Samsung Galaxy Note II stuck at bootscreen [OS flashing?] - Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II

Well. It's my worst fear. Launched the DPI changer app, attempted to change my DPI (to a valid amount) and nothing happened, no big deal. My wireless connections stopped working and my shop stopped working. I downloaded a different DPI changer, everything was working except Google Play. I attempted everything then decided to tell it to "change" my DPI to default. Went to reboot then bam.
I get the following:
The standard splash with the Verizon 4GLite then it goes on to loop at the Samsung splash for a bit then loops from the beginning (4GLite).
I've tried getting into "recovery" mode but it won't go, I do not know why. (Vol up + home + power). Need help please, thanks.
(Noob alert, if you mention anything that I might need, if you could please supply a DL link to minimize any more mess ups I might make)
EDIT: I got into recovery mode I forgot you were able to remove the battery (I was panicking, I apologize) I am also rooted with 4.2
EDIT2: I've attempted a factory reset, nothing new happened.
EDIT3: I need to reflash an OS. I'm really freaking out. It says I don't have a bootloader (OS).
Bottom line: This problem kinda... multiplied itself most likely based on my own stupidity. I'm keeping it at the "Team Win Recovery Project v2.5.0.0" recovery menu because I don't even want to boot into anything. Awaiting instructions.

Solkrieg said:
Well. It's my worst fear. Launched the DPI changer app, attempted to change my DPI (to a valid amount) and nothing happened, no big deal. My wireless connections stopped working and my shop stopped working. I downloaded a different DPI changer, everything was working except Google Play. I attempted everything then decided to tell it to "change" my DPI to default. Went to reboot then bam.
I get the following:
The standard splash with the Verizon 4GLite then it goes on to loop at the Samsung splash for a bit then loops from the beginning (4GLite).
I've tried getting into "recovery" mode but it won't go, I do not know why. (Vol up + home + power). Need help please, thanks.
(Noob alert, if you mention anything that I might need, if you could please supply a DL link to minimize any more mess ups I might make)
EDIT: I got into recovery mode I forgot you were able to remove the battery (I was panicking, I apologize) I am also rooted with 4.2
EDIT2: I've attempted a factory reset, nothing new happened.
EDIT3: I need to reflash an OS. I'm really freaking out. It says I don't have a bootloader (OS).
Bottom line: This problem kinda... multiplied itself most likely based on my own stupidity. I'm keeping it at the "Team Win Recovery Project v2.5.0.0" recovery menu because I don't even want to boot into anything. Awaiting instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw you posted this in the att forums but I think I can help. Just download any ROM and flash it. Twrp has a failsafe now that will basically prevent you from bricking your phone if no os is detected. Do you have an external memory card? If you do transfer a ROM to your card, put it in your device, and flash it. Your not bricked.....your just soft bricked. Or you can always go back to stock. I'm sure your device thread has instructions on how to Odin back to stock. Hope this helps
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium

roughneckboren said:
I saw you posted this in the att forums but I think I can help. Just download any ROM and flash it. Twrp has a failsafe now that will basically prevent you from bricking your phone if no os is detected. Do you have an external memory card? If you do transfer a ROM to your card, put it in your device, and flash it. Your not bricked.....your just soft bricked. Or you can always go back to stock. I'm sure your device thread has instructions on how to Odin back to stock. Hope this helps
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if I wanted to flash stock, I just need to put the stock rom on my ESD put it into my phone and flash it from the recovery menu? Is there more to it than that? Or do I need to do that all externally with "Odin"? Where would I obtain the stock rom? And thank you for your response.

Solkrieg said:
So if I wanted to flash stock, I just need to put the stock rom on my ESD put it into my phone and flash it from the recovery menu? Is there more to it than that? Or do I need to do that all externally with "Odin"? Where would I obtain the stock rom? And thank you for your response.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm talking a touchwiz ROM one of your developers has made. You can find it in your forums. It sounds like you don't have much experience with this stuff. Did you make a nandroid backup at all?
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium

roughneckboren said:
I'm talking a touchwiz ROM one of your developers has made. You can find it in your forums. It sounds like you don't have much experience with this stuff. Did you make a nandroid backup at all?
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, no. I didn't. You are correct, I am very new to this sort of thing, I've rooted other devices before (simple one click only, I'm good with computers, but not smart phones) but nothing has blown up this bad before. I've placed this rom (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261478) on my ESD however, when I put my ESD back in, it reads it as blank. I'm assuming I need to relaunch recover mode to refresh its directories. However I'm very scared to do that because I have no OS anymore.

