[Completed] Is My Phone "Bricked?" - XDA Assist

Some say "Bricking" is when the phone doesn't turn on at all, or does and displays and does nothing; some say there are different states of bricking. In any case... I'm only an intermediate, and I did not have any booting problems before this. So, with the least-common denominator in mind, please read on.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3, SGH-i747 ATT. It was out of warranty anyway and I've flashed custom ROMs on it many times before without issue. I dropped it about a week ago and the LCD broke. Upon having it fixed, I noticed it no longer booted properly. I am able to get into ODIN's download mode, and I am able to flash stock recovery, but neither have proven helpful.
I was originally running Slimkat 4.4, but decided to flash back to the stock Android ROM since it would no longer boot properly anyway. This is where it gets strange.
First I attempted to flash CWM and TWRP as my recoveries. ODIN said both were successful in flashing on their respective attempts, but each one was simply a black screen after the Samsung logo disappeared. The blue text in the top-left letting me know it was booting into recovery was present with the logo, but after it disappeared, nothing.
So I tried to install stock recovery, and to my surprise, it worked, though it's really not useful for anything. Chainfire's CF-autoroot was also flashable and functional, but when I tried using adb to push files to the device, I would get several errors:
From the ADB command line, when trying to push something, I'd get "Error: closed".
From the recovery's log, sometimes when I'd successfully send a ROM to be installed, I'd get various notifications, such as: "Failed to verify whole-file signature" and "Incorrect footer", "Installation aborted".
When I attempt to flash any ROMs via ODIN, I get a few different errors, including (Not verbatim, these are from memory):
REV CHECK FAIL
DEV UNSUPPORTED
FUSED 2 > BINARY 0 [This one is especially confusing to me]
SECURE CHECK FAIL
and one from the ODIN side that said something along the lines of "HLOS-BIN" or something when it failed to flash.
So I can turn the device on, get to download mode, and even flash the stock ROM and CF-autoroot... but after 20 hours of reading other people's similar problems and varying degrees of success in their solving them, I'm stumped. I hope someone here might be able to share their superior knowledge vis-a-vis Android!
-Krust

Update
I've tried many things.
Right now I'm trying to re-flash Slimkat 4.4 (Which I was already using), and I know anything JB 4.3 or above will restrict the bootloader from downgrading, so maybe that was the problem. But if this doesn't work... I'm not sure what to do. Will post error updates if any.
-Krust

Same Status
I still get REV CHECK FAIL Fused 2 > Binary 0 error.
I believe this is from attempting to flash to a version lower than what I had (4.4).
I am unable to find stock firmware for the ATT SGH-i747 for 4.4 or above.
Please help! This is my only phone, and I know it can be restored because I can still get into download mode, but something's blocking ODIN from performing the flash, even on packages that seem to be the correct version.

Update
From what I have been able to find, I will need to update to an Android variant 4.4.2 or above due to the restricted bootloader.
My only problem... I haven't been able to FIND any stock ROMs for 4.4.2.
Everything I try returns a variety of errors, the most common being FUSED 2 > BINARY 0 (Which I now understand means I am attempting to downgrade) because I have not been able to find anything like Slimkat 4.4.2 that is in .tar format to flash.
I am very stuck and confused, and this is my only phone. Lesson learned: Keep up with the nuances of updates. But for now, I really need to get this fixed. Does anyone have experience with this particular problem?

Update
I was able to flash a modded TWRP recovery and was able to boot into it.
However, when I try to install ROMs via zip, I get the error E: Cannot execute binary update file.
One ROM, a Slimkat for i747M (Which isn't even my phone), appeared to flash successfully, but wouldn't boot.
GApps for Slimkat 4.4.4 was also able to flash successfully on its own, but the corresponding Slimkat could not.
I am quite stuck. Please help.

Hi,
Try posting your question here:
AT&T Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting
The experts there may be able to help.
Good luck!

Related

Stuck on 4.0.4 Verizon

For the last year or so, I was using this rom, and I loved it, but I was curious to try the new KitKat version so I tried updating, and kept getting getting a recursive error when trying to flash the d2lte(supposedly all the S3 roms are unified now?) KitKat version. So after doing this, after /system was cleared, but I couldn't flash back to the backup I had made before hand because I was getting an md5 mismatch.
In response, I used Odin to flash Root66. Phone works, but its seriously lacking in terms of bells and whistles of a custom ROM. It says its rooted, but a lot of root apps would fail the permission test. No prompt was given. I used towelroot and started getting root access, but I still can't update CWM or Superuser binaries. Trying to flash any other ROM leads me to an infinite boot screen, forcing me to flash Root66 again.
I tried this as well, but it seemed to yield the same results.
So, I really would like get off Root66, but I'm at a loss as to how. Anyone have any ideas? I'm sure the answer is staring me in the face in one of those threads I linked, but I'd really appreciate it if someone could (at least try to) point me in the right direction. Apologizing in advance if this question has been asked before.
Thanks.

Can't flash a new rom, CWM says my phone -> is a " "

Phone is an XT926 and i bought it used but with the original firmware (4.1.2) and no signal of odd play with it's rom.
Now when i try to flash custom roms, CWM tells the rom is for certain models but my phone is nothing. (it tells " " -a space between quotation marks- )
The only one i could flash is slimrom, but now i'm trying some others and this strange message appears not letting me flash anything but slimrom.
Is there any way to write some file somewhere to recover whatever signature my phone is missing? Or may this be a CWM bug i got?
Is CWM 6048
Thanks for your time.
So no luck? No one who can tell anything about this, any ideas?
What could have happened? There should be some place where that signature or ID is saved and somehow it got lost.
Just to clarify, when trying to flash a rom via CWM, it checks the file i mark and then it says the file is for certain phones (this included) but tells it can't be flashed because this phone is a " " like if there is some ID string missing somewhere.
I already marked CWM to avoid signature verification, but the same thing keeps happening.
The phone is working like a charm now, i found the app causing problem was Apollo wich i installed from "Cyanogenmod Apps" since it does not come with slimrom.
Now i'm using Aimp with complete success. But, i still would love to test some other roms.
If your phone has never been updated to stock KitKat, it will still have the old Jelly Bean bootloader and can only run ROMs designed for that bootloader. The reverse is also true (if you go to KK, you can't use ROMs designed for the JB bootloader anymore).
I don't know what specific ROM you want to use, so you need to figure that out before you decide what to do. In the long run, it's probably a good idea to update to KK anyway since it is now available for some xt925 phones as well, meaning more devs will migrate to the new bootloader.

