Database Users

[Q] [PROBLEM SOLVED] Flashing with ODIN, stalling at factoryfs.rfs, what now?

[EDIT 3] Worked fine, finally, thanks for all the help.
[EDIT 2] Yeah, I don't know how it happened or what happened, but I got a lot further. I started to get Odin failing at recovery and then remembered this thread which I found earlier: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=907261&page=2
Basically did it exactly like how the OP fixed it, and the phone is currently being flashed.
But now I have a different problem, seems I can't get a break.
http://img651.imageshack.us/i/stuck.jpg/
It's stuck there, should I just wait? Is it supposed to take a while? Or is there a problem? Been there for about an hour now.
[EDIT] So the phone works now, but Odin won't flash for me. What could the problem be if it's stuck on Initializing (or rather, Initialzing as the program puts it)? I've tried 1.61, 1.7, used the DI18 file and removed the md5 bit so that the file ends in .tar, etc
Hey, so I've been desperately trying to return my Epic to stock DI18, and I tried clockwork mod which didn't work, and then I tried doing it through Odin, and it kept hanging on Initializing.
Anyway, I keep trying with Odin, and ended up taking out my battery and putting it back in, but now the phone won't turn on. It doesn't turn on normally, not through download mode, not recovery, nothing.
Any help? What can I do? I tried searching but every result ends up being about turning on bluetooth or wifi, etc., and the few that are related to bricking talk about going into download mode to flash with Odin.

I hope you didn't take the battery out while flashing odin...
you can't turn it on in any way right?
can you charge it via usb? maybe you just ran out of power while flashing?

Uh, yeah, that's exactly what I did. Every time Odin would hang at Initializing, I'd have to remove the battery and restart the phone to try again.
God, I am so stupid, it is ridiculous.
The battery did have a decent amount of charge last time I checked though.

Hold down 1 and power and insert battery while holding them. That should get you into d/l mode. Taking out the battery while odin is stuck on initializing does not harm the phone.
Sent from my Bonzai'd Epic 4g.

I just did something like what you said leather, and I got it into download mode.
Now I'm afraid to do anything. Any reason why my flashing through Odin wouldn't work?

Odin is picky about the computer its running on. I used a laptop when i first started flashing..no issues ever.
Fixed my desktop and instantly ran into odin problems. Try changing USB ports and make sure youve got no firewalls running.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Yeah, what I don't know how it happened or what happened, but I got a lot further. I started to get Odin failing at recovery and then remembered this thread which I found earlier: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=907261&page=2
Basically did it exactly like how the OP fixed it, and the phone is currently being flashed.
But now I have a different problem, seems I can't get a break.
http://img651.imageshack.us/i/stuck.jpg/
It's stuck there, should I just wait? Is it supposed to take a while? Or is there a problem? Been there for maybe 5-6 minutes now.

The factory always takes the longest; so give it time. And do NOT pull the battery at that point. Youll have to say good bye epic :<
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

How did this end up? Did it move past FACTORY FS?

Nope, still stuck in that same exact place. Is it supposed to take this long or has something gone wrong?

Could I unplug it and try again at this point, or would that brick it? It's just stuck there, what do I do? I'd love to try different usb ports and such, but I can't if I don't stop this process, just don't know how to do it without bricking it.
And thanks for the help so far.

Did you remove the. Md5 at the end of the tar file?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

No, I put the md5 back to start from the beginning with everything as it comes from downloads and such.
What do I do about it right now though? Can I safely unplug it and restart it or...?

Seems like you have no choice but to unplug it. Removing the md5 shouldn't make a difference. Try a different USB port.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Yeah, thankfully it didn't brick. I feel like I'm walking through a minefield with this thing.
Anyway, switched ports, had the file renamed to end in .tar, made sure Odin was opened as administrator in Windows 7, and thankfully it flashed fine.
Now I'm back at vanilla 2.1, can start fresh in terms of upgrading, was having some problems earlier. Is that GPS locking problem present in 2.3? Assuming I put ClockworkMod 3 on it and have the file system reset to EXT4, can I just flash to 2.3 ROMs right away?

Such problems
Hi everyone,
Skip this first paragraph if you just want to read my steps from problems to solution:
I hope this post helps people who were in the same situation I was in.
A few days ago I just happened to read the news about the new gingerbread for the AT&T i997 Samsung Infuse. I read that it wasn't over the air. Because of what has been seeming as a bluetooth leak after trying everything to stop the leak up to hard resetting it, I figured I'd pray that gingerbread fixes it. So on went my quest in the last few days trying to get this gingerbread update as fast as I could.
1) I downloaded keys mini for the Samsung device which was needed for the upgrade. I installed it on my main pc which is windows 7 64 bit. After installation, it's first run, it automatically updated the application.
2) I plugged in my phone via usb and it said device not registered so I got in contact with a Samsung rep in chat who told me to register it and it would take 24 hours.
3) I registered on Samsung and waited about 48 hours and still no change.
4) Got impatient and read about GTG Ultimate unbrick which is supposed to return my stock phone back to it's out of box condition which eliminated what I thought as an error with my phone of it not being registered.
5) Now after plugging it in after the unbrick. I got a message stating "device already up to date". I kept getting this for the last couple days. Sigh
6) Read that I could download the new gingerbread stock ROM without being rooted. Just had to use the ODIN3 I got with the GTG Ultimate unbrick zip file and supply the ROM I997UCKL2-Homebinary.tar.md5 as the input file.
7) Follow basically same instructions as unbricking but not reformatting and just supplying the md5 file as the input for hte PDA button then clicking start.
8) Odin 3 message status window was stuck at setupconnection and I knew this wasnt right. It was stuck for over 15 minutes and it should only do that for a minute or less.
9) Unplugged usb and big error in red on Odin 3 (but didn't have a choice)
10) Tried removing battery and retrying the flash but now a bigger issue the screen was all colored specs or in other words multi colored spots. Rut roh!
11) After scratching my head and googling like crazy some others had the same issue and they mentioned removing the battery and trying again but didn't mention that the spots would remain on the screen while the items could be flashed fine.
12) Tried again this time it got past setupconnection but was stuck at initializing.
13) Thought to myself let me try it on my Windows Vista 32 laptop.
14) Voila. It worked. So don't give up if you see the colored spots on your screen. There still is a chance. I now have gingerbread. THANKS EVERYONE!
Next Morning Update:
I was too quick to be happy. It seems I am one of the small few who is having touch sensitivity issues and lag typing on the lower right side of the screen especially with the back key (backspace). I typed my first reply to an email and the third word in the backspace was completely disabled.

Glad you got it working.

Am i the only one when i saw "what now" immediately thought about that lead paint commercial ?

iSaint said:
Am i the only one when i saw "what now" immediately thought about that lead paint commercial ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GTG Ultimate unbrick zip is missing can u re-up it plz?

Stock DL17 ODIN Image With Root

I notices a few users have mentioned that they're dealing with trying to restore or unbrick their Continuum after flashing incompatible kernels and other problems.
I made this backup immediately after I got root, before I did anything else, to make absolutely sure I wouldn't be SOL if anything went awry. I've made absolutely certain this works, by unzipping and flashing on my own Continuum prior to uploading. It contains the system, recovery, and kernel partitions.
This file is also helpful if you need to get back to stock for warranty purposes, in which case you can manually un-root by using your favorite file explorer (I happen to prefer ES File Explorer), grant root permissions, mount system as rw, then manually delete SuperUser from /system/apps, su from /system/bin, and busybox from /systen/xbin. I hope this helps some of you who have been stuck.
You don't need to be rooted to flash this. Simply unzip, flash the .tar.md5, and you're golden. If you end up in restore mode after flashing, you probably need to do a hard reset, but this is unlikely as I tested it by flashing this a few times after installing various programs from the Market and never had to do a hard reset.
Don't forget to put your phone in Download mode by removing the battery, then holding the vol down button while inserting the usb cable. Good luck!
http://www.mediafire.com/?a897dbakz4j7k4f

Thanks for this. I had been messing around with the phone. I was able to get it back to stock.

Kay I try to flash this and it's telling me it's an invalid image type

Never mind, I got it. Thanks

Not a problem, glad I could help!

My phone was soft-bricked. This worked like a charm. Thank you so much!

I ran this and everything passed then when i boot up the phone with animations and sound after the animated verizonwireless logo is up for a while; everything goes black.
any suggestions? never mind I had to do a wipe then it worked

kingtuk1 said:
I ran this and everything passed then when i boot up the phone with animations and sound after the animated verizonwireless logo is up for a while; everything goes black.
any suggestions? never mind I had to do a wipe then it worked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, gotta wipe! At first it's so easy to forget this step. When you get to customizing your installation, you'll get to used to having to wipe it'll become second nature!

I'm so glad to hear this is coming in handy for you all! Now that you got this done, get yourself froyo, courtesy of imnuts: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1197415

Ok after having installed EC03 Froyo via imnuts's thread. Everything was going fine except for some bugs here and there. Fast forward a couple weeks later and I try to fix those bugs by installing a stock odin rom via torque's thread (seems so foolish now that I look back on it). Which brings me to today and my bricked Continuum.
Well to explain further I tried to install the odin Rom only to receive a FAIL in the end (Selected the md5 file through the PDA option and proceeded to flash). Disconnected afterwards only to find out I can't even get the Samsung logo to show up or the phone to charge, but the phone will still go into download mode.
And this leads me to this thread with the same outcome. I've tried flashing this eclair? image only to end up with the fail message again. After the recovery.bin stage it just says "Complete(write) operation failed." Any help with this matter would be appreciated.
Edit: After some searching, gonna try it with imnuts' DL17 image. Will post results.
Edit2: No luck with that either. Guess I'll just wait until the Bionic gets released, but for now I'll have to dig up my dumbphone.

Native89 said:
Ok after having installed EC03 Froyo via imnuts's thread. Everything was going fine except for some bugs here and there. Fast forward a couple weeks later and I try to fix those bugs by installing a stock odin rom via torque's thread (seems so foolish now that I look back on it). Which brings me to today and my bricked Continuum.
Well to explain further I tried to install the odin Rom only to receive a FAIL in the end (Selected the md5 file through the PDA option and proceeded to flash). Disconnected afterwards only to find out I can't even get the Samsung logo to show up or the phone to charge, but the phone will still go into download mode.
And this leads me to this thread with the same outcome. I've tried flashing this eclair? image only to end up with the fail message again. After the recovery.bin stage it just says "Complete(write) operation failed." Any help with this matter would be appreciated.
Edit: After some searching, gonna try it with imnuts' DL17 image. Will post results.
Edit2: No luck with that either. Guess I'll just wait until the Bionic gets released, but for now I'll have to dig up my dumbphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the OP from pastorbennett here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1203597 and try the unbrick process. You can do a search for pastorbennett and trailblazer. Both have posted "recovery processes", or at least links to others that have posted recovery processes. They've saved my butt a couple of times... Except on my first phone that wouldn't go into DL or Recovery Mode. It would just flash the Samsung logo, over, and over, and over again... That happened before pastorbennett posted the unbrick info. Oh well, Verizon replaced it under the hardware warranty. Thankfully.

Looks like I didn't search hard enough.
Thanks for the link Moon. I will be trying this ASAP.
Hit a little bit of a snag trying to get it to work. It told me to install drivers for my device, however my Phone does not show up in the dropbox and the only related thing I can find is "Gadget Serial".
I've tried uninstalling the drivers, but Win7 is being a fool and automatically installing drivers for me.

Does anyone know why i get a 'FAILED' after trying to flash this with Odin? My phone is soft-bricked btw.

Native89 said:
Looks like I didn't search hard enough.
Thanks for the link Moon. I will be trying this ASAP.
Hit a little bit of a snag trying to get it to work. It told me to install drivers for my device, however my Phone does not show up in the dropbox and the only related thing I can find is "Gadget Serial".
I've tried uninstalling the drivers, but Win7 is being a fool and automatically installing drivers for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, if you can, grab a different computer (either Windows XP or Windows 7) and install the samsung drivers from this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1203597. The hint here with ANY Windows computer is to install the device drivers FIRST! (I've been a system administrator for about 20 years.) Then plug in the hardware. It usually makes the installations go MUCH smoother.
If you have to use your computer, try installing the Samsung drivers first, then plug the phone in.
zzir said:
Does anyone know why i get a 'FAILED' after trying to flash this with Odin? My phone is soft-bricked btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The key to odin seems to be this:
1. Start odin.
2. Click the PDA button and select the odin TAR or MD5 file. (You can only do one. Not both.)
3. Make sure the phone is not plugged into the computer.
4. Make doubly sure the phone is not plugged into the computer.
5. Put your phone into download mode. (With the phone off, hold the Volume Down button and turn the phone on.)
6. Then plug the phone into the computer.
7. Start the odin flash and you should be good to go. Also, before unplugging the phone, make sure it says either success or failed. If it doesn't say anything, or says loading (or something like that), WALK AWAY! Go get yourself a cup of coffee, a soda, a nice cup of tea... Something. I recommend waiting at least 10 minutes. If the progress bar has not moved, in that time, okay, then pull the cable and the battery and start again.

I tried to do this, but when it boots into recovery mode, it says update.zip is gone. Any ideas why this might be happening? Also if it's like this, will Verizon take it back within the 14 day return policy without charging me anything?

Tarheel487 said:
I tried to do this, but when it boots into recovery mode, it says update.zip is gone. Any ideas why this might be happening? Also if it's like this, will Verizon take it back within the 14 day return policy without charging me anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you flash the CWM Recovery in Odin? (cwm_recovery_test4_adryn.tar) Can be found here if not http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1230072

is it possible to flash this with heimdall or only odin?

ntien said:
is it possible to flash this with heimdall or only odin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, however, pastorbennett posted this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16600453&postcount=29. It might help? I use Linux at home to build most of this stuff, then use my wife's Windoze machine to flash. It just seemed easier.

Yes, you can use heimdall, you just need to extract this .tar and put the extracted files in the corresponding location in heimdall xD
Sent from my SCH-I400 using xda premium

yeah i saw that but in heimdall 1.3 the UI is different. i don't know where to put any of the stuff. i have the .tar but i dont know where to put the other stuff. here's a screenshot

[Q] S4 stuck on Downloading mode..pls help

Hi guys, Last night I accidently unplugged my phone while installing ClockWORKMOD recovery. Now when I boot my device it is stuck on the Downloading screen. I tried everything including the posts here but the Odin software doesn't see my phone and removing the battery and reinstalling does nothing. I even wiped the phone and factory reset via the clockwork... No Luck. It will not install the Crash ROM either. I get error 7.
It seems like I bricked the phone but I know there is always a way back to life. At least I hope. Any help guys would be great.
thxs
Carlo

shpack said:
Hi guys, Last night I accidently unplugged my phone while installing ClockWORKMOD recovery. Now when I boot my device it is stuck on the Downloading screen. I tried everything including the posts here but the Odin software doesn't see my phone and removing the battery and reinstalling does nothing. I even wiped the phone and factory reset via the clockwork... No Luck. It will not install the Crash ROM either. I get error 7.
It seems like I bricked the phone but I know there is always a way back to life. At least I hope. Any help guys would be great.
thxs
Carlo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to properly install the correct drivers on your PC. There should be no reason that ODIN doesn't see your phone if they are installed correctly. A quick search of the forums should get you the proper drivers to install. You can also try Kies emergency recovery, but it is hit and miss. Good luck.

+1 if you can get into download you can Odin. Use the usb ports in the back of the pc. You might have to use a different computer also. For the life of me I can't get Odin on my pc to recognize the device but I have no problem with my laptop.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app

Wow, didn't we just fix this problem like 2-3 threads ago, IN THIS FORUM?

TheAxman said:
Wow, didn't we just fix this problem like 2-3 threads ago, IN THIS FORUM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the thing, these exact same types of threads just keep rolling through one after the other...people don't search and they don't read. That's the reason they are in the situation they are in to begin with and it seems they just don't learn.
Fortunately, the AT&T S4 forum has come far enough along that the sticky threads and the threads like your guide can be linked for these people to put a little time into finding a solution for themselves. Most of them don't like it (they want it done for them), but if it is all they get, they will finally have to do something the right way on their own.
Actually, a few people are thankful for being pointed in the right direction, but most are still pissed because it means they have to do what they should have done in the first place...follow XDA rules, use the search function, and read. If you don't do everything for them and hand it to them on a plate they call you names and say you are a ****, unhelpful, etc... I just laugh about it because it becomes clear why their phone is F'ed up in the first place. The thing is, sometimes you just can't help people. Just every now and then, someone comes along that needs help and is willing to do things the right way.

