I'm trying to get the user files off a phone with corrupted cache. When booted normally, it gets stuck on the white T-Mobile splash screen. When booting into recovery, I get an error about the cache and the phone restarts without loading into recovery. Screenshots attached.
I can get into download mode fine.
Using Odin to flash a custom recovery gives me the PASS message, but when I restart the phone, the stock recovery is still there with the same error message. I've tried TWRP and CWM.
I am hesitant to try flashing a custom ROM because I don't want to lose the data. The phone is not important, but the data is.
firstrival said:
I'm trying to get the user files off a phone with corrupted cache. When booted normally, it gets stuck on the white T-Mobile splash screen. When booting into recovery, I get an error about the cache and the phone restarts without loading into recovery. Screenshots attached.
I can get into download mode fine.
Using Odin to flash a custom recovery gives me the PASS message, but when I restart the phone, the stock recovery is still there with the same error message. I've tried TWRP and CWM.
I am hesitant to try flashing a custom ROM because I don't want to lose the data. The phone is not important, but the data is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont try flashing a custom ROM on to the phone. Try flash the stock ROM through the lastest odin with the lastest drivers and let me know how that works out for ya. Unless that wipes the phone ( havent used it in quite some time) then I have no idea man.
I tried flashing the T399UVUAMJ4 ROM throught Odin. It went through the entire process and rebooted, but nothing changed. Does this mean the bootloader is locked?
firstrival said:
I tried flashing the T399UVUAMJ4 ROM throught Odin. It went through the entire process and rebooted, but nothing changed. Does this mean the bootloader is locked?
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure maybe want to ask someone else I'm not as experienced as some people on here. Sorry man goodluck
I hope someone can help you out. I would say your cache partition somehow got renamed but I'm not sure if thats possible and if so how to fix it. Maybe someone with ADB knowledge can help?
Also what TWRP were you trying to install? I've had problems when I tried to flash older versions
okay so here is a site with the original firmware for the phone. It has both the t399 and the t399n for odin. It has them labeled so its not too confusing lol. http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f200/samsung-t399n-metro-pcs-firmware-here-1899016/
find the one for the t399, flash it with odin. this will fully restore your phone. HOPEFULLY it will be able to save the data. I know you said you did this before but I'm not sure if it was just system or everything like here.
kireflow90 said:
okay so here is a site with the original firmware for the phone. It has both the t399 and the t399n for odin. It has them labeled so its not too confusing lol. http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f200/samsung-t399n-metro-pcs-firmware-here-1899016/
find the one for the t399, flash it with odin. this will fully restore your phone. HOPEFULLY it will be able to save the data. I know you said you did this before but I'm not sure if it was just system or everything like here.
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Click to collapse
So I tried the T399 files. Flashed with no errors, but when it reboots everything is still the same. I've even tried flashing from another computer. Mind boggling!
firstrival said:
So I tried the T399 files. Flashed with no errors, but when it reboots everything is still the same. I've even tried flashing from another computer. Mind boggling!
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply. Its a shame to hear that it didn't work
How did you come to this? as to me it seems the partions have be modified hence why giving those errors I seen similar errors to when users change cache sizes which tends to brick device or from using incorrect pit files.
You never be able to recover data from flashing Odin may be slim chance by custom Rom thru recovery if was a bkup of original system and not selecting data your old data may conflict causing either bootloop or basically stuck on splash screen.
If you was ever able to best way to pull data from device would be thru adb may have a chance.
This phone belongs to a friend of a friend. They said they brought it to T-Mo because it hung up during boot. The store worked on it for a few minutes, but couldn't get it to boot up either. When I tried to go into recovery, they said the store already went into that screen too. They have since bought a new phone, but would like to get the photos off it if possible. They never had an SD card so it's still on the device.
At the moment, I can just go into download mode. I was hoping to flash a custom recovery so I might possibly be able to ADB from there since it won't load the stock recovery.
I have a very similar issue but without "cache error messages". The phone (Samsung Galaxy Light with stock ROM and TWRP) just reboots no matter what I try to flash into it.
It does it while "drawing" the Samsung Logo animation (blue ring that gets created revealing the word samsung), so after the white wrintings of the phone name.
My attempts so far:
1. Flashed newer version of TWRP
2. Flashed CWM
3. Flashed two different versions of stock ROM (the original one and the one that T-Mobile released when upgraded to latest jelly Bean)
4. Flashed a custom ROM (Light ROM found here which is based on the stock one).
EVERY TIME the outcome was the same:
Phone reboots right after the phone name (written in white) while the Samsung animation starts. It just stops while the blue oval begins to appear. If I try to boot into recovery (via home/power/volume up combo) it shows the TWRP splash screen but it reboots right after and this happened even after I flashed (successfully according to Odin) CWM.
It really looks like I did nothing so far but I can assure it's not the first time I use Odin (4 different versions) to flash a custom recovery or a ROM. I did it successfully on other 4 different phones (all samsung).
On this same phone I did it the first time when flashed TWRP in order to root it via recovery.
I have no idea what to do next. I was thinking about using adb in order to wipe all the caches (dalvik included) but it looks like the phone can't be recognized unless I boot it into recovery mode (adb get-state returns "unknown") and I don't think I can do anything in Download mode which is the only mode I can enter apparently.
I was hoping someone here can help me to spare some money buying a new phone for my wife and tossing this one which is the best for its small size imho.
Thank you in advance to anyone interested in at least shading some light on what could have happened. This started to happen out of the blue and the last time I actively modified something (updating the recovery) was almost one year ago... It always worked like a charm until 4 days ago...
EDIT: To clarify: the reason why I posted here is because this looked like a problem the most similar to mine (boot loop or stuck at boot and can't enter either regular or recovery mode). I cannot create new posts due to my low "rank" yet... Please feel free to move this if you think it belongs to a separate thread.
fulgorevinnie said:
I have a very similar issue but without "cache error messages". The phone (Samsung Galaxy Light with stock ROM and TWRP) just reboots no matter what I try to flash into it.
It does it while "drawing" the Samsung Logo animation (blue ring that gets created revealing the word samsung), so after the white wrintings of the phone name.
My attempts so far:
1. Flashed newer version of TWRP
2. Flashed CWM
3. Flashed two different versions of stock ROM (the original one and the one that T-Mobile released when upgraded to latest jelly Bean)
4. Flashed a custom ROM (Light ROM found here which is based on the stock one).
EVERY TIME the outcome was the same:
Phone reboots right after the phone name (written in white) while the Samsung animation starts. It just stops while the blue oval begins to appear. If I try to boot into recovery (via home/power/volume up combo) it shows the TWRP splash screen but it reboots right after and this happened even after I flashed (successfully according to Odin) CWM.
