Develop Bugs

[Q] Help Needed to Unroot Note 2 (N7100)

Hi,
I'm wanting to sell my Note II and I have a potential buyer but he will only buy it once I've unrooted/flashed stock firmware and reset the binary counter.
I think I can do most, if not all, using the toolkit in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1923956 but, having read the thread, it's unclear (at least to me) if this process actually resets the binary counter. There's some discussion regarding using the app 'Triangle Away' to reset the binary counter, but I cannot figure out when you use this app in the process.
Can anybody confirm the following:
(1) that the tool in the link above is the one to use?
(2) that the tool will flash stock and unroot?
(3) whether the tool resets the binary counter? If not, confirm that I need to use the triangle away app.
(4) advise me in which order I return the handset back to the state prior to me rooting it. For example, when is the triangle away app used in the process?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

TheMadMan10 said:
Hi,
I'm wanting to sell my Note II and I have a potential buyer but he will only buy it once I've unrooted/flashed stock firmware and reset the binary counter.
I think I can do most, if not all, using the toolkit in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1923956 but, having read the thread, it's unclear (at least to me) if this process actually resets the binary counter. There's some discussion regarding using the app 'Triangle Away' to reset the binary counter, but I cannot figure out when you use this app in the process.
Can anybody confirm the following:
(1) that the tool in the link above is the one to use?
(2) that the tool will flash stock and unroot?
(3) whether the tool resets the binary counter? If not, confirm that I need to use the triangle away app.
(4) advise me in which order I return the handset back to the state prior to me rooting it. For example, when is the triangle away app used in the process?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=31801078&postcount=3
Here this is which will help you to reset the counter
and install Flash stock and Flash stock Kernel
user triangle away .

as a hint from me addition to the above mentioned, (according to my experiences),
you must follow an order to unroot with acquiring fully samsung official in download mode. (i assume you have rooted stock rom and stock kernel )
1) flash perseus kernel( i used that) because triangle away does not work with stock kernel. App force closes with stock.
2) install stock recovery with odin in download mode (can be found as "cf-autoroot", i dont remember where i have found)
3) restart n7100 and open triangle away. select reset binary counter.
4) after reset binary counter complete, shut down phone and directly enter into the download mode. If phone opens normally, then redo reset by triangle away because if you restart android, binary counter sets back itself to 1. So shut down phone and enter directly to the download mode.
5) If it shows "custom binary flash:No", "current binary:samsung official", "system status:custom", then you are good to go. Do not restart your phone because of above item "4", and follow next step "6".
6) in the download mode you opened in 4-5, without doing anything, open odin from pc, and download official firmware that you downloaded from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=31801046&postcount=1 put that firmware to the odin and flash it.
7) you are now official and fully stock however, if you enter download mode you will see "no,samsung official, custom". Dont panic, it's because your rom is dirty. So enter stock recovery and make a factory reset. Then restart your phone and wait for the settings wizard.
8) you can turn off your phone and enter in download mode. you must see "no, samsung official, official" in there.
I have seen a lot of instructions and see that counter always showing "1", so tried several hundred times and found this method. The important point is, after you reset your counter, dont restart. Directly enter download mode and flash stock firmware. This is important.
This is my 3rd android phone, used Desire Z and Evo3d from HTC before. HTC is hard to root and nearly impossible to unroot but i cant use HTC's without root because of bloatware. Also HTC does not mind root in warranty. But samsung blocks some apps and voids warranty, and stock rom is perfectly clean and neat. So i decided to unroot and use it that way.
Hope these instructions will help you.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2339704

SGH-I747 AT&T Softbricked Maybe Hard

Hi guys I just bought a SGH-I747 AT&T and the issue with it is it goes into Download mode just fine, works with Odin 3.7 loads a stock rom and then it sais reset but the phone doesn't reset just goes to black screen and then Odin sais Pass. I press the power button and Samsung appers and vibrates and goes back to black. When I try Recovery mode it show the blue writing on the left upper and the Samsung and then it goes to black screen. I put two different stock roms and same story. Kies won't recognize it and I installed recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.4.3-d2att.tar to try to get into recovery mode and of course no luck. Don't know the history on this, so if anyone could help I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

