Develop Bugs

Reverted to stock ROM, stops at bootloader

I have one S3 that's stock and another that's rooted, so I decided to try CM9 first on rooted S3 because CM10 didn't seem quite ready for daily use. Flashed ROM and Gapps, and things were fine until wi-fi ceased functioning. Worked, then didn't ever again. Nothing I found in searching this helped. And I couldn't get to PlayStore because there was no connection. Tried many things to reset wi-fi, but despite excellent signal, the phone wasn't connected to Internet. I reflashed CM9 (same most current release) but it didn't help.
So, having not actually done anything other than adding ROM Manager, I decided to flash latest CM10 nightly with CWM recovery via ROM Manager. Everything was fine, except of course I forgot I needed to install newer Gapps. However, when I went to do so, ROM Manager was no longer there and manually trying to get recovery only resulted in download mode, which meant I couldn't install Gapps or do much of anything.
I spent time trying to figure out how to get recovery, but having run out of options, I thought it perhaps best to flash back to stock using desktop Odin. I have the MD5 for 4.1.1 LK3. So I did this, but now once past the Samsung and AT&T animations, the phone stops with a Samsung logo. And that's where I'm at.
I know I've seen threads on fixing this, but I can't find them and I would like rectify the softbrick circumstance. What to do.

eduardo_b said:
I have one S3 that's stock and another that's rooted, so I decided to try CM9 first on rooted S3 because CM10 didn't seem quite ready for daily use. Flashed ROM and Gapps, and things were fine until wi-fi ceased functioning. Worked, then didn't ever again. Nothing I found in searching this helped. And I couldn't get to PlayStore because there was no connection. Tried many things to reset wi-fi, but despite excellent signal, the phone wasn't connected to Internet. I reflashed CM9 (same most current release) but it didn't help.
So, having not actually done anything other than adding ROM Manager, I decided to flash latest CM10 nightly with CWM recovery via ROM Manager. Everything was fine, except of course I forgot I needed to install newer Gapps. However, when I went to do so, ROM Manager was no longer there and manually trying to get recovery only resulted in download mode, which meant I couldn't install Gapps or do much of anything.
I spent time trying to figure out how to get recovery, but having run out of options, I thought it perhaps best to flash back to stock using desktop Odin. I have the MD5 for 4.1.1 LK3. So I did this, but now once past the Samsung and AT&T animations, the phone stops with a Samsung logo. And that's where I'm at.
I know I've seen threads on fixing this, but I can't find them and I would like rectify the softbrick circumstance. What to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you remember to factory reset (wipe /data) when flashing the stock ROM? That's the most common cause of soft-bricking in this scenario.
If not, boot into recovery (Vol Up + Home + Power) and do so, then try booting the phone again.

Do I do factory reset from desktop Odin in download mode?

That's one possibility, but if you don't want to go through the Odin process again, you can just do the reset from recovery as I outlined above.

smelenchuk said:
That's one possibility, but if you don't want to go through the Odin process again, you can just do the reset from recovery as I outlined above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah...volume UP. But wipe data/factory reset didn't help. If I select update from external storage, would that be MD5 or...?

Okay, I wiped cache partition and I'm in business. No more softbrick. Thanks!

Soft brick? Recovery not working properly

Hey guys all my restores are failing half way through. It also fails if I try to factory reset or wipe dalvik but wipe cache works fine It fails if i try flash any ROM.. And if I try to boot to system it shows SG logo then black screen I'm really kind of lost here. I've already tried flashing 4 different versions of Twrp/clockworkmod and I get the same result every time. The roms I'm trying to flash were running fine on my device before this happened. Never seen this before please help thank you.
Sent from RootBox infected sensation or my PacMan e739

djwuh said:
Hey guys all my restores are failing half way through. It also fails if I try to factory reset or wipe dalvik but wipe cache works fine It fails if i try flash any ROM.. And if I try to boot to system it shows SG logo then black screen I'm really kind of lost here. I've already tried flashing 4 different versions of Twrp/clockworkmod and I get the same result every time. The roms I'm trying to flash were running fine on my device before this happened. Never seen this before please help thank you.
Sent from RootBox infected sensation or my PacMan e739
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is this an i747 or i747m (carrier?)? what was the last thing you did to the device/had you just modified or flashed something? were you using recovery or odin to flash the 4 different recoveries?

