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[Q] A Noob who needs help fixing his bricked Galaxy S2

Hi all
Im a newbie (and a noob by the looks of it)
Based in the UK and own a S2 which has 02 firmware but is unlocked
Connected to Kies last night to update to ICS
They go and brick my phone
My question?
How do I get my S2 back up and running?
At this point I dont really mind what it is running but would prefer ICS
I have ODIN Downloded but I am not sure how to get the ROMS/Firmware
Unzip/Zip the file
And how to get it on my phone
It currently goes into the boot mode when you hold Vol Down/Power & Home key
When powered on it comes up with load emergency jargon and connect to Kies which I have done numerous times to no avail
Any help would be appreciated ;-)

Rooted?
Is the phone rooted? I've never used odin. I have used Heimdall, which is pretty much the same.

Its not rooted
Just want to get it up and running asap
Any suggestions

Here's links for branded and unbranded official firmwares.
Unbranded firmware
Branded firmware
Those threads very clearly explain what you need to do to flash official firmware using Odin. Once you've done that you should be up and running again and can take it from there.

Thanks ever so much
I have a hour free now so wish me luck ;-)
Will report back and let you know how things went

OK Rather confused
All of the info is posted as you have stated but which one do I need to do?
Their are so many their and I dont get this whole root thing!?Do I need to root first?
Or do I not root as their is no need?

No root required to flash the stock firmware.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA

I've gotten my GT-I9100 bricked.
Had successfully flashed Resurrection Remix ICS v2.1 ROM along with SiyahKernel v3.3.1. Everything was working fine until some suicidal impulse gripped me to format the SD card from the settings.
The phone did so, 'said restarting device', and then only the Galaxy S2 logo would appear followed by a back screen; which would flicker now and then.
It refuses to load into recovery mode; I have yet to administer the jig.
Any suggestions on how I might be able to get the phone to boot into recovery mode would be extremely appreciated.
Thanking you for your time.

Bricked - Stuck on Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Screen

Hi,
I bought a bricked Galaxy Note 10.1 GT-N8000 and managed to flash stock firmware and booted correctly except for a strange Watermark on screen which showed device specs. Then I tried flashing German Kitkat version thru ODIN which failed, now the device is stuck on Galaxy Note 10.1 screen even though I have tried flashing ODIN many times and it has shown PASS but doesn't go beyond that. It can't even go get into recovery (only can get to ODIN mode). Please help me as i can't go beyond that even though i have searched a lot google, no one seems to have gotten any solution.

34 views but no suggestion!!! It seems mighty developers never bought this phone to suggest something. It's strange ODIN can flash and shows success (firmware or any recovery) but nothing seems to install and make it boot. Pl someone got some idea?

usman3206 said:
34 views but no suggestion!!! It seems mighty developers never bought this phone to suggest something. It's strange ODIN can flash and shows success (firmware or any recovery) but nothing seems to install and make it boot. Pl someone got some idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried flashing a custom rom?.
Just realised you said it wouldn't go into recovery.
Try flashing from another pc
Which version of ODIN are you using?.

No haven't tried custom ROM but probably this device was never rooted but can give that a try. Yes it won't go into recovery at all. I will give try from another PC. I have tried ODIN v. 1.85 and v3.09.

usman3206 said:
No haven't tried custom ROM but probably this device was never rooted but can give that a try. Yes it won't go into recovery at all. I will give try from another PC. I have tried ODIN v. 1.85 and v3.09.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it might be a driver issue with your pc if it won't work with v1.85.
Trying reinstalling the Samsung drivers on your pc.

I flashed stock firmware before with the same PC and it worked and I have tried to use same ODIN and same stock firmware which worked before. Even now ODIN says PASS, infact there is no failure at all but device itself is stuck on "Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1" splash screen. I have tried restarting PC, using different USB ports but ODIN always says PASS without problem but device condition is same. I think may be i should change firmware/ stock recovery even though previously the same worked. I am at a loss, don't know what to do?
P.S: Edit: as i was writing these comments I thought of trying out same german kitkat version which earlier broke my device and this time it succeeded and at least device has come out of that splash screen though it is still stuck samsung animation screen. so i will try more and will update. any suggestions are welcome. thanks

ok, now it's possible to get into stock recovery at least, although it shows "E:failed to mount /efs (Invalid argument)" and " Applied the CSC-code : unknown". What to do now? kindly advise

Finally managed to ODIN a stock firmware to work correctly and device is able to boot but show "Broadband: Unknown". Thanks for your help

usman3206 said:
Finally managed to ODIN a stock firmware to work correctly and device is able to boot but show "Broadband: Unknown". Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you check your IMEI if its available in setting/device? If its not your EFS is missing or corrupt.

yes, IMEI is Unknown! that means EFS is corrupt! I know the IMEI, I have the box, how can i restore it?

usman3206 said:
yes, IMEI is Unknown! that means EFS is corrupt! I know the IMEI, I have the box, how can i restore it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2111485

Thanks a lot for the link. I will go through it deeply and try it out and will come back.

Just some food for thought! Since i bought this device bricked and never knew which firmware it came with and tried different firmwares randomly until i found one that could work only with "Factory Mode". My question;
1. Could it be that I flashed a wrong firmware causing this thing to go Factory Mode?
2. Or must it be corrupt EFS folder?
I am asking because now i rooted my device, it is showing one EFS folder and when i tried to flash Philz recovery over TWRP it gave me error that " This package is for 'c).p4noterf.n8000.GT-N8000' devices; this is a 'p4notewifi'.
E:Unable to mount '/efs'.
Any suggestions? Please

I think this efs folder is generated automatically by the android when it can't find one because when i checked it was an empty folder, nothing inside. so may the issue is of broken efs system folder. Can't create my own IMEI since i have the box and IMEI is written on it.

Does this device use SIM to make calls or just for data download? Couldn't figure out! Is there a simple way to get rid of the "Factory Mode"? may be i don't need all that SIM functionality after all but certainly want to get rid of that "Factory Mode".

Can I try this one
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=39523753&postcount=4
Any suggestions, kindly do suggest if i should do whatever is described in the above post or the ones suggested before written below
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2111485
Please advise which method should i try. Awaiting eagerly for input

Is it possible to use following tool to repair EFS?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...ol-updated-09-06-14-efs-professional-t1308546
Please suggest me something if someone out there know something?

Finally fixed it by using the thread shown above but i have a fake IMEI but factory mode is no longer there and everything is working normally. Is it possible to change IMEI to my own by using methods i have seen on net including youtube? please advise

usman3206 said:
I flashed stock firmware before with the same PC and it worked and I have tried to use same ODIN and same stock firmware which worked before. Even now ODIN says PASS, infact there is no failure at all but device itself is stuck on "Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1" splash screen. I have tried restarting PC, using different USB ports but ODIN always says PASS without problem but device condition is same. I think may be i should change firmware/ stock recovery even though previously the same worked. I am at a loss, don't know what to do?
P.S: Edit: as i was writing these comments I thought of trying out same german kitkat version which earlier broke my device and this time it succeeded and at least device has come out of that splash screen though it is still stuck samsung animation screen. so i will try more and will update. any suggestions are welcome. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there.
The Note is a tablet 10.1 wifi version?
Is that I have exactly the same problem as you and I do not know what to do to get my tablet.
Could you give me the link of the rom with which you solved the problem? Thank you

spider1371 said:
Hi there.
The Note is a tablet 10.1 wifi version?
Is that I have exactly the same problem as you and I do not know what to do to get my tablet.
Could you give me the link of the rom with which you solved the problem? Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is wifi+3G version, its called GT-N8000. Mine was bricked before and I flashed it using ODIN (its available everywhere almost) and stock firmware (you need to use the one installed on it from factory, you can find download link from sammobile site but be careful download the one that is specific for you model no.). Then describe your problem may be i can help you.

[Q] Is there a way to pull information from an old backup?

I haven't been able to find anything specific in the threads, so this may be an odd request.
I recently needed to pull some texts from an old backup from CWM. I can see it saved on my external storage, but something messed up in the memory(?) and I kept getting error messages in Odin mode telling me I needed to use the Software Repair Assistant.
Everything I found and tried on here would fail in Odin, no matter what file I was trying to install or which directions I followed.
The phone ended up not booting at all, just going to the repair assistant screen whether it was a normal or download mode boot.
I got frustrated the other night and just used the Samsung emergency repair tool. Now it is back to working properly, but everything I read on here is saying nothing is really going to work on 4.4.2 with the VRUDNE1 baseband.
Before I mess it up again and try rooting and restoring back to an older version (4.3 I think) which will probably mess up, is there any way I can go in to the save files and pull the texts?

nebbernoo said:
I haven't been able to find anything specific in the threads, so this may be an odd request.
I recently needed to pull some texts from an old backup from CWM. I can see it saved on my external storage, but something messed up in the memory(?) and I kept getting error messages in Odin mode telling me I needed to use the Software Repair Assistant.
Everything I found and tried on here would fail in Odin, no matter what file I was trying to install or which directions I followed.
The phone ended up not booting at all, just going to the repair assistant screen whether it was a normal or download mode boot.
I got frustrated the other night and just used the Samsung emergency repair tool. Now it is back to working properly, but everything I read on here is saying nothing is really going to work on 4.4.2 with the VRUDNE1 baseband.
Before I mess it up again and try rooting and restoring back to an older version (4.3 I think) which will probably mess up, is there any way I can go in to the save files and pull the texts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen a way to do it yet. If your already on 4.4.2 you can't revert back to an older version. Doing so will cause a soft brick
Sent from my Nexus 5

ShapesBlue said:
I haven't seen a way to do it yet. If your already on 4.4.2 you can't revert back to an older version. Doing so will cause a soft brick
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would I be able to flash it onto another device that hasn't been updated to 4.4.2? On say a Motorola RAZR M? Or would it have to be a pre 4.4.2 Galaxy S3?

nebbernoo said:
Would I be able to flash it onto another device that hasn't been updated to 4.4.2? On say a Motorola RAZR M? Or would it have to be a pre 4.4.2 Galaxy S3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would have to be a S3. Flashing the software intended for an S3 to another device won't work, I am not saying that this will 100% work
Sent from my Nexus 5

[Q] Here is what I have managed to do to my phone

THIS IS A QUOTESounds like you corrupted the partitions flashing all those bootloaders. There is really no random problems that pop up which can be solved by flashing bootloaders. You only need those if you specifically mess up your bootloader, or you need to update it. But you have successfully messed it up beyond my talent. If flashing the stock nj2 .tar in odin didn't fix it, you may need to use a debrick image. But I've never gotten myself in a position to need that so maybe someone else ca n chime in here. END QUOTE
This is what appears to be what I have done to my phone. I can boot to recovery and download mode but nothing I have tried so far has gotten me past that. {Another thing that bothers me is trying to get win7 to load the correct drivers for my phone. I've even tried turning off my internet connection but it still doesn't seem to install right except in kies or oden.} I tried to flash an SD card with a debrick image:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2660566 but nothing happened. I have the unified android skipsoft toolbox on my pc but I can't get win7 to install the correct drivers for the phone to use it! If someone can help I sure would appreciate it. The phone was rooted with a stock rom MK 4.1.2. I rooted it with Kies a couple of years ago. It's a Sprint SPH-L710 16GB I can't get the serial # because it won't boot to let me get it. I don't have the box.

help with mobile odin

long storey short,a year or 2 ago, i rooted my phone, S3, installed supersuand mobile odin.
Now im trying to switch over to CWM bootloader, but it always sticks with ODIN for bootloader. i cant seem to get past, or remove, or replace mobile odin as the bootlaoder.
Im stuck with 4.3 os, and wanting to play with other systems... lol
Cant seem to go back to stock image either...
Anyone know how to remove/displace/replace mobile odin?
(Its a great app, and most likely i will re-install after i upgrade.. lol, but for the moment i need it removed... )

Did you mean to unroot your device or you want have a custom recovery in your device?
Sent from my SM-G920F using XDA Free mobile app

shaemasa said:
Did you mean to unroot your device or you want have a custom recovery in your device?
Sent from my SM-G920F using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would perfer to keep it rooted, andto be able to play with and try out out other roms etc
a year or two ago i rooted it with cf auto root.
installed super user and other things. i kept the stock rom. along the way tho, i installed MObile Odin.
Now i wanted to play with and try out other roms. pretty much everything out there is for CWM. so i attempted to install cwm via pc based ODIN (3.10)
it didnt install, altho it seems like it may be burried in behind. using the program ROM installer i can reboot into cwm mode, all the options etc are there.
If i manualy boot into bootloader, it comes up with "mobile Odin" boot mode. i cant get rid of mobile odin.
Note after this,mobile odin itself was broken and i couldnt run the app. it took some work and playing, but i did get to wherre it would allow me to re-install it and run it.
even when the app itself was broken/ removed, it stil retained the mobile odin bootloader.
that was about when i posted the above question originaly.
in the end,i did manage to get into cwm by using the rom installer app, however i dont think its installed properly by any means..
using the cwm, i attempted to install a new rom with cwm on it as well, however that went horribly wrong.. status 7 (which i belive basicaly means its wrong rom for my phone,) however it should not have been.
S3 I747m on bell/canada
there where severa other issues as i attempted to get things back into working order.
In the end,it went into a cycle of rebooting into cwm bootloader.
I used cwm to re-install a complete backup i had saved, and now i am soft bricked... (sticks at the samsung logo screen during start up.
I tried everything to get a copy of the oem software. 2 problems with this...
First off from the samsung site, it limits you to around14kb persecond... once i hit about 10-15% the download cuts out/quits.
Now theres linksto the files here as well, via rapidshare... i just spent the last 3 days getting rid of the fricken malware/trojans etc from that attempt,and my pc barely fricken runs now.. still got some fixing to do, but i recommend getting rid of that bull thread with its crap links..
Long storey short,if anyone knows of an actual proper link that isnt virus etc infested, it would be greatly appreciated.
galaxy s3 I747M on bell.
(Phone is disconected,and long paid off..it was a fun little toy playing old nes romswith ps3 controlleronmy 65" tv, and ingress,and many other things..moreorless my lil digital pocket knife.. id realy like to get it back!)