[Q] [N00b alert] Phone says unrooted when it /is/ rooted - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

First off, I'd like to say my S2 is the Virgin Mobile version (model i9210) so I'm not sure if it's okay for me to post this in this forum or not. Feel free to move it where it should be, I won't be offended.
Edit: Originally had posted this in the Samsung Galaxy S2 forum, but it was nicely moved to this forum in hopes that it would be seen more~ So to clarify, my phone is the Virgin Mobile Samsung Galaxy S2, running Android 4.1.2, model number SPH-D710.
The ROM I have is BiftorROM-V8-JB-XWLSN-NoWipe.
Onward. This is my first Samsung phone AND my first Galaxy, and when I decided to root my phone, I had no idea how much different it would be from my past phones. How I didn't completely brick this phone, is nothing short of a miracle. I had trouble with some ROMs so someone eventually linked me to a Sprint stock ROM, saying it was compatible with my phone.
Since then I've been using that ROM, despite having a Virgin Mobile phone, with no problem. Recently I noticed an app I use (SD Maid) was listing my phone as unrooted. It was weird but I ignored it, because the app still worked. Even later, I noticed other apps that require root access were not working correctly, so I decided to download a root checker.
Status: Unrooted
Well, then. I'm not sure how this happened, or what's going on, but I figured again, it was no big deal because my ROM was running perfectly and I had no desire to change my ROM or anything else soon. Last night my phone started acting completely different. Lagging like crazy, and when I tried to unlock my phone, it would take a good 15 seconds just for the screen to turn on and my lock screen to start functioning normally. Then another 20 seconds or so for the screen to register my touch and actually unlock my phone. I tried disabling all lockers, but my screen would just turn black and I would still have to wait.
A friend suggested that I simply go through the process of rooting as though my phone really were unrooted and just hope that fixes it, but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea. If my phone wasn't operating so slowly this wouldn't be as big of a problem, but it is, and I'm pretty afraid that I'll mess my phone up somehow.
I once found a forum with the topic the same as mine but I haven't been able to find it since, so I'm hoping someone here could point me in the right direction. Do I go through the root process, maybe try just reflashing my current ROM? I've also thought about just doing a system restore on my phone and see if that helps. Thanks in advance.

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[Q] Numerous ROM issues.