You can NOT have kies drivers and samsung drivers loading at the same time, I do not use kies at all, and my pc has NEVER gave me a issue yet using odin, including in my G3 days. uninstall that worthless kies and proceed. If you have to use kies, load it as needed then remove it.
And as always with the lovely microsoft windows, after you un-install anything you have to reboot, for it to work properly.
Linux is my BUD!

[Q] Botched ROM install. Please help!

Edit: Solved... probably
Trying to flash Eclipse ROM following this guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54674079&highlight=guide#post54674079
I got stuck on a black screen. I was told to ODIN the nc2kernel but didn't know what that meant.
I was able to figure out how to use ODIN and get it to recognize the device by plugging it in to the computer and taking out the battery.
This video helped me figure out ODIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qjZDouPMo
I put Beans' nc2kernel in the AP slot of ODIN v3.09 and hit start.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23501681358549122
The phone rebooted to the Eclipse splash/loading screen but got stuck for a long time (30 + minutes)
I took the battery out, went back in to SafeStrap and did a factory wipe which preserved the internal SD data I think?, then re-installed the Eclipse ROM .zip from the downloads folder and let it reboot.
Suddenly, it worked!!! I'm still not entirely sure what just happened but my phone seems to be working again and I'm really happy about that. Hopefully anyone else new to this and totally lost like I was might see this and be helped.

pacerMike1978 said:
Edit: Solved... probably
Trying to flash Eclipse ROM following this guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54674079&highlight=guide#post54674079
I got stuck on a black screen. I was told to ODIN the nc2kernel but didn't know what that meant.
I was able to figure out how to use ODIN and get it to recognize the device by plugging it in to the computer and taking out the battery.
This video helped me figure out ODIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qjZDouPMo
I put Beans' nc2kernel in the AP slot of ODIN v3.09 and hit start.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23501681358549122
The phone rebooted to the Eclipse splash/loading screen but got stuck for a long time (30 + minutes)
I took the battery out, went back in to SafeStrap and did a factory wipe which preserved the internal SD data I think?, then re-installed the Eclipse ROM .zip from the downloads folder and let it reboot.
Suddenly, it worked!!! I'm still not entirely sure what just happened but my phone seems to be working again and I'm really happy about that. Hopefully anyone else new to this and totally lost like I was might see this and be helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you figured it out, there's some helpful folks around here. We would have gotten you going.

thegamerdarkseid said:
Glad you figured it out, there's some helpful folks around here. We would have gotten you going.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I appreciate that and am glad to know there's a place to get help if I get stuck!
When I thought I bricked my phone I was super freaked out and wished I'd never started down this path but now that it's working... oh man, totally worth it. This ROM is everything I wanted it to be.
Everything about the Samsung skin was so ugly I almost didn't like using the phone at all. First I tried installing different launchers thinking that would be good enough but when I found out you couldn't circumvent their dialer when calling (the ugliest part in my opinion) I decided to give rooting a try. Maybe that's a stupid reason but I just really hated that dialer!
I just don't understand where Samsung is going with their interface design. Plus all the extra bloat they saddle the phone down with. Unless they take their future phones out of lockdown I don't think I'll be getting another non Nexus phone from them in the future.
Anyway, the amount of information on this forum is incredible and I'm really grateful for all the work everyone puts in to developing all these tools and methods. It's got to be a ton of hard work and then they just share them with everyone... amazing. I can't wait to read about all the other cool things people here are doing

Failed to flash GApps, soft brick, nightmare.. A novel with a solution.

This started as a beg for help thread, but since the GS4 is coming up on 3 generations old, help is quite slow, yet does still exist as of this edit (3-20-15).
None the less, I will try to explain what happened so that people searching for similar problems might find this thread and resolve their issues.
I soft bricked the phone flashing PacMan. ... The instructions CLEARLY stated that you need to flash the rom, then flash GApps. Well, I forgot to Flash Gapps because I was so excited that I had a successful root and new rom to test that I finger ganged the phone.... The phone booted just fine and worked just fine, but I did not have ANY google apps, and went into a panic... LESSON #1 DO NOT PANIC......
What I failed to realize is that Android Lolipop (at least PacMan's version) requires the user to select options in the developer section of the settings menu to enable you to boot into your custom recovery after you have flashed your custom rom.... I DID NOT KNOW THIS and the information was NOT readily available. So what happened was I panicked and tried to flash another recovery which was apparently NOT the correct recovery for my phone.. (the cascade of errors began here). My phone was soft bricked and NOTHING I did would get me out of it.
So, after at least 50 attempts using Odin to try and flash a good recovery, re-root the phone, whatever I could think of, I finally got out of soft brick, and back to a working phone, yet still no google apps, and no recovery (or so I thought).
By this time, I had asked ....no. begged for help on 2 or 3 different threads to no avail when what I thought was a brain storm came to me.... I googled and located the google play store apk, and google play services apk and thought that if I could just get these 2 things installed, I would be able to log onto the google play store and download the apps I need and all would be right with the world....... Yeah.... Remember the cascade of errors thing I mentioned a few lines up ^^^ ?
Once I installed those 2 apk's and rebooted the phone, I was in nag screen hell with no way out, no custom recovery (remember...or so I thought) and no way to access ANYTHING on the phone because literally the second I hit "ok" on the nag screen, it would immediately pop back up...This "nag screen" was the one that pops up and tells you that "google play services has stopped working".. I came inches away from launching the phone against the wall and buying another one... something... anything but a Samsung GS4.
So here we are, 14 hours (of actual face in the phone, Odin, XDA, Google, YouTube) frantically searching for ANY solution.....and NOTHING presented itself, when I decided to take a step back and walk away from it for a couple of hours.......
The next thing I tried was pounding my way through the nag screen... Literally hitting the "ok" toggle to clear the screen, while instantly trying to hit any other button on the screen to get me into the settings menu, because during my little self imposed time out, I had an epiphany.... of sorts..... What really happened is that I remembered seeing a "factory reset" toggle in the settings menus somewhere.....and I was determined to find it........ SO....... 13,386,329 clicks of the "ok" button later, I managed to engage the factory reset switch at the exact right moment, followed by another 4,388 presses of the "ok" button to get to the "confirm" button.......... and like a beacon from heaven...... My phone rebooted, and factory reset, and the #%g^7**&^|@# nag screen was GONE !!!!! Oh my GOD it was GONE !!!!!!! After recovering from my full blown conniption, catching my breath and feeling like a raver must feel after a good night of Molly and glow stick euphoria, I had a working phone again..... almost.
What I did next was go immediately to Odin, re-root the phone, install a DIFFERENT rom, and the latest version of TWRP and like another beacon from the gods I had a wonderfully functional phone with all of the google apps I needed.... and all was good with the world........Pretty much....
I am nearly certain that I cost myself 5 years of healthy living with the stress I imposed upon myself throughout this ordeal ---- The following are lessons learned. Hopefully they save you from madness...
(1) Do NOT use a USB hub to connect your phone to the computer. The phone MUST be connected directly to a USB port on your machine.
(2) Understand the workings of the rom you are going to flash BEFORE you flash it.
(3) DO NOT PANIC
(4) DO NOT randomly install apk's just because you think you are smarter than a 5th grader, and you are so mad your phone doesn't work, you are going to try anything regardless of how retarded it might be.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST and actually probably the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is locate, download and CONFIRM GOOD a stock firmware for YOUR phone BEFORE YOU ROOT or flash a new rom..... If you get to brick he11 like I did, you will spend more time searching for the tools to get back to zero than you can imagine. You will be revved up, angry with the world, and your google fu will fail you......miserably I might add......
Get all of your ducks in a row BEFORE you root, and before you flash a new rom. That means finding the stock firmware and opening it up in Odin with your phone connected to CONFIRM you have a good firmware to go back to should you fail miserably.... Your very sanity could depend on it...

