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Ok guys (and gals)..
I personally have a rooted & rom'd Epic 4G. A coworker recently upgraded to their first smartphone, a Samsung Fascinate on Verizon.
Since they know nothing, they asked me to do a few things to the phone for them.
Here's what I've done so far..
Rooted (fully & confirmed) via One-Click Root. Originally tried rooting via steps found here and over on Android Central but it didn't seem to fully root. Some things would run that required root, but others wouldn't (Titanium Backup being one). Bottom line, phone is fully rooted now. Running the stock ED04 rom with no intent to change. This guy isn't a power user, just wants a few things beyond fully stock.
Issue 1 -
Next thing I wanted to do was get Clockwork Mod installed so they could do fully system backups. Tried installing the red Clockwork Mod via Odin found here which somewhat works, but the Backup/Restore functions aren't really operational. If you run a backup, it goes through like it worked, but then when you go to do a restore the first thing I noticed was all the dates on any backups made are set to January of 2000 for some reason. When selecting any of the backups present, it won't restore them. Thoughts? Link to a fully working CWM for ED04?
Issue 2 -
Wanted to flash a good kernel for him so I chose OTB Reloaded v1.6. Flashed via CWM, installed Voltage Control, and all that is working good. The only issue was that after flashing the kernel it screwed up the boot animation. Layered over top of the stock Galaxy S animation and then the Verizon one was the generic "ANDROID" animation. No huge deal, but it irritated me so I tried to fix it by flashing a "stock" Galaxy S boot animation found HERE. The issue now is there is no boot animation at all. After powering the phone on and getting the plain white text "Samsung" the screen goes completely black for a few seconds as the phone boots until you find yourself at the main screen. Any suggestions?
I've searched and looked around a bit but having trouble finding any clear info on either issue. Perhaps it's just me, but it seems like the Fascinate info and sections are very scattered and outdated?
Thanks in advance for any insight, help, tips, info, and/or fixes!!
I think by using this recovery, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=942021, it should fix your problems.
Cool...thanks for the link. I'll give that one a shot and report back.
After a convoluted process and many mishaps on my part (I bricked it) my phone has a working, rooted and stripped down version of 2.3.6 on it. Which works as intended except the screen is now grainy and the colors are over-saturated. (side note: unfortunately I did not do a backup of the stock firmware-stupid I know)
I'm guessing this is a driver issue with the firmware or gpu because the pictures I took before I tried getting cyanogen on my phone now look very pixelated; almost like one of those cheesy after effects. I tried updating the firmware and it said I was current. Is there a way to update drivers? Do I have to find the original firmware for my phone (I looked on here the forum with the huge list of branded and unbranded and was at a loss)?
Also in my endeavor to attain the cm7 I tried rom manager which never worked even after getting the pre-rooted firmware. It will let me download the new clockwork but it does not appear to flash it and any attempt to install or reboot to clockwork doesn't do anything (gives prompts, I say yes, nothing happens). As a result of following the cyanogen wiki twice it says I have two custom firmwares and I cannot get into clockwork at all. I could the first time through before I bricked it but now I can't. Is there a way to remove the extra kernel?
The only reason I have a working phone is because of Odin. Is there a way to use Odin to install cm7 and would that fix the display issues or am I better off finding the stock firmware and hoping the display will default back to working?
Thank you in advance,
noob
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1313659
Branded? Unbranded?
There is only one variant of the I777 - AT&T Branded. Anything in the Development forum for the I777 will work on an I777.
It's not like the I9100 with a bunch of minor subvariants.
drmorbo said:
After a convoluted process and many mishaps on my part (I bricked it) my phone has a working, rooted and stripped down version of 2.3.6 on it. Which works as intended except the screen is now grainy and the colors are over-saturated. (side note: unfortunately I did not do a backup of the stock firmware-stupid I know)
I'm guessing this is a driver issue with the firmware or gpu because the pictures I took before I tried getting cyanogen on my phone now look very pixelated; almost like one of those cheesy after effects. I tried updating the firmware and it said I was current. Is there a way to update drivers? Do I have to find the original firmware for my phone (I looked on here the forum with the huge list of branded and unbranded and was at a loss)?
Also in my endeavor to attain the cm7 I tried rom manager which never worked even after getting the pre-rooted firmware. It will let me download the new clockwork but it does not appear to flash it and any attempt to install or reboot to clockwork doesn't do anything (gives prompts, I say yes, nothing happens). As a result of following the cyanogen wiki twice it says I have two custom firmwares and I cannot get into clockwork at all. I could the first time through before I bricked it but now I can't. Is there a way to remove the extra kernel?
The only reason I have a working phone is because of Odin. Is there a way to use Odin to install cm7 and would that fix the display issues or am I better off finding the stock firmware and hoping the display will default back to working?
Thank you in advance,
noob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you able to reboot the phone in recovery using ADB?
Its gotten to the point where nothing I try works. I managed to get cm7 installed and it got stuck in a boot loop. Flashed back to the stripped down version again. Everything that could go wrong has. For now I just want to go back to whatever firmware came with my phone out of the box. The startup logo was at&t so I guess I'll go for the branded version (which I can't find on here--its almost 3 am I apologize for my idiocy) and hope the screen issue is resolved.
Thanks again
defeated
drmorbo said:
For now I just want to go back to whatever firmware came with my phone out of the box. The startup logo was at&t so I guess I'll go for the branded version (which I can't find on here--its almost 3 am I apologize for my idiocy) and hope the screen issue is resolved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which you can't find? Someone posted the link to my return to stock guide in post #2 of this thread.
If you return to complete stock using Entropy512's Return/Unbrick to stock package, you will regain the AT&T boot logo instead of any custom boot logo. The phone will be just like it was when you first took it out of the box.
If you want the stock ROM plus root, Entropy has a package for that also. Just flash one of his packages with Odin, or use the One-Click downloaders for his package that are linked in my guides.
Update: You can also download all of these from my Download Repository.
Okay so I did the return to stock without root one click and that went fine. However the display is still not working properly. Solid colors are fine and I even went into the debug screen and tested all the colors. They were brilliant but any dimming or shading of two colors just looks wrong. The only thing that I can think of is the bootloader is wrong. It says my phone is a I9100 which it isn't. However I'm not sure why a bootloader would affect the display. Does the I777 have a different initialization process for the gpu? Or is the issue somewhere else?
drmorbo said:
Okay so I did the return to stock without root one click and that went fine. However the display is still not working properly. Solid colors are fine and I even went into the debug screen and tested all the colors. They were brilliant but any dimming or shading of two colors just looks wrong. The only thing that I can think of is the bootloader is wrong. It says my phone is a I9100 which it isn't. However I'm not sure why a bootloader would affect the display. Does the I777 have a different initialization process for the gpu? Or is the issue somewhere else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might affect it but I highly doubt it.
So do you have any idea what could have caused it? I tried searching the forums but I couldn't find somebody with a similar problem.
Where exactly does it say your phone is I9100?
It shows "Samsung galaxy s II I9100" before the at&t load screen.
drmorbo said:
It shows "Samsung galaxy s II I9100" before the at&t load screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The return to stock did not complete correctly. This screen appears after flashing a non-stock kernel with Odin/Heimdall.
Entropy512 said:
The return to stock did not complete correctly. This screen appears after flashing a non-stock kernel with Odin/Heimdall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. The very first method I tried was the heimdall from the cyanogen wiki. I've used various methods without success. However the last effort was to restore the phone and I used the one click stock without root. Was it supposed to restore the bootloader? Also I updated ota and the display works much better. The remaining discoloration/pixelation could have been there all along as I didn't wait long to put cyanogen on it (1 day) and I have nothing to compare it to.
drmorbo said:
Yes. The very first method I tried was the heimdall from the cyanogen wiki. I've used various methods without success. However the last effort was to restore the phone and I used the one click stock without root. Was it supposed to restore the bootloader? Also I updated ota and the display works much better. The remaining discoloration/pixelation could have been there all along as I didn't wait long to put cyanogen on it (1 day) and I have nothing to compare it to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The return-to-stock-with-root shouldn't touch bootloaders - but it should have restored a stock kernel. IF you're getting the "yellow triangle" I9100 boot screen, the last thing flashed with Odin/Heimdall was NOT a stock kernel.
There is no yellow triangle. I used the exe from the link in the first response in this forum. In any case I'll throw a picture of the phone while turned off but charging tonight. The display issues aren't grave but they are noticeable and annoying. Do you know of an app that allows you adjust graphical/display settings? Maybe it would suffice.
I found information concerning my display issues. Apparently it's an issue with the phone. Its called black crush. My phone has this and oversaturated red. So shading details are pixelated and reddish.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1124669
Also I noticed people repeatedly mentioning screen modes under setting>displays however my phone does not have this option. Also all of the mentions have been under the forum for the regular version of the phone not the AT&T variant. Is the AT&T version missing this option or am I blind?
drmorbo said:
I found information concerning my display issues. Apparently it's an issue with the phone. Its called black crush. My phone has this and oversaturated red. So shading details are pixelated and reddish.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1124669
Also I noticed people repeatedly mentioning screen modes under setting>displays however my phone does not have this option. Also all of the mentions have been under the forum for the regular version of the phone not the AT&T variant. Is the AT&T version missing this option or am I blind?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T version is missing screen tuning unless you run a custom ROM that readds it like Serendipity VIII or Unnamed.
Okay cool. So I used the one click with root and the wifi is broken and it won't let me do an OTA. however I had previously used the one click without root and I was able to OTA and that solved the broken wifi. What would be the easiest way to fix the wifi?
Flash cwm>factory restore/wipe (I don't have cwm and I remember the cyanogen wiki way to get cwm messed up my soft buttons--two didn't work anymore)
Or
Flash the 12/21 dd kernel (I did originally try this route. However Odin didn't recognize the kernel. I even repackaged I with just zImage. Still nothing.)
Thank You again Entropy
DrMorbo
Sounds like there is something broken about the oneclick... Try flashing the return-to-stock package with Heimdall. Heimdall also lets you flash kernel zImages without packaging into a tar.
However Heimdall needs its own driver mojo on Windows - I can't really help you with this, I've flashed a device from Windows only once, and that was the Tab 10.1 because Heimdall won't talk to it.
Nevermind. I tried the update a third time. It decided to work (48 hours later). Everything works. Wifi works. The screen is better (I used voodoo screen tuning to greatly diminish the black crush and red saturation. I can finally customize my phone now. Any nifty apps you know of Entropy? (Regular or root needed)
Thank you again Entropy,
DrMorbo
Hi,
Instead of reading Samsung Galaxy S4 on the initial splash screen on bootup, my phone now says Samsung the picture of an open unlocked padlock and the word custom. Searches suggest that triangle away may fix this problem.
I'm wondering
1. If I can use triangle away on my phone to remove this message and return to the normal bootup splash screen
Notes:
Rooted Samsung GS4 for Verizon, VZW updates disabled with Titanium Backup, MDK
No custom ROM
I did not use goomanager until after I noticed this
The problem was noticed sometime after I enabled the WiFi toggle (and hotspot and air gesture) which is my guess to what caused it
Other than that I have been installing various apps that require root between noticing it and now (could these have caused it?)
I installed TWRP just last night per droidmodderx's youtube guide and made a backup but I have not flashed any ROM and don't really plan on it at this point.
So is my ROM stock Samsung even though I enabled the toggles? The guides for Triangle Away for the GS4 all say I need an "unlocked bootloader" but it is my understanding that at this point in time, that does not exist, there is just the loki workaround.
Thank you for any help or suggestions you can give me. I would like to make a TWRP backup as close to stock rooted system as I can (maybe its too late) so I can use ROM Toolbox to start making modifications to my phone, but I don't really want to install a custom ROM right now. So I think I should try to get rid of this "custom unlock" splash screen before I go forward.
So I flashed Hyperdrive and now for all ROMs, my boot splash is the Samsung Custom screen instead of the normal Samsung boot splash. I'm talking about the Samsung screen that comes up before the boot animation. Does anyone know how to revert to the normal boot splash?
Thanks
I have read Triangle away from play store might be able to help, but it's a hardcore app and can hard brick if not used properly.
Sometimes you will get lucky and have the stock splash return when flashing new roms, sometimes not. Not sure why it changes randomly, for me anyway. (Ie.. HD 1-5 I kept the stock animation, 6-9 custom, 10 stock, 10.1 custom)
Haven't figured out what is tripping and reseting it personally. I'm thinking it has to do with what apps you root install when flashing honestly. (Kernels make no difference in my experiences)
I got the S4 back when it first came out, and messed around with some CM ROMs and other custom ROMs that worked fairly well. The big killers for me though were bluetooth audio not working, not being able to use headphone microphones, and the proximity sensor being all weird. So I reverted to stock but kept root, and eventually upgraded to MJ7 while keeping root. When I boot I still get the 'Samsung Custom' bootscreen.
I've never been happy with Touchwiz, and have all of the Samsung features turned off. The stock messaging app is really the thing that bugs the hell out of me, since it takes forever to get messages (sometimes up to an hour, while Handcent will get them right away), and I love my Nexus 7 experience. I'd really like to get as close to a 'Google' phone as possible, but I'm currently stuck on Verizon.
I've tried using GooManager to download the recovery managers again, but it's having problems with 404 errors downloading the scripts. I tried ROM Manager and it says it installs ClockworkMod (6.0.44 in fact), but it refuses to boot into recovery mode. Most of the tools I'm finding are not for MJ7, so I'm kind of hesitant to solutions that aren't for my current version. Since I can't make any backups without being able to boot into a proper recovery mode, that's another kind of notch against using most of the guides.
I don't mind the actual process of doing the work, I'm just not sure where to go from here. What are my options?
dragonmantank said:
I got the S4 back when it first came out, and messed around with some CM ROMs and other custom ROMs that worked fairly well. The big killers for me though were bluetooth audio not working, not being able to use headphone microphones, and the proximity sensor being all weird. So I reverted to stock but kept root, and eventually upgraded to MJ7 while keeping root. When I boot I still get the 'Samsung Custom' bootscreen.
I've never been happy with Touchwiz, and have all of the Samsung features turned off. The stock messaging app is really the thing that bugs the hell out of me, since it takes forever to get messages (sometimes up to an hour, while Handcent will get them right away), and I love my Nexus 7 experience. I'd really like to get as close to a 'Google' phone as possible, but I'm currently stuck on Verizon.
I've tried using GooManager to download the recovery managers again, but it's having problems with 404 errors downloading the scripts. I tried ROM Manager and it says it installs ClockworkMod (6.0.44 in fact), but it refuses to boot into recovery mode. Most of the tools I'm finding are not for MJ7, so I'm kind of hesitant to solutions that aren't for my current version. Since I can't make any backups without being able to boot into a proper recovery mode, that's another kind of notch against using most of the guides.
I don't mind the actual process of doing the work, I'm just not sure where to go from here. What are my options?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well unfortunately for you you're on MJ7 which means your only options right now are rooting and Xposed. Other than that though, there's really nothing else you can do at the moment. If you were on ME7 or MI1 still you could at least run Safestrap, but even then you would be limited to Touchwiz based roms. Unless you're willing to go on the hunt for an MDK S4 you'll just have to deal with your limited options for now. Oh and before you ask, there is absolutely no way to revert back to earlier firmwares. Once you update, you're stuck.
Crawshayi said:
Well unfortunately for you you're on MJ7 which means your only options right now are rooting and Xposed. Other than that though, there's really nothing else you can do at the moment. If you were on ME7 or MI1 still you could at least run Safestrap, but even then you would be limited to Touchwiz based roms. Unless you're willing to go on the hunt for an MDK S4 you'll just have to deal with your limited options for now. Oh and before you ask, there is absolutely no way to revert back to earlier firmwares. Once you update, you're stuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I know I couldn't revert the firmware to something earlier. Is it possible to revert to stock even? At this point I think I just want to revert it and sell this phone off and get something else. I don't care about KNOX status, just getting it back to stock so that whomever buys it won't keep getting security notifications.
dragonmantank said:
Yeah, I know I couldn't revert the firmware to something earlier. Is it possible to revert to stock even? At this point I think I just want to revert it and sell this phone off and get something else. I don't care about KNOX status, just getting it back to stock so that whomever buys it won't keep getting security notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I believe it's possible, I found this thread that gives you an Odin image to flash: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2507217
The security notification was actually fixed and supposedly an update was pushed out, but maybe yours didn't grab the update properly? I'm not sure, but that Odin image should get you back to factory stock. If I were you I would get an HTC One if you can live with not having a removable battery and sd card.
Awesome, thank you very much.
I'm re-flashing today take it back. I'll have a look at the HTC One, since it wasn't out when I got my S4. I know that (at the time) the S4 was the only Android phone I had found, with the One a close second but not available. I would really love a Google phone, but I get the feeling that will probably never happen on VZW.