Develop Bugs

[Q] I need a little guidance... (I'm desperate)

Hello everyone. I'm quite new to this whole fiddling with my S3 thing. I mean, I successfully flashed a previous version of Danvdh's Dandroid ROM a few months ago but was not pleased when it would not pick up ANY GPS satellites even after 20 minutes of waiting to get a fix. Of course I tried everything from tightening screws (none of my screws were loose) to that aGPS patch (for which it gave me the wrong location even after trying what the notes suggest).
Having said that, yesterday, I tried flashing other ROMs (like Beanstalk) in hopes of getting better GPS. Now Beanstalk worked fine and gave me GPS, but with that I then ran into problems mounting and formatting a new SD card. So then I flashed the newest version of Dandroid and successfully mounted the SD card, but it still gave me GPS problems, at which point I was kind of disheartened and decided to give saranhai's StockMOD ROM a try.
I ran into all kinds of problems.
1. I'm sure this isn't the dev's fault, but my CWM version 6.0.3.7 (is that old?) won't recognize any kind of change in my internal SD card since late yesterday. My desktop and ES file explorer both register the same files and folders, but CWM still sees old files like the zip files for Beanstalk and Dandroid which don't appear on my computer??? And it won't see any new files??? What did I do wrong? Therefore, I flashed things from my external SD card from there. (Was that wrong to do?) Also, every time I try to reboot through CWM, it says root access may have been lost and asks if I want to try and fix it. I say no because my SuperSU still works?
2. After FIRST flashing Dandroid 5.1 I noticed Wi-Fi wasn't working. A post from the Dandroid thread said to flash a kernel "or update to the newest bootloaders." I flashed the kernel he provided and found out too late that it was for T999L or something and my phone is T999. I'm kinda surprised my phone didn't brick then. Anyway, I got Wi-Fi, but whenever I tried to turn on mobile data, it said to insert a SIM card?? I'm sure it's because I flashed that wrong kernel. When I go into Settings > About Device it says the Baseband version is unknown and the Kernel version is as follows:
3.0.31-1804024
[email protected]
Sat Oct 5 00:13:48 KST 2013
and the build number: JSS15J.T999UVUEMJC
EDIT: I FOUND OUT MY PHONE WAS ACTUALLY T999L NOT T999. Currently trying to fix things. I'll get back to the thread.
3. So hoping saranhai's StockMOD ROM would give me the fresh start I so desperately needed, I followed his instructions step by step from flashing the right modem FIRST then flashing the ROM, but alas, the same "Insert SIM card...." error still plagued me. You would not believe how sad I got. (I'm still pretty sad.) At that point I tried REALLY hard to familiarize myself with what I was doing, reading the thread carefully, looking through that glossary thread to help me keep up with the techie terms, and searching for instructions on how to get it fixed, but I couldn't find anything and I was stuck.
4. This morning I flashed the Insecure kernel the StockMOD ROM thread provided and I still get the error.
5. I tried to restore from a backup I made last week on CWM, but it kept saying "checking MD5 files" and them giving me an error about not being able to restore.
As you all can see, I probably made a HUGE mess out of my phone and it might come as a huge surprise that I haven't bricked it completely. I'm extremely desperate at this point and I've admitted that I don't know what I'm doing. :crying:
It's come to the point where I just want a stable handset that will give me the services I want (GPS, mobile data, Wi-Fi, etc.) and I'm beginning to think this root lyfe isn't for me. I searched for guides on how to return to stock and unroot, but all the guides are different and I'm so confused and overwhelmed as to what I should do at this point. Please, please, please! A little guidance would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks for your time!

First off don't get disheartened. You did demonstrate a genuine attempt to help yourself and try your best on your own. Yes mistakes happen. We all do that. For what its worth, no one is born knowledgeable in these areas. We all learn.
Ok so what do we do next ? Lets start with a clean slate and put that all behind you. Yes your current recovery CWM is indeed dated and that's the reason for some of the issues you have.
Follow these steps.
1. Take UVDMD5 version of Root66 from here. Use ODIN to flash it to your phone. If you need a guide on how to use ODIN, read this thread carefully.
2. Once that Stock firmware has been updated and your phone boots fine, check if you have GPS and all the other features working to your satisfaction. Given your problems with GPS, I strongly recommend taking a GPS fix at this time.
3. Once that's working fine, flash the latest CWM Touch Recovery (version 6.0.4.5 for D2TMO). You can use Rom Manager from Play store.
4. Take a Nandroid before proceeding. When you do, uncheck the generate MD5 and enable Compression.
5. Now its your choice. You could flash Saranhai's Stock Mod or Danvdh's Dandroid. Both are good Roms and its your call. Check the GPS working after you flash Rom of your choice.
If you do choose to go after Saranhai's Rom and get into the Wi-Fi Problems, post here before you try any solutions. With Danvdh's Rom, there are certain steps to enable Root. You can't just flash SuperSU and hope to gain Root.

Perseus71 said:
First off don't get disheartened. You did demonstrate a genuine attempt to help yourself and try your best on your own. Yes mistakes happen. We all do that. For what its worth, no one is born knowledgeable in these areas. We all learn.
Ok so what do we do next ? Lets start with a clean slate and put that all behind you. Yes your current recovery CWM is indeed dated and that's the reason for some of the issues you have.
Follow these steps.
1. Take UVDMD5 version of Root66 from here. Use ODIN to flash it to your phone. If you need a guide on how to use ODIN, read this thread carefully.
2. Once that Stock firmware has been updated and your phone boots fine, check if you have GPS and all the other features working to your satisfaction. Given your problems with GPS, I strongly recommend taking a GPS fix at this time.
3. Once that's working fine, flash the latest CWM Touch Recovery (version 6.0.4.5 for D2TMO). You can use Rom Manager from Play store.
4. Take a Nandroid before proceeding. When you do, uncheck the generate MD5 and enable Compression.
5. Now its your choice. You could flash Saranhai's Stock Mod or Danvdh's Dandroid. Both are good Roms and its your call. Check the GPS working after you flash Rom of your choice.
If you do choose to go after Saranhai's Rom and get into the Wi-Fi Problems, post here before you try any solutions. With Danvdh's Rom, there are certain steps to enable Root. You can't just flash SuperSU and hope to gain Root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for your detailed reply!
After a little bit of browsing the forum, I found that my IMEI seems to be missing and simply flashing the correct modems/kernels/whatever you call them does not fix it. I will go through your instructions and then report the results.
I read on here that sometimes it just happens randomly after flashing 4.3 ROMs? Well I certainly hope I get back my IMEI and hope it's not blacklisted :/ Apparently I can't access signal or data without it.
Thank you again!
EDIT: Does an "Unknown" IMEI mean I've totally lost it?
EDIT 2: Okay now I know God hates me. I downloaded the Root66 file and Odin will NOT let me flash it onto my phone. Keeps giving me aboot (???) errors no matter what port I use! I know I took a risk tinkering with my phone but I don't think I deserve this!
Honestly now I don't want anything to do with rooting and custom ROMs anymore. I think I'm too stupid for this. I think I just want it back to the way it was when I bought it. Could you please help me to do that?
I'm done with this root stuff, I can't do it anymore.
Sorry, I honestly don't mean to come off as whiny or ungrateful, I've just spent two days trying to figure this stuff out and it's getting me VERY tired and VERY irritated.

Oops I think I forgot to mention that you will have to put the phone in Download mode before you plug it in for ODIN. In order to get into Download mode you turn off the phone and press Volume Down AND HOME AND POWER simultaneously. If you are doing it for the first time, it may seem hard. Be patient.
Yes I suspected you to be "Missing IMEI". That's why suggested going to Stock. Your Call & Data problems come from there.
My steps do take you back to Stock.

[Q] Bricked my phone... Need Help.

Like I'm sure this topic hasn't come up before, but I've searched for hours and I'm probably just making things worse. I also just accidentally deleted this post halfway through. It's too late and I'm too tired and I have no working phone.
Bought an SGH-I747 on E-Bay. Got a Straight Talk SIM card kit, activated it, so far so good.
Rooted it with CF-Auto-Root. Worked pretty well, took a lot of reboots, upgraded the SU from the Play Store and it got rid of Knox. So far so good. Got everything all set up the way I like it. Happy.
It was running 4.4.2. I'm assuming it was the release prior to the November 12th OTA release, but I can't say for sure.
Phone downloaded and installed an upgrade automatically. Now, it won't boot. I get the SAMSUNG logo, then the Samsung Galaxy S III logo then nothing.
I retried the CF-Auto-Root, no change.
I booted into recovery (volume up, home and power on), did factory reset, no change.
Started looking around for a way to return it to stock. Found an upgrade43.zip file somewhere (I'm sorry I can't find where I got that now). Put it on the sdcard card and tried installing it with the recovery and it fails part way through.
At this point, I think I probably need to completely overwrite everything with something stock. I just don't know how to do that. I see posts on such subjects but they all have warnings that make me think I'm going to totally brick the phone, so I'm hoping someone can point me the right way. I'm not all that Android savvy, as you can tell.
Help.

Since your phone was running 4.4.2, do not attempt to flash any ROMs using that attempt to downgrade your bootloader to anything prior to 4.4.2.
Try this to get your phone up and running:
download the latest CM11 for the d2lte and save it to an external SD card: https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=d2lte
dowload the latest tar.md5 version of Philz Touch for the d2lte from here: https://goo.im/devs/philz_touch/CWM_Advanced_Edition/d2lte/
boot phone in download mode, open Odin 3.07, do not check anything except f.reset.time, flash Philz via PDA box, remove USB cable when you see the word Reset appear in the status window, remove battery, replace battery, boot into recovery, format system, Dalvik, data, and cache, flash cm11, and reboot.

Thank you for your reply. There are a few things in there I don't quite understand, but I think I can figure it out.
I was going to attempt this...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2658486
In fact, I did attempt it with TWRP last night after I posted here and new I still wasn't going to sleep. I kept getting an error about a bad ZIP file.
Is that stock restore a bad idea?

Do not attempt to flash an older bootloader. The mjb bootloader is from 4.3 and attempting to flash it could hard brick your phone.
I suggest doing what I suggested so you can confirm the bootloader and modem installed on your phone.

OK. Thanks. Probably a good thing I couldn't get it to work then.

Thank you so much. I have a working phone again. Now I just have to get it all set back up the way I like it.
I have to say, and it's probably words straight from the devils mouth, that I kind of wish I could have restored the Samsung stock software. It's just what I'm used to. But I will take what I can get.
A few questions. I like having root. But root is what got me in trouble in the first place. Is this going to be rooted now, or will I have to do that or am I better off just leaving it alone.
Second, I'm probably going to have questions since this is so different than what I'm used to (like I already can't find the Play store). Where is the best place to ask?

If you want root, one of the easiest ways to get it is to flash supersu from your custom recovery. Most ROMs are pre-rooted.
Many custom ROMs do not include Gapps. Just download and install the Gapps version for your ROM.
If you like the TW look, flash a TW-based ROM. Check out the development threads for different ROMs.

here is a thread for Q's that has some pretty good/friendly helpers on it if you need.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2257421
"all i can really do , is stay out of my own way and let the will of heaven be done"

How to save in to external SD card
How do you save the file into the external SD card? I am having the same brick issue with my GS3.

To save a file to an external SD card, just put the card into a card reader and save the ROM to the SD card.

No OS on galaxy n4 sprint. No back up or restore point

No OS installed. I have twrp installed. So literally when i turn it on it goes directly into recovery menu. Apparently I have no back up or restore point. This is a Sprint galaxy note 4. Does anyone have any suggestions. I have been looking for a factory reset firmware somewhere online cant find one. Funny thing is my wife has the same exact phone. I thought making a back up and restore point for her phone would work on mine, but it didnt lol. Please I would be very grateful for help.

Hello, you could get the official software and use odin to get it back all the way to stock, or you can also just flash a custom rom since you already have twrp. To install a custom rom, all you need to do is download the rom and place it on a micro sd card, boot into twrp, and flash the rom from the micro sd.

Thank you for your reply how ever my trouble is finding an OS that works for my note 4 sprint device. I have downloaded dozens and dozens of different roms and so called " factory firmware" but seem to have no lucks. i have the recovery software installed twrp. when i go into there and try to load rom i still get error that says no os installed..

Thanks for the input i will close this thread now. my problem was not being patient at the bootload screen. I automatically assumed that something was wrong because it was stuck at the sprint spark yellow screen how ever little did i know a little bit of patients would have saved me numerous amounts of hours of research. Lost sleep, called off of work, and canceled weekend plans due to a little lack of patience. Well you live and you learn i really appreciate you taking time out to reply.

Bootloop, how to download stock for TWRP

Hello, I recently tried to root my device, I succeed in doing so but it was systemless root, I didn't know anything at the time so I tried different versions of supersu, now my phone won't boot, only fastboot and recovery works,
I visited a thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/tutorial-how-to-stock-stock-twrp-t3086860
but I don't know which one is my stock and I'm afraid to mess it up even more,
image uploaderG]
Can you please advise me how to recover my basic stock system :F
I remember that my installed android before it stopped working was 6.01 afaik

Your Stock is 6.12.111.4
option 1:
TWRP backup - https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/tutorial-how-to-stock-stock-twrp-t3086860
on post #3
Make sure to use TWRP 3.x.x.x not your current one as it seems you use the outdated version.
option 2 :
RUU - https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24399965296001026
follow this guide but use the above RUU - https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64926626&postcount=6

Thank you, my TWRP is the latest one now because my system sort of worked when I first rooted it but when I noticed that it's systemless I tried to flash system one and my phone didn't work as intended (couldn't download things on it and some other things didn't work) that's when I flashed newest twrp and newest super su and factory reset stopped working as of now and it's stuck on bootloop. Downloading that recovery, wish me luck .
Edit: it works now, thanks

One additional issue arose - my folders seem to be really wrecked, can't download anything from updates to system apps to downloading apps from playstore and even downloading apps regularly, when I made sd card my internal card I was able to download opera and wanted to select default download folder but couldn't pick any/make any and the folders were not recognizable for me (no data folder for example)
edit 2: I probably fuked up permissions too last time, fix context in twrp seems to have fixed the issue

Radenz said:
that's when I flashed newest twrp and newest super su and factory reset stopped working as of now and it's stuck on bootloop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couple words to the wise:
1) Always state exact versions numbers (TWRP, SuperSU, etc.) instead of just saying it the "latest". I've seen a lot of cases, where folks ensure us they are on the "latest" and it turns out when prompted for the actual version number, they are using something from 2 years ago!
In general when posting here, it's always best to give as much detail and specific info as possible. Vague descriptions, lack of details, and assumptions are always going to hinder more than help.
2) Always make a TWRP backup of your stock ROM before doing any mods like root or custom ROM. As you now see why, things don't always go as intended. Luckily, ckpv5 maintains a collection of stock backups. But you should already know how to revert to stock and be equipped to do so, before doing the mods. Not waiting for that "panic" moment when you need it, and can't figure it out.
I'm surprised how many folks here jump into rooting, flashing custom ROMs without leaving themselves an "escape plan" of knowing how to get back to stock. Maybe it's just my personality, but I can't fathom doing any of these things without knowing beforehand how to fix them, restore stock, etc.

Thanks for advice, to be honest 3 days ago I didn't know what rooting was and searched for "root htc one m8" and got it done by a site from 2014 with a multitool that had outdated soft. What I lacked then was big red uppercase notice how to do backup because most first time rootings end up badly.

Radenz said:
Thanks for advice, to be honest 3 days ago I didn't know what rooting was and searched for "root htc one m8" and got it done by a site from 2014 with a multitool that had outdated soft. What I lacked then was big red uppercase notice how to do backup because most first time rootings end up badly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, completely understand if you are new to this; and we all had to start somewhere, at some time. Consider it lessons learned for next time.
A lot of folks skip the step of making a backup (before root, etc.). And also a lot of guides, YouTube tutorials, etc. neglect this step (which is something I cannot understand). So it's an honest mistake, and I'm definitely not saying that it's your fault that it wasn't done.

First post. Hoping to fix my Tab S

Hi all
I have been pointed towards xda following a conversation in another forum regarding my failing Tab S.
Before I registered today, I took a look around the forum and am left feeling a bit like a duck out of water.
I dont really understand much of the jargon being used, and so im not sure if I really belong here . I'm just trying to find a fix for my tablet that doesn't involve the expense of returning it to Samsung.
I bought my Tab S 10.5 back in 2014, and until last year I felt that it performed flawlessly. So last year a friend of mine dropped it onto my kitchen floor resulting in a shattered screen from the top left corner outwards. I did look into getting the screen replaced at the time but it turned out that it was going to cost me £250, which I believe is half the price of what I paid for the whole thing when it was new. So I decided to live with the damage, which isn't too visible when its switched on.
A year later and I have what I think is a more serious issue. While I was on Facebook my tablet decided to turn itself off at 50% battery, and when I turned turning it back on it appeared to be stuck in some kind of boot-loop, constantly switching from a slowly glowing Samsung logo to the smaller constructing logo (I hope that makes sense). I tried various button sequences to get the thing running but none made any difference.
Following a bit of Googling I tried a hard reset and clearing the cache. The process took mere seconds, leading me to believe that the hard reset functionality wasn't working either. And after the reset where it gave me to the option to restart, I was taken back to the boot-loop again.
Part of me wonders if the tablet has reached the end of its life, but another part of me thinks that I should expect more from a 4 year old £500 tablet, although yes it did get dropped that time.
Anyway, I have been directed here by someone who suggested that a custom rom might be the answer, but after taking a look at the Samsung Tab S Development page, I am completely stumped at what rom to choose and how to install it, and just when I thought id go for it, I didn't really understand the following instructions:
Download the latest build (download to what, my laptop?)
Download opengapps.org (I dont know what this is and where to download it to)
Make a nandroid backup (totally lost on this one)
Recommended - Full wipe system/data (first install) (I think I did that, although it took about 2 seconds)
Flash latest Twrp (T800/T805) & Firmware from sammobile.com (T800/T805) (No idea what that means)
Flash ROM (?)
Flash Gapps (?)
Reboot
Enjoy!
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I'm hoping that there might be an idiots guide to fixing the Tab S

5hane said:
Download the latest build (download to what, my laptop?)
Download opengapps.org (I dont know what this is and where to download it to)
Make a nandroid backup (totally lost on this one)
Recommended - Full wipe system/data (first install) (I think I did that, although it took about 2 seconds)
Flash latest Twrp (T800/T805) & Firmware from sammobile.com (T800/T805) (No idea what that means)
Flash ROM (?)
Flash Gapps (?)
Reboot
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) yes, to your laptop or pc or what ever computer you're using.
2) OpenGapps are the google apps that don't come with a generic Rom, such as GMail, the Google Play Store, etc etc. (and again, download it to the computer you are using (so when you flash the Rom, you can flash these google apps also).
3) Making a backup (nandroid is one type, there are others), is imho, optional. If you have pictures, pdf files, anything on the device you don't want to lose, back those up somehow. I never worry about making a nandroid backup personally.
4) If you haven't installed TWRP, then you probably haven't wiped system / data. It's after having installed twrp that you want to do that wipe (within twrp, there are directions in it to do that). You wipe those partitions so you can "start new", with your new Rom.
5) TWRP is a replacement recovery you flash (install) over the old (original) recovery. It allows you to flash roms etc etc etc. BUT, you have to use the specific version of TWRP for your specific device.
I'd suggest doing a lot of reading, search google for various topics related to this subject; like 'how to install twrp on the Samsung Tab S' or 'What version of twrp should I use for Samsung Tab S' or etc etc etc.
Then READ READ READ READ READ READ!! until you feel comfortable with what you are doing! It's those that do things they don't have any idea what it will do that end up buying a new device when they didn't have to.
Cheers

AsItLies said:
1) yes, to your laptop or pc or what ever computer you're using.
2) OpenGapps are the google apps that don't come with a generic Rom, such as GMail, the Google Play Store, etc etc. (and again, download it to the computer you are using (so when you flash the Rom, you can flash these google apps also).
3) Making a backup (nandroid is one type, there are others), is imho, optional. If you have pictures, pdf files, anything on the device you don't want to lose, back those up somehow. I never worry about making a nandroid backup personally.
4) If you haven't installed TWRP, then you probably haven't wiped system / data. It's after having installed twrp that you want to do that wipe (within twrp, there are directions in it to do that). You wipe those partitions so you can "start new", with your new Rom.
5) TWRP is a replacement recovery you flash (install) over the old (original) recovery. It allows you to flash roms etc etc etc. BUT, you have to use the specific version of TWRP for your specific device.
I'd suggest doing a lot of reading, search google for various topics related to this subject; like 'how to install twrp on the Samsung Tab S' or 'What version of twrp should I use for Samsung Tab S' or etc etc etc.
Then READ READ READ READ READ READ!! until you feel comfortable with what you are doing! It's those that do things they don't have any idea what it will do that end up buying a new device when they didn't have to.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great, thank you for your detailed reply.
Luckily I back up my docs and media to an SD card as I go, so I dont believe I have lost anything.
I will get reading this afternoon and fingers crossed it will work!

Further. I registered today and so assumed this was my first post, but according to my profile I posted in 2015!
Reading back it looks like those posts were made by me, but I have just registered under a totally different user name and password today and yet I am somehow logged in to my obviously forgotten account.

5hane said:
Hi all
I have been pointed towards xda following a conversation in another forum regarding my failing Tab S.
Before I registered today, I took a look around the forum and am left feeling a bit like a duck out of water.
I dont really understand much of the jargon being used, and so im not sure if I really belong here . I'm just trying to find a fix for my tablet that doesn't involve the expense of returning it to Samsung.
I bought my Tab S 10.5 back in 2014, and until last year I felt that it performed flawlessly. So last year a friend of mine dropped it onto my kitchen floor resulting in a shattered screen from the top left corner outwards. I did look into getting the screen replaced at the time but it turned out that it was going to cost me £250, which I believe is half the price of what I paid for the whole thing when it was new. So I decided to live with the damage, which isn't too visible when its switched on.
A year later and I have what I think is a more serious issue. While I was on Facebook my tablet decided to turn itself off at 50% battery, and when I turned turning it back on it appeared to be stuck in some kind of boot-loop, constantly switching from a slowly glowing Samsung logo to the smaller constructing logo (I hope that makes sense). I tried various button sequences to get the thing running but none made any difference.
Following a bit of Googling I tried a hard reset and clearing the cache. The process took mere seconds, leading me to believe that the hard reset functionality wasn't working either. And after the reset where it gave me to the option to restart, I was taken back to the boot-loop again.
Part of me wonders if the tablet has reached the end of its life, but another part of me thinks that I should expect more from a 4 year old £500 tablet, although yes it did get dropped that time.
Anyway, I have been directed here by someone who suggested that a custom rom might be the answer, but after taking a look at the Samsung Tab S Development page, I am completely stumped at what rom to choose and how to install it, and just when I thought id go for it, I didn't really understand the following instructions:
Download the latest build (download to what, my laptop?)
Download opengapps.org (I dont know what this is and where to download it to)
Make a nandroid backup (totally lost on this one)
Recommended - Full wipe system/data (first install) (I think I did that, although it took about 2 seconds)
Flash latest Twrp (T800/T805) & Firmware from sammobile.com (T800/T805) (No idea what that means)
Flash ROM (?)
Flash Gapps (?)
Reboot
Enjoy!
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I'm hoping that there might be an idiots guide to fixing the Tab S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4pda.ru
---------- Post added at 11:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 PM ----------
5hane said:
Hi all
I have been pointed towards xda following a conversation in another forum regarding my failing Tab S.
Before I registered today, I took a look around the forum and am left feeling a bit like a duck out of water.
I dont really understand much of the jargon being used, and so im not sure if I really belong here . I'm just trying to find a fix for my tablet that doesn't involve the expense of returning it to Samsung.
I bought my Tab S 10.5 back in 2014, and until last year I felt that it performed flawlessly. So last year a friend of mine dropped it onto my kitchen floor resulting in a shattered screen from the top left corner outwards. I did look into getting the screen replaced at the time but it turned out that it was going to cost me £250, which I believe is half the price of what I paid for the whole thing when it was new. So I decided to live with the damage, which isn't too visible when its switched on.
A year later and I have what I think is a more serious issue. While I was on Facebook my tablet decided to turn itself off at 50% battery, and when I turned turning it back on it appeared to be stuck in some kind of boot-loop, constantly switching from a slowly glowing Samsung logo to the smaller constructing logo (I hope that makes sense). I tried various button sequences to get the thing running but none made any difference.
Following a bit of Googling I tried a hard reset and clearing the cache. The process took mere seconds, leading me to believe that the hard reset functionality wasn't working either. And after the reset where it gave me to the option to restart, I was taken back to the boot-loop again.
Part of me wonders if the tablet has reached the end of its life, but another part of me thinks that I should expect more from a 4 year old £500 tablet, although yes it did get dropped that time.
Anyway, I have been directed here by someone who suggested that a custom rom might be the answer, but after taking a look at the Samsung Tab S Development page, I am completely stumped at what rom to choose and how to install it, and just when I thought id go for it, I didn't really understand the following instructions:
Download the latest build (download to what, my laptop?)
Download opengapps.org (I dont know what this is and where to download it to)
Make a nandroid backup (totally lost on this one)
Recommended - Full wipe system/data (first install) (I think I did that, although it took about 2 seconds)
Flash latest Twrp (T800/T805) & Firmware from sammobile.com (T800/T805) (No idea what that means)
Flash ROM (?)
Flash Gapps (?)
Reboot
Enjoy!
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I'm hoping that there might be an idiots guide to fixing the Tab S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=636846
http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=604194

genrih69 said:
4pda.ru
---------- Post added at 11:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 PM ----------
http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=636846
http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=604194
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Warning coming up.
---------- Post added at 08:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:22 AM ----------
5hane said:
That's great, thank you for your detailed reply.
Luckily I back up my docs and media to an SD card as I go, so I dont believe I have lost anything.
I will get reading this afternoon and fingers crossed it will work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are having issues with your device then flashing custom firmware is not the answer.
If indeed it is software related then the best you can do is simply factory reset the device.
If that doesn't solve reinstall the stock firmware via Odin.
Don't put yourself under extra pressure by introducing unknown issues from flashing custom stuff.
Go to updato.com search your device, download the respective firmware for your device and flash it with Odin.
Google has countless guides how to flash with Odin .
If that doesn't fix it then it's likely hardware. The first thing you should look at for random shutdowns is replacing the battery.

ashyx said:
Warning coming up.
---------- Post added at 08:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:22 AM ----------
If you are having issues with your device then flashing custom firmware is not the answer.
If indeed it is software related then the best you can do is simply factory reset the device.
If that doesn't solve reinstall the stock firmware via Odin.
Don't put yourself under extra pressure by introducing unknown issues from flashing custom stuff.
Go to updato.com search your device, download the respective firmware for your device and flash it with Odin.
Google has countless guides how to flash with Odin .
If that doesn't fix it then it's likely hardware. The first thing you should look at for random shutdowns is replacing the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Luckily I haven't tried a custom rom yet.
No the factory reset didn't work, in fact it doesn't appear to work at all. The android guy is lying on his back with some warning text below it that vanishes to soon to be read.
I daren't try replacing the battery, as the last time I tied removing the front of a tablet (a mates) the screen shattered. Plus my screen is already badly cracked and likely to get worse if I attempt to remove it.
So ill look into the Odin option. Thanks!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WUCR-mhu1hNejUYsdycA32NyRzX-cX12/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PQj2bSjV66pXFkhAqkAKt4cJp6zrt1Xk/view?usp=sharing

I see you have to install more USB drivers to your laptop. Is there anyway this whole process might mess up my laptop?

5hane said:
I see you have to install more USB drivers to your laptop. Is there anyway this whole process might mess up my laptop?
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Click to collapse
No. Just install the Samsung usb drivers.