[Q] How did I hard brick my prime? - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

[Q] How did I hard brick my prime? - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Hi all,
I understand there are certain things that can be done that are guaranteed to brick a prime, namely flashing a stock Asus rom over CWM, but I now have a hard bricked prime, and I can't see why it happened to the extent that I am wondering whether this was going to happen anyway regardless of the unlocked bootloader. Anyone that can shed some light would be greatly appreciated. Here is the sequence of events:
Months ago - device rooted to make use of apps such as touchscreen tune
2 weeks ago - bootloader unlocked using official Asus tool
2 weeks ago - CWM Touch pushed to device using ADB
2 weeks ago - WSG rom flashed in CWM
Device running fine
1 week ago - Severe wifi issues (slow speeds, disconnects etc.) reboots don't solve
1 week ago - Reflash WSG rom (with full wipe) - wifi issues persist
1 week ago - Flash AOKP (with full wipe) - device only boots into CWM
1 week ago - Found ADB commands to resolve CWM booting issue, device boots up successfully, wifi issues persist
1 week ago - Flash virtous prime (with full wipe), device boots up successfully, wifi working
Few days ago - Device crashes and reboots into recovery, with sequence of E:\ error messages
Few days ago - Nothing flashable in recovery, no boot possible
Few days ago - On next boot, "Unrecoverable bootloader error"
Device powers down, will not power on since, although charge light illuminates orange when plugged in.
What happened here? I'm not a developer by any means, but I don't believe I did anything "wrong" to warrant a hard brick, and the error occurred after a crash during use, not during a flash.
The tablet is back with Asus now, and I am crossing my fingers for a free fix, but I will likely want to unlock again when I get it back, but want to understand where I went wrong if indeed I did.
Thanks for taking the time to read.

I'm not expert either but I think your problems started when you flashed aokp with cwm touch, that's a big no. Also based on what I've read, you likely have to pay ~ 50$ just to get your prime back from RMA. Also obviesly you won't get it repaired for free because you used the unlock tool so asus knows that your prime's unlocked as they have your serial number.
Sent from my sgs2 running cm9

Makrilli said:
I'm not expert either but I think your problems started when you flashed aokp with cwm touch, that's a big no. Also based on what I've read, you likely have to pay ~ 50$ just to get your prime back from RMA. Also obviesly you won't get it repaired for free because you used the unlock tool so asus knows that your prime's unlocked as they have your serial number.
Sent from my sgs2 running cm9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How should AOKP be flashed? As I understand, all the custom ROMs are zips flashable in CWM? Or is the fact that I was using the touch version?
Thanks for the reply.

If you hold down the volume down button and power button at the same time during boot up, can you get into fastboot mode?

hairdewx said:
If you hold down the volume down button and power button at the same time during boot up, can you get into fastboot mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's already gone back to Asus anyway, but no combination of power and volume buttons would get any life out the prime so I'm fairly confident it was hard bricked and unrecoverable, just trying to work out what I did wrong, if anything.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

I have the same result from a slightly different situation. After flashing AlmostStock_9.4.2.21 successfully, I noticed after a few days that the icons on my home screen would not re-generate after swiping back and forth across the screens so decided to flash AlmostStock_9.4.2.21 again. Apparently in my haste I grabbed an ASUS 9.4.2.21 zip that I had previously downloaded and now nada. Nothing appears on the screen. By nada I mean I hold down the power button and after a few seconds I get the “vibrate” and nothing – no screen – nothing. Tried the same with the volume – button held as the results are the same; nothing on the screen. Also tried the above for 30-40 seconds thinking I wasn’t holding it long enough but still dead.
I have searched and read (I think) every post focusing on a bricked TF201 and this thread appears to be the closest to what I am experiencing. So with much humility, I continue. I am a noob – let’s make that clear. I followed instructions to get unlocked and rooted(success), to get CWM up and running (success) and also followed the instructions to load Titanium Backup (also a success). I simply screwed up (thinking I had already flashed AlmostStock_9.4.2.21 with success so to do it again would be safe) and selected a zip that I should not have.
I have (had) the latest CWM, also installed Titanium Backup which before the “brick” was working and backing up just fine.
I have watched the videos (that I immediately related) where noobs screw up and expect those with experience to drop everything and cater to their needs and if you read this that way then I sincerely apologize – I don’t want to come across that way. I simply need help (short of packing up my TF201 and shipping it back to ASUS and paying whatever they demand) and though I would try here.

I think the fundamental difference here is that you inadvertently did the thing that's guaranteed to brick a prime being that you flashed a stock Asus rom on a custom recovery. I still don't know what caused my hard brick. That said I have just received my fixed prime back from Asus at no charge, and you may be similarly lucky, but unfortunately as I understand it back to Asus is your only option.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Makrilli said:
I'm not expert either but I think your problems started when you flashed aokp with cwm touch, that's a big no.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
akalias1981 said:
How should AOKP be flashed? As I understand, all the custom ROMs are zips flashable in CWM? Or is the fact that I was using the touch version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone have any links to these CWM flashing problems?
What is so wrong with flashing AOKP with CWM?
I noticed some stuff on this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1547665 but nothing conclusive.

Related

Help: Totally Dead G Tablet

I received a G Tablet which had been used for development work for a few months. The person giving it to me (not the dev who has left) said the tablet was working fine, but had just become frozen at a reboot after he had tried to erase personal data from the tablet. I asked him if he had erased the sd card and he said "maybe" but that he couldn't remember. I powered the tablet on and sure enough it displayed two lines on a black background, one of which said something like loading kernel.
Now, these tablets were all rooted, and had Android 2.3 on them, via one of the ROMs discussed here. I don't know which one however.
So, I tried using NVflash to flash the tablet back to a stock ROM. Tablet then got stuck in a boot loop; I would see the Viewsonic logo, then the G Tablet logo, and then this would go on forever.
So I shut it down and tried again. This time Nvflash failed almost at the last step after having written most of the image.
And so here I am now, with a totally dead tablet. I cannot power it on. No combination of power or volume up/down buttons work. The only sign of life is when I plug it into its charger, and see the charging light come on.
I confirmed again with the person who gave me the tablet that the device was working just fine before it froze at a reboot after his erasing attempts.
Is there a way out of this? I hope so. Please help!
Thanks very much
Paul

texnote said:
I received a G Tablet which had been used for development work for a few months. The person giving it to me (not the dev who has left) said the tablet was working fine, but had just become frozen at a reboot after he had tried to erase personal data from the tablet. I asked him if he had erased the sd card and he said "maybe" but that he couldn't remember. I powered the tablet on and sure enough it displayed two lines on a black background, one of which said something like loading kernel.
Now, these tablets were all rooted, and had Android 2.3 on them, via one of the ROMs discussed here. I don't know which one however.
So, I tried using NVflash to flash the tablet back to a stock ROM. Tablet then got stuck in a boot loop; I would see the Viewsonic logo, then the G Tablet logo, and then this would go on forever.
So I shut it down and tried again. This time Nvflash failed almost at the last step after having written most of the image.
And so here I am now, with a totally dead tablet. I cannot power it on. No combination of power or volume up/down buttons work. The only sign of life is when I plug it into its charger, and see the charging light come on.
I confirmed again with the person who gave me the tablet that the device was working just fine before it froze at a reboot after his erasing attempts.
Is there a way out of this? I hope so. Please help!
Thanks very much
Paul
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would try popping it open and unplugging the internal battery then plugging it back in. Also hit the internal reset button while you're in there. It's pretty hard to actually kill one of these tablets. PM me if you need any other help.

help
Started my own thread, didnt mean to hijack. =)

Thanks, I will try removing the battery and let you know.
As for NVflash, I believe the latest version is here:
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/171...-using-either-11-or-12-based-images-g-tablet/
However in my case I have no idea whether I have 1.1 or 1.2 and there is no way to determine this. Which one should I choose?
Paul

Doesn't matter for NVFlash, just download all of the flash files again because it might be that you have a bad download. Also make sure you have the right drivers installed since the drivers that automatically install when you plug it in sometimes don't work.
I'm pretty sure that if it boots past the birds, the hardware is working okay, so you should run the FORMAT version for NVFlash and then I'd run just a CWM flash setup and see if you can get into CWM and delete the partitions from within that.
The best thing to flash as far as ROMs would be Bekit's 1105 which is stock OTB with a few key changes. If you can't get the 1105 to play nice, you might really have some hardware problems.

I would go with the 1.2 BL, it will give you access to the newer roms as it appears that dev for the 1.1 BL seems to be dwindeling. I upgraded mine to 1.2 the other day and it worked great.

[Q] Stuck at Asus Splash Screen

I got my TF201 back yesterday from Asus after 1-2 months after I sent it in to see if anything can be done about the cracked screen issue... nothing.
The first thing I did when I got it back was update apps, backup apps, and then I decided to install 'AndroWook Prime Hairy Bean', so I downloaded it onto my Prime, went into ROM Manager, found an update for ClockworkMod, which I installed. I then proceeded to select the ROM to be installed, ticked back up current rom (Cyanogenmod 10 Unofficial), and wipe data, and clicked enter.
When I opened up recovery, it came up with TWRP, and did nothing, so I went to backup my ROM but didn't have enough data.
I tried to re-install an older ClockworkMod as I prefer it, and tried to connect with fastboot, and then followed instructions, but got a bit lost... (I'm 13..) Tried again, failed..
This bit is a bit of a blur, but I believe I tried to open up Recovery again, didn't work so I loaded up an app (Transformer reboot to Recovery), which hung on loading up recovery, did Vol-Down and rebooted..
I think it was then that it displayed the Splash Screen and hung, with 'The Device is UnLocked.' in the top left corner, ASUS logo in centre and NVidia Tegra bottom right..
Researched online and found no results.. I don't have NVFlash, but I'm curious as to whether this will work: androidroot .mobi/2012/05/27/introducing-wheelie-nvflash-for-asus-transformer-tf101-b70 as my laptop displays APX.
I appreciate any responses, this is all so daunting for me and I don't know what to do..

Xayko said:
I got my TF201 back yesterday from Asus after 1-2 months after I sent it in to see if anything can be done about the cracked screen issue... nothing.
The first thing I did when I got it back was update apps, backup apps, and then I decided to install 'AndroWook Prime Hairy Bean', so I downloaded it onto my Prime, went into ROM Manager, found an update for ClockworkMod, which I installed. I then proceeded to select the ROM to be installed, ticked back up current rom (Cyanogenmod 10 Unofficial), and wipe data, and clicked enter.
When I opened up recovery, it came up with TWRP, and did nothing, so I went to backup my ROM but didn't have enough data.
I tried to re-install an older ClockworkMod as I prefer it, and tried to connect with fastboot, and then followed instructions, but got a bit lost... (I'm 13..) Tried again, failed..
This bit is a bit of a blur, but I believe I tried to open up Recovery again, didn't work so I loaded up an app (Transformer reboot to Recovery), which hung on loading up recovery, did Vol-Down and rebooted..
I think it was then that it displayed the Splash Screen and hung, with 'The Device is UnLocked.' in the top left corner, ASUS logo in centre and NVidia Tegra bottom right..
Researched online and found no results.. I don't have NVFlash, but I'm curious as to whether this will work: androidroot .mobi/2012/05/27/introducing-wheelie-nvflash-for-asus-transformer-tf101-b70 as my laptop displays APX.
I appreciate any responses, this is all so daunting for me and I don't know what to do..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't like the sound of this. If you flashed an ICS recovery on there (which I think you have with clockworkmod) after having the jellybean bootloader on there (which I think you do because nVidia logo is bottom right) then you might be hard bricked.
Hold down power and volume down for 10 seconds when off. If you do not get to the screen with icons on like usb icon and wipe icon and you cannot enter recovery then I'm afraid you are hard bricked.

Thanks... *curls up into a ball and cries to death* What can I do now? Anywhere I can sell it or what..?

Did you have any luck getting to fastboot? If you failed flashing clockworkmod you might still have a chance.

Not that I know of.. just recognises APX on laptop..

Looks like you are hard bricked. As you said you don't have NVFlash so APX mode is unusable for you (you have to have files generated just for your device to be able to use APX).
If you could get into fastboot, you could have change of fixing it.
You can send it to Asus to have it fixed and pay for it ~260$ I think - look somewhere on Q&A forum, or sell it as bricked to someone who has broken his screen on ebay (or other site). Or you can have it as pretty expensive paper weight, sorry.

I did the exact same thing you did man. Was looking for an answer when I saw this thread...lol
EDIT: Also what is APX? Just got my Prime last week haha

I really hate to hear that this happened to you guys. FYI: a bricked Prime usually goes for between 150 and 200 bucks on eBay, depending on its condition.
I know that's not fantastic news, but at least you could put that towards a new tablet.
Or you could naturally pay Asus to repair it.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

Same thing happened to me yesterday..I have switched from custom rom to stock JB .17 then I decided to move to new Androwook Prime 1.51
I did
1. Prime Full wipe
2. Installed Androwook hairy Bean 1.51
FYI - I can still access both TWRP and Fastboot..Im on JB bootloader
When I rebooted Im Stuck at Splash Screen Any Ideas?? Thanks In Advance
Here is my log
http://tny.cz/2d399fb7

mercydia said:
Same thing happened to me yesterday..I have switched from custom rom to stock JB .17 then I decided to move to new Androwook Prime 1.51
I did
1. Prime Full wipe
2. Installed Androwook hairy Bean 1.51
FYI - I can still access both TWRP and Fastboot..Im on JB bootloader
When I rebooted Im Stuck at Splash Screen Any Ideas?? Thanks In Advance
Here is my log
http://tny.cz/2d399fb7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just try installing it again straight over the top.

flumpster said:
Just try installing it again straight over the top.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just unlocked and installed Androwook1.51 last night. No problems once I realized I had to wipe data since my prime had been encrypted under stock 4.1.1 But I figured that as long as I could get into TWRP I was probably OK, right?

