[Q] Encryption Unsuccessful - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
Today, I came back home and put my phone on my desk.
I went outside the room for a couple minutes, and when I came back, the phone was turned off.
I thought the battery got emptied, so I plugged the phone to the charger. The phone turned on, but instead of my custom start screen, the default Cyanogenmod screen was up.
Then, I got the "Encryption Unsuccessful" message, saying the only way to recover my phone is to wipe it and hope google backed enough stuff.
Now, I still haven't used the button on the bottom of the screen. I went to the recovery mode, thinking maybe I could back up stuff before I wipe everything.
My question is: Is there a way to restore back my phone without wiping everything? I tried to back everything up to the SD card, but the backup stopped once it reached the /data folder, which I assume, is the source of the problem. Can the problem be solved by formatting the /data folder from the recovery mode? I also currently don't have any clockwork backups, thus I cannot use recovery to restore everything to the way it was.
Please help, I have very important information on my phone and I'd hate to lose it.

The data folder is where all your information is stored. There are many threads where people have tried to recover data from a brick, I've not heard a single success.
You could just try flashing the exact same rom you already had, without a wipe. That might cure any system issues but won't help corrupt data.
It sounds like your phone has suffered a partition corruption or failure.

boomboomer said:
The data folder is where all your information is stored. There are many threads where people have tried to recover data from a brick, I've not heard a single success.
You could just try flashing the exact same rom you already had, without a wipe. That might cure any system issues but won't help corrupt data.
It sounds like your phone has suffered a partition corruption or failure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what could possibly cause that?
As I said, I didn't do anything special or risky to the phone. The Cyanogenmod has been installed on it for a year and a half, so I don't think that's the problem.
Is there a way to extract some folders from the phone? I tried to plug it with a USB to the computer, but aside from the name, all information is unknown.
Also, will flashing the exact same rom will work? And what do you mean by "won't help corrupt data"? How do I know which data is corrupted?
And as I asked, will formatting the /data folder through the recovery mode will work? Can it cause damage?
I'm sorry for asking so many questions, I'm trying to be really careful with that and I need to fully know what I'm doing.
Thank you for replying.

Try ADB pull or aroma file manager in recovery, but if data partition is corrupt then your data is already lost.

boomboomer said:
Try ADB pull or aroma file manager in recovery, but if data partition is corrupt then your data is already lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says "device not found". does that mean my data is lost?
And can you please answer my other questions?
Thank you for your help.
Edit: In case I do have to reset my phone, can someone guide me how to do it step by step?
I don't want something to mess up and get no help or wait hours for an answer.

FlyingPotato said:
or wait hours for an answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take it to a service centre and pay them to help you.

okay nvm, I used the button on the bottom and it did the trick.
I should probably start backing up things more often because right now I use a backup from a year ago.
Thank you for your help.

Related

[Q] Very odd problem related to efs

Update:
Well, I tried flashing a GB official ROM (I was on CM9) and Odin got stuck on "NAND write start", and any other ROM I try does the same thing. I now only boot into download mode or a screen that says something along the lines of "Firmware update failed, use Kies recovery mode". Is my phone completely screwed? If so what are my repair options given that I'm in the US and I bought the unlocked international version off of Amazon through a reseller (I believe it was originally a French phone) last July?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So yesterday I got the odd 'Encryption Unsuccessful' error (phone only boots into screen saying: Encryption Unsuccessful, you have to reset...) after my phone ran mysteriously low on battery, rebooting, everything crashing, pulling out the battery and rebooting again.
I did a factory reset/data wipe from within CWM, and the phone would boot up normally, but I got no cell service. I checked in settings, and the baseband was listed as 'Unknown' as well as the IMEI. I had a look in the /efs folder and it was empty except for two more empty folders, 'bluetooth' and 'wifi'.
My problem now is that regardless of what I add or remove to /efs, or if I restore it from a backup, it always resets itself after boot to just contain those two empty folders 'bluetooth' and 'wifi', and the baseband and IMEI are still unknown.
Any help would be much appreciated!
AUAnonymous said:
So yesterday I got the odd 'Encryption Unsuccessful' error (phone only boots into screen saying: Encryption Unsuccessful, you have to reset...) after my phone ran mysteriously low on battery, rebooting, everything crashing, pulling out the battery and rebooting again.
I did a factory reset/data wipe from within CWM, and the phone would boot up normally, but I got no cell service. I checked in settings, and the baseband was listed as 'Unknown' as well as the IMEI. I had a look in the /efs folder and it was empty except for two more empty folders, 'bluetooth' and 'wifi'.
My problem now is that regardless of what I add or remove to /efs, or if I restore it from a backup, it always resets itself after boot to just contain those two empty folders 'bluetooth' and 'wifi', and the baseband and IMEI are still unknown.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[GUIDE] Recover your IMEI in 9 steps.
(Found in the General section via a Google search...)
ctomgee said:
[GUIDE] Recover your IMEI in 9 steps.
(Found in the General section via a Google search...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh sorry I should have mentioned I've tried that as well as many other efs recovery tools. I can't follow that guide because step 4 is "go to EFS folder using root explorer, and delete 'nv_data.bin', 'nv_data.bin.md5'", but there are no such files automatically generated like it says. Thanks though.
AUAnonymous said:
Oh sorry I should have mentioned I've tried that as well as many other efs recovery tools. I can't follow that guide because step 4 is "go to EFS folder using root explorer, and delete 'nv_data.bin', 'nv_data.bin.md5'", but there are no such files automatically generated like it says. Thanks though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you read the whole thread? Specifically, check out pages 5 & 6.
Well, I tried flashing a GB official ROM (I was on CM9) and Odin got stuck on "NAND write start", and any other ROM I try does the same thing. I now only boot into download mode or a screen that says something along the lines of "Firmware update failed, use Kies recovery mode". Is my phone completely screwed? If so what are my repair options given that I'm in the US and I bought the unlocked international version off of Amazon through a reseller (I believe it was originally a French phone) last July?
AUAnonymous said:
Well, I tried flashing a GB official ROM (I was on CM9) and Odin got stuck on "NAND write start", and any other ROM I try does the same thing. I now only boot into download mode or a screen that says something along the lines of "Firmware update failed, use Kies recovery mode". Is my phone completely screwed? If so what are my repair options given that I'm in the US and I bought the unlocked international version off of Amazon through a reseller (I believe it was originally a French phone) last July?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing you say here convinces me you read what I had to say, and actually read those pages. Because they would have led you to tools you don't mention, that could have helped you.
ctomgee said:
Nothing you say here convinces me you read what I had to say, and actually read those pages. Because they would have led you to tools you don't mention, that could have helped you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me I've tried using GSII_Repair, HC-k Tool, EFS Pro, reformatting 'mmcblk0p1' via adb and via an on the phone terminal emulator and doing a bunch of other stuff, and while I really do appreciate your help (no one else has even suggested anything , and it's understandable that you're probably used to dealing with idiots, 11 year olds and people that barely speak English), it seems like my problem goes deeper than simply the efs folder being messed up somehow (which I think the original "Encryption Unsuccessful" error points to as well). At any rate, the problem now is not being able to flash a ROM using Odin, and the more I try the more I'm thinking that I'm basically screwed. And before you ask, I've gone through a lot of this thread already, as well as tried other random purported solutions, but any suggestions are definitely welcome.
AUAnonymous said:
Trust me I've tried using GSII_Repair, HC-k Tool, EFS Pro, reformatting 'mmcblk0p1' via adb and via an on the phone terminal emulator and doing a bunch of other stuff, and while I really do appreciate your help (no one else has even suggested anything , and it's understandable that you're probably used to dealing with idiots, 11 year olds and people that barely speak English), it seems like my problem goes deeper than simply the efs folder being messed up somehow (which I think the original "Encryption Unsuccessful" error points to as well). At any rate, the problem now is not being able to flash a ROM using Odin, and the more I try the more I'm thinking that I'm basically screwed. And before you ask, I've gone through a lot of this thread already, as well as tried other random purported solutions, but any suggestions are definitely welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, sorry. Unfortunately, for the most part, I do find myself dealing with the group you describe.
