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[Q] Anyone else having issues with custom roms? My rundown of steps.

People that can't get the roms beyond stock to work, are your phones activated?
Is it possible to use the Pac Man Rom or CM10 on an unactivated phone?
I'm having similar issues to others trying to flash Pac Man and CM10.2. The first boot was fine and I can access everything on the phone fine, including settings. I rebooted and the activation screen (which I skipped as this phone doesn't have service) always pops up but I would like to use it without putting it on a cell network. I can skip the screen fine (until I decide to disable it) but then have issues like the keyboard (physical and touch), systemUI or NAV Bar crashing with a constant message pop up telling me it has crashed. I have returned to stock using RSD and reflashed Pac Man and CM10.2 MANY (15+?) times, doing a clean install 99% of the time but also trying a couple dirty installs to cover my bases. I should also note that I flashed the phone to Cricket but have no plans to activate it anytime soon.
Another thing to note is that I had issues getting the custom roms to boot at all as the initial setup would take hours. One time I though it was a boot loop but I left it on all night and it had booted in the morning. I believe it has something to do with the file check at boot (with my 32GB low speed class SD card) but that seems to be resolved and I can get the custom roms to boot fine (on the first boot) even with my 32GB (witch is fine and has no errors nor is generic, before you ask.) I also have tried 2 4GB cards and a 2GB card, all different brands, with no change in behavior.
I have done everything below multiple times and in different orders.(If needed I can give a direct breakdown step by step but if you could do it with the files below, I have probably tried it)
Wipe the phone (including all storage internal and external SDs included)
Using RDS v6.15
RDS asanti_c_sprint-user-4.1.2-9.8.2Q-122_XT897_FFW-5-6-release-keys-cid9.xml.zip (Works 100% of the time and never has issues. I keep reverting back to this if I actually need to use the phone)
RDS ClockworkMod, TWRP, and Open Recovery without TWRP (Tried different versions when available)
Then used each recovery to install Pac Man or CM10.2 (tried 10.1 once but had the same issues and I didn't see the need to troubleshoot a rom people seemed to not want to develop for. So 10.1 was only tried once but has the same issues)
Installed GApps at this point but I also tried alternate versions of GApps and not installing it at all. All have the same effect and don't seem to be contributing to the problems at all.
A few installed I tried wiping the phone again or installing each zip multiple times. I also verified the zips were good when on the device to make sure there was no corruption at transfer.
I also tried multiple (confirmed working) SD cards and installing from the internal storage.
I have tried installing arrrghhh's Kernel too.
The issue ether seems to be boot loop (if it's doing a file check) or more often it works until I get one of the said crashes after a reboot.(blame Tyler message is getting SO old...) The time I see the errors seems to be accelerated if I mess with the settings a lot but I don't believe it is directly related to the settings.
My next recourse is to try and flash it back to Sprint (maybe check my Cricket settings) and see if that helps, without it being activated.
On a separate note.
If people need help I can help get you back to stock easily. The instructions/guides on here are all but useless if you don't know what you are doing already. I have seen down to "USE RDS" or "DELETE LINE MD5" like people would just know what that means. I understand RDS Lite is a standard tool for flashing phones but it's nigh impossible to find real explanations on what stuff does in context. I understand the basics though, so if anyone has any questions I can walk you through it.
To start with if you are stuck in a loop at the start of a new rom and it loops between the 'Welcome' Screen (Select your Language) and Activation screen just skip the initial setup by tapping the corners on your screen in a clockwise manor when on the 'Welcome' screen to skip the setup there is a video to explain it here
pocketnow(can't post links )com/how-to/android-quick-tip-how-to-bypass-touch-the-android-to-begin-video
Without doing this or activating the phone it seems to loop between those 2 screens forever (might indicate part of the problem with customs roms....)
I hope this is enough info to go off of I can give you a play by play with the actual files if you need. Maybe a video if needed and I'm feeling extra fancy.
Thanks for your time.

Hey buddy,
If you're trying to make a guide, make sure you call it what it is properly - RSD Lite.
Also, maybe clean up your post a bit so it's a proper guide (as you point out, it's needed) and make a separate thread for your question.
To answer your question, the unactivated phone shouldn't be an issue in of itself - you'll just get the nag screen like you were talking about.
I know there is an issue some are having with rebooting the 4.3 ROM's. Have you tried any 4.2.2 versions of anything? Carbon, CM10.1?
I wonder if your "flash" to Cricket is causing issue, I'm not sure. Let me know about 4.2.
Edit - I missed this part on my first read of your PM. Taking hours to boot is NOT normal. Perhaps remove the SD card entirely, flash using the internal SD... I've never heard of that. Anything over say 20 minutes is probably cause for concern.

Thanks for taking time to answer me.
In no way was I trying to make a guide yet but I guess I could. I just hate posting stuff without useful content so I figured throwing that in was better than nothing. I'll clean it up and set up some links later today. It's frustrating to try and make a full guide before I can post links that would be needed for it. You are totally right though! (complain about crappy guides and kind of make one... )
Part of my point there was that I can't post out of Q and A and this wasn't really a question so I made a question out of it and that's how my post ended up.
I have flashed many phones before but like I said I'll try and put it back on Sprint later today (probably will be a few hours) as I backed up the settings the phone came with. I know it was a wall of text and not the easiest to read so you probably missed it but I also said in my first post that I tried the internal SD card many times and the taking hours to boot isn't the standard and doesn't seem to happen at 99% of the time. It seems to be related to the recovery software I use as it happened a lot more when I was testing TWRP and none when I use clockwork.
What Recovery do you recommend? I swear they aren't made equal...
I tested CM10.1 once and it had the exact same issues as CM10.2 and Pac Man so I didn't test it further but if you want me to test it I can. I just didn't want the Rom.
I don't want Carbon either but I'll test that and AOKP next. It's just annoying that the stock rom works perfect but I can't get these to function at all. I almost wish I didn't get Pac Man to work at all. I'm very particular about my settings and NEED these features after I tried them Pac Man is AMAZING.
Thank you for the help and I hope I can get this worked out.
PS I saw that you were frustrated about working on a rom you don't have a device for. I hope you don't let a little thing like that stop you as, for the little time I have used it, it's all I want. Thanks again.

Blasz said:
What Recovery do you recommend? I swear they aren't made equal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, OpenRecovery has probably the most work done for this device specifically. I liked TWRP, but it seems lately it has been unstable - you're not the first who has reported issues lately. I don't think CWM has been updated, unfortunately - but perhaps that's a good thing, it's stable that's for sure.

Blasz- I was just about to start a thread when I found yours, and it very accurately describes the issues I've been having. Here's my progress so far.
I got my Photon Q with Sprint and used it for a few months before Sprint started finding creative ways to take my "$79.99" bill and make it more like $140 a month. Naturally, I refused to pay. So I had a Photon Q with no cell service. This is fine, as I only need it to work on WiFi, not 2G/3G and there is no 4G in the area. Anyway.
At the time, I had Ice Cream Sandwich on it, using the (latest?) ICS firmware from Motorola. This worked very well, but I later tried to use a newer firmware, and all the custom ROMs had shown up while I hadn't been looking. All of these seemed to be based on JellyBean. First off, I tried CyanogenMod 10.2. Worked amazing well! I had literally no problems at all. However, while I was experimenting with different software for the phone, and wanted to see if "Arrrgghh"(sp?)'s kernels would give me some decent overclocking capability. Turns out, the kernel I picked wasn't compatible with the JB firmwares (I probably picked an older one by mistake.) Needless to say, it now wouldn't boot. It'd go to the "Unlocked bootloader" screen and stay there all night (literally, I tried that.)
So, I went back into CWM, which is the recovery I have installed. I erased /data, /cache and /system, and also the dalvik cache and battery stats for good measure. I also formatted /pds and /modem, I believe, which was probably dumb of me since I'm not sure what those do. Then I tried re-installing CM 10.2 from CWM. The installation went fine, and it works gorgeously. However, there's two weird issues:
1) WiFi and Bluetooth don't even BEGIN to work! Neither does Cell, as far as I can tell, because where CM used to be unable to make calls or access the internet (of course, I've not been paying my bill), it now shows an empty signal bar or "No Signal" (the little red X) in the notification bar ... When I try to turn on WiFi using the slider in Settings, it moves to "ON" (stays gray) and pauses for a few secs, then goes back to OFF. Same thing for BT. If I open the WiFi menu where you select an AP, it tells me to turn on WiFi. I do, using the slider up top, and the same thing happens. WiFi and BT simply won't turn on. Tried fiddling with every setting I can find.
Before this misadventure with the kernel/reinstall, WiFi worked great. I connected to a local AP and was surfing the net and downloading apps.
2) The system takes a VERY long time to boot up. It sits at the "Unlocked Bootloader" screen for up to a whole minute. Then it goes to the Cyanogen screen for about 30 seconds. Then it gets to the homescreen. It's fine so long as you let it boot up, but this doesn't seem normal.
Next I tried other ROMs thinking that might help. I installed AOKP, PacMan, CM1.0, Carbon, SlimBean, and I think a few others without results-- they all work but WiFi and BlueTooth are dead. PacMan is the only exception-- it boots up and then endlessly gives me "Blame Tyler" errors until I force the machine to shut off.
I also tried an older ROM, since these are all JellyBean ROMs and I wanted to get back to ICS (I'm not that fond of JB's interface) anyway. I was unable to find any ZIPs I could install through CWM of the stock firmware. I found some IMGs that it looks like I could install via Fastboot, but I don't currently have a PC with admin priveleges (it's not mine) so I can't install the drivers to use Fastboot or any part of the SDK. (I can, however, put files on my SD card, that doesn't require privleges.) The closest ROM I found to stock was "TwistedAsanti" beta-1 or whatever it's called. That installs fine, but again, it takes about 2 straight minutes to boot and it's useless after that:
It gets stuck at "Starting Services..." and will sit there forever, even left there all night. Behind this, a dialog pops up saying no cell networks were found and asking if I want to switch to GSM. (i've been trying GSM and CDMA ROMs all this time, I don't need cell access so I doubt it matters which I use. I'm in the USA.) You can pull down the notification bar and get into the Settings, and even launch a couple programs, but I can't find ANY way to get to a homescreen. Task manager shows Circles is running, which is a widget on the homescreen, so where the heck is that screen? .. I try, again, to turn on WiFi or BT without success. The friggin thing just won't turn on.
Did I eff it up by erasing the "PDS" or "modem" partition? Am I missing something obvious or is my phone just possessed?
In a few days I should have access to a computer where I can hopefully use Fastboot and see about installing a stock firmware (wish me luck). Until then, does anyone have a ZIP file I can flash from CWM to get back to an ICS firmware? I managed to find a copy of the stock firmware, in the form of a dump done from TWRP (in .win files). But as far as I know the only way to install TWRP is using Fastboot, and I've explained why I can't do that. I don't know a way to install TWRP from CWM. Maybe I can do it from CM10.2, if I can put APKs or something on my SD card. I can't get it on the network, so I have to copy all the files manually. Needless to say, it's a pain.
After my frenzy of ROM installing, I got frustrated and decided to see if TwistedAsanti would do SOMETHING if I let it sit at "Starting Services" overnight. To my mistake, I left it under my pillow and the system was quite toasty, and the battery had run dead. Plugging it back into the charger, it made a few worrying clicking noises from the speaker, then the green LED came on. This LED seems to mean "I'm charging, but the battery is too dead to turn on for a while." After it sits there a while, the green LED turns off and it just goes black. Or it goes to BOOTLOADER UNLOCKED and bootloops, or goes to black untilyou fiddle with the power button some more. I can once in a blue moon get to CWM. Sometimes it gets to the homescreen. It will charge up to about 4-7% and no further (battery got damaged by the heat?) It doesn't reliably work when plugged in, it likes to shut off at random anyway.
So now I'm stuck with a phone I can't seem to charge, or turn on reliably, and if I *do* get it to boot up, there's no way to connect it to a network.
Needless to say I'm pretty darn frustrated..
Thanks for any advice.

