Develop Bugs

Stuck on "starting apps" after OTA. I was on a rooted stock rom.

Hey guys I need help. Anyone have a link to the latest rooted stock rom? How is cynogenmod these days? Is it worth making the switch? Whats the most popular rom these days?

jkj said:
Hey guys I need help. Anyone have a link to the latest rooted stock rom? How is cynogenmod these days? Is it worth making the switch? Whats the most popular rom these days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freeza always has the latest stock rooted ROM over in this thread. It's always updated shortly after each OTA is dropped (currently at MB1).
You can see my setup in my sig. I like it a lot!
CM10.1 nightlies are good, and a lot of the AOSP (4.2.2) ROMs are really stable. There are a lot of reasons to stay with TW ROMs and a lot of reasons to move over to AOSP, AOKP, and other ROMs (MIUI, etc). My recommendation would be to update your recovery to the latest (see my sig for the link to the latest TWRP, search for the latest CWM) and just flash away. As long as you stick to Sprint ROMs and nandroid up whenever you can, it's getting difficult to brick your phone.

jkj said:
I downloaded the stock odexed zip and odin but it doesnt seem like the right file type for odin to flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, you're going to need to have a custom recovery, if you don't already have one (most people do after they originally flash their phone). There are many guides to do this, just follow one of qbking77's great tutorials. I'd recommend using TWRP, but the latest CWM works well also.
Now that you have a custom recovery, you can try the following and it might get you out of the bootloop:
In the custom recovery, clear (wipe) both cache and dalvik cache. Then reboot the phone (reboot menu -> system).
If the above doesn't work to get you through the bootloop, try the instructions below:
Now that you have a custom recovery, you need to get the files onto your phone. Since you cannot turn your phone on to download it or connect through USB, you'll have to do it through recovery. Since I use TWRP, I'll walk you through the menu's for that (CWM should be similar).
Connect USB cable to computer -> Mount Menu -> Mount USB Storage.
Now your computer should see a "removable disk" with the contents of your SD Card on it. Now you can copy the ROM you downloaded over to the SD Card.
Now that the file is actually on the phone, you can flash the ROM zip in recovery. Whenever you do this, it's best to do what is called a "full wipe" in the recovery. You'll lose all your apps, settings, etc but it's much better than having a paperweight. In TWRP, what I always do is the following:
1) Nandroid backup: I normally name it something along the lines of "2013-03-14 - ROM NAME - ROM VERSION." This way, when I look through my backups, I can easily see what I was running (what I'm restoring when I want to restore).
2) Wipe Menu - Factory Reset. This will wipe all custom data off of the phone. For me, this is a must before flashing any new ROM. Other people will "dirty flash" Roms on top of each other. For me, that's a recipe for disaster, as any leftover settings/code will inevitably interfere with the new ROM and will mess things up.
3) Wipe Menu - Dalvik Cache and Cache: If I recall correctly, the Factory Reset does both of these, but it doesn't hurt to do it again.
4) Install: This is where you find the ROM zip file you downloaded and install it. Should take less than a minute, but some larger ROMs could take a little longer (not 10 minutes, though).
3) Wipe Menu - Dalvik Cache and Cache: Again, not technically required, but I tend to wipe the cache and dalvik cache very often.
3) Reboot Menu - System: Pretty self-explanatory, but it'll reboot your phone and you can set it up all over again.
In the future, it's best to have Titanium Backup to back up apps and data (For me it's worth the cost to upgrade to Pro). I have mine set up to backup all data every night at 3 am, with a maximum of 5 backups per app. This gives me almost a week of backups that I can restore for every app I have installed. The only thing to keep in mind with TiB is that you can backup/restore system apps that won't work with a new ROM. For example, if I backed up the Samsung Connection Optimizer on the stock rooted ROM and tried to restore it to LiquidSmooth (a 4.2.2 AOSP ROM), it wouldn't work. In fact, it could mess things up on my new ROM. So you might want to pick and choose system apps (RED items) carefully when you're restoring. Next time you want to try out a new ROM (or if you need to restore again because of a bootloop), you can just restore your apps/settings through TiB and not go through 2 hours of setting up all your settings again (for me I like that I can restore all the wifi access spots settings... saves me from explaining why I need my friend's WEP key for the fifth time this month).
Anyways, this post has turned into a novel. Please let me know if you have any more questions (and CNexus or anyone else can correct anything that's wrong)

I got it going by wiping cache and data. I should've tried with just cache wiped. Its annoying to have to redo everything but better than a brick.

Now for some reason my wifi wont turn on. Reflashed again now I'm good to go.

[Q] Installing a rom

Ok, completely new with this. I did a basic root, got superuser cwm and busybox from my understanding. I used Samsung Galaxy Toolkit v7.0.0
I would like to install the MoAR onto my phone. But I'm not 100% sure how to do so. I have Odin v3.4, I was going to do it as a PDA file. But I don't see anything that says it's a .tar file.
If someone could point me in the right direction, or a video would be great.

jrodcamaro said:
Ok, completely new with this. I did a basic root, got superuser cwm and busybox from my understanding. I used Samsung Galaxy Toolkit v7.0.0
I would like to install the MoAR onto my phone. But I'm not 100% sure how to do so. I have Odin v3.4, I was going to do it as a PDA file. But I don't see anything that says it's a .tar file.
If someone could point me in the right direction, or a video would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to assume you're able to boot into a custom recovery (CWM). I persoanlly use TWRP, but either will work well for this. If you can't go through the root process again, based on qbking77's thread. Check out the videos and learn how to use Odin to gain root and a custom recovery. (always good to take a refresher course).
Here are directions on how to flash a Rom below. The instructions will be for TWRP, but CWM has similar options/settings
Make sure the zip of the Rom you downloaded is on your externalSD Card or the root directory of your internal memory.
Turn your phone completely off (hold down power for 3-5 seconds)
Boot your phone into recovery. Hold Up, Menu, and Power for a few seconds (until SAMSUNG appears on your screen and the phone vibrates)
Make a Nandroid backup. I can't emphasize this enough. In flashing, it's a certainty that at least one time, something will mess up. When that happens, you want to be able to restore a backup. In TWRP, just go into Backup Menu and choose where you want it (internal vs. External storage). It takes my phone a few (5-10) minutes to completely backup my data.
In TWRP, click the wipe button, then system. This will completely wipe the Rom from your phone. Doing this will allow you to get a "clean" install, without any settings or leftover files from your old Rom getting in the way. Instead, you could only wipe data (factory reset), which is good enough for most Roms. I'd still recommend a system wipe, though, as you never know exactly what might be left over from your old Rom (especially when going from 4.1.X to 4.2.X or vice-versa).
Also while in the Wipe menu, wipe Cache and Dalvik Cache (can't hurt).
Go back to the TWRP main menu.
Click Install, then find your Rom zip file (may have to switch from internal to external storage).
Let TWRP do it's thing.
MOAR rom already installed. If, in the future, you flash an AOSP Rom, you should now flash the correct gapps package from goo.im. Make sure you're flashing the correct one, as if you don't, your google apps will force close upon use.
Reboot into system and give it time to boot (first boot sometimes takes a couple of minutes).
Set up your phone the way you like.
These should be the directions to follow whenever you flash a new Rom. Some Roms (such as the MOAR Rom) have the Aroma installer, so you'll have more options once you choose to flash the Rom zip, but those are typically easy to follow (and vary from Rom to Rom, so I won't be able to give you a good guide on that).
Hope this helps!

I could tell you but from what you're asking, honestly I think it's better not to and to force you to read a lot more. I am pretty new to this stuff too, joined this site in like march but I did about 3 weeks worth of reading before I rooted and flashed my first ROM. I'm not trying to be mean here but the question you're asking will be the least of your worries once you read a little more. I recommend you read this Q&A thread, it's also at the top of the Q&A forum.
Edit: It seems good guy topherk here gave you the info, I stand by what I said though, from a fellow newbie to another

jrodcamaro said:
Ok, completely new with this. I did a basic root, got superuser cwm and busybox from my understanding. I used Samsung Galaxy Toolkit v7.0.0
I would like to install the MoAR onto my phone. But I'm not 100% sure how to do so. I have Odin v3.4, I was going to do it as a PDA file. But I don't see anything that says it's a .tar file.
If someone could point me in the right direction, or a video would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the rom on your pc and transfer it to your sd card or internal sd card on your phone. Don't put the rom zip file in any folders as it's easier to find, commonly referred to as the root of your sd card. Power off your phone if your still on stock, after it shuts down hold the volume up button+the home button and then hold power button, this will take you to your custom recovery. First thing to do once in your recovery is make backup of your current rom, make sure you have at least 3GB free space on either your sd or internal sd, some backups can be even bigger, if you don't have space it should tell you. After your backup is done, wipe cache, dalvik cache, factory reset and then flash your rom, after it's done and you see it was successful, fix permissions and reboot...you should be good to go at that point. If all is running well you can boot back into cwm, select restore and only restore /data, to get all your apps and their data back, fix permissions again and reboot. You can use titanium backup or my backup root /pro to restore apps and data but personally I don't prefer those methods. If you have any issues, restore your backup and try again.
I see I was slow again as topherk said everything and then some lol...still posting this just in case it helps at all.
Edit; just to throw it out there I'll tell you how I do things, once your more experienced this could make flashing roms, kernels, tweaks ect, easier. I always make a backup first before I switch roms. Then I simply wipe cache, dalvik cache, flash new rom and fix permissions....reboot and enjoy, this is known as a dirty flash, some roms don't dirty flash well, some work great.
Also I always 100% of the time download roms, kernels ect straight from my phone, never had a bad download that I'm aware of, I don't check md5 sums, I just verify the size of the dl matches what I dl'd. My dl's go to my download folder on my ext sd card so when I go into recovery, I know to look in my download folder on the ext sd card.
Other things to note about dirty flashing if you choose to do it, figure out your rom issues quietly and it can't hurt to try dirty flashing if you always remember rule#1.....make a backup first. If you get stuck in a boot loop, just pull the battery, put it back in and 3 button boot to recovery and restore your backup.

