Flashing Stock Firmware but Keeping Data - Galaxy S6 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
I am currently having intense difficulty getting my data off of my galaxy s6 which wont boot. I have tried flashing a new recovery which doesn't work (The button code doesn't even open recovery). I am considering flashing the stock firmware back to try to recover it but I've heard that this deletes my personal data (which is the only reason I want to recover the phone).
I downloaded the stock firmware for my SM-G920W8 and I noticed that when I unzip it there are a bunch of files in it such as boot.img and cache.img. I was wondering if any of these are specific to deleting the data and if there is anyway I can remove one, re zip the file, flash it, and have my data still be there. Also, by data I'm referring to solely the pictures I took that were in my gallery, I don't care about anything else. Or perhaps there's something else I can flash to get my data back, any help is greatly appreciated .
I have never messed with my galaxy s6 at all and never modded it in any way. One day a few months ago the phone screen just went black while I was watching vids and ever since has never been able to boot. Computer doesn't recognize it, but I can use download mode (ODIN).

Related

[Completed] Corrupted backup? Big problems

Hi guys, wasn't sure where to post this and I've been searching the web for hours without coming up with an answer with the best way to fix the problem I've got.
So yesterday my sister gave me her phone saying it was shat and slow and generally rubbish (S4 i9505 running 4.4.2). So I had a brief look at it and she had absolutely no room on the phone at all, it was completely clogged. So I deleted all the cache data (4 gigs!!), as soon as I did this the phone came back to life and started updating everything it could, then made a backup in CWM. Thought while I'm here I may as well put the official Lollipop firmware on it from Sammobile. All was good until I realised that she has never backed anything up to google or any other cloud storage (pretty dumb!) and all of her important stuff I couldn't get back.
So I then had to try and extract some data from the CWM backup... couldn't do it. I just couldn't find the files that she wanted restored. Mainly whatsapp messages and pictures and also Smemo. These are all she needs, there's really important memos apparently, why the hell she never backed them up or had another copy of them is beyond me if they were that important!
So I tried restoring just the data part of the 4.4 CWM restore to the 5.0 rom, looking back now I see this is where I went wrong and was asking for trouble.
So I then tried rolling back to the full CWM backup, all went well so I assumed and it said it was successful. This was until the phone booted. Constant spamming of gapps has stopped working, and no matter what I did I couldn't get it to stop, the phone was unusable with it constantly pinging up, every app was failing, and then it would turn itself off and reboot.
So I Factory reset again and wiped everything, installed the backup again, same thing happened again. Even tried flashing the latest version of gapps, but nothing had any effect.
So now I'm thinking oh feck... I didn't make a backup of the Lollipop install as I thought the rollback would have just cured it, and she had already started messing about with it, making it look pretty and getting people to send her some of the important files she had.
So I thought balls, tough luck and you'll have to start again, your fault for never backing anything up. So I reflashed Lollipop, and for some reason it wouldn't boot. Would just hang at the Samsung logo, this was 4am, I was panicking as I'd effectively bricked her phone. So after lots of boot loops and countless flashes I was looking on ebay for a new phone for her, then suddenly it finally boots on one of the flashes.
Anyway after a lot of faffing about, flashing 4.4 which worked, so flashed 5.0 again, and luckily it booted, I don't know what happened, maybe I missed something as I was so tired, so I signed her into google and let all the apps download while I slept.
Now the question is, I seem to have found a site that explains how to extract individual files vaguely, I just need to get the smemos and whatsapp files and I'm not entirely sure where to look and extract these files. Also, will they corrupt if I try to install them on the 5.0 firmware?
Any help would be much appreciated as I'm really in the stinky brown stuff.
Morning bump if anyone can shed some light on this :crying:
Hi
Thanks for writing to us at XDA Assist. Have you tried using this tool?
[Tool] Cwm nandbackup file Extractor ( .img/ .tar files )
It should extract exactly what you need. If you're only reinstalling those specific apps with their data you should have no issues, just don't restore any system data, that's what caused your problems after restoring the KitKat backup on top of the Lollipop ROM.
No response in two days, thread closed, thanks.