It really looks like I did nothing so far but I can assure it's not the first time I use Odin (4 different versions) to flash a custom recovery or a ROM. I did it successfully on other 4 different phones (all samsung).
On this same phone I did it the first time when flashed TWRP in order to root it via recovery.
I have no idea what to do next. I was thinking about using adb in order to wipe all the caches (dalvik included) but it looks like the phone can't be recognized unless I boot it into recovery mode (adb get-state returns "unknown") and I don't think I can do anything in Download mode which is the only mode I can enter apparently.
I was hoping someone here can help me to spare some money buying a new phone for my wife and tossing this one which is the best for its small size imho.
Thank you in advance to anyone interested in at least shading some light on what could have happened. This started to happen out of the blue and the last time I actively modified something (updating the recovery) was almost one year ago... It always worked like a charm until 4 days ago...
EDIT: To clarify: the reason why I posted here is because this looked like a problem the most similar to mine (boot loop or stuck at boot and can't enter either regular or recovery mode). I cannot create new posts due to my low "rank" yet... Please feel free to move this if you think it belongs to a separate thread.
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Click to collapse
ok so i read all that you have done which is basically everything i would of suggested to you other then could it be the battery may be faulty just random thought noticed you never mentioned trying kies you may have a chance with it beening detected as i see you can enter download mode so that help with odin also kies also have you tried firmware from here sam mobile here T399 or T399N OH2 lastest for tmo and OH3 for metro.
Try to only flash that thru odin i use 3.07 or 3.09 only difference is the pda button changes to AP .works perfect for me so i suggest it then returning back to stock recovery/firmware if it boots then awesome. then return to TWRP 2.8.4.0 beening lastest for this device also needed for CM12 also my projects for device current and future.
when using odin make sure that only “Auto Reboot” and “F. Reset Time” options are selected.
also just note when going into twrp release buttons as soon as you see logo otherwise it will continue to boot thru well happens to me when daydreaming lol.
also if your seeing this adb get-state returns "unknown" i believe installing kies may install the drivers for detection im not postive on that but im sure it something to do with missing the adb driver for device maybe another dev can confirm this ?
hopefully this may be of some help i keep on thread to see how the outcome goes
Thanks for the reply DJBoxer!
Regarding the battery it's a new one and I can confirm it's not a battery problem considering that the phone can stay in download mode and unplugged from any power source for very long times without turning off/rebooting and it never failed to keep the charge so far. I also tried with the old battery and the phone behaves exactly the same way.
I used 3 different versions of Odin (1.87, 3.07 and 3.09) with only “Auto Reboot” and “F. Reset Time” options selected and every time I got the PASS message even though the phone keeps rebooting after the first reboot once the procedure is terminated.
To clarify one thing : when I said "it shows the TWRP splash screen but it reboots right after and this happened even after I flashed CWM" I meant to point out that it looks odd to see the TWRP splash screen (even for just a few seconds) after I just flashed CWM and that makes me think that I'm really not flashing anything here...
Thank you very much for taking the time of posting the links and I actually didn't try with that latest OH2 version.
I am downloading it right now (it takes a while from sammobile) and I will keep you posted on the outcome.
I will try to flash it via Odin and I'll also try the latest version mentioned on sammobile (Odin3_v3.10.7).
Regarding Kies I wasn't able to have it recognize the phone. I may be missing something but I tried updating drivers and going through all the guided procedures with no luck... If you say it should recognize the phone right away while in download mode then something is amiss.
Could you please confirm that I should also be able to use adb commands with the phone connected via USB in download mode? Cause that doesn't look like the case either...
Thank you again and I'll give updates here about my last attempts.
Sorry for the late reply...
Nothing changed by the way...
I am about to send the phone back to the seller who told me they'll try to fix it. Let's see how it goes.
Related
Hello, sorry if this has already been answered but I did look around at similar scenarios and it seems to me that using odin to flash the stock kernel should fix it but on my device, however, it doesn't fix my problem. I beleive what I did was select update firmware from .zip in clockwork on accident. Idk if this is what you consider a "boot loop" because it doesnt restart it just sits there at the black galaxy s2 screen. Any insight would be great. I hate to have to buy a new one as it is quite alot of money. Like I said, sorry if this is already answered but after looking around for hours I still hve had no luck. Thanks in advance, Alex
Can you get into recovery (volume up+home+power) or download mode (volume down+home+power)?
I can get in to download and recovery mode both
The outlook is promising then. Without knowing what you've flashed, it's impossible to say what damage you've done, but if you don't mind losing your data, you can certainly get back to a working state by following [READ THIS] Got a Boot Loop? Don't post a New Thread!.
Before going down that route though, if you do want to keep your data, let us know what you flashed as it might be recoverable (maybe you just flashed the wrong kernel).
I can't say for sure what i flashed but I can say that i either flashed with an update or updated with a kernel??? sound right??? idk. the data isnt near as important to me as the 680 dollars my carrier will charge me for a new s2. Right now im using a junk alcatel tribe and im going through galaxy withdrawls.
Well before flashing anything else, make sure you definitely have an I9100, not some other variant (I notice you mentioned dollars). If you have a different model, you're in the wrong forums and might make things worse by following advice for the I9100.
I was pretty sure that it is the I9100 but i took the battery out and double checked. it IS the I9100
also for what it's worth when going into recovery(stock version) right after the text reading updating application it gives me an error in red. (E:install_application_for_customer:Can't unmount /preload copy application failed) and after the (Appling [yes it really spells it appling] Multi-CSC) it says Can't access to '/system/csc/TTT/system/'. However, the line after it says that it says Successfully applied multi-CSC
My first attempt to get back to a working phone without losing data would be to flash a stock kernel then, have you tried that?
Ok.. done.. but it still sits at the galaxy screen except now it has the triange due to the custom firmware
If that hasn't got you up and running then it's probably time to bite the bullet and follow the instructions from the boot loop thread linked above (which will also remove the triangle).
Maybe you can answer another question for me. When in recovery mode it says apply update from sdcard... why does it say that when it doesnt actually read from the sdcard? i have checked with the sdcard both in and out and the file directory in the recovery mode doesnt change. is it calling the usb storage an sd card?
ok when flashing a stock rom do i use the phone option in odin or the pda still
If you're flashing a stock rom from [ROM+Guide]Official i9100 Firmwares KG, KH1/2/3/4, KI1/2/3/4/8, KJ1/2 Download, then just follow the instructions from there (but usually PDA).
:'( Still wont boot.
What does happen, did any steps fail, any error messages?
Everything went smooth with no errors. No steps failed. Sitting at the boot screen is all it does though
Did you definitely wipe user data? (step 3). The final step of that thread is to try flashing a ROM which wipes, such as (non-stock) VillainROM 1.1.
well... yes i definitely wiped the user data and it was successfull when doing so. I didnt try the villian rom just because I thought that it was an optional thing but i will def. try it now that you bring it up. and hey, i really appreciate the help no matter what the outcome
(VillainROM 1.1 - XWKE7 base) I'm a UHKG7..... is this going to be a problem? just something i noticed and thought I would ask before going ahead
I have a Galaxy S 2, I777 from AT&T. I had been running UnNamed 2.0 for a while. I started messing around with different modem files trying to get my data rate a little higher. When those failed to work, I decided to go back to stock and start from scratch. This is where my trouble begins:
I flashed with ATTGalaxyS2Unroot_SGH-i777.tar using Odin 1.85. I've used that before and all was well. After this flash, I'm stuck in a boot loop. The galaxy s 2 logo just keeps recycling.
I have tried a lot of other items I've found on here in various threads about getting out of a boot loop, but have not been successful. I was able to get to the stock recovery mode, chose to wipe user data and did the "yes I'm sure" option. The phone rebooted and I have not been able to get back to it. When it tries, I get in yellow "deleting cryption meta data" and then the phone reboots.
My last attempt was flashing with i777uckh7-cl503881 full. Odin writes everything, says pass and the phone reboots. After it restarts, it quickly goes through some items:
-- Intalling package...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
Installing update...
Successfuly installed package...
-- Copying media files...
successfully copied meida files (yes, media is misspelled on the screen)
-- Wiping cache...
Formatting /cache...
Cache wipe complete.
--Updating application...
Successfully updated application.
--Appling Multi-CSC...(again yes, applying is mispelled on the screen)
installing Multi-CSC
Can't access to '/system/csc/02U/system/'.
Successfully applied multi-CSC
Rebooting.
then I get the boot loop all over again. I am still able to get to download mode using the volume button, and my jig still boots to download mode too, so I think there's still hope, but I don't know what to do next.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The "deleting cryption meta data" error has been a particularly difficult one to get out of. I only remember seeing one person solve the problem, and I believe that the solution was to flash the siyah kernel. But you may find more details if you search on "deleting cryption meta data xda" or possibly "deleting cryption meta data siyah" as keywords.
Creepyncrawly:
Thank you for your post. I didn't find anything searching for that, but, I downloaded and flashed siyah kernel and was able to get to a recovery mode.
I am now restoring the nandroid backup that I made (luckily I was smart enough to do that) before I started messing with modems and stuff.
We'll see how this goes
you sir are a life saver. I was able to restore the nand backup and boot into the os again.
creepyncrawly said:
The "deleting cryption meta data" error has been a particularly difficult one to get out of. I only remember seeing one person solve the problem, and I believe that the solution was to flash the siyah kernel. But you may find more details if you search on "deleting cryption meta data xda" or possibly "deleting cryption meta data siyah" as keywords.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think (but I'm not sure), but any custom kernel with CWM should be able to do this... It's only the stock kernel that has a recovery which does anything when device encryption is found.
Entropy512 said:
I think (but I'm not sure), but any custom kernel with CWM should be able to do this... It's only the stock kernel that has a recovery which does anything when device encryption is found.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not think of that, but it makes sense now. At the time, I figured I would stop and get help before I made it worse. Why I didn't restore to my backup to begin with is beyond me.
Do you think I could return to stock now, or is it more of a "once you have this problem you always have it" type thing? I'm going to leave it as is for now because it seems to be working fine. There may come a day though when I need to return to stock.
For those who are experiencing the "Deleting Cryption Meta Data" problem, creepyncrawly is correct, it is difficult to solve, but the following steps seem to solve it reliably:
Download and install the I777UCKH7-CL503881 Stock Binaries from creepyncrawly's download repository. Use heimdall or odin to load the stock binaries. You may need to load the param.lfs and/or the bootloaders. However, it may work without loading these files (and loading the bootloaders can be in the "danger zone")*.
With the stock binaries installed, the device will be in a boot loop, and entering recovery mode will either indicate that the device is installing CSC (unsuccessfully), or indicate that it is "Deleting Cryption Meta Data". In either case, you will be unable to actually access anything in the recovery.
In order to get to a working recovery, load the SGH-I777_ClockworkMod-Recovery_5.0.2.3. You'll need to untar this file to get to the zImage kernel file*.
With the CWM kernel installed, you should be able to actually enter recovery mode by holding down Volume Up + Volume Down + Power until the Samsung logo appears for a second time. Note: In this version of CWM recovery, the home button is the 'select' button and the power button acts as the back button. This is different than most versions of CWM.
Using the recovery run both clear data/factory rest and format sd card (in mounts and storage).
Finally, install the Siyah Kernel, using either heimdall* or CWM.
At this point, the phone should be restored, and you can re-flash the I777UCKH7-CL503881 stock kernel (on any other compatible kernel).
onecoolpilot said:
Do you think I could return to stock now, or is it more of a "once you have this problem you always have it" type thing? I'm going to leave it as is for now because it seems to be working fine. There may come a day though when I need to return to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can re-flash any kernel you like.
Thanks everyone who directed me to the steps for solving this problem!
* To load these kernel files, put the phone in ODIN mode by holding down the "Volume Down" button while the phone is connected to USB. Use either the ODIN or Heimdall tool to actually flash the device. See this post for complete instructions on flashing the files.
I've followed these directions multiple times but I can't seem to get past the Rethink Possible screen.
Steps I have taken:
Flashed full binaries
Went back into download mode with no reboot and flashed CWM (listed above)
Went straight into CWM
Wiped Data
Formatted SD
Flashed Siyah via CWM
Rebooted
Saw I was stuck at Rethink Possible
Cussed
I seem to get stuck at the boot screen on ANY Gingerbread rom I flash. I can flash ICS roms and they boot successfully. However, my device has the 0x19 FW bug and I would like to not make it a paperweight.
Red_81 said:
I've followed these directions multiple times but I can't seem to get past the Rethink Possible screen.
Steps I have taken:
Flashed full binaries
Went back into download mode with no reboot and flashed CWM (listed above)
Went straight into CWM
Wiped Data
Formatted SD
Flashed Siyah via CWM
Rebooted
Saw I was stuck at Rethink Possible
Cussed
I seem to get stuck at the boot screen on ANY Gingerbread rom I flash. I can flash ICS roms and they boot successfully. However, my device has the 0x19 FW bug and I would like to not make it a paperweight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this the "Oh crap its stuck in a bootloop I'll sell it cheap on eBay" SGII that you bought on ebay for cheap, or a different phone?
Do you know the history of this phone? Knowing it can help with troubleshooting.
Did you ever see the "Deleting cryption meta data" error message?
As far as having vulnerability to the eMMC firmware bug, you are safe as long as you don't use the buggy kernel, which is pretty much out of the picture by now.
LOL, you read my other post. It is one and the same. The standard story from the seller. "I gave it to my Brother in Law and now it is like this." He stated it did boot properly before. Liquid indicator checks out (haven't pulled the back off to check the full indicator).
I don't get the "Deleting cryption meta data" but I do get the "multi-csc error". Wiping data doesn't seem to take care of that one.
It's really odd because I can flash ICS roms with no problems, but the GB ones stick at the bootscreen every time. Even CM7 stuck there.
I may have to try to rule out hardware damage at this point
OK, so you don't really know exactly what was done to the phone. I wouldn't rule out hardware damage, but I seriously doubt it, at least let's assume that there is some explanation in firmware. Really, the only things that could be wrong:
bootloaders
param.lfs
partitioning
Which stock package did you flash, the one from the return to stock guide (that doesn't have bootloaders, etc.) or the one from the Download Repository that does have bootloaders?
And where exactly is the phone right now firmware wise?
creepyncrawly said:
OK, so you don't really know exactly what was done to the phone. I wouldn't rule out hardware damage, but I seriously doubt it, at least let's assume that there is some explanation in firmware. Really, the only things that could be wrong:
bootloaders
param.lfs
partitioning
Which stock package did you flash, the one from the return to stock guide (that doesn't have bootloaders, etc.) or the one from the Download Repository that does have bootloaders?
And where exactly is the phone right now firmware wise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one from the repository with bootloaders. I tried the one without bootloaders first, but it did not fix it.
Currently I flashed over to ShoStock2. However, I'm getting alot of problems on that too (Com.android.phone not responding).
I can try to flash back to stock at any moment because I have no data on the phone.
I did try using the latest version of Heimdall, but it kept crashing at 42% (from what I read that is a known bug)
So the one thing you have not tried is flashing PIT? I wouldn't try that next if it was my phone, however, since it is the area I know the least about. There is not a whole lot of information available about using PIT with the I777 (as in nothing I could find).
The behavior of flashing to ICS and running OK but bootlooping on Gingerbread is new to me.
If you have a jig, does the jig boot the phone to download mode?
The phone should be recoverable. If it was mine, I would start by flashing the full stock package with bootloaders and param.lfs again. Then wipe data/factory reset from 3e recovery. Then flash the Gingerbread Siyah kernel. And then wipe data/factory reset from CWM Recovery.
Actually, I thought I typed that before.
I did flash the PIT file at one point out of desperation.
I have a jig that works beautifully (wipes the counter too) and has been a big help through this whole thing. That tells me I should at least have the correct bootloaders.
Do I need to let it attempt to boot between each flash or just go directly one to the other?
After a little Google, I think your phone has a problem with efs, corrupted or some such. Read this.
creepyncrawly said:
After a little Google, I think your phone has a problem with efs, corrupted or some such. Read this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually found and tried that a few days ago. Never got that error message before. But I flashed the repair anyway. No change.
I did manage to just let the phone run for a while and all the process error messages went away, but the dialer refuses to start. I also noticed I don't think I'm getting any sound out of the earpiece.
I think I'm going to have to take the back off to check for water damage and to make sure they didn't bleach the dot.
I'll attempt to do some more flashing later tonight if the wife lets me.
Under normal circumstances, if you get the multi csc error after flashing back to stock, a wipe data/factory reset will clear it, and it will boot successfully.
creepyncrawly said:
Under normal circumstances, if you get the multi csc error after flashing back to stock, a wipe data/factory reset will clear it, and it will boot successfully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. Under normal circumstances indeed. I appreciate all the help so far. I wonder if there is something borked with the chip.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA
Not sure if it helps much since you said you think the correct bootloaders are there but I had the exact same problem as you a couple months back. Like an idiot I flashed the original "one click" ATT ICS leak from Rootzwiki that updated my bootloaders. After this attempting to go back to CM7 resulted in me soft bricking the phone. The ONLY rom that would flash and work was that same ICS one click. Everything else Odin just failed on. Eventually I managed to get the complete stock GB back on it by flashing the full package in creepys guide several times. I gave up on Odin on my pc and had to remove Kies from my Mac so Heimdall would work but it flashed finally and I was saved. If you search through my posts here and find that thread maybe there's something in there that will help cause it sounds like you're having a bootloader issue like I did..
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
Thanks. I'll take a look.
On a side note.... I can't get any sound from the device. I'm thinking now that it might be hardware related.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
Hello all,
Firstly I'd like to say that I am a long time lurker on this website, having rooted my phones and my friends' many times thanks to the awesome help of this community. I say I'm a lurker because normally I can find solutions to any speedbumps I have very easily on this site, but alas, something has really caught me by the pants this time.
I'm having trouble rooting my second SGSIII, FCC ID A3LGTI9300A. I tried first to flash CWM recovery through Odin, and it was successful, but then it keeps booting into the stock Android recovery (I'm not sure if this is because I don't have a working SD card, but I don't think that should make a difference). To be noted, I wiped all my data and cleared the cache in the Android factory recovery by mistake (I'm not sure if this makes a difference). I read up that some other people who were having this problem took out the battery after it flashed through ODIN and then booted into CWM recovery and it worked, but it seemed to have messed up my phone, because after that I wasn't getting any network signal (my SIM card is working though). I also noticed that now when I try to boot into Recovery, I have a red exclamation mark at the left top corner of my screen, and it doesn't go into any recovery mode.
I'm not sure what the problem is, but if someone can explain to me how to properly root my device after the so much I have ****ed up, I would really appreciate it.
Best bet is to start from scratch.
Flash stock firmware
Root with cf root (this will install a 5.x.x version of cwm recovery)
Update recovery with mobile Odin or through recovery)
NOTE.....When you flash cf root occasionally it doesn't "take" properly, in which case boot into recovery and this triggers installation. (As per Chainfire instructions )
The exclamation mark came into being in any firmware after XXELLA, it's a Samsung trick to alert that the phone has been flashed. It is in the bootloader, and you can revert to an old bootloader with a cwm flashable.zip (note this is potentially risky, but it worked fine for me, although I decided to stay with a new bootloader in the end)
i'm having the same problem. i flashed through heimdall which worked great, but in order to boot into CWM i need to pull the battery right after the flash. any subsequent attempts to boot into recovery meant i needed to restart the entire process of flashing from heimdall again. surely there must be some way around this? i understand that samsung's stock recovery 'resets' the preferences so chooses to boot from it instead of the loaded recovery... and this is slowly but surely driving me crazy.
any tips, anyone?
saraddictive said:
i'm having the same problem. i flashed through heimdall which worked great, but in order to boot into CWM i need to pull the battery right after the flash. any subsequent attempts to boot into recovery meant i needed to restart the entire process of flashing from heimdall again. surely there must be some way around this? i understand that samsung's stock recovery 'resets' the preferences so chooses to boot from it instead of the loaded recovery... and this is slowly but surely driving me crazy.
any tips, anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using cf root?
