Develop Bugs

[Q] Epic 4G Touch not booting after rom update

I currently have blaster rom flashed on my phone. it was working well for a while with the occasional soft reboots. i decided to update it with the flash over v3.8 zip file. i followed the instructions exactly. i ran the modified calkulin .zip then i ran the update. but now the phone is stuck at the boot screen and will not function if i remove the batter to reboot i cannot get into recovery. im at a loss as to what to try now

kkllkkll said:
I currently have blaster rom flashed on my phone. it was working well for a while with the occasional soft reboots. i decided to update it with the flash over v3.8 zip file. i followed the instructions exactly. i ran the modified calkulin .zip then i ran the update. but now the phone is stuck at the boot screen and will not function if i remove the batter to reboot i cannot get into recovery. im at a loss as to what to try now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get Odin and flash kernel with cwm ....boot into recovery and restore back up or start flash again
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

I was able to put the device into download mode and odin is recognizing it. however i am unsure as how to proceed.

kkllkkll said:
I was able to put the device into download mode and odin is recognizing it. however i am unsure as how to proceed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I as well have this same problem. Basically I've reverted to downloading the latest EL29 Download from the wikia, then re-rooting the device using the auto root without Odin.
Then, and only then can you flash a rom, but only once then you will have to repeat this process
P.S. MAKE A NANDROID BACKUP INCASE THIS DOESNT WORK.

hope this helps http://youtu.be/_vmEmheJnyg

Md5 checker plp. Its free. Use it love it. Bad download.Or give it some time first boot can take upto around 6to8 min. Be patient it pays off.

ok finally was able to fix it. the youtube video was perfect and super easy to follow and odin only took a 3 minutes to fix the issue. i wish i knew exactly what i did wrong though.

Congrats OP. Way to go. prolly a bad dwnld. Md5checker babby. Give it a try. You might be surprised at how often roms get fukt when downloading. Also I do all my downloading from my phone. So dont believe the hype about only use your comp for ROM dwnlds. I have only had two bad dwnlds from my phone, way more from my comp.

[Q] Sprint Note 2 (SPH-L900) Bricked after attempted 4.3 Update

I've been having issue with my Sprint Note 2 for a while. I've also posted this to Reddit and other parts of the forum but so far have gotten no way to fix my issue. Here's the link to Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport...nt_note_2_sphl900_bricked_after_attempted_43/
Sorry, I didn't want to type that all up again and having to deal with formatting and such.
Basically, the gist of it, from what I can gather is that I have accidentally loaded the 4.3 bootloader with KNOX and it is currently preventing me from doing anything productive (flashing CWMR, rooting, installing stock, etc). I read here on the forum that there were ways to do so, especially this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=46861777
I was wondering if there were steps for the Sprint Note 2 SPH-L900?
Any help in debricking my phone is appreciated.

Try these steps.
1. Boot phone into Odin/download mode
2. Flash twrp or cwmr via Odin.
3. When it reboots pull battery and then boot into recovery.
4. Flash this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36388145 it is mc2 bootloader, firmware, radio, etc...
5. Reboot phone. Things get weird for a few mins but it will boot.
You are now Knox free once again but you are also bone stock.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

jlmancuso said:
Try these steps.
1. Boot phone into Odin/download mode
2. Flash twrp or cwmr via Odin.
3. When it reboots pull battery and then boot into recovery.
4. Flash this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36388145 it is mc2 bootloader, firmware, radio, etc...
5. Reboot phone. Things get weird for a few mins but it will boot.
You are now Knox free once again but you are also bone stock.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried that multiple times. The problem here is that I can't load CWMR or TWRP. At first, I assume that I'd have to root so I downloaded the CF auto root file and flash it using ODIN. Then I tried installing CWMR (after converting to .tar using Caboomi's tool here on the forum). It would reboot and I tried holding down volume up + power + home button but nothing would happen. I try combinations of that and still nothing. I flashed the 4.3 sboot.bin to get it back to stock Samsung bootloader then retried with CWMR without rooting first this time and it still doesn't work. ODIN would tell me that it succeeds but I can't enter Recovery no mater the combination of keys that I press. I'm assuming this has to do with Knox in which case I'd just have to wait for the official 4.3 firmware on SamMobile to flash it since stock 4.1.2 won't work.

