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Galaxy S7 with memory/storage corruption issue

My colleague at work recently purchased a verizon Galaxy S7 (flat not edge) and it came preloaded with a PE1 firmware.
Phone worked well for first 2 days then it started forceclosing apps (mostly google play services, google play, samsung pay and S-voice) which became more vigorous over the period of 2 more days. He brought the phone to me 'cause apparently I'm the tech guy to-go-to when it comes to android phones. Nevetheless, I booted the phone into bootloader and saw that Bootloader is of G930A (At&t) model. Rebooted phone and checked it has baseband of G930A model.
At first I became scared that this is one of those chinese refurbished counterfeit copies which have mtk chipset in them and retailed to fool the simple customers. I ran AIDA-64 & CPU-Z and to my surprise it correctly identified 4GB of LPDDR4 ram, 32GB of internal storage, and a SnapDragon 820 processor. Checked IMEI and it told me its Sprint S7.
Putting hardware out of the question, I came to judgement that this phone is been badly toyed with crossflashing. So What I did was downloading the PI3 firmware of G930U. I tick marked re-partition as well so that the phone boots ALL from the full wipe. Its first boot was fine after flashing but I started getting random reboots every 5 minutes, rebootloop even!
I tried to factory reset + cache clear and charge phone to 100% and to my success I did it while sitting on the welcome screen of startup setup.
I, then flashed Sprint S7 firmware PK1 from Sprint. (G930P). Phone booted fine, configured okay but threw me out an invalid sim card error and refused to take my sim. While the phone was unlocked before and working fine on GSM/3G/LTE, it blacks out on network for me now. Assuming I have the infamous Sprint sim-lock on my phone I shut down the phone.
I, then flashed the At&t PK1 firmware for G930A. Phone boots fine, configures fine. Now it is sim-locked out of the blue and I cant use network at all. I have random forcecloses and reboots but my phone doesnt bootloop when it is on AT&T firmware.
Conclusion,
Phone has corruption in its storage which odin cant even reformat.
Even if I choose repartition, I still end up with stupidity from previous firmware. (For example if I flash G930U firmware after G930P, I end up in Sprint handsfree activation EVEN IF I WIPE DATA/CACHE/Factory Reset)
I have flashed this phone about 13 times in past 18 hours to no success.
I have changed USB cables (I have a 6-inch Micro USB cable, a 1.5 ft one, a genuine Samsung one and a genuine HTC one) and every cable passes the Odin flashing process successfully.
I have used USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports on my laptop, even changed windows (between 7 and 8.1, two separate computers).
WHAT I NEED HELP WITH IS:
Someone who can tell me the steps to FULLY WIPE THE PHONE and FLASH from STOCK. Odin is not working for the FULLY WIPE PART despite I tick repartition.
Also, the back cover of the phone doesn't contain the information about serial/imei.
If I put S/N from *#06# into Smart Switch, it says it is invalid for any of the phone models (A, P, T, U, V models)

dark_prince said:
My colleague at work recently purchased a verizon Galaxy S7... Bootloader is of G930A (At&t) model... Checked IMEI and it told me its Sprint S7.
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What a cluster****, where did you friend get it? Used?

peachpuff said:
What a cluster****, where did you friend get it? Used?
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Click to collapse
IKR! Well, he got it from a local seller who sells stuff @ 3-days checking warranty. Thinking that the F & FD models are mostly refurbished chinese crap, he got mugged on USA model as well :/
Now Im trying to revive the phone but seemingly I can't format the cache partition.
If I NAND Erase all from Odin and install AP + BL + CP only, the phone ends up crashing everything at Welcome screen. If I flash CSC as well, phone gets crazy bootlooping.
All that happens while I get dm-verity verification failed on every official firmware I flash.
I have flashed U, T, P, A firmwares and the P firmware got me simlocked as well.... freakin' bummer that Sprint models come with a genuine simlock now instead of software-based simlock (the Handsfree activation junk). After I flashed U firmware from P firmware, I got straight up handsfree activation too.
The phone has crazy ghost storage shi** even if I NAND Erase all and flash another firmware, I can still see the phone booting out of custom logo (if I previously tried eng-boot kernel to root phone and delete the bloatware).

I experienced this on SGS10+. Odin is able to flash and re-partition, the OS boots, but once I load up ~5GB to internal /data (apps installations), the system starts lagging as hell, kernel throws out IO errors, and I am forced to reboot. Upon reboot, it tries to boot the ROM, only to fall down to recovery. Recovery also reports /data corruption. If I run e2fsck on it, it deletes half of the storage, rendering the phone unable to boot. If I reflash with stock or LOS17, the situation repeats as soon as sufficient amount of data is loaded to it. I ended-up purchasing replacement motherboard, as it seems that this is related to this particular device (I have another one with the same ROM/kernel/recovery, which works fine).