Yeah, the main reason I prefer a clean flash is that when people dirty flash, any and all problems will not be supported by the developer. And since the person is asking how to flash a Rom, I doubt that they'd know what to do with a FC. I'd prefer if they would do a clean flash until they get used to it. I do all my app backups in Titanium Backup, and even then I have to be careful not to restore something that might mess up the new Rom.
Anyways, I really liked your advice with the backups: if you're ever stuck in a bootloop, you can just restore your backup. I recently tried out a new Rom that I wasn't too fond of, and in a few minutes was back to my LiquidSmooth. No sweat.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

[Guide]Fix your ROM issues that other's are not having before posting for support.

Ok I wrote this for the OP of my ROM because the issues some people were PMing me about were just plain out dumb, This phone has been out quite a long time and still almost every thread I goto, you got people flashing in way's I didn't even know were possible and posting weird issues that were not being reproduced by the community. so I'm just gonna post this guide for all the developers sake and in hopes the people that actually need this information, receive it before posting and clogging up development threads
If you're having issues on rom's that no one else is reporting, or the DEV has not reproduced on his phone, read the following.
1) Full wipe
2) Do not restore System data or data from CWM
3) Do not dirty flash from other ROM's
4) When was the last time you did a odin to stock? this is important in my opinion and I'm not saying you need to do one but I just want to explain that custom zip's that I make and other dev's make in the shape of "roms" only affect
a few partitions on your device, other's do not get touched and can get messy/corrupt over the months (This explains why the GPS icon disappears in some peoples cases during rom switch) and this is why I get posts in this thread about people wondering why their baseband hasn't been updated after flashing my rom when my post states "MF1"
With this being said my personal rule of thumb is to odin to stock latest and then boot into stock recovery and factory reset, wipe cache/dalvik (BACKUP YOUR SD CARD TO YOUR COMPUTER), this gives your phone fresh partitions everywhere, a fresh system to root and the latest bootloader (which you need for any AOSP 4.2 rom). This is also a good time to unlock your phone if you have not already, then reroot and install custom recovery, update the recovery if need be and flash again on a brand new system. here are my steps
1) backup all user apps and data with titanium backup, DO NOT BACKUP SYSTEM APP'S
2) backup internal storage onto PC
3) Odin to stock latest
4) wait for phone to boot then reboot into stock recovery and full wipe and clear all cache
5) reboot and root the phone and custom recovery
6) flash away and put what you need on your internal storage back onto your phone via usb, see my 2nd set of instructions below
this fixes more issues then you will realize. some of the way people flash rom's on XDA and complain to me with problems is rather funny considering I have the install instructions in the OP, not to mention many of you rooted your phone when you first got it in the ICS 4.0.4 day's and haven't done an odin to stock jellybean to update all your partitions including your bootloader, now I will go over my every day flashing step's.
1)backup all USER APPS/DATA with titanium backup, DO NOT BACKUP SYSTEM APP'S (skip this if you did a odin flash to stock)
2)reboot recovery
3)nandroid (skip this if you did a odin flash to stock)
4)factory reset, wipe system, wipe both cache/dalvik
5)install rom
6)boot system
7)*(OPTIONAL) reboot to install a kernel now if needed, always wipe cache/dalvik and fix permissions after installing a kernel
8)setup phone and download titanium backup from the market
9)restore all user apps and data (you will have to put the titanium backup folder that is backed up on your computer back onto your internal storage via usb first)
Every 6 months, backup internal storage to PC and I odin to stock, much like formatting a computer
6 months is actually a long time considering how much I flash, but this device can take a beating let me tell you =P
I DO THIS WITH EVERY ROM I INSTALL, AOSP or TW

Great info, that is actually my same process when I have an issue with anything

Good read. A lot of common sense for seasoned flashers, will be great for people who are unsure.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

KorGuy123 said:
Good read. A lot of common sense for seasoned flashers, will be great for people who are unsure.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks man, hoping this gets a sticky.

