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I don't know where to start, but I had posted on android.stackexchange.com and no-one has replied (yet). So let me just copy the text:
I have the US Samsung Galaxy Note 8 GT-N5110 and last night I downloaded and installed the latest kitkat firmware. After I unlock the phone (I have full encryption on), it just goes to a black screen. I tried to load from the cache (in recovery mode cache/fota/update.zip), but after it does the same thing. Practically everything on the device is stored in the cloud, except for a few files from the S Note that did not sync in the last 2 weeks. Is there any way to recover the files?
I tried connecting it to kies, but it doesn't find it. If I try to manually enter the device information it gives me only the option to do a factory reset and then it will update it to the latest firmware.
I read somewhere, but I can't seem to find it now, that if I were to download CM that they have some tool to backup and then I can somehow use that to recover my files. Is this true in my case since I have full encryption. I just wish that after I enter the password I could just connect through adb and get the files. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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So I looked to see how I could do a backup, but in recovery mode I don't have that option. Why is that? Maybe only certain devices have that option? So now I found this article that has a link to the UK version (the model appears to be the same GT-N5110) of the firmware. I'm guessing this is the same firmware, since it's the WiFi version. Does anybody know of anything I should be concerned with? The download size is actually bigger than the one I downloaded from my device, but I'm guessing that the one from the device was compressed maybe?
I don't know what else to do. The file is downloading right now, so I'll wait and try that. As a last resort Im going to do a factory reset. I'd like to avoid that, but the files are for a class (notes and audio). Sadly I did not ensure that they were backed up. I also have usb debug off so I'm unable to use adb to grab the files I need.
If there's any other ideas on retrieving the data, I'm all eyes to read your recommendations. Thanks
I'm sure it's been beaten like a dead horse... Yes I have searched all over XDA and other resources. It seems every time I think I find something... I'm one setting short or one model away from what would work.
Been working on this way too long and now I ask for your help.
I have a client who lost her daughter. (She drown). She has her phone (S3 I535 verizon) but no idea what the lock pin would be and has tried a couple but none work. Unfortunately she's on attempt 8/10 so two more tries and the phone factory resets and all is lost.
She really wants to recover her daughter's pictures and if possible remove the screen lock without losing data (either works for her if it can be done).
I've tried everything I can find.
While she has her gmail and password, when we logged in device manager listed no active devices. (was able to recover some pictures from a backup, but it appears gmail didn't back up more than a couple from a couple years ago.)
Logged into samsung to remote unlock it, but again, no devices on account.
ADB is a no-go because USB debugging is OFF
Tried to put TWRP on it but odin failed
(Found a thread here that seems to be quality but can't load the program in stock recovery and cant get CWM or TWRP on it without debugging.)
Any ideas?
I do not know the android version, but I suspect it is the newest. I used my old S3 to replicate it so I could try these things without damaging her phone and losing the data, and it's running 4.4.2
If you couldn't flash a recovery using Odin then you're probably right about it being on one of the newer versions(your phone), the boot loader got locked up tight and the only recovery we have available is Safestrap. This is a tough one. I'm no expert by far, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt and do your own researching before taking any action after reading this! I see two ways of recovering some or all data if the bootloader is locked(and the device storage isn't encrypted)
1. If you don't have equipment to directly read/write to the internal storage then point her somewhere that specializes in data recovery on smart phones.
2. Factory reset the device, try to recover "deleted" data.
If the bootloader wasn't/isn't locked down then you could probably flash a rom that didn't have the lock screen pin/pattern ect implemented. I don't have the i535 but I know that the prepaid version checks the system partition when flashing via Odin so this probably wouldn't work if it's locked but I can't confirm wether or not this is checked on the i535
Can you enter the stock recovery on the daughters phone just to verify if its updated or not. Should be a string near the top. If it ends with ne1 its on 4.4.2 and I don't recall the one for 4.3. If you're unable to enter the recovery because you have to enter the pin before there's an actual lock screen(with the clock, status bar, wallpaper ect) then it's likely encrypted and there's nothing that you can do about that.
OpenSourcererSweg said:
If you couldn't flash a recovery using Odin then you're probably right about it being on one of the newer versions(your phone), the boot loader got locked up tight and the only recovery we have available is Safestrap. This is a tough one. I'm no expert by far, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt and do your own researching before taking any action after reading this! I see two ways of recovering some or all data if the bootloader is locked(and the device storage isn't encrypted)
1. If you don't have equipment to directly read/write to the internal storage then point her somewhere that specializes in data recovery on smart phones.
2. Factory reset the device, try to recover "deleted" data.
If the bootloader wasn't/isn't locked down then you could probably flash a rom that didn't have the lock screen pin/pattern ect implemented. I don't have the i535 but I know that the prepaid version checks the system partition when flashing via Odin so this probably wouldn't work if it's locked but I can't confirm wether or not this is checked on the i535
Can you enter the stock recovery on the daughters phone just to verify if its updated or not. Should be a string near the top. If it ends with ne1 its on 4.4.2 and I don't recall the one for 4.3. If you're unable to enter the recovery because you have to enter the pin before there's an actual lock screen(with the clock, status bar, wallpaper ect) then it's likely encrypted and there's nothing that you can do about that.
