Develop Bugs

E4GT stuck in 'android recovery 3e' - no usb detection

Greetings friend
I picked up a samsung epic 4g touch from a friend who flashed it poorly.
the phone is 2 weeks old.
I'd like to keep it, If i can restore it but its stuck in recovery and all attempts thus far have failed to rescue it.
XDA this is where you come in.
The phone enters into android recovery 3e.
-----------------------------------
- reboot system now
( pressing enter [search button] just displays an android exclamation )
- apply update from sdcard
( pressing enter [search button] just displays an android exclamation )
I tried placing the stock EK02 on an sdcard as update.zip but the phone doesnt detect it...
- wipe data/factory
( pressing enter [search button] just displays an android exclamation )
- wipe cache partition
( pressing enter [search button] just displays an android exclamation )
Deleting Cryption Meta Data
-- Copying media files
succesffully copied media files
# MANUAL MODE #
-- Updating application...
E:install_application_for_customer:Can't unmount
/preload
copy application failed
-- Applying Multi-CSC
Successfully applied multi-CSC
-----------------------------------
DRIVERS:
I have Keis successfully installed and I have a dedicated E4GT usb driver that i downloaded as well.
the phone enters into download mode, when I hold down volume button and power, but ODIN WILL NOT DETECT THE PHONE.
- I've tried two different USB cables, ( gigaware [radioshack] and oem samsung )
- I've tried to mount the phone on both windows 7 32bit and 64bit (laptop and desktop)
- I've tried the USB ports in the back of my desktop as well as the front.
any other suggestions would be thoroughly appreciated.
I'll even paypal the member who posts a working solution 10$

I thought home button was the enter key on that recovery?

What did he do trying to flash it. Did he try and load up ICS?
Dont take this the wrong way but people are willing to help you here and I dont think the $10 pay pal is going to make a difference. Alot of info if you search and a lot of experience in here. With that said hopefully we get you up and running. Also is he past the return policy time limit. It may be easier to just get a new one..

Sounds like he Odin a international ROM and only thing to fix it is jtag for $50 ......
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Epix4G said:
Sounds like he Odin a international ROM and only thing to fix it is jtag for $50 ......
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea thats where I was going with my question

playya said:
What did he do trying to flash it. Did he try and load up ICS?
Dont take this the wrong way but people are willing to help you here and I dont think the $10 pay pal is going to make a difference. Alot of info if you search and a lot of experience in here. With that said hopefully we get you up and running. Also is he past the return policy time limit. It may be easier to just get a new one..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol 10$ yea I know...
im just trying to be nice.
Im not sure what the flash involved, I had very little information. good news tho is that samsung is offering to reflash it for free, since the phone is only a few weeks old and shows no signs of physical damage.
I'm guessing they have a method thats a lot more sophisticated considering that I couldnt do it using a USB cable.
I just have to call them back since their system is down for a few hours due to an update. ^____^
Epix4G said:
Sounds like he Odin a international ROM and only thing to fix it is jtag for $50 ......
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jtag?
oh cool, first time i've heard of that, found a great video too...
I didnt expect feedback so soon! i gave you both 'Thanks'

Is it common to brick your device?

Is bricking your device easy to happen? I'm scared of bricking my phone. Can the phone still brick when you do everything correctly?

Anything is possible.
I took chances on all my phones and never had a problem .
sent from the Dark §¡3€

