[Q] Stuck in recovery Galaxy Player 4.0 - Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, 5.0

I am currently stuck at the recovery screen on my Galaxy Player 4.0. I see plenty of help for people stuck at download screen. I wish I was that lucky. I can't get my computer drivers to recognize the device to use Odin. I have uninstalled and re-installed the Samsung drivers from a location on this sight. Yes I have held the down button and the power button, but it just stays at the Samsung screen. When I let go eventually it simply goes to the "Android system recovery <3e>" screen. None of the blue choices on the screen do anything. About mid-screen there is some yellow lettering including # MANUAL MODE #. Also a small android next to a white triangle with a yellow exclamation point. I am sorry to post a long and most likely ignored question, but I have searched for a long time trying to find help. Any help would be much appreciated.

what where you doing to get you to this point? If flashing ANY ICS the instructions will be different from other suggestions to follow.
have you tried removing the battery then hold power and volume down then while holding then insert the battery?

Am I the only person thinking its a soft brick? Dude try this... oneclickunbrick its a jar file and a charm... give me a day and I'll post a copy here
Sent from my YP-G70 using xda premium

button/battery
daniel644 said:
what where you doing to get you to this point? If flashing ANY ICS the instructions will be different from other suggestions to follow.
have you tried removing the battery then hold power and volume down then while holding then insert the battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried the battery with no luck.
I was trying to get into recovery with ROM Manager. Never got past the open box that turned into a triangle.

oneclick
Evoium said:
Am I the only person thinking its a soft brick? Dude try this... oneclickunbrick its a jar file and a charm... give me a day and I'll post a copy here
Sent from my YP-G70 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oneclickunbrick failed

Is adb working, normally it should be working in recovery so if you have the sdk installed just go to platforms-tools and then type adb reboot download. This should work, if not, you could try a usb JIG.

adb
ti-pich said:
Is adb working, normally it should be working in recovery so if you have the sdk installed just go to platforms-tools and then type adb reboot download. This should work, if not, you could try a usb JIG.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got "device not found". I guess I will go to the hardware store today and fab a jig. "fingers crossed"
Heimdall is the only place I can get the device recognized, so I have some hope. I get a fail on the pit file and I can't figure out the sector or the needed .dll. Although with the pit file error, I don't think the other two matter until I get that squared away. Thanks for your help. At least I have some guidance to try stuff.

Theodoric47 said:
I got "device not found". I guess I will go to the hardware store today and fab a jig. "fingers crossed"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Galaxy Players are surprisingly robust, so yeah get the jig made and get into download mode. From download mode you should be golden. I've completely blown up my device twice to the point where the only fix was to flash the bootloader and pit then load up the rom(don't do any of this, I'm just explaining how sturdy the Galaxy Player is). Both times were fantastic learning experiences.

download mode
SGP4isokay said:
The Galaxy Players are surprisingly robust, so yeah get the jig made and get into download mode. From download mode you should be golden. I've completely blown up my device twice to the point where the only fix was to flash the bootloader and pit then load up the rom(don't do any of this, I'm just explaining how sturdy the Galaxy Player is). Both times were fantastic learning experiences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, got the jig working and can get the device into download mode (whoot). Now I am having trouble getting it back to operational. I use the methods shown in this thread > http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1531850< . Odin goes through its paces and gives me a pass. The device reboots but will not get past the white SAMSUNG screen. Do you know of a good walk through that will show me what I am doing wrong?

Theodoric47 said:
OK, got the jig working and can get the device into download mode (whoot).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grats! The jig is simply invaluable and I know you probably don't enjoy your device not being functional right now but the fact that it still powers up means that it is recoverable. Getting to Download Mode is a huge win. Anyway, you never answered what it was that put your device into a broken state so it's hard to tell what's wrong. As an example of how I get assistance from the fine people of XDA here is the thread I made when I broke my device.
Were you trying out an ICS rom?
Did you attempt to convert to EXT4?
Were you loading a backup in CWM?
The more information you can give the smart people, the better. Me? I'm not a developer and I barely know anything about android...but they helped me recover my device so anyone can do it. Just give them some information to work with.

info
SGP4isokay said:
Grats! The jig is simply invaluable and I know you probably don't enjoy your device not being functional right now but the fact that it still powers up means that it is recoverable. Getting to Download Mode is a huge win. Anyway, you never answered what it was that put your device into a broken state so it's hard to tell what's wrong. As an example of how I get assistance from the fine people of XDA here is the thread I made when I broke my device.
Were you trying out an ICS rom?
Did you attempt to convert to EXT4?
Were you loading a backup in CWM?
The more information you can give the smart people, the better. Me? I'm not a developer and I barely know anything about android...but they helped me recover my device so anyone can do it. Just give them some information to work with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was trying to install the IcyFusion ROM when I ran into difficulty. If I was attempting to convert to EXT4, I sure did not know that I was trying to do that. And I was not trying restore a CWM backup. I had unlocked and rooted the device awhile back. I had the "yp-g1cwyxaa.tar" ROM from this thread >http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1512331< running fine and was enjoying the player in all its rooted glory. But because I can never leave well enough alone, I wanted to try the "IcyFusion_v2.3_GIUEKI8" ROM. To be honest I am not sure what I did wrong in the process.
I see in the instructions that I specified that I have been trying to follow that there are instructions "Special instructions for people coming from CM7". Is this the route I need to take? I have rooted several devices including my Nook Tablet, Nexus 7 and my Galaxy Nexus phone with little or no trouble. This does not include the ugly incident with my TF300T that I did brick. At least Asus put in a new motherboard and she is back in operation. Ouch, that cost me. Like I said, I can never leave well enough alone.
I hope this info helps people help me. Thanks.
Update 1
I followed your link to your thread and guess what.
This is where I am now.
-- Copying media files...
E:failed to mount /dbdata (Invalid argument)
E:copy_dbdata_media:Can't mount /dbdata
your storage not prepared yet, please use UI menu for format and reboot actions
Meida files copy failed.
# MANUAL MODE #
-- Applying Multi-CSC...
Successfully applied multi-CSC.
E:failed to mount /cache (Invalid argument)
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/recovery_kernel_log
E:copy_kernel_file :: Can't open /cache/recovery/recovery_kernel_log
E:failed to mount /cache (Invalid argument)
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/log
E:failed to mount /cache (Invalid argument)
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/last_log
E:failed to mount /cache (Invalid argument)
Looks familiar doesn't it.
I will read what you did and see if it helps, however the way I am going I will probably be back with more questions.
Update 2
Uh-Oh. That is the recovery file and procedure I tried and ended up where I am. I think it is obvious now that I am doing something very wrong.

info part 2
please ignore

info 3
please ignore

Theodoric47 said:
I was trying to install the IcyFusion ROM when I ran into difficulty. If I was attempting to convert to EXT4, I sure did not know that I was trying to do that. And I was not trying restore a CWM backup. I had unlocked and rooted the device awhile back. I had the "yp-g1cwyxaa.tar" ROM from this thread >http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1512331< running fine and was enjoying the player in all its rooted glory. But because I can never leave well enough alone, I wanted to try the "IcyFusion_v2.3_GIUEKI8" ROM. To be honest I am not sure what I did wrong in the process.
I see in the instructions that I specified that I have been trying to follow that there are instructions "Special instructions for people coming from CM7". Is this the route I need to take? I have rooted several devices including my Nook Tablet, Nexus 7 and my Galaxy Nexus phone with little or no trouble. This does not include the ugly incident with my TF300T that I did brick. At least Asus put in a new motherboard and she is back in operation. Ouch, that cost me. Like I said, I can never leave well enough alone.
I hope this info helps people help me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Icy Fusion is a piece of cake and very stable. If something got jacked up during that it was probably a dicey USB connection(as weird as that sounds). I've loaded roms from my laptop and had them fail consistently on one USB port but not on others. Plug headphones into that port? It's fine. Moving on...
I tried EXT4 out and then I loaded up another rom and screwed my device. It sounds like that could be an issue here. The way I fixed it was to flash the bootloader and pit at the same time with repartition checked(in Odin). From there could load the kernel and then rom. Voila! Back to awesome. The only problem is that is you have a pretty good chance of doing irreparable damage(literally cannot come back from, "it's now a paper weight" damage).
You're not sure what you did, so...wait for smart people to show up. If you can remember anything more about the steps you took please add that so folks are better equipped to help you.

close but not quite
SGP4isokay said:
Icy Fusion is a piece of cake and very stable. If something got jacked up during that it was probably a dicey USB connection(as weird as that sounds). I've loaded roms from my laptop and had them fail consistently on one USB port but not on others. Plug headphones into that port? It's fine. Moving on...
I tried EXT4 out and then I loaded up another rom and screwed my device. It sounds like that could be an issue here. The way I fixed it was to flash the bootloader and pit at the same time with repartition checked(in Odin). From there could load the kernel and then rom. Voila! Back to awesome. The only problem is that is you have a pretty good chance of doing irreparable damage(literally cannot come back from, "it's now a paper weight" damage).
You're not sure what you did, so...wait for smart people to show up. If you can remember anything more about the steps you took please add that so folks are better equipped to help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used Odin to install the bootloader and pit file successfully.>YP-G1CWYXAA_Bootloader< and >Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 U.S. 8GB.pit<.
Then I used Odin and installed the kernel >STeVEs-3.0-USA< after it reboots to recovery, I clear the cache, clear the dalvic cache and factory reset. Then I flashed the >yp-g1cwxaa< ROM. She boots up and woohoo I see the Samsung splash screen for the first time in days. However it is now in a bootloop and keeps reloading the splash screen. I tried the same process with >IcyFusion_v2.3_G1UEKI8< and just got a solid Samsung logo. While I am happy to have made this much progress, I am obviously doing something wrong. Sorry if this is long but I was told that the more the info the more the possible help.
Thanks

Theodoric47 said:
I used Odin to install the bootloader and pit file successfully.>YP-G1CWYXAA_Bootloader< and >Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 U.S. 8GB.pit<.
Then I used Odin and installed the kernel >STeVEs-3.0-USA< after it reboots to recovery, I clear the cache, clear the dalvic cache and factory reset. Then I flashed the >yp-g1cwxaa< ROM. She boots up and woohoo I see the Samsung splash screen for the first time in days. However it is now in a bootloop and keeps reloading the splash screen. I tried the same process with >IcyFusion_v2.3_G1UEKI8< and just got a solid Samsung logo. While I am happy to have made this much progress, I am obviously doing something wrong. Sorry if this is long but I was told that the more the info the more the possible help.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should use terrasilent kernel instead of steves kernel as this kernel cause bootloop. I think you got it but the problem was caused by steves kernel booting recovery. That's how I bricked my player the first time. Now I always use terrasilent as the only known issue is the data wipe when you mount something in recovery. So you should redo everything using terrasilent. Hope this help.

terrasilent
ti-pich said:
I think you should use terrasilent kernel instead of steves kernel as this kernel cause bootloop. I think you got it but the problem was caused by steves kernel booting recovery. That's how I bricked my player the first time. Now I always use terrasilent as the only known issue is the data wipe when you mount something in recovery. So you should redo everything using terrasilent. Hope this help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried the new kernel and I have the same splash screen boot loop. I guess I will try a different bootloader next. Drat so close.
UPDATE
Woot! After a few tries with different pit files and kernels she is now running IcyFusion. I have my player back. Thank you everyone for your tips, links and threads. You helped me recover my device and taught my allot about it at the same time. I only wish I could return the favors, but I think it is obvious that I am a noob at this even after a year of tinkering.

i have the same exact issue, only i was coming from ics and got stuck trying to restore efs and all that. I managed to restore efs but no matter what i flash it leads me right back to the #manual mode#. Any help will be greatly appreciated

EFS
Ayoodannyx said:
i have the same exact issue, only i was coming from ics and got stuck trying to restore efs and all that. I managed to restore efs but no matter what i flash it leads me right back to the #manual mode#. Any help will be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no experience with efs at all. I used Odin to restore my device, and I am not completely satisfied with that as it is. But at least it is working. I can try to tell you what I did, but as I said I doubt I can help you with efs.

Theodoric47 said:
I have no experience with efs at all. I used Odin to restore my device, and I am not completely satisfied with that as it is. But at least it is working. I can try to tell you what I did, but as I said I doubt I can help you with efs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i believe i fixed my efs because it no longer gives me errors about efs, but whenever it starts up , it goes straight to manual mode and gets stuck there

Related

Stuck in Bootloop after bad rom flash..