QuantumInteger said:
I've tried that multiple times. The problem here is that I can't load CWMR or TWRP. At first, I assume that I'd have to root so I downloaded the CF auto root file and flash it using ODIN. Then I tried installing CWMR (after converting to .tar using Caboomi's tool here on the forum). It would reboot and I tried holding down volume up + power + home button but nothing would happen. I try combinations of that and still nothing. I flashed the 4.3 sboot.bin to get it back to stock Samsung bootloader then retried with CWMR without rooting first this time and it still doesn't work. ODIN would tell me that it succeeds but I can't enter Recovery no mater the combination of keys that I press. I'm assuming this has to do with Knox in which case I'd just have to wait for the official 4.3 firmware on SamMobile to flash it since stock 4.1.2 won't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After flashing cwm do battery pull...Don't let it auto-reboot.
Also try different version of Odin maybe

louforgiveno said:
After flashing cwm do battery pull...Don't let it auto-reboot.
Also try different version of Odin maybe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried 3.07, 3.09, and even barebone 1.85 that came with CF auto root. It doesn't work. I can't load recovery just fine (according to ODIN) but I can't get into Recovery.

Here is the fix https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2clvyo4y6gar6s/4.3_Unbrick.tar
I promise this will fix your issue, but when you get done, you will be on MC2 with the 4.3 bootloader, but, it will boot, let you flash recovery and everything. I know this because I did the same thing as you and flashed the old cf-auto root and bricked my phone to, and I created this file to fix it and if you look in the help section, you will find my thread on how to unbrick after 4.3 update fail.
I promise though, this will fix your fone

Keithgordon said:
Here is the fix https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2clvyo4y6gar6s/4.3_Unbrick.tar
I promise this will fix your issue, but when you get done, you will be on MC2 with the 4.3 bootloader, but, it will boot, let you flash recovery and everything. I know this because I did the same thing as you and flashed the old cf-auto root and bricked my phone to, and I created this file to fix it and if you look in the help section, you will find my thread on how to unbrick after 4.3 update fail.
I promise though, this will fix your fone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...My God..... What ever you did, it worked. Turns out, Caboomi's file didn't work too well. I couldn't get CWMR working at all even after converting to .tar. I used TWRP instead and it works. Problem was that it asked me for my password, which I don't know since I tried everything, so I had to resort to wiping everything. I installed the file jlmancuso suggested, loading it onto SD card then flashing using TWRP, and now my Samsung Note 2 is debricked.
Your file was a godsend. Thank you!

No recovery stuck on bootloop
im having the same issue could you post that dropbox link again

So i was able to get recovery back but it wont let me mount my sd card so i cant flash anything through recover was hoping the file you have could be loaded through odin as it is a .tar file correct please help and thanks in advance.
Keithgordon said:
Here is the fix https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2clvyo4y6gar6s/4.3_Unbrick.tar
I promise this will fix your issue, but when you get done, you will be on MC2 with the 4.3 bootloader, but, it will boot, let you flash recovery and everything. I know this because I did the same thing as you and flashed the old cf-auto root and bricked my phone to, and I created this file to fix it and if you look in the help section, you will find my thread on how to unbrick after 4.3 update fail.
I promise though, this will fix your fone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

rckingws6 said:
So i was able to get recovery back but it wont let me mount my sd card so i cant flash anything through recover was hoping the file you have could be loaded through odin as it is a .tar file correct please help and thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, flash that file in Odin, it will downgrade you to MC2 with the MK4bootloader

Keithgordon said:
Yes, flash that file in Odin, it will downgrade you to MC2 with the MJA bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MJA ? Isn't that an s4 bootloader?

louforgiveno said:
MJA ? Isn't that an s4 bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, sorry, I just woke up....I meant whatever version we are on with the note, what is it? MK4? I have both so I keep switching back and forth in the threads. Funny thing is, they are completely different, i will change that, thanks for pointing that out

my friend 's L900 bricked too ，but I cant download the file you provide , the error message is “Error (509) This account's public links are generating too much traffic and have been temporarily disabled”
may you provide another URL to download it or mail it to me ？ my email is [email protected] , thanks.
another question , how can i flash it into device with ODIN ？ from Pit ？ bootloader ？PDA ？PHONE ？ or others ？
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 06:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------
Keithgordon said:
yep, sorry, I just woke up....I meant whatever version we are on with the note, what is it? MK4? I have both so I keep switching back and forth in the threads. Funny thing is, they are completely different, i will change that, thanks for pointing that out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my friend 's L900 bricked too ，but I cant download the file you provide , the error message is “Error (509) This account's public links are generating too much traffic and have been temporarily disabled”
may you provide another URL to download it or mail it to me ？ my email is [email protected] , thanks.
another question , how can i flash it into device with ODIN ？ from Pit ？ bootloader ？PDA ？PHONE ？ or others ？
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

yea I still cant dowload it sorry for being a pest.
Keithgordon said:
Yes, flash that file in Odin, it will downgrade you to MC2 with the MK4bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

hello if you are online i need some help i dl the 4.3 note 2 update it has a different build than the one sprint has there are some features that are not on this build is there any way for me to get the ota from sprint
rckingws6 said:
yea I still cant dowload it sorry for being a pest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

rckingws6 said:
So i was able to get recovery back but it wont let me mount my sd card so i cant flash anything through recover was hoping the file you have could be loaded through odin as it is a .tar file correct please help and thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using TWRP instead. It gives you the option to mount an external SD card. Also try restarting into recovery again. I had Recovery bugged out on me once.

QuantumInteger said:
Try using TWRP instead. It gives you the option to mount an external SD card. Also try restarting into recovery again. I had Recovery bugged out on me once.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i need some help

yea i can get into twrp recovery now but my sdcard wont mount thats why im trying to use odin
QuantumInteger said:
Try using TWRP instead. It gives you the option to mount an external SD card. Also try restarting into recovery again. I had Recovery bugged out on me once.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

For those of you who have bricked Note 2s (SPH-L900), I'm going to drop a DropBox link here to a folder of ALL of the files that I used to unbrick my phone. I experimented with multiple methods (and several sleepless nights). Some of them will be useful to you, not all. I have the Android SDK and Caboomi's converter for .img to .tar. It doesn't work too well for CWMR just FYI. ODIN-OC will attempt to load stock MC2 onto your phone but it won't work if it's bricked. Arc Converter is a program I used to try convert the MK4 .zip file to .tar to try and flash an update using ODIN. It didn't work. The steps that I took to unbrick my phone will be posted after the link.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c2bfpfdf0qbs6bu/ZiNC-BF5kf
Be patient. Some of the files are still updating.
Steps:
1) Put your phone into Download mode by holding volume down + power + home button at bootup
2) Use ODIN (3.07 or 3.09) to load the 4.3_Unbrick.tar file. This will take a bit of time so be patient. Once the phone boots up again, you'll get past the boot screen that says "Samsung Galaxy Note II" and you'll get the Samsung logo with the spinning icon but it will loop. This is normal.
3) Next, power off (yank the battery and cable, leave battery out but plug the cable back in) and reboot into download.
4) Flash the TWRP .tar file (don't try converting the CWMR to .tar, it won't work) then reboot.
5) Hold volume up + power + home button (be patient here)
6) You should see the Team Win logo. You're now in recovery. The TWRP may ask you for the password. It is NOT the passcode to your lockscreen or your Google password. I have no idea what it is. At this point, you'd have to wipe your phone (internal only) if you want to flash the stock recovery.
7) Load the MC2 stock recovery file with counter reset onto a microSD card and mount it onto the phone (play around with TWRP, if it doesn't see the SD card the first time, restart or play with the mount function). Just be careful not to wipe your microSD card.
8) Flash the stock recovery (give it time) and it'll restart. You should be back at 4.1.2.
EXTRA STEPS
If you're still interested in 4.3, load the MK4 update onto the microSD card as well. BEFORE you go through the activation process for the 4.1.2 firmware at boot, boot into recovery. Flash the 4.3 update using stock recovery. This should put you onto 4.3 after the phone reboots. You should now have stock 4.3 (no root).

Sorry for all the download errors, I am uploading to my websight right now and as soon as it uploads, I will post the URL, it should download much faster too. I didnt realize so many people needed it

[Q] Samsung Note II N7105T Broken

Hey All,
I have a current predicament on my hands.. I have a N7105T that I had rooted and I noticed my TWRP was out of date..So I decided to update it using an app I downloaded from the play store (Name has been lost to me) but it downloaded it and installed and updated..But I had presumed that something had gone wrong because It didn't reset on its own, so i reset it myself and after that it wouldn't load and was stuck on the boot screen (Where it tells you what phone you have)
I looked on here and found a solution, downloaded Odin and a restore TAR for my particular model..after that successfully worked I then decided to try and install a new rom on my phone...Well that was a bad idea, I did as was instructed wiped the data etc: clean installation..but for some reason it kept failing to install..
So now I cant even get into the Boot Manager and all its showing is that there was a problem with the firmware and to use Kies to fix it up, So I downloaded a stock rom from sammobile and followed the instuctions to load the rom onto my phone from another topic on this site...
It is now constantly failing when I try and use Odin to load the rom...It just hangs and then says failed in red.
I am stessing because I really need my phone and I know I should have just left it working but I like to try and experiment but unfortunately it has backfired on me.
I have the samsung drivers installed and I have one stock rom for my particular phone but I am in the process of downloading an older version.
My Provider is Telstra.
I hope I have provided enough info and not rambled on too much.
Regards
Justin

I had the same problem with you... I've learned that I shouldn't trust thing I don't download my self and read what it says.....
Anyways what I would suggest is go to twrp website and download the .tar of the recovery and use Odin to install it on to your phone and see if you can get into the recovery mode
(Volume down+power or volume up+home+power)
If that does the work install Kies onto your phone and under tools -》firmware upgrade and initialize (note you should only do this as your last resort since it'll put a boot loader that you won't want onto your phone
Gl
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

lil-devil said:
I had the same problem with you... I've learned that I shouldn't trust thing I don't download my self and read what it says.....
Anyways what I would suggest is go to twrp website and download the .tar of the recovery and use Odin to install it on to your phone and see if you can get into the recovery mode
(Volume down+power or volume up+home+power)
If that does the work install Kies onto your phone and under tools -》firmware upgrade and initialize (note you should only do this as your last resort since it'll put a boot loader that you won't want onto your phone
Gl
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok...First I thank you for the help with Twrp
I have installed a stock rom from sammobile, I have got Twrp working but I have some problems atm
1. I cannot copy files onto my External SD Card
2. My Phone Memory is showing as Minus Storage
3. My Sim Card cannot be read from my phone.
Would you know of any fixes for these issues

Really wish I can help you but my best suggestion is to use Kies and do the firmware upgrade. ....
Sorry~
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

Hard Bricked S3 At&t, booting from unbrick but no recovery or download mode

I follow this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2549068
I put this file on the sd card debrick-SGH-I747U-CUEMJB3.img, made sure phone battery was charged up. Tried to enter download mode, it completely skipped it and phone is now running stock 4.3?? I try to enter recovery mode and it still just starts up with Stock 4.3.
So I assume it is running completely of the sd card. I can enter Stock Recovery but not sure what I do now. If i pull the card the phone is dead like before. Red light when plugged in, nothing happens with any button pushes.
I guess I am wondering what my next step is?
Thanks

Ruscicap said:
I follow this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2549068
I put this file on the sd card debrick-SGH-I747U-CUEMJB3.img, made sure phone battery was charged up. Tried to enter download mode, it completely skipped it and phone is now running stock 4.3?? I try to enter recovery mode and it still just starts up with Stock 4.3.
So I assume it is running completely of the sd card. I can enter Stock Recovery but not sure what I do now. If i pull the card the phone is dead like before. Red light when plugged in, nothing happens with any button pushes.
I guess I am wondering what my next step is?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device is indeed booting off the SD card. However, if you can boot into system, you should also be able to boot into download and recovery modes using the 3-button combo. If you can get into download mode, you can try using Odin v 3.07 to flash the complete 4.3 stock image. Download the Odin flashable zip file from the link below to your computer. Extract the tar.md5 file and verify the MD5 to be sure it downloaded correctly.
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23329332407590581
Download Odin v3.07 and run Odin.exe for the flashing tool. With your debrick card, boot into download mode by pressing the Volume Down, Home and Power button. If you can't get into download mode with the 3-button combo, suggest you try a USB jig. Use Odin to flash the stock file to your phone. If the flashing is successful, the device should be able to boot normally after this without the debrick card.

Cool thanks Larry2999. I will have to go the USB jig route it won't go into recovery or download. I can only get into Stock recovery. Any specifics I need to know when getting a usb jig? Thanks again for you response. I am just glad it is working now. But probably don't want to run off SD forever.

