Develop Bugs

[Fix] 4.3 ROMs stuck on splash screen after first reboot

For those of you who keep getting stuck on the splash screen after trying to restart your phone after installing a 4.3 ROM.
My steps were (and I take no credit for this, I can't remember who had said to do this and I wasn't logged in so I couldn't click the thank you button):
*Note* If you were already on the Stock 4.3 ROM you do not want to flash the 4.0.4, 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 Stock ROM since you will brick your phone. The Stock ROM contains the Bootloader which should never be downgraded. Fyi: the Bootloader is not the Baseband, the Baseband is just what Modem you're using.
1. Use Odin to flash the latest stock ROM
2. Enter the stock recovery and do a factory reset and clear the cache (I did both twice just to make sure)
3. Use Odin to flash the stock rooted ROM.
4. Enter the stock recovery and do a factory reset and clear the cache. (This might not be necessary but I did anyways just to make sure)
5. Use Odin to flash a custom recovery (TWRP 2.6.0.0 was the newest recovery when I did this last week)
6. Enter the custom recovery and wipe everything, then flash whatever 4.3 based ROM and then flash GApps if you want.
*Note* It seemed like the phone was hanging on the splash screen after either the initial boot or the first restart (I can't remember which, it's been a week) but it did boot and reboot fine.
I hope this helps out some people since I found it to be quite irritating that I could install a 4.3 ROM and set everything up but when I went to restart it would hang at the splash screen (going into the recovery and clearing the cache/dalvik cache wasn't helping).

Are you basically saying to revert back to stock settings and redo the entire root process again?
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

bullet2binary said:
Are you basically saying to revert back to stock settings and redo the entire root process again?
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
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Yeah, from what I had read that seemed to be necessary since I had used Odin to update the bootloader (MF1 since my phone is the M variant) by itself when the newest Stock ROM had come out a while ago. I still flashed the newest Stock ROM (same MF1 bootloader for the M variant) but the first time I did it I forgot to enter the Stock Recovery to do a Factory Reset and Clear the Cache and ended up stuck on the splash screen of a 4.3 ROM after flashing a custom recovery. So I needed to reflash back to stock and start over.
Going into the Stock Recovery and doing a Factory Reset and Clearing Cache is necessary and doesn't take much time at all so you may as well do it just to be sure. I also recommend backing up your IMEI if you haven't done it yet.

spongdangly said:
Yeah, from what I had read that seemed to be necessary since I had used Odin to update the bootloader (MF1 since my phone is the M variant) by itself when the newest Stock ROM had come out a while ago. I still flashed the newest Stock ROM (same MF1 bootloader for the M variant) but the first time I did it I forgot to enter the Stock Recovery to do a Factory Reset and Clear the Cache and ended up stuck on the splash screen of a 4.3 ROM after flashing a custom recovery. So I needed to reflash back to stock and start over.
Going into the Stock Recovery and doing a Factory Reset and Clearing Cache is necessary and doesn't take much time at all so you may as well do it just to be sure. I also recommend backing up your IMEI if you haven't done it yet.
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Click to collapse
This seems to have done the job. Running PAC 4.3 right now. I've rebooted successfully once so far.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Exactly what I ended up doing after nothing else was working. After getting it hanging the first time, even flashing 4.2 roms was giving me boot issues. After reverting back to stock and reflashing I'm now running the 9/1 Pac nightly and the 8/31 kt747 kernel.
I'm probably 10+ reboots in without issue and I flashed the kernel separately!

bullet2binary said:
This seems to have done the job. Running PAC 4.3 right now. I've rebooted successfully once so far.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
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exodus454 said:
Exactly what I ended up doing after nothing else was working. After getting it hanging the first time, even flashing 4.2 roms was giving me boot issues. After reverting back to stock and reflashing I'm now running the 9/1 Pac nightly and the 8/31 kt747 kernel.
I'm probably 10+ reboots in without issue and I flashed the kernel separately!
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Click to collapse
I'm glad to hear that this seems to be the proper fix. That's odd that you were having trouble with 4.2 ROMs, but then again I'd been running 4.2 ROMs on my phone since they first started rolling out. It's kind of annoying that everyone's S3 seems to be slightly different then the next.

Yeah this was a weird one all right. Just glad this post had a solution
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

glad i found this otherwise my first noob post would have truly been a noob move. Thanks wouldn't have guessed that fix for a few days at least.
verified it works. but it did require some weird time dealing with a bootloop issue on stock recoveries. had to find a .tar version of CWM to flash via odin for the final result.

Still Stuck at Splash Screen after trying to upgrade to 4.3
Background:
I had been running task's rom since 4.1.x. Upgraded to 4.2 with not problems and I kept the rom current. Tried to upgrade to 4.3 and that is where the problems started. It appeared to work, saw that Google was updating a number of apps but then then I kept getting error messages regarding various about various processes stopping unexpectedly. Rebooted the phone and it came up with Task's kernel splash screen where it remains frozen.
I can get into TWRP (v2.3.3.1) recovery and into Download mode.
I have tried wiping Cache and Dalvik Cache
I have wiped System
I have done a Factory Reset
I have Formatted Data
I have used Odin twice to get back to stock (I747UCDLK3) and both times it says "passed."
When I try to reboot it, however, it comes back to Task's Kernel splash screen (I do not see the Samsung screen)
Any help or suggestions would be great.
UPDATED: Found an older update from April and was able to restore it. Still wondering why 4.3 wouldn't take.

This Works
I was skeptical, but this actually works! Now running Task's 4.3 on my bell i747m without any problems!
Thanks for the tip OP :good:

spongdangly said:
For those of you who keep getting stuck on the splash screen after trying to restart your phone after installing a 4.3 ROM.
My steps were (and I take no credit for this, I can't remember who had said to do this and I wasn't logged in so I couldn't click the thank you button):
1. Use Odin to flash the latest stock ROM
2. Enter the stock recovery and do a factory reset and clear the cache (I did both twice just to make sure)
3. Use Odin to flash the stock rooted ROM.
4. Enter the stock recovery and do a factory reset and clear the cache. (This might not be necessary but I did anyways just to make sure)
5. Use Odin to flash a custom recovery (TWRP 2.6.0.0 was the newest recovery when I did this last week)
6. Enter the custom recovery and wipe everything, then flash whatever 4.3 based ROM and then flash GApps if you want.
*Note* It seemed like the phone was hanging on the splash screen after either the initial boot or the first restart (I can't remember which, it's been a week) but it did boot and reboot fine.
I hope this helps out some people since I found it to be quite irritating that I could install a 4.3 ROM and set everything up but when I went to restart it would hang at the splash screen (going into the recovery and clearing the cache/dalvik cache wasn't helping).
I hope I posted this in the right section but apologies if it's not.
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Click to collapse
If this works you're a life saver! I've been posting around 4.3 threads about this for weeks and no one came up with a decent answer....
Tried reflashing stock with root but didn't work... i'll try your way, see if that works
Gonna try this tonight!!!
Thanks!

I posted in the CM thread about this, but thought I would pass it along.. I didn't have to go back to stock non-rooted. What I did:
I odin'd Mr. Robinson's LK3 rooted
Factory reset from the 3e recovery
Rebooted
Odin'd twrp
Restored nandroid of CM
Good to go.

Solved
Thanks, also works for i727 skyrocket

wont this brick people phones flashing back 4.1.1 stock ? im on stock 4.3 stuck on samsung galaxy s3 logo meaning flashing back to latest stock rom using odin 4.1.2? 4.3 stock rom or 4.3 custom roms?

Kastro1784 said:
wont this brick people phones flashing back 4.1.1 stock ? im on stock 4.3 stuck on samsung galaxy s3 logo meaning flashing back to latest stock rom using odin 4.1.2? 4.3 stock rom or 4.3 custom roms?
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spongdangly said:
1. Use Odin to flash the latest stock ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were already on the Stock 4.3 ROM you do not want to flash the 4.0.4, 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 Stock ROM since you will brick your phone.
I'll add a note to the OP about not attempting to downgrade to an older Stock ROM though.

spongdangly said:
If you were already on the Stock 4.3 ROM you do not want to flash the 4.0.4, 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 Stock ROM since you will brick your phone.
I'll add a note to the OP about not attempting to downgrade to an older Stock ROM though.
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Click to collapse
what framware did you flash to get 4.3 back working ? a leaked 4.3 Rom with no root ? thien reflash the stock 4.3 ?

Kastro1784 said:
what framware did you flash to get 4.3 back working ? a leaked 4.3 Rom with no root ? thien reflash the stock 4.3 ?
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Click to collapse
When I had done this back in August, I flashed the Rogers 4.1.2 Stock ROM since that was the latest stock firmware at the time and I have a Canadian S3.
If you had already flashed or been on the Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM, I'd recommend reflashing the latest Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM and following the instructions in the OP. Just make sure that you don't attempt to flash an older version of the Stock ROM that you were already on since you will brick your phone. The Stock ROM contains the bootloader and that cannot be downgraded. I don't have an American S3 since I'm Canadian so I don't know which 4.3 bootloader is the newest although I'm sure a quick search would answer that for you.

spongdangly said:
When I had done this back in August, I flashed the Rogers 4.1.2 Stock ROM since that was the latest stock firmware at the time and I have a Canadian S3.
If you had already flashed or been on the Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM, I'd recommend reflashing the latest Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM and following the instructions in the OP. Just make sure that you don't attempt to flash an older version of the Stock ROM that you were already on since you will brick your phone. The Stock ROM contains the bootloader and that cannot be downgraded. I don't have an American S3 since I'm Canadian so I don't know which 4.3 bootloader is the newest although I'm sure a quick search would answer that for you.
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Click to collapse
There is no latest Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM right now to reflash if you're already on the Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM. We cannot keep telling people this. If so, tell us how, because no one has, as of yet.
I've seen entirely too many posts telling people who are having trouble or phone is soft bricked on the Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM to flash or Odin back to stock. Then when asked how, the discussion ends.
That's also one of the reasons why I refuse to upgrade to 4.3 right now. At least I can still Odin back to stock as an option if something does goes wrong, but who am I to tell anyone to stay away from the latest toy, I mean update?

shortydoggg said:
There is no latest Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM right now to reflash if you're already on the Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM. We cannot keep telling people this. If so, tell us how, because no one has, as of yet.
I've seen entirely too many posts telling people who are having trouble or phone is soft bricked on the Stock AT&T 4.3 ROM to flash or Odin back to stock. Then when asked how, the discussion ends.
That's also one of the reasons why I refuse to upgrade to 4.3 right now. At least I can still Odin back to stock as an option if something does goes wrong, but who am I to tell anyone to stay away from the latest toy, I mean update?
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I'm sorry that I'm unable to help. As I had mentioned I have a Canadian Rogers phone (since I'm in Canada) so I don't know what's going on with the AT&T Stock 4.3 ROMs other then the fact that lots of people are having problems.
If you never flashed or did an OTA update to 4.3 then I'd suggest flashing the Stock 4.1.2 ROM. That or try what Ozark_8125 did since it saves you a couple steps (just make sure that LK3 isn't an older ROM than the one you were on).
If you're unsure what bootloader is currently on your phone and your phone is rooted I'd highly recommend downloading one of the many Root Check apps from the Play Store to verify which bootloader you're currently on.
*Note* I don't know which bootloader is for the 4.1.2 AT&T ROM nor do I know which bootloader came with the 4.3 ROMs. I'm sure a simple search would answer that for you.
Ozark_8125 said:
I posted in the CM thread about this, but thought I would pass it along.. I didn't have to go back to stock non-rooted. What I did:
I odin'd Mr. Robinson's LK3 rooted
Factory reset from the 3e recovery
Rebooted
Odin'd twrp
Restored nandroid of CM
Good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Samsung fixed my phone free thanks for the help
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[Q] Sprint GS3 - Unroot to stock 4.3?

So a couple of days ago I got a GS3 running the OTA stock 4.3. I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it because I find Touch Wiz kind of clunky. So I decided I would try out Cyanogenmod. I installed it via their new handy installer (as the sprint GS3 is one of the compatible devices). All went well and I got Cyanogenmod 10.2 running smoothly. Now I want to activate the device, but apparently you can't activate a rooted device on sprint. So now i need to get it back to stock 4.3 and I can only seem to find solutions to his problem for devices that have not gotten the 4.3 OTA update and are still running 4.1.2. On the Cyanogenmod installer guide says:
You may perform a full backup from recovery, after flashing recovery (you will have to do this manually, at the moment) and then copy it off the device, if you don't have an external sdcard. If you've already run the installer, you will have to find stock images and flash them using fastboot or Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My problem Is I can't locate any stock 4.3 images with which to try this. If I can get my hands on a stock 4.3 image, would the process be just going into the bootloader and using Odin to flash the 4.3 image?
Can anyone help me out?

You only need to be on a stock tw rom, even if you are rooted it should activate. There are a couple in the development section.

metalfan78 said:
You only need to be on a stock tw rom, even if you are rooted it should activate. There are a couple in the development section.
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Click to collapse
I see, do you know of any any good 4.3 based tw roms? All the ones I'm finding are based on 4.1. Also, do I need to do anything special to flash from Cyanogenmod 10.2 to a touchwiz rom (as Cyanogenmod is AOSP)? I already have ClockworkMod recovery installed.

Nothing special, flash like anything else
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541900
[STOCK ROM] Stock 4.3 MK3 ROM [ROOTED/UNROOTED]

[Q]Need clarification for rooted rogers note 2, android 4.4

Hello, I recently just updated my Rogers SGH-i317M to 4.3, which then downloaded a system update which put it at 4.4. I was running Jedi X20, which is based on 4.1.2, when I first tried updating, I flashed the "4.3param_tz" file in odin, and was left with an error screen saying I need to recover using Kies, so I downloaded the official release, flashed via odin, and thats how I got to where I am now. I want to try the "Ditto Note 3" rom, "Sky Note Air 4.3", "Mean Bean" and "Beanstalk". My main question is, can I just start flashing these roms like I was before on 4.1.2, or do I need to use the specific kernel listed on their page? Before you needed a specific kernel to run a touchwiz rom or an aosp rom, so is it still the same? Or can I use my stock 4.4 kernel and try both aosp and tw roms now? If so could you point out the kernels I would need? And educate me on anything else I should know about before flashing 4.3 and 4.4 roms, (I'm not worried about warranty), this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time in reading this and helping me out, much appreciated!!

Regardless of where u are, I'd Odin to Rogers stock KK 4.4.2. Then Odin Twrp recovery, boot into twrp recovery and flash SU v.1.99. Finally choose your rom and flash away. This way you are on the lastest KK 4.4.2 Bootloader and KK Modem/Baseband.

just_visiting said:
Regardless of where u are, I'd Odin to Rogers stock KK 4.4.2. Then Odin Twrp recovery, boot into twrp recovery and flash SU v.1.99. Finally choose your rom and flash away. This way you are on the lastest KK 4.4.2 Bootloader and KK Modem/Baseband.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did all that except flash SU 1.99, so I tried flashing SKynote Air and it didnt work, upon restarting my phone it said no os is available. So I tried restoring from the backup I made of the official 4.4.2 Samsung rom in twrp, didn't work. Tried Odin, didn't work. Then I tried flashing the Skynote rom again and it worked. So I'm afraid of flashing any other roms now.

[Q] Going back to stock from V5 ROM

I'm currently on G2 apps rom V5, but wanted to try out KitKat and Sphinx rom,
I know there is the KDZ method of going back to stock, however I was wondering if I could load my backup from stock JB 4.1.2 before installing G2 apps V5, unroot, and then work from there. Is this method possible? Thanks!

colddecked said:
I'm currently on G2 apps rom V5, but wanted to try out KitKat and Sphinx rom,
I know there is the KDZ method of going back to stock, however I was wondering if I could load my backup from stock JB 4.1.2 before installing G2 apps V5, unroot, and then work from there. Is this method possible? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't quite understand what you're asking, but I'll try my best to answer.
Are you asking about the stock OTA Kitkat when you say "Kitkat"?
If so, then if you restore that backup, then you'd also have to somehow restore the recovery or else the OTA will not work.
You will be back on stock 4.1.2 though and can flash any rom you want, so if you get one of the flashable versions of the stock Kitkats, then you can flash it without issue.
If you are on the E980, then the flashable Kitkat is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2760895
You shouldn't have to return to stock to flash Sphinx. All you'd need to do is format System, Cache, Dalvik, and Data, then flash.

Thanks for the reply sorry for not being more specific.
I have a 240L that was on 4.1.2 when I rooted and flashed the g2 apps rom.
I have been reading that I will brick the phone if I try to flash from my current rom, and that I need to OTA update from 4.1.2 to 4.4.2 as well. I didnt realize about the stock recovery though so the only way to get that back is thru flashing the KDZ file anyway?
Thanks again for the reply!
spexwood said:
I don't quite understand what you're asking, but I'll try my best to answer.
Are you asking about the stock OTA Kitkat when you say "Kitkat"?
If so, then if you restore that backup, then you'd also have to somehow restore the recovery or else the OTA will not work.
You will be back on stock 4.1.2 though and can flash any rom you want, so if you get one of the flashable versions of the stock Kitkats, then you can flash it without issue.
If you are on the E980, then the flashable Kitkat is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2760895
You shouldn't have to return to stock to flash Sphinx. All you'd need to do is format System, Cache, Dalvik, and Data, then flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I'm currently trying to flash stock firmware via KDZ, however, the method provided on xda is not working for me.
LG Support tools is telling me that my software is updated already and is not letting me flash the KDZ.
What am I doing wrong? Please help, thank you...

Note 3 on 5.0 trying to go back to stock ROM

Hello everyone,
I have a TMO Note 3 running Lollipop at this moment, the phone is rooted, but I tried flashing a new ROM and it soft bricked on me. ODIN stopped at the very beginning of flashing and just bricked the phone. Also TWRP was not working either and still not, but I was able to bring the phone back from the semi-dead state it was in. I want to flash it again but now I don't know if I did something wrong (most likely) and I just need some feedback on what to do. I wanna go to a stock rom so i can upgrade to the actual Lollipop Rom from T-mobile but I was also wondering if I can just flash a stock 5.0 rom that runs better than the one I have. Additionally, I just cant get TWRP to stick at all; every time I try to flash it and try to go into recovery, phone goes into boot loop. Here are some screenshots of the current "about phone" section. I am sorry if i am not asking the right questions but I gotta start somewhere. Thanks everyone in advanced!
https://imgur.com/a/dpn3Y

If you can get into download mode, flash the latest stock rom from Sammobile.com.

audit13 said:
If you can get into download mode, flash the latest stock rom from Sammobile.com.
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Click to collapse
look for the samfirm tool, its faster then going through sammobile:good::highfive: