Develop Bugs

[Q] flashing with heimdall ?

hi,
i have a Gio S5660 that i bricked trying to sim unlocking it before putting it on sale.
the device can get into Download mode (no recovery mode though) but Odin 4 doesn't flash anything anymore, tried different roms (stock, moded, froyo, GB) nothing works, Odin 4 says PASS but after rebooting the screen keeps on blinking the ugly Samsung logo.
i tried to make a Heimdall flashing package but when i try to load a rom into the packager i get an error that says no Firmware.xml found.
is it even possible to use Heimdall or other Odin versions to flash a Gio, if so how do u make a package for that ?

supermario00 said:
hi,
i have a Gio S5660 that i bricked trying to sim unlocking it before putting it on sale.
the device can get into Download mode (no recovery mode though) but Odin 4 doesn't flash anything anymore, tried different roms (stock, moded, froyo, GB) nothing works, Odin 4 says PASS but after rebooting the screen keeps on blinking the ugly Samsung logo.
i tried to make a Heimdall flashing package but when i try to load a rom into the packager i get an error that says no Firmware.xml found.
is it even possible to use Heimdall or other Odin versions to flash a Gio, if so how do u make a package for that ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After flashing with odin and get in bootloop, press the power button for 10 seconds, after restart press home and power until get in to recovery, there should factory reset and the most important - fix rfs or something, can't remember now exactly, the phone will reboot automaticaly and you have to wait some time to boot.

Which method did you try to unlock it with?

HEllo,
Same problem, keep blinking trying to boot with Samsung white letters.
FR

What, and how EXACTLY did you tried to flash with odin? (Which rom, Onepackage/multipackage, tar/md5...?)

Hello,
Still fighting to bring it into life.
Well the problem began when unlocking with the thread instructions:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1204705
Everything seemed to go as expected but...
After that it never rebooted well, still in cycle on www.samsung letters firs screen.
Even so i tried to flash it with ODIN into Stock Rom 2.3.5 and the same problem.
Sometimes i still can have the "Recovery Mode" and flash other versions, i have the PASS message ok, but when reboot... same problem.
And with the Oneclick Unbrick recovery it fails...
Really worried abou this... nice brick!
Thanks to all that are trying to help!
At the beginning of the process it hads the 2.3.3 version locked to Vodafone.

Maybe you just misspoke, but you can't use Odin if your phone is in recovery mode. It has to be in downloading mode.
In my opinion:
1. Boot into recovery (are you using cwm?)
2. Do a factory reset+wipe everything (incl. dalvik cache)
3. Turn off the phone
4. Download the latest ROM from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16979769&postcount=547
(S5660XXKS2)
5. Boot your phone into downloading mode
6. Flash with Odin (this is NOT "One package", you have to put everything in the right spot /boot, phone, etc/)

Hello again,
Yes i mean Download mode, i', flashing with ODIN but "one package Versions" i'm goin to try next your link already downloading.
Even if i can not unbrick it (wich is strange because i still can flash it) i must thans you very much for great cooperation!
Working...

You're welcome. When I bricked my phone, this is how I got it working again. I hope it works for you too.
Keep my posted...

Hello again,
Well just flashed again with ODIN (not One Package) and last firmware (2.3.5) and the report is that at the end i have the PASS confirmation but phone keeps flashing and does not reboot alone as supposed (waited 15 mn).
Unplug USB cable, battery out, battery in, power on and it returns to its "preference": alternates between dark scredn and those White letters saying SAMSUNG... infinite loop.
This is strange, i'm tired of seaching everything and this is not a normal beahaviour for this procediure.
I can follow all the steps... and at the final... same result.
Don't really know what to do next.
Once more, thanks for all!
Fernando

I'm sorry it didn't work. I have one last suggestion. The firmware you just tried to flash has a few md5 files. Rename them to tar, an extract them. The files you will find inside are the ones you can flash with Heimdall (data.rfs, system.rfs, etc).
I can't tell you much more, because I never used it (just googled a bit right now), but you can probably find a few tutorials about the subject.

Hello,
The fight continues and for all that i've read so far i almost sure that someting happend with the EFS partition.
I think that, case possible, the way is trying to flash an EFS new partition.
Someone knoes ho to do that?
Thanks!

descobrindo said:
Hello,
The fight continues and for all that i've read so far i almost sure that someting happend with the EFS partition.
I think that, case possible, the way is trying to flash an EFS new partition.
Someone knoes ho to do that?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please give more information about stuck on logo (ex: logcat)
and dont play with EFS partition. its very dangerious.
it can really bricked your phone

When you can go to recovery mode with your gio you should flash ext4-formatter.zip(download,put on sdcard,go to recovery find `installzip from sdcard` and flash it.
the internal phone memory has to be in ext4 format ,if not you have the above problems.
after flashing you can install a rom.
By the way,i tryed flashing with heimdall-frontend ,i think it can ,but you have to rename it to a .tar gz file it wil be compiled automatic adding it to heimdall,but...than it says
`firmware.xml is missing from the package` , so...you have to ad(make or edit an existing one,and insert it in the package) that file... which contains name rom ed , than it probably works...

What is heimdall?

sort of odin but odin doesnt run on linux,for flashing

SOLUTION!!
Hey , I figured out a while back how to sort this out... Odin works,The reason though it bootloops is just that the \Data and \Cache Partitions are still in Ext4 Format... Stock Rom uses RFS... So The Solution is - After you Flash Your Stock Rom Via Odin, after it says "PASS" , Unplug USB then Reboot into the stock recovery mode by Holding HOME and POWER Button , Then format Cache and Then Wipe Data/Factory Reset (By doing this it formats back to RFS and then it can operate) ... then reboot to system ... And Voila , It works!!!! (Always works for me)... Hope this Helps Just Remember to USE ODIN (Heimdall apparently not Gio Supported)

[Q] Galaxy Note 2 - Help!!!!

I recently rooted my Galaxy Note 2 (GT-N7100) - following 'High on Android' web site instructions.
Everything went well and I installed Clockwork Mod Recovery (CMR) and I backed up then current ROM successful.
Recently, I got a new update to Gmail so, I decided to backup the ROM again. I ran CMR and I was prompted to name the backup file and I was prompted the phone would reboot and complete the backup.. The result was the phone went into a loop constantly displaying the boot logo.
I overcame the problem by re-rooting the phone using ODIN - the download mode was accessible on the phone.
However I spoke to soon: the phone became increasingly unstable and, it eventual Froze. I tried to do a factory wipe & re-root the phone - That left me in exactly the same position - at the boot logo, dead. I have written an email CMR & High on Android but, they have not replied.
I quickly realised I would have re-flash the phone completely and I sourced the correct files from 'SamsFirmware'.
That's the first question: the file I download was compressed and when it was decompressed it gave me two files;
N7100XXALJ3_N7100OXXALJ4_N7100XXALJ2_HOME.tar.md5 & SS_DL.dll
Q1. Can I run this tar.md5 using ODIN (PDA) function?
Q2. I have read that a file like this need to be further spilt? If so, How?
Q3. If spilt the file into component parts, how will I identify / set up the files to ODIN ?
Mild panic is breaking out here - it's the last time I will ever flash a perfectly working phone again. Any advice or practical instructions you can provide to recovery the situation will be warmly welcomed!
Solved - http://www.lockermike.com/how-tos/a.../unbrick-a-galaxy-note-2-with-stock-firmware/

Thanks for sharing your solution, it's always good to know should anything go wrong. I'm about to flash new custom rom in an attempt to unlock the phone too

CM10.1 crashed and softbricked itself, can't access the file system

I have Cyanogenmod 10.1 (stable) installed; the other day it crashed while I was on Instagram, rebooted itself, and wouldn't go past the spinning circle screen. Tried rebooting it, now it won't go past the screen before that, with the blue Cyanogenmod man and the Samsung logo.
I have TWRP 2.5.0.0 installed with it, which I don't know how is possible being that the file systems are incompatible, so unless I used Odin to install CM10.1, I don't know how I did it without installing Clockworkmod Recovery over TWRP.
I've been trying to fix it for a couple days now (I'm kicking myself for not getting around to posting here sooner). When I go into TWRP it asks me for a password (which I've never set, I assume it's asking me because that's all it knows to do when the file system is incompatible), which I click cancel at every time, and when I try to do just about anything (including installing new ROMs or recoveries from within TWRP) it gets errors when trying to mount any partitions on the device, so I can't change anything on the phone at all.
I've tried re-installing TWRP AND Clockworkmod Recovery with Odin, and they succeed, but when the phone tries to reboot, the screen just turns off and nothing happens, and I have to take the battery out to do anything else.
So right now I'm totally screwed unless I can fix this thing. I'd like to not have to drop 200 on a Nexus 4 after only a year or having this phone I bought brand new, especially with the Nexus 5 already coming out later this year...can somebody help me???
EDIT: I should clarify that I can access recovery and download mode

If you can get into download mode you can flash a stock image to your phone and restart from scratch. Download the proper stock image from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 and flash it in odin.

FoxTrotz said:
If you can get into download mode you can flash a stock image to your phone and restart from scratch. Download the proper stock image from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968625 and flash it in odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should've clarified that I've tried this with a bunch of roms, and it just shows SBA2 in the status box forever. I left it for a full hour before and it never changed.

According to this page http://www.alliance-rom.com/community/wiki/bricked-android/ reformating your external sd card may help. It also links to something I personally have never heard of but apparently this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=15330252 can help unbrick any samsung phone that's flashable with odin.

Note 2 stuck at Start Up screen. Please help

My Galaxy Note 2 is stuck at the Start up screen screen. Where its an all black bg and simply says Samsung Galaxy Note II
I have tried using recovery mode, cleared cache, and reset to factory. Neither troubleshoot method worked.
I have tried numerous Odin autoroots. none work. Whenever I try to root it fails. Im guessing it might be because I dont have Dev Debug enable and I cant get into my phone to enable it. because of this issue
I have tried looking for TWRP .tar but every file I download the file is always a .img
The Model of the phone is a SGH-T889 (T-mobile Note II)
I am all out of ideas, and I dont know what to do. I have been search for answers for hours and everytime I think I found a solution it doesnt work.

What ROM was your phone on when this happened ?
Can you get int to download mode ? If yes try flashing stock ROM and see if it helps.

ciphercodes said:
What ROM was your phone on when this happened ?
Can you get int to download mode ? If yes try flashing stock ROM and see if it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was on the offical default rom. the phone was never modded, or rooted.
My niece downloads a bunch of kiddie games onto the phone, we constantly have to uninstall them. My thoughts and the T-mobile tech suspects that it the crash may have been caused my too many updates or a bad updated file most likely due to the games or game.
I can get the phone into download mode, and recovery mode.
In reovery mode I have 6 options
reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cashe partition
apply update from cache
I have tried Apply update from cache, Wipe cache partition, then Wipe data.factory reset. I also attempted to put a CF auto root .md5 file and a KIES .md5 file which I believe is a stock firmware file on a SD card. to try to use the apply update from external storage option, but neither file showed up when I went into the option. So I guess I didnt have the right sort of file.
So recovery didnt work so I tried using Odin v3.07 and Odin v3.09 with CF auto root files for the SGH-T889, that didnt work, ecerytime I tried to apply it, It was always Fail within seconds. I tried other root files that are made for other versions of the Galaxt Note 2 like the GT-N1700 but those also simply failed.
I tried using what I believe to be stock frimware files with Odin. and those also Failed.
Im not exactly the best person with these. I learn mostly what I know from the internet and reading various forums, youtube videos, and other people experiences. I cannot find anyone who's problem has not yet been fixed through the above methods. so I really dont know where to go from here.
I think the reason I cant Flash from PC is because it might be possible USB Debugging is not enabled. Not sure if this is what is causing all the Fails in odin

BramaKnox said:
It was on the offical default rom. the phone was never modded, or rooted.
My niece downloads a bunch of kiddie games onto the phone, we constantly have to uninstall them. My thoughts and the T-mobile tech suspects that it the crash may have been caused my too many updates or a bad updated file most likely due to the games or game.
I can get the phone into download mode, and recovery mode.
In reovery mode I have 6 options
reboot system now
apply update from ADB
apply update from external storage
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cashe partition
apply update from cache
I have tried Apply update from cache, Wipe cache partition, then Wipe data.factory reset. I also attempted to put a CF auto root .md5 file and a KIES .md5 file which I believe is a stock firmware file on a SD card. to try to use the apply update from external storage option, but neither file showed up when I went into the option. So I guess I didnt have the right sort of file.
So recovery didnt work so I tried using Odin v3.07 and Odin v3.09 with CF auto root files for the SGH-T889, that didnt work, ecerytime I tried to apply it, It was always Fail within seconds. I tried other root files that are made for other versions of the Galaxt Note 2 like the GT-N1700 but those also simply failed.
I tried using what I believe to be stock frimware files with Odin. and those also Failed.
Im not exactly the best person with these. I learn mostly what I know from the internet and reading various forums, youtube videos, and other people experiences. I cannot find anyone who's problem has not yet been fixed through the above methods. so I really dont know where to go from here.
I think the reason I cant Flash from PC is because it might be possible USB Debugging is not enabled. Not sure if this is what is causing all the Fails in odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets see if we can get this resolved.
1) Do you remember what version of Android the phone was on 4.3 or 4.1.2 ?
2) Put your phone in download mode then connect to your computer via usb. Start Odin in admin mode (right click and run as admin).
3) Now do you see ID:COM section turn blue ? Under message you can see "Added!". If you see this then phone is recognized by Odin.
4) If your phone was on 4.3 then download this most up to date firmware - from here http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/22863/T889UVUCMK7_T889TMBCMK7_TMB/
5) Once downloaded, extract the file(use 7zip or winrar), once extracted you will see a file with .md5 extension.
6) Now going back to ODIN, click on PDA and then browse to this file which you just extracted.
7) This takes some time, once done you should see a message like "Checking MD5 finished successfully", "Leave CS".
8) You can leave Auto reboot and F-reset time checked.
9) Now click Start and let the process finish.
10) If everything goes fine you should see a green message "Pass"
Let me know how it goes.

I have the same problem as the OP (boots only up to Samsung logo with black bg) but it was not caused by niece downloading games but instead from trying to install jedi masterx2 rom.
I did what ciphercodes recommended and put phone in download mode and odin went through the motions of installing the stock os (in my case version 4.3) but after apparently installing the rom it again booted up to Samsung note II logo in black bg.
luckily I can install either Clockword mod recovery v6.0.4.3 or teamwin v2.8.6.0
The clockword mod recovery can read the external sd card (whereas funnily enough the teamwin can't) and I can attempt recovery from previous backups on cmr or to install a rom from zip file but neither of these work - reboots again to Samsung logo in black background after apparently installing the rom.
both teamwin and cwr mention that they can't mount system and that's probably why no rom is install either using cwr or odin so my guess is that I have to reformat the partitions cause probably efs file is corrupt but I don't know how to do that and I have done extensive search in google but have not found a solution
so ciphercodes if you or anyone reading this can help please reply to this message

ciphercodes said:
Lets see if we can get this resolved.
1) Do you remember what version of Android the phone was on 4.3 or 4.1.2 ?
2) Put your phone in download mode then connect to your computer via usb. Start Odin in admin mode (right click and run as admin).
3) Now do you see ID:COM section turn blue ? Under message you can see "Added!". If you see this then phone is recognized by Odin.
4) If your phone was on 4.3 then download this most up to date firmware - from here
5) Once downloaded, extract the file(use 7zip or winrar), once extracted you will see a file with .md5 extension.
6) Now going back to ODIN, click on PDA and then browse to this file which you just extracted.
7) This takes some time, once done you should see a message like "Checking MD5 finished successfully", "Leave CS".
8) You can leave Auto reboot and F-reset time checked.
9) Now click Start and let the process finish.
10) If everything goes fine you should see a green message "Pass"
Let me know how it goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am uncertain of which version the phone was on. If you need I can call t-mobile and have them tell me which version it was on.
I did these steps. the file took a hour to download. and It still didn't work. I follow all steps down to the exact. and when I pressed start. within one second it said FAIL. just the other attempts I made.

BramaKnox said:
I am uncertain of which version the phone was on. If you need I can call t-mobile and have them tell me which version it was on.
I did these steps. the file took a hour to download. and It still didn't work. I follow all steps down to the exact. and when I pressed start. within one second it said FAIL. just the other attempts I made.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless your t889 Note II was sitting in a drawer and not being updated for the last year or so you probably have 4.3
When you go to download mode do you see "custom binary download: yes ..."
and do you see "knox warranty void:" ?
if so, your phone has been rooted.
but unlike your case, when I try to install stock rom through Odin, it goes through the motions of installing and gives message pass - that is that the stock rom has been installed, but unfortunately it has not installed any rom that my phone can read.

koyanishi said:
Unless your t889 Note II was sitting in a drawer and not being updated for the last year or so you probably have 4.3
When you go to download mode do you see "custom binary download: yes ..."
and do you see "knox warranty void:" ?
if so, your phone has been rooted.
but unlike your case, when I try to install stock rom through Odin, it goes through the motions of installing and gives message pass - that is that the stock rom has been installed, but unfortunately it has not installed any rom that my phone can read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it says
Product Name: SGH-T889
Custom Binary Download: No
Current Binary: Samsung Official
System Status: Official
Knox Warranty Void: 0
RP SWAEV: A2

BramaKnox said:
No it says
Product Name: SGH-T889
Custom Binary Download: No
Current Binary: Samsung Official
System Status: Official
Knox Warranty Void: 0
RP SWAEV: A2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you have an un rooted 4.3 rom because the 4.1.2 did not have knox

koyanishi said:
Then you have an un rooted 4.3 rom because the 4.1.2 did not have knox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thank you, well then link ciphercodes gave me for the firmware was the right one. But still Failed. *Sigh*

BramaKnox said:
Okay thank you, well then link ciphercodes gave me for the firmware was the right one. But still Failed. *Sigh*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since your phone is not rooted then I think that ciphercodes advice will not work as you can only install a stock rom that way only if your phone is first rooted.
Probably you should try to root your phone using instructions from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2562994
But this might not work for you as it could be that efs file is corrupted or something else as we both boot up to a black screen that only has Samsung logo

koyanishi said:
Since your phone is not rooted then I think that ciphercodes advice will not work as you can only install a stock rom that way only if your phone is first rooted.
Probably you should try to root your phone using instructions from this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2562994
But this might not work for you as it could be that efs file is corrupted or something else as we both boot up to a black screen that only has Samsung logo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the chainfire root fail as well. I have tried every file for all the Galaxy II's including mines. none work. Always FAIL in Odin. I'm guessing there is just nothing I can do

BramaKnox said:
Yeah the chainfire root fail as well. I have tried every file for all the Galaxy II's including mines. none work. Always FAIL in Odin. I'm guessing there is just nothing I can do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since your phone is not rooted you may be able to get it repaired under warranty. I think that Samsung warranty is only good for a year, but if you purchased your phone with a American Express gold card (I think other gold cards will also apply) your warranty is extended to double what the original was. So perhaps you have a chance to have your credit card pay for the repair.
Otherwise:
I am no expert but if you want to continue playing with your phone before you get expert advice you may want to play with the recovery mode. To enter recovery mode press volume up and home and power buttons at the same time. once you feel vibrate or after a while release the power button but continue to hold volume up and home buttons and then you will enter recovery mode. you may want to go to menu that says wipe data/factory reset and see if that works. It may be that it is like my phone and the system cannot be mounted in which case you will get that message. After you are through to get out of this menu remove the battery.
But please be aware that I am no expert and you are using this info at your own risk
but I think of doing something catastrophic using this advice in my non expert opinion is small.

koyanishi said:
Since your phone is not rooted you may be able to get it repaired under warranty. I think that Samsung warranty is only good for a year, but if you purchased your phone with a American Express gold card (I think other gold cards will also apply) your warranty is extended to double what the original was. So perhaps you have a chance to have your credit card pay for the repair.
Otherwise:
I am no expert but if you want to continue playing with your phone before you get expert advice you may want to play with the recovery mode. To enter recovery mode press volume up and home and power buttons at the same time. once you feel vibrate or after a while release the power button but continue to hold volume up and home buttons and then you will enter recovery mode. you may want to go to menu that says wipe data/factory reset and see if that works. It may be that it is like my phone and the system cannot be mounted in which case you will get that message. After you are through to get out of this menu remove the battery.
But please be aware that I am no expert and you are using this info at your own risk
but I think of doing something catastrophic using this advice in my non expert opinion is small.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the warranty is expired. and I have tried recovery mode. thats actually the first step before trying to apply a firmware. So recovery hasnt worked either. Guess I will just have to get a new phone. thank you all for oyu help tho. I apperciate it

I was just reading through the thread.. It doesnt seem like you tried flashing Tmobiles Stock 4.3 Firmware in download mode. If you tried to flash a 4.1.2 Firmware when the phone was already updated then I think thats where it failed. Try again but with the 4.3 Firmware through ODIN. After it finishes try rebooting it manually and/or if it doesnt boot again then go back into recovery and factory/data reset again...shouldnt hurt to try..

Double0EK said:
I was just reading through the thread.. It doesnt seem like you tried flashing Tmobiles Stock 4.3 Firmware in download mode. If you tried to flash a 4.1.2 Firmware when the phone was already updated then I think thats where it failed. Try again but with the 4.3 Firmware through ODIN. After it finishes try rebooting it manually and/or if it doesnt boot again then go back into recovery and factory/data reset again...shouldnt hurt to try..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my knowledge the other person who first replied gave me 4.3 firmeware fild link. But in the chances of it could u provide me with a link to a 4.3 firmware u believe will work, because all the ones I found have not worked

LG G3 Stuck In Bootloop

Hi XDA, many threads here have helped me in the past so time to ask another (probably stupid) question. It's a bit of a long story so I apologise in advance.
I've been running CM (one of the nightly builds from about 3 weeks back, don't have the file so I can't say which) on my phone for a while with no issues until a couple of nights ago when it was overheating (charging while playing a game, stupid I know) so I decided to turn it off so it could cool down without taking it off charge.
The following morning I turn it back on to find that it's getting to the blue android head logo of CM and getting stuck there. First thing I do is reboot into TWRP and flash my backup from right after I installed CM. Reboot and... same result. Okay, no biggie right? Time to reinstall CM (the latest nightly build from yesterday) and Google Apps (nano package) via TWRP and reboot again. Still stuck at the blue android head logo. The reinstall was handled after using the Wipe-Factory Reset function of TWRP, as the guide here explains.
At this point I decide to do a bit of research and learn that it's called a softbrick or bootloop and apparently flashing the stock rom can fix it. The LG software suite won't even recognise the device but a friend of mine found this guide so I attempted to run through it. All goes well until it comes time for the software to connect to the phone - I pop it in download mode while putting the USB cable in, the program says waiting for connection, runs for 14 seconds and says it's trying to put the phone into download mode, at this point it fails saying the phone can't be put into download mode.
Some of the comments beneath the article offer fixes like using USB 2.0 instead of 3.0, putting the program into compatability mode for Win7 and running in administrator mode. To be thorough I tried every USB port on my machine (both 2.0 and 3.0) and run the program in compatability mode (with and without admin mode) for several versions of windows. Same result every time.
Another friend then suggests that somehow permissions got borked and it might be worth reflashing SuperSU to the system but at this point I'm at a loss for how to do that. I have the one click root script that I got from god knows where (not this one because that didn't work for me) that has a SuperSU zip in it, presumably it flashes that to the phone when it runs (found this out the hard way because I've been a moron in the past and tried installing SuperSU through TWRP and broke the boot previously, fixed by re-running the one click root script - this was ages ago before even installing CM.)
So right now I can put the phone into download mode manually, get into TWRP and use all its functions as well as connect to my PC and use ADB functions while the phone's in TWRP but can't boot into CM or flash a stock rom. Any help would be appreciated, I've spent a whole day reading guides, asking friends and clumsily trying to fix this only to get nowhere.

Have u tried installing the stock via TWRP? Via zip ... Wipe cache delvik also..

jinderation said:
Have u tried installing the stock via TWRP? Via zip ... Wipe cache delvik also..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried that, I didn't even know it was possible. Could you give me some more detailed pointers on how to do this? I noticed that the stock ROM I have cames as a .TOT file but CM is several files and folders in the zip. Will it install fine from that zipped up TOT file?
Thank you so much for your time.

When the rom is uploaded by the dev its also uploaded in .zip file place it ur system rom just go into twrp recovery flash the the zip file before flashing wipe cache n delvik too its easy as 1,2,3 search here on xda for ur compatible model

jinderation said:
When the rom is uploaded by the dev its also uploaded in .zip file place it ur system rom just go into twrp recovery flash the the zip file before flashing wipe cache n delvik too its easy as 1,2,3 search here on xda for ur compatible model
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much. I got it sorted. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out with my stupidity.