Solkrieg said:
Sadly, no. I didn't. You are correct, I am very new to this sort of thing, I've rooted other devices before (simple one click only, I'm good with computers, but not smart phones) but nothing has blown up this bad before. I've placed this rom (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261478) on my ESD however, when I put my ESD back in, it reads it as blank. I'm assuming I need to relaunch recover mode to refresh its directories. However I'm very scared to do that because I have no OS anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just navigate in your recovery back to your internal SD then back to your external. If that does not work then go to the reboot menu in TWRP and and hit recovery. It will restart your recovery only and should refresh what is sees on your external card. If that does not work go to mount and make sure external SD is ticked in the settings, if not then tick it, Reboot recovery again. If still that doesnt work then go to Advanced, file manager, and navigate to your external SD (if you can) and find the file you downloaded, pick the zip file and move it to your internal SD. Then flash it. Regardless of any of these steps if you can find the .zip file flash it. Then reboot. Hope that helps you. You should be able to reboot to recovery any time you need to regardless of no OS. Please keep your phone charging during this whole process. If this works then make a nandroid backup in Twrp.
---------- Post added at 03:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:40 AM ----------
roughneckboren said:
Just navigate in your recovery back to your internal SD then back to your external. If that does not work then go to the reboot menu in TWRP and and hit recovery. It will restart your recovery only and should refresh what is sees on your external card. If that does not work go to mount and make sure external SD is ticked in the settings, if not then tick it, Reboot recovery again. If still that doesnt work then go to Advanced, file manager, and navigate to your external SD (if you can) and find the file you downloaded, pick the zip file and move it to your internal SD. Then flash it. Regardless of any of these steps if you can find the .zip file flash it. Then reboot. Hope that helps you. You should be able to reboot to recovery any time you need to regardless of no OS. Please keep your phone charging during this whole process. If this works then make a nandroid backup in Twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit- If none of this works then you'll probably have to adb sideload your phone to transfer the rom to your internal SD card. Otherwise you can ODIN back to 100% stock which involves a huge download and you'll have to reroot your phone. If you don't know how to ODIN to stock then get on youtube and there are plenty of videos to help you along. The basis for the note 2 (att, verizon, sprint,....) should all be the same just a different file to download.

roughneckboren said:
Just navigate in your recovery back to your internal SD then back to your external. If that does not work then go to the reboot menu in TWRP and and hit recovery. It will restart your recovery only and should refresh what is sees on your external card. If that does not work go to mount and make sure external SD is ticked in the settings, if not then tick it, Reboot recovery again. If still that doesnt work then go to Advanced, file manager, and navigate to your external SD (if you can) and find the file you downloaded, pick the zip file and move it to your internal SD. Then flash it. Regardless of any of these steps if you can find the .zip file flash it. Then reboot. Hope that helps you. You should be able to reboot to recovery any time you need to regardless of no OS. Please keep your phone charging during this whole process. If this works then make a nandroid backup in Twrp.
---------- Post added at 03:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:40 AM ----------
Edit- If none of this works then you'll probably have to adb sideload your phone to transfer the rom to your internal SD card. Otherwise you can ODIN back to 100% stock which involves a huge download and you'll have to reroot your phone. If you don't know how to ODIN to stock then get on youtube and there are plenty of videos to help you along. The basis for the note 2 (att, verizon, sprint,....) should all be the same just a different file to download.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rebooted into recovery. I only hesitated because it warned me I didn't have an OS. That worked, I saw the ROM and am now flashing it. I will edit and let you know if all works.
EDIT: It worked, thank you so much for your time and effort! I'm sure it's a pain dealing with noobies, I hope this helps people in the future since it's very friendly to beginners. I hope to not come back to this thread and say something isn't working properly.

Solkrieg said:
I rebooted into recovery. I only hesitated because it warned me I didn't have an OS. That worked, I saw the ROM and am now flashing it. I will edit and let you know if all works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please do.
ROOTBOXED!

roughneckboren said:
Please do.
ROOTBOXED!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It worked, thank you so much for your time and effort! I'm sure it's a pain dealing with noobies, I hope this helps people in the future since it's very friendly to beginners. I hope to not come back to this thread and say something isn't working properly.

Solkrieg said:
It worked, thank you so much for your time and effort! I'm sure it's a pain dealing with noobies, I hope this helps people in the future since it's very friendly to beginners. I hope to not come back to this thread and say something isn't working properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem man. Not everyone here is a butthole. Its not a pain because I was there once too. Just make sure you run a backup in twrp. You can name it too! Just practice and read around. Watch YouTube videos (I learn by visual)
And I keep my backups on PC in case a memory card goes bad. If you wipe system in recovery make sure you flash a ROM because system is obviously your OS and twrp prevents it from booting and bricking your device. Good choice on the recovery. :thumbup:
If it will at least boot to something there's always hope. be sure to hit the thanks button. It always helps. Glad to have gotten you up and running. If you need more help just pm me.
ROOTBOXED!