[Completed] Galaxy S4 LTE i9505 soft bricked,

Hi, Ive been stuck with this problem for about 3 days now. I have tried EVERYTHING possible and now I'm getting impatient. I've tried every advice on almost every forum or blog. But still cant seem to resolve the issue.
I was running echoe rom 5.1 and tried to flash cm 12 on it through philz recovery. It failed the first time but I was able to access philz. Then I tried to flash stock firmware through Odin and I dont know what happened, it failed and I got an error "Firmware upgrade failed and try recovering through kies...."
I tried kies, my device wasnt able to connect( I tried all the ports and cables I have) and even reinstalled kies just to check. No luck.
Then I killed all the kies processes and tried to flash a stock firmware, this time odin gave an error "PIT partition not found".
I have tried multiple PIT files for i9505 16gb with multiple stock roms on multiple versions of Odin (1.85, 3.07, 3.09, 3.10) some forums asked to tick 're-partition', some said to untick 'auto reboot', Ive tried all of them, still fails.
I can only access download mode on my phone right now, not philz recovery and neither stock android recovery.
my write protection is also enabled, I think this is the core issue, once the protection is disabled, PIT can re partition and flash a stock, and once a stock is flashed, I can flash any recovery and flash any custom ROM through that.
I have been flashing and rooting androids since the last 2 years and never encountered such a problem. Always found some solution online.
I would really appreciate if you guys could help with the problem. Thanks
XDA Visitor said:
Hi, Ive been stuck with this problem for about 3 days now. I have tried EVERYTHING possible and now I'm getting impatient. I've tried every advice on almost every forum or blog. But still cant seem to resolve the issue.
I was running echoe rom 5.1 and tried to flash cm 12 on it through philz recovery. It failed the first time but I was able to access philz. Then I tried to flash stock firmware through Odin and I dont know what happened, it failed and I got an error "Firmware upgrade failed and try recovering through kies...."
I tried kies, my device wasnt able to connect( I tried all the ports and cables I have) and even reinstalled kies just to check. No luck.
Then I killed all the kies processes and tried to flash a stock firmware, this time odin gave an error "PIT partition not found".
I have tried multiple PIT files for i9505 16gb with multiple stock roms on multiple versions of Odin (1.85, 3.07, 3.09, 3.10) some forums asked to tick 're-partition', some said to untick 'auto reboot', Ive tried all of them, still fails.
I can only access download mode on my phone right now, not philz recovery and neither stock android recovery.
my write protection is also enabled, I think this is the core issue, once the protection is disabled, PIT can re partition and flash a stock, and once a stock is flashed, I can flash any recovery and flash any custom ROM through that.
I have been flashing and rooting androids since the last 2 years and never encountered such a problem. Always found some solution online.
I would really appreciate if you guys could help with the problem. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello there! Welcome to XDA!
First register an XDA account (so you can ask in the proper forum)
then, please visit the following forum... (see below)
try asking here: (You will have a much better chance of getting help there)
Galaxy S4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting
or
Galaxy S4 Main Section
Good Luck!
thanks mate!
Registered and posted here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/help/s4-lte-i9505-soft-bricked-t3199387
Thread closed

I Think I'm Screwed!

First; I hate to be a double poster, but I'm on the back page of How to Upgrade to 5.0.1 and Keep Root. My apologies. I've spent several days trying to solve this and have no answers.
I did the 5.0.1 "Keep Root" when it first came out, but it acted buggy and unpredictable. I just got a Note 4, and hate that I can't root it, so I decided to try to resolve the problems with my S4. I re-did the process, as stated and it seemed to work fine. I downgraded, rooted, and upgraded to 5.0.1. Then the trouble started. I installed the "Stock" Kernel, Modem, and Recovery. When I rebooted; it gave me a nasty message like: "AT&T has discovered unauthorized software on your phone." and froze up. I booted back into download mode, re-flashed the NB1 file, and it seemed to work, except for no Wi-Fi. When I tried to re-flash the OC4 with Flashfire, it acted like it was going to do it, but only booted into the recovery screen. I've tried close to a hundred different combinations, but no joy.
It allows me to root the NB1 and install Flashfire, but cant get it above 4.3. I installed a terminal emulator APK file and checked my bootloader status and it shows OC4. If my understanding is correct; I'm screwed. Is there any way to get past this and upgrade to ANY working ROM that will allow Wi-Fi and be fairly stable?
BTW; I'm on AT&T.
Thanks in advance!
As far as I'm concerned, ODIN just puts back your phone to its original state. Have you tried following the guide on how to install a custom Lollipop ROM? You gotta flash a rootable NB1 firmware and then continue with the process explained in the thread.
Here, take a look and tell me how it goes http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-att/general/how-to-installed-custom-lollipop-rom-t3135396
Crash and Burn
Crash and burn. NB1 wouldn't think of loading with Odin. Fails almost immediately.
Thanks for the help, though. Any other ideas?
Here's a screenshot of my phone parameters.
http://dl-1.va.us.xda-developers.co....png?key=Hy1bNEcEPo2F55Cm_pjqYg&ts=1450058617
Guess it won't upload my photo...

Samsung Galaxy S4 "I9505" Black Edition Firmware Flash Issues

Greetings.
I didn't post in very long time on this forum,since I could handle most of the problems on my own,now I need some andvanced tips and advices,so I'm reporting in.
I bough myself a Samsung Galaxy S4 Black Edition last year here in Bosnia and Hercegovina.Beautiful phone,never got a scratch on it,It had Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box but all of the features from basic S4 except one,it couldn't update firmware to Lolipop 5.0.1.
That used to bother me,since I had much older devices that supported JB and this phone was just special,enough that I couldn't let it be my daily driver having unused potential,so i threw myself at work(which will later prove a very bad decision).
I checked for OTA updates in the settings and that option would litteraly do nothing,providing no info,or searching for new updates.
Smash that Build number,got into developer mode,toggle USB debugging,Install Kies on PC,run it as Admin,download latest drivers,connect the device,Firmware update asks for IMEI and s/n,type them in,says to check my s/n and IMEI,do that few times under different compatibility options,still the same.
I thought it must be something bad with data/catche so i reset to recovery mode and wipe them out,setup the phone,enter the OTA update for second time,it shows me "Your device have been modified, Software updates are not available", check device status and it states "Samsung",after several attempts it sometime said "Modified" sometimes "Samsung",Kies didn't recognise the device through all this process.
I was already lost here,but I thought,hell Kies isn't working,neather is OTA,i could flash using Odin,that might do the trick.
Went to Sammobile,downloaded latest drivers and Odin,found one Firmware that I though was compatible.,unbloked them in properties and set to rin as Admin.
Uninstalled Kies and checked for leftover drivers again,and it was all clear to go,ran odin,mounted firmware,set device in download mode and started flashing but Odin poped out "complete(write) operation fail" error.
Didn't want to try fixing it,went straight back to SM and downloaded two other firmwares,one said "complete(write) operation fail",and the other "Re-Partition operation failed",so I thought Odin was bad,since I checked on two PC's with several USB ports.
Download two more versions of Odin and find a stock s4 PIT file here somewhere for repartrition error.
Extracted everything,unblocked and ran with privilegies,same thing on both Odin versions,except that only Odin 3.07 could flash the pit file alone with no problems it passed.
Next time i ran download mode i tried to flash the firmware write fail came up again,extracted recovery and flashed it alone,worked like a charm,so I tried flashing once again,it proceedes a little further with same write error.
Reset the phone to wipe data and catche and it goes into "Firmware Upgrade Encountered An Issue Error",Install kies,it still doesn't recognise the phone.
Out of option right now I go for search of alternative recovery software,and I found the famous "Dr.Fone" (how stupid I was to not read all those,"if it wasn't for this software my phone would die" comments)
Installed it,ran recovery my phone shuts down and displays "set warranty bit: kernel message",from this point nothing works except recovery mode,so I install CWM recovery and flash a Custom ROM,now only this option that sets my phone in working order and I want to recover it's Firmware back,Anyone that could help me with this issue,or had it solved before?
Atleast give it a try.
this amount of pain can't be titled
Drow_Warlord said:
Greetings.
I didn't post in very long time on this forum,since I could handle most of the problems on my own,now I need some andvanced tips and advices,so I'm reporting in.
I bough myself a Samsung Galaxy S4 Black Edition last year here in Bosnia and Hercegovina.Beautiful phone,never got a scratch on it,It had Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box but all of the features from basic S4 except one,it couldn't update firmware to Lolipop 5.0.1.
That used to bother me,since I had much older devices that supported JB and this phone was just special,enough that I couldn't let it be my daily driver having unused potential,so i threw myself at work(which will later prove a very bad decision).
I checked for OTA updates in the settings and that option would litteraly do nothing,providing no info,or searching for new updates.
Smash that Build number,got into developer mode,toggle USB debugging,Install Kies on PC,run it as Admin,download latest drivers,connect the device,Firmware update asks for IMEI and s/n,type them in,says to check my s/n and IMEI,do that few times under different compatibility options,still the same.
