Develop Bugs

Seem to have soft bricked my SGH-i747

I'd like to start by apologizing for what is probably the 9,000th "help, I've bricked my phone!" thread. I did some searching, and while I found many, I wasn't able to find one that both dealt with my specific issue, and did so assuming a level of newbishness appropriate for me.
Months ago, I rooted my AT&T Galaxy SIII, and installed CM10. It's been all candy and rainbows since. This morning, I somewhat foolishly decided to update from a nightly I installed in October/November, to the January 7 CM 10.1 nightly, using the built-in updater I had previously used to switch to a nightly.
It worked...sort of. I guess I should have cleared my cache or something ahead of time, because almost all of my GAPPS stopped working. Woops! Figuring that I should probably stop dicking around with my phone until I learned a bit more, I just went back and told the phone to switch back to the nightly I from October/November that I was previously using.
It didn't work. My phone now reaches the CM boot animation and just...sits there. And sits there. And sits there. To complicate the issue, I cannot get the phone to boot into recovery mode (although admittedly, I'm too thick to know what I'm meant to do once I'm there anyway). I CAN get the phone into download mode, but not being sure what I should do there, I thought it best to consult you all on what to do next.
I'm happy to give any additional information needed, and I hope it goes without saying that I am extremely thankful for any help you all can offer.

Try to get it back into recovery by taking the battery out, putting it back in and then holding volume up, home, and power. If you are sure you can't get it into Recovery, but know for sure you can get it into Download, go into Download and flash stock and go from there. These aren't bricks. These are just whoops. Lol.

If you can reach download mode, you'll be okay. What you want to do is use Odin to flash a rooted stock image; from there, you should be able to get back to a point where you can re-install a custom recovery of your choice and try flashing your favourite ROM again.
For the record, it's always a good idea to clear data/cache when changing ROMs, or changing between major revisions of a ROM (such as CM10 -> CM10.1) to avoid this sort of problem.

Actually, you should always wipe cache and dalvik when flashing the update. If it is a major update like 4.1.2 to 4.2.1, then you should wipe cache, wipe dalvik, Factory Reset, Format System then flash your ROM.

Move important files to SD using twrp file manager. Put rom on SD with gapps. Format internal, wipe caches, format system, factory reset, load ROM, load gapps. Reboot.
Sent from a Horny Pink Pony

smelenchuk said:
If you can reach download mode, you'll be okay. What you want to do is use Odin to flash a rooted stock image; from there, you should be able to get back to a point where you can re-install a custom recovery of your choice and try flashing your favourite ROM again.
For the record, it's always a good idea to clear data/cache when changing ROMs, or changing between major revisions of a ROM (such as CM10 -> CM10.1) to avoid this sort of problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this, being careful to follow all the instructions provided. Odin seemed to think everything worked, and after about 10 minutes, it rebooted the phone.
However, it still gets stuck. Now, since CM is no longer installed, it just sits at the SAMSUNG logo forever.
It still boots into download mode, and will now boot into recovery as well. Any suggestions?

naporeon said:
It still boots into download mode, and will now boot into recovery as well. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot to recovery and clear data and cache.

smelenchuk said:
Boot to recovery and clear data and cache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked like a charm, thanks! Can't believe after all that trouble, I didn't think to do that myself. >.<

Stuck in Bootloop Can not get out

So my phone is stuck in bootloop. and I cant get my phone to boot correctly.
To start, I was running 4.2.2 AOKP for about half a year and it started to not work as well. Force closing alot, freezing etc. So I decided it was time to update. While I was running AOKP, I experienced bootloop almost every time I turned off my phone. This became regular, but by pulling the battery and trying again (sometimes I had to do with a few times) it always got working again.
I went and found the new 4.3 Carbon ROM and decided that looked cool and would be a nice upgrade. So I downloaded it and the new 4.3 gapps. Put them on an external sd card, and put it into my phone. I then booted into CWM and did a factory reset. Then I went and installed the Carbon from the external sd, installed gapps, and rebooted immediately. I was then, and still am, stuck in a bootloop.
I can restart my phone go back into clockwork.
But I cant get the phone, despite all my efforts, to boot correctly. I have tried to wipe caches, wipe dalvik, format system. All of it. yet I cannot boot correctly.
I really need a working phone. Any help would be really great.
Thanks all

Also, I am using TWRP 2.6.3 to do the flash of the Carbon after it failed the first time

Moheemo said:
Also, I am using TWRP 2.6.3 to do the flash of the Carbon after it failed the first time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2.6.3.0 seems to be giving many people issues. You need to install 2.6.1.0.
And is your radio up to date? Only 2 work...the new T-Mobile and Telus radios.
After those 2 things are taken care of, you should be fine. Tho lots of things can cause boot loops, and there's many.. many posts about it. If my suggestions don't help.....Search and read up. Try some various fixes.
Maybe try a different rom too.
Sent from my cellular telephone
---------- Post added at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:06 PM ----------
Hope you did a nandroid backup in recovery? Restore it if so. If not, you may need to start from scratch and Odin flash stock rom, flash recovery and root again.
Sent from my cellular telephone

