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Hi everybody!
I figure we should have a thread dedicated to telling horror stories about flashes gone wrong. Whether it's because of power failures, bad USB cables, poorly labeled packages, or pure user error, we've all had that moment of worry: "Did I just turn my device into a paperweight?"
It's my hope that, by sharing these stories, we can help each other realize that we're all human, we all make mistakes, and most mistakes can be recovered from. Don't be afraid to share your stories; we can't learn from each other's mistakes if nobody talks about them!
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My first story is from my Telus SGS3 (I747M, you'll see why that matters in a moment) and is definitely a user-error kind of story.
I've been playing around with CM10 and its derivatives for the past month or two (got my SGS3 on release day and it wasn't running Samsung software 3 hours later) and I'm not new to Android, having run XDAndroid on my HTC Diamond, and bouncing between CM7 and CM9 on my Milestone. The first thing I did when I got my SGS3 was a full block device backup using DD from the command line, which is the only reason I don't have a paperweight today.
I decided to try out Paranoid Android over a week ago and I've been loving it, so I haven't been flashing much lately. But, when I got back from vacation and saw that CM10 had gone into nightly builds, I couldn't resist the temptation to try a clean install. I've got folders on my SD card for ROMs, GApps, kernels, recoveries, and anything else flashable just to make my life easier. Apparently at some point I downloaded an AT&T (I747, no M) modem, stuck it in a "/modems/" folder with the rest of my flashables, but realized that it wouldn't work on my device, so I never used it. I then promptly forgot that I had put it on the SD card, and it had a fairly cryptic filename. Away I went, flashing CM10, GApps, a nice bootscreen, and... the modem.
Dammit. :crying:
At this point, I was running the newest CM10 build, but with a borked modem. I thought I had fallen victim to the IMEI bug that's been going around, but then I remembered something about that modem file not being usable on a Telus device... And had no idea how to get back to a working state. I already knew that none of my nandroid backups would have the modem in them, and the only "stock" flashables I could find were rooted kernels and a nearly-700MB "stock" package that wouldn't download any faster than 10 kb/s. I couldn't wait 20 hours for a download, I wanted my phone now! I tried using Odin with a few of the TAR packages I found, but that only made my situation worse to the point of failing to boot entirely, even restoring a nandroid wasn't helping anymore.
I started digging through the forums in the hope that someone had ripped the Telus modem into a CWM flashable zip, but had no luck. I tried both the Rogers and Bell modems with the same results. That's when I remembered that I had done a block backup, but I had no idea which block device was the modem, and my phone wouldn't even boot up to let me MTP the files over. I was left with CWM recovery as my only option, and had to ADB push 2.5 GB of .img files to the SD card, and DD them one at a time through the ADB shell.
Somehow, it all worked out, and I was back to running Stock Touchwiz with root, and was then able to restore a nandroid from yesterday and amazingly enough Paranoid Android booted up, happy as ever, and in came my emails and text messages. I know I'm lucky that my IMEI didn't get lost in that mess, but it just goes to show that there's no such thing as a backup being "too extensive". You never know when "mmcblk0p99" needs to be replaced with a known working copy.
I do believe im going to flash a stock/rooted ROM and then do a dd backup.
What options do you set for your backups?
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
I did as follows:
Code:
cd /dev/block/
ls
(get the list of mmcblk devices from here)
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/dd/blk0p1 bs=4096
...
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p99 of=/sdcard/dd/blk0p99 bs=4096
Obviously you shouldn't have 99 partitions... but you get the idea. I ran each line manually.
Then just move the /dd/ folder off your /sdcard/ and onto some safe storage.
I bought my device off someone from Craigslist 2 nights ago. Went home with device working great. Decided to update from ICS to JB, downloaded everything on the ol gaming machine, go to update using Kies, then BAM! Hung update, bricks phone immediately. Woo....great experience after dropping $400 on phone lol. Contacted Samsung support who told me my update wouldn't work until I registered? I told him it bricked my phone and it wasn't being picked up by computer anymore and I wanted to go back to ICS, he apparently thought waiting 24 hours would fix driver issues. Found JB official rom and learned about Odin. Worked at it until 2-ish am, never worked, woke up, did ICS instead same method, worked immediately, then update worked.
Moral of story? Don't trust Samsung apparently, go with 3rd party everything....