Well if you've done the "fix unflashable" thread already... Hmm. I don't know then. When you say you're not able to flash, what do you mean, exactly?
ctomgee said:
Yeah, sorry. Unfortunately, for the most part, I do find myself dealing with the group you describe.
Well if you've done the "fix unflashable" thread already... Hmm. I don't know then. When you say you're not able to flash, what do you mean, exactly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well everything is fine in Odin until it gets to "NAND write start", which it never gets past (I've left it overnight). I've tried different ROMs, repartitioning, a different USB cable and everything else I could think of but I've really given up all hope now .
If it keeps failing at NAND write, NAND is stuffed. Service centre job. JTAG repair won't fix it & a person who normally does JTAGs won't be able to fix it at all unless they're able to swap out the NAND.
Well thanks for the confirmation at least :/ looks like I might be getting the GSIII seeing as I can get it on contract at the discounted price. The only downside being that I'll have to get a limited data plan and that the $700 I spent on this one go down the drain unless I can repair it...
AUAnonymous said:
Well everything is fine in Odin until it gets to "NAND write start", which it never gets past (I've left it overnight). I've tried different ROMs, repartitioning, a different USB cable and everything else I could think of but I've really given up all hope now .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I had a similar problem with not being able to write a kernel, and ending up with the logo and thebn black screen.
The way I fixed it was to use the Recovery Mode to reflash the rom that I had last working. (in my case it was wannamlites stock ICS). After that I was able to then flash back to my previous Gingerbread Custom rom using CWM's restore function.
Q) You didn't happen to use CWM Touch recovery did you?
*** there is a known issue with CWM touch recovery (which is built on an ICS base) and certain emmc (internal sdcard) firmware id
which could result in the flash being corrupted in a way that can't be fixed outside of the factory.
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1648362
By the way, if your phone does boot, can you dial *#1234# and tell me what the H/W is reported as. Mine currently says "unknown"
centuriondan said:
Hi, I had a similar problem with not being able to write a kernel, and ending up with the logo and thebn black screen.
The way I fixed it was to use the Recovery Mode to reflash the rom that I had last working. (in my case it was wannamlites stock ICS). After that I was able to then flash back to my previous Gingerbread Custom rom using CWM's restore function.
Q) You didn't happen to use CWM Touch recovery did you?
*** there is a known issue with CWM touch recovery (which is built on an ICS base) and certain emmc (internal sdcard) firmware id
which could result in the flash being corrupted in a way that can't be fixed outside of the factory.
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1648362
By the way, if your phone does boot, can you dial *#1234# and tell me what the H/W is reported as. Mine currently says "unknown"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice but unfortunately I can't boot into recovery, only download mode., and I wasn't using CWM touch beforehand. It didn't even break when I was flashing a ROM, just when I was using the phone normally. I'm going to be in Europe in a couple weeks and I'll be able to take it in to a repair center where it's still under warranty. All I need to do is to use a USB Jig to reset the counter back to 0 so they'll work on it.
Have you tried Heimdall:
And I'd suggest reinstalling CM9. I found that when I had issues re-installing the kernel that I had to go back to the last working rom (ICS based) b4 I could downgrade.
The fact that you can't get into recovery indicates that either the primary or secondary bootloader is corrupted. Try flashing them again with the CM9 versions. Use the USB jig to get into download mode everytime you do flashing so that if you trash it further the counter is always zero. Also use the original USB cable with no hubs in between the phone and computer, and remove any other usb devices plugged in too.
BTW What was the result of *#1234* HW version?
i've read through all the posts from this topic. mine situation is slightly different.
I"m able to flash to any ROM. I can jump from gingerbread to ICS or vice versa with Odin.
When i type *#06#, it always show "unknown imei" no matter which firmware i'm on.
when i checked in EFS folder, i only have 2 folders : bluetooth and wifi.
I've tried to copy EFS files from people from this forum and paste into the phone's EFS. As soon as i restart the phone, back to 2 folders in its again.
any solution?
aznboix said:
i've read through all the posts from this topic. mine situation is slightly different.
I"m able to flash to any ROM. I can jump from gingerbread to ICS or vice versa with Odin.
When i type *#06#, it always show "unknown imei" no matter which firmware i'm on.
when i checked in EFS folder, i only have 2 folders : bluetooth and wifi.
I've tried to copy EFS files from people from this forum and paste into the phone's EFS. As soon as i restart the phone, back to 2 folders in its again.
any solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=17587351, but I see you claim to have tried this already. If it didn't work, you'll need to take it to service.
BTW, the efs folder from another phone won't help you. IMEI is unique to each phone.
i dont have any files in EFS excepte the two folders that i mentioned above. Can't even start the procedures.
Service centre job, or contact Odia via PM & he might be able to recover it for you (for the cost of a case of beer).

Hmm. No boot.

Well well. I know it may surprise you to see me here
I was messing with busybox, trying to update it. Apparently I did something wrong and the phone doesn't boot now. It'll go on the bootanimation, but at the very end, JUST before the menu softkeys lights come up, it instantly crashes and returns to the splash screen and the cycle is repeated.
Anything I can do to restore it back to an usable state, without losing the data I have on the phone? I know how to make it work again, that's really easy, but what I don't know how, is to make it work again without losing data.
I mean, busybox update seemed safe enough >_> Then it broke everything else.
Oh well, any answers would be appreciated.
Just a thought, no expert here but I've made changes to my phone tht caused me to get stuck and I've gone into recovery-restore-advanced restore and just restored the system part and its gotten me back to a running state.
I'm also thinking if you make a nandroid of your current state then try and fix the issue at least you can always have tht to go back to if someone gets you a better answer.
Wish you the best of luck, I hate having to wipe too!
I was born in Darkness.....
chozyn said:
Just a thought, no expert here but I've made changes to my phone tht caused me to get stuck and I've gone into recovery-restore-advanced restore and just restored the system part and its gotten me back to a running state.
I'm also thinking if you make a nandroid of your current state then try and fix the issue at least you can always have tht to go back to if someone gets you a better answer.
Wish you the best of luck, I hate having to wipe too!
I was born in Darkness.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't work, but it was a good idea actually. I didn't have a recent backup. Didn't make one, as I thought busybox would be easy enough and wouldn't affect much. Oops.
Man, I'm having such bad luck today... First, I accidentally deleted few gigs of stuff off my computer. Then my phone gets messed up due to something I did in busybox. Gee, what's next?
Damn....going out on a limb here but what if you back up your rom in its current not booting state. Then wipe and do a fresh install of the same Rom-backup the fresh install.
Afterwards flash the not booting backup you made and then do the advanced restore using the system IMG from the fresh install to see if it will boot?
Sorry thinking in layman's terms here.
I was born in Darkness.....
Flash the Rom over your brick it should boot back up. Busy box writes the files in /system/xbin (If I remember) so when you reflash the Rom you're using it writes everything back to normal. Just don't do a wipe and you should be good.
Anything that was changed in /system will be reset to original.. so if you had GNow it'll have to be reinstalled. Same thing with any other files in /system.
chozyn said:
Damn....going out on a limb here but what if you back up your rom in its current not booting state. Then wipe and do a fresh install of the same Rom-backup the fresh install.
Afterwards flash the not booting backup you made and then do the advanced restore using the system IMG from the fresh install to see if it will boot?
Sorry thinking in layman's terms here.
I was born in Darkness.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually thought of this, but for some reason, it doesn't work. It still gets hard bootloops.
Double0EK said:
Flash the Rom over your brick it should boot back up. Busy box writes the files in /system/xbin (If I remember) so when you reflash the Rom you're using it writes everything back to normal. Just don't do a wipe and you should be good.
Anything that was changed in /system will be reset to original.. so if you had GNow it'll have to be reinstalled. Same thing with any other files in /system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought of this before I did anything, but apparently it affected the /data too (The files inside there are intact, but something there is not allowing my phone to boot), thus continuing the hard bootloops.
I'm befuddled. I will have to figure this out later. For now, I just made a backup of the non-working ROM and wiped everything and flashed a ROM on it. I'll figure out what parts of /data to transfer back later. I needed a functioning phone, so yeah
Thanks for the help. If anyone else has any other good ideas, I'll try them out.
Keylogger_0 said:
I actually thought of this, but for some reason, it doesn't work. It still gets hard bootloops.
Thought of this before I did anything, but apparently it affected the /data too (The files inside there are intact, but something there is not allowing my phone to boot), thus continuing the hard bootloops.
I'm befuddled. I will have to figure this out later. For now, I just made a backup of the non-working ROM and wiped everything and flashed a ROM on it. I'll figure out what parts of /data to transfer back later. I needed a functioning phone, so yeah
Thanks for the help. If anyone else has any other good ideas, I'll try them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What rom are you using?
Grab that rom, in a zip file preferably, modify the updater script to not write to the data partition, wipe all partitions except data, flash and reboot.
Fix permissions and wipe caches if needed.

