Related
ok im kind of a bit of a noob to rooting but ive been at it a few months, i tried to flash a custom rom today (first time) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=17235986 everything went fine i did all the wipes x3 and followed the instructions and it makes it to the revolution boot screen then loops back to clockwork recovery mod so before i bring it back to stock with odin in a few hours, is there ANY way to resolve this?
Could be a # of problems. Ill try to help after I get some sleep and get t work. I just didn't want you to feel stranded.
ive decided to go ahead and use odin and try to install another custom rom later. maybe ill have some feedback by then
now i just have a phone picture an exclamation point and a computer showing up
ok nvm i managed to get it back to stock. i do want to figure out what went wrong to begin with though.
Probably a bad flash or a bad download.... re download it and try again.... Does cwm show any hint that something went wrong with the installation?
At a quick read is says it auto converts you to EXT4 so as long as that went OK it may be what Theduce said. It could also be bad data. You may have to do a factory data reset before flashing if you have everything backed up and can restore your apps and stuff. Sometimes a reflash when you are in the boot loop will work. As a tester I often have to factory data reset after getting boot loops. Probably why my SD card is littered with backups.
i used titanium backup and backed everything up before i used odin, afterward i checked my sd card and it looks like everything is still there, how do i get it back? also if i cant get my backup back can someone give me a link to a one click root file my computer keeps reading the ones i have already as bad so it wont even run them
EDIT: ok so after reading yet another guide on flashing roms it appears i did do everything right, probably a bad rom like everyones guessing also, should i even try to reinstall this rom or just try and find another one? (any suggestions? im on EC05)
sephiroth009 said:
i used titanium backup and backed everything up before i used odin, afterward i checked my sd card and it looks like everything is still there, how do i get it back? also if i cant get my backup back can someone give me a link to a one click root file my computer keeps reading the ones i have already as bad so it wont even run them
EDIT: ok so after reading yet another guide on flashing roms it appears i did do everything right, probably a bad rom like everyones guessing also, should i even try to reinstall this rom or just try and find another one? (any suggestions? im on EC05)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What rom? the file u have I would download a new copy of "said" rom check md5 and I bet u will find that the first rom zip file u have it bad.
As for TB and restoring ur apps and data. Just go in TB and restore user apps
Sent from the Drivers Seat of my Suby txting and Driving doing 100MPH+ in a school zone! Ha.
You will have to root again, download Titanium from the market and restore user apps. Redownload the ROM if you are dead set on trying that one. Once you know how to get everything working again after a failed flash the hard part is over. Just an inconvenience when stuff blows up.
kennyglass123 said:
You will have to root again, download Titanium from the market and restore user apps. Redownload the ROM if you are dead set on trying that one. Once you know how to get everything working again after a failed flash the hard part is over. Just an inconvenience when stuff blows up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Way ahead of you XD. Rerooted, figured out titanium backup, and installed syndicate rom last night =P. E.R.A was just a bad rom/download I guess. As for zrom it was syndicate obviously >_>
odin is your best friend and its always good to make sure you back everything up
Hello,
Last night I rooted my device using this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1265429) method and file from zedomax and everything worked great except when I booted my device there was a yellow triangle with a black “!” in it. I figured that just indicated the device was rooted or running a 3rd party kernel so I didn’t worry about it.
Today I launched my camera app and it failed to load the interface but showed the image from the camera momentary then crashed back to the home screen. I restarted my device and when the device restarted it was very slow and unresponsive and after unlocking it my live wallpaper was gone replaced with the last background I used before selecting a live background a couple weeks back. No icons or widgets loaded and I am unable to open the settings tray. The only things I am able to do with the phone is pull down the notification bar, respond to text messages, adjust the volume and hold power to restart the phone. All of which are very slow and delayed.
When I connect the device to my computer windows is no longer able to load the drivers and Kies is unable to connect with the device. I am not sure what caused this or how to resolve this issue so any advice or known fixes would be fantastic! I am unable to get to clockwork mod to restore my backup and I am unable to get to Kies or the phone settings to do a factory reset so I really don’t know what to do they were supposed to be a last resort and now I don’t even think I can do them. I am an experienced techie but I am new to android and this is the first device I have rooted so any advice would be great no matter how basic it may be.
UPDATE: I just connected the phone via USB to my laptop at work and it was able to discover and install everything it needed to connect with the phone. I am installing Kies now so at least there is hope of a factory restore, although I really hope it doesn't come to that!
Boot into download mode and flash the stock eg30 tar file from crawrj.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
Thanks Already started doing that waiting for it to download now
Still no touchwiz... great!
Try flashing a stock rom via clockworkmod.
efarley said:
Still no touchwiz... great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can root again and restore your backup, or go to this website www.lostandtired.com (midnight roms blog) click on android development and download and flash the sprint bloat and TW restore zip. Hope that helps.
I flashed the stock rom which didn't change anything so then I used clockworkMod to do a factory reset which ended up trapping me into a boot loop. I could use Odin to flash new roms but the device would never go past the 4G logo
I ended up taking the device back to Best Buy and since the loading screen showed the stock rom and they couldn't get past the 4G logo I just had to say it wasn't rooted and they gave me a new one.
I would love to know if anyone has any idea of what went wrong here so that I can feel comfortable rooting again. Also if anyone has some basic articles handy that teach basics of rooting that would be great, I didn't even know about clockwork mod until after I had this problem so knowing things like that earlier would have helped a lot I think. I'll be spending the weekend looking up everything I can find on the subject so any reading you guys can suggest would be fantastic.
efarley said:
I flashed the stock rom which didn't change anything so then I used clockworkMod to do a factory reset which ended up trapping me into a boot loop. I could use Odin to flash new roms but the device would never go past the 4G logo
I ended up taking the device back to Best Buy and since the loading screen showed the stock rom and they couldn't get past the 4G logo I just had to say it wasn't rooted and they gave me a new one.
I would love to know if anyone has any idea of what went wrong here so that I can feel comfortable rooting again. Also if anyone has some basic articles handy that teach basics of rooting that would be great, I didn't even know about clockwork mod until after I had this problem so knowing things like that earlier would have helped a lot I think. I'll be spending the weekend looking up everything I can find on the subject so any reading you guys can suggest would be fantastic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you a clockwork and "stock rom" you were still rooted...Doing a factory reset will send you into bootloop when rooted. Trying to flash other roms on a bootloop is not going to work. You need to have grabbed a backup such as Zedo has on his post and put the backup in clockwork folder on your phone. Then flash that in CWM. Would of brought you out of bootloop to a stock rom with his kernal. Now you can flash Roms and kernals or could of flashed crawf or anyone else FULL stock rom and been back to stock kernel and rom and not rooted.
dallastx said:
If you a clockwork and "stock rom" you were still rooted...Doing a factory reset will send you into bootloop when rooted. Trying to flash other roms on a bootloop is not going to work. You need to have grabbed a backup such as Zedo has on his post and put the backup in clockwork folder on your phone. Then flash that in CWM. Would of brought you out of bootloop to a stock rom with his kernal. Now you can flash Roms and kernals or could of flashed crawf or anyone else FULL stock rom and been back to stock kernel and rom and not rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhhh that's what happened! Awesome thanks. I will be much better prepared with backups out the wazoo this time haha.
Now if only I could figure out why Touchwiz died in the first place hmmm....
I hope you can figure it out, just postin here to say that when I saw this thread, it reminded me of the thread over in the EVO forums about the guy who claimed that sprint removed his Sense from his phone.
Khilbron said:
I hope you can figure it out, just postin here to say that when I saw this thread, it reminded me of the thread over in the EVO forums about the guy who claimed that sprint removed his Sense from his phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha SPRINT removed it?! So that person thinks sprint monitors every device and has a team of techies on staff to hack your phone and brick it if you break their rules?... yeah that totally makes more sense than a file got corrupted when you were messing with the kernel.. some people maybe shouldn't be rooting their devices in the first place haha
Well I finally made the leap back to Android from iOS (Had a Nexus One & S back in the day) and got an S3 that I went about rooting yesterday. After finally getting it rooted and adding CWM, I flashed the nightly build of CM10, and that's when it all went downhill. The phone was taking forever to boot, and as a fairly impatient person, I led to my own doom. I rebooted into CWM thinking that an erase and reinstall would do the trick. The kicker, I literally formatted every option as far as formatting goes... Don't ask. Clearly didn't think about what I was doing. At this point when attempting to boot the phone, it shows Samsung for a sec, then black. I can still access CWM, but when I attempt mounting anything, my Mac (Yes, don't judge) does not see it. I do have access to a PC if needed, I just need to get this phone working again, preferably with a custom ROM. Someone, anyone.. Help this poor idiot.
Adnando said:
Well I finally made the leap back to Android from iOS (Had a Nexus One & S back in the day) and got an S3 that I went about rooting yesterday. After finally getting it rooted and adding CWM, I flashed the nightly build of CM10, and that's when it all went downhill. The phone was taking forever to boot, and as a fairly impatient person, I led to my own doom. I rebooted into CWM thinking that an erase and reinstall would do the trick. The kicker, I literally formatted every option as far as formatting goes... Don't ask. Clearly didn't think about what I was doing. At this point when attempting to boot the phone, it shows Samsung for a sec, then black. I can still access CWM, but when I attempt mounting anything, my Mac (Yes, don't judge) does not see it. I do have access to a PC if needed, I just need to get this phone working again, preferably with a custom ROM. Someone, anyone.. Help this poor idiot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best advice I can give you is to not worry about ROM or root right now. Best bet is to get on the PC and ODIN back to stock. Once you're back up and running, then root to your hearts content.
I've found (the hard way) that this phone is hard bricked very easily. You don't want to do that, just start fresh.
From this link you can get a stock jellybean rom with root injected into and flash it through odin. But as with anything read carefully.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739426
If you have a MicroSD card, you can shove a rom inside there and install it by launching into Recovery mode. Works for me everytime.
laserlight959 said:
If you have a MicroSD card, you can shove a rom inside there and install it by launching into Recovery mode. Works for me everytime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Came to say the same. If you can still boot into recovery then just insert sdcard with a rom and flash. Then make a backup so it doesn't happen again lol.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Hello, Im new to all of this so please understand. Okay, I have a Sprint GS3, I rooted it using the toolbox thing it worked but I decided that I didnt want the root anymore. I loaded stock software and booted it up normal. The only problem now is my wifi isnt turning on. Ive searched page after page on google, ask and bing. I dont know what to do anymore. Im just about to just say screw it and give up. Any help will be much appreciated.
You Odin'd back to Stock, and now your WiFi is not working correctly ? Are you certain your connecting to your Router ? Did you check the Router to make sure it's working correctly ? Did you try to connect to the Router with another Device ?
If you still have a custom recovery installed, I'd say to just flash another rom. The toolbox kills your WiFi fir sine reason, which can only be fixed by flashing another kernel, and roms have the kernels built in so, you might as well kill two birds with one stone
You could just flash stock rooted though, no need to go full out custom
Wifi not turning on
What I mean is my phone's wifi wont turn on at all. How do I get everything back to normal like before I rooted it?
Brblank44 said:
What I mean is my phone's wifi wont turn on at all. How do I get everything back to normal like before I rooted it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, this method should work and do exactly what you wanted, but you'll still have root access.
Below, I have quoted a post I made a while back when trying to help someone out.
Down below I link to Freeza's stock Rom, which is what you want if you want the stock phone with root. The one you want to download is the DeOdex MD4 one:
DeOdex:
Sprint Touchwiz Jelly Bean 4.1.2 L710VPBMD4 | Mirror
MD5: 77262D9D6CF1A6AF30A8981A95A75D57
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In step #4, the wipe system is very important. It's most likely that something in your /system folder is messing up your wifi. Just flashing a new Rom over might not fix it. I'd also wipe /data, 'cause a fresh wipe is much less likely to have issues.
Ok, let's start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start).
Before we get started, I'm going to make the following assumptions:
You successfully rooted your phone through Odin.
You currently have a custom recovery (either TWRP or CWM).
You have a Rom you'd like to flash on either your internal storage or your SDcard (I'd recommend the SDcard, but that's your prerogative).
If either of the first two is not true, I'd recommend going back to the rooting guide and check out the videos on how to use Odin to gain root and a custom recovery.
If number 3 above is not true, download a ROM (nor someone new to flashing/custom Roms, I'd recommend Freeza's stock rooted Rom, as it's identical to stock TW, but just with Root). Once you download a Rom, check it's md5sum to verify that it's a good download. Copy the file to your SD card and get ready to flash (make sure you have decent battery life left, I try to keep at least 50% or more when flashing Roms, although it shouldn't take too long.
I'll give directions on how to flash a Rom below. The instructions will be for TWRP, but CWM has similar options/settings
Turn your phone completely off (hold down power for 3-5 seconds)
Boot your phone into recovery. Hold Up, Menu, and Power for a few seconds (until SAMSUNG appears on your screen and the phone vibrates)
Make a Nandroid backup. I can't emphasize this enough. In flashing, it's almost a certainty that one time, something will mess up. When that happens, you want to be able to restore a backup. In TWRP, just go into Backup Menu and choose where you want it (internal vs. External storage). It takes my phone a few (5-10) minutes to completely backup my data.
In TWRP, click the wipe button, then system. This will completely wipe the Rom from your phone. Doing this will allow you to get a "clean" install, without any settings or leftover files from your old Rom getting in the way. Instead, you could only wipe data (factory reset), which is good enough for most Roms. I'd still recommend a system wipe, though.
Also while in the Wipe menu, wipe Cache and Dalvik Cache.
Go back to the TWRP main menu.
Click Install, then find your Rom zip file (may have to switch from internal to external storage).
Let TWRP do it's thing.
If you're installing a TW-based Rom, chances are it had gapps already installed. If not, you should now flash the correct gapps package from goo.im. Make sure you're flashing the correct one, as if you don't, your google apps will force close upon use.
Reboot into system and give it time to boot (first boot sometimes takes a couple of minutes).
Set up your phone the way you like.
These should be the directions to follow whenever you flash a new Rom. Some Roms have the Aroma installer, so you'll have more options once you choose to flash the Rom zip, but those are typically easy to follow (and vary from Rom to Rom, so I won't be able to give you a good guide on that).
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brblank44 said:
What I mean is my phone's wifi wont turn on at all. How do I get everything back to normal like before I rooted it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. The toolbox kills your WiFi completely and you have to flash another rom to fix it. Flash stock rooted from freezas thread and you should be good to go.
CNexus said:
If you still have a custom recovery installed, I'd say to just flash another rom. The toolbox kills your WiFi fir sine reason, which can only be fixed by flashing another kernel, and roms have the kernels built in so, you might as well kill two birds with one stone
You could just flash stock rooted though, no need to go full out custom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do people use a toolbox on a phone that's so easy to root without it?
flastnoles11 said:
Why do people use a toolbox on a phone that's so easy to root without it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I first rooted my phone (back pre LJ7 days), I used it because I came from the EVO 4G, which was notoriously difficult to root (and which needed a toolkit). So when I came to the GS3, I figured it'd be the same way. Fortunately, the toolkit worked better back then and I didn't have an issue. Now that I've helped others use Odin (and have used it myself a number of times), I don't point to the toolkit anymore.
But my point is, sometimes people assume it's difficult, see a toolkit that is meant to make it easier and decide that's the way to go.
topherk said:
Ok, this method should work and do exactly what you wanted, but you'll still have root access.
Below, I have quoted a post I made a while back when trying to help someone out.
