Develop Bugs

[Q] Phone bricked, no ODIN access! E: Unable to mount '/data'

Hello all,
Quick background - my wife's T-Mobile S4 went kaput on our honeymoon last night, but I was at least able to save some of her data. The problem now goes to installing a new ROM on her device.
I have wiped EVERYTHING and formatted the data, but when I install ANY ROM (I've tried multiple), I always get the E: Unable to mount '/data" error. Normally, I would just ODIN the stock tar, then install a custom recovery again and then the ROM, but I only have my work computer for the rest of my honeymoon and I don't have administrative access to run ODIN (you might not think it requires it, but if you're only a standard user then you cannot bypass UAC to run it).
Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this to mount? The phone will not boot past the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen. I've tried going into TWRP and mounting Data but it will not work.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Please keep in mind that I don't have access to ODIN!
- Taxmaster

Taxmaster said:
Hello all,
Quick background - my wife's T-Mobile S4 went kaput on our honeymoon last night, but I was at least able to save some of her data. The problem now goes to installing a new ROM on her device.
I have wiped EVERYTHING and formatted the data, but when I install ANY ROM (I've tried multiple), I always get the E: Unable to mount '/data" error. Normally, I would just ODIN the stock tar, then install a custom recovery again and then the ROM, but I only have my work computer for the rest of my honeymoon and I don't have administrative access to run ODIN (you might not think it requires it, but if you're only a standard user then you cannot bypass UAC to run it).
Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this to mount? The phone will not boot past the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen. I've tried going into TWRP and mounting Data but it will not work.
Any help is greatly appreciated! Please keep in mind that I don't have access to ODIN!
- Taxmaster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a twrp issue. Try grabbing the cwm flash able zip and adb push to the sd card and then use twrp to install it. I've read so many issues about twrp. I recommend staying away from it. Philz touch recovery is really awesome too.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

elesbb said:
Sounds like a twrp issue. Try grabbing the cwm flash able zip and adb push to the sd card and then use twrp to install it. I've read so many issues about twrp. I recommend staying away from it. Philz touch recovery is really awesome too.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello! I actually downloaded Philz touch recovery in both .zip and in .md5, so that is what I intend to go with. The issue is how I push it using adb, as I believe I need to install something in order to do so, but I don't have any administrative privileges! This is what's preventing me from running ODIN in the first place!
Can you confirm that I can push using adb without installing anything?
Thank you! - Taxmaster

I had this issue. Odin flashing and then booting into "STOCK RECOVERY" after flashing and then a factory reset in the stock recovery followed by a fresh re-flash from Odin worked to get my phone back up and running again.
I don't know how you are going to be able to fix it by just flashing a recovery. I tried for hours and could not get it to boot from just recovery alone.

Monkz said:
I had this issue. Odin flashing and then booting into "STOCK RECOVERY" after flashing and then a factory reset in the stock recovery followed by a fresh re-flash from Odin worked to get my phone back up and running again.
I don't know how you are going to be able to fix it by just flashing a recovery. I tried for hours and could not get it to boot from just recovery alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you noted would be my plan if I had admin rights to my computer, but since I cannot get ODIN, I'm screwed at the moment. I'm hoping someone can assist with the "adb" proposal, however I'm not sure one can download/run adb without installation or prompt from UAC

Taxmaster said:
What you noted would be my plan if I had admin rights to my computer, but since I cannot get ODIN, I'm screwed at the moment. I'm hoping someone can assist with the "adb" proposal, however I'm not sure one can download/run adb without installation or prompt from UAC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe admin is required for adb... You could always try it... worst thing that could happen would be nothing.