Hey All,
I've upgraded my 925F to Official MM 6.0.1. Rooted it through kernel Xspace and then installed recovery TWRP_3.0_MM_S6_by_ManhIT
My only concern is when I'm in TWRP I can't reboot, it just freezes.
I can nandroid backup no problem just the reboot part freezes TWRP.
Anyone else had this problem? is there another TWRP to be used?
nb : I tried clearing cache + dalvik, freezes still happen before rebooting.
thanks for ur help.
kaemon said:
Hey All,
I've upgraded my 925F to Official MM 6.0.1. Rooted it through kernel Xspace and then installed recovery TWRP_3.0_MM_S6_by_ManhIT
My only concern is when I'm in TWRP I can't reboot, it just freezes.
I can nandroid backup no problem just the reboot part freezes TWRP.
Anyone else had this problem? is there another TWRP to be used?
nb : I tried clearing cache + dalvik, freezes still happen before rebooting.
thanks for ur help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this TWRP form arter... this is the only TWRP being use by many of us here.. you flash it through odin or recovery...
I had the same problem and i solved changing my kernel
Inviato dal mio SM-G925F utilizzando Tapatalk
fabiok81 said:
I had the same problem and i solved changing my kernel
Inviato dal mio SM-G925F utilizzando Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue is not the kernel... its the recovery that doesn't work when reboot to system is touch and is freezing..
Go to advance then terminal
Write reboot
Easy!
Yes i know the iusse is about the recovery but it seems because there is not compatibility between some recovery and some kernel. I tried various recovery 3.0 and i have always a kind of freeze. The TWRP... by Manhit for example gave me freeze with xspace kernel but not with hacker kernel. I don't no the reason....
Inviato dal mio SM-G925F utilizzando Tapatalk
same but different
Hi All,
I'm experiencing a freeze in TWRP after about a few seconds, the whole recovery stands still and this happens every time.
I flashed the Xspace kernel which hasn't help.
The TWRP from arter97 works great, except it doesn't allow me to copy files to my PC using MTP, message says unexpected error.
yet, the ManhIT and Original TWRP allow me to copy data but both of them freeze up after a few seconds which causing the copying to fail.
Reasons I'm doing this is because my SM-G925F start looping and I've tried flashing stock so many times to no avail.
I'm sure all i need to do is data/ factory wipe and my phone will boot fine, I just really need some data before I do that.
Is there perhaps a different kernel I can try?
or if anyone has any suggestions that would be very much appreciated.
Regards
wahwahward said:
Hi All,
I'm experiencing a freeze in TWRP after about a few seconds, the whole recovery stands still and this happens every time.
I flashed the Xspace kernel which hasn't help.
The TWRP from arter97 works great, except it doesn't allow me to copy files to my PC using MTP, message says unexpected error.
yet, the ManhIT and Original TWRP allow me to copy data but both of them freeze up after a few seconds which causing the copying to fail.
Reasons I'm doing this is because my SM-G925F start looping and I've tried flashing stock so many times to no avail.
I'm sure all i need to do is data/ factory wipe and my phone will boot fine, I just really need some data before I do that.
Is there perhaps a different kernel I can try?
or if anyone has any suggestions that would be very much appreciated.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try with hacker kernel. Wipe cache but not data
callumbr1 said:
Try with hacker kernel. Wipe cache but not data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your response callumbr1.
I've attempted two different kernels:
g925-hacker-echoe-kernel-V14.zip
hacker-kernel-S6-Universal-V12.zip
Above mentioned problems persist.
Since arter97 TWRP is not freezing on me, if I run a back up on the Data only. Then perform the wipe, the backup should still be there, correct?
and lets say I flash the stock ROM again if necessary and I'm able to boot the device.
Would it be possible to restore that data back up at all ?
or perhaps copy that back up to my PC and access/extract the files with a separate application?
Many Thanks
wahwahward said:
Thanks for your response callumbr1.
I've attempted two different kernels:
g925-hacker-echoe-kernel-V14.zip
hacker-kernel-S6-Universal-V12.zip
Above mentioned problems persist.
Since arter97 TWRP is not freezing on me, if I run a back up on the Data only. Then perform the wipe, the backup should still be there, correct?
and lets say I flash the stock ROM again if necessary and I'm able to boot the device.
Would it be possible to restore that data back up at all ?
or perhaps copy that back up to my PC and access/extract the files with a separate application?
Many Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think best thing to do is get an otg storage adapter that plugs direct to phone. They are cheap.
Then run the backup of data and store on otg storage. Then you have it safe and it can be restored at a later time with restore option in twrp.
Or you can always do a full nandroid backup.
Can you get onto the phone now? Does it boot up?
Is there anything specific you need off the phone? To be backed up?
callumbr1 said:
I think best thing to do is get an otg storage adapter that plugs direct to phone. They are cheap.
Then run the backup of data and store on otg storage. Then you have it safe and it can be restored at a later time with restore option in twrp.
Or you can always do a full nandroid backup.
Can you get onto the phone now? Does it boot up?
Is there anything specific you need off the phone? To be backed up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I plan on getting one of those, they seem extremely useful. A colleague has one which I plan to use tomorrow if they remember to bring it, I will then do as you suggest.
Never done a full nandroid back up before but will do some searching on that.
Phone still hangs at the Samsung splash screen.
And its really only pictures and some videos that I want, contacts would be nice too.
PS, this happened when I plugged my device into the PC to charge it was at about 5%, and I was making use of side sync to control the device when it just shutdown. I thought maybe the battery died so left it to charge a bit, it eventually tried to boot up by itself and its been looping ever since. Was really strange cause it gave me no issues prior to this. When I tried to get to the recovery it would hang at the "installing updates" section once I flashed the stock ROM I was able to get to recovery to wipe the cache but no luck.
Thanks for your suggestions much appreciated.
wahwahward said:
I plan on getting one of those, they seem extremely useful. A colleague has one which I plan to use tomorrow if they remember to bring it, I will then do as you suggest.
Never done a full nandroid back up before but will do some searching on that.