Down below I link to Freeza's stock Rom, which is what you want if you want the stock phone with root. The one you want to download is the DeOdex MD4 one:
In step #4, the wipe system is very important. It's most likely that something in your /system folder is messing up your wifi. Just flashing a new Rom over might not fix it. I'd also wipe /data, 'cause a fresh wipe is much less likely to have issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. I will try this as soon as I can.
topherk said:
When I first rooted my phone (back pre LJ7 days), I used it because I came from the EVO 4G, which was notoriously difficult to root (and which needed a toolkit). So when I came to the GS3, I figured it'd be the same way. Fortunately, the toolkit worked better back then and I didn't have an issue. Now that I've helped others use Odin (and have used it myself a number of times), I don't point to the toolkit anymore.
But my point is, sometimes people assume it's difficult, see a toolkit that is meant to make it easier and decide that's the way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get that, but just a tiny bit of reading around well show you the toolkit is actually the harder way to root this phone in my opinion... Just saying
flastnoles11 said:
I get that, but just a tiny bit of reading around well show you the toolkit is actually the harder way to root this phone in my opinion... Just saying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree that the toolkit is much more complicated and a bit of a "black box." Hence why I don't recommend it anymore.
But back then, even though I read a whole lot, I decided to go with the toolkit because it felt safer. Heck, I eevn donated so I could get the "pro" features! And for people who aren't that comfortable "hacking" things, it's tempting to use something that'll do the "hard work" for you, even if the normal way of doing it is relatively simple.
That's why I always try to spell things out very clearly for people (I do like numbered lists, don't I?). If someone responds to a thread with "just wipe data and flash a new rom," most "noobs" will hesitate because while they may know those terms, they don't know the procedure and will be afraid of messing it up. With the numbered list of instructions, they typically feel much more comfortable with doing it themselves.
Just my two cents.
Yeah, very true (@topherk). The first time I rooted my firdt phone, I saw all the guides and stuff, but settled on a toolkit sort of program to do it for me...subsequent phones I've always rooted by hand. For me it kinda sucks that there's no way to root the S3 manually (as in like, push this to.the phone, reboot, run this command then flash recovery)
Having come from 2 HTC devices (evo and evo shift), I kinda feel like ODIN is a "cheating" way to root lol. But that's just me.
Whats a md5? It says no md5 file and gives me an error.
Brblank44 said:
Whats a md5? It says no md5 file and gives me an error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats normal,.the great majority of flashable zips do not include an md5 file.
What that is referring to is a hashing function, called the md5sum, that can be used to verify the integrity of a file. Most devs will provide this (in number format) so that you can check the md5sum of your local copy/download against what they provide. If anything goes wrong in a download or file transfer, the md5sum of your copy will not match the expected value, confirming that it was a bad download or that something went wrong along the way.
For your case, TWRP always checks to see if the flashable zip includes an md5sum check file that it can check your file against as an added precaution that you're not flashing something corrupted.
Brblank44 said:
Whats a md5? It says no md5 file and gives me an error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't do the md5 verification in the Recovery. That typically fails, even if the md5 is correct.
I typically do it in Windows (I use this program, works great). If it's a really large file or I don't feel confident about the cable I'm using, I'll also check the md5sum in ES Explorer on the phone after I transfer it.
Okay I flashed it and I have the same problem. Wifi not turning on. The detox whatever its called didn't work. So I took it to sprint today after having flashed it and everything and they did a hard reset. I lost everything. Sprint couldn't swap the phone out for a new one. I am thinking about sending it back to samsung. So they can fix it. Any other ideas guys? Also thank you for your understanding and helping me.
Brblank44 said:
Okay I flashed it and I have the same problem. Wifi not turning on. The detox whatever its called didn't work. So I took it to sprint today after having flashed it and everything and they did a hard reset. I lost everything. Sprint couldn't swap the phone out for a new one. I am thinking about sending it back to samsung. So they can fix it. Any other ideas guys? Also thank you for your understanding and helping me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brblank,
Try this easy method to return to stock everything including recovery, flash count reset and device status normal. It worked perfectly for me.
Before flashing wipe Cache and Dalvik and factory reset.Then flash the file. Make sure you choose the correct file (16gb or 32gb version).
Even if it doesn't fix your WiFi issue it will put your phone in the proper state to send to Samsung.
You can place the file on your internal or external card.
Return to Stock Link
With much thanks to billard412
Hope this helps you.
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