[Q] GT-N7100 animates SAMSUNG indefinitely - Galaxy Note II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

HOW IT STARTED
Yesterday I noticed that my phone was off. I connected the charger and found that it was still half full. I turned the phone on and it worked normally. After an hour I noticed that my phone was off again. I tried turning it on but it only reached the SAMSUNG animation and animated it indefinitely.
A month ago or so I received a notification in the notification bar about refreshment of security policies. Since my phone was rooted, I did not want to apply them because I was afraid that it would kick Knox back in. Then a couple of weeks ago I received a new notification about a new software update from Samsung. At first, I did not want to install that one either. But a couple of days ago I thought what the heck, let's try it and agreed to install it. I left it to install in the background and forgot about it.
WHAT I DID
First I rebooted into recovery (TWRP) and did all wipes. While doing them, TWRP complained that some of them could not me completed. I rebooted and saw that this wiping did not have any effect on the issue.
Then I rebooted back into recovery and did wiping again. This time I noticed that when I ordered a reboot from TWRP, it confirmed me if I was sure because there was no OS installed. I found that weird but had no choice but to reboot and naturally nothing had changed: it still animated SAMSUNG indefinitely.
What else is particular is that the samsung theme melody is cut of in the middle of the animation. When I hear it being cut of I already know: that boot attempt will never end.
Then I downloaded and flashed the latest stock firmware from Sammobile with ODIN. All was well in ODIN but when the phone rebooted, I once again had the opportunity to watch the word SAMSUNG indefinitely.
Then I tried downloading and installing the latest Kies 2 into fresh Windows 8.1 virtual machine and tried the Firmware Upgrade and Initialisation option. It asked for model and serial number and then downloaded something but then said that "This device's version cannot be updated". I then tried Kies 3 but that said that I had the wrong Kies.
WHERE I AM NOW
I tried flashing downloaded n7100_odin_efs.tar with ODIN, knowing that it would erase/overwrite my /efs partition which contains nv_data file with my IMEI code but since /efs could not be mounted anyway, there was nothing to lose. After flashing this file I successfully booted into fresh TouchWiz and saw the information in the attached screenshot.
I checked the IMEI by dialing *#06# and it was "004999010640000 / 01". I don't have a backup of nv_data and I have broken the warranty by flashing custom roms on it. How would I get my nv_data file regenerated with the correct IMEI (without purchasing special hardware or paying some guy with such a box)?
I tried a program called WRITEIMEI which should allow me to write back the correct IMEI but when I tried to read or write with this program, it only displayed "Verifying" indefinitely.
Current problems:
- Unable to fix IMEI from generic to back to what it's supposed to be (to get mobile network access back)
- Unable to get rid of this technical information banner (see the attached screenshot)
- Wifi is always off after reboot