MarsHD2 said:
Is bricking your device easy to happen? I'm scared of bricking my phone. Can the phone still brick when you do everything correctly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do everything correctly, most likely not. A lot of bricks occurs because of user error. Flashing the wrong Galaxy s2 ROM/recovery etc, on our devices... there are a total of 5 variants i think.. only two works with ours.. skyrocket and hercules (i727 and t989)
I haven't heard of any bricks that occurs for doing everything correctly.
I have read up on some rare cases where a phone just blacks out from normal use... from heating up... or just random stuff.. some of the users aren't even rooted. That is purely the fault of the hardware simply giving up.
It is very easy to Root our phone:
ODIN
Flash Recovery
Flash ROM or Superuser
you can even mess up on flashing the recovery but you can actually recover from it. You will get the message where it says "firmware update failed, please connect to kies and recover," this is easily recoverable.. You just go back to ODIN Mode and flash recovery again.
The only way you can BRICK the phone:
1. Flash a ROM that doesn't belong to our device.
2. Mess up on Flashing a Stock ROM (user fault) such as battery falling out.. battery dying.. cable falls out. cable is loose etc.. while in the middle of flashing.
I remember reading that people tried to flash a Modem that didn't belong to our device, but ODIN either prevented this from happening or you get the "firmware update failed..." message.
TL;DR: No it is fairly safe and the only chances of bricking is when flashing something that isn't for our phone.

1. Flash a ROM that doesn't belong to our device.
2. Mess up on Flashing a Stock ROM (user fault) such as battery falling out.. battery dying.. cable falls out. cable is loose etc.. while in the middle of flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still don't see how those two things can mess up the phone? Can't you just use odin to reflash? You would think that they make the download portion of the phone non-writable so you can always use it with odin to reflash in any state. I must be missing something here. Does flashing a ROM mess with the "Download" partition also?

It is normally unwritable to prevent such problems. By using odin, you are bypassing the safety feature of the ROM area. By interrupting the process mid-way, you might not do not copy over all the 'necessary' files for the phone to function at it's lowest levels of operation. IE turn on when you tell it to. Flashing a rom doesn't mess with the user accessible partition.

Is using ClockWorkMod to flash any safer?

Catch-22.
If you want to use the ClockWorkMod app to flash, you will need to grant it superuser permissions. How do you get superuser? You need to be rooted by installing ClockWorkMod.. odin is pretty safe. Make sure to have a half-way charged battery (at least), and click the pda button.

True but how about subsequent flashes

Look bro its hard to brick these samsung but its not impossible trust me i know from experience, my first ever phone i rooted and played with was the galaxy s 4g and lets just say i bricked the **** out of it. think of it like this you flash a rom for a phone that is not yours this phone has a physical keyboard and the only way that phone can get into download mode is a combination of keys on the keyboard (this is just hypothetical) and the only way to get odin to recognize device is to be in DL mode...How can you be in DL with a phone that doesnt have physical keyboard but requires use of it to get into DL mode.

I've never bricked. Been in a bootloop, but just had to wipe and flash again
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

jdubb1106 said:
Look bro its hard to brick these samsung but its not impossible trust me i know from experience, my first ever phone i rooted and played with was the galaxy s 4g and lets just say i bricked the **** out of it. think of it like this you flash a rom for a phone that is not yours this phone has a physical keyboard and the only way that phone can get into download mode is a combination of keys on the keyboard (this is just hypothetical) and the only way to get odin to recognize device is to be in DL mode...How can you be in DL with a phone that doesnt have physical keyboard but requires use of it to get into DL mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a jig?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

jig didnt work on my sgs4g. And all that example was purely hypothetical, just using as example so op understands what people are trying to say.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

jordanishere said:
Get a jig?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to flash a kernel and a rom for the i9100 on mine using cwm. Flash went through just fine, went to reboot.... Nuthin. Not even a jig brought it back. Just be sure of what you're flashing and you'll be good. I've been flashing roms since the razr v3, and this is my first brick.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

zak rabbit said:
I tried to flash a kernel and a rom for the i9100 on mine using cwm. Flash went through just fine, went to reboot.... Nuthin. Not even a jig brought it back. Just be sure of what you're flashing and you'll be good. I've been flashing roms since the razr v3, and this is my first brick.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its tough with all the diff varients. doesnt help that they all have the exact same name too.
Props for not being one of the whiners who blames their brick on xda. hope you get a new t989.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

Just to throw this in there - if your phone does ANYTHING when you try to turn it on (soft keys light up/some sort of response from the screen), or plug it in, it is a soft brick in which you should be able to recover the phone. Many times it takes multiple tries (due to picky button combos) but it will come back. Coming from the Vibrant 3g, I can tell you from experience that you know when you have a hard brick because the phone does not respond AT ALL. It doesn't do anything when it's plugged in or when buttons are pressed. The ONLY time I've legitimately bricked a sgs was when I flashed a rom on a low battery not knowing that the phone does not charge in recovery. The battery died during reboot and the phone would not respond to anything. This is a true hard brick.