gica69 said:
Hi guys I just bought a SGH-I747 AT&T and the issue with it is it goes into Download mode just fine, works with Odin 3.7 loads a stock rom and then it sais reset but the phone doesn't reset just goes to black screen and then Odin sais Pass. I press the power button and Samsung appers and vibrates and goes back to black. When I try Recovery mode it show the blue writing on the left upper and the Samsung and then it goes to black screen. I put two different stock roms and same story. Kies won't recognize it and I installed recovery-clockwork-touch-6.0.4.3-d2att.tar to try to get into recovery mode and of course no luck. Don't know the history on this, so if anyone could help I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found out that the phone had 4.1.1 on it and the guy tried to flash 4.2.2 and upon doing the odin mode flashing odin gave Firmware upgrade encountered an issue Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again So these are just some helpful facts for anyone who has gone through it. Thanks in advance for any help

gica69 said:
I found out that the phone had 4.11 on it and the guy tried to flash 4.22 and upon doing the odin mode flashing odin gave Firmware upgrade encountered an issue Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again So these are just some helpful facts for anyone who has gone through it. Thanks in advance for any help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What firmware were you trying to flash via Odin and are you sure the seller didn't previously flash (or try to flash) the 4.3 on it? If it wasn't higher than 4.3, then you may try recovery via Kies as follows ....
Install and launch Samsung Kies on your PC (not Kies 3). Open the Tools menu and select Firmware Upgrade and Initialization
Do not connect your phone to your PC yet. Remove the battery cover and record device info written in the battery compartment
In Kies, enter your phone model (SGH-I747)
Enter the phone serial number and click OK to all the security questions. Follow all the instructions on Kies
Connect the phone when prompted and follow the rest of the instructions
Wait for firmware upgrade to complete
Good luck!
If this doesn't work, then you may try flashing the 4.1.1 stock image via Odin. Look for the correct stock image via the following thread ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426
The one you want for Samsung Galaxy S3 AT&T (4.1.1) is I747UCDLK3
PLEASE don't try any of the above if you were already on the 4.3 bootloader as things will only get worse.

Larry2999 said:
What firmware were you trying to flash via Odin and are you sure the seller didn't previously flash (or try to flash) the 4.3 on it? If it wasn't higher than 4.3, then you may try recovery via Kies as follows ....
Install and launch Samsung Kies on your PC (not Kies 3). Open the Tools menu and select Firmware Upgrade and Initialization
Do not connect your phone to your PC yet. Remove the battery cover and record device info written in the battery compartment
In Kies, enter your phone model (SGH-I747)
Enter the phone serial number and click OK to all the security questions. Follow all the instructions on Kies
Connect the phone when prompted and follow the rest of the instructions
Wait for firmware upgrade to complete
Good luck!
If this doesn't work, then you may try flashing the 4.1.1 stock image via Odin. Look for the correct stock image via the following thread ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426
The one you want for Samsung Galaxy S3 AT&T (4.1.1) is I747UCDLK3PLEASE don't try any of the above if you were already on the 4.3 bootloader as things will only get worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have already tried the I747UCDLK3 not from the link you gave me though. I did notice that the one you mentioned is a rooted stock do you think I should still do it? The rom flashes fine no errors in Odin but when it sais RESET the phone turns off the download mode and vibrates once then goes black then later Odin sais Pass but I cannot start it it just bootloops and vibrates and it stays that way As far as the Kies procedure you gave me don't I have to be in recovery mode for it to see the phone? I cannot get to that mode just download mode. Let me know thanks for your help

gica69 said:
I have already tried the I747UCDLK3 not from the link you gave me though. I did notice that the one you mentioned is a rooted stock do you think I should still do it? The rom flashes fine no errors in Odin but when it sais RESET the phone turns off the download mode and vibrates once then goes black then later Odin sais Pass but I cannot start it it just bootloops and vibrates and it stays that way As far as the Kies procedure you gave me don't I have to be in recovery mode for it to see the phone? I cannot get to that mode just download mode. Let me know thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were successful in flashing via Odin, I would have suggested you try doing a hard wipe/reset in recovery. However, you said you can't get to recovery mode so this may not work. What happens when you try booting into recovery mode?
For Kies, you wouldn't have to be in recovery mode for the firmware restore to happen. Normally, you would have to connect your (powered-on) phone to your PC for it to be recognized by Kies. However, as you can't power on, we are forcing Kies to prepare the specific required firmware for your device by manually entering in the device information. Thus, when the phone is connected, you have firmware ready to make it work.
It may also be that the firmware you downloaded and flashed via Odin may not be the correct or full version. There are so many sources of "stock" firmware these days that one can never be too sure. You may go to Sammobile.com to download the stock firmware and compare the size of the extracted file to the one you used. The odin flashable tar.md5 file should be about 1.1Gb in size.