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I can enter recovery mode and I do believe it is 4.4.2.
because of the delicate nature of her phone (being her passed on daughter's and she used 9 of 10 attempts to guess her pin) I pulled my S3 out of the drawer (coincidentally I stopped using it about 2 weeks after she passed) and everything is identical down to the recovery string at the top. I know it's running the same software and I have all kinds of old pictures and texts on it like she would have and I am logged into gmail on it like she is. I locked the screen on MINE and I know the PIN on MINE. I also saved a backup of my stuff so I'm using my phone as the tester since I was able to put in in the identical situation
I have room to play because of that. Once I have success on mine, I'll try what worked on mine on hers.
So far I've tried...
play.google unlock... While I have now been able to get her device to appear on device manager on google's site, they changed it so that when I remote lock it the screen lock pin does NOT change.
I called Google, Samsung, and VERIZON. None have the ability to change or remove lock screen pin.
I tried ADB, but it doesn't detect any devices when I ADB shell or ADB device.
USB DEBUGGING IS OFF (or we wouldn't be having this convo)
It has stock recovery and not CWM or TWRP (again if I could get one of those on there, we wouldn't be having this convo) (tried ODIN flashing TWRP on, but fails)
---------------------------
Every direction I head I hit a brick wall.
I've never heard of being able to recover data from internal SDcard after reset. Didn't think that was possible.
FYI. recovery mode string is...
ANDROID system recovery <3e>
KOT49H.I535VRUDNE1
Wking46 said:
I can enter recovery mode and I do believe it is 4.4.2.
because of the delicate nature of her phone (being her passed on daughter's and she used 9 of 10 attempts to guess her pin) I pulled my S3 out of the drawer (coincidentally I stopped using it about 2 weeks after she passed) and everything is identical down to the recovery string at the top. I know it's running the same software and I have all kinds of old pictures and texts on it like she would have and I am logged into gmail on it like she is. I locked the screen on MINE and I know the PIN on MINE. I also saved a backup of my stuff so I'm using my phone as the tester since I was able to put in in the identical situation
I have room to play because of that. Once I have success on mine, I'll try what worked on mine on hers.
So far I've tried...
play.google unlock... While I have now been able to get her device to appear on device manager on google's site, they changed it so that when I remote lock it the screen lock pin does NOT change.
I called Google, Samsung, and VERIZON. None have the ability to change or remove lock screen pin.
I tried ADB, but it doesn't detect any devices when I ADB shell or ADB device.
USB DEBUGGING IS OFF (or we wouldn't be having this convo)
It has stock recovery and not CWM or TWRP (again if I could get one of those on there, we wouldn't be having this convo) (tried ODIN flashing TWRP on, but fails)
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Every direction I head I hit a brick wall.
I've never heard of being able to recover data from internal SDcard after reset. Didn't think that was possible.
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With HDDs I know it's possible as I have done it before. The only issue is not overwriting the data when reinstalling a operating system ect. Flash is abit dififfrent but still doesnt overwrite deleted data as soon as its deleted. If you're willing to try it on your gs3 first then go for it. Since the data is very important, I would have her take it to someone who specializes in data recovery instead of trying to wipe it and get the data off it just in case.
Are you able to remotely install applications though the Google Play site or by other means? Might be able to get a shell from one of the ssh server apps if they run the server on startup. If you can get a shell you should be able to work from there.
OpenSourcererSweg said:
With HDDs I know it's possible as I have done it before. The only issue is not overwriting the data when reinstalling a operating system ect. Flash is abit dififfrent but still doesnt overwrite deleted data as soon as its deleted. If you're willing to try it on your gs3 first then go for it. Since the data is very important, I would have her take it to someone who specializes in data recovery instead of trying to wipe it and get the data off it just in case.
Are you able to remotely install applications though the Google Play site or by other means? Might be able to get a shell from one of the ssh server apps if they run the server on startup. If you can get a shell you should be able to work from there.
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I can remotely install apps via google play site. If I could find a shell that works on startup... please let me know what that does for me?
Wking46 said:
I can remotely install apps via google play site. If I could find a shell that works on startup... please let me know what that does for me?
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SSH access may let you transfer some files on the device to another machine. (Assuming that it will connect to known wifi networks while locked)
OpenSourcererSweg said:
SSH access may let you transfer some files on the device to another machine. (Assuming that it will connect to known wifi networks while locked)
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No such luck. Looks like all of them would need me to log in to set them up, which defeats the purpose.
I may have to wait and see if tech changes over time and keep trying until it does.
Wking46 said:
No such luck. Looks like all of them would need me to log in to set them up, which defeats the purpose.
I may have to wait and see if tech changes over time and keep trying until it does.
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Take a look at this, https://www.nowsecure.com/blog/2015/06/16/remote-code-execution-as-system-user-on-samsung-phones/ may be able to remove the pin. Sorry if discussion about this isn't allowed or frowned upon. Seems like a pain and it may not work for the s3
OpenSourcererSweg said:
Take a look at this, https://www.nowsecure.com/blog/2015/06/16/remote-code-execution-as-system-user-on-samsung-phones/ may be able to remove the pin. Sorry if discussion about this isn't allowed or frowned upon. Seems like a pain and it may not work for the s3
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Doesn't effect S3 vzw. only S4 and up
Wking46 said:
Doesn't effect S3 vzw. only S4 and up
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Ah I read "swift" as Swype and my Prepaid Verizon GS3 came with Swype preinstalled.
I have an idea, perhaps try the Verizon repair software "repair" the device to back up data while in Odin mode? I don't recall if it will require a password or anything.I don't believe it required USB debugging to be enabled, don't know if it works while in Odin mode. I don't know if the backups are encrypted or not. You can try using sandboxie to see where it keeps the backed up data. I don't know if it will backup data while you're in Odin mode though. Worth trying I suppose. Don't have time try my The self or I would. Sorry for the rushed message, I'll be home in about an hour though.
I just hard bricked my phone, and I'm hoping I can try to get it working again.
I have made backups using flashfire in the past. (I had a few different backups I made).
Prior to getting hard bricked, I was running the PIA firmware, but I was trying to restore from a backup that I had through flash fire, and due to a total rookie move I ended up restoring (or attempting to) restore to a PG1 unintentionally, and well now I can't do anything.
I think I may have a jig at home from a previous samsung phone (I believe an S3), would that work for my S7?
I also came across this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2476353
Would that work for me?
I have a macbook pro I can use terminal with, I have a microSD card and reader, and I already have the stock PIA rom on my hard drive.
Is there hope still?
Right now regardless of what key combination I hold down my phone has a black screen.
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
If you can't get into download mode then you don't have much to lose by trying what the other thread suggested.
@sacnotsack, thanks for the response, and that is my intention, however I am missing 1 crucial part to that thread and that is the debrick.img
Can someone with the PIA (G930TUVU4APIA) rom please post a dump of a partial system img for me? If I'm not mistaken, you can dump it with these commands in ADB.
adb shell
dd if=/dev/block/sda20 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=4096 count=128
Just to clarify...
sda20 should be the system partition. Any way that's what it is for me.
You can check yourself by doing typing this in ADB:
ls -al /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name
You will get something like this:
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2016-01-08 10:35 system -> /dev/block/sda20
And to get the block size you would type this:
blockdev --getbsz /dev/block/sda20
So the command
"dd if=/dev/block/sda20 of=/sdcard/debrick.img bs=4096 count=128"
If I get this working, I'll compile a nice tut for S7 users and post all the results with files in case anyone else runs into this issue.
Thank you in advance
I don't mean to be an annoyance, but does anyone have any thoughts or could point me to some direction? I know there are a lot of you that are much more knowledgable in this than I am, and all I'm hoping I can get assistance for is if someone can just make a dump of the debrick.img file so I can try to load it on my SD card.
Thanks
Hi, the easiest way to restore back to stock is to download Odin. I think it's Windows exclusive so you'll need bootcamp and install windows. After that, download Odin and extract it. Download stock firmware from androidfilehost.com, then extract. Open Odin and you'll see the options BL, AP, CP, and CSC. The firmware will have 4 or 5 files and will include these labels. Put each respective files into each options in odin. (Sometimes Odin will freeze, but let it do it's thing) After that, go into download mode (hold Volume down, Power, and Home whole turning on). Wait for Odin to recognize your device, if it doesn't, then download Samsung drivers. After it recognizes, press start and wait for the process to finish. That's it! Hopefully I was able to help.
MetalPhoenix45 said:
Hi, the easiest way to restore back to stock is to download Odin. I think it's Windows exclusive so you'll need bootcamp and install windows. After that, download Odin and extract it. Download stock firmware from androidfilehost.com, then extract. Open Odin and you'll see the options BL, AP, CP, and CSC. The firmware will have 4 or 5 files and will include these labels. Put each respective files into each options in odin. (Sometimes Odin will freeze, but let it do it's thing) After that, go into download mode (hold Volume down, Power, and Home whole turning on). Wait for Odin to recognize your device, if it doesn't, then download Samsung drivers. After it recognizes, press start and wait for the process to finish. That's it! Hopefully I was able to help.
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Click to collapse
MetalPhoenix45, thanks for your response. I have a Windows computer as well and I am very familiar with ODIN. The issue is, that in your explanation my guess is you are thinking the phone is in a "soft bricked" mode. The difference between a hard brick phone and a soft brick phone is that in a hard brick phone nothing is recognized when plugged in, it doesn't power on and it also doesn't show any sign of charge when it's plugged into the power.
In a soft brick mode, your phone can be stuck in a boot loop, or at the very least it still shows signs of it getting power. In which case I can just force into download mode and do what you stated above. I don't think that the things you mentioned above would work for me because when I have my phone plugged in to my computer, in device manager it doesn't detect anything. It doesn't even say unknown device or unrecognized hardware. It doesn't see it at all, and I have loaded the Samsung drivers on my pc because ODIN recognized the device prior to my issue.
I do have the stock firmware and everything on my machine, but I just can't get my phone to power or on into download boot even with a JIG.
m0d hipp¥ said:
I just hard bricked my phone, and I'm hoping I can try to get it working again.
I have made backups using flashfire in the past. (I had a few different backups I made).
Prior to getting hard bricked, I was running the PIA firmware, but I was trying to restore from a backup that I had through flash fire, and due to a total rookie move I ended up restoring (or attempting to) restore to a PG1 unintentionally, and well now I can't do anything.
I think I may have a jig at home from a previous samsung phone (I believe an S3), would that work for my S7?
I also came across this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2476353
Would that work for me?
I have a macbook pro I can use terminal with, I have a microSD card and reader, and I already have the stock PIA rom on my hard drive.
Is there hope still?
Right now regardless of what key combination I hold down my phone has a black screen.
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
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Click to collapse
Have you had any luck on fixing s7 I've got same issue I've even got device broken down minus the charger port due to cost of screen replacement! Not sure exactly how to test battery itself but every combination of testing battery externally I've nothing any ideas? I'd rather replace the battery vs charger port or is it completely done? This is.the first root I've ever had go wrong and haven't found any solutions yet and been looking since November
Thanks in advance for any advice
On rooted 910v now have a 920t rooted but let's just say my temper got the best of me and we'll will be replacing screen? Oddly enough as many times as the note 4 has been dropped either by myself or son not even a single scratch s7 definitely a pot more brittle!!
crazynate121 said:
Have you had any luck on fixing s7 I've got same issue I've even got device broken down minus the charger port due to cost of screen replacement! Not sure exactly how to test battery itself but every combination of testing battery externally I've nothing any ideas? I'd rather replace the battery vs charger port or is it completely done? This is.the first root I've ever had go wrong and haven't found any solutions yet and been looking since November
Thanks in advance for any advice
On rooted 910v now have a 920t rooted but let's just say my temper got the best of me and we'll will be replacing screen? Oddly enough as many times as the note 4 has been dropped either by myself or son not even a single scratch s7 definitely a pot more brittle!!
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I had no luck. I ended up haing to replace the PCB to fix the issue. Basically I learned the hard way that samsung isn't very "dev friendly". I don't blame them, but for any phone enthusiasts that plan on tinkering with their phone if you get the snapdragon version of the S7 vs the exynos version, you WILL run into trouble.
This is because the bootloader can't be unlocked on the SD models. Furthermore, if you get flagged for custom roms your warranty gets void. Over the years I've noticed Samsung is getting more and more strict about this. Honestly if you want a phone that will play nice with modding it, you should look into the google variants, Nexus, or the OnePlus. I can tell you from personal experience, OnePlus plays well with dev users. In fact they don't void the warranty for using custom roms or anything like that; in fact they're very pro and open about supporting the user base and providing a phone that the user is happy with.
Any way, that was my experience. I don't want to go off topic here, so if you have any questions you can PM me if you like, but the short answer is, if you're hard bricked then you will need to replace the motherboard/pcb. I even contacted places to see if they can jtag or jig or anything and they're not able to do it with the snapdragon S7.
bah double post, sorry I can't delete this
Funny you said nexus just ordered 2 two days ago older 7 but 4g and and what not strictly for experimental and ethical purposes of course was actually shocked at the still high priced note 5 Screen tbh but we live and learn!! SOMETIMES? LOL
m0d hipp¥ said:
Unfortunately, I had no luck. I ended up haing to replace the PCB to fix the issue. Basically I learned the hard way that samsung isn't very "dev friendly". I don't blame them, but for any phone enthusiasts that plan on tinkering with their phone if you get the snapdragon version of the S7 vs the exynos version, you WILL run into trouble.
This is because the bootloader can't be unlocked on the SD models. Furthermore, if you get flagged for custom roms your warranty gets void. Over the years I've noticed Samsung is getting more and more strict about this. Honestly if you want a phone that will play nice with modding it, you should look into the google variants, Nexus, or the OnePlus. I can tell you from personal experience, OnePlus plays well with dev users. In fact they don't void the warranty for using custom roms or anything like that; in fact they're very pro and open about supporting the user base and providing a phone that the user is happy with.
Any way, that was my experience. I don't want to go off topic here, so if you have any questions you can PM me if you like, but the short answer is, if you're hard bricked then you will need to replace the motherboard/pcb. I even contacted places to see if they can jtag or jig or anything and they're not able to do it with the snapdragon S7.
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Click to collapse
I am in the same boat, and considering your experience after this sore event, maybe you can help a lot of us guys here in the same situation.
My case is even worst, because, here in my country, there are NO Snapdragons, just G930F Equinoxes.
You may help im providing us lames the debrick.img file, but you must be rooted to do so. This would ve much appreciated.
Another way is to insert a blank 16GB+ SD card on the phone and format it through Odin. You just insert the card on the slot, enter download mode in the phone and load all files in Odin including the .pit. In Odin options select "Re-format" and "T Flash" that will say to the phone to format the ExtSDCard and use the ExtSDCard as destination instead of the internal emmc!
Post the image of the SD, that you can extract it with the Win32DiskImage, and you and your family will be blessed for ten generations. Also save the file in case you mess things again.
There is one method using QFil,but i'm stil trying to asemble all required files and don't now if it will even work. Should work...!!!
Anyway, can you please help us?
Best regards..
PadsPCB said:
I am in the same boat, and considering your experience after this sore event, maybe you can help a lot of us guys here in the same situation.
My case is even worst, because, here in my country, there are NO Snapdragons, just G930F Equinoxes.
You may help im providing us lames the debrick.img file, but you must be rooted to do so. This would ve much appreciated.
Another way is to insert a blank 16GB+ SD card on the phone and format it through Odin. You just insert the card on the slot, enter download mode in the phone and load all files in Odin including the .pit. In Odin options select "Re-format" and "T Flash" that will say to the phone to format the ExtSDCard and use the ExtSDCard as destination instead of the internal emmc!
Post the image of the SD, that you can extract it with the Win32DiskImage, and you and your family will be blessed for ten generations. Also save the file in case you mess things again.
There is one method using QFil,but i'm stil trying to asemble all required files and don't now if it will even work. Should work...!!!
Anyway, can you please help us?
Best regards..
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I won't be of much help. If you have the exynos S7, you would need to ask someone else with the same version of your phone for the software because the SD versions would run on different software due to different hardware.
Is there a reason why you don't try sending it out to get serviced so they can replace your PCB ?
I tried to get the debrick.img file a while back as well, but had no luck in doing so and actually I don't have my S7 phone anymore. I bought the OnePlus 3T and it's been working much better for my needs. I'm sorry to say this, but If you have any intention of modding a phone you have 2 options. 1. Get a phone that supports modding and allows you to unlock the bootloader 2. Get the unlocked variant of the phone.
If I have learned anything from my experience, it's that it is incredibly important to do your research. Not only look at the specs of the phone, but look at reviews from other users with the phone. Also if you plan on modding it, go through some threads and see how easy/difficult it is to mod that version of phone you're interested in.
m0d hipp¥ said:
Unfortunately, I won't be of much help. If you have the exynos S7, you would need to ask someone else with the same version of your phone for the software because the SD versions would run on different software due to different hardware.
Is there a reason why you don't try sending it out to get serviced so they can replace your PCB ?
I tried to get the debrick.img file a while back as well, but had no luck in doing so and actually I don't have my S7 phone anymore. I bought the OnePlus 3T and it's been working much better for my needs. I'm sorry to say this, but If you have any intention of modding a phone you have 2 options. 1. Get a phone that supports modding and allows you to unlock the bootloader 2. Get the unlocked variant of the phone.
If I have learned anything from my experience, it's that it is incredibly important to do your research. Not only look at the specs of the phone, but look at reviews from other users with the phone. Also if you plan on modding it, go through some threads and see how easy/difficult it is to mod that version of phone you're interested in.
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Click to collapse
Then i think got stuck, beacause in these forums there is no one willing/able/interested in helping anyone.
I said i'm in the SAME boat == I got an SM-G930T (from T-Mobile) that has a SnapDragon cpu but HERE in my country THERE ARE NO Snapdragons only Equinoxes. If we had such phones here surely i would have done this already, but G930F's won't do, as i have already tried.
So, as you know how i feel about a brand new SM-G930T Bricked, you wold be my last hope. There is no way to send it back to Samsung beacause it was bought from a friend and surely no warranty.
Anyway, best regards and rest in peace
Oh sorry, I misunderstood you. I'd like to think that it's not so much people don't want to try to help out, it's just that there is nothing that can be done for users on the snapdragon device so no one bothers unfortunately. Sorry to hear about this, and it really is unfortunate that you had to go through the same thing I went through with no help. Trust me, if I was able to do anything to provide any guidance I would.
Good luck!
Picked up an AT&T Radiant Core for cheap at a store around me. I don't intend to use it with AT&T, it was just such a low price that I figured I'd get it and see if I can break into it just for fun. It's an MTK6739 chipset phone, so in theory it should be easy to pull partitions from this thing with something like SPFT (or Miracle Box, if you paid for it) and do a dirty port of TWRP to get root privileges on it. But this is harder than it seems.
I need an auth file to do anything with SPFT. Apparently this has to do with some kind of "secure boot" mechanism that MediaTeks sometimes have now. There's no stock firmware for this device online from what I can find, nor for the generic version of the device, the Tinno U304AA (AT&T just rebranded it). If I had a stock firmware image, maybe I could risk wiping the partitions and reflashing the stock firmware to get rid of the secure boot stuff.
I saw a guide for how to access the bootloader on the Tinno U304AA generic version, but on the AT&T version of the phone there's no option in the boot select menu (Vol. UP + Power) to get to the bootloader to run a fastboot oem unlock. All the AT&T version has is recovery and normal boot. I'm not sure what I can do to maybe reset this to get the other options. Maybe if I had the stock firmware for the generic version of the phone I could overwrite it and get access to those other options.
Either way, just posting this up for anyone else that got one of these and wants to collaborate/contribute. Maybe with enough collective brainpower we can make something happen.
UPDATE: found a stock system image dump, thank you to @lopestom for directing me to this. This guy's been the MediaTek king for as long as I can remember.
It appears to be a dtbo and system partition dump. It also has the vendor partition and a (partial?) boot image dump. Not sure if things like the full boot and recovery images are stored somewhere in here, I didn't look too deeply into it yet. I have no idea how whoever this is managed to pull these partitions... they either got root access somehow, or they found a proper Download Agent and Auth file to pull it all. Either one of these would be awesome. I reached out to the user to ask them how they did it, we will see what they say if they want to share how they did it.
https://git.rip/dumps/att/u304aa
jasonmerc said:
Picked up an AT&T Radiant Core for cheap at a store around me. I don't intend to use it with AT&T, it was just such a low price that I figured I'd get it and see if I can break into it just for fun. It's an MTK6739 chipset phone, so in theory it should be easy to pull partitions from this thing with something like SPFT (or Miracle Box, if you paid for it) and do a dirty port of TWRP to get root privileges on it. But this is harder than it seems.
I need an auth file to do anything with SPFT. Apparently this has to do with some kind of "secure boot" mechanism that MediaTeks sometimes have now. There's no stock firmware for this device online from what I can find, nor for the generic version of the device, the Tinno U304AA (AT&T just rebranded it). If I had a stock firmware image, maybe I could risk wiping the partitions and reflashing the stock firmware to get rid of the secure boot stuff.
I saw a guide for how to access the bootloader on the Tinno U304AA generic version, but on the AT&T version of the phone there's no option in the boot select menu (Vol. UP + Power) to get to the bootloader to run a fastboot oem unlock. All the AT&T version has is recovery and normal boot. I'm not sure what I can do to maybe reset this to get the other options. Maybe if I had the stock firmware for the generic version of the phone I could overwrite it and get access to those other options.
Either way, just posting this up for anyone else that got one of these and wants to collaborate/contribute. Maybe with enough collective brainpower we can make something happen.
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OMG! So excited to see this here! My Mom gave my nephew this phone and niece has one. So I've been trying my best to get the thing to at least be a decent phone! I installed a launcher on it, changed the icons and wallpaper and made it look good at least. It will be nice to have someone to talk to about this. The thing has been beyond frustrating! First off though how did you get the computer to recognize it? I can't get Windows or Linux to recognize it and couldn't find any drivers. If you managed that much you got further than I did. I haven't tried with my nieces though. It might just be his phone. She's 13 so it took awhile to pry it from her long enough to find out what kind it was, but I'm willing to try to get it from her once again if the phone can be improved.
sjjtnj said:
OMG! So excited to see this here! My Mom gave my nephew this phone and niece has one. So I've been trying my best to get the thing to at least be a decent phone! I installed a launcher on it, changed the icons and wallpaper and made it look good at least. It will be nice to have someone to talk to about this. The thing has been beyond frustrating! First off though how did you get the computer to recognize it? I can't get Windows or Linux to recognize it and couldn't find any drivers. If you managed that much you got further than I did. I haven't tried with my nieces though. It might just be his phone. She's 13 so it took awhile to pry it from her long enough to find out what kind it was, but I'm willing to try to get it from her once again if the phone can be improved.
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Linux should just work, plug in the thing and the "drivers" if you will should be there already. Check the phone's settings for USB Debugging in the Developer Options if there's further trouble.
Don't get me wrong too, this phone is, was, and will always be a piece of junk. There's no getting around a screen this bad and 1GB of RAM. I'm actively trying to find a Download Agent and Auth File combo to get this thing to work with SPFT so I can try to port a custom recovery to get us Magisk root permissions at least. Root will make the phone slightly better, but it will still be junk. Unless we can get kernel source for it as well to mess with things like clock speeds and CPU governors (which LEGALLY we are supposed to be guaranteed, but good luck convincing a Chinese company to give it to you) everything we do, if we CAN do anything, will be like deodorant on a turd. It'll smell a little better, but it's still a turd.
jasonmerc said:
Linux should just work, plug in the thing and the "drivers" if you will should be there already. Check the phone's settings for USB Debugging in the Developer Options if there's further trouble.
Don't get me wrong too, this phone is, was, and will always be a piece of junk. There's no getting around a screen this bad and 1GB of RAM. I'm actively trying to find a Download Agent and Auth File combo to get this thing to work with SPFT so I can try to port a custom recovery to get us Magisk root permissions at least. Root will make the phone slightly better, but it will still be junk. Unless we can get kernel source for it as well to mess with things like clock speeds and CPU governors (which LEGALLY we are supposed to be guaranteed, but good luck convincing a Chinese company to give it to you) everything we do, if we CAN do anything, will be like deodorant on a turd. It'll smell a little better, but it's still a turd.
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Right, I'm considering giving him my current phone when I get a new one. It doesn't seem like I'm going to be able to unlock and root it so I want a phone I can. Mainly for space personally. He's young so he doesn't need it rooted, but I'm thinking if I can root it then I might be able to use it to root my phone. Speaking of rooting I think I found a way to root this phone. It took me a couple days to get the phone since he said he couldn't find it, but I have it now. It just needs to charge, but the battery sucks so it takes forever. I did find out that it does have a decent recovery. I had booted it into recovery and then I was messing around with the keys after the little passed out green guy popped up and suddenly it loaded stock recovery. It had an option to mount the system and flash with adb and everything. The only problem is I kept booting it by messing with keys. So I honestly don't know which ones worked. I kept booting into it last night by messing with them, but now I can't seem to get it to boot into the right recovery now that I'm trying to figure out the right key combination. I will figure it out though (eventually) and let you know what you have to click, but if you get the chance just mess with it and hopefully you'll find it like I did.
Also I was looking up the phones variants and downloaded a couple stock roms that I felt had all the right specs I'm going to try to flash one if I can get it plugged in. I downloaded custom twrp image's for them as well, and even found one twrp that I was able to download in the app. If you used it then you know that it takes you to a download page if you are downloading the wrong twrp.img. So the fact it let me download it in the app meant it tricked twrp into thinking it was that phone. So I'm going to try that stock rom first. Maybe we'll be able to change it to another model. It really needs something flashed, because it's a mess. I thought he messed it up, but after reading what you said maybe it's just the phone. He's young so it doesn't matter as much to him, but I feel bad for my niece. I really need to look into at least getting her another phone. I'm going to work on it later today and see what I can do. First I got to get it to work on the computer, but I may be able to root it without the computer. I'll keep you updated with my progress.
any luck with this?
Yeh, is there a status update?
Sorry, I got a concussion and haven't been able to do much, but really I'm stuck because I can't get it to connect to the computer at all. Not in Windows or Linux. I think he's messed it up beyond repair at this point. The offline root gave me an error around the mounting of the system, but that can be done if you can get the recovery to show up. It's one of the options. I was trying this method. HERE see if you can get it plugged in and to work. Also, Kingoroot gets to 90% on the apk alone. So the computer app might do the trick. Then you can switch it to su. Really a rooted phone can get a lot done with apps like flashify and flashfire that we can't do right now. If you can get even a temp root let me know and I'll tell you what I found out about the apps to unlock the bootloader, flash TWRP, Flash Magisk, then flash ROMs. If you want to try the variant route I was trying then just do a search on google. Some sound just as bad, but other similar phones seem better. You can pick which one you want to try. The phone I have got to a point that it kept deleting applications and stuff on the phone and has trouble with the sd card. So I don't have the stuff I had saved on it anymore. I'm giving him my current phone when I get a new one. It's too messed up to salvage. I hope you have more luck.
sjjtnj said:
Sorry, I got a concussion and haven't been able to do much, but really I'm stuck because I can't get it to connect to the computer at all. Not in Windows or Linux. I think he's messed it up beyond repair at this point. The offline root gave me an error around the mounting of the system, but that can be done if you can get the recovery to show up. It's one of the options. I was trying this method. HERE see if you can get it plugged in and to work. Also, Kingoroot gets to 90% on the apk alone. So the computer app might do the trick. Then you can switch it to su. Really a rooted phone can get a lot done with apps like flashify and flashfire that we can't do right now. If you can get even a temp root let me know and I'll tell you what I found out about the apps to unlock the bootloader, flash TWRP, Flash Magisk, then flash ROMs. If you want to try the variant route I was trying then just do a search on google. Some sound just as bad, but other similar phones seem better. You can pick which one you want to try. The phone I have got to a point that it kept deleting applications and stuff on the phone and has trouble with the sd card. So I don't have the stuff I had saved on it anymore. I'm giving him my current phone when I get a new one. It's too messed up to salvage. I hope you have more luck.
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I need to unlock my phone U304AA
Ok boys and girls, in case anyone is still wondering here is how to root this sucker.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1--Ul1ae73zcejNuJ1a7ftq5sTo2VP8Ya/view?usp=drivesdk
Comes with two files. Mtksu amd magisk be sure to use the magisk version included in the zip. Install mtksu then wmagisk, open mtksu and install the top magisk option. Reboot then open magisk hit install when it asks. Now open mtksu scroll to the bottom and hit activate and reboot again. Should be good too go at this point. Oh yeah be sure to click apply at boot in mtksu. Not sure if this had been posted before or not. Now, to find a way to unlock bootloader and install twrp.
Thank you, I tried Mtksu on mine and it didn't work, but it might've been the phone. I don't have one of these anymore, but I hope you all the best of luck. For the bootloader and Twrp try Flashfire or flashify.
MTK bypass method released by some smart dudes out there. I will test if we can use SPFT on this phone now. Stay tuned. This could mean root & recovery in a matter of minutes.
EDIT: It ALMOST works. Technically it bypassed the auth file as advertised. The only thing left now is finding a compatible preloader/scatter file to use.
Used a modified Moto E6 Play scatter file to pull images from the device. Tried flashing over stuff and got an error. Long story short my U304AA is now permanently bricked, so I'm tapping out of this project here
I do have recovery and boot images that (supposedly) work if anyone else wants to try and take over Keep in mind these were pulled with a scatter file from a DIFFERENT phone that's of the same chipset, so not everything is guaranteed to work. For example, the preloader was pulled with the specified parameters but I do NOT know if it's functional
Because I'm tapping out, and because nobody else seems to have anything on this, I'm uploading everything I can. Some pulls are too big to upload and some just won't work for some reason, but use whatever you'd like for anything you can. Hope I did something helpful
I have searched in Google Search and the tutorials forum but not found a tutorial
_____________
Sent from my website: https://topsanphamhay.com/kem-chong-nang-danh-cho-da-dau-mun.html - https://topsanphamhay.com/kem-chong-nang-innisfree-perfect-uv-protection-cream-co-tot-khong.html - https://topsanphamhay.com/kem-chong...ifying-face-fluid-dry-touch-co-tot-khong.html using Iphone X
Well AT&T is giving away lots of Radiant Core devices because of their 3G shutdown: https://www.xda-developers.com/att-3g-shutdown-free-phone/
My wife and I just got one, so now I have two of these but I'm not sure I trust AT&T enough to use the "free" phone that they sent.
It would be great if someone can pickup this project, especially since so many phones are now flooding the market.
I just got 3 of these "free" from AT&T. In fact I don't really need them, I just happen to have phones with an IMEI number that AT&T cannot decipher, so they sent me new phones just in case I can't use 4G.
Anyway, I'm trying to use mine as spare Google assistants scattered around the house, but because they run that crappy Android Go, the Go version of Assistant won't listen to me until I long-press the home button. I would also like to use them when I travel as a spare.
These things are essentially throw-away, so I'm OK to risk bricking one of them.
