Here's the deal, my S3 has become faulty through no fault of my own. In the past I've run off custom ROM's, recovers, kernels but for a few month's I've been running on stock. A week ago (updated to 4.1.2 when it arrived for O2 UK punters) it started randomly freezing and the only way to fix it was to battery pull. It's been getting worse to the point I was doing a battery pull a hundred times a day. Believing the issue was with 4.1.2 I decided to reflash a custom ROM via CWM which made no difference.
So... It needs to be sent away for repair. I've done an emergency firmware recovery via KIES to get back to stock ROM. I used the S3 toolkit V7 to flash insecure boot, root, TriangleAway. Flashed stock boot, run TriangleAway and then done a factory reset via stock recovery.
I'm at the following stage:
Stock download mode shows official binary and basically the way a brand new never modified S3 would look... No counters.
Settings > About > Device Status shows as 'Normal' and not 'Modified'
The only thing is that I still have SuperSU installed and root apps are working... I want to get rid of this as easily as I can because quite honestly I've given myself a headache with all the back and forth. Can I simply uninstall SuperSU and I'm root-free in a way the repair center can't tell (at least easily anyway)?
Try to flash stock ROM with odin
So ,im sorry but its a long story. Hopefully someone can help. My note is Rooted Ive been using TWRP. Everything had been fine until 2 days ago. I tried flashing a ROM i found on Goomanger.( I had been running liquid smooth) just wanted to try something different. Anyways it got stuck on a boot loop. Cant remember the name of the Rom. Anyways i was able to get back to recovery, thankfully. But when i wiped and flashed back to liquid smooth it would say optimizing apps, then it would reach a certain number then reboot and star all over again. So then i tried another Rom and the same thing happened. tried flashing back to stock rooted but it would turn on then completely crash and star booting up again. So finally i was able to flash paraandroid 4.1.2 and Gapps, but here is the kicker i have no service (AT&T) says cannot locate network, my IMEI is gone basically the cellular isn't working. Everything else works fine WiFi,apps, camera. Just cant make calls. I really need your guys help please.:crying:
If you have a suggestion please let me know, i hate using an old Iphone
dar101978 said:
So ,im sorry but its a long story. Hopefully someone can help. My note is Rooted Ive been using TWRP. Everything had been fine until 2 days ago. I tried flashing a ROM i found on Goomanger.( I had been running liquid smooth) just wanted to try something different. Anyways it got stuck on a boot loop. Cant remember the name of the Rom. Anyways i was able to get back to recovery, thankfully. But when i wiped and flashed back to liquid smooth it would say optimizing apps, then it would reach a certain number then reboot and star all over again. So then i tried another Rom and the same thing happened. tried flashing back to stock rooted but it would turn on then completely crash and star booting up again. So finally i was able to flash paraandroid 4.1.2 and Gapps, but here is the kicker i have no service (AT&T) says cannot locate network, my IMEI is gone basically the cellular isn't working. Everything else works fine WiFi,apps, camera. Just cant make calls. I really need your guys help please.:crying:
If you have a suggestion please let me know, i hate using an old Iphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just odin back to stock. Get a complete factory stock image from the main sticky thread and flash it with Odin and Download Mode. There's a bug on one of the TWRP versions with 4.3-based ROMs that will put it into a bootloop by breaking device reboots. I was unable to flash my way out of the problem and was forced to do a complete reimage which solved all the problems and put me right back to clean-out-of-the-box state, then I reinstalled TWRP (though an older version before the boot loop bug) and re-flashed my custom ROM. The package I used was the stock image and Odin tool all in one .exe, just plug in to download mode and run it and it flashed bootloader, recovery, system, kernel, etc. all back to stock.
CalcProgrammer1 said:
Just odin back to stock. Get a complete factory stock image from the main sticky thread and flash it with Odin and Download Mode. There's a bug on one of the TWRP versions with 4.3-based ROMs that will put it into a bootloop by breaking device reboots. I was unable to flash my way out of the problem and was forced to do a complete reimage which solved all the problems and put me right back to clean-out-of-the-box state, then I reinstalled TWRP (though an older version before the boot loop bug) and re-flashed my custom ROM. The package I used was the stock image and Odin tool all in one .exe, just plug in to download mode and run it and it flashed bootloader, recovery, system, kernel, etc. all back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks thats what i did, I just basically had to use KIES to use the emergency recovery, then root my phone again. My question is what version of TWRP causes this? cause i used the newest version i could find off GOO. My other concerne is, will it accept or be safe to use a custom ROM? Well i gues ill find out :laugh: THANKS AGAIN!