Larry2999 said:
If you were successful in flashing via Odin, I would have suggested you try doing a hard wipe/reset in recovery. However, you said you can't get to recovery mode so this may not work. What happens when you try booting into recovery mode?
For Kies, you wouldn't have to be in recovery mode for the firmware restore to happen. Normally, you would have to connect your (powered-on) phone to your PC for it to be recognized by Kies. However, as you can't power on, we are forcing Kies to prepare the specific required firmware for your device by manually entering in the device information. Thus, when the phone is connected, you have firmware ready to make it work.
It may also be that the firmware you downloaded and flashed via Odin may not be the correct or full version. There are so many sources of "stock" firmware these days that one can never be too sure. You may go to Sammobile.com to download the stock firmware and compare the size of the extracted file to the one you used. The odin flashable tar.md5 file should be about 1.1Gb in size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I go in recovery it shows blue writing in left upper corner and Samsung logo and then black screen. I think I did use the Sammobile firmware at 1.1. My clock in download mode shows 6. I don't think that would affect it though. Could it be that Odin doesn't really write the firmware that's why flashing doesn't change anything? I don't think the jig would do anything maybe sending it for a jtag reflash is the trick.
I am lost for now. If you guys can think of anything new let me know and thanks again.

gica69 said:
When I go in recovery it shows blue writing in left upper corner and Samsung logo and then black screen. I think I did use the Sammobile firmware at 1.1. My clock in download mode shows 6. I don't think that would affect it though. Could it be that Odin doesn't really write the firmware that's why flashing doesn't change anything? I don't think the jig would do anything maybe sending it for a jtag reflash is the trick.
I am lost for now. If you guys can think of anything new let me know and thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't mention if you tried the Kies option. I had a similar problem once when upgrade to 4.1.1 via Kies failed during the process and that was how I was able to recover. However, since you bought this from the secondary market, there is no way of telling for certain what the previous owner did wrong which would have been useful for recovery options.
One of the nice things about Odin is that you usually know the results immediately. If it says Pass, therefore, that's likely what it means. So Odin did flash something. But what did it flash? The counter you saw in download mode shows how many custom system installations there have been and 6 does show there has been some previous heavy tinkering with the phone. As you are still able to get into download modes, I would suggest you try flashing custom recovery (TWRP or CWM) via Odin. If this works and you are able to get into recovery mode, you may then try doing a hard wipe/reset via recovery. You may also try flashing the other (rooted) 4.1.1 file via Odin. At this stage, you really have nothing to lose in trying all options. I guess if you can get into recovery mode, the problem is almost solved as this leaves plenty of options.
A jig wouldn't help as that only gets you to download mode which, for now, you don't have a problem with. JTag should always be a last resort option only. Let me know how far it goes and good luck!

When flashing in Odin, did you check auto reboot? If you did, try flashing again but uncheck auto-reboot. When you see Reset in the status windows, disconnect the USB cable, pull out the battery, wait a few seconds until the phone completely shuts down, put back in the battery, get into recovery, wipe cache, do a factory reset, and reboot.

audit13 said:
When flashing in Odin, did you check auto reboot? If you did, try flashing again but uncheck auto-reboot. When you see Reset in the status windows, disconnect the USB cable, pull out the battery, wait a few seconds until the phone completely shuts down, put back in the battery, get into recovery, wipe cache, do a factory reset, and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This damn phone is starting to annoy me. I can still get into download mode but my phone gets usb device not recognized now. I have access to another I747 phone so my question is if I have access to the pit file from that phone can anything be done with the Debrick utility and a SD card with only download mode access? Thanks in advance.

Go into download and let us know what is shown on the screen.

audit13 said:
Go into download and let us know what is shown on the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin Mode
Product Name: SGH-I747
Custom Binary Downloads: Yes (6 Counts)
Current Binary: Samsung Official
System Status: Official
Qualcomm Secure Boot: Enable
Green Android Icon Downloading...
Do not turn off target!!!

