn't fix my problem. I beleive what I did was select update firmware from .zip in clockwork on accident. Idk if this is what you consider a "boot loop" because it doesnt restart it just sits there at the black galaxy s2 screen. Any insight would be great. I hate to have to buy a new one as it is quite alot of money. Like I said, sorry if this is already answered but after looking around for hours I still hve had no luck. Thanks in advance, Alex
Can you get into recovery (volume up+home+power) or download mode (volume down+home+power)?
I can get in to download and recovery mode both
The outlook is promising then. Without knowing what you've flashed, it's impossible to say what damage you've done, but if you don't mind losing your data, you can certainly get back to a working state by following [READ THIS] Got a Boot Loop? Don't post a New Thread!.
Before going down that route though, if you do want to keep your data, let us know what you flashed as it might be recoverable (maybe you just flashed the wrong kernel).
I can't say for sure what i flashed but I can say that i either flashed with an update or updated with a kernel??? sound right??? idk. the data isnt near as important to me as the 680 dollars my carrier will charge me for a new s2. Right now im using a junk alcatel tribe and im going through galaxy withdrawls.
Well before flashing anything else, make sure you definitely have an I9100, not some other variant (I notice you mentioned dollars). If you have a different model, you're in the wrong forums and might make things worse by following advice for the I9100.
I was pretty sure that it is the I9100 but i took the battery out and double checked. it IS the I9100
also for what it's worth when going into recovery(stock version) right after the text reading updating application it gives me an error in red. (E:install_application_for_customer:Can't unmount /preload copy application failed) and after the (Appling [yes it really spells it appling] Multi-CSC) it says Can't access to '/system/csc/TTT/system/'. However, the line after it says that it says Successfully applied multi-CSC
My first attempt to get back to a working phone without losing data would be to flash a stock kernel then, have you tried that?
Ok.. done.. but it still sits at the galaxy screen except now it has the triange due to the custom firmware
If that hasn't got you up and running then it's probably time to bite the bullet and follow the instructions from the boot loop thread linked above (which will also remove the triangle).
Maybe you can answer another question for me. When in recovery mode it says apply update from sdcard... why does it say that when it doesnt actually read from the sdcard? i have checked with the sdcard both in and out and the file directory in the recovery mode doesnt change. is it calling the usb storage an sd card?
ok when flashing a stock rom do i use the phone option in odin or the pda still
If you're flashing a stock rom from [ROM+Guide]Official i9100 Firmwares KG, KH1/2/3/4, KI1/2/3/4/8, KJ1/2 Download, then just follow the instructions from there (but usually PDA).
:'( Still wont boot.
What does happen, did any steps fail, any error messages?
Everything went smooth with no errors. No steps failed. Sitting at the boot screen is all it does though
Did you definitely wipe user data? (step 3). The final step of that thread is to try flashing a ROM which wipes, such as (non-stock) VillainROM 1.1.
well... yes i definitely wiped the user data and it was successfull when doing so. I didnt try the villian rom just because I thought that it was an optional thing but i will def. try it now that you bring it up. and hey, i really appreciate the help no matter what the outcome
(VillainROM 1.1 - XWKE7 base) I'm a UHKG7..... is this going to be a problem? just something i noticed and thought I would ask before going ahead
Hello.
My SGS2 is softbricked. It hangs during boot, but I can boot into download mode and I can boot into recovery mode.
My phone has only been flashed with OTA method and firmware. Never rooted, never flashed manually.
It starts up showing the animation with some ray of lights surrounding "Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100" logo, then it goes into the centered "SAMSUNG" logo with the corona slightly flashing and here it just continues with this slightly corona-blinking (normally it would here do that a few seconds and then show the home screen). The phone gets quite hot (but not burning hot) after a few seconds and I can turn it of by holding the power button for about 5 seconds (no need to take out the battery).
The situation started by the phone shutting down due to low battery. Then I connected usb (which I though was connected in the other end, but it was not) for charging and I powered up the phone immediately. Not noticing that the usb cable had no power I actually booted the phone with very low battery and no power in the usb cable. Shortly after the home screen showed up with a battery low-message. The phone went off (the hard way I think).
After that I of course ensured to charge the phone for a while before I booted it again, but at that time when booting it hung (as described above)
I believe Iread somewhere, that most likely the system filesystem has been corrupted, so just overwriting it (that is flashing like an OS upgrade) I could restore the device just like the phone has just been upgraded. And during normal upgrade my phone is not wiped, so that is what I am expecting would be possible.
From
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1973233
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1188615
it sounds like I can flash withour loosing data as long as the new ROM is same (or newer) as the one already on the phone.
So I have downloaded I9100XWLSS_I9100OXXLS9_NEE.zip for my phone it contains a I9100XWLSS_I9100OXXLS9_I9100XXMS2_HOME.tar.md5 file which contains
boot.bin
cache.img
factoryfs.img
hidden.img
modem.bin
param.lfs
Sbl.bin
zImage
From http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1456532 I get the impression that if I flash a .tar.md5 file that contains hidden.img and/or cache.img it will wipe all my data.
So I was wondering if it was possible to just create a tar file without hidden.img and cache.img and flash that, so my data is not wiped.
Any input is appreciated.
jarl-dk said:
My SGS2 is softbricked. It hangs during boot, but I can boot into download mode and I can boot into recovery mode.
From
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1973233
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1188615
it sounds like I can flash withour loosing data as long as the new ROM is same (or newer) as the one already on the phone.
So I have downloaded I9100XWLSS_I9100OXXLS9_NEE.zip for my phone it contains a I9100XWLSS_I9100OXXLS9_I9100XXMS2_HOME.tar.md5 file which contains
boot.bin
cache.img
factoryfs.img
hidden.img
modem.bin
param.lfs
Sbl.bin
zImage
From http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1456532 I get the impression that if I flash a .tar.md5 file that contains hidden.img and/or cache.img it will wipe all my data.
So I was wondering if it was possible to just create a tar file without hidden.img and cache.img and flash that, so my data is not wiped.
Any input is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to see someone who has actually read something!! :good:
I suggest you avoid messing with the firmwares for now. Is your phone rooted? How did the bootloop start?
There is no way to avoid factory reset.The only way to solve bootloop is by wiping data.No other way.You can flash a new ROM/firmware,but you will still have to do a factory reset because of old bootloop and new ROM.Sorry.
GamingDj said:
There is no way to avoid factory reset.The only way to solve bootloop is by wiping data.No other way.You can flash a new ROM/firmware,but you will still have to do a factory reset because of old bootloop and new ROM.Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid I must agree.
@OP: But what you can do is make a nandroid backup before wiping. :good:
immortalneo said:
I'm afraid I must agree.
@OP: But what you can do is make a nandroid backup before wiping. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good idea neo...and he can extract contacts or notes from nandroid...heard that people did this
immortalneo said:
I'm afraid I must agree.
@OP: But what you can do is make a nandroid backup before wiping. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you give a short summary of how to do this (from the situation I am in),and some usefull links...
Jarl
much uirstaby
immortalneo said:
Good to see someone who has actually read something!! :good:
I suggest you avoid messing with the firmwares for now. Is your phone rooted? How did the bootloop start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I must emphasize it is not a boot loop. It starts up showing the animation with some ray of lights surrounding "Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100" logo, then it goes into the centered "SAMSUNG" logo with the shadow slightly flashing and here it just continues with this slightly shadow-blinking (normally it would here do that a few seconds and then show the home screen). The phone gets quite hot after a efw seconds and I can turn it of by holding the power button for about 5 seconds (no need to take out the battery).
The situation started by the phone shutting down due to low battery. Then I connected usb (which I though was connected in the other end, but it was not) for charging and I powered up the phone immediately. Not noticing that the usb cable had no power I actually booted the phone with very low battery and no power in the usb cable. Shortly after the home screen showed up with a battery low-message. The phone went off (the hard way I think).
After that I of course ensured to charge the phone for a while before I booted it again, but at that time when booting it hung (as described above)
I believe Iread somewhere, that most likely the system filesystem has been corrupted, so just overwriting it (that is flashing like an OS upgrade) I could restore the device just like the phone has just been upgraded. And during normal upgrade my phone is not wiped, so that is what I am expecting would be possible.
Jarl
What firmware were you on? As in 4.1.2, 4.0.3, 4.0.4?
Basically what you need to do is flash a custom kernel via Odin in download mode. Let's take Siyah kernel for example (v5 for ICS. Pick which one is correct for your version, you can download them from gokhanmoral.com). If you're on JB, I suggest philz or apolo kernel. More on that in a sec.
Flash that kernel in Odin. Then, you can back up in CWM recovery. If you're on ICS, then you can factory reset and hopefully boot up. Once you've got your backup & booting, then you can extract data from the backup using titanium backup or CWM recovery.
If you're on JB, then you need to backup the /preload folder. Apolo does it automatically, in philz you need to tick the option before backing up. Same deal once you've backed up, factory reset then boot.
I hope that makes sense to you, I gave you all the info in one big hit. As you've done a lot of reading and attempted to help yourself before posting, I imagine you can make sense of that
Any issues, post up here, but for now, give that a go!
Sent from a galaxy far, far away
Hi.
Thank you for your time.
Hopper8 said:
What firmware were you on? As in 4.1.2, 4.0.3, 4.0.4?
Basically what you need to do is flash a custom kernel via Odin in download mode. Let's take Siyah kernel for example (v5 for ICS. Pick which one is correct for your version, you can download them from gokhanmoral.com). If you're on JB, I suggest philz or apolo kernel. More on that in a sec.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. I think I need help in two steps:
take a backup
make the phone usable again.
I am not sure exactly what firmware it had reached before the softbrick. It was definitely above 4.0, maybe even 4.1.x Does it matter a lot.
Lets focus on step 1 (taking a backup). I think that is what you are guiding me towards above, right?
So what shall I do when I am not 100% sure of the current firmware version on the phone?
Jarl
jarl-dk said:
Hi.
Thank you for your time.
OK. I think I need help in two steps:
take a backup
make the phone usable again.
I am not sure exactly what firmware it had reached before the softbrick. It was definitely above 4.0, maybe even 4.1.x Does it matter a lot.
Lets focus on step 1 (taking a backup). I think that is what you are guiding me towards above, right?
So what shall I do when I am not 100% sure of the current firmware version on the phone?
Jarl
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, if you want to keep the data then you need to make a backup. Unfortunately, if you don't know which firmware you were on previously, it's not easy. What I would suggest you do is to go onto YouTube, and look at videos of i9100's (that is what you have right?). You want a video of one with 4.0.3, one of 4.0.4, and one of 4.1.2. They all do look different, although 4.0.4 and 4.0.3 are reasonably similar.
Basically, if you can tell if you were on 4.0.x or 4.1.2 then we can go somewhere Until then, I'm not comfortable to tell you to flash.
Edit: and don't stress. Making the phone useable again is not hard to keep your data as well as make it useable again will take some effort on your part though.
Hopper8 said:
Correct, if you want to keep the data then you need to make a backup. Unfortunately, if you don't know which firmware you were on previously, it's not easy. What I would suggest you do is to go onto YouTube, and look at videos of i9100's (that is what you have right?). You want a video of one with 4.0.3, one of 4.0.4, and one of 4.1.2. They all do look different, although 4.0.4 and 4.0.3 are reasonably similar.
Basically, if you can tell if you were on 4.0.x or 4.1.2 then we can go somewhere Until then, I'm not comfortable to tell you to flash.
Edit: and don't stress. Making the phone useable again is not hard to keep your data as well as make it useable again will take some effort on your part though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will take a look at YouTube... However I do understand booting an incorrect version of Android can be dangerous to my data. However if I make 100% sure that I never boot the flashed android and only boot up in recovery mode to make a nandroid backup. Then it probably doesn't matter which (most likely incorrect) version of android is installed because will not boot it, I will only boot in recovery mode. After having made a nandroid backup I will go to step 2 (make it usable again) and making sure I don't boot up the incorrect android version along the path.
Would that be possible?
Jarl
GamingDj said:
There is no way to avoid factory reset.The only way to solve bootloop is by wiping data.No other way.You can flash a new ROM/firmware,but you will still have to do a factory reset because of old bootloop and new ROM.Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just made an experiement with my Samsung Galaxy S 5.0 Tablet (YP-G70):
I flashed it with zImage and factoryfs.rfs (using Heimdall and making sure that repartition is not ticked)
In this situation there was no data loss (behaved like a standard OTA update), all contacts and apps still installed.
Why would this not be possible on GT-I9100 without wipe/factory reset. By just flashing the zImage and factoryfs.img from I9100XWLSS_OXXLS9_NEE_Nordic_Android_4.1.2.zip ? Notice I am not in a boot loop situation.
jarl-dk said:
I will take a look at YouTube... However I do understand booting an incorrect version of Android can be dangerous to my data. However if I make 100% sure that I never boot the flashed android and only boot up in recovery mode to make a nandroid backup. Then it probably doesn't matter which (most likely incorrect) version of android is installed because will not boot it, I will only boot in recovery mode. After having made a nandroid backup I will go to step 2 (make it usable again) and making sure I don't boot up the incorrect android version along the path.
Would that be possible?
Jarl
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct in saying that if you don't boot it, but only flash the kernel & immediately flash stock then you're OK. The thing I am unsure of, is making a nandroid whilst using an incompatible kernel.. I really don't know if it will work. My guess says it won't, but I don't know for sure. Can someone come in here? @MistahBungle @andrewwright @immortalneo @gastonw @keithross39
I still think you should try to figure out which version you were on before this, just so that you can have a safe bet of which kernel to flash.
---------- Post added at 09:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 PM ----------
jarl-dk said:
I just made an experiemtn with my Samsungs Galaxy S 5.0 Tablet (YP-G70):
I flashed it with zImage and factoryfs.rfs (using Heimdall and making sure that repartition is not ticked)
In this situation there was no data loss (behaved like a standard OTA update), all contacts and apps still installed.
Why would this not be possible on GT-I9100 without wipe/factory reset. By just flashing the zImage and factoryfs.img from I9100XWLSS_OXXLS9_NEE_Nordic_Android_4.1.2.zip ? Notice I am not in a boot loop situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good thinking. The thing is, on your tablet currently, it boots fine. It's not in the bootlooping scenario. Hence, doing an update which does not wipe will only update to a new version which won't be wiped, and hence will still be bootlooping. Of course you still could flash them (using Heimdall/ Odin, but I've never tried Heimdall personally) but I doubt that you'll boot up by that. It'll likely still get stuck at the boot logo.
Hopper8 said:
You are correct in saying that if you don't boot it, but only flash the kernel & immediately flash stock then you're OK. The thing I am unsure of, is making a nandroid whilst using an incompatible kernel.. I really don't know if it will work. My guess says it won't, but I don't know for sure. Can someone come in here? @MistahBungle @andrewwright @immortalneo @gastonw @keithross39
I still think you should try to figure out which version you were on before this, just so that you can have a safe bet of which kernel to flash.
---------- Post added at 09:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 PM ----------
Good thinking. The thing is, on your tablet currently, it boots fine. It's not in the bootlooping scenario. Hence, doing an update which does not wipe will only update to a new version which won't be wiped, and hence will still be bootlooping. Of course you still could flash them (using Heimdall/ Odin, but I've never tried Heimdall personally) but I doubt that you'll boot up by that. It'll likely still get stuck at the boot logo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so what you are saying is that: I might just flash some of the files (all except cache.img and hidden.img) that will not wipe my phone, but as I understand you, it most likely wont solve my boot problem...
In that case can someone confirm that that flashing the files
boot.bin
factoryfs.img
modem.bin
param.lfs
Sbl.bin
zImage
without
cache.img
hidden.img
will not wipe my phone? Or are there more files that need to go down to the dangerous list?
Jarl
Hopper8 said:
The thing I am unsure of, is making a nandroid whilst using an incompatible kernel.. I really don't know if it will work. My guess says it won't, but I don't know for sure. Can someone come in here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK, the nandroid backup will go just fine. If the kernel is incompatible, the nandroid would contain the incompatible kernel and would still bootloop after restoring. But since the OP isn't planning to restore the entire nandroid backup, I guess it doesn't matter.
I still suggest flashing the correct kernel to install CWM, just to be safe. Or if he is not on 4.0.4, he could use Philz temporary CWM (which can be flashed in stock recovery). :good:
immortalneo said:
AFAIK, the nandroid backup will go just fine. If the kernel is incompatible, the nandroid would contain the incompatible kernel and would still bootloop after restoring. But since the OP isn't planning to restore the entire nandroid backup, I guess it doesn't matter.
I still suggest flashing the correct kernel to install CWM, just to be safe. Or if he is not on 4.0.4, he could use Philz temporary CWM (which can be flashed in stock recovery). :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, the thing being that OP doesn't know what version he was previously on before all this :/
Hopper8 said:
Ahh, the thing being that OP doesn't know what version he was previously on before all this :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed that..
@OP: tried checking out some screenshots and videos and remembering how your firmware looked like?
A friend of mine gave me his S2 which was bootlooping. I showed him screenshots of the notification tray (and toggle buttons), and he was able to identify it as being GB. The tricky part was finding which version it was. He was sure it was fully stock and bought from Saudi Arabia. So what I did was to look up sammobile.com to see which version of GB was available in Saudi Arabia. And I found out it was 2.3.5! Problem solved. :good:
Hopper8 said:
Correct, if you want to keep the data then you need to make a backup. Unfortunately, if you don't know which firmware you were on previously, it's not easy. What I would suggest you do is to go onto YouTube, and look at videos of i9100's (that is what you have right?). You want a video of one with 4.0.3, one of 4.0.4, and one of 4.1.2. They all do look different, although 4.0.4 and 4.0.3 are reasonably similar.
Basically, if you can tell if you were on 4.0.x or 4.1.2 then we can go somewhere Until then, I'm not comfortable to tell you to flash.
Edit: and don't stress. Making the phone useable again is not hard to keep your data as well as make it useable again will take some effort on your part though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. I am now pretty confident that I had/has android 4.1.2, because I remember I had features like SmartStay (which is new in 4.1 AFAIK). I also remember that I had the "Mobile Data" toggle button along the other quick state buttons like "GPS", "Sound", "WIFI", "Screen rotate". The "Mobile Data" state button was also new, but I cannot verify that is was nwe in 4.1.2 (maybe it was already in 4.0.x). Do you know of any other features that are nwe in 4.1.2 that can help me verify that is was a 4.1.2?
So from here I am going to install CWM, and reading http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/ClockworkMod_Recovery
I have several options to create a CWM for my phone:
Building according to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1866545 and http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Build_for_i9100 I run into a dead end "Extract proprietary blobs " (http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Build_for_i9100#Extract_proprietary_blobs). I cannot do this because it requires a working phone.
Method 1A is a dead end because it requires a working phone.
Method 1B I am not 100% sure of. Where should I get this update.zip from?
Method 2 is not applicable
And finally:
For Samsung Galaxy S phones: From stock it is easiest to get CWM by flashing a kernel with CWM built-in by using Odin3 1.7 flashing utility. Only some kernels come in a Odin compatible package (.tar file).
So I need to get a kernel with CWM since I could not build one and you are suggesting SiyahKernel S2-v5.0.1 (http://www.gokhanmoral.com/?p=1536), right?
So as I understand it, I flash this kernel and then when entering recovery menu, I will get advanced options like adb shell and nandroid backup.
Correct?
jarl-dk said:
OK. I am now pretty confident that I had/has android 4.1.2, because I remember I had features like SmartStay (which is new in 4.1 AFAIK). I also remember that I had the "Mobile Data" toggle button along the other quick state buttons like "GPS", "Sound", "WIFI", "Screen rotate". The "Mobile Data" state button was also new, but I cannot verify that is was nwe in 4.1.2 (maybe it was already in 4.0.x). Do you know of any other features that are nwe in 4.1.2 that can help me verify that is was a 4.1.2?
So from here I am going to install CWM, and reading http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/ClockworkMod_Recovery
I have several options to create a CWM for my phone:
Building according to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1866545 and http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Build_for_i777 I run into a dead end "Extract proprietary blobs " (http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Build_for_i777#Extract_proprietary_blobs). I cannot do this because it requires a working phone.
Method 1A is a dead end because it requires a working phone.
Method 1B I am not 100% sure of. Where should I get this update.zip from?
Method 2 is not applicable
And finally:
For Samsung Galaxy S phones: From stock it is easiest to get CWM by flashing a kernel with CWM built-in by using Odin3 1.7 flashing utility. Only some kernels come in a Odin compatible package (.tar file).
So I need to get a kernel with CWM since I could not build one and you are suggesting SiyahKernel S2-v5.0.1 (http://www.gokhanmoral.com/?p=1536), right?
So as I understand it, I flash this kernel and then when entering recovery menu, I will get advanced options like adb shell and nandroid backup.
Correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha! Now we're getting somewhere To clarify though, you do have an i9100?? Not an i777? You posted links for i777 that's all. If you have something other than i9100 don't flash Siyah.
If you're on 4.1.2 (yes smart stay is 4.1.2, so if you had that, we should be good) then nope, you want Siyah v6.0 beta4 or beta 5, not Siyah v5. Download them from the same place. To flash it in Odin, flash it in the PDA section of Odin, don't check repartition or unplug your phone till it passes (or fails), with no exceptions! If you need more info, google, or click my signature & look at that. Or, go to Q&A and look at the stickied guide there, plenty of options
Yep, once you flash the kernel and get CWM recovery, then you want to backup (nandroid). Then you can factory reset from CWM, and hopefully boot up! Once you're booting then you can set about restoring the data from your backup.
See how you go as always, read up (good job continuing to do that) and post up if you can't find a solution to something. As my signature says, 'reading is easy, fixing is not', so read up then flash away!
Hopper8 said:
Aha! Now we're getting somewhere To clarify though, you do have an i9100?? Not an i777? You posted links for i777 that's all. If you have something other than i9100 don't flash Siyah.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for enlightening me... Yes it is a GT-I9100. I must have picked the wrong variant in the device page. Links are fixed. Thanks.
I can download a zip version of the Siyah kernel, which brings me back to another question. Regarding Method 1B:
Method 1B: you can find and download the update.zip by yourself, place it on the phone in /sdcard/ and boot into recovery using the 3 button method, choose the option "re-install package" TWO TIMES to load into CWM. Once again the update.zip needs to remain on the phone. DO NOT DELETE!
It sounds to me like I can put the Siyah kernel (update.zip) on an external SD card and boot directly from the SD card (without flashing) and then make a nandroid backup which in that case also will also include my original kernel which is currently installed.
Do I understand that method correct?
Otherwise I understand it the way that I cannot expect to get a backup of my current kernel. However I will be able to restore it during "Make the phone useable again" step which include wipe and factory reset, and several system upgrades.
I'm in a bit of a tight situation over here. My mom's phone was having issues, so she wanted me to fix it before I left to visit my grandparents. I found a stock ROM for the phone (GT-i9100 International) and flashed it, but the phone always got stuck on the "Samsung Galaxy SII GT-I9100" boot screen (occasionally it would show the "O2" screen, as it was a ROM for Ireland). I tried a different ROM (can't remember what country it was), and I'm still stuck with the same problem. This time no O2 screen though. I've downloaded my ROMs through sammobile.com and I'm using ODIN v1.83.
The label under the battery reads:
Model: GT-I9100
SSN: -I9100GSMH
What ROM should I use and where can I get it? I found this thread with a link to the ROM for the international version, but Hotfile has been shut down, so I can't download it.
Sorry if I could've found the answer with a few more hours of searching, but I've got less than 24 hours to find a fix and I was hoping that someone else could help me. Thanks a lot!
EDIT: I'm in the U.S., if that matters.
Try AndroidFirmwares.net or Samsung-Updates.com. If it were me in that situation (I.E not my phone), I'd be putting whatever the latest firmware is for the carrier/country.
Any region?
MistahBungle said:
Try AndroidFirmwares.net or Samsung-Updates.com. If it were me in that situation (I.E not my phone), I'd be putting whatever the latest firmware is for the carrier/country.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should any region work to get the phone up and running? I just need to get it back up so that I can root it and flash CM10. Thanks.
Yep absolutely. If your end result is to root the phone & put a custom rom on, use any stock rom you can get your hands on. Though I'd be avoiding 4.0.4, anything other than that should be fine.
MistahBungle said:
Yep absolutely. If your end result is to root the phone & put a custom rom on, use any stock rom you can get your hands on. Though I'd be avoiding 4.0.4, anything other than that should be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is 4.1.2 OK, or should I go for 4.0.3 or below?
Doesn't matter, take your pick.
More info on problem
I tried installing two other ROMs (from androidfirmwares.net), one 4.1.2 and one 2.3.6. The 4.1.2 didn't get me anywhere, but after I flashed 2.3.6 the phone said the assert check failed. GT-i9100 is on the list of what it checked for. (I've never had any luck with the assert checks on any of my Samsung phones: GS Captivate, GSII Skyrocket, or AT&T GSIII. I've always had to remove the check in my update script.) I attached a picture.
EDIT: Since the attachment doesn't seem to be working, here's a Dropbox link.
Pic won't load for me, but it mentions 'recovery error', what exactly are you doing/what's the problem ?
MistahBungle said:
Pic won't load for me, but it mentions 'recovery error', what exactly are you doing/what's the problem ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My process:
Open ODIN v3.09
Plug in the phone, already in download mode.
Click the AP button and load my .tar.md5.
Click Start.
Wait for it to finish, leaving the phone untouched on the table.
I just tried another USB cable, but to no avail. I've also tried unplugging the phone right after it reboots and ODIN says "PASS!", but no luck there either. I just tried another ROM that just finished downloading and it's giving me a similar getprop() error. At the bottom of the output in red it says:
E:Error in /cache/recovery/sec_csc.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.
I don't think there's any way for me to edit the update script, as the tar contains a bunch of filesystem images. Even if it was easy to edit it would ruin the checksum verification.
Check out the picture on Dropbox here.
What are you trying to do in Android recovery ? Given what your stated aim is - get a stock rom on the phone, re-root it, put custom rom on, you shouldn't be using Android (I.E stock) recovery at any stage.
The process should be:-
*Flash stock rom with Odin in download mode (I.E phone off - home/vol down/power, not home/vol up/power)
*Root phone with whatever method
*Flash custom rom with CWRecovery, which you'll get once you root the phone
So....You need to go step by step. Start with flashing the stock rom with Odin, and try to boot the phone normally/make sure that was successful before doing the next two steps. Look for Hopper8's 'Odin troubleshooting' guide if you're having trouble getting a successful Odin flash.
Once you've done that, root the phone & make sure you have CWRecovery working, then flash the custom rom.
The phone boots to the recovery screen after it finishes flashing with ODIN. I put it into download mode, run ODIN, and then it that error screen comes up on the next reboot.
Try flashing the three part firmware linked to in Hopper's thread first (this will wipe the phone). I can't help but think we're missing some info re: what's been done to the phone previously here if the phone is booting into recovery mode after being Odin flashed. It shouldn't do that. After an Odin flash/pass the phone should boot normally, assuming it's not a case of the NAND being corrupted (it probably wouldn't boot into recovery if that was the case/you'd be left with constant bootloop)
I know you've mentioned what's on the sticker on the phone chassis under the battery but are you absolutely 100% sure it's an I9100 ?
