I have a Samsung Vibrant that I recently Odin'd back to stock Eclair. I am trying to root it with the AIO toolbox but th toolbox says that USB debugging is off even when it is on, and will not root. I have done this exact thing on the same comp with the same phone and cable in the same USB port. What could be wrong?
try another usb port or use another usb cable ...
hope this work..
Unless you are planning on staying in Eclair, why are you rooting it?
You can just pull the CWR zip from my signature (or the Noob Guide-they are one in the same), put it on your internal, boot into recovery, Reinstall Packages, cycle it, Reinstall Packages again and stock (blue) goes to CWR (green), then flash whatever ROM you are going to. Most, if not all our custom ROMs are pre-rooted, so that would be a non-issue.
I see, I was under the impression that flashing a new recovery was impossible with an unrooted device.
Also: I have tried exactly that with the aid of the AIO toolbox and it bootlooped every time. I heard that it might happen but how can I prevent it? All I can do at that point is odin back to stock because my Vibrant can't get to recovery through button presses.
Put my Update.zip from above on your Internal SD (and make sure it is the only thing labeled update.zip on there). Make a folder and put whatever ROM you are going to flash in it.
1 Odin to 2.1 and let it boot up.
2 Once it boots up then power down.
3 Hit the power again and hold the vol+/- and power button.
4 When you see the Vibrant, release the power but hold the vol+/- (might take you a few times to get it).
5 It will boot into stock (blue) recovery, see directions above.
6 Once in the Green recovery, scroll down to wipe cache, hit it and then to advances->wipe Dalvik-cache. Hit back once done.
7 Now on front page of Green recovery, scroll down to Install zip from SD. Hit it and find your ROM that you saved earlier. Install it and just let it sit there for a few minutes. Then follow your ROM's OP for further instructions.
I have never used Odin to flash ROMs but use it all the time to go back to 2.1 for clean installs. Once you Odin back to 2.1, there is no need to keep the toolbox open anymore, per the above method. Also, as many times that I have flashed this phone, it still takes me a few times to boot into stock recovery the first time, so don;t get frustrated, especially with Froyo bootloaders (but that is another story).
I don't think that my phone can use buttons to get to recovery, some can't apparently and I have tried. I will try again, but is there another way to get to recovery?
Also, is it required that I Odin and then immediately boot to recovery or can I do this now -- still running 2.1, unrooted, no mods?
EDIT: tried that, and was greeted by a nice bootloop. I can Odin back to 2.1, but is there a way I can go directly to CM7?
EDIT 2: Nevermind, button recovery worked, I am CM&'d and on my way, thanks so much!
Do you have the update.zip on your internal? As long as you can boot up you can get into recovery. Sometimes it takes me 10+ times to get it going. Keep trying. Holding and releasing the power button and volume+\-.
If you are comfortable enough to a gingerbread bootloader I can send you one of those. You flash it through Odin and then you can boot into recovery with vol- & power. But do it wrong and you will hard brick your device fo sho. Go to Dec section and search for Adyscorpious' bootloader thread tobread about it.
---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 PM ----------
PM sent. Going to bed but I'll check on you in the morning. 6am comes early enough.
Related
Tuesday night I loaded CM7, and then the Market wouldn't update my apps so I decided I would restore BAMF 1.5. After doing so, the Market just gave me "Fails" trying to update, and I could not access recovery, as I was going to do a complete wipe and reflash. Most of Wednesday, an extremely helpful & knowledgable member, Mattgyver83, tried diligently to help me rectify the situation, but to no avail. We tried to Fastboot, tried flash_image, tried fix permissions...shoot, I practically wore out adb..anyway, I ended up reverting back to stock and unrooted. I used jcase's method to revert back to stock, and that was painless, and successful. I decided last night to try rooting again, thinking a fresh root would solve my issue of not being able to access recovery. Root was successful, but I still cannot access recovery, through rom manager, or through bootloader. When I attempt it my Tbolt goes to white HTC screen, and stays there. All functions of my phone now work, and all aspects of root work, except I cannot flash anything. Rom manager shows I have clockwork recovery, but I just can't get to it.
Sorry for the long ramble. If anyone has had this issue, or if anyone knows a fix, I would appreciate it. Otherwise, I wait for Gingerbread.
Thanks
Happened to me with CM7 builds. For some reason they were erasing the recovery. Just have to reflash the recovery in Rom Manager and you'll be all set in the future.
do what i do pull batt leave out for a min, then put the batt back in and connect usb right away.
travishamockery said:
Happened to me with CM7 builds. For some reason they were erasing the recovery. Just have to reflash the recovery in Rom Manager and you'll be all set in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that, but thanks. Still just goes to white HTC screen, and stays there until I do battery pull.
jr4000watts said:
do what i do pull batt leave out for a min, then put the batt back in and connect usb right away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can get to bootloader, just not able to get into recovery.
I'm stabbing in the dark at this, but this did work for me with my Droid...
I had a similar issue with my Droid. Someone recommended that I flash recovery multiple times before trying to reboot. The comments were basically that you need to flash recovery 3-5x until the flashing process is a mere few short seconds. Evidently that is an indication that the flash has occurred correctly.
Ie. Flash recovery and wait until the confirmation pop-up/message only takes a few seconds to pop up. If the message takes longer than 5 seconds or so, re-flash recovery and repeat until the confirmation comes up quickly.
This sounded retarded to me, but I was at the end of my rope so I tried it. It worked like a charm.
M.
monolithic said:
I'm stabbing in the dark at this, but this did work for me with my Droid...
I had a similar issue with my Droid. Someone recommended that I flash recovery multiple times before trying to reboot. The comments were basically that you need to flash recovery 3-5x until the flashing process is a mere few short seconds. Evidently that is an indication that the flash has occurred correctly.
Ie. Flash recovery and wait until the confirmation pop-up/message only takes a few seconds to pop up. If the message takes longer than 5 seconds or so, re-flash recovery and repeat until the confirmation comes up quickly.
This sounded retarded to me, but I was at the end of my rope so I tried it. It worked like a charm.
M.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but that didn't work. I think something in my os got lost when I restored BAMF from CM7.
Yea I spent a good few hours yesterday trying to help Orio out and we attempted a ton of things to try and fix the recovery issue, this post should offer a bit more insight to the methods used, this is running off memory;
adb reboot recovery failed
Reinstall latest Rom Manager apk and Flash CWM
flash latest rom manager via fastboot (CWM only)
(fastboot flash recovery /sdcard/recovery-clockwork-3.0.2.5.img)
**did not do fastboot erase recovery first**
"return to stock safely and properly" XDAthread by jcase
return to stock image [RUU], reroot, try again
try to boot into recovery via hboot
manually installed fix_permissions.sh script and busybox on rooted stock, ran.. didnt fix
tried to see if flash_image method would work, didn't
All of the above have failed and we basically tried almost all combinations. Not once would this phone get back into recovery, even after flashing the appropriate RUUs which include either stock android or CWM recovery. The only thing we have not currently attempted which might be the last thing left is to do is manually install the nandroid.sh script and do an advanced restore of the recovery image only from a nandroid backup on SD. I would rather not go down this method as it could have an undesired result, I have done it to restore a G1 back in the day but not 100% if its gonna work on a tbolt. Thankfully his phone boots, and we can get into hboot, but yea.. pretend recovery just doesnt exist at all...
Curious if anyone has any knowledge above what we have already tried.
monolithic said:
I had a similar issue with my Droid. Someone recommended that I flash recovery multiple times before trying to reboot. The comments were basically that you need to flash recovery 3-5x until the flashing process is a mere few short seconds. Evidently that is an indication that the flash has occurred correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recall the same thing and its a good thought however that was mostly a generic error due to a CWM update and CM6 (I think) but either way flashing an RUU should override this shortcoming and im pretty sure that issue was worked out in CWM as well.
Not to be rude, but I don't think this question belongs in the development section.
Orio56 said:
I can get to bootloader, just not able to get into recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you still have the P zip file for the radio (baseband) on your SD card? if you do....try to delete it...then hold power and volume down button down....then see if you can get into recovery....
probably not going to work...but it is worth a try......
hogowner said:
do you still have the P zip file for the radio (baseband) on your SD card? if you do....try to delete it...then hold power and volume down button down....then see if you can get into recovery....
probably not going to work...but it is worth a try......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but no, I deleted that after loading it. I actually reverted back to stock/unrooted last night and rerooted and the problem still remains. It's quite strange.
maybe i missed it if someone suggested this but what about flashing an older version of CWM?
shelooga said:
maybe i missed it if someone suggested this but what about flashing an older version of CWM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what I was going to suggest. In ROM Manager at the very bottom try and flash an older version.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
SUCCESS !!!
I fixed it !
Apparently, when I loaded up cm7, files showed up about the same time on my sdcard in clockworkmod download file. I deleted those files, and reflashed clockworkmod in rom manager, (which this time took like 3 - 4 minutes), and rebooted into recovery and it worked...did it again, just in case it was a fluke and it worked.
All is well now...the planets are realigned !!!
Thanks everyone for your ideas and especially thanks to mattgyver83 who helped me for something like 4 hours yesterday. Exceptional kindness !!
mods...you can close this thread.
GREAT NEWS!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!
THANKS FOR REPORTING BACK!
This may help out other members with the same problem!!
now go ahead and start playing with your T-BOLT again!
That's a very odd solution. My first two things to try would have been:
1) fastboot:
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot flash recovery C:\some\local\path\recovery.img
You can't, well, probably shouldn't, flash a recovery from the /sdcard. When in fastboot mode I don't think the sdcard is even mounted. Either way, I think fastboot needs the img file on the local file system.
2) Create a PG05IMG.zip file with the recovery.img file in it, and flash that through HBOOT. Although this should have been done in some form or fashion when you downgraded or re-rooted, so YMMV.
This is what happens when you have too much info with waaaay too little experience.
Bought an unlocked Vibrant from Amazon a year ago after the original tmobile one got stolen. It had issues like freezing up, tons of apps running all of time, etc. I finally tried installing froyo and it made the phone SO MUCH BETTER! Everything ran 1000% faster. I should have stopped there. But, it was pretty addictive I started reading about the new ice cream roms and somewhere, before I even got into it, I messed up the internal sd card. I have been working on this for a week, reading, downloading, flashing, etc. I feel like I have tried everything and have gone around in circles.
I can get into download mode with no problem. The furthest I have gotten after that was getting the "pass" in Odin. The phone does the boot up, then stay on the Galaxy S screen. Now, my computer won't recognize the phone (which has already happened) but now I am soooo confused and frustrated about where to go next. I have used AIO toolbox, Eugene's no brick, installing new drivers, new usb cord, etc.
Sorry so long. Thanks again.
bump...hope someone can help.
Could you give a clearer explanation/timeline of what you did? How did you mess internal sd?
Did you Odin stock jfd?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
nolamom said:
bump...hope someone can help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is Clockworkmod recovery installed? If not, google: Samsung_Vibrant:_Full_Update_Guide and go to the Cyanogenmod wiki entry. Read through the "Installing Clockworkmod recovery" section.
In addition, from Addictivetips, to start recovery mode using the hardware buttons:
"Using hardware button combination on most Android devices:
On most Android devices including ones by HTC, you can enter recovery by powering your device off and then powering it back on while keeping either the ‘Volume Down’ or the ‘Volume-Up’ button pressed, depending on the device. This will enter the bootloader from where you can select the ‘RECOVERY’ option by navigating to it with the Volume key and entering it with the ‘Power’ key.
Sorry, but I'm not allowed to post links yet.
On most Samsung devices specifically Samsung Galaxy S series devices, you must keep both the ‘Volume-Up’ and ‘Home’ keys pressed while powering on the device, to directly enter recovery."