hennot said:
HOW IT STARTED
Yesterday I noticed that my phone was off. I connected the charger and found that it was still half full. I turned the phone on and it worked normally. After an hour I noticed that my phone was off again. I tried turning it on but it only reached the SAMSUNG animation and animated it indefinitely.
A month ago or so I received a notification in the notification bar about refreshment of security policies. Since my phone was rooted, I did not want to apply them because I was afraid that it would kick Knox back in. Then a couple of weeks ago I received a new notification about a new software update from Samsung. At first, I did not want to install that one either. But a couple of days ago I thought what the heck, let's try it and agreed to install it. I left it to install in the background and forgot about it.
WHAT I DID
First I rebooted into recovery (TWRP) and did all wipes. While doing them, TWRP complained that some of them could not me completed. I rebooted and saw that this wiping did not have any effect on the issue.
Then I rebooted back into recovery and did wiping again. This time I noticed that when I ordered a reboot from TWRP, it confirmed me if I was sure because there was no OS installed. I found that weird but had no choice but to reboot and naturally nothing had changed: it still animated SAMSUNG indefinitely.
What else is particular is that the samsung theme melody is cut of in the middle of the animation. When I hear it being cut of I already know: that boot attempt will never end.
Then I downloaded and flashed the latest stock firmware from Sammobile with ODIN. All was well in ODIN but when the phone rebooted, I once again had the opportunity to watch the word SAMSUNG indefinitely.
Then I tried downloading and installing the latest Kies 2 into fresh Windows 8.1 virtual machine and tried the Firmware Upgrade and Initialisation option. It asked for model and serial number and then downloaded something but then said that "This device's version cannot be updated". I then tried Kies 3 but that said that I had the wrong Kies.
WHERE I AM NOW
I tried flashing downloaded n7100_odin_efs.tar with ODIN, knowing that it would erase/overwrite my /efs partition which contains nv_data file with my IMEI code but since /efs could not be mounted anyway, there was nothing to lose. After flashing this file I successfully booted into fresh TouchWiz and saw the information in the attached screenshot.
I checked the IMEI by dialing *#06# and it was "004999010640000 / 01". I don't have a backup of nv_data and I have broken the warranty by flashing custom roms on it. How would I get my nv_data file regenerated with the correct IMEI (without purchasing special hardware or paying some guy with such a box)?
I tried a program called WRITEIMEI which should allow me to write back the correct IMEI but when I tried to read or write with this program, it only displayed "Verifying" indefinitely.
Current problems:
- Unable to fix IMEI from generic to back to what it's supposed to be (to get mobile network access back)
- Unable to get rid of this technical information banner (see the attached screenshot)
- Wifi is always off after reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, if I were you I'll just flash a .pit file to erase everything off the phone (and to erase any errors). After doing so, flash a stock ROM (before 4.3) or a custom ROM, preferably a AOSP ROM. This (might) solve your IMEI issue. (It did for me anyways) (The information banner looks like something from factory mode or something like that, not exactly sure.)
N7105 rocking AOSB with AGNi kernel,
Click "Thanks" if I was of any help!

The issue was resolved by taking the phone to a mobile phone repair service which took €35 and returned the device with a functional IMEI.

Related

Do technicians know I flashed firmware? [Warranty]

Hi. I bought a Chinese Android tablet and wifi stoped working 1 day after. No way to get it back working. Also tried Data restore from settings and from recovery, but same thing. Contacted them to notify, they provided assistance but nothing helpful, and proposed me to send it back.
So, I found the firmware tool and the firmare here in xda thread. I went to flash it (following User Manual by the way), and at 70% or so, it showed an error and the tablet won't boot anymore, just show the first Welcome screen. Recovery key combination will now get a black screen and the Windows' firmware tool just detects it sometimes but just a second, so won't flash.
My question is, if I send it back, will technicians know a firmware has been flashed or actually semi-flashed? Or since I got problems since first moment and I talked to them twice about it, they will understand it just worked worse each time I turned it on? (which actually is what had been happening until I flashed. Website/company FAQ tells flashing any firmware will void site's warranty (pretty big company). I've been redirected to there too late...
Thanks

[Q] Galaxy Note 2 - Help!!!!

I recently rooted my Galaxy Note 2 (GT-N7100) - following 'High on Android' web site instructions.
Everything went well and I installed Clockwork Mod Recovery (CMR) and I backed up then current ROM successful.
Recently, I got a new update to Gmail so, I decided to backup the ROM again. I ran CMR and I was prompted to name the backup file and I was prompted the phone would reboot and complete the backup.. The result was the phone went into a loop constantly displaying the boot logo.
I overcame the problem by re-rooting the phone using ODIN - the download mode was accessible on the phone.
However I spoke to soon: the phone became increasingly unstable and, it eventual Froze. I tried to do a factory wipe & re-root the phone - That left me in exactly the same position - at the boot logo, dead. I have written an email CMR & High on Android but, they have not replied.
I quickly realised I would have re-flash the phone completely and I sourced the correct files from 'SamsFirmware'.
That's the first question: the file I download was compressed and when it was decompressed it gave me two files;
N7100XXALJ3_N7100OXXALJ4_N7100XXALJ2_HOME.tar.md5 & SS_DL.dll
Q1. Can I run this tar.md5 using ODIN (PDA) function?
Q2. I have read that a file like this need to be further spilt? If so, How?
Q3. If spilt the file into component parts, how will I identify / set up the files to ODIN ?
Mild panic is breaking out here - it's the last time I will ever flash a perfectly working phone again. Any advice or practical instructions you can provide to recovery the situation will be warmly welcomed!
Solved - http://www.lockermike.com/how-tos/a.../unbrick-a-galaxy-note-2-with-stock-firmware/
Thanks for sharing your solution, it's always good to know should anything go wrong. I'm about to flash new custom rom in an attempt to unlock the phone too

Failed to mount /data and frozen after factory reset, HELP!

I have what's probably a unique situation, though I hope not. For background info, I bought two I747s, one white and one blue, each with issues, but I intended to put parts together to end up with one good one.
When I did a factory reset on the blue one via the recovery menu, it returned a bunch of errors along the lines of "failed to mount /data." Then when it rebooted it would hang on the Samsung logo. Back in recovery mode it returns more of the same errors just booting into recovery mode, and factory reset still returns more of the same errors and doesn't fix anything. I flashed 4.3 with Odin in an attempt to fix it, but I got the boards mixed up, and that one had 4.4 on it, not 4.1 like I thought. I'm pretty sure it's hard bricked now (that whole can't downgrade thing) because it's unresponsive to everything. Though my computer does recognize that it's plugged in, more on that later.
So I figured, fine, I screwed up, I'll just use the other board with 4.1 on it from the white phone. Except when I did a factory reset on that one, it did the exact same thing! Same errors, same problem stuck at the Samsung logo. Except this time I'm not flashing sh*t until I know exactly what I need to do to fix it. In another post where the guy had the same issue with 4.1.1, it was solved by flashing 4.3 with Odin. And another post where the guy had no idea what version he had, he just knew it was lower than 4.3, his problem was also solved by flashing 4.3, But since my last efforts failed miserably, I'm very reluctant to try it until I get some knowledgeable input. I don't remember exactly which version is on there, it's 4.1.something. I'd also prefer not to upgrade beyond 4.1 because I'd like to unlock it and from what I'm reading you can only do it for free if you're on 4.1. So I guess I need a link to an Odin flashable 4.1 package?
As for the poor blue phone that used to have 4.4.something, and was mistakenly flashed with 4.3, I've heard about JTAG but I don't quite understand it, and I'm not sure it would work in my case since a lot of what I'm reading says that bricking which occurs from downgrading is often unfixable. However, Windows recognizes that a device is plugged in when I attach it via USB. It shows up in the Device Manager as QHSUSB_DLOAD. I am currently researching more on this and the method of booting from an SD card, except I don't have an SD card reader at the moment.
Any assistance, advice, links, information, and plain ole encouragement are always welcome and appreciated.
For the phone running 4.1, flash any stock rom in Odin. After flashing, boot into recovery and perform a factory reset, then boot the phone and use the free method to sim unlock. The important thing is to have the stock 4.1.1 dialler in order to access the hidden menu options?
For home hard bricked phone, you will have to try the debrick image method. If it doesn't work, a jtag service should be able to force flash a rom to the phone.
Wow, that was like a crazy fast reply!
What if the phone is 4.1.2? Can I still flash 4.1.1? I'm on the hunt for a 4.1.1 stock rom now.
Yes, you can flash 4.1.1 from 4.1.2.
audit13 said:
Yes, you can flash 4.1.1 from 4.1.2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently not always. I downloaded and flashed 4.1.1 with Oden 3.07, it rebooted, showed the android image like it was updating, progress bar finished, and then it just went blank. Now both phones are in the same condition of being hard bricked and showing QHSUSB_DLOAD in the device manager.
This is strange. I have downgraded approximately 10 i747m phones from 4.1.2 to 4.1.1, unlocked using the free method, and re-flashed back to 4.1.2 after unlocking.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2371897
What options did you check in Odin? Where did you get the 4.1.1 ROM? I ask because the stock ATT 4.1.1 rom was apparently removed from sammobile.com.
How did you confirm that the phone was running 4.1.2?
I checked only auto reboot in Odin.
I found this link sammobile.com/firmwares/database/SGH-I747/ in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3-att/help/downgrade-att-running-stock-4-4-2-rom-t3170938 , 7th post
The download was going absurdly slow, so I googled the exact file name being downloaded which was, I747UCDLK3_I747ATTDLK3_ATT, and found a google drive link at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_UTWXKFnZoNVFdSVjJEZlMwZjA/edit which was the first result after searching for the file name if that link doesn't work. I'm downloading the slow one now to compare it to the one I got from google drive.
I'm unsure if the phone was 4.1.1 or 4.1.2, that's why I asked if it's possible to flash 4.1.1 on top of 4.1.2. I was only trying to do a factory reset originally and had no intentions of flashing anything. I just wanted to wipe out all the crap on it from the previous user so I had only glanced at the version out of curiosity to see if it was unlockable via the free method. I remember it was 4.1.something.
