[Q] Successful flash having no effect on soft brick - Galaxy Note 10.1 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Boot takes me to a blank white screen, so does booting recovery mode.
I can only enter odin download right now.
I re-partitioned and flashed the correct stock rom for my country which completes successfully on the pc and device installing the bin files in every partition but this is not unbricking the device from booting to white screen in normal and recovery booting.
What am I doing wrong? Possibly an incorrect pit file for the rom? Am i missing something? Or is hardware probably broken aat this point?

See if you can dig up a 3 part stock firmware to flash (assuming you haven't already, a little vague about exactly what you have flashed, I also presume you're talking about an I9100 ?). Could well be a case of corrupted NAND, this is sometimes the case where you seem to get a successful flash but bootloop won't go away & you're still stuck with only download mode. Fix for that is a motherboard replacement, but I wouldn't be calling it just yet.
If you can't find a 3 part firmware (or if you've already tried one), just get hold of as many stock roms (from Samfirmware/AndroidFirmwares.net/Samsung-Updates.com) as you can & flash away; sometimes these cases are fixed by perseverance (the first 10 flashes don't work, but for whatever strange reason the 11th works, for example).
Search for Hopper8's 'Odin troubleshooting' thread & try all the stuff in that thread, might be something really small/obvious that's causing problems here.

I will continue flashing roms, I havnt yet found any roms for the device that arent all in one, flashing CWM recovery roms didnt work. Corrupt NAND would make sense being that it became randomly bricked in the first place and i have managed to change the fuzziness pattern of the white screen with some flashes, I would maybe have expected a write error though. I read his guide, I have taken care of everything on it.
If i attempt to flash different versions of jellybean will there be any conflicts with the device or the pit file being that it is 4.1.2 from the store?
Is there an answer for resetting Binary flash count or system status from this odin only state?
Is there an odin, usb jig or sd card method?

Whoa. You shouldn't be posting here for a Note. I'm asking mods to move your thread. Posting about devices in forums for different devices ain't allowed. Nobody here is going to be able to give you sensible advice because we're not familar with the device.

Related

More B63M users here?

Hi all, I just ordered a Chinese B63M phone at cect-shop.
Nice phone with great specs.
I alreadu know how to root it, but are there already custom Roms available?
Could'nt find a lot of info, just a Russion version.
B63M... thats my phone
Henkdrenth said:
Hi all, I just ordered a Chinese B63M phone at cect-shop.
Nice phone with great specs.
I alreadu know how to root it, but are there already custom Roms available?
Could'nt find a lot of info, just a Russion version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that makes us 2 people who owns a B63M and got it from cect-shop.
What I find out about their phones is that it may not easily allow you to perform some insider operations, for instance, maybe its me but I could not find any custom recovery installed and this led to my first issue after I rooted, and installed the ROM manager, I saw the 'fix permission' and clicked it hoping to resolve my force close issues and it asked me to reboot after performing the process but it never got out of the boot, the loop continued, trying to boot into recovery become impossible but somehow a combination got me into a mode where I was able to clear flash and this took me back to a pre factory flash good thing I backed up titanium so I cld restore my apps and upgrade.
Right now I have tried to flash and the screen has gone blank yet the phone is responding to touch as I can hear sounds when the screen is clicked, indicating that its not bricked I just cant see anything going on (this is my current situation and seriously looking for help).
Lastly, I am trying to find out the htc equivalent to this b63m, it looks htc but I cant be sure which of the htc has been more or less cloned... this is going to help with a lot of things if known.
Cheers
Hi there,
If you are looking for a custom recovery, try this forum, altough you have to translate it because it is in German.
Lots of people there with our phone end they know how to get a custom recovery on it.
Cect is German
Henkdrenth said:
Hi there,
If you are looking for a custom recovery, try this forum, altough you have to translate it because it is in German.
Lots of people there with our phone end they know how to get a custom recovery on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah thanks, I have also stumbled on the site forum before but I cld not get something out of it, maybe I have not taken time enough to search, I am back on it now and hope I get a solution to the blacked out screen problems I have after flashing.
You know cect-shop is German, they are a German company in China... I am talking to them on skype and hoping they can help me out but they seem pretty busy or cant be bothered because their response is so much delayed or even not at all.
Well technoforum has a special B63M section with all tools required.
They also have nice custom roms like a Cyanogen fork.
I also don't speak Italian, but with the help of Google translate I'm getting pretty far.
But I do let Google translate from Italian to English, that gives me the best result.
Good luck!!
Do you also get no working screen after a reboot with both volume + and power button?
That should get you to the recovery screen without any ROM drivers.
Very correct, no screen even in recovery
When I do the button combination, I believe that it may have responded to my combination for recovery mode but I just cant see anything on the screen, it just remains the same way it was... maybe it graphics issue, as in is the graphics is messed up for some reason or resolution issue, you wont see anything being displayed.
I am just guessing here but all I did was to simply flash an update.zip from sd card.
That is very strange, since flashing a rom does not affect the screen of the recovery boot.
The rom video driver gets only active during the boot process of the rom.
In the past I had some boot problems with my Wildfire start-up that I solved by removing the SIM card and SD card, removed the battery for some minutes and them booted completely resetted.
You could try that, if that does not solve the problem, the only way to wipe the phone back to factory-reset is doing it blind.
After I get my phone I could make a step-by-step guide so you could get to the reset menu...
Another possibility is to re-flash a fresh recovery img to the phone. Since I don't know what was in your update.zip, you could messed up the recovery menue, or even the bootloader.