[Q] I can't delete, or put anything on my atrix.

Hi, this is my first thread.. I'm from Argentina so i'm sorry for my bad english..
I've problems with my atrix ATT.
Since a week i've been tried with GB roms and ICS, JB, but yesterday, I realise that couldn't erase anything, i tried to erase internal memory from the phone, even from the computer.. It looks like it makes the erase, but when I rebooted the phone, everything it's like before..
I tried Wipe data, wipe cache, wipe dalvick, and when i reboot, again, nothing happened.. It's just like before was.. I tried erase with scripts, with fastboot, but nothing.. I tried to flash some rom's again but i couldn't..The phone flash the roms, but when it starts, it starts like before, nothing changes.. The phone is working, and fine, but, i can't change roms or put files into the internal memory because when i unplugged the phone from the computer, the files are not there.. It's like the internal memory is in only read mode or i don't know..
When i tried to restore my nandroid (in other times it worked fine) when must to restore data it says Error while formatting /data! .. I tried from advanced in format data, but it says Error formatting /data.. I know that i can't flash the original firmware because i've unlocked the bootloader, so I beg you for a solution.
I really would appreciate your answers, and more if they are in basic english... hahaha
PD: i think it's in the correct section, i apologize if it's not there..
Root?
Tomicasta said:
Hi, this is my first thread.. I'm from Argentina so i'm sorry for my bad english..
I've problems with my atrix ATT.
Since a week i've been tried with GB roms and ICS, JB, but yesterday, I realise that couldn't erase anything, i tried to erase internal memory from the phone, even from the computer.. It looks like it makes the erase, but when I rebooted the phone, everything it's like before..
I tried Wipe data, wipe cache, wipe dalvick, and when i reboot, again, nothing happened.. It's just like before was.. I tried erase with scripts, with fastboot, but nothing.. I tried to flash some rom's again but i couldn't..The phone flash the roms, but when it starts, it starts like before, nothing changes.. The phone is working, and fine, but, i can't change roms or put files into the internal memory because when i unplugged the phone from the computer, the files are not there.. It's like the internal memory is in only read mode or i don't know..
When i tried to restore my nandroid (in other times it worked fine) when must to restore data it says Error while formatting /data! .. I tried from advanced in format data, but it says Error formatting /data.. I know that i can't flash the original firmware because i've unlocked the bootloader, so I beg you for a solution.
I really would appreciate your answers, and more if they are in basic english... hahaha
PD: i think it's in the correct section, i apologize if it's not there..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have root access? and if so your apps may be stored on your sd card wich would cause them to stay after a data wipe.
fastboot erase everything except radio , including sdcards and do frash nandroid . Maybe it could help !
justinkeck said:
Do you have root access? and if so your apps may be stored on your sd card wich would cause them to stay after a data wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, i have, but if i erase a file with root explorer or astro or even from de computer, when the phone reboots, it appears again..
ashupulse said:
fastboot erase everything except radio , including sdcards and do frash nandroid . Maybe it could help !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried with fastboot, but nothing happens either ..
It seems very likely this is a hardware failure. Not sure there's anything you can do, other than send it in for repairs...
In which case they will very likely either replace the motherboard or just give you a new phone, in both cases you might end up with a nonunlockable BL.
Sucks, I know.
ravilov said:
It seems very likely this is a hardware failure. Not sure there's anything you can do, other than send it in for repairs...
In which case they will very likely either replace the motherboard or just give you a new phone, in both cases you might end up with a nonunlockable BL.
Sucks, I know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm looking everywhere for a solution, but don't find it.. My warranty is void now, and a change of mother board would be too expensive I think.. I know that this is crazy (having an unlocked atrix 2.3.6), but i think that i don't have other option that trying to flash the .sbf 2.3.6
Do you know someone who did that?
Tomicasta said:
i'm looking everywhere for a solution, but don't find it.. My warranty is void now, and a change of mother board would be too expensive I think.. I know that this is crazy (having an unlocked atrix 2.3.6), but i think that i don't have other option that trying to flash the .sbf 2.3.6
Do you know someone who did that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having this exact same problem
Epinter cm10
cannot format, cannot flash, errors while booted up
It looks like a problem with mounting data drive, or some problem with the data portion itself.
When i wipe, nothing happens, if I try wiping individual drives, I get errors when trying to wipe /data and /cache.
If I try rebooting into fastboot, it wont detect it on my PC (and it seems to get stuck at starting protocols on my phone).
All in all, I have no idea what the solution is, or even the problem... but this certainly doesnt sound good :/
sjbayer3 said:
I am having this exact same problem
Epinter cm10
cannot format, cannot flash, errors while booted up
It looks like a problem with mounting data drive, or some problem with the data portion itself.
When i wipe, nothing happens, if I try wiping individual drives, I get errors when trying to wipe /data and /cache.
If I try rebooting into fastboot, it wont detect it on my PC (and it seems to get stuck at starting protocols on my phone).
All in all, I have no idea what the solution is, or even the problem... but this certainly doesnt sound good :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been trying with many things, I can use the phone, but i can't save anything.. I tried deleting the partitions by adb but, when I did that, the partitions don't change.. Like you said, i don't know very good what is the problem and less the solution.. I hope someone help us.. If i find a solution, i'm gonna post it here.. please do the same if you fix the problem.