Also i'm not sure if this has been said but I would never flash anything without art least 50% battery life

The galaxy is pretty cool because of how easy it is to unbrick. All you have to do it load the stock kernel from Odin and plug up the USB, mount the sd, and place the ROM onto the sd and unmount then flash it. In the case that you install a bad ROM, if it's just the kernel then just load the stock kernel with Odin then use the one you want.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

iwasblown said:
The galaxy is pretty cool because of how easy it is to unbrick. All you have to do it load the stock kernel from Odin and plug up the USB, mount the sd, and place the ROM onto the sd and unmount then flash it. In the case that you install a bad ROM, if it's just the kernel then just load the stock kernel with Odin then use the one you want.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that was very confusing, but I'm not sure if you really know what a true hard brick is, which is really hard to unbrick and need to do the jtag stuff.
what you addressed is a softbrick (i don't even consider this a brick because the phone turns on), which is flashing an incomplete rom or kernel that is for our device, however if it was another device's than it might lead to a hardbrick.

Teo032 said:
that was very confusing, but I'm not sure if you really know what a true hard brick is, which is really hard to unbrick and need to do the jtag stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A true hard brick cannot be unbricked. With a true hard brick the phone won't turn on and therefore, you cannot use Odin. Jtag also won't work if the phone does not turn on/the hardware buttons don't work.

[Q] Phone will not boot

T-Mobile SGH-T989. Will power on, splash screen will appear, and screen will go black. No further activity allowed. Can use vol up/down + power to get into Android System Recovery, but wipe data/factory reset OR wipe cache partition options change nothing.
Daughter states OTA Update was in process, when she drove into area without signal. (The OTA Update occurred 02/06/13). Phone would not leave OTA status. She took out battery, and the above condition began.
No attempts have been made to manually change/upgrade ROM on phone.
DownloadedKies, and the phone is not recognized/not connect to PC
And of course, T-Mobile is no help, only offering to sell me a new phone.
Curious if others have/had similar issues, and if so, how they corrected. Otherwise, would like some assistance in installing a new ROM is possible.
(p.s. I have searched forums/threads and did not discover anything similar)

Seems like power button is funk up
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

Badwill said:
T-Mobile SGH-T989. Will power on, splash screen will appear, and screen will go black. No further activity allowed. Can use vol up/down + power to get into Android System Recovery, but wipe data/factory reset OR wipe cache partition options change nothing.
Daughter states OTA Update was in process, when she drove into area without signal. (The OTA Update occurred 02/06/13). Phone would not leave OTA status. She took out battery, and the above condition began.
No attempts have been made to manually change/upgrade ROM on phone.
DownloadedKies, and the phone is not recognized/not connect to PC
And of course, T-Mobile is no help, only offering to sell me a new phone.
Curious if others have/had similar issues, and if so, how they corrected. Otherwise, would like some assistance in installing a new ROM is possible.
(p.s. I have searched forums/threads and did not discover anything similar)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to boot into recovery mode or download mode, if you can then there's still hope. Try this: http://www.icsforums.com/forum/showthread/6351

If u can get into download mode you can Odin a recovery and then flash a ROM of your choosing, including stock gingerbread or ice cream, just as the phone was prior except with a custom recovery.
In short....follow tutorials on rooting your phone. When it comes time to "flash ROM" flash to whatever u had before the incident - only if u want to.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

Badwill said:
T-Mobile SGH-T989. Will power on, splash screen will appear, and screen will go black. No further activity allowed. Can use vol up/down + power to get into Android System Recovery, but wipe data/factory reset OR wipe cache partition options change nothing.
Daughter states OTA Update was in process, when she drove into area without signal. (The OTA Update occurred 02/06/13). Phone would not leave OTA status. She took out battery, and the above condition began.
No attempts have been made to manually change/upgrade ROM on phone.
DownloadedKies, and the phone is not recognized/not connect to PC
And of course, T-Mobile is no help, only offering to sell me a new phone.
Curious if others have/had similar issues, and if so, how they corrected. Otherwise, would like some assistance in installing a new ROM is possible.
(p.s. I have searched forums/threads and did not discover anything similar)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, you can get a stock ROM that can be flashed via Odin usually in a thread talking about unrooting (or returning phone to stock thread in development and/or general section).
Download the file (should be a good 200-300M area)
Basically, you need Odin (2.65 I believe and yes Odin version matters so if one doesn't try another).
Then, this is tricky, have USB cable connected to computer and other end of the same cable in your hand right as you boot the phone holding the vol keys as you would to enter recovery but plug the USB in as soon as you feel the boot vibrate (there is a real trick to it, it may take a few good tries until you get it).
You will then see a warning screen stating not to disconnect it or power off phone during the flash should be vol down to enter download mode.
Now you should see a driver install go on on computer. If it fails be sure to install Samsung kies and that has the drivers if not installed.
Now open Odin, you should see a yellow square appear on one of the com port boxes meaning it sees the phone.
Click the browser button to select the ROM in the pda box in Odin and hit flash or start or whatever.
Be patient, it may seem like it's taking too long at times don't touch the phone or computer, just wait the status window in lower left of Odin will say when it's done.
Just follow any unrooting guides as stated for a stock ROM file and the correct version of Odin.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 AM ----------
Here is the thread you want. View the very first page and post and that should give you all the files and directions in detail: http://forum.xda-developers.com/sho...WTO]Restore to Stock/Recover from a Bad Flash
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

Are you unsure about rooting?

I was too, until yesterday.
Why was I unsure?
Because I was afraid of loosing warranty of such an awsome and expensive phone.
What was the reason that I rooted it anyways?
I wanted to flash the latest stock ROM from Germany to my Austrian phone via Odin and so I had to make a full wipe.
Then I thought that I wouldn't root it if I didn't do it now, because i hate to backup and restore everything.
If you stay at stock ROM and keep the stock recovery, I think you won't loose your warranty if anything happens to the phone.
If you flash a custom kernel, you have to set Triange Away to reset the flash counter on each boot (only if your kernel supports it).
I read a lot about it and decided to root it with CF Auto Root (Step 1 in that post), because it keeps the stock recovery.
AFAIK the kernel of the CWM recovery isn't SDS proove. And Nandroid Backups are not that important for me, because I don't plan to change the ROM often.
I also have read a lot about custom kernels. They unleash the full power of android!
So after reading the latest change log entries and lots of posts in the Perseus Kernel Thread, I decided to flash this kernel using Odin.
After wiping dalvik cache with Andromizer (since I don't have CWM) and wiping battery stats using Battery Calibration Free (since I don't have CWM), I felt like Alice in Wonderland!
MY PHONE WAS FAST AS HELL!
Then I found a new app called STweaks and I couldn't stop to grin.
All I thought was: Why didn't I do this earlier????
So if you are unsure about rooting your phone, I hope this article helped you and you begin rooting your phone now.

muena90 said:
If you stay at stock ROM, keep the stock recovery and set Triange Away to reset the flash counter on each boot I think you won't loose your warranty if anything happens to the phone. (Please correct me if I am wrong)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are having stock recovery and kernel, no need to set reset countr at every boot, you need it just once then you can uninstall Triangle away.
You need to reset counter on every boot only if you have custom recovery/Kernel.
Again you need to have support in your custom kernel to use this option(reset counter at every boot)

dr.ketan said:
If you are having stock recovery and kernel, no need to set reset countr at every boot, you need it just once then you can uninstall Triangle away.
You need to reset counter on every boot only if you have custom recovery/Kernel.
Again you need to have support in your custom kernel to use this option(reset counter at every boot)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I just updated my post.

As a techie who knows he's unlikely to end up bricking it (and accepts that if I do it's probably my fault for doing something stupid) I'll not be intimidated by Samsung not to root, just like I wasn't intimidated by HTC, and I'm sure it's probably not me (but rather, non-techies) who they're trying to intimidate.
Besides, from what I was reading you just have to put it back to stock to get your warranty back. But even if a fault developed that bricked it (and not of my own doing, but I'd never overclock or anything anyway and am unlikely to do anything stupid), as I'm in the UK and we have a lot of consumer rights, I'd just keep parroting the Sale of Goods Act at them and possibly threatening a small claims court until they got the message
It's like rooting any other Android phone: naturally they won't help you with it, and I can see where they're coming from in that they won't do warranty returns if a non-technical person tries it and screws it up and then claims that it's faulty. That's what they mean - not genuine hardware faults, but being asked to cover a bad flash. So basically: only do it if you're confident, and it's at your own risk if you don't have a clue what you're doing. But it's quite difficult (if not impossible?) to permanently brick to the point where you can't even get to ODIN download mode, it's just that a lot of people think "won't boot into a working OS" means "bricked" and throw the towel in. (Personally I think it's difficult to even "brick" the OS as long as you take your time and read the instructions properly). That's where you can get unstuck as there's nothing actually wrong with the phone's hardware you just don't know what you're doing and that's where they're within their rights to say "no" to helping you out with a free unbricking or replacement. Even within consumer laws.
There's less reason to be put off than with a HTC phone, as the bootloader isn't locked so you don't have to go through the tedium of a full wipe and having to download all your apps again.
I do find that people who develop tools and tutorials tend to overcomplicate it with paragraphs of instructions and complex UIs full of a billion functions and tabs. Here's how I do it in Arch Linux:
Install Heimdall.https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/heimdall/
Get CWM Recovery: http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager
Download the touch version for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (HSPA+)
Get CWM-SuperSU: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053
Copy it to the SD storage.
To copy to SD storage if MTP isn't working in Arch:
Code:
sudo pacman -S libmtp
mtp-detect
mtp-connect
mtp-sendfile UPDATE-SuperSU-vx.xx.zip UPDATE-SuperSU-vx.xx.zip
Plug phone into PC
Turn it off
Hold down Volume DOWN, home and power until download mode screen appears. Press volume up to accept flash mode warning.
sudo heimdall flash --no-reboot --recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-x.x.x.x-n7100.bin
This should work, if not try a different USB port, try re-entering download mode etc.
While still at the download mode screen (if you reboot completely it'll re-flash recovery to stock) hold Volume UP, home and power until the Samsung logo repeats itself then let go, eventually CWM Recovery will appear.
Install zip from SD card
Select the CWM SuperSU zip
Reboot
That's it!
Nothing more complicated than that. In Windows you just basically use ODIN to do the same thing, but this is one of those occasions where things are actually easier to do in Linux than Windows.
Edit: Obviously you follow the above at your own risk and should learn how everything works - I'm just sharing my own notes to show how easy it can be.