I recently went ahead and unrooted my eris so I could call and get a new one sent to me since I'm still under warrantee, and on the other phone I never seemed to have a problem with rooting it and installing the roms. But now for some infuriating reason, every rom I've tried has given me issues within the starting point of loading them. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=677097 <- That one loaded perfectly fine, but then my internet would just refuse to work.
I also tried one called Pure Eris I think it was called, but that one would just stay stuck on the loading screen, go black, then go back to the loading screen, not sure how I had the patience to sit through that for an hour assuming it was perhaps just going to take a while. I used this thread as a help to see if I was perhaps doing something wrong http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=835758 I did everything it said to do, and then went ahead and found another rom I thought I'd enjoy, but then all of a sudden I'm required to re-activate my phone. When I call to activate, the keypad refuses to show, and I need to press 1 to activate. Hah. It's just been a hair-ripping experience today.
Now I'm attempting to install http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=769624 and HOPING I won't have yet again anymore issues.
Anyone have an idea of what I may be doing wrong even after following those instructions? I'm still new to this so to say, since I've only rooted the eris once before this, and I didn't have a problem until now. Rooted it just the same, and each theme seems to make a new problem arise. Haaaaaalp?
boxfuk said:
I recently went ahead and unrooted my eris so I could call and get a new one sent to me since I'm still under warrantee, and on the other phone I never seemed to have a problem with rooting it and installing the roms. But now for some infuriating reason, every rom I've tried has given me issues within the starting point of loading them. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=677097 <- That one loaded perfectly fine, but then my internet would just refuse to work.
I also tried one called Pure Eris I think it was called, but that one would just stay stuck on the loading screen, go black, then go back to the loading screen, not sure how I had the patience to sit through that for an hour assuming it was perhaps just going to take a while. I used this thread as a help to see if I was perhaps doing something wrong http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=835758 I did everything it said to do, and then went ahead and found another rom I thought I'd enjoy, but then all of a sudden I'm required to re-activate my phone. When I call to activate, the keypad refuses to show, and I need to press 1 to activate. Hah. It's just been a hair-ripping experience today.
Now I'm attempting to install http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=769624 and HOPING I won't have yet again anymore issues.
Anyone have an idea of what I may be doing wrong even after following those instructions? I'm still new to this so to say, since I've only rooted the eris once before this, and I didn't have a problem until now. Rooted it just the same, and each theme seems to make a new problem arise. Haaaaaalp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The last link you put up is a theme, not a Rom. Which ROM are you currently using?
Be sure when changing roms to wipe data and cache. Not doing so will cause a boot loop, which you described above. Also, if you have to reactivate your phone and can't get a dial pad, long press the menu button to bring up the keyboard and use the keyboard numbers.
Sent from my ultra fast Liberated Droid 2
boxfuk said:
I recently went ahead and unrooted my eris so I could call and get a new one sent to me since I'm still under warrantee, and on the other phone I never seemed to have a problem with rooting it and installing the roms. But now for some infuriating reason, every rom I've tried has given me issues within the starting point of loading them. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=677097 <- That one loaded perfectly fine, but then my internet would just refuse to work.
I also tried one called Pure Eris I think it was called, but that one would just stay stuck on the loading screen, go black, then go back to the loading screen, not sure how I had the patience to sit through that for an hour assuming it was perhaps just going to take a while. I used this thread as a help to see if I was perhaps doing something wrong http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=835758 I did everything it said to do, and then went ahead and found another rom I thought I'd enjoy, but then all of a sudden I'm required to re-activate my phone. When I call to activate, the keypad refuses to show, and I need to press 1 to activate. Hah. It's just been a hair-ripping experience today.
Now I'm attempting to install http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=769624 and HOPING I won't have yet again anymore issues.
Anyone have an idea of what I may be doing wrong even after following those instructions? I'm still new to this so to say, since I've only rooted the eris once before this, and I didn't have a problem until now. Rooted it just the same, and each theme seems to make a new problem arise. Haaaaaalp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what all roms you have tried that won't boot but there was one person who's phones could not boot my cfsv6 through cfsv8 kernels. I fixed the issue in cfsv9 kernel so check to see if the roms you have tried are using those kernels. I know the one you said booted was an older rom and was not using my kernel. CELBFroyo is using the v9 kernel if you want to test that. If that is your issue you can just download the cfsv9 kernel and flash it after flashing the rom of your choice. It was something to do with the hardware in a small percentage of eris's that the kernel would not work with. Maybe you have the same hardware as that case...

[Q] Why no GSM detected on Vibrant?

This is the deal:
I bought my wife and I Vibrants back in February and from the minute I got it I started looking into updating from eclair.
I was following the info on xda after researching about rooting phones, so I rooted my phone using the Superonclick method. Just before getting ready to flash custom roms, I read that froyo was available through kies. So I did that. It worked well enough for me, so I updated my wife's phone as well and hers works beautifully. I also changed the home launcher to LauncherPro. love it.
Mine however has been going on the fritz. I'm in the middle of using an app or I'm doing nothing at but turning on my phone and the screen will be all black with nothing but the notification bar showing.
The media scanner is constantly running.
No gsm is detected.
I keeps vibrating after touching the screen.
No amount of turning it on and off gets it past that state.
It just randomly decided to start working on its own.
Any Ideas?
Should I unRoot my phone. I don't want to,
I'm still researching changing the bootanimation, (waiting for a Portal 2 theme, also researching how to do it myself).
SOS guys.
sorry if tldr.
I would suggest restoring your phone back to stock Via Odin, and starting fresh. The problem you most likely had is that you updated to Froyo through Kie's while your phone was rooted.
Or, at the very least do a factory reset on your phone.
But if you need to go the Odin route, just search the forum, can't miss it.
oh wow, I didn't know that was an issue updating while rooted. I must have missed something while reading (so many threads -_-).
Guess I have some more light reading to do...
thanks.
Did a little research, should I unroot my phone first before factory reset? or is there a method that will take care of removing the root?