xBeerdroiDx said:
is this an i747 or i747m (carrier?)? what was the last thing you did to the device/had you just modified or flashed something? were you using recovery or odin to flash the 4 different recoveries?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have sgh i747 at&t us model. Unlocked Sim for Tmobile use. Before having problems. I flashed vanilla rootbox att nightly. it was running fine then I flashed acid audio mod. And it worked but not well with my player of choice. So i flashed a restore from fright before the sound mod. And all I got was 2 different Samsung logos then black screen. At this point Twrp started asking for a password. I tried an older backup. (rootbox stable) and it booted fine. Everything seemed to be working. But when I rebooted again I got the 1St SG logo then black screen. Now recovery doesn't read anything on the internal card as well as the other problems I stated. I used mskips toolkit to flash Twrp originally and now I've been flashing back and forth between recoveries using recovery flashable zips. Also every time I flash roms or restore I did factory wipe/cache/dalvik and after I started having these issues I tried wiping system and that didn't help either. Thanks for trying to help
Sent from RootBox infected sensation or my PacMan e739

what recovery are you currently sitting on?

Twrp 2.4.4.0 is what I started with and now I'm back on it but from a flashable zip this time instead of whatever mskips toolkit used
Sent from RootBox infected sensation or my PacMan e739

here is the link to an odin flashable twrp 2.5.0.0 tar: http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/d2att/openrecovery-twrp-2.5.0.0-d2att.tar
and here's a recovery flashable twrp 2.5.0.0 zip link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1917517&d=1367104589
if you flash in recovery, be sure to reboot recovery in order to boot into the new version. i'm sure you know most of this but i'm just trying to cover all the bases.
is twrp still asking for the password or were you able to get passed that?
if you have a micro sd card, you could place a ROM/gapps on it, flash this latest twrp recovery from odin or recovery, perform a full wipe (cache, dalvik, data, system) and flash the ROM/gapps. see if that remedies your situation.
if you dont have a micro sd card, and it appears you've wiped the system so there's no OS, you may have to odin back to rooted stock and start over. keep me posted

Still no luck. i flashed twrp2.5 through recovery and after rebooting back to recovery it still asked for a password so I hit cancel at which point it lets me continue and after full wipe as you described above and a fresh flash of stable rootbox 3.9.1 (md5 matched) im still in the same situation. also factory wipe says failed still

I think at this point if it were me, I would Odin flash back to stock then start from scratch. Pain in the butt I know, and no guarantee, but usually flash back to stock is a safe bet.

Another option is to grab the Odin flashable cwm tar in the "root from recovery" method in the general section. Flash the tar, boot into recovery and flash the 6.0.3.1 zip in post #2 of my signature link. Reboot recovery and try wiping/flashing again.
Since you're not entering the password in TWRP, I think that's why you're not getting successful wipes and flashes.

now I used the power+home+vol down button combo to see if bootloader would start. it gave me a choice to download a custom rom or cancel so I canceled and the phone rebooted and i was blessed with the beautifull rootbox animation. my rootbox 3.9.1 nandroid booted and seems to be running fine. Now Im afraid to reboot in fear it will start the whole process over again. any suggestions? or should I just leave it powered on for the rest of its life lol
edit: well I got up the guff to reboot and everything came back fine again WTH. this is so weird, I wish I had a clue what happened. anyways I just wanted to thank you guys one more time for you help. hopefully we wont have to come back to this thread. Peace ;-]

Man that is strange. If that ever happens again it would be interesting to see the log if you can get it. I wonder if there were issues mounting a partition and/or your SD card. If TWRP and CWM were both having an error and the files were on your SD card that would probably be the only thing in common that could cause something like this. Some Transformers seemed to have the password issue, but doesn't seem related to your experience. Glad you got it sorted.

[Q] Stuck samsung screen even after odin stock

Hey guys hopefully you can help me. I was rooted for like 3 or 4 months now and have had not many problems or not anything I couldn't fix my self. My phone gets stuck on the Samsung Galaxy s4 screen anytime I reboot. I have tried different roms, different kernels, I even odin back to stock. I was using TWRP 6.0 then reverted back to TWRP 5.2 to see if that was causing the problem. Still have problems. I am going to re download the stock tar to see if it was a bad download but Odin checks the md5 and says it was good. Odin says passed every time also. Odin version is 3.07.
I get a error before and when trying to wipe dalvic cashe. I can wipe reg cash no problem. I think my phone is not mounting the internal storage when it reboots. I could be way off but need help asap. If I format super wipe with twrp then restart twrp and then factory reset I can install or restore a rom some times but still cant restart the phone. Any hope would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT
I wanted to edit my previous commet. LiquidSmooth seems to be running fine. So TW roms and GE roms **** up on my phone when I restart. so is it the internal systems when I have TW roms. I think it has something to do with partictions messing around maybe.
I like TW roms and want to continue to use them... Thank you

Get into recovery and do a factory reset, it is a must after you odin back to stock. Make sure you are also using a tmo kernel.
Thanks you

I got this problem a few days ago and found some topic including this one. You should check it out.
Well, what worked for me was Odin to stock firmware, root again, install recovery then custom rom. Now it's working fine. Try to downloading it again to see if it works. I downloaded mine from here, rooted and recovery it using this one.

TheAxman said:
Get into recovery and do a factory reset, it is a must after you odin back to stock. Make sure you are also using a tmo kernel.
Thanks you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to what he said. I bet if you go into the stock recovery after odin flashing it will say something like cannot mount /data partition. Factory reset there, and it should fix that and make it mountable. (Its important to use the stock recovery factory reset after the odin, don't flash a custom recovery right after flashing)

This was incredibly helpful. I had the same issue. Thank you.
This is also applicable to the Verizon Wireless model.

[Q] Beginner trying to root/flash new ROM on T989!

Hi all, found my old SGH-T989 and I want to turn this phone into my play phone.
I am new to rooting and all and I don't know which versions of what to use. Everytime I mess up, I have to restore the phone back to stock 2.3.6 then upgrade to 4.1.2 via Kies, then try to root and such.
Problem is... I don't know which ROMs, gapps to use and which cwm to use!!! Seems like every guide out there is outdated because I get stuck in a bootloop every single time I try to flash a ROM or I get Error 7...
Any tips?
I just want 4.4.2 at least on my SGH-T989 What are my options? What are your suggestions?

KSmooove said:
Hi all, found my old SGH-T989 and I want to turn this phone into my play phone.
I am new to rooting and all and I don't know which versions of what to use. Everytime I mess up, I have to restore the phone back to stock 2.3.6 then upgrade to 4.1.2 via Kies, then try to root and such.
Problem is... I don't know which ROMs, gapps to use and which cwm to use!!! Seems like every guide out there is outdated because I get stuck in a bootloop every single time I try to flash a ROM or I get Error 7...
Any tips?
I just want 4.4.2 at least on my SGH-T989 What are my options? What are your suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to be on 4.1.2 for this to work. I am bit responsible for what happens. You can get 4.1.2 for Odin from samfirmware.com. Download the latest TWRP from here: http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/hercules/openrecovery-twrp-2.7.1.0-hercules.tar and flash it in Odin. Your phone should reboot. Boot into recovery by powering off your phone and then holding power and the two volume buttons until you hear two vibrations and then hold just the volume buttons until you see a black screen. Release all buttons. Flash @Chainfire's SuperSU in recovery ( http://download.chainfire.eu/452/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.02.zip) Wipe cache ald Dalvik and reboot. You should be rooted and able to flash any KitKat ROM. AOSPA is a good choice. It is pretty stable.
Sent from my SGH-T989

