Develop Bugs

Data recovery through a flash dump

I was in the process of rooting my phone (and tried unlocking it) and I am not sure what happened but after the phone came back, I got the root but my data got wiped out. Apparently, I found out that some phones do this for security reasons. I must have been careless and done something wrong. Now, because Galaxy Nexus uses MTP, it is technically not possible to mount it as a disk drive and use conventional PC-based recovery software.
Theoretically speaking, shouldn't it be possible to take a flash dump of the internal disk and use an offline utility such as extundelete to recover my lost data? I saw this idea posted in this thread but no one followed up on it.
Any suggestions on how I can hack around?

EliteLegend said:
I was in the process of rooting my phone (and tried unlocking it) and I am not sure what happened but after the phone came back, I got the root but my data got wiped out. Apparently, I found out that some phones do this for security reasons. I must have been careless and done something wrong. Now, because Galaxy Nexus uses MTP, it is technically not possible to mount it as a disk drive and use conventional PC-based recovery software.
Theoretically speaking, shouldn't it be possible to take a flash dump of the internal disk and use an offline utility such as extundelete to recover my lost data? I saw this idea posted in this thread but no one followed up on it.
Any suggestions on how I can hack around?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically maybe.... if the partition is not zero'ed. But you would need to find some way to dump the userdata partition. You can't dump it to somewhere on the device, so you would need to somehow dump that partition to an external drive. Maybe you could look at trying this out. (I haven't had the chance to try it out myself yet.)

Did this work?
So, did this work?
I ran into the same problem with my nexus.
I have no skills with ADB at all, so before I jump into trying to learn anything to be able to take a flash dump, I was hoping that someone could report back as to whether or not this worked.
Thank you!
JR

whozamazinka said:
So, did this work?
I ran into the same problem with my nexus.
I have no skills with ADB at all, so before I jump into trying to learn anything to be able to take a flash dump, I was hoping that someone could report back as to whether or not this worked.
Thank you!
JR
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30706842
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Photo Recovery
During a recent trip outside the country, I purchased a prepaid sim card for my unlocked, bought directly from Google, Galaxy Nexus. During this time, the OTA update for JB was released and I updated my phone with the new firmware. After completing the update, I was unable to make phone calls or receive any signal whatsoever. I contacted my domestic carrier T-Mobile who instructed me to do a factory reset. Unfortunately, I did not make a back up of the video footage of my family (Holocaust survivors). Currently the phone does not have a baseband or IMEI number and I have been unable to recover my photos. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here is what I have done so far:
Photo Recovery
1. Attempted to restore a previous backup – No backup was made previously!!!!!!UGH!
2. Unlocked Bootloader with ADB. ADB Pull / Media – Nothing….
3. ADB pull / partition – Only received system files, no media files.
4. Tried to Use data recovery software PhotoRec. – would not recognize internal drive on Galaxy Nexus (USB Debugging on/off, Samsung drivers loaded correctly, Camera mode: nada)
5. Tried to use multiple different online photo recovery software. None could detect the phone’s drive when scanning.
IMEI/Baseband missing Issue
1. Re-flashed original firmware using WugFresh’s Nexus Root Toolkit. No dice.
2. Attempted to flash alternative ROM.
3. Re-flashed radio via NRToolkit and ADB
4. Attempted to use apps: HC-ktool, GetRill Premium- nada
The goal is to firstly restore the wiped data and retrieve the photos. Then to fix the missing baseband issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

buzzbox said:
During a recent trip outside the country, I purchased a prepaid sim card for my unlocked, bought directly from Google, Galaxy Nexus. During this time, the OTA update for JB was released and I updated my phone with the new firmware. After completing the update, I was unable to make phone calls or receive any signal whatsoever. I contacted my domestic carrier T-Mobile who instructed me to do a factory reset. Unfortunately, I did not make a back up of the video footage of my family (Holocaust survivors). Currently the phone does not have a baseband or IMEI number and I have been unable to recover my photos. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here is what I have done so far:
Photo Recovery
1.Attempted to restore a previous backup – No backup was made previously!!!!!!UGH!
2.Unlocked Bootloader with ADB. ADB Pull / Media – Nothing….
3.ADB pull / partition – Only received system files, no media files.
4.Tried to Use data recovery software PhotoRec. – would not recognize internal drive on Galaxy Nexus (USB Debugging on/off, Samsung drivers loaded correctly, Camera mode: nada)
5.Tried to use multiple different online photo recovery software. None could detect the phone’s drive when scanning.
IMEI/Baseband missing Issue
1.Re-flashed original firmware using WugFresh’s Nexus Root Toolkit. No dice.
2.Attempted to flash alternative ROM.
3.Re-flashed radio via NRToolkit and ADB
4.Attempted to use apps: HC-ktool, GetRill Premium- nada
The goal is to firstly restore the wiped data and retrieve the photos. Then to fix the missing baseband issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In your case I'm thinking you're s.o.l. First, when unlock the bootloader the phone gets wiped. So when you tried to pull....there was nothing to pull. Data recovery won't work because can't mount gnex as mass storage. Then you tried...three different flashes..? I'm gonna have to say it's gone. Just go back to stock.
*Shaolin Shadowboxing*

JediNinjafication said:
In your case I'm thinking you're s.o.l. First, when unlock the bootloader the phone gets wiped. So when you tried to pull....there was nothing to pull. Data recovery won't work because can't mount gnex as mass storage. Then you tried...three different flashes..? I'm gonna have to say it's gone. Just go back to stock.
*Shaolin Shadowboxing*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having the same issue as Buzzbox - i.e. missing baseband and IMEI. In my case JB 4.1.1 was working just fine, when the phone simply restarted, and the baseband and IMEI vanished.
Phone came with ICS, after which i had recieved OTA jellybean - but this was a month ago. Didnt install any custom ROMs.
To try and fix this, i flashed factory image of ICS - but still nothing on IMEI and baseband. Help please...

You can recover data from android phones with data recovery software, see this solution: android data recovery
helped me before. Easy to follow and worked well for me.

jameskasmonr said:
You can recover data from android phones with data recovery software, see this solution: android data recovery
helped me before. Easy to follow and worked well for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I had tried to do this but didn't work in my Note 10+.
I made the mistake of delete my phothos from OneDrive that was sincronized with the Samsung Gallery. Now I would like to recover the photos but until now I did not have sucess. Do you have sugestions how to recover my gallery?
My phone it's not rooted and I'm not an expert!
Thank you.

Factory Restore an Encrypted Galaxy S3

Model: Samsung Galaxy S3 AT&T i747
Hi!
I was forced to encrypt my galaxy s3 in order to receive corporate emails on my phone using the stock email app. However I never imagined that encrypting the phone would literally lock the memory and options to customize the phone.
I tried to root the phone to benefit from more flexibility and also debloat the phone. However during the rooting process, I could not mount /emmc/ when using ClockWorkRecovery in the startup menu. Based on what I found on the web, I figured it was due to the encryption.
I then tried to factory reset the phone to get rid of the encryption but I simply can't hard reset the phone from the OS or the startup menu. When doing the reset from the startup menu, the errors are "Can't mount /sdcard/". The reset continues but when the phone reboots, all my applications and personal data are there and the phone is still encrypted.
I read a lot about flashing a custom recovery via flashboot or ADB but I am reluctant to do it without guidance from the experts (you guys).
I deleted my corporate email account (It is my personal phone, I am not required to install exchange on it).
I tried to use an external sd card but as soon as the phone recoginizes it, I have to encrypt the card as well as a result from the corporate policies. I ejected the card and did not encrypt it.
I am new to android (long time iPhone user) and I would really appreciate your guidance on the methods to factory reset my phone or a different technique to get rid of the encryption because I am really stuck right now.

I have never encrypted an Android phone before. But maybe your response to these questions will serve as a "bump" to this thread.
1) What method did you use to encrypt the phone? Stock or 3rd party encryption?
2) Doesn't that same method also offer you the offer to unencrypt the phone?
3) If you used a stock method of encrypting the phone, then I'd assume your provider (AT&T?) tech support should be able to help you unencrypt it.

Eddie,
Thanks for your response.
1) I used stock method for encryption
2) Decrypt the phone is not possible apparently,only way is to factory restore the phone apparently
3) I went to the AT&T store and they were unable to factory restore (using the standard methods). They offered an exchange but since I purchase over the phone at a discounted price, I have to do the exchange using that method. Before shipping back the phone, I was wondering if I could fix it myself with the help of knowledgeable people.
CZ Eddie said:
I have never encrypted an Android phone before. But maybe your response to these questions will serve as a "bump" to this thread.
1) What method did you use to encrypt the phone? Stock or 3rd party encryption?
2) Doesn't that same method also offer you the offer to unencrypt the phone?
3) If you used a stock method of encrypting the phone, then I'd assume your provider (AT&T?) tech support should be able to help you unencrypt it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I have never used the encryption but if the phone can turn on and is usable, cant you go into the encryption settings and turn encryption off? then you should be able to do anything (may be best to start with a factory restore first just so you have a fresh slate to work with)

1ofAKind said:
Model: Samsung Galaxy S3 AT&T i747
Hi!
I was forced to encrypt my galaxy s3 in order to receive corporate emails on my phone using the stock email app. However I never imagined that encrypting the phone would literally lock the memory and options to customize the phone.
I tried to root the phone to benefit from more flexibility and also debloat the phone. However during the rooting process, I could not mount /emmc/ when using ClockWorkRecovery in the startup menu. Based on what I found on the web, I figured it was due to the encryption.
I then tried to factory reset the phone to get rid of the encryption but I simply can't hard reset the phone from the OS or the startup menu. When doing the reset from the startup menu, the errors are "Can't mount /sdcard/". The reset continues but when the phone reboots, all my applications and personal data are there and the phone is still encrypted.
I read a lot about flashing a custom recovery via flashboot or ADB but I am reluctant to do it without guidance from the experts (you guys).
I deleted my corporate email account (It is my personal phone, I am not required to install exchange on it).
I tried to use an external sd card but as soon as the phone recoginizes it, I have to encrypt the card as well as a result from the corporate policies. I ejected the card and did not encrypt it.
I am new to android (long time iPhone user) and I would really appreciate your guidance on the methods to factory reset my phone or a different technique to get rid of the encryption because I am really stuck right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1ofaKind,
Had EXACTLY the same thing happen to me. Encrypted my S3 in order to access work exchange server. Tried CWM but cannot mount /emmc/ problem after booting into recovery. Have not tried to factory reset yet as I am wanting to learn more before I go that route. But basically I am in the same boat as you. The only difference is I was not required to encrypt an external SD card when I put it in my phone. Read about flashboot as well...maybe the only way to actually factory reset after encryption??
Sorry I cannot offer any solutions at the moment...but I will keep scouring the forums looking for a way.
If I learn something valuable, I will try to post it here to help ya out.
EDIT: Maybe you have read these threads, but there is some decent info in them. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1451655 & http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1392037
good luck

Look into using Odin to restore a factory image.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

I'm in the same boat here - had to encrypt my GS3 in order to receive corporate (Exchange Server) emails. Now can't update the OS on the phone which is more important to me than receiving corporate emails on the device.
Can someone tell me how to decrypt (UN-encrypt) the phone? Everything I've read says that a factory reset won't do it.
Please help!

CZ Eddie said:
Look into using Odin to restore a factory image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone tried this? If so, did it work?

I clicked install rom from sd card in cwm selected f/w which i had copied into internal memory. Did factory reset in recovery.

Odin it back to stock.

This might be too late to help you guys, but here's what worked for me. I odined it back to stock. Then I went into recovery (volume down, power and home button) and selected wipe data/factory reset. This does of course erase all your data, so try to copy whatever you can onto a computer or something before doing this. You should end up with an unencrypted storage.

sid9102 said:
This might be too late to help you guys, but here's what worked for me. I odined it back to stock. Then I went into recovery (volume down, power and home button) and selected wipe data/factory reset. This does of course erase all your data, so try to copy whatever you can onto a computer or something before doing this. You should end up with an unencrypted storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ODIN will not recognize my phone when it is in download mode ...

tamon77 said:
ODIN will not recognize my phone when it is in download mode ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After you hit start, unplug then replug the usb from the computer. I had some issues with it not recognizing it either to flash stock, but when i messed with the cord, it made the noise that i unplugged and it started working. Same thing with the root injected, only this time i fully unplugged it when the fiddling with it didnt work. Make sure you replace it into the same com port.
so, i seem to be having the same problem as all of you, only i encrypted to protect my data from agents. So, right now, i am *hopefully* :fingers-crossed: installing the root injected JB now. I had many issues. TWRP and CWM were no help, couldnt see phone to add new roms to it. ODIN was the only hope. I booted into recovery after going back to stock, did a new factory reset and am installing the stock with root. When i let it boot, it didnt go to encryption this time, but the first time i flashed the stock, it did. This is a mess to say the least.
EDIT: YEAH! done. No encryption and i got root. i used the image from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 DLK3 worked for me. Good luck. i hope this helps. Ill be happy to explain more if you want.

tamon77 said:
ODIN will not recognize my phone when it is in download mode ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ODIN (for me at least) wont see anything since im using Windows 8. On Windows 7, however, it works just fine.

Factory reset encrypted phone
hi,
I'm using CM11 as a rom.
I didn't want to reinstall stock rom, just to root it again later.
Installing updated version from external SD didn't work (updated the ROM but no decryption)
Tried to factory reset from recovery - didn't work, as the internal storage is encrypted it can't mount /sdcard/
however, from within settings menu, in backup&restore there's an option to do a factory reset - this is formatting internal memory altogether.
worked like a charm.

oxidase said:
After you hit start, unplug then replug the usb from the computer. I had some issues with it not recognizing it either to flash stock, but when i messed with the cord, it made the noise that i unplugged and it started working. Same thing with the root injected, only this time i fully unplugged it when the fiddling with it didnt work. Make sure you replace it into the same com port.
so, i seem to be having the same problem as all of you, only i encrypted to protect my data from agents. So, right now, i am *hopefully* :fingers-crossed: installing the root injected JB now. I had many issues. TWRP and CWM were no help, couldnt see phone to add new roms to it. ODIN was the only hope. I booted into recovery after going back to stock, did a new factory reset and am installing the stock with root. When i let it boot, it didnt go to encryption this time, but the first time i flashed the stock, it did. This is a mess to say the least.
EDIT: YEAH! done. No encryption and i got root. i used the image from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 DLK3 worked for me. Good luck. i hope this helps. Ill be happy to explain more if you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand this is very old but I am going to make a note here in case anyone else gets into this problem. When you go back to stock, do the factory reset using the STOCK recovery. Don't install TWRP or anything else until you have cleared the encryption. At least, that's what worked for me.

[Q] Recovery bootloop after Odin/Kies/Heimdall STOCK flash, only boots to DL mode

Hi folks, long time reader, first time noob answer seeker.
I'm no stranger to rooting, flashing, hacking about and such - I even spend most of my day as a software engineer, and I've finally given up on this one - so here I am (rock me like a hurricane), please be kind.
SM-900T - It was rocking pretty darn well on Jedi Elite which I had flashed over rooted stock 4.3 MI7 - then (probably after one too many XPosed modules) it just kept rebooting randomly. Thinking it was no biggie, I thought I could just reflash to stock and call it a day. Thirteen or so flashes later, I gave up on 4.3 and figured I'd just take the thing up to 4.4.2 NB4 by upgrading everything to 4.4.2 via Kies.
That's when I first ran into the bootloop issue, read a lot about it, and managed to get it up(ish) on stock, rooted, with Philz 6.X... Couldn't flash a ROM to save myself and wound up with another soft brick.
Flash forward to Friday - decided to start from scratch again - attempted to flash stock 4.4.2 from Kies, from Odin, From Heimdall... Nothing seems to be able to get me out of the current state it's in:
Only boots to download mode. Flashes seem to work fine, but on that first reboot where it tries to go to stock recovery to finish up on the device itself, it never gets there - boot loops trying to load recovery no matter how it wants to get there. If I pull the battery and start up (either straight to system or by cancelling out of download mode), it boot loops trying to load system. Boots fine to download mode, where I attempt to flash again with the same results.
Yes, I've tried Odin 3.0.9, 3.0.7, 1.8.5, Heimdall on Mac, Heimdall on Windows, Kies on Mac, Kies on Windows - repartition via PIT and not. Installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled all software and drivers multiple times, tried multiple cables on multiple USB ports.... Most of the time it looks like it's going to be fine (sometimes the flash fails, usually through Kies), but never surivives that first reboot after the flash.
Every answer I've seen says to do the things I've already done or cannot do (flash stock via Odin, pull the battery and boot to stock recovery and do a factory reset - which I'd LOVE to do, but can't). No problem recognizing the sucker on the PC/Mac
Next step: try flashing a N9005 ROM...
Any other thoughts? I do have another N900T that's working but has a blacklisted IMEI, and I've been tempted to swap the IMEIs a last resort (although either I'm too dumb to make it stick, EFS pro says it succeeds in writing the IMEI after I do a EFS format, but it doesn't stick.... Either I'm missing something, or I need a UART cable) - is there a way of swapping just the radio hardware or just the internal storage? OR, is there a way of taking a full system image of my working phone and making an Odin-flashable tar from that?
Failing any of these options, perhaps I'll wait for an Odin-flashable 4.4.3 if such a thing exists - or, hope to get lucky and swap it out at a store praying they don't see I've tripped Knox.

Looks like you've tried almost everything. Take it in and have them swap it.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Coming from you...
noobtoob said:
Looks like you've tried almost everything. Take it in and have them swap it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from you (I have read, and am quite thankful for, many of your posts), sounds like that might be the best option, however disconcerting.

bondidave said:
Coming from you (I have read, and am quite thankful for, many of your posts), sounds like that might be the best option, however disconcerting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I do have a few ideas... Got done questions though.
1. Do you have an external SD card?
2. It goes all the way through flash on 4.4 even with heimdall?
3. Is there anything you have left out? Even the smallest detail can help, and by the op you are detail oriented, so I just need to know.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

... is there a way of taking a full system image of my working phone and making an Odin-flashable tar from that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but I don't have the details handy.
All your attempts suggest to me that you might have some damaged hardware which is causing data corruption during transfer. Open the back and take a good look at the USB port. Tighten the screws and try a transfer while firmly holding the cable in place -- don't move it while transferring.
If that doesn't work then let 'noobtoob' walk you through booting with the removable sdcard. Your second N900T will be needed to write the data to the sdcard. If this works then you can 'dd' write stock partitions to an sd card with #2 then 'dd' write them in #1.
If either of those works then unroot and take it in for warrenty exchange.
Frank

bondidave said:
... then (probably after one too many XPosed modules) it just kept rebooting randomly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This also indicates data corruption, and this is what started it all. Since you have tried various cables and computers that leaves the device, probably the USB port.
Frank