Related

[Q] Rooted I717, constant reboots, no recovery, flashing stock ROM not working

I changed from an iPhone 4 in May to the Samsung Note. On my iPhone I would immediately jailbreak and install MyWi. In my research to do the same on the note I ran across a rooting tutorial for my device and followed the instructions http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy-note-att-i717-root-without-increasing-flash-counter-61325/ (I am not positive, but I feel confident this is the one I followed). I installed Superuser and Titanium Backup, did a backup of ATT connection manager, then removed it. Tethering worked like a charm. This has worked and I had no issues until Friday June 14th.
On Friday, everytime I opened an app on my phone I would get a Force Close. I restarted the phone and watched as it repeatedly happened after every cycle. Believing that installing Droid VNC Server was the issue, the last app I had installed, I removed it successfully and included others I didn’t use. Upon reboot, I noticed the notification of App Updates and a missed call. Checked the application list and noticed that all of the apps I had just removed were still there. I have a ton of pics and videos and thought that I should back them up immediately before I deleted them, prepared for the worst. I was able to do that. I deleted them all, nothing in the gallery. When the phone crapped out again and rebooted, all apps and all pictures back.
I formatted the USB Storage, seemed to delete nothing and also showed the same amount of used space as before.
Time for a restore. I know now that the recovery partition is gone and so a Wipe/reset is fruitless. No problem. I know how to flash the rom. I used this method with Odin. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1506330
Everything seemed to work successfully, but upon reboot I get the same app updates notification and the same missed call notification. The same frozen state my phone was in when the issue started on Friday. WTH!
I have everything backed up. How do I get back to stock? I could care less about the counter. I just want my phone to be usable again.
ryantaylor16 said:
I changed from an iPhone 4 in May to the Samsung Note. On my iPhone I would immediately jailbreak and install MyWi. In my research to do the same on the note I ran across a rooting tutorial for my device and followed the instructions http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy-note-att-i717-root-without-increasing-flash-counter-61325/ (I am not positive, but I feel confident this is the one I followed). I installed Superuser and Titanium Backup, did a backup of ATT connection manager, then removed it. Tethering worked like a charm. This has worked and I had no issues until Friday June 14th.
On Friday, everytime I opened an app on my phone I would get a Force Close. I restarted the phone and watched as it repeatedly happened after every cycle. Believing that installing Droid VNC Server was the issue, the last app I had installed, I removed it successfully and included others I didn’t use. Upon reboot, I noticed the notification of App Updates and a missed call. Checked the application list and noticed that all of the apps I had just removed were still there. I have a ton of pics and videos and thought that I should back them up immediately before I deleted them, prepared for the worst. I was able to do that. I deleted them all, nothing in the gallery. When the phone crapped out again and rebooted, all apps and all pictures back.
I formatted the USB Storage, seemed to delete nothing and also showed the same amount of used space as before.
Time for a restore. I know now that the recovery partition is gone and so a Wipe/reset is fruitless. No problem. I know how to flash the rom. I used this method with Odin. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1506330
Everything seemed to work successfully, but upon reboot I get the same app updates notification and the same missed call notification. The same frozen state my phone was in when the issue started on Friday. WTH!
I have everything backed up. How do I get back to stock? I could care less about the counter. I just want my phone to be usable again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you try wiping Catche and Dav?
Wipe Catch > Wife Davlik > Fix Permision, then reboot ..
see what happens ..
Not a noob, but here is where i am lost
I booted in to recovery, chose to Wipe/Erase . I see no option to Wipe Davlik except for in SuperUser and there it is a paid option, not sure where to find Fix Permission and then reboot?
I am assuming these are all options for CWM. I attempted to put CWM on an SD card last night and install from ZIP, but Recovery does not seem to see the SD card.
Are these options that are available for CWM, if so I will push through until I get it to work, but I have had no luck to this point.
UltimateEnd said:
did you try wiping Catche and Dav?
Wipe Catch > Wife Davlik > Fix Permision, then reboot ..
see what happens ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ryantaylor16 said:
I booted in to recovery, chose to Wipe/Erase . I see no option to Wipe Davlik except for in SuperUser and there it is a paid option, not sure where to find Fix Permission and then reboot?
I am assuming these are all options for CWM. I attempted to put CWM on an SD card last night and install from ZIP, but Recovery does not seem to see the SD card.
Are these options that are available for CWM, if so I will push through until I get it to work, but I have had no luck to this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no need to go back to stock .
try reflashing whichever ROM you desire...
its always wise to follow every little STEP given by the DEV .
to wipe dav you go to advance and it should be there..
Sorry, still need assist
UltimateEnd said:
no need to go back to stock .
try reflashing whichever ROM you desire...
its always wise to follow every little STEP given by the DEV .
