[Q] Help with factory restore - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4

Hi all...I am not a noob by any measure but I am a longtime nexus owner and before that had a Droid 2 in the easy bootstrap days, so needless to say I am new to the world of messing around with a phone that is not supposed to be messed with. .
My S4 is on ME7 (downloaded and started installing in store - bastards), so I am only rooted and have a couple of minor mods through wanam/nottach. I need to return my phone in the next 48 hours - my screen is a disaster and continually malfunctions, shutting off for hours and then randomly deciding to come back on again. So I would like to unroot and do a complete restore to stock ME7.
The issue I'm having is that, unlike a nexus factory restore, there seems to be a number of different approaches to doing a full wipe and stock image restore. I have gotten some great info and help from some folks here, but I have seen multiple methods for doing it, and it's not clear to me what has been successful for folks and what hasn't. The instructions in some cases are distributed by PM - which is fine with me, I appreciate the help no matter how it comes - but I am (I hope understandably) nervous about applying any method that is not being discussed out in the open with experience reports to a phone that I paid $700 for.
So what I am asking is whether we can just have a threat here where people share what they've done to restore to stock and whether they've had success resetting the flash counter and getting back to a passable stock device. I am not just asking for someone to give me the steps to do so, so please do not tell me to go search for more info - you can see from my profile that I've maybe asked for advice once before, because I always find what I need by just searching.

Related

[Q] Retuning the flash counter to 0, and then returning to stock.

Usually I'm the one answering these types of questions, but my knowledge of these operations has been quite outdated since ICS came around.
I have to help a neighbor return his phone to stock--the modem, the recovery, the ROM....the whole kit and kaboodle (wow that's a stupid saying...haha) before replacing it.
I'd start by backing up all SD data, all apps, and then transferring the contacts over to the sim, so he can use a backup phone between the time the old one is on its way out, and the new one/replacement is on its way in.
Next would be on to the flash counter...it just needs to say 0 really. I understand that there'll always be a way to tell it's been modified, but if it says zero, it will cool some minds. The flash counter reset that's been around...it still works, right? There's no reason why a change from GB to ICS, and on to JB would cause it to suddenly brick a phone, right?
After that comes the tricky part. My knowledge of ODIN and ADB are acceptable, to doing the actual flashing shouldn't be the issue. The issue is that we don't have a nandroid, and even if we did, we'd still need to replace the CWM recovery with the stock one. In addition to the above, my knowledge of RTS's is from the old days--heralding all the way back to the Gingerbread times..../sigh...those were the days. So here comes the part(s) I need help with. I spent hours and hours flipping through search after search, thread after thread, comment after comment. And threads that hit the key words are all dead, have dead links, or haven't had any activity in them since before ICS was officially released. This means that there is no anecdotal evidence of someone doing what I'm trying to with a setup that's similar.
So...I need an overview--just a generalized one-- so I choose the right process, instructions, downloads, etc.
Can you gentlemen/gentle ladies give me a hand, and tell me what I need/need to do, and what threads I should follow? Hopefully my Karma here in the Q&A is strong!
Sent from my Transformer using XDA Premium HD app
I use the flash counter reset zip found here first; http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24145452&postcount=1
Then I use Kies to return everything else to 100% stock. (Title of the thred says return to GB, because that was the latest supported rom at the time, Kies will return you to the latest supported rom which is now UCLF6) Just did this same procedure last week, it's by far the easiest method! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=27869730&postcount=1

[Q] What to do with "Brick #3" - Transformer Prime

Hi everyone,
It seems I messed up my Prime and I think I know why it happened. I'll first ask my question and then detail what I think happened at the end. I've been reading around the forums for the past few days and I think I'm experiencing brick number 3 as detailed in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1514088 I followed the link provided under option 3 which links to a thread about an Transformer Prime IRC channel: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1367016 I logged in into the IRC channel and someone greeted me by asking for the binaries...frankly, I've no idea what to do in that channel.
I was on the stock Asus Jellybean Rom. I used the Asus Unlock tool and installed TWRP via fastboot as explained in their website (installed the JB.blob). Everything worked fine. I then committed a mistake. I was going to perform a data wipe before installing the new ROM (latest CM nightly) but in retrospect I think that I only performed a factory reset. It was my first time using TWRP and when I got into the wipe menu I selected wipe but I recall that the button for wiping read "slide to perform factory reset". I thought that I was wiping the data on my device but I think that I got confused and only performed a factory reset. I didn't realize that at the time and proceeded to flash the new ROM. When I restarted the device it got stuck in the Asus/Nvida splash screen.
I'm able to go into the recovery menu. I've wiped data properly many times after this and flashed CM many times but the device won't get past that splash screen. I tried flashing the ROM via ADB but whenever I enter the command the terminal shows me a list of the actions that can be performed via ADB and nothing else happens.
I've tried looking around for a solution but I've been unable to find one. Should I install/flash a stock blob rom? The links above say it may do more harm than good and no longer advice users to do that but I haven't found any other alternative. There are many threads pertaining this issue but each case is slightly different and I haven't found one that applies to my situation.
I'm mad at myself because I've had flashed so many custom roms on other devices before and had never had any problems whatsoever that I got careless when flashing the Prime. I know this is completely my fault and I don't want to waste anyone's time on this. I just would like for someone to tell me exactly what to read or where to look so that I can try and fix this situation.
just in case...I just remembered that I didn't root before flashing...could that have been the problem?
I was checking out, once again, the options in TWRP and I did wipe the device correctly. I didn't mess up as I once thought. I can't understand why this happened.
Nearly the same problem for me, case n°3 and don't know what to do. I know have a very expensive black mirror...
FIXED
YES! I was able to fix it BUT I'd be careful before trying what I did. Basically, I did what forum members had advised not to do; I flashed the Asus stock rom via fastboot. As I said before I had read plenty about the various issues with the Transformer Prime. I noticed that some people were flashing the stock rom when confronted with my situation and exhorted others to do the same since they had luck with the procedure. After that, it seems plenty of people bricked their devices by following the same procedure. This caused various senior members in XDA to no longer advise others to try to fix their tablet with that method since it was causing more harm than good (see: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1514088)
Sadly, I had no other choice but to try that method. We were advised to go to the #Asus-Transformer IRC channel but, understandingly, there aren't many people participating in that channel (it's very old!. I was able to get assistance from a very helpful (as always) android geek but we couldn't get anything to work since I was having problems with ADB recognizing my device.
So, knowing full well the possible consequences of flashing a stock asus rom I decided to go for it. After all, the worst thing that could happen was to end with a hard bricked device and the soft brick I was experiencing wasn't as different as that (i.e. I couldn't use the device anyway). So I decided to play russian roulette and see what happened. Luckily the rom installed fine and I was able to boot past the, dreadful Asus/nvidia splashscreen! I was super lucky! Even though I'm back to the stock rom I'm happy because I can use my device once again! I really wanted to try out Cyanogen on my tablet but I will have to pass on that...I will never install a custom ROM again on my Prime
So, if anyone is feeling adventurous and has lost all hope then why not play russian roulette and check out what happens when you install the asus stock rom? I downloaded the asus image from here http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Eee+Pad+Transformer+Prime+TF201&os=32 and followed the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1680570 (just step three and four at the end since I already had a custom recovery installed). I had to unzip the download twice (it has a zip inside a zip) and copied the blob file into my fastboot directory (in the PC). I then renamed it to "update.blob" and flashed it.
Don't try it unless you are fully aware of the consequences!

Chronicles:Unlocked Bootloader Bootloop, Moto E 2nd gen LTE.

Hi guys I want to post my experience for future reference. Bought this phone (in Athens, Greece) because it's crazy value for money. After a week or so I was really satisfied with it. Just wanted some more Marshmallow features, like multiwindow. So I did my research and ended up following a related guide : steps-to-root-moto-e-2nd ge n. Everything went well, I unlocked the bootloader, flashed twrp, the phone rebooted and I chose to flash SD card as internal, and I was able to install my apps and settings. Then again following the guide steps I tried to flash SuperSU. This resulted to an endless bootloop, where the message " YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE PHONE S BOOTLOADER....." kept showing up. So I started reading related post from many forums, most of them reproducing the same solutions, like "find your phone's official firmware and reflash". I downloaded many firmwares, all of them appeared (to me at least) suitable for my phone, but none of them had any result. The bootloop continued. I couldn't even flash ROMS from SD card, obviously because of the internal memory format I had done the first and only time the phone booted. Two days had passed and I was really frustrated, ready to take it to service ( or throw it against the wall). Until now I didn't want anything else but the official firmware. But what the heck, after so much efforts, anger and disappointment there is nothing wrong in trying new things. So when I came across the guide about installing cyanogen 13 on my phone, I decided to give it a try. TOTAL SUCCESS!!!! Now my phone is really "flying", is really fast and the most important: is really working again. Although I went through a second flashing of cyanogen 13 because I had the lame persisting idea to flash SuperSU again, with the same frustrating results. So the bottom line, and the reason for this post is : do not flash SuperSU on this phone because you will soft brick it, and don't get caught up with a "hunt" for the right firmware, you will only loose time and some sanity. This is my advice: Go ahead and install cyanogen, it is really great and has insane features. Big thanks to all the guys developing and contributing, you really saved me big time!!!!
vagfyt said:
Hi guys I want to post my experience for future reference. Bought this phone (in Athens, Greece) because it's crazy value for money. After a week or so I was really satisfied with it. Just wanted some more Marshmallow features, like multiwindow. So I did my research and ended up following a related guide : steps-to-root-moto-e-2nd ge n. Everything went well, I unlocked the bootloader, flashed twrp, the phone rebooted and I chose to flash SD card as internal, and I was able to install my apps and settings. Then again following the guide steps I tried to flash SuperSU. This resulted to an endless bootloop, where the message " YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE PHONE S BOOTLOADER....." kept showing up. So I started reading related post from many forums, most of them reproducing the same solutions, like "find your phone's official firmware and reflash". I downloaded many firmwares, all of them appeared (to me at least) suitable for my phone, but none of them had any result. The bootloop continued. I couldn't even flash ROMS from SD card, obviously because of the internal memory format I had done the first and only time the phone booted. Two days had passed and I was really frustrated, ready to take it to service ( or throw it against the wall). Until now I didn't want anything else but the official firmware. But what the heck, after so much efforts, anger and disappointment there is nothing wrong in trying new things. So when I came across the guide about installing cyanogen 13 on my phone, I decided to give it a try. TOTAL SUCCESS!!!! Now my phone is really "flying", is really fast and the most important: is really working again. Although I went through a second flashing of cyanogen 13 because I had the lame persisting idea to flash SuperSU again, with the same frustrating results. So the bottom line, and the reason for this post is : do not flash SuperSU on this phone because you will soft brick it, and don't get caught up with a "hunt" for the right firmware, you will only loose time and some sanity. This is my advice: Go ahead and install cyanogen, it is really great and has insane features. Big thanks to all the guys developing and contributing, you really saved me big time!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an issue with SuperSU when it tries to install in systemless mode.
Flashing it this way seems to do the trick, and has been confirmed by multiple users on this board: http://androiding.how/root-moto-g-2014-marshmallow/
If you're using CM13, there is no need to flash SuperSU. CM13 has its own root pre-installed, you can turn it on in Developer Options.

Soooooo, i think i bricked my HTC one A9

Welp, here we are, a young and dumb person trying to do something they have little to no knowledge in. I was messing around one day with my phone and decided "hey rooting seems fun, I did it once 3 years ago so it should be a cake walk!"...... and look where we are.
So what I did was go off and install TWRP recovery, all went well and I thought I was a genius. I got my rooting done and figured out it was nothing like it was 3 years ago, at least I just didn't remember how to do anything. So fast forward a few months to last week where I started to get annoyed of the constant reminders of the OTA update so I began to figure out why in the world I couldn't install it and found out that it was because I had TWRP. I began to search for "How to get stock recovery for HTC one A9" and ended on a few different articles. I was dumb and I guess went in the wrong direction and ended up locking my bootloader and attempting to wipe my phone with TWRP still installed.
I read somewhere that this will cause the phone to brick because it is trying to use the stock recovery to wipe and TWRP doesn't have the functionality to do so. So here I am asking all you smart fellows out there for help because I really cant go long without my phone and don't have the money at the moment to purchase a new one or get it "professionally fixed"
Thank you everyone for any help you can provide and I will do my best to provide any more information you will be needing.
Update: about 3 hours later, i had done some searching with HTC and found their RUU services. These didn't work for me as they seemed to be outdated. I then searched XDA for my current OS version RUU and downloaded that and ran it on my phone. This got me to the setup on HTC where i was then able to update to current version android.

Bricked HTC 10

Hello everyone,
I've been scouring XDA for a while trying to solve my problem, and just finally became a member so I could try to deal with my particular situation directly with whatever help you guys can provide. Thanks in advance.
HTC 10
Unlocked
S-ON
No ROM installed
TWRP installed and funtional
(Can provide any more info--if I can get it from Download Mode, Bootloader, or TWRP)
My skill level is not very high as far as this stuff is concerned, but I can follow directions. Here's my story:
I first successfully unlocked and rooted my HTC 10 a couple years or so ago (i.e. installed TWRP, ROM, Viper for Android). It was great, until things began to malfunction a bit. I messed around, but eventually decided to go back to stock. I was successful in this, as well.
Fast-forward a while, and I was missing my custom set-up, so I thought I'd wade back into these complex waters. To make a long story short, I screwed up and bricked it. I wish I has more specific details about how it went wrong, but throwing my hands up in frustration, I simply dug out an older phone and began using that instead.
As of a few weeks ago, I decided I was going to give another go at fixing my HTC 10. After all, it is a beautiful piece of hardware, and I'm still paying the thing off.
I've tried installing ROMs every way I know how, via EXEs from the PC, sideloading, wiping caches, trying system restore images from TWRP. . .no dice. I expect even by this point you can tell I'm pretty amateur.
I suspect I may be forgetting some way I cut a corner or ran into some irregularity I ignored when I returned it to stock, but it's just been too long, and I can't remember.
Would greatly, greatly appreciate any help provided.
Cheers,
tra1neus

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