probably the USB port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swapped the main board with the working phone to rule out the USB port - still no luck.
Definitely interested in trying the boot from external SD, I'll do my own search for it, unless you can quickly provide me with a link - but if it's as easy as it sounds (booting off of an SD in order to be able to send ADB commands to dd copy the partitions from the good phone to SD then from the booted SD back to internal) - I'm happy to give it a shot.
Tempted just to swing by TMO just to see if they'll swap it "under warranty" (despite picking it up from a private sale) - the only way they would notice it's been "tampered" with would be to check the knox counter by attempting to run download mode.
Oh, and yes, it does go all the way through with the flash (at least in Odin - I haven't tried a full flash through heimdall, just boot and recovery, Kies occasionally goes through to the end, but sometimes craps out at the same 57% point at which point the emergency restore screen shows up)
Thanks again guys

bondidave said:
Swapped the main board with the working phone to rule out the USB port - still no luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, but I still think the problem was initially caused by corruption. Maybe the files you have been flashing are corrupt.
Definitely interested in trying the boot from external SD, I'll do my own search for it, unless you can quickly provide me with a link - but if it's as easy as it sounds (booting off of an SD in order to be able to send ADB commands to dd copy the partitions from the good phone to SD then from the booted SD back to internal) - I'm happy to give it a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the thread, it would be good to read the whole thing but if you need to save time begin at this message: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48685247&postcount=158
I have not tried this procedure yet but @noobtoob was actively involved in it.
Tempted just to swing by TMO just to see if they'll swap it "under warranty" (despite picking it up from a private sale) - the only way they would notice it's been "tampered" with would be to check the knox counter by attempting to run download mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please try the SD-boot first so that we can add that experience to this newly developed procedure.
Oh, and yes, it does go all the way through with the flash (at least in Odin - I haven't tried a full flash through heimdall, just boot and recovery, Kies occasionally goes through to the end, but sometimes craps out at the same 57% point at which point the emergency restore screen shows up)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have probably tried it, but if not, download fresh copies of everything and check the MD5 values.
Frank

Frank Westlake said:
OK, but I still think the problem was initially caused by corruption. Maybe the files you have been flashing are corrupt.
This is the thread, it would be good to read the whole thing but if you need to save time begin at this message: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48685247&postcount=158
I have not tried this procedure yet but @noobtoob was actively involved in it.
Please try the SD-boot first so that we can add that experience to this newly developed procedure.
You have probably tried it, but if not, download fresh copies of everything and check the MD5 values.
Frank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was for hard brick method and no one has verified it works on 4.4 KK yet. There is an image in there though. My mediafire shows it was downloaded 11 times, but yet not a single "this works on KitKat" response. Located here you will find the kkunbrick.img. There is still a problem flashing anything through heimdall after updating to the 4.4 bootloader, so there is no way to tell if the phone actually took the recovery. I have had to switch to Odin for everything afterwards, and in personal experience 3.07 works best with my phone.
@bondidave I was thinking skipping the sd-card trick for now, and trying just a few other things first. Do you have a nandroid of any 4.4 ROMS saved anywhere? I was going to say try and flash the stock image. After it gets through flash and tries to boot into recovery, go back directly to download mode. Flash philz or twrp, whatever you need to. Try and perform a recovery boot, wipe everything, and nandroid restore of a 4.4 if you have one.
Also if you have an external find the efs fix zip and have handy on an sd-card, do the same steps above except the nandroid restore. Basically if we can get into a recovery we should be ok. I had a similar issue when it was just booting over and over into download mode and this was how I fixed it. I have never used the efs fix zip, but many others swear by it. I was able to recover fortunately enough.
Last resort try the sd-card boot. I don't necessarily think it will work with this particular case as you do not have the dreaded QHUSB_MODE and your phone is still recognized by the computer(s) you have been using.
As far as making a complete system backup of your current phone, I highly recommend against it, unless you just want to extract information from it and not re-write it. This could definitely cause some system corruption on a new device.
If none of these methods work, then try and have them swap it under warranty.

Frank Westlake said:
You have probably tried it, but if not, download fresh copies of everything and check the MD5 values
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yessirreeebobbyjimmy, tried several copies from several different places - that and Kies is a moron and redownloads it every time anyways.

noobtoob said:
My mediafire shows it was downloaded 11 times, but yet not a single "this works on KitKat" response.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I download these things just to have them handy if something fails.
Do you have a nandroid of any 4.4 ROMS saved anywhere? I was going to say try and flash the stock image. After it gets through flash and tries to boot into recovery, go back directly to download mode. Flash philz or twrp, whatever you need to. Try and perform a recovery boot, wipe everything, and nandroid restore of a 4.4 if you have one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think he got that far into installing 4.4, but I recommend not using anything that was saved after this problem began. If the problem was caused by corruption then the restore will reinstall the corruption.
Last resort try the sd-card boot. I don't necessarily think it will work with this particular case as you do not have the dreaded QHUSB_MODE and your phone is still recognized by the computer(s) you have been using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the problem is bad USB or other bad hardware causing corruption during transfer then the SD-card boot will get past that, then transferring the rest of the partitions by SD-card will continue to be corruption-free. He could then trade-in the phone.
But you are right -- he should try everything else before the SD-card boot. Because if something else succeeds then maybe the hardware is fine, and if he went immediately to SD-card boot he wouldn't know that.
Frank

Thanks for the advice guys - I'm going to try the backup from my other phone, then the efs fix, then the sd-card boot... I'll report back, wish me luck.

A nandroid previous failure, or a ROM install from external SD card was all I meant.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

I got some answers I was looking for here. Glad I read this thread.

Lorettaa said:
I got some answers I was looking for here. Glad I read this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad something good came out of my frustration!
Here's a quick update: I've done everything but the boot from SD card with no luck (and actually thought I had hard(er?) bricked it for a while after trying to copy over a few images from the other phone - turns out it needed to stay with the battery out for at least 20 minutes).
Good news - walked into a TMO brick-and-mortar last night, showed the guy my endless bootloop, and a replacement is on its way to my house for an affordable $20 warranty service fee.
At this point, I'm thinking the internal flash memory is just bad - as a software engineer, I'm ok with chalking this one up to a hardware issue (as much as I was hoping that my first post on XDA would result in some new profound solution to a longstanding issue common to a few folks).
Oh well - new Note 3 on it's way, and a new S5 shortly behind it (didn't hold out much hope on TMO hooking me up, so I ordered an S5)... let the battle of the Samsungs begin!
Thanks again to you guys who helped out - and the whole XDA community in general, I am very grateful.

Finally you made it fix and enjoy the battle between your phones

Well, sucks it couldn't be fixed, but glad you got a replacement on the way. It pretty much sounded like the partitions were well over written before we attempted anything, but always worth a shot.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Yes, but I don't have the details handy.
All your attempts suggest to me that you might have some damaged hardware which is causing data corruption during transfer. Open the back and take a good look at the USB port. Tighten the screws and try a transfer while firmly holding the cable in place -- don't move it while transferring. :good:

[Q] Bricked Phone...Peculiar Situation

Hey guys,
First off, I've searched far and wide for any help with my problem but it is such a peculiar situation that I have yet to find someone with a similar situation. I expect if I want to ever use my M8 again, I'll need to send it to HTC and pay a few hundred bucks to fix it. But maybe someone here will have an idea that I've missed.
Shortly after getting my M8, I unlocked my device, rooted it and installed a few roms. Everything was fine save for one major thing: no matter which PC I used (and I used MANY - 3 different windows destops, a windows desktop at the office and my Macbook Pro) the device was never able to mount and make the storage accessible. I knew at that point something at some point had gone wrong. I've long preferred to use a wireless file transfer app to send stuff to and from my phone so I wouldn't have to break out all my cables so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I'd make it work.
A few days ago, I decided to try a different rom than what I'd been using for months (HD Revolution - great rom!) and downloaded everything required. I booted to TWRP, wiped the usual stuff and flashed my rom. When I rebooted, I was continually met with a crash as soon as the phone started and was never able to get into the OS. No big deal - this has happened before with other devices, so I didn't sweat it. I simply powered down the phone and tried to get back to recovery. Here's where the problem really kicked in : when attempting to boot to recovery, my phone will bring up the Hboot screen but instantly try to select the first option, thus not allowing me to scroll down to "Recovery". No matter what I do, it brings up the white Hboot screen, automatically selects the first option, gives me some error (I'm at work so I don't have the device in front of me) and tries to boot to the OS. That takes us back to the automatic crash.
Now, I know usually the solution would involve USB and ADB, but like I mentioned at the start of my sad tale, connecting my phone to PC's results either in nothing (Mac) or a "the device has failed" message in Windows. I've tried removing all the phone drivers, reinstalling and using a few toolkit methods - the phone is just never ever detected.
So, that's it. I'm pretty much resigned to sending my phone in and the HTC folks quoted me about $200. I do have a functional phone at the moment so it isn't the worst situation in the world, but if I could fix this I'd be able to using it as my main device again or sell it for a good chunk of change - I just bought it in June.
Sorry for the long read!

As far as the storage issue, never seen that happen before so I'm not sure. When you plug it in to the computer does the phone ask if you want to connect it as a storage device etc?
The bootloader is a very peculiar problem. It almost sounds like you have an img file that its trying to read as soon as you boot into boot loader.
Try to install HTC sync. And make sure the computer has an internet connection when you plug it in via usb.

Try to flash stock recovery fw buddy
Maybe thats problem RUU
Cek mike blg to find all stock recovery fw
After that install custom recovery again

This sounds a little familiar.
In my experience I've found some firmware versions and ROMs very choppy.
I once had a problem with storage too, couldn't send anything over to my phone.
Fortunately I could access recovery, so used ADB sideload and installed another ROM. And went to another firmware and never looked back.
The last 401.6 firmware gave me all sorts of issue.
If you can access fastboot I'd also recommend new firmware 401.7 is working flawlessly for me with ARHD 21.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app

I would try putting one of the bootable ruus on your SD card so when it goes to your hboot, it'll read the RUU and install it

Awesome, some interesting suggestions here. Would I be able to somehow update the firmware via an SD card without any input from a computer? I managed to get into Recovery last night somehow (maybe letting the battery totally drain and charging it for a while did something) but plugging in my phone when in recovery still won't mount the storage or be recognized by ADB. Would I somehow be able update my firmware from recovery without the need of ADB'ing from my desktop? I've been looking at ROM threads and stuff and noticed that almost every rom requires new firmware or WiFI/radios other stuff won't work....
I'm at work right now so I'll definitely research this in depth when I get home, but if you guys could guide me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it and maybe buy ya' a beer.

Xavierc123 said:
Awesome, some interesting suggestions here. Would I be able to somehow update the firmware via an SD card without any input from a computer? I managed to get into Recovery last night somehow (maybe letting the battery totally drain and charging it for a while did something) but plugging in my phone when in recovery still won't mount the storage or be recognized by ADB. Would I somehow be able update my firmware from recovery without the need of ADB'ing from my desktop? I've been looking at ROM threads and stuff and noticed that almost every rom requires new firmware or WiFI/radios other stuff won't work....
I'm at work right now so I'll definitely research this in depth when I get home, but if you guys could guide me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it and maybe buy ya' a beer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download a rom that can use the 2.xx firmware. Look around and you should be able to find the roms. There's still plenty out there. Here's a little suggestion, reflash TWRP (or other recovery) through fastboot than grab a SD card and place the rom into the SD card and install the rom using through the use of a SD card. Just remember to do a full wipe before that

Stuck in recovery loop after failed 5.1 update

Hello –
I have an HTC One M9 (AT&T) which is stock and unrooted. Apparently a failed 5.1 update while traveling abroad has caused my phone to get stuck in recovery mode. Rebooting the phone or powering down simply brings the phone back to recovery. I am hoping there might be a way to update a stock ROM or force an OTA update without losing any of the internal data on the phone. Alternatively I was hoping I could pull the photos from the phone before wiping or returning the phone.
My only options on this screen are to:
reboot system now; apply update from ADB; wipe data/factory reset; wipe cache partition; reboot to bootloader; power down; view recovery logs; apply from phone storage; apply from sd card
I have tried all options multiple times, but I have not tried a factory reset because all of my pictures from my trip are still on the internal memory of the phone.
Unfortunately I never enabled USB debugging before the device failure, so I believe my options with ADB and “pulling” the files are limited. Nonetheless, my phone won’t communicate effectively with my PC or laptop while in recovery mode, my PC and laptop only recognize that an Android device is connected while in bootloader or download mode.
I have been told by HTC that my only option is to download and update the ROM that is available on their website to the phone, but this will erase all data on my phone.
Is there any other possible option for me that can kick my phone out of recovery mode, or extract the photos from the internal storage? Is there a different ROM or OTA update I can use that will retain my data once installed?
Thanks!

awhaley3 said:
Hello –
I have an HTC One M9 (AT&T) which is stock and unrooted. Apparently a failed 5.1 update while traveling abroad has caused my phone to get stuck in recovery mode. Rebooting the phone or powering down simply brings the phone back to recovery. I am hoping there might be a way to update a stock ROM or force an OTA update without losing any of the internal data on the phone. Alternatively I was hoping I could pull the photos from the phone before wiping or returning the phone.
My only options on this screen are to:
reboot system now; apply update from ADB; wipe data/factory reset; wipe cache partition; reboot to bootloader; power down; view recovery logs; apply from phone storage; apply from sd card
I have tried all options multiple times, but I have not tried a factory reset because all of my pictures from my trip are still on the internal memory of the phone.
Unfortunately I never enabled USB debugging before the device failure, so I believe my options with ADB and “pulling” the files are limited. Nonetheless, my phone won’t communicate effectively with my PC or laptop while in recovery mode, my PC and laptop only recognize that an Android device is connected while in bootloader or download mode.
I have been told by HTC that my only option is to download and update the ROM that is available on their website to the phone, but this will erase all data on my phone.
Is there any other possible option for me that can kick my phone out of recovery mode, or extract the photos from the internal storage? Is there a different ROM or OTA update I can use that will retain my data once installed?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could unlock through HTCdev and flash twrp recovery. Once booted into TWRP you should be able to see your phone from your computer, the same as you would if it was booted into the OS. Steps 1-5 here will walk you through what i'm talking about (see post #3).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/one-m9/help/m9-5-1-os-rootable-t3159710
BUT...You probably need to weigh how important the stuff you'll lose is to you because unlocking *could* cause issues if you need to send for repair or warranty swap.

jollywhitefoot said:
You could unlock through HTCdev and flash twrp recovery. Once booted into TWRP you should be able to see your phone from your computer, the same as you would if it was booted into the OS. Steps 1-5 here will walk you through what i'm talking about (see post #3).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/one-m9/help/m9-5-1-os-rootable-t3159710
BUT...You probably need to weigh how important the stuff you'll lose is to you because unlocking *could* cause issues if you need to send for repair or warranty swap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for the instructions. I believe I may try to go this route, but to be sure, step #1 (unlocking the bootloader) in your link says that the unlocking process will wipe the internal storage? Is this correct, or am I missing something?
And ultimately, the goal is to get into TWRP so that my PC recognizes the phone and sees the storage device? Many thanks for your time and effort.

awhaley3 said:
Thank you very much for the instructions. I believe I may try to go this route, but to be sure, step #1 (unlocking the bootloader) in your link says that the unlocking process will wipe the internal storage? Is this correct, or am I missing something?
And ultimately, the goal is to get into TWRP so that my PC recognizes the phone and sees the storage device? Many thanks for your time and effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. Yeah. It definitely does wipe storage. I wasn't thinking clearly. Thanks for reading for yourself and asking that. Sorry for the misinformation.

jollywhitefoot said:
Lol. Yeah. It definitely does wipe storage. I wasn't thinking clearly. Thanks for reading for yourself and asking that. Sorry for the misinformation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry about it, I've accepted that I am pretty much out of options and will most likely have to wipe the phone for whatever solution I choose. Thanks again for the information and such a detailed response; it is greatly appreciated since I'm so new to all of this.

awhaley3 said:
Don't worry about it, I've accepted that I am pretty much out of options and will most likely have to wipe the phone for whatever solution I choose. Thanks again for the information and such a detailed response; it is greatly appreciated since I'm so new to all of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the last thing you could try would be to download and place the update file (renamed to 0PJAIMG.zip) on an external SD card (32gb or less, formatted FAT32) and boot to download mode. I've never flashed a file this way but many people around here have. For more information, just search 0PJAIMG.
I can upload the package to my drive, but it will take a while. In the meantime, I'll do a quick search to see if anyone else has uploaded it.

awhaley3 said:
Don't worry about it, I've accepted that I am pretty much out of options and will most likely have to wipe the phone for whatever solution I choose. Thanks again for the information and such a detailed response; it is greatly appreciated since I'm so new to all of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a link to the OTA pkg I uploaded.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8OH6sFjVE1lb0xEazA2c0RwRUE/view?usp=sharing

jollywhitefoot said:
Well, the last thing you could try would be to download and place the update file (renamed to 0PJAIMG.zip) on an external SD card (32gb or less, formatted FAT32) and boot to download mode. I've never flashed a file this way but many people around here have. For more information, just search 0PJAIMG.
I can upload the package to my drive, but it will take a while. In the meantime, I'll do a quick search to see if anyone else has uploaded it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting the following error when trying to flash via the 0PJAIMG.zip method:
Failed -2, 14: fail to flash via downloadzip
I cannot find anyone else with this particular error, and I'm not sure what would be causing it. I'm going to do a bit more digging after work tomorrow. Maybe this error means that any update file will fail to flash, but would it be worth trying to flash the March 23, 2015 update? In Download mode it shows that I have the new OS number but the date shows March 23 2015, the date of the prior update.
The thing is I cannot locate a .zip for the March 2015 update, I'm only able to find non-US versions online, do you have any recommendations for where to find one?

awhaley3 said:
I'm getting the following error when trying to flash via the 0PJAIMG.zip method:
Failed -2, 14: fail to flash via downloadzip
I cannot find anyone else with this particular error, and I'm not sure what would be causing it. I'm going to do a bit more digging after work tomorrow. Maybe this error means that any update file will fail to flash, but would it be worth trying to flash the March 23, 2015 update? In Download mode it shows that I have the new OS number but the date shows March 23 2015, the date of the prior update.
The thing is I cannot locate a .zip for the March 2015 update, I'm only able to find non-US versions online, do you have any recommendations for where to find one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry that didn't work for you. I figured it was a hail mary. I'm pretty much out of ideas now, too.
I don't know about the March 15 OTA files.

jollywhitefoot said:
Sorry that didn't work for you. I figured it was a hail mary. I'm pretty much out of ideas now, too.
I don't know about the March 15 OTA files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I was thinking it was a long shot too anyway. Many thanks for trying to help and giving me ideas! Unfortunately I exhausted all my options without any luck. I resorted to a factory reset and flashing of the stock OTA and the phone was still unresponsive, so I had to send it in for a replacement.