Develop Bugs

Firmware updates seem to be write protected, Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G

Hi folks,
In my wife's Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G 64GB, firmware updates seem to be completely blocked.
I've tried every conceivable method described in this forum, but nothing seems to help.
I've tried to install CWM and CM using Odin (I laid off Heimdall, as it seemed to complex). The device is recognized, but the flashing is just standing, getting nowhere at all.
The same if I try using ADB, I can manipulate the file system within ordinary user limits (creating folders, renaming folders, moving them etc.), but as soon as I try to push a file to the device, the process is just waiting, and waiting, and...
If I set the device in recovery mode (PWR and Vol-, then Vol-, and Vol+), ADB tells me the device ID and recovery. But it refuses to accept any files.
Also nvflash doesn't help. Under Windows (PWR and Vol+), the device is recognized by the driver, but when I execute any nvflash command, it says "USB device not found". Under Linux, the device is also recognized as some nVidia device, but not possible to write anything, nor read anything.
My last resort is to try draining the battery, and then install a new official ROM again.
I'm completely out of ideas by now, and would very grateful for some useful tips how to unblock the device.
Best regards,
Peter

Just bad luck purchasing this product
Hi folks,
This tablet is driving me completely nuts . After spending several days plowing through forums and other sources, it's pretty clear why it's not possible to modify the tablet. My GT-P7500 G3 is a retail version and thus blocked against changes. With blocked I mean totally, utterly blocked.
There seems to be one single way to get low level access to the tab, and that's using nvflash with Samsung's SBK (secure-boot-key). Just imagine Samsung giving me access to that boot key. No way I'd say.
So, please, please, if somebody knows the secure boot key, or know how to create it, PM me. I would be really grateful.
This total block has got far reaching implications. Lots of applications requiring elevated access privileges don't install, or if they install, don't work. No backups, no recovery, no modyfing. My reason to get access to raw disk partitions is, that there was some glitch in the tab that destroyed all pictures, and all videos. If I can read the raw disk to a file, there's a pretty good chance that I can recover at least some of it.
I feel really cheated by Samsung blocking access to MY data this way.
So for you who are considering purchasing a Samsung product, have this in mind. Don't waste your time as I did.
Best regards,
Peter

Urgent Help Needed!

Hello....I bricked my I927 when I accidently formatted my efs partition when using EFS professional .....my phone boots in download mode.....but only boots till samsung logo screen.....I tried various things like installing stock GB and ICS through odin and installing custom firmware but phone boots onle till samsung logo and then lights up with sone stange colored thin lines and screen goes off.....In TRWP I get a "unable to mount preload" error whenever I try to install somethiing.....I suspect that the EFS partiton is corrupted and needs to be repartioned....I had backupped the efs folder when my phone was working before.....its in a tar format.....I read somwhere that someone made a recovery.zip out of his backedup EFS.IMG and flashed it with CWM solved his problems which were exactly similar to mine.....can somebody on the forum make a recovery.zip for I927 with update binary and script so that I can add the backedup EFS image to it and flash it with CWM? Please.....this would also help many others who are facing similar issues.....and also what do I do regarding the "unable to mount preload" error? I need to repartition and tried to install hemdall.....but get the common .dll error even after following all the instructions and installing C++ 2010.....

Hi, k one thing after the other.
Do you have repartitioned anything?
Do you have adb in place and does adb works when in TWRP?
The easiest thing would be to connect by adb then mount /efs and then restore the efs backup. The good is that you will have a good chance to recover your device. Maybe you need to reformat /efs but that depends.
Which timezone do you live? Maybe a Teamviewer session would be helpful?
.

