I've spent a couple days trying to figure out why my install is giving me so much trouble. With less than 10 posts I can't post in the active thread, and the Q&A thread gets no attention. I'm running a stock, previously unmodded (though used) Galaxy S5 G900T T-Mobile version, checking both the internally reported model number as well as the sticker in the battery compartment. It has been functional for over a year but getting slow due to too many apps.
I've reflashed, redownloaded, tried different SD cards, cables, computers, etc. I'm at least on my 20th flash. I've read some people having similar problems, but in the Q&A thread it's just people with no clue talking to each other.
I've even downloaded the same file (pointlessly, with the same hash and all) from multiple mirrors.
The phone hangs on the "starting apps" screen, IF I wipe dalvik and pull battery. Anything else hangs on the "samsung fireworks" boot animation.
CM12 went on just fine, as best I can tell I'm rooted. The other questions in the Q&A thread are, at best, incomprehensible and not providing ANY technical information or even a real question, I can see why they don't get a careful response - but I'm trying to approach this logically and carefully and just plain don't know where to turn. If there were some way I could record some data of use for someone more knowledgeable to look at, I'd be all too happy to do it.
I did just PM Edgar directly, so this may help - but I've got some 16 hours of seat time watching this phone not quite boot up (except on cm12) and I'd really like to flash something beyond the stock ROM. (as a total aside, does anyone know if the latest nightly CM12 build needs the boot animation patch applied or has it been incorporated?)
Thanks!
Hi there,
You already founded the right place for this questions so please wait there an answer.
The mission of XDA Assist is to provide basic help to those who have tried searching but can't find what they are looking for and need assistance. This is not a "helpdesk" providing technical assistance but more to point you in the correct direction with your problem. Perhaps you can't find posts on how to root your phone, install custom recovery or maybe you have questions about how to navigate and use features on the site.
Our XDA Assist team will give you links to threads/forums that are relevant to your problem. You may be pointed towards guides and instructions that can be quite complex, so you will still need to read carefully and be cautious before attempting to make software changes to your device. It is essential you are in the correct forum for your device model; what works for one can ruin another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck
Related
I successfully flashed a custom Froyo ROM on my MyTouch 3g and was quite happy. I did it by following step by step instructions, and while it worked, I didn't understand what I was doing. Now I have a Galaxy S 4g and plan on flashing Gingerbread, but before I do, I would like to understand the process.
I don't want anything specific like instructions on a particular device and ROM, just a general idea of the process, like "Flashing ROMs for Dummies". Then I can come back and re-read some of the threads and know what the posters are talking about.
Question: Where can I find a general tutorial on the process of flashing ROMs to Android devices? I'm an IT consultant so I have a fairly high tolerance for tech-speak. Thanks.
I'll be waiting for the answer to this one too.
It usually works like this:
We root our device to have full access with all priviledges and be allowed to i.e. exchange the kernel.
Now we exchange the kernel against one with an advanced recovery mode (i.e. clockwork mod recovery from cyanogenmod), it allows you to flash unsigned (not official signature) ROM files.
From the new recovery we install a ROM of our choice which can also replace the kernel again.
The recovery mode basicly executes a small script, contained in the ROM file, that copies all the files to the correct location, sets up the partitions and wipes previous data on occasion.
The other possibility would be to use a flash program like odin/heimdall and have your computer setup and write a new firmware onto the device unlike the first method where the device does the setup work.
This is a very broad explanation, i have only flashed an sgs2 and sgs1 so far, so there might be small or huge differences between devices.
Maybe you could ask a more specific question about a particular step if things are not clear.
I'm not 100% sure, if i missunderstood something myself, someone please correct me .
Thanks, Dark3n. That was a very good explanation, in layman's terms, of the process. What I am looking for is one place to learn about what is happening technically; not a developers guide but something sufficient for me to understand.
For example, I've seen threads where someone had a problem with a ROM because they didn't have the right bootloader. What is the significance of bootloaders in changing ROMs? How does the backup/recovery process work? What is the Dalvik cache and why clear it? What is Dalvik?
