Soft brick? Please help - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So my friend has possible soft brick?
The s2 has been fine with root/ROMs/cwm but was struggling to flash a working kernel. In the process he has formatted everything in mounts... In clockwork. The s2 booted fine for awhile then froze/crashed. After that its been boot looping. Went in to clockwork, wiped and reboot to loop again. Went back to stock via Odin... Xda's leaded ICS I think not GB.
Booted OK for around an hour... Couldn't install clockwork via app or stock recovery... Couldn't flash ROMs ... Came back as failed to mount efs!
Still looping tho clockworck can be installed via Odin.
Once installed cwm ROM will flash but freezes on boot image. Tried wipes and reboot but no different.
Beginning to struggle with what options our knowledge allows. Any help would be much appreciated.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Back to stock via Odin/download mode to get a 'clean slate' (Get a stock rom from Samfirmware, flash it in Odin).

That is what we have tried about four times but still the same problem... No IMEI and can't mount efs.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

so by now we have managed to flash stock GB (orange carrier) (original sate)
now we cannot root the phone, each time it comes back as failed.
using odin3 and cf auto root as always.
if anyone could lighten up the path for us on rooting the device? we may be able to work on restoring it to a working order.
we have read many guides/walkthroughs and all suggest sg11-repair, but not being able to root for ktool is the problem.
are we missing something obvious out with over thinking?
2 days hard web searching and programme after programme of empty attempts to repair the IMEI.

Is it failing at the Odin/flash stage, or is it going through as pass in Odin, but when you boot the phone it isn't rooted ? If it's the first one, yeah it's almost always something small/obvious when Odin doesn't work (unless the phone is borked). If that's the case, try the following troubleshooting steps:-
*Must run Odin as administrator in Windoze.
*Ensure Kies & it's processes aren't running in Windoze task manager. Kill them if they are.
*Try different USB ports; you must be using a 'powered' or mainboard port.
*Try different USB cables (particularly the cable that came with the phone if you're not using it now)
*Try different versions of Odin (search on here/Google, don't use V3 - try V1.3, then V1.8)
*Uninstall Kies, reboot, redownload & reinstall it, reboot, try the flash again. Reason for doing this is drivers on PC side might be borked. Uninstalling/reinstalling Kies often fixes this.
*Run Windoze Update.
*And if all this fails, try a different PC. If it won't work first time on another PC, go thru the above steps. Still won't work ? User error or borked phone; return to service centre.
If it's passing in Odin but not rooting, forget CFRoot & maybe try flashing the Odin build of Siyah compatible with the Android version currently on the phone (have a look at the Siyah threads to work out which version you need).

OK thank you... Will try today or tomorrow. Will post results thanks for the help
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

You're welcome. Post in this thread again if you have any problems.

So, we have rooted, got data but no calls or SMS. The imei has been replaced with a generic one as the original was blank. He has made an efs back up as of now in a half working fashion. But clearly the original must be restored to make calls send SMS etc..
If he flashes via Odin back to stock will the work we have done, un-do?
Obviously no root no ktool no gsII repair.
And a reinstall and update of keis sorted out the bad flashes on Odin from earlier.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

:banghead:

Sorry to have done that, I've read the rules and its just become clear that I've done so. Hope no one is offended I'll remove as soon as I find out how.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Related

[Q&A][FIXED][GUIDE] USB Displays It's Connected No Matter What?

UPDATED: FOUND A FIX! IF THIS WONT WORK I HAVE ANOTHER METHOD BUT ITS QUITE RISKY.
Please rate my thread if it helped
{Disregard my posts asking for help}
This guide is exactly what I did and it was very successful. Please don't blame me if it doesn't work. Keep in mind I did attempt every other option I could think of and this worked. I am not at fault if something goes wrong.
Begin by flashing to stock 2.1 through ODIN and make sure you repartition. Root the stock ROM so you can flash. Then install the latest Froyo by eugene373(you can try a JI6 ROM if you prefer). Now make sure to use a one click root method to re-root (or method of choice).
Download ROM Manager then install clockwork and reboot into it. Do a simple reboot back into your phone from clockwork. Now reboot your phone normally from Froyo ROM. Yes, it is a lot of rebooting, I know!
From here on, the USB saying its on while not plugged in should be fixed - hopefully! The new ROM seems to fix it because the USB settings are a little different..
After is where I think solved the USB problem when the phone isnt booted. Ok, now this is easy. Get back into clockwork, do the following: "Advanced-> Wipe Battery Stats" choose Yes of course. Then just reboot while plugged into USB so phone starts.
It "SHOULD" be fixed at this point!
Unplug from USB and shutdown completely. Now try to start phone without getting the boot looping battery icon. Reboot again to assure this worked for you. If it boots, jump up and down and hope it never happens again. Pull battery a couple times if necessary. This may help if the above failed.
When all is fixed you can install any ROM you wish granted you flash a 2.1 kernel if your not installing another Froyo ROM. Please make sure you understand this.
I only wrote this to help those who have encountered this nasty issue. I really hope it works for you. It is really worth a shot!
If anything was misunderstood, feel free to ask and I will do what I can to help. Ill respond as soon as I get the time.
I think I will make the guide a new thread if its successful. I need feedback. I will also add all download links and fix it up.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App which made it very difficult to type all of this!
*****FIXED*****
Hi.. I have the same problem. Can you please tell me how you made the USB mode off when the phone is on?
I turned off USB debugging and changed the settings to "Ask on connection" then restart the phone when plugged into your computer.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I also have the same problem... For me going to "Ask on connection" also helped - but USB does not work at all, the connections sign disappears when I plug in USB.
Additionally, I (mostly) could not boot the phone without having USB plugged in.
Yea its horrible having to boot while charging.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Try either flashing a rom with the JI6 update built in or using odin to flash the JI6 update. I talked with tech support and they said the "fix" was supposed to come in the update but if you are like me you didn't get teh update because you are on a third party rom. I found bionix 1.9.1 had the JI6 update in it and flashed it on a list ditch effort before i crushed the phone in frustration and since then i have been free of the USB annoyance. If that doesn't work though, it is a "known defect" and TMO wil replace the phone. You can also just go that route too if you don't want to try flashing all the rom's.
In my case this issue appeared at first after updating... actually thus I am trying to get completely back to stock, trying to fix it that way.
Sending the phone to T-Mobile is difficult since I bought it used on Ebay, isn't it? Or is it realistic to get some help from them?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
*EDITED TO REDUCE CLUTTER*
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
First post now contains my fix. Just another edit to remove my old question.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I finally fixed the issue. After installing Eugenes Froyo port it fixed the USB from staying mounted when the phone is running. Then to fix the problem when the phone is off I booted into clockwork and wiped battery stats. After a reboot or two it was fixed. Dont know if this will work for everyone...post results if you try this. Thanks!
*Detailed guide in first post*
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Hi,
Does the Eugene froyo have the JI6 update?
Thanks
B
It uses the JI6 modem but thats about it. You could flash it but in order to restore your JI6 ROM you must also reflash the 2.1 kernel. Read up on it. Its worth it to get rid of the USB problem. Perhaps you could flash Stock through ODIN then update back to JI6 through Kies Mini instead. That way I think would get you back to where you want to be without kernel issues? It may be worth a shot cause the USB problem makes the phone so horrible. Make sure to do a backup of everything you want with Titanium and save any files you want to external SD. Make sure you wipe everything if you do install Froyo cause that is how I did the process. I hope it works for you if you try. Post any questions...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Thanks for the advice!
I will flash the Bionix-Mod, that also has another kernel I think. Yeah and I gonna take care with Voodoo
Updated w/ Solution and hopefully a working fix for others.
It happened to me, but after I flash back to tmobile stock via odin, root, rom manager and flash to bionix final via clockwork(read instalation guide) it's gone.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Yea I suppose any JI6 ROM would work instead of froyo but it wasnt that easy for me. This guide is for who cant make anything else work.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
@deez1234
so can you share with us now your vibrant running smothly, power on off without connect usb cable and charger ?
i've same problem, when i turn on phone not powering just show rounds (cercles) turn of (like blinking)
but when i connect usb cable phone show charging so now i press power button, phone turn on,
if i remove usb cable from phone, but when phone fully loaded on desktop show USB IS CONNECTED,
i've spend 3 days for searching solution of my problem but still not luck,
i've follow all your posted procedure, i've flashed successfully froyo also have install rom manager and clockwork but when i try to rebot my phone by rom manager its not work at all, just ask to me wana restart in recovery, but phone not restart, i think rom manager and clockwork not working on 2.2
please suggest me what is need to do next ?
NOTE: my vibrant is brand new just received before 5-6 days, i'm out side of usa that way not able to ask warranty or something
This guide worked perfectly for me. I tried it without partitioning in Odin first (just for a test) and it did not fix it. I then re-Odin'd the phone (following directions with a partition) and it has worked perfectly. I did not reflash a Froyo ROM, I just reflashed Bionox 1.9 and all is well.
Thanks for the fix
I'm glad I could help. And @Ja, are you making sure your rooted cause both ROM manager and clockwork works perfect on 2.2. You can try a JI6 ROM in place of froyo and see if it helps. And yes my Vibrant is as good as new.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

[Q] Vibrant stuck on load screen

First off, I want to apologize if I ramble on. I am trying to be as thorough as possible.
Also, I am relatively knowledgeable about rooting and whatnot, so hopefully I will understand whatever help you guys can give me.
Here's my problem:
I originally had Bionix-V 1.3.1 (which is a 2.2 rom), and I wanted to upgrade to a Gingerbread rom. So I downloaded "Trigger Redux" (addictivetips.com/mobile/install-android-2-3-5-based-custom-rom-on-t-mobile-samsung-vibrant/) and followed the instructions completely. The instructions told me to do a nandroid (which I did and it went perfect), then factory wipe the phone and wipe the dalvik cache (which I did), and then run the Trigger Redux zip from the sd card (which I did). Everything worked fine, but when I started messing around with the new rom, I didn't like it as much as my old rom, so I decided to reboot the phone into recovery to perform the nandroid restore. When my phone rebooted, I noticed the clockwork recovery looked different from what had before (it was orange, when the old one I had was red). Anyways, I tried to do the nandroid restore, it gave me an error about not being able to perform the nandroid for whatever reason (I honestly don't remember what it said now). So did a factory wipe again, thinking that may allow the nandroid restore to perform properly, and I still got the same error. So I restarted my phone, and now I'm stuck on the Vibrant logo screen. I can get into download mode (by plugging in usb/pressing vol up and down/inserting battery), but not sure how to get my phone into recovery mode again. I know I can probably use Odin, but I'm not real familiar with that program and I wouldn't know where to start.
What's the first thing I should do? I know my phone is fixable, I just don't know where to start Any help is very greatly appreciated. You guys are awesome!
Odin to stock is simple but risky...if it fails due to any reason u will have a completely bricked phone....there's a guide on how to do that process BC u will need to download two files...one is .pit and other is .Tar file......here's a video link..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIBeLG4frjM...and here is a link to download required files....http://androidspin.com/2010/08/09/how-to-restore-or-recover-your-samsung-vibrant/....good luck
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
deziguy420 said:
Odin to stock is simple but risky...if it fails due to any reason u will have a completely bricked phone....there's a guide on how to do that process BC u will need to download two files...one is .pit and other is .Tar file......here's a video link..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIBeLG4frjM...and here is a link to download required files....http://androidspin.com/2010/08/09/how-to-restore-or-recover-your-samsung-vibrant/....good luck
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you need odin but you won't be bricked if it fails for any reason. I have odin fail a few times and you start it back up and try again. The only way you can brick with odin is during a bootloader flash
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
bfranklin1986 said:
Yes you need odin but you won't be bricked if it fails for any reason. I have odin fail a few times and you start it back up and try again. The only way you can brick with odin is during a bootloader flash
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it fails in the very beginning then it's ok but if it fails in the middle then definitely it will be bricked... if you record yourself pulling off usb in the middle of the process then send me that link...i would love to see the result...
Samsung Android T-Mobile SGH-T959 Vibrant Firmware
fallow guy and use from this roms
http://gsm-beyond.blogspot.com/2011/07/samsung-android-t-mobile-sgh-t959.html
bfranklin1986 said:
Yes you need odin but you won't be bricked if it fails for any reason. I have odin fail a few times and you start it back up and try again. The only way you can brick with odin is during a bootloader flash
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i hard bricked going to stock with odin, it froze at the very end so i unplugged to try again and it went off and wouldnt do anything after that
its froze afew times at the beginning aswell but just goes to the phone ! pc screen when unplugged
deziguy420 said:
if it fails in the very beginning then it's ok but if it fails in the middle then definitely it will be bricked... if you record yourself pulling off usb in the middle of the process then send me that link...i would love to see the result...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you pull the cord? Never check auto reboot and if it fails just close odin and restart it. If you pull the cord and reboot with a half flashed phone then yes that would probably brick you
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
bfranklin1986 said:
Why would you pull the cord? Never check auto reboot and if it fails just close odin and restart it. If you pull the cord and reboot with a half flashed phone then yes that would probably brick you
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's exactly my point...according to other person he says odin to stock won't brick a phone...so i was just telling him to pull the plug out while it's running the procedure...and of course that will brick his phone and a prove that yes odin to stock can brick your phone... of course pulling a cable would be stupid...but what if your computer restarts all of the sudden or u lose electricity...stuff like that...can cause a dam hard brick....

[Q] Latest ICS b0rked my phone, need advice

Hi folks, earlier today I tried flashing the latest ICS firmware using Mobile Odin and after it installed I can't get the phone booted up, I get the white startup logo then the screen goes black, tried pulling the battery, no joy.
I can get into that pointless ICS recovery but no CWM anymore. I can get into download mode but nothing will detect my phone, I've tried 2 laptops and 2 desktops but it's always coming up as unknown device.
If I go into the ICS recovery the phone is detected ok but I can't flash anything from it as it comes back with some verification error.
Is there anything I can flash from the ICS recovery to get me CWM back or am I able to flash a default firmware from it?
I'm guessing the problem is my cable (it's a generic Ebay job rather than the official one) but I the replacement won't be here for a few days and I'm in dire need of using the phone, which'll teach me in future to be more careful I guess
TIA.
I presume you have Kies installed on your PC ? If you do, uninstall it. Then re-download it. Then reboot. Then reinstall it. Then reboot again. Then see if your phone & PC can talk to each other & Odin recognise the phone.
If you don't have Kies installed, install it.
Also, when you're using Odin, make doubly sure Kies or any of it's processes aren't running (check Task Manager & kill them if they are running). Tho you need the drivers that come with Kies, you don't want it running when you're using Odin.
If those things don't work, wait for your cable given you've tried a couple of different PCs.
or u can just uninstall kies and install http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=961956 instead... its driver pack without kies
works for me atleast
Try to put siyah kernel to your sd card and flash that, I think it is signed so you should be able to flash that in 3e
Sent from my sgs2 running cm9 using xda app
It's def. not a driver problem as I've tried it on machines that have never had Kies on them nor any samsung drivers, I've tried the samsung driver pack but that still won't detect anything other than "unknown device" in download mode.
@Makrilli does Siyah have CWM? If so I'll give that a whirl! Thanks
Of course
Sent from my sgs2 running cm9 using xda app
Makrilli said:
Of course
Sent from my sgs2 running cm9 using xda app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried a handful of Siyah kernels, none of them signed though, dawned on me then to just find a signed CWM recovery and flash that, all working fine now.
Thanks everyone for you help.

Unable to boot normally.

Greetings.
I've been trying some ICS ROMs on my US 5.0 Player but I decided to just go back to GB.
I flashed what I had before, Eryigit 3.5, nothing out of the ordinary, while it was charging. Everything went well.
At one point I turned it off, while still charging.
And when I tried to turn it on again I couldn't. Instead of the Samsung logo that would normally appear, only the "waiting" android sign showed up (8 lines forming a circle), sometimes the charging battery animation, even if it is unplugged, but nothing else.
I've tried to flash stock GB ROMs on Odin, flash Entropy's kernel on Odin as well, and it boots normally when the process is finished.
I had soft bricks which I solved, but when I try to flash the stock ROM with PIT files on Odin, it wouldn't go past "Setup Connection".
Right now I can go to Download Mode but not much else.
Any help would be appreciated.
From my GNote. That's all.
I'm sure you did this, but did you flash the correct version kernel for either the us or international variants? This is the only thing that ever caused me a soft brick. Was stuck in boot loop, but was able to get into recovery.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Yeah, I used the right ROM and kernel, for the US version of the Galaxy Player 5.0.
From my GNote. That's all.
SirRhor said:
Yeah, I used the right ROM and kernel, for the US version of the Galaxy Player 5.0.
From my GNote. That's all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash back with odin tou your stock samsung rom and then try it again!
Next thing to try, any chance you
Can verify that the drivers are okay on the computer? When I was running erigit, my computer did not recognize my device in mass storage mode (debugging off), I had to uninstall Kies and reinstall, drivers got updated... Weird.
Could the bad Odin flash be driver related?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
annoyingduck said:
Next thing to try, any chance you
Can verify that the drivers are okay on the computer? When I was running erigit, my computer did not recognize my device in mass storage mode (debugging off), I had to uninstall Kies and reinstall, drivers got updated... Weird.
Could the bad Odin flash be driver related?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just driver related try to reinstall the drivers!
I've reinstalled Samsung drivers like 10 times. Each time I had a soft brick I had to install Heimdall drivers and then reinstall the Samsung ones to use Odin, so no, I don't think it's driver related.
From my GNote. That's all.
No recovery mode at all, just download? Have you tried a different usb cable? Had that issue with droids. After that, I'm at a loss until I do some digging.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
annoyingduck said:
No recovery mode at all, just download? Have you tried a different usb cable? Had that issue with droids. After that, I'm at a loss until I do some digging.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can get to recovery only after I flash a ROM with Odin and then I restart it with a special toggle to go to recovery. But if I turn the device off, no recovery for me, only Download Mode, so I guess something is needed up with the bootloader.
I will try a different cable tonight when I'm home. Thank you for the suggestion.
From my GNote. That's all.
Ok, seeing as recovery is pirated in, what about re rooting using super one click to unlock that bootloader (again?). Can't see how it would have re locked, but could explain the rom not being able to run or recovery not accessible. Would make sense that this could be bootloader related.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Well, I've tried everything I know.
Reflashed with Odin, and everything works perfectly up to the point I turn the device off. After that, no reboot for me.
Maybe a damaged partition, a damaged bootloader, who knows.
Tomorrow is waiting for me a trip to Best Buy; fortunately I got the extended warranty and I unrooted the device before turn it off.
Thank you for the responses I got, I really appreciate it.
Wish I could help more, but truly stumped.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

[Q] Odin won't detect i777

Hello! So I've had some vibration problems and discovered that its the headphone jack slot being slightly misplaced or something that causes this. My phone is still technically under warranty as long as i can revert it all back to stock. So i've been following this thread and trying to get all to work: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1313659
But I ran into a problem. My stupid computer won't detect my i777 through odin! I've installed the i777 drivers and everything! I currently have the latest version of the shoshock rom installed (ICS), but when I enter download mode, it won't detect the phone normally. All i get from my PC's hardware manager is "gadget serial"
When i start odin, its supposed to show some #'s right? Its just blank in the boxes. When i tried flashing a .tar through PDA, i got a 0 success/0 fail status.
I'm stuck. Where do i go from here? Mobile Odin won't work because i can't find the add on for the i777.
What I have done is open up kies and put my phone in download mode then went to firmware recovery and applied it. It has worked twice for me and my comp doesn't recognize my phone
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
bh87771 said:
What I have done is open up kies and put my phone in download mode then went to firmware recovery and applied it. It has worked twice for me and my comp doesn't recognize my phone
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that'd work because i need to clear the bootloader flash count. To do that i need to flash a .tar file and i think you can only do that in odin?
YouTube how to make a usbjig or use chain fires triangle away I think it might reset the counter. I have not tried it yet. The ones that are for sell don't work on our phones but have read that making your own jig would reset the flash counter. Just suggestions
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
Try using Mobile Odin, I believe it flashes tar files.
Sent from my i777 using xda app-developers app
aspen1135 said:
I don't think that'd work because i need to clear the bootloader flash count. To do that i need to flash a .tar file and i think you can only do that in odin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the flash count has nothing to do with odin seeing your phone. try a different usb port. if that doesnt work download samsung drivers from samsung not kies
But kies you can do a firmware recovery which will take back to stock. But it doesn't reset the counter.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium

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