After downloading this rom and thinking everything would be just fine when moving to CM7 on my brother's rooted Photon, I come to a boot loop! I tried to use RSDLite to flash a SBF over to the phone, it fails, I try to use Android' Recovery to flash a new rom, fails, and then I try to factory reset and wipe the phone, FAILS! I have no clue what to do here.
I am so used to my Sensation 4G and everything is so much simpler on it, but I have no clue what I am doing with this Photon. Can someone please point me in the right direction of what I need to do? I need some real answers! I've tried tons of guides here on the forums but nothing seems to work!
Normally I could use CWM to fix it all up, but I never could find it for this phone!
Help!
bump. Please, need help.
ClipTy said:
After downloading this rom and thinking everything would be just fine when moving to CM7 on my brother's rooted Photon, I come to a boot loop! I tried to use RSDLite to flash a SBF over to the phone, it fails, I try to use Android' Recovery to flash a new rom, fails, and then I try to factory reset and wipe the phone, FAILS! I have no clue what to do here.
I am so used to my Sensation 4G and everything is so much simpler on it, but I have no clue what I am doing with this Photon. Can someone please point me in the right direction of what I need to do? I need some real answers! I've tried tons of guides here on the forums but nothing seems to work!
Normally I could use CWM to fix it all up, but I never could find it for this phone!
Help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you dont have cwm installed, i assume that you flashed that rom while in bootstrap recovery because you didnt state that the phones bootloader was unlocked.That particular rom is an unlocked only rom, which is why you're stuck in that loop. If I'm right and you flashed that rom via bootstrap, you should be able to get back into it by powering down the phone, holding power and volume down, then using the volume down key to cycle through the options until you hit 'android recovery', then press volume up to boot into it.
At that point, go to mounts and storage, mount usb storage while phone is plugged into your pc, and place this rom:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1648297
On your sd card. After this, go back into mounts and storage and wipe data, system, and cache. Flash the rom you just placed onto your sd card and reboot.
Again, this is all asuming you installed bootstrap recovery, if I'm wrong let me know and ill try to help you further.
I forgot to add, you're also going to need to download a stock blur kernel and place that on your sd card aswell, flashing it after you flash the rom. I can't remember where to find the stock blur kernel but give me a second and ill try to find it for ya.
I don't find that very professional. I think the best you can do is tell me which section it belongs in. At least Acvice offered help...
Thanks you so much! I knew I would have to flash the stock stuff, but I just couldn't find it! Yes, I used bootstrap as I thought it was the only means of getting into cwm. I wont be screwing around after this. Only problem is, the phone is dead! I need to charge it again lol. Thanks for helping. Ill let you know the outcome later.
Acvice said:
*snip*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I am downloading that rom you gave me, seems like a good one, now I am just waiting on the Kernel, have you found it yet? Oh, and I couldn't mount my phone through recovery, so I just took the SD card out and did it myself.
EDIT: I tried to install the rom, I got an E: signature verification failed and the installation aborted. I've also tried this with other roms before. What is making this happen?
ClipTy said:
So I am downloading that rom you gave me, seems like a good one, now I am just waiting on the Kernel, have you found it yet? Oh, and I couldn't mount my phone through recovery, so I just took the SD card out and did it myself.
EDIT: I tried to install the rom, I got an E: signature verification failed and the installation aborted. I've also tried this with other roms before. What is making this happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Meh, you just flashed something you shouldnt have is all. It honestly happens to all of us. You learn the most by screwing up your phone haha.. Figured i would have you try that method as it would have gotten you a nice fast rom and also fixed your problem. But it looks like youre just unlucky. Were just gonna have to get ya back on stock by flashing an SBF.
1) Download the Windows Moto drivers and install them. Make sure you choose 32bit or 64bit, respectively. (quick google search)
2) Download RSD Lite (quick google search)
3) Download the SBF located here and unzip it.
Use this video to guide you through. Some of his links are outdated which is why i linked the one above. If you are used to ODIN on Samsung devices, you'll probably already know what to do as it's the same kind of program. Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
I've tried RSDLite with an Sbf before, it never succeeded.
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda app-developers app
Is it possible to flash an sbf with a low battery? If not, how can I charge this thing?

[Q] Destroyed memory partitioning. What do? [YP-G70]

Here's what happened:
-Had Eryigit GB​-Installed PA w/ mevordel's kernel 4.0​Rebooted recovery​Started weird bootloop=would go back into recovery and act like its installing something, then reboot, ad infinitum​
I tried reflashing Eryigits rom from odin,
then repartitioning. Somehow it was able to boot into Eryigit's ROM once, but the capacitative buttons didnt work and I couldnt reboot into anything except for download mode or a normal samsung logo bootloop.
I tried a few more things in Odin (not blindly, mind you) and still no go.. I can get it into recovery only if I flash a bootloader in Odin and auto-reboot it, otherwise it just goes back to the bootloop.
I believe I have the same problem as in this thread
I'm trying to adb into my device, but am having trouble detecting it. It'll connect in Odin fine, but not in adb, whether in download mode or just hanging at the samsung logo.
What can I do to fix this without adb working? I'm hoping for an odin fix for it, but through the mountains of threads I've been reading I don't believe there to be.
According to the thread above ^ it needs to be repartitioned manually... I read all the threads linked to and tried adb & heimdall but no luck after like 3+ weeks ):
Can anybody give me a better explanation of whats going on or throw me some troubleshooting advice?
<3 <3 <3
bmxer4130 said:
Here's what happened:
-Had Eryigit GB​-Installed PA w/ mevordel's kernel 4.0​Rebooted recovery​Started weird bootloop=would go back into recovery and act like its installing something, then reboot, ad infinitum​
I tried reflashing Eryigits rom from odin,
then repartitioning. Somehow it was able to boot into Eryigit's ROM once, but the capacitative buttons didnt work and I couldnt reboot into anything except for download mode or a normal samsung logo bootloop.
I tried a few more things in Odin (not blindly, mind you) and still no go.. I can get it into recovery only if I flash a bootloader in Odin and auto-reboot it, otherwise it just goes back to the bootloop.
I believe I have the same problem as in this thread
I'm trying to adb into my device, but am having trouble detecting it. It'll connect in Odin fine, but not in adb, whether in download mode or just hanging at the samsung logo.
What can I do to fix this without adb working? I'm hoping for an odin fix for it, but through the mountains of threads I've been reading I don't believe there to be.
According to the thread above ^ it needs to be repartitioned manually... I read all the threads linked to and tried adb & heimdall but no luck after like 3+ weeks ):
Can anybody give me a better explanation of whats going on or throw me some troubleshooting advice?
<3 <3 <3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are sure of what you state, solution is from post 39 at the following adress
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1676606&page=4