Danvdh said:
thanks man, hoping this gets a sticky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll add it to my sticky
Galaxy S3 / AoCP / V4A / Turbocharged

s3 unrooting issues
I have been having some big problems with unrooting my telus SGH I747 Galaxy s3. I have flashed the stock rom using odin, did a factory reset and wiped cache and everytime i reboot it loads up the same roms i had on there at first. I have had a lot of issues with roms as well such as slow messaging times, echoing voice calls using AOKP and when i use an AOSP rom i cant connect to my phone carriers data connection at all. I read this form and decided its probably a good idea to re root as you said due to updates or whatever else but now im runing into this issue. I have ask on other forms and no one seemed to have heard of this issue. If anyone has any ideas or knows a fix i would really appreciate the help.

Custom ROM data issue
dannyteo14 said:
I have been having some big problems with unrooting my telus SGH I747 Galaxy s3. I have flashed the stock rom using odin, did a factory reset and wiped cache and everytime i reboot it loads up the same roms i had on there at first. I have had a lot of issues with roms as well such as slow messaging times, echoing voice calls using AOKP and when i use an AOSP rom i cant connect to my phone carriers data connection at all. I read this form and decided its probably a good idea to re root as you said due to updates or whatever else but now im runing into this issue. I have ask on other forms and no one seemed to have heard of this issue. If anyone has any ideas or knows a fix i would really appreciate the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So scrap the unrooting issue i have that figured out now, i just reinstalled the rom and again it doesnt have data, it is the deadly venom rom, anyone else that i know who is using this rom has absolutely no problem. I have tried a few fixes i have found via youtube, google, etc.... but none were successful. If anyone knows a fix or has any ideas please let me know.

I have an I747M S3 from a friend and trying to get it back to stable stock. It had lost it's IMEI and some NVdata corruption but I was able to resolve that searching the forums, But it has issues with apps crashing and rebooting quiet frequently. It can sometimes go feeling pretty stable ofr awhile then just kind of blows up. I have cleared away the flash counter and restored factory stock images from Odin and Keis, still having the issues. Is there a partion or something that could be getting missed? Or possible further problems related to the NVdata issues?
if you have any ideas I would appreciate it.

I used twrp to back up system, data, and boot, should I still use titanium back up to back up anything else, or is that enough to be relatively safe?

[Guide]Fix your ROM issues that other's are not having before posting for support.

Ok I wrote this for the OP of my ROM because the issues some people were PMing me about were just plain out dumb, This phone has been out quite a long time and still almost every thread I goto, you got people flashing in way's I didn't even know were possible and posting weird issues that were not being reproduced by the community. so I'm just gonna post this guide for all the developers sake and in hopes the people that actually need this information, receive it before posting and clogging up development threads
If you're having issues on rom's that no one else is reporting, or the DEV has not reproduced on his phone, read the following.
1) Full wipe
2) Do not restore System data or data from CWM
3) Do not dirty flash from other ROM's
4) When was the last time you did a odin to stock? this is important in my opinion and I'm not saying you need to do one but I just want to explain that custom zip's that I make and other dev's make in the shape of "roms" only affect
a few partitions on your device, other's do not get touched and can get messy/corrupt over the months (This explains why the GPS icon disappears in some peoples cases during rom switch) and this is why I get posts in this thread about people wondering why their baseband hasn't been updated after flashing my rom when my post states "MF1"
With this being said my personal rule of thumb is to odin to stock latest and then boot into stock recovery and factory reset, wipe cache/dalvik (BACKUP YOUR SD CARD TO YOUR COMPUTER), this gives your phone fresh partitions everywhere, a fresh system to root and the latest bootloader (which you need for any AOSP 4.2 rom). This is also a good time to unlock your phone if you have not already, then reroot and install custom recovery, update the recovery if need be and flash again on a brand new system. here are my steps
1) backup all user apps and data with titanium backup, DO NOT BACKUP SYSTEM APP'S
2) backup internal storage onto PC
3) Odin to stock latest
4) wait for phone to boot then reboot into stock recovery and full wipe and clear all cache
5) reboot and root the phone and custom recovery
6) flash away and put what you need on your internal storage back onto your phone via usb, see my 2nd set of instructions below
this fixes more issues then you will realize. some of the way people flash rom's on XDA and complain to me with problems is rather funny considering I have the install instructions in the OP, not to mention many of you rooted your phone when you first got it in the ICS 4.0.4 day's and haven't done an odin to stock jellybean to update all your partitions including your bootloader, now I will go over my every day flashing step's.
1)backup all USER APPS/DATA with titanium backup, DO NOT BACKUP SYSTEM APP'S (skip this if you did a odin flash to stock)
2)reboot recovery
3)nandroid (skip this if you did a odin flash to stock)
4)factory reset, wipe system, wipe both cache/dalvik
5)install rom
6)boot system
7)*(OPTIONAL) reboot to install a kernel now if needed, always wipe cache/dalvik and fix permissions after installing a kernel
8)setup phone and download titanium backup from the market
9)restore all user apps and data (you will have to put the titanium backup folder that is backed up on your computer back onto your internal storage via usb first)
Every 6 months, backup internal storage to PC and I odin to stock, much like formatting a computer
6 months is actually a long time considering how much I flash, but this device can take a beating let me tell you =P
I DO THIS WITH EVERY ROM I INSTALL, AOSP or TW