Thanks so much for the help. Ascallop: I tried to run Heimdall suite 1.3.1. The first time the drivers installed but I could not get passed the "run as administrator" on the next step. I have Windows XP professional even though I am on a home computer. It is automatically checked off to do so. When I tried again later that day, my computer again only recognized the vibrant as an unknown device. I just followed your link to Cyanogenmod's wiki and downloaded the older version and the same thing happened with the unknown device. I can't get passed that. Trailblazerz11, I think when I got to clockwork mod recovery, I hit repartition (if I am explaining that right). I was able to get into download mode and use Odin to get to the bootloader loop. I can't get into recovery. I was getting the message about the internal sd error. Now, I am stuck with the unknown device issue. I have tried a couple of different versions of Odin, the AIO toolbox, different usb ports, a new samsung cord, etc. Thanks again for helping this noob.
update: Used heimdall frontloader and installed cmenard overstock. Now I am stuck at the overstock screen. I am searching through different posts to find out more. But if you have any advice or can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. Thanks again.
Have you tried repartition on odin?
sent from the xda app on my android smartphone.
Do you have an external SD card installed? If so, then remove it during the entire recovery process. I had lots of trouble recovering and flashing new kernels/roms while it was installed. Probably should have mentioned this earlier... sry.
No. It was already taken out. I am having trouble still with the vibrant not being recognized. I used the zadig, it recognized the samsung, did the next step, frozen at overstock screen. Now, after unplugging cable, Vibrant pops up as unknown device. Can't do zadig again.
I'm travelling until Friday, when I get back to my home PC, I'll odin my Vibrant back to stock Eclair and will list the steps that I took some months ago to install CWM/CM7. I once was at the same point as you are now, I just can't remember the steps verbatim regarding the recovery process. One question though: have you updated your phone via Kies at any point? If so, was the last update to Froyo?
BTW, I'm currently running (quite happily) ICS Passion V12 on my T-Mobile Vibrant.
The Vibrant is a pretty hard device to truly brick. Don't worry too much, yet.
Thanks so much ascallop! I think I tried Kies when froyo was offered as an update through Samsung. But, it wouldn't work. I thought it was because my phone came unlocked so I came here and was able to update to froyo and I loved it. I haven't used Kies since. The ICS Passion looks awesome. I think the ease of using froyo made me ridiculously overconfident. As of right now, I have gotten the drivers to download in Heimdall and used the frontend to flash the kernel. I'm not sure what to do next because it seems that if I reboot to get into download or unplug the usb, the computer won't recognize the phone again. I'm sure I'll be happily running ICS when you get back on Friday. Kidding, kidding.
nolamom said:
Thanks so much ascallop! I think I tried Kies when froyo was offered as an update through Samsung. But, it wouldn't work. I thought it was because my phone came unlocked so I came here and was able to update to froyo and I loved it. I haven't used Kies since. The ICS Passion looks awesome. I think the ease of using froyo made me ridiculously overconfident. As of right now, I have gotten the drivers to download in Heimdall and used the frontend to flash the kernel. I'm not sure what to do next because it seems that if I reboot to get into download or unplug the usb, the computer won't recognize the phone again. I'm sure I'll be happily running ICS when you get back on Friday. Kidding, kidding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13132341#post13132341
Let's get your phone back to Stock first. I just did this to my own Vibrant
I am officially back to stock!!! Thanks so, so much. After all of the reading and researching, you actually jumpstarted my recovery! Thanks again!!!
You're welcome
BTW, I flashed ICS V12r1 with Nelson's new kernel today. I love it. GPS works great for me, although others have reported problems. Same old deep sleep issue for them.
I wonder if flashing back to stock first is the key to fixing the prob. Don't really know though...
After the stock flash, the steps I took were:
copied kernel and rom to the internal sd card
One-click rooted the phone
odin (1.3) the Overstock kernel just to get cwm installed (instructions on the cm7 wiki)
reboot to cwm
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache/dalvik
flash rom
reboot, let settle
reboot to cwm
flash kernel (I used: ICS_Passion_sunset_with_nova)
reboot, let settle
---------- Post added at 05:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------
One more thing: I flashed the Gingerbread bootloader as well. After you do this the key combo for cwm is: Vol-up + power. Let go when you see the boot splash.
Sounds sweet! Although I'm back to stock, I can't root because I can't access the internal drive. A message comes up about E: no such file, etc. I can see the phone storage memory amount and the phone holds data. I don't have an external card in right now. So, here I go again....
You shouldn't need an external card to root. Try One click root:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1125414
nolamom said:
Sounds sweet! Although I'm back to stock, I can't root because I can't access the internal drive. A message comes up about E: no such file, etc. I can see the phone storage memory amount and the phone holds data. I don't have an external card in right now. So, here I go again....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I've seen that E: error, it has been because of a mismatch between the CWM version and the filesystem layout on the device. CWM for CM7 doesn't work for ICS, for example. At least not for me.
---------- Post added at 10:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 AM ----------
cashmundy said:
When I've seen that E: error, it has been because of a mismatch between the CWM version and the filesystem layout on the device. CWM for CM7 doesn't work for ICS, for example. At least not for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And of course the stock recovery won't work with anything else. Different partitioning, different filesystems.
Okay. I was able to root with the one click root app. Now, I need to figure out what to do next. Ascallop, I was reading about your latest updates. I have to go through it a few times so that I can understand it all. I had froyo before and it blew away stock. I can't imagine what ICS is like Thanks again for all of the help. I HATE being back to stock.
The only reason I'm not running ICS is that I'm waiting for CyanogenMod permissions management to appear in anyone ICS rom. I'm really tempted to try Passion. ICS is markedly better than the best GB in various ways. Just remember to take a nandroid backup before upgrading, and that if something doesn't work and you need to downgrade, you will have to get the downgrade done successfully before you can nandroid-restore. Good luck!
Thanks Cashmundy. I saw the video for the root and install ice cream sandwich by Eddie West (I think that is his name.) He is a dj also. It looks like everything I would need so I may go with that.
I recently tried installing cyanogen 7. I followed the steps of the tutorial from the development forum very closely, including the bootstrapping tutorial / sbf tutorial. Everything seemed to work well at first. Booted up into cyanogen, installed patched bootstrap recovery, etc. Then I rebooted my phone, and now it won't get past the cyanogen booting screen. I'm not sure what I should do now. I am unfamiliar with how to recover or reflash an sbf. Googling has not helped me at all.
I am a bit of an amateur with roms, but I have been rooted for a while and figured I was safe seeing as though I made backups of everything. Any idea what I can do from here? I am unsure how to actually recover any of the backups I made, much less make it past this boot animation.
Pull your battery and then put it in. Do not turn on the phone but plug into wall charger. If bsr is installed it will take you straight go that then you can wipe data or restore. If you get the battery icon then bsr is not installed then you can try android recovery
---------- Post added at 05:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 AM ----------
If you do not know how to get into android recovery turn phone off and hold volume down and power button until you see fastboot. Then use volume button down until you see android recovery. Then hit volume up. Once you see the triangle and android the hit both volume buttons at the same time. Then you will be in recovery and can try wiping data and cache.
_
If that does not work time for SBC. Good tutorials here in general section.
actually this thread
should me moved to q&a or general. If you need more help feel free to ask.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1318083 for recovering your bank back ups.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1317707 if you need to sbf it is nervous racking the first time but it is a pieces. Of cake.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1175300
Moderators feel free to move this to another section.
Trying to flash to stock via Odin. Odin completes without errors and reboots the phone. The phone, though, shuts off after the inital splash screen ("Vibrant" at the top "samsung" at the bottom").
Since multiupload/megaupload was taken down, I'm unable to find any Odin-flashable stock roms/any kind of roms. I followed steps 2-4 on [I can't post a link, but it was on rootzwiki] and ended up with this.
Does anyone have any ideas? I've been searching for a solution for the past 3-4 hours.
Go to the Dev section and download tha AIO Toolbox (Stickied at the top). It has the Odin v1.8 (I think), all the drivers and pit/tar files that you need to get back to stock 2.1 and then you can download CWR from my signature, find a ROM.zip that you want to install and put them on your Internal SD card.
Make sure you put the ROM in a folder and also make sure that the CWR that you get from my sig is on your internal and is the only thing on it labeled Update.zip. Once those are done, boot into recovery, scroll down to "Reinstall PAckages" and hit it. Let it cycle through and you might have to do it again. Once it cycles through your recovery will go from Blue (stock) to Green (CWR) from there, you can flash your ROM and profit. [If you are going to an ICS flavor, you may have to be on GB bootloaders and flash CM7 as an intermitant step. I suggest trying Moped_Ryder's ROM and Fishman's Bionix Mod-both 2.2 but quality and everything works.]
The toolbox is a valuable thing and you can do many things with it, but mainly and most importantly, it HAS the files to get you back to TMo 2.1. (I use it all the time and I am not even a TMo customer).
Just flashed via the AIO toolbox, still same behavior.
Can't even get into the recovery screen.
What ROM are you coming from? If 2.3 or higher you have to tick repartition.
Just keep trying. I've seen posts where it takes many times for it to pass and boot up for some reason. Not sure why it does this sometimes.
I'll check on you later. My tablet got another update today, so I'll be troubleshooting over there later on.
I'm coming from ICS Passion v4 (I think, it's been a long whiles since I flashed it)
Just reflashed 7 times to no avail :/
Thank you for taking the time to help, it's really appreciated..
Hah! Unbricked!
Followed this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=817186
Used eugene's odin image from: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=833024&page=49
I've been using CM13 on my phone for a long while, but it was heavily bugged (my camera kept crashing, I've kept losing cell reception, couldn't receive calls etc), so I finally decided to try another ROM. I've heard good things about ResurrectionRemix ROMs, so I've decided to give it a try. I did factory reset and wiped cache (using CWM 6. something) and flashed RR 7.1 along with the appropriate gapps and rebooted the phone. It's worth noting that I've put the ROM and Gapps zip files on USB stick and connected it to the phone via micro USB cable. It all went smoothly, and the phone booted right up. However, once I got into the startup setting and choosing the language suddenly it just rebooted all on its own. Same thing happened 2 more times, and I got stuck in a bootloop after that.
So I figured I should flash another ROM, and I wanted to give RR 6.0 a try. I've downloaded it and saved it to my USB stick, however, when I tried to flash any zip files from my stick, it just kept randomly unmounting, disrupting the process, giving me "USBdisc0 idle-unmounted" message. Since I don't have an SD card, only thing I could do was push files to my phone, and I've managed to do so via Quick ADB Pusher. This time, flashing went without a hitch, however, I've tried cleaning my phone completely (formatting all the data and system files), and I think I messed it up a bit when I did that, since I didn't flash SuperSU along with ROP and gapps. Again, I got stuck in a bootloop without any signs of the ROM working.
So I decided to flash CM13 again. At least I was sure it was working on my phone, and I figured it was better to have a crappy phone than no phone at all. So I pushed the CM13 file onto the phone and flashed it, but still got stuck in bootloop. I finally remembered about SuperSU and tried to flash it too, but now my phone kept restarting in the middle of the flashing process. I've tried doing the factory reset and cache wipe, but I can't flash any files now without it restarting only few seconds into the process.
I have no idea what's going on, but seems that my phone is doing worse and worse as time moves on. At least I can still boot into recovery and download mode, so (hopefully) something can still be done. As it's probably painfully obvious, I'm not too knowledgeable about this stuff, I'm just following instructions people smarter than me put out, but seems I've messed it up good this time. Am I beyond help?