OK I plugged the USB in and out a few times and it allows to write every few tries. Back to my question can I do something in download mode if I have another i747 that I can copy stuff from? I also tried the suggestion to uncheck auto-reset pull the usb cable then the battery and try to go to recovery but it doesn't.Any suggestions are welcomed.

Try flashing a stock 4.1.1 rom from sammobile using Odin. Do not check auto reboot. When you see reset in the status window, disconnect the usb cable, pull the battery, replace the battery, boot into recovery, and wipe. I have done this numerous times on my i747m after flashing custom ROMs.

audit13 said:
Try flashing a stock 4.1.1 rom from sammobile using Odin. Do not check auto reboot. When you see reset in the status window, disconnect the usb cable, pull the battery, replace the battery, boot into recovery, and wipe. I have done this numerous times on my i747m after flashing custom ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try it again I think I already did but when I put the battery back and click the Vol+ Home Power I get the blue writing and then black screen. Should I wait like 10 min on the black screen or it should be quick. Thanks

Keep holding the buttons until the blue writing disappears and the green android appears with the green progress bar.

audit13 said:
Keep holding the buttons until the blue writing disappears and the green android appears with the green progress bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there an unbrick.img for 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 I noticed that there are files for 4.3 that allow you to go in recovery and erase stuff reinstall. Let me know cause I sure couldn't find it.

If u can get it into download mode u are never ever hard bricked my friend...take it from a guy who had to dust off his old galaxy sll last weekend & still can't get into d/l mode on my s3 after a week & even with a jig lol
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

gica69 said:
Is there an unbrick.img for 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 I noticed that there are files for 4.3 that allow you to go in recovery and erase stuff reinstall. Let me know cause I sure couldn't find it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The unbricking image only helps you get into download mode from where you can work your way up the rest of the food chain. As you can already get into download mode without difficulties, I doubt if that's what you really need. You are also able to flash ROMs successfully in download mode via Odin so you've gone far up on the food chain already. Perhaps you are not doing the recovery thing correctly enough. Like Audit said, you need to continue holding down the Volume Up and Menu buttons whilst releasing the Power button after you see the first flash until the recovery menu appears and then do a hard wipe/reset.
Perhaps you could also try flashing TWRP via Odin if CWM isn't working.

Larry2999 said:
The unbricking image only helps you get into download mode from where you can work your way up the rest of the food chain. As you can already get into download mode without difficulties, I doubt if that's what you really need. You are also able to flash ROMs successfully in download mode via Odin so you've gone far up on the food chain already. Perhaps you are not doing the recovery thing correctly enough. Like Audit said, you need to continue holding down the Volume Up and Menu buttons whilst releasing the Power button after you see the first flash until the recovery menu appears and then do a hard wipe/reset.
Perhaps you could also try flashing TWRP via Odin if CWM isn't working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already tried holding the Home and Volume up buttons for 4-5 minutes at which point my fingers got a bit tired. The reason I wanted the unbrick.img is that I am now having issues with the computer recognizing the device in usb. I plugged and unplugged so many times that it no longer works that way so I wanted to do it via sd card. The unbrick.img gets you in recovery mode and download mode as it allows you to boot from the card not from the internal HD. But the only ones I have seen are for the 4.3 issues. And I tried It but did not put my device in recovery.

gica69 said:
I already tried holding the Home and Volume up buttons for 4-5 minutes at which point my fingers got a bit tired. The reason I wanted the unbrick.img is that I am now having issues with the computer recognizing the device in usb. I plugged and unplugged so many times that it no longer works that way so I wanted to do it via sd card. The unbrick.img gets you in recovery mode and download mode as it allows you to boot from the card not from the internal HD. But the only ones I have seen are for the 4.3 issues. And I tried It but did not put my device in recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't find one either although you may be able to create yours using the command line posted in the thread below ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2549068
You may also try using a jig to get back into download mode. Have you, however, considered exercising any buyer protection options you have on the phone since, it would appear, the guy sold you a lemon?