[Q] "Insert sim card" error :(

Hi
Recently my S2 just stopped reading my SIM when I was going to call someone. Since then it has refused to read my SIM, or any other SIM for that matter.
To fix this problem I've tried resetting the phone to factory settings (in 3 different ways ( hard-reset.com/samsung-i9100-galaxy-s2-hard-reset.html )) with no luck.
I've also tried installing alternative ROM's, but with the same result.
The phone was already rooted with an insecure kernel when this happened, so warranty is long gone.
Though, one thing I did realize was that even though I did hard-reset the phone several times, some of the settings on the phone remained untouched, like my locking pattern and a few other settings. Does this mean that hard-resetting the phone isn't really an actual hard-reset? If that's so, is there any way to properly 100% reset the phone?
In short; I'm running out of options on how to fix this. I refuse to believe it's hardware related, just because I'm stubborn like that.
Any help would be greatly appreciated (really).
Habitats said:
Hi
Recently my S2 just stopped reading my SIM when I was going to call someone. Since then it has refused to read my SIM, or any other SIM for that matter.
To fix this problem I've tried resetting the phone to factory settings (in 3 different ways ( hard-reset.com/samsung-i9100-galaxy-s2-hard-reset.html )) with no luck.
I've also tried installing alternative ROM's, but with the same result.
The phone was already rooted with an insecure kernel when this happened, so warranty is long gone.
Though, one thing I did realize was that even though I did hard-reset the phone several times, some of the settings on the phone remained untouched, like my locking pattern and a few other settings. Does this mean that hard-resetting the phone isn't really an actual hard-reset? If that's so, is there any way to properly 100% reset the phone?
In short; I'm running out of options on how to fix this. I refuse to believe it's hardware related, just because I'm stubborn like that.
Any help would be greatly appreciated (really).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can refuse to believe in gravity too, but falling from high distances will still hurt.
If you tried more than one SIM in the phone and none work, but those same SIMs work in other phones, than more than likely, it is hardware related.
Did you check you imei?
078gregory brings up a good point. So if it's not missing IMEI info, THEN it's likely hardware.
Isn't it funny how everything suddenly works itself out once you cry out for help?
Today I've been trying around 10 different ROM's on the phone. Custom and stock. As one last attempt I gave a random ICS 4.0.3 march ROM a last try, and guess what. I got the SIM prompt. I can not believe it. So yeah, it's working now. I have no idea what caused it, but I believe the phone was stuck in flight mode somehow, and just needed an extra push to get out.
Either way, it's working like a charm now. Thanks for the replies though.
Habitats said:
Isn't it funny how everything suddenly works itself out once you cry out for help?
Today I've been trying around 10 different ROM's on the phone. Custom and stock. As one last attempt I gave a random ICS 4.0.3 march ROM a last try, and guess what. I got the SIM prompt. I can not believe it. So yeah, it's working now. I have no idea what caused it, but I believe the phone was stuck in flight mode somehow, and just needed an extra push to get out.
Either way, it's working like a charm now. Thanks for the replies though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don,t forget to press THANKS button on ctomgee
Hi people. I have the same problem Habitats decribes. Mi s2 is stuck in flightmode and cant get out! i have reset the phone in every kind of way but no succes. Now i read here on this forum that flashing my phone to ICS 4.0.3 can help solve the problem. I'm on 2.3.6 now. This flightmode thing happened al over sudden. I have done nothing strange with the phone. Its not rooted either. I was planning to go to a samsung servicepoint and let them check whats wrong. But now i read this thread and see that i can relate to this problem of Habitats. I think a also will try to flash ICS 4.0.3 and watch what happens. But theres another problem. KIES don't recognize my phone anymore so what can i do? Can someone please help me out? Thanks in advance
I'm having the exact same problem, could you please tell me which rom worked for you Habitats? Thanks in advance!
Update:Last tuesday i went to the vodafone store were they have a samsung service department also. I explained my problem to them but they don't seem to recognize the problem. Although i read that many people here at xda's and over the internet have similar issues with this phone.Strange! So they sent it to the repair centre. Yesterday i could see in the track and trace menu of the repair centre that my fone was ready and send back to the vodafone store. Status: Boardswap. So they swapped the whole board! Didn't know that the problem was that serious! So i hope i can pickup my galaxy s2 soon this coming week!! I can't wait!I'm on my old HTC Touch HD now. Its ok with the windows but on Android....Arggghh!! Whatsapp is a pain and more. Its so laggy!. I will give an update soon again!

[Q] [SGP 4.2] Random Shut Down

I've had the SGP 4.2 since August (North American version) and have become very fond of it. Although I've followed most of the dev areas, I have never rooted or installed any recovery, custom roms, etc...so it's on the stock Android 2.3.6 with 2.6.35.7 kernel and build number GINGERBREAD.UELD3. I have only installed things from the play store and amazon app store.
Sometime in the past week it has started shutting down randomly. Most times I notice when picking it up after hours of standby and it's fully off and need to boot up. A few times it has happened while in use - it just turns off. The battery level doesn't seem to matter, it can happen at 99%, 5%, and anywhere between.
Is there any way to tell if this is a hardware problem vs a software problem? Any other thoughts? I've not seen this problem in other threads, or at least not when running everything stock.
maybe a hardware issue.
see if samsung will fix/replace it
imgthat said:
I've had the SGP 4.2 since August (North American version) and have become very fond of it. Although I've followed most of the dev areas, I have never rooted or installed any recovery, custom roms, etc...so it's on the stock Android 2.3.6 with 2.6.35.7 kernel and build number GINGERBREAD.UELD3. I have only installed things from the play store and amazon app store.
Sometime in the past week it has started shutting down randomly. Most times I notice when picking it up after hours of standby and it's fully off and need to boot up. A few times it has happened while in use - it just turns off. The battery level doesn't seem to matter, it can happen at 99%, 5%, and anywhere between.
Is there any way to tell if this is a hardware problem vs a software problem? Any other thoughts? I've not seen this problem in other threads, or at least not when running everything stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that was happening to me too. i just bought mine from best buy about 1.5 months ago. everything was fine, mine also wasnt ever rooted or flashed anything - just oem with playstore apps. then every now and then after about a month of having it, it would turn off and on by itself (only if it was idle though, without me touching it) its never happend to me while i was messin around with it. and then it started freezin up on me and gettin really laggy at times with certain programs but it was random and i couldnt reproduce it to try and pinpoint the program that was causing it. but then i read up on rooting it and the benefits of root and cwm and backingup everything and roms and since then, everythings perfect. better than new as a matter of fact. so in my opinion, you owe it to yourself to root your device so you can make changes to your lil buddy. i made sure i learned all about rooting and flashing and backups etc first though so i can do it safely. i mean, cmon i dont know about you but i paid alot of money for mine which is why i owed it to myself to 'safely' release the full potential of my device. :cyclops:
Totally agree that I want to start to release the full potential, thats' whay I've been poking aorund here for months (and tinering with my Acer tablet is getting old). My hesitation to start down that path is if there's a hardware issue I don't want to compound the inevitable probelms and end up with an out of warranty bricked device
Maybe I'll see what Samsung says. Like the previous poster - i can't directly replicate the issue so perhaps they won't replace, I'll see and update this post accordingly.
imgthat said:
Totally agree that I want to start to release the full potential, thats' whay I've been poking aorund here for months (and tinering with my Acer tablet is getting old). My hesitation to start down that path is if there's a hardware issue I don't want to compound the inevitable probelms and end up with an out of warranty bricked device
Maybe I'll see what Samsung says. Like the previous poster - i can't directly replicate the issue so perhaps they won't replace, I'll see and update this post accordingly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well one of the good things bout this forum is that it explains how to un-brick our devices if it happens. it was kind of intimidating at first for me too as this is the first android ive ever rooted and flashed diff roms. but as long as you make backups thru titanium and also a nand backup thru cwm and then use roms and kernals specifically made for your device that have been tried and tested and retried....then you really have nothing to worry about. and i also read somewhere that if you flash it yourself and somehow manage to brick your device, you can flash everything back to stock so your warranty wont be voided anymore - i could be wrong but im almost positive ive read that somewhere.

[Requesting Help] [Noob] Flash Stock Firmware on SM-935A (AT&T)

Hello, all! I recently got a brand new Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge AT&T Model (SM-935A) from Best Buy, and I somehow decided to root it (Me being an iPhone user, I don't know anything about Android). Anyway, I ended up rooting the phone, and later, a Samsung Update popped up. Right after I denied it, my main apps (Caller ID Name, and Google Play Store) began to crash and fail to start up at all. Nothing was working as all apps were crashing. When I pushed restart on the phone, it booted through the 'custom' logo, then to the AT&T logo, where it stayed like that for hours. I noticed how hot the phone turned and put it in the refrigerator (After all, the phone is waterproof, right? ;_. I searched on the internet, and there I found that I could full-wipe the phone out, which seemed reasonable to me, as I had not completely decked out the phone, yet. So after full-resetting the phone, I still saw the 'custom' logo, and all of my content was gone. As usual, I downloaded, and put back all of my accounts, and soon enough, another update came round, and my phone broke down... Again. So I repeated that step of wiping out my phone again. This happened about 3 more times until I decided to flash-fix my phone, or something akin to that term. I downloaded the required files of ODIN and software from this website, but instead, it still failed with the 'ODIN protocol version failed!' error. I do not understand this issue nor do I know how to fix it. I hear that XDA is the world's best developers at Android or something so I have come here as a FINAL RESORT! Thank you for reading, and to whoever may know, please help! (If you need pictures, I will be happy to post them!)

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