Cloudane said:
As a techie who knows he's unlikely to end up bricking it (and accepts that if I do it's probably my fault for doing something stupid) I'll not be intimidated by Samsung not to root, just like I wasn't intimidated by HTC, and I'm sure it's probably not me (but rather, non-techies) who they're trying to intimidate.
Besides, from what I was reading you just have to put it back to stock to get your warranty back. But even if a fault developed that bricked it (and not of my own doing, but I'd never overclock or anything anyway and am unlikely to do anything stupid), as I'm in the UK and we have a lot of consumer rights, I'd just keep parroting the Sale of Goods Act at them and possibly threatening a small claims court until they got the message
It's like rooting any other Android phone: naturally they won't help you with it, and I can see where they're coming from in that they won't do warranty returns if a non-technical person tries it and screws it up and then claims that it's faulty. That's what they mean - not genuine hardware faults, but being asked to cover a bad flash. So basically: only do it if you're confident, and it's at your own risk if you don't have a clue what you're doing. But it's quite difficult (if not impossible?) to permanently brick to the point where you can't even get to ODIN download mode, it's just that a lot of people think "won't boot into a working OS" means "bricked" and throw the towel in. (Personally I think it's difficult to even "brick" the OS as long as you take your time and read the instructions properly). That's where you can get unstuck as there's nothing actually wrong with the phone's hardware you just don't know what you're doing and that's where they're within their rights to say "no" to helping you out with a free unbricking or replacement. Even within consumer laws.
There's less reason to be put off than with a HTC phone, as the bootloader isn't locked so you don't have to go through the tedium of a full wipe and having to download all your apps again.
I do find that people who develop tools and tutorials tend to overcomplicate it with paragraphs of instructions and complex UIs full of a billion functions and tabs. Here's how I do it in Arch Linux:
Install Heimdall.https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/heimdall/
Get CWM Recovery: http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager
Download the touch version for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (HSPA+)
Get CWM-SuperSU: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538053
Copy it to the SD storage.
To copy to SD storage if MTP isn't working in Arch:
Code:
sudo pacman -S libmtp
mtp-detect
mtp-connect
mtp-sendfile UPDATE-SuperSU-vx.xx.zip UPDATE-SuperSU-vx.xx.zip
Plug phone into PC
Turn it off
Hold down Volume DOWN, home and power until download mode screen appears. Press volume up to accept flash mode warning.
sudo heimdall flash --no-reboot --recovery recovery-clockwork-touch-x.x.x.x-n7100.bin
This should work, if not try a different USB port, try re-entering download mode etc.
While still at the download mode screen (if you reboot completely it'll re-flash recovery to stock) hold Volume UP, home and power until the Samsung logo repeats itself then let go, eventually CWM Recovery will appear.
Install zip from SD card
Select the CWM SuperSU zip
Reboot
That's it!
Nothing more complicated than that. In Windows you just basically use ODIN to do the same thing, but this is one of those occasions where things are actually easier to do in Linux than Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fully confirm!
It's more likely that your phone dies because it decides to take a round in the washing machine (like my last one) than you brick it.
I first thought about providing a fool-proove step by step manual how to root your Note 2 and flash a custom kernel.
But then I thought that if anyone wants to root his phone, he should read into it himself, so he knows what he's doing.

Rooting is easy when you understand ehat you are doing. When my brother bought his Kindle Fire I discover the wonderful world of Android so I came up with an idea, root my brother's Kindle, my brother let me do it because as we live in South America the Kindle not longer have guarantee, so I plug the tablet to my PC and began the process. I was so nervous that I committed a lot of mistakes that result in the Kindle bricking twice. At the third try I made it and we began installing ROMs and Kernels, the I bought the little Galaxy Y. That phone was the most modified think I ever see. I installed like 20 custom ROMs, Kernels Scripts and anything I found in XDA. Then my father see my affection to Android and borrow me the Galaxy Note II so in a big step I remember how great was rooting benefits and thats why I rooted the phone, now my other brother is buying a Nexus 4 and we just can't stop talking about root benefits.
Thats a long story
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk HD

