Database Users

dun bricked myself good this time..

borked up the fascinate whilst trying to update to the devs 2.2.
i know exactly what i did wrong. i was running voodoo5, and i clicked to disable lag fix, but i forgot to restart to let it *actually* disable before trying to load the new stuff. STUPID!
when that happened, it hung on samsung screen, then after battery pull all the phone will do is boot loop.. samsung screen, then goes to robot and screen says says "wiping cache, data, ect.." and then back to samsung screen to reboot and reboot.
i have literally 30 tabs open with articles from here and other forums, nothing seems to be working. here is what i have tried.
1. tried booting back to red cwm and playing with the lagfix (enable and disable again) to see if it would work, no go. i ended up losing red cwm - had to ODIN red back.. i cant get green to flash.
2. tried flashing DL09 both the full package and each individual part via ODIN
3. tried flashing the stocki500system.md5 (from the board) and kernel via ODIN, and nothing.. same boot loop. everything i have flashed via ODIN still gives me a boot loop..
4. tried to connect via ADB but it wont let me access the phone.. NOTE: i just downloaded ADB as a last resort and know nothing about it..
the only thing i can seem to do is get to red cwm. i have several backups in the restore section, but none of them seem to work - either i get a "no file found" even though i can see the file(s), or i get an error after it does load that says ".android_secure.img not found. skipping restore of /sdcard/.android_secure"
any ideas?

Okay follow these steps. Make sure you follow them step by step. Even though you have the lagfix installed this removed it for me.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=782204
Place the PIT file where it belongs. Then ODIN the system, kernel, and recovery in that order. Don't restart the process every time. Just ODIN them one after another.

thank you very much for taking a moment to answer. i did follow that thread, however
i managed to get the stocki500 recovery but the other files (recovery, PIT) are all 404 not found errors.
ive tried that stock md5 and it still boot loops. i actually have that tab open from when i tried that route..
any other ideas and thanks again

Thats why its not working. Try this restore by adrynalyne. The file is there and everything is in one. Just ODIN in the PDA section. This should work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=867648

I got myself into a bit of pickle too. Kept getting errors on the new_cwm file. After numerous attempts. I figured out the file hadn't downloaded correctly and the archive was damaged. Folks who havent installed Froyo yet, do yourself a favor and check the files before you save it to your sd card.

BSayre18 said:
Thats why its not working. Try this restore by adrynalyne. The file is there and everything is in one. Just ODIN in the PDA section. This should work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=867648
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
downloading now.. thanks for the point to this file.. i hadnt found that one yet

no problem. it should work out good.

mailaliasgar said:
I got myself into a bit of pickle too. Kept getting errors on the new_cwm file. After numerous attempts. I figured out the file hadn't downloaded correctly and the archive was damaged. Folks who havent installed Froyo yet, do yourself a favor and check the files before you save it to your sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i soft bricked doing that with a corrupt file before.. however that time i was able to restore using my backup.
this time, every time i try a method, it kicks me back to boot loop. if the file that im downloading now doesnt work, i will have to try and figure out ADB as a last resort..
thanks much for the help!

BSayre18 said:
no problem. it should work out good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
problem
thank you for all your help

mrjake1970 said:
problem
thank you for all your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So this worked for you? You just re-rooted as normal?
def

Thank you all for your help. i applied all the info i got here, and one of them worked it finally took the ODIN flash to stock and i recovered into FROYO from there.
seriously thank you all.. its great that the community is so supportive

I did the exact same thing a couple of days ago, and recovered a similar way, odin back to D101, flashed DL09 & superclean, then restored a backup, then disabled voodoo and finally flashed DL30. I've got a couple of questions.
1: Is voodoo completely off my phone or is it just disabled (is there a difference)? When I apply update.zip from the blue recovery I get green cwm.
2: Each time I backup, restore, flash a different rom I apply update.zip, then from green recovery I flash "new_cwm.zip". Is this necessary?