lordcheeto03 said:
I don't believe admin is required for adb... You could always try it... worst thing that could happen would be nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using ADB does not require admin privelages, however, if your computer does not have the necessary drivers to detect the device in recovery, then you will have to install the drivers, which then yes UAC is required. HOWEVER, if you have another phone or device that supports MicroSD cards, you can just pop in the MicroSD into a working device and transfer the zip that way, then transfer back the sd card and flash

elesbb said:
Using ADB does not require admin privelages, however, if your computer does not have the necessary drivers to detect the device in recovery, then you will have to install the drivers, which then yes UAC is required. HOWEVER, if you have another phone or device that supports MicroSD cards, you can just pop in the MicroSD into a working device and transfer the zip that way, then transfer back the sd card and flash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did exactly what's noted above --> took out the SDcard, put it in another phone, transferred over the .zip, put it back in her phone, went to TWRP, wiped everything on the device, installed the .zip, and rebooted into recovery from TWRP, and then the new recovery booted! I did another wipe/factory reset and then installed a ROM, but when I hit reboot, it didn't reboot past the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen , and to make matters worse, when I go to enter recovery pressing home+up+power, it says "Recovery Booting ...." in the top left corner but it won't boot into recovery!!!
Thoughts?
If someone could strip administrative privileges off of a version of ODIN v3 for me, that would be great! I don't see how else to get around this now!
-Taxmaster

Taxmaster said:
I did exactly what's noted above --> took out the SDcard, put it in another phone, transferred over the .zip, put it back in her phone, went to TWRP, wiped everything on the device, installed the .zip, and rebooted into recovery from TWRP, and then the new recovery booted! I did another wipe/factory reset and then installed a ROM, but when I hit reboot, it didn't reboot past the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen , and to make matters worse, when I go to enter recovery pressing home+up+power, it says "Recovery Booting ...." in the top left corner but it won't boot into recovery!!!
Thoughts?
If someone could strip administrative privileges off of a version of ODIN v3 for me, that would be great! I don't see how else to get around this now!
-Taxmaster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity, are you flashing a ROM for the T-Mobile S4? If no, are you using a T-Mobile kernel? I only ask because a kernel for a different device will normally cause you to not be able to pass the initial Galaxy S4 screen... Also, as far as TWRP goes, sometimes it doesn't go right into recovery. If it fails to enter recovery after a reasonable amount of time, just hold power to turn it off and try again. I've had to do it 2-3 times at least just to successfully enter TWRP.

lordcheeto03 said:
Out of curiosity, are you flashing a ROM for the T-Mobile S4? If no, are you using a T-Mobile kernel? I only ask because a kernel for a different device will normally cause you to not be able to pass the initial Galaxy S4 screen... Also, as far as TWRP goes, sometimes it doesn't go right into recovery. If it fails to enter recovery after a reasonable amount of time, just hold power to turn it off and try again. I've had to do it 2-3 times at least just to successfully enter TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am installing a T-Mobile S4 ROM that uses a custom kernel. The ROM before was the same ROM just a lower revision, same kernel.
With respect to TWRP, I thought it was all gone now that I installed the CWM touch version. I've tried doing it a million times and cannot get back into either TWRP or CWM. At this point, the only thing I can do is turn on the device to see the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen, attempt booting into recovery but never make it past the screen saying "Recovery Booting", or enter Download Mode but I cannot use it since I can't run ODIN on my work laptop .... stupid admin privileges!

Taxmaster said:
I am installing a T-Mobile S4 ROM that uses a custom kernel. The ROM before was the same ROM just a lower revision, same kernel.
With respect to TWRP, I thought it was all gone now that I installed the CWM touch version. I've tried doing it a million times and cannot get back into either TWRP or CWM. At this point, the only thing I can do is turn on the device to see the "Samsung Galaxy S4" screen, attempt booting into recovery but never make it past the screen saying "Recovery Booting", or enter Download Mode but I cannot use it since I can't run ODIN on my work laptop .... stupid admin privileges!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what happened there.. very strange. But seems as if you have no recovery xD lol Maybe heimdall will work. Never used it not sure if it needs UAC to work. But dont use TWRP anymore
As far as your situation goes, maybe if you have the time and fast enough internet, see if you can download a linux distro (i recommend fedora as it is small and light) then make a bootable USB from that distro (if you have a flash drive) then use Heimdall in linux to flash the tar image.
Or just wait to get home. not sure how long your honeymoon is xD

elesbb said:
Not sure what happened there.. very strange. But seems as if you have no recovery xD lol Maybe heimdall will work. Never used it not sure if it needs UAC to work. But dont use TWRP anymore
As far as your situation goes, maybe if you have the time and fast enough internet, see if you can download a linux distro (i recommend fedora as it is small and light) then make a bootable USB from that distro (if you have a flash drive) then use Heimdall in linux to flash the tar image.
Or just wait to get home. not sure how long your honeymoon is xD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I just need to accept that fact that I have been had and that the only thing I can do is wait until I'm home to use ODIN. Absolutely asinine in my opinion, however it seems the only logical conclusion at this point.
If anyone else cares to chime in with suggestions, please let me know!
-Taxmaster

I have had the same problem several times. The only way I have been able to boot up is to completely format data and either restore from backup or reflash a new ROM. If I wipe the dalvik cache after doing so however, it will not boot (hangs at the galaxy s4 screen like you said) and I will have to reflash or restore a 2nd time. (I'm using twrp too, but will switch to cwm if this happens again)
I m curious. Have you run into this problem again? Seems like every time my phone shuts off and tries to boot I have to restore from a backup that is days or weeks old. Super annoying. The first time this happened I restored to stock from Odin and did not use any backups in the hope that it would solve my problem and prevent it from happening again. No such luck.

coolastar said:
I have had the same problem several times. The only way I have been able to boot up is to completely format data and either restore from backup or reflash a new ROM. If I wipe the dalvik cache after doing so however, it will not boot (hangs at the galaxy s4 screen like you said) and I will have to reflash or restore a 2nd time. (I'm using twrp too, but will switch to cwm if this happens again)
I m curious. Have you run into this problem again? Seems like every time my phone shuts off and tries to boot I have to restore from a backup that is days or weeks old. Super annoying. The first time this happened I restored to stock from Odin and did not use any backups in the hope that it would solve my problem and prevent it from happening again. No such luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up having to wait until I got home to use ODIN. I ODIN'd up the stock .tar and then installed Philz touch recovery (CWM-based), then I did a full wipe of everything and installed a ROM. Problem solved.
With that noted, I abandoned TWRP and am now only using CWM on my wife's phone.

Taxmaster said:
I ended up having to wait until I got home to use ODIN. I ODIN'd up the stock .tar and then installed Philz touch recovery (CWM-based), then I did a full wipe of everything and installed a ROM. Problem solved.
With that noted, I abandoned TWRP and am now only using CWM on my wife's phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same, TWRP just has too many problems.
CWM is much more reliable.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium

Taxmaster said:
I ended up having to wait until I got home to use ODIN. I ODIN'd up the stock .tar and then installed Philz touch recovery (CWM-based), then I did a full wipe of everything and installed a ROM. Problem solved.
With that noted, I abandoned TWRP and am now only using CWM on my wife's phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were using TWRP 2.6.0, that could have been the problem. I reverted back to 2.5.0.2 and like many others, have had no issues. If you had a TWRP backup, that might have fixed it early on.

[Q] Soft Bricked....can't unbrick or revert to stock rom...any thoughts?

I got a replacement GS3 through insurance and rooted it yesterday. Instead of flashing CWM I tried going with TWRP this time but didn't realize that TWRP doesn't read external SD cards and my roms were all saved on the external SD. And of course, this was after I wiped everything. So I tried unrooting and flashing back the stock firmware but it keeps failing in ODIN. So I tried re-rooting and flashing CWM which works but none of the roms will flash. I keep getting a system 7 error or something to that effect when I try flashing any rom. So now I can either get to recovery mode, or download mode. If I power the phone on it gets stuck on the Galaxy S3 screen. Any thoughts as to processes to try? Links? Threads? I've tried just about everything I could find.

kinjo1023 said:
I got a replacement GS3 through insurance and rooted it yesterday. Instead of flashing CWM I tried going with TWRP this time but didn't realize that TWRP doesn't read external SD cards and my roms were all saved on the external SD. And of course, this was after I wiped everything. So I tried unrooting and flashing back the stock firmware but it keeps failing in ODIN. So I tried re-rooting and flashing CWM which works but none of the roms will flash. I keep getting a system 7 error or something to that effect when I try flashing any rom. So now I can either get to recovery mode, or download mode. If I power the phone on it gets stuck on the Galaxy S3 screen. Any thoughts as to processes to try? Links? Threads? I've tried just about everything I could find.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since when does TWRP not read external SD cards? It see's mine just fine, for well over a year. Where is your nandroid backup, you know the one you made before you did anything just incase it didn't go as planned? In any case you didn't give much information to help troubleshoot. 'I tried unrooting' - if you were going to flash a stock ROM there is no need to unroot anything as the stock firmware is just that, stock. How did it fail in ODIN? Did it say why it failed, what file were you trying to flash? More often than not the system 7 error is caused from an out of date recovery, normally i would tell you to start there but given the fact you admitted to just randomly attempting to flash things to the device you are going to want to start from stock. The second sticky thread in this sub-forum is where you should start reading, because based on your post you either need a refresher or never have read it to begin with.

dntesinfrno said:
Since when does TWRP not read external SD cards? It see's mine just fine, for well over a year. In any case you didn't give much information to help troubleshoot. 'I tried unrooting' - if you were going to flash a stock ROM there is no need to unroot anything as the stock firmware is just that, stock. How did if fail in ODIN? Did it say why it failed, what file were you trying to flash? More often than not the system 7 error is caused from an out of date recovery, normally i would tell you to start there but given the fact you admitted to just randomly attempting to flash things to device you are going to want to start from stock. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1725839
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For whatever reason, TWRP wouldn't read my sd card. And when I said I tried unrooting - I just meant flashing back to the stock ROM. Odin fails when it gets to system write. It goes down a bunch of lines of code successfully but when it gets to system write, it fails every time. I've downloaded a few different stock ROM versions for AT&T and tried switching USB ports around my laptop. I've also tried a few different versions of ODIN but I'm not coming up with anything but a soft bricked phone still.

kinjo1023 said:
For whatever reason, TWRP wouldn't read my sd card. And when I said I tried unrooting - I just meant flashing back to the stock ROM. Odin fails when it gets to system write. It goes down a bunch of lines of code successfully but when it gets to system write, it fails every time. I've downloaded a few different stock ROM versions for AT&T and tried switching USB ports around my laptop. I've also tried a few different versions of ODIN but I'm not coming up with anything but a soft bricked phone still.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you have usb debugging enabled before you attempted to flash via ODIN? It sounds like it doesn't have permission to write to the /system partition. You can try doing a factory reset from recovery to get past the bootloader and make sure, or use Kies to flash to stock via this thread.

dntesinfrno said:
Did you have usb debugging enabled before you attempted to flash via ODIN? It sounds like it doesn't have permission to write to the /system partition. You can try doing a factory reset from recovery to get past the bootloader and make sure, or use Kies to flash to stock via this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could have swore I made sure to check before I started the process but I cant' check now because the phone won't boot. Can't flash back to stock. Can't flash any roms. I can get into download mode and recovery though. It's weird. I've reverted other phones back to stock plenty of times. It just keeps failing no matter what I do with this.

dntesinfrno said:
Did you have usb debugging enabled before you attempted to flash via ODIN? It sounds like it doesn't have permission to write to the /system partition. You can try doing a factory reset from recovery to get past the bootloader and make sure, or use Kies to flash to stock via this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's another question for you, I've looked all over for the newest CWM in .tar format but everything comes in .img format. I can't use the .img in ODIN to flash to the phone and can't boot my phone to use the CWM app to flash. I suppose I could try TWRP again but when I flashed the first time - TWRP wouldn't read my EXT SD card.....

kinjo1023 said:
Here's another question for you, I've looked all over for the newest CWM in .tar format but everything comes in .img format. I can't use the .img in ODIN to flash to the phone and can't boot my phone to use the CWM app to flash. I suppose I could try TWRP again but when I flashed the first time - TWRP wouldn't read my EXT SD card.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you could wipe everything get on odin with 4.1.2 update reboot use cf root to root it (if you dont have root) after reboot download ROM Manager from Play Store install CWM recovery (easiest way to root) hope this works

[Q] TWRP & No Os On my Samsung Galaxy S3 HELP!

I have Samsung At&T Galaxy S3. I bought it used and it worked fine for days until I dropped it and cracked the screen, However it still worked fine until it died. I plugged it in and went to turn it on and it took me to the Team Win recovery. When I try to go to recovery and then reboot it tells me there is no os installed and asks me if I want to install Super SU. If I go to install it takes me to the Odin downloading mode but that is it. Phone is Bricked and stays at the S III screen. HELP is there any hope for me!? I also tried to follow a forum that instructed the rooting of the phone using ODIN. I tried to use the link but couldn't and then I tried Chain fires way but still after 4 hours NO luck, could be me but I am as "Noob" as they come with this apparently. Can someone please help me!?

What ROM was the phone running before it was dropped? You could copy a custom ROM to a micro SD card and try flashing it from recovery.
Don't worry, your phone is not bricked.

Well, if it happened out of the blue like that, there is a possibility of a hardware problem.
Do as audit13 said and flash a ROM via recovery, preferably the same as what was on it before.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

Previous ROM
audit13 said:
What ROM was the phone running before it was dropped? You could copy a custom ROM to a micro SD card and try flashing it from recovery.
Don't worry, your phone is not bricked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was running I believe the Jelly Bean 4.3...SO I bought the phone from a person. They did not mention it having TWRP or anything else. It I think had something called Super SU too...not sure what that is. I have tried to flash in ODIN. nothing. I have also tried to flash a rom using an SD card it was the kit kat 4.4.4 but it says failed each time. I don't know what to do...

Super SU
DocHoliday77 said:
Well, if it happened out of the blue like that, there is a possibility of a hardware problem.
Do as audit13 said and flash a ROM via recovery, preferably the same as what was on it before.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I bought the phone from another person who failed to mention anything not stock about the phone! It came with I believe the jellybean 4.3 and something like super su. What is super SU? I have tried to flash the kit kat 4.4.4 to the phone with an sd card but it always says failed...I don't understand! I have been going out of my mind and reading and trying a but nothing is working!

SuperSU is part of your root access. Its an app that helps to manage root access from your other apps.
When the flash fails does it give you an error message? Try flashing again, but after it fails do not reboot. Go back to the Advanced menu and choose copy log to SD. Then attach the recovery.log here.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

Unsure
DocHoliday77 said:
SuperSU is part of your root access. Its an app that helps to manage root access from your other apps.
When the flash fails does it give you an error message? Try flashing again, but after it fails do not reboot. Go back to the Advanced menu and choose copy log to SD. Then attach the recovery.log here.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I get an error message. Ok so I suppose I am still trying to grasp at the entire concept of all of this! So let me start here: I bought the phone as I said and it seemed fine. It didn't however have all the normal Google apps etc. and I wasn't sure why. 2 days later after purchase I dropped the phone. Screen cracked but for the rest of the day it worked fine. It died, I plugged it in at home and when I tried to turn it on it went straight to TWRP. I messed with the phone in recovery NOT understanding what I was doing and I think I may have wiped/deleted the Super SU off my phone, I don't know if it is rooted or anything anymore if it was rooted in the first place. I believe it was running Jellybean before this mess and since then I have tried to do multiple things to it including installing a ROM on an SD with gapps and flashing in TWRP but always get an error message. I did just try installing UPDATE-SuperSu back onto the flashing using an Sd and that installed but still couldn't flash a rom. I still cannot get past the Samsung S III screen and still the phone says no OS. So I suppose is there a way to start from scratch so...someone that can walk me through this. I am dying and DON'T want to spend the money the Phone stores want to fix my phone! I don't have a carrier like Sprint etc. I was using the phone with a sim card for straight talk. Please if I can try this I will! Thanks again for all your help...

Try flashing the MJB firmware via Odin on your computer. That should restore your device to fully working stock, provided there isnt a hardware problem.
Factory reset in recovery, then reboot download mode. Plug into your computer and run Odin v3.09. Click the AP button and select the firmware you downloaded. Should be a .tar.md5 file. Then click start.
You can get odin from my sig if needed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
Try flashing the MJB firmware via Odin on your computer. That should restore your device to fully working stock, provided there isnt a hardware problem.
Factory reset in recovery, then reboot download mode. Plug into your computer You can get odin from my sig if needed.and run Odin v3.09. Click the AP button and select the firmware you downloaded. Should be a .tar.md5 file. Then click start.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I tried to do what you said but when I extract the files there is no tar md5 file, if I don't extract I can't see any of the MJB firmware. I don't know what I doing wrong...

Highlight/select all of the files at once. Then right click and extract. It should combine them all into the one.
If you're still having trouble with it, I'll try to do it for you. Been meaning to do this anyway to make things a little easier for folks. But it'll probably be at least Sunday night or Monday before I can do anything. (Funeral/family stuff has me tied up all weekend).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

DocHoliday77 said:
Highlight/select all of the files at once. Then right click and extract. It should combine them all into the one.
If you're still having trouble with it, I'll try to do it for you. Been meaning to do this anyway to make things a little easier for folks. But it'll probably be at least Sunday night or Monday before I can do anything. (Funeral/family stuff has me tied up all weekend).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have tried SO many things now I can't even remember. I have tried flashing roms via SD card, I have tried to re-root the phone by flashing Super SU from an SD card no luck...I have tried to factory reset using the instructions you posted but upon extracting there is no tar md5 file. lots of others but not that one. My download screen says:
ODIN MODE
PRODUCT NAME: SGH I747
CUSTOM BINARY DOWLOAD: YES (2 COUNTS)
CURRENT BINARY: CUSTOM
SYSTEM STATUS: CUSTOM
QUAULCOM SECUREBOOT: ENABLE
WARRANTY BIT: 1
BOOTLOADER RP SWREV: 2
When I try to reboot my phone in TWRP it says, "NO OS" installed are you sure you wish to continue.
I will slide the deal towards yes/reboot and then it will say, "Your phone is not rooted do you wish to install Super SU" I will slide to install and it will go to download mode and look like the above. That's it. No successful flashing via SD or Odin...I am pooped. By the way I appreciate your time, and I am so sorry for your loss.

Still No Luck
DocHoliday77 said:
Highlight/select all of the files at once. Then right click and extract. It should combine them all into the one.
If you're still having trouble with it, I'll try to do it for you. Been meaning to do this anyway to make things a little easier for folks. But it'll probably be at least Sunday night or Monday before I can do anything. (Funeral/family stuff has me tied up all weekend).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what happened but I thought I had responded to this, I know its late but please accept my deepest condolences.
As for my phone I have tried EVERTHING I can think of, everything you have suggested as well and nothing is working. I Can download ODIN, I can download files and Md5. tar files but it always says failed...I don't know what to do or anything. I have been working on this for almost 2 months now. I need help, there is no cell phone repair here that can flash software except ONE company and they have a bad reputation...I want to start from scratch here because I am So turned around. I have tried so much I am just confused...If you can help me at all, step by step perhaps then I could get you the answers you need to help me. Really thank you for the time you have already given me.

I suggest using CWM to flash anything. I had issues with TWRP and Philz Touch worked perfectly. I have recommended it to other that had no OS on their phone and they were able to get their phone up and running on a custom ROM.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55897607&postcount=2

I apologize for not responding before. Been hard to keep up with everything lately.
Try as audit13 suggested and flash cwm or philz recovery with Odin. Then reboot recovery and flash a rom. Hopefully one of those will work where twrp failed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[Q] Flashing stock firmware in Odin doesn't change anything

tl:dr I've been trying to flash the stock firmware using Odin but nothing seems to change after I reboot.
SGH-T889
TWRP v2.6.3.1
Devil Kernel
Jedi X Rom (20)
I had this setup for a few months until this morning when my phone had shut off on its own some time while I was sleeping. Turning on the phone would only load up to the Devil Kernel Splash screen. I can get into TWRP but it asks me for a password that I never set. After some searching, I'm assuming that this is because my data partition has possibly been corrupted.
I've tried doing a factory reset in TWRP, it says it's successful but practically there is no change. The console states that it is unable to mount /efs, /cache, and /system.
I tried using 'Format Data', but choosing this options only seems to reset TWRP because I see the TWRP splash screen and then am asked for a password again. From my understanding, shouldn't formatting the data should remove any encryption?
I tried to just reflash the stock firmware to reset everything but every time I finish flashing in Odin, Odin states that everything is fine but there is no change on my phone. I still only see the kernel splash screen on boot.
I've tried doing an Emergency Firmware Recovery through Kies but Kies is unable to do anything after it detects my device version.

kyang321 said:
tl:dr I've been trying to flash the stock firmware using Odin but nothing seems to change after I reboot.
SGH-T889
TWRP v2.6.3.1
Devil Kernel
Jedi X Rom (20)
I had this setup for a few months until this morning when my phone had shut off on its own some time while I was sleeping. Turning on the phone would only load up to the Devil Kernel Splash screen. I can get into TWRP but it asks me for a password that I never set. After some searching, I'm assuming that this is because my data partition has possibly been corrupted.
I've tried doing a factory reset in TWRP, it says it's successful but practically there is no change. The console states that it is unable to mount /efs, /cache, and /system.
I tried using 'Format Data', but choosing this options only seems to reset TWRP because I see the TWRP splash screen and then am asked for a password again. From my understanding, shouldn't formatting the data should remove any encryption?
I tried to just reflash the stock firmware to reset everything but every time I finish flashing in Odin, Odin states that everything is fine but there is no change on my phone. I still only see the kernel splash screen on boot.
I've tried doing an Emergency Firmware Recovery through Kies but Kies is unable to do anything after it detects my device version.
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Odin the UVALJ1 ROM (i use the Mr. Robinson rooted version). I have been down that road before. I had to flash 2x before it fixed my devices file system.
Then install the current TWRP recovery as 2.6.3.1 is not the best option. From there you should be able to get started again.

Coug76 said:
Odin the UVALJ1 ROM (i use the Mr. Robinson rooted version). I have been down that road before. I had to flash 2x before it fixed my devices file system.
Then install the current TWRP recovery as 2.6.3.1 is not the best option. From there you should be able to get started again.
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I tracked down the ROM that you're referring to by mrRobinson but after trying another 4 times I'm still getting the same results.
Can you clarify your second line about TWRP recovery? I tried seeing if TWRP was the problem since I could not format data but I cannot flash any new recoveries (stock, CWM, or older versions of TWRP). Does anyone know of any alternate means other than flashing through Odin?
Thanks for the reply though, hearing that other people have had similar problems gives me some hope.

kyang321 said:
I tracked down the ROM that you're referring to by mrRobinson but after trying another 4 times I'm still getting the same results.
Can you clarify your second line about TWRP recovery? I tried seeing if TWRP was the problem since I could not format data but I cannot flash any new recoveries (stock, CWM, or older versions of TWRP). Does anyone know of any alternate means other than flashing through Odin?
Thanks for the reply though, hearing that other people have had similar problems gives me some hope.
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Try the UVUCMK7 version. That might do it.
Your version of TWRP is old. Try the current version for better results. My first issues with corruption involved 2.6.3.1 though I can't implicate it directly.

Coug76 said:
Try the UVUCMK7 version. That might do it.
Your version of TWRP is old. Try the current version for better results. My first issues with corruption involved 2.6.3.1 though I can't implicate it directly.
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Thanks again for the response! Flashing recoveries in Odin isn't giving me any results so I'll try getting an external sd card and flashing version 2.7.2.0 from within TWRP.

kyang321 said:
Thanks again for the response! Flashing recoveries in Odin isn't giving me any results so I'll try getting an external sd card and flashing version 2.7.2.0 from within TWRP.
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Coug76 said:
Try the UVUCMK7 version. That might do it.
Your version of TWRP is old. Try the current version for better results. My first issues with corruption involved 2.6.3.1 though I can't implicate it directly.
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So I can't seem to change my recovery. Odin will supposedly pass but the version stays the same in my phone. Within TWRP I cannot mount my external sd card so I can't flash from there either.
I tried to see if I could do something with ADB but TWRP won't let me go into ADB side load because it cannot mount /cache.
Any ideas?

Download the ODIN flashable version of TWRP and flash from within ODIN. That will get you at least a new recovery. From there you can restore/etc. I had a similar issue a few weeks back. My partitions got corrupted and doing the standard full ODIN, regardless of which ODINversion/firmware combo I used, resulted in me having a stock recovery with literally nothing else. System, cache, data....nothing would mount. I thought I was permanently soft bricked. Each ODIN flash seemed to go well, but upon booting up, the phone would immediately go into stock recovery with those mounting errors. I used the ATT version of twrp 2.7.2.2...or whatever the latest version was because it had the partition repair option that the TMO version hasn't been updated to yet.
Install the recovery from ODIN.
Boot into recovery.
Click the wipe tab. Then do the advanced wipe...select one partition at a time then click on the 'repair partition' option. I think only cache, system and data can be repaired. The others won't let you repair. Will give an error saying failed or not repairable or something like that.
That's what helped me get out of my dilemma. Fortunately, I had a stock backup on an SD card I was able to restore at that point. If you don't, flash a new ROM, log in, then download Mobile ODIN from the market. You can then flash full firmwares from within the phone itself and get back to 100% stock, minus boot loader. But if you're already on the 4.3 bootloader then there won't be any problems.
I'll check back to see if you had any success. It worked for me, but I offer no guarantees.
Good luck.

carlz28 said:
Download the ODIN flashable version of TWRP and flash from within ODIN. That will get you at least a new recovery. From there you can restore/etc. I had a similar issue a few weeks back. My partitions got corrupted and doing the standard full ODIN, regardless of which ODINversion/firmware combo I used, resulted in me having a stock recovery with literally nothing else. System, cache, data....nothing would mount. I thought I was permanently soft bricked. Each ODIN flash seemed to go well, but upon booting up, the phone would immediately go into stock recovery with those mounting errors. I used the ATT version of twrp 2.7.2.2...or whatever the latest version was because it had the partition repair option that the TMO version hasn't been updated to yet.
Install the recovery from ODIN.
Boot into recovery.
Click the wipe tab. Then do the advanced wipe...select one partition at a time then click on the 'repair partition' option. I think only cache, system and data can be repaired. The others won't let you repair. Will give an error saying failed or not repairable or something like that.
That's what helped me get out of my dilemma. Fortunately, I had a stock backup on an SD card I was able to restore at that point. If you don't, flash a new ROM, log in, then download Mobile ODIN from the market. You can then flash full firmwares from within the phone itself and get back to 100% stock, minus boot loader. But if you're already on the 4.3 bootloader then there won't be any problems.
I'll check back to see if you had any success. It worked for me, but I offer no guarantees.
Good luck.
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I already have TWRP 2.6.3.1. In trying to see if that version is a problem, I've tried flashing a different version through Odin but it doesn't have any effect (the version will always stay as 2.6.3.1 regardless of what I flash through Odin).

So it's been a week since my issue started and I haven't gotten any further since I started.
I've tried flashing a new pit file to no avail (stuck on get pit file mapping). I've also tried doing a nand rewrite but I get a nondescript error.
As of this point I've given up and am just going to use an old phone lying around until my contract is up. If you've found this thread because you've had similar issues I wish you better luck than I had.

Help...semibrick or not?

Hi,
All was good in the SM-T705 world rocking 5.0.2 Rooted Stock.
But one day, decided to take the plonge and update to the 5.1.1 Unnoficial CM12.1 to try things out.
Well, all was good, but kinda lost the 4G connectivity (even after flashing the radio file provided on the thread)
So i decided to try again something, and start from Stock again.
Got myself the latest 5.0.2 image from kies and "odin it away".
Everything ok with the flash, but the device remains on the boot screen ....meaning bootloop.
Never seen a bootloop on a stock flash.
When bootlooping, i can only access download mode/recovery. Nothing else works.
Any hints?
Thanks guys.

Bootloader maybe?

rookie12 said:
Bootloader maybe?
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Any hint how to fix this?

Idk ask a prof
Maybe flash the whole frimware via odin again

I advice you to download a stock firmware (or at least a TW based one) from here in the forum, instead of Kies.
You can try also first with a manual EXT4 reformat of System, Data and Cache though Recovery. Do NOT touch other partitions.
Then reinstall with Odin, NO tick on repartition.
It must work

Thank you guys for all your replies.
Thing is, i cant seem to be able to flash twrp. I do it through Odin and goea fine, but when it reboots it is overriding to the stock recovery again (since it can't complete the stock flash boot process)
That would be the desired scenario, since I even have a twrp backup that I'm wishing to restore.
Any other ideas?

You need to boot to twrp immediately after flashing or recovery will be overwritten with stock.
Second, once in recovery wipe data and you should be good to go.

ashyx said:
You need to boot to twrp immediately after flashing or recovery will be overwritten with stock.
Second, once in recovery wipe data and you should be good to go.
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Got my tab back.
Thank you very much for all your help...that's why xda works most of the time.
Sent from my SM-T705 using XDA Free mobile app