Can we share from other devices? Because I've had a serious one with my nitro HD lol.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
After having my phone on stock rooted touch wiz since day one I was tempted to go jellybean... So months later I'd say Octoberish I finally said f**k it I'm going aokp... So I ran the task and k toonsen romantic for a while until they started porting the t mobile jelly bean stock tw rom... It made me miss tw and it's awesome camera app... So I flashed it after a week or so upon its release... First thing I noticed was the phone would get txts and phone calls rarely (keep in mind I'm in an lte area) and it became un bare able after about an hour. So I reverted back to my aokp nandroid and just figured I'd call it a day... But when I restored my nandroid my service was still messed up.. So after a bit of gooogling I checked my phone status to find my imei to be 0!!! I was beyond upset... So I tried re flashing stock in Odin and everything else I could find (unfortunately the imei restorer wasn't existent yet) and it came to the point where I left it stock and went to the att repair center down the road... The guy didn't know what was wrong with it and I just played dumb... After about 30 mins he came to the conclusion that my sim card slot was broken and I got a new phone...
After getting this one back home I instantly rooted it again
I've been staying away from those ported tmobile roms ever since
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747
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rani9990 said:
Can we share from other devices? Because I've had a serious one with my nitro HD lol.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I dont see why not. All stories are interesting lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
No bad flashes .... Yet?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Alright then,
It was my first day with the LG Nitro HD. My first smartphone (don't comment xD) and I was prepared to root and flash the living crap out of it. Done with rooting, now to install CWM. Simple enough, right? WRONG. This was the one time where google was not my friend. I followed a horribly misleading guide, and ended up with a paperweight. Turns out I flashed the recovery image to the secondary bootloader partition, thereby bricking my phone completely and utterly, irreparably. Had to ship it off to LG, and they fixed it, no questions asked. Thank God for that...
I had an HTC Touch Pro on Sprint. You had to flash a stock ROM before flashing a new custom ROM or the phone would stop working properly after almost exactly an hour. The file system would become completely messed up but the OS would keep running from RAM. It would fail to reboot after that. It was such a pain that I updated my phone every ~3-4 months.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
This one actually just happened this weekend.
So I finally got bored of having stock ICS on my i747 (Rogers), and since I loved cm 7/9 on my SGS2, I figured I'd go with the latest (15 dec) CM10 nightly.
downloaded to phone, rebooted in recovery, wiped data and cache, and installed the new firmware.
booted up and I've got no (or inconsistant) cell service. Figure it's a bug that hasn't been fixed, so no biggie, I backed up a week ago, so I decided to revert back to stock for the time being.
go through the process, and discover I still only have EDGE data.... WTF?
So I do some reading *AFTER the fact, hur dur...* and discover the IMEI wipe issue, and surprise surprise, I didn't do an NV backup, since I didn't know it'd get wiped.
Spent a couple hours keeping the phone / computer away from the 13 month old while I replace the IMEI NV data.... Still stuck on EDGE.... at least my IMEI is showing up though.
Nick
Odin back to stock worked for me when that happened to me.... YMMV.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
The night I got my phone, I rooted via odin and when it booted, I'd get a framework FC every 90 seconds or so. It took me almost two hours to get cwm recovery on my phone to flash AOKP. Not a brick, but since I hadn't even activated it, yet....not happy.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Each Phone an Adventure
I can completely relate to all of you. Though I'm new as a member (thought I already had an account but apparently I didn't), I've been using the forum for a long time. I have rooted four phones to date, each with its' own disaster story and happy ending. My latest was the AT&T S3. While not a disaster entirely, the no flash counter guide ended up not working out for me. So I paved my own trail so to speak and I found all the root dependencies (Recovery, ROM, the works) by myself. The entire process took me about a day. I also used TriangleAway which threatened explosions if anything went wrong and thankfully nothing did. I'm glad I never had to send a phone back, I've always been very cautious about any type of flashing and always read the forum before doing it.
When I was on the captivate, I really wanted JB so I thought I could grab the Nexus S JB ROM cause the devices were so close to each other. Flashed it via Odin. Good God was that a mistake. I couldn't get back to download mode using the button combo since the button mapping was all switched up. I had this one cable that would give me bad connection, so I jiggled that around in the port for 35 minutes trying to get download mode. Finally, I got it and flashed the stock package. Learned my lesson, will never flash something from a different phone or anything that won't work 100%.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
goobs408 said:
When I was on the captivate, I really wanted JB so I thought I could grab the Nexus S JB ROM cause the devices were so close to each other. Flashed it via Odin. Good God was that a mistake. I couldn't get back to download mode using the button combo since the button mapping was all switched up. I had this one cable that would give me bad connection, so I jiggled that around in the port for 35 minutes trying to get download mode. Finally, I got it and flashed the stock package. Learned my lesson, will never flash something from a different phone or anything that won't work 100%.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing about the Captivate was, no matter what ROM you flashed, the jig ALWAYS worked. It saved my ass quite a few times, until that is, the memory in the phone decided to die. I could flash through Odin as much as I wanted and it would pass everytime, but never go past the boot animation.
Dave the Knave said:
The thing about the Captivate was, no matter what ROM you flashed, the jig ALWAYS worked. It saved my ass quite a few times, until that is, the memory in the phone decided to die. I could flash through Odin as much as I wanted and it would pass everytime, but never go past the boot animation.
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Click to collapse
Flash stock GB with forgot name of kernel baked in. After that in cwm recovery partition external SD card.. then reflash in Odin then install whatever ROM u want
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
Trying to use Kies to flash anything. That's always a bad story for me
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Don't attempt to explain to a friend of little flashing knowledge how to root their phone. He hard bricked my phone. Odin is easy if you read but he turned it into rocket science and yeah.. Had to wait for another phone
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Well let me begin by saying I have a Galaxy Nexus and have been flashing roms, etc like it's going outta style. It's very simple to me and I am no newb. So with this logic in mind, I got a brand new GS3 the other day and proceeded to do the same. First, it took my a while to realize there are so many variants of our phone, then when I did a search I saw that there was a i9305 that is LTE....you already know where this is going. I figured that was the correct variant, spent like an hour trying to install a recovery because of the auto wipe feature and thus increasing the flash counter to 10+ (wtf!). Finally I download a rom, flash it. Freezes half way through (knew that wasn't good) and when I pull the battery, BAM, bricked phone.
After some more reading, not only did I find out the correct way of flashing to not increase the counter but also that the Canadian versions are the i747! Luckily it happened a day after I got it and I switched it out for a new one. Moral of the story: If you are flash happy and think all phones are like the Nexus, that's your biggest mistake! lol
I bought two new SG3's yesterday for my sons, and immediately commenced to root one of them via the "Easy Root" method in a how-to here (ODIN recovery, flash root.zip, rooted). I encountered all kinds of issues where no recovery (CWM, TWRP, or even a stock recovery image) would mount anything. I finally read here on XDA where the stock root that comes with the Toolkit works, so I tried that and now I'm back to stock recovery but, of course, an non-rooted phone. I didn't try to do any of this on the second phone after encountering so many issues. I assumed that something may have changed with this latest update and that this root method may not work anymore.
Anyway....
When I boot the phone that I attempted to root to stock recovery, the little Android is dead on his back with an exclamation point in a triangle. Everything seems to work though -- I can wipe cache, browse around the SD card and cache, etc. I assumed it was because of my dinking around with root and that the phone was now cranky because the flash count was at like 5 or 6 by now. However, I then booted the phone that I didn't dink around with to stock recovery and noticed that the Android was dead for it, too! I've done nothing to this second phone that a 75-year-old first-time smartphone user wouldn't do.
So my question: Is this normal? Is this something that happens when you force it into stock recovery or is there something wrong with these two phones, above and beyond the apparent inability to be rooted (at least at the moment)?
internetpilot said:
I bought two new SG3's yesterday for my sons, and immediately commenced to root one of them via the "Easy Root" method in a how-to here (ODIN recovery, flash root.zip, rooted). I encountered all kinds of issues where no recovery (CWM, TWRP, or even a stock recovery image) would mount anything. I finally read here on XDA where the stock root that comes with the Toolkit works, so I tried that and now I'm back to stock recovery but, of course, an non-rooted phone. I didn't try to do any of this on the second phone after encountering so many issues. I assumed that something may have changed with this latest update and that this root method may not work anymore.
Anyway....
When I boot the phone that I attempted to root to stock recovery, the little Android is dead on his back with an exclamation point in a triangle. Everything seems to work though -- I can wipe cache, browse around the SD card and cache, etc. I assumed it was because of my dinking around with root and that the phone was now cranky because the flash count was at like 5 or 6 by now. However, I then booted the phone that I didn't dink around with to stock recovery and noticed that the Android was dead for it, too! I've done nothing to this second phone that a 75-year-old first-time smartphone user wouldn't do.
So my question: Is this normal? Is this something that happens when you force it into stock recovery or is there something wrong with these two phones, above and beyond the apparent inability to be rooted (at least at the moment)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been a long time since I've dealt with custom recoveries, but I believe that's just the normal background for it. It's like you're tinkering with the inner working of an Android (wiping cache, etc), so you've opened up the green robot.
That's what I recall from when I still had stock about 9 months ago...
If it shows up like that, that means you have the stock recovery...use GooManager or Rom Manager to install a custom recovery while booted up.
Sent from my buttered S3
Hmmm...any other time I've been in a stock recovery, I remember the Android being standing with that spinning wireframe in front of him. that's what displays when I successfully wipe the cache. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong and I'm being paranoid since I'm still deep in issues with being able to install a working custom recovery.
Hey, I'd love to install a custom recovery via GooManager or ROM Manager, but none of the custom recoveries are working on my SG3's. Nothing will mount so I'm stuck with stock recovery until someone more knowledgeable than me figures outwhat Sprint and/or Samsung did with the latest SG3's.
internetpilot said:
Hmmm...any other time I've been in a stock recovery, I remember the Android being standing with that spinning wireframe in front of him. that's what displays when I successfully wipe the cache. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong and I'm being paranoid since I'm still deep in issues with being able to install a working custom recovery.
Hey, I'd love to install a custom recovery via GooManager or ROM Manager, but none of the custom recoveries are working on my SG3's. Nothing will mount so I'm stuck with stock recovery until someone more knowledgeable than me figures outwhat Sprint and/or Samsung did with the latest SG3's.
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Click to collapse
I don't know why you're having these problems but the newest update (md4) roots exactly like any other software on the s3... I and many have done it plenty of times, it roots exactly the same way... Not sure why your recovery won't mount anything but somebody else also had this problem just today... You could always try to Odin in an earlier build (lj7 maybe) and try to root from there
“It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power."” ― David Brin
flastnoles11 said:
I don't know why you're having these problems but the newest update (md4) roots exactly like any other software on the s3... I and many have done it plenty of times, it roots exactly the same way... Not sure why your recovery won't mount anything but somebody else also had this problem just today... You could always try to Odin in an earlier build (lj7 maybe) and try to root from there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think something changed on the newest batch of S3's. I'm sure the OTA S3's are still rootable with this method but for some reason the brand new ones aren't. I've found at least a dozen other people complaining about the same thing only with brand new S3's.
Unfortunately I had a limited window of time to root these two phones and get them set up before going on vacation, so the phones are in use now and there's no way to backup and restore the existing configuration, data, etc.without like a day of downtime and basically starting over. And even then it's not a sure thing that reverting to an older stock ROM will work. I'll just wait for someone to figure it out and then root the phones later.
But there's definitely something new going on here. Its happening to too many people now. At least my sanity is confirmed!
internetpilot said:
I think something changed on the newest batch of S3's. I'm sure the OTA S3's are still rootable with this method but for some reason the brand new ones aren't. I've found at least a dozen other people complaining about the same thing only with brand new S3's.
Unfortunately I had a limited window of time to root these two phones and get them set up before going on vacation, so the phones are in use now and there's no way to backup and restore the existing configuration, data, etc.without like a day of downtime and basically starting over. And even then it's not a sure thing that reverting to an older stock ROM will work. I'll just wait for someone to figure it out and then root the phones later.
But there's definitely something new going on here. Its happening to too many people now. At least my sanity is confirmed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you decide to root again here is a prerooted Odin build for mc3, after successfully flashing via Odin you will be rooted and can flash up to md4 from there... There is a prerooted that wipes everything and one that wipes and restores, make sure you read carefully and flash the one you need http://www.sxtpdevelopers.com/showthread.php?t=207
“It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power."” ― David Brin
flastnoles11 said:
When you decide to root again here is a prerooted Odin build for mc3, after successfully flashing via Odin you will be rooted and can flash up to md4 from there... There is a prerooted that wipes everything and one that wipes and restores, make sure you read carefully and flash the one you need http://www.sxtpdevelopers.com/showthread.php?t=207
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this. I'm not going to attempt root again until I can get a working custom recovery going.
internetpilot said:
Thanks for this. I'm not going to attempt root again until I can get a working custom recovery going.
Click to expand...
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That build will do it all.. It is prerooted, includes the custom recovery... Just like flashing a custom rom with recovery except you do it with Odin
flastnoles11 said:
That build will do it all.. It is prerooted, includes the custom recovery... Just like flashing a custom rom with recovery except you do it with Odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm...but I wonder if that will end up with a working recovery or if I'll be in the same boat I am now, but with an older stock ROM?
I'm just really hesitant to try anything until someone figures out what Sprint/Samsung did with this latest batch of S3's. It's probably something relatively simple to overcome, but I'm not mobile tech enough to even guess what that is. I can't really end up with sons' new phones bricked (even soft bricked).
internetpilot said:
Hmmm...but I wonder if that will end up with a working recovery or if I'll be in the same boat I am now, but with an older stock ROM?
I'm just really hesitant to try anything until someone figures out what Sprint/Samsung did with this latest batch of S3's. It's probably something relatively simple to overcome, but I'm not mobile tech enough to even guess what that is. I can't really end up with sons' new phones bricked (even soft bricked).
Click to expand...
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You may be waiting a long time then since most devs either already have the phone or have already moved to other phones... Unless a Dev happens to pick one up with the same problems you're probably S.o.l... And I'm 95%sure they didn't change anything, some phones just have issues on certain builds, there have been plenty of people the last month and even the last week reporting successfully rooting with the same method you used...
You really have nothing to lose, if it doesnt work you can just Odin full stock and be in the exact same place you are now
flastnoles11 said:
You may be waiting a long time then since most devs either already have the phone or have already moved to other phones... Unless a Dev happens to pick one up with the same problems you're probably S.o.l... And I'm 95%sure they didn't change anything, some phones just have issues on certain builds, there have been plenty of people the last month and even the last week reporting successfully rooting with the same method you used...
You really have nothing to lose, if it doesnt work you can just Odin full stock and be in the exact same place you are now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. I always forget the Odin option for when recovery fails. But I'd be without the data and current configuration (basically starting from scratch).
In the last two days I've seen posts from over a dozen people now who are encountering this issue with brand new Sprint S3's. I'm kinda hoping more and more people encounter this problem increasing the chances of it being resolved... Haha
It doesn't matter once your rooted and booted all you do us download either rom Manager or goo manager and install the custom recovery of your choice from the running phone. Doesn't get any easier.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4
Until the custom recovery can't mount anything, which is the problem I'm having now. I've tried numerous versions of CWM and TWRP and none of them can mount anything on these phones so they're useless. I'm not sure how reverting back to an older stock ROM will change that...?
internetpilot said:
Until the custom recovery can't mount anything, which is the problem I'm having now. I've tried numerous versions of CWM and TWRP and none of them can mount anything on these phones so they're useless. I'm not sure how reverting back to an older stock ROM will change that...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because you yourself feel the bootloader is the issue. If you Odin the stock tar of a previous version then that loads a previous bootloader. Pretty simple huh? I rooted 2 S3 last week brand new and did not have a single issue both where on the latest md4 right out of the box. I don't understand how you and that other person both ran into the same issue on the same day. It's really weird and like everyone else said and I just experienced just a week ago thousands of people have rooted on the latest version on brand new devices. Unless you guys are getting refurbs which by accident the bootloader has been locked.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4
edfunkycold said:
Because you yourself feel the bootloader is the issue. If you Odin the stock tar of a previous version then that loads a previous bootloader. Pretty simple huh? I rooted 2 S3 last week brand new and did not have a single issue both where on the latest md4 right out of the box. I don't understand how you and that other person both ran into the same issue on the same day. It's really weird and like everyone else said and I just experienced just a week ago thousands of people have rooted on the latest version on brand new devices. Unless you guys are getting refurbs which by accident the bootloader has been locked.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing back to an older stock rom doesn't work either. I flashed to a 4.1.1 stock rom and followed the method for CF-Root and The Easiest Way to Root and neither of them allowed a custom recovery to mount anything.
deutscher3891 said:
Flashing back to an older stock rom doesn't work either. I flashed to a 4.1.1 stock rom and followed the method for CF-Root and The Easiest Way to Root and neither of them allowed a custom recovery to mount anything.
Click to expand...
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Thank you for trying that as I couldn't because I'm on vacation with the two phones in use. Well that sucks that it didn't work. I'm a retired career network engineer, so I'm not a non-tech, but I'm also not the most tech person with regard to mobile phones. Even so, I can't figure this one out so it's probably not something obvious. Also, on XDA and other forums I'm up to about 18 different people who have now encountered this on very new Sprint S3's.
internetpilot said:
Thank you for trying that as I couldn't because I'm on vacation with the two phones in use. Well that sucks that it didn't work. I'm a retired career network engineer, so I'm not a non-tech, but I'm also not the most tech person with regard to mobile phones. Even so, I can't figure this one out so it's probably not something obvious. Also, on XDA and other forums I'm up to about 18 different people who have now encountered this on very new Sprint S3's.
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Click to collapse
Did you purchase your phones from Sprint directly? I purchased mine through Wirefly. Thinking I may send it back for exchange and pray like heck I get one that works. I am definitely a Vanilla Android person. Touchwiz is not my cup o tea.
Enjoy your vacation, as much as you can. Us tech nerds can never get it off the mind when something isn't working. Lol
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
I purchased two s3 phones from Amazon about a month ago and haven't had any issues. Both are rooted too. The root process is pretty simple. Have you tried the unified toolkit also? Another easy method.
deutscher3891 said:
Did you purchase your phones from Sprint directly? I purchased mine through Wirefly. Thinking I may send it back for exchange and pray like heck I get one that works. I am definitely a Vanilla Android person. Touchwiz is not my cup o tea.
Enjoy your vacation, as much as you can. Us tech nerds can never get it off the mind when something isn't working. Lol
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
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Both directly from Sprint.
lvpre said:
I purchased two s3 phones from Amazon about a month ago and haven't had any issues. Both are rooted too. The root process is pretty simple. Have you tried the unified toolkit also? Another easy method.
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The problem isn't really root. Depending on the method, we can get root. It's the custom recovery that's the problem -- it can't mount anything so you can't flash anything, backup, wipe, etc via recovery.
As of recent, I've been having a ton of stability problems on my S2 across all ROMs. It will often get sluggish and randomly shut down, the WiFi will completely drop and I won't be able to connect unless I restart my entire phone, and various other problems. I've done a full wipe when installing any ROM and problems only came up when I installed cwm 6.0.4.3 and I was wondering if that may have been the issue. Either way, I was wondering if there was a way to completely wipe my phone and bring it all the way back to factory and how it came in the box so I can completely start over to try to fix these problems. Any other suggests would be greatly appreciated, too.
Currently running BeanStalk 4.4+, last "stable" build was with Cyanogenmod 10.1 nightly.
Thank you to everyone in the XDA Developer community, you certainly are amazing and thank you to the developers of the search function, I may not know how to use it to it's greatest potential but it's certainly helped me a TON. This is the first time I've felt I've actually need to make a post for something going wrong, sorry if the problem has happened in the past and I missed a post.
Dude i had a similar problem a while back switching from TWRP to CWM. Somehow I corrupted my Dalvik partition. I couldn't even get back to recovery.
So I went here. Followed the instructions and completely went back to stock.
Quick Note that I don't see mentioned enough, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR APPS AND SETTINGS, (hopefully thy're all backed up with Titanium), BUT YOU WILL NOT LOSE YOUR STUFF ON YOUR INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL SD CARDS. The first time I went back to Stock I was scared s***less because I thought I was losing all my pics.
When I booted up the first time, I got the "repairing" Android Icon, it rebooted and I was back in business.
Then I had previously grabbed the TWRP odin flashable 2.5.0.0. tar file from over here. I got 2.5.0.0 because I planned to flash a 4.2.2 ROM after all is said and done. I flashed that with Odin from Download Mode.
I didn't even bother logging into Google on the stock 4.1.2 ( I just can't go back TouchWiz after Cyanogenmod). I just rebooted right into TWRP 2.5.0.0 manually with Volume up and Power button.
From there I factory wiped everything, then superwiped and cachewiped ( both can be found http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2235141), just to be on the paranoid side.
And finally I flashed Cl3Kener's latest 4.2.2 version of his BlackLiquid and his latest 4.2.2 stable Uber Kernel. I personally think this is the most stable, and as close to perfect ROM thats going to come out for this phone. Of course that is just my opinion after my own experiences with 4.3, 4.3.1, and 4.4.
This is a completely streamlined version of the complete cluster f** I did researching, trial and error, and starting over, while I was in the middle of actually doing it. One last tip I can give, is to get all the files you think you might possibly need and put then on your external SD if you got it, or internal SD. Its a real pain stopping and starting cause your missing a zip you forgot.
Hope this helps
Huge thanks to the Developers threads I Linked to.
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
Okay this is really getting on my nerves and I've never had this much problem from a phone. I've been modding and helping develop for years, but I've never had this issue. So for five days now, I've been playing around with my old DINC that my daughter messed up somehow, and I can't install a ROM and make it work to save my life. I've run countless ROM's on this thing in the past with no issues. The problem now is, no matter what recovery I use or what I wipe, all of the old apps keep showing up on boot and crashes the phone. Meaning while it says "Android is upgrading" it shows every app that has ever been installed on this phone, even though I wipe and format every partition, and I haven't installed a single app. Heck... I can't even get into the system to install an app. The furthest I've gotten on a clean install is to pick a launcher in Carbon, but then it reboots.
Someone please help with a solution if you know one. I would hate to make a mess on the concrete outside with this phone, but I'm almost to that point. Thank you in advance!
ludeawakening said:
Someone please help with a solution if you know one. I would hate to make a mess on the concrete outside with this phone, but I'm almost to that point. Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What recovery are you running?
I've been using CWM 5.0.2.0 since 2011 and haven't had an issue, and I still flash things on it. I found an active mediafire link with it from a post on Rootzwiki that is flashable through HBOOT. Just put it on the root/top level of an SD card formatted FAT32 and it will load the recovery image, press volume up to flash it, then you should be on an up to date recovery and you can try wiping from there. I had issues with some of the older ones and TWRPs earlier versions.
I'd also recommend CyanogenMod 7.2 stable, but that's just what I've ran the last few years. Never had an issue with it and it is stable as can be. Always a good start. In fact, it's more stable than stock on my phone, plus I over clock a bit.
It's a good device to have around when you have to send in your current device for exchange or damage it etc. I used it full time not long ago while exchanging my M8.
BrettApple said:
What recovery are you running?
I've been using CWM 5.0.2.0 since 2011 and haven't had an issue, and I still flash things on it. I found an active mediafire link with it from a post on Rootzwiki that is flashable through HBOOT. Just put it on the root/top level of an SD card formatted FAT32 and it will load the recovery image, press volume up to flash it, then you should be on an up to date recovery and you can try wiping from there. I had issues with some of the older ones and TWRPs earlier versions.
I'd also recommend CyanogenMod 7.2 stable, but that's just what I've ran the last few years. Never had an issue with it and it is stable as can be. Always a good start. In fact, it's more stable than stock on my phone, plus I over clock a bit.
It's a good device to have around when you have to send in your current device for exchange or damage it etc. I used it full time not long ago while exchanging my M8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried every recovery you can think of for this device. All versions of the CWM and TWRP touch and non-touch, including CWM 5.0.2.0. And I use HBOOT to flash all of the recoveries. It doesn't matter what ROM or recovery I flash, I still get the same results. And the ROM I used the most on this phone was Condemned CM7.2, but like I said, it won't matter how stable a ROM is, I can't get it to boot to even use it now. For some reason there is a partition somewhere that will not wipe. I've used VR Superwipe, which was recommended on some ROM's in the past, but it doesn't help at all either. No matter what, while booting for the first time, it still shows every app that has ever been installed to this device over the years, which causes everything to crash or just immediately reboot. All of the apps crash even if I go back completely stock by flashing a PB31IMG of stock firmware with HBOOT. That includes trying it with S-ON and S-OFF. As you can tell, this isn't my first rodeo at all. Lol
I've been doing this for years and have helped develop ROM's on a couple of sites, but I've never seen or heard of anything like this. Thanks for the input though.
I guess I'll risk completely bricking it, and manually re-partition the device and push the bootloader and everything else to it with ADB Shell. I've got nothing to lose, it's already a paperweight that just lights up. Haha
ludeawakening said:
No matter what, while booting for the first time, it still shows every app that has ever been installed to this device over the years, which causes everything to crash or just immediately reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a bad NAND to me (like one partition is fried and is now read-only). Good luck with the repartitioning. If you're feeling adventurous, you could try this. If you're feeling really adventurous, I seem to remember reading a post from someone who had actually unsoldered the NAND chip and got the phone to boot using only an sdcard. I can't find the post right now though.