Thank you for your reply sir...
THANKS FOR THE REPLY SIR....YES I WAS ABLE TO GO INTO CWM RECOVERY AND CONNECT THE PHONE WITH MINIMAL ADB FASTBOOT.....AND AFTER SPENDING ALMOST 2 DAYS CONTINUOUSLY TRYING TO FIND THE PROBLEM USING GOOGLE, I TRIED DIFFERENT COMMANDS ON ADB TO GET EFS BACK OJ THE PHONE....BUT WITH NO SUCCESS...... MY EFS BACKUP IS IN TAR FORMAT......IT WAS MADE USING GALAXYSIMUNLOCK BY SPOCKY.....I LATER TYPED IN 'ADB MESG'.....OR SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THAT COMMAND, AND FOUND OUT THAT ALL THE PARTITIONS ON mmcblk0 were mangled up with strange letters.....for eg, p1, p2, p3 and so on had strange characters written next to them.....SO I TRIED TO RE-PARTITION THE WHOLE THING WITH SDPARTED......AND IT RE-PARTIONED THE SYSTEM (AROUND 7000MB).....MMCBLK01 (AROUND 500MB).....AND ANOTHER THING I CANT REMEMBER NOW.....BUT WHEN IT FINISHED THE JOB, IT GAVE ME A mmcblk02 ERROR.....AND WHEN WHEN I CHECKED MY PHONE ON CWM SCREEN, IT GAVE ME A LIST OF CACHE ERRORS.....AND WHEN I SWITCHED OFF THE PHONE AFTER THAT IT REFUSED TO POWER ON.....IT WAS NOT EVEN GOING INTO DOWNLOAD OR RECOVERY MODE.....BATTERY HAD ENOUGH POWER....SO ITS NOT BATTERY FAULT......I SUPPOSE THAT SINCE THE PARTITIONS WERE FORMATTED THE PHONE BECAME COMPLETELY DEAD......CAN YOU TELL ME IF THERE IS ANY WAY WHERE I COULD GET THE COMPUTER TO RECOGNIZE MY PHONE USING A 'DEAD PHONE USB FLASH' OR SOMETHING.....AND THEN FLASH A BLANK BOOTLOADER AND THEN WRITE CWM?
I LIVE IN INDIA SIR.....+5.30 GMT.....I DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT TEAMVIEWER.....IS IT AN ANDROID APP? CAN YOU EXPLAIN MORE IN DETAIL SIR?
PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW TO GET THE COMPUTER TO RECOGNIZE THE PHONE AGAIN......

Well.. that sounds not that good...
Teamviewer (www.teamviewer.com) is an easy to use and free remote control software for your PC (it runs on both Linux and Windows). We could do a remote control session if you like. I can try to help but cannot promise anything.
I live in Germany: GMT +1. Send me a PM if you want to give that a try. Next Monday. Tuesday or Thursday would be possible on my site. At least for getting a short overview.
.

Thank you sir,
Thanks for the reply Sir.....I believe using teamviewer requires a internet connection with good amount of data.....I have an extremely slow 2G internet connection here in India.....I searched google to find some solution for the bricked I927......and came across many posts where people have used the 'unbrick.img' which was specifically made for their samsung phone models on their SD cards to resurrect their dead phones.....The method involves creating a 'unbrick.img' with emmc files extracted from another working I927 and then writing the image on an external SD card with some linux commands or win2image software and then inserting the SD card into the dead phone and switch it on by which it goes to download mode.....once in download mode I can flash CWM or TWRP and also flash stock firmware through odin and recover the phone.....Since your a developer who is well versed in things pertaining to this, can you make a unbrick.img file for the I927 and upload it here Sir? It will be very helpful for others also on the samsung glide subforum, as there is no proper 'hard unbrick' thread for the glide on xda......Ill be very grateful and thankful to you for all your help Sir.....

alvcross said:
Thanks for the reply Sir.....I believe using teamviewer requires a internet connection with good amount of data.....I have an extremely slow 2G internet connection here in India.....I searched google to find some solution for the bricked I927......and came across many posts where people have used the 'unbrick.img' which was specifically made for their samsung phone models on their SD cards to resurrect their dead phones.....The method involves creating a 'unbrick.img' with emmc files extracted from another working I927 and then writing the image on an external SD card with some linux commands or win2image software and then inserting the SD card into the dead phone and switch it on by which it goes to download mode.....once in download mode I can flash CWM or TWRP and also flash stock firmware through odin and recover the phone.....Since your a developer who is well versed in things pertaining to this, can you make a unbrick.img file for the I927 and upload it here Sir? It will be very helpful for others also on the samsung glide subforum, as there is no proper 'hard unbrick' thread for the glide on xda......Ill be very grateful and thankful to you for all your help Sir.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I have made one. It want to say it was VERY hard to find the correct instructions to do so and therefore I'm absolutely not sure if that will work for you!
Test it if you like but again: I have no idea if that would damage anything more than it is now!
See --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/cap...od-unbrick-debrick-hard-bricked-i927-t3285505
If it worked for you (would be like a miracle) then please report back!
If it does NOT work for you please report back, too!
thanks
xdajog
.
UPDATE:
Besides the link I posted --> Could you please also try the following:
1) Power on your device and directly after that:
2) Press and hold down Vol Up + Vol Down (both the same time)
3) You should see a warning message like the attached one which is the APX mode
4) you need to release the vol buttons immediately after you see the APX mode otherwise it will continue to the non working download mode.