Re-flashing those could also help and you don. t need the display from the phone, since you use the PC for that.
Here it is
Here is the update.zip I flashed. http://chinamobiles.org/downloads.php?do=file&id=618&langid=4
I am a bit surprised myself that the screen is blanked out but the phone seem to be working still.
I have removed both SIMS and SD card plus battery several times etc. nothing changed.
You said ''After I get my phone I could make a step-by-step guide so you could get to the reset menu...'', I hope you get your phone soon tho, and i can see the step-by-step guide you made.
I have actually flashed recovery into it using flash tool, ODIN dont seem to see the phone (at least the yellow box saying COm4 or 5 is not showing), I can see the phone using adb but when I say adb reboot download or recovery, something happens but I cant see what it is.
I too have a B63M...!!! Spice Mi-350n...........
If you need a moded recovery, i can port it for you........but you need to follow some instructions...i'll give them tomorrow!!
Waiting on you... I hope my blank screen gets sorted.
balamu96m said:
I too have a B63M...!!! Spice Mi-350n...........
If you need a moded recovery, i can port it for you........but you need to follow some instructions...i'll give them tomorrow!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh thanks man... Ii will wait to hear from you tomorrow, I aim in UK and depending on what time zones you are in but I hope to find you online to connect again.
I hope you have understood my particular issue here tho, the screen if blank even tho the fone seem to be alive and it follows the boot sequence, I can even find it using 'adb devices' command, it just the screen gone blank.
Someone suggested it may be the boot.img but I dont know about that.
Cheers
I'm from India - Local time here is GMT+5:30......!!
So, here you go !!
B63M= MTK6573 + 650mhz + Android 2.3
So, one modded recovery.img can't be used for every B63M.......this is because a different B63M phone will have a different recovery.img..........(hope u understand)
Backing up everything:
1) ROOT is necessary. It is recommended to put the phone in 'Airplane mode' so that it won't disturb the process and make sure you have ~500 mb space in SD card.
2) Download 'BackUpTools.rar' from HERE and extract it to your SD Card. You'll have 2 folders - 'gscript' and 'Install'.
3) Install 'GScriptLite.apk' from gscript folder.
3) After installation, open the 'GScriptLite' application -> Menu -> Add Script.
4) Tick 'Needs SU ?'
5) Click 'Load File' and select 'Back23.sh' and then select 'save'
6) Now Click on 'Back 23' and Super User will ask for Permission and allow it. Nothing more to touch. Wait for few minutes. After few mins, it will say 'Auto Close is Cancelled'. Now its safe to close.
7) Your Back-Up will be in 'backup_' folder located in your SD card's root.
It will have files named ' firmware.info, preloader.img, nvram.img, seccnfg.img, uboot.img, boot.img, recovery.img, secstatic. img, misc.img, logo.img, expdb.img, cache.img, system.img, data.img' in that folder. Copy it to your computer and keep it at a safe place. More Over if you are posting in the forums or sharing it online, don't include ' data.img, cache.img and nvram.img' as they contain your personal information.
Here i need two files.One is recovery.img and the other is firmware.info.
If you give both, i can port one for your phone !! Also mention your phone's model name/number because, without that it is not possible.
xdadeem said:
Here is the update.zip I flashed. http://chinamobiles.org/downloads.php?do=file&id=618&langid=4
HTML:
I am a bit surprised myself that the screen is blanked out but the phone seem to be working still.
I have removed both SIMS and SD card plus battery several times etc. nothing changed.
You said ''After I get my phone I could make a step-by-step guide so you could get to the reset menu...'', I hope you get your phone soon tho, and i can see the step-by-step guide you made.
I have actually flashed recovery into it using flash tool, ODIN dont seem to see the phone (at least the yellow box saying COm4 or 5 is not showing), I can see the phone using adb but when I say adb reboot download or recovery, something happens but I cant see what it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was the problem, you flashed only the update, not a complete Rom.
I suggest you make a complete re-flash vorm scratch, so refash a fresh recovery.img and re-flash als a new Rom.
You can vind one at technoforum' as earlier mentioned
I thot you shd read my latest.
Ok guys I appreciate this a lot.
Here at this point I think you shd hear my developments before taking any further actions or suggestions.
aha thanks, I did just that and it worked although it is still blank at the beginning of boot but later something shows up on screen and completes boots.
Remember I mentioned that someone suggested it might be a boot.img problem... well, I used flashtool to flash a boot image and I can say it worked, I now have the visuals, even tho the screen is still blank at boot start but soon after it picks up and its working, now I have the phone again.
so @balamu96m, my issue was basically the screen, without seeing anything I cannot follow the back up suggestion you gave me here, but now I can see it again.
A couple of additional issues tho...
1- I checked the kernel and it has changed from 2.3.5 into 2.3.4 and >In the current ROM flash I have lost a couple of capabilities like Flashlight, camera etc
2- I followed this link http://www.technoforum.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3351 to flash recovery and it says Successful with the green Circle -OK-... but I still cant get boot into recovery either when I use the keys combi or when I try to boot into recovery in mobileuncle tools, it just goes blank and stays like so until I have to remove the battery and restart boot normally.
3- From the same link above they have the Golight ROM in part 2 after recovery in part 1, I am assuming this a good ROM to flash and the things I lost will get back, but I still cant boot into recovery.