Freezes at ATT logo

I have an i747 and after a week of research and trail and error I was able to get back to a factory working phone. I wanted to share my findings so that the next person may get up and running a bit quicker. First off, my phone was never rooted. I was getting it ready to sell and was going to factory reset it when I realized I forgot the system password. So I installed Kies and proceeded to factor rest it there. For whatever reason the reset did not take and after several failed attempts with kies the phone began to boot in ODIN mode. I built a USB jig and was able to get back into download mode but nothing would bring it back to life. Downloading the official rom from sammobile and flashing with ODIN3.07 would fail every time. Emergency recovery in kies also failed. So here was my final approach that worked. Maybe the wrong way to do this, maybe the long way to do it.. IDK.. but it worked for me..
1) get the official Samsung files from kies (google -"does kies store firmware")
2) boot do download mode
3) flash CSC file with auto reboot and F. reset time checked
4) boot do download mode
5) flash PDA file with auto reboot and F. reset time checked
6) boot do download mode
7) flash Modem file with auto reboot and F. reset time checked
* I closed ODIN between each step, might be overkill.
** I did not flash the bootloader file
I have read that it takes a long time the first boot, and I have been waiting 15 minutes at the SAMSUNG screen but it is still pulsing so i think it is still processing. If it is still at this screen in the morning, I will let you all know but this is further than I have been in over a week.
On a side note, when it crashed I took this into AT&T they told me over the past month or so they have seen numerous people with the same issue. All from doing a factor rest in Kies. My phone was out of warranty and they barely looked at it before asking me to upgrade. I took it to BestBuy and they fixed it from booting to ODIN mode but it still locked up on the AT&T logo, so I was back to square one.

Food for thought. How about waiting to see if your instructions actually work on your phone before posting them here for people with similar issues to use. Kind of useless if it doesn't end up working, huh?

lordblue969 said:
I have an i747 and after a week of research and trail and error I was able to get back to a factory working phone. I wanted to share my findings so that the next person may get up and running a bit quicker. First off, my phone was never rooted. I was getting it ready to sell and was going to factory reset it when I realized I forgot the system password. So I installed Kies and proceeded to factor rest it there. For whatever reason the reset did not take and after several failed attempts with kies the phone began to boot in ODIN mode. I built a USB jig and was able to get back into download mode but nothing would bring it back to life. Downloading the official rom from sammobile and flashing with ODIN3.07 would fail every time. Emergency recovery in kies also failed. So here was my final approach that worked. Maybe the wrong way to do this, maybe the long way to do it.. IDK.. but it worked for me..
1) get the official Samsung files from kies (google -"does kies store firmware")
2) boot do download mode
3) flash CSC file with auto reboot and F. reset time checked
4) boot do download mode
5) flash PDA file with auto reboot and F. reset time checked
6) boot do download mode
7) flash Modem file with auto reboot and F. reset time checked
* I closed ODIN between each step, might be overkill.
** I did not flash the bootloader file
I have read that it takes a long time the first boot, and I have been waiting 15 minutes at the SAMSUNG screen but it is still pulsing so i think it is still processing. If it is still at this screen in the morning, I will let you all know but this is further than I have been in over a week.
On a side note, when it crashed I took this into AT&T they told me over the past month or so they have seen numerous people with the same issue. All from doing a factor rest in Kies. My phone was out of warranty and they barely looked at it before asking me to upgrade. I took it to BestBuy and they fixed it from booting to ODIN mode but it still locked up on the AT&T logo, so I was back to square one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems a pretty long route to take. If you are on an Odin flashable firmware version (e.g. 4.1.1), you only need to flash one partition - PDA. This updates all partitions to stock including bootloader, modem, recovery, kernel. The newer firmware versions - 4.1.2 & 4.3 are, however, not Odin flashable. Also, if you couldn't do a factory reset from settings because of password issues, you could have booted into recovery mode and done a factory reset there. This wouldn't require a password and would still have the same effect of wiping data and returning to factory settings.
If your phone is stuck at the Samsung screen for 15 minutes, then it's stuck. Reboot into recovery mode and try a reset there. If this doesn't work, then it means you have a soft brick you need to restore your firmware via custom recovery. Your phone is never hard bricked when you can get to download and recovery modes. Flash custom recovery via Odin in download mode. Reboot to custom recovery and flash a clean, complete stock image for 4.3. That's your best option now since you are selling