Joe T said:
I did the exact same thing a couple of days ago, and recovered a similar way, odin back to D101, flashed DL09 & superclean, then restored a backup, then disabled voodoo and finally flashed DL30. I've got a couple of questions.
1: Is voodoo completely off my phone or is it just disabled (is there a difference)? When I apply update.zip from the blue recovery I get green cwm.
2: Each time I backup, restore, flash a different rom I apply update.zip, then from green recovery I flash "new_cwm.zip". Is this necessary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i followed all the hints i got, and i think that the one i got about formatting helped me get out of the boot loop from hell.. it finally took my flash from ODIN, it wouldn't until i did the format(s)..
mind you i am NOT an expert, however from what i read and talked about offline, voodoo is still resident on your phone but disabled (check to see if you have the voodoo file still on your card).. if DL30 is running fine, you are ok..
from what i have read, yes.. the new cwm is required in order to get it to mesh properly with 2.2 leak.. i havent had any issues and i loaded that as well.. from one of the posts i read, if you are a serial flasher, then you need to make sure that not only you download the new cwm zip, but also should have deleted the entire clockworkmod folder from your card for best results..

I love this threadd.... I did the same damn thingg...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

You guys are not alone. I'm just glad the peeps that know what's going on have the patience to put up with us.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

adrynalyne's di01 odin package covers a multitude of sins.

upsidedownaaron said:
adrynalyne's di01 odin package covers a multitude of sins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will literally bring any phone back from the dead as long as its a software issue. I recommend keeping the di01 package, samsung drivers and Odin 1.3 on your computer at all times...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

godihatework said:
It will literally bring any phone back from the dead as long as its a software issue. I recommend keeping the di01 package, samsung drivers and Odin 1.3 on your computer at all times...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ABSOLUTELY!! I have those on my computer at all times, adrynalynes d101 brought me back a few times.
Sent from my stock 2.1
unrooted, fully bloated (for now) Fascinate

Soft brick trying to get into CWM Recovery?

I was wondering how it was possible to brick your phone (which somehow happened to me..) just by trying to get into CWM Recovery by doing the 3 button press.. As it is possible because it happened to me earlier today I was just wondering if it was a step that I did wrong.. Also I had nothing installed except flashing the Froyo EB01 modem which flashed successfully and than reflashed cwm recovery all which worked though I forgot I had to reboot fast or else samsung would replace cwm. So when I flashed a second time and than tried rebooting into cwm that's when it got stuck and bricked..
I got it solved earlier thanks to Adranalyne.
If anybody needs his thread for the all in one odin:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=9711053

Ensure it's not simply blank screen...hit search soft key when it ' should' go into cwm
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Shadowchasr said:
Ensure it's not simply blank screen...hit search soft key when it ' should' go into cwm
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Naw, it was stuck on the samsung logo screen for an hour-got bricked. But i fixed it .

Can someone explain how exactly you fix it? I am having that problem as we speak...

sengokubattosai said:
Can someone explain how exactly you fix it? I am having that problem as we speak...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin it back to stock. Either Dl01 or Eb01. Both files include everything for you to recover your phone ans be able to boot back up past the samsung logo.

Taking it back to EB01 every time can be a bit extreme. There are CWM tar files that you can use to just flash CWM with Odin. I've used them when my phone would not boot into recovery. Remember the best way to get to "Download" mode is to pull the battery and while holding the down vol button plug it into your PC. I know thats common knowledge but it's always good to put it out there. Other techniques can prevent Odin from establishing a connection.
I've even seen complete Super Clean tars up to 2.6. I don't remember where but when 2.7.1 bricked my phone I just used Odin to flash a 2.6 tar and my phone was back to normal. Now I use that ROM image instead of EB01 when an update fails.
I would stress that any ROM compiled by someone else is not going to be endorsed by the Dev that created the update. I just took a chance because I was already down and it worked great.

[Q] Samsung Continuum Bricked Please Help!

Hello all, I'm basically freaking out as I just got my Samsung Galaxy Continuum within the last 24hours and already managed to screw it up. I used superoneclick to root the phone with no issues. I then got Titatnium Backup and enabled the chuck norris thing to freeze bloatware. I rebooted the phone and now it says Samsung lights up the intro screen and then after that I can't see ANYTHING. Please if anyone can help I'm moving to Seattle in 2days and this will be my only source of info/communication till my things arrive 10days after me. I NEED this to work : /
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Aaaahahaha you're so screwed. See, God is punishing you for voiding your warrenty.
I'm kidding. Try to relax. I've recovered my phone from worse than that. I'll look into it today when I get to work and see what I can come up with.
Sent from my Samsung Droid Charge 4G-LTE

Aesik said:
Hello all, I'm basically freaking out as I just got my Samsung Galaxy Continuum within the last 24hours and already managed to screw it up. I used superoneclick to root the phone with no issues. I then got Titatnium Backup and enabled the chuck norris thing to freeze bloatware. I rebooted the phone and now it says Samsung lights up the intro screen and then after that I can't see ANYTHING. Please if anyone can help I'm moving to Seattle in 2days and this will be my only source of info/communication till my things arrive 10days after me. I NEED this to work : /
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just go into development section, find a stock odin .tar and odin itself and use it to reflash the latest stock rom. Dont panic, Its pretty hard to brick a Samsung, not impossible but pretty hard.......
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

I appreciate the quick responses, I'm honestly losing it the phone was a gift and here I am mucking it up. I would like to keep it rooted as my last phone was and never had an issue. I think the issue was somewhere with the Titanium Backup Mod. Is there anychance you could link me to this odin flash program you speak of? I'm very new to this and confused, would rather not make this problem worse. Thanks again!

Ok I have downloaded Odin3, now I just need to know how to use it and with what files to get my Continuum working again. I tried to read through some posts but everyone is so confusing >.<.

Ok so I think I did it in the correct order but, I'm still not sure I'm so lost. I go Odin3 and the .pit file for the continuum and the .tar file for CWR. I put into recovery mode or whatever with the little android guy digging, and then ran the odin program. It said it was succesful and passed but, when it rebooted itself it's the same deal. It loads up and then halfway through the intro screen it freezes and turns the screen off while the sounds finish with there little jig. I've tried to call my cell from another phone and it's acting as if it's turned off.

Aesik said:
Ok so I think I did it in the correct order but, I'm still not sure I'm so lost. I go Odin3 and the .pit file for the continuum and the .tar file for CWR. I put into recovery mode or whatever with the little android guy digging, and then ran the odin program. It said it was succesful and passed but, when it rebooted itself it's the same deal. It loads up and then halfway through the intro screen it freezes and turns the screen off while the sounds finish with there little jig. I've tried to call my cell from another phone and it's acting as if it's turned off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first some questions,
did you do a nandroid backup
did you download the odin files from dj20 thread
did you download cwm recovery
and you dont really need the pit file, i been flashing files without it

Files
Aesik said:
Ok so I think I did it in the correct order but, I'm still not sure I'm so lost. I go Odin3 and the .pit file for the continuum and the .tar file for CWR. I put into recovery mode or whatever with the little android guy digging, and then ran the odin program. It said it was succesful and passed but, when it rebooted itself it's the same deal. It loads up and then halfway through the intro screen it freezes and turns the screen off while the sounds finish with there little jig. I've tried to call my cell from another phone and it's acting as if it's turned off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459391/SCH-i4000-VZW-Continuum.pit
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459391/0530_continuum_novoodoo.zip
Use this pit and this kernal in pda via Odin. Jump in the IRC for more help.

i think i bricked my continuum too. i flashed cwm recovery and got root and everything fine, then accidently flashed the wrong voodoo file and now it wont go past the samsung screen. ive looked for stock roms everywhere. how do you flash the kernel and pit. i got the pit file in but how do you select the folder for the kernel

can you still get into recovery?

VOoDOo
VooDoo convert takes a long time. Have you tried to wait it out?

Hello I too have prob. I flashed clean rom then tried to restore my nandroid backup but it says error mounting system and I cant now wont go past samsung no matter what I try?

Go to the link below. The only problem is the one-click unroot has a peculiar side-effect: it will make you believe your Continuum is invincible, and you'll try all sorts of crazy stuff with it!
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/one-click-unbrick-for-samsung-phones-having-odin-guide/

I forgot to mention, you need to be in download mode. Remove the battery, and hold the vol- while inserting the usb cable until the screen indicates that you're in download mode. I hope this helps!

Ok I got it to boot into clean rom again but along the way I did a system wipe so my question is how to restore backup and get apps/data back? What was I doing wrong? I have titpro and nandroid backup saved and copy of sd card on my laptop so any help is appreciated...
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA Premium App

nodixe said:
Ok I got it to boot into clean rom again but along the way I did a system wipe so my question is how to restore backup and get apps/data back? What was I doing wrong? I have titpro and nandroid backup saved and copy of sd card on my laptop so any help is appreciated...
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A nandroid backup isn't going to be much help without root. If you have it, get rooted, and flash adrynalyne's framework and cwm. Then you should be able to restore.

Ok...so I need to reroot? This why I wanted to restore it in 1st place. Su is installed and it opens from appdroor but says bin needs update but the zip wont work that it dl's to my sd? I thought root was included on clean rom? Or do I have to SOC again?
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA Premium App

Uh... Your restore problem is probably because your using yellow cwm... it has problems.... Im not sure if there are any other questions really xP
And read the other threads please? Everybodys already had these problems and they've been solved months ago
Sent from my Continuum Transfunctioner

nodixe said:
Ok...so I need to reroot? This why I wanted to restore it in 1st place. Su is installed and it opens from appdroor but says bin needs update but the zip wont work that it dl's to my sd? I thought root was included on clean rom? Or do I have to SOC again?
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might have to SOC again. Alternatively, if you really need it, I have a DL17 ODIN bone-stock rom, both rooted and unrooted, and if push comes to shove, I can upload it and post it here.

The yellow CWM uses edify which to my understanding is only useful for 2.2 and above. You wont be able to install any zip files designed for 2.1 or before. You need the cyan version of update.zip which will allow you to reinstall the stock rom software. Send me a PM and Ill email you the proper update.zip file if you need it.
-J

[Q] S4 Bootloop, Can enter download but not recovery

Hi,
I have been searching and searching. I tried to install a kernel to my phone, its been forever so i don't remember which one.
It just reboots every 5 seconds without any screens coming up. I can not get into recovery mode
I can get into download mode and have flashed stock I337UCUAMDB_ATTAMDB_I337UCUAMDB with odin, but it doesnt fix anything.
What can I do to get to stock recovery and fix my phone?

What happens if you put it on download mode and then cancel with vol down

It falls back into the bootloop of restarting every 5 seconds with no screens coming up. No entry into recovery.

And if you pull the battery and put it back in does it try to boot?

What firmware were you on and was it loki'd if you were on mdl?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

I have taken the battery out and replaced it. It does not automatically try to boot. After pressing power it goes into the same boot cycle. Also, thank you for your quick attention!

megatilter said:
I have taken the battery out and replaced it. It does not automatically try to boot. After pressing power it goes into the same boot cycle. Also, thank you for your quick attention!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When did it start doing what's it's going. Did you do anything before hand? Do you know what firmware you where on before you tried odin? Was it mdb?

"What firmware were you on and was it loki'd if you were on mdl?"
Previous to my obvious blunder with the kernel download, I was using goldeneye rom from android develepment, sucessfully.
Dont know if that answers the question but i have also tried to flash AMDL with odin but have the same results.

megatilter said:
"What firmware were you on and was it loki'd if you were on mdl?"
Previous to my obvious blunder with the kernel download, I was using goldeneye rom from android develepment, sucessfully.
Dont know if that answers the question but i have also tried to flash AMDL with odin but have the same results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you used odin did you only have f.reset and auto-reboot checked and flashed the md5 file in PDA

jd1639 said:
When you used odin did you only have f.reset and auto-reboot checked and flashed the md5 file in PDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have done it multiple times, perhaps panicking, I checked the re-partition button. I have tried to get a PIT file downloaded and tried to use that.
However, this behavior was happening before I did that. It started boot looping as soon as i tried to use TWRP to flash the kernel (I know i am an idiot, and didn't read first). As soon as this started happening, that's when I immediately tried to flash AMDL (exactly as you described with only those options checked) through odin and it didn't do anything different. That's when i tried other options. I fear i may have broken my phone. Again thank you for your attention.

megatilter said:
I have done it multiple times, perhaps panicking, I checked the re-partition button. I have tried to get a PIT file downloaded and tried to use that.
However, this behavior was happening before I did that. It started boot looping as soon as i tried to use TWRP to flash the kernel (I know i am an idiot, and didn't read first). As soon as this started happening, that's when I immediately tried to flash AMDL (exactly as you described with only those options checked) through odin and it didn't do anything different. That's when i tried other options. I fear i may have broken my phone. Again thank you for your attention.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you've broken it too. Sounds like you flashed the wrong kernel and at that point you were more or less hosed. Look into jtag, mobiletechvideos.com. They can probably fix it. It'll cost you $60.00 +
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using xda app-developers app

jd1639 said:
I think you've broken it too. Sounds like you flashed the wrong kernel and at that point you were more or less hosed. Look into jtag, mobiletechvideos.com. They can probably fix it. It'll cost you $60.00 +
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've never seen a kernel hard brick a device or corrupt the recovery partition. i also rarely see a user flash a file and not remember what they just flashed. he/she possibly flashed an incompatible kernel or flashed a non-loki'd kernel without flashing loki-doki. either way, recovery would still be accessible to correct this issue. i feel that there is more to this.
OP, see jd's jtag post above.

megatilter said:
I have done it multiple times, perhaps panicking, I checked the re-partition button. I have tried to get a PIT file downloaded and tried to use that.
However, this behavior was happening before I did that. It started boot looping as soon as i tried to use TWRP to flash the kernel (I know i am an idiot, and didn't read first). As soon as this started happening, that's when I immediately tried to flash AMDL (exactly as you described with only those options checked) through odin and it didn't do anything different. That's when i tried other options. I fear i may have broken my phone. Again thank you for your attention.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I finally was able to get Kies working and did a firmware update. That gave me back regular recovery. Now Im stuck at bootloop att screen.
I then re flashed AMDL stock via odin and VIOLA!
Im back to stock baby!
And from there ill probably go back to Goldeneyes Rom and never think about this ever again. Thanks for your time. My phone is working again!
Also
Thank you for helping me at least by giving this thread attention. So much appreciation to the fine people here at XDA

megatilter said:
Well I finally was able to get Kies working and did a firmware update. That gave me back regular recovery. Now Im stuck at bootloop att screen.
I then re flashed AMDL stock via odin and VIOLA!
Im back to stock baby!
And from there ill probably go back to Goldeneyes Rom and never think about this ever again. Thanks for your time. My phone is working again!
Also
Thank you for helping me at least by giving this thread attention. So much appreciation to the fine people here at XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news! You got lucky, make sure you read and learn on xda. And always know what you flash.

megatilter said:
Well I finally was able to get Kies working and did a firmware update. That gave me back regular recovery. Now Im stuck at bootloop att screen.
I then re flashed AMDL stock via odin and VIOLA!
Im back to stock baby!
And from there ill probably go back to Goldeneyes Rom and never think about this ever again. Thanks for your time. My phone is working again!
Also
Thank you for helping me at least by giving this thread attention. So much appreciation to the fine people here at XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to share how you got Kies working? I have a similar problem and I can't get Kies to recognize my phone.

Fix!
So What you gota do
1. Pull Out Battery Put back in
2.Go To Download Mode
3. Download The TWRP.tar For Your Phone
4.Run Odin as Admin, Tick Pda, for pda select the TWRP.tar
5. Hit Start, Then Pull Out battery put it back in
6.Get A Micro Sd And Put The Cyanogenmod Rom, and the gapps the ones for your phone
7.Insert microsd in phone
8. Boot Recovery and go to mounts and mount the microsd
9, Go Advansed, file manager, ext sd, And Copy the cyanogenmod and the gapps to internal storage
10. Flash the cyanogen mod and the gapps. DO THIS PART CAREFULLY OR MIGHT HARD BRICK!
11. Reboot And youl boot to cyanogenmod! OH yeah! Replay if this helped or if you have any problems

[Q] Help a noob, cannot boot after trying to flash stock rom

So I'm pretty desperate and I apologize if similar info was posted somewhere else. I've been researching several hours but couldn't find anything.
I originally installed CM11 and decided to experiment with a different rom TriForce ROM [TouchWiz]. I put the zip file on my SD card and booted into clockworkmod it gave an error of bad zip. I tried different usb port to transfer the zip, downloaded it multiple times with no result. So I decided to try a different rom Stock_Rooted_Deodexed_MF9_Rom.zip. The installation finished but the phone would not boot.
Recently I flashed the stock rom from odin, it finished successfully but still not boot, Galaxy sreen lights up quickly and that's it.

rmngorelov said:
So I'm pretty desperate and I apologize if similar info was posted somewhere else. I've been researching several hours but couldn't find anything.
I originally installed CM11 and decided to experiment with a different rom TriForce ROM [TouchWiz]. I put the zip file on my SD card and booted into clockworkmod it gave an error of bad zip. I tried different usb port to transfer the zip, downloaded it multiple times with no result. So I decided to try a different rom Stock_Rooted_Deodexed_MF9_Rom.zip. The installation finished but the phone would not boot.
Recently I flashed the stock rom from odin, it finished successfully but still not boot, Galaxy sreen lights up quickly and that's it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Restore from nandroid backup. I hope you made one. Try going into recovery do a factory reset and wipe all cache and data and what not and then install a ROM from Odin.

rmngorelov said:
So I'm pretty desperate and I apologize if similar info was posted somewhere else. I've been researching several hours but couldn't find anything.
I originally installed CM11 and decided to experiment with a different rom TriForce ROM [TouchWiz]. I put the zip file on my SD card and booted into clockworkmod it gave an error of bad zip. I tried different usb port to transfer the zip, downloaded it multiple times with no result. So I decided to try a different rom Stock_Rooted_Deodexed_MF9_Rom.zip. The installation finished but the phone would not boot.
Recently I flashed the stock rom from odin, it finished successfully but still not boot, Galaxy sreen lights up quickly and that's it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you're using roms for your version of your phone. the MF9 bootloader is really old and probably wont install anymore. My phone did this before and I thought I bricked it, but I kid you not I took the battery out and removed the SIM card and rebooted and it booted up just fine. May not work for you, but I suggest you go back to update stock firmware then try again. If you're using the triband model, there's a post around here somewhere with confirmed roms that wont brick your device. I'm currently using the Google Play Edition Stock ROM and it's working GREAT.
Link for new firmware (NG5 Firmware): https://mega.co.nz/#F!0JdRkIZR!AqqKdbvba_Hpg5VrCmrbPw

i7vSa7vi7y said:
Restore from nandroid backup. I hope you made one. Try going into recovery do a factory reset and wipe all cache and data and what not and then install a ROM from Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I restored to this stock ROM before and everything worked well. Currently I can't boot into recovery, Samsung flashes once and that's it, that's why I'm desperate the only thing I can do is boot in to download mode for odin.

silentdeath631 said:
Make sure you're using roms for your version of your phone. the MF9 bootloader is really old and probably wont install anymore. My phone did this before and I thought I bricked it, but I kid you not I took the battery out and removed the SIM card and rebooted and it booted up just fine. May not work for you, but I suggest you go back to update stock firmware then try again. If you're using the triband model, there's a post around here somewhere with confirmed roms that wont brick your device. I'm currently using the Google Play Edition Stock ROM and it's working GREAT.
Link for new firmware (NG5 Firmware):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it matter that I can't get into recovery to clear the cache first before trying new roms?

silentdeath631 said:
Make sure you're using roms for your version of your phone. the MF9 bootloader is really old and probably wont install anymore. My phone did this before and I thought I bricked it, but I kid you not I took the battery out and removed the SIM card and rebooted and it booted up just fine. May not work for you, but I suggest you go back to update stock firmware then try again. If you're using the triband model, there's a post around here somewhere with confirmed roms that wont brick your device. I'm currently using the Google Play Edition Stock ROM and it's working GREAT.
Link for new firmware (NG5 Firmware):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'm doing something foolish but every time I try to download files from the link you gave I get a decryption error so I can't download them zip or original.