to wipe dav you go to advance and it should be there..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have attempted to Flash ROMs I don't desire just to move forward. They all flash and pass in Odin but on reboot I still have my default screen. Unfortunately, I want to go back to stock. I have done plenty of research and need something more to push on to the next thing. I am looking at phone and there is not an Advanced option in recovery. I have read there are options in CWM but I am looking at what I believe is the stock recovery options.
ryantaylor16 said:
I have attempted to Flash ROMs I don't desire just to move forward. They all flash and pass in Odin but on reboot I still have my default screen. Unfortunately, I want to go back to stock. I have done plenty of research and need something more to push on to the next thing. I am looking at phone and there is not an Advanced option in recovery. I have read there are options in CWM but I am looking at what I believe is the stock recovery options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after you are rooted ,
you should have nothing to do with Odin.
and also, if you were stuck on your phone trying to boot up, chances are you keep downloading a bad ROM..
happen to me before..a ROM that was suposed to be 192MB,
would finish on 158MB
someone else may be able to help you get back to stock ROM..i havent had the chance to ever wanna go back to stock so i wouldnt know for sure.
sorry and good luck .
Still Worried. Still Stuck
ryantaylor16 said:
Time for a restore. I know now that the recovery partition is gone and so a Wipe/reset is fruitless. No problem. I know how to flash the rom. I used this method with Odin to undo root. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1506330
Everything seemed to work successfully, but upon reboot I get the same app updates notification and the same missed call notification. The same frozen state my phone was in when the issue started on Friday. WTH!
I have everything backed up. How do I get back to stock? I could care less about the counter. I just want my phone to be usable again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I am still stuck and so I will wait for someone else to reply. Thanks for your help though
ryantaylor16 said:
OK, I am still stuck and so I will wait for someone else to reply. Thanks for your help though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U need to do what he said he is every well known on xda...install cwm to ur internel memory not sd card and ur phone has to see it!
Btw if u want to get back to bare bone stock look for att b4 tar file if u cant find it let me know ill link it
cm9
Use this?
JB calhoun said:
U need to do what he said he is every well known on xda...install cwm to ur internel memory not sd card and ur phone has to see it!
Btw if u want to get back to bare bone stock look for att b4 tar file if u cant find it let me know ill link it
cm9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you say this is a good tutorial to follow?
http://rootgalaxynote.com/galaxy-no...-on-att-galaxy-note-sgh-i717-belltelusrogers/
So, maybe I am a newb. I have followed the instructions to install CWM on my device and it even says it was successful. I am doing it from ODIN. See the file I downloaded here. Says it was successful but holding the volume up and then power button. NO CWM.
I am truly frustrated but I want my phone back. Can someone link me to the stupid people posts so I can get my phone working again?
bump
CWM Problems
Hi,
Have you looked at these posts? Sounds like you may be using the
wrong key combo to start CWM?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1586223
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1483113
Are you confident that your uSD card hasn't been corrupted?
Peter
ryantaylor16 said:
So, maybe I am a newb. I have followed the instructions to install CWM on my device and it even says it was successful. I am doing it from ODIN. See the file I downloaded here. Says it was successful but holding the volume up and then power button. NO CWM.
I am truly frustrated but I want my phone back. Can someone link me to the stupid people posts so I can get my phone working again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ryantaylor16 said:
bump
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You now have a custom recovery(according to Odin). The problem is, you're doing the wrong key combo as stated above. You can also go to the market and grab FJ's power tool. You can boot into recovery directly from the app. Good luck.
Certainly I am not this dumb..... am I
froidroid said:
You now have a custom recovery(according to Odin). The problem is, you're doing the wrong key combo as stated above. You can also go to the market and grab FJ's power tool. You can boot into recovery directly from the app. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still having issues. Here is the deal.
I have the phone in Download mode
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dnk6ekjqp9vddev/2012-06-19 19.40.01.jpg
I load the CWM Recovery in the PDA box. Start the flash, get a pass. All looks good to me.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5q4hayf35mm26wr/odin-success.PNG
I immediately attempt to access CWM Recovery by holding the power, vol+ and vol- and still get the default recovery
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d176blydonlvrlu/2012-06-19 20.13.42.jpg
I am so confused as to what I am doing wrong.
Unfortunately those pics aren't loading for me. Try again with the pic of recovery and the file you're flashing. Thanks. If you still have stock recovery then maybe that's what you're flashing in error.
Try volume up + down and power button. When phone vibrates, release power button but keep holding volume buttons until you are in cwm.
I would use Odin to flash cwm touch recovery from pda, then load a rom via cwm. Using that method you don't even need to root because it's all done at bootloader level and root is built in to the custom rom you flash
SGH-i717 mesosphere-remix

[Q] [HELP] TWRP does not read SD

After many lost hours of sleep, I finally give up and come to the community for help. I've seen the problems I'm having posted a lot, but I've not yet found a solution.
To start, all was well with my KitKat 4.4 ROM, except that my SIM would not read. So in my troubleshooting process, I did a full system wipe of everything through TWRP v2.6.3.0 (including internal memory), knowing that my ROM and other necessary files were saved on my SD card. The problem now is that TWRP will not show that I actually have an SD, so I'm stuck with no OS now. I've tried everything I've seen, such as formatting and properly "ejecting" the SD from my computer after doing so. I've tried three different SD cards, two 16gig and one 2 gig. Still won't read.
The only other thing I can think to do is use ADB to push or sideload - my device does not show at all when I try. Same result with fastboot. I'm suspecting that the issue with this is the driver. So far, after searching for hours and hours, the only driver I've found to use with the E970 is the usb_driver downloaded through SDK Manager. When I use this driver, it shows my phone as Google Galaxy Nexus ADB Interface in the Device Manager. But still no luck with ADB or Fastboot.
So I apologize if either of these has been solved one or more times before, but I'm desperate for help. Thanks!
AFAIK , there is a special modded TWRP version for KK Geeb that is patched to read SD Cards.
You'll have to search it or wait till someone who has it posts it here. But I have read about that somewhere , it's just that I am not able to recall. If I find it , I'll post asap.
Rishi. said:
AFAIK , there is a special modded TWRP version for KK Geeb that is patched to read SD Cards.
You'll have to search it or wait till someone who has it posts it here. But I have read about that somewhere , it's just that I am not able to recall. If I find it , I'll post asap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As of right now, my phone has no ROM installed. I'd be willing to bet that it wouldn't read from an SD even before I tried my first ROM, but I don't really know since I never tried. Stupid on my part for not doing so before the wipe. I'll look into the modded TWRP, and hopefully it'll get me somewhere. Thanks for the help!
I assume it shouldn't be hard to push the modded recovery to the phone via ADB. Then you would be able to get the SDcard recognized and flash the rom of your choice.
Or second choice stands as LGNPST , then flash alt./orig. teenybins , which'll give you TWRP 2.5.0.0 or something similar to it. You can flash the new modded TWRP using that as well.
Rishi. said:
I assume it shouldn't be hard to push the modded recovery to the phone via ADB. Then you would be able to get the SDcard recognized and flash the rom of your choice.
Or second choice stands as LGNPST , then flash alt./orig. teenybins , which'll give you TWRP 2.5.0.0 or something similar to it. You can flash the new modded TWRP using that as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with this is that I can't get ADB to find my device. If that were the case, I'd just push the ROM straight to my internal memory since that's the only one it sees. I've tried and double checked many times to make sure I was doing the ADB process properly. As far as I can tell, I am. Which leads me to think its not the proper driver for my phone. But I can't find any others.
I thought about LGNPST, but I can't get the phone into download mode without an OS. And that's the only way I know to use LGNPST.
You can get the phone to download mode , even without a ROM. The Download mode is initiated , right at phone start up. I think you may be doing it in a wrong way or so , that's why it's not booting up in dload mode. Check the TeenyBins thread , and see if you are doing it right way.
If your phone is booting then LGNPST will work most probably.
Rishi. said:
You can get the phone to download mode , even without a ROM. The Download mode is initiated , right at phone start up. I think you may be doing it in a wrong way or so , that's why it's not booting up in dload mode. Check the TeenyBins thread , and see if you are doing it right way.
If your phone is booting then LGNPST will work most probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're absolutely right! I had entered download mode more than a few times before, so I knew how to do it. But I guess in my sleep-deprived and frustrated state, I must have been forgetting something. Just got it into download mode on the first try. I feel like starting fresh with a stock ROM is best, so it's working on that right now.
Thanks coming your way!
SmithZ33 said:
You're absolutely right! I had entered download mode more than a few times before, so I knew how to do it. But I guess in my sleep-deprived and frustrated state, I must have been forgetting something. Just got it into download mode on the first try. I feel like starting fresh with a stock ROM is best, so it's working on that right now.
Thanks coming your way!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take enough sleep , before flashing next time. Last time I remember when I was sleep deprived and did some flashing , I ended up with a partial brick. :lol:
Start fresh with teeny bins. Then FLash the stock rom using recovery. ( Don't LGNPST the stock .tot file.( Use LGNPST just to throw in the correct TWRP recovery and update partitions with TeenyBins ). I would recommend flashing the stock JB .zip file using TWRP recovery . (Created by SnowLeopardJB ). ) Check his thread.
Post if you face any issues. ::highfive:
Rishi. said:
Take enough sleep , before flashing next time. Last time I remember when I was sleep deprived and did some flashing , I ended up with a partial brick. :lol:
Start fresh with teeny bins. Then FLash the stock rom using recovery. ( Don't LGNPST the stock .tot file.( Use LGNPST just to throw in the correct TWRP recovery and update partitions with TeenyBins ). I would recommend flashing the stock JB .zip file using TWRP recovery . (Created by SnowLeopardJB ). ) Check his thread.
Post if you face any issues. ::highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I opted to use LGNPST to flash TeenyBins and a TWRP that read my SD. Flashed the KitKat ROM just to try it, and it boots perfectly but I'm back to no SIM. So I'll be moving on to this new issue... haha
So you didnt slept...huh .. lol.
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk
Rishi. said:
So you didnt slept...huh .. lol.
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, no I didn't. Between work and travel, I'm still trying to figure out this sim issue. It won't detect my sim on this ROM, or others it seems. I tried on a LiquidSmooth 4.3.1 ROM just now and it had the same issue. It's almost as if it has the detection set backwards. When I insert the sim, it thinks I've removed it and says ”sim removed." Then when removed, it says ”sim inserted” or something along those lines, and wants to restart. I'm at a loss, and I'm wondering why it could be doing this.

