Develop Bugs

[Q] Epic 4g Touch not recognized by computer

Hi all, having a problem with my new Epic 4g Touch.
I rooted it, then after having some other problems, tried to flash back to stock via Odin. Not sure if I did something wrong, but in the middle of the flash, Odin had an error. Now the phone won't boot.. it goes straight to the [phone]....[!]....[computer] screen with the text "Firmware upgrade encountered." It goes to the same screen when I try to boot into recovery. It also goes to this screen when the phone is off and I plug it in (ie, there is no battery charging screen).
I can get into download mode, but I can't get my computer to recognize that the phone is plugged in. I have tried multiple computers, different USB ports, different cables, re-installing drivers on the computer, but no matter what I try, the computer never makes any indication that the phone is plugged in. Kies won't see it, Odin won't see it, nothing in device manager, no alert sound when plugging/unplugging, nothing.
I am afraid I have a soft brick on my hands and I might have to take it back to the Sprint store or send it to Samsung (used a USB jig to reset bin count to 0). Anyone have any idea how to get the computer to see it again so I can just try flashing it again?

SAME PROBLEM, PLEASE HELP, PLEASE. If you fixed yours tell me how.

Anyone come up with successful suggestions to this issue? I think I'm now in the same boat after going back to stock. I can't get any computer/cable combination so see the device, which keeps me from using Odin to fix it. Thanks!

I've gotten in that mode before. It does it whenever the phone has been opened in the special mode for updating (which is done by ODIN during the flash process and is a step beyond ODIN D/L mode), but that mode is not closed down properly. It'll do that even if you flash an unused partition like recovery.bin, so it has no bearing on whether your ROM is actually bricked or not. It is just the default behavior when the special flash mode wasn't close down properly.
USB jig restored functionality.
That is assuming you weren't flashing a GSM ROM by mistake.

Bricked My Nexus / Bad USB Connection

I just wanted to share what happened before it was bricked so others could possibly avoid it (and because I didn't think I could brick a Nexus...).
Yesterday my USB connection began failing intermittently. It would charge, but the computer would not always recognize the device. On Windows 7, I got an error message saying that the device had malfunctioned and that I should try reconnecting it. On OSX, Android File Transfer could not find my device. Unplugging and plugging back in got the computer to recognize it about 20% of the time.
I went back to stock using fastboot, but I had to battle with it for several hours because of how unreliable my USB connection was. On stock I still had the problem, but I wondered if I had just gotten unlucky during flashing since I had so many failed attempts. Then I decided I would try again with Odin since it just takes one flash to go back to stock. Unfortunately, my USB connection failed again during the Odin flash. I pulled the battery (this could be the true problem but I couldn't get the flash process to start over otherwise) and at this point my phone was bricked. The screen showed an image with a phone and a computer with an exclamation point between them. I couldn't get to my bootloader and couldn't try any other fixes because my computer would no longer recognize my phone at all.
Long story short, if your phone's USB connection begins to malfunction then don't use Odin.

Sorry to hear that. This is something I learned (second hand, thank god) when I had my Galaxy S1. Odin can simultaneously be the best and worst tool you use.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

ericaraj said:
I just wanted to share what happened before it was bricked so others could possibly avoid it (and because I didn't think I could brick a Nexus...).
Yesterday my USB connection began failing intermittently. It would charge, but the computer would not always recognize the device. On Windows 7, I got an error message saying that the device had malfunctioned and that I should try reconnecting it. On OSX, Android File Transfer could not find my device. Unplugging and plugging back in got the computer to recognize it about 20% of the time.
I went back to stock using fastboot, but I had to battle with it for several hours because of how unreliable my USB connection was. On stock I still had the problem, but I wondered if I had just gotten unlucky during flashing since I had so many failed attempts. Then I decided I would try again with Odin since it just takes one flash to go back to stock. Unfortunately, my USB connection failed again during the Odin flash. I pulled the battery (this could be the true problem but I couldn't get the flash process to start over otherwise) and at this point my phone was bricked. The screen showed an image with a phone and a computer with an exclamation point between them. I couldn't get to my bootloader and couldn't try any other fixes because my computer would no longer recognize my phone at all.
Long story short, if your phone's USB connection begins to malfunction then don't use Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a chance it's not totally bricked, that happened to me on an other samsung device while i was flashing with odin. U pulled the battery too early.i also had that black screen with the yellow pc and exclamation mark, try another usb port in ur pc and try to flash again with odin, if not, take the battery out and keep it out for a while (i don't know, 30min for example) then try odin again... u should be able to enter download mode somehow despite the screen u got now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

ericaraj said:
I just wanted to share what happened before it was bricked so others could possibly avoid it (and because I didn't think I could brick a Nexus...).
Yesterday my USB connection began failing intermittently. It would charge, but the computer would not always recognize the device. On Windows 7, I got an error message saying that the device had malfunctioned and that I should try reconnecting it. On OSX, Android File Transfer could not find my device. Unplugging and plugging back in got the computer to recognize it about 20% of the time.
I went back to stock using fastboot, but I had to battle with it for several hours because of how unreliable my USB connection was. On stock I still had the problem, but I wondered if I had just gotten unlucky during flashing since I had so many failed attempts. Then I decided I would try again with Odin since it just takes one flash to go back to stock. Unfortunately, my USB connection failed again during the Odin flash. I pulled the battery (this could be the true problem but I couldn't get the flash process to start over otherwise) and at this point my phone was bricked. The screen showed an image with a phone and a computer with an exclamation point between them. I couldn't get to my bootloader and couldn't try any other fixes because my computer would no longer recognize my phone at all.
Long story short, if your phone's USB connection begins to malfunction then don't use Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone is not bricked. This happened to me on my Vibrant countless times. Not it's basically trial and error to get it to show up on Odin, but use a reliable USB connection, like another port on your PC or something. Trust me, you're fine. I was ****ting myself when this happened for the first time, but it's just like download mode, you can still restore to stock.
rayiskon said:
There is a chance it's not totally bricked, that happened to me on an other samsung device while i was flashing with odin. U pulled the battery too early.i also had that black screen with the yellow pc and exclamation mark, try another usb port in ur pc and try to flash again with odin, if not, take the battery out and keep it out for a while (i don't know, 30min for example) then try odin again... u should be able to enter download mode somehow despite the screen u got now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if he can't enter download mode, if Odin recognizes the phone while the screen with the exclamation mark is up, he'll be fine.

iCaptivate said:
Your phone is not bricked. This happened to me on my Vibrant countless times. Not it's basically trial and error to get it to show up on Odin, but use a reliable USB connection, like another port on your PC or something. Trust me, you're fine. I was ****ting myself when this happened for the first time, but it's just like download mode, you can still restore to stock.
Even if he can't enter download mode, if Odin recognizes the phone while the screen with the exclamation mark is up, he'll be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a feeling that it wasn't truly bricked, but since my phone's USB driver (or whatever aspect of USB data transfer) was malfunctioning I couldn't do anything about it. I think of it this way: if in that state my phone had a 5% chance of being recognized by Odin, and if my phone already had less than a 20% chance of being recognized before the soft-brick, then I had a 1% chance or less that it would even show up in Odin and even lower odds at a successful flash. Regardless, Verizon agreed to send me a warranty replacement.

iCaptivate said:
Your phone is not bricked. This happened to me on my Vibrant countless times. Not it's basically trial and error to get it to show up on Odin, but use a reliable USB connection, like another port on your PC or something. Trust me, you're fine. I was ****ting myself when this happened for the first time, but it's just like download mode, you can still restore to stock.
Even if he can't enter download mode, if Odin recognizes the phone while the screen with the exclamation mark is up, he'll be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here with the vibrant. IIRC there was a special way to get your phone to recognize Odin when it happened. Something like plugging in the phone to the computer and then pulling the battery. Odin even worked when I borked a flash and the screen wouldn't even turn on. I would think the nexus could be brought back similarly.
But if the USB port is on the fritz I'm not sure I would want to bring it back.

As far as I'm concerned Odin is the worst thing you can hook up to your devce. No single program has bricked more devices than Odin.
______________
Just Flash It !!!

on my old SGS1 there was chance get back bricked device by method called "JIG"..(its hardware way get back download mode) but i dont study it more...

I don't think its bricked, I once restore my phone from a black screen that Odin still recognized as download mode. The drivers can get iffy, do you have a third comp that you can install fresh drivers on. Also is your USB jack on the Nexus loose? Sometimes it really is due to your PC's USB connection. I also had issues with cheap blackberry cables and had to use higher quality ones.
Did you try going into download mode by connecting it to the PC while with battery removed and hold (whatever buttons to boot it into download mode), then insert the batteries. Or try entering using a jig.
Also a bit lazy of me (on phone), but can someone point me to where to get Odin images for the Nexus?

try to use another cable to connect ur phone to pc
just flash stock via odin, it's not bricked.
My s2 sometimes has that problem when i flash stock

eksasol said:
I don't think its bricked, I once restore my phone from a black screen that Odin still recognized as download mode. The drivers can get iffy, do you have a third comp that you can install fresh drivers on. Also is your USB jack on the Nexus loose? Sometimes it really is due to your PC's USB connection. I also had issues with cheap blackberry cables and had to use higher quality ones.
Did you try going into download mode by connecting it to the PC while with battery removed and hold (whatever buttons to boot it into download mode), then insert the batteries. Or try entering using a jig.
Also a bit lazy of me (on phone), but can someone point me to where to get Odin images for the Nexus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the advice but I no longer have that phone. My replacement should come today.
With regards to the drivers, I was referring to the drivers on the phone not on the computer. I honestly don't know if there are USB drivers on the phone (I would think there are) or even if those drivers were causing the malfunction.
The first thing I'm doing this afternoon is plugging my replacement phone into my computer. If the new one doesn't work right then I'll have to make a trip to the Apple store because the problem will almost certainly be my laptop. I'll also owe a big apology to Verizon.

[Q] Bricked Galaxy Nexus GSM 16GB (GT-I9250M)

Hey Everyone,
I'm hoping someone can help me find a way to un-brick my Galaxy Nexus GSM 16GB (GT-I9250M). Before you call me an idiot, I'll have you know I wasn't flashing it or anything. I was simply listening to music when the screen went all glitchy and the sound started looping. Then the phone attempt to restart, but mid way through booting, it would glitch out again. It would repeat this until I finally pulled the battery. When I got home, I tried to get it into Fastboot mode or Download/Odin mode. Neither of which worked. I was running the stock version of android. If I recall correctly, it was running 4.0.2.
So in a nutshell, here's the status of the phone:
Regardless of what I do, Fastboot mode and Download/Odin are not accessible.
No matter what combination of buttons I press, the screen always shows: Phone ... Yellow Alert Triangle ... Computer
Using Galaxy Nexus Toolkit or Wug's Toolkit, the phone is not listed under Fastboot or ADB devices.
While the phone is plugged in via USB without a battery, I see device manager adding and releasing an OMAP4440 device every second or so.
When I plug in the phone (with the battery) in via USB while its off, it will turn itself on showing the alert screen mentioned above.
ODIN is about the only app/toolkit I've used that "sees" the device.
Using ODIN, I have tried various stock images mentioned in the forums. All of them have either failed or get stuck on "NAND Write Start!!"
I've read dozens of posts on various forums but I could not find a concrete solution, so I'm appealing to you guys for help. Any help would be great appreciated.
Thank you!

Based on what you have described, even if I could get it working again, I would try to get a warranty replacement, provided that is an option. Sounds like a hardware failure. Like I said, even if it somehow started working again, I wouldn't trust it.

1. first off you need to download "Odin 3 v1.85" here
2. also download CF-Root-GGN_YAKJU_ICL53F-v5.1 here
3. open Odin in your computer
4. where it says PDA put CF-Root-GGN_YAKJU_ICL53F-v5.1
5. Power on the device and when you have the "phone triangle pc screen" connect it to your PC.
6. ???
7. PROFIT!!!

kmdub said:
Based on what you have described, even if I could get it working again, I would try to get a warranty replacement, provided that is an option. Sounds like a hardware failure. Like I said, even if it somehow started working again, I wouldn't trust it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're probably right. I still have my Nexus S which I can fall back to resort to this. I will try what nonione has suggested, and if that doesnt work, I will likely look to replace the phone.

I've never seen a samsung phone that couldn't be recovered (other than physical or water damage).
You can easily get the phone back with odin (no you do not have to be in odin mode on the phone).
Study up on it....tons of threads, use search.
Never seen a bricked Samsung....ever...and I've had at least 6 or 8 different models.
(edit)
There;s quite a bit more to it than nonione tried to walk you thru.
You will need the correct drivers on your computer first...buncha other steps too.
Study hard before you try odin.

Google, "Galaxy Nexus OMAP Unbricker". Download it and when the OMAP devices comes up in the Device Manager quickly right click on it and install the driver includes with the OMAP download. Once the driver has installed run the .bat file in the download. Should go to Fastboot now.
Then:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27160425
Download the .pit file here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27152659
Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2

That's easy to repair, dude
That's not a brick, that's just telling you, that the firmware files are corrupt, all you need, is a jig, a Windows PC, Odin and chainfires ODin files
I can walk you through, on Teamviewer, if you want. I've had this problem quite a lot (Not on the GNex, though) I jope I get it, so I get a GS 3 ^^

I do have the same phone with the same problem..but currently out of the country, so cant get it replaced.. I get no yellow triangle my phone is completely dead..I tried the omap flash no luck..please let me know if the omap flash tool worked for you..

Hey guys,
So a bit of an update. I tried using Odin to flash. None of the files suggested worked for me. I also tried the OMAP flasher. While it "did something" without erroring out, it did not switch to fastboot mode for me. My phone is simply stuck in that yellow alert state. So now, i'm going to try using a Jig as familyguy59 has suggested. I saw a video of one guy use one to fix the exact same issue as I'm having, albeit with his Samsung Galaxy 2, but it looks promising. I purchased one a couple days ago and it should come soon. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Hey Guys,
So I tried the jig i bought. No dice. I'm pretty disappointed. : / I guess off to Samsung it goes... I just don't have any luck with Samsung products.

SAMSUNG epic 4g stuck on boot screen after trying to restore Stock Rom

I was running CM10 but I got a message whenever I got into the Camera App that said "Unfortunately, Gallery has stopped working", after a research in here I found that I wouldn't get that msg again if I installed this "gapps-jb-picasa-20121011-signed" thing.
I did, but when I got into my Camera App, I didn't have the other options like "Image Effects" and all that stuff.
So, what I did was to Restore my phone from my BackUp folder that I've created before installing CM10, but for my surprise I got a msg saying "VolumeError" or something like that and other things that I can't really remember... and as a good Mexican that I am, I ignored it and hit the Reboot System Now..
What happened next almost made me cry...
I was expecting to get in my stock rom without any problems and yadda yadda but... OH SURPRISE!
I got stuck on the boot screen, where it says "Samsung" and the website of it and I didn't freak out... I waited like 5-6 mins and took the battery out. When I turned again, I tried to get in Recovery Mode but the screen just kept turning off and on and saying the exact same thing, the "Samsung" logo and it's website.
I hope you can help me and please answer me. I don't know if I'm 1000000% screwed but I will only wait for the worst. Sorry for my bad english and don't hate me for being mexican
I don't know if I can get into my phone from my PC but whenever I plug my phone in, it just loads it as if it was in Charging Mode
PLEASE HELP ME!
I BEG YOU!

Flash again CM10 with wipe data, cache, dalvik
If still stuck
Odin to stock ROM, you can search on google to odin the epic
Sent from my JellyBeer v.4.14 epicmtd (b3)

Questions go in Q&A
Thread moved
Friendly Neighborhood Moderator

Like @dropple said, it seems you stuck "SAMSUNG" and in this case you can't get into recovery so you can't flash CM10 as of now. Go find some tutorials and Odin back to stock via download mode. Then install CWM recovery if you want and do whatever you like. Should get you outta trouble.
Sent from HTC Incredible S @ PACman v21

AndyYan said:
Like @dropple said, it seems you stuck "SAMSUNG" and in this case you can't get into recovery so you can't flash CM10 as of now. Go find some tutorials and Odin back to stock via download mode. Then install CWM recovery if you want and do whatever you like. Should get you outta trouble.
Sent from HTC Incredible S @ PACman v21
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to Everyone!
I solved this like 2 hrs after all this happened.
I got it by Odin. I couldn't go into Recovery Mode, but I got in Download Mode and do it by Odin.
Sorry, I'm a n00b to all this.
Greetings from México and thanks for all your support.

Here's a weird one for you,
Same thing as OP stated. Device is stuck on logo. Can't get into CWM. Was on People's Rom. Device was lagging really bad. Then the system requested superuser permissions. Yes the system requested. Being as I did not request it, I declined. Shut the device down to see if that would help with the extremely bad lag (i mean BAD lag. Like..........................ok it does something then.......................................................................ok it does something else. 10-20 seconds lag)
Connect device to computer to Odin back to Stock or whatever ROM would have worked, computer recognizes device..... wait for it.......
But in download mode Odin does not see it. Com Port will not illuminate. Tried 3 different cables. Tried 6 different USB ports on computer. Still nothing.
Any ideas, because I'm all out?!?

To the OP:
I would follow the instructions in this video from the part where qbking77 talks about putting the phone in download mode, as you presumably did when you first rooted your phone. Download all the files linked/referenced on the site, especially the Samsung mobile drivers, Odinv3 1.87, CWMRecovery, and the deOxed versions of the stock ROM. In sum:
1) get into recovery mode by holding onto the volume down, camera buttons, and then without letting either of those go, press and hold the power button.
if you get into recovery mode, skip to step 4
2) while your phone is completely off, hold onto the "1" button on the slide out keyboard first, then without letting the 1 button go, press and hold the power button until you're in download mode.
3) flash the version of Clockworkmod
4) once in recovery mode, wipe your phone, clear the cache, and dalvik cache, and then flash the deOxed version of the stock ROM
niteNarmor said:
Here's a weird one for you,
Same thing as OP stated. Device is stuck on logo. Can't get into CWM. Was on People's Rom. Device was lagging really bad. Then the system requested superuser permissions. Yes the system requested. Being as I did not request it, I declined. Shut the device down to see if that would help with the extremely bad lag (i mean BAD lag. Like..........................ok it does something then.......................................................................ok it does something else. 10-20 seconds lag)
Connect device to computer to Odin back to Stock or whatever ROM would have worked, computer recognizes device..... wait for it.......
But in download mode Odin does not see it. Com Port will not illuminate. Tried 3 different cables. Tried 6 different USB ports on computer. Still nothing.
Any ideas, because I'm all out?!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the mobile drivers installed on the computer you're trying to connect your phone to?

Yes. The drivers have been installed previously. The computer will see the device as "Samsung SPH-D700 Card USB Device". But Odin3 1.85 will not see it.
EDIT: When I put device into download mode and connect to computer, the computer only sees it as "Gadget Serial".

niteNarmor said:
Yes. The drivers have been installed previously. The computer will see the device as "Samsung SPH-D700 Card USB Device". But Odin3 1.85 will not see it.
EDIT: When I put device into download mode and connect to computer, the computer only sees it as "Gadget Serial".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstall and reinstall drivers.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

Have already done that. But just for laughs, I did do it again with no change.

can you get your D700 into download mode as described above?

Yes I can get into download mode but without Odin recognizing the device (not computer. The computer recognizes the device) there is not much I can do.

niteNarmor said:
Yes I can get into download mode but without Odin recognizing the device (not computer. The computer recognizes the device) there is not much I can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to install another version of Odin or getting Odin from a different server.
My phone is fully recovered and now I'm only SuperUser 'cause I don't want any CM by now.
Greetings from Mexico!

I'm using the same version of Odin I used to root the device. Would a different version really help and if so, what version to use?
I actually have a different version of Odin I used for another device and tried that one as well, with no luck.
EDIT: I have now downloaded and tried 4 different Odin programs with no avail. Again, that makes 6 Odin programs, 6 different USB ports, 3 different cables with the same exact results. The computer recognizes device but Odin will not.

niteNarmor said:
I'm using the same version of Odin I used to root the device. Would a different version really help and if so, what version to use?
I actually have a different version of Odin I used for another device and tried that one as well, with no luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had a simular issue when I had two odins on the same computer, for a lark and as I had nothing better to do, tried installing drivers and one version of odin to a vertual machine running vista and checked to see if my computer's vertual machine would reconize and it did, I took it as a sine that at one point I had done something to my computer's main os sometime between rooting my epic 4g and frying it (recovering from a backup from a different parition layout I think, bad times with bootloops and seeing way to much of the samsung logo.) So as I'm not brave enough to run odin on vm I instead removed all of odin from my main os and all of the samsung drivers, then reinstalled rebooted and repluged my epic in, got reconition and reflashed with plesure.
The other issue might be that your computer is reconizing the device and try/failing/hanging and not allowing odin in. Had an issue when my computer was failing to pop up a 'what do I do with this' window and hanging round in the system. A reboot with the internet unpluged strangely solved that for some reason, might be the reboot might be the combo, but I find better connection reconition with my computer when I've fewer things connected.
Don't mind the spelling to much I clean up with my other device.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using xda app-developers app

One question I noticed that hasn't been asked is when you plug the phone into the computer while the phone is on, is usb debugging checked? If not, check it, and reinstall drivers again.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

jeffreyjicha said:
One question I noticed that hasn't been asked is when you plug the phone into the computer while the phone is on, is usb debugging checked? If not, check it, and reinstall drivers again.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone does not boot past the "Samsung - www.samsung.com" logo. Plus, as with all of my devices, USB debugging is always checked.
Thanks for the suggestion though. Always helps to double check things.
I believe I am going to take it to Sprint tomorrow.
If I can't get into it, they should not be able to get into to it either. If they can't get into it, HELLO WARRANTY....

Perhaps before doing the whole getting found out thing with the return center, perhaps they do know what they're doing, try rolling this link past your eyes?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=773032
I know I've been in your boot problem situation and recovered, it just took persistence and eyenumbing amounts of reading.
Note On the multiple Odin, USB, and driver installation: if you've access to another computer it could be worth wile to run once though on a previously virgin computer, meaning your phone and computers' USB's have never touched. Just do the installation, rebooting, and plugging in exasperatingly meticulous order.
Sent from either my SPH-D700 or myTouch3Gs using XDA app
"it never hurts to help"

Yep tried the "virgin computer" computer as well. The computer sees the device but Odin does not. Com light will not illuminate.

Sounds grim.
So to rap up all the cables, plugs, computer, and software with odin is out of the debug process.
So I did some digging into the past and if your computer is reconizing and odin is not then ADB (android debug bridge) and the sdk are the other option
http://forums.androidcentral.com/epic-4g-rooting-roms-hacks/33427-how-access-your-adb-shell.html
Ran across this and it might just be what you need. Its not quick but it has worked for me in the past.
The other thing that may work is ejecting the sd card and battery before doing anything. Though its likely something you've already tried.
Sent from either my SPH-D700 or myTouch3Gs using XDA app
"it never hurts to help"

Rooted note 4 sporadic charging and no longer connects to odin

I've been rooted for several months and life was good. My charging suddenly stopped working. I'd restart the phone a couple time and it would work. Then it wouldn't work again. Went back and forth like this for a while, till finally I figured it wasn't the plug or connector (all would either work or not work, based on restarting phone, messing with battery while plugged in), but likely something more related to the software/system updates. Tried reflashing with odin to go back to stock, but can't connect. I can put my phone in download mode, but odin doesn't recognize it. I've tried every port on 2 different computers with probably 6 different cables. Tried different versions of odin. I can get the phone charging most of the time when plugged into the wall or computer, but can't be seen by odin. I've checked debugging and just did manual resets, losing all my data, but accomplishing nothing. Is there any way to go back to stock without odin? Some way to install from micro SD or something I'm not thinking of to get me connected to odin? I'm at a loss for what to do or understanding what in the world went wrong in the first place.
Additionally, I thought I'd mention the phone WILL NOT shut off either. When I power down, it restarts. I remove the battery, and as soon as I put it back in, the phone boots up again.

Based on your last paragraph, there is probably a hardware issue with the phone or micro-usb port. Load a stock rooted ROM through twrp, then unroot and bring it to a service store.

Try cleaning or blowing out the USB port. I've seen phone with lots of pocket lint packed in the USB port that exhibit the same symptoms.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

And the plot thickens...
Tried blowing out the port. The connection seems to still be there as I can maintain power without the battery when plugged in... just can't get any computers to recognize it as a device. Took the phone to the local sprint store to see if they could do some kind of hard reset with it. Their hardware couldn't connect either. The employee tried to do a soft reset and now my phone can't escape "recovery booting." The android logo blinks with "installing system update" under it but it doesn't boot and I can no longer get into recovery mode. I can still enter download mode, but odin still doesn't see my phone. The guys at sprint really kind of screwed me there. At least I had a functional phone before they messed with it. Is there any way to put a boot program on the sd card and boot from there? If so, any ideas where to find one? I've tried searching, but as the phone is so new, there isn't a lot of help I can find in the forums. Additionally I contacted Samsung, but they won't touch it due to knox being tripped. On my backup S3 for now.

Well I threw in the towel. Sprint is replacing it with remanufactured one. If they didn't offer to replace it, I'd have kept working on it, but case closed for now.