Updating problematic device from Android 6 to 8

Hello,
I bought an S7 from eBay, it was marked as a "new" and "UK" phone. I factory reset the device on receipt and apparently worked fine to start with. However, there have been a few problems (poor signal, battery life, echoes in video calls) and I noticed the device was still on Android 6, so wondered if an update to Android 8 might help (?).
There is no menu option available to update Android so I started looking into flashing firmware. On further digging, the device seemed an official SM-G930F but "United Arab Emirates" appears in the "About Phone" section.
I downloaded some stock firmware (Android 8, UK Vodafone which is the network I expect to run it on) and tried flashing with Odin 3.13 and it failed with error "unsupport dev_type" on the phone screen. Any suggestions?
I also noticed that in "Download mode" the phone said it was a "SM-G930V". I wondered if this was why the flash had failed. For the SM-G930V I only seem to be able to get USA/Verizon stock firmware. Might this work or would I have trouble using this in the UK?
Any help would be much appreciated. I'm a newbie in this area so apologies if any of these questions are answered elsewhere.
Many thanks,
Edwin

ecc25 said:
Hello,
I bought an S7 from eBay, it was marked as a "new" and "UK" phone. I factory reset the device on receipt and apparently worked fine to start with. However, there have been a few problems (poor signal, battery life, echoes in video calls) and I noticed the device was still on Android 6, so wondered if an update to Android 8 might help (?).
There is no menu option available to update Android so I started looking into flashing firmware. On further digging, the device seemed an official SM-G930F but "United Arab Emirates" appears in the "About Phone" section.
I downloaded some stock firmware (Android 8, UK Vodafone which is the network I expect to run it on) and tried flashing with Odin 3.13 and it failed with error "unsupport dev_type" on the phone screen. Any suggestions?
I also noticed that in "Download mode" the phone said it was a "SM-G930V". I wondered if this was why the flash had failed. For the SM-G930V I only seem to be able to get USA/Verizon stock firmware. Might this work or would I have trouble using this in the UK?
Any help would be much appreciated. I'm a newbie in this area so apologies if any of these questions are answered elsewhere.
Many thanks,
Edwin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to the play store and install Sam phone info, then look at what chipset it lists, you don't want it to be Qualcomm Snapdragon, Eyxnos is what you want to see.
G930V is US Verizon firmware
Report back please.

cooltt said:
Go to the play store and install Sam phone info, then look at what chipset it lists, you don't want it to be Qualcomm Snapdragon, Eyxnos is what you want to see.
G930V is US Verizon firmware
Report back please.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply! The "hardware/board" is "qcom/msm8996". Where does that leave me?
I noticed that the Bootloader & Baseband Versions begin G930VVRU but the PDA and CSC versions begin G930FXXU. Not sure if that means anything.
Thank you!

ecc25 said:
Thanks for your reply! The "hardware/board" is "qcom/msm8996". Where does that leave me?
I noticed that the Bootloader & Baseband Versions begin G930VVRU but the PDA and CSC versions begin G930FXXU. Not sure if that means anything.
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the person who sold it to you is a liar for starters, it's not a "brand new UK device", it's a US S7 (G930V) Originally bought for the Verizon Network in the states. They are difficult to do anything with as the Qualcomm boot loader is locked down.
So your first option is to update the firmware to the latest Verizon Oreo, probably not worth it since that firmware is designed to work on a couple of frequencies only.
Next option is to flash unbranded US firmware with a modified version of Odin that ignores mismatch devices etc and just installs the firmware. You will need to use this version of Odin from this thread >>> here Odin 13 PatchD.zip is the one you want.
Unzip, run Odin, place phone into download mode flash firmware. You will need to download G930U from Sammobile or undato.com The 3 letter code should either be USC or XAA.
Any questions please ask.
Also before flashing please remove you google account off the phone.

cooltt said:
Well the person who sold it to you is a liar for starters, it's not a "brand new UK device", it's a US S7 (G930V) Originally bought for the Verizon Network in the states. They are difficult to do anything with as the Qualcomm boot loader is locked down.
So your first option is to update the firmware to the latest Verizon Oreo, probably not worth it since that firmware is designed to work on a couple of frequencies only.
Next option is to flash unbranded US firmware with a modified version of Odin that ignores mismatch devices etc and just installs the firmware. You will need to use this version of Odin from this thread >>> here Odin 13 PatchD.zip is the one you want.
Unzip, run Odin, place phone into download mode flash firmware. You will need to download G930U from Sammobile or undato.com The 3 letter code should either be USC or XAA.
Any questions please ask.
Also before flashing please remove you google account off the phone.
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Click to collapse
Thank you for these detailed instructions -- much appreciated!
Presumably using this version of Odin carries a high risk of bricking the phone if I get anything wrong?
Out of interest, what's the reason for removing the Google account?
Cheers,
Edwin

ecc25 said:
Thank you for these detailed instructions -- much appreciated!
Presumably using this version of Odin carries a high risk of bricking the phone if I get anything wrong?
Out of interest, what's the reason for removing the Google account?
Cheers,
Edwin
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Click to collapse
Because it's a further complication with FRP lock you just don't need after flashing. Just add the google account after flashing and your good to go.
With regards to flashing yes there's always a risk that something can go wrong, that's why you take your time and follow the steps exactly. In your case it's pretty straight forward and remember nothing changes on the external SD card, so anything you want to keep can be moved there before flash.
I would also mention that theoretically you could flash UK unbranded (BTU) but it's for G930F Exynos devices so best at this stage just get the device on unbranded Qualcomm and working on UK networks.
let me know how it goes.

cooltt said:
Because it's a further complication with FRP lock you just don't need after flashing. Just add the google account after flashing and your good to go.
With regards to flashing yes there's always a risk that something can go wrong, that's why you take your time and follow the steps exactly. In your case it's pretty straight forward and remember nothing changes on the external SD card, so anything you want to keep can be moved there before flash.
I would also mention that theoretically you could flash UK unbranded (BTU) but it's for G930F Exynos devices so best at this stage just get the device on unbranded Qualcomm and working on UK networks.
let me know how it goes.
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Click to collapse
Hello,
I've just tried doing what you suggested (I think!) and I got a failure. Odin said "FAIL! (Auth)" and the phone said "Secure check fail: apnhlos". I tried rebooting and got a security error. So I tried Odin again and it passed.
However, now the phone won't boot, it alternates between "Samsung Galaxy S7" and a blank screen. In recovery I get:
"#fail to open recovery_cause(No such file or directory)#"
#Reboot Recovery Cause is [UNKNOWN]#
No Support SINGLE-SKU
File-Based OTA
Supported API: 3
dm-verity verification failed..."
Any ideas?
Thanks a lot,
Edwin

ecc25 said:
Hello,
I've just tried doing what you suggested (I think!) and I got a failure. Odin said "FAIL! (Auth)" and the phone said "Secure check fail: apnhlos". I tried rebooting and got a security error. So I tried Odin again and it passed.
However, now the phone won't boot, it alternates between "Samsung Galaxy S7" and a blank screen. In recovery I get:
"#fail to open recovery_cause(No such file or directory)#"
#Reboot Recovery Cause is [UNKNOWN]#
No Support SINGLE-SKU
File-Based OTA
Supported API: 3
dm-verity verification failed..."
Any ideas?
Thanks a lot,
Edwin
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Click to collapse
Ok, so try an earlier G930V firmware and please make sure you are placing the file in the right places with Odin. The US carriers have all updated their firmware and often closes the loophole which allows the patched Odin to work. Then it's just a question of waiting until someone develops a workaround again.
Also you can pick up an S7 from ebay for about £100 now, your always going to have problems with a qualcomm device on UK networks. Where about are you in the UK?

cooltt said:
Ok, so try an earlier G930V firmware and please make sure you are placing the file in the right places with Odin. The US carriers have all updated their firmware and often closes the loophole which allows the patched Odin to work. Then it's just a question of waiting until someone develops a workaround again.
Also you can pick up an S7 from ebay for about £100 now, your always going to have problems with a qualcomm device on UK networks. Where about are you in the UK?
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Thanks! Actually shortly after posting I found a suggesting of using CSC not HOME_CSC, which enabled the flash to work (at the expense of phone data, as expected).
The device still does have a few issues though, as you predicted. Is the radio hardware different for Qualcomm? Might need to buy another then. Any advice to avoid being scammed on eBay again?!
Thanks so much!

ecc25 said:
Thanks! Actually shortly after posting I found a suggesting of using CSC not HOME_CSC, which enabled the flash to work (at the expense of phone data, as expected).
The device still does have a few issues though, as you predicted. Is the radio hardware different for Qualcomm? Might need to buy another then. Any advice to avoid being scammed on eBay again?!
Thanks so much!
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Click to collapse
Well you could flash G930U which opens up all of the radios for the US and you may have less issues but US and European devices have different chips so your never going to be able to flash any EU generic firmware. I'm addition the US and Europe are different cellular regions with different operating frequencies. You can get by with what you have but never get full functionality.
I think you were just unlucky with this phone on ebay, there are plenty which are genuine EU region devices.

LG Bridge or LGUp safe with V500n

Have bought several "refurbished"LG phones from Aliexpress over the years and apart from a G3 have had no problems when flashing/updating firmware by ota,lgup or lg Bridge. At the moment have v500n20x firmware and if i check for updates in settings am told " using latest software version". Lg Bridge tells me v500n20z is available to update and I checked and there is a v500n20z kdz out there. So has anyone successfully updated these ways? Also would not having 20z firmware stop phone from ever updating to Android 11. Am sure years ago i updated G3 using LG Bridge and all seemed ok until i realized no mobile network coverage. Apparently seller must of modified/flashed modem that worked in my country and update put it back to stock. The V50 v500n all checks out in Aida64,CPUZ and imei checker as genuine but thinking of it now ,if i was going to update would LGUP(Uppercut?) be the the safer option baring in mind it's a "refurbished" Aliexpress LgV50

painterKDM said:
Have bought several "refurbished"LG phones from Aliexpress over the years and apart from a G3 have had no problems when flashing/updating firmware by ota,lgup or lg Bridge. At the moment have v500n20x firmware and if i check for updates in settings am told " using latest software version". Lg Bridge tells me v500n20z is available to update and I checked and there is a v500n20z kdz out there. So has anyone successfully updated these ways? Also would not having 20z firmware stop phone from ever updating to Android 11. Am sure years ago i updated G3 using LG Bridge and all seemed ok until i realized no mobile network coverage. Apparently seller must of modified/flashed modem that worked in my country and update put it back to stock. The V50 v500n all checks out in Aida64,CPUZ and imei checker as genuine but thinking of it now ,if i was going to update would LGUP(Uppercut?) be the the safer option baring in mind it's a "refurbished" Aliexpress LgV50
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My Korean version LG V500N has already updated to android 11 just one week ago, my device is with "KT mobile" vendor but I'm using it with Telcel and Movistar providers in Mexico without problems, well except OTG connection, my device is unable to use OTG, no matter how many times I connect via OTG and select file transfer in USB mode it stops connection to reconnect after just a second again in power supply mode

can't enable wifi calling on LM-G900UM

I have a velvet LM-G900UM. I would like to enable wifi calling, but the option is grayed out. Software version shows as G900UM20m.
I'm wondering if changing the firmware to one of those listed on this page will solve my problem?
LG G900UM(LMG900UM) aka LG Velvet 5G - LG-Firmwares.com
LG G900UM download the firmware for free! Detailed installation instruction. Video review of the model and its features. User feedback and latest news.
lg-firmwares.com
If so, which would I use? I'm a rookie....totally clueless.

You can try European LM-G900EM Firmware using patched LG Up Tool.

i noticed that under the link that i provided above, there are firmware versions that say "Open" in the description....does anyone know if that indicates lack of AT&T locks in the software?

when i try to run lg up, i get a failure message. i tried using uppercut, and i see the phone connected, select the firmware file, and when I start, it shows progress going to 4% and then the software crashes (windows). I have read other threads indicating a similar problem. i was trying to change the firmware to G900UM20j_00_OPEN_CA_OP_1027.kdz
do i need to do something else prior to using lg up, maybe unlock bootloader? i've turn on unlock and usb debug in system options, and also turned off usb debug....no difference.
i have not tried flashing to the european firmware...i wanted to try the canadian version that has "OPEN" in the name, hoping that it might not have the at&t controls/locks.

Samsung a13 5g porting firmware unlock bootloader?

Hello this is androidadmirer
I have a sm-a136u 5g united States
Version from metro pcs
I recently took the a136w Canadian firmware and combined it with my original firmware for the a136u and flashed it successfully
Everything works except the software update which I'm glad that it doesn't that way it can't update every time there's an update and the bootloader keeps changing anyway,
I got stupid a d decided to see what would happen if I patched the entire ap file through Magisk
It patched, I flashed it in Odin it took but then it gave me the verify error of course.
So it took me all day to figure how to unbrick it but I got it back
So my question is with some of the international firmware for the a13 5g
Could I port that firmware with mine like I did the other and the international firmware will allow bootloader unlocking and have oem unlock in developer options
Couldn't that throeritically work
Only problem is the waiting
I have to wait for bit 4 to come out on any of the other firmware right now only
Canada and the u.s are on bit 4

Anybody ? Any input is good input !!