What I really want to do is install a real version of Android on here, has anyone managed to crack this yet?
I personally have been writing and reading using this tool https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient, which is much simpler than the others
Its a little rough around the edges, but it certainly works
My final problem is disabling secure boot (I already have a boot.img patched with magisk)
It appears that fastboot is simply not a mode for booting on this model, so I was wondering if anyone knows how to disable AVB by hand with just partition images
kayshinonome said:
I personally have been writing and reading using this tool https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient, which is much simpler than the others
Its a little rough around the edges, but it certainly works
My final problem is disabling secure boot (I already have a boot.img patched with magisk)
It appears that fastboot is simply not a mode for booting on this model, so I was wondering if anyone knows how to disable AVB by hand with just partition images
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Click to collapse
if it's possible to downgrade the firmware to before the october 2019 patch, it might be possible to mtk-su the device: https://www.att.com/device-support/article/wireless/KM1376142/ATT/ATTU304AA
might be another alternative to trying to disable avb on a locked bootloader
luridphantom said:
if it's possible to downgrade the firmware to before the october 2019 patch, it might be possible to mtk-su the device: https://www.att.com/device-support/article/wireless/KM1376142/ATT/ATTU304AA
might be another alternative to trying to disable avb on a locked bootloader
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Not possible to do, already tried before when I didn't brick it
KJ7LNW said:
Well AT&T is giving away lots of Radiant Core devices because of their 3G shutdown: https://www.xda-developers.com/att-3g-shutdown-free-phone/
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Just got mine from this. I'd like to install something like NixOS mobile, but I've never used an android phone before. Will that be possible on this phone? If so, is there a good guide for newbs like myself?
Hey eveyone,
Since I wanna talk about security rather than just my phone, I figured posting here wouldn't be a problem. Please move the thread if needed.
I had a problem with my Galaxy S20+ a few days ago that I detailed here, but a tl,dr is : tried to force update via Smart Switch, update failed, got stuck in "An error has occurred while updating the device software. Use the Emergency Recovery function in the Smart Switch PC Software.", and said emergency recovery function failed to restore my phone.
I went to a Samsung repair center who told me that the best they could do was to wipe the phone, and if that failed it meant it was a motherboard issue and that replacing it would likely cost the price of the phone.
So with that answer and no solution found, when a user (that has his account here deleted, but is still active on Reddit) here DMed me that he could help me and I accepted.
To his credit, he did help me fix my phone and now it is working. It's been 93 hours since it was repaired, and data usage, battery life, phone responsiveness seems to be normal (so if you read this, thanks again !).
Now comes the question :
Using this, I allowed him to connect to my phone to USB and, as he told me, to "fix the kernel". Then, we went on to use Odin to flash AP, BL, and Home_CSC (CP faield for the same reason the Smart Switch update failed).
If that person wanted to hack me, would my device just basically be his device, or would a factory reset revert the vulnerability ? Would there be methods to ensure the kernel was secure again ?
I know that on Windows there are tools such as the event journal or the srudb.dat that can help you identify problems or hacks. Do such tools exist for Android, rooted or not ?
DrTovalds42 said:
Hey eveyone,
Since I wanna talk about security rather than just my phone, I figured posting here wouldn't be a problem. Please move the thread if needed.
I had a problem with my Galaxy S20+ a few days ago that I detailed here, but a tl,dr is : tried to force update via Smart Switch, update failed, got stuck in "An error has occurred while updating the device software. Use the Emergency Recovery function in the Smart Switch PC Software.", and said emergency recovery function failed to restore my phone.
I went to a Samsung repair center who told me that the best they could do was to wipe the phone, and if that failed it meant it was a motherboard issue and that replacing it would likely cost the price of the phone.
So with that answer and no solution found, when a user (that has his account here deleted, but is still active on Reddit) here DMed me that he could help me and I accepted.
To his credit, he did help me fix my phone and now it is working. It's been 93 hours since it was repaired, and data usage, battery life, phone responsiveness seems to be normal (so if you read this, thanks again !).
Now comes the question :
Using this, I allowed him to connect to my phone to USB and, as he told me, to "fix the kernel". Then, we went on to use Odin to flash AP, BL, and Home_CSC (CP faield for the same reason the Smart Switch update failed).
If that person wanted to hack me, would my device just basically be his device, or would a factory reset revert the vulnerability ? Would there be methods to ensure the kernel was secure again ?
I know that on Windows there are tools such as the event journal or the srudb.dat that can help you identify problems or hacks. Do such tools exist for Android, rooted or not ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they really wanted to install some sort of malware, they could. Please explain “hack”? Like as in install some kernel that gives them access to your device? A factory reset would remove all malware unless you backed it up.
I am pretty sure a factory reset does not effect the kerne, but you can flash your devices kernel to reset it. I am also unsure if a kernel can be corrupted in the way you described. I am 99% sure it would not be possible.
I am also a bit confused on why you are talking about the kernel when they did not flash a kernel.
Factory reset only deletes the content of /data partition. It doesn't touch anything else. So if any partition, such as boot or system partition had been tampered with, than those changes would persist post factory reset. To undo all the changes, find out the device flashing procedure for your device and Android version (it's actually the firmware version that is relevant here, but it is hard to find search results that way), and than follow the procedure to flash the device. This would both factory reset the device and flash all the partitions to stock.