Everyone with the sgh-i717 is having problems with the latest TWRP and the most stable version is 2.5.0.0. Go with that one or you'll be starting all over again I imagine. And don't just stop at the download link in the OP's, read the thread and find out what's going on. The problems with TWRP have been going on for a while and the development threads have a lot of comments about the latest build causing problems. Good luck! :good:
I was running a custom firmware before i went to go restore it back to stock (going to exchange it for credit at a store). I made sure everything important i needed was backed up, then i booted it to Download mode like i would to flash it back to stock with Odin, everything worked fine. It finished and after it rebooted, it just started flashing the samsung galaxy note 2 white text for a quarter of a second then shuts off and just does that until i take the battery out. I tried going into recovery mode but it doesn't. I can get to download mode and try reflashing the firmware but it fails everytime.
What can i do to fix it? In my 5 years of using custom ROMs iv'e never had this issue. is my phone bricked?
ryanskeltis said:
I was running a custom firmware before i went to go restore it back to stock (going to exchange it for credit at a store). I made sure everything important i needed was backed up, then i booted it to Download mode like i would to flash it back to stock with Odin, everything worked fine. It finished and after it rebooted, it just started flashing the samsung galaxy note 2 white text for a quarter of a second then shuts off and just does that until i take the battery out. I tried going into recovery mode but it doesn't. I can get to download mode and try reflashing the firmware but it fails everytime.
What can i do to fix it? In my 5 years of using custom ROMs iv'e never had this issue. is my phone bricked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the stock recovery do a full wipe as well. The wipe is more comprehensive than the custom recoveries. Perhaps that will help with the booting.
Which version did you try flashing? Mj9? More recent?
ryanskeltis said:
I was running a custom firmware before i went to go restore it back to stock (going to exchange it for credit at a store). I made sure everything important i needed was backed up, then i booted it to Download mode like i would to flash it back to stock with Odin, everything worked fine. It finished and after it rebooted, it just started flashing the samsung galaxy note 2 white text for a quarter of a second then shuts off and just does that until i take the battery out. I tried going into recovery mode but it doesn't. I can get to download mode and try reflashing the firmware but it fails everytime.
What can i do to fix it? In my 5 years of using custom ROMs iv'e never had this issue. is my phone bricked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand you are probably panicking a bit over the trouble you have gotten yourself into with your Note, but I think you've been around long enough to know where to start this sort of topic. If you posted in the correct sub-forum, then you'd get better results. Right? :good:
Anyway, I wish you the best of luck fixing your phone.
I was running a custom firmware before i went to go restore it back to stock (going to exchange it for credit at a store). I made sure everything important i needed was backed up, then i booted it to Download mode like i would to flash it back to stock with Odin, everything worked fine. It finished and after it rebooted, it just started flashing the samsung galaxy note 2 white text for a quarter of a second then shuts off and just does that until i take the battery out. I tried going into recovery mode but it doesn't. I can get to download mode and try reflashing the firmware but it fails everytime.
What can i do to fix it? In my 5 years of using custom ROMs iv'e never had this issue. is my phone bricked?
ryanskeltis said:
I was running a custom firmware before i went to go restore it back to stock (going to exchange it for credit at a store). I made sure everything important i needed was backed up, then i booted it to Download mode like i would to flash it back to stock with Odin, everything worked fine. It finished and after it rebooted, it just started flashing the samsung galaxy note 2 white text for a quarter of a second then shuts off and just does that until i take the battery out. I tried going into recovery mode but it doesn't. I can get to download mode and try reflashing the firmware but it fails everytime.
What can i do to fix it? In my 5 years of using custom ROMs iv'e never had this issue. is my phone bricked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What image did you flash in Odin? Also, when you flashed it did you use the pit file with it?
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.