But check if you have a true "memory partitioning issue" best is said when wiping cache you get many advices about what is wrong (normaly in red letters!)
good luck and welcome to our club!
lolo9393 said:
If you are sure of what you state, solution is from post 39 at the following adress
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1676606&page=4
But check if you have a true "memory partitioning issue" best is said when wiping cache you get many advices about what is wrong (normaly in red letters!)
good luck and welcome to our club!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks. I already read through all that stuff ^ and am not having much luck. Is there some way I can IM you or something? PM me if so. You seem very knowledgeable about this matter
bmxer4130 said:
Hey thanks. I already read through all that stuff ^ and am not having much luck. Is there some way I can IM you or something? PM me if so. You seem very knowledgeable about this matter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally we can solve this within a thread that can help any other getting the same issue.
i am still very involved because end 2011 I got in trouble (I was expecting to have much better performance by flashing a Gnote kernel !!!!) and stayed for months reading at XDA for a save. (also good english training then)
your Pb:
did you check by wiping if you are in this situation? You should get advice that (partition from n 14 and upper can't be read) if so follow the tracks from the relevant post and tell me what goes wrong with you.
I fixed it! you will do it the same!
PS:To enter Adb you should flash FIRST a kernel (with ODIN) rj14 for int'll version or entropy for US model
lolo9393 said:
Normally we can solve this within a thread that can help any other getting the same issue.
i am still very involved because end 2011 I got in trouble (I was expecting to have much better performance by flashing a Gnote kernel !!!!) and stayed for months reading at XDA for a save. (also good english training then)
your Pb:
did you check by wiping if you are in this situation? You should get advice that (partition from n 14 and upper can't be read) if so follow the tracks from the relevant post and tell me what goes wrong with you.
I fixed it! you will do it the same!
PS:To enter Adb you should flash FIRST a kernel (with ODIN) rj14 for int'll version or entropy for US model
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so I got into recovery with entropy's kernel and wiped everything,
When I try to mount usb storage it says:
E: Unable to write to ums lunfile (No such file or directory)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So yeah, its the internal memory.. now if i could just get adb shell to work right
okay now I'm just trying to adb shell into it from win7 x64 and fedora 18 linux with no luck. in win7 it shows up in adb devices, but i cant connect to it, right now im thinking its because of the java sdk and problems with the fact that its a 64 bit comp. in fedora adb devices says ???????????? offline usb:2-2...
bmxer4130 said:
okay now I'm just trying to adb shell into it from win7 x64 and fedora 18 linux with no luck. in win7 it shows up in adb devices, but i cant connect to it, right now im thinking its because of the java sdk and problems with the fact that its a 64 bit comp. in fedora adb devices says ???????????? offline usb:2-2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, you were able to flash entropy's kernel (said you have a US device?) Now you can go to recovery mode and enter adb call for;" adb devices" and your will and must show up. No need to mount anything. I 've never, under win7, tryied this. so no comment.
Would you mind to give me what is said after you do a single wipe because we have to be sure your problem is really a memory partition wreck.
lolo9393 said:
So, you were able to flash entropy's kernel (said you have a US device?) Now you can go to recovery mode and enter adb call for;" adb devices" and your will and must show up. No need to mount anything. I 've never, under win7, tryied this. so no comment.
Would you mind to give me what is said after you do a single wipe because we have to be sure your problem is really a memory partition wreck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I was able to adb shell and rebuild the partition table, and it was indeed messed up, and I can mount usb storage, but I still can't get it to boot into any rom, and it refuses to boot into cwm recovery unless its just rebooted from odin. in recovery in the log it has an error about libc.so, idk if that has anything to do with it though. I'm beginning to think the problem may have to do with my usb cable. I accidentally switched the stock one with a Galaxy SII one, which should be fine, but maybe not.
bmxer4130 said:
Ok so I got into recovery with entropy's kernel and wiped everything,
When I try to mount usb storage it says:
So yeah, its the internal memory.. now if i could just get adb shell to work right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "mount USB storage" option is for mounting the SD card on your computer. That error is because you don't have an external SD card inserted.
Mevordel said:
The "mount USB storage" option is for mounting the SD card on your computer. That error is because you don't have an external SD card inserted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hehehe, I kinda realized that after posting. Derp.
But I think it may have to do with /data & maybe other folders/files being R/O (read only..) instead of R/W, as per this thread so I am now convinced I need the bootchain for the galaxy player, but this is just a sneaking suspicion, I need to do some more digging before making a fool of myself again
bmxer4130 said:
hehehe, I kinda realized that after posting. Derp.
But I think it may have to do with /data & maybe other folders/files being R/O (read only..) instead of R/W, as per this thread so I am now convinced I need the bootchain for the galaxy player, but this is just a sneaking suspicion, I need to do some more digging before making a fool of myself again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok you have all the needed stuff and now you are trained and skilled enough. You will succeed.
Why not you to try flashing Mevordel's GB Chip 1.5 rom that is in my view the best for your device, it is light simple and fast and no need for more for what we expect from this excellent but outdated product.
lolo9393 said:
Ok you have all the needed stuff and now you are trained and skilled enough. You will succeed.
Why not you to try flashing Mevordel's GB Chip 1.5 rom that is in my view the best for your device, it is light simple and fast and no need for more for what we expect from this excellent but outdated product.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I tried flashing it in cwm, along with eryigit (both with entropys kernel flashed over them) and PA venturi, but it refuses to boot properly. If it is the bootchain, how can I get a dump of a working one?
And I was able to dump a lot of stuff from [adb pull */*] and can access logs and dmesg, but havent inspected them fully. Is there an easy way to read the boot log and/or setup a custom log to run preboot? I figure that wouldnt be necessary since the linux kernel does a fine job of logging itself.
And yes I think I am skilled enough now, just was confused how to get to the adb shell, but I'm fairly well versed in linux, so the shell is relatively comfortable for me.
But if I'm able to figure it out I'm going to make a How To thread including what I've found and what you've found and posted to make it easier for nooblets in the future, maybe even make a simple shell script to repartition the US 8gb model.
I fixed it
how?
Jistropy said:
how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mainly luck hehe. But actually from the mentioned threads ^^^^^ and this nifty trick, but use caution as I have no clue how well this works for other devices, if it all. And a large part of the problem was that my battery was dead because it wasn't charging correctly when plugged into my computer; and it kept dying in Odin.
Do you have a similar problem?? I can probably help..

[Q] Did I just brick my phone by messing with framework-htc-res.apk??

Sorry for the double post, but I was afraid this old thread I posted in originally may not get attention since the subject line is not quite on point.
My original post is here --
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=42069716&postcount=49
I guess since I can still get to my bootloader and theoretically hit factory reset, I may not really be bricked. But I'd really love to find a fix other than factory reset. At the moment -- when I try to boot to the phone, it goes through the initial white HTC screen and then just stops on the Android eye screen (like this http://static1.businessinsider.com/...-is-what-the-boot-up-animation-looks-like.jpg )
Anyone??
Many many thanks from a dumbass newb.
samstein66 said:
Sorry for the double post, but I was afraid this old thread I posted in originally may not get attention since the subject line is not quite on point.
My original post is here --
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=42069716&postcount=49
I guess since I can still get to my bootloader and theoretically hit factory reset, I may not really be bricked. But I'd really love to find a fix other than factory reset. At the moment -- when I try to boot to the phone, it goes through the initial white HTC screen and then just stops on the Android eye screen (like this http://static1.businessinsider.com/...-is-what-the-boot-up-animation-looks-like.jpg )
Anyone??
Many many thanks from a dumbass newb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to offer a fix because I'm sure someone has a better way, but have you thought about just flashing a new ROM at this point? Cyanogenmod, Venom, Avatar, Pacman rom now. Some good choices.
Why You No have Nandroid?
Sent from my Incredible 4G LTE using xda app-developers app
somerandomname1 said:
I don't want to offer a fix because I'm sure someone has a better way, but have you thought about just flashing a new ROM at this point? Cyanogenmod, Venom, Avatar, Pacman rom now. Some good choices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about that, but couldn't even figure out how to get a ROM onto my phone to flash.
Forgot I could use TWRP to force it to USB mount to my computer and get it on there like that. Just flashed Viper, but now after rebooting I'm stuck on the white HTC quietly brilliant splash screen (I don't even get to the red Droid eye screen where I was freezing before).
Ugh.
I guess maybe I need to find a stock HTC Sense ROM to flash first???
Totally lost...
prairiedogn said:
Why You No have Nandroid?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I'm a dumbass. Didn't you already read when I said that previously?
Now a question for you - why you no speak English good?
samstein66 said:
I was thinking about that, but couldn't even figure out how to get a ROM onto my phone to flash.
Forgot I could use TWRP to force it to USB mount to my computer and get it on there like that. Just flashed Viper, but now after rebooting I'm stuck on the white HTC quietly brilliant splash screen (I don't even get to the red Droid eye screen where I was freezing before).
Ugh.
I guess maybe I need to find a stock HTC Sense ROM to flash first???
Totally lost...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ROM probably flashed fine. You have to pull the boot.img out of the zip and flash it via fast boot since you're not s-off:
Fasboot flash boot boot.img
Also, when you get everything going be sure to remember to make a backup. And you should do so before flashing anything or modifying system files.
Sent from my Incredible 4G LTE using xda app-developers app
somerandomname1 said:
The ROM probably flashed fine. You have to pull the boot.img out of the zip and flash it via fast boot since you're not s-off:
Fasboot flash boot boot.img
Also, when you get everything going be sure to remember to make a backup. And you should do so before flashing anything or modifying system files.
Sent from my Incredible 4G LTE using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edited - nevermind - found the boot.img here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1891202
thanks
Well...
I'm still screwed apparently.
Now I'm freezing on the HTC-quietly-brilliant white screen with the "This build is for development purposes only..." message beneath it whenever I try to do a regular reboot. So I'm basically still stuck with bootloader/TWRP only right now even after trying to flash a ROM.
samstein66 said:
Well...
I'm still screwed apparently.
Now I'm freezing on the HTC-quietly-brilliant white screen with the "This build is for development purposes only..." message beneath it whenever I try to do a regular reboot. So I'm basically still stuck with bootloader/TWRP only right now even after trying to flash a ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're trying to flash venom right? Download the newest venom. Open the zip with WinZip or other application. Pull out the boot IMG. Also, go download TWRP version 2.3.3.0 since newer builds have issues with aroma installers. Flash that recovery. Wipe data, cache, system. Flash venom ROM. Reboot to bootloader and in fastboot flash the boot IMG.
TWRP 2.3.3.0 here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2081547
Sent from my Incredible 4G LTE using xda app-developers app
And now I'm really kind of nervous --
I just decided that this wasn't worth crying over since my phone wasn't all the customized anyway, so I just tried doing a factory reset and that failed, too.
If anyone wants to help walk me out of this mess (any outcome that leads to a usable phone would be brilliant), I would be all ears. It seems like I can't even get to recover now, so all I've got is the bootloader/USB connection to my PC to use fastboot there.
Many many thanks in advance!
somerandomname1 said:
You're trying to flash venom right? Download the newest venom. Open the zip with WinZip or other application. Pull out the boot IMG. Also, go download TWRP version 2.3.3.0 since newer builds have issues with aroma installers. Flash that recovery. Wipe data, cache, system. Flash venom ROM. Reboot to bootloader and in fastboot flash the boot IMG.
Sent from my Incredible 4G LTE using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did have 2.5 on my phone. Probably too tired for this now, but I will try 2.3.3.0.
samstein66 said:
I did have 2.5 on my phone. Probably too tired for this now, but I will try 2.3.3.0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to get 2.3.3.0 on my phone via fastboot and can run that version of the recovery now.
However, I'm not sure how to flash a ROM at this point since I cannot get it onto my phone.
(when I use TWRP to tell my phone to mount as USB storage, the SD card is no longer an option -- I cannot select it -- and Windows cannot see the phone as a drive anymore except to ask if I want to format it to FAT32... which I'm assuming I should not do)
Can I somehow get it done via the bootloader screen using fastboot ?or adb? to get the VIPERlte_2.2.0.zip ROM package to my phone?
samstein66 said:
And now I'm really kind of nervous --
I just decided that this wasn't worth crying over since my phone wasn't all the customized anyway, so I just tried doing a factory reset and that failed, too.
If anyone wants to help walk me out of this mess (any outcome that leads to a usable phone would be brilliant), I would be all ears. It seems like I can't even get to recover now, so all I've got is the bootloader/USB connection to my PC to use fastboot there.
Many many thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No reason to be nervous. If your bootloader is unlocked you're fine. Follow steps 1-12 in this post to get a functional stock ROM on your phone. I realize the post doesn't sound like it relates to your issue, but the instructions should generally be viewed as "how to get your phone back to normal".
mdmower said:
No reason to be nervous. If your bootloader is unlocked you're fine. Follow steps 1-12 in this post to get a functional stock ROM on your phone. I realize the post doesn't sound like it relates to your issue, but the instructions should generally be viewed as "how to get your phone back to normal".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I'm going to try now, however the thing that really made me nervous was that when I tried to do a factory reset via TWRP last night (step 1 of the process you just suggested), I got a fail message from TWRP:
"Factory Reset Complete
Failed"
then down below several of the lines say
E:Unable to mount '/sdcard'
E:Unable to recreate android secure folder.
E:Unable to mount '/sdcard' during GUI startup.
E:Unable to mount when trying to read settings
E:Unable to mount internal storage
I'm surprised no one has suggested, ya know, for him to run an RUU.
Yeah. OP, you should do that
Sent from my Incredible 4G LTE using xda app-developers app
samstein66 said:
Thanks.
I'm going to try now, however the thing that really made me nervous was that when I tried to do a factory reset via TWRP last night (step 1 of the process you just suggested), I got a fail message from TWRP:
"Factory Reset Complete
Failed"
then down below several of the lines say
E:Unable to mount '/sdcard'
E:Unable to recreate android secure folder.
E:Unable to mount '/sdcard' during GUI startup.
E:Unable to mount when trying to read settings
E:Unable to mount internal storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So yeah... whether stock or viperlte or whatever ROM, the issue I seem to be having is that I'm too stupid to figure out how to even get the ROM on my phone's SD card to flash.
Thanks for all the noobert-hand-holding
times_infinity said:
I'm surprised no one has suggested, ya know, for him to run an RUU.
Yeah. OP, you should do that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, I'm all ears.
Should I run the RUU to get back to stock/relocked? Or is there something else out there that will allow me to stay unlocked?
You can RUU and then do the whole song and dance to get back to unlocked. If you go S-OFF you shouldn't have to worry about re-unlocking the bootloader.
You can either use an sdcard reader to put the RUU zip in the root of your SD as PJ53IMG.zip or put your phone into bootloader mode run
fastboot oem rebootRUU
Once at the black HTC screen
Run
fastboot flash zip <nameofruu>.zip
It might error saying something about main version or if you have supercid it'll complain about that too. Just run the same command again
fastboot flash zip <nameofruu>.zip
And it should take and flash then entire thing and get you back to a working state.
Sent from my Incredible 4G LTE using xda app-developers app
times_infinity said:
I'm surprised no one has suggested, ya know, for him to run an RUU.
Yeah. OP, you should do that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, OP, don't do that. I'm tired of reading "run an RUU" when it is not necessary. I posted a perfectly reasonable solution that would leave samstein66 with an unlocked bootloader, a very clean factory reset stock ROM, root, and custom recovery. Telling someone to run the RUU leaves them with a locked device which potentially still requires a factory reset to get as close to default settings as when it came from the factory. Now they get the joy of re-unlocking their bootloader, which for our non-htcdev-supported phone means sensitive processes that can mess up a device if not done carefully.
samstein66 said:
Thanks.
I'm going to try now, however the thing that really made me nervous was that when I tried to do a factory reset via TWRP last night (step 1 of the process you just suggested), I got a fail message from TWRP:
"Factory Reset Complete
Failed"
then down below several of the lines say
E:Unable to mount '/sdcard'
E:Unable to recreate android secure folder.
E:Unable to mount '/sdcard' during GUI startup.
E:Unable to mount when trying to read settings
E:Unable to mount internal storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In TWRP, under the mount menu, are you able to use the Mount USB feature and see the internal and microsd storage on your computer?
mdmower said:
No, OP, don't do that. I'm tired of reading "run an RUU" when it is not necessary. I posted a perfectly reasonable solution that would leave samstein66 with an unlocked bootloader, a very clean factory reset stock ROM, root, and custom recovery. Telling someone to run the RUU leaves them with a locked device which potentially still requires a factory reset to get as close to default settings as when it came from the factory. Now they get the joy of re-unlocking their bootloader, which for our non-htcdev-supported phone means sensitive processes that can mess up a device if not done carefully.
In TWRP, under the mount menu, are you able to use the Mount USB feature and see the internal and microsd storage on your computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I cannot select those. I can only select cache, data, etc. and when it tries to mount, my computer cannot recognize the drive as H: like it normally would when USB mounted. It does see that the device is trying to mount as H, but that's where I get the Windows message saying I need to format the drive to being able to recognize it. Since I wasn't sure what to do there, I played it safe and went with not formatting (since I didn't know exactly what would get formatted).

[Q] Need to backup Galaxy SII, but broken, locked screen

Hello all.
As you might have guessed from the title, I recently broke my Galaxy SII's screen and I need to get all my precious info off it for my new S4 Active. Problem is, the screen is kept locked and with a broken screen I obviously can't unlock it in the normal manner. Fortunately the phone still works.
Unfortunately, my phone is unrooted and USB debugging is turned off (I think, I'm running on that assumption) so that doesn't help matters.
After some tinkering and learning (thanks to the sticky on recovery mode ) I have booted into recovery mode and have the Android SDK installed so while I can look at some things on the phone, not everything seems to be available.
Essentially, how can I get my data off my phone? It looks like I have to root the phone or something like that, but wouldn't that delete all my data (and thus defeat the purpose)?
Nothing like a broken screen to get you into learning Android development, and of course all responses are hugely appreciated
ArnoldJR28 said:
Hello all.
As you might have guessed from the title, I recently broke my Galaxy SII's screen and I need to get all my precious info off it for my new S4 Active. Problem is, the screen is kept locked and with a broken screen I obviously can't unlock it in the normal manner. Fortunately the phone still works.
Unfortunately, my phone is unrooted and USB debugging is turned off (I think, I'm running on that assumption) so that doesn't help matters.
After some tinkering and learning (thanks to the sticky on recovery mode ) I have booted into recovery mode and have the Android SDK installed so while I can look at some things on the phone, not everything seems to be available.
Essentially, how can I get my data off my phone? It looks like I have to root the phone or something like that, but wouldn't that delete all my data (and thus defeat the purpose)?
Nothing like a broken screen to get you into learning Android development, and of course all responses are hugely appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will depend on what data you're trying to get off the phone. My guess is photos/videos/music? If it's anything else, please specify.
You're on the right track, I'm pretty sure you'll need to root. But no, that won't delete any data My tip would be to root using Odin & Siyah kernel, as it's PC-based, if you were on JB 4.1.2 you'll need Siyah v6 (beta 4 or 5). The Odin link in my signature has a link which is an introduction to Odin flashing which you should find helpful. PC rooting with Odin (vs using Philz kernel) avoids using the busted screen for the rooting operation. Once you've flashed Siyah, you'll have root and a new custom recovery.
My next move would be to flash Dorimanx kernel, because it has an 'auto-mount' feature from recovery. Essentially that means the computer will recognise your internal SD (and external SD if you have one) as soon as you plug it in to your computer in recovery mode. To flash Dorimanx, you have a couple options. The easiest would be to download Dorimanx v8.43, and put it on a microSD card. Put that card in your phone, and from Siyah recovery, navigate to that file and flash it.
From there, reboot to your new recovery and plug into your computer. If all goes well then you can literally just copy your entire internal SD card to your computer and sift through for what you need
Hope that helps :highfive: Quote my post if you reply, else I won't notice it. I don't get time to go on Q&A much for now.
EDIT: Actually, an alternative would be not to flash Dorimanx on top of Siyah. From Siyah recovery, you could go: mounts & storage> mount USB storage and then plug into PC. Your PC should recognise it from there to copy all data from internal SD. If not, then flash Dorimanx for the auto mount feature.
hey.
my advice to you is to try using a "micro usb to hdmi" in most cases the touch works wile the screen does not.
its very common and cheep, i also suffered from the same problem, and i borrowed one from a friend, and thats what saved my data loss.
usually the phone interacts automatically with the usb-hdmi thing so you dont need to "click" on anything to make it work.
the touch tho is pretty tricky.. and you will learn it pretty fast!
hope one of your friends got one of these.. if not just buy one.. its a nice thing anyway.
hope i helped.
Hopper8 said:
It will depend on what data you're trying to get off the phone. My guess is photos/videos/music? If it's anything else, please specify.
You're on the right track, I'm pretty sure you'll need to root. But no, that won't delete any data My tip would be to root using Odin & Siyah kernel, as it's PC-based, if you were on JB 4.1.2 you'll need Siyah v6 (beta 4 or 5). The Odin link in my signature has a link which is an introduction to Odin flashing which you should find helpful. PC rooting with Odin (vs using Philz kernel) avoids using the busted screen for the rooting operation. Once you've flashed Siyah, you'll have root and a new custom recovery.
My next move would be to flash Dorimanx kernel, because it has an 'auto-mount' feature from recovery. Essentially that means the computer will recognise your internal SD (and external SD if you have one) as soon as you plug it in to your computer in recovery mode. To flash Dorimanx, you have a couple options. The easiest would be to download Dorimanx v8.43, and put it on a microSD card. Put that card in your phone, and from Siyah recovery, navigate to that file and flash it.
From there, reboot to your new recovery and plug into your computer. If all goes well then you can literally just copy your entire internal SD card to your computer and sift through for what you need
Hope that helps :highfive: Quote my post if you reply, else I won't notice it. I don't get time to go on Q&A much for now.
EDIT: Actually, an alternative would be not to flash Dorimanx on top of Siyah. From Siyah recovery, you could go: mounts & storage> mount USB storage and then plug into PC. Your PC should recognise it from there to copy all data from internal SD. If not, then flash Dorimanx for the auto mount feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to get anything that's worth getting from the phone, so most important is the contacts and then photos/videos/app data.
It seems the link to download Odin is dead
Odin can be easily found with a Google search (or an XDA search). You're going to have to show at least a little bit of initiative if you want this done.
Edit - Also, you haven't specified which S2 variant you have. If you have any of the US variants, don't proceed with the above advice.
ArnoldJR28 said:
I would like to get anything that's worth getting from the phone, so most important is the contacts and then photos/videos/app data.
It seems the link to download Odin is dead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MistahBungle said:
Odin can be easily found with a Google search (or an XDA search). You're going to have to show at least a little bit of initiative if you want this done.
Edit - Also, you haven't specified which S2 variant you have. If you have any of the US variants, don't proceed with the above advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just thought I'd make people aware of the dead link.
Phone variant is the I9100T (in Australia here).
Hopper's advice applies then.
ArnoldJR28 said:
I would like to get anything that's worth getting from the phone, so most important is the contacts and then photos/videos/app data.
It seems the link to download Odin is dead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea what you mean by the Odin link is dead. All links and attachments in my guide are up to date and working. I know, I just checked.
MistahBungle said:
Odin can be easily found with a Google search (or an XDA search). You're going to have to show at least a little bit of initiative if you want this done.
Edit - Also, you haven't specified which S2 variant you have. If you have any of the US variants, don't proceed with the above advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point, thanks. Had skimmed over the variant issue
Hopper8 said:
I have no idea what you mean by the Odin link is dead. All links and attachments in my guide are up to date and working. I know, I just checked.
Good point, thanks. Had skimmed over the variant issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to worry, it was 404'ing for me, but I just went and googled it like Mistah said.
Flashing and pulling files from recovery mode worked like a charm so much appreciated, Hopper
ArnoldJR28 said:
Not to worry, it was 404'ing for me, but I just went and googled it like Mistah said.
Flashing and pulling files from recovery mode worked like a charm so much appreciated, Hopper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear it worked, and that you've got your data back :good: Now you know to keep regular backups of all the things you value, so get in that habit
Hopper8 said:
Good to hear it worked, and that you've got your data back :good: Now you know to keep regular backups of all the things you value, so get in that habit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to pester you but it seems I'm only halfway to the finish line. It looks like I only got some of my files and not others as when I "ls" folders in the shell like data, they're empty so I don't seem to have full access. Being Superuser doesn't let me see anything either.
Disregard, turns out all I had to do to see the contents of the /data folder was to mount it. The things you learn

Samsung S3 memory full

My work colleague is an idiot - Despite warnings from his S3 that phone memory was low he continued taking videos and pictures and he has no sd card in the phone. Now the phone boots up but the pattern unlock screen is unresponsive. I offered to try to help him as he said "The last 2 years photos of my life are on there" so clearly a factory reset will lose them all so that's not an option.
So I installed Kies, thinking I'll just grab them to my PC for him - but alas no. MTP USB driver installation fails every time and yes I've googled my socks off, tried all the regedit fixes, even tried installing Win 7 32 bit on a spare hard drive.
I've checked that the ribbon connector for the screen is attached, tried linux boot disks that don't see the phone and now I'm all out of ideas. Any help would be vastly appreciated :fingers-crossed:
Hello,
Welcome to XDA.
Most of the time the screen being locked wont let PC interact with the device. There are many different models of S3, give me your model number and I'll guide you to where you can find answers.
You may can flash a custom recovery or a temporary recovery(not sure because I don't know what is available for the model you're working with and what isn't), if you can get one of those recoveries then you may can use the factory reset in recovery(it wont wipe his photos) or adb to get the phone working.
Remember to create an XDA account so you can post and reply in the forums.
Droidriven said:
Hello,
Welcome to XDA.
Most of the time the screen being locked wont let PC interact with the device. There are many different models of S3, give me your model number and I'll guide you to where you can find answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there and many thanks for the welcome. The model number is GT-19300 :fingers-crossed:
Azarameus said:
Hi there and many thanks for the welcome. The model number is GT-19300 :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your issue is unusual because of how it got that way, I'm not certain exactly which subforum or thread you need but I will link you to the GT I9300 Main Forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3
You can check through the subforums there for anything you think applies, the Q&A and the 2 development subforums are most likely where you will find help, this thread will be moved to the GT I9300 Q&A forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/help
If you get replies you can check them and respond there, you might want to find some off topic threads to post in until you have at least 10 posts so that you can post in the development forums there if you need to, there is a 10 post minimum before you can post there. Good luck.
Droidriven said:
Your issue is unusual because of how it got that way, I'm not certain exactly which subforum or thread you need but I will link you to the GT I9300 Main Forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3
You can check through the subforums there for anything you think applies, the Q&A and the 2 development subforums are most likely where you will find help, this thread will be moved to the GT I9300 Q&A forum linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/help
If you get replies you can check them and respond there, you might want to find some off topic threads to post in until you have at least 10 posts so that you can post in the development forums there if you need to, there is a 10 post minimum before you can post there. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks again. I can get it into Recovery mode but all I've tried so far is clearing the cache, as I don't want to do anything that might lose his pictures.
Azarameus said:
Ok thanks again. I can get it into Recovery mode but all I've tried so far is clearing the cache, as I don't want to do anything that might lose his pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it is stock recovery then I believe if you can get to download mode then you can flash a custom recovery and flash the superSU zip to root the device then factory reset/wipe data, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache, this will clear the lockscreen but won't erase his pictures, music, etc., it may let him back into his phone, he will just have to be careful because the device will be rooted and he could make things worse if he doesn't know what he's doing. If that works and he gets back in his phone but isn't comfortable with the risk of having a rooted device without understanding its usage then the device can be un rooted by going into the superSU settings and choosing the unroot and uninstall option. He'd still have custom recovery though. You might even be able to just flash the recovery to do the wipes and not have to root, I'm not sure about that though because I've never used recovery without root so I can't speak from personal experience.
I've never owned the i9300 so I'm not sure if you can do that or not safely from the state you are in so you may want to verify in this forum before you try it, but I don't see an issue with you doing it, its commonly used to root the S3 variants and doesn't wipe any important data or factory reset the device
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
If it is stock recovery then I believe if you can get to download mode then you can flash a custom recovery and flash the superSU zip to root the device then factory reset/wipe data, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache, this will clear the lockscreen but won't erase his pictures, music, etc., it may let him back into his phone, he will just have to be careful because the device will be rooted and he could make things worse if he doesn't know what he's doing. If that works and he gets back in his phone but isn't comfortable with the risk of having a rooted device without understanding its usage then the device can be un rooted by going into the superSU settings and choosing the unroot and uninstall option. He'd still have custom recovery though. You might even be able to just flash the recovery to do the wipes and not have to root, I'm not sure about that though because I've never used recovery without root so I can't speak from personal experience.
I've never owned the i9300 so I'm not sure if you can do that or not safely from the state you are in so you may want to verify in this forum before you try it, but I don't see an issue with you doing it, its commonly used to root the S3 variants and doesn't wipe any important data or factory reset the device
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whew, most of that went right over my head lol. An idiot's guide please? Bearing in mind that my PC can't currently connect to the phone I'm guessing that I need to put the custom recovery file (where to find one?) on an SD card via a PC card reader and try it from there in download mode? I think he'll be delighted just to get his pictures and videos back even if the phone never works again, so it being rooted won't be an issue.
Azarameus said:
Whew, most of that went right over my head lol. An idiot's guide please? Bearing in mind that my PC can't currently connect to the phone I'm guessing that I need to put the custom recovery file (where to find one?) on an SD card via a PC card reader and try it from there in download mode? I think he'll be delighted just to get his pictures and videos back even if the phone never works again, so it being rooted won't be an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, to get to download mode you need to have the phone off, then press and hold the volume down+home+power button, when you see the caution screen you press up, if you can get to this mode you may can flash a TWRP recovery through Odin from PC to phone.
But first, before we get to Odin, do you or he know what android version he had before this happened, Kit Kat? Lollipop? I need to see if there are locked bootloaders on your device builds and which ones they are and which are safe to flash TWRP, if the i9300 is like some of the other Samsung devices with certain locked bootloaders that can't be unlocked or downgraded then flashing TWRP could and probably would brick the device. I need some info so I can check for you.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
No, to get to download mode you need to have the phone off, then press and hold the volume down+home+power button, when you see the caution screen you press up, if you can get to this mode you may can flash a TWRP recovery through Odin from PC to phone.