I found the answer to these questions by Googling them one at a time. I was just wondering if there was one place to go that covers the entire process.
I know that most of the members here are very well informed and get tired of the same questions over and over. If this is the wrong place to ask, let me know and maybe point me in the right direction. Thanks.
lewis750 said:
Thanks, Dark3n. That was a very good explanation, in layman's terms, of the process. What I am looking for is one place to learn about what is happening technically; not a developers guide but something sufficient for me to understand.
For example, I've seen threads where someone had a problem with a ROM because they didn't have the right bootloader. What is the significance of bootloaders in changing ROMs? How does the backup/recovery process work? What is the Dalvik cache and why clear it? What is Dalvik?
I found the answer to these questions by Googling them one at a time. I was just wondering if there was one place to go that covers the entire process.
I know that most of the members here are very well informed and get tired of the same questions over and over. If this is the wrong place to ask, let me know and maybe point me in the right direction. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there is such a place. But you could help out others and create a wiki page on the topic.
We have a slightly underused xda wiki
Hello all,
I've been lurking the XDA forums for a couple months now. I had a couple posts in the past referring to my phone and my girlfriends phone and was looking for help mainly with hers at the time... Hers is fixed... Perfectly even, despite her phone being a total piece of garbage (an LG Optimus.... *barf*).
I have a SGH-T959V.
I have read the 10 commandments.
I KNOW my phone is NOT a Vibrant OR an i900.
I have read the noob guides.
I have become completely confused.
Here's my details:
I have running the stock GB that I installed with Kies Mini some time ago.
Phone Data:
Firmware Version: 2.3.6
Baseband Version: T959VUVKJ6
Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7-T959VUVKJ6-CL694130
Build Number: GINGERBREAD.VUVKJ6
I rooted my phone with one of the one-click apps after the stock GB update so that I was at least able to overclock it and get rid of the T-Mobile bloatware, etc.
I notice that my phone reboots entirely on it's own completely randomly, has random application hangs, all the bad icky stuff that sucks... (right????)
Anyways, I've looked at some of the Custom ROMs available and I'd like to check out some of them, but I'll be quite honest, I've read the instructions for how to do it, but I'm getting extremely confused as the current instructions seem rather daunting.... It's like information overload...
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not some kid that really doesn't know what he's doing... I'm 33 and work in IT for The Nielsen Group... so I kinda know what the heck I'm doing MOST of the time. This is something I'm unfamiliar with and am being EXTREMELY cautious about because i don't want to brick my phone....
Question time!:
1. Is there a COMPLETELY SIMPLE step-by-step process/Video Demonstration for the CORRECT method of how to put a custom rom on the SGH-T959V?
2. Does it matter that I ALREADY rooted my phone in respect to me loading a custom rom? (ie. is my already rooted phone going to have issues loading a different rom?)
3. I would like to stay with a GB based rom unless there is absolute NEED to use a Froyo based Rom - Or is this a non-point when using custom roms?
4. If i want to load a custom rom to my phone, do I need to use a specific loader? (Like, does Odin work for everything??? Loading roms and unbricking your phone? Or do I have to have different loaders for the specific roms that I want to load and try out????)
5. Please don't jump down my throat with the "read the guide" responses... I HAVE been... really. As many as I've found... and every time I read a new one, rather than feeling like I'm coming out of the darkness of knowledge and into the light of understanding the correct process for how to do this, I feel like I'm being cast deeper down the confusion pit.
Would someone KINDLY please help me. Really... I don't want to screw up this thing... I'm not worried about the warranty. From what I've read, these things are mostly fixable unless it's an actual hardware issue or if it's totally fried. I just want to do it once, do it right, move on to my next project.... Dig?
First and foremost, we keep the most updated information in the wiki:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_4G
We've been updating it a lot lately so you're better off checking there. I'm sure you'll wanna bookmark it since you know what you're doing already.
1) Specifically you'll want to look at this section:http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_4G#Installing_a_ROM
2) If you're using Odin/Heimdall you won't need to be rooted since this bypasses the phone's OS and flashes firmware directly to the phone which may or may not be pre-rooted. The only Odin 2.3.6 KJ6 rom that's out right now does NOT come with root though, it's just the stock version you're already running.
3) For our phone you're either going to use Odin/Heimdall (learn Heimdall, it's much more useful) and CWM Recovery. Most roms available right now are for CWM.
Here's the list of custom GB roms:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_4G_ROMs
4) Honestly the forums are too cluttered and as I stated above, knowledgeable senior members are the ones who update the wiki, so that'll be your most useful resource.
If you already have some experience with computers I'll gladly help you, you're already asking the right questions.
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
FBis251 said:
First and foremost,
...
2) If you're using Odin/Heimdall you won't need to be rooted since this bypasses the phone's OS and flashes firmware directly to the phone which may or may not be pre-rooted. The only Odin 2.3.6 KJ6 rom that's out right now does NOT come with root though, it's just the stock version you're already running...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I last played with my phone, I had used Odin on Windows... I have replaced Windows with Linux... I have installed Heimdall and did an initial test. So it is working.
My question is: Is Heimdall a valid replacement for Odin? In other words, I am wanting to use your guide, but it only refers to Odin. Can I go through those steps replacing Odin with Hamdall?
Yes it should work fine. The csc files for kc1 should be extracted over the pda files though
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
FBis251,
Thank you so much for the quick reply! I had seen it immediately after you responded, but was driving home from work and went right to bed. I'm back at the office now for the evening and perhaps may have some time to look into these tonight... I don't know as of right now.
If you are serious about the offer of some assistance, I would be more than open to it if I honestly felt it was needed. I am MORE than experiences with computers, i'm a full on uber-geek (just not with smartphones...... yet....), so VNC, etc would not be an issue.
I will most certainly get back to you about this in the next few days (perhaps even tonight). Let me see how my work load looks this evening and I will update the thread later.
Thank you again so much!
I'm usually in #teamnerd on freenode if you do IRC.
It doesn't take much to confuse me these days...
Moved my issue into a new question in the Q&A forum...
Hey, just an FYI (even tho I'm sure that ultimately you don't really care - just being realistic, not a douche... ), I haven't had a single moment to look into this beyond briefly skimming the Wiki's you linked up for me. (thanks for that one). I've had a butt-load of server issues at work that have taken a lot of my time. I'm HOPING to be able to look into some of this stuff a little deeper tonight (god willing)....
I will drop a note if I have issues....
Thanks again!
Hi,
Yesterday, my aunt a HTC One S from T-Mobile. Seems to be a very good phone.
I'm not sure if it was me but both my aunt an I find the interface sort of difficult to use. Is it something to do with because this is a branded phone so the bloatware and menus have changed? This is considering I have Galaxy Nexus and it's pretty clean.
That being said, from reading on the forums a bit, it seems like the Europe one is unbranded and maybe the key in solving this + getting rid of the unwanted apps which were were just literally throwing icons off the screen.
My question is, for changing the roms. What is exactly the steps I need to do? When I tried reading the FAQ for here, it seems more difficult than I thought and a bit confused. Since I did flash my own Galaxy Nexus, reading the FAQ over there was more straight forward (ie. dirver, get factory image, unlock boot loader, fastboot flash...).
Your help is appreciated.
i agree with the OP. we have 3 threads in the Development section to perform the root procedure and further manipulations and they all seem to be all over the place. we need one, up to date guide.
Welcome to the forum--
First off you are in wrong section--need to post in Q&A. A mod will probably move it for you
Start by reading FAQ/Rules etc
Hard to find one and only one guide anywhere. Need to read all you can. I have gone thru some threads 3 times to understand it all
I used the Unlock/Root thread and did all manually, and had to ask one or two questions in the noob thread after I got rooted, but all pretty straight forward if you have rooted before
The 1s is a great phone--enjoy
The basics are unlock with htcdev
flash a custom rom, with with stock one as some you have to flash boot.img separately and is more difficult
flash superuser, you can also get SU from market
The unlock/root thread by torxx is fairly easy
You don't need the interim cwr anymore, get regular one from koush 5.8.3.1 I believe
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Thanks ✟
Moving to Q&A
Or give yourself a week or two with the phone. In the two weeks that I have had my One S, I have disabled apps that I know I will not use, I have personalized it to a point that I find it to be a very productive device.
Of course eventually I will root/unlock, etc. As of now I'm in no hurry.
hTc One S
Ok so I am unsure if someone is filtering out OLD topics but i keep coming across FORUM posts from people and it seems like they are getting no help or being referred to NON existent topics.
I just recently bought a HTC ONE M8 H/K from sprint. I have had android for a decade and am seriously tired of the ROOT it people. so I figured why not no down falls and everyone says it is easy. Well I am Murphy last name law and you people have not seen or know the things I am about to post
I recently spent over 32 hours watching video and preparing for ROOTING. I unlocked phone got Pilz touch recovery and everything worked fine. I even got CWM and SUPERSU and Busy box. all of which needed OTHER files to work properly. Again a few forced quits everything was fine.
I wanted to Switch to TWRP and the install didnt go through. however now I have BOOTloop. trust me this is the tip of the berg at this point.
Just short of finding NO help after another 24hrs binge session on the CPU and just shy of RUNNING MY PHONE OVER WITH A DAMN CAR>
I get oh so simple easy fix and the only posts I see are FIXED IT!!! so that helps me approximately as much as my phone helps me make phone calls currently.
After the boot loop SEVERAL friends versed in this so called ROOTING (which I still find to be a hoax and not actually possible by any means at this point and time.) and no one has any clue. Tried flashing ROMS RUU's everything comes back to NO will not work.
Then it brings me to the STOCK RUU config for the HK M8 which seemed like it was going to work through ADB flash but guess what. 2 hrs idle NOTHING. after that The recovery program dropped out and boot loader only stated RUU in the menu. (something never before logged in a forum or post as I can tell) after many attempts to do GOD KNOWS WHAT WITHOUT ANSWERS as i was about to smash my beautiful gold phone into a dozen tiny peices and claim accident the Recovery came back to...... You guessed it NOTHING. All directories are UNMOUNTED and cannot be mounted.
I am stuck. Seriously you all fix my phone or help i am willing to send gifts because I am out 700$ now on this nice paperweight but everything and everyone tells me. OH SO SIMPLE you have recovery it aint no thang.
Well guess what it is and I am tired of being so PISSED OFF for something that was so automated.
Again I am Murphy and what you attempt to get me to follow will come up with some REALLY weird repercussions I will post back.
Please oh mighty gods of ruining my life. Spare me this one thing I will never ask for another again.
How do I get my phone to just WORK, Simple. Right?
Hi there! I think I found a thread that can get you back on track. Please read every word carefully and follow every step. If you have further trouble or want to clarify anything, please ask in the thread. They know the device best and can help you I'm sure.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2503646
I'm afraid that is the extent of what we do in the XDA Assist Section. We are guides...pointing people in the right direction when they can't find what they are looking for. Unfortunately we don't do hands on support in this section, so as I said....if you need a further hand, I am sure someone in the thread I linked can help.
And make sure anything you download and flash is for your model. And as always, do a Nandroid backup in recovery... before flashing anything new....it can be a lifesaver to help restore you when you hit trouble.
Good luck!
Details
Let me re iterate.
All guides are demanding S-Off (cannot as I cannot acess phone apps to do so)
All guides need HOME access for apps to modify certain things
I cannot:
Push packet through adb as they are unreadable
Get past boot screen
Recovery is only 40% operational with visibilty of phone only working sometime.
Cannot flash
Cannot push
Cannot fastboot
Cannot see device on CPU as it is stuck in recovery
ALL DIRECTORIES in /SDCARD have been removed
No Firmware
No RUU
No img
As far as I can tell.....Phone is empty and cannot be populated with anythin. I did manage to get SuperSu pushed through and installed. But how do I open it?
No ROOT access as well in the recovery.
I followed ALL STEPS of EASY guides even downloaded one button app that runs it all for me. Can't talk to phone does not see it in ADB.
The other guide I went to was helpful but I have already attempted all of those things.
With an empty phone NO DATA and no ability to get ADB to even run data over cable I am baffled.
I did exactly like the 500 guides i read said.
1) bootlock unlock
2)instal recovery (Philzmod)
3) get CWM (retrieved from playstore) Need a .zip to run in ADB
Phone worked fine until I changed from Philz mod to TWRP which never took place. Philz mod still runs but TWRP said it installed.
Now I have a completely worthless empty phone and I have cried about a tub worth of tears over the 700 i will be dropping over the next year for a piece of metal.
Oh and 99.9% of time if ADB DOES do something either no directory once pushed, cannot read or cannot FIND/Open directory stating BAD installation aborted I NEED a better recovery
I understand your frustration. Not a fun situation at all.
As I said, XDA Assist is here to help navigate the website. Not to troubleshoot I'm afraid.
The purpose of XDA Assist... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2764768
The very best place to ask for help in your situation is right here, in the Q&A section for your device... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2764768
The people there know your device best. Start a thread that's to the point, polite and accurate....what is exactly wrong, and the exact steps you took to get there. And hopefully help will follow.
Hope it can be solved for you!
I've been searching for info specifically for rooting/CWM'ing/ROM'ing this phone for a couple of weeks now and this device seems to be the bastard child of the Android world. If I owned a ZTE Blade I would be fine already. I know that help for this device exists somewhere, but using the XDA search tool doesn't pull up anything. I've searched for "Supreme", "Vital", "Quantum", ZTE in general, etc, etc, and the only thing that comes up is the LG Quantum which is obviously no help at all. And it seems that none of the other Android "help" sites have any better luck with specific information for this device (it's always a "this works for most devices, but your mileage may vary" kind of thing).
Basically I broke my phone from Virgin Mobile, bought a cheap used one in good condition off of eBay, but unfortunately the new one is tied to Sprint. Doing an ADB backup/restore from one device to the other does not copy over any of the carrier information so that was no help. It appears that this info would be copied over with a Nandriod backup, but I can't do this until I install CWM. I can't use ROM Manager to flash in a CWM image because this is not a "supported" device. I've tried using fastboot but it just waits forever for the device to connect whether I have the ZTE or Google USB drivers installed. I've tried flash_image but it throws an error saying the recovery partition was not found. I've tried just about every solution I can find any hint of anywhere online and I'm at the end of my rope. The only good news is that I was at least able to root my device using KingRoot! It's everything after that which has been the problem... I'm hoping somebody here can point out a link to a GOOD source for exactly how to at least load CWM for this specific device so I can get Nandroid going. Ordinarily I wouldn't mind experimenting with building this from source myself, and I'm sorry for taking the lazy approach and asking for somebody else to do the grunt work, but I work 12-16 hours a day and just don't have the brainpower available to deal with this right now. I just want my phone back!
As a second item, I would very much like at some point to play with loading Lollipop on this device. I've found a link which on the surface seems to have good info, but then when you try to download the image they hold the data hostage and expect you to "complete these dozen offers". NO, I'm not going to give them all of my personal info, and I'm also not going to jump through their bs marketing hoops. But anyway, this is entirely secondary to getting my replacement phone up and running. The link to this info I found is:
cwm-twrp-recovery.org/2015/03/zte-vital-n9810-5511.html
Copious thanks in advance for helping me to keep my sanity!
Hi
Thanks for writing to us at XDA Assist. I can't find anything relating to your question on XDA, please ask your question here:
Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting
If you wish to request a device forum for this phone you can do so in this thread:
*** New Device Forum Requests ***
Good luck!
No response in two days, thread closed.