Moheemo said:
So my phone is stuck in bootloop. and I cant get my phone to boot correctly.
To start, I was running 4.2.2 AOKP for about half a year and it started to not work as well. Force closing alot, freezing etc. So I decided it was time to update. While I was running AOKP, I experienced bootloop almost every time I turned off my phone. This became regular, but by pulling the battery and trying again (sometimes I had to do with a few times) it always got working again.
I went and found the new 4.3 Carbon ROM and decided that looked cool and would be a nice upgrade. So I downloaded it and the new 4.3 gapps. Put them on an external sd card, and put it into my phone. I then booted into CWM and did a factory reset. Then I went and installed the Carbon from the external sd, installed gapps, and rebooted immediately. I was then, and still am, stuck in a bootloop.
I can restart my phone go back into clockwork.
But I cant get the phone, despite all my efforts, to boot correctly. I have tried to wipe caches, wipe dalvik, format system. All of it. yet I cannot boot correctly.
I really need a working phone. Any help would be really great.
Thanks all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flash stock rom zip via odin then you should be good to root and try to flash another custom rom again:good:

Strange Boot Loop With NO CWM Recovery

I've got a T-Mobile Note 3 that I picked it up on launch day last Thursday at a T-mobile store. I proceeded to root the phone with Odin, then restore via Titanium Backup and then fix the backup with "restorecon -R -v /data". Life has been great until last night. Initially I got a circle with a line through it instead of the mobile signal and my cellular link would not connect, but my wifi was fine. When the problem was sill occurring this morning I figured it was an odd cellular problem and rebooted the phone this morning when it persisted. Now the phone is rebooting a few minutes after it completes booting.
It will boot normally, then I'll unlock the phone and get my window manager (Holo)...then I'll get the error "Process system isn't responding. Do you want to close it?". Then I get the error "Unfortunately, Favorite Apps has stopped." Regardless whether I interact with those error messages the phone then reboots a minute later. I have *not* done a restore from CWM ever and the phone doesn't seem to have suffered any physical damage.
The things I've tried include:
*) power down, remove sdcard, then reboot
*) power down, remove sim card, then reboot
*) power down, remove sim card, remove sdcard, then reboot
*) clear cache, then reboot
*) clear dalvik-cache, then reboot
*) clear dalvik-cache and cache, then reboot
*) clear dalvik-cache, clean cache, then wipe to factory, then reboot
In all the above scenarios nothing has changed. The phone reboots after it completes booting.
In the past, I've rooted and flashed on a G1, a G2, and an S3. I've bricked my S3 that had to be repaired via JTAG. This reboot problem with my Note 3 is completely unlike any of the things I've seen with previous phones.
I've read through some of the other threads about reboot loops, but all the threads I've read were caused by a CWM restore and have no solution yet.
Does anyone know the cause of this and what could fix it?

digitalfiend said:
I've got a T-Mobile Note 3 that I picked it up on launch day last Thursday at a T-mobile store. I proceeded to root the phone with Odin, then restore via Titanium Backup and then fix the backup with "restorecon -R -v /data". Life has been great until last night. Initially I got a circle with a line through it instead of the mobile signal and my cellular link would not connect, but my wifi was fine. When the problem was sill occurring this morning I figured it was an odd cellular problem and rebooted the phone this morning when it persisted. Now the phone is rebooting a few minutes after it completes booting.
It will boot normally, then I'll unlock the phone and get my window manager (Holo)...then I'll get the error "Process system isn't responding. Do you want to close it?". Then I get the error "Unfortunately, Favorite Apps has stopped." Regardless whether I interact with those error messages the phone then reboots a minute later. I have *not* done a restore from CWM ever and the phone doesn't seem to have suffered any physical damage.
The things I've tried include:
*) power down, remove sdcard, then reboot
*) power down, remove sim card, then reboot
*) power down, remove sim card, remove sdcard, then reboot
*) clear cache, then reboot
*) clear dalvik-cache, then reboot
*) clear dalvik-cache and cache, then reboot
*) clear dalvik-cache, clean cache, then wipe to factory, then reboot
In all the above scenarios nothing has changed. The phone reboots after it completes booting.
In the past, I've rooted and flashed on a G1, a G2, and an S3. I've bricked my S3 that had to be repaired via JTAG. This reboot problem with my Note 3 is completely unlike any of the things I've seen with previous phones.
I've read through some of the other threads about reboot loops, but all the threads I've read were caused by a CWM restore and have no solution yet.
Does anyone know the cause of this and what could fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would just Odin to stock and restart. I'm guessing some app your restored form another phone did it.

YellowGTO said:
I would just Odin to stock and restart. I'm guessing some app your restored form another phone did it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe it was an app that was restored because the restore had run perfectly for 5 full days. I completed the restore last Thursday...that's what makes this so unusual.
Do you know where to get the stock zips to use with Odin?

digitalfiend said:
I don't believe it was an app that was restored because the restore had run perfectly for 5 full days. I completed the restore last Thursday...that's what makes this so unusual.
Do you know where to get the stock zips to use with Odin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's some stock Odin tar files in the Android development forum. Download and flash using Odin. Once it reboots, remove battery and manually boot into stock recovery and do a factory reset/wipe. Reboot and it should work.
Sent from my SGH-T889

jmerlos said:
There's some stock Odin tar files in the Android development forum. Download and flash using Odin. Once it reboots, remove battery and manually boot into stock recovery and do a factory reset/wipe. Reboot and it should work.
Sent from my SGH-T889
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks as if the stock tar in zip format (N900TUVUBMI7_N900TTMBBMI7_TMB.zip) can be downloaded from either of these links:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2465764 (faster download link)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2468275 (slow download link)
I just finished downloading from the first link and after extracting the zip file I have these files:
N900TUVUBMI7_N900TTMBBMI7_N900TUVUBMI7_HOME.tar.md5
SS_DL.dll
This seems like an obvious thing, but want to ask because of how odd this problem is: Do I simply flash the "N900TUVUBMI7_N900TTMBBMI7_N900TUVUBMI7_HOME.tar.md5" file the same way that I flashed the CWM through Odin?

Yes, but IIRC, just uncheck reboot, reboot manually into recovery, then wipe, factory reset, etc. Pull your battery, reboot. Check the TWRP thread, it has exact directions.
sgh-TWEAKED-889©

Warrior1975 said:
Yes, but IIRC, just uncheck reboot, reboot manually into recovery, then wipe, factory reset, etc. Pull your battery, reboot. Check the TWRP thread, it has exact directions.
sgh-TWEAKED-889©
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it, thank you! Here's what I'm referencing for the Odin options:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46110842&postcount=2
I'll flash this and update the thread.

Good luck bro!!
sgh-TWEAKED-889©

Ok, I flashed with Odin then once it completed I got the "PASS!" status in Odin. I shut down Odin, pulled the battery from the Note 3, then allowed the phone to boot. There was a "booting recovery" message in blue at the top of the screen before the phone booted, then it booted to the "samsung logo", then the animated circular logo, then the white screen with the "T-Mobile 4G LTE" logo, then rebooted. The second boot, it did the same thing but stayed on the "T-Mobile 4G LTE" screen for many minutes...then it seemed as if it was completing it's reboot because I got the notification bar with the time and the circle with the line through it for the cell signal strength. I got the same error when the phone seemed to have completed booting, then a reboot. Now it's back to the same place it started in it's rebooting cycle.
This makes absolutely no sense at all. If I'd have done a CWM restore then I could understand that...but there's no reason for this that I can see. The phone acts as if it was knocked off of the T-Mobile network and now it finishes it's booting cycle long enough to be rebooted.
So now I have a useless Note 3. I'm game for taking the phone back to the T-Mobile store and requesting that they replace the phone, which they probably would, but I have no guarantee that this wouldn't happen again. I'm open to suggestions as long as they don't cause me to brick my phone completely.

I finished installing TWRP and darthrom successfully. However, after the darthrom finishes booting I have the exact same problem with the phone rebooting that the stock ROM had.
I'm back to square one.
I'm open to suggestions.

There are a lot of people having boot loop problems even without root though they are spread out among various sub forums. Try this thread for example:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2467005[Q] Reboot cycle after restart help
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317

Dumbo53 said:
There are a lot of people having boot loop problems even without root though they are spread out among various sub forums. Try this thread for example:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2467005[Q] Reboot cycle after restart help
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw a couple threads last night when I was searching around on the web about other models of phones with SIM socket and SIM card issues. I'm beginning to think that my issue is hardware-related, and not software. I did another wipe last night based on this thread's post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46157872&postcount=6&nocache=1&z=7848000959493220
Instead of simply wiping, I formatted /data/, then wiped, then I flashed on the stock ROM, then flashed on the darth rom. I got slightly different results once the phone was done with it's firstboot - it kept giving me the error that a new SIM card had been installed and the phone needed to be rebooted. This causes me to suspect the physical hardware of my Note 3 or the SIM card. I have ruled out the SIM card because I've been using it in my old G2 since this started, via an adapter for the G2's SIM socket, and it's been fine. I'm planning on taking the phone to T-Mobile today and seeing what they can sort out with either a SIM exchange or phone exchange.

The note 3 misbehaved the same way while in the T-Mobile store. They swapped the phone out under warranty after asking only the basic questions and trying a factory reset. The same SIM card in the new note 3 works fine.

I'm on the same boat. Got my Note 3 this morning, rooted an hour ago with CMW, made backup and flashed Stock ROM from Jovy. Result: bootloop. Restore backup and still on bootloop. DLing the Odin stock .tar to see if it helps. Any more suggestions?
Edit: After flashing with Odin the stock tar from Sammy all it's good...at least for now.

Wally72 said:
I'm on the same boat. Got my Note 3 this morning, rooted an hour ago with CMW, made backup and flashed Stock ROM from Jovy. Result: bootloop. Restore backup and still on bootloop. DLing the Odin stock .tar to see if it helps. Any more suggestions?
Edit: After flashing with Odin the stock tar from Sammy all it's good...at least for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How far into the booting process would you get before the phone rebooted?

digitalfiend said:
How far into the booting process would you get before the phone rebooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never passed Samsung! In my case, flashing the .tar with Odin from Samfirmware fixed my issue. I think imma wait for a more stable recovery.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk now Free

Wally72 said:
Never passed Samsung! In my case, flashing the .tar with Odin from Samfirmware fixed my issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting...it sounds like you had the boot loop that many others have had...it's cool to hear that you got it fixed. I think my problem was hardware-based since the phone completed it's boot process and *then* had issues. Luckily T-Mobile was there for me and helped out.
Wally72 said:
I think imma wait for a more stable recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you mean as far as waiting for a stable recovery. If it's any help, I've decided to stay far away from the recovery restore and simply use Titanium backup to do restores. It's more work than a nandroid recovery, but it reliably does it's job well for me.

digitalfiend said:
Interesting...it sounds like you had the boot loop that many others have had...it's cool to hear that you got it fixed. I think my problem was hardware-based since the phone completed it's boot process and *then* had issues. Luckily T-Mobile was there for me and helped out.
I know what you mean as far as waiting for a stable recovery. If it's any help, I've decided to stay far away from the recovery restore and simply use Titanium backup to do restores. It's more work than a nandroid recovery, but it reliably does it's job well for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well...I'm doing a lot of reading. I can't stand this "stock look" and me, every time I root a phone, I always do my own modifications within the ROM I choose to flash. SystemUI and apk's. I only change the .png's, therefore, getting the visual look I want/like. Always done it with certain ROMs/Themes. I downloaded Jovy's stock ROM and made the visual changes I wanted. I flashed and got into that bootloop scenario. Restore backup with CWM provided by Zedomax and made it worse. I think the problem is recovery (at least from what I've read). In this case, CWM been less unstable than TWRP. I f you read a bit around, must ppl if not all, had the "dead bootloop" issue with TWRP. I haven't read from anybody yet having the "dead bootloop" with CWM. Ppl with CWM that flashed their backup and got that bootloop, fixed it flashing back to stock, where ppl that had TWRP have tried to flash back to stock and their phones never boot completely
Again...imma wait a little more for good reports as far as recovery goes!

Bigbiff has a file he uploaded, it may be a fix for the bootlooping issue. You'd be the first to try at this point. It's linked below, but the entire thread is in the OG development of tmobile.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=46379854
sgh-TWEAKED-889©

I've never seen so many issues with a brand new flagship phone before. Makes me think it wasn't tested fully before release. I mean all these problems!
Even though I returned my N3 after I tried restoring and getting bootloop of death, I feel this model is really flawed. Hearing new things everyday.

[ROM] [Lollipop 5.0] Stock AOSP

This is simply a stock AOSP otapackage build using the preview binaries from here https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/blobs-preview
Considering that Android L is not released and these are preview blobs you should understand that this may not be considered perfect as in there may be bugs (although i have not seen any)
Use my GAPPS otherwise **** will not work
You will lose twrp after installing this so you will need to reapply that afterwords… follow these instructions to a tee to get this working
I take no responsibility if you destroy your system , proceed at your own risk bla bla bla
Install… FOLLOW EXACTLY... I will know when you deviate and will not respond to messages for help afterwords
Copy gapps and ota to internal sdcard
Boot to twrp
Wipe data and system and cache via advanced (this must be done)
Install aosp_manta-ota-eng.kejar31.zip
Back to main menu
Select mount then unselect system (uncheck it)
Back to main menu
Install gapps-lp-20141106-signed.zip
reboot
Download
ROM - https://mega.co.nz/#!VZpgHTTa!_WYFnfmSm5aQAE3DyZ35x2PaRIzM-2U_nigqb6hlMEw
GAPPS - https://mega.co.nz/#!JdYCnSxZ!fn82nMs3mA0VdDBTYuguT9OXHjQtt7P9jnZUyndrtZA
if someone wants to host mirrors let me know.

Does this have the Wifi fix in it? or has Google not published that yet?

Can't wait to install this and try it. I was going to wait it out for the official release but I've broke I have to try it.
---------- Post added at 05:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:26 PM ----------
ChaosMinionX said:
Does this have the Wifi fix in it? or has Google not published that yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it will be as Google haven't released the version with the patch yet as that will be the OTA or factory image versions.

ChaosMinionX said:
Does this have the Wifi fix in it? or has Google not published that yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most likely not have not tested for any wifi bugs atm

Thank you I'm really excited about it. But I have a question. Can I have use my flash drives in this ROM without stickmount?

ROM
So is this a full-fledged ROM that I can install after wiping any ROM, or do I have to flash back to stock android 4.4.4 and then flash this??

I seem to be unable to install on my Nexus 10. I've followed the stages, but when I get to flashing the AOSP rom it stays on it forever!
I've updated my TWRP to v2.8.1.0 but it does the same thing.
Sorted the problem I think, some how the download I had on my Nexus was not a happy one haha. just on the boot logo now :3

Thank you, booted up and running. One question, I couldn't install Google+. It cannot be found on Play Store and installing from APK doesn't work neither.

Great work, thanks. Flashed about an hour ago, flawless so far!

seems my internal storage is not working ,I am not able to see any storage area, it gives an error. Might be a bad flash.

gabegom said:
So is this a full-fledged ROM that I can install after wiping any ROM, or do I have to flash back to stock android 4.4.4 and then flash this??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same question here. Can we flash after any ROM or do we have to flash stock .imgs first then this?

Is anyone having problems with Wifi? I have flashed this twice and I cannot get Wifi to connect. It sees networks but won't connect to any of them.

ChaosMinionX said:
seems my internal storage is not working ,I am not able to see any storage area, it gives an error. Might be a bad flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
internal storage is working here

Followed all the steps to the T, now it just boots up to the android logo and shuts down?
Anybody have the same problem?

chowynatt said:
Followed all the steps to the T, now it just boots up to the android logo and shuts down?
Anybody have the same problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it took a lot of time booting up, I was about to power it off and reinstall, but eventually it show the android logo and now is running well.

tavocabe said:
For me it took a lot of time booting up, I was about to power it off and reinstall, but eventually it show the android logo and now is running well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you manage to install Google+?

kejar31 said:
This is simply a stock AOSP otapackage build using the preview binaries from here https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/blobs-preview
Considering that Android L is not released and these are preview blobs you should understand that this may not be considered perfect as in there may be bugs (although i have not seen any)
Use my GAPPS otherwise **** will not work
You will lose twrp after installing this so you will need to reapply that afterwords… follow these instructions to a tee to get this working
I take no responsibility if you destroy your system , proceed at your own risk bla bla bla
Install… FOLLOW EXACTLY... I will know when you deviate and will not respond to messages for help afterwords
Copy gapps and ota to internal sdcard
Boot to twrp
Wipe data and system and cache via advanced (this must be done)
Install aosp_manta-ota-eng.kejar31.zip
Back to main menu
Select mount then unselect system (uncheck it)
Back to main menu
Install gapps-lp-20141106-signed.zip
reboot
Download
ROM - https://mega.co.nz/#!VZpgHTTa!_WYFnfmSm5aQAE3DyZ35x2PaRIzM-2U_nigqb6hlMEw
GAPPS - https://mega.co.nz/#!lVYHAAjI!-478q0a5v6QAL9-6bDNzo7utJ1AXZD539CpTP6R63w8
if someone wants to host mirrors let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far so good! I'm in the setup... it's taking a long time checking my wifi connection.
edit:changing to 5ghz did the trick
edit2: after passing setup, changing back to 2.4ghz works just fine.

tavocabe said:
For me it took a lot of time booting up, I was about to power it off and reinstall, but eventually it show the android logo and now is running well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah all working now, took forever to boot, went black a few times and then started working.

Now the $64,000 Question: will it root?
because I've had my fun with it. And without root, I can't keep it. I doubt it can be, but I have to hope.

Flashed yesterday. My experience was as follow:
1) Dirty flash from PA, system erase command did t seem to work. After flashing it booted up all apps were there, 4.4 gapps were force closing.
2) Twrp advance factory reset and erase. normal flash afterwards with gapps 5.0. Setup wizard crash. Couldn't get past that error.
3) Factory 4.4 image. Complete erase, and flash to L, boot up and then TWRP and gapps flash. Tablet booted correctly and works since then.
Regarding the WiFi battery drain bug:
No issue here. Battery drain when idle is a flat line. No misc group with excessive battery is listed in the battery stats.
Further more performance is great, basic apps seem to work correctly. Haven't gotten much into detail.
Regarding the G+ question. It works fine.

Help - Galaxy Tab S 10.5 Bootloop Out of Nowhere

So...
Last week, my wife's Tab S went into a bootloop. She runs complete stock, we haven't rooted, or anything. There had been a notification about an update, but she hadn't touched it. She'd updated to Lollipop at some point last year, but hadn't applied the absolute latest update. One day last week, she just turned it on, and it started bootlooping.
Because it was so stock, there were no backups, no nandroids, or anything like that. No Custom Recovery. I told her "well, we can just do a factory reset. You'll lose everything, but once we get you back up and running, it'll just re-download everything from the Goog." So we factory reset it. Looked good for a minute, booted into the first screen, enter in your Wi-Fi password, all that. As soon as we got the Wi-Fi password entered, however, it re-booted. And keep rebooting. Bootloop city. No problem. I walked her through (over the phone) using Odin to flash the latest Lollipop firmware. No dice. It appeared to flash successfully, but still bootlooped.
Over the weekend, I tried using Kies to flash the most official firmware I could find. Everything was successful -computer recognized the device, was able to download "direct from the source," as it were, but it got stuck at 69% twice before failing. I read somewhere that one had to run Kies in administrator mode to get it to successfully complete. So I did, and it got past 69%, successfully completing the flash. STILL NO LUCK. STILL WITH THE BOOTLOOPS.
Last night, I realized that I hadn't flashed in Odin using Administrator Mode. Tried it, using latest 5.0.2 (XAR-Cellular South). Flashed successfully, all appeared well. Still bootlooped.
So, I'm stuck. I can get into recovery, I can get into Download Mode, I can successfully flash. I just can't get the darn thing booted.
Thoughts, anyone? Should I try flashing a Custom ROM? How hard is that using Odin? Thanks in advance.

Ok this will take a few tries but here is my method of dealing with this situation
1) Flash stock using Odin
2) AS SOON AS the screen goes blank, start holding Power+Volume Up+Home
3) When recovery boots, release the buttons
4) Use the volume buttons to select "Wipe data/factory reset"
5) Press power to confirm
6) Reboot
If that doesn't work, you may either:
1) (more likely) Installing a ROM will fix the problem
2) (unlikely but possible) You might have worn NAND pages, which I doubt but could cause this behavior.

Nandr0idC0nsumer said:
Ok this will take a few tries but here is my method of dealing with this situation
1) Flash stock using Odin
2) AS SOON AS the screen goes blank, start holding Power+Volume Up+Home
3) When recovery boots, release the buttons
4) Use the volume buttons to select "Wipe data/factory reset"
5) Press power to confirm
6) Reboot
If that doesn't work, you may either:
1) (more likely) Installing a ROM will fix the problem
2) (unlikely but possible) You might have worn NAND pages, which I doubt but could cause this behavior.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll try these steps tonight when I get home, and report back!

All right, here's something interesting. Before I tried your first step, I remembered that the other night, I left it stuck at the Samsung logo -it was just kind of stuck there, and since the behavior was a little different than I'd seen before (not continuous bootlooping), I thought I'd boot into recovery and wipe. I did, I wiped (factory reset), and rebooted. The tablet booted into the first screen, Accessibility/Wi-Fi, blahblah. This was where it usually rebooted. On a hunch, I bypassed entering in my WiFi key. I then bypassed almost everything else (Samsung account, Google account, etc.), expecting that the tablet would reboot at any moment. But I made it to the front apps page, where it shows you the side-launcher, the Magazine-Flipboard thingie, and whatnot. Wi-Fi still not connected, though. I opened up the app drawer, and scrolled around. Looked really good for a moment. I even took a picture with the camera, and viewed it in Gallery! Feeling brave, I thought, "well, maybe it just needed a couple of minutes before firing up the radio." So I went into settings, and inputted my WiFi key. It connected. And rebooted into its bootloop. (getting so tired of that boot-sound).
Went ahead and flashed the most original stock firmware I could find. As always, flashed successfully. As soon as it booted, I made my way to recovery, and wiped, per your instructions. No luck. Bootloop again.
It's something in the WiFi is what I've come to think as a result of the above. Which I don't entirely understand, as I thought the radio got re-flashed with the firmware.
I'm ready to try flashing a Custom Rom. Can I do that through Odin, or should I try and flash TWRP, and do it through there? Will TWRP flash without a working (bootable) OS?
All right. Thanks for your response!

Try this as a test.
First make a full backup of every partition with twrp including the EFS <<IMPORTANT!
Get it booting again without wifi then root the device and delete the EFS folder or delete it in recovery.
Reboot the device and try and enable wifi.

ashyx said:
Try this as a test.
First make a full backup of every partition with twrp including the EFS <<IMPORTANT!
Get it booting again without wifi then root the device and delete the EFS folder or delete it in recovery.
Reboot the device and try and enable wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got TWRP installed. Won't backup. Fails at 16% (system partition, I think). Just powers down to battery indicator in the middle of the backup. Looks like it backs up the EFS, though, since it's the first one. And when I go into TWRP's Restore option, there's a backup there (though I don't dare try and restore it).
Now I have to figure out a way to get the Custom ROM and GAPPS I downloaded onto the tablet without a reliable boot... It's gotten to the front screen a time or two tonight, but starts looping even when I bypass the WiFi setup.

Entered adb/TWRP interface. Tried to push two files, a Custom ROM file, and a GAPPS file. The ROM failed, with some sort of "Error 7," incompatible data, blahblah... Just out of curiosity, I tried to push the GAPPS file, and that failed after about 6%, and the tablet powered off.
I'm running out of ideas.

copied a custom rom to a USB/OTG stick (thumbdrive), and plugged it in. Fired up TWRP, tried to install. Wouldn't. Wouldn't install GAPPS, either. Looks like the only way it wants to flash anything is through ODIN or KIES.

The Latest...
All right...
I remembered that sometimes the TWRP version mattered. When I installed TRWP last night, I installed the latest and greatest, 3.0.2. Last night after I gave up, I remembered that sometimes, the latest and greatest TWRP doesn't install things perfectly. So, this morning, I downloaded TWRP 2.8.6-ish onto the USB/OTG device, and re-flashed the recovery partition. To be honest, I was surprised that TWRP was even able to flash that (but the TWRP image is only like 9.8 MB, so...)...
Got TWRP 2.8.6.0 flashed, and rebooted into TWRP. Immediately decided to try and re-flash the custom ROM that I'd tried unsuccessfully to flash last night, since the thumbdrive was still plugged in. Resurrection Remix Lollipop. Lined up GAPPS in the queue, as well. The ROM *appeared* to flash better than it had in TWRP 3.0.2, but it was sort of hard to see... GAPPS failed, and I was prepared to watch another round of bootloops. It did bootloop, sort of. The RR splash screen appeared, said that it was installing (or preparing) xx out of XX apps. Then, it rebooted. I figured it was doing its bootloop thing. However, it got to the same screen, "installing xx out of XX apps. Except that XX number had gone down, and the xx number had gone up. It repeated this action about 4 times --the last time I saw it reboot, it was "installing 1 out of 2 apps." And then...?
It booted into the RR lockscreen.
Of course, there were no GAPPS. In fact, there are something like only 20 apps total on the tablet. But it appears somewhat stable at the moment. (See picture).
Afraid to try and connect WiFi, afraid that it'll just bootloop.
Speaking of bootloop. At one point, once we got it booted, my wife hit an option in the Settings. LCD Density, I believe. As soon as she hit it (she literally just placed her finger over the 320 default option), the tablet rebooted. No loop, though. Rebooted straight back to the RR lockscreen.
So I appear to have a somewhat stable OS flashed onto the tablet at the moment. No GAPPS, though. No WiFi.
Anybody have a suggestion on where to go from here? I have my doubts as to whether or not I can even back up this configuration.
Sorry about all the updates. I kind of figured that if *anyone* else ever goes through what I'm going through, they'll have some sense of all the different things that can be tried in resurrecting a bricked/bootlooping device. I appreciate everyone's efforts to date -thank you so much, @Lightn1ng and @ashyx.

All right, because I can't leave well enough alone....
I got WiFi up and working. Tablet still stable and working. Wheeeee.... No GAPPS, though.
Downloaded GAPPS, second-smallest package from opengapps- only 128M (5.1 ARM package). Downloaded it in Android, from the tablet! Tried to flash it in TWRP. Failed, tablet rebooted halfway (not even) through. Now it's bootlooping again...
I should've left well enough alone, and waited for someone. Have tried re-installing Resurrection Remix, but tablet keeps failing to flash. Might have to try and flash a different TWRP. I don't know...

Have you tried another Gapps? Also, is this the WiFi only model or the LTE model we're talking about?

Lightn1ng said:
Have you tried another Gapps? Also, is this the WiFi only model or the LTE model we're talking about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the WiFi-only model - SM-T800.
It's kind of weird. I thought it might be some sort of internal memory problem (like the worn Nand pages you mentioned), since almost anything I try to do in TWRP fails (although I was able to flash an entire Custom ROM the one time AND get it booted) -but backing up isn't working, whether it's to internal/external SD. And the fact that I can flash perfectly (subjective term there) well using Odin or Kies tells me that whatever problems the tablet is having, something's getting through.
I'll try a different GAPPS package. Right now, though, TWRP isn't letting me flash hardly anything, and moving files back and forth on this thing is just awful.
AGH - I was so close!

daina said:
It's the WiFi-only model - SM-T800.
It's kind of weird. I thought it might be some sort of internal memory problem (like the worn Nand pages you mentioned), since almost anything I try to do in TWRP fails (although I was able to flash an entire Custom ROM the one time AND get it booted) -but backing up isn't working, whether it's to internal/external SD. And the fact that I can flash perfectly (subjective term there) well using Odin or Kies tells me that whatever problems the tablet is having, something's getting through.
I'll try a different GAPPS package. Right now, though, TWRP isn't letting me flash hardly anything, and moving files back and forth on this thing is just awful.
AGH - I was so close!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running out of ideas!
Maybe somebody else with a T800 could backup their entire EMMC using
Code:
dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=/sdcard/full_nand_dump.bin
And you take the file on your tablet and do
Code:
dd if=/sdcard/full_nand_dump.bin of=/dev/mmcblk0
And restore YOUR efs folder using TWRP.
THIS IS A DANGEROUS OPERATION AND I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT GOES WRONG!
---------- Post added at 08:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:57 PM ----------
@ashyx Any more ideas before I go ahead with my evil world domination plan to recover this device?

I wouldnt carry out any risky operations until a full backup can be made with twrp or you may end up with an unrecoverable device.
If twrp cannot backup the system partition then there is an issue with the partition.
Try backup again and post the recovery log, it may contain some relative information.

I have the same issues and have tried eveything. I was rooted and running the latest Pheonix rom on my sm-t800. Last Wednesday (8-10) I starting getting boot loops out of nowhere, no new apps nothing just a daily driver. I've been through everything on here and have gone back to bone stock but to no avail, the boot loops just keep coming. I can connect to wifi and get things set up but if I try to use anything more than 'light usage' the tab starts its boot loops again and rows fits for about 10 minutes and always different timing on the boot. Sometimes it will make it to the Samsung logo, sometime only to Tab S and sometimes about 10 seconds of usage.. I know this isn't helping much but wanted to let you know there are more of us with the same problem. Will be blab to try anything to help said issue.

Exactly the same issue on my LTE version.
Samsung support just asked me 230€ for a new motherboard.
I refused to repair. I think it is related to nand memory..

Hello I have both the 8.4" and 10.5" I updated the 8.4" to Android 5.02 nothing but boot loops my other is still on 442 and I wont be updating it as its working fine. I have been reading a few posts and the problem was right in front of me all the time I have 2 internet connections 2.4 GHZ and 5.0 GHZ if I connect to the 5.0 GHZ I get boot loops but if I stay on 2.4 GHZ no problems what so ever so I may just install a custom rom and my 10.5 tab and stay clear of the faster internet.

srfairhurst said:
Hello I have both the 8.4" and 10.5" I updated the 8.4" to Android 5.02 nothing but boot loops my other is still on 442 and I wont be updating it as its working fine. I have been reading a few posts and the problem was right in front of me all the time I have 2 internet connections 2.4 GHZ and 5.0 GHZ if I connect to the 5.0 GHZ I get boot loops but if I stay on 2.4 GHZ no problems what so ever so I may just install a custom rom and my 10.5 tab and stay clear of the faster internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not just update to Marshmallow? Absolutely no issues for me.

ashyx said:
Why not just update to Marshmallow? Absolutely no issues for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now i figured out its the wifi thats causing the problem i will update to android 6.01 or if i can find a good custom rom il risk that.

daina said:
It's the WiFi-only model - SM-T800.
It's kind of weird. I thought it might be some sort of internal memory problem (like the worn Nand pages you mentioned), since almost anything I try to do in TWRP fails (although I was able to flash an entire Custom ROM the one time AND get it booted) -but backing up isn't working, whether it's to internal/external SD. And the fact that I can flash perfectly (subjective term there) well using Odin or Kies tells me that whatever problems the tablet is having, something's getting through.
I'll try a different GAPPS package. Right now, though, TWRP isn't letting me flash hardly anything, and moving files back and forth on this thing is just awful.
AGH - I was so close!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DrinkSlinger said:
I have the same issues and have tried eveything. I was rooted and running the latest Pheonix rom on my sm-t800. Last Wednesday (8-10) I starting getting boot loops out of nowhere, no new apps nothing just a daily driver. I've been through everything on here and have gone back to bone stock but to no avail, the boot loops just keep coming. I can connect to wifi and get things set up but if I try to use anything more than 'light usage' the tab starts its boot loops again and rows fits for about 10 minutes and always different timing on the boot. Sometimes it will make it to the Samsung logo, sometime only to Tab S and sometimes about 10 seconds of usage.. I know this isn't helping much but wanted to let you know there are more of us with the same problem. Will be blab to try anything to help said issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
and the rest of story??
i can flash TWRP in download mode, and i can intall zip by TWRP , the lineage rom,
but, cant odin flash official md5 file, it stucks on logo.