[Q] "Unfortunately, IMS Service has stopped"

I'm having issues with my Galaxy S6. I used Odin to return to stock, and now I'm getting an "Unfortunately, IMS Service has stopped" error every 2 or 3 seconds. The phone is essentially unusable.
Other Galaxy phones have had similar issues, and I've tried some of their suggestions. I wiped Media Storage and factory reset the phone through the recovery. I tried to find the DRM app to wipe, but it's not there in the app manager. Does anybody have any suggestions? They are greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Im having that same issue. I bricked my phone for about a week and I had just got the tar files to open and return my device to stock. Is it saying you have service? Ive been looking this up everywhere and have no luck with the s6 problem.
boristhebladexx said:
I'm having issues with my Galaxy S6. I used Odin to return to stock, and now I'm getting an "Unfortunately, IMS Service has stopped" error every 2 or 3 seconds. The phone is essentially unusable.
Other Galaxy phones have had similar issues, and I've tried some of their suggestions. I wiped Media Storage and factory reset the phone through the recovery. I tried to find the DRM app to wipe, but it's not there in the app manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why did you return to stock? If you are planning to return/exchange the phone, then you may run into trouble if it is unusable.
3 options:
1. Attempt to reflash stock via Odin and hope it fixes the problem.
2. Restore a nandroid.
3. Clean flash a custom rom.
sublimaze said:
Why did you return to stock? If you are planning to return/exchange the phone, then you may run into trouble if it is unusable.
3 options:
1. Attempt to reflash stock via Odin and hope it fixes the problem.
2. Restore a nandroid.
3. Clean flash a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried to reflash stock again and the same message kept coming up. i thought that restoring would wipe root so i dont know how you could flash a custom rom onto it. would you do that through the Odin program??
LiquidPhoenix said:
i tried to reflash stock again and the same message kept coming up. i thought that restoring would wipe root so i dont know how you could flash a custom rom onto it. would you do that through the Odin program??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try restoring a nandroid?
Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
sublimaze said:
Did you try restoring a nandroid?
Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i never backed up a nandroid. im pretty new to android phones and the deep stuff because the only thing i ever learned was iphone. do they auto backup? and if so, how could i restore it??
thank you for your patience, i know its driving you crazy haha.
LiquidPhoenix said:
i never backed up a nandroid. im pretty new to android phones and the deep stuff because the only thing i ever learned was iphone. do they auto backup? and if so, how could i restore it??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android lollipop gives you the option to transfer your apps to a new device when you setup the new device. You are also given this option when you flash a custom lollilop rom, because the setup wizard will see this as a new device. However, you should always make a backup of a good working rom setup prior to flashing a new rom or any mods. When I say a "good working rom ", I mean a rom that you might possibly want to go back to, in case your next rom flash doesn't go well or it has major issues that prevent you from using it as a daily driver (which you won't know until you flash it, obviously). The stock rom is definitely a "good working rom", and you should ALWAYS make a backup of stock before flashing anything else.
Since you don't have a backup of stock, then you are stuck with Odin getting you back to bone stock, which apparently isn't quite doing the job. The only other thing I can suggest is flashing a stock rooted rom (eg, no mods other than root). But make sure you clean flash, which also means mounting & wiping /system in recovery. I forgot how to do it in CWM/Phil's recovery, but in TWRP go to Mount, tap /system then go back to the main menu, go to Wipe > Advanced and select cache, dalvik cache, data and system, then swipe to erase. Now you have a totally clean slate.
sublimaze said:
Android lollipop gives you the option to transfer your apps to a new device when you setup the new device. You are also given this option when you flash a custom lollilop rom, because the setup wizard will see this as a new device. However, you should always make a backup of a good working rom setup prior to flashing a new rom or any mods. When I say a "good working rom ", I mean a rom that you might possibly want to go back to, in case your next rom flash doesn't go well or it has major issues that prevent you from using it as a daily driver (which you won't know until you flash it, obviously). The stock rom is definitely a "good working rom", and you should ALWAYS make a backup of stock before flashing anything else.
Since you don't have a backup of stock, then you are stuck with Odin getting you back to bone stock, which apparently isn't quite doing the job. The only other thing I can suggest is flashing a stock rooted rom (eg, no mods other than root). But make sure you clean flash, which also means mounting & wiping /system in recovery. I forgot how to do it in CWM/Phil's recovery, but in TWRP go to Mount, tap /system then go back to the main menu, go to Wipe > Advanced and select cache, dalvik cache, data and system, then swipe to erase. Now you have a totally clean slate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive tried looking online for software thats compatible with my carrier (cricket) but I couldnt find it. The way that I bricked my phone was trying to flash TWRP recovery on my phone. Cricket is through at&t and has the locked bootloader. I used pingpong root to root it but apparently it wasnt compatible with my phone. I'm kinda stuck.
LiquidPhoenix said:
Ive tried looking online for software thats compatible with my carrier (cricket) but I couldnt find it. The way that I bricked my phone was trying to flash TWRP recovery on my phone. Cricket is through at&t and has the locked bootloader. I used pingpong root to root it but apparently it wasnt compatible with my phone. I'm kinda stuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never messed with Cricket phones. I know they piggyback on the AT&T network, but I don't know if the firmwares are different. You could go to a Cricket store and look at the display S6 to find out the exact firmware version, and try to find that on the web (posting in the AT&T forum might yield a faster response). But trying to flash TWRP was not a good idea. Good luck!
I was attempting to return the phone to stock so I could sell it. I flashed the Cricket firmware, and ever since then I get the IMS service error. I can't flash a new ROM because I unrooted through Pingpong Root. When I flash through Odin, I only flash the AP .tar. Would it make a difference if I flashed all 4 (BL, AP, CP, CSC)?
boristhebladexx said:
I was attempting to return the phone to stock so I could sell it. I flashed the Cricket firmware, and ever since then I get the IMS service error. I can't flash a new ROM because I unrooted through Pingpong Root. When I flash through Odin, I only flash the AP .tar. Would it make a difference if I flashed all 4 (BL, AP, CP, CSC)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this just now and all it said was "attempt thread failed (0/0)"
boristhebladexx said:
I was attempting to return the phone to stock so I could sell it. I flashed the Cricket firmware, and ever since then I get the IMS service error. I can't flash a new ROM because I unrooted through Pingpong Root. When I flash through Odin, I only flash the AP .tar. Would it make a difference if I flashed all 4 (BL, AP, CP, CSC)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does make a difference to flash it into 4 different parts in case you have the entire firmware
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here, i woke to this lovely issue, which was rendering my phone unusable. I use a program call YouMail for voicemail, creeps my friends out when they get to my voice mail. Uninstall this program after wiping every cache imaginable, voila, no more issue. I haven't tried to reinstall it yet since i need to get some work done. Hope it helps in some way.
I have the same problem after flashing the stock firmware thru Odin on my S6 from Cricket. I also tried Factory Resert and Wiping the Cache, nothing seems to help at all. I get the annoying message about the IMS service. I've tried clearing the cache from contacts, ims service but no luck at at. Is there any other ROMs out there for the S6 from Cricket. Right now my phone is completely stock and has no service. Any word of advice would help, Thanks !
Edit: I flashed the CSC file thru odin and it got rid of the IMS error but now I have no service.
SRobby said:
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here, i woke to this lovely issue, which was rendering my phone unusable. I use a program call YouMail for voicemail, creeps my friends out when they get to my voice mail. Uninstall this program after wiping every cache imaginable, voila, no more issue. I haven't tried to reinstall it yet since i need to get some work done. Hope it helps in some way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not an expert in any sense of the term, so ignore this if it's dumb. When the OP and others having this issue are bringing your phones back up, does the issue start prior to phone setup? Or is your Google account restoring some app that could be causing the issue?
it didnt solve my problem
I have the s6 edge though ..do i have to wipe and install the rom again??
Unfortunately ims has stopped working pop up
I noticed the spinning sync icon at the top my s7 phone. It was constantly trying to sync my messengers app to the cloud. (I tuned the sync function off an it seems to have stopped the annoying message from popping up. :good::fingers-crossed:
eeee
boristhebladexx said:
I was attempting to return the phone to stock so I could sell it. I flashed the Cricket firmware, and ever since then I get the IMS service error. I can't flash a new ROM because I unrooted through Pingpong Root. When I flash through Odin, I only flash the AP .tar. Would it make a difference if I flashed all 4 (BL, AP, CP, CSC)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just root the device an then install root unistaller
find all apps with the word ims
unistall all apps
restart phone
Magic!!!!