I just flashed CarbonROM on my sister's phone this weekend. Rooting is not really required.
My process:
Flash TWRP (this was the most difficult of the entire process. It is still relatively easy though). I used Odin to flash the latest TWRP. TWRP provides odin flashable archives so it is really just a matter of knowing how to flash thing using Odin. This does not require root. The CWM wiki page says that Rooting is not required, nor is it the preferred method when flashing a new rom.
You can use Heimdall, but it is very hit and miss with this phone. Odin is much more "reliable" on the T989. I tried Heimdall, but I ended up having to reset my sister's phone because it flashed the recovery incorrectly.
Download the rom of your choice and its associated gapps package. Put them on your sd card
Boot into recovery. You will need to use TWRP's mechanisms to wipe/factory reset the phone. Then wipe cache and dalvik cache.
Install the zip of the rom and then immediately afterward install the gapps package. I usually wipe the cache and dalvik cache again for good measure at this point, but I understand it is not needed.
Reboot the phone. If all went well, it will take awhile to boot, but you will be sitting at the start screen of a brand new shiny rom.
Set it up and start using it. Most roms already come rooted.
The reason rooting isn't required using this method is because the download mode of the T989 essentially gives you root priviledges.
I've used this process on two T989 phones without any error. If you want to backup your phone, do that in step 3 _before_ you wipe/factory reset your phone.

Usually what I do is just use Odin to flash ClockworkMod then copy the ROMS to the sdcard. Boot into recovery then install zip from SD Card, select ROM. If you use CyanogenMod then just select your device and Google search the cyanogenmod gapps
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using XDA Free mobile app

[Q] Multiple problems after flashing Stock

Hello everyone,
After a long fight to try and get this phone back to normal, everything seemed good,
except not really
I started on a buggy CM11 version. Sick of it, I downloaded a 4.4.4 stock rom. I had to disable firewall and defender, but I got Odin to flash my md5. I got through everything and it booted successfully. After signing in and all that jazz, I find out that my WiFi isn't working. After a few reboots, My 4G finally works and everything seems to be steady.
Then, after exploring the rest of the phone I find out that all my apps from last ROM are still there. I know that you are supposed to wipe before flashing, but I was told that Odin will take care of that. It obviously didn't.
After THAT, I try to boot into Recovery as the next sensible step is to try to wipe my data and cache. I turn the phone off and press (Vol up + Home + Pwr) and the first boot screen shows for a moment. It says in blue "RECOVERY BOOTING" in the corner. Right after, it disappears and in another second it does the same screen without the "RECOVERY BOOTING". And as presumed, it does a regular boot.
What did I miss? How can I wipe my phone from recovery? How can I fix my problem with Wifi?

Reflash in Odin.
Make sure you have the correct stock rom. If you flash the "md5" you may have flashed the wrong thing. The md5 is not tge firmware, that is just the code that verifies your firmware file is not corrupted.
If your old apps were still there, you flashed the wrong thing. There is no way to flash stock firmware in odin and not wipe the data partition.

You are correct then
Yeah, I flashed a tar.md5 in Odin. It gave me a new ROM but all my apps are there. After all that, I still can't go to recovery. I tried using the terminal and ROM Toolbox to go there, both didn't work. Can I just leave it as it is and find a way to recovery or is the only way to go to bootloader and flash a correct file to get to recovery?

Flash twrp and see if it will reboot into recovery, then factory reset and flash latest firmware with Odin right after. Odin will NOT wipe data. It has to be done manually

serio22 said:
Flash twrp and see if it will reboot into recovery, then factory reset and flash latest firmware with Odin right after. Odin will NOT wipe data. It has to be done manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on what you ate flashing.
If you are flashing a full stock factory image it will wipe user data. If you are just flashing a system partition it won't.

Essem G said:
Hello everyone,
After a long fight to try and get this phone back to normal, everything seemed good,
except not really
I started on a buggy CM11 version. Sick of it, I downloaded a 4.4.4 stock rom. I had to disable firewall and defender, but I got Odin to flash my md5. I got through everything and it booted successfully. After signing in and all that jazz, I find out that my WiFi isn't working. After a few reboots, My 4G finally works and everything seems to be steady.
Then, after exploring the rest of the phone I find out that all my apps from last ROM are still there. I know that you are supposed to wipe before flashing, but I was told that Odin will take care of that. It obviously didn't.
After THAT, I try to boot into Recovery as the next sensible step is to try to wipe my data and cache. I turn the phone off and press (Vol up + Home + Pwr) and the first boot screen shows for a moment. It says in blue "RECOVERY BOOTING" in the corner. Right after, it disappears and in another second it does the same screen without the "RECOVERY BOOTING". And as presumed, it does a regular boot.
What did I miss? How can I wipe my phone from recovery? How can I fix my problem with Wifi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fkash twrp and format system, data, cache and preload and install a deodexed stock os

g7755725 said:
Fkash twrp and format system, data, cache and preload and install a deodexed stock os
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also this. This gives you more control over the whole process

Skipjacks said:
Also this. This gives you more control over the whole process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I know whatever I download is deodexed? And I went to a page of ROMs someone gave me and I downloaded the NK2 version, which also gave me a tar.md5. If I want the correct thing to flash, what should I flash?