[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

(UK) Rooted S3, Soft Bricked after using Fontster, what now? No recovery.

Hello everyone, firstly I want to apologise for having my first post here be a forgettable and generic cry for help but I'm at my wits end and I hope that the community is nice enough; I would be very grateful. I rooted my phone as the idea really excited me as the phone had been really behaving erratically, since rooting it the phone performed brilliantly, I was thinking of installing CyanogenMod but it was lost on me, the entire process and caveats frightened me away... And I put my hands in the air admitting I probably didn't respect the process enough, thinking if the worse happened - c'est la vie! Well now it has and I'm feeling sick.
I rooted a few months ago, the Android version was 4.3. Basically I know what I've done and to quote Chromium himself in his thread for the app - I love the app, I'd done nothing at all exotic since rooting the phone - no custom ROM, no custom OS, just did it for the improved performance it affords, and I've been using Fontster all this time. Only recently, thinking I'm really clever I put a ttf font file on the phone via USB, a font that was unavailable in the app itself and thought nothing of it, promptly forgetting I ever did it to be honest.
Chromium said:
https://github.com/Chromium1/Fonts/raw/master/RestoreStockFonts.zip
This feature was available in one of the previous beta versions, but I decided to remove it from the app. One of the key points of this app is that it replaces all styles of fonts included in the rom and that I personally collected (or in some cases made) full sets of the fonts. In addition I edited the classifications of all the fonts so that they dont result in a bootloop when installed. If the user was able to pick their own files the classifications of the fonts will very likely be incorrect and they will soft brick their phone. Considering I already have a bunch of ignorant, uneducated reviews on the play store from people who failed to read the description, I cant imagine how much worse it would get if I left this option in the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not know this prior to I've done; last night I had grown tired of the font I had been using and started installing other fonts and had actually rebooted the phone a few times, and then I did it, didn't I? I must have chosen the font that I had put on the phone manually, the phone reboots and it hanged.
Since then, I've tried Odin and Kies. I needed to flash the stock recovery again and I have access to both Download and Recovery mode, Odin is detecting it all good and most of the internet is in agreement that as I have access to Download mode I am able to save the phone.
I have downloaded the stock ROM from multiple services, I currently have one downloading from http://samsung-updates.com/device/?id=GT-I9300 however but there is no mtd tar file no matter how many times I unzip the folder, using Windows' own file manager and 7zip, and there is no discussion about this anywhere on the Internet, though I am on Windows 8.1!?
Please help, I'm thinking I just need that mtd/tar file to be put in the PDA box?!
Additionally when in recovery mode there is red text -
E: failed to mount /system (Invalid argument)
can't mount '/system' (Invalid argument)
E: failed to mount /system (Invalid argument)
Am I boned?
Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated; this has really opened my eyes to the pitfalls of dealing in something I have no idea about, I'm through and through a Windows techie.
When you extract the downloaded files what do you see in the folder?
Darke5tShad0w said:
When you extract the downloaded files what do you see in the folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you DarkestShadow for your reply; it's still downloading (but going from memory; but I'll edit when it's finished) there was a boot image, a META-INF folder, a Modem file, a system file and others - I know this isn't thorough enough. From what I've seen on YouTube and from guides online once the zip is extracted it all becomes a single mtr5 / tar file. And that just isn't happening, it's perplexing as much as it is infuriating.
JJKirby said:
Thank you DarkestShadow for your reply; it's still downloading (but going from memory; but I'll edit when it's finished) there was a boot image, a META-INF folder, a Modem file, a system file and others - I know this isn't thorough enough. From what I've seen on YouTube and from guides online once the zip is extracted it all becomes a single mtr5 / tar file. And that just isn't happening, it's perplexing as much as it is infuriating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just did some quick research and if you don't get the tar file the stock rom zip can be flashed with recovery
Darke5tShad0w said:
Just did some quick research and if you don't get the tar file the stock rom zip can be flashed with recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. So if I am reading you correctly, if I can get the stock rom as a zip folder on the phone and flash via the stock recovery it should be good to go?
How would I go about getting the zip on the device? I have an SD card, although it has a lot of personal files which I don't want to lose. Could I use a tablet and computer connection to backup and get the stock rom zip on the SD card, put the SD card in my phone and then....??
JJKirby said:
Thank you very much. So if I am reading you correctly, if I can get the stock rom as a zip folder on the phone and flash via the stock recovery it should be good to go?