Successfully got around bootloader sprint g900p s5 Bog1 firmware

Hello I'm sending this post now because I'm going to need somebody's assistance. A quick story I have been doing this for about 3 months as far as my first root to a flashaholic. I have successfully got around my bootloader. The problem is I'm not 100% sure how. I have a good idea of what I did but I don't know exactly as I am NOT a dev and I am new to this. I catch on rather quickly though and have found a passion for modifying my android and this site has been my number one contributor. My goal is to give back and help others out as well. I started off by editing permissions in my system file along with floating feature, csc, features and the customer XML. It was somewhere right in one of those files that I did this.. I simply changed the permission or function and immediately when I did I was prompted by super user to let boot animations by JRummy apps creator of the toolbox to allow permission which I did. The problem is as I didn't realize what I did at the time until I reset it as I changed about 10 different things. About a week prior I tried installing the boot animation into different file folders which was the two options that they suggest. Nothing happened of course my bootloader is locked and i wasn't surprised. Well I changed the permissions that shouldn't have in the calling feature section and I got stuck with force close force close so I hard reset into the factory recovery and trief to clear the cache partition which was unsuccessful. I then decided to install philz custom recovery so I could do a good clean out because obviously the factory recovery is garbage but every time I tried to change it it would stick me in a boot loop after being successfully flashed and in use for at least 24 hours. After I wiped the dalvik cache and the cache partition with Phils I then decided to try one last flash with a custom ROM and everything flashed fine. But once it rebooted I noticed a completely different boot animation and to my amazement it ended up booting and upgrading all my apps it started up normal. The rom I installed was real rwilco's mostly stock version 1.2 G900PVPU3BOG1. After that I decided I was going to take another chance and flash a few modification files. Once again succesfull. This morning I decided I was going to try to do a backup and restore. I backed it up with Phil's recovery and then I restored it. Restoring gave me a bit of a problem as I had to delete the cache and the dalvik cache. I then restarted the system the first time it didn't work or I didn't wait long enough I'm not sure. The second time I hard reset it introduced a normal boot and it started back up and was upgrading all 590 something after they have. Before I did any of this I was working away at a stock rom that I managed to modify a file in. This would be the aboot.mdn i believe. I was able to open it up into a notepad and replace it with the older version in the text part only so the file name itself stayed the same. I don't know if that played a major part to it or not. But I have sense flash recovery and files without getting stuck into a bootloop and with this new firmware almost every time I turned it off and on it would put me in a boot loop just because I was rooted. I attempted to simply change a new battery that I ordered powered off replace battery powered back on and was stuck in a boot loop. I have been making it my goal to somehow crack this thing. This is where I need help because I am still a noob I always just happened to poke in the right places I could care less about reaching 10 posts so I can post links if you like after I upload my information you can go ahead and reset that. I am here because I can seriously help and this website has been a major contributor to me becoming a flashaholic. I am at work right now and have already attempted but I'll go down to a 3G signal if that. I have absolutely no reliable internet here but within 5 hours I will be home uploading to my Google Drive a copy of my manifest and CSC, permissions, and features files. I have also created a clockwork recovery which I am going to upload as well I need somebody to help me go through these and pinpoint exactly what I did so we can get a legit thread with the fix. I somehow basically flashed a new boot animation which i think is blocking my other boot. I have confirm this working I have 2 screenshots I'm going to upload. Anybody with real experience and actually knows what they're doing I would appreciate your help in this matter.. And actually knows what they're doing I would appreciate your help in this matter. I just need to get home to my laptop to upload. Thanks xda you guys are awesome and I hope this is finally my opportunity to contribute and give back.
i ran out of time and couldnt proofread. sorry about that lol'
in my drive account i have a 1) factory rom that i modded aboot.mbn. 2) The backup "philz" cwm recovery. its my full backup apps and all down to the boot image that replaced the sprint yellow screen and the samgsung boot logo. 3) The system files that i have modified.. csc, features, floating feature, customer xml... 3) screenshots of rom info and adding others of some of the mods as we speak. still need 15 mins to finish uploading the sys files
if someone can figure out exactly what i did we have a fix. i have since flashed 30+ mods with no bootloop. email is [email protected] just incase for contact purposes
h t t p s: // drive. google. com / drive / folders / 0B5AfudcH1XDQMVFZdFhVTFdYQ0U---has many spaces only way to fit link
the system files have been diificult to et into my drive. most did not want to copy and the size themself. the full custom restore is in my drive already along with some screens. i have also set my boot animations to random and have about 20 or so cycling. also after restore make sure to wipe dalvick cache and cache. also some of the apps might fc i didnt have them fully restored when i created backup. i added a backup file in drive that has full copy.

F***ed up badly, now downloading factory rom, need help to continue

Hi guys, I just registered @ xda because it looks like it's the only serious and feedback active community available. In 10 minutes I found most of the info I was looking for, but I still want to make sure what Im planning to do is fine before I mess up again. Here's the issue:
I was fooling around with the tablet and had just rooted it so I could get rid of some bloatware, and decided to go further and install cyanogen, just for the looks. So I got this thing cm-10.1-20130411-EXPERIMENTAL-p3110-M3 from the official site, which was I put on a folder inside the tablets storage (not on the 16gb SDcard it had in it). I downloaded Rom Manager and skipped through the "search and download rom" and went for the option of looking for it inside the SD card. I had the Backup options and the wipe cache and data ON.
So I proceeded and it booted, started to do the backup and at some final point it had an error, something like "could not backup Data!". I had the options of rebooting, some other stuff and the option of installing a rom from the SD Card. I went for it and searched for the .zip inside the storage, and installed it. It did it withouth trouble, and when it finishd it prompted me to install an update, which I didn't (don't know why).
Then, I went for the reeboot option and when it started I get the normal samsung's black screen with the device's name on it, but then I get a fast glitching image that sweeps through the screen and the cyanogen startup logo which gets stuck for ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now Im past it, I can get to download or recovery mode, so I moved onto getting the original firmware so I can clean-install again. I got it from sammobile, chose the one belonging to Chile (that's where I got the tablet), and it's 729mb of data. The tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 P3110
If I flash it with Odin will everything be fine? All I have to do is that thing in downloadmode when I rooted it, but with that 729mb file? Should I put it in the external SD or is it more convenient to place it in the internal storage?
I appreciate your help in advance, I know this is as basic as it gets but messing up again would cost me dearly, since I have to do other stuff.
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1900055 read here, all the information you will need.
It's fine to flash through odin, you will back at stock provided you don't overlook small details and do exactly like the way it is shown. Don't worry, Don't panic. Just be careful to use the files meant for your device only. Second be extra careful when you are dealing with kernel file, pit file or reparation in odin in future.
Third, get root and custom recovery,twrp.
Fourth, after your device start running take backup from twrp recovery. That will save you from most of the trouble.
Most of the details and instructions are already here
billysam said:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1900055 read here, all the information you will need.
It's fine to flash through odin, you will back at stock provided you don't overlook small details and do exactly like the way it is shown. Don't worry, Don't panic. Just be careful to use the files meant for your device only. Second be extra careful when you are dealing with kernel file, pit file or reparation in odin in future.
Third, get root and custom recovery,twrp.
Fourth, after your device start running take backup from twrp recovery. That will save you from most of the trouble.
Most of the details and instructions are already here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey thanks a lot, im feeling better ow. There's just one issue left: I cant download the original firmware (it's 699mb, and the download keeps stopping midway through it). What happens if I go into clockwork recovery mode and do a factory reset? would that bring me to the original OS? Im kinda scared of downloading an erroneous file again.
EDIT: im doing a factory reset and then flashing this rom called AOSP Project Android 5.1.1 Lollipop on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 P3110 which is a 161mb file. Will that work?
aguscanzani said:
hey thanks a lot, im feeling better ow. There's just one issue left: I cant download the original firmware (it's 699mb, and the download keeps stopping midway through it). What happens if I go into clockwork recovery mode and do a factory reset? would that bring me to the original OS? Im kinda scared of downloading an erroneous file again.
EDIT: im doing a factory reset and then flashing this rom called AOSP Project Android 5.1.1 Lollipop on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 P3110 which is a 161mb file. Will that work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset is just clearing data and cache, if you have made changes in kernel or system, factory reset won't reset them, in your case, system has been altered so you will have to format system, then flash the new rom. If you were on jelly bean stock, you are good to flash it.
billysam said:
Factory reset is just clearing data and cache, if you have made changes in kernel or system, factory reset won't reset them, in your case, system has been altered so you will have to format system, then flash the new rom. If you were on jelly bean stock, you are good to flash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guys have helped me a lot. I've worked everything out and now i've got to reinstalling android on it, AOSP's 5.1.1 Lollipop. It's beautiful. There's just one problem: Since it came with no apps at all, I wanted to install everything on it again. Problem is, when I go to google play, it shows that i've already got my apps installed, so it wont let me download them, and it doesn't matter if I place the APK's inside the tablet as there's no manager to open them. Even if I download apk's through the tablet's own web browser, it says it can't open the file. Any ideas on this?

Stuck in a bootloop + CWM question

Edit: Solved, see bottom
ROM (D6633_Customized HK_1290-5630_23.4.A.0.546_R6C_HK_SuperSU2.46_XZDR2.8.21-signedv2)
Bit of a dumb move on my part. It all started when my snapchat stopped working, I updated, and then Titanium Backup wouldn't restore the data properly (giving me "parse error"). I was trying to fix that and read online that sometimes this is caused by improper permissions, so I booted into recovery mode, couldn't find the option, but somehow decided "hey, maybe my root permission (?) is wrong slash it's 6am and I just watched a wild 2016 election end" and I hit the button. Now my phone is stuck in a bootloop.
So my question:
1) What exactly does re-root phone do (in CWM), and why would that have messed me up? Is it because I have a pre-rooted rom?
2) I wiped cache and delvik and it doesn't help
3) How do I fix this? I was thinking of loading a SuperSU zip on the SD card from my computer and flashing that, assuming somehow a corrupted root is at fault. I can't seem to get the thing in ADB mode as a side note.
3b) If that seems like a good idea, does it matter what one I use?
4) If I reflash the ROM, it should keep my apps and stuff, ya? I don't actually care if my phone is crippled, I just need it to work long enough to properly back up some media, and mainly get my whatsapp over to my new SIM card. If I can't get in it's forever stuck on my old number which I don't have the SIM for anymore.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Edit: I don't know how to delete this. Anyways, with other resources I found out that because I used a pre-rooted ROM, there were issues with using CWM to try to do the rooting with its built in functions, softbricking the phone. Reflashing the original pre-rooted ROM worked fine.

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