Coming back to the response from balamu96m... Should I still go ahead with what yu suggested and provide you the files details you want? both recovery.img and firmware.info... I am asking because I no longer have the original ROM that came with the phone and like I said I cant even get into Recovery after I tried flashing a new recovery.img, this one from the same link above (see the recovery.img inside the 'Recovery Moddata' file from the 'UPDATEB63MRecovery2012' download file.)
Great to hear that you have visual again!
You still have root yes?
The golight rom from technoforum is a good one.
I expect mine any moment now so I can customize mine too.
Good luck!
xdadeem said:
Ok guys I appreciate this a lot.
Here at this point I think you shd hear my developments before taking any further actions or suggestions.
aha thanks, I did just that and it worked although it is still blank at the beginning of boot but later something shows up on screen and completes boots.
Remember I mentioned that someone suggested it might be a boot.img problem... well, I used flashtool to flash a boot image and I can say it worked, I now have the visuals, even tho the screen is still blank at boot start but soon after it picks up and its working, now I have the phone again.
so @balamu96m, my issue was basically the screen, without seeing anything I cannot follow the back up suggestion you gave me here, but now I can see it again.
A couple of additional issues tho...
1- I checked the kernel and it has changed from 2.3.5 into 2.3.4 and >In the current ROM flash I have lost a couple of capabilities like Flashlight, camera etc
2- I followed this link http://www.technoforum.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3351 to flash recovery and it says Successful with the green Circle -OK-... but I still cant get boot into recovery either when I use the keys combi or when I try to boot into recovery in mobileuncle tools, it just goes blank and stays like so until I have to remove the battery and restart boot normally.
3- From the same link above they have the Golight ROM in part 2 after recovery in part 1, I am assuming this a good ROM to flash and the things I lost will get back, but I still cant boot into recovery.
Coming back to the response from balamu96m... Should I still go ahead with what yu suggested and provide you the files details you want? both recovery.img and firmware.info... I am asking because I no longer have the original ROM that came with the phone and like I said I cant even get into Recovery after I tried flashing a new recovery.img, this one from the same link above (see the recovery.img inside the 'Recovery Moddata' file from the 'UPDATEB63MRecovery2012' download file.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You flashed a recovery, but that is not working ah?? Oh God!!
Why did you do that bro??
Do you have any backup of the stock one??
If you dont have, then i have 2 ideas....one idea is to flash something else such that your fone won't boot....now you can send your phone back to the manufacturer and ask them to reflash everything!!!
The other idea, i'll tell you after sometime!!
It was always so
balamu96m said:
You flashed a recovery, but that is not working ah?? Oh God!!
Why did you do that bro??
Do you have any backup of the stock one??
If you dont have, then i have 2 ideas....one idea is to flash something else such that your fone won't boot....now you can send your phone back to the manufacturer and ask them to reflash everything!!!
The other idea, i'll tell you after sometime!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason i flashed recovery initially was that my phone went into a boot loop and I was unable to get into recovery, after a while somehow i figure it out and cleared flash and then restored my phone apps and co and got on fine.
But if I could not get into recovery it means that there was not stock recovery on my phone or it got missing somehow. This I have to ask Henkdrenth since he is getting the same phone from the same shop too, but there was no recovery in my B63m, I already heard there is a recovery problem with the phone anyway, and thats why I flashed recovery and it worked but then I flashed ROM and the screen went blank, which is what got me to this forum.
I did not just go and flash recovery, it because there was none on the phone in my opinion.
xdadeem said:
The reason i flashed recovery initially was that my phone went into a boot loop and I was unable to get into recovery, after a while somehow i figure it out and cleared flash and then restored my phone apps and co and got on fine.
But if I could not get into recovery it means that there was not stock recovery on my phone or it got missing somehow. This I have to ask Henkdrenth since he is getting the same phone from the same shop too, but there was no recovery in my B63m, I already heard there is a recovery problem with the phone anyway, and thats why I flashed recovery and it worked but then I flashed ROM and the screen went blank, which is what got me to this forum.
I did not just go and flash recovery, it because there was none on the phone in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now, is the recovery working??
Does the phone boot properly??
Wrong section. Moving to general.
YES and NO
balamu96m said:
Now, is the recovery working??
Does the phone boot properly??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After many troubles, I found a mod for w690 which is the build version of my phone, I could not boot to recovery so used flashtool and when I load the scatter text of the one I found, it automatically load in every item on the list including recovery and boot img , etc, so I flashed these to my phone... and for the first time I was back in how the phone came to me,
Gingerbread has now returned to 2.3.5.
One thing I have noticed is that the phone freezes on me and then reboots?
I still cannot boot into recovery, I tried this again using mobileuncle tools...
It seem that I have flashed my phone which is good, but I was unable to wipe cache because I could not boot into recovery to do this which may be the source of the current freeze and reboot.
Can I solve this using the mobileuncle or what can I do to wipe cache, if that is the problem
Well, received mine, rooted it an flashed a new recovery from technoforum using myuncletools.
All went well, so I suggest you do also a fres re-flash with a proper recovery.
Hope that should solve your problem.
Edit: moved from my tablet to my PC to look for the link of a correct recoveryfile for you.
First, load this recovery.
Unpack it and put the content to the root of your SD card.
Use myuncletools to flash this recovery.
Now you should have a usable custom recovery that allows you to factory-reset and wipe your phone
Install a fresh rom
How to? Look here

[Q] botched ROM load, now stuck in recovery hell

I got in a SK4g for my wife intent on upgrading her current phone. I own a 4g myself, and have Rooted/ROM'd it with no issues, we we thought it best to get her the same phone for ease of use/manipulation.
I got the phone in and used superoneclick to root it, then went through the process of putting CWM in place and installing GenericGinger_2.0_SK4G. The process ran smooth as glass (as expected) until it got to reboot. On reboot it hung up on the sidekick screen. After about an hour of waiting I pulled the battery and restarted the machine.
It came back up in recovery mode with the stock recovery (blue) text. Since then I haven't been able to get it to do anything but restart into that recovery screen. Odin doesn't see the phone in download mode and t839-Sidekick4G-UVKG2-One-Click does nothing. It shows it uploading, reboots the phone, and I'm back at the blue text. flashing the bootloaders with One-Click shows success on everything *except* uploading the bootloaders. If I tell it to re-install packages I get a 'cannot validate signature' response. I've tried using android commander to push CWM's recovery file to the phone and get 'permission' denied.
I've done a lot of searching on this site, trying most suggested fixes I've come across with no luck.
what can be done with this phone to get it back in operating condition?
Thanks in advance!
try installing kies odin wouldnt see my phone until i installed it
Kies installed and Odin saw the phone. excellent, thanks!
now, the next issue... lol
I used Odin to push KD1OdinSTOCK onto the phone. it's doing more than it was (going to the initial sidekick screen then dumping to recovery). Now it'll load through the sidekick and samsung splash screens, then reset and do it again. The same thing happens when I tried StockKG2ODIN. I'm using the sk4g.pit that I pulled from this site, could that have anything to do with it/is there another one around that I could try? Anybody have thoughts or ideas on what to do next? I've tried using t839-Sidekick4G-UVKG2-One-Click again, but it nuked the drivers kies put into place and dropped the phone back to what it was doing before.
okay, I did some light reading of this thread here
and followed the directions closely. I also went through sduvick's list of things to do with the following results:
Black screen, no logo.
1. Get into download mode by using VolDown+Touchpad+Power
2. flash full sk4g.tar.md5 as posted.
device will boot through the logo and splash screens, then repeat. note: if I leave the USB cable plugged in on reboot it will go to the battery screen, otherwise it just boot loops.
_________________________________
logo only
1. Download mode
2. Flash full package
device boot loops
_________________________________
Can't flash recovery/boot/sbl
1. Download mode
2. use PIT only, run with repartition checked
3. reboot/reDownload mode
4. run the full image in Odin.
PIT only returns a black screen on the device. running the full image in afterward returns to the boot loop.
_________________________________
Anything else
1. Download mode
2. Full tar.md5 flash in Odin
3. Ask if it doesn't work
okay, so I'm asking...
I'm still able to boot into recovery mode (blue text).
I've noted a bit of strange behavior when trying to boot into download mode. holding vol down + trackball + power does nothing. however, if I plug the phone in while powered down while holding down the trackball it'll boot into download mode, no power or vol down required.
If you can't flash with Odin, you may have a hardware problem.
Judging from your issue with installing Kies, you had a driver problem previously.
Seems that you are bumbling in the dark here. Once again, people need to be better prepared to Odin their devices before they start modding them.
In fact, getting Odin working should be the first thing a person should do with their phone after rooting and installing CWM.
Anyhow, try a different version of Odin. If that doesn't clear up your problem, I suspect some bad blocks in your flash memory are responsible here. It's a dorment issue that would really only be a problem when you flashed the device. If that's the case, you have a new paperweight.
Good luck.
i never could get kd1 to work try kg2
use pit check repartion and place tar file in pda
I don't think the problem is that I can't flash with Odin, but that the device isn't loading the ROM that's flashed. poking around in the filestructure with android commander after a fresh load shows that the system makes it onto the phone.
Speaking of poking around with Android Commander, I've noted that the device is software rooted, but not hardware rooted. the default.class file shows ro.debuggable set at 0 where it should be 1. this is keeping me from just pushing the CWM recovery onto the system and restoring the backup I made before getting into this mess. Anybody want to help me pull/edit/flash the image to change that?
As for a driver issue, that's a good possibility given that the one-click uses a driver set, kies mini uses another, kies has a different one yet and we (as a community) started screwing with the t839's using vibrant drivers. I've got them all. thusfar the only drivers I've found that work with both flavors of Odin I have (1.61 and 1.85) would be those that came with the Kies (thanks for the tip pmp326).
On bumbling in the dark, yes, yes I am. There isn't much of an instruction manual for Odin past what's written here, and 90% of that is 'put your phone in download mode, connect Odin, plug the pit in pit and the tar in PDA make sure only auto-reboot is checked and hit start'. to be honest I haven't had to use the program previously as the stock one-click actually worked on my T839. This new device is being ... difficult.
the dormant bad blocks issue you spoke about, was this something found in new-out-the-box phones? I haven't seen a lot about that in the threads, can you point in at more info, please?
at any rate, it doesn't matter which version of Odin I use, I got the same result from both. I tried using a different cable/different USB port as well. I haven't tried using a different system (yet), but don't want to go through all the trouble of setting up everything on another box. Win7 is finicky enough, trying to get everything operating on Server2k3 would most likely end up a challenge. *lol*
I'll try repartitioning with KG1 when I get back to the house.
Sounds like you are getting far enough to get your device working again to me.
If you can manage to get access to the file system with adb or Android Commander, you may be able to push the rest of the OS files you need directly. This may provide a way to get around your flashing problems.
Try adding the missing files directly with Android Commander.
also i had some troubles a while back while in recovery wipe data and cache turn off phone pull sd card then flash with odin
orange808 said:
Sounds like you are getting far enough to get your device working again to me.
If you can manage to get access to the file system with adb or Android Commander, you may be able to push the rest of the OS files you need directly. This may provide a way to get around your flashing problems.
Try adding the missing files directly with Android Commander.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gotta pop the debug lock in the default.class to be able to push anything into the system folders with Android Commander. I've found a nice walk-thru to do this, it just requires a little knowledge of c++ and some patience. with any luck I should be able to pull default.class out of its img, edit it and flash that back (most likely with Heimdall since it can do itemized flashing).
pmp326 said:
i never could get kd1 to work try kg2
use pit check repartion and place tar file in pda
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tried it, no joy.
pmp326 said:
also i had some troubles a while back while in recovery wipe data and cache turn off phone pull sd card then flash with odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tried this, brings me back to the boot loop.
orange808 said:
Sounds like you are getting far enough to get your device working again to me.
If you can manage to get access to the file system with adb or Android Commander, you may be able to push the rest of the OS files you need directly. This may provide a way to get around your flashing problems.
Try adding the missing files directly with Android Commander.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
currently I'm running into issues with getting ADB to push onto the system as the system is claiming it isn't rooted. Is there a way I haven't read about or found to root the phone without getting into the actual O/S (i.e. from the blue recovery screen)?
If you can get in to CWM Recovery you are fine.
If you cannot, just ODIN to stock.
If you cannot do that, or it doesn't boot after that, try a different PC, os, or drivers (x86 os is usually easier then an x64 os).
If it is still no good, buy a new phone on ebay .
Once booted, Root and install CWM first thing.
Once you are in CWM Recovery...
1) Check mounts (everything should be mounted, and therefore read "unmount [...]")
2) Format EVERYTHING one at a time: cache, data, system, sdcard (optional).
(sdcard should be fine, but to be sure you can format it too after backing it up to PC first and restore what you need after)
(you probably don't need to Wipe and Wipe-Dalvik as they should already be gone, but go ahead and do it anyway)
3) Check mounts again!
4) Install a ROM (must reload it to your sdcard first if you formatted your sdcard)
5) Check mounts one final time before rebooting.
That should ALWAYS work.
NOTE: This was said before: "2. flash full sk4g.tar.md5 as posted.", but that doesn't seem right... you should not be flashing a .md5 file... you need to flash the .tar... the .tar.md5 is just a checksum. (right?)
rpmccormick said:
If you can get in to CWM Recovery you are fine.
If you cannot, just ODIN to stock.
If you cannot do that, or it doesn't boot after that, try a different PC, os, or drivers (x86 os is usually easier then an x64 os).
If it is still no good, buy a new phone on ebay .
Once booted, Root and install CWM first thing.
Once you are in CWM Recovery...
1) Check mounts (everything should be mounted, and therefore read "unmount [...]")
2) Format EVERYTHING one at a time: cache, data, system, sdcard (optional).
(sdcard should be fine, but to be sure you can format it too after backing it up to PC first and restore what you need after)
(you probably don't need to Wipe and Wipe-Dalvik as they should already be gone, but go ahead and do it anyway)
3) Check mounts again!
4) Install a ROM (must reload it to your sdcard first if you formatted your sdcard)
5) Check mounts one final time before rebooting.
That should ALWAYS work.
NOTE: This was said before: "2. flash full sk4g.tar.md5 as posted.", but that doesn't seem right... you should not be flashing a .md5 file... you need to flash the .tar... the .tar.md5 is just a checksum. (right?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow... did you even *read* before posting? fail. I mean, thanks for taking the time to write that up and all, but you just repeated everything already said up to this point and included a summary of the ROM for n00bs thread.
Artemis257 said:
Wow... did you even *read* before posting? fail. I mean, thanks for taking the time to write that up and all, but you just repeated everything already said up to this point and included a summary of the ROM for n00bs thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like turtles.
Artemis257 said:
Wow... did you even *read* before posting? fail. I mean, thanks for taking the time to write that up and all, but you just repeated everything already said up to this point and included a summary of the ROM for n00bs thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even the end... I mean, your not trying to odin a "tar.md5" are you?
rpmccormick said:
Even the end... I mean, your not trying to odin a "tar.md5" are you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No....
Sorry man. I've never had to ODIN (this phone). I say check the md5 to make sure you downloaded a good copy, and maybe try a different USB cable. The ADB method seems nutz... if it doesn't boot after a successful ODIN, the phone is probably a paperweight.
Good luck!

[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] last gasp to save vzw s3

I've been all over the forums and threads trying to find ways to fix this s3. Failed at every turn, so here it is. This s3 has had CM on it forever, like over a year now. I haven't explicitly tried to perform any updates. I woke up one morning at it was stuck on the splash screen with the little blue CM guy with a static white circle on his chest, but that's as far as it'll get.
I can get into ClockworkMod Recovery (6.0.3.1), but can't mount the sdcard to get at backups, or do much else for that matter.
I can get into Odin Mode, but every singe thing I have tried to flash fails - and I think I've tried them all. I've tried the usual steps, update drivers, switch cables, switch usb ports, etc. to no avail.
I can get to an adb shell in recovery, is there a way to flash a stock image from there?
Since it's in this weird soft-brick state, the hard brick solution of putting a boot img on the external sdcard don't seem to work.
mjunior25 said:
I've been all over the forums and threads trying to find ways to fix this s3. Failed at every turn, so here it is. This s3 has had CM on it forever, like over a year now. I haven't explicitly tried to perform any updates. I woke up one morning at it was stuck on the splash screen with the little blue CM guy with a static white circle on his chest, but that's as far as it'll get.
I can get into ClockworkMod Recovery (6.0.3.1), but can't mount the sdcard to get at backups, or do much else for that matter.
I can get into Odin Mode, but every singe thing I have tried to flash fails - and I think I've tried them all. I've tried the usual steps, update drivers, switch cables, switch usb ports, etc. to no avail.
I can get to an adb shell in recovery, is there a way to flash a stock image from there?
Since it's in this weird soft-brick state, the hard brick solution of putting a boot img on the external sdcard don't seem to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before ditching the phone, I'd suggest trying a JTAG service. You can find them on eBay for $30-50. Saved my S3 from a hardbrick from flashing the wrong firmware (Sprint version on Verizon S3).
mjunior25 said:
I've been all over the forums and threads trying to find ways to fix this s3. Failed at every turn, so here it is. This s3 has had CM on it forever, like over a year now. I haven't explicitly tried to perform any updates. I woke up one morning at it was stuck on the splash screen with the little blue CM guy with a static white circle on his chest, but that's as far as it'll get.
I can get into ClockworkMod Recovery (6.0.3.1), but can't mount the sdcard to get at backups, or do much else for that matter.
I can get into Odin Mode, but every singe thing I have tried to flash fails - and I think I've tried them all. I've tried the usual steps, update drivers, switch cables, switch usb ports, etc. to no avail.
I can get to an adb shell in recovery, is there a way to flash a stock image from there?
Since it's in this weird soft-brick state, the hard brick solution of putting a boot img on the external sdcard don't seem to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try flashing the latest TWRP ODIN image. http://techerrata.com/file/twrp2/d2vzw/openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.0-d2vzw.tar
If that is able to flash, then use the Format Data/Cache option under wipe and see if that works. If not, you may need to use a pit file with a ODIN image to completely reformat the device, and reflash it.
ddggttff3 said:
Try flashing the latest TWRP ODIN image.
If that is able to flash, then use the Format Data/Cache option under wipe and see if that works. If not, you may need to use a pit file with a ODIN image to completely reformat the device, and reflash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great suggestions, thank you.
I had tried both already, but your menion of TWRP reminded me that it was the closest I got to signs of life so I tried it again. Odin acts like it flashed successfully, even reset the device, but the device never actually took the image.
I didn't know much about pit files until the other day, and tried that also. I did try again and the format seems to work with the pit but any attempt to flash something subsequently results in the same failures.
Thanks for responding.
mjunior25 said:
Great suggestions, thank you.
I had tried both already, but your menion of TWRP reminded me that it was the closest I got to signs of life so I tried it again. Odin acts like it flashed successfully, even reset the device, but the device never actually took the image.
I didn't know much about pit files until the other day, and tried that also. I did try again and the format seems to work with the pit but any attempt to flash something subsequently results in the same failures.
Thanks for responding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember too after you flash the odin file, you will most likely have to boot into stock recovery and do a factory reset, otherwise it won't boot, but will bootloop marvelously.

I need help flashing firmware on my bootlooping s10e to recover some files

After the most recent update my phone got put into a bootloop that wouldnt stop for some reason, it would boot and then after I wanna say less than 20 seconds it would reboot itself, and just kept going on in this cycle unless I powered it off when it was booted. Anyway I've been trying everything I can to get the damn thing working again so I can at the very least get my pictures off of it without factory resetting it and nothing is working, and I sorta feel like I've made things worse. I tried flashing with Odin but after that the thing just stopped booting alltogether so that kinda limited my options a lot. Now I'm trying to sideload an update from an sd card which might work if i can find the right thing to sideload onto it but before it gets anywhere it tells me error in /sideload/package.zip (status 7) so either I just need a different thing to sideload or something's broken. Either way I don't know how to get it working cause I have no idea what I'm doing here so now I need help.
My phone is SM-G970U SPR
Sounds like you are in a bad spot. If your pictures are on internal storage then flashing anything in Odin will wipe that.
I think you need to accept that they may be lost.
not so fast, i've used home_csc in all my flashes and when I finally got one working all my stuff was still intact. Now i just need to figure out how to get it to stop bootlooping.
Hello friends, I am currently crying in the same boat!
So, similar to Oske829 my phone ( Samsung Galaxy S10e ) has entered into a bootloop after a recent update that occurred roughly on February 06, 2021.
I am also experiencing the same symptoms as well:
My phone starts to boot up, then fails and Approximately 20 seconds after, it repeats that cycle. The phone continues to bootloop until drained of its battery then repeats this cycle again once if it is charged. **this is the current situation**
After playing around with the buttons, the only progress I've made is reaching the Download Mode. Ive yet to try odin or anything else and would like to ask for some help please! I really want to be able to save the data on there (pictures, music, apps, etc..)
Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
AlphaFeedback said:
Hello friends, I am currently crying in the same boat!
So, similar to Oske829 my phone ( Samsung Galaxy S10e ) has entered into a bootloop after a recent update that occurred roughly on February 06, 2021.
I am also experiencing the same symptoms as well:
My phone starts to boot up, then fails and Approximately 20 seconds after, it repeats that cycle. The phone continues to bootloop until drained of its battery then repeats this cycle again once if it is charged. **this is the current situation**
After playing around with the buttons, the only progress I've made is reaching the Download Mode. Ive yet to try odin or anything else and would like to ask for some help please! I really want to be able to save the data on there (pictures, music, apps, etc..)
Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the latest official firmware with Frija tool (no download caps unlike websites like Sammobile etc). Just be aware that if you download and use Android 11 you wont be able to downgrade to Android 10.
After you have downloaded it unpack the zip and run Odin. In order to preserve your data flash the HOME_CSC file not the regular CSC... file. Once you unpack the files you will see.
The phone needs to be in download mode for flashing and battery is suggested to be at 40% or more.
Btw a good way to get out of bootloop and get the phone to shut down is to connect the USB cable (could be from charger or PC) and then press Volume Down+Power buttons to force a restart. It may be nessesary to do this a few times.
At one point you will not see the boot screen but instead it will show the lightning bolt charging logo and the percentage. After that you can simply unplug the cable and the phone will turn off.
In order to enter Download mode the best way is to start with phone turned off. Hold Bixby+Volume Down buttons and connect the USB cable from PC. Once you see the confirmation screen you can release the buttons and press Volume Up to continue.
AlphaFeedback said:
Hello friends, I am currently crying in the same boat!
So, similar to Oske829 my phone ( Samsung Galaxy S10e ) has entered into a bootloop after a recent update that occurred roughly on February 06, 2021.
I am also experiencing the same symptoms as well:
My phone starts to boot up, then fails and Approximately 20 seconds after, it repeats that cycle. The phone continues to bootloop until drained of its battery then repeats this cycle again once if it is charged. **this is the current situation**
After playing around with the buttons, the only progress I've made is reaching the Download Mode. Ive yet to try odin or anything else and would like to ask for some help please! I really want to be able to save the data on there (pictures, music, apps, etc..)
Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So incredibly glad to hear I'm not a lone soul dealing with this issue. I've tried a whole bunch of things to fix this issue but nothing is getting me anywhere. I tried flashing android 10 but as that other lad said you can't flash older versions of android.
At this point I think my only chance of saving the phone is to wait for a new system update to release and flash that in case it somehow magically fixes the phone for some reason. I wouldn't recommend trying to flash atm because it doesn't seem to help currently and if you donk it up you'll lose your data which is not something either of us want to do.
I'll let you know what happens if I try flashing a future update.
Well i had an even bigger problem initially. Not only was my S10e bootlooping. My EFS partition was missing files (dont know how that happened). That meant that IMEI was blank and there was not network connectivity aside from Wi-Fi.
Unfortunately even the stock firmware flash does not fix EFS. Thankfully i had a backup (multiple actually) stored away including EFS. So with some fiddiling around in custom recovery file manager (TWRP) i manged to get that restored. I did lose bunch of pictures in intrernal storage tho. Thankfully it was nothing important. Now i keep everything on SD card and SD Cards backup in PC.
Now im trying to get the phone rooted with Magisk but the damn thing is not working.
This underscores the importance of regular (i had weekly TWRP) backups. I had backups of all partitions except internal data like pictures etc. Lesson learned i guess.
Hey RaXelliX thanks for lending a hand! Unfortunately I'm using a Mac Pro and Frija is a Windows exclusive *tears*
it seems that my next best alternative is to use Samloader instead of Frija, and JOdin3 instead of Odin. After some research ive realized that I am way out of my depth , but shall continue nonetheless. I'm gonna try your method with these alternatives and hope for the best, that sounds good in theory I was just curious to the thoughts of others more experienced.
And Oske829 your definitely not alone, stay strong and best of luck
Thanks!
There was a new firmware on Sammobile that I just tried flashing, didn't fix the problem, still bootlooping. I am officially out of ideas on how to fix this. I think there's something funky at the hardware/software level that's throwing a fit about having to run android 11 that's causing this, but I have no clue what it could be or how to resolve it. Not sure if there's anything i can do at this point to save my data.
Oske829 said:
There was a new firmware on Sammobile that I just tried flashing, didn't fix the problem, still bootlooping. I am officially out of ideas on how to fix this. I think there's something funky at the hardware/software level that's throwing a fit about having to run android 11 that's causing this, but I have no clue what it could be or how to resolve it. Not sure if there's anything i can do at this point to save my data.
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You could try flashing a custom recovery (i suggest TWRP: https://eu.dl.twrp.me/beyond0lte/ S10e Exynos version) and the once in recovery connect USB cable to move the data off. If you succeed then you could wipe the phone and get out of bootloop.
When flashing recovery via Odin use the AP field and select the twrp-3.5.0_9-4-beyond0lte.img.tar file and make sure NAND Erase and Re-Partition are OFF. Auto-Reboot could be on or off.
This would touch only the recovery partition and will not wipe data unless you do it yourself inside TWRP.
There are a few caveats with this. The phone may complain about missing VBMETA header. If that's the case i will share a modified TAR file that includes that and TWRP itself. Or the phone could fail flashing custom recovery due to Vaultkeeper that prevents flashing unofficial binaries. This usually happens a day or two after flashing firmware. After that Vaultkeeper disengages.
Obviously your bootloader should be unlocked. You can do that by pressing Bixby+Vol Down before connecting the cable (with phone off) and then long press Vol Up to enter bootloader unlock mode. Bootloader can later be relocked again.
RaXelliX said:
You could try flashing a custom recovery (i suggest TWRP: https://eu.dl.twrp.me/beyond0lte/ S10e Exynos version) and the once in recovery connect USB cable to move the data off. If you succeed then you could wipe the phone and get out of bootloop.
When flashing recovery via Odin use the AP field and select the twrp-3.5.0_9-4-beyond0lte.img.tar file and make sure NAND Erase and Re-Partition are OFF. Auto-Reboot could be on or off.
This would touch only the recovery partition and will not wipe data unless you do it yourself inside TWRP.
There are a few caveats with this. The phone may complain about missing VBMETA header. If that's the case i will share a modified TAR file that includes that and TWRP itself. Or the phone could fail flashing custom recovery due to Vaultkeeper that prevents flashing unofficial binaries. This usually happens a day or two after flashing firmware. After that Vaultkeeper disengages.
Obviously your bootloader should be unlocked. You can do that by pressing Bixby+Vol Down before connecting the cable (with phone off) and then long press Vol Up to enter bootloader unlock mode. Bootloader can later be relocked again.
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Is this exclusively for exynos phones or can I run twrp on a qualcomm device?
nevermind i found the snapdragon version of twrp
I'm trying to unlock the bootloader the way you described but that doesn't seem to be doing anything, and any guides I'm seeing on how to unlock it all involve doing something that resets the phone which isn't what I'm going for.
Oske829 said:
I'm trying to unlock the bootloader the way you described but that doesn't seem to be doing anything, and any guides I'm seeing on how to unlock it all involve doing something that resets the phone which isn't what I'm going for.
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You might be out of luck as Snapdragon versions do not allow bootloader unlocks. At least as far as i know. I wrongly assumed you had Exynos version. If the data is important the last resort might be to contact some data recovery company. Im sure they have tools to access the internal memory even if the phone bootloops or flat out refuses to boot.
Flash 4 file firmware
Use Home_csc
If you want keep your data
Hucin44 said:
Flash 4 file firmware
Use Home_csc
If you want keep your data
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Click to collapse
I believe he already tried that and the phone is still bootlooping. Im betting that whatever causes the bootloop is in the data, the data he needs to access.
A bad situation all around because if he wipes the data it will likely fix the bootloop but he will lose the data. If he keeps the data the phone will keep bootlooping and he wont be able to access it. Although i would argue that the data you cant access is effectively lost anyway and that the proper functioning of the phone is more important.
I've heard that theres tools you can use to recover deleted data after resets and stuff since data doesnt get wiped when its deleted its just marked as stuff that can be written over. So I would think there would be a way for me to reset my phone to get it working and then recover the data with one of those programs, but the problem is from what I've heard you need a rooted device to do any of that and since I can't unlock my bootloader I don't think that can happen.
The one last thing I'm going to try before I seek out help from data recovery people is to try pushing the smartswitch apk onto the phone with adb and then hoping I have enough uptime to install it before the phone reboots cause I've heard you can use smartswitch in download mode to backup data, but I haven't found any guides anywhere about how this is done so I don't know if its actually doable.
Oske829 said:
I've heard that theres tools you can use to recover deleted data after resets and stuff since data doesnt get wiped when its deleted its just marked as stuff that can be written over. So I would think there would be a way for me to reset my phone to get it working and then recover the data with one of those programs, but the problem is from what I've heard you need a rooted device to do any of that and since I can't unlock my bootloader I don't think that can happen.
The one last thing I'm going to try before I seek out help from data recovery people is to try pushing the smartswitch apk onto the phone with adb and then hoping I have enough uptime to install it before the phone reboots cause I've heard you can use smartswitch in download mode to backup data, but I haven't found any guides anywhere about how this is done so I don't know if its actually doable.
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Well I find myself here after 48 hours of s10e hell, with an almost identical issue. After a couple attempts and a trip to our local cell phone repair place, we ended up doing a factory reset, with the same hopes -- that the files were still there but the space marked as "free" and a 3rd party data recovery program could bring them back from the dead.
But they all require your phone to be rooted first - and this being my first venture into phone rooting I'm not really sure which route to go, or if it'll even be worth the effort. Does rooting the phone mean flashing it with a new OS, or simply unlocking superuser access so the recovery software can do its bit? (bear in mind, a lot of these products try to root the phones themselves, but none of them seem to work - I've tried about 4 different products thus far).
I'm convinced that if I can root this phone, the recovery software WILL find those lost sectors and recover the lost data, even after a factory reset -- there's plenty of youtube videos out there that say you can do this, but the rooting bit is what's got me tied up in knots!
huh.. jeah, latest update bricked my s10e too.
but my case, when power on phone, nothing happens, just black.. when conect cable to pc , then i can enter recovery and download mode..
till now nothing helped..
oem locked, frp locked, cant flash custom binaries!
hope next update will fix this madnes..
or need to find same firmware as update.zip what we can flash using stock recovery option (sadly saamsung dont give any update.zip files, i gues its money thing)
so, odin dont help, chimera tools dont help, and enginering combination file give some approval error to flash factory binaries!
houdini987 said:
I'm convinced that if I can root this phone, the recovery software WILL find those lost sectors and recover the lost data, even after a factory reset -- there's plenty of youtube videos out there that say you can do this, but the rooting bit is what's got me tied up in knots!
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well ,as far as i know, thease all recovery lost data works with HDD type disks, flash memory are out of luck..
because, i easy restored deleted data from my HDD, if it wasnt multiple times formated or writed full hdd , deleted, writed full etc.. but with SSD that software isnt working, due flash memory.. but, maybe im just to old, and there are new softs who can do that, just, i have not seen any jet!

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