Does teamviewer require internet connection with a lot of data?
Thanks for the reply Sir.....I believe using teamviewer requires a internet connection with good amount of data.....I have an extremely slow 2G internet connection here in India.....I searched google to find some solution for the bricked I927......and came across many posts where people have used the 'unbrick.img' which was specifically made for their samsung phone models on their SD cards to resurrect their dead phones.....The method involves creating a 'unbrick.img' with emmc files extracted from another working I927 and then writing the image on an external SD card with some linux commands or win2image software and then inserting the SD card into the dead phone and switch it on by which it goes to download mode.....once in download mode I can flash CWM or TWRP and also flash stock firmware through odin and recover the phone.....Since your a developer who is well versed in things pertaining to this, can you make a unbrick.img file for the I927 and upload it here Sir? It will be very helpful for others also on the samsung glide subforum, as there is no proper 'hard unbrick' thread for the glide on xda......Ill be very grateful and thankful to you for all your help Sir.....

alvcross said:
Thanks for the reply Sir.....I believe using teamviewer requires a internet connection with good amount of data.....I have an extremely slow 2G internet connection here in India.....I searched google to find some solution for the bricked I927......and came across many posts where people have used the 'unbrick.img' which was specifically made for their samsung phone models on their SD cards to resurrect their dead phones.....The method involves creating a 'unbrick.img' with emmc files extracted from another working I927 and then writing the image on an external SD card with some linux commands or win2image software and then inserting the SD card into the dead phone and switch it on by which it goes to download mode.....once in download mode I can flash CWM or TWRP and also flash stock firmware through odin and recover the phone.....Since your a developer who is well versed in things pertaining to this, can you make a unbrick.img file for the I927 and upload it here Sir? It will be very helpful for others also on the samsung glide subforum, as there is no proper 'hard unbrick' thread for the glide on xda......Ill be very grateful and thankful to you for all your help Sir.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm do you have read my above post??
.

1927 wouldn't boot.....Help.
Ohhhh Thank you.....thank you.....thank you for your kind reply Sir.....how good of you to take all your precious time to help me.....I greatly appreciate all your hard work Sir.....wonderful...*.I wanted to download your img file to try it out and when I read the reply of brother Bubor, that the I927 woudnt boot from the SD card when the bootloader is bricked, I was very disappointed. Like I said before, I have a very very slow internet connection with very less data left....and according to brother bubor's reply I doubt this will work....It looked like he was sure that it wont work....I tried to get into APX mode as the link that brother bubor posted had mentioned, but no luck, as the phone is not going into APX mode.....I remember that when I was trying to get to the APX mode the first time, the computer flashed a notification that the APX driver was not successfully installed.....but after that I tried the method more than a dozen times, but the computer was not recognizing the phone to go into APX mode.....Does the phone go into APX mode when the full internal phone system is formatted? I tried your second method on trying to get to APX mode, but nothing happens.....the computer is not recognizing the phone.....The battery had about 30% power in it when the phone got bricked 2 weeks ago.....Dont know if the battery drained all these days of not using the phone.....And even if I get to the APX mode, I have no idea how to proceed from there to repartition the internal phone system and get back download mode.....In the link that brother bubor posted the person who made the thread has made some files to be used when one gets into APX mode.....The PIT and emmc files which are necessary for repartitioning the system and getting the bootloader work are found in that zip file.....But that zip file is for the I9103 Galaxy R.....there isnt something like that available for the I927 yet.....And is brother bubor sure that the unbrick.img file wont work on the I927?

Give it a try with my unbrick image.
we all don't know.
.

xdajog said:
Give it a try with my unbrick image.
we all don't know.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi @alvcross: any update on this?
have you tried the SD card unbrick?
You said you cannot open the APX mode but what happens when you press the buttons for accessing the APX mode?
Try it even if you see a blank screen and then connect your Cappy with USB to your computer --> you should get a message about a missing driver or similar.
If that works I tell you how to proceed.

xdajog said:
hi @alvcross: Any update on this?
Have you tried the sd card unbrick?
You said you cannot open the apx mode but what happens when you press the buttons for accessing the apx mode?
Try it even if you see a blank screen and then connect your cappy with usb to your computer --> you should get a message about a missing driver or similar.
If that works i tell you how to proceed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im so sorry that i was missing in this thread for a long time now sir.....i have had some issues at home and they have been sorted out lately.....yes sir.....i tried the sd card unbrick image....but my nothing happens.....when i try to hold volume up+power+home buttons and insert usb cable into my computer it says installing drivers and then says drivers failed to install....and nothing happens further.....can you help sir?

alvcross said:
im so sorry that i was missing in this thread for a long time now sir.....i have had some issues at home and they have been sorted out lately.....yes sir.....i tried the sd card unbrick image....but my nothing happens.....when i try to hold volume up+power+home buttons and insert usb cable into my computer it says installing drivers and then says drivers failed to install....and nothing happens further.....can you help sir?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so you may try to install the special apx drivers now. Unfortunately I'm on vacation right now so I cannot upload them elsewhere. I come back to you next week.
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA-Developers mobile app

xdajog said:
Ok so you may try to install the special apx drivers now. Unfortunately I'm on vacation right now so I cannot upload them elsewhere. I come back to you next week.
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes Sir....Ill be waiting for the special apx driver package from you....Thank you so very much Sir.....God bless you.....

alvcross said:
Oh yes Sir....Ill be waiting for the special apx driver package from you....Thank you so very much Sir.....God bless you.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No guarantee ! [emoji121]
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA-Developers mobile app

xdajog said:
No guarantee ! [emoji121]
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes Sir....I understand....

alvcross said:
Yes Sir....I understand....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok could you please try these driver package here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/development/adb-fb-apx-driver-universal-naked-t1379875
Follow the instructions there for installing
The next step (if the driver would work for you) will be to flash a working PIT to your device to make sure you are using the correct partitions.
Afterwards we will flash the bootloader (may absolutely brick your device if not done correctly) and then --> if all goes fine --> you should be able to flash in download mode whatever you want to.
So it is still a long way to go and I need to check all the steps first before actually we can proceed.
That may take longer so do not expect that this will be something in the next days.. sorry.
Update:
If the above universal driver do NOT work for you: Test these one here View attachment apx_driver_samsung.zip
.

Thanks for the speedy reply Sir......Ill do as you said and let you know Sir......thank you.....thank you.....thank you Sir....

wooowwww......windows installed the drivers for the phone and it shows up as "NVIDIA usb boot-recovery for mobile devices." But when I open minimal adb and fastboot and type 'adb devices' the phone doesn't show up in the 'list of devices attached'....the line after 'list of devices attached' is just empty.....Also the phone doesnt show up in odin....what should I do next Sir?

alvcross said:
wooowwww......windows installed the drivers for the phone and it shows up as "NVIDIA usb boot-recovery for mobile devices." But when I open minimal adb and fastboot and type 'adb devices' the phone doesn't show up in the 'list of devices attached'....the line after 'list of devices attached' is just empty.....Also the phone doesnt show up in odin....what should I do next Sir?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nvidia apx isnt fastboot/adb device. You can found tool on nvidia site ( more info https://ac100.grandou.net/nvflash ), this tool can read and write whole flash.
Before you could use nvidia's tool, you must send an uniq blob to your phone. APX mode is useless without this blob.
This blob is uniq for every phone.

Nexus 7 (2013) multiple "Unfortunately..." after motherboard swap / image reflash

Nexus 7 (2013) multiple "Unfortunately..." after motherboard swap / image reflash
Hello all - I'm hoping someone can provide some assistance / suggestions...
A few months ago, my son's tablet went for a quick swim (dropped into the toilet ) Unfortunately, I wasn't at home (on a business trip) to immediately power it down and pull the battery. I'm not sure if it was turned off / back on / off again or what, but it was quickly put into a bag of rice to try and minimize the damage until I came home to review.
Inspection of the tablet confirmed it was dead - no response to either buttons or plugging in the charger. Found the ifixit how-to, and after obtaining some tools I popped the back case off to see what was what. Disassembly revealed an nice scorch mark on the underside of the motherboard, right where the main chip was, so it was pretty obvious what the failure was.
I decided that I'd give repairing it a go, and bought a replacement motherboard from ebay a couple of weeks ago. Swapping the board over was no problem, and I was happy to see that after letting it charge fully, it booted up and went into the 'Setup' routine.
However, this is where the problems started - as it was working through the setup (language / wifi / copy apps/data from other device etc) there were numerous "Unfortunately, xxx has stopped" messages. I kept 'ok'ing them, and the tablet made it to the point where it was starting to download the saved apps etc from the playstore before it rebooted.
When it powered back up, the 'Unfortunately" pop ups were worse than before, so after doing some searching I decided to try flash a factory image (razor-mob30x) , as per the link on the Nexus help forum. The flash seemed to work (no errors in fastboot mode, laptop was communicating with the tablet) but the pop ups were still as plentiful as before. I have tried the flash multiple times, even going back to lollipop, but with no real improvement. The last thing I tried tonight was to start the recommended flash process from step 1, re-downloading and installing all the required programs, but without success.
I'm not sure what else to try, as the factory image reflash should erase all the installed files.
My only thought is maybe trying to sideload the correct gapps / play services / etc in fastboot mode?
Any suggestions appreciated,
Roadie73

Update..
So, because I'm a glutton for punishment, I've been playing with the N7 again this evening...
Grabbed my old laptop, and went through the complete routine again - loading adb and fastboot onto the laptop, then the N7 factory image - and ended up with basically the same result - the tablet will look like the files have taken, but almost immediately after restarting and loading to the blue set up screen, the "Unfortunately..." messages start again.
I was able to get all the way through the set up, and have it copy and start to download the files off the tablet I was using previously, but the pop ups persisted, and it gets to a point where it is looking for a google play services update, and the process comes to a screeching halt.
I found another 'How To" and tried sideloading a rescue OTA update, which might be a little better, but the messages persist....
I'm almost wondering if it's worth reflashing the factory image back to whatever the N7 shipped with, and then trying updates from there, as it seems to be the play services / store / apps that is the issue.
The other strange thing is that when I sign in with my google account, it shows as a Nexus 7 2012, even though it's a 2013 - might the original software on the replacement motherboard have been corrupt?
Still trying...

Roadie73 said:
it shows as a Nexus 7 2012, even though it's a 2013 - might the original software on the replacement motherboard have been corrupt?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, please post the output of the 2 commands...
boot the Nexus in fastboot mode (when off press power+vol.dn)
connect it to your PC
on PC run:
fastboot getvar all
fastboot oem gpt-info​
If you can, also attach logs...
download get-logs.zip to a FAT32 flash drive
connect the flash drive to your N7 with OTG adapter
download TWRP to your folder with fastboot and adb apps
boot the Nexus in fastboot mode (when off press power+vol.dn)
on PC run: fastboot boot twrp-3.1.0-0-flo.img
when TWRP is up, go: install/select-storage/usb-otg/get-logs.zip/flash
logs.tgz will be saved on the flash drive
attach logs.tgz here
It's simpler if you have TWRP already installed. You can also use get-logs.zip from internal storage.

Hi k23m,
I ran the two commands you suggested (getvar all and oem gpt-info) , and grabbed the outputs of both as screen captures and dumped them into a ppt file (which I can't seem to attach - there is no 'manage attachments' option I can see )
I installed TWRP on the N7, but was unsuccessful in creating / grabbing logs.tgz file - which might have to do with the USB connector on the N7 being flaky - if the otg cable wasn't held in exactly the right way it wouldn't recognize the flash drive.
If I can figure out how to add the attachment I will in a separate post, or I can always email it to you direct.
Thanks,
Roadie

Hello k23m,
Finally ad a couple of minutes to play with the N7 again - copied the get-logs file over to the tablet (that was behaving for once).
Unfortunately, despite copying the file off the N7 onto the laptop, a *.tgz file can't be attached. So I did the next best thing and copied the screen caps into an excel doc, which is one of the valid extension.
Please see the attached file - I had a look at the output, but it means nothing to me...
Thanks,
Roadie

added 'logs.tgz' file run previously - please rename from *.xls
Hopefully it might provide some insights into why the N7 is mis-behaving.
Thanks,
Roadie

The logs are OK.
Roadie73 said:
when I sign in with my google account, it shows as a Nexus 7 2012, even though it's a 2013
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have followed the factory image installation instructions and you see the error messages before setup's initial sign in, then your hardware is faulty.
If it happens after sign in, then perhaps Google has corrupt account data ("it shows as a Nexus 7 2012"). Try a new account. Try a custom ROM with Gapps.

Ok, thanks.
Just tried a factory reflash as per the link, but fastbooted the individual files (boot / recovery / system / userdata / cache) separately as from what I have read using the 'flash-all' batch file has intermittent results.
Looked like the files loaded in successfully, but I'm still getting the "Unfortunately.." messages popping up on the initial sign in screen for set-up
So, based on k23m's assessment above, it sounds like it's a hardware problem
As far as I know the touch screen is ok (it's responsive in all areas, as far as I can tell). The daughterboard is not the original (that took a swim) - it was swapped out of another N7 when the charging port started to spread (and that tablet was issue free) So it looks as if the issue is in the replacement motherboard.
I guess I could try removing and reinstalling it, on the off chance it's a flaky connection somewhere.
I will also check to see if there was any sort of gaurentee / replacement policy for the replacement mobo, but it sounds like I'm out of luck
Any other suggestions / checks I can perform to see if I can narrow down where the issue lies?
Thank you,
Roadie

OPS File (partitions info) Galaxy A5 2017

Hi everyone,
I am trying to revive a Samsung A5 2017. Few months ago I had a software problem with it and went to a local shop to fix it, but no luck. The repair man told me he doesn't know what's wrong with the phone. To be short, the phone was completely dead. On a second shop and opinion, the phone was erased, I mean no partitions at all .... nothing. The phone wasn't even recognized by the pc at the beginning of this story. Don't have any backups. I've succeeded to make phone visible to Odin by flashing the correct PIT file. Now any attempt with Odin ends the same way .... efs, preload failed to mount. I want to remake the partition table with Odin multi downloader, but for this I need the ops file for this type of phone or the partitions name and order (to create one) and EFS file (which I have). Maybe it's a waste of time but I like tinkering with this. Any suggestions are very welcome on how to solve this.
Thanks

Hey, I have the same problem phone doesnt respond at all and isnt recognized by my Pc. How did you get it to be regocnized at least on your Pc.

Samsung S9 Question

Hi,
I ran into some malware on my PC and my phone somehow wound up with it too. So what's happening is when my device is hooked up to any device it automatically pairs 2 separate devices. One is the phone and one is called a Bluetooth LE(Low energy) 1927237798 etc. I have the snapdragon qualcomm phone and the canadian variant with Fido. I was looking around in developer settings and I do not see any OEM unlock.. Is there any way to flash the phone without it?
I need to flash the phone because the malware persists through factory data reset. I can't access any files that are relating to this bluetooth device and I have a feeling there's an embedded profile behind the screen that I see. I also noticed the script that ran put in a virtual SIM and draws mobile data when I am not hooked up to wifi. This bluetooth LE device automatically connects to surrounding bluetooth devices and infects them with whatever payload and it's like a super virus/worm from Russia/China I believe since the researcher told me some of the payloads on the PC were in russian language. Anyways, some help would be wonderful because my phone is infecting everything...
Also notably there are a string of nested file folders with no files in them. I am unable to delete them, all I have been able to do is move them up folders to the parents and try deleting but they always come back and there are a lot with really weird names and ^43%HlLuy etc.
I just hope to be able to flash stock firmware without the OEM unlock in order to wipe the old data that was changed by the malware in the providers area/root area.(No the phone was not previously rooted - I think it's not possible, but they got into protected folders and edited files somehow. I'd love to know how)
Thanks for your assistance. I have rooted a phone or two in my day but I can't remember if I can just flash stock firmware or even the best place to source it.

Doing a clean flash using ODIN should hopefully resolve. But you must do a clean flash using CSC file not HOME_CSC. OEM unlock is not needed.

Thank you so much. I will hunt down the right files and get this sorted.