[Partially solved][Q] GT-N7100 download mode problem

Hello,
It's been a while since I last stepped foot in the xda forums as I've been happy with stock, however when kies pushed the 4.3 update to my Note 2 I've started having problems - my phone will not sleep. After 2 min timeout the display turns off and immediately turns itself on again. It then goes into a loop where it turns off and on again every second until I unlock it. This is playing havoc with my battery life (I only get about 6 hours from full charge now). I've tried disabling any setting that might cause this (like smart stay etc.), I downloaded wakelockdetector (doesn't detect anything), I've tested my sensors and sleep mode with #*0*# (sleep mode has the same problem here), and I've done multiple factory/hard resets (x5).
I want to go back to 4.1.2 because this problem only started happening with 4.3 except now I have a different problem - I can't get download mode to work so I can't flash any recovery/firmware. I get the download mode screen up via the usual 3-key method, however once I'm there it seems to disable my volume keys because they stop working. I can get into recovery mode without any problems and the volume keys work fine there, but once it loads up the download mode screen and prompts me to press vol up to start or vol down to cancel, no matter what I press nothing happens. I have to hold down the power key to reboot.
Does anyone have any idea why my Note 2 is so broken?
Would really appreciate some expert help here. Thanks in advance.
Other stuff I've tried: I've tried with and without my SDcard. I've tried formatting my SDcard. I've tried taking my battery out for 5 mins and then go straight to download mode, but still my vol keys won't work.
I got kies to do a firmware reinitialisation which downloaded 4.3 again and flashed my phone a second time but still the problem persists.

I guess I have no choice but to put my hope in Samsung support. It's a real kick in the teeth that the nearest official support centre is an hour and a half away from me. I think this will be the last Samsung product I buy.

H2D2 said:
I guess I have no choice but to put my hope in Samsung support. It's a real kick in the teeth that the nearest official support centre is an hour away from me. I think this will be the last Samsung product I buy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install cwm recovery and then stock rom
1.boot into recovery
2.wipe/data factory reset
3.wipe cache partition
4.go to advance and wipe dalvik cache
5.choose install zip from sd card
6.place the stock rom zip file
Sent from my Micromax A74 using XDA Free mobile app

ankitetah said:
Install cwm recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How?
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but with 4.3 comes with knox and a locked bootloader. I can't load philz or twrp zip from recovery because it errors with an unsigned message and since I can't access download mode I can't use odin.

Shut down your phone. pull the battery out. connect your tether cable to the phone and USB to computer. start oden, put tar file in PDA box. don't change any other settings. Put your phone in download mode by pressing both up/down volume buttons (not Power) and insert the battery. once in download mode, click on Start on oden. As for the bloatware, you are going to get whatever apps that are in the tar file. I think Some of the bloat has been removed. Not sure what, but it seems most of it is still there. I think DriveSmart is gone
Sent from my Micromax A74 using XDA Free mobile app

ankitetah said:
Put your phone in download mode by pressing both up/down volume buttons (not Power) and insert the battery. once in download mode
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These don't appear to be the correct instructions for a N7100. Well, thanks for the bump anyway.

Hi!
Did you try to flash with mobile odin? It might be the solution if you can't access to download mode (which is weird by the way...)

I have same problem
i just flash new bootloader kitkat
"Bootloader If you have MJ5 or later bootloader then no need otherwise you have to apply Reboot and wifi Fix from post #3 above
You can get idea about current bootloader with info application
If You are not worried about warranty then I strongly recommend to flash Kitkat bootloader.
Here is Kitkat bootloader from N7100_ND3 "
and now my phone was on and it will stuck on samsung logo...
i m also not able to install stock rom
help me to downgrade 4.1 old bootloader.

keltakmaster said:
Hi!
Did you try to flash with mobile odin? It might be the solution if you can't access to download mode (which is weird by the way...)
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Click to collapse
Thank you!
Mobile odin worked. Got the pro version to thank Chainfire. Also managed to get root thanks to Kingo and I'll be donating to them as well.
Unfortunately even after flashing CM10 it hasn't fixed my sleep problem. Well, maybe I've got a hardware fault after all...funny that it coincided with the 4.3 update. I guess I've voided my warranty now but on the bright side I've finally ditched Samsung's bloatware and stock android. Here's hoping I can find a fix.