Essem G said:
How do I know whatever I download is deodexed? And I went to a page of ROMs someone gave me and I downloaded the NK2 version, which also gave me a tar.md5. If I want the correct thing to flash, what should I flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first post of any customized stock rom will tell you if its deodexed. If it doesn't say it...its not.

@Essem G:
Any updates for us? I'm following this thread because I have similar problems with my WiFi not working after upgrading from 4.2.2.
Any luck getting TWRP flashed?
Also I believe that the stock firmwares do come as tar.md5's, as in the file: M919UVUFNK2_M919TMBFNK2_M919UVUFNK2_HOME.tar.md5 from ShinySide's stock firmware thread.
As for the WiFi issue, from the hours of reading I've done it looks like this problem occurs when you upgrade your firmware, but it no longer matches the bootloader. Such as bootloader (Baseband) showing MDL, but Build Number showing NH7, NK2, etc. What does your show?
This thread may be of use to you when you get back to a working ROM. Good luck!

@RavenMind1
Everyone has been saying different answers and i've put off fixing my device for a while. I'm just afraid i'll brick it forever and have another nightmare after this current one. So no, there has been no progress. I think i'm gonna try to flash Philz and format my system, then flash a deodexed rom. @g7755725 said that you can flash TWRP, but I usually use Philz. It appears to be that I have lost root access because no root features work and SuperSU won't recognize it. Will everything work or am I setting my self up for disaster?
Edit: Where can I find a deodexed rom? I desperately need one, thanks

Essem G said:
@RavenMind1
Everyone has been saying different answers and i've put off fixing my device for a while. I'm just afraid i'll brick it forever and have another nightmare after this current one. So no, there has been no progress. I think i'm gonna try to flash Philz and format my system, then flash a deodexed rom. @g7755725 said that you can flash TWRP, but I usually use Philz. It appears to be that I have lost root access because no root features work and SuperSU won't recognize it. Will everything work or am I setting my self up for disaster?
Edit: Where can I find a deodexed rom? I desperately need one, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look in the forums for deodexed rom theirs a bunch and untouched as well i had philz but it eoukdnt boot my s4 so i had to switch to twrp because it does better then any recovery

g7755725 said:
Look in the forums for deodexed rom theirs a bunch and untouched as well i had philz but it eoukdnt boot my s4 so i had to switch to twrp because it does better then any recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the support so far, but has this problem occured before? do you think the steps i've listed will solve this? Im just trying to make sure that I know exactly what to do before I go in. Thanks

Essem G said:
Thanks for the support so far, but has this problem occured before? do you think the steps i've listed will solve this? Im just trying to make sure that I know exactly what to do before I go in. Thanks[/Q] it should
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

@g7755725 I downloaded a deodexed rom from the SkipJacks guy (different page than what you sent me) and it's a little under 9MB... how could this possibly be a ROM?

Essem G said:
@g7755725 I downloaded a deodexed rom from the SkipJacks guy (different page than what you sent me) and it's a little under 9MB... how could this possibly be a ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried my gamerrom Ultimate 1 its basically stock touchwiz of if Official NK2 M919UVUFNK2 with stweaks and no bloatware here is the thread gru 1 is in.the botyom of the thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-tmobile/development/stock-os-gamerrom-ultimate-2-touchwiz-t3078467

Sounds cool but i would have been interested a few months ago. I'm trying to sell the phone so I need to get it back to stock. Appreciate all the help and I think it's cool that you make ROMs

Essem G said:
Sounds cool but i would have been interested a few months ago. I'm trying to sell the phone so I need to get it back to stock. Appreciate all the help and I think it's cool that you make ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're trying to go back to complete stock then just Odin NK2 firmware. http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-tmobile/general/firmwares-official-mdl-mk2-nb4-t2816508 I used the NK2 from here about 2 days ago to go back to stock.