Dai323 said:
I really hate to hear that this happened to you guys. FYI: a bricked Prime usually goes for between 150 and 200 bucks on eBay, depending on its condition.
I know that's not fantastic news, but at least you could put that towards a new tablet.
Or you could naturally pay Asus to repair it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh.. It has suffered from the cracked screen issue and I've broken the Micro HDMI slot by tripping over the wire :L
How much would it cost for those two to be fixed, along with the splash screen issue?

[Q] Bricked unlocked tf201? Stuck on ASUS / Nvidia boot screen, with APX

I am pretty sure I know the answer but want to make sure its true as its a costly issue: I did some searching and found a lot of threads with different options over the last few years, so just want to confirm; I have:
Asus Transformer Prime TF201, unlocked with latest ICS official (WW) installed via SD Card
I was intending on giving the tablet away to a family member, so decided to factory reset the device. I went to the PWR+VOL Down menu, and selected wipe which I read was the way to perform a factor reset. After a long time of this process, the tablet powered off (was plugged into mains with full batteries). I powered on by pressing PWR button some time later. Now the tablet just boots onto the screen that states "The device is UnLocked" in the top left, ASUS in the middle (and some lies about perfection), and the bottom right "Powered by Nvidia TEGRA".
If I power on:
1. PWR + VOL Down, nothing happens, it boots to the same screen, no menu
2. PWS + VOL UP, the screen is black, the tablet vibrates and if i have it plugged into a PC it detects it in APX mode.
I've tried a full power cycle, and read about the nvflash tool. I unfortunately have no nvflash backups, I'm not sure that tool was around when I unlocked the tablet, and as i'd not been flashing any custom roms (although I had intended) I'd not seen that tool before.
As I understand the state of affairs is:
1. Somehow the bootloader is jiggered, i guess the wipe didn't work right
2. APX is useless if you don't have some backups created with a tool
3. The only current solution is to send it to ASUS and pay almost exactly the same price as a new tablet costs
Is there any other options I can do with an unlocked tablet and only access to APX?
Any likelihood that there is anything that can be done with nvflash in the future without needing a custom backup that is unique per tablet?

I have exactly the same problem please someone help us :angel:

virus4o said:
I have exactly the same problem please someone help us :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem too. Only apx.
Please, Anyone knows any solution for this issue?

Same problem while flashing CM
Aduniel said:
I have the same problem too. Only apx.
Please, Anyone knows any solution for this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My tf is in the same state. Got there when trying to install CM's nightly build.

Bricked TF201 - Stuck in bootscreen
I have the exact same problem. :crying:
Please, I know that there are many brilliant minds in this forum, help us n00bs get out of this mess and lead us into the light. Oh, and bump this thread

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I hate hit and run thread posters so I will provide an update.
I am afraid that my tablet was bricked. No way back from that state after reading the entire internet. I have purchased a replacement motherboard, popped open the case and replaced this. After replacing the motherboard, I now have a working tablet. I wish someone would have documented the NVFlash process requirements previously, but that's the risk of following guides on android sites I guess.
So to summarise the initial post, if you are in that state, at current and likely forever, you are hardbricked and the tablet can not be recovered in that states without a previous backup. The only way for it to be repaired is to send it to Asus who have a database of firmware, etc. and will charge you for repairs (~200€), or to go on ebay and purchase this motherboard:
0K0AMBA000
This will cost you ~80€ + shipping, and you must be comfortable working with electronics. Its mostly very clear when you pop off the case, everything has its place. You will need some plastic case pries and a small screw driver.

spudthedestroyer said:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I hate hit and run thread posters so I will provide an update.
I am afraid that my tablet was bricked. No way back from that state after reading the entire internet. I have purchased a replacement motherboard, popped open the case and replaced this. After replacing the motherboard, I now have a working tablet. I wish someone would have documented the NVFlash process requirements previously, but that's the risk of following guides on android sites I guess.
So to summarise the initial post, if you are in that state, at current and likely forever, you are hardbricked and the tablet can not be recovered in that states without a previous backup. The only way for it to be repaired is to send it to Asus who have a database of firmware, etc. and will charge you for repairs (~200€), or to go on ebay and purchase this motherboard:
0K0AMBA000
This will cost you ~80€ + shipping, and you must be comfortable working with electronics. Its mostly very clear when you pop off the case, everything has its place. You will need some plastic case pries and a small screw driver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sucks, I did the same exact thing last night factory resetting it to give it to my brother. I still don't understand what exactly I did wrong as I've factory reset this thing before. I had CM on it before but have been using the stock rooted ROM & recovery for the past 6+ months.

bricked?
I've been scouring that internet and haven't been able to find a case exactly like mine, but most are similar. From what I can remember (it's been months since I initially 'bricked' it), I was upgrading a cm nightly and did the data/cache/dalvik wipe like the instructions said and I became stuck in a bootloop after leaving recovery. When I tried volume-down and power, I was left with the original 3 options and after some reboots and shutdowns I ended up doing a factory data wipe. From there, when I rebooted the phone I was left with just 'Wipe Data' and 'Fastboot.' Wipe data does nothing more and when I choose fastboot I am left a message 'Starting fastboot usb download protocol' which never changes.
I have tried to push TWRP onto the device but I can't get into recovery (unless I'm doing something wrong of course). Sorry if I missed a duplicate of my post somewhere on here, but if so can someone at least point me in the right direction? Thanks!
i.imgur.com/LEHNREw.jpg

try another ROM
This has worked for me everytime, possibly due to dud bootloader install or some other thing: so long as I was able to recover to CWM with pwr+vol down, I installed virtuous prime rom. This rom was on sdcard already, not sure if you can get from adb if machine in this state. Anyhow, this virtuous prime rom replaced the booting sequence, restored OS and machine worked again.

Asus TF201 stuck on Asus Logo
My Asus Tablet was slow while browsing, and it had JB 4.1.1 with stock rom, so i tried to unlock the device, which was successful and was planning to push the CM11 Kit Kat. I booted in to recovery mode as i could see the 4 icons and then tried to do wipe data/factory reset and then it rebooted and got stuck on the asus logo and at the right bottow with the message powered by NVIDIA Tegra. I tried all the options to get into recovery and also downloaded drivers on my laptop for APX, but no luck at all. What are my options or if any one was successful to get it fixed. Appreciate any help here from smart guys out there. Thanks
spudthedestroyer said:
I am pretty sure I know the answer but want to make sure its true as its a costly issue: I did some searching and found a lot of threads with different options over the last few years, so just want to confirm; I have:
Asus Transformer Prime TF201, unlocked with latest ICS official (WW) installed via SD Card
I was intending on giving the tablet away to a family member, so decided to factory reset the device. I went to the PWR+VOL Down menu, and selected wipe which I read was the way to perform a factor reset. After a long time of this process, the tablet powered off (was plugged into mains with full batteries). I powered on by pressing PWR button some time later. Now the tablet just boots onto the screen that states "The device is UnLocked" in the top left, ASUS in the middle (and some lies about perfection), and the bottom right "Powered by Nvidia TEGRA".
If I power on:
1. PWR + VOL Down, nothing happens, it boots to the same screen, no menu
2. PWS + VOL UP, the screen is black, the tablet vibrates and if i have it plugged into a PC it detects it in APX mode.
I've tried a full power cycle, and read about the nvflash tool. I unfortunately have no nvflash backups, I'm not sure that tool was around when I unlocked the tablet, and as i'd not been flashing any custom roms (although I had intended) I'd not seen that tool before.
As I understand the state of affairs is:
1. Somehow the bootloader is jiggered, i guess the wipe didn't work right
2. APX is useless if you don't have some backups created with a tool
3. The only current solution is to send it to ASUS and pay almost exactly the same price as a new tablet costs
Is there any other options I can do with an unlocked tablet and only access to APX?
Any likelihood that there is anything that can be done with nvflash in the future without needing a custom backup that is unique per tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I had messrd up my tf101 with cm nightly to. I did manage to get it working again with adb tool of sorts. When im home i will tr y to find it on my comp. Th

Status 0 in cmw

When I tried to flash cyan fox in cmw it gave me a status 0 error can anyone fix?

We need more info like what did it specifically say. Be as specific as possible
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

RedJack117 said:
When I tried to flash cyan fox in cmw it gave me a status 0 error can anyone fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's "usually" an error you get when the zip is corrupted.
but occasionally you'll get it if your running an i9000 roms (I've had it interchangeably with status 7 before)
I would try re-downloading and flashing the zip again.
if that doesn't work try downloading and flashing fluid kernel
then go to "advanced" and select "reboot recovery".
then try flashing the rom again.

Status 0 error on anything I try to flash using CWM
My friend gave me the Vibrant last year after getting a new phone. He gave it to me so that I could try mess around with it and try to fix it. The back and home buttons were not working. All 4 buttons light up, but only the Menu and Search responds. Phone was on stock ROM (JFD) and was not rooted - it even had the external SD that came with it. I immediately thought that re-flashing it would be a quick fix. Formatted everything and used Odin to put it back on. But, to my surprise, both buttons still did not work. It would sometimes work when I tried them on key test in CWM. Anyway, I thought that maybe a different or better ROM might do the trick. I wanted it to be more of a gaming console so I tried to put CyanAOSP on it. Got a lot of errors, but eventually, I managed to put it on. The buttons still doesn't work but at least I could navigate better using the on-screen shortcuts.
After about a month, it started to freeze and crash a lot so I decided to re-flash it again. This time, got no errors but another problem arose - it became tethered. The device always think that the USB is connected (it's always up on the notification bar) to the point that I can't even turn it back on without really attaching it to one. It was a spare phone which I use more for gaming so I was able to live with it.
A month ago, it began to freeze and crash a lot again so I thought of trying a different ROM. To my surprise, anything I try to flash using CWM gives me an error - packages would seem to load for about a quarter of the way then gives me the 'status 0' error. I get this even when I tried the ones that worked before.
I have several update.zips (1 is only 632KB while the rest are 1.7MB) and at least 2 copies of the ROMS (CyanAOSP, L-Droid and Ressurection) KERNELS (fluid, mackay, and neat), GAPPS, and MODEMS which I try to flash. I've re-visited all of the rooting threads again to cover my bases. I'm waiting for woody to respond so that I could try the files that he has because I've pretty much tried everything that I could get my hands on. (some files were pretty promising, but DL links were already down)
Regarding the update.zips that I have, I noticed that only the 632KB would root it and the others would only give me CWM 2.5.1.2 on JFD. The only way I could upgrade is by using mini kies and none of the update.zips work once I'm on KB5. (root removed and can't put it back on)

jvrey5 said:
My friend gave me the Vibrant last year after getting a new phone. He gave it to me so that I could try mess around with it and try to fix it. The back and home buttons were not working. All 4 buttons light up, but only the Menu and Search responds. Phone was on stock ROM (JFD) and was not rooted - it even had the external SD that came with it. I immediately thought that re-flashing it would be a quick fix. Formatted everything and used Odin to put it back on. But, to my surprise, both buttons still did not work. It would sometimes work when I tried them on key test in CWM. Anyway, I thought that maybe a different or better ROM might do the trick. I wanted it to be more of a gaming console so I tried to put CyanAOSP on it. Got a lot of errors, but eventually, I managed to put it on. The buttons still doesn't work but at least I could navigate better using the on-screen shortcuts.
After about a month, it started to freeze and crash a lot so I decided to re-flash it again. This time, got no errors but another problem arose - it became tethered. The device always think that the USB is connected (it's always up on the notification bar) to the point that I can't even turn it back on without really attaching it to one. It was a spare phone which I use more for gaming so I was able to live with it.
I would make sure that you realize that this phone is older and may not be up to the challenge of some of the newer games out there. Based on your PM to me, I understand that this is a secondary phone for you, so if you wanted to play some of the more graphic intensive games, I would do it on your DD.
A month ago, it began to freeze and crash a lot again so I thought of trying a different ROM. To my surprise, anything I try to flash using CWM gives me an error - packages would seem to load for about a quarter of the way then gives me the 'status 0' error. I get this even when I tried the ones that worked before.
After you PM'd me, I started looking around about the Status 0 error being thrown. All signs point to the Updater Script that in the ROMs that you are flashing. My hunch is that once you flashed the CyanAOSP, that changed your build.prop from T959 to i9000 and that is why you are getting the error. I'm pretty sure there is a way to fix it (see below)
I have several update.zips (1 is only 632KB while the rest are 1.7MB) and at least 2 copies of the ROMS (CyanAOSP, L-Droid and Ressurection) KERNELS (fluid, mackay, and neat), GAPPS, and MODEMS which I try to flash. I've re-visited all of the rooting threads again to cover my bases. I'm waiting for woody to respond so that I could try the files that he has because I've pretty much tried everything that I could get my hands on. (some files were pretty promising, but DL links were already down)
Regarding the update.zips that I have, I noticed that only the 632KB would root it and the others would only give me CWM 2.5.1.2 on JFD. The only way I could upgrade is by using mini kies and none of the update.zips work once I'm on KB5. (root removed and can't put it back on)
You should stay as far away from Kies as possible with this specific phone. It had a tendenacy to brick the Vibrants. It worked on my wife's SGS2 back when, but even then I was hesitant to use Kies on it and grinding my teath the whole time.
The zips that you mentioned are probably the standard Root.zip and the CWM zip from s15274n's thread stickied at the top of the Q&A section. Keep those handy.
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Some answers in-line above.
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Let's get a few things straight before we start. I am still looking for the Heimdall JFD package, but I think that I know where it is. Pretty sure I put it on one of the external HDDs that I have. I'll try to upload it tonight or tomorrow night, as I am away all weekend with the family. I really don't think that you'll need it, but best to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
Theoretically, once you Odin'd back to JFD, I would think that it would've reset your device ID back to T959, but I guess that it didn't. This is what I would do. Odin to stock JFD and then boot it up and let it settle. Root it using the Root.zip that you have already used before. At some point you'll need to pick a ROM to settle on, even if only to get past this hump. (I use Sada's CM11 for my sons' Vibrants. Not that there is anything wrong with any of the others, but I just basically set it and forget it for my boys. I think though that he may have stopped development for it though, so I guess I'll be looking through the dev section myself here in the near future.) Take a look at this thread starting with my post #3 and the response from @nirogu325. I am thinking that if you do the same as he instructed, you will boot past the Status 0 error (since everything that I have seen in searches leads me to believe it is an Updater Script issue). My issue was a Status 7 because of the device ID being changed and the Recovery/Kernel combo weren't letting me flash. I basically opened up the ROM.zip and deleted those line and re-zipped it up and then flashed it (did it all on the phone and no PC, but I'm crazy like that).
Let's let a few of the current device Devs weigh in and see what they think. Already mentioned nirogu325 above, but let's try @epicboy and @dzee206 and @sada23. If they are inclined to come and help, it would be much appreciated.

