so i recently dove into rooting my s4 after first spending a lot of time reading this great board, thought i had a handle on it, thought things were going very well, but i've hit a snag, which came while attempting my first restore - i'm hopeful someone will give me a little help,
a little background:
1. before rooting i backed up my phone with titanium, also backed it up by copying all of its contents to my pc.
2. i followed the excellent "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" instructions and it worked without a hitch, it was a quick and easy process, no surprises.
3. confirmed that i was rooted using "root checker", all systems were go.
4. once the root was done i made another backup using titanium and sms backup. i also made a full system backup using online nandroid pro and, to be extra safe, i also backed up efs using efs backup tool.
5. i then moved some folders and files to my external card and once again backed up my phone as before, including to my pc.
6. feeling confident that i could now restore my system to its rooted stock state if things went south, i decided to flash my first rom with cwm, i went with cm11 m7 4.4.3 - i saved the cm11 and gapps zips to my external card using rom tool box pro, rebooted into cwm recovery, selected the two files, and flashed. i also did a data and cache wipe before doing so.
6. needless to say i was thrilled when cm11 loaded perfectly, it worked great, and it was just what i was hoping for.
7. having been bitten by the apparent ease of flashing roms, i decided to restore my system to it's pre cm11 state, to it's rooted stock rom state, and try another rom, rather than just flash another rom from cm11 - i wanted to make sure that returning to my rooted stock rom state would be a simple matter.
and that's where i've run into problems.
1. as i mentioned i made two system backups of my stock rom before flashing cm11, one right after i rooted my phone, and one after moving some folders and files to the external card.
2. after doing a wipe, i chose to restore the second backup, the one i made after moving files and folders, and it didn't quite work out - everything appeared to restore perfectly, but my device was immediately inundated with pop up warnings about stopped apps, i also got a persistent warning that the system had stopped responding as well, prompting me to choose between "wait" or "stop it". not only was the restored backup mired in popup screens, but it was impossibly slow, impossibly "laggy".
3. so i decided to restore the other stock backup, the one i made before i moved folders and files, and the results were the same, pop screens for apps not working, system warnings, severe lags, etc., identical to the first backup.
then i panicked.
1. i decided to flash my phone with the "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" file again, again with odin, hoping that it would put me where i started - i didn't stop to think that my phone was already rooted, that the file was was for unrooted phones.
2. not only did the reflash not work (my phone just booted as normal, as if the flash didn't get a chance to finish), but cwm recovery in boot mode was gone, replaced by what appears to be the andorid stock recovery screen, a screen with an animated dying/collapsing robot, - the screen was titled: "android system recovery <3e> and asked for an "update" from the external storage or cache.
3. not knowing what "update" it was looking for, i selected a backed system files (the first rooted stock rom backup i made, the second rooted stock backup i made, and even the cm11 file) - none worked.
4. i then downloaded a clean stock rom from cwm's website, converted it from zip to tar, and tried to flash it using odin with my device in upload mode, it didn't work either.
so how badly did i mess up my phone? any help would be greatly appreciated.
aeneas1 said:
so i recently dove into rooting my s4 after first spending a lot of time reading this great board, thought i had a handle on it, thought things were going very well, but i've hit a snag, which came while attempting my first restore - i'm hopeful someone will give me a little help,
a little background:
1. before rooting i backed up my phone with titanium, also backed it up by copying all of its contents to my pc.
2. i followed the excellent "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" instructions and it worked without a hitch, it was a quick and easy process, no surprises.
3. confirmed that i was rooted using "root checker", all systems were go.
4. once the root was done i made another backup using titanium and sms backup. i also made a full system backup using online nandroid pro and, to be extra safe, i also backed up efs using efs backup tool.
5. i then moved some folders and files to my external card and once again backed up my phone as before, including to my pc.
6. feeling confident that i could now restore my system to its rooted stock state if things went south, i decided to flash my first rom with cwm, i went with cm11 m7 4.4.3 - i saved the cm11 and gapps zips to my external card using rom tool box pro, rebooted into cwm recovery, selected the two files, and flashed. i also did a data and cache wipe before doing so.
6. needless to say i was thrilled when cm11 loaded perfectly, it worked great, and it was just what i was hoping for.
7. having been bitten by the apparent ease of flashing roms, i decided to restore my system to it's pre cm11 state, to it's rooted stock rom state, and try another rom, rather than just flash another rom from cm11 - i wanted to make sure that returning to my rooted stock rom state would be a simple matter.
and that's where i've run into problems.
1. as i mentioned i made two system backups of my stock rom before flashing cm11, one right after i rooted my phone, and one after moving some folders and files to the external card.
2. after doing a wipe, i chose to restore the second backup, the one i made after moving files and folders, and it didn't quite work out - everything appeared to restore perfectly, but my device was immediately inundated with pop up warnings about stopped apps, i also got a persistent warning that the system had stopped responding as well, prompting me to choose between "wait" or "stop it". not only was the restored backup mired in popup screens, but it was impossibly slow, impossibly "laggy".
3. so i decided to restore the other stock backup, the one i made before i moved folders and files, and the results were the same, pop screens for apps not working, system warnings, severe lags, etc., identical to the first backup.
then i panicked.
1. i decided to flash my phone with the "[SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root" file again, again with odin, hoping that it would put me where i started - i didn't stop to think that my phone was already rooted, that the file was was for unrooted phones.
2. not only did the reflash not work (my phone just booted as normal, as if the flash didn't get a chance to finish), but cwm recovery in boot mode was gone, replaced by what appears to be the andorid stock recovery screen, a screen with an animated dying/collapsing robot, - the screen was titled: "android system recovery <3e> and asked for an "update" from the external storage or cache.
3. not knowing what "update" it was looking for, i selected a backed system files (the first rooted stock rom backup i made, the second rooted stock backup i made, and even the cm11 file) - none worked.
4. i then downloaded a clean stock rom from cwm's website, converted it from zip to tar, and tried to flash it using odin with my device in upload mode, it didn't work either.
so how badly did i mess up my phone? any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it boots at all you didn't kill it.
Not sure what rom you got from the CWM site. They do recoveries, not roms. The ROM manager app does allow you to download roms, but you can't just convert those from zip to tar. That doesn't make them flashable in Odin.
Here's what you do. Get the stock ROM from either here on XDA (use the search feature to find it) or from Sammobile.com.
Flash that in Odin.
Then you can start over.
---OR---
If you want to try to fix what you've got now, download CWM or TWRP RECOVERY (nor ROM) and flash that in Odin. Boot to recovery, wipe data and system, and flash any other rom you want. That will start you over with a fresh rom of your choice.
Skipjacks said:
f it boots at all you didn't kill it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hallelujah!
Skipjacks said:
Not sure what rom you got from the CWM site. They do recoveries, not roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my apologies, i meant that i downloaded recovery files from the cwm website, not a rom files - i got them from https://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager - i downloaded both (touch & non-touch) s4 t-mobile versions (6.0.4.7). i'm assumed those were recovery files?
Skipjack" said:
The ROM manager app does allow you to download roms, but you can't just convert those from zip to tar. That doesn't make them flashable in Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
again, my apologies - i meant that i downloaded *.img files, not zips, and converted them to tars for odin use. i used a batch file to convert them from img to tar, found at xda, here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2281287 - it seemed to do the job, odin ran and reported success. wrong files? wrong conversion?
Skipjack said:
Here's what you do. Get the stock ROM from either here on XDA (use the search feature to find it) or from Sammobile.com.
Flash that in Odin.
Then you can start over.
---OR---
If you want to try to fix what you've got now, download CWM or TWRP RECOVERY (nor ROM) and flash that in Odin. Boot to recovery, wipe data and system, and flash any other rom you want. That will start you over with a fresh rom of your choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
given a choice, i'd like to do what's bolded in red - but that's what i thought i was doing by flashing the cwm file i downloaded from the cwm website - but after the flash attempt it wouldn't boot into cwm, it would just boot into (i'm assuming") the stock rom i restored, which was a mess. i also unchecked auto-boot to see if that helped - but when i manually booted it didn't boot into cwm, it booted into the stock recovery, with the animated android.
i'll try downloading cwm from the sources you provided, and see if that does the trick. btw, why do you think i was able to flash the cm11 rom with (seemingly) perfect success, but wasn't able to restore either one of the full system (android) backups i made after i rooted my phone?
anyway Skipjack, thanks a ton for your assistance and i'll report back after i give your sources a try. fwiw, it sure is a great charge when a newbie like me sees a custom rom load for the first time, displaying a new ui as it boots, fun stuff.
Just download the ready yo flash tar files. Cwm has them. Twrp has them.
success Skipjack thanks to your generous time and assistance!
i ended up downloading the latest odin zip i could find and philz_touch_6.08.9-jfltetmo.tar.md5... my first try didn't take, with auto-reboot checked, my phone simply rebooted into the same problematic rom i had restored. i then tried it with auto-boot unchecked and manually booted when odin reported pass/success, and it worked. what struck me as odd was how long it took to flash, to report pass/success, around 3-5 minutes if i had to guess, a big difference compared to when i first used odin to root my phone with the["SGH-M919] CF-Auto-Root *.tar.md5 file - i'm guessing that's why it didn't work with auto-boot checked, just took too long?
anyway once i booted into philz_touch recovery i executed the wipe data/factory reset > clean to install a new rom command and then flashed the cm11 m7 (snapshot) rom, which i had flashed once before, right before i attempted to restore the stock rom it had replaced. and as was the case the first time around, it installed without a hitch and is running smooth and fast.
however now when i boot the phone, as soon as the cyanogen logo appears, very tiny text appears in the upper left hand corner which reads (i had to use a magnifying glass!) - it doesn't seem to effect the performance of he device but i'd like to get to the bottom of it, i've already searched and it appears to be a rather common issue.
kernel is not seandroid enforcing
set warranty bit: kernel
btw, i forgot to mention, when i purchased my sgh-m99 it already had 4.3 installed - when i flashed my first rom (cm11 m7) it included kitkat 4.4.2... could this be what caused my problems? did trying to go back to (restore) a 4.3 rom after flashing a 4.4.2 rom screw things up? can this even be done successfully?
and finally, at the risk of bugging the heck out of you, what roms do you prefer for your s4, assuming you have an s4? do you like aosp roms or touchwiz? does one type have a better reputation of being more stable? the primary reason i wanted to rot my phone was to get rid of a bunch of t-mobile / samsung bloatware, which i thought i could do by installing a lean custom rom. any suggestions, which are your favorites? thanks again Skipkack.
ouhned after
re the two lines of text i now get in the upper left hand corner of the screen whenever i boot, the kernel message:
kernel is not seandroid enforcing
set warranty bit: kernel
well after a lot of searching and reading, including coming across dozens of "fixes" and "solutions" that didn't seem to work for many folks, these two responses seemed to make some sense, what do you think?
eclpsues said:
I'm not an expert in Android OS but I think this is not an error. It is more of a notification that the STOCK KERNEL has been change to a CUSTOM one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Joku1981 said:
You are right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2594483
aeneas1 said:
re the two lines of text i now get in the upper left hand corner of the screen whenever i boot, the kernel message:
kernel is not seandroid enforcing
set warranty bit: kernel
well after a lot of searching and reading, including coming across dozens of "fixes" and "solutions" that didn't seem to work for many folks, these two responses seemed to make some sense, what do you think?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2594483
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tiny text on the boot screen is basically telling you that Knox has been tripped. You are right. It does not affect the performance of the phone.
Skipjacks said:
The tiny text on the boot screen is basically telling you that Knox has been tripped. You are right. It does not affect the performance of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks skipjack... btw i'm really liking the cm11 m7 rom but, via the learning curve process, i've discovered it does not support wifi calling, something that apparently all aosp rom lack, guess i'll have to go with a touchwiz rom even tho the selection seems to be few and far between. also, is it possible to revert back to 4.3 once 4.4.2 has been flashed? seems like there's a lot of mixed opinions on this, altho in terms of those opinions it's hard for me tell who the pros are that should believed, and who the other guys are that really don't know. thanks again.
aeneas1 said:
thanks skipjack... btw i'm really liking the cm11 m7 rom but, via the learning curve process, i've discovered it does not support wifi calling, something that apparently all aosp rom lack, guess i'll have to go with a touchwiz rom even tho the selection seems to be few and far between. also, is it possible to revert back to 4.3 once 4.4.2 has been flashed? seems like there's a lot of mixed opinions on this, altho in terms of those opinions it's hard for me tell who the pros are that should believed, and who the other guys are that really don't know. thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you are rooted you can flash any custom ROM 4.3, 4.4, 4.2, etc. and then go back to stock 4.3. And only TW ROMs allow wifi calling
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Kriptik210 said:
Once you are rooted you can flash any custom ROM 4.3, 4.4, 4.2, etc. and then go back to stock 4.3. And only TW ROMs allow wifi calling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very interesting... i guess i misunderstood the posts i read on the subject, maybe they were discussing whether or not you could revert to 4.3 from 4.4.2 on non-rooted phones, which i'm guessing isn't possible. anyway, as i mentioned previously, i fist rooted my 4.3 phone, did a full system backup (using online nandroid), flashed a 4.4.2 rom which worked perfectly, then tried to restore my 4.3 backup only to encounter a bunch of problems, thought going from 4.4.2 back to 4.3 may have caused the problems but i guess not?
so if i'm using a 4.4.2 custom rom and want to restore a 4.3 backup i should be able to boot into recovery and restore from there? or would i need to do a 4.3 flash first, before restoring a 4.3 backup?
aeneas1 said:
very interesting... i guess i misunderstood the posts i read on the subject, maybe they were discussing whether or not you could revert to 4.3 from 4.4.2 on non-rooted phones, which i'm guessing isn't possible. anyway, as i mentioned previously, i fist rooted my 4.3 phone, did a full system backup (using online nandroid), flashed a 4.4.2 rom which worked perfectly, then tried to restore my 4.3 backup only to encounter a bunch of problems, thought going from 4.4.2 back to 4.3 may have caused the problems but i guess not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you wipe before you restored? And do not misunderstand this, you cannot downgrade firmwares once you go 4.3 and up, but you can downgrade the system, which is what you did with your backup
serio22 said:
Did you wipe before you restored? And do not misunderstand this, you cannot downgrade firmwares once you go 4.3 and up, but you can downgrade the system, which is what you did with your backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks very much for the clarification, i was under the impression that firmware and system were somewhat synonymous in this context, i.e. if you upgraded firmware you were in effect upgrading the system, but i see that's not the case, again thanks. and yes i did do a full wipe before trying to restore the backup, was i not supposed to?
aeneas1 said:
thanks very much for the clarification, i was under the impression that firmware and system were somewhat synonymous in this context, i.e. if you upgraded firmware you were in effect upgrading the system, but i see that's not the case, again thanks. and yes i did do a full wipe before trying to restore the backup, was i not supposed to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updating firmware does update the system. Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware. Firmware consists of bootloader, recovery, modem, and system, what you cannot downgrade is the bootloader, the flash will fail every time because it will try to downgrade it. And you should not experience any issues restoring your back up. What were this problems?
btw serio22, do you have a favorite tw rom?
Yea serio22, what is your favorite TW ROM?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
serio22 said:
Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but the cm11 rom zip i flashed included 4.4.2, before flashing i was using 4.3 - so didn't i update (or change) both the system and firmware?
btw, fwiw, - now that i'm up and running thanks to skipjacks help, i decided to try restoring my 4.3 backup again. when i tried this in the past it would restore to the same state as it was before but it was virtually unusable because of severe lags and multiple app not working popups that made navigating almost impossible. well now when i try to restore it fails and i get the following message:
checking md summs...
md5 mismatch
serio22 said:
Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but the cm11 rom zip i flashed included 4.4.2, before flashing i was using 4.3 - so didn't i update (or change) both the system and firmware?
btw, fwiw, - now that i'm up and running thanks to skipjacks help, i decided to try restoring my 4.3 backup again. as i mentioned, when i tried this in the past it would restore to the same state as it was before but it was virtually unusable because of severe lags and multiple "app not working" popups that made navigating almost impossible. but now when i try to restore the 4.3 backup it fails and i get the following message:
checking md summs...
md5 mismatch
update:
well it looks like the *.md5 file was pointing to my internal drive rather than external which is where i had moved the 4.3 backup (and apparently the *.md5 file didn't update or account for the move), anyway i copied the backup to my internal drive and, viola, no more md5 mismatch errors. more importantly, it restored the 4.3 backup perfectly, in the exact same state as before, without all of lagging and pop up issues i was having before, so i'm one happy camper! not sure what i did the first time around, but all is good now, for he time being, sure wish i knew what i mucked up to cause the problems in the first place, i really have no idea, other than being a newbie at this. also, fwiw, the tiny text in the upper left hand corner that appears during boot (kernal message) no longer appears now that i have restored the 4.3 system backup... fwiw2, i'm liking the philz_touch_recovery but it sure has taken some getting used to, the commands are so close together and the thing is so sensitive, very easy to accidentally select the wrong option, and some of the wrong options aren't too friendly if it wasn't what you had intended to select.
aeneas1 said:
but the cm11 rom zip i flashed included 4.4.2, before flashing i was using 4.3 - so didn't i update (or change) both the system and firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read my previous post more closely below. Good to see you up and running though! And no I don't have a favorite tw Rom
serio22 said:
Updating firmware does update the system. Based on your previous comment the only thing you did was update the system by flashing a ROM which only contains the system, data, and kernel, so you can still flash the 4.3 firmware. Firmware consists of bootloader, recovery, modem, and system, what you cannot downgrade is the bootloader, the flash will fail every time because it will try to downgrade it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Related
hi, i recently got an ATT note 2. The phone I got already got Clean ROM 3.5, so I presume it is rooted, with custom recovery (TWRP when I checked). I am thinking of flashing to a diff rom and just want to ask a few questions.
1-do I need to run triangle away every time I flash to a diff rom?
2-since the phone already has a custom rom, I should not have to root it, am I correct?
3-If I want to install custom, ROMs, can I just put the ROM in the external SD and flash it that way (of course with clear cash, davik, etc as states in the rom).
4-I am thinking of playing with the CleanROM 4.2.4 or the ACE version? any issue with either one compare to the 3.5 that I am using now? any recommendation?
5-anything I need ot watch out before I flash it? I have flashed a coupole of time with htc phone and this is my first samsung phone so I don't watn to brick it.
thanks a lot guys, XDA rocks.
PUTALE said:
hi, i recently got an ATT note 2. The phone I got already got Clean ROM 3.5, so I presume it is rooted, with custom recovery (TWRP when I checked). I am thinking of flashing to a diff rom and just want to ask a few questions.
1-do I need to run triangle away every time I flash to a diff rom?
2-since the phone already has a custom rom, I should not have to root it, am I correct?
3-If I want to install custom, ROMs, can I just put the ROM in the external SD and flash it that way (of course with clear cash, davik, etc as states in the rom).
4-I am thinking of playing with the CleanROM 4.2.4 or the ACE version? any issue with either one compare to the 3.5 that I am using now? any recommendation?
5-anything I need ot watch out before I flash it? I have flashed a coupole of time with htc phone and this is my first samsung phone so I don't watn to brick it.
thanks a lot guys, XDA rocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. No you do not need to run triangle away usually only have to run it if you are going back to stock and may want to return the phone.
2.Nope it has a Rom you are rooted !
3.That is what I do when installing a new rom factory reset wipe davlik and cache and install you may have to fix permissions with some installs as well after installing.
4.From the bit I played with the new Clean rom it is very stable with minimum if any grief Jedi 9 is also a awesome ROM and my current fave.
5.Just read up lots before you do it follow every step they tell you to take your time it is easy just make sure ya know what you are doing before you start.
6.Enjoy they are a awesome phone !!
Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. It heped a lot. I will definitelycheck the roms. I am using 3.5 and it runs really good and hate to ruin it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
PUTALE said:
Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. It heped a lot. I will definitelycheck the roms. I am using 3.5 and it runs really good and hate to ruin it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do a backup in twrp before flashing a new one, you can always come back
thanks for the info. That brings me to another question with TWRP, when I do TWRP backup, should I backup everything, modem, efs, etc. Also, if I use that backup and I do restore, does it restore everything, program, rom, setting, etc?
Also, if I want to flash the stock ROM, would that mess up my root, recovery etc? Do I need to do anything if I flash the stock ROM? From my past experience, sometimes, it is good to flash the stock rom once in awhile since that seem to do some sort of clean up and it also helped to keep the modem and such up to date.Probaby won't keep the stock for a long time but just thought I may flash it to play with it and keep the modem files up to date. Then flash custom rom. I also read that if I want to use triangle, I must be on stock rom or it will brick my phone, so I want to make sure before I start playing with diff roms.
thanks a lot guys
PUTALE said:
thanks for the info. That brings me to another question with TWRP, when I do TWRP backup, should I backup everything, modem, efs, etc. Also, if I use that backup and I do restore, does it restore everything, program, rom, setting, etc?
Also, if I want to flash the stock ROM, would that mess up my root, recovery etc? Do I need to do anything if I flash the stock ROM? From my past experience, sometimes, it is good to flash the stock rom once in awhile since that seem to do some sort of clean up and it also helped to keep the modem and such up to date.Probaby won't keep the stock for a long time but just thought I may flash it to play with it and keep the modem files up to date. Then flash custom rom. I also read that if I want to use triangle, I must be on stock rom or it will brick my phone, so I want to make sure before I start playing with diff roms.
thanks a lot guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is one of nice features of TWRP... ability to backup/restore individual partitions. Android stores various blocks in different partitions. To name a few, System, Data, Modem, Recovery, Boot, Cache, etc. If you just want to backup your modem for example, just check the "modem" box (and I recommend naming the folder to something significant so down the road you'll know which modem it is). When you restore, that folder will only have your modem.. so you can restore a different modem without having to change your rom, (etc). Kernels are stored in the "boot" partitions.. again, if you want to change kernels, backup the boot partition and name it properly if case you want to reflash that kernel. Generally, after my first flash of a new ROM, kernel, modem, I'll create a "boot" backup, "modem" backup, and ROM (system/data/boot) partition backups. If you look in the TWRP folders themselves, you can see the blocks which are backed up... or will be restored. Hope that helps.
PUTALE said:
thanks for the info. That brings me to another question with TWRP, when I do TWRP backup, should I backup everything, modem, efs, etc. Also, if I use that backup and I do restore, does it restore everything, program, rom, setting, etc?
Also, if I want to flash the stock ROM, would that mess up my root, recovery etc? Do I need to do anything if I flash the stock ROM? From my past experience, sometimes, it is good to flash the stock rom once in awhile since that seem to do some sort of clean up and it also helped to keep the modem and such up to date.Probaby won't keep the stock for a long time but just thought I may flash it to play with it and keep the modem files up to date. Then flash custom rom. I also read that if I want to use triangle, I must be on stock rom or it will brick my phone, so I want to make sure before I start playing with diff roms.
thanks a lot guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I back up in TWRP, I usually just go with what is default checked off. You will not mess up your root unless you really really tried to. The last time I ever had to flash back to stock then to a custom was on my Xperia X10a... You should be fine flashing a new rom without having to go back to stock as long as you do a good wipe (Wipe System, Factory Rest, Davlik, and Cache is what I do only because it doesn't hurt... I've read you do not need to do all those steps but I do them nonetheless). Do not use Triangle Away unless you plan on returning your phone or send it in for warranty. Only then should you start asking questions about that tool.
The only issue that may cause SOME confusion (not too much but some) is flashing back and forth between a 4.1.2 and a 4.2.1 since the SD card adjusts to User settings (some folders open up for individual users on 4.2 but as far as my experience goes, I have not had any issues with it, I just needed to study my SD card after each flash).
So you should be fine... just do backups, rename them to make sure you know which rom belongs to which backup, delete the old ones from the RESTORE menu in TWRP in case you are backing up the same rom to save you some space (my backups take around 2 gigs sometimes EACH) and you should be good to go... Enjoy tweaking out on your roms!
DoctorQMM said:
This is one of nice features of TWRP... ability to backup/restore individual partitions. Android stores various blocks in different partitions. To name a few, System, Data, Modem, Recovery, Boot, Cache, etc. If you just want to backup your modem for example, just check the "modem" box (and I recommend naming the folder to something significant so down the road you'll know which modem it is). When you restore, that folder will only have your modem.. so you can restore a different modem without having to change your rom, (etc). Kernels are stored in the "boot" partitions.. again, if you want to change kernels, backup the boot partition and name it properly if case you want to reflash that kernel. Generally, after my first flash of a new ROM, kernel, modem, I'll create a "boot" backup, "modem" backup, and ROM (system/data/boot) partition backups. If you look in the TWRP folders themselves, you can see the blocks which are backed up... or will be restored. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much appreciated for your detail explanation on the TWRP. I did a quick backup and selected all of the option and now I see the files in my external SD:
modem.emmc.win
data.ext4.win
cache.ext4.win
recovery.emmc.win
boot.emmc.win
efs.ext4.win
data.ext4.win
system.ext4.win
Quick question. If I understand correctly, the modem and efs is not ROM backup, so if I just want to revert to the rom I am currently running with all apps and such, I only need to backup system, boot, data, am I correct?
Also, is there any way that I can retain my data, settings, and apps, without re-download and re-configurate everything after I flash to a new ROM? I am thinking that maybe data will do such thing but not too certain. In the past, whenever I flash to a new rom, I always download all apps again from market and setup everything again, a bit hassle but that's how I did
[email protected] said:
When I back up in TWRP, I usually just go with what is default checked off. You will not mess up your root unless you really really tried to. The last time I ever had to flash back to stock then to a custom was on my Xperia X10a... You should be fine flashing a new rom without having to go back to stock as long as you do a good wipe (Wipe System, Factory Rest, Davlik, and Cache is what I do only because it doesn't hurt... I've read you do not need to do all those steps but I do them nonetheless). Do not use Triangle Away unless you plan on returning your phone or send it in for warranty. Only then should you start asking questions about that tool.
The only issue that may cause SOME confusion (not too much but some) is flashing back and forth between a 4.1.2 and a 4.2.1 since the SD card adjusts to User settings (some folders open up for individual users on 4.2 but as far as my experience goes, I have not had any issues with it, I just needed to study my SD card after each flash).
So you should be fine... just do backups, rename them to make sure you know which rom belongs to which backup, delete the old ones from the RESTORE menu in TWRP in case you are backing up the same rom to save you some space (my backups take around 2 gigs sometimes EACH) and you should be good to go... Enjoy tweaking out on your roms!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the info/warning on the triangle. I read that it can brick the phone and also needs to be on the stock to use it. Also read that if there's too many counts, it may not work. I guess for now, I just won't touch it.
Since there's no 4.2 roms available (at least not what I have seen and want to play, CleanRom or Jedi as they are highly rated), I guess for now I do not have to worry much on the SD card issue. It will be safer I guess for now just stick with 4.1.2 until the kinks are worked out.
For the wipe system, factory, davlik, cache, do I do that before flashing it?watched a couple of video and instruction and they all have diff answers. Some people said do factory reset, flash, and then wipe davik and cache.
Again, really really appreciate all of the support guys.
PUTALE said:
Much appreciated for your detail explanation on the TWRP. I did a quick backup and selected all of the option and now I see the files in my external SD:
modem.emmc.win
data.ext4.win
cache.ext4.win
recovery.emmc.win
boot.emmc.win
efs.ext4.win
data.ext4.win
system.ext4.win
Quick question. If I understand correctly, the modem and efs is not ROM backup, so if I just want to revert to the rom I am currently running with all apps and such, I only need to backup system, boot, data, am I correct?
Also, is there any way that I can retain my data, settings, and apps, without re-download and re-configurate everything after I flash to a new ROM? I am thinking that maybe data will do such thing but not too certain. In the past, whenever I flash to a new rom, I always download all apps again from market and setup everything again, a bit hassle but that's how I did
thanks for the info/warning on the triangle. I read that it can brick the phone and also needs to be on the stock to use it. Also read that if there's too many counts, it may not work. I guess for now, I just won't touch it.
Since there's no 4.2 roms available (at least not what I have seen and want to play, CleanRom or Jedi as they are highly rated), I guess for now I do not have to worry much on the SD card issue. It will be safer I guess for now just stick with 4.1.2 until the kinks are worked out.
For the wipe system, factory, davlik, cache, do I do that before flashing it?watched a couple of video and instruction and they all have diff answers. Some people said do factory reset, flash, and then wipe davik and cache.
Again, really really appreciate all of the support guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think of your Nandroid (TWRP) backup as a roll back to what you are comfortable with (check everything off so you do not lose a thing if you want) in case you find that the new thing you flashed isn't all that it was cracked up to be for you or something messes up. The Nandroid backup is EVERYONE's friend.
As for flashing a new ROM and having to start all over, I will use this as an example: I have two backups; one for Paranoid Android (4.2.1 AOSPA) and Clean 4.2.5 (4.1.2). When I originally flashed my stock to Clean, I must've gotten lucky by just wiping the system (ROM only and not a factory reset) and all my data transferred over just fine with no issues... but when flashing to PA, I had to do a full wipe then start from scratch (which was not bad if you sync your apps and contacts thru Google). Also, you might want to get another backup system such as Super Backup to back up your contacts and SMS messages (be careful with backing up call logs if you go to 4.2.1 ROMs because for some reason, things went wacky for me). Titanium is a good system to use for power users but sometimes, to keep it as simple as possible, count on Google at first for your app syncing (and if you get Amazon App Store, you will have to get that APK to download the apps from that store).
Anyway, from there (if you want to play with multiple ROMs) you now have a foundation. Dirty flashing (flashing a new version of a ROM you currently have without doing a full wipe... just in case you didn't know... for me, I just wipe System [no factory reset] then flash the upgrade) should be fine... again, I'm typing from experience because there are some people who do run into issues dirty flashing and is usually not supported by the devs unless you do a full wipe and flash. I have not had any issues whatsoever dirty flashing both PA and Clean versions.
As for methods of wiping, honestly they're all right... I just posted what I usually do when I want to do a full wipe. Only if you want to do a dirty flash, you won't have to wipe or do a partial wipe (I partial wipe e.g. Clean 4.0.5 to 4.2.5: Delete last Clean Rom backup through the Restore menu, Nandroid Back Up current working Clean Rom 4.0.5, Wipe System, Install the new 4.2.5, wipe Davlik and Cache (again, I do this just in case but some devs say it's unnecessary), then reboot and wait for the apps to reset... all was where it was when I left 4.0.5.
PUTALE said:
Quick question. If I understand correctly, the modem and efs is not ROM backup, so if I just want to revert to the rom I am currently running with all apps and such, I only need to backup system, boot, data, am I correct?
Also, is there any way that I can retain my data, settings, and apps, without re-download and re-configurate everything after I flash to a new ROM? I am thinking that maybe data will do such thing but not too certain. In the past, whenever I flash to a new rom, I always download all apps again from market and setup everything again, a bit hassle but that's how I did
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes... if you're retaining your current modem and recovery... to restore a rom just as it was when you backed it up, restore boot (which has the kernel), system and data. One your second question, when restoring a different rom , it's best to always restore system/data/boot together. You can use TiBu to restore your user app DATA, and individual apps usually have their own backup files you can restore (like Nova/Apex launchers [which can restore your widgets], calendar, etc).
much appreciated guys. thanks so much. I think I got it. Will get ready to pick a good ROM and starts flashing.
one little thing, I saw this rom here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2124182
it says stock rooted, does that mean that it is essentailly identical to what is found on the stock rom except that it will not mess up with my recovery and rooting if I use it to flash as oppose to the guide I saw online to flash to completely stock using ODIN.
Also, I did the unlock with what I found on the thread, would that mess got messed up when I flash to different ROM?
PUTALE said:
much appreciated guys. thanks so much. I think I got it. Will get ready to pick a good ROM and starts flashing.
one little thing, I saw this rom here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2124182
it says stock rooted, does that mean that it is essentailly identical to what is found on the stock rom except that it will not mess up with my recovery and rooting if I use it to flash as oppose to the guide I saw online to flash to completely stock using ODIN.
Also, I did the unlock with what I found on the thread, would that mess got messed up when I flash to different ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never used that rom so I can't say for sure. Try it out and see what happens. If you don't like it, restore your backup.
PUTALE said:
much appreciated guys. thanks so much. I think I got it. Will get ready to pick a good ROM and starts flashing.
one little thing, I saw this rom here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2124182
it says stock rooted, does that mean that it is essentailly identical to what is found on the stock rom except that it will not mess up with my recovery and rooting if I use it to flash as oppose to the guide I saw online to flash to completely stock using ODIN.
Also, I did the unlock with what I found on the thread, would that mess got messed up when I flash to different ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That rom is one of the most recent 7105 (note2 international) samsung firmware releases... supposedly better battery life than LL7 or LL4. It's the stock MA6 pre rooted (i.e., has SuperSU app and binaries included). No other features added like you would find with CleanROM 4.2.5 for example. It includes rom and kernel... so it will write to your system, data, and boot partitions. Whatever custom recovery you have now and flash this with will not be touched.
thanks again.
Im sorry if this is being repeated, but I'm relatively new to flashing custom ROMs and up until now haven't really had any issues.
I recently flashed the latest PACman rom 4.3 and I'm not sure what went wrong. I'm coming from 4.2. I did everything the same as usual, wiped cache and dalvik, installed the zip. As soon as the phone rebooted, I started getting error messages. "Acore has stopped working, blame tyler", same thing for the system UI. So I decided to do a wipe and restore. Well now my restore wont work. I've had to go back to a PAC version from back in February because none of my other restore files will work. I'm not sure what to do. Even on this restore file, I'm getting "insufficient storage" messages when I havent even uploaded all my apps yet.
Please help!
justxan said:
Im sorry if this is being repeated, but I'm relatively new to flashing custom ROMs and up until now haven't really had any issues.
I recently flashed the latest PACman rom 4.3 and I'm not sure what went wrong. I'm coming from 4.2. I did everything the same as usual, wiped cache and dalvik, installed the zip. As soon as the phone rebooted, I started getting error messages. "Acore has stopped working, blame tyler", same thing for the system UI. So I decided to do a wipe and restore. Well now my restore wont work. I've had to go back to a PAC version from back in February because none of my other restore files will work. I'm not sure what to do. Even on this restore file, I'm getting "insufficient storage" messages when I havent even uploaded all my apps yet.
Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had similar problems going to 4.3 as well. Mine kept getting frozen at the boot screen, and wouldn't restore any of my backups. I tried flashing back to previous versions of android and nothing was really making any difference. Finally I ended up flashing the whole phone back to stock. From there I flashed the new 4.3 stuff on top of that and now everything is working flawlessly like it should again. I still have no idea what caused the issues, it's gotta be something in the new 4.3 stuff that's trickling in.
Here's what I did:
Download the most recent complete firmware file (which is UCDLK3 for d2att)
Download the pit file for my phone
Flash stock image and pit file with repartition through ODIN
Flash custom recovery back through ODIN (CWM, TWRP, etc)
Download and flash latest UCDMG2 bootloader (for d2att)
Download and flash your choice of ROM, kernel & gapps
and optionally -
Update modem to latest UCDMG2
Now you should be back to a fresh install of 4.3 which works the way it should! Hopefully you had your apps backed up with titanium or something similar which can be restored now as well.
exodus454 said:
I had similar problems going to 4.3 as well. Mine kept getting frozen at the boot screen, and wouldn't restore any of my backups. I tried flashing back to previous versions of android and nothing was really making any difference. Finally I ended up flashing the whole phone back to stock. From there I flashed the new 4.3 stuff on top of that and now everything is working flawlessly like it should again. I still have no idea what caused the issues, it's gotta be something in the new 4.3 stuff that's trickling in.
Here's what I did:
Download the most recent complete firmware file (which is UCDLK3 for d2att)
Download the pit file for my phone
Flash stock image and pit file with repartition through ODIN
Flash custom recovery back through ODIN (CWM, TWRP, etc)
Download and flash latest UCDMG2 bootloader (for d2att)
Download and flash your choice of ROM, kernel & gapps
and optionally -
Update modem to latest UCDMG2
Now you should be back to a fresh install of 4.3 which works the way it should! Hopefully you had your apps backed up with titanium or something similar which can be restored now as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for responding and providing details. I guess I'm not understanding where to find these files. I have the firmware downloaded. The pit file, I can't seem to find no matter what I search for. I can find help on creating my own, but I'm afraid I'll screw something up if I start messing with things. The stock image, bootloader and modem...no idea where to find those either. I've never had to do any of this before. Are these files within the rom I'm trying to flash??
hey guys... i have 2 att s3's... the one is running CM11 M12, and the other is fully stock...
my wife found out the hard way today that her GPS does not work (CM11/M12 snapshot on NE4 baseband). i have been reading all this about going back to stock for the dial pad menu options and doing the nvram fix and etc etc.... my question is, since i have a stock s3 with the latest NJ1 bootloader and baseband... can't i make a complete backup of that and restore it to her s3 running CM11/M12, get the menu options, do the fix, and restore back to CM11/M12? or will that change the baseband and bootloader back to NE4??
wow... nothin from no one?
A nandroid won't touch bootloader or modem. I don't think an nj1 stock nandroid will boot on ne4 firmware unless you flash a custom kernel too. I would not try it.
It would be easier to just flash an ne4 based touchwiz ROM on her phone. You need a stock dialer to run the ussd code to get into the maintenance menu and do the nvrebuild thing it sounds like you've read up on.
You can find a rooted stock ne4 ROM in the forums here. Talking monkeys and s3rx are both tw and ne4 based so they should work fine too. Just read up and flash carefully.
jason2678 said:
A nandroid won't touch bootloader or modem. I don't think an nj1 stock nandroid will boot on ne4 firmware unless you flash a custom kernel too. I would not try it.
It would be easier to just flash an ne4 based touchwiz ROM on her phone. You need a stock dialer to run the ussd code to get into the maintenance menu and do the nvrebuild thing it sounds like you've read up on.
You can find a rooted stock ne4 ROM in the forums here. Talking monkeys and s3rx are both tw and ne4 based so they should work fine too. Just read up and flash carefully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, that's kinda half what i am saying... if i restore to the backup i made of the original, i can get the ota update and go from there...
DigiManTX said:
well, that's kinda half what i am saying... if i restore to the backup i made of the original, i can get the ota update and go from there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Restoring an NJ1 nandroid on NE4 firmware might work, it might not, I'm not really sure. I've never tried it and no one has posted any horror stories on here about it that I've seen. If it does actually boot, I think there's a good chance wifi or data (and maybe some other things) won't work right with an NJ1 stock rom on NE4 firmware without flashing a custom kernel too, not that you care too much about that if you're just using it for the GPS fix. It is probably too Frankenphone for an OTA to work, and since it is an up to date NJ1 rom it might not even trigger an OTA. If you try this, make sure you have a nandroid of your CM11, or a CM rom zip readily available for a bail out plan in case this just bootloops. I wouldn't recommend this. I'm just not sure it will work. I doubt it will hard brick, but why tempt fate? AT&T S3's have been really finicky about firmware since Knox was forced on them from MJB onward.
To fix GPS all you really need is a stock dialer. Step 3 in this thread has recovery flashable, near stock AT&T NE4 roms. If flashed properly, I am sure this will work.
You have a higher probability of success if you do this. Make a nandroid backup of CM11 on her phone. Clean flash one of the NE4 roms from the thread above. A full format of the internal storage is recommended when switching from AOSP to TW (sometimes the TW rom just won't boot if you don't), but if you do a full format make sure your CM11 nandroid and the stock rom you're going to flash are stored on an external microSD or you've verified that you can adb push or copy files over usb using mtp when in custom recovery. Otherwise you'll be left with a totally blank phone and no rom to install or backups available. A little microSD preloaded with the files is the most reliable way to go.
Once you're up and running in the stock rom, skip all the setup stuff as best you can and get to a dialer. Open your stock dialer and enter *#197328640#
That should open a menu. Now navigate Mainmenu -> UMTS -> Common -> NVREBUILD -> NVREBUILD
Don't exit or hit home after telling it to rebuild the NVRAM. Let it sit for 30+ seconds, then long press power and pick restart.
Once your phone boots back up open up Google maps and see if location locks, it should now. At this point you can boot into your custom recovery, restore the CM11 backup you made, and enjoy your custom ROM with working location service. It might not be necessary, but I always do all the wipes for a clean flash and format the internal storage again before restoring the nandroid. This takes about an extra 30 seconds and keeps any TW files from getting left over in your AOSP setup.
I've had to do this twice to fix GPS on my phone and it works.
jason2678 said:
Restoring an NJ1 nandroid on NE4 firmware might work, it might not, I'm not really sure. I've never tried it and no one has posted any horror stories on here about it that I've seen. If it does actually boot, I think there's a good chance wifi or data (and maybe some other things) won't work right with an NJ1 stock rom on NE4 firmware without flashing a custom kernel too, not that you care too much about that if you're just using it for the GPS fix. It is probably too Frankenphone for an OTA to work, and since it is an up to date NJ1 rom it might not even trigger an OTA. If you try this, make sure you have a nandroid of your CM11, or a CM rom zip readily available for a bail out plan in case this just bootloops. I wouldn't recommend this. I'm just not sure it will work. I doubt it will hard brick, but why tempt fate? AT&T S3's have been really finicky about firmware since Knox was forced on them from MJB onward.
To fix GPS all you really need is a stock dialer. Step 3 in this thread has recovery flashable, near stock AT&T NE4 roms. If flashed properly, I am sure this will work.
You have a higher probability of success if you do this. Make a nandroid backup of CM11 on her phone. Clean flash one of the NE4 roms from the thread above. A full format of the internal storage is recommended when switching from AOSP to TW (sometimes the TW rom just won't boot if you don't), but if you do a full format make sure your CM11 nandroid and the stock rom you're going to flash are stored on an external microSD or you've verified that you can adb push or copy files over usb using mtp when in custom recovery. Otherwise you'll be left with a totally blank phone and no rom to install or backups available. A little microSD preloaded with the files is the most reliable way to go.
Once you're up and running in the stock rom, skip all the setup stuff as best you can and get to a dialer. Open your stock dialer and enter *#197328640#
That should open a menu. Now navigate Mainmenu -> UMTS -> Common -> NVREBUILD -> NVREBUILD
Don't exit or hit home after telling it to rebuild the NVRAM. Let it sit for 30+ seconds, then long press power and pick restart.
Once your phone boots back up open up Google maps and see if location locks, it should now. At this point you can boot into your custom recovery, restore the CM11 backup you made, and enjoy your custom ROM with working location service. It might not be necessary, but I always do all the wipes for a clean flash and format the internal storage again before restoring the nandroid. This takes about an extra 30 seconds and keeps any TW files from getting left over in your AOSP setup.
I've had to do this twice to fix GPS on my phone and it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok... awesome... makes sense at what ur saying. thank you. so you didn't bother with updating the band and just left it on ne4? and yes, i would plan on making a full backup of her cm11 and throw it on the ext SD as well...
DigiManTX said:
ok... awesome... makes sense at what ur saying. thank you. so you didn't bother with updating the band and just left it on ne4? and yes, i would plan on making a full backup of her cm11 and throw it on the ext SD as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should be no need to update your bootloader and modem from NE4 to NJ1. I think NE4 is still working just fine even on the latest lollipop alphas available for this phone.
If you feel the need, there is a recovery flashable bootloader/modem update to NJ1 here. I flashed this to get my phone up to NJ1. You can trust anything enewman posts.
On the newer AT&T firmware be sure to always have a matching bootloader/modem (seems to go for MJB, NE4, and NJ1 - everything post Knox). That's why it makes sense to package them together, like has been done in that zip. Always read carefully and upgrade incrementally if you choose to. I don't know if it is some sort of security "feature" thinking something nefarious is going on if bootloader and modem don't match or what, but some hard bricks have been reported if you try to run AT&T S3's without matched bootloader/modem on these firmware revisions.
jason2678 said:
There should be no need to update your bootloader and modem from NE4 to NJ1. I think NE4 is still working just fine even on the latest lollipop alphas available for this phone.
If you feel the need, there is a recovery flashable bootloader/modem update to NJ1 here. I flashed this to get my phone up to NJ1. You can trust anything enewman posts.
On the newer AT&T firmware be sure to always have a matching bootloader/modem (seems to go for MJB, NE4, and NJ1 - everything post Knox). That's why it makes sense to package them together, like has been done in that zip. Always read carefully and upgrade incrementally if you choose to. I don't know if it is some sort of security "feature" thinking something nefarious is going on if bootloader and modem don't match or what, but some hard bricks have been reported if you try to run AT&T S3's without matched bootloader/modem on the these firmware revisions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right on... thank you again! if ne4 is good, then so be it... i just rather not have a shoe thrown at me over this GPS not working thing... lol
DigiManTX said:
right on... thank you again! if ne4 is good, then so be it... i just rather not have a shoe thrown at me over this GPS not working thing... lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happy wife, happy life
NE4 and NJ1
​
I've posted questions about the boot-loader "update" over in the other forum and from what I have read , updating from NE4 to NJ1 is basically to return to stock unrooted, some people have reported that the signal drops and GPS was better when going to NJ1, but I've been told that If you are not experiencing issues then there's no need to update.
you have GOT to be kidding me... i finally had the opportunity to do this and it's failing on the restore of the backup i made right beforehand... made a complete backup of everything i had to choose. over 2 gigs... flash the stock rooted, did the nvram rebuild, got the gps lock... all was golden... now trying to restore the cm11 backup and it fails... she is going to kill me now... it was nice knowing you guys...
***edit... and now even going back to cm11 or slimkat, i still don't have gps again... grrrrrr...
DigiManTX said:
you have GOT to be kidding me... i finally had the opportunity to do this and it's failing on the restore of the backup i made right beforehand... made a complete backup of everything i had to choose. over 2 gigs... flash the stock rooted, did the nvram rebuild, got the gps lock... all was golden... now trying to restore the cm11 backup and it fails... she is going to kill me now... it was nice knowing you guys...
***edit... and now even going back to cm11 or slimkat, i still don't have gps again... grrrrrr...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That stinks. Did you enable compression on the backup? Did you format internal SD before trying to restore the backup? I don't think the format thing is an absolute must, but it is good practice. If you don't do it you will find some touchwiz files that survive the restore in your AOSP based system. Make sure your backup is stored on an external SD before you do an internal format!
If you can't get the backup to restore after formatting internal storage or you just don't want to try formatting internal storage, here are a couple other things you can try to salvage it.
Titanium Backup has an extract from nandroid backup feature. This could be a Pro feature, I'm not sure. Going pro supports some great developers and unlocks some of the best features, like being able to make a flashable zip of your backups. I find it to be worth the money. This has a chance of being able to get you your apps and app data back, if the backup isn't somehow corrupted beyond being useful.
If it is user data like pictures and such you're worried about, you should be able to copy the nandroid backup to a PC, then extract data.ext4.win archive and explore the files. If the built-in Windows zip utility won't handle it, try 7zip. If the data archive is split (you find a data.ext4.win000, data.ext4.win001, etc) you have to concatenate the files into a usable tar. Combining split archives is fairly simple if you're running Linux, but I'm not sure how to manage it if your PC is running Windows. At the size you mentioned I don't think you'll encounter a split data archive, but I'm not certain. This also assumes that the nandroid isn't corrupted beyond the point of being useful.
As for the GPS thing, if you flash enough roms it happens. I've had to do it twice. Once was after just a few flashes. The second time was after probably dozens. After the second time I keep a nandroid backup of a stock rom on my external SD just so I can quickly revert to stock, rebuild nvram, the revert back to Slimkat.
jason2678 said:
That stinks. Did you enable compression on the backup? Did you format internal SD before trying to restore the backup? I don't think the format thing is an absolute must, but it is good practice. If you don't do it you will find some touchwiz files that survive the restore in your AOSP based system. Make sure your backup is stored on an external SD before you do an internal format!
If you can't get the backup to restore after formatting internal storage or you just don't want to try formatting internal storage, here are a couple other things you can try to salvage it.
Titanium Backup has an extract from nandroid backup feature. This could be a Pro feature, I'm not sure. Going pro supports some great developers and unlocks some of the best features, like being able to make a flashable zip of your backups. I find it to be worth the money. This has a chance of being able to get you your apps and app data back, if the backup isn't somehow corrupted beyond being useful.
If it is user data like pictures and such you're worried about, you should be able to copy the nandroid backup to a PC, then extract data.ext4.win archive and explore the files. If the built-in Windows zip utility won't handle it, try 7zip. If the data archive is split (you find a data.ext4.win000, data.ext4.win001, etc) you have to concatenate the files into a usable tar. Combining split archives is fairly simple if you're running Linux, but I'm not sure how to manage it if your PC is running Windows. At the size you mentioned I don't think you'll encounter a split data archive, but I'm not certain. This also assumes that the nandroid isn't corrupted beyond the point of being useful.
As for the GPS thing, if you flash enough roms it happens. I've had to do it twice. Once was after just a few flashes. The second time was after probably dozens. After the second time I keep a nandroid backup of a stock rom on my external SD just so I can quickly revert to stock, rebuild nvram, the revert back to Slimkat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just gave up on restoring the backup... somehow some way it magically got deleted off my sd card anyways... i just got to my wits end after that... she didn't kill me and kinda had that "whatever" face...
as far as the GPS working goes... idk what i am doing wrong here. i used the stock rooted rom that i downloaded from the option 3 link. not sure of the differences between the odex and the de-odexed, but i just went with the 1st... in TWRP, i did advance wipe (checked dalvik, system, data, internal, and cache... left micro sd and usb-otg alone), then went back and chose format data, then another advanced wipe with aforementioned options chosen... then rebooted straight into recovery. flashed the stock rooted rom, rebooted again and stock rom came up... went thru all the bs prompts and bypassed what i could. got to the dialer, did the nvram rebuild, waited a min, rebooted, tried maps and also download gps status app... got fixes, saw sats, etc... rebooted and flashed to cm11, pico gapps (since restore didn't work) and started fresh... got maps and gps status app downloaded... no GPS lock, no sats listing in gps status app... tried flashing to slimkat, same deal... and this is where i be now... about to make a smoothie in my vitamix out of these 2 s3's... OH! and this is on both of them... the one running ne4 AND nj1... same procedures done on both...
ok, i just did the same procedure but this time just went with slimkat from fresh and GPS is good... must be a "me" problem or a CM problem... idk... but at least i can work with slimkat... i kinda dig this rom
Wow, what a ride I had with this phone.
Starting with the fact that the model of the phone was SGH-I747 with AT&T branding I then tried to flash a custom ROM for this model, of course everything went bad, we'll not everything, but I couldn't make any calls, see IMEI nubmer and so on.
Thanks to a very helping member of SGH-I747 board, audit13, I found out that my phone is in fact T-Mobile's SHG-T999. I was lucky enough and was able to restore stock ROM of this model.
Now everything works, but since I'm located in Europe I would like to flash stock ROM without all the T-Mobile useless (since I don't have this carrier in my country) apps.
I found this ROM, which seems to be the one best used to get as close to stock android as possible - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2501303
And I just wanted to make sure that I don't miss anything important.
Phone Data
Model: SGH-T999
Bootloader version: T999UVUENC2
Android Version: 4.3
I've rooted the phone using this guide - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771687 and using March 2014 - 4.3 JellyBean.
Could someone please explain difference between -StockMOD Custom ROM- and -StockMOD ROM-? I understand that -StockMOD ROM- is completely based on Stock ROM, little to no changes. But how little are these changes, will I have all the T-Mobile apps?
Steps I'm planning to make
1. Backing up efs folder by copying it with Root Browser to SD card and then on my PC.
2. Installing Clockwork MOD and Flashing ClockworkMod Recovery option
3. Creating backup of current ROM with ClockworkMod
4. Downloading StockMOD Custom ROM 4.3 RLS2.1.zip from the thread mentioned above (I'm a bit worried that file name in the thread is different - StockMOD Custom ROM T999 4.3 RLS2.1.zip)
5. Unfortunately I don't see link to T999UVUEMJC modem anywhere.
6. Copying of ROM file and Modem file to SD card (Is it ok if my SD card is only 2GB? ROM is a bit over 1GB).
7. Rebooting into recovery from ClockworkMod
8. Selecting Wipe data/factory reset
9. Selecting Wipe Cache partition
10. Going to advanced and selecting Wipe davlink cache
11. Selecting Mounts and Storage and format /system
12. Installing modem zip (If I can find it)
13. Installing StockMOD Custom ROM 4.3 RLS2.1.zip (is it ok to have spaces in file name?)
14. Praying to God everythings works
You could follow this thread to backup your efs folder: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1804117
I suggest flashing CWM directly from Odin in download mode. I would not install it using an App from the play store. This is just my personal preference.
All of the other steps look fine.
viltnieks said:
....Now everything works, but since I'm located in Europe I would like to flash stock ROM without all the T-Mobile useless (since I don't have this carrier in my country) apps.
I found this ROM, which seems to be the one best used to get as close to stock android as possible - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2501303
....
Could someone please explain difference between -StockMOD Custom ROM- and -StockMOD ROM-? I understand that -StockMOD ROM- is completely based on Stock ROM, little to no changes. But how little are these changes, will I have all the T-Mobile apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
StockMOD Custom has much (if not all) of the carrier branding removed. It has added some customization tweaks to the ROM; mainly XPosed App and Wanam XPosed Module. It also has a few other custom apps and features from newer Galaxy devices replacing the stock apps. It is themed to look like a Galaxy S5 instead of an S3.
The StockMOD ROM has very little removed; KNOX, Syscope, CarrierIQ, and maybe something else. Other than that it will look almost identical to what you now have, including all of the T-Mobile stuff. This one would match the filename in the thread title. It was created first and the StockMOD Custom was added to the thread afterwards, is my guess.
Steps I'm planning to make
1. Backing up efs folder by copying it with Root Browser to SD card and then on my PC.
2. Installing Clockwork MOD and Flashing ClockworkMod Recovery option
3. Creating backup of current ROM with ClockworkMod
4. Downloading StockMOD Custom ROM 4.3 RLS2.1.zip from the thread mentioned above (I'm a bit worried that file name in the thread is different - StockMOD Custom ROM T999 4.3 RLS2.1.zip)
5. Unfortunately I don't see link to T999UVUEMJC modem anywhere.
6. Copying of ROM file and Modem file to SD card (Is it ok if my SD card is only 2GB? ROM is a bit over 1GB).
7. Rebooting into recovery from ClockworkMod
8. Selecting Wipe data/factory reset
9. Selecting Wipe Cache partition
10. Going to advanced and selecting Wipe davlink cache
11. Selecting Mounts and Storage and format /system
12. Installing modem zip (If I can find it)
13. Installing StockMOD Custom ROM 4.3 RLS2.1.zip (is it ok to have spaces in file name?)
14. Praying to God everythings works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would also suggest this post for backing up imei and other nvdata. Specifically the reboot nvbackup instructions.
Since you are on NC2 bootloader and modem(baseband) do not mess with changing your modem to MJC (step 12). You can confirm that it will work on NC2 in the second line of the changelog of StockMOD Custom thread (post #2)
Another thing: I see StockMOD Custom has an Aroma Installer. I have not used a ROM with this option. Aroma Installer will give you choices during the ROM installation, I can only guess what they are without installing the ROM. The choices probably entail choosing between the stock apps and the later Galaxy device apps; Note 3, S4, and S5.
Thank you, I'm feeling a lot more confident now.
I will definitely check those links on backing up efs folders/IMEI.
viltnieks said:
Thank you, I'm feeling a lot more confident now.
I will definitely check those links on backing up efs folders/IMEI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're most welcome. I personally have used several of these methods, redundancy causes no harm.
dawgdoc said:
You're most welcome. I personally have used several of these methods, redundancy causes no harm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had hoped that everything would go smoothly from this point, it is nothing serious, but I have encountered a small problem.
I followed instruction in the link you provided Part B, point 4, I booted into recovery mode in order to install Synergy Backup. Installation starts, then I get this:
Preparing device...
Setting up 7z
Backing up EFS if unlocked
***Not unclocked Skipping Backup***
Install from sdcard complete.
What is really strange is that after going back and selecting reboot system I get this option in CWM:
Root access possibly lost. Fix?
-No
-Yes - Fix Root (/system/xbin/su)
I verified with titanium backup and root checker that I have root access.
viltnieks said:
I had hoped that everything would go smoothly from this point, it is nothing serious, but I have encountered a small problem.
I followed instruction in the link you provided Part B, point 4, I booted into recovery mode in order to install Synergy Backup. Installation starts, then I get this:
Preparing device...
Setting up 7z
Backing up EFS if unlocked
***Not unclocked Skipping Backup***
Install from sdcard complete.
What is really strange is that after going back and selecting reboot system I get this option in CWM:
Root access possibly lost. Fix?
-No
-Yes - Fix Root (/system/xbin/su)
I verified with titanium backup and root checker that I have root access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good news is that it caused no harm.
Confusing news is that that message was not caused by Part B, Point 4. I have seen that message before on my SGS3 but not my Captivate. On the SGS3 my custom recovery is TWRP not CWM. Also, I only did Part A, Point 2 on both devices. (The Captivate does have CWM as its recovery.) Fact is I have seen the message more than once, most of the time I selected the option to Fix. On the last time I selected No. I retained root on all occasions. I have seen others report seeing that message and I think it was from some action other than nvbackup. All this leaves me with no idea why it is happening.
dawgdoc said:
Good news is that it caused no harm.
Confusing news is that that message was not caused by Part B, Point 4. I have seen that message before on my SGS3 but not my Captivate. On the SGS3 my custom recovery is TWRP not CWM. Also, I only did Part A, Point 2 on both devices. (The Captivate does have CWM as its recovery.) Fact is I have seen the message more than once, most of the time I selected the option to Fix. On the last time I selected No. I retained root on all occasions. I have seen others report seeing that message and I think it was from some action other than nvbackup. All this leaves me with no idea why it is happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coould it be related to the fact that I have data_1, data_2, data_3 folder in my root?
Also when I enter /storage/ I have a lot of folders like:
emulate
extSdCard
sdcard0
UsbDruveA
UsbDruveB
UsbDruveC
UsbDruveD
UsbDruveE
UsbDruveF
I guess this just isn't my lucky week.
I followed the steps mentioned above and install was successful, but I get no OS installed error.
Glad I made those backups...
EDIT:
For some reason the problem was with first file I downloaded in #2nd post StockMOD ROM named StockMOD Custom ROM T999 4.3 RLS2.1.zip
I then downloaded file from #3rd post StockMOD ROM named StockMOD ROM T999 4.3 v4.zip and was able to finish installation successfully. But as you said there is almost no change over the ROM I had before.
viltnieks said:
I guess this just isn't my lucky week.
I followed the steps mentioned above and install was successful, but I get no OS installed error.
Glad I made those backups...
EDIT:
For some reason the problem was with first file I downloaded in #2nd post StockMOD ROM named StockMOD Custom ROM T999 4.3 RLS2.1.zip
I then downloaded file from #3rd post StockMOD ROM named StockMOD ROM T999 4.3 v4.zip and was able to finish installation successfully. But as you said there is almost no change over the ROM I had before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's possible you had a bad download of the StockMOD Custom ROM. Did you verify the checksum after the download, assuming one was provided in post #2 or the download site? You could always download it again, without verifying, and see if it works correctly the second time.
I just checked my file system and /storage has all of the folders you named with an additional folder, /container. All of the /UsbDrive folders and /container are empty folders on my device. I do not have any idea where they came from.
dawgdoc said:
It's possible you had a bad download of the StockMOD Custom ROM. Did you verify the checksum after the download, assuming one was provided in post #2 or the download site? You could always download it again, without verifying, and see if it works correctly the second time.
I just checked my file system and /storage has all of the folders you named with an additional folder, /container. All of the /UsbDrive folders and /container are empty folders on my device. I do not have any idea where they came from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As it turns out I needed to install StockMOD ROM T999 4.3 v4.zip which is the custom ROM and then update it with StockMOD Custom ROM T999 4.3 RLS2.1.zip
At least that's what I did, now everything works.
Thank you very much for sticking with me during this
There is one last thing that bothers me, during these last few days, I have installed, uninstalled apps, flashed roms, created backups, etc. There probably is a lot of "junk" on the phone at the moment. Is there a way to erase everything and just flash that custom ROM? Like when you reinstall Windows, you format disk and just install a fresh version of windows.
viltnieks said:
As it turns out I needed to install StockMOD ROM T999 4.3 v4.zip which is the custom ROM and then update it with StockMOD Custom ROM T999 4.3 RLS2.1.zip
At least that's what I did, now everything works.
Thank you very much for sticking with me during this
There is one last thing that bothers me, during these last few days, I have installed, uninstalled apps, flashed roms, created backups, etc. There probably is a lot of "junk" on the phone at the moment. Is there a way to erase everything and just flash that custom ROM? Like when you reinstall Windows, you format disk and just install a fresh version of windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear you have been able to get the ROM you want loaded.
The way to clear out all of the detritus would be accomplished while in your custom recovery. In addition to wiping /cache and /dalvik-cache you would also format /data and /system before flashing the ROM. Before doing that, make sure you save anything you wish to reuse to your computer, or at least to an external micro SDcard. Stuff to be saved off the internal SDcard would include your backups, rom zips, and any app apks you may have a hard time finding again; not just music and pictures.
dawgdoc said:
Glad to hear you have been able to get the ROM you want loaded.
The way to clear out all of the detritus would be accomplished while in your custom recovery. In addition to wiping /cache and /dalvik-cache you would also format /data and /system before flashing the ROM. Before doing that, make sure you save anything you wish to reuse to your computer, or at least to an external micro SDcard. Stuff to be saved off the internal SDcard would include your backups, rom zips, and any app apks you may have a hard time finding again; not just music and pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much!
Hello everyone,
After a long fight to try and get this phone back to normal, everything seemed good,
except not really
I started on a buggy CM11 version. Sick of it, I downloaded a 4.4.4 stock rom. I had to disable firewall and defender, but I got Odin to flash my md5. I got through everything and it booted successfully. After signing in and all that jazz, I find out that my WiFi isn't working. After a few reboots, My 4G finally works and everything seems to be steady.
Then, after exploring the rest of the phone I find out that all my apps from last ROM are still there. I know that you are supposed to wipe before flashing, but I was told that Odin will take care of that. It obviously didn't.
After THAT, I try to boot into Recovery as the next sensible step is to try to wipe my data and cache. I turn the phone off and press (Vol up + Home + Pwr) and the first boot screen shows for a moment. It says in blue "RECOVERY BOOTING" in the corner. Right after, it disappears and in another second it does the same screen without the "RECOVERY BOOTING". And as presumed, it does a regular boot.
What did I miss? How can I wipe my phone from recovery? How can I fix my problem with Wifi?
Reflash in Odin.
Make sure you have the correct stock rom. If you flash the "md5" you may have flashed the wrong thing. The md5 is not tge firmware, that is just the code that verifies your firmware file is not corrupted.
If your old apps were still there, you flashed the wrong thing. There is no way to flash stock firmware in odin and not wipe the data partition.
You are correct then
Yeah, I flashed a tar.md5 in Odin. It gave me a new ROM but all my apps are there. After all that, I still can't go to recovery. I tried using the terminal and ROM Toolbox to go there, both didn't work. Can I just leave it as it is and find a way to recovery or is the only way to go to bootloader and flash a correct file to get to recovery?
Flash twrp and see if it will reboot into recovery, then factory reset and flash latest firmware with Odin right after. Odin will NOT wipe data. It has to be done manually
serio22 said:
Flash twrp and see if it will reboot into recovery, then factory reset and flash latest firmware with Odin right after. Odin will NOT wipe data. It has to be done manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on what you ate flashing.
If you are flashing a full stock factory image it will wipe user data. If you are just flashing a system partition it won't.
Essem G said:
Hello everyone,
After a long fight to try and get this phone back to normal, everything seemed good,
except not really
I started on a buggy CM11 version. Sick of it, I downloaded a 4.4.4 stock rom. I had to disable firewall and defender, but I got Odin to flash my md5. I got through everything and it booted successfully. After signing in and all that jazz, I find out that my WiFi isn't working. After a few reboots, My 4G finally works and everything seems to be steady.
Then, after exploring the rest of the phone I find out that all my apps from last ROM are still there. I know that you are supposed to wipe before flashing, but I was told that Odin will take care of that. It obviously didn't.
After THAT, I try to boot into Recovery as the next sensible step is to try to wipe my data and cache. I turn the phone off and press (Vol up + Home + Pwr) and the first boot screen shows for a moment. It says in blue "RECOVERY BOOTING" in the corner. Right after, it disappears and in another second it does the same screen without the "RECOVERY BOOTING". And as presumed, it does a regular boot.
What did I miss? How can I wipe my phone from recovery? How can I fix my problem with Wifi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fkash twrp and format system, data, cache and preload and install a deodexed stock os
g7755725 said:
Fkash twrp and format system, data, cache and preload and install a deodexed stock os
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also this. This gives you more control over the whole process
Skipjacks said:
Also this. This gives you more control over the whole process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I know whatever I download is deodexed? And I went to a page of ROMs someone gave me and I downloaded the NK2 version, which also gave me a tar.md5. If I want the correct thing to flash, what should I flash?
Essem G said:
How do I know whatever I download is deodexed? And I went to a page of ROMs someone gave me and I downloaded the NK2 version, which also gave me a tar.md5. If I want the correct thing to flash, what should I flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first post of any customized stock rom will tell you if its deodexed. If it doesn't say it...its not.
@Essem G:
Any updates for us? I'm following this thread because I have similar problems with my WiFi not working after upgrading from 4.2.2.
Any luck getting TWRP flashed?
Also I believe that the stock firmwares do come as tar.md5's, as in the file: M919UVUFNK2_M919TMBFNK2_M919UVUFNK2_HOME.tar.md5 from ShinySide's stock firmware thread.
As for the WiFi issue, from the hours of reading I've done it looks like this problem occurs when you upgrade your firmware, but it no longer matches the bootloader. Such as bootloader (Baseband) showing MDL, but Build Number showing NH7, NK2, etc. What does your show?
This thread may be of use to you when you get back to a working ROM. Good luck!
@RavenMind1
Everyone has been saying different answers and i've put off fixing my device for a while. I'm just afraid i'll brick it forever and have another nightmare after this current one. So no, there has been no progress. I think i'm gonna try to flash Philz and format my system, then flash a deodexed rom. @g7755725 said that you can flash TWRP, but I usually use Philz. It appears to be that I have lost root access because no root features work and SuperSU won't recognize it. Will everything work or am I setting my self up for disaster?
Edit: Where can I find a deodexed rom? I desperately need one, thanks
Essem G said:
@RavenMind1
Everyone has been saying different answers and i've put off fixing my device for a while. I'm just afraid i'll brick it forever and have another nightmare after this current one. So no, there has been no progress. I think i'm gonna try to flash Philz and format my system, then flash a deodexed rom. @g7755725 said that you can flash TWRP, but I usually use Philz. It appears to be that I have lost root access because no root features work and SuperSU won't recognize it. Will everything work or am I setting my self up for disaster?
Edit: Where can I find a deodexed rom? I desperately need one, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look in the forums for deodexed rom theirs a bunch and untouched as well i had philz but it eoukdnt boot my s4 so i had to switch to twrp because it does better then any recovery
g7755725 said:
Look in the forums for deodexed rom theirs a bunch and untouched as well i had philz but it eoukdnt boot my s4 so i had to switch to twrp because it does better then any recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the support so far, but has this problem occured before? do you think the steps i've listed will solve this? Im just trying to make sure that I know exactly what to do before I go in. Thanks
Essem G said:
Thanks for the support so far, but has this problem occured before? do you think the steps i've listed will solve this? Im just trying to make sure that I know exactly what to do before I go in. Thanks[/Q] it should
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@g7755725 I downloaded a deodexed rom from the SkipJacks guy (different page than what you sent me) and it's a little under 9MB... how could this possibly be a ROM?
Essem G said:
@g7755725 I downloaded a deodexed rom from the SkipJacks guy (different page than what you sent me) and it's a little under 9MB... how could this possibly be a ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried my gamerrom Ultimate 1 its basically stock touchwiz of if Official NK2 M919UVUFNK2 with stweaks and no bloatware here is the thread gru 1 is in.the botyom of the thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-tmobile/development/stock-os-gamerrom-ultimate-2-touchwiz-t3078467
Sounds cool but i would have been interested a few months ago. I'm trying to sell the phone so I need to get it back to stock. Appreciate all the help and I think it's cool that you make ROMs
Essem G said:
Sounds cool but i would have been interested a few months ago. I'm trying to sell the phone so I need to get it back to stock. Appreciate all the help and I think it's cool that you make ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're trying to go back to complete stock then just Odin NK2 firmware. http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-tmobile/general/firmwares-official-mdl-mk2-nb4-t2816508 I used the NK2 from here about 2 days ago to go back to stock.