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[Q] factory reset after one click root

just use the one click root tool by kennethpenn, work perfectly thanks. use titanium back to do a backup of all the app and system then took out all the att bloatware. i have few questions at this point.
1.
will i be able to get OTA updates from att? what will happen to all the bloatware that i deleted? would they appear again?
2.
what happens if i do a factory reset on the phone? would i brick the phone? under normal condition that will erase all apps i installed and return it to factory setting, that means all the att bloatware will be back? will i lost root?
3.
what other things i can do after i root the phone at this point?
thank you for your help

no one can help me with those questions??? anyone???
i am sure a lot of people have the same question.

1.
will i be able to get OTA updates from att? what will happen to all the bloatware that i deleted? would they appear again?
I'm not 100% sure on this, but as long as you're running an actual AT&T ROM (not an Asian or Rogers ROM), you'll be notified of the OTA's. Now, if you're not using the stock Recovery image (that is, if you've installed CWM Recovery), you won't be able to apply the update. OTA updates get applied via the stock Recovery image.
2.
what happens if i do a factory reset on the phone? would i brick the phone? under normal condition that will erase all apps i installed and return it to factory setting, that means all the att bloatware will be back? will i lost root?
If you do a factory reset from CWM or within the phone's UI, you're fine. Root will remain in place, and you won't brick it. It just clears the user data from the phone, and should leave "sdcard" intact. However, I'm not 100% sure what happens if you do a factory reset from the bootloader. So just don't do it that way, unless someone else can confirm that it's okay.
3.
what other things i can do after i root the phone at this point?
You ca use apps like AutoKiller to change your memory management, for one. That's about all I'm doing with root right now. If we ever get custom kernels, you'll be able to overclock your CPU. If you search the Play Store for "root," you'd doubtlessly find some other root apps that you may be interested in.
Hope this helps!

Don't ever ever ever install an OTA on any rooted Android device. At the least, it won't work anyway, or you will lose root. At the worst, you will be stuck in a bootloop. Updated ROMs (based on the OTA's, but rooted, and safe to flash) usually get posted in Development soon after the OTA's go out. That is what you want to install.

craig0r said:
However, I'm not 100% sure what happens if you do a factory reset from the bootloader. So just don't do it that way, unless someone else can confirm that it's okay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm that it's OK. My phone was rooted and stuck in a boot loop. I did a factory reset. It was reset and still rooted after the fact. So you can do it.

thank you all

redpoint73 said:
Don't ever ever ever install an OTA on any rooted Android device. At the least, it won't work anyway, or you will lose root. At the worst, you will be stuck in a bootloop. Updated ROMs (based on the OTA's, but rooted, and safe to flash) usually get posted in Development soon after the OTA's go out. That is what you want to install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, pre-rooted versions of the official ROMs (which often get posted on XDA, as I mentioned) may need unlocked bootloader to install, so this will possibly not be an option for a while. Although there may be alternate safe ways to update (but not OTA). For instance, a leaked 1.83 firmware version is already available as an RUU in the Development subforum. Apparently, its okay to install via RUU, then re-root.
In general, the safe thing to do is to read up on here when updates are released, and see if there is a safe way to update on a rooted phone.

[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!!!!

Can't get latest firmware update

Hello,
I'm a Canadian user (6045i) that installed the US firmware (7SR4-UE40) a while ago. I'm rooted (flashed SuperSU in Recovery mode).
Today, I finally decided that I wanted to get the latest firmware update (5.0.2-7SRA-UEA2). I did a full unroot with SuperSU, rebooted, checked that the phone was indeed without root access and tried to get the OTA update. Every time I try, it says my system is up to date. Why is that? What can I do to get the update?
Thanks.

So, I'm the only one with that problem?

Download UEA2 and install it like you did with UE40? That's what I've done to get the latest US firmware. We're not going to see the US OTA updates through a Canadian carrier. We have to install these ourselves, manually, just as you did with UE40.

Muskoka said:
Download UEA2 and install it like you did with UE40? That's what I've done to get the latest US firmware. We're not going to see the US OTA updates through a Canadian carrier. We have to install these ourselves, manually, just as you did with UE40.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought of doing that, but if I recall well, someone mentioned that doing this, you were missing some of the stuff that was installing while doing it with the OTA. Can someone confirm this?
Did you notice some improvement with your phone since you installed the latest update? As for me, the double tap never really works well (well maybe i out of 4 times), this is something I'd like to see improved...

metaleloi666 said:
I thought of doing that, but if I recall well, someone mentioned that doing this, you were missing some of the stuff that was installing while doing it with the OTA. Can someone confirm this?
Did you notice some improvement with your phone since you installed the latest update? As for me, the double tap never really works well (well maybe i out of 4 times), this is something I'd like to see improved...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know the firmware's posted here by users are the "exact" image you would get if you did a OTA update yourself. Improvement, a bit I guess. The double tap can still be an issue once and a while. I find a reboot solves the issue, but only for a while. The Chinese rom was the best performing firmware all around, but changed too much internally (files system) for my liking, so I went back to stock UEA2, with root.

Muskoka said:
As far as I know the firmware's posted here by users are the "exact" image you would get if you did a OTA update yourself. Improvement, a bit I guess. The double tap can still be an issue once and a while. I find a reboot solves the issue, but only for a while. The Chinese rom was the best performing firmware all around, but changed too much internally (files system) for my liking, so I went back to stock UEA2, with root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, no need to unroot to flash this firmware?
Do you have a link to download it? I can't find it at the moment... Thanks.

metaleloi666 said:
So, no need to unroot to flash this firmware?
Do you have a link to download it? I can't find it at the moment... Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the post I followed (for others that might read this)....instructions are in the first post. I'm pretty sure you need to un-root, I did anyways.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-3/general/convert-canadian-6045i-to-6045i-updates-t3177979
See the 3rd post of this thread for all the user submitted firmwares, UEA2 is at the top of the US firmwares, submitted by Brian117. As famewolf has stated in that thread, these are "out of the box".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/idol-3/general/want-to-able-to-install-ota-updates-t3163745
Hope that helps.....

Thanks! If I were doing this as an OTA, I won't have to wipe my device and start all over with the apps. Is there a need to wipe everything with this update? I did wipe everything when I installed the US firmware (from the Canadian) the 1st time, but I'm not too crazy to start all over again...

Try without wiping apps/data, should work fine. If not, you'll have to wipe everything. As your rooted you should have Titanium Backup installed, and doing routine backups of your apps/data. I have my apps/data backed up every night on a automatic schedule at 2 in the morning. It's always there on my external sd card should I have a issue. Makes swapping roms / firmwares a non issue.
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Premium HD app

Muskoka said:
Try without wiping apps/data, should work fine. If not, you'll have to wipe everything. As your rooted you should have Titanium Backup installed, and doing routine backups of your apps/data. I have my apps/data backed up every night on a automatic schedule at 2 in the morning. It's always there on my external sd card should I have a issue. Makes swapping roms / firmwares a non issue.
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have Titanium. So, yes, I'll be able to come back to where I was quickly if I have to wipe everything. I was not rooted when I installed the US firmware at first, so I had to reinstall everything. Didn't think of Titanium before asking this time....
Thanks again!

Can I downgrade a SM-G930P flashed with Oreo's U Firmware to Nougat's U Firmware?

As the title mentioned, I bought a second hand SM-G930P which the previous owner had flashed a T firmware on it, So I decided to go for the latest U Firmware to debloat it and freshen it up. Sad thing though that the battery life is horrible as I would just get only 3hrs of screen on time max, the phone is almost unusable.
So my main question is can I downgrade the Oreo's (U) firmware to a Nougat (U) firmware, without tripping Knox?

USA Snapdragon models are unable to downgrade due to the restricted bootloader, which can't be removed. You can only side-grade or upgrade. It won't trip knox doing an Odin flash with stock firmware.
When you flashed the G930U firmware was it a complete clean flash, or keeping your data? As for whatever reason Oreo has a bad track record for battery life and other issues if you choose to flash and keep data, even the OTA's do it.
If you did retain data, my recommendation would be backup what you need, and do a clean flash using all 4 firmware files and using CSC not Home_CSC.

Beanvee7 said:
USA Snapdragon models are unable to downgrade due to the restricted bootloader, which can't be removed. You can only side-grade or upgrade. It won't trip knox doing an Odin flash with stock firmware.
When you flashed the G930U firmware was it a complete clean flash, or keeping your data? As for whatever reason Oreo has a bad track record for battery life and other issues if you choose to flash and keep data, even the OTA's do it.
If you did retain data, my recommendation would be backup what you need, and do a clean flash using all 4 firmware files and using CSC not Home_CSC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did upgrade using stock firmware from Updato and it didn't trip Knox.
When I flashed the U firmware it was a complete clean flash, I thought that horrible battery life was because of the T firmware with too much T-Mobile bloatware but sadly when I upgraded to that U firmware, the battery is just as horrible.
I just wiped the cache partition and no thing seems to be changing, Should I backup my data and clean flash again?

Yea that's pretty much your only resolution at this point. Use samfirmtool (it pulls from Samsung directly) to get the latest G930U firmware files, and do a full flash with all 4 firmware slots in Odin.

Beanvee7 said:
Yea that's pretty much your only resolution at this point. Use samfirmtool (it pulls from Samsung directly) to get the latest G930U firmware files, and do a full flash with all 4 firmware slots in Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would it really make a difference?

Won't know until you try. What other options do you have?

Beanvee7 said:
Won't know until you try. What other options do you have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great point! Just one more question, is there any way to backup all these apps and their updates installed including system apps updates because I'm on a limited quota right now. Instead of downloading them over and over. I don't have too many personal data on the phone yet.

I don't believe there's any Google or Samsung offering that backs up the actual app files and data. Samsung smartswitch will backup some things though.
You could try a third party backup app https://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-backup-apps-and-other-ways-too-608014/ or something that exports your installed apps to APK that you can restore later https://appslova.com/android-tips-how-to-convert-installed-apps-to-apk-files/

Beanvee7 said:
I don't believe there's any Google or Samsung offering that backs up the actual app files and data. Samsung smartswitch will backup some things though.
You could try a third party backup app https://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-backup-apps-and-other-ways-too-608014/ or something that exports your installed apps to APK that you can restore later https://appslova.com/android-tips-how-to-convert-installed-apps-to-apk-files/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you man, You've been a great help! Have a nice day!

Well, that didn't seem to work. Same massive battery drain almost 1% every 2-3mins with normal Instagram or Chrome browsing.

A Standard Update Put my Phone into a Reboot Loop? Why? But it does Unlock.

Galaxy s8 on Verizon, a standard update notice kept appearing past few days, finally installed it. The minute it finished, it is now in an endless restarting loop. The phone does unlock and show my homescreen. I can get into it, but I only get about 10 seconds to do stuff then it freezes/restarts. Tried Clear Partition Cache in the recovery mode. Tried Safe Mode. No luck.
When I rush over to Settings>Software Update, and click it, it says "Software update in progress"....so it makes me think it is the remnants of the new software update completing itself, and that causes the rebooting. The final stages perhaps? Is there a way to CEASE that the second I unlock my phone? To stop all the background stuff.
Or maybe wouldnt make a difference. Any ideas besides factory reset? Way to revert back?
Wanted to backup a few recent pictures first.

A factory reset is the last resort to fix this.
Maybe it's theme related. Try toggling the button layout (settings -> display -> navigation bar) a couple of times.
If you have substratum installed, try disabling it.
If you want to back up your pictures;
Have you tried accessing the phone using a computer? Either just through a file explorer or by using ADB? To use ADB, you may need to get into settings -developer mode

I tried plugging into a computer, but I only have about 10 seconds, so I dont get enough time to access the files. I get into the phone drive on windows Samsung Galaxy>DCIM> CAMERA> ...then it reboots.
Developer mode is already enabled. Can ADB be used while on the recovery mode screen? I can access that command line looking screen as long as needed.
But accessing the phone normally like turning it on and unlocking the screen would not work, I would keep losing the connection when it reboots.

halfhumble said:
Galaxy s8 on Verizon, a standard update notice kept appearing past few days, finally installed it. The minute it finished, it is now in an endless restarting loop. The phone does unlock and show my homescreen. I can get into it, but I only get about 10 seconds to do stuff then it freezes/restarts. Tried Clear Partition Cache in the recovery mode. Tried Safe Mode. No luck.
When I rush over to Settings>Software Update, and click it, it says "Software update in progress"....so it makes me think it is the remnants of the new software update completing itself, and that causes the rebooting. The final stages perhaps? Is there a way to CEASE that the second I unlock my phone? To stop all the background stuff.
Or maybe wouldnt make a difference. Any ideas besides factory reset? Way to revert back?
Wanted to backup a few recent pictures first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try downloading that same version of Odin flashable stock firmware from the internet, the same version as the update that you received, then flash that via Odin. As long as the update does not upgrade your bootloader or your binary, it will not wipe your user data(pics).
But first....
If you can get to the homescreen and unlock the device, don't touch anything else once the device opens, just connect it to PC and retrieve your photos from the internal storage, then factory reset the device.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Try downloading that same version of Odin flashable stock firmware from the internet, the same version as the update that you received, then flash that via Odin. As long as the update does not upgrade your bootloader or your binary, it will not wipe your user data(pics).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know what version the update was that caused it or how I would find out. But I ended up getting it fixed.
I just downloaded the most recent version firmware from SamFW.com, and used that one. The First flash, the phone was worse! It was now stuck at the samsung logo looping. I flashed it a second time, then it worked! Phone back to normal and backed up my pictures. I had used the home CSC file too, and none of my user data was wiped. I thought it was supposed to wipe that, got lucky
I assume once that OTA update comes back and tries to install, I may have this problem all over again. I can't go forever without the security updates.
Droidriven said:
If you can get to the homescreen and unlock the device, don't touch anything else once the device opens, just connect it to PC and retrieve your photos from the internal storage, then factory reset the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^
I had tried that a couple times, it lasts about 15 seconds then restarts. Not enough time, I would get to the DCIM folder but before pics loaded, it froze and restarted.