[Q] Atrix Read-Only Problem

hi. i have a real big problem. i delete a file or install a app and when I re-boot my phone it returns to the old situation. i enter the android recovery and i make wipe user data/factory reset, wipe cache partition after that i re-boot my phone and its going to return old situation. I've tried deleting everything, but still was the same. and constantly having to force close error. how can i fixed? what should i do? my atrix is international and rooted.
my english is not very good. i tried to explain myself to you. if you understood what i wrote, i will be happy.
There was a thread or two about this already. No solution though. Most suspect a dying storage, ie. a hardware failure.
Can you paste links of the threads? Thank you for interest.
http://cleanimport.xda/index.php?threads/1967620/
There were more but I can't find them right now for some reason.
help guys please.
i m working on it
thank you. i m waiting for it. please fix it.
Same thing that happened to my HOX (although there it was triggered by a corrupt partition map caused by a kernel bug, I think. /sdcard and /data are overlapping in the partition map. So much for S-On!) I think the eMMC is toast.
Your atrix emmc died. So far, no solution for that problem.
So how can i fix it? Or warranty can fix it?
(My f*ckin mind. I rooted my phone and i cant send the phone to the warranty. I m so sad. Im crying right now guys.)
I assume that you have unlocked bootloader, CWM recovery and custom ROM installed. When you try to restore your previous backup, the phone back to initial state. Same goes to Gobstopper, fastboot and fruitcakes. All these ROM cannot be flashed into your Atrix. I suggest you just try claim for warranty and persuade the service center. Sometime they accept your phone even your phone has been modified.
AeroMiku said:
I assume that you have unlocked bootloader, CWM recovery and custom ROM installed. When you try to restore your previous backup, the phone back to initial state. Same goes to Gobstopper, fastboot and fruitcakes. All these ROM cannot be flashed into your Atrix. I suggest you just try claim for warranty and persuade the service center. Sometime they accept your phone even your phone has been modified.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No my friend. I have not got an unlocked bootloader. Im on the stock 2.3.4 rom. And just rooted for the nebtop app. Please help me.
I m in trouble guys. I definitelly feel terrible.
I had the original post that was linked to you. Came to see if there was anyone else who maybe found a solution.
In general, I would say your phone is toast. There COULD be a solution out there, but I have tried everything I could think of and anything suggested on the boards.
Sometimes if I leave my phone off for a few days, and I turn it on. It functions well for about 3 minutes, and then bam, starts giving me all sorts of read errors and applications start crashing.
I feel like theres a way to solve this, but I am not gonna try hard to do it myself. Once I can afford a new phone... I will buy one.

[Q] Encryption prevents custom ROMs being used

OK so let me start off with, great site. I have read a ton of information.
First: Siyah 4.3.3 (Latest) Kernel which now has been put to AJK v1.48s
ROM; SHOstock3 v2.5.9
PreMod Settings: SGS2 AT&T SGH-i777. Started with GB > AT&T OTA (KIES) 4.0.3 > AT&T OTA WIFI 4.0.4 (caused huge freaking headaches with battery, charging, turn off the phone loop, battery draining, etc.)
Issues:
Original Issue posted in this thread (viewing Single Post) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=39350619&postcount=18
Creepy offered something to try. That never worked as all I was able to do was download mode or stare at the Samsung Galaxy S2 Splash Screen. Well, I took to his download repository and other links and used his One-Click Recovery to stock GB Rom to make part of my phone usable, using this link here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18859438&postcount=199
While it is Gingerbread at least my phone is usable. I want to try his STOCK ICS method but that mentions the eMMC super-brick bug.
So this is what I have tried so far. I have tried installing Siyah 4.3.3 nomswap for my kernel using Mobil-Odin Lite. That works but it never reboots or actually says finished. What it does do is stay at the wicked purple splash with the yin yang symbol. I left it like that last night until I woke up this morning and it never changed. So I rebooted the phone and the Kernel is on there. I reboot into recovery so that I can install SHOstock3 v2.5.9. That goes off flawlessly except here the last few times it won't reboot when I go to the GO BACK. It sticks and doesn't do anything. Rebooting shows the SHOstock3 Engine Boot Animation. Once it stops it goes to ask me for the encryption password. Well I put in my password (was the same one to the unlock screen) and it reboots and you see the nifty Samsung animation logo and then goes to the Samsung Galaxy S2 Animation Logo and then just stays there. It really pisses me off.
So after all that I finally put a new Kernel on there,AJK 1,48s. Pretty cool it loads up and then reboots. Well AJK shows up after the light-blue bar fills up and then goes black and the 4 touch sensitive row keys are lit up for a bit before going dark but the phone is still on. So I rebooted to recovery (CWM now with the Kernel) fixed tweaks, went to advanced and saw all sorts of options. Tried clearing caches for ROM 2 and restarting,no effect. I removed ROM 2 and went through reboot and nothing. Restored ROM 2 and nothing. Re installed SHOstock3 v2.5.9. Did the same thing after install and not backing out when I hit GO BACK. Rebooted, same scenario that happened before with requiring password. Entering password does the same thing with a reboot and then staying on Samsung Splash Screen. If I Don't enter the password and reboot,same thing happens. So after being irritated and pissed off I ran Creepy's One-Click Fix again and paid attention to the phone and noticed it mentioned not being able to access the AT&T section or partition or something like that. So while part of my phone works under normal circumstances I want to figure out how to remove that encryption part of the phone and get full access (even though full memory and space are shown under Windows 7 and the files on the phone). The password I put on there isn't taking and I don't know if using PC methods for removing encryption (which could take awhile I know) needs to be employed (and if so which methods) or if that part is just screwed and I can't put on any other kernels or custom ROMs. Perhaps tell me where I messed up. Should I try swapping the ROMs from Advanced setting in CWM Recovery? Can I try a different ROM (kernel didn't seem to help)? I have done several factory resets dalvik cache wipes cache wipes formats,etc. and it is still there. I can say that before the whole encryption debacle (even though I was encrypted I did get in my phone after encrypting it) my pin unlock for my SIM wouldn't work and I actually SIM locked my phone. Had to go to AT&T and get a new SIM and was up and running. I put a 4 digit pin lock for the SIM (it let me do it) and when I went to unlock it after a reboot, it wanted an 8 pin for the PUK and wouldn't take what I put. I tried to change the PIN but to no avail. Once that happened I guess it snowballed. Any help is appreciated. I have searched and tried some things that looked to match my issue but none have totally helped. I do have ADB set up on my wife's laptop which I use to restore my phone to GB Stock ROM. I haven't been able to reboot the phone into Bootloader to do any fastboot commands as when I tried to do it the commands just sent the phone into normal reboot (though adb reboot recovery does boot to recovery). I Haven't tried booting to the bootloader using the new Kernel though so I will wait for confirmation or additional information before I try. Thanks guys.
Eagle
Couple of comments. Siyah 4.3.3 (and ajk) kernels are for 4.x ICS and JB so that explains why your stock Gingerbread system would not flash after you installed it. If you flash back to stock Gingerbread again, and then flash a custom kernel, use a kernel that is compatible with Gingerbread if you want to boot the system.
After doing a little research, it seems that a wipe data/factory reset will not clear the encryption, but a format data will. This information is not from a Samsung forum; it's from the Droid DNA forum. I'm thinking that the same thing may apply to the I777. See the thread here.
It might be worth a try anyway. Flash stock plus root Gingerbread, install mobile odin or mobile odin lite, and use it to flash Siyah 2.6.14. Boot into recovery and go to the Mounts and Storage section. There you can format data, (and all the other partitions, separately.)
creepyncrawly said:
Couple of comments. Siyah 4.3.3 (and ajk) kernels are for 4.x ICS and JB so that explains why your stock Gingerbread system would not flash after you installed it. If you flash back to stock Gingerbread again, and then flash a custom kernel, use a kernel that is compatible with Gingerbread if you want to boot the system.
After doing a little research, it seems that a wipe data/factory reset will not clear the encryption, but a format data will. This information is not from a Samsung forum; it's from the Droid DNA forum. I'm thinking that the same thing may apply to the I777. See the thread here.
It might be worth a try anyway. Flash stock plus root Gingerbread, install mobile odin or mobile odin lite, and use it to flash Siyah 2.6.14. Boot into recovery and go to the Mounts and Storage section. There you can format data, (and all the other partitions, separately.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much creepy. I will give that a try later and see how it goes. I hope the information I gave actually gives enough info. I know folks usually want enough. Ill post back my findings.
Eagle
quick follow up and what I tried
creepyncrawly said:
Couple of comments. Siyah 4.3.3 (and ajk) kernels are for 4.x ICS and JB so that explains why your stock Gingerbread system would not flash after you installed it. If you flash back to stock Gingerbread again, and then flash a custom kernel, use a kernel that is compatible with Gingerbread if you want to boot the system.
After doing a little research, it seems that a wipe data/factory reset will not clear the encryption, but a format data will. This information is not from a Samsung forum; it's from the Droid DNA forum. I'm thinking that the same thing may apply to the I777. See the thread here.
It might be worth a try anyway. Flash stock plus root Gingerbread, install mobile odin or mobile odin lite, and use it to flash Siyah 2.6.14. Boot into recovery and go to the Mounts and Storage section. There you can format data, (and all the other partitions, separately.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Creepy, I have a quick follow up and want to tell you what I have tried.
So I had already used Kies to move to AT&T v 4.0.4 ICS on my phone when I read your post. Rather than flashback again to GB I went ahead and put Siyah 4.3.3 on my phone. Went great, rebooted and installed quick and everything. Well I rebooted into recovery and went to mounts and storage and formatted the data and all that there and even formatted the secondrom data and all that. Did it a couple times to make sure everything was clean and good to go. Even put AJKs kernel on there after I ran the cleanrom script and it went flawlessly. I did factory resets and wipes and all that and installed SHOstock3 v2.5.9 and started up great. Well it got past the animation and the damn Password for encryption popped up. Well I put the wrong password in and it rebooted without the SAMSUNG screen and went through the boot ani and back to the password for encryption screen. I put the right password in, it reboots and you see the Samsung logo flash quickly and then it sticks on the Samsung Galaxy S2 Splash screen. I don't know what is holding it up from going forward unless when I messed up the first go around and it deleted everything if it didn't take out the bootload command or what have you. So I don't know if this idea will work but I am going to flashback to GB and put the siyah version on there that you linked and see if that will work.
One tihng, when Iencrypted the device the first go round, I onlydid the used data and area not the whole thing. Is this affecting it somehow? Any other ideas to try? I figured a full data format would remove the encryption but it never pops up saying all encryption will be removed. What I need is access to that area of the phone if I could just mount it on the computer. Is it possible after formatting the data, or before, that I should mount internal USB, DATA, etc and try another format/wipe or at least mount them to see if they can be used? Thanks for the help. For anyone else viewing this post (which actually is a lot) any help or ideas are appreciated. I am thinking I may need to format everything and get ahold of Samsung to see if they will reset my phone for me. I just wonder if the PIN lock on my SIM card that got locked when it wouldn't take my PIN didn't mess something up as well.
Eagle
WarEagleUS said:
Hey Creepy, I have a quick follow up and want to tell you what I have tried.
So I had already used Kies to move to AT&T v 4.0.4 ICS on my phone when I read your post. Rather than flashback again to GB I went ahead and put Siyah 4.3.3 on my phone. Went great, rebooted and installed quick and everything. Well I rebooted into recovery and went to mounts and storage and formatted the data and all that there and even formatted the secondrom data and all that. Did it a couple times to make sure everything was clean and good to go. Even put AJKs kernel on there after I ran the cleanrom script and it went flawlessly. I did factory resets and wipes and all that and installed SHOstock3 v2.5.9 and started up great. Well it got past the animation and the damn Password for encryption popped up. Well I put the wrong password in and it rebooted without the SAMSUNG screen and went through the boot ani and back to the password for encryption screen. I put the right password in, it reboots and you see the Samsung logo flash quickly and then it sticks on the Samsung Galaxy S2 Splash screen. I don't know what is holding it up from going forward unless when I messed up the first go around and it deleted everything if it didn't take out the bootload command or what have you. So I don't know if this idea will work but I am going to flashback to GB and put the siyah version on there that you linked and see if that will work.
One tihng, when Iencrypted the device the first go round, I onlydid the used data and area not the whole thing. Is this affecting it somehow? Any other ideas to try? I figured a full data format would remove the encryption but it never pops up saying all encryption will be removed. What I need is access to that area of the phone if I could just mount it on the computer. Is it possible after formatting the data, or before, that I should mount internal USB, DATA, etc and try another format/wipe or at least mount them to see if they can be used? Thanks for the help. For anyone else viewing this post (which actually is a lot) any help or ideas are appreciated. I am thinking I may need to format everything and get ahold of Samsung to see if they will reset my phone for me. I just wonder if the PIN lock on my SIM card that got locked when it wouldn't take my PIN didn't mess something up as well.
Eagle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should I try TWRP instead of CWM and if so where should I grab it from?
Status Update
So this is what I have tried so far as of this moment.
I reflashed using your Stock + Root Gingerbread ROM.
Wiped DATA and everything in recovery menu several times.
Used Kernel Wipe and ROM Nuke for extra cleaning power.
Reinstalled the Kernel AJK and SHOstock3 ROM
Haven't installed any themes though I had Johns Blue and Villians Poison Base Theme (I believe that is what it is) on there when this all went down. Should I put them back on there?
Password still pops up. So what it looks like is that unless I stick with the unencrypted portion of the phone, I am screwed with any custom ROMs as the correct password has the phone restart and then stick at the Samsung Galaxy S2 Splash Screen. Apparently I still cannot access that area of the phones memory to wipe it at all no matter what I do. I need to access it somehow. Really driving me crazy and thinking I may need to talk with AT&T(as Samsung told me to earlier this morning lol) and see what they can do.
One thing I do notice is when I use your stock root program it actually removes the encryption or decrypts the section of the phone for the stock ROM to go on the phone which is cool.
Eagle
Any other things to try from anyone is greatly appreciated.
Been away all day. Sorry, I can't offer any other suggestions, but I have no experience with encryption. As you said, what you need to know is where the encryption is stored in memory so you can wipe or format that and restore it to original. If you can get to the right person, probably not level 1 tech support, then maybe you can find out. Somebody somewhere knows the answer to this.
would restoring my original EFS before this whole process help or is the encryption section totally blocked off?
WarEagleUS said:
would restoring my original EFS before this whole process help or is the encryption section totally blocked off?
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Click to collapse
I have no idea whether the encryption is stored there. What kind of efs backup did you take?
creepyncrawly said:
Been away all day. Sorry, I can't offer any other suggestions, but I have no experience with encryption. As you said, what you need to know is where the encryption is stored in memory so you can wipe or format that and restore it to original. If you can get to the right person, probably not level 1 tech support, then maybe you can find out. Somebody somewhere knows the answer to this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx bro. yeah I need to run some forensic tools and see if I can mount the whole phone system on my PC and run the tools.
creepyncrawly said:
I have no idea whether the encryption is stored there. What kind of efs backup did you take?
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Click to collapse
a full efs backup. I made two or three actuakky using advanced efs, nitrality, and recovery.
WarEagleUS said:
a full efs backup. I made two or three actuakky using advanced efs, nitrality, and recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A little research indicates that there is quite a bit of stuff stored in efs besides carrier specific data. So maybe encryption could be in there. Of those tools, nitrality for sure and maybe advanced efs should be able to restore the entire efs partition. If you are comfortable with the risk - a damaged efs would render the phone useless - then you might try this to see if it clears up the encryption issue. BTW, you should learn how to back up the efs partition yourself using terminal and linux commands.
creepyncrawly said:
A little research indicates that there is quite a bit of stuff stored in efs besides carrier specific data. So maybe encryption could be in there. Of those tools, nitrality for sure and maybe advanced efs should be able to restore the entire efs partition. If you are comfortable with the risk - a damaged efs would render the phone useless - then you might try this to see if it clears up the encryption issue. BTW, you should learn how to back up the efs partition yourself using terminal and linux commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I should have used ADB to do that from the get go. I should have used the wife's laptop like I started to instead of my WIN 8 machine has it seems to be finicky with Android SDK (the portion at least needed to run ADB). Linux commands really aren't much different than terminal and I have done both. I was actually trying to get fastboot commands to work but my bootloader wasn't cooperating and for the life of me I couldn't find how to unlock it. I may try restoring that EFS. If nothing else I would love to be able to format that EFS and replace it with my original copy though as you said a damaged EFS may actually cause issues (who knows if it is damaged). I do know that I am fixing to chat with AT&T support. I hope I don't have to drive down to Hoover, AL to the repair facility. I would rather them send me a phone and send this one back. I am on stock 4.0.4 ICS from AT&T and any root that may be on there (though I doubt there is now) I can remove and what not
Thanks for the advice and insight Creepy. I know you tried like hell to get me an answer but in doing research on here with other problems I found out some useful information going forward my friend.
Eagle
Well, looks like I will be getting a special early upgrade and the wife will as well. I will be keeping this phone, however, to mess with this and see if I cannot get this problem fixed. Thanks Creepy so much. I appreciate your research and help more than you know. If possible I would love to keep this thread open for a while just in case I figure this out and fix the issue. It may take me a week or so but I will get back to messing with it again.
A side note. You don't need the whole sdk to get adb. You can download just the files you need from my signature.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium

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