Phone still hangs at the Samsung splash screen.
And its really only pictures and some videos that I want, contacts would be nice too.
PS, this happened when I plugged my device into the PC to charge it was at about 5%, and I was making use of side sync to control the device when it just shutdown. I thought maybe the battery died so left it to charge a bit, it eventually tried to boot up by itself and its been looping ever since. Was really strange cause it gave me no issues prior to this. When I tried to get to the recovery it would hang at the "installing updates" section once I flashed the stock ROM I was able to get to recovery to wipe the cache but no luck.
Thanks for your suggestions much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are really useful, one of the best things ive ever bought regarding my phone. I use it daily now.
As for nandroid backup, it basically backs up absolutely everything including the firmware and data and all partitions. I always do it before flashing or modifying anything. Then if anything goes wrong, you just flash back your nandroid backup.
Can i ask before this happened did you use google photos? If so and sync was on they will all be saved. If you dont use it i reccomend you to use it from now on incase this ever happens in future.
See how you go making the backup when you can then if you need help regarding flashing the stock and getting the phone working ill help
callumbr1 said:
They are really useful, one of the best things ive ever bought regarding my phone. I use it daily now.
As for nandroid backup, it basically backs up absolutely everything including the firmware and data and all partitions. I always do it before flashing or modifying anything. Then if anything goes wrong, you just flash back your nandroid backup.
Can i ask before this happened did you use google photos? If so and sync was on they will all be saved. If you dont use it i reccomend you to use it from now on incase this ever happens in future.
See how you go making the backup when you can then if you need help regarding flashing the stock and getting the phone working ill help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good day callumbr1
I never made use of google photos, not the biggest fan of cloud storage to be completely honest but I do see its benefits when it comes to times like these. lol
as for the device, last night I flashed a custom recovery (arter97) and made use of the SkipSoft Android ToolKit to pull my photos, videos and documents through the adb protocol. That being said, I have the data I wanted so all is well there.
However, after wiping the cache and doing a data / factory reset. I reflashed the stock ROM, it all goes swell until the android pops up with a message displaying " installing system updates". It gets to 32% changes to erasing then restarts , and this happens constantly no matter how many times I flash it or restart the device.
I read on another forum that my devices is probably dead and it could be the mother board. Any thoughts?
You think maybe a custom ROM would bring it up?
wahwahward said:
Good day callumbr1
I never made use of google photos, not the biggest fan of cloud storage to be completely honest but I do see its benefits when it comes to times like these. lol
as for the device, last night I flashed a custom recovery (arter97) and made use of the SkipSoft Android ToolKit to pull my photos, videos and documents through the adb protocol. That being said, I have the data I wanted so all is well there.
However, after wiping the cache and doing a data / factory reset. I reflashed the stock ROM, it all goes swell until the android pops up with a message displaying " installing system updates". It gets to 32% changes to erasing then restarts , and this happens constantly no matter how many times I flash it or restart the device.
I read on another forum that my devices is probably dead and it could be the mother board. Any thoughts?
You think maybe a custom ROM would bring it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats good about your data :good:
As for the little android guy and the installing updates then erasing, this normally happens. It happens every single time i restore and normally boots fine just after its not normally an issue. After yours says erasing does it then just reboot and restart the process of erasing constantly?
What i would suggest first is to flash a different stock ROM, preferably one with newest bootloader.
After flashing, boot to recovery and wipe dalvik cache. If it gets as far as the samsung logo just leave it as the first boot can take a while... like 30 minutes.
If that doesnt work try to flash a custom ROM. I reccomend CarHD ROM. I uave used it for quite some time and no issues.
It deffinately does not sound like motherboard issue. Normally you would have many issues and errors on boot prior to having main board issues.
See how you get on and keep me updated.
callumbr1 said:
Thats good about your data :good:
As for the little android guy and the installing updates then erasing, this normally happens. It happens every single time i restore and normally boots fine just after its not normally an issue. After yours says erasing does it then just reboot and restart the process of erasing constantly?
What i would suggest first is to flash a different stock ROM, preferably one with newest bootloader.
After flashing, boot to recovery and wipe dalvik cache. If it gets as far as the samsung logo just leave it as the first boot can take a while... like 30 minutes.
If that doesnt work try to flash a custom ROM. I reccomend CarHD ROM. I uave used it for quite some time and no issues.
It deffinately does not sound like motherboard issue. Normally you would have many issues and errors on boot prior to having main board issues.
See how you get on and keep me updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't say erasing after the first time. Right after the flash it will reboot to the blue screen with the android, it displays Installing update with a percentage bar which gets to 32% then that disappears and shows erasing, then again it shows installing update with no percentage bar. The android guy has a two arrows on his chest spinning which eventually stops. The device then reboots. It goes back to the Android guy but this time it shows "installing system update" without the percentage bar, it will then freeze again then reboot. That will continue forever until the battery dies.
After flashing though I can't seem to get to recovery to wipe the cache, I hit the buttons as I always do, but the blue screen and android always appears.
This is the stock ROM I'm currently using:
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/105085/G925FXXU4DPJB_G925FXFV4DPJ2_XFV/
Do you perhaps have a link to that custom ROM? would it work fine with the service provider here in SA (Vodacom) ?
And well at least that is some good news, I'm not too keen on having to take this into a shop and pay for parts.
wahwahward said:
It doesn't say erasing after the first time. Right after the flash it will reboot to the blue screen with the android, it displays Installing update with a percentage bar which gets to 32% then that disappears and shows erasing, then again it shows installing update with no percentage bar. The android guy has a two arrows on his chest spinning which eventually stops. The device then reboots. It goes back to the Android guy but this time it shows "installing system update" without the percentage bar, it will then freeze again then reboot. That will continue forever until the battery dies.
After flashing though I can't seem to get to recovery to wipe the cache, I hit the buttons as I always do, but the blue screen and android always appears.
This is the stock ROM I'm currently using:
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/105085/G925FXXU4DPJB_G925FXFV4DPJ2_XFV/
Do you perhaps have a link to that custom ROM? would it work fine with the service provider here in SA (Vodacom) ?
And well at least that is some good news, I'm not too keen on having to take this into a shop and pay for parts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats pretty much exactly what happens to mine after restoring or flashing but mine boots up.
Flash the firmware again but in odin options uncheck auto reboot. This time after flashing, the phone should stay off. Then you can boot to recovery.
If that doesnt work, whilst it is on the blue screen with android guy hold only vol down and power, phone will reboot, as soon as the screen goes off switch to recovery combo and this should force it to recovery.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6-edge/development/rom-carhdrom-1-t3111519/page1427
Here is the link to custom ROM, it will work fine on your phone. You need to flash this through TWRP. If you need steps on how to do this please tell me.
callumbr1 said:
Thats pretty much exactly what happens to mine after restoring or flashing but mine boots up.