The phone only had one major issue before I started messing with it - back & home buttons not working. I honestly can't remember how and what I did to put CyanAOSP on it but I ended up with 2 issues after putting it on. Only the Menu button works (eventhough all 4 lights up) and the USB seems to be grounded. I managed to work with it the past year up until I Odin-ed it back to JFD. When the phone is off and battery still has charge, the loading button would come up followed by the empty batt image at the background. This will loop until the batt dies. The only way to turn it on is by connecting the USB to a power source. Accessing download is easier because all I needed to do is remove batt then press and hold the vol up & down before putting the batt back in. Getting into recovery is a bit trickier. You'll need to wait until you actually see the phone charging before doing the 3-button combo.
Last Saturday, my daughter had a school event and I brought this along because it took better pictures than my S3 knock-off. During the parade, after shooting a video, it would automatically take me to the preview. Since, both back and home buttons were not working, I was stuck. Only option was to reboot it. What makes it interesting is that there is no reboot option on the JFD. It was a good thing that I had my power bank with me. I really did not want to constantly reboot it so I thought of installing one of those virtual button apps. I managed to install ToucherPRO before their presentation which made it much easier. To my surprise, it somehow revived the back button on the device itself - I noticed it when I got home that night to transfer the photos and vids.
I mentioned this so that you guys will have an idea on what I need to go through to get it fixed - somewhat, at least to a more tolerable state. (you won't believe it but the tips of my fingers hurt due to the number of times I have to go into recovery or download)
@Woody
Woody said:
I would make sure that you realize that this phone is older and may not be up to the challenge of some of the newer games out there. Based on your PM to me, I understand that this is a secondary phone for you, so if you wanted to play some of the more graphic intensive games, I would do it on your DD.
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Click to collapse
Yup. I actually find it both weird and interesting - which games work and how they work.
Woody said:
You should stay as far away from Kies as possible with this specific phone. It had a tendenacy to brick the Vibrants. It worked on my wife's SGS2 back when, but even then I was hesitant to use Kies on it and grinding my teath the whole time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember I mentioned my hesitation using Heimdall and Bay_wolf's AIO toolkit regarding hijacking drivers and stuff, Kies on this PC is now useless. It won't even recognize the phone after I tried the toolkit - which is good, I guess.
Woody said:
... Take a look at this thread starting with my post #3 and the response from @nirogu325. I am thinking that if you do the same as he instructed, you will boot past the Status 0 error (since everything that I have seen in searches leads me to believe it is an Updater Script issue). ...
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I read about this when I started going back through the threads. As you mentioned, this is an old phone. Old phone = old threads. What I do is I read everything on page 1 then skip over to the last page, going back. Seems to be more effective specially for DL links.
I was actually reserving this one as part of my 'last option' fix. From experience, editing scripts is far more dangerous than flashing a 'working' one. I managed to root my other DD this way, but went downhill from there - ended up bricking it 3 times.
Anyway, I think I got it - or at least, the correct way of doing it. It took me 3 days....
After day 1, I ended up with 8 update.zips (7 CWM and one ROOT) and at least 2 copies of ROMS, GAPPS, MODEMS, and KERNELS on my SD card - only the update.zips worked, the rest either gave me status 0 or leave me with the 'Vibrant Samsung' bootloop. I had some progress on DAY 2. I read something like what epicboy said:
epicboy said:
As Woody already said, you should odin back to stock 2.1. From there root and go to Jellybean and then KitKat. I'd recommend you stay away from ports that are old and haven't been updated for a while. Not trying to say that the rom I built is the best or anything but so far I haven't ran into any issues and neither has anyone that's used SpiritRom. I say try Spirit Rom 1.5 combined with iyahman's semaphore kernel that was built using linaro 4.9 as it's been stable. If you still run into these issues again I think it may be some software that you use.
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I tried several JB ROMS listed on the Bible but, the problem was, I can't get into recovery - it was all 'blurry'. When I tried a different JB ROM, it also worked but was still 'blurry' during start up and on recovery. That's when I remembered Woody's post regarding rainbows and bootloaders.
DAY 3: For some reason, everything was flawless. I was able to install JB then KK. EFFORTLESSLY, if I may add.
@epicboy
I'm planning to spend a couple of days more on this Vibrant before I mess with my other phone - a knock-off SGS3. I was drawn to L-Droid because the screenshots and contents of page 1 of their thread was specifically for the T959 and not the I9000. I know it's not really a big deal because the ROM will work and changing the build.prop for 'cosmetic purposes is easy. What really concerns me is the camera. Sadly, the T959 only has only one camera and if the camera app that you're using (stock or otherwise) has a feature to switch from back-to-front and you accidentally press that, it messes it up to the point that you can't use it anymore. I have downloaded the ROM and will try it out in a couple of days. Will send you a PM or reply on the thread regarding my feedback. I've flashed it several times but really haven't been able to do it flawlessly like in DAY 3 - which I find really weird.
Tnx peeps!

[Q] Random reboot and phantom button press, even in CWMR

Hi, I need help for my I777... I really don't know what to do.
I have been on Slim Bean for 5 months (previously I had CyanogenMod 9 & 10), but four days ago it started to reboot randomly. At first I didn't pay much attention to these crashes, but then they became more and more frequent, until the free interval was only a few seconds. There were no strange processes active, and even wipe cache / wipe dalvik / fix permissions solved the problem. In the meantime I also noticed that the phone was doing like phantom power button presses, and it did also while I was in CWMR, making it really hard for me to do this things.
I did a full wipe and clean install, but nothing changed.
So I tried to revert back to stock gingerbread with heimdall on my mac, and to flash different official rom versions, either rooted or non rooted... but nothing worked. Countless full wipes, mr Cook wipe script... nothing. The phone even rebooted while it was in download mode and Heimdall was flashing new kernel and rom.
I tried also with odin from a PC. The last firmware I flashed was official UCMD8 Jeally Bean Stock, non rooted, from your download repository, which also had bootloader in it... but nothing.
Reebots are still there. It seems that random presses are gone on Stock Recovery, but maybe it's just a matter of time... while the phone is switched on phantom presses are still there.
I tried everything I know... events seem to be completely random and I can't find any trigger for them. The problem is passing from rom to rom without noticeable changes... I don't know what to do.
Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you very much... and sorry for the long post, but it's quite difficult to describe such a strange behaviour.

Sounds to me like a faulty power button. There are a few guides on how to repair it yourself, or you can send it in to Mobile Tech Videos and they can fix it for you at a price.

I agree with SteveMurphy, you have described the classic symtoms of a failing power button.
Before attempting a replacement, or sending it off, I do suggest buying/trying a can of contact-cleaner (after completely removing the board from the device). This worked for me us a few months ago, and has reportedly worked for others as well.
-Cyril
Kefka88 said:
[...]it started to reboot randomly. [...]but then they became more and more frequent, [...]I also noticed that the phone was doing like phantom power button presses, and it did also while I was in CWMR, making it really hard for me to do this things.[...]The phone even rebooted while it was in download mode and Heimdall was flashing new kernel and rom.[...]The last firmware I flashed was official UCMD8 Jeally Bean Stock, non rooted, [...]
Reebots are still there. It seems that random presses are gone on Stock Recovery, but maybe it's just a matter of time... while the phone is switched on phantom presses are still there.[...]
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Click to collapse

Thank you for the answer!
cyril279 said:
I agree with SteveMurphy, you have described the classic symtoms of a failing power button.
Before attempting a replacement, or sending it off, I do suggest buying/trying a can of contact-cleaner (after completely removing the board from the device). This worked for me us a few months ago, and has reportedly worked for others as well.
-Cyril
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this solution, but it didn't work... Tomorrow I'll go to a local repair centre and see if they can do something for me!
Thank you guys

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