halfhumble said:
I dont know what version the update was that caused it or how I would find out. But I ended up getting it fixed.
I just downloaded the most recent version firmware from SamFW.com, and used that one. The First flash, the phone was worse! It was now stuck at the samsung logo looping. I flashed it a second time, then it worked! Phone back to normal and backed up my pictures. I had used the home CSC file too, and none of my user data was wiped. I thought it was supposed to wipe that, got lucky
I assume once that OTA update comes back and tries to install, I may have this problem all over again. I can't go forever without the security updates.
^
I had tried that a couple times, it lasts about 15 seconds then restarts. Not enough time, I would get to the DCIM folder but before pics loaded, it froze and restarted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most recent version that you downloaded might be the same update. The OTA updates and the Odin flashable updates are the same thing, the OTA update is just more automated. Flashing the same version as the OTA update via Odin, yields the same results. I think the Home CSC is the one that doesn't wipe user data. I think the Home CSC is intended for users that intend on keeping the device and using it in the same region/network and the other CSC is intended for users that want to sell the device or use the device in a different region or if you have a custom ROM and custom recovery on the device and you want to restore to stock. I could be wrong though.
If you do get a prompt for an OTA update, backup your data then factory reset the device then allow the device to update. That should prevent any further issues with updating via OTA.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
The most recent version that you downloaded might be the same update. The OTA updates and the Odin flashable updates are the same thing, the OTA update is just more automated. Flashing the same version as the OTA update via Odin, yields the same results. I think the Home CSC is the one that doesn't wipe user data. I think the Home CSC is intended for users that intend on keeping the device and using it in the same region/network and the other CSC is intended for users that want to sell the device or use the device in a different region. I could be wrong though.
If you do get a prompt for an OTA update, backup your data then factory reset the device then allow the device to update. That should prevent any further issues with updating via OTA.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I see.
Well when the phone did boot back up normally after the 2nd flash, there was a pop up that said software update unsuccessful. So I'm not sure if the same OTA update actually updated per se. But yeah, next time Im ready, I've got everything backed up!
Thanks so much!

halfhumble said:
Okay, I see.
Well when the phone did boot back up normally after the 2nd flash, there was a pop up that said software update unsuccessful. So I'm not sure if the same OTA update actually updated per se. But yeah, next time Im ready, I've got everything backed up!
Thanks so much!
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I always prefer updating via Odin instead of OTA, it is much better and less chance of issues such as bootloop or random reboot. These are the issues you were having. I actually suggest using Odin or Smart Switch on PC the next time an update is available. Or, on older devices, use Odin or Samsung Kies to update. OTA is frequently unreliable, it commonly causes bugs, especially if the update is a newer android version than what is already on the device, it usually causes conflicts due to user data from your previous system apps and user settings conflicting with the new system because of differences between the older system apps and the newer system apps or differences in settings in the older system conflicting with changes in how the newer system settings are handled. Systems don't like using system data that was created by another system when there are differences between the two systems.
Another method that can be used is if your manufacturer/carrier releases a stock update.zip that can be flashed via stock recovery, they are made specifically for flashing via stock recovery ONLY, they are not the same as the stock firmware file that is flashed via Odin. These can be downloaded to the phone's internal/external memory then you boot into stock recovery then factory reset/wipe cache in recovery(backup data before wiping) then you can flash the update.zip. Alternatively, you can flash the update.zip without resetting/wiping(this is called a "dirty" flash), in theory, a dirty flash is useful when you don't want to wipe data or lose data. But that comes with a chance of causing bugs, as you have discovered for yourself during your update process.
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