But first, before we get to Odin, do you or he know what android version he had before this happened, Kit Kat? Lollipop? I need to see if there are locked bootloaders on your device builds and which ones they are and which are safe to flash TWRP, if the i9300 is like some of the other Samsung devices with certain locked bootloaders that can't be unlocked or downgraded then flashing TWRP could and probably would brick the device. I need some info so I can check for you.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly have no idea which android build it is running on, as I can't get into the settings page or anything else and I very much doubt if my friend knows as he is pretty much clueless on such things, hence the problem. All I know is that its a few years old and when it starts up there is a three.co.uk white screen icon before it gets to the unresponsive lockscreen. I am also almost as clueless with android devices (I'm only a PC guy) - so far my only experience has been to set up kodi with addons for TV viewing which is why I came here to ask you expert guys
Methinks I won't try to get into download mode just yet in case it makes things worse
All your help is much appreciated, thank you!
Azarameus said:
I honestly have no idea which android build it is running on, as I can't get into the settings page or anything else and I very much doubt if my friend knows as he is pretty much clueless on such things, hence the problem. All I know is that its a few years old and when it starts up there is a three.co.uk white screen icon before it gets to the unresponsive lockscreen. I am also almost as clueless with android devices (I'm only a PC guy) - so far my only experience has been to set up kodi with addons for TV viewing which is why I came here to ask you expert guys
Methinks I won't try to get into download mode just yet in case it makes things worse
All your help is much appreciated, thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device was never updated, it never had stock upgrades? If not then I can narrow down what was on it, when was the device bought?
If you can boot to download mode and if it is recognized in Odin then you've got a chance, at the moment your PC isn't recognizing the phone but if it successfully connects to Odin then you've got a chance, otherwise I'm not sure what success you'll have.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
The device was never updated, it never had stock upgrades? If not then I can narrow down what was on it, when was the device bought?
If you can boot to download mode and if it is recognized in Odin then you've got a chance, at the moment your PC isn't recognizing the phone but if it successfully connects to Odin then you've got a chance, otherwise I'm not sure what success you'll have.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would put a spare miniSD card in, flash TWRP recovery in odin, access the storage from there and copy the files to the SD card. Easy as pie.
The international version of the S3 (GT-i9300) already has an unlocked bootloader. So no problem there.
Important to note is that if the device is not rooted the TWRP recovery won't "stick" when the device is allowed to reboot automatically after the odin flash. So in odin you have to UNTICK(!) the reboot option and after flash reboot directly to recovery via holding Vol UP + Home + Power for about 7 sec.
Droidriven said:
The device was never updated, it never had stock upgrades? If not then I can narrow down what was on it, when was the device bought?
If you can boot to download mode and if it is recognized in Odin then you've got a chance, at the moment your PC isn't recognizing the phone but if it successfully connects to Odin then you've got a chance, otherwise I'm not sure what success you'll have.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I showed him this thread at work earlier and although he growled somewhat at being called an idiot in my OP, he had to agree he was lol. It turns out he bought his partner the same phone around the same time so I checked and it has Automatic upgrades ticked and is on build 4.3 so we can hopefully assume the problematic one is on the same version. When I mentioned the possibility of bricking to him he became unsure as to whether I should proceed with flashing. If he was to send the phone to Samsung themselves would they be able to retrieve his data safely, albeit with some cost and waiting?
Thanks again for your input
Hawaiihemd said:
I would put a spare miniSD card in, flash TWRP recovery in odin, access the storage from there and copy the files to the SD card. Easy as pie.
The international version of the S3 (GT-i9300) already has an unlocked bootloader. So no problem there.
Important to note is that if the device is not rooted the TWRP recovery won't "stick" when the device is allowed to reboot automatically after the odin flash. So in odin you have to UNTICK(!) the reboot option and after flash reboot directly to recovery via holding Vol UP + Home + Power for about 7 sec.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds good - all he wants is his files back safely. It certainly isn't rooted. So once that is done and I'm back in recovery mode how do I get out of there, just reboot it from there?
Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated
Azarameus said:
That sounds good - all he wants is his files back safely. It certainly isn't rooted. So once that is done and I'm back in recovery mode how do I get out of there, just reboot it from there?
Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, after you copied the files via the "File Manager" in TWRP you simply choose "reboot system". Rebooting to system will automatically restore the original recovery you are used to. Or you can choose to shutdown in TWRP, remove the SDcard "safely" first and then reboot.
Even more: After you copied all the photos/videos from internal storage (which should be under /storage/sdcard0/DCIM/camera) to SDcard you could simply delete a few of those.
If them taking up too much space is the problem for the lockscreen not working, deleting a few would of course free up some space again, which would then most likely make the lockscreen work again.
But let me make one thing clear: Flashing anything always brings with it the slight(!) possibility something could go wrong, because you are writing to the EMMC of the phone. BUT I can't imagine a samsung staff member doing anything different. He/she would also need to gain access somehow...
After all it's your choice but hundreds of people (including me) have used odin and twrp on different devices for years now without any problem whatsoever. :good:
--- Edit ---
Ah one more thing. I would definitely make a full backup (System/Data, EFS and bootloader) while I'm at it! You just choose "backup" in twrp, then the "MicroSD card" under "storage" and go from there. Pretty self explanatory. Never hurts to have a backup!
Hawaiihemd said:
Yes, after you copied the files via the "File Manager" in TWRP you simply choose "reboot system". Rebooting to system will automatically restore the original recovery you are used to. Or you can choose to shutdown in TWRP, remove the SDcard "safely" first and then reboot.
Even more: After you copied all the photos/videos from internal storage (which should be under /storage/sdcard0/DCIM/camera) to SDcard you could simply delete a few of those.
If them taking up too much space is the problem for the lockscreen not working, deleting a few would of course free up some space again, which would then most likely make the lockscreen work again.
But let me make one thing clear: Flashing anything always brings with it the slight(!) possibility something could go wrong, because you are writing to the EMMC of the phone. BUT I can't imagine a samsung staff member doing anything different. He/she would also need to gain access somehow...
After all it's your choice but hundreds of people (including me) have used odin and twrp on different devices for years now without any problem whatsoever. :good:
--- Edit ---
Ah one more thing. I would definitely make a full backup (System/Data, EFS and bootloader) while I'm at it! You just choose "backup" in twrp, then the "MicroSD card" under "storage" and go from there. Pretty self explanatory. Never hurts to have a backup!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks again. I am going to attempt this tonight, will update on any progress
Azarameus said:
Ok thanks again. I am going to attempt this tonight, will update on any progress
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that worked! My idiot friend is happy now. Thanks a million for the help - you guys ROCK!
Azarameus said:
Well, that worked! My idiot friend is happy now. Thanks a million for the help - you guys ROCK!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice! And were you able to get the lockscreen working again?
Hawaiihemd said:
Nice! And were you able to get the lockscreen working again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes indeed, all is working now as it should. The village idiot actually danced off to his car when I returned his phone - he has strict orders from me to move all his stuff to the SD card and make regular backups to his PC!
Thanks again - would never have done it without you guys

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