Try to download newest firmware from sanmobile.com and flash it with odin. Then root it make backup flash recovery and flash rom that you choose with recovery. There are lots of tutorials here on xda and on youtube. Just remember that flashing stock firmware with odin will delete all of your data so try to back them up somehow (i think that if you boot phone in recovery (twrp) the pc will see it like a pendrive)
Sirius8 said:
...
As it's probably painfully obvious, I'm not too knowledgeable about this stuff, I'm just following instructions people smarter than me put out, but seems I've messed it up good this time. Am I beyond help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TBH you made the mistake many beginners make... Going ahead too fast with insufficient knowledge. But never too late to learn that lesson
Since you are getting more and more confused and your phone seems acting strange I recommend starting from scratch an be analytic about it. This will take just a few minutes more but you can be sure where a problem comes from.
First of all: Take 30 minutes to get acquainted with the basics and read through the first thread in my signature (just do it...)
If you can still get in download mode, get your latest stock rom e.g. from sammobile.com and flash it via ODIN. Run stock for a few minutes to see if everything works correctly (test camera, outgoing/incoming calls, mobile data, wifi, gps etc.). If something does not work STOP HERE and report back.
If all is fine go back to ODIN and install latest TWRP (cwm is seriously outdated, can cause lots of errors). Then boot into TWRP and flash whatever custom rom you like. If you install e.g. LOS 14.1 or RR 7.1.1 make sure you install gapps direcly after you flash the rom (do not reboot in between).
Any questions pop up: Shoot. I'm happy to help.
---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------
McXred said:
Try to download newest firmware from sanmobile.com and flash it with odin. Then root it make backup flash recovery and flash rom that you choose with recovery. There are lots of tutorials here on xda and on youtube. Just remember that flashing stock firmware with odin will delete all of your data so try to back them up somehow (i think that if you boot phone in recovery (twrp) the pc will see it like a pendrive)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since he already wiped system and data there is no point in a backup of those partitions. Only thing worth saving would be the efs partition.
And you don't need to root stock rom to go further...
If you are unrooted you have to REMOVE the "auto-reboot" checkmark in odin options and then - after the flash of twrp - reboot to recovery (TWRP) manually via holding Power+Home+VolUp for a few seconds.
If you do not uncheck that "auto-reboot" box, an thus allow the unrooted system (stock samsung system) to boot, it will overwrite the new twrp recovery you flashed 2 seconds before...
This is the point where I believe many confusion comes from. If you root first, any recovery you flash will not be overwritten. That is - I think - why many tutorials/tips say you must root stock first before installing a custom rom, which is simply not true.
But you are right that it would help to flash TWRP fist as outlined above, boot into it and make a backup to a microSD card... but of the efs partition (!) as the very first step. Then keep that backup safe and go from there with stock rom, testing for any problems.
So to reiterate the steps I would go:
1) Flash TWRP via odin and boot directly into it
2) Backup efs partition to a microSD card
3) Flash stock rom via ODIN and test
4) Go from there / report baback
Thank you so much for the replies guys, I'm glad there's still hope for my trusty SIII.
Are there any alternatives for sammobile.com though, since it requires premium account for the firmware I need. I've found another mirror on the site mrcrab.net/stockrom/2444.html (mirror 1 leads to sammobile.com, while mirror 2 leads directly to rapidgator), but can I trust it not to mess my phone up further?
Try updato.com for the firmware.
Hawaiihemd said:
If you can still get in download mode, get your latest stock rom e.g. from sammobile.com and flash it via ODIN. Run stock for a few minutes to see if everything works correctly (test camera, outgoing/incoming calls, mobile data, wifi, gps etc.). If something does not work STOP HERE and report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've manage to flash stock ROM via Odin, however, as soon as the phone booted up it gave me the "low battery" message, even though I think there was plenty of battery left. But I figured the flashing process must have drained it. As I've tried to tap the OK button, the screen just froze and remained frozen for over 5 minutes. I took battery out and reinserted it, since nothing else worked, and got stuck in bootloop again, just as before flashing stock firmware.
Sirius8 said:
I've manage to flash stock ROM via Odin, however, as soon as the phone booted up it gave me the "low battery" message, even though I think there was plenty of battery left. But I figured the flashing process must have drained it. As I've tried to tap the OK button, the screen just froze and remained frozen for over 5 minutes. I took battery out and reinserted it, since nothing else worked, and got stuck in bootloop again, just as before flashing stock firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to charge phone without turning it on, when it says its fully charged try to flash it again.
McXred said:
Try to charge phone without turning it on, when it says its fully charged try to flash it again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea. I would also keep it on the charger while booting.
This could be a symptom of a defective battery. So these steps might help.
Looks like you were right guys. I've recharged the battery and tried to flash the stock firmware again, but for some odd reason (it seems like I can't do the same thing twice with this phone ) Odin was giving me grief and couldn't establish proper connection with my phone, even though it recognized it at the beginning of the process. I've tried changing cables and ports, but with no avail.
After I gave that up, I tried booting the phone up anyway, but keeping it plugged in the charger this time. It booted right up, but I expected it to crash and reboot at any moment. So I sped up through the settings a and login processes, but it still worked like a charm. I've checked the camera and everything worked perfectly. So I kept it on charger for a couple of hours, to check if I would have any random crashes, but nothing happened. After I was sure it was stable, I unplugged the charger, and within the second I did that the phone crashed and got stuck in the bootloop again.
I've plugged the charger back in and it booted up just fine. The battery level was 89%, and I left it on charger the whole night (12+ hours). It had 90% when I woke up, it's back at 89% right now.
So, everything points to a faulty battery, but it seems strange to me this happened just as I was flashing another ROM, even though I never had any problems with it before. And even though it wouldn't let me boot, I could use recovery and download mode for as long as I liked, and once I did boot with the charger plugged in, the battery wasn't drained but it was around 90%.
Hawaiihemd said:
TBH you made the mistake many beginners make... Going ahead too fast with insufficient knowledge. But never too late to learn that lesson
Since you are getting more and more confused and your phone seems acting strange I recommend starting from scratch an be analytic about it. This will take just a few minutes more but you can be sure where a problem comes from.
First of all: Take 30 minutes to get acquainted with the basics and read through the first thread in my signature (just do it...)
If you can still get in download mode, get your latest stock rom e.g. from sammobile.com and flash it via ODIN. Run stock for a few minutes to see if everything works correctly (test camera, outgoing/incoming calls, mobile data, wifi, gps etc.). If something does not work STOP HERE and report back.
If all is fine go back to ODIN and install latest TWRP (cwm is seriously outdated, can cause lots of errors). Then boot into TWRP and flash whatever custom rom you like. If you install e.g. LOS 14.1 or RR 7.1.1 make sure you install gapps direcly after you flash the rom (do not reboot in between).
Any questions pop up: Shoot. I'm happy to help.
---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------
Since he already wiped system and data there is no point in a backup of those partitions. Only thing worth saving would be the efs partition.
And you don't need to root stock rom to go further...
If you are unrooted you have to REMOVE the "auto-reboot" checkmark in odin options and then - after the flash of twrp - reboot to recovery (TWRP) manually via holding Power+Home+VolUp for a few seconds.
If you do not uncheck that "auto-reboot" box, an thus allow the unrooted system (stock samsung system) to boot, it will overwrite the new twrp recovery you flashed 2 seconds before...
This is the point where I believe many confusion comes from. If you root first, any recovery you flash will not be overwritten. That is - I think - why many tutorials/tips say you must root stock first before installing a custom rom, which is simply not true.
But you are right that it would help to flash TWRP fist as outlined above, boot into it and make a backup to a microSD card... but of the efs partition (!) as the very first step. Then keep that backup safe and go from there with stock rom, testing for any problems.
So to reiterate the steps I would go:
1) Flash TWRP via odin and boot directly into it
2) Backup efs partition to a microSD card
3) Flash stock rom via ODIN and test
4) Go from there / report baback
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still on charger, still 90 percent.