MistahBungle said:
I know you've mentioned what's on the sticker on the phone chassis under the battery but are you absolutely 100% sure it's an I9100 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the top of the download mode screen it says "PRODUCT NAME: GT-i9100". I don't know any other way to tell besides this and the sticker on the back. There are no carrier markings anywhere, and this phone was purchased because it had an FM radio, which only the international version had.
And assuming by "Hopper's thread" you mean this one, I can't because the files are no longer available.
In that case, you're stuck with the other suggestions to try in his thread & continuing to flash stock roms until you get a properly successful flash I.E phone boots/works normally. There might be something really obvious here being missed, but because we're not there with you/don't have the phone in front of us it might be difficult to work out.
It's working!
Yay, I got it to work! I flashed a custom kernel (jeboo), which allowed me to get into CWM. From there I sideloaded CM10 and now it's up and running! Only I still have a problem with internal storage... (That was the problem I was trying to fix originally.) Would the next thing to try to fix that be flashing a PIT file? If so, any tips for doing that?
I'm going to put off trying to fix that problem and do it when I get back. For now it works as a phone, and that's what's most important to her anyway. Thanks for your help MistahBungle.
Solved!
For anyone else who comes across this thread, I was able to solve my problem permanently by flashing a new PIT file. I found the correct PIT files for the GT-i9100 in this XDA thread. It seemed my partitions had become messed up long ago, as the phone had been showing a 2GB /data partition and only a 2GB internal SD card partition (which should've been closer to 12GB) for some time.
I choose a 4GB data partition (since I was running low on /data space last time). Oddly enough, booting the stock ROM after flashing the PIT only showed a 2GB data partition. Once I flashed CM10 it showed as 4GB though.
I flashed a few roms like PACman and SHOstock and it booted up but it seems that it was lagging quite badly and camera showed a black screen. I thought it was the phone's camera that was broken. I flashed the UCLE5 rooted found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20229527&postcount=46 and it booted up just fine. However, camera crashes when I tried to take a picture (atleast it's not a black screen now) and it randomly crashes and reboot.
When I tried to flash UCKH7, I get stuck on the "Rethink Possible" screen and did not get anywhere else.
Can anyone help me? I bought this phone for my brother and the previous owner flashed some stuffs already so I just want it back to its original state with stock before going forward with custom roms..
Boot into recovery. With the phone off, hold all three buttons, vol+ vol- pwr, until the initial screen shows, goes black and shows again, then release buttons. Once in stock recovery, perform a wipe data/factory reset. After this, the phone should boot. Then test the camera to see if it is working correctly, and test other functions of the phone.
Does the previous owner say the phone was working fully functional before you got it?
If you get the phone to boot and working correctly, then you should flash the latest stock firmware which is UCMD8, or a good stable custom firmware. Be happy to help with that as well.
I performed the wipe in the stock recovery and it is stuck at the "Rethink Possible" screen. Only time that I got it to boot was to load the UCLE5. UCKK6 and UCKH7 didn't boot for me. I will try the UCMD8 but I don't understand why 1 stock would boot while the other one didn't.
Previous owner said it was working okay for him but he didn't know about the phone being rooted and made some kind of update or changes to the phone (software wise). I'm guessing he flashed it weirdly or something like that. I saw the count as 25 when I got into the "download recovery" portion to flash UCLE5 through ODIN. Maybe he flashed it wrongly and it has messed something up.
Since a wipe data/factory reset will not clear the problem, it is safe to assume that there is some issue with memory. Since your were able to get the phone to boot at least once, but it was not functioning normally, it is fairly safe to assume that the memory is not permanently damaged. Based on these assumptions, I would guess that there may be nand read/write corruption. My reasoning may be incorrect, but it is sensible to try to clear the nand r/w corruption next to see if that will clear up the issues.
Instructions to clear nand read/write corruption. It is critical to follow these steps in order.
Odin3 v1.85 is recommended.
Perform a wipe data/factory reset both before, and after if needed.
1) Download the Tar version of Siyah 2.6.14 Kernel. Flash it in PDA Without ticking Re-Partitioning
2) Flash the Tar.md5 of the full stock Gingerbread distribution from the Download Repository, I777UCKH7 including the bootloaders and everything, in the PDA slot.
3) If that is successful you are done. If it is not, then:
4) Download the SBL Bootloader from the Download Repository. Flash it as PDA in ODIN, without ticking Re-Partitioning. (Please observe normal bootloader flashing caution.)
5) Flash the Kernel, as in step 1.
6) Flash the full stock Gingerbread distribution, as in step 2.
I followed all of your steps and it seems that I am still at the "Rethink Possible" screen. Even after flashing and wiping everything according to your directions.
I downloaded the "I777UCKH7-REV02-home-low-CL503881.tar.md5.7z" which I assumed was the full UCKH7 that you mentioned in your post. After flashing and wiping, it still hangs. I flashed the "I777 UCKH7 sbl.tar" and repeated step 1 and 2, wiped and it still hangs.
When I am doing a "wipe data/factory reset" I see an error under "Appling Multi-CSC".
This is what I see,
Installing Multi-CSC
Can't access to '/system/csc/ATT/system/'.
Successfully applied multi-CSC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this have anything to do with the hanging at the boot screen?
nomoney4me said:
Does this have anything to do with the hanging at the boot screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure. Most of what I know about this phone is gained from observation of the information that people have posted in these forums over the past two and a half years. I haven't seen an issue exactly like yours, as far as I can remember. There was one case where the phone would boot into the system, but not function properly. When it was sent to Mobile Tech Videos for jtag repair, it was found to have damaged emmc memory. I just don't know whether your issue is similar to that one or not. Any further advice is beyond the scope of my understanding.
What I have seen happen a few times is that if a person keeps trying to get the phone working, eventually some operation (flash or whatever) works differently and the phone then works. This would indicate trying different equipment, as in different pc, different cable, etc. I know that the flash is completing successfully so I don't know if this is irrelevant advice or not.
Another thing to try could be re-partitioning the memory when you flash. There is an I777 pit in the download repository. I have no experience with using it, but I remember at least two cases where a phone was recovered by flashing the pit. In one case, flashing the pit with the firmware the first time didn't clear the problem, but then flashing the firmware again worked. Flashing the pit is generally considered risky, especially if you don't know exactly what the correct steps are, but at this point, what is there to lose?
I'm trying to get the user files off a phone with corrupted cache. When booted normally, it gets stuck on the white T-Mobile splash screen. When booting into recovery, I get an error about the cache and the phone restarts without loading into recovery. Screenshots attached.
I can get into download mode fine.
Using Odin to flash a custom recovery gives me the PASS message, but when I restart the phone, the stock recovery is still there with the same error message. I've tried TWRP and CWM.
I am hesitant to try flashing a custom ROM because I don't want to lose the data. The phone is not important, but the data is.
firstrival said:
I'm trying to get the user files off a phone with corrupted cache. When booted normally, it gets stuck on the white T-Mobile splash screen. When booting into recovery, I get an error about the cache and the phone restarts without loading into recovery. Screenshots attached.
I can get into download mode fine.
Using Odin to flash a custom recovery gives me the PASS message, but when I restart the phone, the stock recovery is still there with the same error message. I've tried TWRP and CWM.
I am hesitant to try flashing a custom ROM because I don't want to lose the data. The phone is not important, but the data is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont try flashing a custom ROM on to the phone. Try flash the stock ROM through the lastest odin with the lastest drivers and let me know how that works out for ya. Unless that wipes the phone ( havent used it in quite some time) then I have no idea man.
I tried flashing the T399UVUAMJ4 ROM throught Odin. It went through the entire process and rebooted, but nothing changed. Does this mean the bootloader is locked?
firstrival said:
I tried flashing the T399UVUAMJ4 ROM throught Odin. It went through the entire process and rebooted, but nothing changed. Does this mean the bootloader is locked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure maybe want to ask someone else I'm not as experienced as some people on here. Sorry man goodluck
I hope someone can help you out. I would say your cache partition somehow got renamed but I'm not sure if thats possible and if so how to fix it. Maybe someone with ADB knowledge can help?
Also what TWRP were you trying to install? I've had problems when I tried to flash older versions
okay so here is a site with the original firmware for the phone. It has both the t399 and the t399n for odin. It has them labeled so its not too confusing lol. http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f200/samsung-t399n-metro-pcs-firmware-here-1899016/
find the one for the t399, flash it with odin. this will fully restore your phone. HOPEFULLY it will be able to save the data. I know you said you did this before but I'm not sure if it was just system or everything like here.
kireflow90 said:
okay so here is a site with the original firmware for the phone. It has both the t399 and the t399n for odin. It has them labeled so its not too confusing lol. http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f200/samsung-t399n-metro-pcs-firmware-here-1899016/
find the one for the t399, flash it with odin. this will fully restore your phone. HOPEFULLY it will be able to save the data. I know you said you did this before but I'm not sure if it was just system or everything like here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I tried the T399 files. Flashed with no errors, but when it reboots everything is still the same. I've even tried flashing from another computer. Mind boggling!
firstrival said:
So I tried the T399 files. Flashed with no errors, but when it reboots everything is still the same. I've even tried flashing from another computer. Mind boggling!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply. Its a shame to hear that it didn't work
How did you come to this? as to me it seems the partions have be modified hence why giving those errors I seen similar errors to when users change cache sizes which tends to brick device or from using incorrect pit files.
You never be able to recover data from flashing Odin may be slim chance by custom Rom thru recovery if was a bkup of original system and not selecting data your old data may conflict causing either bootloop or basically stuck on splash screen.
If you was ever able to best way to pull data from device would be thru adb may have a chance.
This phone belongs to a friend of a friend. They said they brought it to T-Mo because it hung up during boot. The store worked on it for a few minutes, but couldn't get it to boot up either. When I tried to go into recovery, they said the store already went into that screen too. They have since bought a new phone, but would like to get the photos off it if possible. They never had an SD card so it's still on the device.
At the moment, I can just go into download mode. I was hoping to flash a custom recovery so I might possibly be able to ADB from there since it won't load the stock recovery.
I have a very similar issue but without "cache error messages". The phone (Samsung Galaxy Light with stock ROM and TWRP) just reboots no matter what I try to flash into it.
It does it while "drawing" the Samsung Logo animation (blue ring that gets created revealing the word samsung), so after the white wrintings of the phone name.
My attempts so far:
1. Flashed newer version of TWRP
2. Flashed CWM
3. Flashed two different versions of stock ROM (the original one and the one that T-Mobile released when upgraded to latest jelly Bean)
4. Flashed a custom ROM (Light ROM found here which is based on the stock one).
EVERY TIME the outcome was the same:
Phone reboots right after the phone name (written in white) while the Samsung animation starts. It just stops while the blue oval begins to appear. If I try to boot into recovery (via home/power/volume up combo) it shows the TWRP splash screen but it reboots right after and this happened even after I flashed (successfully according to Odin) CWM.
It really looks like I did nothing so far but I can assure it's not the first time I use Odin (4 different versions) to flash a custom recovery or a ROM. I did it successfully on other 4 different phones (all samsung).