Ruscicap said:
Cool thanks Larry2999. I will have to go the USB jig route it won't go into recovery or download. I can only get into Stock recovery. Any specifics I need to know when getting a usb jig? Thanks again for you response. I am just glad it is working now. But probably don't want to run off SD forever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a thread somewhere on how to make a D-I-Y jig. You can, however, buy it cheaply online for about $3. In buying one, you'd only need to be sure it states that it works with the S3.
Looks like you are able to get into recovery now but you have stock, rather than custom, recovery. There is only one recovery partition and the default is stock, unless, you flash a custom recovery. If you had custom recovery, it would have been possible to flash a 4.3 stock restore zip via (custom) recovery. To flash custom recovery, however, you'd need Odin in download mode so we are back to the problem with getting into download mode.

Thanks Larry ordering jig tomorrow
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Larry2999 said:
There is a thread somewhere on how to make a D-I-Y jig. You can, however, buy it cheaply online for about $3. In buying one, you'd only need to be sure it states that it works with the S3.
Looks like you are able to get into recovery now but you have stock, rather than custom, recovery. There is only one recovery partition and the default is stock, unless, you flash a custom recovery. If you had custom recovery, it would have been possible to flash a 4.3 stock restore zip via (custom) recovery. To flash custom recovery, however, you'd need Odin in download mode so we are back to the problem with getting into download mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you suggest a reliable 4.3 stock to flash or install through ODIN? This is how I got to where I am, something screwed up trying to install stock 4.3 through ODIN.
Thanks again for your help. Jig should be here in a couple days.

Ruscicap said:
Do you suggest a reliable 4.3 stock to flash or install through ODIN? This is how I got to where I am, something screwed up trying to install stock 4.3 through ODIN.
Thanks again for your help. Jig should be here in a couple days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the ONLY way to recover is to flash a complete 4.3 stock image. Are you sure you bricked in the first instance by flashing 4.3 via Odin? The only Odin compatible stock 4.3 file I'm aware of is the one in the link I forwarded earlier. This was only recently developed and appears to have been used by several people without problem. You may check to be sure you were not trying to flash a 4.1.1 file in error. Apologies if I sound like I'm second guessing you but flashing 4.1.1 via Odin usually results in the kind of hard brick you experienced.
The other alternative would be to flash custom recovery (TWRP or CWM) via Odin and then use custom recovery to flash a complete 4.3 stock image. You will find the instructions in the following thread ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2658486
Download the stock restore zip for your preferred custom recovery option to your PC and save to your phone's internal storage. If you want to use TWRP, you can find the Odin flashable file for TWRP via the link below ...
http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/d2att/openrecovery-twrp-2.6.3.1-d2att.tar
If, however, you go the first option and flash the 4.3 file via Odin, be sure to use Odin v 3.07. You'll see the Odin flashable file and instructions on page 4 of the following thread ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2722660&page=4
or you can download directly from here ...
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23329332407590581

Thanks again. Not really sure what went wrong, tried to use odin to install 4.3 Stock from this thread. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2658486
I will try to follow your threads and get it right this time.

Ruscicap said:
Thanks again. Not really sure what went wrong, tried to use odin to install 4.3 Stock from this thread. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2658486
I will try to follow your threads and get it right this time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The file from that thread is for (custom) recovery only. You can't flash zips via Odin so if you are using that file, you would need to first install custom recovery via Odin and then flash the zip via custom recovery.

Hey Larry, just wanted to say thanks. Phone is back working properly, 4.3 installed with no problem. Took me awhile never had the time. So fathers day was my chance to get this working. Flashed twrp and then the stock zip. Worked great.
Thanks again for all your help, I very much appreciate it.

Ruscicap said:
Hey Larry, just wanted to say thanks. Phone is back working properly, 4.3 installed with no problem. Took me awhile never had the time. So fathers day was my chance to get this working. Flashed twrp and then the stock zip. Worked great.
Thanks again for all your help, I very much appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to know it's working OK now. Kind regards

Complete noob thinks he may have softbricked his phone

Hi guys. Brand new to this whole rooting thing. Long story short, I rooted my device (Galaxy S3 sgh-t999) a while back and was just living off stock touchwiz just with all the bloatware deleted. I had the most recent version of TWRP installed and my recovery was based on that. I then downgraded TWRP to 2.3.3.0. It asked me to reboot and I did so. Now I'm stuck at the Samsung logo screen but it doesn't get past that. The device seems to boots up, but the moment the little Samsung jingle starts to play (you know the swirly blue mist that encompasses the Samsung logo), it stops in the middle of the jingle and the phone won't get passed it.
I tried rebooting back into TWRP via up, home, power and was able to get into TWRP recovery good enough, I can access everything in the menu and tried wiping dalvik, cache, factory reset and system and restored from my backup, but upon trying to restore from my custom backup, it just stalls on the Samsung logo screen. Any ideas if this is fixable? Sorry if this is in the wrong forum guys.
Also, I should make mention that whenever I try to hard power off my phone by holding down the power button, it turns off for a moment then boots back on again. I actually have to remove the battery in order for the phone to turn off. Don't know if that helps.

That's normal when you hold the power button down. It's a hard reset so it's supposed to boot back up.
As for your other issues, why did you downgrade twrp? If your backup was made with another version I suggest using the same to restore it.
Most of the time a factory reset will fix this type of problem, but it sounds like we are beyond that now. If the restore and another reset don't work, go to my firmware thread (sticky in development) and download the same or newer firmware as what you had before. Flash via Odin and factory reset from the stock recovery. ( This will wipe the internal sd)
That should get you going again.
For the future, please do not ever manually wipe /system. You could end up with no O/S to boot into and a hell of a headache! There is simply no benefit to doing so. Only risk.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Good luck!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

I downgraded TWRP because I was having issues flashing a new ROM. Every ROM I tried flashing came up with an error and people said they were most successful with 2.3.3.0 so I tried it out. I suspected it might have screwed something up but stupid me always has to be sure. I would try and re-use an upgraded TWRP version if possible but I don't think I can access that from the TWRP menu itself and that's just about the only function my phone has at this point. Just booting into TWRP and playing around with the menu.
Do you have a link to your thread? Thanks for the time by the way.

The link should be in my sig. But it's stickied at the top of the development section. Can't miss it.
If you go to twrp's Web page you can download a newer one in .zip format and flash from your current version.
Or get the .tar.md5 one and flash from Odin.
In the newer versions you can actually flash the .img file itself. After choosing install and are browsing for the file, look for a button to use the .img.
I don't believe this is available in the older ones though.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
The link should be in my sig. But it's stickied at the top of the development section. Can't miss it.
If you go to twrp's Web page you can download a newer one in .zip format and flash from your current version.
Or get the .tar.md5 one and flash from Odin.
In the newer versions you can actually flash the .img file itself. After choosing install and are browsing for the file, look for a button to use the .img.
I don't believe this is available in the older ones though.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
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You are a LIFESAVER! I was sure I messed something up permanently that would cause me to have to get a new phone. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

You're welcome! Glad I could help! So I take it you've got it up and running again?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
You're welcome! Glad I could help! So I take it you've got it up and running again?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
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Yup! It was really a simple matter of updating TWRP via Odin. I don't know why it never crossed my mind to use it. Maybe I'll have more luck using different ROMs through Odin instead of TWRP as well.

Odin is really only just for flashing full firmware for updates and returning to stock, and for flashing recovery. Pretty much everything else (all custom roms, for example) is meant to be flashed in a custom recovery like twrp. If you're ever unsure, reread the op of whatever you're flashing, and if your answer isn't there feel free to ask about it.
In a nutshell: Odin only flashes .tar and .tar.md5 files. Recovery flashes .zip.
I do highly recommend an app called Mobile Odin by chainfire. Search xda for his thread and make sure you read all the info if you're interested. It can make flashing super easy!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

I am having a similar issue. I have never modified any of the original specs and this is a new issue as of 48 hours ago. In short, my device was on, auto shutdown and then froze on the Galaxy S3 load screen. Attempts to boot in recovery,safe, and soft/hard reset have not worked. I can access Odin mode. After reading the above thread I went to the link you suggested and went directly to the firmware my SGH-T999 started with(T999UVDLJA) and worked my way up the list to see if any of them would take. Unfortunately none achieved a 'PASS' via Odin. So, my question is, what do you do when all the steps have been followed and the firmware doesn't work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What error are you getting in Odin?
Do you see anything about warranty bit on the download screen? If you are, the flash is probably failing because you are trying to flash old firmware over new firmware. I suggest flashing the latest firmware for your T999 from here: http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/database/SGH-T999/