How would I go about getting the zip on the device? I have an SD card, although it has a lot of personal files which I don't want to lose. Could I use a tablet and computer connection to backup and get the stock rom zip on the SD card, put the SD card in my phone and then....??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does not matter what method you choose as long as you get your personnel files off and get the zip in.
I did not realize you had stock recovery, so there is a chance it may not work. If not we will have to get you the proper odin type file.
Where are you from? what region/carrier stock are you trying flash on it?
JJKirby said:
Thank you very much. So if I am reading you correctly, if I can get the stock rom as a zip folder on the phone and flash via the stock recovery it should be good to go?
How would I go about getting the zip on the device? I have an SD card, although it has a lot of personal files which I don't want to lose. Could I use a tablet and computer connection to backup and get the stock rom zip on the SD card, put the SD card in my phone and then....??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just take out your sd card and copy all your stuff to pc.then put the zip file on your sd card and flash it, but you do need custom recovry.
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Free mobile app
Arrowblue said:
Just take out your sd card and copy all your stuff to pc.then put the zip file on your sd card and flash it, but you do need custom recovry.
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is my understanding (And I could be wrong) you can flash stock zips with stock recovery? but of course you need custom recovery for anything else.
Darke5tShad0w said:
Does not matter what method you choose as long as you get your personnel files off and get the zip in.
I did not realize you had stock recovery, so there is a chance it may not work. If not we will have to get you the proper odin type file.
Where are you from? what region/carrier stock are you trying flash on it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in the UK. I am downloading I9300XXUGMK6_I9300OXAGMK6_BTU.zip , but even so, it's the whole issue with the fact I can't see the tar / md5 file.
The phone is the Samsung GT-i9300 Galaxy SIII, it's carrier unlocked.
Although I am perfectly happy and confident in flashing a different recovery, I just want to make the phone usable again. I managed to flash the stock recovery no problem. I don't care about flash count and the warranty, I'm upgrading my contract soon anyway, I just need the phone obviously!
JJKirby said:
Although I am perfectly happy and confident in flashing a different recovery, I just want to make the phone usable again. I managed to flash the stock recovery no problem. I don't care about flash count and the warranty, I'm upgrading my contract soon anyway, I just need the phone obviously!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I suggest this one
https://goo.im/devs/philz_touch/CWM_Advanced_Edition/i9300/philz_touch_6.48.4-i9300.zip.md5
Thank you DarkestShadow you have really surprised me, thank you so much for your assistance. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Okay so with this file, this will go in the PDA box of Odin yes? And then flash it to the phone, with that done I can then put the stock rom zip on the card, put the card in the phone, boot up to CWM and then presumably follow the on screen prompts?
In the mean time though, I will wait for the download of the zip to finish to see if there is a tar file, if not I will flash CWM and be straight back on here for further assistance which I hope you'll be happy to provide? Do I need to name the zip file of the stock rom anything?
Thanks again.
JJKirby said:
Thank you DarkestShadow you have really surprised me, thank you so much for your assistance. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Okay so with this file, this will go in the PDA box of Odin yes? And then flash it to the phone, with that done I can then put the stock rom zip on the card, put the card in the phone, boot up to CWM and then presumably follow the on screen prompts?
In the mean time though, I will wait for the download of the zip to finish to see if there is a tar file, if not I will flash CWM and be straight back on here for further assistance which I hope you'll be happy to provide? Do I need to name the zip file of the stock rom anything?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course I will continue to help.
Yes in pda, then if it does not auto restart into recovery shut phone off and hold Home, Volume up and Power buttons together. When you see the samsung logo, let go and you'll see it go into custom recovery.
Then choose install zip, storage/sdcard1 and the file should be there, does not need to be named anything special or changed at all just aslong as you recognize it then confirm.
Darke5tShad0w said:
Of course I will continue to help.
Yes in pda, then if it does not auto restart into recovery shut phone off and hold Home, Volume up and Power buttons together. When you see the samsung logo, let go and you'll see it go into custom recovery.
Then choose install zip, storage/sdcard1 and the file should be there, does not need to be named anything special or changed at all just aslong as you recognize it then confirm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Darkest, probably another silly question; I can just chuck the zip anywhere on the SD card, regardless of all the crap Android has formatted on/for it? - like DCIM, Android etc. as long as it's in the root of the card and I know what it's named.
JJKirby said:
Thank you Darkest, probably another silly question; I can just chuck the zip anywhere on the SD card, regardless of all the crap Android has formatted on/for it? - like DCIM, Android etc. as long as it's in the root of the card and I know what it's named.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope it doesn't matter as you can navigate around to find it but in the root of the sdcard is the easiest
Darke5tShad0w said:
Nope it doesn't matter as you can navigate around to find it but in the root of the sdcard is the easiest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay then Darkest, finished downloading SGS3INT-XXUGMK6-BTU-20131216, extracted the zip and lo and behold I have the md5 file! As well as a dll file named SS_DL
Now what? I've completely forgotten, put that md5 file into the PDA box in Odin and commence the flashing, however if I wanted could I flash the custom recovery at a later date? If I intend on using custom OS's / rooting again / just for the ease of mind knowing it's a lot more thorough if I ever soft brick again.
I'm going to sleep now, it's 05:25AM for me, I hope that this help and advice and continue as I really appreciate talking with someone so versed in these matters, my friends and colleagues are all ****ing clueless!
JJKirby said:
Okay then Darkest, finished downloading SGS3INT-XXUGMK6-BTU-20131216, extracted the zip and lo and behold I have the md5 file! As well as a dll file named SS_DL
Now what? I've completely forgotten, put that md5 file into the PDA box in Odin and commence the flashing, however if I wanted could I flash the custom recovery at a later date?
I'm going to sleep now, it's 05:25AM for me, I hope that this help and advice and continue as I really appreciate talking with someone so versed in these matters, my friends and colleagues are all ****ing clueless!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that is right here are some instructions ill copy from another post
4.4 Go to DOWNLOAD mode by
4.5 Press the Home, Volume Down and Power buttons together.
4.6 Press Volume Up to continue when prompted.
4.7 Run ODIN on your computer and connect your phone.
4.8 When it recognizes it, check "Auto Reboot" and "F.Reset Time".
4.9 Everything else should be left unchecked.
4.11 Press "PDA" on ODIN and select this file.
4.12 Everything should be as shown here: http://gyazo.com/fea7a1c8b7a7b5bb287fb0a0c70056dc
4.13 Click Start and wait for it to do it's thing. It'll take quite a few minutes.
4.14 When it's finished, you're DONE!!!!
IMPORTANT: If when rebooting, it hangs at the samsung logo for a while then perform STEP 3 (Wipe Device) and then reboot it. Should work. If not then post here and someone may help you OR you can attempt reflashing your stock ROM again.
Yes after all this you can reflash that custom recovery that I posted earlier.
Darke5tShad0w said:
Yes after all this you can reflash that custom recovery that I posted earlier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for being here for me Darkest, I will try it tomorrow and report back, in the meantime is it possible to flash a custom recovery at any point? I don't want to ever have to go through something this stressful again, and this experience has only made me all the more cautiously confident ie: rom manager/custom roms/rooting etc.
JJKirby said:
Thank you for being here for me Darkest, I will try it tomorrow and report back, in the meantime is it possible to flash a custom recovery at any point? I don't want to ever have to go through something this stressful again, and this experience has only made me all the more cautiously confident ie: rom manager/custom roms/rooting etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes with the i9300 we have the luxury of not having to worry about locked boot loaders etc so it should be able to be flashed with odin when ever you choose.
Darke5tShad0w said:
Yes with the i9300 we have the luxury of not having to worry about locked boot loaders etc so it should be able to be flashed with odin when ever you choose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for all your help DarkestShadow, it worked like a charm, my S3 is now functioning, basically from the factory condition.
I have since rooted my S3 using CF Auto Root, what would you suggest my course of action to be?
Definitely install a custom recovery and from custom recovery? Can I then install say, a custom ROM but as long as I backup the current state of the phone I could then go back to back; if I wanted to?

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.
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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
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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!
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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
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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
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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.
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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!
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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
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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!
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Nice! And were you able to get the lockscreen working again?
Hawaiihemd said:
Nice! And were you able to get the lockscreen working again?
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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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