So I have flashed some customer roms and then used odin to go back to stock after failing to restore a back-up using TWRP. After using Odin and the latest factory image from XDA. I am still showing signs of old flashes. I would like restore the phone completely back to factory. I am not sure if I need to reformat something using twrp. Can anyone help with some advice?
Bl4ckpheniX said:
So I have flashed some customer roms and then used odin to go back to stock after failing to restore a back-up using TWRP. After using Odin and the latest factory image from XDA. I am still showing signs of old flashes. I would like restore the phone completely back to factory. I am not sure if I need to reformat something using twrp. Can anyone help with some advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you need to send it back, you need to:
wipe data/factory reset
reset flash counter (requires root, triangle away)
odin stock rom
The root toolkit in original development forums can babysit you through the whole process
Bl4ckpheniX said:
So I have flashed some customer roms and then used odin to go back to stock after failing to restore a back-up using TWRP. After using Odin and the latest factory image from XDA. I am still showing signs of old flashes. I would like restore the phone completely back to factory. I am not sure if I need to reformat something using twrp. Can anyone help with some advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Elaborate on what u mean by signs of old flashes
Odin should put back stock, u will keep storage and sd untouched
If you flashed a 4.2.2 aokp cm10 rom I think it screws up nandroid restore folder, it redirects restores to data folder...
I lost my backup too
Chain fire app has root away script use that to remove any sings of flashing
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
lojak29 said:
Elaborate on what u mean by signs of old flashes
Odin should put back stock, u will keep storage and sd untouched
If you flashed a 4.2.2 aokp cm10 rom I think it screws up nandroid restore folder, it redirects restores to data folder...
I lost my backup too
Chain fire app has root away script use that to remove any sings of flashing
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I infact had flashed AOKP. I was seeing signs of it left behind even after using odin to go back to stock. This is not my first Sammy device and havne't run into this issue before. I will try wiping things down multiple times. I think the thing that maybe bothers me the most was after going back to a factory image the last time Samsung Kies would not even check for updates saying " your devices current firmware is not supported to update from kies"
This is new as I have had my Note 2 rooted w/ custom recovery since it came out and had been able to update using kies in the past, just wasn't able to use the OTA updates from the device. (which I knew from the past)
Anyways I hope the clearing multiple times data/system/cache clears it up after another Odin flashing
Hello, I recently rooted my wifes Note 2 that was on the latest OTA 4.3. Was not easy BTW. I did a back up in recovery of boot, system, and data. I figured I was good to go and start trying out other roms.
The first one I flashed was Macks Allstar 5.0 rom. Everything was great. Then my wife informed me that she did not have all of her contacts backed up to google and some were only saved to her phone. So then I figure I could just restore the original backup and extract the contacts and be able to install them to any rom.
Thats when everything went wrong. Everytime I tried restoring the back up,it would crash and recovery would do like a reboot. After many attempts I figured id try another version of recovery. After flashing many earlier versions of twrp and trying to restore, I finally was able to complete a restore from version 2.6. I was ecstatic. But then my heart sank again when boot always hangs on samsung logo. And that is where I'm stuck. I am able to flash other roms no problem but cant restore my original backup.
Needless to say my wife is ready to kill me.
Please if anyone could help me I would really appreciate it. I have searched throughout this forum and internet for hours and can not seem to find any help with this issue.
I am thankful to have been able to get this far with the help from the XDA community posts I never needed direct help even with prior phone rootings but this one has got me stumped. Thanks in advance
You need to flash Phil's recovery version 6.0.7.9. If you cant restore your backup with Phil's then I'm thinking you might be sol. Make sure you know where you saved the backup to. It's either on the phone's internal sd or external sd card. Choose the correct location in Phil's recovery and if it isn't corrupt it should work. You may also want to copy your backup onto your pc just in case because that's your only backup and doing a full wipe or odin restore could permanently delete it. Good luck.
tx_dbs_tx said:
You need to flash Phil's recovery version 6.0.7.9. If you cant restore your backup with Phil's then I'm thinking you might be sol. Make sure you know where you saved the backup to. It's either on the phone's internal sd or external sd card. Choose the correct location in Phil's recovery and if it isn't corrupt it should work. You may also want to copy your backup onto your pc just in case because that's your only backup and doing a full wipe or odin restore could permanently delete it. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply. I am at work right now and left the phone with my wife with a working rom. I will try phils recovery when I get home. As far as backups, I have two copies. One on my SD card and the other on PC but if they're both fried I guess that negates my efforts in redundancy. It's hard to believe the backup got corrupt so quickly. I have another backup of the 2nd rom I flashed and that one wont install as well.
Is there something I am doing wrong? If the backup file is corrupt, is there a way to extract contacts seperately out of backup?
Method b.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2648855
My wife does that too. Sorry
ColeTrain! said:
Method b.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2648855
My wife does that too. Sorry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Life of a married man. Haha!
Well, as my backup file was done with TWRP, I tried method B with TWRP recovery and it wont work so now I'm in the process of trying method A. Will update once I tried it.
I think my problem has to do with TWRP not playing friendly with 4.3 ROMS. If that is the case method A looks like it will work.:fingers-crossed:
alexandnen said:
Life of a married man. Haha!
Well, as my backup file was done with TWRP, I tried method B with TWRP recovery and it wont work so now I'm in the process of trying method A. Will update once I tried it.
I think my problem has to do with TWRP not playing friendly with 4.3 ROMS. If that is the case method A looks like it will work.:fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly right. Bootloader isn't playing well with TWRP recovery. Phil"s 6.0.7.9 seems to be compatible in most ROM vs bootloader situations. Don't use latest version of Phil's recovery as it doesn't work as well and most people recommend this as well.
If Phil's recovery won't flash your restore then Odin all the way back to stock unrooted LK8 ROM then root it with the Toolkit and flash TWRP from the toolkit at the same time. Then see if you can restore at that point.
Looks like this project has come to an end. My wife likes her new rom and doesn't want to let me work on her phone anymore. She was able to get most of her contacts back I will make sure she backs her contacts to google and I will try to convince her to install Titanium backup to backup all her app data.
Unfortunately all I have is a work issued iphone that I have no interest in jailbreaking. I really don't see the point.
I am still confident that I could have eventually restored her backup successfully with the help here.
Thank you tx_dbx_tx and coletrain for your help.
My Sprint GS3 is flashed to Page Plus.All is working great. I'm currently on MK3 Knox firmware. I am wanting to try the ND8 upgrade.
If I odin up to the ND8 I realize I will lose my flash. I have my EFS backed up with two different methods.
If I odin up to ND8 can I restore my flash with the EFS backup or will I need to re-flash anyway?
Thanks for all your help. XDA is the BEST!!!
Edit: Solved, but not with EFS backup
So I went ahead and took the plunge.Setup Odin and grabbed the ND8 stock tar.My internal storage was also messed up so I also
grabbed the 32gb PIT file for my phone.Entered download mode and started Odin and 12 minutes later I had KitKat and also my
full 32gb internal storage.Everything I read said I would lose my flash.Mine is the SPH-L710 Sprint GS3 flashed to Page Plus.
MUCH to my surprise when my phone rebooted my 3G was up and running! In settings/about device/status shows my MIN
and my number, and my PRL all as it was before! I was putting this off for so long for fear of having to redo everything, you
know when you have everything working right you hate to screw with it. I can't say this would work for others but I am a
very happy camper!
I Odined up to ND8 and my flash didn't change!
I am just tired of wiping, trying a new rom, setting it up, finding problems too big to live with and repeating the process. So I used TWRP to put my backed up system back on the phone but when it boots up tons of things are missing. Google apps are all gone, no root. Did I do something wrong? I backed up all the tick boxes when I made my backups, yet so much is missing?
Flash th stock through odin. Then flash twrp and this time restore only data from nandroid.
sasank360 said:
Flash th stock through odin. Then flash twrp and this time restore only data from nandroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I did flash my original firmware just now via odin, but I thought that would resolve my encryption problem. I made a thread about it here, I don't know if you could chime in on that thread if you have any ideas on my new issue? Thanks: http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/help/questions-relating-to-fresh-odin-t3057860
So this is the situation,
I have SPH-l710 Rooted with CWM, I THOUGHT I made a backup of my stock system.....It made a image.zip and an image directory. SOOOO I flashed the phone with CM121...........In light of all the issues I could not get my camera to work with any app, them CM121 updated, Google play got stuck in a error force close loop that could only be avoided by logging into a separate user account on lollipop. Which is where the camera began to work oddly enough. Anyways I use my camera constantly and wanted to revert back to my 4.4.2 kitkat. SOOOO I booted into recovery and when I selected restore it couldnt find anything. So I installed from the image.zip and everything appeared to be fine EXECPT I couldnt get passed the second samsung logo right after the animation. Just stuck........How can I restore my poor phone back to my system image I have saved?
I tried this multiple times, then just reloaded CM121. PLEASE HELP!!!!!
the wipe/factory reset
wipe cache
wipe dalvik x 3
You could Odin back to stock. What modem are you on? (Ex. nj3, nd8, etc)
Powered_By_Linux said:
You could Odin back to stock. What modem are you on? (Ex. nj3, nd8, etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
L710VPUCNJ3
I did find an image.zip and an image directory with my full phone backup i assume minus the damn splash screen that started this whole thing in the first place. Would I just use odin to flash the image.zip file to restore my original os or would I use CMW and install from zip and use the image.zip file?
And thank you for replying, it's hard to get anyone to help sometimes.
aanddink said:
L710VPUCNJ3
I did find an image.zip and an image directory with my full phone backup i assume minus the damn splash screen that started this whole thing in the first place. Would I just use odin to flash the image.zip file to restore my original os or would I use CMW and install from zip and use the image.zip file?
And thank you for replying, it's hard to get anyone to help sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you Odin to stock, you need a computer. You download the program (sadly Odin is leaked software so it's pretty shady; you could give Heimdall a shot but it didn't work for me, also Odin is Windows only and Heimdall is cross-platform) and then you download a .tar of a stock image and you plug your phone in in download mode and flash it.
However, there is no nj3 modem so you need to use an older one. Is your phone sprint, Virgin Mobile, boost, etc?
Edit: give this thread a look for info on stock .tars http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3121212
---------- Post added at 11:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:37 PM ----------
Here's a good thread on instructions for flashing the ndc modem. If you use sprint, flashing nj2 should be the same process, just a different .tar. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2774333
Powered_By_Linux said:
If you Odin to stock, you need a computer. You download the program (sadly Odin is leaked software so it's pretty shady; you could give Heimdall a shot but it didn't work for me, also Odin is Windows only and Heimdall is cross-platform) and then you download a .tar of a stock image and you plug your phone in in download mode and flash it.
However, there is no nj3 modem so you need to use an older one. Is your phone sprint, Virgin Mobile, boost, etc?
Edit: give this thread a look for info on stock .tars http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3121212
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have Odin already from when I flashed cmw 6+ to the phone, but before I installed cm12.1 I used clockworkmod and made a backup image. It created a image.zip file, will this contain my original stock but rooted image?
aanddink said:
I have Odin already from when I flashed cmw 6+ to the phone, but before I installed cm12.1 I used clockworkmod and made a backup image. It created a image.zip file, will this contain my original stock but rooted image?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would assume so, however, I'm not sure. I've only used TWRP and a little Philz for recovery. Afraid I can't help you there, but someone else (or Google lol) might know
Powered_By_Linux said:
I would assume so, however, I'm not sure. I've only used TWRP and a little Philz for recovery. Afraid I can't help you there, but someone else (or Google lol) might know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK I understand thanks, one more thing if I assume its a full backup of the phone would Odin be better to restore with or use whatever software created the backup?
aanddink said:
OK I understand thanks, one more thing if I assume its a full backup of the phone would Odin be better to restore with or use whatever software created the backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think Odin can only flash tars. Ideally, you'd want to restore the backup with the software that made it.
aanddink said:
I have Odin already from when I flashed cmw 6+ to the phone, but before I installed cm12.1 I used clockworkmod and made a backup image. It created a image.zip file, will this contain my original stock but rooted image?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cwm recovery does not create zip files. If you made a full backup in cwm it should contain system, data, and boot img files. Restore it in cwm recovery.
But to go back to KitKat from lollipop you must wipe internal storage in clockworkmod recovery first .(if that's the recovery you are using).
By the way cwm is pretty crappy. After you fix it, install twrp recovery.
madbat99 said:
Cwm recovery does not create zip files. If you made a full backup in cwm it should contain system, data, and boot img files. Restore it in cwm recovery.
But to go back to KitKat from lollipop you must wipe internal storage in clockworkmod recovery first .(if that's the recovery you are using).
By the way cwm is pretty crappy. After you fix it, install twrp recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, been tryin to get help for a while. So my version of CMW has the option to create an image backup & also create the same backup in zip format. Inside the zip and inside the image directory they have the boot img files and the system data and ect. I have 2 questions, 1 is what part of the internal storage needs to be wiped? I assume you mean format the system directory? which would wipe the os out at that point? And second since I have cmw installed if I wanted to put twrp on and not wipe the system yet would I need to just use odin and flash it to overwrite cmw? I installed cmw with odin to root the phone originally, cmw is not restoring my backups at all correctly so I would love something that would really work.
aanddink said:
Thanks for the reply, been tryin to get help for a while. So my version of CMW has the option to create an image backup & also create the same backup in zip format. Inside the zip and inside the image directory they have the boot img files and the system data and ect. I have 2 questions, 1 is what part of the internal storage needs to be wiped? I assume you mean format the system directory? which would wipe the os out at that point? And second since I have cmw installed if I wanted to put twrp on and not wipe the system yet would I need to just use odin and flash it to overwrite cmw? I installed cmw with odin to root the phone originally, cmw is not restoring my backups at all correctly so I would love something that would really work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By wiping internal storage, I mean internal sd card (data/media) not system.
If you cannot restore your backup, and are not worried about losing your data, I would recommend using odin to flash the whole stock .tar and starting fresh from scratch. Then re root by using odin to install twrp.
If you are on boost or virgin Mobile use the ndc tar.
madbat99 said:
By wiping internal storage, I mean internal sd card (data/media) not system.
If you cannot restore your backup, and are not worried about losing your data, I would recommend using odin to flash the whole stock .tar and starting fresh from scratch. Then re root by using odin to install twrp.
If you are on boost or virgin Mobile use the ndc tar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info, I will look into the tar I just need to make sure it's compatible with NJ3 and I am on Virgin mobile. I attached a snapshot of the file cmw created, Im pretty sure I saw a post on how to convert that into a flash-able tar file by combining them into one. That backup is clean except for a screwy boot splash screen and being rooted but besides that it was the first backup. Do you know if twrp has any issues with CM12.1? If I can flash my backup and un-root I would be able to start from scratch and do it the right way this time. I attached the snapshot just for your opinion on if I can use my backup from my phone if you dont mind, also to install twrp if I can use my backup I would need to unroot then re-root with twrp correct? Any thanks so much for the responses
aanddink said:
Thanks for the info, I will look into the tar I just need to make sure it's compatible with NJ3 and I am on Virgin mobile. I attached a snapshot of the file cmw created, Im pretty sure I saw a post on how to convert that into a flash-able tar file by combining them into one. That backup is clean except for a screwy boot splash screen and being rooted but besides that it was the first backup. Do you know if twrp has any issues with CM12.1? If I can flash my backup and un-root I would be able to start from scratch and do it the right way this time. I attached the snapshot just for your opinion on if I can use my backup from my phone if you dont mind, also to install twrp if I can use my backup I would need to unroot then re-root with twrp correct? Any thanks so much for the responses
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you put that back on your phone in the clockworkmod folder just restore it? If you flash the ndc tar in odin you will be stock unrooted. Ndc is the build before nj3. There is no nj3 tar so ndc is fine. If you manage to restore your backup and get going, you can just get the app flashify from the play store to install twrp. Get the image file of twrp 2.8.7.0 for sprint (d2spr) and install in flashify. Get it from twrp website.
Your backup only has system in it, it has no data. Next time do a full backup. System, data, and boot. You're trying to go from cm12.1 lollipop to KitKat touchwiz without a data wipe and restore. Won't work.
Honestly dude, you seem to have limited knowledge on this. Don't take that the wrong way at all. To save us both some time and get your phone working, just follow this
It's fine to flash over nj3. I'm on virgin Mobile and I've done it a couple times. Also do a factory reset to wipe data. Also wipe internal storage (data/media).
madbat99 said:
If you put that back on your phone in the clockworkmod folder just restore it? If you flash the ndc tar in odin you will be stock unrooted. Ndc is the build before nj3. There is no nj3 tar so ndc is fine. If you manage to restore your backup and get going, you can just get the app flashify from the play store to install twrp. Get the image file of twrp 2.8.7.0 for sprint (d2spr) and install in flashify. Get it from twrp website.
Your backup only has system in it, it has no data. Next time do a full backup. System, data, and boot. You're trying to go from cm12.1 lollipop to KitKat touchwiz without a data wipe and restore. Won't work.
Honestly dude, you seem to have limited knowledge on this. Don't take that the wrong way at all. To save us both some time and get your phone working, just follow this
It's fine to flash over nj3. I'm on virgin Mobile and I've done it a couple times. Also do a factory reset to wipe data. Also wipe internal storage (data/media).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not taken the wrong way, I am limited knowledge on the subject and that's why I ended up with problems. I appreciate the help since I could not get anyone to respond.
madbat99 said:
If you put that back on your phone in the clockworkmod folder just restore it? If you flash the ndc tar in odin you will be stock unrooted. Ndc is the build before nj3. There is no nj3 tar so ndc is fine. If you manage to restore your backup and get going, you can just get the app flashify from the play store to install twrp. Get the image file of twrp 2.8.7.0 for sprint (d2spr) and install in flashify. Get it from twrp website.
Your backup only has system in it, it has no data. Next time do a full backup. System, data, and boot. You're trying to go from cm12.1 lollipop to KitKat touchwiz without a data wipe and restore. Won't work.
Honestly dude, you seem to have limited knowledge on this. Don't take that the wrong way at all. To save us both some time and get your phone working, just follow this
It's fine to flash over nj3. I'm on virgin Mobile and I've done it a couple times. Also do a factory reset to wipe data. Also wipe internal storage (data/media).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the link, understand the process. Just wondering the link to the .tar file is broken (at least for the moment) I will continue to try it, do you know if the zip file from samsung-updates " L710VPUDND8 firmware version for Galaxy S 3 LTE (Sprint) "
will work also?
aanddink said:
I appreciate the link, understand the process. Just wondering the link to the .tar file is broken (at least for the moment) I will continue to try it, do you know if the zip file from samsung-updates " L710VPUDND8 firmware version for Galaxy S 3 LTE (Sprint) "
will work also?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nd8 will work, however nj2 is the sprint equivalent to nj3 (latest update). It works fine. It's the last one I used. You may need to do the dialer activation code to get service working after you flash. I think it's ##72786# . I'll check.
here is nj2.