[Q] T999 I think I bricked my phone - T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII

Help. I think I bricked my phone. I was running S3Rx 3.0 with JB4.3 on my T999 GS3. I attempted to update the rom to its latest version 3-20-14. I made a nandroid backup. I wiped cache and dalvik and then tried to install the zip file in TWRP, but it said install failed. I tried again with same failed results. I then did a factory reset, wipe cache, dalvik, data and system. I tried to flash the zip file and it failed again. So giving up on the failed update, I then restored my nandroid backup. After the restore was complete, I rebooted the phone and it got stuck at bootup with the Samsung logo and the blue LED light. I let it sit for over 15 minutes and it was still stuck there. I powered off the phone and went back into TWRP recovery and repeated the restore and reboot again, and it was stuck at that same part for over 15 minutes. Should it take that long? I've done backups and restores in the past and I don't recall it having take that long to bootup.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Please let me know if you need more explanation. Thanks in advance.

Try using odin to update the recovery system and flashing a rom.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

It's been a long while since I used odin. I want to get the steps right before I risk further damaging my phone. Should I download odin and latest TWRP tar file to my pc. Put my phone into download mode and go thru the odin process...run as admin, placing tar file in pda... Then do I reboot into recovery mode? From there I'm not sure what to do. How do I flash a rom to my phone? Do or can I download a zip file via odin? One other option I thought of is to odin root66. So am I actually downloading 2 files via odin? Sorry for my confusion.

Ok, so I odined root66. My phone initially booted up to stock, but I got a pop up "unfortunately system ui has stopped". I went to recovery mode to do a factory reset. It took me to android system recovery. Apparently i lost my TWRP recovery. I did a factory reset and rebooted. Hallelujah!! my phone booted up into stock successfully. Whew...

Cool.
Sorry I couldnt respond earlier, I just woke up.
I always keep copies of odin flashable packages for the latest cwm and twrp recoveries just in case some craziness happens.
Ive had a similar issue when dualbooting. Recovery seemed to work 100% but one bad flash sent me into a bootloop I couldnt get out of. Booting to recovery just tried booting my corrupt 2nd rom and I had to odin cwm on to stop the boot script from locking me out of recovery.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

All part of the hazards of tinkering with the phone. It goes with the territory. But as long as I can get into download or recovery mode I believe there's always a fighting chance.
Separately I reinstalled TWRP via odin. Next will be to reflash the custom rom.

Related

Recovery Fail!

So two days ago I thought about installing Vision X rom on my Note 3 (T Mobile).
I downloaded the ROM and then backed up my current ROM (nandroid). I had Phillz touch recovery then.
Then I thought about going to TWRP and thus I downloaded the latest zip for my phone and flashed it via Phillz upon trying to reboot into recovery it got stuck in the screen "Rebooting Recovery...".
When I restarted it would still try to reboot into recovery and get stuck. I got out of that by going into download mode and then selecting "Restart Phone".
After that I looked for solutions and upon failing to find any I thought about going back to stock and starting from ground zero. I managed to flash the latest stock using Odin however I forgot to do a factory reset before hand.
When I tried to do a factory reset in my, now stock, phone it failed and then got stuck trying to get into recovery. It would flash "Rebooting Recovery..." then restart and flash that in a loop.
I have lost my root as well in the process and trying to root using Odin and CF-Root just get's me back in the recovery boot loop. I can use the phone OK however this is not a stable situation.
I'm sure I've made some serious errors in the tinkering and would like to get my recovery back. I really love Custom Roms. Any kind and knowledgeable souls out there to help me in my cause?
kaif15 said:
So two days ago I thought about installing Vision X rom on my Note 3 (T Mobile).
I downloaded the ROM and then backed up my current ROM (nandroid). I had Phillz touch recovery then.
Then I thought about going to TWRP and thus I downloaded the latest zip for my phone and flashed it via Phillz upon trying to reboot into recovery it got stuck in the screen "Rebooting Recovery...".
When I restarted it would still try to reboot into recovery and get stuck. I got out of that by going into download mode and then selecting "Restart Phone".
After that I looked for solutions and upon failing to find any I thought about going back to stock and starting from ground zero. I managed to flash the latest stock using Odin however I forgot to do a factory reset before hand.
When I tried to do a factory reset in my, now stock, phone it failed and then got stuck trying to get into recovery. It would flash "Rebooting Recovery..." then restart and flash that in a loop.
I have lost my root as well in the process and trying to root using Odin and CF-Root just get's me back in the recovery boot loop. I can use the phone OK however this is not a stable situation.
I'm sure I've made some serious errors in the tinkering and would like to get my recovery back. I really love Custom Roms. Any kind and knowledgeable souls out there to help me in my cause?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to the Playstore and download TWRP Coordinator and then
use it to install the latest TWRP recovery for your phone.
Once you can get back into TWRP recovery you need to flash
the cf-autoroot for your phone. Be sure you flash the CORRECT
version of cf-autoroot for your phone's model.
Good luck!
Misterjunky said:
Go to the Playstore and download TWRP Coordinator and then
use it to install the latest TWRP recovery for your phone.
Once you can get back into TWRP recovery you need to flash
the cf-autoroot for your phone. Be sure you flash the CORRECT
version of cf-autoroot for your phone's model.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app is constantly crashing!
It would start for a second then close. I tried the TWRP manager as well with the same result.
I've lost root access when I Odined back to stock, won't I need root access to install new recoveries?
Sounds like you flashed the stock 4.4 firmware and now need recovery to root. Flash this TWRP file using Odin http://goo.im/devs/OpenRecovery/hltetmo/openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.1-hltetmo-4.4.img.tar
Once you flash it, you need to boot into recovery to install supersu to root.
Switch off the Galaxy Note 3 (remove the battery and reinsert if needed)
Next, press and hold simultaneously Volume Up, Home and Power.Release the buttons when the screen flickers and wait for the TWRP menu.
Select Reboot, then System and install Supersu for root.
Once booted, open Supersu to update it and grant permission.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

Stuck in TWRP Boot Loop

What I was trying to do: I have a stock 4.4.2 AT&T GS3 that I wanted to root, and then install Cyanogen Mod.
What I did: I flashed Auto-Root with Odin 3.10, restarted and then flashed TWRP 2.8. I then booted to TWRP and attempted to wipe/format the phone but it showed some errors along the way, I think it was something having to do being unable to mount the SD card. I then rebooted into recovery and flashed CM12 and slim Google Apps zip. When it was flashing both I got a string of errors but it said it was successful.
Where I'm at now: When I try turning the phone on (without holding any buttons down) it attempts to boot straight to the TWRP but gets stuck at the blue TeamWin screen. I'm able to get to download mode by holding down the appropriate buttons. I'm wondering if there's anything I can flash from Odin to resolve this.
I also realized I have unbacked up photos on the device, I don't think the format was successful, is there any way to recover those?
Thanks
To recover the pictures, try re-installing TWRP, boot into TWRP, and mount the partitions. Connect the phone to your computer and copy your pictures.
TWRP
I have had this happen before. Try using Odin to flash an older version of TWRP, uncheck reboot after flash and then when it is done, do a battery pull. This has gotten me back into a working TWRP to restore my previous setup. Note: You made need to go back to 2.6. Once you have gotten back up and running flash to the current TWRP with the app.

My phone won't wipe nor flash a new rom/recovery

Hi there. Here I have my t989 with stable cm11 by Sultanxda and twrp 2.7.0.0 installed.
Everything was fine until I wanted to try 5.0.1.
I got into twrp and did the usual wipe and install ParanoidAndroid 5.0. It failed.
Ok stuff happens so I just went restore my backup no big deal.
Now when I reboot back my phone looks as it were before BUT it reboots after 2-3 minutes in every time it boots back up.
So I thought the power button has problem but soon I figured it is not because my phone won't self reboot in recovery and download mode.
I went back to twrp and try to wipe it clean and install cm11 instead of restoring to my previous backup.
Wipe says successful, install says successful, reboot system. And only to find myself still in my old Rom and nothing was wiped.
All my apps are still there blahblahblah. I tried to update my twrp through twrp manager but phone reboot before it finishes installing.
I grab my odiin and try to update recovery there. Odin says success. Goes to recovery only to find its still in 2.7.0.0
Download a stock .tar and flash it with Odin. Odin says success, boot up and still in my old cm11 rom...
Now I went out of option but ask for help. I have done flashing for 3 years with this phone and I have never gotten this problem before.
Please Help

nand erase all

Sprint Note 4, when flashing the official Rom i clicked on Nand Erase All, flash went fine, but the phone stays forever on the Sprint Spark screen, any steps to fix this issue? I can get into recovery and download mode, tried to wipe cache and dalvik in TWRP but i get errors, can not mount.
thanks in advance for the help.
anybody please?
MHeat said:
anybody please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You flashed TWRP after it failed to boot? If so, I wish you didn't do either the nand erase or flash TWRP.
If TWRP fails to mount to wipe, you need factory recovery or Philz CWM to wipe cache and factory reset.
To be clear, you need to wipe cache, dalvik-cache and data and power down. Boot into download mode and flash stock tar with Odin defaults. I'm not sure if the Note 4 just requires a wipe and Odin stock tar or the PIT with repartition (PIT for Sprint Note 4 seems to be MIA). Hopefully just the wipe works.
Here's Philz CWM recovery for Note 4:
http://downloadandroidrom.com/file/GalaxyNote4/CWM/philz_touch_6.59.0-trlte.tar
If that doesn't work, you need stock recovery. Last time I flashed stock recovery, it required a tar.md5 to flash. Had to search for a Windows tool to modify it, adding the md5 hash to tar so Odin would see and use it.
And one more thing. If you succeed in wiping, try to boot before Odin of stock tar. Seems Odin is risky these days. I've read recently that there's yet another "fix" Samsung has identified for Odin flashing for upcoming security patch. Best to limit Odin flashes to as needed only.
Sent from my SM-N920P Note 4 via Tapatalk
thanks for you explanation, i will try it. Let me tell you, remember i already flashed the stock tar multiple times, i might be mistaken but i thought the stock tar has the oem recovery included, the problem is i can not get into stock recovery, it just bootloops and the phone restarts again, i will try flashing the stock tar again and then Philz touch recovery and see if i can wipe. Will let you know how it goes in a few minutes.
thanks again.
just to let you know, the phone booted, had to flash the clean stock image, then extract the recovery image from the tar file, after that i used a utility to convert recovery.img to a tar file in order to flash it in odin, after a while it booted, right now updating over the air to cok1, lets hope it works now.
appreciate the time you took to help me out.
I'm not clear on what you're saying. I gather that flashing the tar didn't allow you to get to stock recovery and it still wouldn't boot?
Then you tried Philz CWM recovery to wipe and it booted? If so, I'd think you were in the clear at this point, not needing to restore stock recovery but flash the tar?
When you say you had to extract stock recovery, was it still not allowing you to get to stock recovery when tar was flashed or did that fail? If so, which tar? I'd think you could have moved on to OK1 tar?
Or were you thinking that I meant you had to use both recoveries to wipe to restore function?
It's good you're making progress on your own, I'm just not following the results and reasoning fully. I'd like to know so I'm asking. TIA.
Edit: Or did you have to flash stock recovery to wipe? Philz CWM recovery didn't flash or wouldn't mount or what? Read your reply again and thought this may be the direction you went.
Sent from my SM-N920P Note 4 via Tapatalk
sorry for the confusion, i flashed the stock tar file COJ6, still the phone would not boot and could not get into stock recovery, do not know why
then i flashed just Philz recovery and was able to wipe cache,dalvik and data
For some reason it did not boot, then after i flashed just the stock recovery ( in order to do that, i extracted the recovery from the COJ6 tar, then used a program to convert the recovery.img to .tar in order to be able to flash it in Odin, after that the phone booted and updated over the air to COK1) Just to make sure i tried to go into stock recovery ( VOL UP+HOME+POWER) and was successful, got access to stock recovery. Before i was not able to go into stock recovery for some reason.
So you didn't try to flash stock tar after the Philz recovery wipe? I was suggesting try to boot; if it didn't boot, try the stock tar.
Am I wrong to say that maybe you didn't have to flash the stock recovery? Philz recovery maybe gets the credit as the easier fix in this case. Would you agree with that or is that unknown?
Thanks for clarifying. Your response may clarify the suggested fix. TIA.
Sent from my SM-N920P Note 4 via Tapatalk
Well, after i wiped with Philz it still did not boot, then after the stock recovery it booted, it took a while, i thought it did not work but eventually it did boot, the phone definitely had something wrong since i could not even access the stock recovery before, now i can, it says installing system update, then its says something like no command, and then it enters recovery, this was impossible to achieve before.
Did the OK1 OTA complete and boot yet?
Sent from my SM-N920P Note 4 via Tapatalk
It did complete and booted just fine, everything seems to be in order, crossing fingers LOL

Help flashing back to stock, tried everything.

Hi, i'm having trouble flashing back to stock.
I've got the latest stock firmware from sammobile.
Using twrp to install it says missing META-INF as the firmware zip isn't made the same as custom firmware.
Adding the tar.md5 to ap in odin flashes the boot and recovery but goes extremely slow when it starts flashing system (left it 2 hours and it hadn't even got half way) I'm guessing that's not normal.
I took a backup with twrp before I started flashing in twrp which flashes fine but I get endless boot loop when trying to start it.
I've tried fastboot but it doesn't detect the tablet.
I've tried different usb ports, cables, different versions of odin and different stock firmware. I'm ready to throw it out the window.
One thing to note is the [P600][Touchwiz] Marshmallow Rom 20170622 works great but also boot loops when I turn it off and on again, I have to boot into twrp then choose reboot in there and then it boots ok, that doesn't work with my twrp backup though.
Anything I'm doing wrong?
Thanks.
Well for some reason after installing marshmallow rom again then installing my backup it boots fine, havn't a clue why it failed to boot the other 4 times.
Nope
Back to continuous boot loop after second reboot.
All I did was turned developer options off and it's boot looping again.
Flashed original stock boot.tar.md5 and recovery.tar.md5 then factory reset and wiped cache but still boot loops.
Is it because I flashed a Marshmallow custom rom so it so you can't downgrade to a lolipop rom even though it's stock? Boot loader changed? Kernel?
Mazert said:
Is it because I flashed a Marshmallow custom rom so it so you can't downgrade to a lolipop rom even though it's stock? Boot loader changed? Kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not quite sure what your problem is but you should be able to downgrade, I've done it before.
Try this guide first. I've had success with it.
If all goes well you can then try to flash your stock ROM. The one I've flashed successfully in the past is the one in this post.
Good luck!
You may need to repartition your system. Tick the repartition in Odin. **All data will be lost**
Sent from my SM-N915G using Tapatalk
Thanks, I followed the guide in that post and it flashed ok then I finally managed to flash the latest stock!

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