Larry2999 said:
Seems a pretty long route to take. If you are on an Odin flashable firmware version (e.g. 4.1.1), you only need to flash one partition - PDA. This updates all partitions to stock including bootloader, modem, recovery, kernel. The newer firmware versions - 4.1.2 & 4.3 are, however, not Odin flashable. Also, if you couldn't do a factory reset from settings because of password issues, you could have booted into recovery mode and done a factory reset there. This wouldn't require a password and would still have the same effect of wiping data and returning to factory settings.
If your phone is stuck at the Samsung screen for 15 minutes, then it's stuck. Reboot into recovery mode and try a reset there. If this doesn't work, then it means you have a soft brick you need to restore your firmware via custom recovery. Your phone is never hard bricked when you can get to download and recovery modes. Flash custom recovery via Odin in download mode. Reboot to custom recovery and flash a clean, complete stock image for 4.3. That's your best option now since you are selling
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So like the true repository of knowledge we have here, Larry you are correct.. After about 30 minutes I decided it was really stuck.. So this time I watched the process I described above a bit more closely and as you stated the PDA file is all i needed.. but I had tried several from different sources including the office from sammobile and they always crashed. So what eventually worked for me was after being stuck at the samsung logo...
I booted into recovery mode
wiped the cache
factory reset it
then flashed with the Kies PDA file that I obtained in Kies in emergency recover mode.
This finally worked.
and as stated was a shorter route to take. The PDA that i used had 4.1.1 on it.
Thanks for the clarification in the fact that flashing with the PDA takes care of the bootloader, cache, file system, etc.

DMF1977 said:
Food for thought. How about waiting to see if your instructions actually work on your phone before posting them here for people with similar issues to use. Kind of useless if it doesn't end up working, huh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
excitement over came me.

Still having issues
Ok, keepers of knowledge.. I have a phone that will boot up but I have no baseband version. It shows unknown.. I have tried just flashing the modem file but i still do not get it back.. if I try to flash anything other than the official files from kies, ODIN fails. My phone is now at 4.1.1, build JR003L.I747UCDLK3.
If I try to update via wifi with the software updater, it says I am up to date. If I try to update with Kies, it fails..
I am at a loss...
Please help..
Thanks in advance..

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

Note 4 looping on first start up screen

Hoping for some advice how to get Sprint Note 4 running again. The phone has never been rooted. Up until a couple of weeks ago most of the OTA updates had been received and applied no problem. A couple of weeks ago my wife pulled it out of her bag and showed me it was on the update screen and had been for a couple of hours eventually the batter went dead. We took out the dead battery charged it and tried to restart. It goes to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 white on black screen vibrates twice then the screen goes black and it repeats the same thing over and over.
Now i'm not sure how to proceed. I'm familiar with Odin and rooting my own phones but leave my wifes stock normally.
First i tried reset in recovery - When i boot to recovery after a few seconds the android robot lies on its back with a red triangle over it. At the top of the recovery screen it says Android system recovery - LRX22C.N910PVPU3BOF5. I tried wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache partion and rebooting but makes no difference.
I thought install official firmware manually
I put the phone in download mode it displays
current binary: samsung official
system status: official
reactivation lock: off
knox warranty void: 0x0
I downloaded a stock firmware N910PVPU3BOF5_N910PSPT3BOF5_N910PVPU3BOF5_HOME.tar.md5
installed Odin3 v3.10.6.exe
installed F/W this using Odin.
Odin finishes normally, box turns green and PASS! but the phone just restarts and does the boot looping thing.
I don't know what to do next - suggestions? Thanks

Have you tried booting to safe mode, you'll have to Google it as I'm not sure of the procedure for stock phone. What your describing doesn't sound good, I would have thought the odin flash would have worked.
You could always try to odin OG5 Stock tar, can be downloaded from kies. Sorry i cannot offer more but it sounds like you're doing all the right things.
Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

Yes, I agree, that's good advice. I'd say try KIES first, then safe mode if KIES doesn't yield results.
Did you get to safe mode? From power off, hold power until 2nd splash screen, release and press-hold power plus volume up until it boots or vibrates. I think if you continue to hold, it loops until you release but boots into safe mode.
Unlock screen and go into security (if it boots) and uncheck Reactivation lock, Knox active protection and make sure device isn't encrypted. Finger scanner; remove registered finger prints, and change lock-screen to swipe. Then factory reset or try whichever you prefer to try next. If normal reboot still fails, then factory reset in safe mode and reboot. If still loops, try the KIES or Odin flash. I'm not too familiar with stock and default security but looking at OG5 security options, seems there's redundancies that could potentially be in play preventing Odin flash as if the phone thinks the phone is in the hands of someone other than the registered owner. You may need to bypass it all to boot or flash.
Typically, it's data corruption that causes a loop that stock tar doesn't fix in tars OF5 and below. OG5 has frequent reports of wiping user data but I've seen occasional reports of inability to flash OG5 tar from OF5. I saw another today that reported having to Odin OF5 tar again and take OTA to get to OG5. I asked what the failure indications were but so far only know his rooted phone couldn't get there without taking those steps. So perhaps you're on the right track, it's just the security and our security that's being a hindrance.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

thanks for the suggestions. I tried booting into safe mode but i can never get past the first white on black Samsung Note 4 powered by android screen. No matter how long i hold just the power button it just goes black and back to this screen every few seconds. I never get to the second boot splash screen. Any other way to force the phone into Safe mode?
I've installed kies and smart switch. The phone is not recognized by either whilst boot looping. If i put it in download mode and connect it kies3 displays unsupported device. How do i get Kies let me download a copy of OG5 firmware to my pc to try with Odin? I can't figure this out. I connected my own Note 4 to kies and it recognizes it fine and displays This is the latest firmware Current og5 latest og5 but i still don't see how to download a fresh copy of OG5 to the PC? In Kies i go to Tools, Firmware upgrade and initialisation. I'm entering the model name SM-N910P and then it wants a serial number. How do i determine this? I tried the Dec and Hex numbers from the back of the phone, i tried the Hex number plus a 1 and plus a 9 - i read this is the imei and this is confirmed from looking in settings on my other note 4. I'd really like to get a clean download of sprint OG5 from Kies i've searched for instructions without success.
Suggestions what i can try next? Thanks

waroo14 said:
thanks for the suggestions. I tried booting into safe mode but i can never get past the first white on black Samsung Note 4 powered by android screen. No matter how long i hold just the power button it just goes black and back to this screen every few seconds. I never get to the second boot splash screen. Any other way to force the phone into Safe mode?
I've installed kies and smart switch. The phone is not recognized by either whilst boot looping. If i put it in download mode and connect it kies3 displays unsupported device. How do i get Kies let me download a copy of OG5 firmware to my pc to try with Odin? I can't figure this out. I connected my own Note 4 to kies and it recognizes it fine and displays This is the latest firmware Current og5 latest og5 but i still don't see how to download a fresh copy of OG5 to the PC? In Kies i go to Tools, Firmware upgrade and initialisation. I'm entering the model name SM-N910P and then it wants a serial number. How do i determine this? I tried the Dec and Hex numbers from the back of the phone, i tried the Hex number plus a 1 and plus a 9 - i read this is the imei and this is confirmed from looking in settings on my other note 4. I'd really like to get a clean download of sprint OG5 from Kies i've searched for instructions without success.
Suggestions what i can try next? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may help your PC detect the phone better in recovery mode for KIES. Can't say it gets past unsupported device but it was a problem I had with adb in recovery on my Windows 8.1 machine. Read the OP and post 14 to see if it applies to you. Try detecting phone in recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34864154&postcount=14
I've always found safe mode a little difficult to get into but once I found my phone had went there when I was carrying something wrapped around the phone while in a belt pouch. Holding both buttons must have been the way it accidentally got there.
That unsatisfied s/n inquiry has puzzled some of us here and we haven't found a solution AFAIK.
I'm not sure but you may have to also Odin OF5 and take OTA like some others have had to do. There are some tar files in general forum that others succeeded with. Sorry but that's about all I can think of. Unless you can get it to Best Buy Samsung Experience or Sprint service center and explain what happened. They should be able to flash stock back on it. That may be best solution since there was no doubt about root or void warranty on that one.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Thanks for the suggestions.
I found more instruction for getting into safe mode which work on my other note 4 but no success with this one.
I was trying to Odin OF5 it goes all the way through in Odin and displays success but never actually boots.
Would it be possible to replace the stock recovery with something else that might have additional features to get a working f/w to install and then downgrade back to stock or will i risk just making things more screwed up? I wouldn't care about taking OTA updates if i could just get a working F/W back onto this phone.
Encryption and security were not enabled on the phone.
So without S/N what is the work around to use Kies with Sprint phones?

Since you're pure stock and given the problems I'd stay away from a custom recovery at this point. Your reporting a successful odin flash of stock OF5 then rebooting right back to the same boot loop problem is sounding more and more like something has seriously failed in the phone, I'd start thinking replacement.
Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk