[Q] Can't flash to stock - Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

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

Related

Someone help? 1st time brick since July

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

[Q] Initial Install CM7... stuck in either boot loop or splash screen... forever! D:

Hi All, first time poster, long time lurker.
I previously had CM7 installed on my fascinate and that was the first time I ever rooted so it was a tad buggy and there were two CWM recoveries (JT’s red 2.5 & CWM 4.X fixed for CM7) installed. To get to JT’s I did the three finger salute, and to get to 4.X, I used long held the power button in CM7 and rebooted into recovery. Anyways I decided to right my wrongs and flash CM7 from scratch. I followed these instructions to the letter (started with Post #2 then moved onto post #1) ([http :// w w w .fascinateforums. c o m/forum/fascinate-rs-guides/2961-how-upgrade-cyanogenmod7.html[/url]) [sorry could not post links... please edit spaces for it to work], multiple times, and could not get it to work. If anyone could shed some advice, it would be greatly appreciated.
A brief overview of what I did.
1. Phone had CM7 Installed, w/ CWM4.0.1.0 and JT’s Red CWM 2.5… decided to reflash from the very beginning.
2. Downloaded DL09 & Atlas v2.2 PIT as defined in Post #2 in the instructions provided in the previous link.
3. Used odined, put DL09 in PDA, Atlasa v2.2 in PIT, checked off re-partition, and Started Odin. Success.
4. Did not turn on the phone, instead connected into Odin immediately after and flashed CWM4 that was fixed for CM7. Success
5. Used three finger method and got into blue CWM4.0.1.0
6. Wiped data three times… wiped cache three times… wiped Dalvik three times.
a.Note: While wiping data, it did not allow me to wipe “datadata” and skipped that part
b.Note: While wiping Dalvik, it said that it had wiped dalvik but the line to it mentioned a path not being found..?
7. Flashed the 7/17 build. Now the trouble begins…
a.Recovery says “Checking status of bml/mtd” then “installation complete.” Phone reboots into the SAMSUNG splash screen then to the SAMSUNG & CM7 splash screen. It never makes it to the skateborder screen and is just stuck on the SAMSUNG & CM7 screen.
b. How long am I supposed to wait here? I waited 10 minutes and it was still stuck… so I just battery pulled. Phone is restored to stock now (using steps 1-2).
I tried this method at least 3-4 times and it always gets stuck on the Samsung & CM7 Splash Screen and just stays there… I am probably doing something wrong but can’t catch it.
I also another method. In step 5, I also went to mount/storage in recovery and wiped /system in addition to wiping data/cache/dalvik. Afterwards I flash the 7/17 build and instead of it being stuck in Samsung & CM7 splash screen it was stuck in an infinite bootloop from SAMSUNG -> SAMSUNG & CM7 -> Recovery (for a quick second) and back to SAMSUNG. When it loops back to recovery it quickly says “Can’t mount” then “installation aborted” and then continues the infinite loop to Samsung => Samung/CM7, etc…
Currently i followed steps 1-2 above and got the phone back to stock and have been using it ever since like that. I miss CM7...
Any help would be greatly appreciated. This forum has provided a plethora of wealth, and I would love to contribute back one day.
Many thanks,
Pat
This may be placebo more than anything, but when I was having problems, I went back to the EB01 stock with atlas as opposed to DL09 and then rooted manually to rooted stock using super one click before flashing the fixed CWM. Things worked great after that.
Also, if all else fails, flash CM7 7/4 and then upgrade from there... even though 7/17 should be fine, 7/4 was considered the jumping off point for a while.
pmanliu said:
Hi All, first time poster, long time lurker.
I previously had CM7 installed on my fascinate and that was the first time I ever rooted so it was a tad buggy and there were two CWM recoveries (JT’s red 2.5 & CWM 4.X fixed for CM7) installed. To get to JT’s I did the three finger salute, and to get to 4.X, I used long held the power button in CM7 and rebooted into recovery. Anyways I decided to right my wrongs and flash CM7 from scratch. I followed these instructions to the letter (started with Post #2 then moved onto post #1) ([http :// w w w .fascinateforums. c o m/forum/fascinate-rs-guides/2961-how-upgrade-cyanogenmod7.html[/url]) [sorry could not post links... please edit spaces for it to work], multiple times, and could not get it to work. If anyone could shed some advice, it would be greatly appreciated.
A brief overview of what I did.
1. Phone had CM7 Installed, w/ CWM4.0.1.0 and JT’s Red CWM 2.5… decided to reflash from the very beginning.
2. Downloaded DL09 & Atlas v2.2 PIT as defined in Post #2 in the instructions provided in the previous link.
3. Used odined, put DL09 in PDA, Atlasa v2.2 in PIT, checked off re-partition, and Started Odin. Success.
4. Did not turn on the phone, instead connected into Odin immediately after and flashed CWM4 that was fixed for CM7. Success
5. Used three finger method and got into blue CWM4.0.1.0
6. Wiped data three times… wiped cache three times… wiped Dalvik three times.
a.Note: While wiping data, it did not allow me to wipe “datadata” and skipped that part
b.Note: While wiping Dalvik, it said that it had wiped dalvik but the line to it mentioned a path not being found..?
7. Flashed the 7/17 build. Now the trouble begins…
a.Recovery says “Checking status of bml/mtd” then “installation complete.” Phone reboots into the SAMSUNG splash screen then to the SAMSUNG & CM7 splash screen. It never makes it to the skateborder screen and is just stuck on the SAMSUNG & CM7 screen.
b. How long am I supposed to wait here? I waited 10 minutes and it was still stuck… so I just battery pulled. Phone is restored to stock now (using steps 1-2).
I tried this method at least 3-4 times and it always gets stuck on the Samsung & CM7 Splash Screen and just stays there… I am probably doing something wrong but can’t catch it.
I also another method. In step 5, I also went to mount/storage in recovery and wiped /system in addition to wiping data/cache/dalvik. Afterwards I flash the 7/17 build and instead of it being stuck in Samsung & CM7 splash screen it was stuck in an infinite bootloop from SAMSUNG -> SAMSUNG & CM7 -> Recovery (for a quick second) and back to SAMSUNG. When it loops back to recovery it quickly says “Can’t mount” then “installation aborted” and then continues the infinite loop to Samsung => Samung/CM7, etc…
Currently i followed steps 1-2 above and got the phone back to stock and have been using it ever since like that. I miss CM7...
Any help would be greatly appreciated. This forum has provided a plethora of wealth, and I would love to contribute back one day.
Many thanks,
Pat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In step three of your post you have to fully reboot after flashing dl09 with the atlas pit file to convert all your files back to rfs before trying to install cm7...by pushing the dl09 w/atlas pit and not rebooting youre not fully completing the dl09 install so pretty much you just needed to reboot fully after flashing dl09 thats all.
If your sitting on a running dl09 now, then just do everything you did before minus the atlas pit and dl09...basically flash recovery...boot immediately into cwr and flash the same build using your same method...you probably won't have the data/data wiping problem anymore either!
Edit..you can also try the previous posters instructions as they have worked for me as well in fact every time I have to go back the eb01 file is what I use but most have no trouble with dl09
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
OMG im having the exact problem and for me that eb01 install did no difference i was also Stuck on SAMSUNG & Cm7 and by the way there is no 7/04 build because JT updated his site and there is none left
izzjkjoe said:
OMG im having the exact problem and for me that eb01 install did no difference i was also Stuck on SAMSUNG & Cm7 and by the way there is no 7/04 build because JT updated his site and there is none left
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried booting up the phone after the initial first two steps (PDA +atlas 2.2 Pit)?
I'm at work and have not been able to try anything yet... will do when i get home in a hour
I have tried full reboot after flashing DL09 and it still doesnt work... gets me into a boot loop again. It did fix the wiping datadata issue but no luck with CM7...
I also tried EB01 without any luck.
Additionally i tried JT's 2.5 CWM (Red) and also a newer CWM 3.x...
none of these work. This is day 3 of my rooting problems... thanks for the replies, any more advice would be greatly appreciated...
Try it again and record your steps exactly and post them and I'll try and see what went wrong...it could just be a corrupt download of one of your files or just a simple missed step. What build are you on and what rom are you trying to go to?
Edit: this is what I have done multiple time without a hitch
regardless of what build and rom your on..
-pull your battery
-odin official vzw EB01 (pda button only..just a reminder) and the atlas
2.2 pit file and check the repartition box (I use odin v.1.7, but it shouldn't matter) and let odin do it's thing
-install battery and fully boot and let it sit for a minute our two after it loads
-pull battery
-odin recovery jt's 3-30 fix all... (found in nitsuj's sticky in the development section under recoveries)
-insert battery
immediately three finger boot into recovery and wipe everything
-flash newest cm7 build..I can't remember the date (I used the 7/4 build to get on to cm7 but it has been removed but the latest on will work)
-reboot fully
-use power button menu and select reboot..recovery to get to new blue recovery
-Flash newest cm7 build (if applicable), gapps and or mtd kernel if desired without wiping
-reboot, and enjoy cm7
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Just saw your post. Will give it a try now.
When i'm in a bootloop and it hits the recovery part of the loop, i was able to get the error message (via using a camcorder lol)
-- Installing
Finding update package
E: unknown value for path []
E: Can't mount
Installation aborted
hope this helps,
many thanks
patrick
-----
edit:
tried your method to the dot. I get stuck on trying to flash CM7. Now instead of boot looping it just says
E: Error in /sdcard/cm7new/update-cm-7.1.0-fascinate-kang-0717-signed.zip
(status 7)
installation aborted.
i'm redownloading the update and will see if replacing it on the sd card will work. Otherwise...
-----
redownloaded & replaced the cm7 zip file on SD card. No success.
No luck w/ your method posted either...
Oi...
this is upsetting
Download the recovery in the cm7 thread and repeat the same steps but use the recovery from the cm7 thread instead of 3-30 fix all and that should work
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
efan450 said:
Download the recovery in the cm7 thread and repeat the same steps but use the recovery from the cm7 thread instead of 3-30 fix all and that should work
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did that... just goes back into the bootloop from recovery => SAMSUNG => SAMSUNG/CM7 (not the skateborder screen) and gives me this errorr:
-- Installing
Finding update package
E: unknown value for path []
E: Can't mount
Installation aborted
------
edit:
okay i decided to flash MIUI fascinate 1.7.15 instead of CM7 and see if that works.
Well MIUI is running, but the weird thing is i still get SAMSUNG/CM7 boot screen before the MIUI boot screen comes up...
i am so confused!
I went through that same nightmare trying to install MIUI. CM7 or MIUI would give me status 7, and sometimes CM7 would go through, but just bootloop like you mentioned.
I tried about everything, and the only thing that worked for me was to first flash the 7/4 CM7 release for CWM 4.x, then flash MIUI over that. With any luck, the same will work for you for newer CM7 releases.
Unfortunately, like someone mentioned, the file was removed for some reason or another. I've still got it, so I reuploaded it for you, but jt, if there was some particular reason it was removed, say the word and I'll delete this copy. Otherwise, it's probably best to keep it up for people with this issue.
So basically, wipe data/cache/etc., flash the 7/4 CM7 release. Get that running, then reboot into recovery from CM7. Don't use the three-button method. Then wipe again, and flash the zip for whatever release you want.
mediafire.com/?u1n0wcqbwpuvts2
Download that file and flash that...it's how I got in to cm7 for the first time from eb01...if you are still on miui you can flash this with the blue recovery, wipe all and install
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Many thanks to both your help! It has been of great assistance.
I downloaded the CM7 file posted, and will flash tomorrow. MIUI is running on it's first shot, and i'm entranced by it (for the time being).
However i am liking CM7 better, although both have many similarities
pmanliu said:
Many thanks to both your help! It has been of great assistance.
I downloaded the CM7 file posted, and will flash tomorrow. MIUI is running on it's first shot, and i'm entranced by it (for the time being).
However i am liking CM7 better, although both have many similarities
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, glad to help. If you end up flashing it, give us an update. Hopefully it'll work that way.
I used Cyanogenmod for a while back when I was more into stock ROMs. On different devices, though. It wasn't bad. But I flashed MIUI a few days ago and haven't looked back since. It's a great ROM. MIUI or CM7 is your choice, and I haven't used CM7 enough to say much about it, but MIUI has my full support. I never thought I'd switch from UKB so easily.
efan450 said:
Try it again and record your steps exactly and post them and I'll try and see what went wrong...it could just be a corrupt download of one of your files or just a simple missed step. What build are you on and what rom are you trying to go to?
Edit: this is what I have done multiple time without a hitch
regardless of what build and rom your on..
-pull your battery
-odin official vzw EB01 (pda button only..just a reminder) and the atlas
2.2 pit file and check the repartition box (I use odin v.1.7, but it shouldn't matter) and let odin do it's thing
-install battery and fully boot and let it sit for a minute our two after it loads
-pull battery
-odin recovery jt's 3-30 fix all... (found in nitsuj's sticky in the development section under recoveries)
-insert battery
immediately three finger boot into recovery and wipe everything
-flash newest cm7 build..I can't remember the date (I used the 7/4 build to get on to cm7 but it has been removed but the latest on will work)
-reboot fully
-use power button menu and select reboot..recovery to get to new blue recovery
-Flash newest cm7 build (if applicable), gapps and or mtd kernel if desired without wiping
-reboot, and enjoy cm7
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you never used jt's cm7 fix odin package?
Nope..I was able to go to cm7 with cwm3-30 fix all with no problem and I was able to go to it from otb's 3.x.x.x recovery...either way I've been back and fourth a few times but never had to use the 4.x.x.x. fixed recovery...maybe I'm just lucky but I know a few others have had success with those recoveries as well...you just flash it like normal...wipe everything and install the 7/17 build...reboot...and just make sure if you want to flash gapps or the glitch kernel you use the power button menu to reboot recovery...no three finger booting anymore.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Solution
pmanliu said:
Did that... just goes back into the bootloop from recovery => SAMSUNG => SAMSUNG/CM7 (not the skateborder screen) and gives me this errorr:
-- Installing
Finding update package
E: unknown value for path []
E: Can't mount
Installation aborted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was getting the exact same thing.
Started after I flashed the glitch v12 kernel on top of nightly #29. No problems.
Then I used ROM Manager to download nightly #35
Rebooted into CWM 4.0.1.5 orange via power button
Navigated to CWM folder to find nightly #35 to install from zip
Selected to install, checked for BML/MTD, said complete, auto rebooted
Boot loop with the above quoted errors, never gets to skateboard logo
Tried adb solutions, not enough time to issue adb commands before reboot
three fingered into cwm4 dark blue, got the usual expected E: can't find errors
tried restoring nandroid backup, auto reboots, no change, same errors as in quote
three fingered into cwm4 dark blue, tried flashing nightly #35 from RM download, no change
3fgered back into cwm4 dblue, flashed nightly #29 from SD that I had previously direct downloaded from cm7 nightly website, phone checked bml/mtd status, auto-rebooted, completed install.
Phone booted up normal with cm7 kernel, nightly #29, Data had been wiped
Used power button to reboot into recovery 4.0.1.5 orange
restored nandroid backup, rebooted
all is good! bazinga.
What I've learned from this is that using ROM Manager to download nightlies is risky. It may work fine if you use ROM Manager to download, wipe, and install, but if it fails during any of those (which it seems to do frequently) you could be out of luck with a headache. Best practice seems to be to download nightly directly from the cm7 website or copy it from your computer to the SD card and reboot via the power button into recovery and install that known good copy you downloaded via the cm7 website in the browser or transfered from your computer to the SD card. ROM Manager does something weird. This has occurred to me 3 separate times with ROM manager and with different nightlies. Also, it is worth noting that jt does not support the Glitch kernel for use with CM7 nightlies and a lot of issues seem to stem from using it. It is amazing when it works, but seems to add a lot of risk. YMMV
Let me know if this has helped or if anyone has any questions. Sorry for it being long, just trying to be thorough as there was no info out there to help me when this happened so I hope I can be of help to someone else.

HELP 3 days with Vibrant softbricks!

Okay in the last three days I have softbricked my vibrant several times. Each time after tyring to update to a newer ROM. Now however I can not even return to what I had, only the Eclair ROM. I was running Tigers Breath Kernel with Bionix ROM
I should point out that my efs has hone corrupt mysteriously on this phone twice before in the past , and luckily I made a back up that was easily restored.
I now have a vibrant that was restored to a stock image however I believe the stock image is incomplete. It lacks the ability to reset.Says Something like reset service unavailable. I would be happy for now at the stock eclair image however I run into the same issue I had on Eclair before. Android Market will not download any apk, it starts pauses and fails.. When I look at the corresponding device in google play on the web I see it says PHONE and there is another SAMSUNG GALAXY VIBRANT T 969 . However the corresponding device is PHONE . So Google has no idea what my phone is. This could be the market issue however I want to point out that when I first set up the google account I can go to the market and download but once the market app is updated, it no longer works!
So a few days ago my goal was to attempt to install Gingerbread or higher to take a look at xbmc for android betas. The result has literally given me a 3 day headache.
before three days ago I was running Bionix and Tigers breath kernel. I tried to follow instructions to downgrade to stock and then to Gingerbread or higher. I have now made more the several attempts. All I can do is O|DIN to the stock image I have which complains that oit lacks the reset service.
Even trying to restore either of My CWM back ujps of Bionix fails.
I also have another interesting thing that when I attempt to install CWM from an update.zip I get screen goes black for a second then i see CWM running . It is as if it is running it instead of installing it.
The one image that I have that I can restore does have ROM manager that55 always reports a download error with installing CWM from there
Is there an image that I can install from ODIN that will get me Gingerbread or higher? ODIN seems to be my only hope.
And what of the market errors , do ya think my EFS is hammered again? before the issue was the electronic serial number (dont remember what its called) but the carrier stopped honoring the generic number it was producing. I do however recall last year that I could not get the market working and now I seem to have returned to that. I think it has much to do with the market version on Eclair.
would the vibrant be adequate to run XBMC beta at lest to test it?
Should I repartition from ODIN?
Is there a stock froyo image around at least that I can install from ODIN?
Thanks,
Mark
Yes you should check repartition when you use Odin to flash ROMs. There are froyo Odin images out there but I don't think there is a "true" stock 2.2 froyo image, only custom ones. I know there is a ROM uploaded by moped ryder that is as close as you will get to stock 2.2, fishman made an odin image of it. You can check it out here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1674519. I know for sure fishman uploads odin images with his 2.2 ROMS, they are far from stock but I love them. I've been running Axura resurrected 2.2 for months, its solid. You can check it out with this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1787267, it has odin images. Just be sure to read first and follow directions.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
If it was me, I would Odin back to stock JFD. There is a guide on YouTube by Eddie1west that I recommend.
Then just I would follow the guide to install Gingerbread boot loaders.
Then I would download and wipe/wipe cache/dalvik and flash a fresh Froyo ROM download. I use Bionix V fishmans with the Bali kernel. Then if your satisfied then stop. If not, download latest CM9 Nightly (ICS). Wipe/wipe cache/dalvik and flash the ROM and common files.
Since you've gone this far download latest Helly Bean all in one, wipe/wipe cache/dalvik and flash HB and the add on file.
Might as well right? I had lots of trouble flashing up to HB yesterday, and I had never had any issues before.. but if your looking to get to GB or beyond... I would follow the steps above. Could be overkill. But I tried about every other combination of flashes I could think of before Odining back and doing it that way.

Q: blank screen after T-Mo splash animation, possible to fix without wiping?

Hello all,
I have a question that has not been answered after many hours of searching. Hopefully I'm just dumb, and my buddy's stock firmware and data isn't hosed. I'm trying to get his stock firmware running again so I can back it up safely.
What I've done:
Tried to flash CWM's update.zip via stock recovery (signature verification failed on the three different zip's I could find in the forums and various links)
Used Heimdall to push "cmenard-T959-CWM" zImage (this worked, and I get a different screen at boot)
The phone boots to the point of the T-Mobile splash screen with the annoying shriek sound, but goes to a black screen after. If i touch any of the soft buttons, they light up and remain lit. It'll stay like that for at least 20 minutes.
Is it possible to re-flash the system partition and not the data partitions using ODIN? Is that even feasible? Like I mentioned above, I'd like to get the stock firmware running such that I can make a good backup of it with all the user data intact. I haven't been able to because the CWM+root wouldn't flash.
Any suggestions or insight would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance!
Well as long as you don't format the internal SD, any pictures and videos and things should remain intact.
Here is a similar thread. See if it resembles your issue.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-794869.html
Toast6977 said:
Well as long as you don't format the internal SD, any pictures and videos and things should remain intact.
Here is a similar thread. See if it resembles your issue.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-794869.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion, Toast. I don't believe the internal SD has been messed with, and I don't plan to mess with it either. The thread you linked is not quite related to my issue, as far as I can tell.
I am able to get into Download Mode, and the Stock Recovery mode as well. However every time I try to flash an 'update.zip' with the Stock Recovery, I get an error about Signature Verification Failure.
After stepping back from it for a day, I think I've gained some clarity. Since all I've done is flash a different Kernel with Heimdall, I'm going to try to flash a stock kernel then see what happens.
Is this phone on stock Froyo or have you got it back to JFD (eclair)?
If Froyo, that's the problem. Using Odin back to Eclair and run update.zip. It won't work from stock Froyo.
*-*- I made some assumptions in my previous post. The shrieking sound. Black screen. Lights stay lit. Sounded like a poltergeist.
Glad you can get in download mode and recovery.
The old 2E vs 3E problem. Nice catch Toast
Give this a whirl: recovery 3e modified to work like recovery 2e
Might have to ABD push it to your internal SD card though.
Toast6977 said:
Is this phone on stock Froyo or have you got it back to JFD (eclair)?
If Froyo, that's the problem. Using Odin back to Eclair and run update.zip. It won't work from stock Froyo.
*-*- I made some assumptions in my previous post. The shrieking sound. Black screen. Lights stay lit. Sounded like a poltergeist.
Glad you can get in download mode and recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woodrube said:
The old 2E vs 3E problem. Nice catch Toast
Give this a whirl: recovery 3e modified to work like recovery 2e
Might have to ABD push it to your internal SD card though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hahaha poltergeist!
Wow, so I'm glad I asked. I wouldn't have known about this issue, as I do not have any history with this device.
I know that the ROM is currently 2.2, and the Android System Recovery is showing "3e".
If I understand correctly, once I'm ready to flash up to ICS, I'll need to ODIN back to 2.1 to get Android System Recovery "2e", which will let me flash 'update.zip' packages freely. Then I flash an 'update.zip' to get CWM, then flash CM7, then CM9 (and CM9 is my intended destination).
The things mentioned in the thread you linked do appear to apply to my situation.
However I still want to get the stock OS booted and working, then do a Nandroid backup of it. (it's the computer tech/security pro in me. Since I'm new to this device, I -tried- to read up on everything first, and didn't want to make a change without being sure it would work.)
Does anyone happen to know if flashing a stock kernel over the 'cmenard' kernel will harm anything, and hopefully get a successful boot? Again, I'm trying to get the stock ROM booting again in order to verify I have everything I need off of it, then do a nandroid backup. Flashing to CM9 will come afterwards.
Ok, here are some things for you.
Here is a kernel pack that you can use. Read the OP because there are Froyo AND Gingerbread kernels in there.
[KERNELS] Moped_Ryder SGS Kernel Pack v2 [20+ Froyo/GB Kernels]
I really suggest using something like BaliX 1.2 or BaliUV kernels to make your back up. They are smooth, fast and OC/UV-able. To flash just Wipe /cache, /dalvik -> flash kernel -> Wipe /cache, /dalvik (I also fix permissions too bc that is the way that I learned and I just do it that way all the time). Reboot and Bam!! you should be able to get to the point that you can make a backup.
Look in my signature, there are downloads and flashables that are direct download linked. There is also an ICS install guide that can help your journey. Once you have your backup, then use Odin from the Toolbox in my signature and flash back to stock JFD. From there you will be able to follow my guide.
If you need any files, just let me know and I will upload them when I get home (won't be until late though, i have plans right after work).
Using HB, can I choose any theme? I am not so acquainted with the Theme chooser and boot animation of my phone. I flashed a boot animation zip yesterday and it was stuck in "ANDROID" screen. So I have to flash again. I never used any boot animation and themes in my phone yet. I want to know about them.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda app-developers app
Wrong thread. Put that question in the Jelly Bean Banter thread. No need to hijack this thread until we get OP up and running.
Ugh, so I've been on vacation for a while, and since being back I've been super freaking busy =(
Finally spent some time with the phone tonight. Took some fiddling to get the right drivers working for the phone on my Win7x64 laptop.
In any case, I checked out that Kernel thread, and extracted the Bali kernel. Since I had flashed successfully(?) with Heimdall at first, and I'm becoming more familiar with it, I used it to flash the Bali_1.8.8-zImage. That appeared to work, as I get a new boot screen/animation with the Bali logo.
However, after the Bali logo disappears, the T-Mobile animation+sound plays, and then gives me a black screen. The screen is on (backlight is on) but all black. Also, if I touch a soft-button, they'll light up and the phone will remain in that state for as long as I can stand to wait. (one episode of Archer)
So, it's doing the same thing as before, but with a new boot logo/animation.
I wonder if something else in the ROM has been messed up? Should I forget trying to save it, and just use ODIN to flash a whole new rom/kernel package? I'll talk to the owner tomorrow and see if he's now willing to do that.
I also wonder if I was wrong to use Heimdall again, instead of using the CWM method. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think those two methods end up doing the exact same thing. Is one method more reliable than the other?
Bah, this sucks; I have more questions than answers at this point =( Any ideas, Woodrube, Toast?
maxpeet said:
Ugh, so I've been on vacation for a while, and since being back I've been super freaking busy =(
Finally spent some time with the phone tonight. Took some fiddling to get the right drivers working for the phone on my Win7x64 laptop.
In any case, I checked out that Kernel thread, and extracted the Bali kernel. Since I had flashed successfully(?) with Heimdall at first, and I'm becoming more familiar with it, I used it to flash the Bali_1.8.8-zImage. That appeared to work, as I get a new boot screen/animation with the Bali logo.
However, after the Bali logo disappears, the T-Mobile animation+sound plays, and then gives me a black screen. The screen is on (backlight is on) but all black. Also, if I touch a soft-button, they'll light up and the phone will remain in that state for as long as I can stand to wait. (one episode of Archer)
So, it's doing the same thing as before, but with a new boot logo/animation.
I wonder if something else in the ROM has been messed up? Should I forget trying to save it, and just use ODIN to flash a whole new rom/kernel package? I'll talk to the owner tomorrow and see if he's now willing to do that.
I also wonder if I was wrong to use Heimdall again, instead of using the CWM method. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think those two methods end up doing the exact same thing. Is one method more reliable than the other?
Bah, this sucks; I have more questions than answers at this point =( Any ideas, Woodrube, Toast?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong they are not the same. cwm can do the work without a PC beside you can erase, back up , restore and flash, which make our life easier, heimdall or Odin ," I prefer odin "are the last option when you can't fix it with cwm
To fix your phone use Odin or heimdall and go back to stock don't worry all your files, photo, music, will be safe. Then
1 get root on you , if you don't how ask
2 get cWm
3 do a nandroid back up
4 have fun flashing all roms you want lol
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app
Yeah, I would just Odin back to stock JFD w/ repartition checked...
Then I'd flash something real stable for him. There are lots of stable ROMs to choose from. I used Bionix V for a long time before moving onto Jelly Bean.
Since the phone belongs to someone else, I'd stick with something lower than JB though. 911 can have/has issues.
Toast6977 said:
Yeah, I would just Odin back to stock JFD w/ repartition checked...
Then I'd flash something real stable for him. There are lots of stable ROMs to choose from. I used Bionix V for a long time before moving onto Jelly Bean.
Since the phone belongs to someone else, I'd stick with something lower than JB though. 911 can have/has issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do no check de re-partition button and use a .pit file follow this tutorial and you will be fine
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=848737

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

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

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