On this same phone I did it the first time when flashed TWRP in order to root it via recovery.
I have no idea what to do next. I was thinking about using adb in order to wipe all the caches (dalvik included) but it looks like the phone can't be recognized unless I boot it into recovery mode (adb get-state returns "unknown") and I don't think I can do anything in Download mode which is the only mode I can enter apparently.
I was hoping someone here can help me to spare some money buying a new phone for my wife and tossing this one which is the best for its small size imho.
Thank you in advance to anyone interested in at least shading some light on what could have happened. This started to happen out of the blue and the last time I actively modified something (updating the recovery) was almost one year ago... It always worked like a charm until 4 days ago...
EDIT: To clarify: the reason why I posted here is because this looked like a problem the most similar to mine (boot loop or stuck at boot and can't enter either regular or recovery mode). I cannot create new posts due to my low "rank" yet... Please feel free to move this if you think it belongs to a separate thread.
fulgorevinnie said:
I have a very similar issue but without "cache error messages". The phone (Samsung Galaxy Light with stock ROM and TWRP) just reboots no matter what I try to flash into it.
It does it while "drawing" the Samsung Logo animation (blue ring that gets created revealing the word samsung), so after the white wrintings of the phone name.
My attempts so far:
1. Flashed newer version of TWRP
2. Flashed CWM
3. Flashed two different versions of stock ROM (the original one and the one that T-Mobile released when upgraded to latest jelly Bean)
4. Flashed a custom ROM (Light ROM found here which is based on the stock one).
EVERY TIME the outcome was the same:
Phone reboots right after the phone name (written in white) while the Samsung animation starts. It just stops while the blue oval begins to appear. If I try to boot into recovery (via home/power/volume up combo) it shows the TWRP splash screen but it reboots right after and this happened even after I flashed (successfully according to Odin) CWM.
It really looks like I did nothing so far but I can assure it's not the first time I use Odin (4 different versions) to flash a custom recovery or a ROM. I did it successfully on other 4 different phones (all samsung).
On this same phone I did it the first time when flashed TWRP in order to root it via recovery.
I have no idea what to do next. I was thinking about using adb in order to wipe all the caches (dalvik included) but it looks like the phone can't be recognized unless I boot it into recovery mode (adb get-state returns "unknown") and I don't think I can do anything in Download mode which is the only mode I can enter apparently.
I was hoping someone here can help me to spare some money buying a new phone for my wife and tossing this one which is the best for its small size imho.
Thank you in advance to anyone interested in at least shading some light on what could have happened. This started to happen out of the blue and the last time I actively modified something (updating the recovery) was almost one year ago... It always worked like a charm until 4 days ago...
EDIT: To clarify: the reason why I posted here is because this looked like a problem the most similar to mine (boot loop or stuck at boot and can't enter either regular or recovery mode). I cannot create new posts due to my low "rank" yet... Please feel free to move this if you think it belongs to a separate thread.
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ok so i read all that you have done which is basically everything i would of suggested to you other then could it be the battery may be faulty just random thought noticed you never mentioned trying kies you may have a chance with it beening detected as i see you can enter download mode so that help with odin also kies also have you tried firmware from here sam mobile here T399 or T399N OH2 lastest for tmo and OH3 for metro.
Try to only flash that thru odin i use 3.07 or 3.09 only difference is the pda button changes to AP .works perfect for me so i suggest it then returning back to stock recovery/firmware if it boots then awesome. then return to TWRP 2.8.4.0 beening lastest for this device also needed for CM12 also my projects for device current and future.
when using odin make sure that only “Auto Reboot” and “F. Reset Time” options are selected.
also just note when going into twrp release buttons as soon as you see logo otherwise it will continue to boot thru well happens to me when daydreaming lol.
also if your seeing this adb get-state returns "unknown" i believe installing kies may install the drivers for detection im not postive on that but im sure it something to do with missing the adb driver for device maybe another dev can confirm this ?
hopefully this may be of some help i keep on thread to see how the outcome goes
Thanks for the reply DJBoxer!
Regarding the battery it's a new one and I can confirm it's not a battery problem considering that the phone can stay in download mode and unplugged from any power source for very long times without turning off/rebooting and it never failed to keep the charge so far. I also tried with the old battery and the phone behaves exactly the same way.
I used 3 different versions of Odin (1.87, 3.07 and 3.09) with only “Auto Reboot” and “F. Reset Time” options selected and every time I got the PASS message even though the phone keeps rebooting after the first reboot once the procedure is terminated.
To clarify one thing : when I said "it shows the TWRP splash screen but it reboots right after and this happened even after I flashed CWM" I meant to point out that it looks odd to see the TWRP splash screen (even for just a few seconds) after I just flashed CWM and that makes me think that I'm really not flashing anything here...
Thank you very much for taking the time of posting the links and I actually didn't try with that latest OH2 version.
I am downloading it right now (it takes a while from sammobile) and I will keep you posted on the outcome.
I will try to flash it via Odin and I'll also try the latest version mentioned on sammobile (Odin3_v3.10.7).
Regarding Kies I wasn't able to have it recognize the phone. I may be missing something but I tried updating drivers and going through all the guided procedures with no luck... If you say it should recognize the phone right away while in download mode then something is amiss.
Could you please confirm that I should also be able to use adb commands with the phone connected via USB in download mode? Cause that doesn't look like the case either...
Thank you again and I'll give updates here about my last attempts.
Sorry for the late reply...
Nothing changed by the way...
I am about to send the phone back to the seller who told me they'll try to fix it. Let's see how it goes.