Epicenter714 said:
So now I'm stuck with a phone I can't seem to charge, or turn on reliably, and if I *do* get it to boot up, there's no way to connect it to a network.
Needless to say I'm pretty darn frustrated..
Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try to use RSD Lite and flash the device back to stock?

arrrghhh said:
Did you try to use RSD Lite and flash the device back to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently, I have no PC to use that has Admin priveleges, so I can't install the USB drivers or RSDLite. I also can't use fastboot to install TWRP to use the TWRP .win backups I found.
I did get a roommate to let me use his laptop for 10 minutes to try RSD Lite, but I had this result: Loaded the ".xml.zip" file for the 4.0.4 and 4.1.2 firmwares (after removing the 'getvar' line that causes problems) and it says the phone reported "FAIL". No further details. MiniRSD gives no info from the phone other than the model (it all stays blank), is that supposed to happen? I have the phone in "AP Fastboot" mode so I don't see the problem.
The guy who let me use his PC momentarily is computer-illiterate and thinks anything will break it, so he only let me use it momentarily, and won't let me touch it because I accidentally left an icon on his desktop. I'll have to ask someone else, I think I may know somone..
If I do, how do I get around this error in RSD Lite? Will keep doing research on my own .. thanks!

Epicenter714 said:
Currently, I have no PC to use that has Admin priveleges, so I can't install the USB drivers or RSDLite. I also can't use fastboot to install TWRP to use the TWRP .win backups I found.
I did get a roommate to let me use his laptop for 10 minutes to try RSD Lite, but I had this result: Loaded the ".xml.zip" file for the 4.0.4 and 4.1.2 firmwares (after removing the 'getvar' line that causes problems) and it says the phone reported "FAIL". No further details. MiniRSD gives no info from the phone other than the model (it all stays blank), is that supposed to happen? I have the phone in "AP Fastboot" mode so I don't see the problem.
The guy who let me use his PC momentarily is computer-illiterate and thinks anything will break it, so he only let me use it momentarily, and won't let me touch it because I accidentally left an icon on his desktop. I'll have to ask someone else, I think I may know somone..
If I do, how do I get around this error in RSD Lite? Will keep doing research on my own .. thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well remember - if you are on JB and you are downgrading to ICS, there are additional lines to remove.
Other than that, not sure why it would fail. Make sure 'fastboot devices' works in the command line before doing RSD perhaps.

arrrghhh said:
Well remember - if you are on JB and you are downgrading to ICS, there are additional lines to remove.
Other than that, not sure why it would fail. Make sure 'fastboot devices' works in the command line before doing RSD perhaps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying to wipe the device clean and install ICS. Are there any other lines I need to remove? ..
As for Fastboot.. I did 'Fastboot Devices' and got no devices listed. How come it shows up in MiniRSD? .. I have the drivers installed, Windows says it installed an ADB device successfully. What are some reasons that might not work? Is there any sort of guide for this? Thank you
---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:29 PM ----------
Oh, as far as the weird booting problem, it seems the battery is fine and the charger died coincidentally at the same time as the overheating did. So my only problem is software now.. thanks.

Epicenter714 said:
I'm trying to wipe the device clean and install ICS. Are there any other lines I need to remove? ..
As for Fastboot.. I did 'Fastboot Devices' and got no devices listed. How come it shows up in MiniRSD? .. I have the drivers installed, Windows says it installed an ADB device successfully. What are some reasons that might not work? Is there any sort of guide for this? Thank you
---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:29 PM ----------
Oh, as far as the weird booting problem, it seems the battery is fine and the charger died coincidentally at the same time as the overheating did. So my only problem is software now.. thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no clue what MiniRSD is - you mean RSD Lite?
If it doesn't show up in fastboot devices, sort that out before trying to use RSD.
As I stated previously, if you were on JB and going down to ICS you have additional lines which are needed to remove.

Yes, RSD Lite. I don't know where I got MiniRSD from.
I got it to show up in fastboot devices, but adb devices doesn't show it. Weird. Is that OK?
I was able to flash TWRP to the phone with Fastboot. RSD Lite was unable to find the phone. However, I opened the XML file and was able to figure out the flash commands to enter from a command prompt, so I did that:
I got these results... all of the files flashed successfully to stock, except for two. I forget the first, haven't got it in front of me, but here's the big one: SYSTEM! (Important, no?) Here's the error from fastboot:
>> fastboot flash system system.img.ext4
fastboot said:
target reports max download size 31457280 bytes
Invalid sparse file format at header magi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(then, Fastboot crashes.)
Does anyone know how to fix that? Also, the system image is way bigger than 31.4 MB. What is it talking about?
Thanks!

Epicenter714 said:
Yes, RSD Lite. I don't know where I got MiniRSD from.
I got it to show up in fastboot devices, but adb devices doesn't show it. Weird. Is that OK?
I was able to flash TWRP to the phone with Fastboot. RSD Lite was unable to find the phone. However, I opened the XML file and was able to figure out the flash commands to enter from a command prompt, so I did that:
I got these results... all of the files flashed successfully to stock, except for two. I forget the first, haven't got it in front of me, but here's the big one: SYSTEM! (Important, no?) Here's the error from fastboot:
>> fastboot flash system system.img.ext4
(then, Fastboot crashes.)
Does anyone know how to fix that? Also, the system image is way bigger than 31.4 MB. What is it talking about?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would NOT recommend entering those fastboot commands in the XML file manually unless you KNOW what you are doing.
Sort out why RSD isn't working. adb and fastboot are two different things. If fastboot devices shows the device, RSD Lite should work fine. Try again.

[Q] Boot Loop with no recovery mode

Ok so I'm new to the thread and basically to android tablets, so please forgive my ignorance if it should become prevalent.
I bought a Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 32GB wifi and had it for about one day. I performed a factory restore on the device in which it froze for about 2 hours. (this is probably the stupid part) I turned it off since it was not progressing after a long time and it booted up as a new device. After about 5 minutes of use, it randomly restarted and went into a boot loop. About every 15 or so boot screens, it sometimes boots up, then freezes and goes back into a boot loop. The longest it stayed active without resetting was about 10 minutes. After hours of research, I have done the following
Tried to boot into recovery to no avail. It just continuously pops up the device name screen
I have tried to flash the device with a stock rom in odin 3.9.
It recognizes the device but hangs at the Initialization stage. Sometimes it will give me a fail notice saying that it couldn't open the COM port
I've tried it on another computer, changed usb ports, powered on and off multiple times and nothing changes.
please let me know if i've forgotten anything. Any help will be appreciated.
Also I live in Japan, so if I can fix it myself that would be nice since this device isn't sold here yet, I'm not able to get support from a store. I'd like to avoid waiting a month sending it back to america, replacing it, and getting it sent back. Thanks in advance ^_^

Make sure you have the correct and latest Samsung drivers for your tablet.
If you have an SD card installed, try removing it and see if you can boot up and get it stable.

roninb30 said:
Ok so I'm new to the thread and basically to android tablets, so please forgive my ignorance if it should become prevalent.
I bought a Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 32GB wifi and had it for about one day. I performed a factory restore on the device in which it froze for about 2 hours. (this is probably the stupid part) I turned it off since it was not progressing after a long time and it booted up as a new device. After about 5 minutes of use, it randomly restarted and went into a boot loop. About every 15 or so boot screens, it sometimes boots up, then freezes and goes back into a boot loop. The longest it stayed active without resetting was about 10 minutes. After hours of research, I have done the following
Tried to boot into recovery to no avail. It just continuously pops up the device name screen
I have tried to flash the device with a stock rom in odin 3.9.
It recognizes the device but hangs at the Initialization stage. Sometimes it will give me a fail notice saying that it couldn't open the COM port
I've tried it on another computer, changed usb ports, powered on and off multiple times and nothing changes.
please let me know if i've forgotten anything. Any help will be appreciated.
Also I live in Japan, so if I can fix it myself that would be nice since this device isn't sold here yet, I'm not able to get support from a store. I'd like to avoid waiting a month sending it back to america, replacing it, and getting it sent back. Thanks in advance ^_^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, you rooted (void warranty) on a day old tablet on a platform that is new to you? I've been rooting Android devices for over 3 years now and have had mine for a week now without root. Don't get me wrong, I have a list of things I want that require root and it will be happening but I figured I should at least run it for a couple weeks to make sure no defects pop up before I void the warranty. Good luck to you!

Russbad said:
Make sure you have the correct and latest Samsung drivers for your tablet.
If you have an SD card installed, try removing it and see if you can boot up and get it stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've installed drivers a few times. No go.
I'm on it now and the boot loop seems to have stopped, but I still get random restarts. But each time it restarts, it's from factory, so it doesn't save anything I download or any settings such as enabling debugging in the developer settings.
rkirmeier said:
Wow, you rooted (void warranty) on a day old tablet on a platform that is new to you? I've been rooting Android devices for over 3 years now and have had mine for a week now without root. Don't get me wrong, I have a list of things I want that require root and it will be happening but I figured I should at least run it for a couple weeks to make sure no defects pop up before I void the warranty. Good luck to you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't root, and I haven't voided my warranty. I can still get into download mode and my flash counter is still at 0. I never tried to root, I simply wanted to flash to stock, from stock.
[Edit] I'd also like to mention that Odin has not successfully done anything, Every time I tried to flash it was done with a stock ROM, and everything that has gone wrong has occurred on nothing but the stock ROM

Is it possible that I need a pit file for the device since no version of Odin will get past initialization? ....if so where can I get one for the this model?

roninb30 said:
I've installed drivers a few times. No go.
I'm on it now and the boot loop seems to have stopped, but I still get random restarts. But each time it restarts, it's from factory, so it doesn't save anything I download or any settings such as enabling debugging in the developer settings.
I didn't root, and I haven't voided my warranty. I can still get into download mode and my flash counter is still at 0. I never tried to root, I simply wanted to flash to stock, from stock.
[Edit] I'd also like to mention that Odin has not successfully done anything, Every time I tried to flash it was done with a stock ROM, and everything that has gone wrong has occurred on nothing but the stock ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are not rooted and you have a boot loop I'd be returning the device for a new one...

rkirmeier said:
If you are not rooted and you have a boot loop I'd be returning the device for a new one...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to agree since you would have to wait for a while to get the replacement, however the device sounds to be defective. just my two cents as a developer, if you flash anything to the device, root, a new image, or even the factory software, Knox will be tripped and the counter will go from zero to a one. My advice would be to get a replacement for the defective one.
Developers don't need no stinkin' signature!
If I've been able to help you, please hit the "Thanks" button.

Huge 3rd.
Device should just plain WORK out of the box. There shouldn't have been a need to flash stock to begin with.

One last suggestion, factory reset from recovery. From complete power off, hold volume up+home button+power and after a few seconds let go until it boots into recovery. From there wipe cache, wipe davlik, and factory restore. Good luck!

Android.Ninja said:
I hate to agree since you would have to wait for a while to get the replacement, however the device sounds to be defective. just my two cents as a developer, if you flash anything to the device, root, a new image, or even the factory software, Knox will be tripped and the counter will go from zero to a one. My advice would be to get a replacement for the defective one.
Developers don't need no stinkin' signature!
If I've been able to help you, please hit the "Thanks" button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it's unfortunate, but I have to suck it up and just pay the shipping back to Ameica....then again for it to come back. Just wanted to do everything I could before I had to send it. Thanks for the input though. I guess I learned quite a bit researching processes and terminology which will be helpful in the future. ^-^
Russbad said:
One last suggestion, factory reset from recovery. From complete power off, hold volume up+home button+power and after a few seconds let go until it boots into recovery. From there wipe cache, wipe davlik, and factory restore. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried many times. The device pretty much gives me the finger by going blank and repeatedly showing the boot up logo when I hold the buttons down.

rkirmeier said:
Wow, you rooted (void warranty) on a day old tablet on a platform that is new to you? I've been rooting Android devices for over 3 years now and have had mine for a week now without root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I voided my warrant after having mine for about an hour (though not new to Android). I did all my random "OCD does it work as I expect/want" tests and it passed, so I rooted. Had it for one week now, and I absolutely love everything about this tablet.
roninb30 said:
Yeah, it's unfortunate, but I have to suck it up and just pay the shipping back to Ameica
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO, it will be worth it. This is my fourth tablet, and is the first one I've not had buyer's remorse with. Luckily with the gift credit for Google I was able to get the non-Tegra equivalents of some of my favorite games, too.

ExtremeRyno said:
I voided my warrant after having mine for about an hour (though not new to Android). I did all my random "OCD does it work as I expect/want" tests and it passed, so I rooted. Had it for one week now, and I absolutely love everything about this tablet.
IMO, it will be worth it. This is my fourth tablet, and is the first one I've not had buyer's remorse with. Luckily with the gift credit for Google I was able to get the non-Tegra equivalents of some of my favorite games, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After doing research, I think that even if I get a new one, I want to root it. With the problems I've read about for kitkat 4.4.2 I need to know how to fix problems, and start with a fresh install of roms and know how to use custom recovery. I haven't done anything yet, but I was wondering...
Since I'm stuck in a boot loop with no stock recovery, can I flash a custom recovery to fix my issues, flash the stock rom that is on sammobile.com and then root after that? From what I understand this is a soft brick since I can still sometimes access the device. I worked out why I couldn't access the device with adb and now it shows the device as listed. It stays on long enough to where I could flash a recovery before it restarts itself. I'm not trying to do anything stupid, just getting information before I pay the shipping for it back to the states. I've checked the knox counter in download mode, and it is still set to 0, so I haven't voided the warranty yet.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

It's odd that a new device would not have recovery. I don't want to insult you, but just making sure we covered the basics, volume up+home+power gets you to recovery. The boot logo will flash about three times, make sure you're still pressing all three buttons, then let go after the 3rd flash of the boot logo then you should be in recovery. Volume down+home+power takes you to download mode, this is where you flash roms and recovery. I read in another post about someone not being able to get in recovery after numerous times, it turned out that he was hitting the volume down button instead of volume up. Just to be clear, if you do flash recovery, you will definitely trip knox, at this time there is no way around that.

Russbad said:
It's odd that a new device would not have recovery. I don't want to insult you, but just making sure we covered the basics, volume up+home+power gets you to recovery. The boot logo will flash about three times, make sure you're still pressing all three buttons, then let go after the 3rd flash of the boot logo then you should be in recovery. Volume down+home+power takes you to download mode, this is where you flash roms and recovery. I read in another post about someone not being able to get in recovery after numerous times, it turned out that he was hitting the volume down button instead of volume up. Just to be clear, if you do flash recovery, you will definitely trip knox, at this time there is no way around that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the skepticism. Yeah, I tried the button combination, usb in, usb out. I can power off the device completely only when it is plugged into power. When I hold the recovery combo from power on, the screen goes black with no flashing of the boot logo, looks as if it wants to go to recovery, and then then the boot logo comes up again, but just continues to the boot animation and continues the boot loop, even if i'm still holding down volume up and home buttons. It will sometimes boot up, then freeze after a couple of seconds, and return to boot loop. On rare occasions it will boot up, but turns me to setup like it's a brand new device. I can access everything for about 10 minutes, and then it will randomly restart and continue to boot loop again after that. I tried update/initialization in kies, but it would restart before the downloading and decompressing of binary could finish. It finished one time and then switch to a downloading screen (although it didn't say odin since you have to manually go there) but the update would freeze at 0 percent no matter how long I left the device there. It's all pretty lame ><

[Q] Asus tf700t lost powere while wiping data

Helo, guys.
I need some help from the great guys from this community. I have an Asus TF700t successfully flashed with CM11 and CWR. It has functioning very well from one year now, but the stock ROM was slow. Then, I decided to try CM and it practically rebirthed. The performance, even without overclock was great. Then, I made a very dumb thing... I was showing a friend the the Android Device Manager app and in a total lack of attention, I hit the erase option. When I noted, it was too late. Not a big deal, since I had a backup, I thought. But... the poor thing was low in battery and went dry while wiping the data! I put it in the charger. Apparently, it was continuing to wipe the data, but it took nearly 2 hours doing it. Then it shut out and when I turned it on again, it doesn't boot anymore. I can access the bootloader, but it stucks in that little android with a spinning thing in the belly. I also tried enter in CW recovery mode, but it seemed gone. Then, I tried to re-flash it the same way I did before, but it not worked... The flashboot shows the data uploading, but then it stucks and when I reboot, it comes back to that little android. If I try a normal boot from the bootloader, it stucks in the CM animation. I don't know what to do now... I wonder if it bricked it... There are some way to recover the poor thing?
Recapitulating I can access it via adb and fastboot, CW not working though.
Thank you for the attention!

thejesusbr said:
Helo, guys.
I need some help from the great guys from this community. I have an Asus TF700t successfully flashed with CM11 and CWR. It has functioning very well from one year now, but the stock ROM was slow. Then, I decided to try CM and it practically rebirthed. The performance, even without overclock was great. Then, I made a very dumb thing... I was showing a friend the the Android Device Manager app and in a total lack of attention, I hit the erase option. When I noted, it was too late. Not a big deal, since I had a backup, I thought. But... the poor thing was low in battery and went dry while wiping the data! I put it in the charger. Apparently, it was continuing to wipe the data, but it took nearly 2 hours doing it. Then it shut out and when I turned it on again, it doesn't boot anymore. I can access the bootloader, but it stucks in that little android with a spinning thing in the belly. I also tried enter in CW recovery mode, but it seemed gone. Then, I tried to re-flash it the same way I did before, but it not worked... The flashboot shows the data uploading, but then it stucks and when I reboot, it comes back to that little android. If I try a normal boot from the bootloader, it stucks in the CM animation. I don't know what to do now... I wonder if it bricked it... There are some way to recover the poor thing?
Recapitulating I can access it via adb and fastboot, CW not working though.
Thank you for the attention!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, I believed that your device reinstalled the Asus stock firmware because the little android with a spinning circle is the stock recovery... It is the reason that you could not access CWM. If you still have a fastboot, you may want to try flash the CWM again but you don't interrupt the process until it is done. You may want to plug your AC in and leave it until the flashing process is completed. It is a good idea to leave it over night and check it when you wake up in the morning with your AC plug in, good luck....:fingers-crossed:

LetMeKnow said:
First of all, I believed that your device reinstalled the Asus stock firmware because the little android with a spinning circle is the stock recovery... It is the reason that you could not access CWM. If you still have a fastboot, you may want to try flash the CWM again but you don't interrupt the process until it is done. You may want to plug your AC in and leave it until the flashing process is completed. It is a good idea to leave it over night and check it when you wake up in the morning with your AC plug in, good luck....:fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, worked like a charm. A pity that original recovery, it don't give you any clue of what's happening... Today I woke up with a new operational tablet. I just lost all my data, though... But I have backup, so, not big deal.
SOLVED

thejesusbr said:
Thank you, worked like a charm. A pity that original recovery, it don't give you any clue of what's happening... Today I woke up with a new operational tablet. I just lost all my data, though... But I have backup, so, not big deal.
SOLVED
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is good to hear that your device is running again...:laugh:

[Q] Android won't boot...

Hey folks...I'm running into a problem I was hoping someone might be able to help with.
Earlier today I pulled my phone out of my pocket at work and saw that it was off...I thought that the battery must have died sooner than I thought. I started charging it in the car on the way home and it wouldn't boot up like normal. It would get to the google or "dots" screen and then reboot. I again thought that the battery might just be really low. After getting home and charging the phone all the way I still can't get it to boot up. As of now, one of 3 things will happen...
1-The phone will turn on, get to the google screen and bootloop (usually when plugged in).
2-The phone will turn on, get to the google screen and freeze.
3-Get to the "dots" screen and either swirl forever or eventually reboot and do one of the above again.
I've read some threads where people suggest this is a faulty power button, that doesn't seem to be the case for me though because I can get into fastboot and it won't select anything or turn off without me doing it.
I've used WugFresh NRT and wiped/reflashed android. I'm running out of ideas. Do you have any others?
I was running the stock 5.0.1, unlocked, not currently rooted.
Thanks!

kyle313 said:
Hey folks...I'm running into a problem I was hoping someone might be able to help with.
Earlier today I pulled my phone out of my pocket at work and saw that it was off...I thought that the battery must have died sooner than I thought. I started charging it in the car on the way home and it wouldn't boot up like normal. It would get to the google or "dots" screen and then reboot. I again thought that the battery might just be really low. After getting home and charging the phone all the way I still can't get it to boot up. As of now, one of 3 things will happen...
1-The phone will turn on, get to the google screen and bootloop (usually when plugged in).
2-The phone will turn on, get to the google screen and freeze.
3-Get to the "dots" screen and either swirl forever or eventually reboot and do one of the above again.
I've read some threads where people suggest this is a faulty power button, that doesn't seem to be the case for me though because I can get into fastboot and it won't select anything or turn off without me doing it.
I've used WugFresh NRT and wiped/reflashed android. I'm running out of ideas. Do you have any others?
I was running the stock 5.0.1, unlocked, not currently rooted.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try flashing factory images?

ryukiri said:
Did you try flashing factory images?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that was what I flashed :/

If you can get into fastboot you "should" be able to flash stock images... Obviously this will revert any root and you will need to flash TWRP/CWM recovery after.
I assume you have a Windows PC with fastboot/adb setup and all drivers etc..
- Download latest "stock" hammerhead images (I cannot post links due to XDA rules... so: "developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#hammerhead"
- Extract the .tgz archive contents on your PC into a folder
- Boot the N5 into fastboot and plug USB cable from phone into your PC
- Go to the folder with the extracted files and run the "flash-all.bat" script on Windows
**Hopefully at this point your device will start to respond.. I.e, on fastboot screen, at the bottom you will see "writing" or something, as the script runs on the command window on your PC.**
If this works, you should be able to reboot once complete and then wait to see if you can get back into your phone.. then you can fastboot again and flash custom recovery, and then whatever rom.
If however you have a hardware issue (i.e, even after the above process it fails) then I am not sure what you could do... I guess ensure it has a complete charge. If you can get into fastboot and the buttons are responsive then it should not be a faulty power button.
Hope this helps :good:

Have you tried a simple factory reset? Reason I ask is it was working fine so sounds like something needs "flushing out" clear cache etc.

kyle313 said:
Hey folks...I'm running into a problem I was hoping someone might be able to help with.
Earlier today I pulled my phone out of my pocket at work and saw that it was off...I thought that the battery must have died sooner than I thought. I started charging it in the car on the way home and it wouldn't boot up like normal. It would get to the google or "dots" screen and then reboot. I again thought that the battery might just be really low. After getting home and charging the phone all the way I still can't get it to boot up. As of now, one of 3 things will happen...
1-The phone will turn on, get to the google screen and bootloop (usually when plugged in).
2-The phone will turn on, get to the google screen and freeze.
3-Get to the "dots" screen and either swirl forever or eventually reboot and do one of the above again.
I've read some threads where people suggest this is a faulty power button, that doesn't seem to be the case for me though because I can get into fastboot and it won't select anything or turn off without me doing it.
I've used WugFresh NRT and wiped/reflashed android. I'm running out of ideas. Do you have any others?
I was running the stock 5.0.1, unlocked, not currently rooted.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you choose the right model and firmware before you flash in WugFresh NRT?

The above could be right, however when I've used it, it's pointed out if I made that mistake. Having used his software dozens of times I've found it will bring any Nexus 5 back to life.

howard bamber said:
The above could be right, however when I've used it, it's pointed out if I made that mistake. Having used his software dozens of times I've found it will bring any Nexus 5 back to life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello! I am apologize for that I didn't read the OP carefully. This happened to me once in that particulary way, but it was immediately after flashing. OP says that it happened suddenly, without reason. So now I am the one, who doesn't read, right? Sorry for that.
Regards, Zagor

Thanks for the responses, but I'm still having trouble.
I have been able to successfully write the newest stock android 3 times (1 without full wipe, 2 with) and the phone still can't boot up and goes through one of the three issues above.
I've also been able to get to the system recovery from the bootloader and I've tried wiping the cache and doing a factory reset from there and the problem remains.
I'd contact google, but I bought it at launch so I don't think they'll do anything for me since it's been 1+ years.

kyle313 said:
Thanks for the responses, but I'm still having trouble.
I have been able to successfully write the newest stock android 3 times (1 without full wipe, 2 with) and the phone still can't boot up and goes through one of the three issues above.
I've also been able to get to the system recovery from the bootloader and I've tried wiping the cache and doing a factory reset from there and the problem remains.
I'd contact google, but I bought it at launch so I don't think they'll do anything for me since it's been 1+ years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you have a bad nand sector. From fastboot try:
Code:
fastboot oem lock
Then reboot into fastboot and check if it's locked or not. If the device isn't locked your emmc is corrupt and there is nothing you can do. If that is the case call Google and they will most likely help you out with a RMA.

theesotericone said:
Sounds like you have a bad nand sector. From fastboot try:
Code:
fastboot oem lock
Then reboot into fastboot and check if it's locked or not. If the device isn't locked your emmc is corrupt and there is nothing you can do. If that is the case call Google and they will most likely help you out with a RMA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was actually able to relock the phone.
Luckily I called google and they're going to send me a replacement.
If anyone else has any other ideas, I'll still take them...I'd rather not be without a phone for the next week!

You won't be without a phone - they are sending a refurbish unit to you , putting a block on your credit card and waiting for you phone to arive at them. Once that happens they will release the funds.

Frozen on Google screen and recovery splash

Unlocked, rooted, TWRP, Cataclysm Final Lollipop (my phone never played nice with any MM ROM I tried, so I just went back to this and have been great ever since)
My phone has been rock stable for months, today I pull it out of my pocket and the screen is black. I turn it back on and it freezes on the Google screen with the unlock logo.
I can get into bootloader via power+voldown, but if I launch recovery it gets past the Google screen but then freezes on the TeamWin page.
Any suggestions, please? Searches intimate power button issues, but given I get no bootloops, I can turn the phone off reliably by holding the power button down, and it freezes at the same point consistently, it's hard for me to think that's the issue in my scenario, too. Thank you!

As an update, I used fastboot to successfully flash the newest version of TWRP, just to be sure, but it still gets stuck in the same spot, as does trying to boot normally.

Try flashing a stock ROM including userdata.img file.

audit13 said:
Try flashing a stock ROM including userdata.img file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion. Is there any way to get my personal data off before I do this?
I guess beggars can't be choosers, but I'd hate to lose anything I don't have backed up already if it ends up being another issue after all (the power button, etc.).
A corrupted ROM can prevent a clean, freshly-installed recovery from launching properly?
Thanks again.

Try flashing different version of TWRP? Maybe one of them will allow you to mount the data partition and copy off your data.

While trying to flash the (stock) new system images, I keep getting "remote: flash write failure" and/or "remote: failed to erase partition." This is via a toolkit or manually via fastboot.
The bootloader remains unlocked through all this
It's especially odd, since now I'm getting it on my recovery partition, which I was able to write to earlier today.
A cursory search of this forum suggests I'm SOL unless I replace the whole motherboard, at which point I might as well get a new phone. Do you (all) concur?
Last ditch thought: I went jogging when it went dead--outside chance a connection to the memory on the motherboard got jostled and could be reattached? Or is it fried?
Continued thanks.

The memory is soldered into place but it is possible that something happened during your jog. I also jog with my nexus 5 for 20 to 30 km per week and have done so for the past year without any issues.