I thought it must be something bad with data/catche so i reset to recovery mode and wipe them out,setup the phone,enter the OTA update for second time,it shows me "Your device have been modified, Software updates are not available", check device status and it states "Samsung",after several attempts it sometime said "Modified" sometimes "Samsung",Kies didn't recognise the device through all this process.
I was already lost here,but I thought,hell Kies isn't working,neather is OTA,i could flash using Odin,that might do the trick.
Went to Sammobile,downloaded latest drivers and Odin,found one Firmware that I though was compatible.,unbloked them in properties and set to rin as Admin.
Uninstalled Kies and checked for leftover drivers again,and it was all clear to go,ran odin,mounted firmware,set device in download mode and started flashing but Odin poped out "complete(write) operation fail" error.
Didn't want to try fixing it,went straight back to SM and downloaded two other firmwares,one said "complete(write) operation fail",and the other "Re-Partition operation failed",so I thought Odin was bad,since I checked on two PC's with several USB ports.
Download two more versions of Odin and find a stock s4 PIT file here somewhere for repartrition error.
Extracted everything,unblocked and ran with privilegies,same thing on both Odin versions,except that only Odin 3.07 could flash the pit file alone with no problems it passed.
Next time i ran download mode i tried to flash the firmware write fail came up again,extracted recovery and flashed it alone,worked like a charm,so I tried flashing once again,it proceedes a little further with same write error.
Reset the phone to wipe data and catche and it goes into "Firmware Upgrade Encountered An Issue Error",Install kies,it still doesn't recognise the phone.
Out of option right now I go for search of alternative recovery software,and I found the famous "Dr.Fone" (how stupid I was to not read all those,"if it wasn't for this software my phone would die" comments)
Installed it,ran recovery my phone shuts down and displays "set warranty bit: kernel message",from this point nothing works except recovery mode,so I install CWM recovery and flash a Custom ROM,now only this option that sets my phone in working order and I want to recover it's Firmware back,Anyone that could help me with this issue,or had it solved before?
Atleast give it a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Day#4 Fail compilation
I see that this gets no response,but I'll continue this thread just in case I fix this and somebody else gets into same problem themselves.
I mentioned before that I somehow flashed custom ROM over CWM and that helped my phone boot into working state after bootloop error caused by greatest Android software there is on the internet,the legendary "Dr.Fone"
The Custom rom used was "[OFFICIAL][i9500][5.1.x] CyanogenMod 12.1 for Samsung Galaxy S4 [NIGHTLY]" From xda user: Alberto96 (thank you friend).
After several other failed attempts of implementing Stock firmware on this bricked device over the PC,I got to the point where I think that it's literally imposible to make it work since I tried so many ways and patterns of installation with no difference in the outcome results whatsoever.
I took a moment to rethink my strat over this and googled other ways of flashing that firmware without using PC.
Found 2 possible solutions that I'm trying to make use of,first is Odin Mobile and the Other is FlashFire.
Since both require rooted devices,finding way to root bricked S4 wasn't a very pleasant experiance,since flashing SuperSU through CWM recovery didn't work,Odin managed to flash me nice Autoroot from Chainfire over the custom ROM I installed before,I found a problem even there since the I9505 autoroot wouldn't work,the custom firware had changed the phone model to I9507 that I downloaded the Autoroot for,was a confusing issue,but I managed to root it anyways.
Page I used for this purpose was Chainfire Autoroot database(sorry if I'm violating forum rules but I think this could be left here without further discussion about it).
After rebooting the device I downloaded Rootcheck software along with SuperSU and FlashFire which confirmed that it's fully unlocked/rooted.
Now I'm recharging my phone so I can later tonight go ahead and transfer firmware to it's SD card and try to flash it once again with FlashFire,last option I'm thinking of as of now if this wouldn't have any progress is to download Odin mobile and try another flash,I'm running out of ideas on this one.
Sorry for the long posts,but these get no respose so who cares.

Categories

Resources