Develop Bugs

HELP! I rooted my phone and not touchwiz is gone

Hello,
Last night I rooted my device using this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1265429) method and file from zedomax and everything worked great except when I booted my device there was a yellow triangle with a black “!” in it. I figured that just indicated the device was rooted or running a 3rd party kernel so I didn’t worry about it.
Today I launched my camera app and it failed to load the interface but showed the image from the camera momentary then crashed back to the home screen. I restarted my device and when the device restarted it was very slow and unresponsive and after unlocking it my live wallpaper was gone replaced with the last background I used before selecting a live background a couple weeks back. No icons or widgets loaded and I am unable to open the settings tray. The only things I am able to do with the phone is pull down the notification bar, respond to text messages, adjust the volume and hold power to restart the phone. All of which are very slow and delayed.
When I connect the device to my computer windows is no longer able to load the drivers and Kies is unable to connect with the device. I am not sure what caused this or how to resolve this issue so any advice or known fixes would be fantastic! I am unable to get to clockwork mod to restore my backup and I am unable to get to Kies or the phone settings to do a factory reset so I really don’t know what to do they were supposed to be a last resort and now I don’t even think I can do them. I am an experienced techie but I am new to android and this is the first device I have rooted so any advice would be great no matter how basic it may be.
UPDATE: I just connected the phone via USB to my laptop at work and it was able to discover and install everything it needed to connect with the phone. I am installing Kies now so at least there is hope of a factory restore, although I really hope it doesn't come to that!

Boot into download mode and flash the stock eg30 tar file from crawrj.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!

Thanks Already started doing that waiting for it to download now

Still no touchwiz... great!

Try flashing a stock rom via clockworkmod.

efarley said:
Still no touchwiz... great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can root again and restore your backup, or go to this website www.lostandtired.com (midnight roms blog) click on android development and download and flash the sprint bloat and TW restore zip. Hope that helps.

I flashed the stock rom which didn't change anything so then I used clockworkMod to do a factory reset which ended up trapping me into a boot loop. I could use Odin to flash new roms but the device would never go past the 4G logo
I ended up taking the device back to Best Buy and since the loading screen showed the stock rom and they couldn't get past the 4G logo I just had to say it wasn't rooted and they gave me a new one.
I would love to know if anyone has any idea of what went wrong here so that I can feel comfortable rooting again. Also if anyone has some basic articles handy that teach basics of rooting that would be great, I didn't even know about clockwork mod until after I had this problem so knowing things like that earlier would have helped a lot I think. I'll be spending the weekend looking up everything I can find on the subject so any reading you guys can suggest would be fantastic.

efarley said:
I flashed the stock rom which didn't change anything so then I used clockworkMod to do a factory reset which ended up trapping me into a boot loop. I could use Odin to flash new roms but the device would never go past the 4G logo
I ended up taking the device back to Best Buy and since the loading screen showed the stock rom and they couldn't get past the 4G logo I just had to say it wasn't rooted and they gave me a new one.
I would love to know if anyone has any idea of what went wrong here so that I can feel comfortable rooting again. Also if anyone has some basic articles handy that teach basics of rooting that would be great, I didn't even know about clockwork mod until after I had this problem so knowing things like that earlier would have helped a lot I think. I'll be spending the weekend looking up everything I can find on the subject so any reading you guys can suggest would be fantastic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you a clockwork and "stock rom" you were still rooted...Doing a factory reset will send you into bootloop when rooted. Trying to flash other roms on a bootloop is not going to work. You need to have grabbed a backup such as Zedo has on his post and put the backup in clockwork folder on your phone. Then flash that in CWM. Would of brought you out of bootloop to a stock rom with his kernal. Now you can flash Roms and kernals or could of flashed crawf or anyone else FULL stock rom and been back to stock kernel and rom and not rooted.

dallastx said:
If you a clockwork and "stock rom" you were still rooted...Doing a factory reset will send you into bootloop when rooted. Trying to flash other roms on a bootloop is not going to work. You need to have grabbed a backup such as Zedo has on his post and put the backup in clockwork folder on your phone. Then flash that in CWM. Would of brought you out of bootloop to a stock rom with his kernal. Now you can flash Roms and kernals or could of flashed crawf or anyone else FULL stock rom and been back to stock kernel and rom and not rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhhh that's what happened! Awesome thanks. I will be much better prepared with backups out the wazoo this time haha.
Now if only I could figure out why Touchwiz died in the first place hmmm....

