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So i'm pretty noob with all this stuff but i finally decided to try flashing my phone and, in the end, ended up with a "bricked" (or the extent a vibrant can be bricked) phone. Thanks in advance for the advice.
what i did
I followed the flashing guide in the sticky post "** GUIDE - TIPS - TRICKS ** Last Update 12/03/10 ** READ BEFORE ASKING" and everything worked great. I downloaded Rom manager, made a nandroid backup of my stock rom, flashed it with bionix fusion and everything worked great. I didn't do the titanium backup and there was an app that i needed to use the next day so on the way to work, i decided to restore back to the stock thinking that i could go back for the day, use the apps that i needed and when i got home got home, back up my apps with titanium back up and restore again back to the bionix fusion. So i did that. I went to rom manager and I first backed up my bionix fusion rom and then tried to recover my stock rom. When the phone restarted, it didn't go past the vibrant/samsung screen.
The question...
what went wrong? based on some reading i think it has something to do with the kernel but i'm not really sure.
but the real question is, how do i avoid from this happening again? did i do the recovery wrong? what's the best way to unbrick my phone back to stock without losing any data on the phone. is it possible????
at this point, i can go into download mode. what should be my next move?
Thank you again if you can provide any insight.
*edit*
So looking at some posts, I looks like I need to flash the stock kernel. can anyone tell me how to flash just the kernel using odin? I've never used it and I can't seem to find anything on flashing just the kernel. Thank you.
Problem SOLVED!
ok. not completely solved T_T.
What i've done.
I've flashed back to stock vibrant firmware and that works fine. When i try to restore my nandroid backup, and it reboots, I get stuck back to the same place i was. I made two nandroid backups and tried them both but neither of them work. am i doing it wrong? I have even re-rooted my vibrant and downloaded rom manager again and tried it through there and still get the problem. have tried it about 4 times now with no luck.
Again, any help is appreciated.
Nandroid doesnt replace the kernal
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Exactly, nandroid doesn't replace the kernel. If you want to run a nandroid restore, you have to either flash the rom the nandroid was created on, then restore (safest imho), or flash a compatible kernel for the rom from which your nandroid was created, then run your nandroid restore.
Sent from my Vibrant running Macnut R13 w/JK6 Modem and Black Froyo
Pretty sure this was in the sticky too
I had zero problems when rooting and flashing my G1, but now with my Vibrant I am not sure what I did.
A few excellent stickies at the top but I seem to not be making any progress.
Here are the steps I took.
I had a stock Vibrant running 2.1
I downloaded ROM Manager, installed clockwork mod.
Did a backup of my current system ( was I supposed to do a clockwork AND nandroid?)
Downloaded and successfully installed a ROM called Blackhole 1.0
it runs ok but didn't give me the option to switch from 3G to EDGE data, and then I couldn't get internet access at all so i decided to restore my original stock vibrant system.
So I rebooted into recovery, selected restore (my phone won't go into recovery anymore for some reason) and waited, it took a while, then I rebooted (forgot to wipe), but it just got stuck on the Vibrant screen. So I booted into recovery mode again and wiped just user data not cache and rebooted, same thing stuck at Vibrant.
Now i keep hearing about something called ODIN, what I can tell it is some kind of flasher program for ROMS, nobody seems to give any kind of link or anything, is it greymarket or something?
So where am I now? I think the excellent noob guide needs to be updated a bit more.
My phone can get into download mode (whatever it is for i don't know) but it won't get into recovery mode anymore.
Everything you need is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=771111
i think what happened to you is you flashed a 2.2 ROM then tried to revert back to 2.1 without doing the proper downgrading steps i.e. you did not flash a 2.1 kernel first.
but since you can get to download mode.. just flash stock JFD or JI6 through ODIN and you should be good.
good luck
Once you get back to stock don't give up on the 2.2 toms. Try axura or nero. They might have a few minor bugs but its way better then stock 2.1.
Powered by Axura with a dash of Voodoo
I have done the samething as you, coming from a nexus one it seemed easier to flash roms without worrying about downgrading kernels or what not. Recently I was on Nero froyo and flashed to a different rom, and tried to revert back but ended up stuck at the vibrant screen. Think it has something to do with voodoo lag.
Anyways I had to use Odin with the no brick froyo off ebproductions. Ran that and uploaded clockwork, reinstalled voodoo lag fix and was able to nandroid back to my Nero set up. Somewhat of a pain but once you've done it, no need to worry about bricking
xtone said:
Everything you need is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=771111
i think what happened to you is you flashed a 2.2 ROM then tried to revert back to 2.1 without doing the proper downgrading steps i.e. you did not flash a 2.1 kernel first.
but since you can get to download mode.. just flash stock JFD or JI6 through ODIN and you should be good.
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the steps that are in this page?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475
GreggoryD502 said:
Once you get back to stock don't give up on the 2.2 toms. Try axura or nero. They might have a few minor bugs but its way better then stock 2.1.
Powered by Axura with a dash of Voodoo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well as long as I can use Odin if I f-up royally like above then I might give it a shot.
Need to read about downgrading kernals or whatever. Might just wait for Cyanogen 6.1
Just so you know, the backup utility in Rom Manager (clockwork) is really just shortcut to a nandroid backup.
The way I have things set up for backups, and this is just for my personal convenience, is as follows...
I have a stock JFD ODIN rom to flash in case anything goes wrong. (A lot of people here will tell you to flash this whenever flashing a new rom. It is safer, and cleaner to do it this way, but not absolutely necessary)
I make a nandroid of my last stable rom (I only keep one at a time cause the files are huge) and keep a backup of that on my PC.
I backup all my apps and a few other things (call logs, bookmarks, sms) through Titanium backup. If you get the pro version, you can load it up after flashing a new rom and have it automatically restore all your apps in one click (system settings can be dangerous to restore when going from rom to rom, so be careful with those.) I also keep a backup of this on my PC.
I will also occasionally backup both of the sd cards to the PC.
Maybe overkill, but you probably wont ever lose anything forever.
thegreatcity said:
Just so you know, the backup utility in Rom Manager (clockwork) is really just shortcut to a nandroid backup.
The way I have things set up for backups, and this is just for my personal convenience, is as follows...
I have a stock JFD ODIN rom to flash in case anything goes wrong. (A lot of people here will tell you to flash this whenever flashing a new rom. It is safer, and cleaner to do it this way, but not absolutely necessary)
I make a nandroid of my last stable rom (I only keep one at a time cause the files are huge) and keep a backup of that on my PC.
I backup all my apps and a few other things (call logs, bookmarks, sms) through Titanium backup. If you get the pro version, you can load it up after flashing a new rom and have it automatically restore all your apps in one click (system settings can be dangerous to restore when going from rom to rom, so be careful with those.) I also keep a backup of this on my PC.
I will also occasionally backup both of the sd cards to the PC.
Maybe overkill, but you probably wont ever lose anything forever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK I will just do the long way from now on. I use this phone on AT&T, I was worried that I flushed $500 down the toilet but ever since i modded my first phone way back in the day i've been addicted.
Running Odin and my phone is in download mode, about to flash this b**ch.
wish me luck.
I flashed Odin on my phone to revert to stock. Re-Rooted it but now I can't flash Clockworkmod. Please help D:
use the update.zip posted here. You want B.
Hello, I need some help with restoring via CWM on the Galaxy S3.
On the S2 I pretty much always used CM9 and jumped back and forth between versions and backing up/ restoring was never an issue.
Now however I am using the stock ROM and its rooted of course.
I made a back up of my stock rom 'cause I wanted to try and install some stuff.
I tried installing the jelly bean transition effects but the install failed, the device felt kinda sluggish (maybe my imagination) afterwards so I decided to restore my phone. The restoring went good but the last ting that happens is that CWM says that restoring /Data failed.
I reboot my phone and I come to the first start up screen where I get to choose language and so on. Everything but photos has been deleted. I try to install CM9, and I do that without any issues. Then I trie to backup my stock backup but I get the same error message and I get back to stock setup page.
My backup is a staggering 6GB, and I read somewhere that CWM can only restore 2GB?
I've deleted that backup and done another one but that is also 6GB.
Does anyone know how to restore from that first restore or how to make future restores work?
undegaard said:
Hello, I need some help with restoring via CWM on the Galaxy S3.
On the S2 I pretty much always used CM9 and jumped back and forth between versions and backing up/ restoring was never an issue.
Now however I am using the stock ROM and its rooted of course.
I made a back up of my stock rom 'cause I wanted to try and install some stuff.
I tried installing the jelly bean transition effects but the install failed, the device felt kinda sluggish (maybe my imagination) afterwards so I decided to restore my phone. The restoring went good but the last ting that happens is that CWM says that restoring /Data failed.
I reboot my phone and I come to the first start up screen where I get to choose language and so on. Everything but photos has been deleted. I try to install CM9, and I do that without any issues. Then I trie to backup my stock backup but I get the same error message and I get back to stock setup page.
My backup is a staggering 6GB, and I read somewhere that CWM can only restore 2GB?
I've deleted that backup and done another one but that is also 6GB.
Does anyone know how to restore from that first restore or how to make future restores work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem with my sisters Xperia X8,couldn't restore anything that i backed up.It goes for a while and stops.But she had bootloader locked.I was shore that i unlocked her bootloader but i didn't,so i unlocked bootloader,and tried to backup and restore and it worked fine.
I'm not 100% and i don't know is that the way CWM works,but i think in order to restore your data,that you backed up,you have to unlock your bootloader.But it's the best to wait someone who knows this for 100% sure.
If you haven't unlocked bootloader try that,or you don't won't to lose your warranty!?
Good luck!
I don't think that CWM has size limitation but i can be wrong.
Have you made sure that your CWM is up-to-date? if in doubt flash the latest CF-root.
was there ever a resolution to this problem? I did the same thing, rooted the galaxy s 3 and unlock the bootloader. Get a backup of my stock set up using clockwork recovery mod. Now when I try to restore, it does not restore the data. All of my apps look like they are there, but none of them are really installed. I think I can just reinstall all of the apps by hand, I would like to know how to get over this.
Is this possible? The full details are I had my phone stolen, and got a new one with android 4.0.4 on it. I have on my computer a copy of my latest backup of my old cognition gingerbread rom. Can I just use CWM to recover to my old rom, or do i need to first downgrade to a gingerbread rom, and then recover?
Thankyou very much for assistance
Edit: Also, I don't actually want to use the old rom, I just need the contacts it saved, afterwards I'll wipe everything and install a clean ICS mod. In case there's any way of doing this without having to revert
You'll probably need to restore the backup with a version of CWM close to the one the backup was made with, you can often have problems restoring if you're using a CWM version a lot (say 12 mths or more) newer than the one you made the backup with.
So I'd probably go GB/with a rooted GB kernel first, restore the backup & go from there. I mean, it could work first try with an ICS kernel that's running a recent CWM build, but there's a fair chance it won't.
Edit - And be really careful with stock 4.0.4, don't do a wipe while you're running that.
Wow. I just... wow.
Ok, so I did the stupid thing and just tried to restore my old backup without doing proper downgrading first and it ended up soft bricking my machine, couldn't get recovery mode up, but I got into download mode. So I downloaded my country's stock gingerbread rom from samsung's site and flashed it with odin just to see what happens, and somehow my old rom was working again, and I have all my contacts and data. saved everything up to google, upgraded to ICS, import.
Everything went better than expected.
Thanks for the help
Told you Important thing is you managed to fix it yourself without asking silly questions in Q&A. Not many people seem to be able to do that these days.
Well done. I'm glad you got it sorted
Edit -You're welcome
Hello everyone,
Well might as well say hi. I'm Ryukouki. I use this handle on a lot of forums, so if this is familiar you most likely know me elsewhere. So, anywho! I purchased a VZW Samsung Galaxy S4 two weeks ago, and I'm really curious. I rooted my phone, installed Clockwork Mod and backed up my data (I THINK) and I'm looking into ROMs for the Galaxy S4. What is the best mod for speed and performance, with good ease of use, and does not require a data wipe on installation? And is there a tutorial to go about doing this? I'm kind of new to the whole smartphone thing (used a feature phone for seven years!!), but I'm not too afraid to try new things out.
Ryukouki said:
Hello everyone,
Well might as well say hi. I'm Ryukouki. I use this handle on a lot of forums, so if this is familiar you most likely know me elsewhere. So, anywho! I purchased a VZW Samsung Galaxy S4 two weeks ago, and I'm really curious. I rooted my phone, installed Clockwork Mod and backed up my data (I THINK) and I'm looking into ROMs for the Galaxy S4. What is the best mod for speed and performance, with good ease of use, and does not require a data wipe on installation? And is there a tutorial to go about doing this? I'm kind of new to the whole smartphone thing (used a feature phone for seven years!!), but I'm not too afraid to try new things out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No ROMs 'require' a data wipe per se. You may, however, run into problems with any ROM if you don't completely wipe data when installing (especially the first time you go from stock to a ROM).
Why are you so afraid of wiping data? You could very easily download a few backup apps and have everything back up and running in 20 minutes.
trebb said:
No ROMs 'require' a data wipe per se. You may, however, run into problems with any ROM if you don't completely wipe data when installing (especially the first time you go from stock to a ROM).
Why are you so afraid of wiping data? You could very easily download a few backup apps and have everything back up and running in 20 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume that this requires backup to my SD card though? And can you explain how I go about doing this? Do I just pick up things like App Restore and Backup (I think it's the other way around...) and then backup and restore? I don't want to screw this up, because I have a few apps where I've dumped a couple hundred dollars into and if I delete it or wipe it, I lose all the data, and I for sure as hell don't wanna do that!
You are rooted, so grab Titanium Backup, and use it. Just don't backup up system data. App data is fine (at least it always has been on AT&T).
I haven't seen a ROM yet that is stable enough to flash, IMHO. Give it a couple of weeks. I ran AOKP on my GS2 for a long time, and am looking forward to it here.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
If I was you man , I wouldnt never install a rom without a full wipe. That will keep you from running into problems. I know that from experience. Like Sbreen say, no wipe , no gripe
DroidHead214 said:
If I was you man , I wouldnt never install a rom without a full wipe. That will keep you from running into problems. I know that from experience. Like Sbreen say, no wipe , no gripe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very well then, I guess a wipe it is.
Now, let me get this straight. I rooted my phone. I have TWRP Custom Recovery on my phone, and I have backed up the thing in the recovery menu to my micro SD card. I also Titanium Backup'd my system with apps and whatnot. So when I decide to flash my phone to a new ROM, I'd first wipe the data, factory reset, and wipe the dalvik cache, then flash it, do the setup garbage, and then from there, redownload Titanium Backup and restore whatever I want to restore, correct?
Ryukouki said:
Very well then, I guess a wipe it is.
Now, let me get this straight. I rooted my phone. I have TWRP Custom Recovery on my phone, and I have backed up the thing in the recovery menu to my micro SD card. I also Titanium Backup'd my system with apps and whatnot. So when I decide to flash my phone to a new ROM, I'd first wipe the data, factory reset, and wipe the dalvik cache, then flash it, do the setup garbage, and then from there, redownload Titanium Backup and restore whatever I want to restore, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got it! However the "factory reset" option in TWRP actually wipes data/cache/dalvik, I believe. (It tells you at the top of the screen what its going to wipe) Once you got your new rom you're all set to start restoring your apps with TB and enjoy the smoothness. After the setup process when your phone goes to the home screen, it's a good idea to let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. (some developers advise this)
whiskerz said:
You got it! However, the "factory reset" option in TWRP actually wipes data/cache/dalvik I believe. (It tells you at the top of the screen what its going to wipe) Once you got your new rom you're all set to start restoring your apps with TB and enjoying the smoothness
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try it either tomorrow...or, later in the week if my courage decides to run away. Now, in the worst case scenario, let's say I completely screw up and get stuck with a bootloop or, I just completely hate the ROM itself. To restore to my current configuration do I just go back to TWRP and hit restore, and it basically reverts itself? I'm so sorry if I'm asking really stupid questions, I just REALLY want to do it right, and not have any hassles whatsoever. I am extremely careful and I really want to feel comfortable doing this.
Some guides I see mentioned backing up the IMEI information on the phone. Do I really need to do that, or is that all automated and I shouldn't run into issues? And is there a GApps.zip file thingy that I need to download for the "stock" applications? But wait a second, TB should take care of all of that correct?
Ryukouki said:
I'll try it either tomorrow...or, later in the week if my courage decides to run away. Now, in the worst case scenario, let's say I completely screw up and get stuck with a bootloop or, I just completely hate the ROM itself. To restore to my current configuration do I just go back to TWRP and hit restore, and it basically reverts itself? I'm so sorry if I'm asking really stupid questions, I just REALLY want to do it right, and not have any hassles whatsoever. I am extremely careful and I really want to feel comfortable doing this.
Some guides I see mentioned backing up the IMEI information on the phone. Do I really need to do that, or is that all automated and I shouldn't run into issues? And is there a GApps.zip file thingy that I need to download for the "stock" applications? But wait a second, TB should take care of all of that correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, if your phone goes into a bootloop or you absolutely hate the rom, then pull the battery and boot into recovery. (If you just hate the rom no need to pull battery just power off)Make sure you have a backup of your system created within TWRP with the "backup" option. If you have a backup in TWRP you would just hit the "Restore" button and find your system backup and wait for it to restore. I've never heard anything about backing up IMEI info, you will probably not run into any issues. I've flashed tons and tons of roms on numerous devices and have NEVER had to do any of that. Gapps (google apps) are ONLY needed when you're going to run an AOSP rom. That means when the rom doesn't have the touchwiz skin over top of it. AOSP roms are pure vanilla android and have zero touchwiz features. You can find the touchwiz based roms in the "Android development" section while the AOSP roms are found in the "Original development" section. Also, it's fine to ask questions. That's how you learn!
whiskerz said:
Yes, if your phone goes into a bootloop or you absolutely hate the rom, then pull the battery and boot into recovery. (If you just hate the rom no need to pull battery just power off)Make sure you have a backup of your system created within TWRP with the "backup" option. If you have a backup in TWRP you would just hit the "Restore" button and find your system backup and wait for it to restore. I've never heard anything about backing up IMEI info, you will probably not run into any issues. I've flashed tons and tons of roms on numerous devices and have NEVER had to do any of that. Gapps (google apps) are ONLY needed when you're going to run an AOSP rom. That means when the rom doesn't have the touchwiz skin over top of it. AOSP roms are pure vanilla android and have zero touchwiz features. You can find the touchwiz based roms in the "Android development" section while the AOSP roms are found in the "Original development" section. Also, it's fine to ask questions. That's how you learn!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. Phew, I was like what why do I need to backup my IMEI information? I'm planning on installing Hyperdrive, is that a touchwiz based rom by any chance? And hah, yeah I know, I usually have really meticulous instructions for myself when I flash video game consoles, so I know the routine like the back of my hand.
Ryukouki said:
Awesome. Phew, I was like what why do I need to backup my IMEI information? I'm planning on installing Hyperdrive, is that a touchwiz based rom by any chance? And hah, yeah I know, I usually have really meticulous instructions for myself when I flash video game consoles, so I know the routine like the back of my hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Hyperdrive is a touchwiz based rom! The file is going to be a little over a 1gig, and already includes all of the apps you'll need.(Don't flash Gaaps) I'm heading off XDA for the night if you have anymore questions/concerns feel free to PM me and I'll try to help
whiskerz said:
Yes, Hyperdrive is a touchwiz based rom! The file is going to be a little over a 1gig, and already includes all of the apps you'll need.(Don't flash Gaaps) I'm heading off XDA for the night if you have anymore questions/concerns feel free to PM me and I'll try to help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh good! And at least my internet is reasonable now, so 1GB shouldn't be too bad. ;D I should head off too, its a bit late over here. Thanks for your help, you've answered a lot of my concerns!
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All ROMs are the best and data wipes are always recommended