Develop Bugs

[Q] [SOLVED] T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-M919) Soft-bricked

Hi all, hope you are doing well (I also hope that you can help me ).
I just recently got a replacement phone because my other one had a faulty speaker (crackling, etc.). The other one was rooted (via CF-AutoRoot) and had TWRP on it, and I made a complete nandroid backup of it onto my MicroSD card.
I rooted the new phone using CF-AutoRoot via Odin and installed TWRP on it as well (also via Odin). Then I swapped the SD card and SIM card and restored the complete backup to the new phone.
It took a while, but the phone booted up and I had two working clones, the only way to tell which was which was by changing the volume and hearing the crackling on the old one.
So the new phone worked all day (was able to make calls and everything, and the GUI that was customized with Wanam Xposed even looked good), however when I restarted it to put in my backup battery, I didn't have root for some reason. I tried and tried to get it back (reinstalled SuperSU, tried the TWRP method) to no avail.
I re-flashed CF-AutoRoot just to see, and the phone booted up but and for some reason SuperSU was gone (and I didn't have root). When I restarted, I got a boot loop and could not even get back into a recovery.
I got tired of this and wanted a fresh start, so I just flashed the stock ROM via ODIN and did a factory reset. However now if I try to boot, the Samsung logo will flash and just shut down, and I won't be able to get into the recovery no matter what. If I flash a recovery (CWM, TWRP or even stock), the recovery will work until I try to actually try to boot the phone. I've tried taking the battery out for a good 5 minutes and retrying (also tried swapping batteries), I've tried doing complete resets galore from all three recoveries mentioned with no success. Obviously Download mode still works so I know it's not completely bricked, but I am getting a little scared.
Any and all help is extremely appreciated as I would prefer not to have such an expensive paper-weight.
Thanks a bunch!

I would suggest going all the way back stock on stock firmware via Odin. Then re-root, TWRP, and re-download the rom of your choice. Dont restore the backup. Just start fresh.
I Think My S4 Is Insane
SICK MADE DEVELOPMENT

alloycowboy said:
I would suggest going all the way back stock on stock firmware via Odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
And okay, I tried that.
I flashed stock using the T-Mobile ROM I found here: galaxys4root_(dot)_com/galaxy-s4-stock-firmware/
This is the same ROM file I used to completely restore the phone I had to return, and that worked fine.
But it still won't boot up or go into recovery mode (just shows the Samsung logo for a split second before shutting down).
One thing I did do on the other phone was flash a kernel which had set-MUID to off so I could WiFi tether, but I thought flashing the stock ROM would revert that back as well. Do you think that's the reason it messed up so badly? I restored the backup from the other phone with a different kernel? Right after I restored the backup to the new phone and everything was working, I remember checking the kernel info in the About Phone section of the settings, and it was in fact the kernel I'd installed on the other phone.
TLDR: Tried flashing stock ROM to no avail. Download mode still works but can't enter recovery mode or boot.

Are you doing a factory reset after flashing stock firmware?
I Think My S4 Is Insane
SICK MADE DEVELOPMENT

I'd flash a stock rooted ROM. Get that root and recovery back. The konane tar file from the stickies, perhaps.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app

alloycowboy said:
Are you doing a factory reset after flashing stock firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, as soon as it finished installing I went into stock recovery and did a factory reset.
Karakoram2 said:
I'd flash a stock rooted ROM. Get that root and recovery back. The konane tar file from the stickies, perhaps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, I'll try that.
Is the konane tar an actual ROM? And what do you mean in the stickies?
Sorry, not very familiar with XDA forums.

Samsung GT-I9500 flashes n switches off!
BallisticallySimilar said:
Hi all, hope you are doing well (I also hope that you can help me ).
I just recently got a replacement phone because my other one had a faulty speaker (crackling, etc.). The other one was rooted (via CF-AutoRoot) and had TWRP on it, and I made a complete nandroid backup of it onto my MicroSD card.
I rooted the new phone using CF-AutoRoot via Odin and installed TWRP on it as well (also via Odin). Then I swapped the SD card and SIM card and restored the complete backup to the new phone.
It took a while, but the phone booted up and I had two working clones, the only way to tell which was which was by changing the volume and hearing the crackling on the old one.
So the new phone worked all day (was able to make calls and everything, and the GUI that was customized with Wanam Xposed even looked good), however when I restarted it to put in my backup battery, I didn't have root for some reason. I tried and tried to get it back (reinstalled SuperSU, tried the TWRP method) to no avail.
I re-flashed CF-AutoRoot just to see, and the phone booted up but and for some reason SuperSU was gone (and I didn't have root). When I restarted, I got a boot loop and could not even get back into a recovery.
I got tired of this and wanted a fresh start, so I just flashed the stock ROM via ODIN and did a factory reset. However now if I try to boot, the Samsung logo will flash and just shut down, and I won't be able to get into the recovery no matter what. If I flash a recovery (CWM, TWRP or even stock), the recovery will work until I try to actually try to boot the phone. I've tried taking the battery out for a good 5 minutes and retrying (also tried swapping batteries), I've tried doing complete resets galore from all three recoveries mentioned with no success. Obviously Download mode still works so I know it's not completely bricked, but I am getting a little scared.
Any and all help is extremely appreciated as I would prefer not to have such an expensive paper-weight.
Thanks a bunch!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same thing has happened to me! Did you find any solustion for this?? Please help!! This was my first attempt and i have no idea wats going on!

Here are the stickies for our forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2419828
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

What I did to unbrick my T-Mobile S4 (SGH-M919)
killerwolf2121 said:
The same thing has happened to me!
Did you find any solutions for this? Please help if you can; this was my first attempt and I have to idea what's going on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, for the first problem, flashing the stock ROM did it for me. I followed this tutorial.
For the second issue of not booting up after displaying the Samsung logo; my battery just simply was too dead and didn't have enough juice to start. You have no idea how stupid I felt.
Let your phone charge from the wall cable for a good while before trying all this again; then see if that works. It did it for me. If it doesn't, I'm not sure what else to try.
After that (if it works), if you still want root, just flash CF-Auto-Root and then a custom recovery if you want (like ClockworkMod Recovery (click the little version link, not the "Download ROMs" button) or TWRP via GooManager) (I use TWRP)
All the best and let me know how it went!
Keep in mind that I did this on an SGH-M919 (T-Mobile S4) running Android 4.2.2, so if you don't have that, I have no idea if any of the above will work for you. Also I'm pretty sure if you do have 4.3, you will ruin your warranty forever due to the Knox restriction they added (if you haven't already).
Android_Monsters said:
Here are the stickies for our forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2419828
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks

BallisticallySimilar said:
Well, for the first problem, flashing the stock ROM did it for me. I followed this tutorial.
For the second issue of not booting up after displaying the Samsung logo; my battery just simply was too dead and didn't have enough juice to start. You have no idea how stupid I felt.
Let your phone charge from the wall cable for a good while before trying all this again; then see if that works. It did it for me. If it doesn't, I'm not sure what else to try.
After that (if it works), if you still want root, just flash CF-Auto-Root and then a custom recovery if you want (like ClockworkMod Recovery (click the little version link, not the "Download ROMs" button) or TWRP via GooManager) (I use TWRP)
All the best and let me know how it went!
Keep in mind that I did this on an SGH-M919 (T-Mobile S4) running Android 4.2.2, so if you don't have that, I have no idea if any of the above will work for you. Also I'm pretty sure if you do have 4.3, you will ruin your warranty forever due to the Knox restriction they added (if you haven't already).
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on 4.3 and yes, flashing the stock rom worked for me too! relief thanks a ton!

Having trouble unbricking M919 T-Mobile
Hi, I'm trying to unbrick my M919 through Odin. I have all the updated software, but I keep getting a fail message. Any help would be appreciated.

recovery stock tar file passed in odin but wont boot up!

I have flashed the boot stock recovery tar file for my Sprint sph-l900 and it says pass in odin. Then the samsung emblem comes up like its going to boot and then goes black. It wont show its charging while plugged in to charger. But if I take the battery out and hold on, home, and up buttons it will go into stock recovery. So I know that it loaded that at least. Because obviously my TWRP recovery is gone. But I don't understand why its not loading I have done this before and no the steps to take but it is not rebooting properly! I don't know if my only option left is to use ADB side load but if that is the case I do not have the faintest idea on how that is accomplished and done correctly. I woke up this morning and my phone was stuck on the boot screen of the parinoid android rom I had installed that has been working for a good while now. I installed an app to help optimize the system yesterday for better performance and it was an app for rooted phones and it had good reviews so I wasn't worried. I made sure that in the options in the app that the system files and other files that I new could not be touched by the app actions I made sure they were white listed so they would not be effected. That is the only thing that I think could have done this to my phone. And when I realized I could not recover to any nandroid backups I had, that's when I decided to just reinstall the boot recovery stock rar file but not before I wiped the correct files to get a clean install (Flash) Any way that is where I'm at and I do not know what to do...... So could any body please help PLEASE!!!!!!
:crying:

Basically your problem is the rom is incompatible with your current boot loader. You'll need to ODIN back to stock rooted MC2 then ODIN a custom recovery then modem. From there flash the rom you want. I'm not sure why you went back to stock recovery with the custom rom but it's not compatible. Or else you need to make sure the md5 is correct for the rom & other files you flashed. I'd just do what I first suggested and make sureyou have a good md5 for ythe rom you want before flashing it. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply!
tx_dbs_tx said:
Basically your problem is the rom is incompatible with your current boot loader. You'll need to ODIN back to stock rooted MC2 then ODIN a custom recovery then modem. From there flash the rom you want. I'm not sure why you went back to stock recovery with the custom rom but it's not compatible. Or else you need to make sure the md5 is correct for the rom & other files you flashed. I'd just do what I first suggested and make sureyou have a good md5 for ythe rom you want before flashing it. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about that because it was already mk4 before I ever rooted it and putt the rom on and I have already had to use the same recovery stock rar file two other times to get it back to original stock. And I haven't changed the mk4 since stock not even with the root or the rom Ive installed so it doesn't make sense especially when I have done this twice with the same rar file flashed with odin and always had good result never got stuck from not booting all the way. But so far your the only person all day i have had any advice from and you are a senior member who im sure knows what they are talking about so i guess I will have to find out how to revert from mk4 that Ive never changed to a MC2 and hope that that will do something for me im just baffled that the same thing that Ive done 2 other times wont work again....
Thanks again for the reply any other advice along the way or what ever you feel like adding is more than welcome i really appreciate you now im gonna be on the hunt for this MC2 install and what is the best steps to follow and go on....

slade1style said:
I have flashed the boot stock recovery tar file for my Sprint sph-l900 and it says pass in odin. Then the samsung emblem comes up like its going to boot and then goes black. It wont show its charging while plugged in to charger. But if I take the battery out and hold on, home, and up buttons it will go into stock recovery. So I know that it loaded that at least. Because obviously my TWRP recovery is gone. But I don't understand why its not loading I have done this before and no the steps to take but it is not rebooting properly! I don't know if my only option left is to use ADB side load but if that is the case I do not have the faintest idea on how that is accomplished and done correctly. I woke up this morning and my phone was stuck on the boot screen of the parinoid android rom I had installed that has been working for a good while now. I installed an app to help optimize the system yesterday for better performance and it was an app for rooted phones and it had good reviews so I wasn't worried. I made sure that in the options in the app that the system files and other files that I new could not be touched by the app actions I made sure they were white listed so they would not be effected. That is the only thing that I think could have done this to my phone. And when I realized I could not recover to any nandroid backups I had, that's when I decided to just reinstall the boot recovery stock rar file but not before I wiped the correct files to get a clean install (Flash) Any way that is where I'm at and I do not know what to do...... So could any body please help PLEASE!!!!!!
:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What recovery did you use? Philz 6.12. X?
Sent from my SPH-L900 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

No TWRP 2.6.3
jlmancuso said:
What recovery did you use? Philz 6.12. X?
Sent from my SPH-L900 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I had TWRP recovery but when i realized there was no getting to flash the rom nandroid BU I went ahead and did a factory wipe and all the files your suppossed to wipe and then I used odin like I have many times before and flashed the same recovery stock rar I have used before to go back to stock and start fresh any way this time odin said pass as usu-wall and then it acted as though it were going to boot and then it lit up the silver samsung emblem for a hot sec and then went black and stayed black after that even when i plugged the charger in the led light would not even show it was charging. But if I take the battery out and back in while its plugged in to charger the screen comes on with the little green battery icon and shows it charging. if i push pwr it show samsung icon then goes dead. Now if I push all the button for recovery it will boot back to stock android recovery. and i can upload one of the backups which was my last rom but it of course act as if it will load and then fails which i know is because i dont have the custom recovery any more but it didnt work either when I did and i don't know man im baffled...
The only suggestion Ive been given so far was from the senior member above and said i need to flash a earlier firmware than mk4 but that is weird to me since I have never had any thing installed on anything other than an mk4 but it make sense that it could work I just have not found the info that makes me feel confident about choices yet...
Thanks for replying any other thought please share!

Well sounds like the odin flash had some kind of issue even though it did not state one. Try going back into download mode and flash a custom recovery (twrp) then flash billards back to stock MC2. This will restore everything back even if you have the knox bootloader. Link is below for easy access. Two things twrp is recommended and do a factory reset before installing. After install reboot (apply su when asked if you want it) the phone will reboot display a messed up screen then reboot once again (normal dont worry). After that you can flash your custom recovery via odin and you should not have any more issues.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2086769
Let me know if that works for you.

So I found the write far file for mk4 and it flashed beautifully I tried a flash of the Mc2 in the reply from earleier post but it did not pass in Odin but I really expected that because I was pausitive that there was another mk4 rar that would work. And now I'm back to a fresh stock rom and I have all the flash file I need to get it rooted and custom romed in no time. I really do appreciate the help and suggestions it is nice to know there is help when needed! So thanks again and I got the file from TA TRUE ANDROID vpubmk4 firmware android 4.3 for the sprint sph-l900 I just had to do some hunting in order to find it. And it didn't help that my renters from the other side of the duplex were having their Internet fixed and the Tech accidently disconnected my lines out side so I was with out Internet for a long time and then when it was finally fixed I found this and flashed it no problems. Thanks again. If you don't mind I'm gonna send a friend request to you I don't have any friends or contacts in this forum and it would be nice to have another person to occasionally check in with? Ya know any way take my brother and stay cool......
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

slade1style said:
So I found the write far file for mk4 and it flashed beautifully I tried a flash of the Mc2 in the reply from earleier post but it did not pass in Odin but I really expected that because I was pausitive that there was another mk4 rar that would work. And now I'm back to a fresh stock rom and I have all the flash file I need to get it rooted and custom romed in no time. I really do appreciate the help and suggestions it is nice to know there is help when needed! So thanks again and I got the file from TA TRUE ANDROID vpubmk4 firmware android 4.3 for the sprint sph-l900 I just had to do some hunting in order to find it. And it didn't help that my renters from the other side of the duplex were having their Internet fixed and the Tech accidently disconnected my lines out side so I was with out Internet for a long time and then when it was finally fixed I found this and flashed it no problems. Thanks again. If you don't mind I'm gonna send a friend request to you I don't have any friends or contacts in this forum and it would be nice to have another person to occasionally check in with? Ya know any way take my brother and stay cool......
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the record (since people seem to still be having issues) you CANNOT DOWNGRADE THROUGH ODIN WITH THE NEW BOOTLOADER!!! You can however downgrade through (custom?) RECOVERY using the previously mentioned method.
Sent from my SPH-L900. Please hit the thanks button if I helped you out!

Cannot get past boot logo on any ROM

Of all the things I have screwed up, I can't believe my first post asking for help is this one. I have been rooting and installing custom ROM's since the EVO. Always found the help I needed in someone else' thread. But this has me stumped.
I am a ROM jumper. Do it all the time. Yesterday, I was having some performance issues with my Note2 so I thought I would do a full wipe and try out another ROM. I also wiped my internal storage. My recover at that time was philz_touch_6.19.3-t0ltetmo. Somehow, I ended up wiping everything and I couldn't boot into anything other than Download mode.
Still no biggie. Wait until I got home and I would flash some with via Odin on my Windows netbook. It never worked. It would maybe get to 25% complete and hang. I left it running for about an hours with no results. Then I moved to my Linux desktop and installed Heimdall. Used that to put philz_touch_6.19.3-t0ltetmo back on the device. Then I installed cm-10.2-20140309-NIGHTLY-t0ltetmo.zip via sideload.
Stuck on smiling robot with a circle.
So I sideloaded CARBON-KK-NIGHTLY-20140302-0859-t0ltetmo.zip. Stuck on the logo there too. aokp_t0ltetmo_kitkat_nightly_2014-02-25.zip same thing. I try pushing the ROM's instead of sideloading. No luck.
So I am thinking that maybe I got a bad philz recovery. Redownload that, and go through the same list of roms. Nothing. OK... so maybe philz has become a POS for some reason on my phone. I try openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.0-t0ltetmo.zip and repeat all the steps above. Wiping and sideloading, then wiping and pushing... stuck on logo.
I have to say I am stumped. I am losing nerd cred by asking for help, but dammit I am stumped. Any help appreciated.

Most phones have been recovered by flashing stock image, you can give it a shot.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

ciphercodes said:
Most phones have been recovered by flashing stock image, you can give it a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eww. Does that have to be flashed via Odin/Heimdall or can I use my established recovery? Also, I looked at some of those earlier and they are all in ZIP format. Odin wants TAR.MD5. Is it as simple as unziping and then tar-ing? I don't see an option to TAR.MD5.

marriedman said:
Eww. Does that have to be flashed via Odin/Heimdall or can I use my established recovery? Also, I looked at some of those earlier and they are all in ZIP format. Odin wants TAR.MD5. Is it as simple as unziping and then tar-ing? I don't see an option to TAR.MD5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The easiest option would be to flash the tar.md5 file using ODIN.
If you are 4.3 bootloader you can flash this MrRobinson's ROM
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23252070760975435
If you are 4.1.2 bootloader you can flash this ROM, download link on post#1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2636552
If you plan to flash it using Heimdall you will have to first extract the tar.md5 file and then flash all ROM components.
Your command should be something like this, please note I have not tried flashing using Heimdall so I am not 100% it will work.
sudo heimdall flash --BOOT boot.img --RECOVERY recovery.img --SYSTEM system.img --CACHE cache.img --HIDDEN hidden.img --RADIO modem.bin

ciphercodes said:
The easiest option would be to flash the tar.md5 file using ODIN.
If you are 4.3 bootloader you can flash this MrRobinson's ROM
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23252070760975435
If you are 4.1.2 bootloader you can flash this ROM, download link on post#1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2636552
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good stuff, thank you cipher.
Perhaps I am missing something here though. I went to check which version bootloader I have. I just assumed I would have 4.3 since I have been running JB & KK rom's for the past month or so; but I wanted to double check. When I boot into recovery, it doesn't show it there. When I boot into download mode, it doesn't show it there either. Where should I be seeing the version number?

When you boot into download mode do you see KNOX Warranty Void below system status ?
If not then your phone is not on 4.3 bootloader.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Yes, it shows KNOX WARRANTY VOID: 1
So then I have 4.3. Thanks for the info. When I get home tonight, I will try and flash MrRobinson's ROM then report back. Thank you for the help & I will post my results then.

Well, that took care of it. I was able to use MrRobinson's ROM & Heimdall. I did have to download a PIT file, but that was easily found here on xda. Within minutes I had the gawd awful Samsung TW blooping and making stupid noises. Went ahead and flashed TWRP and I am downloading CarbonRom now.
Thanks for the help cipher. It was driving me nuts.

um... mark as solved?
I tried to edit my original post to mark it as solved, but there isn't an option. How do I change my title?

Well, I spoke too soon. I just discovered that I have no cell service. Went to look and found I have no IMEI # anymore. WTF?

Looks like you flashed a modem for a different device.
No worries, just flash the modem from Mr Robinsons ROM and that should take care of it.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

I wish it were that simple. I just reflashed MrRobinsons and it is back to Samsung recovery and rom. Still no IMEI. I am going to go full retard and flash the one from SamMobile. I'll erport back later.

Mrrobinsons ROM is the stock rom, it's just root injected and Knox-free.
Try KIES emergency recovery method.
You can find link for procedure in this forum in one of the posts.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Just saw this and I am on my way to work. With no Admin priviledge there, I will have to try this when I get home.
I appreciate the time you have taken to help me cipher.

OKay, I downloaded Kies and it saw my phone. However, it says my phone is fine and will not do an emeregency recovery. After searching on here some more, I found this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261153
It's possible that Emergency Recovery is no more. I am just about done with this phone. It's been three days and I need a working phone again.

marriedman said:
Of all the things I have screwed up, I can't believe my first post asking for help is this one. I have been rooting and installing custom ROM's since the EVO. Always found the help I needed in someone else' thread. But this has me stumped.
I am a ROM jumper. Do it all the time. Yesterday, I was having some performance issues with my Note2 so I thought I would do a full wipe and try out another ROM. I also wiped my internal storage. My recover at that time was philz_touch_6.19.3-t0ltetmo. Somehow, I ended up wiping everything and I couldn't boot into anything other than Download mode.
Still no biggie. Wait until I got home and I would flash some with via Odin on my Windows netbook. It never worked. It would maybe get to 25% complete and hang. I left it running for about an hours with no results. Then I moved to my Linux desktop and installed Heimdall. Used that to put philz_touch_6.19.3-t0ltetmo back on the device. Then I installed cm-10.2-20140309-NIGHTLY-t0ltetmo.zip via sideload.
Stuck on smiling robot with a circle.
So I sideloaded CARBON-KK-NIGHTLY-20140302-0859-t0ltetmo.zip. Stuck on the logo there too. aokp_t0ltetmo_kitkat_nightly_2014-02-25.zip same thing. I try pushing the ROM's instead of sideloading. No luck.
So I am thinking that maybe I got a bad philz recovery. Redownload that, and go through the same list of roms. Nothing. OK... so maybe philz has become a POS for some reason on my phone. I try openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.0-t0ltetmo.zip and repeat all the steps above. Wiping and sideloading, then wiping and pushing... stuck on logo.
I have to say I am stumped. I am losing nerd cred by asking for help, but dammit I am stumped. Any help appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok first off, dont have tmobile, but i do have a note (verizon)
What do you mean when you say you are "sideloading" "pushing" a ROM.. Bc normally in recovery you "flash" a rom.
So let's make sure you are doing just that..?
If you are "flashing" a rom in recovery and it installs and you reboot and you are stuck.. thats a different issue..
I would recommend getting your stock Odin tar and flashing it..Make sure it contains a boot.img and if you guys use a pit file.. use that as well..
Post here with some answers and results..Lets see if we can get you back in buisness..
I have HARD bricked my phone, fired eMMC, softed bricked..pretty much been through everything so hopefully we can figure it out!:good:
The main thing is DON'T get frustrated.. I know it's hard but that when you make mistakes and PANIC

lacoursiere18 said:
What do you mean when you say you are "sideloading" "pushing" a ROM.. Bc normally in recovery you "flash" a rom.
So let's make sure you are doing just that..?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Originally, I could not boot into any rom. I could get into recovery. In order to get a rom onto the phone, I could download the zip file to my computer and inside the recovery turn on sideload to move the file to the phone and flash. And Even then I never got any of the roms to get past the boot logo. Cyanogenmod, Carbon-rom, AOKP... none of them.
I would recommend getting your stock Odin tar and flashing it..Make sure it contains a boot.img and if you guys use a pit file.. use that as well..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I did that. I tried doing it through Heimdall since I am a Linux guy. I can install a stock or stock based rom, but there is never a IMEI number. From what I can tell, the EFS partition is just gone & I never backed it up. I lost the IMEI and it is not coming back.
The main thing is DON'T get frustrated.. I know it's hard but that when you make mistakes and PANIC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I agree. I stepped away from it for about 8 hours a day while at work. Thats when I did most of my reading though. I am pretty sure this is going up for sale on ebay this week. I already bought a new phone. Thank you for taking the time to reply though.

marriedman said:
Originally, I could not boot into any rom. I could get into recovery. In order to get a rom onto the phone, I could download the zip file to my computer and inside the recovery turn on sideload to move the file to the phone and flash. And Even then I never got any of the roms to get past the boot logo. Cyanogenmod, Carbon-rom, AOKP... none of them.
Yup, I did that. I tried doing it through Heimdall since I am a Linux guy. I can install a stock or stock based rom, but there is never a IMEI number. From what I can tell, the EFS partition is just gone & I never backed it up. I lost the IMEI and it is not coming back.
Oh, I agree. I stepped away from it for about 8 hours a day while at work. Thats when I did most of my reading though. I am pretty sure this is going up for sale on ebay this week. I already bought a new phone. Thank you for taking the time to reply though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried flashing the latest firmware, and if yes is this where you got it?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2102380
Also did you read post #2 about going back into recovery, do a factory reset and reboot?
And were you getting these roms that would loop you in this forum, just making sure i know it may sound stupid..
Also, what was the estimated time you were waiting for them to boot..5mins, 10mins, 20mins.. Some take longer than others..
The only other thing i could suggest is JTAG services, by MobileTechVideos, the owner's name is Josh, stand up guy, and I belive it much cheaper than buying a new device =)

lacoursiere18 said:
Have you tried flashing the latest firmware, and if yes is this where you got it?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2102380
Also did you read post #2 about going back into recovery, do a factory reset and reboot?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep & yep. I also tried MrRobinsons root injected rom before going this route.
And were you getting these roms that would loop you in this forum, just making sure i know it may sound stupid..
Also, what was the estimated time you were waiting for them to boot..5mins, 10mins, 20mins.. Some take longer than others..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had some take as long as 20 minutes before, but that was rare. This time, I actually fell asleep and when I woke up in the morning, it was still on the animated boot logo and hot as hell. Still going though. So it was at least 6 hours thst timr.
The only other thing i could suggest is JTAG services, by MobileTechVideos, the owner's name is Josh, stand up guy, and I belive it much cheaper than buying a new device =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not heard of this, I'll look them up. Thanks!

OMG HELP! Bootloop, download modes works, flashed with Kies and STILL bootlooping

I have the SGH-M919
I've rooted my phone and was running a GE rom
Everything was fine for MONTHS
Got in my car and plugged my AUX cable to my phone for music and the phone froze.
Force rebooted the phone and it started boot looping.
Rebooted to recovery (TWRP) and TRIED to wipe dalvik and cache and it FAILED, said it couldn't mount dalvik
Rebooted to recovery again and wiped all partitions and this time it worked so I proceeded to re-install GE rom, still bootlooping
Came home and tried to use ODIN to flash M919UVUAMDL and it failed.
Tried ODIN to flash M919UVUEMK2, also failed (sorry don't have the error messages right now)
Rebooted phone into download mode again and phone said there was an issue and to use Kies to recover
Installed Kies and started emergency recovery and that went through fine and the phone finished and STILLLLLLL BOOT LOOPS !!!!!!!!!!!
Copied the file that Kies downloaded (M919UVUFNB4) and tried ODIN again to flash that and it flashes fine but STILLL BOOT LOOPS
Obviously my Knox warranty flag is tripped and I don't have the money for the insurance right now.... so PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF BOB does anyone have any other diagnostic tips or tricks to help me figure out why the F this phone is boot looping.

53 views and no replies.... come on people... someone HAS to have something that might help..
Anyone know if ANY possible way to reset the knox warranty void flag ?

avelis26 said:
53 views and no replies.... come on people... someone HAS to have something that might help..
Anyone know if ANY possible way to reset the knox warranty void flag ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only Samsung can reset your Knox flag. You can't expect instant responses here. People read and answer the questions they know how to. Not doing a full wipe before installing a different ROM often causes soft bricks and bootloops. I would start there although that doesn't explain why you couldn't mount Dalvik. Try a different recovery. Many people have had trouble with TWRP. Philz Touch works well if you haven't already tried it.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app

I literally just had the exact same problem as you. I googled and found http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2265477, then googled some more and found my .tar file for my phone, then odined back to stock 4.2.2. It took 20 min.

lalec said:
Only Samsung can reset your Knox flag. You can't expect instant responses here. People read and answer the questions they know how to. Not doing a full wipe before installing a different ROM often causes soft bricks and bootloops. I would start there although that doesn't explain why you couldn't mount Dalvik. Try a different recovery. Many people have had trouble with TWRP. Philz Touch works well if you haven't already tried it.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Samsung WON'T reset my flag... they won't even TOUCH the phone in any way shape or form. I spent almost two hours dealing with them and being honest about the situation. And they STILL won't do anything at all. The rep I was speaking too even said the first thing they do is check that flag and if its popped, they put it back in the box and send it back with no further action. So I will not buy form Samsung ever again.
2. I'm not expecting instant responses at all and nothing I said should have been interpreted at such. I made the comment of 53 views in 4 hours and not a single reply ... I was hoping for a better ratio of responses than that.
3. Where are you getting "Not doing a full wipe before installed a different ROM..." I never said that I didn't... and if you read what I took the time to organize neatly, I specifically state that full wipe was what I tried BEFORE re-installing the SAME rom.
4. Can't try a different recovery if I can't even get the stock factory image to do an initial boot.

cybervyrus8587 said:
I literally just had the exact same problem as you. I googled and found http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2265477, then googled some more and found my .tar file for my phone, then odined back to stock 4.2.2. It took 20 min.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which one did you flash ?
M919UVUFNB4
M919UVUEMK2
M919UVUAMDL
M919UVUAMDB
I've tried #3 but it gives me an auth failure....

Just ODIN philz on there. TWRP has given me issues on this phone off and on. Philz will let screw around in there. Your phone isn't dead, it just needs some love

TigerDNA said:
Just ODIN philz on there. TWRP has given me issues on this phone off and on. Philz will let screw around in there. Your phone isn't dead, it just needs some love
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol ummm ok I'm glad to hear that but how would flashing a recovery fix the fact that the factory stock image won't even work Not being a ****... I really do want to know

avelis26 said:
lol ummm ok I'm glad to hear that but how would flashing a recovery fix the fact that the factory stock image won't even work Not being a ****... I really do want to know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Post deleted
☞ Sent from here ☜

baseballfanz said:
Post deleted
☞ Sent from here ☜
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sooooo umm what ?
Anyway... I flashed PhilZ on my phone, did full wipe, tried installing the same GE rom I was using... didn't work.
Tried installing stock rom, didn't work.
Tried flashing M919UVUFNB4 via ODIN... and it flashes fine but again, first boot wont work.

Ok so .... I guess installing PhilZ... then full wipe, then flashing M919UVUFNB4 TWICE back to back did the trick.... no freaking clue how but it worked

I spoke too soon. Went through first boot. Got all the way to the end setup and then it rebooted on its own ... and now its stuck in a boot loop again

avelis26 said:
Sooooo umm what ?
Anyway... I flashed PhilZ on my phone, did full wipe, tried installing the same GE rom I was using... didn't work.
Tried installing stock rom, didn't work.
Tried flashing M919UVUFNB4 via ODIN... and it flashes fine but again, first boot wont work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since your using philz, choose install new ROM, then go to advanced and wipe dalvik, THEN go to mounts and select the one close to the bottom, wipe SD/data or something..... This will wipe your internal SD, OK so then install your rom and reboot.....
I am starting to think you flashed a non GE kernel and didnt realize it You just got to give the phone some love, thats all. It knows when your upset you know.

TigerDNA said:
Since your using philz, choose install new ROM, then go to advanced and wipe dalvik, THEN go to mounts and select the one close to the bottom, wipe SD/data or something..... This will wipe your internal SD, OK so then install your rom and reboot.....
I am starting to think you flashed a non GE kernel and didnt realize it You just got to give the phone some love, thats all. It knows when your upset you know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol
The weirdness continues
sooo it started boot looping again. Then I rebooted to recovery (which obviously after flashing NB4, its no longer PhilZ) and did factory reset. Now its working again with latest firmware.
Also I flashed the GE rom from HERE in XDA and used it for like 2 or 3 months then it suddenly stopped working so I don't think the kernal was the issue... I'm so freaking confused

avelis26 said:
lol
The weirdness continues
sooo it started boot looping again. Then I rebooted to recovery (which obviously after flashing NB4, its no longer PhilZ) and did factory reset. Now its working again with latest firmware.
Also I flashed the GE rom from HERE in XDA and used it for like 2 or 3 months then it suddenly stopped working so I don't think the kernal was the issue... I'm so freaking confused
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash something else, GE is boring, Flash something crazy like Slim or something, that might work... Possibly it could be a bootloader issue, did you ever get on the MK2? Maybe you got one of the female phones. Sammy made some by mistake. they can be real finicky every now and then, like they work just fine most of the time, but about once a month or so they just crap out. Could be that too.

TigerDNA said:
Flash something else, GE is boring, Flash something crazy like Slim or something, that might work... Possibly it could be a bootloader issue, did you ever get on the MK2? Maybe you got one of the female phones. Sammy made some by mistake. they can be real finicky every now and then, like they work just fine most of the time, but about once a month or so they just crap out. Could be that too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No never got MK2... went straight to NB4
And I LIKE GE lol...
Well whatever happened it seems stable again now currently on stock NB4
Next thing to check is if the knox warranty flag is still tripped... Do you know how to do that ?

Yea your Knox flag is tripped alright, you have zero chance if ever getting back to 0x0.... Nobody knows how to do that brother.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using xda app-developers app

avelis26 said:
No never got MK2... went straight to NB4
And I LIKE GE lol...
Well whatever happened it seems stable again now currently on stock NB4
Next thing to check is if the knox warranty flag is still tripped... Do you know how to do that ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just put the phone in download mode. Power off then volume up, home and power. You'll see it when you get into download mode.

TigerDNA said:
Just ODIN philz on there. TWRP has given me issues on this phone off and on. Philz will let screw around in there. Your phone isn't dead, it just needs some love
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Philz's and TWRP both had small glitches on the GS4 4.2.2 Stock Rom.
I downloaded and installed the OUDHS-Recovery-jfltetmo-1.0.3.3.tar and have it all PERFECT now! You can search using exactly that filename and download it for your use. IT IS THE flashable Recovery Version.
I can, using Rom Manager, NAME THE BACKUP before booting into recovery, and it makes the backup just as I named it!
I can also recover using Rom Manager, and visually select what backup file I want to restore to, again, before booting into recovery!
CWM type backups take longer then TWRP backups to complete, but I have not had any instance that a backup I made couldn't be restored.
I did have that problem using "TWRP" and "On Line Backup". (No longer do I trust using those)
Hope this info helps your decision!
Good Luck and Aloha!

[Q] Multiple problems after flashing Stock

Hello everyone,
After a long fight to try and get this phone back to normal, everything seemed good,
except not really
I started on a buggy CM11 version. Sick of it, I downloaded a 4.4.4 stock rom. I had to disable firewall and defender, but I got Odin to flash my md5. I got through everything and it booted successfully. After signing in and all that jazz, I find out that my WiFi isn't working. After a few reboots, My 4G finally works and everything seems to be steady.
Then, after exploring the rest of the phone I find out that all my apps from last ROM are still there. I know that you are supposed to wipe before flashing, but I was told that Odin will take care of that. It obviously didn't.
After THAT, I try to boot into Recovery as the next sensible step is to try to wipe my data and cache. I turn the phone off and press (Vol up + Home + Pwr) and the first boot screen shows for a moment. It says in blue "RECOVERY BOOTING" in the corner. Right after, it disappears and in another second it does the same screen without the "RECOVERY BOOTING". And as presumed, it does a regular boot.
What did I miss? How can I wipe my phone from recovery? How can I fix my problem with Wifi?

Reflash in Odin.
Make sure you have the correct stock rom. If you flash the "md5" you may have flashed the wrong thing. The md5 is not tge firmware, that is just the code that verifies your firmware file is not corrupted.
If your old apps were still there, you flashed the wrong thing. There is no way to flash stock firmware in odin and not wipe the data partition.

You are correct then
Yeah, I flashed a tar.md5 in Odin. It gave me a new ROM but all my apps are there. After all that, I still can't go to recovery. I tried using the terminal and ROM Toolbox to go there, both didn't work. Can I just leave it as it is and find a way to recovery or is the only way to go to bootloader and flash a correct file to get to recovery?

Flash twrp and see if it will reboot into recovery, then factory reset and flash latest firmware with Odin right after. Odin will NOT wipe data. It has to be done manually

serio22 said:
Flash twrp and see if it will reboot into recovery, then factory reset and flash latest firmware with Odin right after. Odin will NOT wipe data. It has to be done manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on what you ate flashing.
If you are flashing a full stock factory image it will wipe user data. If you are just flashing a system partition it won't.

Essem G said:
Hello everyone,
After a long fight to try and get this phone back to normal, everything seemed good,
except not really
I started on a buggy CM11 version. Sick of it, I downloaded a 4.4.4 stock rom. I had to disable firewall and defender, but I got Odin to flash my md5. I got through everything and it booted successfully. After signing in and all that jazz, I find out that my WiFi isn't working. After a few reboots, My 4G finally works and everything seems to be steady.
Then, after exploring the rest of the phone I find out that all my apps from last ROM are still there. I know that you are supposed to wipe before flashing, but I was told that Odin will take care of that. It obviously didn't.
After THAT, I try to boot into Recovery as the next sensible step is to try to wipe my data and cache. I turn the phone off and press (Vol up + Home + Pwr) and the first boot screen shows for a moment. It says in blue "RECOVERY BOOTING" in the corner. Right after, it disappears and in another second it does the same screen without the "RECOVERY BOOTING". And as presumed, it does a regular boot.
What did I miss? How can I wipe my phone from recovery? How can I fix my problem with Wifi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fkash twrp and format system, data, cache and preload and install a deodexed stock os

g7755725 said:
Fkash twrp and format system, data, cache and preload and install a deodexed stock os
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also this. This gives you more control over the whole process

Skipjacks said:
Also this. This gives you more control over the whole process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I know whatever I download is deodexed? And I went to a page of ROMs someone gave me and I downloaded the NK2 version, which also gave me a tar.md5. If I want the correct thing to flash, what should I flash?

Essem G said:
How do I know whatever I download is deodexed? And I went to a page of ROMs someone gave me and I downloaded the NK2 version, which also gave me a tar.md5. If I want the correct thing to flash, what should I flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first post of any customized stock rom will tell you if its deodexed. If it doesn't say it...its not.

@Essem G:
Any updates for us? I'm following this thread because I have similar problems with my WiFi not working after upgrading from 4.2.2.
Any luck getting TWRP flashed?
Also I believe that the stock firmwares do come as tar.md5's, as in the file: M919UVUFNK2_M919TMBFNK2_M919UVUFNK2_HOME.tar.md5 from ShinySide's stock firmware thread.
As for the WiFi issue, from the hours of reading I've done it looks like this problem occurs when you upgrade your firmware, but it no longer matches the bootloader. Such as bootloader (Baseband) showing MDL, but Build Number showing NH7, NK2, etc. What does your show?
This thread may be of use to you when you get back to a working ROM. Good luck!

@RavenMind1
Everyone has been saying different answers and i've put off fixing my device for a while. I'm just afraid i'll brick it forever and have another nightmare after this current one. So no, there has been no progress. I think i'm gonna try to flash Philz and format my system, then flash a deodexed rom. @g7755725 said that you can flash TWRP, but I usually use Philz. It appears to be that I have lost root access because no root features work and SuperSU won't recognize it. Will everything work or am I setting my self up for disaster?
Edit: Where can I find a deodexed rom? I desperately need one, thanks

Essem G said:
@RavenMind1
Everyone has been saying different answers and i've put off fixing my device for a while. I'm just afraid i'll brick it forever and have another nightmare after this current one. So no, there has been no progress. I think i'm gonna try to flash Philz and format my system, then flash a deodexed rom. @g7755725 said that you can flash TWRP, but I usually use Philz. It appears to be that I have lost root access because no root features work and SuperSU won't recognize it. Will everything work or am I setting my self up for disaster?
Edit: Where can I find a deodexed rom? I desperately need one, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look in the forums for deodexed rom theirs a bunch and untouched as well i had philz but it eoukdnt boot my s4 so i had to switch to twrp because it does better then any recovery

g7755725 said:
Look in the forums for deodexed rom theirs a bunch and untouched as well i had philz but it eoukdnt boot my s4 so i had to switch to twrp because it does better then any recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the support so far, but has this problem occured before? do you think the steps i've listed will solve this? Im just trying to make sure that I know exactly what to do before I go in. Thanks

Essem G said:
Thanks for the support so far, but has this problem occured before? do you think the steps i've listed will solve this? Im just trying to make sure that I know exactly what to do before I go in. Thanks[/Q] it should
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

@g7755725 I downloaded a deodexed rom from the SkipJacks guy (different page than what you sent me) and it's a little under 9MB... how could this possibly be a ROM?

Essem G said:
@g7755725 I downloaded a deodexed rom from the SkipJacks guy (different page than what you sent me) and it's a little under 9MB... how could this possibly be a ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried my gamerrom Ultimate 1 its basically stock touchwiz of if Official NK2 M919UVUFNK2 with stweaks and no bloatware here is the thread gru 1 is in.the botyom of the thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-tmobile/development/stock-os-gamerrom-ultimate-2-touchwiz-t3078467

Sounds cool but i would have been interested a few months ago. I'm trying to sell the phone so I need to get it back to stock. Appreciate all the help and I think it's cool that you make ROMs

Essem G said:
Sounds cool but i would have been interested a few months ago. I'm trying to sell the phone so I need to get it back to stock. Appreciate all the help and I think it's cool that you make ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're trying to go back to complete stock then just Odin NK2 firmware. http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-tmobile/general/firmwares-official-mdl-mk2-nb4-t2816508 I used the NK2 from here about 2 days ago to go back to stock.