I have an SD card reader on order. Hopefully I'll be able to unbrick one of them.
Do you, or anyone else, have any idea why a simple factory reset would cause errors like I described and then hang on reboot? At that point both phones were 100% factory and I hadn't done anything to them except put a battery in them to power them on. I've done a factory reset on four other S3s and this didn't happen.
It is definitely possible to flash 4.1.1 over 4.1.2 because the bootloader could not be downgraded until the mjb version.
That's what I've been reading. So where did I go wrong? Any idea why a factory reset would screw up like that?
Did you confirm the bootloader before flashing?
audit13 said:
Did you confirm the bootloader before flashing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, because I had no intentions of flashing it when I tried to do a factory reset. Then after that went bad it wouldn't boot, and I don't know how to check the boatloader when a phone will only go into recovery mode.
Where did you see reference to 4.1? It's possible that the modem or baseband was 4.1 but the bootloader was 4.3.
Under about device and then Android version. The one where if you tap it a lot you get the jellybean android that pops up. It wasn't the baseband version because that's a much longer number with the model number in it.
That screen doesn't tell you the bootloader.
As I said, I didn't check for the bootloader version before I ran into trouble because I only wanted to do a factory reset and I didn't intend to flash anything. I wouldn't imagine that it would have a different bootloader than the OS version unless that can happen without any user intervention because the previous owner was only concerned with selfies and games. She certainly didn't modify anything.
I cant explain what happened. This has never happened to me after flashing about 10 phones.
I believe it has something to do with the errors that were produced while trying to do a factory reset. What bothers me is that both phones did the exact same thing. Normally I'd say it was something I did, except that I didn't do anything but put a battery in them, boot up, find lots of junk installed, and then attempt a factory reset. On the first phone, I rebooted into recovery and tried it from there. On the second phone I tried it from inside the OS. Same results on both. The phones ran fine before that.
Any advice on how to do the boot from an SD card, or how to do the JTAG thing? I've been reading a lot but the information jumps around a lot. I'm comfortable with soldering and have an IT background if that helps.
It's possible that the recovery was corrupt or the partitions were corrupt.
Whenever I factory reset a phone, I always boot into recovery to do that, not from within the ROM.
Sounds to me like you did nothing wrong.
Did the previous owner have the phone from the time it was new?
Edit: for the phone that you flashed with 4.1.1, Odin said "pass" in the status window and the it auto rebooted?
audit13 said:
Did the previous owner have the phone from the time it was new?
Edit: for the phone that you flashed with 4.1.1, Odin said "pass" in the status window and the it auto rebooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know for sure if she had it from new. Yes, for both phones Odin said pass in the window and then it rebooted. I had walked away when Odin finished with the first phone. I came back and it was dead. The second one I watched and it showed the android with the wireframe in his guts and the progress bar which moved across, and then it just went blank.
There were error messages about the partitions when I did the factory reset IIRC. Perhaps the recovery or the partition was corrupted like you said. It's just odd that both had the exact same identical problem with the exact same results. That's why I think that it must have been something I did, except that I didn't DO anything other than initiate a factory reset.
I took an i747m and reflashed stock the Telus 4.4.2 ROM.
In download mode, you should see the green Android guy with the words "Downloading...Do not turn off target" and a blue progress bar moving from left to right.
I did not check reset in Odin. Once it finished flashing the ROM, I removed the USB cable, removed the battery, replaced the battery, and booted the phone. I the Android guy with the wire frame for a few seconds, the screen went blank, and the phone started up with the Samsung logo.
Since you were getting errors with mounting the different partitions, you may have needed to flash the PIT and PDA files but I can't really say for sure as I have never encountered this problem.
I normally verify everything before I use Odin because phones that I have been given to fix have had all sorts of weird configurations.
You'll have to try the debrick guide. of use a jtag service. You could also do what I did and that is to look for people with phones that have a damaged screen and buy they at a steep discount.

Accidentally Soft Bricked Tab S 8.4; tried firmware and PIT flash, no good.

I was given a Galaxy Tab S by a relative who works in a cell phone store. It was a demo device, and it had demo mode enabled. I initially attempted to reboot into recovery and do a wipe from there, but an error came up informing me that "MDM" had blocked this option (I assume MDM to mean manufacturer demo mode). The tablet was still working at this point, so I rebooted and got the exact model number, SM-T700. I googled for a bit and found the recommendation to be to reinstall the firmware. I've done a lot of ODIN flashes before, so I downloaded the correct firmware from the official firmware post here on XDA, rebooted to download mode, and flashed it without issues.
After 30 minutes, the tablet still just showed the Samsung boot screen. I did a hard reboot with volume up + power, and left it. After another 30 minutes, it still didn't show anything. I rebooted to download mode and tried flashing again. Same result. I rebooted to recovery and tried to wipe the device from there. MDM block.
After more searching, I decided to use the PIT file and the firmware file in ODIN. I've had to use PIT files a couple times before, so I was very careful in checking to ensure I had the correct one. I am very confident I did. I flashed that, and still the tablet would not boot.
I then decided to install TWRP and see if I could wipe from there. TWRP gave me some useful information: it returned that it could not mount any of the partitions on the device. 'could not mount /system', 'could not mount /data', etc.
I've done a lot of googling and reading since then, but I can't seem to find anybody else with the result. The closest thing I can find is a similar situation on some ASUS tablets, but the solution would definitely not work here. The only other thing I can find is people recommending to flash the PIT file, which I have no tried a second time and still does not work.
Does anybody have any suggestions? I don't know what else to do.
You didn't need the pit file, so forget about that.
The first thing you should have done is disable the reactivation lock.
Then flash the stock firmware, after that immediately boot into recovery and factory reset.
I would reflash the stock KitKat firmware and immediately boot into recovery after the flash and wipe data/reset
Ensure that during the flashing process there are no errors.
Updating, I got it figured out.
I tried 3 different firmwares, all of which flashed with no errors but did not work. 2 were KitKat, one was lollipop. I tried a fourth firmware (a Korean one from sammobile on lollipop) and it flashed exactly the same as all of the others, but this time it worked. I have no idea what was different with this firmware compared to the other three, but it worked, and I'm happy.
Activation lock cannot be disabled via the demo mode software on Samsung devices (unless there is a method of doing so I am unaware of), so that wasn't an option. I was unable to get the stock recovery to allow a factory reset. Teamwin recovery did allow a factory reset.
Either way, its working now.

Sprint S6 MM 6.0.1 ODIN Flashing... fails!?!?!?

So, i've ran into many errors on my phone from sboot.bin and a NAND Write Start fail.....but fixed that somehow but manuvering a pullout battery move more like just a mash start button to flash the PIT file and it worked but now its just switched to just another proble which being ...
Me flashing thru ODIN the official stock tar of PB6 or When done flashing the Rev02 MM tar FW
and i result in success BUT
it immedately restarts and i can tell it's trying to go to the Updates screen with light or baby blue text, but gives me a quick yellow triangle and angle android with X covered on its eyes.
BUt it goe's straight into its stock recovery to just tell me that it (can't mount /efs / data )and anything else,
i then try to wipe it and it just say it can't since it's unmounted, thru stock recovery.
If i just click on reboot system now
it cycles but then heads straight into stock recovery,
to tell me unable to mount /efs (invalid arguement)
So, P86 and PD2 Stock FW , flashes completely, i see the Glaxy S6 Logo but then it goes from that baby blue screen to a
rushed right into stock recovery, yelling at me for failure to mount efs.
I'm not entirely sure what to do, i am able to flash TWRP and format to mount the partitions data,cache, dalvik and it's fine but when trying to boot it just gives me a black screen and blue led cycle.....i even waited a full 2 hours....
is there any fixes or suggestions?
i've tried other cables and computers same issue.
Once in recovery i just hit reboot to system, it gives me a blank screen and endless bluelight cycle led
i've tried the PB6 Customs Rom Renegae ,ti flashses completey except i noticed something for it not completed a boot image or something? so im wondering about that
I've tried the other stock tars which are md5 validated and not damaged a.k.a OJ7, OL1, PB6, PD2
OL1 flashes fine, says erasing and then
the device still could not boot past the Samsung boot logo, kept restarting frequently
and others have me just going straight into recovery.
Your EFS partition needs to be rebuilt. Samsung implemented security called DRK if the /efs is tampered with, it wont boot past the galaxy screen. You need someone with an unlock box to fix it.
Actually my problem is now Fixed Thank you guys So much for the support you could provided with my silly act of trying to get support for more nonsense... MAKE SURE TO DO A NANDROID BACKUP And EFS BACKUP from the apps or forums here, definetly saved me so much from here.
So here's my solution i know that not all have insurance and etc BUT this is what happened today...
So i talked to a Sprint Live Chat about my Phone and they proceeded for me to do a Hard Reset which is mainstream for trying to fix my phone. So i proceeded and it did nothing.
So, today i went to the store And I proceeded with my gimmick of (trying to install an OTA update through the service and it didn't work, then tried with Samsung Kies or something and that didn't work either) The consultant took my phone and number to verify, spoke to a tech that took about an hour and with a final answer said the issue was that ( The device is going straight to the bootloader and even after selecting a reset it is not going passed the bootloader )
so in my case they don't know I used a custom thing to wipe everything and accientlly wipe the efs which is a good thing ~
so i played dumb and they repsonded with me for the information i gave them that i do have warrenty and insurance so I'm covered with the TEP Plan or whatever plan and paid 0.00$ FREE basically ,not even a co-pay....all they said really was if i was interested in switching data plans and etc about their accessories usual consultant talk and that if i didnt have the insurance it would've been a minimum of 75$ to 100$ so since this one time this has happened the next is also free from the 2 that they offer within that 1 year. but aftewards i'd have to pay 100 or 200$ for it.
So, ironically i got this phone when it came out in April of last year and ironically messes up by that same time, so as of the next few days i'm getting a replacement or a new galaxy s6 same version everything and new sim card on Monday and they will establish the new phone as this one is defective... So thank you guys
As another note before you take it in to the Store, make sure ( if you used the phone to wipe it ) With TWRP go to Wipe Data/cache/ then advanced and select everything but OTG and then select format data and from there install the Official 6.0.1 stock tar or mine was the PB6 tar and let it do it's thing, and then power it off and then -proceed with the same story - essentially i got the same responses....dm-verify failed and etc. at the bottom of recovery.

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