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So far Ive tried different cables, different computers, different USB ports, Odin (which gets stuck) and Heimdall (which actually says its successful, boots my phone but after the Samsung logo theres only a black screen with the keys still on), the official Sprint SW update tool (which crashes on me when its trying to do its magic), tried setting Run in Admin mode/Windows XP compatability, and singing to it. But nothing gets me past the Factoryrfs.rfs. Help?
siirus09 said:
So far Ive tried different cables, different computers, different USB ports, Odin (which gets stuck) and Heimdall (which actually says its successful, boots my phone but after the Samsung logo theres only a black screen with the keys still on), the official Sprint SW update tool (which crashes on me when its trying to do its magic), tried setting Run in Admin mode/Windows XP compatability, and singing to it. But nothing gets me past the Factoryrfs.rfs. Help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try a complete stock tar for Heimdall? Or you can try breaking down a prerooted tar and heimdall it. Then you should have a CWM recovery and can try flashing ReRFS ROM. You can also try with the battery and sd card removed for Odin or Heimdall.
kennyglass123 said:
Did you try a complete stock tar for Heimdall? Or you can try breaking down a prerooted tar and heimdall it. Then you should have a CWM recovery and can try flashing ReRFS ROM. You can also try with the battery and sd card removed for Odin or Heimdall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If by complete stock tar for Heimdall you mean firmware package that Heimdall handles, no I havent tried that because I cant find it. I will try a prerooted tar and use Heimdall. I'd try to ask why no battery and sd card matters but with the crazy stuff Ive heard people do to get it to work, I wont question it.
I had this problem yesterday, trying to Odin back to ECO5 from EH17. After about 10 times I used a ECO5.TAR file along with the victory file in the pit.
I hope that helps, because I know the feeling of how frustrating it was!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
siirus09 said:
If by complete stock tar for Heimdall you mean firmware package that Heimdall handles, no I havent tried that because I cant find it. I will try a prerooted tar and use Heimdall. I'd try to ask why no battery and sd card matters but with the crazy stuff Ive heard people do to get it to work, I wont question it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You grab 7zip and decompress the stock EC05 tar which can be found in the following thread as well as in post 2 are Heimdall instructions:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1052813
Try running only the pit, with ONLY Re-partition checked. You will get a reset. Wait ten seconds, pull battery, reboot DL mode and then try the DG27 file on Independent Android Prroject homepage.
I flashed CWM5 through CWM3 purple. It rebooted into CWM5 and I got a ton of errors in red text, only the up and down buttons work and I can't select any options on the menu.
I then flashed it again using ODIN , put it in the PDA slot ect ect, and the same thing happened. Tried to ODIN back to CWM3, same thing. Tried to ODIN ACS recovery version 1, same thing. Completely stuck. Need help please.
I've never heard of that happening but you may need to revert back to stock ec05 and try again. This time just odin in cwm5 on ec05 and tell me how it goes.
Sent From My Cyaned Legend
Yea it was really weird, everytime I rebooted into recovery, or after ODIN, it did it for me, it booted into CWM5 and gave me errors...I did the 3 finger recovery thing, and ACS recovery loaded up normally, no freakin idea what happened, but it is worked out, I think.
qbkings video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuLWzeJ1lT4
Sorry if this is a repeat question, but after searching I still can't seem to find a solution (that I can understand anyway.) I relatively new, having only rooted this phone once before, successfully, but a year ago. I've been reading up for the past two days, but I can't seem to find the soft-brick solution to the new Knox problem.
Short history: Rooted 4.2 a while back, but the speakers stopped working (constant headphone mode) so I thought a software update was finally in order. Did the 4.3 update (not knowing about Knox) to see if that fixed the headphone issue (it didn't) then installed TWRP and tried to install the 4.4 OMNI nightly. After install, it hangs on Samsung logo (soft brick?). Restored to backup, but still hangs. Tried installing SlimKat 4.4, but the install fails. Unsure where to go from here.
Phone still powers up, goes into both Download and Recovery mode. TWRP is the current bootloader(?)/recovery(?).
So, is there a simple reason I'm soft-bricked? I read that Knox is in the bootloader, so is it because I'm using TWRP that it hangs? I find it odd that after restoring to previous settings it still doesn't function. Also, I don't care about the warranty bit, so anything is on the table for me.
Much love to those who spend the time to help out, please link to any resources for me and others who have the same problem. I'll append the working solution to this post for quick access in the future!
Ripptor said:
Sorry if this is a repeat question, but after searching I still can't seem to find a solution (that I can understand anyway.) I relatively new, having only rooted this phone once before, successfully, but a year ago. I've been reading up for the past two days, but I can't seem to find the soft-brick solution to the new Knox problem.
Short history: Rooted 4.2 a while back, but the speakers stopped working (constant headphone mode) so I thought a software update was finally in order. Did the 4.3 update (not knowing about Knox) to see if that fixed the headphone issue (it didn't) then installed TWRP and tried to install the 4.4 OMNI nightly. After install, it hangs on Samsung logo (soft brick?). Restored to backup, but still hangs. Tried installing SlimKat 4.4, but the install fails. Unsure where to go from here.
Phone still powers up, goes into both Download and Recovery mode. TWRP is the current bootloader(?)/recovery(?).
So, is there a simple reason I'm soft-bricked? I read that Knox is in the bootloader, so is it because I'm using TWRP that it hangs? I find it odd that after restoring to previous settings it still doesn't function. Also, I don't care about the warranty bit, so anything is on the table for me.
Much love to those who spend the time to help out, please link to any resources for me and others who have the same problem. I'll append the working solution to this post for quick access in the future!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP is your recovery. How were you wiping in between flashes? Sounds like the phone wasnt wiped correctly, causing it to hang. You should be able to flash any ROM zip, because ROM zips dont flash the bootloader, they just flash the system and the kernel. You can flash 4.3 stock tar file in ODIN, but you cant flash anything under 4.3 in ODIN, because tar files flash all parts including the bootloader. If you flash a 4.2 stock tar in ODIN, you will brick instantly.
joeyhdownsouth said:
TWRP is your recovery. How were you wiping in between flashes? Sounds like the phone wasnt wiped correctly, causing it to hang. You should be able to flash any ROM zip, because ROM zips don't flash the bootloader, they just flash the system and the kernel. You can flash 4.3 stock tar file in ODIN, but you cant flash anything under 4.3 in ODIN, because tar files flash all parts including the bootloader. If you flash a 4.2 stock tar in ODIN, you will brick instantly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used ODIN to flash TWRP, then wiped using TWRP, factory reset/dalvik cache. It seems that the problem was actually with TWRP, however. Apparently it doesn't install 4.4 KitKat ROMs correctly, from another post that I read. I installed PhilzTouch Recovery instead, and it installed just fine. Phone is working just fine running the latest SlimKat, however I still have no audio output.. So, still gotta figure that out.
So I was able to root phone on w/o issue. I installed CWM via play store then proceeded to attempted to load Cyanogen mod via zip..and oh yeah I didn't wipe phone prior so....Now I have infinite loop issue at boot. I've searched the interwebs looking for any way to get back to stock or anything so I'll be able to use the phone again but have come up short every time. I've tried using ODIN to flash stock image but that fails. I've tried various .tar, .tz and anything else that odin will load w/o success. Will anyone take pity on my stupid ass and lens a hand?
exarkun631 said:
So I was able to root phone on w/o issue. I installed CWM via play store then proceeded to attempted to load Cyanogen mod via zip..and oh yeah I didn't wipe phone prior so....Now I have infinite loop issue at boot. I've searched the interwebs looking for any way to get back to stock or anything so I'll be able to use the phone again but have come up short every time. I've tried using ODIN to flash stock image but that fails. I've tried various .tar, .tz and anything else that odin will load w/o success. Will anyone take pity on my stupid ass and lens a hand?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you able to boot in recovery? (volume up + home + power). You could wipe and try flashing again (the first boot does take a while).
As for Odin, make sure you're using the right image (.tar) if recovery doesn't work.
Here's a little Odin guide: [ODIN] Desktop ODIN ver 3.07 for use with Samsung Galaxy S III
yeah I tried that
BWolf56 said:
Are you able to boot in recovery? (volume up + home + power). You could wipe and try flashing again (the first boot does take a while).
As for Odin, make sure you're using the right image (.tar) if recovery doesn't work.
Here's a little Odin guide: [ODIN] Desktop ODIN ver 3.07 for use with Samsung Galaxy S III
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I am able to boot into recovery but it's the stock recovery, not the one I intalled after root.
I've tried flashing stock images, custom images, CWM, TWRP, .TARs all w/o success. In ODIN I've flashed CWM and TWRP and it reports success but upon reboot it goes back to stock recovery and shows now 13 attempts to load custom firmware. I even tried to use Cyanogen,s windows app but even that gets stuck saying it can't communicate w/device. I've tried several driver, hiemdal, (which I can't figure out). What I'd like to do wipe EVERYTHING, like format the phone but I can't seem to remove the Samsung boot loader. Is my phone beyond repair? I'm super bummed, esp since I'm not a total noob when it comes to custom ROMs. I dropped greenpoison on my fist iPhone and had several ROMs on my old Moto Atrix. I think whatever evil Samsiung put on this device is totally screwing me.
exarkun631 said:
So I've tried flashing stock images, custom images, CWM, TWRP, .TARs all w/o success. In ODIN I've flashed CWM and TWRP and it reports success but upon reboot it goes back to stock recovery and shows now 13 attempts to load custom firmware. I even tried to use Cyanogen,s windows app but even that gets stuck saying it can't communicate w/device. I've tried several driver, hiemdal, (which I can't figure out). What I'd like to do wipe EVERYTHING, like format the phone but I can't seem to remove the Samsung boot loader. Is my phone beyond repair? I'm super bummed, esp since I'm not a total noob when it comes to custom ROMs. I dropped greenpoison on my fist iPhone and had several ROMs on my old Moto Atrix. I think whatever evil Samsiung put on this device is totally screwing me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try with a different stock image (debloated if you want a smaller download).
Also, Heimdall installs its own drivers, therefor Odin won't work on the same usb port you've installed Heimdall on.
Even in stock recovery, you should be able to do a factory reset (I think). Chances are that your ROM is corrupted atm though, you can try doing a factory reset and attempt boot. If that doesn't work, go the Odin way.
Bootloaders are not something to play with, it's the only way to hard-brick your phone (and you definitively don't wanna remove those nor stop Odin while it's flashing them, if the .tar contains them).
what about...
BWolf56 said:
Try with a different stock image (debloated if you want a smaller download).
Also, Heimdall installs its own drivers, therefor Odin won't work on the same usb port you've installed Heimdall on.
Even in stock recovery, you should be able to do a factory reset (I think). Chances are that your ROM is corrupted atm though, you can try doing a factory reset and attempt boot. If that doesn't work, go the Odin way.
Bootloaders are not something to play with, it's the only way to hard-brick your phone (and you definitively don't wanna remove those nor stop Odin while it's flashing them, if the .tar contains them).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I updated the phone via ota to latest android (4.3 ?). And I think the stock image I tried using was 4.1.x. Could it be I need to find a stock 4.3.x image from at&t? Any idea where to get this? I don't think AT&T provides ythis as that is where I got the previous stock image.
exarkun631 said:
I updated the phone via ota to latest android (4.3 ?). And I think the stock image I tried using was 4.1.x. Could it be I need to find a stock 4.3.x image from at&t? Any idea where to get this? I don't think AT&T provides ythis as that is where I got the previous stock image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you check if the image you used had bootloaders? Cause if so, you might have bricked your phone. You can't downgrade bootloaders from 4.3.
The image can be found here or on sammobile.com
Strange
So after flashing my i747 30x via ODIN w/various .tar for boot and recoveries I was briefly able to boot into CWM. Stupidly, I selected the format option and foolishly restarted, intending to boot back into CWM and flash a .zip image. Once I restarted I was locked out of CWM again and can only boot into stock recovery once again. What am I doing wrong? I just can't wrap my head around why every time I flash a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP or Philz's_Touch in OdIn and it reports success, when I restart it just loads Samsung's ****ty stock recovery. I still can't flash a ROM via ODIN but I'm hoping if I can get back into CWM I'll be able to load a new ROM and use my phone again. Anyhelp would be great.
BWolf56 said:
Can you check if the image you used had bootloaders? Cause if so, you might have bricked your phone. You can't downgrade bootloaders from 4.3.
The image can be found here or on sammobile.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol
exarkun631 said:
So after flashing my i747 30x via ODIN w/various .tar for boot and recoveries I was briefly able to boot into CWM. Stupidly, I selected the format option and foolishly restarted, intending to boot back into CWM and flash a .zip image. Once I restarted I was locked out of CWM again and can only boot into stock recovery once again. What am I doing wrong? I just can't wrap my head around why every time I flash a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP or Philz's_Touch in OdIn and it reports success, when I restart it just loads Samsung's ****ty stock recovery. I still can't flash a ROM via ODIN but I'm hoping if I can get back into CWM I'll be able to load a new ROM and use my phone again. Anyhelp would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I think I figured out what I did wrong. Recovery mode = pwr+home+VolUp...Download mode = Pwr+home+VolDown. What an a$$hole I am, I thought Download mode and Recovery were one in the same and flashing TWRP or CWM would replace download mode. Once I figured out that one it was a simple matter to boot into recovery and wipe the drive then flash my rom (Omni 4.4.2 D2att) IDK if it's the rom or all the screwing around I did but it now takes no less than 10 min to boot into android from rom splash. Tried updating Kernel to latest but found it didn't fix problem.
exarkun631 said:
So I think I figured out what I did wrong. Recovery mode = pwr+home+VolUp...Download mode = Pwr+home+VolDown. What an a$$hole I am, I thought Download mode and Recovery were one in the same and flashing TWRP or CWM would replace download mode. Once I figured out that one it was a simple matter to boot into recovery and wipe the drive then flash my rom (Omni 4.4.2 D2att) IDK if it's the rom or all the screwing around I did but it now takes no less than 10 min to boot into android from rom splash. Tried updating Kernel to latest but found it didn't fix problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you do a clean flash? Sounds like you didn't factory reset.
Make sure you backup your apps before doing so if you wanna keep your app data.
Ok the backround. about 5 days ago the software update started. All seemed ok but then I was getting reboots 4-5 times a day. Brought it to AT&T and they tried to reflash. After backing up info I signed the release form holding them not liable for bricking the phone. Asked the tech how many have bricked on him and he said none. Sorry I was his first...maybe. Screen asking for Kies program to repair. AT&T tech not allowed to use Kies. I downloaded Kies but no luck.
Got the bugger to go to the Boot screen of "Warning...a custom OS....". Then the "Downloading, do not turn of target" screen. It is stuck there or I should say I have left it there. Top of screen says Odin Mode (in red), Produce Name: SGH-I747, Current Binary: Samsung Official, Qualcomm SecureBoot: Enabled, Warranty Bit: 0, Bootloader Ap SWREV: 3.
I have downloaded Odin 3.09. I have the USB drivers installed. I want to restore last known version of AT&T android 4.2.2 or the upgrade 4.3 that didn't seem to take. I am not sure which version it was running before the crash. My wife's S3 is running 4.3.
What Next? Where do I get the file to upload to the phone? Thanks.
So your s3 was trying to upgrade from 4.1.2 or 4.3?
thenexusgeneration said:
So your s3 was trying to upgrade from 4.1.2 or 4.3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure. I think I checked the build version after the install and it read 4.2.2. Can't be absolutely certain when i saw that build number. Would make sense to check it after the install assuming the install happened at all. But again the wife and I bought the two S3's at the same time and hers is running 4.3.
If you got the ota a few days ago, and judging from the SWREV (Software Revision), you are currently on 4.4.2 firmware (NE4). This means you cannot flash older firmware on Odin (or any other way, OT it'll really brick). From now on you can only flash NE4 firmware.
You can, however, flash older roms.
If you haven't already, try factory resetting from recovery. (This will wipe all your data including the internal sdcard)
If that doesnt work, my only other suggestion is to flash TWRP via Odin, then boot TWRP recovery and flash the stock NE4 rom from enewman17.
DocHoliday77 said:
If you got the ota a few days ago, and judging from the SWREV (Software Revision), you are currently on 4.4.2 firmware (NE4). This means you cannot flash older firmware on Odin (or any other way, OT it'll really brick). From now on you can only flash NE4 firmware.
You can, however, flash older roms.
If you haven't already, try factory resetting from recovery. (This will wipe all your data including the internal sdcard)
If that doesnt work, my only other suggestion is to flash TWRP via Odin, then boot TWRP recovery and flash the stock NE4 rom from enewman17.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't get to the factory reset screen, only the warning screen before pressing volume up to load a custom OS. I'm confused....well on may levels but I digress. I thought ROM and firmware were the same thing.
Also the TWRP site has two files, same file I Assume, in different formats, md5 and tar. Are they the same file? Do I use one over the other? To flash TWRP using Odin what screen should I start with on the S3? thanks.
To boot recovery hold volume up, home and power. When it vibrates release power only.
A rom (as we use it here) is just the O/S on the /system partition and is usually flashed in recovery. They also include kernels most of the time. The firmware is this, and more. It includes images for multiple partitions. (aboot, sbl2, sbl3, tz, rpm, modem, recovery, boot, system, cache)
Around here you'll see a lot of folks refer to this as just the bootloaders, but they are talking about the base firmware. Sorry if I confuse anyone with that btw, I try to remember to call it the bootloaders, but am just used to using the term firmware.
As for flashing twrp from odin, it must be a .tar or .tar.md5. Both are used by odin. The .md5 extension just tells odin a hash value is included. It will then run an md5 checksum to verify the file about to be flashed is valid, or not corrupted. Either one will work, but the .tar.md5 is safer. If the download gets corrupted somehow, odin will catch it and refuse to flash.
When flashing anything in odin you need to be in Download mode.
DocHoliday77 said:
To boot recovery hold volume up, home and power. When it vibrates release power only.
A rom (as we use it here) is just the O/S on the /system partition and is usually flashed in recovery. They also include kernels most of the time. The firmware is this, and more. It includes images for multiple partitions. (aboot, sbl2, sbl3, tz, rpm, modem, recovery, boot, system, cache)
Around here you'll see a lot of folks refer to this as just the bootloaders, but they are talking about the base firmware. Sorry if I confuse anyone with that btw, I try to remember to call it the bootloaders, but am just used to using the term firmware.
As for flashing twrp from odin, it must be a .tar or .tar.md5. Both are used by odin. The .md5 extension just tells odin a hash value is included. It will then run an md5 checksum to verify the file about to be flashed is valid, or not corrupted. Either one will work, but the .tar.md5 is safer. If the download gets corrupted somehow, odin will catch it and refuse to flash.
When flashing anything in odin you need to be in Download mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Doc, when I try the boot recovery hold volume up, home and power I get the "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again." message. If I use the hold volume down, home and power combo I get to the "Warning!! A custom Os can cause....." screen. If I press volume up it goes to the "Downloading...Do not turn off target!!" screen. If I press volume down it reboots to the "Kies" screen. Which screen mode should I be in when attempting to flash the TWRP file with Odin? thanks.
OK I tried to flash the TWRP file. Put S3 in download mode, Opened Odin, plugged in S3, Odin showed "added", tried to load the TWRP file into Odin but it freezes Odin. Non responsive Odin. Tried 4 times with and without plugging in phone. any clues?
Try downloading the file again. Could be a corrupted download. Also, what version of Odin are you using?
Oh, and kies interferes with Odin. Uninstall it and try odin again.
DocHoliday77 said:
Try downloading the file again. Could be a corrupted download. Also, what version of Odin are you using?
Oh, and kies interferes with Odin. Uninstall it and try odin again.[/QUOTE
Thanks I tried 3.09 first then 3.07. 3.09 hangs right away. 3.07 doesn't say "not responding" but nothing happens. Looks like it will but no. I wait for about 45 min. I will try everything from scratch. I did uninstall Kies with no help. Kies can't find the device - generic code 43.
Is it the Bootloader ap SWREV: 3 that indicates I need 4.4.2?
If its an older version such as 4.3 can i/should I still install 4.4.2?
Where do I find 4.4.2. Thanks for all your help because this is like finding a specific needle in a stack of needles without even fulling understanding what a needle is! God I miss DOS.
I've been doing all the above without sim or sd card installed. Does that make any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IT's BACK ALIVE! Now what?
What happened? None of the .MD5 files would load and would just lock the Odin. Since I had nothing to loose I used a 2.6 version of the .tar file without the .MD5 check. It loaded fine, rebooted and there is my phone screen with all my apps and info. I'm afraid to even unplug it from the cable (silly I know). Checked the version and it reads 4.4.2., baseband version I747UCUFNE4, Kernel version 3.4.0-1514807, build number KOT49H.I171UCUFNE4, SE for Android status Enforcing SEPF_SAMSUNG-SGH-I747_4.4.2_0016.
Am I done? Is it safe to put back in service or should I do something else? thanks
Weird! Sounds like something on your system didn't like the md5sum. Never seen that before!
But if it appeared to flash ok, rebooted and it says PASS in Odin, you should be good to go.
First though, what exactly did you flash? Can you link to it? To my knowledge there is no NE4 firmware package available. Ive been trying to make one but it hasn't worked yet....
DocHoliday77 said:
Weird! Sounds like something on your system didn't like the md5sum. Never seen that before!
But if it appeared to flash ok, rebooted and it says PASS in Odin, you should be good to go.
First though, what exactly did you flash? Can you link to it? To my knowledge there is no NE4 firmware package available. Ive been trying to make one but it hasn't worked yet....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just flashed the TWRP http://true-android.blogspot.com/2014/01/install-twrp-recovery-2631-on-at-galaxy.html. It passed it and phone rebooted to the normal reboot and my old screen. Weird? I do weird all the time. I used Odin 3.09. I have run it through some of its apps. I will wait 24 hours to see if it reboots by itself.
Cool, sounds like it should be ok then. Hopefully it'll make it through your testing period!
DocHoliday77 said:
Cool, sounds like it should be ok then. Hopefully it'll make it through your testing period!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it's functioning but we are back to the reboots 4-5 x a day. I can get to the recovery screen now. Anyone have a guess of my best next option?
Not sure, could be a faulty power switch though. Lots of these have been going bad in recent months, but it usually happens all the time, not just a few times a day.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Just a F/U. The reboot was getting to be a problem. Also had a problem with back up and restore apps. Found one that worked so I did a factory reset. All is good again. Love my S3 again. Still not happy with how AT&T handled the problem though.