[Q] How should I go about unbricking my friends phone? - Galaxy Ace II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello, my friend has a Ace 2 (GT-I8160) and he wanted me to try and install CM 11 on his phone. I managed to root it and install temporary CWM on it, however his version of CWM could not flash CM 11 ROM's because it was outdated. I Googled around and found a TWRP .img file that I decided to flash via ODIN (CWM couldn't flash any TWRP .zip files for some reason). Everything went perfectly fine with ODIN, however my friends phone could not go pass the Samsung logo, it would appear for a few seconds and then the screen would go black. He also couldn't go into recovery but he could go into Download mode. Thinking that it was a recovery problem, I managed to get a .img file of TWRP 2.8.6.0 by Chronomonochrome and flash that via ODIN. Still the same problem - phone won't go pass the logo, however it can go into recovery.
So, now the phone boots perfectly to Download mode and recovery - and it can do everything from the recovery, like making backups, wiping, etc, but it cannot boot to the OS itself. I still haven't flashed a custom ROM on his phone because he didn't have the ROM file on his phone at the time nor could be transfer it to his phone via his PC because of some driver issue.
I'm currently downloading I8160XXBN1 firmware from Samsung Updates to flash via ODIN and try to get his phone back into working state. However, I also planned on placing my SD Card (which has the CM rom and Gapps on it) into his phone and flashing a new, custom ROM instead of flashing the firmware.
Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Should I flash official firmware via ODIN or just flash the ROM using the recovery?
Thanks in advance.

Related

[Q] Bootloop

Hi guys,
My N7100 was rooted and has been working fine for almost a month now. I have flashed several custom ROMs and have had no issues.
Today I restarted the phone to recovery and the phone shows the initial blue TWRP screen and then goes back to show Samsung logo and this keeps on repeating over and over.. meaning, can't enter into the recovery mode.
I am able to enter in download mode though. Downloading 4.1.2 stock ROM for my country so I can hopefully flash it through ODIN.
If possible I would wish to retain the ROM that's on the phone and use it as before. Any idea as to why the phone can't enter into TWRP? Will it help if I flash CWM via ODIN and reboot the phone after entering CWM?
Flashed CWM via ODIN and rebooted. Back into my custom ROM.
Not sure why TWRP stopped working all of a sudden. Anyway, all is well now.
For anyone who may go through the same, here is the topic to download CWM from.

[Q] Won't boot rom or cwm recovery - only download mode

Hi! I have encountered a problem, and really hope someone can help me!
Two days ago i flashed Omnirom Nightly on my n7105 to get Android 4.4. I was running cmw recovery but couldnt get the ota updates to work, so i was trying to flash open recovery instead. I used an apk that was supposed to install a script.
When i rebootet my phone, all i could get was the Note 2 boot image. It wont boot into recovery mode, or the rom. I am however able to boot into download mode.
Custom Binary download: Yes (4 counts).
Current binary: Custom
System Status: Custom.
How should i proceed? I've already tried to reflash cwm recovery, which did work, but didnt solve the problem. I am currently downloading stock firmware, but the file is 1.2 GB so it will take i while. Figured i should ask here in the meanwhile.
I'm not an expert at Android at all, im just a guy enjoying having custom roms and playing around a little. I do know that there are a lot of very talented people in this forum, and i really hope someone can help me find a solution. I've been googling for hours, but cant find anything that seems to work for me / or i dont fully understand and wont risk try before someone approves it.
Thank you, Vetle
EDIT: Is it correct that i cant flash any custom rom trough Odin? Or could i just flash omnirom again trough Odin?
If i manage to flash the stock rom and the bootloop goes away, will everything go back to normal, so i can flash cmw again and then a custom rom again?
No custom rom can be flashed through odin, as most of them are zip cwm/twrp base.
When u can only go to download mode, an official firmware only can help u through odin.
Sent from SM-N9005 with xda-app
Thanks for the answer!
Yup, i have flashed a stock rom now and i got the stock recovery. Everything was working fine.
Then i proceeded to do a factory reset in the stock recovery and flashed cwm trough Odin. When it was done, it wouldnt let me into recovery again! I can still boot up the phone tough.
I've also tried Open recovery. CWM via Rom manager. Open Recovery trough Goo Manager... Still cant get recovery to work, the stock rom works tough.
Any ideas?
Okay, i tried to flash the stock rom again and installed Rom Manger.
It still showes TWRP and CWM under installed recovery and i guess these its these two who makes the problem.
My plan now is to figure out how to completely remove them. I've never done anything related to adb before, so i hope it possible to remove them in another way?
This is so weird. Somehow i managed to install CWM Touch via Rom Manager and it booted. When i choose reboot /pull battery it will only boot straight into CWM again. I tried to flash TWRP via Odin, wich sucseeds, but then it reboots into CWM again!
I am soo lost its almost funny!
EDIT: Since i could get into cwm now, i tried to flash omnirom, but it aborts and all i get is status 7...?
EDIT2: Latest now is that i suddenly managed to install TWRP via Odin, but i still cant install the latest omnirom, all it says is "updating partition details".
vetle666 said:
This is so weird. Somehow i managed to install CWM Touch via Rom Manager and it booted. When i choose reboot /pull battery it will only boot straight into CWM again. I tried to flash TWRP via Odin, wich sucseeds, but then it reboots into CWM again!
I am soo lost its almost funny!
EDIT: Since i could get into cwm now, i tried to flash omnirom, but it aborts and all i get is status 7...?
EDIT2: Latest now is that i suddenly managed to install TWRP via Odin, but i still cant install the latest omnirom, all it says is "updating partition details".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had recovery problems in the last few days also.
Installed DN3 rom using philz recovery, because its capable of prepare the phone to a new rom in a easy way.
It all went fine until first reboot.
I had a recovery boot loop. All I could see were some buttons and then reboot again.
Like you I had download access and flashed philz with Odin, but no luck.
Installed twrp via Odin and all was fine, and flashed philz new version.
Then I had to flash a new kernel (to be able to access wifi) and it all started again. Now I'm back on twrp.
Let's see what happens on my next flash.
My suggestion is to flash the recovery, and if that's OK flash the rom and use it
Next time you need recovery get Odin to help, but not all the way from an original rom. Just the custom recovery.
But if you want to get rid of your strange recovery configuration, and you are not already on new 4.3 recovery(which in your case could explain some of the problems you had) , with knox, install an older original rom, 4.1, and make all the steps, root it, install a custom recovery, and from there the room you want.
Reading your path sorting this problem, that was what would do next
Best regards

[Q] Can't flash any ROM via Odin or TWRP

My non-rooted GT-N7100 didn't want to boot after a longer period without battery charge. After fully charging, i got this screen: dropbox dot com/s/jy8sirmpgp6zm7h/20140823_214100.jpg
Later, i got the "firmware upgrade encountered an issue"-message. I tried to flash the latest stock ROM (via ODIN, from sammobile, checked MD5) but I get a fail when writing system.img.
So I decided to flash a custom recovery (twrp v2.8.0.1) (and trip knox..) to flash via an OTG-cable, but this also doesn't work.
TWRP tells me there is "no OS installed" when trying to reboot.
What am I doing wrong?
Wensjong said:
My non-rooted GT-N7100 didn't want to boot after a longer period without battery charge. After fully charging, i got this screen: dropbox dot com/s/jy8sirmpgp6zm7h/20140823_214100.jpg
Later, i got the "firmware upgrade encountered an issue"-message. I tried to flash the latest stock ROM (via ODIN, from sammobile, checked MD5) but I get a fail when writing system.img.
So I decided to flash a custom recovery (twrp v2.8.0.1) (and trip knox..) to flash via an OTG-cable, but this also doesn't work.
TWRP tells me there is "no OS installed" when trying to reboot.
What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1922461
try the steps under "3. Odin Instructions for the Samsung Galaxy S III "based" devices".
TWRP recovery should not be an issue if you rooted your phone before installing it. But, if you somehow have messed it up, try getting the firmware from Sammobile and flash it using odin. That should also replace your recovery to stock.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
I can flash a bootloader, recovery, pit-file, .. I'm using the right cable/drivers/.. It's just impossible to flash system.img to that partition. Twrp/philz/cwmrecovery give me an error when trying to wipe. Is it possible that that partition is corrupt?
I've tried a few stock roms and different custom/pre-rooted roms. None are flashable via odin (1.85, 3.07, 3.09), via adb sideload or USB-stick. I can't mount micro SD cards.
The phone was 4.3 when problems started; does anyone know where i can find the latest universal 4.3 stock rom? Sammobile only shows 4.4 and up..
Bricked?
Try twrp 2.7.2.1. and see if it works.

AT&T Note 2 stuck in TWRP boot loop

I've had AOKP & TWRP installed for nearly 3 years. The phone started rebooting occasionally when I would go to manage apps and kill an app. It finally got hosed really good on the last reboot and it got stuck in a TWRP boot loop. I was able to use odin to reflash TWRP and after the initial flash I could get into TWRP recovery. Unfortunately I don't have any of the necessary image files on the sdcard. I then tried to flash a converted AOKP zip (now a tar converted with toolkit). I am not able to get either the toolkit or adb detect the device although I am able to flash with odin. I flashed the AOKP tar image with odin but now when it boot it stays on the Galaxy Note 2 screen and goes no further.
Now I can only get in download mode and since odin seems to be the only thing that is working for me my question is can I use it to flash AOKP and GAPPS (both of which I have on computer)? If so, what format does the AOKP file need to be? img, tar or what? Also can I convert the gapps zip file to a tar and use odin to flash it?
Much thanks in advance. I plan to purchase a new device soon but would like to get this working again as a backup.
Regards, ~metafizik
Use a stock/rooted .tar image to restore the device partition structure.
It contains the PIT for remapping...
Once a stock rooted rom is flashed and running...flash TWRP 2.8.6.0 via Odin...
Then create a nandroid backup to SD CARD..
You can then flash AOKP and GAPPS as .zip files...in TWRP
It's a bit more work....but you'll have a clean backup and a way back if trouble hits...along with fresh partitions...g
I recommend flashing back to stock, get the phone set up using stock, install TWRP, take a nandroid backup, and then flash a custom ROM.

Stuck in download mode

Hi there! I've found this device from many years ago and from what I can remember I tried to root and install a new rom, but something happened. Now, when I want to switch it on always appear this screen:
http://imgur.com/FkLYEiL
Now I can go to fastboot mode, but it won't reboot normally, there is always that screen..
So, what I've to do now? Thank you for your time!
Possible solution?
I've had this too, simply install cwm via odin (twrp should work too but I've done this with cwm and succeeded so I recommend using that for now), then put a rom on your sd card and install it, or you can (after installing cwm) flash the stock firmware, simply look for your model of s4 mini on google for stock firmware and you should find it, update me with what you get.

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