Team Scream said:
Does anyone have and is willing to share a stock Galaxy S4 rom so I can go back to stock on my phone? I am currently soft bricked and completely dead in the water...
I need to be able to flash the rom using Odin since that is the ONLY way I can communicate with this phone right now....I can flash whatever recovery I want using Odin, but I cannot boot into that recovery once successfully flashed with Odin. It boot loops and goes back to the completely useless PacMan 5.02 rom I flashed previously that repeatedly shows the "google play services has stopped working" screen.... and no number of attempts to clear it by hitting ok will get me to a working desktop
I bricked my phone by flashing PacMan and forgetting to flash GAPPS before rebooting, then trying to install google play services apk and google play store apk manually because I could not get back into recovery for whatever reason....
I have spent the ENTIRE day searching for a stock rom that I can flash with Odin so I can at least get back to zero with this S4 which is actually a brand new phone for me....
PLEASE do not link me to mediafire or rapidgator downloads because I have tried every one of those that google will reveal.. I need one that YOU know is good, and will work. NONE.... NOT ONE of the files I have been able to find online are legitimate .tar files... They ALL unzip with errors and I have tried them on multiple computers.....Multiple download attempts and NOTHING... I have literally been at this for 10 hours now and really need some love.
On a side note, if I can pull the stock rom from my wifes brand new S4 without screwing up her phone, PLEASE tell me how to do that. She literally picked up her brand new replacement S4 today...
Any help is genuinely appreciated... PLEASE.
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http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720)/Stock ROMs

KennyG123 said:
http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720)/Stock ROMs
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Man thank you! THANK YOU! I really appreciate it... I woke this morning to find this reply after leaving my computer running all night for another corrupted downloaded image file.... I have my fingers crossed !!! THANK YOU
P.S. how do I know which one of those files I actually need? I have no idea what the difference is in each of those folders.... Forgive me for noob but I really am pretty noob at this.....

I just looked at the link to help you and noticed that Wilco stops at the NAE baseband. A lot of phones are on the NG2 baseband and if you have a 720T, it could be even a different baseband. Go to settings, "About Phone". Look for" "Baseband" and "Model Number". Write that information down. Once you have that, the last three characters are what is in the list in the link KennyG123 sent you. (For example, I have the original S4 so I have a SPH-L720 and my baseband is L720VPUFNG2 (or NG2 for short. Which was not on that list.) If it is not on the list, go to www.sammobile.com and search for your model number (For example, I am on the SPH-L720. If you just bought your phone from Sprint, you probably have the SPH-L720 or SPH-L720T). You can download the tar file from there. It is a little slow but it will get it done for you. The tar file for both phones are here in this forum if you want to search but going to Sammobile would probably be a little easier from the sounds of it.

dyandell said:
I just looked at the link to help you and noticed that Wilco stops at the NAE baseband. <snip>
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Hey brother, thank you so much for the help and reply. I might have forgot to mention that I cannot get into the phone to read the model # or get any information from it at all. The nag screen telling me that google play services has stopped working is so persistent that I can't do anything with the phone once it boots.
Is there a way to brute force wipe the phone so that the only thing left when that process is done is a custom recovery like TWRP or Philz or anything other than stock?
If so, would you be so kind as to point me in the direction of a tutorial that would help me get through that process.... I am either not using the right search terms or I am just too old to be good at this and should have stayed home when the rooting lessons were being handed out...
Anyway, I genuinely appreciate your help... Thank you so much !!

Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
<<<<<<<< EDIT>>>>>>>>>
I was also able to pound my way into the settings menu and do a factory reset which removed the google play nag. From there I was able to root around in the developer options folder where I discovered that in order to be able to boot into recovery, you need to select the "boot options" tab and allow the device to boot into recovery....
I know this device is old now and most people have moved on, and I am pleased that there are some people who stick around here to keep this device alive. I only wish that someone would have advised me to check the boot options selection when I indicated I could not boot into recovery... That would have saved me 2 days of manic obsessive he11....... This was complete he11...... But I am on the other side of it now, and have reflashed another rom... I am back among the living.

Team Scream said:
Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint phones have always been able to downgrade and thinking that has not changed. You should be able to Odin the last one listed on the link I gave you...NAE...then your phone should boot...you can then take the Sprint OTA if you like then root and recovery as normal. Then you can get to the stuff on your SD and flash. The only issues I remember popping up these days is if you mismatch the modem and OS...which wouldn't be the case if you Odin'd NAE.

Team Scream said:
Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
<<<<<<<< EDIT>>>>>>>>>
I was also able to pound my way into the settings menu and do a factory reset which removed the google play nag. From there I was able to root around in the developer options folder where I discovered that in order to be able to boot into recovery, you need to select the "boot options" tab and allow the device to boot into recovery....
I know this device is old now and most people have moved on, and I am pleased that there are some people who stick around here to keep this device alive. I only wish that someone would have advised me to check the boot options selection when I indicated I could not boot into recovery... That would have saved me 2 days of manic obsessive he11....... This was complete he11...... But I am on the other side of it now, and have reflashed another rom... I am back among the living.
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Click to collapse
Glad you got it fixed! I have had my phone for over a year now and never heard of a boot options tab. I guess you learn something new every day.

Also glad you got it fixed. But let's keep this open in case someone else has the same or similar issue.

KennyG123 said:
Sprint phones have always been able to downgrade and thinking that has not changed. You should be able to Odin the last one listed on the link I gave you...NAE...then your phone should boot...you can then take the Sprint OTA if you like then root and recovery as normal. Then you can get to the stuff on your SD and flash. The only issues I remember popping up these days is if you mismatch the modem and OS...which wouldn't be the case if you Odin'd NAE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well not being able to leave well enough alone, I locked my phone up again.
Because I was able to get out of soft brick without needing a stock firmware, I never bothered downloading NAE from the link you provided.
Turns out after 2 separate downloads (one using Chrome and one using Firefox) I have determined that the md5.tar files on that site http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S4%20%28SPH-L720%29/Stock%20ROMs are worthless.... BOTH downloads failed in Odin before I could even get out of the gate....
They failed the md5 check that Odin performs and would not allow me to continue.... IS there something I am missing?

Team Scream said:
Well not being able to leave well enough alone, I locked my phone up again.
Because I was able to get out of soft brick without needing a stock firmware, I never bothered downloading NAE from the link you provided.
Turns out after 2 separate downloads (one using Chrome and one using Firefox) I have determined that the md5.tar files on that site http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S4%20%28SPH-L720%29/Stock%20ROMs are worthless.... BOTH downloads failed in Odin before I could even get out of the gate....
They failed the md5 check that Odin performs and would not allow me to continue.... IS there something I am missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remove the .md5 extension at the end and try again.

KennyG123 said:
Remove the .md5 extension at the end and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet baby Jeezes please tell me that is not all I had to do.... I spent 4 hours staring at the screen downloading files last night .... I waited 4 hours and finally could not stay awake any more but I finally got the OA3 firmware from SamMobile downloaded successfully. I left the .md5 extension and it is now flashing via Odin as I type this.... I could have saved myself a few more hours of misery if I had known you can remove the .md5 extension..... This learning curve is hard on an old man like me hahaha!
Thanks Kenny
<edit> Ahhhhh.... the sweet smell of success !!! I am now booted back into a stock phone!!!
Man I hope this thread can help save someone else from the anguish I have put myself through with this thing....

Team Scream said:
Sweet baby Jeezes please tell me that is not all I had to do.... I spent 4 hours staring at the screen downloading files last night .... I waited 4 hours and finally could not stay awake any more but I finally got the OA3 firmware from SamMobile downloaded successfully. I left the .md5 extension and it is now flashing via Odin as I type this.... I could have saved myself a few more hours of misery if I had known you can remove the .md5 extension..... This learning curve is hard on an old man like me hahaha!
Thanks Kenny
<edit> Ahhhhh.... the sweet smell of success !!! I am now booted back into a stock phone!!!
Man I hope this thread can help save someone else from the anguish I have put myself through with this thing....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sure it will! Glad you got it working and glad I helped! Some versions of Odin don't care about the md5 extension and others barf it up. With the way your luck went....well...don't buy a lottery ticket this week...hahaha.