Great explanation and should really help out with those with issues. Thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

TheKucho said:
Great explanation and should really help out with those with issues. Thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is great advice, but here's the problem.
Every new thread pushes this farther down the list. And if no one comments, eventually it's gonna be on the back door of this thread.
The OP may want to consider getting this stickied, or maybe copying it to each one of his rom threads.
Like I said, it's really great info, but will do no one any good on page 4 or farther back.
jus' my one cent worth (government took the other penny for taxes)
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium HD app

[Q] So I Dove Into Rooting

so i recently dove into rooting my s4 after first spending a lot of time reading this great board, thought i had a handle on it, thought things were going very well, but i've hit a snag, which came while attempting my first restore - i'm hopeful someone will give me a little help,
a little background:
1. before rooting i backed up my phone with titanium, also backed it up by copying all of its contents to my pc.
2. i followed the excellent "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" instructions and it worked without a hitch, it was a quick and easy process, no surprises.
3. confirmed that i was rooted using "root checker", all systems were go.
4. once the root was done i made another backup using titanium and sms backup. i also made a full system backup using online nandroid pro and, to be extra safe, i also backed up efs using efs backup tool.
5. i then moved some folders and files to my external card and once again backed up my phone as before, including to my pc.
6. feeling confident that i could now restore my system to its rooted stock state if things went south, i decided to flash my first rom with cwm, i went with cm11 m7 4.4.3 - i saved the cm11 and gapps zips to my external card using rom tool box pro, rebooted into cwm recovery, selected the two files, and flashed. i also did a data and cache wipe before doing so.
6. needless to say i was thrilled when cm11 loaded perfectly, it worked great, and it was just what i was hoping for.
7. having been bitten by the apparent ease of flashing roms, i decided to restore my system to it's pre cm11 state, to it's rooted stock rom state, and try another rom, rather than just flash another rom from cm11 - i wanted to make sure that returning to my rooted stock rom state would be a simple matter.
and that's where i've run into problems.
1. as i mentioned i made two system backups of my stock rom before flashing cm11, one right after i rooted my phone, and one after moving some folders and files to the external card.
2. after doing a wipe, i chose to restore the second backup, the one i made after moving files and folders, and it didn't quite work out - everything appeared to restore perfectly, but my device was immediately inundated with pop up warnings about stopped apps, i also got a persistent warning that the system had stopped responding as well, prompting me to choose between "wait" or "stop it". not only was the restored backup mired in popup screens, but it was impossibly slow, impossibly "laggy".
3. so i decided to restore the other stock backup, the one i made before i moved folders and files, and the results were the same, pop screens for apps not working, system warnings, severe lags, etc., identical to the first backup.
then i panicked.
1. i decided to flash my phone with the "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" file again, again with odin, hoping that it would put me where i started - i didn't stop to think that my phone was already rooted, that the file was was for unrooted phones.
2. not only did the reflash not work (my phone just booted as normal, as if the flash didn't get a chance to finish), but cwm recovery in boot mode was gone, replaced by what appears to be the andorid stock recovery screen, a screen with an animated dying/collapsing robot, - the screen was titled: "android system recovery <3e> and asked for an "update" from the external storage or cache.
3. not knowing what "update" it was looking for, i selected a backed system files (the first rooted stock rom backup i made, the second rooted stock backup i made, and even the cm11 file) - none worked.
4. i then downloaded a clean stock rom from cwm's website, converted it from zip to tar, and tried to flash it using odin with my device in upload mode, it didn't work either.
so how badly did i mess up my phone? any help would be greatly appreciated.

aeneas1 said:
so i recently dove into rooting my s4 after first spending a lot of time reading this great board, thought i had a handle on it, thought things were going very well, but i've hit a snag, which came while attempting my first restore - i'm hopeful someone will give me a little help,
a little background:
1. before rooting i backed up my phone with titanium, also backed it up by copying all of its contents to my pc.
2. i followed the excellent "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" instructions and it worked without a hitch, it was a quick and easy process, no surprises.
3. confirmed that i was rooted using "root checker", all systems were go.
4. once the root was done i made another backup using titanium and sms backup. i also made a full system backup using online nandroid pro and, to be extra safe, i also backed up efs using efs backup tool.
5. i then moved some folders and files to my external card and once again backed up my phone as before, including to my pc.
6. feeling confident that i could now restore my system to its rooted stock state if things went south, i decided to flash my first rom with cwm, i went with cm11 m7 4.4.3 - i saved the cm11 and gapps zips to my external card using rom tool box pro, rebooted into cwm recovery, selected the two files, and flashed. i also did a data and cache wipe before doing so.
6. needless to say i was thrilled when cm11 loaded perfectly, it worked great, and it was just what i was hoping for.
7. having been bitten by the apparent ease of flashing roms, i decided to restore my system to it's pre cm11 state, to it's rooted stock rom state, and try another rom, rather than just flash another rom from cm11 - i wanted to make sure that returning to my rooted stock rom state would be a simple matter.
and that's where i've run into problems.
1. as i mentioned i made two system backups of my stock rom before flashing cm11, one right after i rooted my phone, and one after moving some folders and files to the external card.
2. after doing a wipe, i chose to restore the second backup, the one i made after moving files and folders, and it didn't quite work out - everything appeared to restore perfectly, but my device was immediately inundated with pop up warnings about stopped apps, i also got a persistent warning that the system had stopped responding as well, prompting me to choose between "wait" or "stop it". not only was the restored backup mired in popup screens, but it was impossibly slow, impossibly "laggy".
3. so i decided to restore the other stock backup, the one i made before i moved folders and files, and the results were the same, pop screens for apps not working, system warnings, severe lags, etc., identical to the first backup.
then i panicked.
1. i decided to flash my phone with the "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" file again, again with odin, hoping that it would put me where i started - i didn't stop to think that my phone was already rooted, that the file was was for unrooted phones.
2. not only did the reflash not work (my phone just booted as normal, as if the flash didn't get a chance to finish), but cwm recovery in boot mode was gone, replaced by what appears to be the andorid stock recovery screen, a screen with an animated dying/collapsing robot, - the screen was titled: "android system recovery <3e> and asked for an "update" from the external storage or cache.
3. not knowing what "update" it was looking for, i selected a backed system files (the first rooted stock rom backup i made, the second rooted stock backup i made, and even the cm11 file) - none worked.
4. i then downloaded a clean stock rom from cwm's website, converted it from zip to tar, and tried to flash it using odin with my device in upload mode, it didn't work either.
so how badly did i mess up my phone? any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it boots at all you didn't kill it.
Not sure what rom you got from the CWM site. They do recoveries, not roms. The ROM manager app does allow you to download roms, but you can't just convert those from zip to tar. That doesn't make them flashable in Odin.
Here's what you do. Get the stock ROM from either here on XDA (use the search feature to find it) or from Sammobile.com.
Flash that in Odin.
Then you can start over.
---OR---
If you want to try to fix what you've got now, download CWM or TWRP RECOVERY (nor ROM) and flash that in Odin. Boot to recovery, wipe data and system, and flash any other rom you want. That will start you over with a fresh rom of your choice.

Skipjacks said:
f it boots at all you didn't kill it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hallelujah!
Skipjacks said:
Not sure what rom you got from the CWM site. They do recoveries, not roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my apologies, i meant that i downloaded recovery files from the cwm website, not a rom files - i got them from https://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager - i downloaded both (touch & non-touch) s4 t-mobile versions (6.0.4.7). i'm assumed those were recovery files?
Skipjack" said:
The ROM manager app does allow you to download roms, but you can't just convert those from zip to tar. That doesn't make them flashable in Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
again, my apologies - i meant that i downloaded *.img files, not zips, and converted them to tars for odin use. i used a batch file to convert them from img to tar, found at xda, here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2281287 - it seemed to do the job, odin ran and reported success. wrong files? wrong conversion?
Skipjack said:
Here's what you do. Get the stock ROM from either here on XDA (use the search feature to find it) or from Sammobile.com.
Flash that in Odin.
Then you can start over.
---OR---
If you want to try to fix what you've got now, download CWM or TWRP RECOVERY (nor ROM) and flash that in Odin. Boot to recovery, wipe data and system, and flash any other rom you want. That will start you over with a fresh rom of your choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
given a choice, i'd like to do what's bolded in red - but that's what i thought i was doing by flashing the cwm file i downloaded from the cwm website - but after the flash attempt it wouldn't boot into cwm, it would just boot into (i'm assuming") the stock rom i restored, which was a mess. i also unchecked auto-boot to see if that helped - but when i manually booted it didn't boot into cwm, it booted into the stock recovery, with the animated android.
i'll try downloading cwm from the sources you provided, and see if that does the trick. btw, why do you think i was able to flash the cm11 rom with (seemingly) perfect success, but wasn't able to restore either one of the full system (android) backups i made after i rooted my phone?
anyway Skipjack, thanks a ton for your assistance and i'll report back after i give your sources a try. fwiw, it sure is a great charge when a newbie like me sees a custom rom load for the first time, displaying a new ui as it boots, fun stuff.

Just download the ready yo flash tar files. Cwm has them. Twrp has them.

success Skipjack thanks to your generous time and assistance!
i ended up downloading the latest odin zip i could find and philz_touch_6.08.9-jfltetmo.tar.md5... my first try didn't take, with auto-reboot checked, my phone simply rebooted into the same problematic rom i had restored. i then tried it with auto-boot unchecked and manually booted when odin reported pass/success, and it worked. what struck me as odd was how long it took to flash, to report pass/success, around 3-5 minutes if i had to guess, a big difference compared to when i first used odin to root my phone with the["SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root *.tar.md5 file - i'm guessing that's why it didn't work with auto-boot checked, just took too long?
anyway once i booted into philz_touch recovery i executed the wipe data/factory reset > clean to install a new rom command and then flashed the cm11 m7 (snapshot) rom, which i had flashed once before, right before i attempted to restore the stock rom it had replaced. and as was the case the first time around, it installed without a hitch and is running smooth and fast.
however now when i boot the phone, as soon as the cyanogen logo appears, very tiny text appears in the upper left hand corner which reads (i had to use a magnifying glass!) - it doesn't seem to effect the performance of he device but i'd like to get to the bottom of it, i've already searched and it appears to be a rather common issue.
kernel is not seandroid enforcing
set warranty bit: kernel
btw, i forgot to mention, when i purchased my sgh-m99 it already had 4.3 installed - when i flashed my first rom (cm11 m7) it included kitkat 4.4.2... could this be what caused my problems? did trying to go back to (restore) a 4.3 rom after flashing a 4.4.2 rom screw things up? can this even be done successfully?
and finally, at the risk of bugging the heck out of you, what roms do you prefer for your s4, assuming you have an s4? do you like aosp roms or touchwiz? does one type have a better reputation of being more stable? the primary reason i wanted to rot my phone was to get rid of a bunch of t-mobile / samsung bloatware, which i thought i could do by installing a lean custom rom. any suggestions, which are your favorites? thanks again Skipkack.

ouhned after
re the two lines of text i now get in the upper left hand corner of the screen whenever i boot, the kernel message:
kernel is not seandroid enforcing
set warranty bit: kernel
well after a lot of searching and reading, including coming across dozens of "fixes" and "solutions" that didn't seem to work for many folks, these two responses seemed to make some sense, what do you think?
eclpsues said:
I'm not an expert in Android OS but I think this is not an error. It is more of a notification that the STOCK KERNEL has been change to a CUSTOM one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Joku1981 said:
You are right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2594483

aeneas1 said:
re the two lines of text i now get in the upper left hand corner of the screen whenever i boot, the kernel message:
kernel is not seandroid enforcing
set warranty bit: kernel
well after a lot of searching and reading, including coming across dozens of "fixes" and "solutions" that didn't seem to work for many folks, these two responses seemed to make some sense, what do you think?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2594483
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tiny text on the boot screen is basically telling you that Knox has been tripped. You are right. It does not affect the performance of the phone.

Skipjacks said:
The tiny text on the boot screen is basically telling you that Knox has been tripped. You are right. It does not affect the performance of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks skipjack... btw i'm really liking the cm11 m7 rom but, via the learning curve process, i've discovered it does not support wifi calling, something that apparently all aosp rom lack, guess i'll have to go with a touchwiz rom even tho the selection seems to be few and far between. also, is it possible to revert back to 4.3 once 4.4.2 has been flashed? seems like there's a lot of mixed opinions on this, altho in terms of those opinions it's hard for me tell who the pros are that should believed, and who the other guys are that really don't know. thanks again.

aeneas1 said:
thanks skipjack... btw i'm really liking the cm11 m7 rom but, via the learning curve process, i've discovered it does not support wifi calling, something that apparently all aosp rom lack, guess i'll have to go with a touchwiz rom even tho the selection seems to be few and far between. also, is it possible to revert back to 4.3 once 4.4.2 has been flashed? seems like there's a lot of mixed opinions on this, altho in terms of those opinions it's hard for me tell who the pros are that should believed, and who the other guys are that really don't know. thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you are rooted you can flash any custom ROM 4.3, 4.4, 4.2, etc. and then go back to stock 4.3. And only TW ROMs allow wifi calling
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Kriptik210 said:
Once you are rooted you can flash any custom ROM 4.3, 4.4, 4.2, etc. and then go back to stock 4.3. And only TW ROMs allow wifi calling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very interesting... i guess i misunderstood the posts i read on the subject, maybe they were discussing whether or not you could revert to 4.3 from 4.4.2 on non-rooted phones, which i'm guessing isn't possible. anyway, as i mentioned previously, i fist rooted my 4.3 phone, did a full system backup (using online nandroid), flashed a 4.4.2 rom which worked perfectly, then tried to restore my 4.3 backup only to encounter a bunch of problems, thought going from 4.4.2 back to 4.3 may have caused the problems but i guess not?
so if i'm using a 4.4.2 custom rom and want to restore a 4.3 backup i should be able to boot into recovery and restore from there? or would i need to do a 4.3 flash first, before restoring a 4.3 backup?

aeneas1 said:
very interesting... i guess i misunderstood the posts i read on the subject, maybe they were discussing whether or not you could revert to 4.3 from 4.4.2 on non-rooted phones, which i'm guessing isn't possible. anyway, as i mentioned previously, i fist rooted my 4.3 phone, did a full system backup (using online nandroid), flashed a 4.4.2 rom which worked perfectly, then tried to restore my 4.3 backup only to encounter a bunch of problems, thought going from 4.4.2 back to 4.3 may have caused the problems but i guess not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you wipe before you restored? And do not misunderstand this, you cannot downgrade firmwares once you go 4.3 and up, but you can downgrade the system, which is what you did with your backup

serio22 said:
Did you wipe before you restored? And do not misunderstand this, you cannot downgrade firmwares once you go 4.3 and up, but you can downgrade the system, which is what you did with your backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks very much for the clarification, i was under the impression that firmware and system were somewhat synonymous in this context, i.e. if you upgraded firmware you were in effect upgrading the system, but i see that's not the case, again thanks. and yes i did do a full wipe before trying to restore the backup, was i not supposed to?

aeneas1 said:
thanks very much for the clarification, i was under the impression that firmware and system were somewhat synonymous in this context, i.e. if you upgraded firmware you were in effect upgrading the system, but i see that's not the case, again thanks. and yes i did do a full wipe before trying to restore the backup, was i not supposed to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updating firmware does update the system. Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware. Firmware consists of bootloader, recovery, modem, and system, what you cannot downgrade is the bootloader, the flash will fail every time because it will try to downgrade it. And you should not experience any issues restoring your back up. What were this problems?

btw serio22, do you have a favorite tw rom?

Yea serio22, what is your favorite TW ROM?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

serio22 said:
Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but the cm11 rom zip i flashed included 4.4.2, before flashing i was using 4.3 - so didn't i update (or change) both the system and firmware?
btw, fwiw, - now that i'm up and running thanks to skipjacks help, i decided to try restoring my 4.3 backup again. when i tried this in the past it would restore to the same state as it was before but it was virtually unusable because of severe lags and multiple app not working popups that made navigating almost impossible. well now when i try to restore it fails and i get the following message:
checking md summs...
md5 mismatch
serio22 said:
Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but the cm11 rom zip i flashed included 4.4.2, before flashing i was using 4.3 - so didn't i update (or change) both the system and firmware?
btw, fwiw, - now that i'm up and running thanks to skipjacks help, i decided to try restoring my 4.3 backup again. as i mentioned, when i tried this in the past it would restore to the same state as it was before but it was virtually unusable because of severe lags and multiple "app not working" popups that made navigating almost impossible. but now when i try to restore the 4.3 backup it fails and i get the following message:
checking md summs...
md5 mismatch
update:
well it looks like the *.md5 file was pointing to my internal drive rather than external which is where i had moved the 4.3 backup (and apparently the *.md5 file didn't update or account for the move), anyway i copied the backup to my internal drive and, viola, no more md5 mismatch errors. more importantly, it restored the 4.3 backup perfectly, in the exact same state as before, without all of lagging and pop up issues i was having before, so i'm one happy camper! not sure what i did the first time around, but all is good now, for he time being, sure wish i knew what i mucked up to cause the problems in the first place, i really have no idea, other than being a newbie at this. also, fwiw, the tiny text in the upper left hand corner that appears during boot (kernal message) no longer appears now that i have restored the 4.3 system backup... fwiw2, i'm liking the philz_touch_recovery but it sure has taken some getting used to, the commands are so close together and the thing is so sensitive, very easy to accidentally select the wrong option, and some of the wrong options aren't too friendly if it wasn't what you had intended to select.

aeneas1 said:
but the cm11 rom zip i flashed included 4.4.2, before flashing i was using 4.3 - so didn't i update (or change) both the system and firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read my previous post more closely below. Good to see you up and running though! And no I don't have a favorite tw Rom
serio22 said:
Updating firmware does update the system. Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware. Firmware consists of bootloader, recovery, modem, and system, what you cannot downgrade is the bootloader, the flash will fail every time because it will try to downgrade it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse