Develop Bugs

How to UN-Brick - SDH-710 Samsung EL29 S2 Galaxy

I was using the Odin3 procedure to root and mixed and matched procedures... STUPID! Got it first stuck only showing the S2 Galaxy screen, then after a bit more stupid steps, got it to say "Firmware Update Issue, use Kies to recover".
It WOULD go to Download screen, but would not do anything else...
Model #SPH-D710
710.10 S.EL29
So, here is what I did to get back up and running.
Used Odin3 v1.85 (Download and use from Admin user)
I used 3 files.
1. Partition file, Attached (EL29)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1265023
2. Stock Firmware that I downloaded from http://www.samfirmware.com/ (need to register, then click on the Firmware tab, then on SmartPhone, Android, Model D710, then download the ~270mb file.
3. Modem file (attached)
Screen shot of what it should look like.
Modem file goes under Phone:
Large file, Firmware from samfirmware, goes under PDA
Pit file, goes under PIT.
Put the phone in Download mode by holding down the Power + Vol Down for 10ish seconds... Should get a yellow bar on Odin...
Make sure you are running Odin from Admin user (I think this helped)
Start, and away you go... should take about 5 min and you're done...
I then used the Odin One Click and it worked to root...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1433101
I specifically used the ALL IN ONE file "SPH-D710.EL29_CL852097_ROOTED_NODATA-oc-sfx.exe" that kept my data intact. Simply run it, start the phone in Download mode, once you get the yellow bar (assuming the drivers are installed), you will be golden.
Hope this helps someone...
Thanks for everyone on this forum and all your great work! All files were found on this site, and others...

Accidental post
But PDA only is fine
Also this is q and a plus I believe qbking77 has a few videos on this

The EL29 tarball includes the modem partition, why double flash it?
Also,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1274337
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

[Q] Samsung galaxy 3 stuck in on boot screen

Hi Guys,
Need your help.
My Samsung galaxy 3 is stuck on the boot screen. I cannot get into recovery mode but download mode works.
Some background info: The phone has never been rooted. It seemed to have slowed down a week ago . I had the screen replaced a month ago as it had cracked. I did experience some problems charging it 2 months back but a new battery and charger seemed to work.
I am not at all technical but will follow any straight forward instructions given by u guys.
My main goal is to get into my phone and its data. So please give suggestions which i can try which will still retain the data.
Many thanks 

If you can get download mode you can Odin flash the stock firmware. See my sig for links to everything you need, namely the firmware thread.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

re: a sure fix
shahz_ said:
Hi Guys,
Need your help.
My Samsung galaxy 3 is stuck on the boot screen. I cannot get into recovery mode but download mode works.
Some background info: The phone has never been rooted. It seemed to have slowed down a week ago . I had the screen replaced a month ago as it had cracked. I did experience some problems charging it 2 months back but a new battery and charger seemed to work.
I am not at all technical but will follow any straight forward instructions given by u guys.
My main goal is to get into my phone and its data. So please give suggestions which i can try which will still retain the data.
Many thanks 
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guide will get your phone back up and running properly.
Easy and sure way to fix your problem - Here is s step by step guide:
Download the newest pre-rooted Samsung Galaxy S3 T999 Jellybean v4.1.2 rom: T999_UVDMD5
After downloading make a folder on your computer's desktop and unzip the
file using Winzip or 7zip so the .TAR file is in the new folder you just made.
Download and extract Odin into the same folder you made containing the TAR file.
Here is the link for Odin: http://d-h.st/Q14
• Download ODIN which is required for flashing the stock rooted firmware (a windows app)
• Download the Odin Flash firmware for T999 Tmobile then copy it to the same folder as Odin
• Run Odin by double clicking the Odin.exe within the same folder as the TAR file you extracted
• Turn off your phone and boot into DOWNLOAD MODE (Volume Down + Home + Power Hold until phone powers up, then release and press Volume Up to enter Download Mode)
• Once in Download Mode, connect the USB/Charger cable to the phone and plug into the USB port on your computer.
• You should now see a COM** port listed toward the top-left of Odin (under ID:COM)
• Click on the PDA button in the middle-right area of Odin.
• Browse to and select the Firmware you downloaded (TAR file)
• Make sure Auto-Reboot and F. Reset Time are the only options checked and that PDA is the only other thing checked.
• TRIPLE CHECK your settings and that you have selected the correct firmware for your model phone and are using the correct options.
• If you are using a laptop, make absolutely sure you are plugged in, or if on battery, that it is charged enough and will not go into sleep mode during flash.
• Click Start to begin the flash. This will take a while, so be patient!
• Once complete, in the top-left box in Odin, it will say PASS and the phone should have automatically rebooted.
• You may unplug the phone and close Odin if you wish.
• Wait at least 5-10 minutes for the system to boot the first time and then build its cache!
• (It may seem to hang during boot, this is normal and you must be patient!!!)
Good Luck!

samsung galaxy 3 stuck on boot screen
Thanks for getting back to me. ~Sorry since I actually don't have a clue about all this technical stuff am just going to ask a couple of more silly questions.
so if I try this I should still have my data on the phone? i.e. contacts and pictures?
Misterjunky you said " Download the Odin Flash firmware for T999 Tmobile then copy it to the same folder as Odin"
is that the same instruction "Download the newest pre-rooted Samsung Galaxy S3 T999 Jellybean v4.1.2 rom: T999_UVDMD5"
:silly:

re: odin flash
shahz_ said:
Thanks for getting back to me. ~Sorry since I actually don't have a clue about all this technical stuff am just going to ask a couple of more silly questions.
so if I try this I should still have my data on the phone? i.e. contacts and pictures?
Misterjunky you said " Download the Odin Flash firmware for T999 Tmobile then copy it to the same folder as Odin"
is that the same instruction "Download the newest pre-rooted Samsung Galaxy S3 T999 Jellybean v4.1.2 rom: T999_UVDMD5"
:silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin flashing the stock rooted firmware will not touch any of your music, pictures and video, it will wipe
wipe all the apps which you have installed, but it's easy to get all that back using the Play Store.
Your contacts will be restore automatically by google after you are done flashing and sign into your
gmail, just be sure that you have either the data turned on or turn the wifi on so google can restore
your contacts, then go to the play store and install whatever apps you had before.
and yes, download the firmware and unzip it to the same folder on your computer's desktop which contains Odin.
once the firmware is unzip it will have a TAR extension as it states in the step by step guide.

pit partican file missing - with odin flash
thanks for the last message.
Just tried your instructions but its failed . its saying pit partition is missing .. where can I find this file. am on t mobile in the uk.

Sprint GS3 Stock 4.3 firmware here!

I've managed to download a fully working 4.3 md5 for the Sprint Galaxy S3. I've uploaded it to Mediafire so you don't have to deal with slow download speeds. Took me 7 hours to download this from a different website. i hope you all enjoy PM me if the link gets taken down, and i'll re-upload it. This is Android 4.3 for the Sprint Galaxy S3. this firmware is to be flashed with Odin, (I've provided 3.07 on Mediafire as well) which you can download below, Samsung device drivers (Version 1.3.15.0000.0) are included as well, and the Stock 4.3 firmware in the link below. You will also need Winrar to extract and run Odin.
Samsung Drivers: http://developer.samsung.com/board/download.do?bdId=0000000700&attachId=0000000001
Sprint GS3 4.3 stock Firmware: https://www.mediafire.com/?nq2ugt0oo9tlj65
Winrar: http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm
Note: this is NOT rooted and it DOES have knox.
For beginners with flashing firmware on Odin, after you download the S3 firmware, put your S3 into Download mode. If you have a USB jig like me, you plug that in. If not, while the device is turned off, hold the volume DOWN, POWER button, and HOME button.
Run Odin as an administrator, make sure the Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time boxes ARE checked, the click the PDA button, navigate to the place where you downloaded the firmware too, and click it. It will take a second to check the md5 file, Odin will freeze and not respond, so let it load. if it takes 5 minutes, close Odin. If not, then Odin will unfreeze and the start button will be able to be clicked.
Click the button, sit back for 5-15 minutes, and let Odin work it's magic. Odin runs best if it is the only application running.
I have experienced when restoring from ROMs that sometimes the phone will not fully boot. if you are restoring from a ROM, go into Clockworkmod or TWRP, wipe data, cache, dalvik cache, and wipe system. Yes, wipe system. If you don't have CWM or TWRP, the try using the default recovery and wiping data and cache. If you don't know how to boot into recovery mode, hold the volume UP button, the POWER button, and the HOME button until you see blue text in the top right screen, then let go. when the text disappears, hold that button combo again until you see the android with an open chest. Then proceed to flash back to stock with Odin. This will ONLY work with Odin. I don't think it matters which version of Odin you use. You CANNOT install this straight from system recovery or Clockworkmod, or TWRP. I hope Sprint GS3 owners are happy with this. :3
I am in no way affiliated with Samsung. I am just providing a mirror for those of you stuck with really slow downloads because people want to make money with ads. I have played no part in making this software, i have not tampered or edited it in no way at all. This is literally stock Android 4.3 for the Sprint Galaxy S3. I also am providing the files for Odin and the Samsung drivers because people have trouble finding both of those files. they are not mine.

nice post and find but I've had this up for quite some time now lol

Oops sorry I never saw it when googling for the firmware yesterday or when looking through the forums.

[HELP!] Odin Firmware flash failed at hidden.img. Stuck in DL Mode. T700. Plz Help Me

Hi Everyone,
I am a new owner of a soft-bricked SM-T700. I am feeling very down and need some advice. I will be as thorough as I possibly can and I would truly, truly appreciate some help and advice from you kind folks. This is the first time I have had a bricked device out of my many Android devices.
My PLAN:
-Root
-Custom Recovery
-Nandroid Backup
-Backup EFS
-Flash stock western country firmware
What HAPPENED
Today I bought a wifi T700. I bought it in my hometown, which is China. Whenever I buy a new Android device in China my first action is to ensure it doesn't have any hardware/warranty issues. I then go about reflashing a western firmware so I can use Google services.
1) First I rooted using CF-Auto Root. That worked fine. I confirmed that I had root using an app called root checker.
2) I then attempted to flash TWRP recovery by following the instructions here: http://teamw.in/project/twrp2/238
- First I tried flashing the .tar file using Odin. As soon as I hit 'Start' Odin froze and I got the Windows error saying "Odin Downloader Has Stopped Working", asking to close the program. I close the program. I tried this several times then rebooted. It seemed as though the phone booted fine.
- I then tried using their own software, TWRP manager, here: http://jmzsoftware.com/twrp-manager-4. This app just crashed every time I booted it. I submitted an error log.
- I then tried using 'Flashify' as suggested by someone here on XDA. Once I did that it said flashed successfully and would I like to reboot. I said yes. This is when my troubles started.
3) Upon reboot it immediately booted into a sparse looking 'Download Mode' screen, all in English (the normal one on mine has some Chinese too) without the volume button options to reboot or continue. It just went straight into this screen.
After trying to reboot the phone using several power button holds and key combinations, it appears I am stuck in this screen, so I thought I had no chance of doing a NADROID backup as originally planned, so I decided to try my luck and flash the western firmware.
I tried to flash the version of the firmware provided here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2798835
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23501681358556680
It got all the way through the install until it hit the hidden.img and then failed. I've attached a screen capture.
A few notes;
I have tried using two different USB cables (the one that came with it, and the one that came with my HTC One). I have tried several USB plugs, including the one in the back of my PC. I allowed Odin to do it's MD5 check and it said the file checks out.
I have tried using the Kies emergency Firmware recovery. Pffft! As it that was going to work. Damn Kies.
I sound like I've still got my sense of humor, but actually I am really cut up about this. It is so much money for a tablet and now it is useless unless I can get s firmware that will flash.
I don't have my stock Chinese firmware. That is T700ZCU1ANF4/T700CHN1ANF4/T700ZCU1ANF4/T700ZCU1ANF4 (CHN).
Questions:
Does anyone know where I could find the stock Chinese firmware to try flashing back to that?
Does anyone have the .PIT file and instructions on how to flash that, because I have read in other threads that it solves the hidden.img problem.
Does anyone know why this may have happened and have any alternative suggestions?
Could it have been the TWRP that actually caused this? The thread here indicates others aren't having trouble. Why would it have frozen for me?
I will try anything at this point. I am desperate.
Thanks so much in advance. Please come through XDA! Please come through Galaxy Tab S owners!!!!!!
-------------------------------------------
CLOSURE EDIT: I managed to flash Australian firmware, after reinstalling Kies, uninstalling and reinstalled the device drivers. I also made sure all Kies processes were killed before flashing with Odin.
For people in a similar situation I would urge them to have patience and keep trying to flash stock firmware.

Private Message UpInTheAir and see what he thinks.

Well let me start out by saying i have done some truely horrible things to my tablet in the proceas of porting CM 11. Bad kernels, messing up the partitions, you name it ive probably done it at this point.
I would try using heimdall. Flash one of the recoveries.. and try formatting your partitions.

The program crashing is when you should back off from trying to flash. Reassess what you did and what happened and if it's failing at a point flash the stock back before rebooting.
Continuing blindly was the problem. On something as expensive as a tablet never continue past a point where something goes wrong without reflashing back to stock and starting again.
As eousphoros said Use heimdall and flash a recovery.
Good luck.

eousphoros said:
Well let me start out by saying i have done some truely horrible things to my tablet in the proceas of porting CM 11. Bad kernels, messing up the partitions, you name it ive probably done it at this point.
I would try using heimdall. Flash one of the recoveries.. and try formatting your partitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi All,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
You are certainly right that it is my fault and I should have stopped at some point and reassessed what was happening.
Can you please give me some more information about the steps you have offered? I am researching heimdall now, but if you could give some steps or advice that would be much appreciated.
It's probably going to be difficult because I assume we are in different timezones. I will persevere and try to get this worked out.

I have downloaded Heimdall and understand that it is an alternative to using Odin.
I currently have three questions about Heimdall.
1. Do I need to do the install drivers step if I have already installed the drivers for my device? Is this some step that actually replaces the current drivers with ones that are required for Heimdall to operate? I ask them because when I list USB devices, my tab is not shown up as Samsung Composite Device. It is actually shown as two separate entries, looking like generic USB entries.
2. Do I need to have a valid PIT file in order to run a custom Heimdall flash?
3. Which partition should I select if/when I run the Heimdall flash?
I'm dying a little inside every time I look at my tablet

Install heimdall
Download a recovery, I am going to pimp mine. http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/cwm-recovery-6-0-5-0-galaxy-tab-s-8-4-t2824099.
Run sudo ~/git/Heimdall/heimdall/heimdall flash --RECOVERY cwm6.0.5.0-2.img. Wait for it to complete, your tablet will reboot and will probably fail like it has been.
Hold down Power + Vol Down + Home button... wait for the "Press vol up to continue, press vol down to cancel"
Press vol down to cancel, then immediately hold down Power + Vol Up + Home button till you see the recovery screen pop up.
If you get the recovery screen your tablet can probably still be saved. Woo!
So then download http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2798835 (Which i think you already have)
Unzip it, there will be a tar file. tar xvf T700....something.tar.md5 -C some_directory
You will get a bunch of img files. From those you should be able to finish the recovery and hopefully return full function to your device. (Which unless something is physically broken you will most likely be able to do.) Good Luck! And again this is all done at your own risk, please dont sue me.

eousphoros said:
Install heimdall
Download a recovery, I am going to pimp mine. http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/cwm-recovery-6-0-5-0-galaxy-tab-s-8-4-t2824099.
Run sudo ~/git/Heimdall/heimdall/heimdall flash --RECOVERY cwm6.0.5.0-2.img. Wait for it to complete, your tablet will reboot and will probably fail like it has been.
Hold down Power + Vol Down + Home button... wait for the "Press vol up to continue, press vol down to cancel"
Press vol down to cancel, then immediately hold down Power + Vol Up + Home button till you see the recovery screen pop up.
If you get the recovery screen your tablet can probably still be saved. Woo!
So then download http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2798835 (Which i think you already have)
Unzip it, there will be a tar file. tar xvf T700....something.tar.md5 -C some_directory
You will get a bunch of img files. From those you should be able to finish the recovery and hopefully return full function to your device. (Which unless something is physically broken you will most likely be able to do.) Good Luck! And again this is all done at your own risk, please dont sue me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, let me just say that OH MY F#@$ING GOD I THINK THE NIGHTMARE IS OVER!!!! I managed to flash the Australian Firmware successfully. It has now booted fine, I have factory reset and I am in the process of setting up the device afresh.
Having said that, when I do come to reroot and install a custom recovery, I will definitely take a look at yours. Was this here 12 hours ago? I looked and couldn't find anything about CWM except for a short thread and an unofficial port. I have never tried TWRP before and I will avoid it like the plague in the future. I have NEVER had trouble with CWM.
When (if ever) I get the nerve up to give this another go, I will try your CWM.
Thanks again.
I am so relieved right now.....

And make a Nandroid first this time

Hey,
I had the exact same issue with my Galaxy Note 8, every time I tried to install European or custom Rom.
The only way to get the tab back was to flash with the Chinese firmware. You may find it easily on Baidu.
Since it happened also with a note 2 and note 3, I stopped buying Android device in China... Unless you can make sure that you buy a model coming from HK.

Hi everybody.
In order not to create another Thread I would like to leave a request for help in here while searching the answer myself.
I've messed up with SM-T700 and it is suffering a "near brick expirience" now. D:
I wanted to install the TWRP in order to backup the stock ROM before proceeding to anything else. So I put it in download mode. In Odin. 3.09 I put the TWRP under the AP section, the auto-reboot and f-reset were checked. (later I understood that I look at a different chrome tab and followed the instuction for auto-root flashing in via Odin instead of TWRP's. Stupid me) THen I proceeded with flashing and it was succesfull. After that I rebooted to recovery but it was not TWRP but stock. So I went to Download mode again and decided to repeat the procedure. Hower this time, and each time after that Odin stuck with the SetupConnection... The tab itself is stuck in Downloading Do not tur off target!! and does not react to any combinations of buttons.
Looking for a piece of advice here.
At least Odin is detecting the tab is a good sign right?
Attaching the photo and screenshot just in case.

ky3bmu4 said:
Hi everybody.
In order not to create another Thread I would like to leave a request for help in here while searching the answer myself.
I've messed up with SM-T700 and it is suffering a "near brick expirience" now. D:
I wanted to install the TWRP in order to backup the stock ROM before proceeding to anything else. So I put it in download mode. In Odin. 3.09 I put the TWRP under the AP section, the auto-reboot and f-reset were checked. (later I understood that I look at a different chrome tab and followed the instuction for auto-root flashing in via Odin instead of TWRP's. Stupid me) THen I proceeded with flashing and it was succesfull. After that I rebooted to recovery but it was not TWRP but stock. So I went to Download mode again and decided to repeat the procedure. Hower this time, and each time after that Odin stuck with the SetupConnection... The tab itself is stuck in Downloading Do not tur off target!! and does not react to any combinations of buttons.
Looking for a piece of advice here.
At least Odin is detecting the tab is a good sign right?
Attaching the photo and screenshot just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Replying to myself: The tab began to respond to buttons so now I succesfully rebooted it and will continue with Rooting then recovery
Added: Rooted successful but the same problem as described above occured when I tryied to flash TWRP in Odin under PDA tab unchecked the auto-reboot

ky3bmu4 said:
Replying to myself: The tab began to respond to buttons so now I succesfully rebooted it and will continue with Rooting then recovery
Added: Rooted successful but the same problem as described above occured when I tryied to flash TWRP in Odin under PDA tab unchecked the auto-reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've had a really bad experience with TWRP on this device. Try flashing a firmware from sammobile.com or elsewhere to at least get it up and running again. Try to do that as quickly as possible too, so you don't have to leave the device in download mode all night. I think that is what caused the battery swelling in my first device that I had to return.
I'm going to stick with CWM when I work up the courage to try again....

pierrotee said:
Yeah I've had a really bad experience with TWRP on this device. Try flashing a firmware from sammobile.com or elsewhere to at least get it up and running again. Try to do that as quickly as possible too, so you don't have to leave the device in download mode all night. I think that is what caused the battery swelling in my first device that I had to return.
I'm going to stick with CWM when I work up the courage to try again....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi thx for reply. Actually it managed to unstuck from Download mode in 10-15 minutes. It happened twice to me.

ky3bmu4 said:
Hi thx for reply. Actually it managed to unstuck from Download mode in 10-15 minutes. It happened twice to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool! So do you now have root and custom recovery?

pierrotee said:
Cool! So do you now have root and custom recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah))

TWRP installs OK via TWRP Manager
I installed TWRP Manager, selected 'klimtwifi' as the device, and it successfully installed TWRP 2.7.1.1 without a hitch.
From TWRP I then immediately performed a nandroid backup of everything but the caches to my microSD card and encountered no problems.
The last step was to enable writing to my microSD card by installing NextApp SDFix.

My SM-T700 is bricked as well and I tried to flash a custom recovery with Heimdall on Mac but it gave me the Error "Claiming Interface failed". Seems like you really need the pit.

Note 2 stuck at Start Up screen. Please help

My Galaxy Note 2 is stuck at the Start up screen screen. Where its an all black bg and simply says Samsung Galaxy Note II
I have tried using recovery mode, cleared cache, and reset to factory. Neither troubleshoot method worked.
I have tried numerous Odin autoroots. none work. Whenever I try to root it fails. Im guessing it might be because I dont have Dev Debug enable and I cant get into my phone to enable it. because of this issue
I have tried looking for TWRP .tar but every file I download the file is always a .img
The Model of the phone is a SGH-T889 (T-mobile Note II)
I am all out of ideas, and I dont know what to do. I have been search for answers for hours and everytime I think I found a solution it doesnt work.

What ROM was your phone on when this happened ?
Can you get int to download mode ? If yes try flashing stock ROM and see if it helps.

ciphercodes said:
What ROM was your phone on when this happened ?
Can you get int to download mode ? If yes try flashing stock ROM and see if it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was on the offical default rom. the phone was never modded, or rooted.
My niece downloads a bunch of kiddie games onto the phone, we constantly have to uninstall them. My thoughts and the T-mobile tech suspects that it the crash may have been caused my too many updates or a bad updated file most likely due to the games or game.
I can get the phone into download mode, and recovery mode.
In reovery mode I have 6 options
reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cashe partition
apply update from cache
I have tried Apply update from cache, Wipe cache partition, then Wipe data.factory reset. I also attempted to put a CF auto root .md5 file and a KIES .md5 file which I believe is a stock firmware file on a SD card. to try to use the apply update from external storage option, but neither file showed up when I went into the option. So I guess I didnt have the right sort of file.
So recovery didnt work so I tried using Odin v3.07 and Odin v3.09 with CF auto root files for the SGH-T889, that didnt work, ecerytime I tried to apply it, It was always Fail within seconds. I tried other root files that are made for other versions of the Galaxt Note 2 like the GT-N1700 but those also simply failed.
I tried using what I believe to be stock frimware files with Odin. and those also Failed.
Im not exactly the best person with these. I learn mostly what I know from the internet and reading various forums, youtube videos, and other people experiences. I cannot find anyone who's problem has not yet been fixed through the above methods. so I really dont know where to go from here.
I think the reason I cant Flash from PC is because it might be possible USB Debugging is not enabled. Not sure if this is what is causing all the Fails in odin

BramaKnox said:
It was on the offical default rom. the phone was never modded, or rooted.
My niece downloads a bunch of kiddie games onto the phone, we constantly have to uninstall them. My thoughts and the T-mobile tech suspects that it the crash may have been caused my too many updates or a bad updated file most likely due to the games or game.
I can get the phone into download mode, and recovery mode.
In reovery mode I have 6 options
reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cashe partition
apply update from cache
I have tried Apply update from cache, Wipe cache partition, then Wipe data.factory reset. I also attempted to put a CF auto root .md5 file and a KIES .md5 file which I believe is a stock firmware file on a SD card. to try to use the apply update from external storage option, but neither file showed up when I went into the option. So I guess I didnt have the right sort of file.
So recovery didnt work so I tried using Odin v3.07 and Odin v3.09 with CF auto root files for the SGH-T889, that didnt work, ecerytime I tried to apply it, It was always Fail within seconds. I tried other root files that are made for other versions of the Galaxt Note 2 like the GT-N1700 but those also simply failed.
I tried using what I believe to be stock frimware files with Odin. and those also Failed.
Im not exactly the best person with these. I learn mostly what I know from the internet and reading various forums, youtube videos, and other people experiences. I cannot find anyone who's problem has not yet been fixed through the above methods. so I really dont know where to go from here.
I think the reason I cant Flash from PC is because it might be possible USB Debugging is not enabled. Not sure if this is what is causing all the Fails in odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets see if we can get this resolved.
1) Do you remember what version of Android the phone was on 4.3 or 4.1.2 ?
2) Put your phone in download mode then connect to your computer via usb. Start Odin in admin mode (right click and run as admin).
3) Now do you see ID:COM section turn blue ? Under message you can see "Added!". If you see this then phone is recognized by Odin.
4) If your phone was on 4.3 then download this most up to date firmware - from here http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/22863/T889UVUCMK7_T889TMBCMK7_TMB/
5) Once downloaded, extract the file(use 7zip or winrar), once extracted you will see a file with .md5 extension.
6) Now going back to ODIN, click on PDA and then browse to this file which you just extracted.
7) This takes some time, once done you should see a message like "Checking MD5 finished successfully", "Leave CS".
8) You can leave Auto reboot and F-reset time checked.
9) Now click Start and let the process finish.
10) If everything goes fine you should see a green message "Pass"
Let me know how it goes.

I have the same problem as the OP (boots only up to Samsung logo with black bg) but it was not caused by niece downloading games but instead from trying to install jedi masterx2 rom.
I did what ciphercodes recommended and put phone in download mode and odin went through the motions of installing the stock os (in my case version 4.3) but after apparently installing the rom it again booted up to Samsung note II logo in black bg.
luckily I can install either Clockword mod recovery v6.0.4.3 or teamwin v2.8.6.0
The clockword mod recovery can read the external sd card (whereas funnily enough the teamwin can't) and I can attempt recovery from previous backups on cmr or to install a rom from zip file but neither of these work - reboots again to Samsung logo in black background after apparently installing the rom.
both teamwin and cwr mention that they can't mount system and that's probably why no rom is install either using cwr or odin so my guess is that I have to reformat the partitions cause probably efs file is corrupt but I don't know how to do that and I have done extensive search in google but have not found a solution
so ciphercodes if you or anyone reading this can help please reply to this message

ciphercodes said:
Lets see if we can get this resolved.
1) Do you remember what version of Android the phone was on 4.3 or 4.1.2 ?
2) Put your phone in download mode then connect to your computer via usb. Start Odin in admin mode (right click and run as admin).
3) Now do you see ID:COM section turn blue ? Under message you can see "Added!". If you see this then phone is recognized by Odin.
4) If your phone was on 4.3 then download this most up to date firmware - from here
5) Once downloaded, extract the file(use 7zip or winrar), once extracted you will see a file with .md5 extension.
6) Now going back to ODIN, click on PDA and then browse to this file which you just extracted.
7) This takes some time, once done you should see a message like "Checking MD5 finished successfully", "Leave CS".
8) You can leave Auto reboot and F-reset time checked.
9) Now click Start and let the process finish.
10) If everything goes fine you should see a green message "Pass"
Let me know how it goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am uncertain of which version the phone was on. If you need I can call t-mobile and have them tell me which version it was on.
I did these steps. the file took a hour to download. and It still didn't work. I follow all steps down to the exact. and when I pressed start. within one second it said FAIL. just the other attempts I made.

BramaKnox said:
I am uncertain of which version the phone was on. If you need I can call t-mobile and have them tell me which version it was on.
I did these steps. the file took a hour to download. and It still didn't work. I follow all steps down to the exact. and when I pressed start. within one second it said FAIL. just the other attempts I made.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless your t889 Note II was sitting in a drawer and not being updated for the last year or so you probably have 4.3
When you go to download mode do you see "custom binary download: yes ..."
and do you see "knox warranty void:" ?
if so, your phone has been rooted.
but unlike your case, when I try to install stock rom through Odin, it goes through the motions of installing and gives message pass - that is that the stock rom has been installed, but unfortunately it has not installed any rom that my phone can read.

koyanishi said:
Unless your t889 Note II was sitting in a drawer and not being updated for the last year or so you probably have 4.3
When you go to download mode do you see "custom binary download: yes ..."
and do you see "knox warranty void:" ?
if so, your phone has been rooted.
but unlike your case, when I try to install stock rom through Odin, it goes through the motions of installing and gives message pass - that is that the stock rom has been installed, but unfortunately it has not installed any rom that my phone can read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it says
Product Name: SGH-T889
Custom Binary Download: No
Current Binary: Samsung Official
System Status: Official
Knox Warranty Void: 0
RP SWAEV: A2

BramaKnox said:
No it says
Product Name: SGH-T889
Custom Binary Download: No
Current Binary: Samsung Official
System Status: Official
Knox Warranty Void: 0
RP SWAEV: A2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you have an un rooted 4.3 rom because the 4.1.2 did not have knox

koyanishi said:
Then you have an un rooted 4.3 rom because the 4.1.2 did not have knox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thank you, well then link ciphercodes gave me for the firmware was the right one. But still Failed. *Sigh*

BramaKnox said:
Okay thank you, well then link ciphercodes gave me for the firmware was the right one. But still Failed. *Sigh*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since your phone is not rooted then I think that ciphercodes advice will not work as you can only install a stock rom that way only if your phone is first rooted.
Probably you should try to root your phone using instructions from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2562994
But this might not work for you as it could be that efs file is corrupted or something else as we both boot up to a black screen that only has Samsung logo

koyanishi said:
Since your phone is not rooted then I think that ciphercodes advice will not work as you can only install a stock rom that way only if your phone is first rooted.
Probably you should try to root your phone using instructions from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2562994
But this might not work for you as it could be that efs file is corrupted or something else as we both boot up to a black screen that only has Samsung logo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the chainfire root fail as well. I have tried every file for all the Galaxy II's including mines. none work. Always FAIL in Odin. I'm guessing there is just nothing I can do

BramaKnox said:
Yeah the chainfire root fail as well. I have tried every file for all the Galaxy II's including mines. none work. Always FAIL in Odin. I'm guessing there is just nothing I can do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since your phone is not rooted you may be able to get it repaired under warranty. I think that Samsung warranty is only good for a year, but if you purchased your phone with a American Express gold card (I think other gold cards will also apply) your warranty is extended to double what the original was. So perhaps you have a chance to have your credit card pay for the repair.
Otherwise:
I am no expert but if you want to continue playing with your phone before you get expert advice you may want to play with the recovery mode. To enter recovery mode press volume up and home and power buttons at the same time. once you feel vibrate or after a while release the power button but continue to hold volume up and home buttons and then you will enter recovery mode. you may want to go to menu that says wipe data/factory reset and see if that works. It may be that it is like my phone and the system cannot be mounted in which case you will get that message. After you are through to get out of this menu remove the battery.
But please be aware that I am no expert and you are using this info at your own risk
but I think of doing something catastrophic using this advice in my non expert opinion is small.

koyanishi said:
Since your phone is not rooted you may be able to get it repaired under warranty. I think that Samsung warranty is only good for a year, but if you purchased your phone with a American Express gold card (I think other gold cards will also apply) your warranty is extended to double what the original was. So perhaps you have a chance to have your credit card pay for the repair.
Otherwise:
I am no expert but if you want to continue playing with your phone before you get expert advice you may want to play with the recovery mode. To enter recovery mode press volume up and home and power buttons at the same time. once you feel vibrate or after a while release the power button but continue to hold volume up and home buttons and then you will enter recovery mode. you may want to go to menu that says wipe data/factory reset and see if that works. It may be that it is like my phone and the system cannot be mounted in which case you will get that message. After you are through to get out of this menu remove the battery.
But please be aware that I am no expert and you are using this info at your own risk
but I think of doing something catastrophic using this advice in my non expert opinion is small.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the warranty is expired. and I have tried recovery mode. thats actually the first step before trying to apply a firmware. So recovery hasnt worked either. Guess I will just have to get a new phone. thank you all for oyu help tho. I apperciate it

I was just reading through the thread.. It doesnt seem like you tried flashing Tmobiles Stock 4.3 Firmware in download mode. If you tried to flash a 4.1.2 Firmware when the phone was already updated then I think thats where it failed. Try again but with the 4.3 Firmware through ODIN. After it finishes try rebooting it manually and/or if it doesnt boot again then go back into recovery and factory/data reset again...shouldnt hurt to try..

Double0EK said:
I was just reading through the thread.. It doesnt seem like you tried flashing Tmobiles Stock 4.3 Firmware in download mode. If you tried to flash a 4.1.2 Firmware when the phone was already updated then I think thats where it failed. Try again but with the 4.3 Firmware through ODIN. After it finishes try rebooting it manually and/or if it doesnt boot again then go back into recovery and factory/data reset again...shouldnt hurt to try..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my knowledge the other person who first replied gave me 4.3 firmeware fild link. But in the chances of it could u provide me with a link to a 4.3 firmware u believe will work, because all the ones I found have not worked