I hope you can figure it out, just postin here to say that when I saw this thread, it reminded me of the thread over in the EVO forums about the guy who claimed that sprint removed his Sense from his phone.

Khilbron said:
I hope you can figure it out, just postin here to say that when I saw this thread, it reminded me of the thread over in the EVO forums about the guy who claimed that sprint removed his Sense from his phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha SPRINT removed it?! So that person thinks sprint monitors every device and has a team of techies on staff to hack your phone and brick it if you break their rules?... yeah that totally makes more sense than a file got corrupted when you were messing with the kernel.. some people maybe shouldn't be rooting their devices in the first place haha

[Q] GNx bricked? Screen not unlockable, constant softreboots

Hi all,
this is the 3rd time this is happening to me with different ROMs. The problem is:
The phone boots up normal, I can swipe to unlock, enter my PIN, but after pressing OK it won't unlock the SIM. If I lock the screen it won't come back on. It stays black whatever I do. After some time the phone reboots (soft reboot) and everything starts from the beginning.
The first time this happened I was using Modacos Ir9. I had the phone switched off over night and switched it on. Only thing that seemed to help was completely unrooting the phone and rerooting it again.
The second time I was using codeworkx CM9 Builds and tried to update. I restored my nandroid, but it kept happening. Flashing the XXKK1 Radio did the trick here.
Now it is happening again. This time I installed dropbox and the phone froze on the setup wizard...
I don't want to unroot the phone, it takes forever to restore the SD card.
Any advice on this one?
Update:
- Flashed the following radio images without any success: XXKL1, KRKL1, UGKL1 and XXKK1
- Used my older nandroids from CM9 and Modaco Ir10. NOT WORKING
- Wiped every nandroid. NOT WORKING AT ALL
- Reflashed CM9 and Ir10. Still NOT WORKING
I'm so lost I'm going to revert to stock and unroot... and try how far I can throw an 1 month old GNx from the fourth story.

I don't know much on the development part so I don't know why its doing that I can only suggest using odin and going back to stock.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I had similar problems with mine once. Only thing that helped me out wasn't unrooting though. A complete factory reset was enough to make me go on again.
I posted a thread here then to ask people if anyone experianced the same but got no reaction what so ever zo I guess "we" are a dark minority.
I don't know what it caused it or what the solution might be but a Factory reset did it for me.
Good Luck!

C-4Nati said:
I don't know much on the development part so I don't know why its doing that I can only suggest using odin and going back to stock.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Last time it was working again after reverting to stock. But I bought it to use Custom Roms

I would say go back to stock w/ odin, Wipe everything and start again.

Diger36 said:
I had similar problems with mine once. Only thing that helped me out wasn't unrooting though. A complete factory reset was enough to make me go on again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory Reset wasn't helping unfortunatly.
Flashed the original factory image through fastboot. Now everything is working again. I'm restoring my SD backup now and will try to get CM9 working again.
If it would keep failing in stock I could return the phone. Now I'm left with "hopefully it isn't happening a fourth time" and "My phone doesn't work I need 4 hours to get ich working"

the_alien said:
Factory Reset wasn't helping unfortunatly.
Flashed the original factory image through fastboot. Now everything is working again. I'm restoring my SD backup now and will try to get CM9 working again.
If it would keep failing in stock I could return the phone. Now I'm left with "hopefully it isn't happening a fourth time" and "My phone doesn't work I need 4 hours to get ich working"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fastboot flash stock google images. And your phone isn't bricked. Stop using the term wrong. It's most likely a software issue or you're doing the rom flash procedure incorrectly.
A bricked phone is a phone that is unaw to go into bootloader and recovery mode and cannot start android.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

zephiK said:
Fastboot flash stock google images. And your phone isn't bricked. Stop using the term wrong. It's most likely a software issue or you're doing the rom flash procedure incorrectly.
A bricked phone is a phone that is unaw to go into bootloader and recovery mode and cannot start android.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for using the term wrong, I thought it just referes to broken phones.
The ROM flash is correct and it runs for some time and the problem occours after a few days... the only thing that helped was reverting to factory images and after that restore the nandroid from the "broken" Rom.
So the Rom works... than keeps crashing, I do a nandroid backup and only a factory image stops the crashes. But the Rom keeps working after I restore it.
I can't see why this could be a hardware issue. And I can't see how I should explain it to the store "Yes, it is working but not with custom roms, and I bought the Nexus because of custom roms..."

the_alien said:
Sorry for using the term wrong, I thought it just referes to broken phones.
The ROM flash is correct and it runs for some time and the problem occours after a few days... the only thing that helped was reverting to factory images and after that restore the nandroid from the "broken" Rom.
So the Rom works... than keeps crashing, I do a nandroid backup and only a factory image stops the crashes. But the Rom keeps working after I restore it.
I can't see why this could be a hardware issue. And I can't see how I should explain it to the store "Yes, it is working but not with custom roms, and I bought the Nexus because of custom roms..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm willing to bet an app is causing it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

One of my colleagues had this issue with an early CM9 build on his Nexus S - turned out it was an app that is incompatible with ICS. Every time it tried to launch a notification, poof. So I would have to side with Josh in the post above mine.
A way for you to verify / discredit this theory would be : When you say it works with the stock ROM, are you re-installing everything you have when you are on stock? My understanding from what you've written above is that you're only getting your full suite of apps back when you restore your (presumably custom ROM) nandroid backup...

Potterified said:
One of my colleagues had this issue with an early CM9 build on his Nexus S - turned out it was an app that is incompatible with ICS. Every time it tried to launch a notification, poof. So I would have to side with Josh in the post above mine.
A way for you to verify / discredit this theory would be : When you say it works with the stock ROM, are you re-installing everything you have when you are on stock? My understanding from what you've written above is that you're only getting your full suite of apps back when you restore your (presumably custom ROM) nandroid backup...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can't be any app or ROM because IF it happens, it happens on all ROMs, regardless of wipe or not.
It just happened again and i wiped everything and tried using AOKP MS 3. Wasn't working... So I tried using the phone without the SIM card, because the hell only breaks loose after entering my PIN. And it worked. I could use the phone...
I put it back in and it worked...
I'm restoring my CM9 nandroid right now. I'm hoping it works...
edit: Nope, ripping out the SIM doesn't work. I'm reverting to stock and wait what happens. If it crashes again I'm trying to return it.

[Q] Nothing happens after Startup screen after I installed overclock Kernel.

Ok I rooted my note 2 Exactly as explained on this site. Worked perfect!! Then did the backup before i flashed the new ROM exactly how it was explained on here and the new PAC MAN ROM worked freaking amazing! I came to the android world after being a faithful iphone user since its launch and when they brought out the BS iphone 5 that was it for me. I knew it was time to switch, and Wow I wish I'd come sooner. The devs on here make owning an Android so much fun!! Cheesy yeah whatever but Im a tech nut so this is my new playground. Thank you all.
Now back to the problem. I wanted to install an overclock Kernal because I had it on the JEDI X ROM previous to the PAC MAN and when I set it at 1.8 the phone was fast and the battery did good enough for my work. However when I tried to install it after the PM ROM the phone will not load past the Samsung Galaxy Note2 load screen. It just goes blank. I've tried every single restore method I could find. It goes to the download mode and itll go into custom recovery mode just fine. But once i try the recovery options with any wipe possible it still only lights up for the Samsung Screen. When i plug the phone into my computer it doesnt show up in the list of removable drives like before however the Device Manager sees it just fine. Hopefully you guys can help. I will answer whatever I left out if I havent been complete enough. Yeah I'm an FNG so Ive got to learn a bit more yet! Thanks again.

Quick Update
ngclassicsgb said:
Ok I rooted my note 2 Exactly as explained on this site. Worked perfect!! Then did the backup before i flashed the new ROM exactly how it was explained on here and the new PAC MAN ROM worked freaking amazing! I came to the android world after being a faithful iphone user since its launch and when they brought out the BS iphone 5 that was it for me. I knew it was time to switch, and Wow I wish I'd come sooner. The devs on here make owning an Android so much fun!! Cheesy yeah whatever but Im a tech nut so this is my new playground. Thank you all.
Now back to the problem. I wanted to install an overclock Kernal because I had it on the JEDI X ROM previous to the PAC MAN and when I set it at 1.8 the phone was fast and the battery did good enough for my work. However when I tried to install it after the PM ROM the phone will not load past the Samsung Galaxy Note2 load screen. It just goes blank. I've tried every single restore method I could find. It goes to the download mode and itll go into custom recovery mode just fine. But once i try the recovery options with any wipe possible it still only lights up for the Samsung Screen. When i plug the phone into my computer it doesnt show up in the list of removable drives like before however the Device Manager sees it just fine. Hopefully you guys can help. I will answer whatever I left out if I havent been complete enough. Yeah I'm an FNG so Ive got to learn a bit more yet! Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to unroot/unbrick with ODIN. Once I hit start the Message Box in odin says MD5 Hash Value Invalid. Ideas please? Thanks again.

ngclassicsgb said:
I tried to unroot/unbrick with ODIN. Once I hit start the Message Box in odin says MD5 Hash Value Invalid. Ideas please? Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after you installed your Back up rom files, did you do a wipe cache and etc?I think you have to do the wiping before you flash a rom? I don't remember, I did have a Xoom that kept bootlooping after flashing my back up, so I did a system wipe, factory wipe, etc and it started up.
I also See a option to Wipe Rom, maybe try that? then flash your Back-up Rom Files

You say you can get into recovery, try wiping cache and dalvik, doing a factory reset, then re flashing the rom and kernel.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

ngclassicsgb said:
Ok I rooted my note 2 Exactly as explained on this site. Worked perfect!! Then did the backup before i flashed the new ROM exactly how it was explained on here and the new PAC MAN ROM worked freaking amazing! I came to the android world after being a faithful iphone user since its launch and when they brought out the BS iphone 5 that was it for me. I knew it was time to switch, and Wow I wish I'd come sooner. The devs on here make owning an Android so much fun!! Cheesy yeah whatever but Im a tech nut so this is my new playground. Thank you all.
Now back to the problem. I wanted to install an overclock Kernal because I had it on the JEDI X ROM previous to the PAC MAN and when I set it at 1.8 the phone was fast and the battery did good enough for my work. However when I tried to install it after the PM ROM the phone will not load past the Samsung Galaxy Note2 load screen. It just goes blank. I've tried every single restore method I could find. It goes to the download mode and itll go into custom recovery mode just fine. But once i try the recovery options with any wipe possible it still only lights up for the Samsung Screen. When i plug the phone into my computer it doesnt show up in the list of removable drives like before however the Device Manager sees it just fine. Hopefully you guys can help. I will answer whatever I left out if I havent been complete enough. Yeah I'm an FNG so Ive got to learn a bit more yet! Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which kernel are you trying to run with PAC MAN rom? You can't use the same kernel as Jedi is stock based and Pac Man is aosp based. If you flashed the kernel you used on Jedi with the Pac Man rom the results would be what you are seeing. Soooo....try this, boot into recovery and wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache and dalvic cache and reflash Pac Man rom, just the rom and see if it works, if it does great, go find an aosp based kernel and try again. I am suggesting this because of what you said that I highlighted in red in the quote above.
The md5 hashcheck failure sounds like a bad download. If this doesn't work I would suggest looking at mr. robinson's " Root no tripping flash counter" thread and odin flash a stock rooted firmware with odin and start over. Here is mr. robinsons thread

Worst case you can odin stock firmware, root, recovery, restore backup. That may not identify the cause but should solve the problem if you can get to dl mode.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium

Soft brick please help!

Hey guys, I am pretty knowledgeable on flashing rom's as I have done it quite some time now, but I just flashed this rom and can't get my phone to fully reboot. I am not sure if this is supposed to happen or if it is semi bricked etc. I had cyanogenmod 10.1 on my samsung galaxy 3 sprint and I factory data reset, wiped cache, wiped dalvik cache, and format system all before I flashed this Axis rom. I went through the aroma installer and everything checked out and after installation completed it said Installer status: 0 and option for reboot. I hit reboot thinking everything checks out and the phone tries to reboot as I see the samsung logo..but then it goes black....nothing happens for minutes (I am not sure if it is supposed to take that long but it looks completely off..screen isnt on or nothing) so I wait for long time and nothing...I try to turn it on again and samsun logo appears with the Cyanogenmod Blue Android guy...(not sure if that is the same logo used for axis or if it didnt wipe the logo from previous rom)...then it goes black again...so i tried reflashing the rom again and again...and nothing same results..just turns on samsung logo with the blue man and shuts off...i am able to get to the custom recovery...but thats it...please help...I do have a nandroid backup but when i go to restore it doesn't find it...is there anyway to get another rom or something flashed? maybe through odin etc..

I think something like this happen to me before. I ended up having to go back and use Odin and reinstall the recovery and rom. Some how I had erased the ability to install a ROM. I may have had to treat my phone like it was the first time rooting it and go through the entire root process. Sorry just working from memory. Hope this helps and good luck

i wasnt aware that we had a rom called Axis for this phone. you probably flashed a rom not meant for our model phone

That rom is for the AT&T model, why would you flash it to a sprint model? I think using Odin to go back to stock might be your best bet.

metalfan78 said:
That rom is for the AT&T model, why would you flash it to a sprint model? I think using Odin to go back to stock might be your best bet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a universal rom supposedly they have every carrier on the aroma installation im actually having this same problem he is :/ it sucks phone just keeps rebooting and wont stay in recovery or the download mode for long

I never trust those multi-carrier roms. Doesn't seem safe to me for this exact reason.

Thisismyringtone said:
It is a universal rom supposedly they have every carrier on the aroma installation im actually having this same problem he is :/ it sucks phone just keeps rebooting and wont stay in recovery or the download mode for long
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you must have gotten a bad download then. check the md5sum to see if thats the problem
metalfan78 said:
I never trust those multi-carrier roms. Doesn't seem safe to me for this exact reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here i dont trust those multicarrier roms. i just stick to the ones dedicated especially for ours.

acostaae90 said:
Hey guys, I am pretty knowledgeable on flashing rom's as I have done it quite some time now, but I just flashed this rom and can't get my phone to fully reboot. I am not sure if this is supposed to happen or if it is semi bricked etc. I had cyanogenmod 10.1 on my samsung galaxy 3 sprint and I factory data reset, wiped cache, wiped dalvik cache, and format system all before I flashed this Axis rom. I went through the aroma installer and everything checked out and after installation completed it said Installer status: 0 and option for reboot. I hit reboot thinking everything checks out and the phone tries to reboot as I see the samsung logo..but then it goes black....nothing happens for minutes (I am not sure if it is supposed to take that long but it looks completely off..screen isnt on or nothing) so I wait for long time and nothing...I try to turn it on again and samsun logo appears with the Cyanogenmod Blue Android guy...(not sure if that is the same logo used for axis or if it didnt wipe the logo from previous rom)...then it goes black again...so i tried reflashing the rom again and again...and nothing same results..just turns on samsung logo with the blue man and shuts off...i am able to get to the custom recovery...but thats it...please help...I do have a nandroid backup but when i go to restore it doesn't find it...is there anyway to get another rom or something flashed? maybe through odin etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
During the aroma installation does it have you select a carrier type? And does it have you select a kernel?
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4

XxSilent.NightmarexX said:
you must have gotten a bad download then. check the md5sum to see if thats the problem
same here i dont trust those multicarrier roms. i just stick to the ones dedicated especially for ours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah im not going to trust them again im doing an odin flash now hopefully that works and fixes it
---------- Post added at 03:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 PM ----------
edfunkycold said:
During the aroma installation does it have you select a carrier type? And does it have you select a kernel?
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has all the carriers and you choose sprint and i think the kernal is ziggys if i remember correct

After flashing with Odin. I don't have root anymore which is fine but it just randomly reboots it seems like it reboots when it gets overwhelmed with things well for me anyways so yeah hmm

Well i found out it wasnt anything i flashed after all it was just my power button was sticking and turning it on and off woo thank god hah but yeah so not sure if OP figured his out but that was mine so far ha thanks all for the help

Samsung Galaxy S4 Problem

Hello everyone,
I really need your help with my wife's Metro PCS Samsung GS4 M919N.
The thing is, we are now living outside the US so I had to unlock her phone. After ordering the unlock codes, I decided to root the phone and use a custom ROM while waiting for the codes.
That is why I found this guide here: androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/790899-metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root-guide.html
So while reading the guide, I aimed to have the following accomplished at the end:
Recovery: TWRP
Custom ROM: CyanogenMod 10.2.1
I then started doing the guide for the TWRP recovery by using Odin. I got the message saying that the flashing passed and went ahead to restart to recovery to install CM 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. The thing is that I keep on restarting to the stock recovery not TWRP. So I went to YouTube and found a video showing how to flash TWRP using GooManager. After following that guide, I went to restart to recovery and I successfully got into TWRP.
Now, to achieve my goal, all that's left to do is to flash CyanogenMod 10.2.1 (jfltetmo).
Before doing that, I decided to make a backup. After using TWRP to do a backup, I proceeded to installing the custom ROM + gapps (wiped with the default settings). Everything was working I think (I handed the phone to my wife so she was he one testing it). After some time, she decided she wants the stock ROM instead so I decided to download the androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/783769-rom-recovery-flash-able-stock-m919nuvuamf2-rooted-deodexed-rom.html ROM.
I flashed the newly downloaded ROM + gapps (same file). This time, I couldn't get the gapps to work probably because it was meant for another version. So I decided to just restore from the backup I created earlier.
So, the usual stuff. Wipe. Restore. Restart.
Seems to be going smoothly because my wife was happy to see the old ROM she was used to.
Until the phone started to restart on it's own. (It's pretty much downhill from here on out).
At first I thought it was just a random thing that probably would never happen again. I was wrong as it became more frequent as days went by.
Recently I can't just restart the phone, I would have to remove the battery and then restart it. Now, it's getting really hard to restart the phone. Please help me fix this. I prefer to leave the phone rooted, but if the fix unroots the phone then so be it, anyway my wife prefers the stock ROM so only the unlocking was necessary.
Metro PCS Samsung Galaxy S4 M919N
Recovery:
TWRP 2.6.3.1
ROMs:
Stock Metro PCS
CyanogenMod 10.2.1
Let me know if you need more information from me. Hopefully I can restart the phone so I can give you some version numbers.
Thanks everyone!

I didn't read everything but just wanted to say
VERY GOOD THREAD!
this is how threads should be done. Very descriptive, organized, told us everything you did and asked for help! Good job man! Only negative is it prolly should have gone in Q&A section but irregardless very good thread!
About your issue, I recommend flashing stock Odin tar file to everything back to stock and reroot and start over. Flashing stock will not lock it again it will remain unlocked. But should get you back up and fresh. Just be aware it will erase all your data and all of the internal SD card.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

dokgu said:
Hello everyone,
I really need your help with my wife's Metro PCS Samsung GS4 M919N.
The thing is, we are now living outside the US so I had to unlock her phone. After ordering the unlock codes, I decided to root the phone and use a custom ROM while waiting for the codes.
That is why I found this guide here: androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/790899-metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root-guide.html
So while reading the guide, I aimed to have the following accomplished at the end:
Recovery: TWRP
Custom ROM: CyanogenMod 10.2.1
I then started doing the guide for the TWRP recovery by using Odin. I got the message saying that the flashing passed and went ahead to restart to recovery to install CM 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. The thing is that I keep on restarting to the stock recovery not TWRP. So I went to YouTube and found a video showing how to flash TWRP using GooManager. After following that guide, I went to restart to recovery and I successfully got into TWRP.
Now, to achieve my goal, all that's left to do is to flash CyanogenMod 10.2.1 (jfltetmo).
Before doing that, I decided to make a backup. After using TWRP to do a backup, I proceeded to installing the custom ROM + gapps (wiped with the default settings). Everything was working I think (I handed the phone to my wife so she was he one testing it). After some time, she decided she wants the stock ROM instead so I decided to download the androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/783769-rom-recovery-flash-able-stock-m919nuvuamf2-rooted-deodexed-rom.html ROM.
I flashed the newly downloaded ROM + gapps (same file). This time, I couldn't get the gapps to work probably because it was meant for another version. So I decided to just restore from the backup I created earlier.
So, the usual stuff. Wipe. Restore. Restart.
Seems to be going smoothly because my wife was happy to see the old ROM she was used to.
Until the phone started to restart on it's own. (It's pretty much downhill from here on out).
At first I thought it was just a random thing that probably would never happen again. I was wrong as it became more frequent as days went by.
Recently I can't just restart the phone, I would have to remove the battery and then restart it. Now, it's getting really hard to restart the phone. Please help me fix this. I prefer to leave the phone rooted, but if the fix unroots the phone then so be it, anyway my wife prefers the stock ROM so only the unlocking was necessary.
Metro PCS Samsung Galaxy S4 M919N
Recovery:
TWRP 2.6.3.1
ROMs:
Stock Metro PCS
CyanogenMod 10.2.1
Let me know if you need more information from me. Hopefully I can restart the phone so I can give you some version numbers.
Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with Elesbb. If the goal is jus tto get back to stock, just do an odin flash of the stock ROM. Be advised if you flash the latest Kit Kay update you will nto be able to go back to Jelly Bean. From your post it seems like you are partial to Jelly Bean. So if that's what you want, but sure you use the stock 4.3 ROM. You can find it around here on XDA somewhere with a quick search to make sure you have the right one.
As Elesbb said, you won't loose the 'sim unlock'. But you will lose root. However you can root the stock ROM just fine.
You might also consider one of the myriad of TouchWiz based custom ROMs. They are look just like TouchWiz that your wife wants, but have a lot of optimizations and options in them. Those should flash just like any ROM. If you still get the reboot issue then do the Odin back to stock, reroot, then flash the custom TW roms.
---------- Post added at 12:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 PM ----------

Thread cleaned.
Rather than bashing a ROM or user let's keep on topic and help the OP resolved the problems he's having. Arguing over the virtues of a ROM doesn't help anyone.
Thank you,
Rwilco12

Before posting this thread I sent the aforementioned guide's poster (arocker). He sent me a reply saying not to use gapps as the stock ROM for Metro PCS already comes with Google apps. I'll try his suggestion first and see if the phone still reboots a lot.
If the problem persists, I will try the solutions mentioned here. Thanks a lot!

elesbb said:
I didn't read everything but just wanted to say
VERY GOOD THREAD!
this is how threads should be done. Very descriptive, organized, told us everything you did and asked for help! Good job man! Only negative is it prolly should have gone in Q&A section but irregardless very good thread!
About your issue, I recommend flashing stock Odin tar file to everything back to stock and reroot and start over. Flashing stock will not lock it again it will remain unlocked. But should get you back up and fresh. Just be aware it will erase all your data and all of the internal SD card.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After trying arocker's suggestion to not flash gapps, the phone still reboots. So now, I am going to try your solution guys.
But before I do, I want to make sure that I am on the correct paths/links.
Here's what I found for the following:
ODIN
forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/themes-apps/27-08-2013-odin-3-09-odin-1-85-versions-t2189539
I've had a couple of chances to use ODIN but only using specific functions like flashing a recovery file while the phone is in download mode. I don't however have any experience using ODIN to put the phone back to stock where the phone gets unrooted. Having the phone unrooted is fine by me as I only needed to have the phone unlocked.
Any step-by-step guides for using ODIN for this specific purpose guys? I don't want to mess this up again.
Thanks and sorry for the trouble.

dokgu said:
After trying arocker's suggestion to not flash gapps, the phone still reboots. So now, I am going to try your solution guys.
But before I do, I want to make sure that I am on the correct paths/links.
Here's what I found for the following:
ODIN
forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/themes-apps/27-08-2013-odin-3-09-odin-1-85-versions-t2189539
I've had a couple of chances to use ODIN but only using specific functions like flashing a recovery file while the phone is in download mode. I don't however have any experience using ODIN to put the phone back to stock where the phone gets unrooted. Having the phone unrooted is fine by me as I only needed to have the phone unlocked.
Any step-by-step guides for using ODIN for this specific purpose guys? I don't want to mess this up again.
Thanks and sorry for the trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No trouble at all, check out the stickies in the beginning of threads.
Look for guides similar to this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2335109
Pp. Good luck.
sent from my bluetooth controlled toaster.

PanchoPlanet said:
No trouble at all, check out the stickies in the beginning of threads.
Look for guides similar to this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2335109
Pp. Good luck.
sent from my bluetooth controlled toaster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello PanchoPlanet,
Thanks for the link. I went ahead and tried to unroot without Windows (Mobile Odin) as per the instructions on the link. I downloaded everything and went ahead to install the Mobile Odin APK. When I ran it to install the Flash Kernel, the app told me that the device is not supported.
To my understanding the guide is for M919 devices but should work for my wife's device as well (M919N - Metro PCS). I would like to try the guide for using Windows but I'm not really expecting for it to work or I might mess it up more. I'll try to search some more and provide the links where this forum will lead me to. But if you have any ideas, please let me know asap. Thanks!

PanchoPlanet said:
No trouble at all, check out the stickies in the beginning of threads.
Look for guides similar to this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2335109
Pp. Good luck.
sent from my bluetooth controlled toaster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, here's what I found:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2446497
It seems like the perfect thread for what I am trying to achieve. Will let you guys know if it is successful. But it will have to wait for tomorrow. Gonna catch some sleep.

Okay, I'm running out of options. I was able to flash the stock ROM using Odin 3.07. The recovery looks like it came back to the stock recovery as I no longer have TWRP installed. When I install Root Checker, I see that I am no longer rooted. That's good.
But my original problem is still here. The phone reboots a lot. The phone is so unstable that it is barely usable.
I am now going to try one more thing.
I have a Galaxy S4 (I337M) from Rogers Canada (my wife has Metro PCS M919N). Mine got rooted and has CyanogenMod 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. My phone is working perfectly while hers reboots a lot. I was thinking it was because of a faulty battery. So I am doing an experiment by swapping the batteries. So far no reboots have occurred, but I will continue to monitor this.
Any ideas why the battery is kinda messed up?

This thread talks about battery stuff and reboots:
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/530338/20131216/samsung-galaxy-s4-problems.htm
Batteries can go bad a lot of ways. Extreme temperature, factory defect, phone drops, moisture, etc.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Android_Monsters said:
This thread talks about battery stuff and reboots:
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/530338/20131216/samsung-galaxy-s4-problems.htm
Batteries can go bad a lot of ways. Extreme temperature, factory defect, phone drops, moisture, etc.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And 100% of the time, they eventually just get old.

dokgu said:
Okay, I'm running out of options. I was able to flash the stock ROM using Odin 3.07. The recovery looks like it came back to the stock recovery as I no longer have TWRP installed. When I install Root Checker, I see that I am no longer rooted. That's good.
But my original problem is still here. The phone reboots a lot. The phone is so unstable that it is barely usable.
I am now going to try one more thing.
I have a Galaxy S4 (I337M) from Rogers Canada (my wife has Metro PCS M919N). Mine got rooted and has CyanogenMod 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. My phone is working perfectly while hers reboots a lot. I was thinking it was because of a faulty battery. So I am doing an experiment by swapping the batteries. So far no reboots have occurred, but I will continue to monitor this.
Any ideas why the battery is kinda messed up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a wierd situation, by swapping batteries you basically performed a battery pull, which acts as a reset, that in it self may have cleared your issue.
Now if battery is bad that could be an unusual problem. Maybe just replacing the battery will be the end of your mystery.
Pp.
sent from my P5113 using TouchPal mind control keyboard. (Beta)

The battery should be brand new as the phone was just recently purchased this April.
Anyways, so far no reboots have happened and any instability has not been shown at all. Everything looks ok, yet.
Anyone know if it is safe to swap batteries? Our phones have different S4 models. I'm not sure what the implications would be. Also what is this battery pull which acts as a reset? We've been pulling the battery a lot of times but the reboot still happens but not when we swapped batteries.

The batteries are all the same. Don't worry about that.
Even if its a new battery if could have just been bad. A manufacturing defect perhaps.
Sent from your phone. You should be more careful where you leave that thing.

dokgu said:
The battery should be brand new as the phone was just recently purchased this April.
Anyways, so far no reboots have happened and any instability has not been shown at all. Everything looks ok, yet.
Anyone know if it is safe to swap batteries? Our phones have different S4 models. I'm not sure what the implications would be. Also what is this battery pull which acts as a reset? We've been pulling the battery a lot of times but the reboot still happens but not when we swapped batteries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This battery thing is wacky, anyway swapping batteries should not be a problem, it's just an energy storage container. Pulling the battery isn't like powering down the phone or resetting/rebooting ,sometimes devs request a battery pull to get the proper wipe effect that reboots can't provide.
You inadvertently solved your problem by accident. That's a good thing.
Pp.
sent from my P5113 using TouchPal mind control keyboard. (Beta)

PanchoPlanet said:
You inadvertently solved your problem by accident. That's a good thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have quite literally solved the vast majority of my problems this way.
Its a preferred method.
Sent from your phone. You should be more careful where you leave that thing.

Sometimes it's that "total disconnect "of power that kind of gets all the ducks lined up in a row and everything flows in the dynaflow.
Good.
Pp.
sent from my P5113 using TouchPal mind control keyboard. (Beta)

its very important topics and it might seen for every galaxy s4 users.just wonderful topics.

This exact same thing happened on my mother's 6-month old S3. If you're still wondering, you could try putting the old battery and running a CPU stress test app. It should increase the current draw and trigger a shutdown.
EDIT: whoops, sorry to kind of zombie. Didn't check the date.
Sent from my Galaxy S4