rmngorelov said:
I restored to this stock ROM before and everything worked well. Currently I can't boot into recovery, Samsung flashes once and that's it, that's why I'm desperate the only thing I can do is boot in to download mode for odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just hold home power and volume up. Right when you see text at the top left let go. You have to have the right timing

i7vSa7vi7y said:
Just hold home power and volume up. Right when you see text at the top left let go. You have to have the right timing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After almost eight hours of troubleshooting I finally got it to work.
I've tried flashing clockworkmod several times to see if I could get into recovery with no result so I gave up on that and I flashed the newest stock rom I could find L720VPUFNG2_L720SPTFNG2_SPR and it was still not booting. Than I thought maybe twerp would make a difference and god almighty it finally booted! I felt as if I gave birth to a child after eight hours of labor!
Now I'm extremely paranoid about touching anything because it took me forever to do this. Does anyone know why flashing twerp would make such a difference? I know this sort of stuff can get extremely complicated but I'd like to try to understand.
I hope my foolish agony contributed to this community if not in any other way except by the comedic relief caused by my ignorance.

rmngorelov said:
After almost eight hours of troubleshooting I finally got it to work.
I've tried flashing clockworkmod several times to see if I could get into recovery with no result so I gave up on that and I flashed the newest stock rom I could find L720VPUFNG2_L720SPTFNG2_SPR and it was still not booting. Than I thought maybe twerp would make a difference and god almighty it finally booted! I felt as if I gave birth to a child after eight hours of labor!
Now I'm extremely paranoid about touching anything because it took me forever to do this. Does anyone know why flashing twerp would make such a difference? I know this sort of stuff can get extremely complicated but I'd like to try to understand.
I hope my foolish agony contributed to this community if not in any other way except by the comedic relief caused by my ignorance.
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Click to collapse
Depends what recovery you had and what version. I personally like Philz touch recovery but TWRP is good. Now wipe and flash a ROM my friend or restore a backup

rmngorelov said:
After almost eight hours of troubleshooting I finally got it to work.
I've tried flashing clockworkmod several times to see if I could get into recovery with no result so I gave up on that and I flashed the newest stock rom I could find L720VPUFNG2_L720SPTFNG2_SPR and it was still not booting. Than I thought maybe twerp would make a difference and god almighty it finally booted! I felt as if I gave birth to a child after eight hours of labor!
Now I'm extremely paranoid about touching anything because it took me forever to do this. Does anyone know why flashing twerp would make such a difference? I know this sort of stuff can get extremely complicated but I'd like to try to understand.
I hope my foolish agony contributed to this community if not in any other way except by the comedic relief caused by my ignorance.
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Click to collapse
im having similar issues. which version of TWRP worked for you?
thank you

fearthemarchx said:
im having similar issues. which version of TWRP worked for you?
thank you
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Click to collapse
I recommend flashing the newest one here using odin
http://teamw.in/project/twrp2
Then once you are able to boot into recovery go to wipe and perform both factory reset and format data. Then install whatever rom you like, I used Sprint Galaxy S4 SPH-L720 VPUFNAE (Androdi 4.4.2) found here
http://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-stock-firmware/ (or maybe find a newer stock rom if this one gives you errors)
Just copy the zip file to the phone, boot into twrp, do wipe factory reset again, select install then select the zip in whatever directory and you should be good to go. Make sure you do a back up in twrp once you get the phone to boot so you can always revert to stock.
I hope I was thorough enough that some of the information was useful. Let me know if you need any more help.

only certain recoveries will stick. ive tried the most recent twrp, with no luck. only a few versions of philztouch work.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app

fearthemarchx said:
only certain recoveries will stick. ive tried the most recent twrp, with no luck. only a few versions of philztouch work.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app
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Format with philztouch that works then try flashing a new stock rom with odin. That should bring everything back to stock including the recovery.

ive tried. when i flash rom via odin i only get a blue "recovery booting" at the top of boot screen. even when i only power on, not into recovery. im going to attempt to flash rom provided in previous post via philz.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app

fearthemarchx said:
ive tried. when i flash rom via odin i only get a blue "recovery booting" at the top of boot screen. even when i only power on, not into recovery. im going to attempt to flash rom provided in previous post via philz.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
You're in download mode when you flash from odin right? If you your getting an error flashing, try a different stock rom after reformating/resetting to factory (it's crucial to clear the cache before trying a different rom). I had to try a few roms before I found one that worked.