Flash the firmware again but in odin options uncheck auto reboot. This time after flashing, the phone should stay off. Then you can boot to recovery.
If that doesnt work, whilst it is on the blue screen with android guy hold only vol down and power, phone will reboot, as soon as the screen goes off switch to recovery combo and this should force it to recovery.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6-edge/development/rom-carhdrom-1-t3111519/page1427
Here is the link to custom ROM, it will work fine on your phone. You need to flash this through TWRP. If you need steps on how to do this please tell me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man I think I'm just going to try the custom to see if it works.
Would I need to flash a custom kernel or can it be stock?
After flashing the kernel with twrp I'm going to assume I would follow the same step.
1. flash TWRP custom recovery
2. copy .zip file to sdcard
3. go to recovery, install , select the .zip
Is that it or am I missing anything else when it comes to flashing ROMs through the recovery?
wahwahward said:
Man I think I'm just going to try the custom to see if it works.
Would I need to flash a custom kernel or can it be stock?
After flashing the kernel with twrp I'm going to assume I would follow the same step.
1. flash TWRP custom recovery
2. copy .zip file to sdcard
3. go to recovery, install , select the .zip
Is that it or am I missing anything else when it comes to flashing ROMs through the recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats it.
Before installing rom go to wipe in TWRP, wipe data, dalvik, cache and system.
You dont need to flash a kernel though.
However when flashing carhd rom aroma installer will go through some choices, from there you can choose to install arter kernel. I reccomend doing this rather than keeping stock kernel.
Remember once installer complete and rom is installed leave it a while if it hangs on samsung logo screen. It can take a while to boot.
callumbr1 said:
Thats it.
Before installing rom go to wipe in TWRP, wipe data, dalvik, cache and system.
You dont need to flash a kernel though.
However when flashing carhd rom aroma installer will go through some choices, from there you can choose to install arter kernel. I reccomend doing this rather than keeping stock kernel.
Remember once installer complete and rom is installed leave it a while if it hangs on samsung logo screen. It can take a while to boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently waiting on the custom to download, don't have the quickest internet connection.
while I've been waiting, I've tried the stock ROM again.
something I forgot to mention before, which has happened a few times:
During the blue screen with the droid stating installing updates.
it switches to a screen with a big yellow triangle two dots below it and a dead droid.
After this I get to recovery, I wiped the cache and its getting to the samsung logo but freezes and then restarts all over again.
I'm just curious if you know what the yellow triangle thing means?
wahwahward said:
Currently waiting on the custom to download, don't have the quickest internet connection.
while I've been waiting, I've tried the stock ROM again.
something I forgot to mention before, which has happened a few times:
During the blue screen with the droid stating installing updates.
it switches to a screen with a big yellow triangle two dots below it and a dead droid.
After this I get to recovery, I wiped the cache and its getting to the samsung logo but freezes and then restarts all over again.
I'm just curious if you know what the yellow triangle thing means?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it normally means a failed update. Sometimes there are instructions to use smart switch other times it just means the update failed.
Try with the custom ROM and keep me updated.
I've been using CM13 on my phone for a long while, but it was heavily bugged (my camera kept crashing, I've kept losing cell reception, couldn't receive calls etc), so I finally decided to try another ROM. I've heard good things about ResurrectionRemix ROMs, so I've decided to give it a try. I did factory reset and wiped cache (using CWM 6. something) and flashed RR 7.1 along with the appropriate gapps and rebooted the phone. It's worth noting that I've put the ROM and Gapps zip files on USB stick and connected it to the phone via micro USB cable. It all went smoothly, and the phone booted right up. However, once I got into the startup setting and choosing the language suddenly it just rebooted all on its own. Same thing happened 2 more times, and I got stuck in a bootloop after that.
So I figured I should flash another ROM, and I wanted to give RR 6.0 a try. I've downloaded it and saved it to my USB stick, however, when I tried to flash any zip files from my stick, it just kept randomly unmounting, disrupting the process, giving me "USBdisc0 idle-unmounted" message. Since I don't have an SD card, only thing I could do was push files to my phone, and I've managed to do so via Quick ADB Pusher. This time, flashing went without a hitch, however, I've tried cleaning my phone completely (formatting all the data and system files), and I think I messed it up a bit when I did that, since I didn't flash SuperSU along with ROP and gapps. Again, I got stuck in a bootloop without any signs of the ROM working.
So I decided to flash CM13 again. At least I was sure it was working on my phone, and I figured it was better to have a crappy phone than no phone at all. So I pushed the CM13 file onto the phone and flashed it, but still got stuck in bootloop. I finally remembered about SuperSU and tried to flash it too, but now my phone kept restarting in the middle of the flashing process. I've tried doing the factory reset and cache wipe, but I can't flash any files now without it restarting only few seconds into the process.
I have no idea what's going on, but seems that my phone is doing worse and worse as time moves on. At least I can still boot into recovery and download mode, so (hopefully) something can still be done. As it's probably painfully obvious, I'm not too knowledgeable about this stuff, I'm just following instructions people smarter than me put out, but seems I've messed it up good this time. Am I beyond help?
Try to download newest firmware from sanmobile.com and flash it with odin. Then root it make backup flash recovery and flash rom that you choose with recovery. There are lots of tutorials here on xda and on youtube. Just remember that flashing stock firmware with odin will delete all of your data so try to back them up somehow (i think that if you boot phone in recovery (twrp) the pc will see it like a pendrive)
Sirius8 said:
...
As it's probably painfully obvious, I'm not too knowledgeable about this stuff, I'm just following instructions people smarter than me put out, but seems I've messed it up good this time. Am I beyond help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TBH you made the mistake many beginners make... Going ahead too fast with insufficient knowledge. But never too late to learn that lesson
Since you are getting more and more confused and your phone seems acting strange I recommend starting from scratch an be analytic about it. This will take just a few minutes more but you can be sure where a problem comes from.
First of all: Take 30 minutes to get acquainted with the basics and read through the first thread in my signature (just do it...)
If you can still get in download mode, get your latest stock rom e.g. from sammobile.com and flash it via ODIN. Run stock for a few minutes to see if everything works correctly (test camera, outgoing/incoming calls, mobile data, wifi, gps etc.). If something does not work STOP HERE and report back.
If all is fine go back to ODIN and install latest TWRP (cwm is seriously outdated, can cause lots of errors). Then boot into TWRP and flash whatever custom rom you like. If you install e.g. LOS 14.1 or RR 7.1.1 make sure you install gapps direcly after you flash the rom (do not reboot in between).
Any questions pop up: Shoot. I'm happy to help.
---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------
McXred said:
Try to download newest firmware from sanmobile.com and flash it with odin. Then root it make backup flash recovery and flash rom that you choose with recovery. There are lots of tutorials here on xda and on youtube. Just remember that flashing stock firmware with odin will delete all of your data so try to back them up somehow (i think that if you boot phone in recovery (twrp) the pc will see it like a pendrive)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since he already wiped system and data there is no point in a backup of those partitions. Only thing worth saving would be the efs partition.
And you don't need to root stock rom to go further...
If you are unrooted you have to REMOVE the "auto-reboot" checkmark in odin options and then - after the flash of twrp - reboot to recovery (TWRP) manually via holding Power+Home+VolUp for a few seconds.
If you do not uncheck that "auto-reboot" box, an thus allow the unrooted system (stock samsung system) to boot, it will overwrite the new twrp recovery you flashed 2 seconds before...
This is the point where I believe many confusion comes from. If you root first, any recovery you flash will not be overwritten. That is - I think - why many tutorials/tips say you must root stock first before installing a custom rom, which is simply not true.
But you are right that it would help to flash TWRP fist as outlined above, boot into it and make a backup to a microSD card... but of the efs partition (!) as the very first step. Then keep that backup safe and go from there with stock rom, testing for any problems.
So to reiterate the steps I would go:
1) Flash TWRP via odin and boot directly into it
2) Backup efs partition to a microSD card
3) Flash stock rom via ODIN and test
4) Go from there / report baback
Thank you so much for the replies guys, I'm glad there's still hope for my trusty SIII.
Are there any alternatives for sammobile.com though, since it requires premium account for the firmware I need. I've found another mirror on the site mrcrab.net/stockrom/2444.html (mirror 1 leads to sammobile.com, while mirror 2 leads directly to rapidgator), but can I trust it not to mess my phone up further?
Try updato.com for the firmware.
Hawaiihemd said:
If you can still get in download mode, get your latest stock rom e.g. from sammobile.com and flash it via ODIN. Run stock for a few minutes to see if everything works correctly (test camera, outgoing/incoming calls, mobile data, wifi, gps etc.). If something does not work STOP HERE and report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've manage to flash stock ROM via Odin, however, as soon as the phone booted up it gave me the "low battery" message, even though I think there was plenty of battery left. But I figured the flashing process must have drained it. As I've tried to tap the OK button, the screen just froze and remained frozen for over 5 minutes. I took battery out and reinserted it, since nothing else worked, and got stuck in bootloop again, just as before flashing stock firmware.
Sirius8 said:
I've manage to flash stock ROM via Odin, however, as soon as the phone booted up it gave me the "low battery" message, even though I think there was plenty of battery left. But I figured the flashing process must have drained it. As I've tried to tap the OK button, the screen just froze and remained frozen for over 5 minutes. I took battery out and reinserted it, since nothing else worked, and got stuck in bootloop again, just as before flashing stock firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to charge phone without turning it on, when it says its fully charged try to flash it again.
McXred said:
Try to charge phone without turning it on, when it says its fully charged try to flash it again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea. I would also keep it on the charger while booting.
This could be a symptom of a defective battery. So these steps might help.
Looks like you were right guys. I've recharged the battery and tried to flash the stock firmware again, but for some odd reason (it seems like I can't do the same thing twice with this phone ) Odin was giving me grief and couldn't establish proper connection with my phone, even though it recognized it at the beginning of the process. I've tried changing cables and ports, but with no avail.
After I gave that up, I tried booting the phone up anyway, but keeping it plugged in the charger this time. It booted right up, but I expected it to crash and reboot at any moment. So I sped up through the settings a and login processes, but it still worked like a charm. I've checked the camera and everything worked perfectly. So I kept it on charger for a couple of hours, to check if I would have any random crashes, but nothing happened. After I was sure it was stable, I unplugged the charger, and within the second I did that the phone crashed and got stuck in the bootloop again.
I've plugged the charger back in and it booted up just fine. The battery level was 89%, and I left it on charger the whole night (12+ hours). It had 90% when I woke up, it's back at 89% right now.
So, everything points to a faulty battery, but it seems strange to me this happened just as I was flashing another ROM, even though I never had any problems with it before. And even though it wouldn't let me boot, I could use recovery and download mode for as long as I liked, and once I did boot with the charger plugged in, the battery wasn't drained but it was around 90%.
Hawaiihemd said:
TBH you made the mistake many beginners make... Going ahead too fast with insufficient knowledge. But never too late to learn that lesson
Since you are getting more and more confused and your phone seems acting strange I recommend starting from scratch an be analytic about it. This will take just a few minutes more but you can be sure where a problem comes from.
First of all: Take 30 minutes to get acquainted with the basics and read through the first thread in my signature (just do it...)
If you can still get in download mode, get your latest stock rom e.g. from sammobile.com and flash it via ODIN. Run stock for a few minutes to see if everything works correctly (test camera, outgoing/incoming calls, mobile data, wifi, gps etc.). If something does not work STOP HERE and report back.
If all is fine go back to ODIN and install latest TWRP (cwm is seriously outdated, can cause lots of errors). Then boot into TWRP and flash whatever custom rom you like. If you install e.g. LOS 14.1 or RR 7.1.1 make sure you install gapps direcly after you flash the rom (do not reboot in between).
Any questions pop up: Shoot. I'm happy to help.
---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------
Since he already wiped system and data there is no point in a backup of those partitions. Only thing worth saving would be the efs partition.
And you don't need to root stock rom to go further...
If you are unrooted you have to REMOVE the "auto-reboot" checkmark in odin options and then - after the flash of twrp - reboot to recovery (TWRP) manually via holding Power+Home+VolUp for a few seconds.
If you do not uncheck that "auto-reboot" box, an thus allow the unrooted system (stock samsung system) to boot, it will overwrite the new twrp recovery you flashed 2 seconds before...
This is the point where I believe many confusion comes from. If you root first, any recovery you flash will not be overwritten. That is - I think - why many tutorials/tips say you must root stock first before installing a custom rom, which is simply not true.
But you are right that it would help to flash TWRP fist as outlined above, boot into it and make a backup to a microSD card... but of the efs partition (!) as the very first step. Then keep that backup safe and go from there with stock rom, testing for any problems.
So to reiterate the steps I would go:
1) Flash TWRP via odin and boot directly into it
2) Backup efs partition to a microSD card
3) Flash stock rom via ODIN and test
4) Go from there / report baback
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still on charger, still 90 percent.