Related
Hi everybody!
I figure we should have a thread dedicated to telling horror stories about flashes gone wrong. Whether it's because of power failures, bad USB cables, poorly labeled packages, or pure user error, we've all had that moment of worry: "Did I just turn my device into a paperweight?"
It's my hope that, by sharing these stories, we can help each other realize that we're all human, we all make mistakes, and most mistakes can be recovered from. Don't be afraid to share your stories; we can't learn from each other's mistakes if nobody talks about them!
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My first story is from my Telus SGS3 (I747M, you'll see why that matters in a moment) and is definitely a user-error kind of story.
I've been playing around with CM10 and its derivatives for the past month or two (got my SGS3 on release day and it wasn't running Samsung software 3 hours later) and I'm not new to Android, having run XDAndroid on my HTC Diamond, and bouncing between CM7 and CM9 on my Milestone. The first thing I did when I got my SGS3 was a full block device backup using DD from the command line, which is the only reason I don't have a paperweight today.
I decided to try out Paranoid Android over a week ago and I've been loving it, so I haven't been flashing much lately. But, when I got back from vacation and saw that CM10 had gone into nightly builds, I couldn't resist the temptation to try a clean install. I've got folders on my SD card for ROMs, GApps, kernels, recoveries, and anything else flashable just to make my life easier. Apparently at some point I downloaded an AT&T (I747, no M) modem, stuck it in a "/modems/" folder with the rest of my flashables, but realized that it wouldn't work on my device, so I never used it. I then promptly forgot that I had put it on the SD card, and it had a fairly cryptic filename. Away I went, flashing CM10, GApps, a nice bootscreen, and... the modem.
Dammit. :crying:
At this point, I was running the newest CM10 build, but with a borked modem. I thought I had fallen victim to the IMEI bug that's been going around, but then I remembered something about that modem file not being usable on a Telus device... And had no idea how to get back to a working state. I already knew that none of my nandroid backups would have the modem in them, and the only "stock" flashables I could find were rooted kernels and a nearly-700MB "stock" package that wouldn't download any faster than 10 kb/s. I couldn't wait 20 hours for a download, I wanted my phone now! I tried using Odin with a few of the TAR packages I found, but that only made my situation worse to the point of failing to boot entirely, even restoring a nandroid wasn't helping anymore.
I started digging through the forums in the hope that someone had ripped the Telus modem into a CWM flashable zip, but had no luck. I tried both the Rogers and Bell modems with the same results. That's when I remembered that I had done a block backup, but I had no idea which block device was the modem, and my phone wouldn't even boot up to let me MTP the files over. I was left with CWM recovery as my only option, and had to ADB push 2.5 GB of .img files to the SD card, and DD them one at a time through the ADB shell.
Somehow, it all worked out, and I was back to running Stock Touchwiz with root, and was then able to restore a nandroid from yesterday and amazingly enough Paranoid Android booted up, happy as ever, and in came my emails and text messages. I know I'm lucky that my IMEI didn't get lost in that mess, but it just goes to show that there's no such thing as a backup being "too extensive". You never know when "mmcblk0p99" needs to be replaced with a known working copy.
I do believe im going to flash a stock/rooted ROM and then do a dd backup.
What options do you set for your backups?
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
I did as follows:
Code:
cd /dev/block/
ls
(get the list of mmcblk devices from here)
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/dd/blk0p1 bs=4096
...
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p99 of=/sdcard/dd/blk0p99 bs=4096
Obviously you shouldn't have 99 partitions... but you get the idea. I ran each line manually.
Then just move the /dd/ folder off your /sdcard/ and onto some safe storage.
I bought my device off someone from Craigslist 2 nights ago. Went home with device working great. Decided to update from ICS to JB, downloaded everything on the ol gaming machine, go to update using Kies, then BAM! Hung update, bricks phone immediately. Woo....great experience after dropping $400 on phone lol. Contacted Samsung support who told me my update wouldn't work until I registered? I told him it bricked my phone and it wasn't being picked up by computer anymore and I wanted to go back to ICS, he apparently thought waiting 24 hours would fix driver issues. Found JB official rom and learned about Odin. Worked at it until 2-ish am, never worked, woke up, did ICS instead same method, worked immediately, then update worked.
Moral of story? Don't trust Samsung apparently, go with 3rd party everything....
Can we share from other devices? Because I've had a serious one with my nitro HD lol.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
After having my phone on stock rooted touch wiz since day one I was tempted to go jellybean... So months later I'd say Octoberish I finally said f**k it I'm going aokp... So I ran the task and k toonsen romantic for a while until they started porting the t mobile jelly bean stock tw rom... It made me miss tw and it's awesome camera app... So I flashed it after a week or so upon its release... First thing I noticed was the phone would get txts and phone calls rarely (keep in mind I'm in an lte area) and it became un bare able after about an hour. So I reverted back to my aokp nandroid and just figured I'd call it a day... But when I restored my nandroid my service was still messed up.. So after a bit of gooogling I checked my phone status to find my imei to be 0!!! I was beyond upset... So I tried re flashing stock in Odin and everything else I could find (unfortunately the imei restorer wasn't existent yet) and it came to the point where I left it stock and went to the att repair center down the road... The guy didn't know what was wrong with it and I just played dumb... After about 30 mins he came to the conclusion that my sim card slot was broken and I got a new phone...
After getting this one back home I instantly rooted it again
I've been staying away from those ported tmobile roms ever since
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747
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rani9990 said:
Can we share from other devices? Because I've had a serious one with my nitro HD lol.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I dont see why not. All stories are interesting lol
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No bad flashes .... Yet?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Alright then,
It was my first day with the LG Nitro HD. My first smartphone (don't comment xD) and I was prepared to root and flash the living crap out of it. Done with rooting, now to install CWM. Simple enough, right? WRONG. This was the one time where google was not my friend. I followed a horribly misleading guide, and ended up with a paperweight. Turns out I flashed the recovery image to the secondary bootloader partition, thereby bricking my phone completely and utterly, irreparably. Had to ship it off to LG, and they fixed it, no questions asked. Thank God for that...
I had an HTC Touch Pro on Sprint. You had to flash a stock ROM before flashing a new custom ROM or the phone would stop working properly after almost exactly an hour. The file system would become completely messed up but the OS would keep running from RAM. It would fail to reboot after that. It was such a pain that I updated my phone every ~3-4 months.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
This one actually just happened this weekend.
So I finally got bored of having stock ICS on my i747 (Rogers), and since I loved cm 7/9 on my SGS2, I figured I'd go with the latest (15 dec) CM10 nightly.
downloaded to phone, rebooted in recovery, wiped data and cache, and installed the new firmware.
booted up and I've got no (or inconsistant) cell service. Figure it's a bug that hasn't been fixed, so no biggie, I backed up a week ago, so I decided to revert back to stock for the time being.
go through the process, and discover I still only have EDGE data.... WTF?
So I do some reading *AFTER the fact, hur dur...* and discover the IMEI wipe issue, and surprise surprise, I didn't do an NV backup, since I didn't know it'd get wiped.
Spent a couple hours keeping the phone / computer away from the 13 month old while I replace the IMEI NV data.... Still stuck on EDGE.... at least my IMEI is showing up though.
Nick
Odin back to stock worked for me when that happened to me.... YMMV.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
The night I got my phone, I rooted via odin and when it booted, I'd get a framework FC every 90 seconds or so. It took me almost two hours to get cwm recovery on my phone to flash AOKP. Not a brick, but since I hadn't even activated it, yet....not happy.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Each Phone an Adventure
I can completely relate to all of you. Though I'm new as a member (thought I already had an account but apparently I didn't), I've been using the forum for a long time. I have rooted four phones to date, each with its' own disaster story and happy ending. My latest was the AT&T S3. While not a disaster entirely, the no flash counter guide ended up not working out for me. So I paved my own trail so to speak and I found all the root dependencies (Recovery, ROM, the works) by myself. The entire process took me about a day. I also used TriangleAway which threatened explosions if anything went wrong and thankfully nothing did. I'm glad I never had to send a phone back, I've always been very cautious about any type of flashing and always read the forum before doing it.
When I was on the captivate, I really wanted JB so I thought I could grab the Nexus S JB ROM cause the devices were so close to each other. Flashed it via Odin. Good God was that a mistake. I couldn't get back to download mode using the button combo since the button mapping was all switched up. I had this one cable that would give me bad connection, so I jiggled that around in the port for 35 minutes trying to get download mode. Finally, I got it and flashed the stock package. Learned my lesson, will never flash something from a different phone or anything that won't work 100%.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
goobs408 said:
When I was on the captivate, I really wanted JB so I thought I could grab the Nexus S JB ROM cause the devices were so close to each other. Flashed it via Odin. Good God was that a mistake. I couldn't get back to download mode using the button combo since the button mapping was all switched up. I had this one cable that would give me bad connection, so I jiggled that around in the port for 35 minutes trying to get download mode. Finally, I got it and flashed the stock package. Learned my lesson, will never flash something from a different phone or anything that won't work 100%.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
The thing about the Captivate was, no matter what ROM you flashed, the jig ALWAYS worked. It saved my ass quite a few times, until that is, the memory in the phone decided to die. I could flash through Odin as much as I wanted and it would pass everytime, but never go past the boot animation.
Dave the Knave said:
The thing about the Captivate was, no matter what ROM you flashed, the jig ALWAYS worked. It saved my ass quite a few times, until that is, the memory in the phone decided to die. I could flash through Odin as much as I wanted and it would pass everytime, but never go past the boot animation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash stock GB with forgot name of kernel baked in. After that in cwm recovery partition external SD card.. then reflash in Odin then install whatever ROM u want
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
Trying to use Kies to flash anything. That's always a bad story for me
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Don't attempt to explain to a friend of little flashing knowledge how to root their phone. He hard bricked my phone. Odin is easy if you read but he turned it into rocket science and yeah.. Had to wait for another phone
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Well let me begin by saying I have a Galaxy Nexus and have been flashing roms, etc like it's going outta style. It's very simple to me and I am no newb. So with this logic in mind, I got a brand new GS3 the other day and proceeded to do the same. First, it took my a while to realize there are so many variants of our phone, then when I did a search I saw that there was a i9305 that is LTE....you already know where this is going. I figured that was the correct variant, spent like an hour trying to install a recovery because of the auto wipe feature and thus increasing the flash counter to 10+ (wtf!). Finally I download a rom, flash it. Freezes half way through (knew that wasn't good) and when I pull the battery, BAM, bricked phone.
After some more reading, not only did I find out the correct way of flashing to not increase the counter but also that the Canadian versions are the i747! Luckily it happened a day after I got it and I switched it out for a new one. Moral of the story: If you are flash happy and think all phones are like the Nexus, that's your biggest mistake! lol
Hello All,
aXcelio here…..
I'm new to the world of Android switched from the iPhone….(was and still am a loyal user of IOS devices for the better part of 5 years)…..but out of shear boredom, I made the decision to decided to make the switch and I for the most part could not be happier. In doing so I picked up a Galaxy Note II SGH-1317 (AT&T), I've updated the stock rom (I think that's what its called) to JellyBean 4.2.1……now I'm in a place where I want take advantage of some of the feature embedded in CM (it looks really cool)……
So a buddy of mine, who's been running with droid's for as long as I've been running IOS decided to give me a hand in getting my device rooted……we used an exploit called EXYNOS, and installed TWRP (again forgive me ignorance if I'm speaking out of term…I'm learning, or trying too), everything appears to be running without incident, (with the exception of my not being able to create any backup…as the system tells me that I don't have any free space)….get back to that in a lil bit.
Now….I scored the CM site as well as XDA, but haven't really been able to find what I'm looking for (some of which could be out of fear of destroying my device, and some of which is based on a lack of understanding….more I think though of destroying my device……..I should note that I completely understand that any of that any info I get here or there…..is as is, and without any guarantee.) So here I am reaching out to you folks for some guidance……..with that allow me to ask a couple of questions…..
In an effort to get a better understanding of what my buddy did…..I would like to go through the process of setting my device back to defaults (as if I just brought it home from the store) no root, no play apps that I've installed….(I can do that later, and I'm not overly concerned about losing anything) and re-root the device…..that being said, is there a way to that (set the device back to defaults)….I've seen one article using the stock firmware, (which I've downloaded) and another which states that I can do a factory reset which will unroot the device…(but not sure what approach to take or for that matter I should even worry about that)
The second thing I'm wondering about is this……most of what I've read regarding the install of CM is that I need clockwork recovery (or something along those lines) but I have TWRP…..if I opt to not reset the phone back to factory default and unroot (or find that I really don't need to move in that direction) can I install CM using TWRP?…..if I need clockwork, can I instal this over TWRP……or do I need to do something different?
a
The last thing I have (at least for right now) is this….assuming I can move forward with the install and configuration of CM, I wonder if any of you can provide a step by step guide on how I go about this on my particular device……I've seen this article well as this ones these however appear to be for version 10, of CM…but I see there is a 10.1……I read another article (but can't seem to find it now…which stated that it worked with my device and 10.1, with a link but all of the nighties….seemed to be specific to the Galaxy Note…..not the Note II…..and again I would much rather reach out to you guys for guidance prior to doing anything…..The last question I have is I see there is a version 7100 of my phone and then one that says something about LTE (but not specific version……) is the SGH-1317 an LTE device that is version agnostic (if you will)….in other words if I see a post for an LTE GNII is that speaking to my device or something else……
Thanks a lot……
aXcelio
If your all ready rooted why go back to stock?
You don't have to install CWM TWRP is fine as your main recovery.
don't install any ROM for the N7100, that is the non LTE version of the Note 2, it will brick your phone.
CM10 is Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. CM10.1 is 4.2 Jelly Bean.
Read the forums for the specific ROM it will give instructions on installing the ROM even if it mentions to use CWM, installing with TWRP is fine.
READ READ READ and have fun
I think i understand, you want to reset and do all this stuff on your phone yourself.
? You would would have to Odin your phone back. Either mobile Odin or one for pc. Pretty simple task once you get the files you need. Think that's right..
Edit: as the guy above me said either is fine. Just preference in what recovery to use. I would suggest to only use cmr based recovery as those seem to be more friendly with development programs and roms than the official by koush that you see in play store. I wouldn't even downloaded it.
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium
nidnarb said:
I think i understand, you want to reset and do all this stuff on your phone yourself.
? You would would have to Odin your phone back. Either mobile Odin or one for pc. Pretty simple task once you get the files you need. Think that's right..
Edit: as the guy above me said either is fine. Just preference in what recovery to use. I would suggest to only use cmr based recovery as those seem to be more friendly with development programs and roms than the official by koush that you see in play store. I wouldn't even downloaded it.
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
PC Odin is more safe for the record
Here is a link to a post that breaks down the basics of starting from scratch, rooting and installing clockworkmod and then flashing a ROM. The instructions are in reply to a gentleman inquiring about the Jedi ROM but the instructions will be good for most other ROMs out there. Just check the installation instructions in the op of any rom to make sure there is not something else required for install.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=35726061
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I need help I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 from at&t 1317. Right know it changed since I rooted with cm-10.1-20130219-NIGHTLY-t0lte to model number GT-N7105 kernel 3.0.31. The thing is I rooted first with chainfire auto root and it went all well and I was happy, but I saw the themes and changes the other more advanced (in my opinion) and decided to root with the cm10. I followed the instructions and made a backup with clockwork mode touch recovery and all. When the backup was finished I copied it to my laptop just in case. I used rom manager to install the cm10 and all went smoothly or so I thought. The phone turned on and showed the Samsung name and the it showed the custom boot animation of the android pissing on the apple. But it got stuck on that for more than 15 minutes. I panicked and tried to turn off the phone but to no help. I removed the battery and put it in recovery mode and tried to use the backup but said it wasn’t functioning I tried using the Samsung toolkit or odin to flash it but nothing. The toolkit said waiting for adb and did nothing. I still have the backup. I in my panick did a factory reset thinking that would put the stock rom but to my disaster it erased everything. I then rooted on top of it to see if it would get rid of cm10 I did it with the auto root from chainfire but cyanogenmod doesn’t want to leave my phone. At first I didn’t even have google play store but just now thanks to something clockwork did I have it again. Please I just want my phone to get restored with the backup I did im not asking for more I have important files I cant ever replace if they are lost forever. The contacts, app data, documents on the internal storage is what most needs help. The other things on the external tips would be appreciated too.
Don't panic. You did a factory reset and may have wiped all. Was this a cwm factory reset or twrp factory reset? It sounds like cwm. Which is, like you said, a full wipe. Your best bet is to use data restore apps. Disk digger in the store can restore all kinds of photos. But you may have to use a different one. Unfortunately the phone attached via MTP so computer software has a hard time seeing it as a drive.
You should read and re-read before flashing
You have not rooted with cm10 you flashed cm10 which happens to be rooted.
Rooting is simply allowing advanced administration privileges for the phone. Nothing more. Flashing a ROM is your whole operating system.
What kind of files are you trying to restore?
Also on cm10 when you flash cm10 in recovery you should flash gapps with it. That's how you get play store. You may have burned yourself due to a lack of understanding.
Go to file manager. Go to settings and enable root mode.
Then grant permission. On the pop up.
Then go to the highest folder /
Then go to /data
Then /data/media
What do you see in here? All your files? Or just like 2 folders. One named 0 and one named legacy (I believe.)
Anyone if the files aren't in /data/media then you erased them. And your vest bet is a file restoring app. And this may be difficult. Don't use your phone for anything. The longer you wait. The more likely these files will be written over.
Sent from my GN2 using XDA app.
Thanks
Skwerl23 said:
Don't panic. You did a factory reset and may have wiped all. Was this a cwm factory reset or twrp factory reset? It sounds like cwm. Which is, like you said, a full wipe. Your best bet is to use data restore apps. Disk digger in the store can restore all kinds of photos. But you may have to use a different one. Unfortunately the phone attached via MTP so computer software has a hard time seeing it as a drive.
You should read and re-read before flashing
You have not rooted with cm10 you flashed cm10 which happens to be rooted.
Rooting is simply allowing advanced administration privileges for the phone. Nothing more. Flashing a ROM is your whole operating system.
What kind of files are you trying to restore?
Also on cm10 when you flash cm10 in recovery you should flash gapps with it. That's how you get play store. You may have burned yourself due to a lack of understanding.
Go to file manager. Go to settings and enable root mode.
Then grant permission. On the pop up.
Then go to the highest folder /
Then go to /data
Then /data/media
What do you see in here? All your files? Or just like 2 folders. One named 0 and one named legacy (I believe.)
Anyone if the files aren't in /data/media then you erased them. And your vest bet is a file restoring app. And this may be difficult. Don't use your phone for anything. The longer you wait. The more likely these files will be written over.
Sent from my GN2 using XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all thank you for answering. The files Im trying to recover are some photos of my girlfriend and documents of my university. The photos were hiding by the app hide it pro that looks like an audio manager but in reality its an hide app. I had it their because im kind off jealous and dont like people seeing her from photos. The first step took it the one off the file manager. Thanks now how do i restore the phone because in all reality this experience has turned me off cyanogen I want the old root because in the future plan to root but with other when im more able to do it.
Franky15 said:
First of all thank you for answering. The files Im trying to recover are some photos of my girlfriend and documents of my university. The photos were hiding by the app hide it pro that looks like an audio manager but in reality its an hide app. I had it their because im kind off jealous and dont like people seeing her from photos. The first step took it the one off the file manager. Thanks now how do i restore the phone because in all reality this experience has turned me off cyanogen I want the old root because in the future plan to root but with other when im more able to do it.[/QUOT
The pics are no longer the problem, it was in the external sd, the thing now is the contacts and app data that was on the internal storage. If someone can be of help I'd appreciate it.
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Click to collapse
I don't wanna come off as mean, but you need to read up alot more on rooting and what it does. You installed a rom, not a different root. When you install any rom, you have to factory reset your phone and that wipes apps and their data. Before you wipe anything you should backup aps and their data with something like titanium backup. I'm guessing you didn't do that so as far as I know your app data is gone. It is a learning experience, now you know what not to do next time. Just read up a little more
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Kreateablaze said:
I don't wanna come off as mean, but you need to read up alot more on rooting and what it does. You installed a rom, not a different root. When you install any rom, you have to factory reset your phone and that wipes apps and their data. Before you wipe anything you should backup aps and their data with something like titanium backup. I'm guessing you didn't do that so as far as I know your app data is gone. It is a learning experience, now you know what not to do next time. Just read up a little more
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt use titanium but I used clockwork. The problem was I didnt know how to use it. The root thing I know Im no expert (sadly). But right know I managed to use but only part of the phone has backed up. Question when the back up is used do i delete it then from my files because of the storage? As you said yourself I dont know much but with help from people like you I hope that I can change that if at least a little
Solved it
My phone is back to the other rom it had just needed to move the backup file to the folder of clockwork. Im gonna change rom in the near future but how do I prevent loosing again the data and keeping the new rom I instal?
I would read up alot about flashing custom roms and using an app like titanium backup to backup your apps and data. I would go on YouTube and search on how to use clockwork and what everything does. There are plenty of videos on doing all of that stuff on YouTube. I would stay on what you are on right now until you feel comfortable
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Kreateablaze said:
I would read up alot about flashing custom roms and using an app like titanium backup to backup your apps and data. I would go on YouTube and search on how to use clockwork and what everything does. There are plenty of videos on doing all of that stuff on YouTube. I would stay on what you are on right now until you feel comfortable
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man I'll take your advise to heart.
No problem I like to help if I can. I only started rooting with my last phone and was scared of bricking it and messing stuff up but from reading info and watching videos and just doing things with my phone and messing with it I have learned a lot.
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Kreateablaze said:
No problem I like to help if I can. I only started rooting with my last phone and was scared of bricking it and messing stuff up but from reading info and watching videos and just doing things with my phone and messing with it I have learned a lot.
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently changed to android from blackberry and its a world I didnt know existed. Its awesome so I was scared stiff lol but like you said with time you learn and by reading and watching. I have read somewhat but havent seen much videos.
Custom roms are fun to play with but can get out in trouble.. sometimes you spend more time fixing the problem you caused then having fun, maybe by wiping or not wiping the right areas, maybe a bad flash or just an all around bad flash... soo agreed, learn more about cwm and teamwin and roms before you attempt anything.. but there are always ppl willing to help...
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so true like this time for me but even thought the experience was bad I still loved the custom rom if it didnt cause this much trouble I would have stayed with it.
It is fun putting the different roms on your phone and making it your own. It's an addiction and a nice hobby
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
nice hobby if you know what you're doing lol
Hello everyone,
I really need your help with my wife's Metro PCS Samsung GS4 M919N.
The thing is, we are now living outside the US so I had to unlock her phone. After ordering the unlock codes, I decided to root the phone and use a custom ROM while waiting for the codes.
That is why I found this guide here: androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/790899-metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root-guide.html
So while reading the guide, I aimed to have the following accomplished at the end:
Recovery: TWRP
Custom ROM: CyanogenMod 10.2.1
I then started doing the guide for the TWRP recovery by using Odin. I got the message saying that the flashing passed and went ahead to restart to recovery to install CM 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. The thing is that I keep on restarting to the stock recovery not TWRP. So I went to YouTube and found a video showing how to flash TWRP using GooManager. After following that guide, I went to restart to recovery and I successfully got into TWRP.
Now, to achieve my goal, all that's left to do is to flash CyanogenMod 10.2.1 (jfltetmo).
Before doing that, I decided to make a backup. After using TWRP to do a backup, I proceeded to installing the custom ROM + gapps (wiped with the default settings). Everything was working I think (I handed the phone to my wife so she was he one testing it). After some time, she decided she wants the stock ROM instead so I decided to download the androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/783769-rom-recovery-flash-able-stock-m919nuvuamf2-rooted-deodexed-rom.html ROM.
I flashed the newly downloaded ROM + gapps (same file). This time, I couldn't get the gapps to work probably because it was meant for another version. So I decided to just restore from the backup I created earlier.
So, the usual stuff. Wipe. Restore. Restart.
Seems to be going smoothly because my wife was happy to see the old ROM she was used to.
Until the phone started to restart on it's own. (It's pretty much downhill from here on out).
At first I thought it was just a random thing that probably would never happen again. I was wrong as it became more frequent as days went by.
Recently I can't just restart the phone, I would have to remove the battery and then restart it. Now, it's getting really hard to restart the phone. Please help me fix this. I prefer to leave the phone rooted, but if the fix unroots the phone then so be it, anyway my wife prefers the stock ROM so only the unlocking was necessary.
Metro PCS Samsung Galaxy S4 M919N
Recovery:
TWRP 2.6.3.1
ROMs:
Stock Metro PCS
CyanogenMod 10.2.1
Let me know if you need more information from me. Hopefully I can restart the phone so I can give you some version numbers.
Thanks everyone!
I didn't read everything but just wanted to say
VERY GOOD THREAD!
this is how threads should be done. Very descriptive, organized, told us everything you did and asked for help! Good job man! Only negative is it prolly should have gone in Q&A section but irregardless very good thread!
About your issue, I recommend flashing stock Odin tar file to everything back to stock and reroot and start over. Flashing stock will not lock it again it will remain unlocked. But should get you back up and fresh. Just be aware it will erase all your data and all of the internal SD card.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
dokgu said:
Hello everyone,
I really need your help with my wife's Metro PCS Samsung GS4 M919N.
The thing is, we are now living outside the US so I had to unlock her phone. After ordering the unlock codes, I decided to root the phone and use a custom ROM while waiting for the codes.
That is why I found this guide here: androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/790899-metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root-guide.html
So while reading the guide, I aimed to have the following accomplished at the end:
Recovery: TWRP
Custom ROM: CyanogenMod 10.2.1
I then started doing the guide for the TWRP recovery by using Odin. I got the message saying that the flashing passed and went ahead to restart to recovery to install CM 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. The thing is that I keep on restarting to the stock recovery not TWRP. So I went to YouTube and found a video showing how to flash TWRP using GooManager. After following that guide, I went to restart to recovery and I successfully got into TWRP.
Now, to achieve my goal, all that's left to do is to flash CyanogenMod 10.2.1 (jfltetmo).
Before doing that, I decided to make a backup. After using TWRP to do a backup, I proceeded to installing the custom ROM + gapps (wiped with the default settings). Everything was working I think (I handed the phone to my wife so she was he one testing it). After some time, she decided she wants the stock ROM instead so I decided to download the androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s4-all-things-root/783769-rom-recovery-flash-able-stock-m919nuvuamf2-rooted-deodexed-rom.html ROM.
I flashed the newly downloaded ROM + gapps (same file). This time, I couldn't get the gapps to work probably because it was meant for another version. So I decided to just restore from the backup I created earlier.
So, the usual stuff. Wipe. Restore. Restart.
Seems to be going smoothly because my wife was happy to see the old ROM she was used to.
Until the phone started to restart on it's own. (It's pretty much downhill from here on out).
At first I thought it was just a random thing that probably would never happen again. I was wrong as it became more frequent as days went by.
Recently I can't just restart the phone, I would have to remove the battery and then restart it. Now, it's getting really hard to restart the phone. Please help me fix this. I prefer to leave the phone rooted, but if the fix unroots the phone then so be it, anyway my wife prefers the stock ROM so only the unlocking was necessary.
Metro PCS Samsung Galaxy S4 M919N
Recovery:
TWRP 2.6.3.1
ROMs:
Stock Metro PCS
CyanogenMod 10.2.1
Let me know if you need more information from me. Hopefully I can restart the phone so I can give you some version numbers.
Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with Elesbb. If the goal is jus tto get back to stock, just do an odin flash of the stock ROM. Be advised if you flash the latest Kit Kay update you will nto be able to go back to Jelly Bean. From your post it seems like you are partial to Jelly Bean. So if that's what you want, but sure you use the stock 4.3 ROM. You can find it around here on XDA somewhere with a quick search to make sure you have the right one.
As Elesbb said, you won't loose the 'sim unlock'. But you will lose root. However you can root the stock ROM just fine.
You might also consider one of the myriad of TouchWiz based custom ROMs. They are look just like TouchWiz that your wife wants, but have a lot of optimizations and options in them. Those should flash just like any ROM. If you still get the reboot issue then do the Odin back to stock, reroot, then flash the custom TW roms.
---------- Post added at 12:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 PM ----------
Thread cleaned.
Rather than bashing a ROM or user let's keep on topic and help the OP resolved the problems he's having. Arguing over the virtues of a ROM doesn't help anyone.
Thank you,
Rwilco12
Before posting this thread I sent the aforementioned guide's poster (arocker). He sent me a reply saying not to use gapps as the stock ROM for Metro PCS already comes with Google apps. I'll try his suggestion first and see if the phone still reboots a lot.
If the problem persists, I will try the solutions mentioned here. Thanks a lot!
elesbb said:
I didn't read everything but just wanted to say
VERY GOOD THREAD!
this is how threads should be done. Very descriptive, organized, told us everything you did and asked for help! Good job man! Only negative is it prolly should have gone in Q&A section but irregardless very good thread!
About your issue, I recommend flashing stock Odin tar file to everything back to stock and reroot and start over. Flashing stock will not lock it again it will remain unlocked. But should get you back up and fresh. Just be aware it will erase all your data and all of the internal SD card.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After trying arocker's suggestion to not flash gapps, the phone still reboots. So now, I am going to try your solution guys.
But before I do, I want to make sure that I am on the correct paths/links.
Here's what I found for the following:
ODIN
forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/themes-apps/27-08-2013-odin-3-09-odin-1-85-versions-t2189539
I've had a couple of chances to use ODIN but only using specific functions like flashing a recovery file while the phone is in download mode. I don't however have any experience using ODIN to put the phone back to stock where the phone gets unrooted. Having the phone unrooted is fine by me as I only needed to have the phone unlocked.
Any step-by-step guides for using ODIN for this specific purpose guys? I don't want to mess this up again.
Thanks and sorry for the trouble.
dokgu said:
After trying arocker's suggestion to not flash gapps, the phone still reboots. So now, I am going to try your solution guys.
But before I do, I want to make sure that I am on the correct paths/links.
Here's what I found for the following:
ODIN
forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/themes-apps/27-08-2013-odin-3-09-odin-1-85-versions-t2189539
I've had a couple of chances to use ODIN but only using specific functions like flashing a recovery file while the phone is in download mode. I don't however have any experience using ODIN to put the phone back to stock where the phone gets unrooted. Having the phone unrooted is fine by me as I only needed to have the phone unlocked.
Any step-by-step guides for using ODIN for this specific purpose guys? I don't want to mess this up again.
Thanks and sorry for the trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No trouble at all, check out the stickies in the beginning of threads.
Look for guides similar to this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2335109
Pp. Good luck.
sent from my bluetooth controlled toaster.
PanchoPlanet said:
No trouble at all, check out the stickies in the beginning of threads.
Look for guides similar to this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2335109
Pp. Good luck.
sent from my bluetooth controlled toaster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello PanchoPlanet,
Thanks for the link. I went ahead and tried to unroot without Windows (Mobile Odin) as per the instructions on the link. I downloaded everything and went ahead to install the Mobile Odin APK. When I ran it to install the Flash Kernel, the app told me that the device is not supported.
To my understanding the guide is for M919 devices but should work for my wife's device as well (M919N - Metro PCS). I would like to try the guide for using Windows but I'm not really expecting for it to work or I might mess it up more. I'll try to search some more and provide the links where this forum will lead me to. But if you have any ideas, please let me know asap. Thanks!
PanchoPlanet said:
No trouble at all, check out the stickies in the beginning of threads.
Look for guides similar to this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2335109
Pp. Good luck.
sent from my bluetooth controlled toaster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, here's what I found:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2446497
It seems like the perfect thread for what I am trying to achieve. Will let you guys know if it is successful. But it will have to wait for tomorrow. Gonna catch some sleep.
Okay, I'm running out of options. I was able to flash the stock ROM using Odin 3.07. The recovery looks like it came back to the stock recovery as I no longer have TWRP installed. When I install Root Checker, I see that I am no longer rooted. That's good.
But my original problem is still here. The phone reboots a lot. The phone is so unstable that it is barely usable.
I am now going to try one more thing.
I have a Galaxy S4 (I337M) from Rogers Canada (my wife has Metro PCS M919N). Mine got rooted and has CyanogenMod 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. My phone is working perfectly while hers reboots a lot. I was thinking it was because of a faulty battery. So I am doing an experiment by swapping the batteries. So far no reboots have occurred, but I will continue to monitor this.
Any ideas why the battery is kinda messed up?
This thread talks about battery stuff and reboots:
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/530338/20131216/samsung-galaxy-s4-problems.htm
Batteries can go bad a lot of ways. Extreme temperature, factory defect, phone drops, moisture, etc.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Android_Monsters said:
This thread talks about battery stuff and reboots:
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/530338/20131216/samsung-galaxy-s4-problems.htm
Batteries can go bad a lot of ways. Extreme temperature, factory defect, phone drops, moisture, etc.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And 100% of the time, they eventually just get old.
dokgu said:
Okay, I'm running out of options. I was able to flash the stock ROM using Odin 3.07. The recovery looks like it came back to the stock recovery as I no longer have TWRP installed. When I install Root Checker, I see that I am no longer rooted. That's good.
But my original problem is still here. The phone reboots a lot. The phone is so unstable that it is barely usable.
I am now going to try one more thing.
I have a Galaxy S4 (I337M) from Rogers Canada (my wife has Metro PCS M919N). Mine got rooted and has CyanogenMod 10.2.1 as a custom ROM. My phone is working perfectly while hers reboots a lot. I was thinking it was because of a faulty battery. So I am doing an experiment by swapping the batteries. So far no reboots have occurred, but I will continue to monitor this.
Any ideas why the battery is kinda messed up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a wierd situation, by swapping batteries you basically performed a battery pull, which acts as a reset, that in it self may have cleared your issue.
Now if battery is bad that could be an unusual problem. Maybe just replacing the battery will be the end of your mystery.
Pp.
sent from my P5113 using TouchPal mind control keyboard. (Beta)
The battery should be brand new as the phone was just recently purchased this April.
Anyways, so far no reboots have happened and any instability has not been shown at all. Everything looks ok, yet.
Anyone know if it is safe to swap batteries? Our phones have different S4 models. I'm not sure what the implications would be. Also what is this battery pull which acts as a reset? We've been pulling the battery a lot of times but the reboot still happens but not when we swapped batteries.
The batteries are all the same. Don't worry about that.
Even if its a new battery if could have just been bad. A manufacturing defect perhaps.
Sent from your phone. You should be more careful where you leave that thing.
dokgu said:
The battery should be brand new as the phone was just recently purchased this April.
Anyways, so far no reboots have happened and any instability has not been shown at all. Everything looks ok, yet.
Anyone know if it is safe to swap batteries? Our phones have different S4 models. I'm not sure what the implications would be. Also what is this battery pull which acts as a reset? We've been pulling the battery a lot of times but the reboot still happens but not when we swapped batteries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This battery thing is wacky, anyway swapping batteries should not be a problem, it's just an energy storage container. Pulling the battery isn't like powering down the phone or resetting/rebooting ,sometimes devs request a battery pull to get the proper wipe effect that reboots can't provide.
You inadvertently solved your problem by accident. That's a good thing.
Pp.
sent from my P5113 using TouchPal mind control keyboard. (Beta)
PanchoPlanet said:
You inadvertently solved your problem by accident. That's a good thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have quite literally solved the vast majority of my problems this way.
Its a preferred method.
Sent from your phone. You should be more careful where you leave that thing.
Sometimes it's that "total disconnect "of power that kind of gets all the ducks lined up in a row and everything flows in the dynaflow.
Good.
Pp.
sent from my P5113 using TouchPal mind control keyboard. (Beta)
its very important topics and it might seen for every galaxy s4 users.just wonderful topics.
This exact same thing happened on my mother's 6-month old S3. If you're still wondering, you could try putting the old battery and running a CPU stress test app. It should increase the current draw and trigger a shutdown.
EDIT: whoops, sorry to kind of zombie. Didn't check the date.
Sent from my Galaxy S4
Hello! Pretty new in XDA forum and I have a couple of questions and concerns. I was browsing through some threads and I was wondering if I could get some opinion/help from other members.
I have a second phone that I want to mod and I need some help.
Device: Samsung Galaxy S4 (ROOTED)
Model#: SGH-M919
Android Version: 4.4.4
Baseband: M919UVUFNK2
It's an old phone and lately, it's been running really slow and if possible, I'd like to make it run as if it was brand new or at least somewhat close. So the question is, are there any recommended stable roms/mods I could use and if there are/is, will I be able to use it with my rooted phone or do I have to completely factory reset it before I apply the mods/roms?
Thank you!
Hi @Mr.LinK,
Just yesterday I finally got sick of my M919 slow/battery drain/old stuff and decided it was time for a reset. I was running SlimKat from over a year ago and while it was a great ROM, I had accumulated so much crap that it was getting really bogged down. This just happens over time no matter what OS, no fault to Slim. But I was also looking to move to Lollipop. Here's what I did:
1. Backed up using several methodologies (full backup with TWRP just in case, then from Android I backed stuff up with Helium, and used Backup My Mobile for SMS/MMS etc., an EFS backup just in case, etc..)
2. From within Android, did a factory reset. This sent the phone into recovery, and it formatted the data partition.
3. Rebooted to recovery again, and used TWRP to manually format the media section, just in case something was left there. Then wiped everything except the external SD.
4. Used ODIN to flash the OH3 firmware onto my MDL M919, without letting reboot after (unchecked the reboot checkbox). Pulled battery, rebooted back into download mode again, and flashed OH3 a second time... this gets around some instance people have reported about incomplete upgrades of firmware and all sorts of issues... better safe than sorry.
5. Let phone boot into now 100 % stock OH3 Android 4.4.4. YEEEUKKK. Some part of me thought I would just root the thing and get rid of Samsung crapware, but just the sheer annoyance of the T-Mobile boot animation was enough to remind me why I left stock long ago. Anyway, I let it boot, and set it up minimally with just 1 Google account, not restoring from backup. To my surprise it found the ATT network (I'm an ATT user, not T-Mobile... I just prefer T-Mo phones because they have unlocked bootloaders) and APN no problem no effort from me. Usually I have to enter an APN.
6. I tested the phone out to make sure all systems were working. GPS, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc.. To my surprise, first time I ran the camera app, it applied a firmware patch. Sweet. I'm glad I went through this step. Coming from ancient MDL, I figured there might be some kinks like this. I let it sit on stock for a few hours while I did stuff with my kids.
7. Back home, I did a factory reset from within Android. Then I flashed the latest TWRP tar file (2.8.7.0) using ODIN, and in TWRP did a full wipe of everything again.
8. At this point I flashed Danvdh's GPE edition of Lollipop from here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2539361
Installation went smoothly. It's a very basic set of apps that it comes with (Google play is there, but you have to download email/messaging apps from the store such as Gmail and Messaging, Maps, etc). I like this approach!
I've been gradually setting things back up, and am very happy with things so far. Haven't run into any problems yet. The nice pure GPE android experience is refreshing.
@Frankenscript Thanks for the information. I was reading the linked thread and it looks really good so I'll give it a try
Mr.LinK said:
@Frankenscript Thanks for the information. I was reading the linked thread and it looks really good so I'll give it a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Frankenscript said:
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just completely flashed my phone with the ROM and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. No bloatware feels so nice. I've been tinkering with it for a while now and I haven't encountered any problems so far but I did notice that model number changed to GT-I9505G. I'm assuming that's normal since the rom is based off of another variant which makes sense, correct me if I'm wrong. Will this complicate future updates or other rom installation? If so, are there any ways of reverting back to the original model number?
Mr.LinK said:
I just completely flashed my phone with the ROM and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. No bloatware feels so nice. I've been tinkering with it for a while now and I haven't encountered any problems so far but I did notice that model number changed to GT-I9505G. I'm assuming that's normal since the rom is based off of another variant which makes sense, correct me if I'm wrong. Will this complicate future updates or other rom installation? If so, are there any ways of reverting back to the original model number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure we can change the reported model number by modifying the build.prop file. I just haven't poked around with it yet... I did ask the question in the thread and am waiting for a reply. I haven't had to do this kind of thing for over a year, and I forget the build.prop key that does it. But I had some concern that it might bork something else down the road so I decided to wait a bit. IT's just a cosmetic thing and I'm SOOO enjoying the experience right now.
Two little things I'm still fishing around for answers to:
-In the drop down quick access menu, I wish there was a sound/vibrate/mute toggle. I can make one with PowerToggles but maybe there's a way to adjust what's in the native one.
-Really silly, but the power off button when pressed just seems to ... power off the phone!? No option for restart / recovery. Maybe there's an option to set this somewhere; haven't checked.
Still, these are all minor things to sort out. Really, I think I'm very sold on GPE editions now thanks to Danvdh's work.
Marc
Just an update, my phone just rebooted twice in the last 5 mins or so. Was watching on my netflix and it randomly rebooted. Any idea what's causing it and how to prevent it from happening?
Mr.LinK said:
Just an update, my phone just rebooted twice in the last 5 mins or so. Was watching on my netflix and it randomly rebooted. Any idea what's causing it and how to prevent it from happening?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't seen random reboots. I think I got maybe one reboot since installing the ROM. Then again, I haven't put NF on the phone. I do know that Netflix app had some issues on my Shield tablet, and the manufacturer (Nvidia) came out with a patch... maybe it's something general in Lollipop?
Frankenscript said:
Two little things I'm still fishing around for answers to:
-In the drop down quick access menu, I wish there was a sound/vibrate/mute toggle. I can make one with PowerToggles but maybe there's a way to adjust what's in the native one.
-Really silly, but the power off button when pressed just seems to ... power off the phone!? No option for restart / recovery. Maybe there's an option to set this somewhere; haven't checked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both if those can be fixed with Xposed modules.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Free mobile app
Will look into doing this in a week or so. Thanks
Sent back in time via Android 9.0 TimeText feature.