Database Users

Siyah kernel 3.1RC6 and BRICKED GALAXY S2

On 22.4.2012 many people bricked their S2 while performing full wipe having Siyah kernel 3.1RC6.
What disappointed me is the update on development coming from developer in real hurry these days.
Developer need to test their development 1000 times before releasing it to users.
As a rule only we the user are responsible flashed kernel knowing the risk of RCs and BETAs.
We can't blame developer for this disaster.........
This thread is for those who bricked S2 and now are in process to recover their devices.
As a general habit, posts on bricked devices can be avoided easily by fan boys.
So now we need to help each other in the process of device recovery.
Please discuss here, what you are doing, any fix whether you found or not.
Thanks
Kachrukamble

kachrukamble said:
Yesterday many people bricked their S2 while performing full wipe having Siyah kernel 3.1RC6..
What disappointed me is the update on development coming from developer in real hurry these days.
Developer need to test their development 1000 times before releasing it to users
As a rule only we the user are responsible flashed kernel knowing the risk of RCs and BETAs.
We can't blame developer for this disaster, BUT.........
This thread is for those who bricked S2 and now are in process to recover their devices.
As a general habit, posts on bricked devices can be easily avoided by fan boys.
So now we need to help each other in the process of device recovery.
Please discuss here, what you are doing, any fix whether you found or not.
I will add Names for those who bricked S2 in OP
Thanks
Kachrukamble
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sad story bro. I know that feeling.
GM must be happy to hear that
Sent via my s2 monster

release candidate = not final = beta = not fully tested =still bugs = bricked = bug = because still beta= your own risk = your fault. Hope this helps.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Thanks for the info buddy. I'm in RC6 only. I was planning to do a full wipe and try out a ROM, and luckily I saw your post. Do let us know if you find a fix (for bricked phones). So can I just flash Siyah v3.1 and this problem will go away?

RobinRichard said:
Thanks for the info buddy. I'm in RC6 only. I was planning to do a full wipe and try out a ROM, and luckily I saw your post. Do let us know if you find a fix (for bricked phones). So can I just flash Siyah v3.1 and this problem will go away?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
of course you can flash 3.1, it solves the issue. only the last updated rc6 had the problem. IF you are on rc6 better flash the updated kernel before doing any factory reset/data wipe to be in the safer side.
So did any one had a chance to solve it without going to service center??

bala_gamer said:
of course you can flash 3.1, it solves the issue. only the last updated rc6 had the problem. IF you are on rc6 better flash the updated kernel before doing any factory reset/data wipe to be in the safer side.
So did any one had a chance to solve it without going to service center??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What the hell happened? Efs cleared?
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9100 mit Tapatalk

I'm one of the "lucky" owners of a bricked-by-Siyah phone
I tried to flash a stock rom with odin but it doesn't work. I tried with:
- KI3, which is a 3-file-fw + .pit. The flash process hangs on data.img
- ILA2, which is a 1-file-fw. The flash with Odin is successful, but the phone can't boot and stays on the "Samsung Galaxy S2" screen all the time.
The only way to access recovery I found is to flash rogue recovery, but it can't mount internal sdcard so I can't flash anything

Ghost-of-the-Sun said:
I'm one of the "lucky" owners of a bricked-by-Siyah phone
I tried to flash a stock rom with odin but it doesn't work. I tried with:
- KI3, which is a 3-file-fw + .pit. The flash process hangs on data.img
- ILA2, which is a 1-file-fw. The flash with Odin is successful, but the phone can't boot and stays on the "Samsung Galaxy S2" screen all the time.
The only way to access recovery I found is to flash rogue recovery, but it can't mount internal sdcard so I can't flash anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you can access download mode, then you have many ways to recover your s2 without reaching SC

RobinRichard said:
Thanks for the info buddy. I'm in RC6 only. I was planning to do a full wipe and try out a ROM, and luckily I saw your post. Do let us know if you find a fix (for bricked phones). So can I just flash Siyah v3.1 and this problem will go away?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happy to hear that you saved, many people didnt
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using Tapatalk

bala_gamer said:
if you can access download mode, then you have many ways to recover your s2 without reaching SC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I can access it, but the internal sdcard is never mounted so I can't use my phone... I hope somebody will find and share a fix for this problem :-(

Unless the hardware is damaged, every full-bricked Galaxy S2 can be recovered witha J-tag repair.
If one does not have the hardware hardware to perform such a repair, he has to either purchase it or find somebody that has it nearby.

Ghost-of-the-Sun said:
Yes I can access it, but the internal sdcard is never mounted so I can't use my phone... I hope somebody will find and share a fix for this problem :-(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did anyone try flashing a boot loader? Nothing to lose now really
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Mine is bricked, partly due to me not reading the posts. I'm able to get into download mode, will have a play with Odin on the off chance something fixes it but I guess it's unlikely...

Ghost-of-the-Sun said:
Yes I can access it, but the internal sdcard is never mounted so I can't use my phone... I hope somebody will find and share a fix for this problem :-(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to enter 3e recovery and factory reset phone and see what happens mate. Wait for like 5 mins and if buttons light up ur good...
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9100 mit Tapatalk

Dang I'm on siyah rc6 still running, if I flash 3.1 or another kernel its safe right?
Its safe using cwm app

is CWM available at all on Siyah bricked mobiles?

bartoloandre98 said:
Dang I'm on siyah rc6 still running, if I flash 3.1 or another kernel its safe right?
Its safe using cwm app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flash immediately 3.1 without wipe
---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:56 PM ----------
itchetrigr said:
is CWM available at all on Siyah bricked mobiles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its available but working with errors because of the mount problem of some partitions.

itchetrigr said:
is CWM available at all on Siyah bricked mobiles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bricked means dead in this case, you can't do anything with dead piece..

Well this just reinforces my belief to stick with stock kernels.
To the people with bricked phones, hope you guys are able to unbrick it without too much pain!

Does anyone know how to find a jtag service in korea, seoul? my phone is fully bricked and i need it back asap ....

4.0.3 LPY Bug Discussion (STOP POSTING eMMC CID data)

they say (in the PSA message of entropy) that the OTA update of ICS is affected with the "superbrick" bug that bricked a lot of users... and the idea scares me...
garwynn said:
Hello fellow XDAers!
I'm looking into something and need to kindly request some data from Note owners for comparison. We found a potential attempt to fix this and want to check Note eMMC cid data to see if it matches.
Can you please run the following from adb shell?
(Thanks to sfhub for original steps, two additions to it.)
[email protected]:/ $ su
[email protected]:/ # cd /sys/class/block/mmcblk0/device
[email protected]:/sys/class/block/mmcblk0/device # cat name hwrev fwrev manfid oemid date type serial
MAG4FA
0x0
0x0
0x000015
0x0100
08/2011
MMC
0x01234567
[email protected]:/sys/class/block/mmcblk0/device # cat cid
1501004d414734464119012345671f0f
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please copy and paste the results (examples in italics) and either PM or add here when possible. I need to expand the sample set as much as possible so those who can do it it is much appreciated!
And to follow the discussion on the Epic 4G Touch side (Sprint Galaxy S2):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
Thanks to all in advance for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please post your eMMC CID data to help mr. garwynn in his investigations.
As of now, the bug or effects of the bug is hard to pinpoint. and with your help, it could be solved.. thanks for cooperating.
NOTE: you can use Terminal Emulator and input the codes in bold above. then copy paste it here. thanks
To MODS: i edited the thread since a few users have posted their eMMC CID here and avoid split threads with the same posts. thank you.
Note: stop posting eMmc data. Mr. Garwynn got enough stuff already. Just post if you have different cid other than 0x19 (check his thread how to determine)
Latest Update from Android Team:
garwynn said:
Well, it's been some time but thankfully Mr. Sumrall from Android did get back to us on our questions. I think the community will find that this was worth the wait.
Issue: fwrev not set properly.
As we suspected the bugfix is not in our build. (The patch applies this unconditionally.)
Originally Posted by Ken Sumrall
The patch includes a line in mmc.c setting fwrev to the rights bits from the cid register. Before this patch, the file /sys/class/block/mmcblk0/device/fwrev was not initialized from the CID for emmc devices rev 4 and greater, and thus showed zero.
(On second inquiry)
fwrev is zero until the patch is applied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question: Revision didn't match the fix
(Emphasis mine in red as it discusses the superbrick issue.)
Originally Posted by Ken Sumrall
You probably have the bug, but rev 0x19 was a previous version of the firmware we had in our prototype devices, but we found it had another bug that if you issued an mmc erase command, it could screw up the data structures in the chip and lead to the device locking up until it was powered cycled. We discovered this when many of our developers were doing a fastboot erase userdata while we were developing ICS. So Samsung fixed the problem and moved to firmware revision 0x25. Yes, it is very annoying that 0x19 is decimal 25, and that led to lots of confusion when trying to diagnose emmc firmware issues. I finally learned to _ALWAYS_ refer to emmc version in hexadecimal, and precede the number with 0x just to be unambiguous.
However, even though 0x19 probably has the bug that can insert 32 Kbytes of zeros into the flash, you can't use this patch on devices with firmware revision 0x19. This patch does a very specific hack to two bytes of code in the revision 0x25 firmware, and the patch most likely will not work on 0x19, and will probably cause the chip to malfunction at best, and lose data at worst. There is a reason the selection criteria are so strict for applying this patch to the emmc firmware.
I passed on our results a few days later mentioning that the file system didn't corrupt until the wipe. This is a response to that follow-up.
As I mentioned in the previous post, firmware rev 0x19 has a bug where the emmc chip can lockup after an erase command is given. Not every time, but often enough. Usually, the device can reboot after this, but then lockup during the boot process. Very rarely, it can lockup even before fastboot is loaded. Your tester was unlucky. Since you can't even start fastboot, the device is probably bricked. :-( If he could run fastboot, then the device could probably be recovered with the firmware update code I have, assuming I can share it. I'll ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question: Why the /data partition?
Originally Posted by Ken Sumrall (Android SE)
Because /data is the place the chip that experiences the most write activity. /system is never written to (except during an system update) and /cache is rarely used (mostly to receiving OTAs).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question: Why JTAG won't work?
Originally Posted by Ken Sumrall
As I mention above, the revision 0x19 firmware had a bug that after an emmc erase command, it could leave the internal data structures of the emmc chip in a bad state that cause the chip to lock up when a particular sector was accessed. The only fix was to wipe the chip, and update the firmware. I have code to do that, but I don't know if I can share it. I'll ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question: Can a corrupted file system be repaired (on the eMMC)?
Originally Posted by Ken Sumrall
e2fsck can repair the filesystem, but often the 32 Kbytes were inserted at the start of a block group, which erased many inodes, and thus running e2fsck would often result in many files getting lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, while the fix doesn't apply to us at the moment, we've been given a great insight into the superbrick issue as well as information that a fix is already developed (hopefully we'll see it released!). The bug likely applies to us and assuming the fix for the 0x19 firmware is given then it would apply to our devices.
On a lighter note, I wanted to include his close:
Originally Posted by Ken Sumrall
You are getting a glimpse into the exciting life of an Android kernel developer. Turns out the job is mostly fighting with buggy hardware. At least, it seems that way sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

musashiro said:
they say (in the PSA message of entropy) that the OTA update of ICS is affected with the "superbrick" bug that bricked a lot of users... and the idea scares me...
questions :
1. why is the bug present on an OTA update?
2. a lot of users say that they use wipe and their ICS is fixed. if LPY is affected with this "superbrick" bug, how come they are still using their phone after wiping?
3. how to safely go back to Stock GB??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I have no clue - I have lost a LOT of faith in Samsung as a result of this. For more detail, see chasmodo's post in the CM9 thread.
2) Maybe only 5-10% of people get hit by Superbrick - many can wipe with affected kernels and be safe, also in many cases you can wipe 3-4 times and die on the 5th attempt (see Epic 4G Touch forums)
3) Flash an unaffected kernel using Odin.

Entropy512 said:
1) I have no clue - I have lost a LOT of faith in Samsung as a result of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah man. Last Samsung phone for me. Luckily I didn't "upgrade" to it yet.

I've tested:
Wipe everything with original recovery
Wipe Everything with CWM
Not a single issue.
My guess is that the "superbrick" is something related to the use of a kernel that's its not intended to this device. Maybe there's more diference between I9220 and N7000 that we know!
Just my 2c.

Chas flashed cfroot lpy ontop of cm9. His was only case. Nobody has reported issues of cfroot lpy using official ics. The fear campaign is unnecessary. Jist dont use cfroot lpy with your cm9

Atrix_E said:
Chas flashed cfroot lpy ontop of cm9. His was only case. Nobody has reported issues of cfroot lpy using official ics. The fear campaign is unnecessary. Jist dont use cfroot lpy with your cm9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats what im thinking...
glad im not the only one who thinks that way....
we NEED confirmations with CF, but he is also thinking that LPY *does* have the I/O bug...

musashiro said:
thats what im thinking...
glad im not the only one who thinks that way....
we NEED confirmations with CF, but he is also thinking that LPY *does* have the I/O bug...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Time will tell. This was official OTA not a leak. So if thia creates a lot of problems I would not be surprised to see some sort of litigation against Sammy.

how dead is the emmc actually?
is it dead physically, or is there any security key got erased?
to my understanding, emmc is just a sd card(or mmc card), that is soldered onboard directly. it should handle all nand flash trouble internally and act like a block device. the driver should be fairly simple.
for nor flash there is a high voltage factory high speed programming mode that can only be used for 10 times or so.

first thing that bugs me is that, out of all the users who flashed the LPY rom and LPY cfroot, he is the only one complaining about brick...

Whenever I read about these bricked notes, CM9 always seems to be mentioned too... maybe that is just a coincidence.

Atrix_E said:
Chas flashed cfroot lpy ontop of cm9. His was only case. Nobody has reported issues of cfroot lpy using official ics. The fear campaign is unnecessary. Jist dont use cfroot lpy with your cm9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what i did, straight from cm9 v7 to lpy. may be i'm lucky

What the hell is this thread? People bricked there note with the chinese leak. This is a officiele rom. Before update make sure your not on chinese sh!t kernel.

Atrix_E said:
Chas flashed cfroot lpy ontop of cm9. His was only case. Nobody has reported issues of cfroot lpy using official ics. The fear campaign is unnecessary. Jist dont use cfroot lpy with your cm9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The contents of /system are irrelevant to how recovery behaves when wiping.

Look, guys, it's extremely hard to tell what exactly caused my Note to brick up.
Maybe all my Repack Rom hopping made it wonky, and LPY was the proverbial
straw that broke the camel's back?
Maybe LPY contains some bug that affects one Note in a thousand? Ten thousand?
I certainly don't think CM9 is to blame. If the kernel is 100% pukka, not a single Rom
could cause a hard-brick.
Anyway, I wouldn't start a panicky retreat to GB if I were you.
Use your phones cautiously, though: don't start flashing custom Roms left, right
and center when they emerge. Also, don't use your CWMR if you don't have to,
just in case. And check the fora regularly to see if there are any more bricks.
Then decide what to do.
I sincerely hope I'm the first and the last victim of LPY.

robertberma said:
What the hell is this thread? People bricked there note with the chinese leak. This is a officiele rom. Before update make sure your not on chinese sh!t kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He wasn't on a chinese leaked kernel, he was on official CM9 kernel.

ykk_five said:
that's what i did, straight from cm9 v7 to lpy. may be i'm lucky
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think there's a difference in flashing.
chas was already on cm9 and decided just to flash the kernel only.
whereas your case you flashed the full lpy rom package from cm9 over cm9.
my case was similar to yours but i flashed the rom and cf lpy root kernel all at one go without wipe in mo, but could not get pass the boot screen after which a complete wipe in cwm solved the problem.
but i guess i won't be flashing anything in cwm yet until it is confirmed safe.

robertberma said:
What the hell is this thread? People bricked there note with the chinese leak. This is a officiele rom. Before update make sure your not on chinese sh!t kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was on officiele™ CM9, Bobby, not Chinese...ahem...as you so eloquently put it.

We're really unlucky with this hardbricking and all crap i mean how long will this go on? This is getting ridiculous ...

I think the difference was: Most people wiped when flashing LPY, and when they wiped, they were still on an old "safe" kernel.
In Chas's case - he forgot to wipe initially, so went and wiped using the LPY kernel.
Wiping (and anything that incurs a wipe/format, which includes flashing full firmware packages and Nandroid restores) seems to be the most dangerous operation - it's the same deal over in the Epic 4G Touch forums - wipes are the killer.
And as stated in the sticky - this may only affect a small percentage of users - maybe 2%, maybe 5%, maybe 10%. That's why some people have been able to safely wipe with affected kernels in the past. It's the same over in the E4GT forums - some people wiped 10 times and problems showed up on the 11th.

i guess i will just use the phone normally, no flash, no wipes.. just a regular phone(the main reason for buying the phone) and wait till clarifications arise..
since Chainfire also uses the words "might", "appears" and others that certainly tell that he isn't sure as well...
lets wait for more clarifications....
for me if its an OTA update.. it means that its fully polished.. the main reason why i used it instead of custom roms and sh*tty leaks..

Helpful info on ICS, GB, Bricks, Flashing etc... ! Trying to Sum Up !

I am writing this because I know nobody has the time to go through all the threads.
People don't use the SEARCH button (there is no alternative to that..neither my rant here)
So tried to sum up all that I can here. Do let know below in comments if anything else is to be added or removed.​I urge everyone to go through this complete post and I am sure you will find something interesting or something worth for you. If not then I am sorry for your 5 mins wasted !!
For all the members who are about to get their hands dirty or are already in the dirty waters! Welcome!
Just make yourself double sure that you are here and you are comfortable about playing with your device. Be okay with bricking it (yeah had to say this because whining and pointing fingers at others is not acceptable here)
Please avoid asking questions about rooting and stock roms in a particular rom thread. Let there be talk about that rom development and not rooting.
You want to root your device. Here you go – Rooting Guide by Dr Ketan
You want stock Roms – Here you go – Stock Roms by Dr Ketan again
You want Stock Prerooted Roms – Here you go – Stock Odex Prerooted Roms by Bodivas
PS - If you are using the Prerooted Stock Roms from the above link then after PC ODIN flash of the stock rom of your choice just download the corresponding CF Root Kernel (i.e. if you flashed LC1 Rom, download LC1 CF-Root kernel) and flash it through Mobile Odin to inject CWMR. Done.
You want all the Safe kernels - Here you go - [ICS][GB] Kernel Repository
So you are now rooted. Now as per Samsung your warranty is now void. Congrats. Remember you only did it and you only wanted it. So cheers!! Pour yourself and me a beer
Now go flash any GB custom rom you like choosing from here – GT N7000 Development Thread
Okay remember to read the changelog and the Features. Don’t crib for the features that are not included. You don’t like the rom and features move on. Don’t curse the developer for it.
Very Famous Example- asking for touchwiz features like SMemo, SPen gestures in APOKP/AOSP roms. Blasts on your way. Better reading about them here by Chasmodo - Flash ICS and Survive
Who wants GB now. All wants the cool IceCream!
Okay so WAIT.
Now remember there are much serious repercussions in getting to ICS than doing all the above stuff with GB.
Here this is to be read very first – Hard Bricking Kernels Public Announcement by Entropy
NEVER perform any sort of WIPE or FACTORY RESET when on Stock ICS Kernel/Rom (rooted or non-rooted)
DO NOT try to go to any CM9 or CM10 based rom from the Samsung ICS rom/kernel. Sure shot BRICK.(those who haven't got bricked by doing this consider your self lucky...huh) Best way is to - Go to GB > root > then flash any CM9 based rom.​
Only These roms are termed completely safe till now and are build on safe kernels till the time Samsung doesn’t release the source code and we have plethora of kernels like in GB.(will keep adding to the list)
CM9 Nightlies
Asylum ICS
MIUI
ParanoidAndroid
HALF-ILLUSION
All other ROMs that are based on the CM9 source.(info about it in the OP of each ROM thread...must read always)
The stock ICS roms which are on custom kernels like Franco / Speedmod etc which have MMC_CAP_ERASE command disabled.
There are many ROMs in the dev section which are based on LPY kernel. They too work perfect but still have the volatility and the warnings applied as the LPY is not that safe. So flash on your own risk and don't pester the Devs of those roms about question of safety and security. Read the above Public Announcement and decide which way you want to go!
Now some more info. Always before doing any of the flashing
Check your current kernel from
Settings > About Phone > Kernel Version .
Do NOT flash from the following kernels:
i9220ZCLP1
i9220ZCLP5
i9220ZCLP6
N7000XXLPY
Some most asked questions.
Q1 –Man m already on one of these kernels. Now waaahhhat?
Don’t panic. If you are on the rom which includes any of these kernels then refrain from flashing anything in the CWM. If the rom you are on presently is good for you just be there and don’t go on experimenting on the unsafe kernels. Wait for the stable safe kernls to come out.
Or
Switch to any of the above safe roms.
Before going to any of the safe roms go back to stock GB. Use PC Odin.
Here we have another complication. Check this thread. LPY to GB via PC Odin = super brick? This might be the fix of these Superbricks - Here
Now best way is always PC odin. And it still is unless your EMMC is not already damaged by using the wipe function . Check Here Above case happened to some users but most of the users whent back successfully. Now always remember to use PC odin when you have installed all the drivers. If you use Windows 7 PC then always check for the Online Searching for Drivers in the notification bar on your PC. This should be stopped or completed before doing any PC odin activity.
IMP - You can use Mobile Odin. But make sure first that the rom you are on and using the Mobile Odin that is having complete root by pasting any file in the root folder which is /system (use any file explorer with root privileges)
Once on GB, root it. If you going for the Pre Rooted Stock Roms remember you will have to inject the CWM using the CF Root zip from Chainfire’s thread for any subsequent flashing you want to do or use Mobile Odin (remember to check complete root status before using it)
Q2 - I am already on CM9 or Asylum or MIUI can I try the stock ICS German release?
Sure you can try but with no CWM. It sucks so recommendation is don’t try. Be on the safe roms and wait. And I bet they are much better and smoother than the stock. There are some cases of bricks with LPY having root when flashing in CWM or doing intensive I/O tasks.
There is no reported harm to flash ics without cf root(stock kernel + root no cwm) Check the Official ICS Flashing guide by Dr ketan again (Man this guy helps the Note community a lot )
Q3 – Man I am on GB and it sucks. I want ICS.
GB doesn’t suck in this case. At least you have your device working. If you are not comfortable enough with all the cautions and thin lines to tread its better to stay on GB a little longer. If you daring enough go tread on the lines of ICS but don’t cry over the brick you might achieve if you are not careful enough.
Q4 – I cant paste into /system folder nor can change DPI.
You have lost root. Kindly PC ODIN (only and only PC Odin) back to GB and then get it rooted (or flash pre rooted rom then inject CWM or use mobile odin now after flashing the pre rooted rom) and then flash the ICS rom of your choice (better stick to the safe ones…if not your wish)
Q5 – Am Senior Member I Know my way in and out and daring enough to tinker. All Warnings Applied
So you don’t want the Odin back to GB. Well then you have the Abyss Note 4.2 Kernel with Redpill Touch recovery. You are on any unsafe kernel ICS Rom and you want to go to safe rom then do one last CWM flash of Abyss kernel reboot recovery and then flash the safe roms. This keeps your root intact. You can even acieve root though this if you have lost it. Just flash Abyss 4.2 go to GB. Check root there and then flash the ICS rom. No need of repack. If any of this gets struck or brick then you know your way out already…..you told that in the question. My little guide here. Link for Abyss 4.2 Kernel in the guide.
Q6 - Most asked in the rom threads – I want the LP5 and LP6 modems. Here please.
Q7 - I want to go to LPF or whatever stock kernel ICS. And is it safe?
PLEASE dont go that route. Better stay on GB or root it and flash any of the CM9 kernel based rom. Please humble request!! :angel: Ask why in the comments if you don't get it by reading all the info in this post.
Q8 - The ICS source code is out. Where are the new kernels?
Yeah the SGN ICS sources are out. Check HERE
Wait for the developers to wield their magic and you will have the awesome kernels out for you in no time! Patience is the key
Q9 - I seriously want the safe CM9 kernel. Where is it?
Search for it in the CM9 thread. But i know many of you wont do that. So just to make this OP a lil more lengthy and one stop kind of shop m attaching the file below. Thanks Xplodwild. Flash the extracted zImage using mobile odin. Its a safe kernel so you can use its CWM anytime you want.I cant say with what all roms it will work. Might break some features in some roms so flash at your OWN RISK.
Q10 - What about the new ICS kernels??
Well the safest kernel CM9 is attached and the other one by Entropy's DAFUQ kernel got updated too. Franco and Speedmod kernels are build on the latest ICS Sources and have the formatting of MMC is blocked. So you are safe from damaged MMC bricking bug but not sure about the any other bricking bug on that as two users (AFAIK) reported bricks in the Franco kernel thread.
Also look for as Entropy told here - "install CPUSpy and make sure you don't see "se.infra" anywhere - that's the buildhost of Samsung's own kernels which are dangerous"
Be safe, Play safe. Check their change-logs...what works and what not and where and what roms you can install them on!
Q11 - I want to jump off from the unsafe kernels. How ???
A quick guide from Chasmodo - Here And lil Info about Mobile Odin Here
Q12 - Brick! Brick Brick!! What Man everywhere i read this on ICS!! Why is it so happening??
Well, as very well explained by Entropy -
"We now know there are three things that are ALL needed for this to happen:
1) A recovery (can be the recovery itself OR it can be the update-binary in a ZIP you flash!) that performs ERASE commands in addition to formatting. (GB recoveries and update-binaries don't do this, ICS ones do)
2) A kernel that allows those ERASE attempts to actually go through. (Disabling MMC_CAP_ERASE prevents this.)
3) Buggy eMMC firmware
Basically:
In Gingerbread, condition 1 was not met (However, this isn't guaranteed - if a Gingerbread ROM developer happens to accidentally grab an ICS update-binary in his installation ZIP, this COULD brick!)
In I9100 ICS releases, condition 2 was not met due to MMC_CAP_ERASE being removed
Condition 3 is true for nearly every GT-I9100, SGH-I777, SPH-D710, and GT-N7000 ever sold."
So got it ? Wanna get your minds more widen with the knowledge on this aspect - Visit HERE
Q13 - Got Brickbug ???
CHECK HERE - Thanks Chainfire
Q14 - I want to have CM10 on my rom!! How to??
Check on what kernel you are on. Any Stock ICS kernel or any kernel based on stock ICS sources then go PC odin back to GB (just read the above conditions on wiping and factory restoring first). Now get root on your GB. Install a CM9 based rom and after that install CM10 rom. For people being extra adventurous you can use the CM9 safe kernel to switch between roms. :angel: And never forget doing full wipe before coming to CM10
Don’t use any repacks now please. LP1 is a NO NO ! And don’t even think about the other one!
To Devs – If you find this guide or rant useful then please link in your OP. Thanks for your great work and time you invest you us. You are providing all this awesomeness free of cost. Hats off to you all !!
Respect them people. Or read this - Show your Support, Don't Whine by toxicthunder
To All Members – If you find this useful kindly hit the thanks button. And remember to read OP of each rom thread!!
Happy Flashing and Enjoy your Notes !​I would like to quote+edit from toxicthunder post.
If something goes wrong, cry yourself a river.
But then don't forget to build a bridge and get over it.​
A highly recommended and awesome and handy extension for you all (Thanks Toxicthunder)
*Galaxy Note Toxic Toolbar* - Check it out
Lastly thanks to Chainfire , Entropy512 , Xplodwild , Dr Ketan , Original_Ganjaman , Chasmodo , Antiochasylum , Matius44 , Tremerone , Toxicthunder , Androidindian , Geo.Samuel for all the help and support you guys have provided to me and the community.
And just in case you thought this have helped you save your precious time and device and you have some pennies to spare , Then you are most welcome to​​donate here This will encourage me more ​

Reserved for some future addons
For Mac Users - read Heimdall instead of PC Odin

Thanks for this it will be very use full to many who choose to take the time to read fine work thanks

Will be linking this in my OP.
As long as people READ it, very very good info.

Looks great brother!
.....like Anti said....hopefully people will READ it and understand. It's pretty crystal clear if you ask me.

Good summary!

Impeccable. Must read for every user.
If I had my way, this post should flash on each and every user's screen before he clicks on the "Post Quick Reply" button.
Many thanks for this!!

A good summary of our current and somewhat unfortunate ICS situation.

So the new LPF firmware/kernel is it safe? Because I saw some members wipe etc. and say it works fine except it doesnt restore. but is it safe from bricks?

androidindian said:
So the new LPF firmware/kernel is it safe? Because I saw some members wipe etc. and say it works fine except it doesnt restore. but is it safe from bricks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's early days yet. Be patient and we'll see.

Good one dawg!!
But if everybody had an habit of reading.............

Great work mate, added to the sticky list

Thanks Friends for all the support!! Yeah the only effort one has to do is to read. I made an effort to bring as many things as possible under one thread/OP. If not 100 threads then at least read this one. Yeah it still has so many threads linked but at least most of the info that is strewn in many threads i have tried to catch up here with direct linking. Will keep updating as new things keep popping. The first on the list being the LPF. Update in a couple of hours
Hope it helps all !!
Ah...and thanks OG for the sticky

Awesome thread.... for the awesome phone
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

Great thread.
With so much information flowing these days, it's hard to keep track of what's going on.
Also, I had no idea that going back to GB from LPY may hard brick.. **** this.

Very well written post mate might recommend you as an editor trainee under the supeevision of our guru chas
Seriously though, very helpful thread and I really wish more and more members read it first.. Congrats on the sticky, well deserved
Cheers mate

Nice and concise.... Much appreciated
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

I found this threat very usefull..thanks mate
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

First off GREAT POST ABHISAHARA!!! A thanks is coming your way . Soooo..... after reading your initial post, the the LPY to GB via PC Odin = super brick? thread, and THEN the how to revert back to gb from lpy ics View Single Post thread. I have a "decent" grasp on where I'm at. I was one of the gunslingers that jumped on board the LPY on day 1. I was on rooted (GB or ICS Repack, can't remember honestly) and installed LPY Stock unrooted via PC odin. It did NOT wipe all my data so i'm assuming that means I did not do a full wipe (seems like a good thing from what I read), I really would feel better if I got off of this and went back to GB. I understand if my phone works fine I should sit tight, but I do deal with large movie files on a reg basis. The steps are where it gets grainy.
What I plan to do:
1: Connect via pc odin and flash only the abyss kernel 4.2
2. Connect and flash the 3 file Rooted GB rom
3. Finally wipe everything
Could someone just tell me if a: I am being flat out stupid and should really stick with what I got, or b: let me know if what I plan to do is a best course of action for taking this plunge. Thanks in advance guys!!!

A very nice piece of work that should be read by every member.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

[Q] Confused... ICS leaks can brick the Note, will official releases do the same?

I'm sorry. I SWEAR I read tons of threads but things still aren't clear to me.
ICS leaks seem to possibly brick the Note.
But there are several threads with official ICS firmwares for the Note (ex: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646088)
Can I use the official ICS firmware to upgrade my Note? Or should I wait a bit more?
Thanks!

From what I understand, you should be fine with official ICS as long as you don't do factory/data reset with the stock kernel. What are you using now?

leppo said:
From what I understand, you should be fine with official ICS as long as you don't do factory/data reset with the stock kernel. What are you using now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kernel says 2.6.35.7-N7000UBKK8
I suppose I'll stay on GB. Things look a bit scary even with the stock kernel!

The official can brick the note muaaahuahuahuahuuaaa
Seriously as the previous poster said only if you are into wiping and restoring you MAY be in danger
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

fjhuerta said:
I'm sorry. I SWEAR I read tons of threads but things still aren't clear to me.
ICS leaks seem to possibly brick the Note.
But there are several threads with official ICS firmwares for the Note (ex: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646088)
Can I use the official ICS firmware to upgrade my Note? Or should I wait a bit more?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I upgraded my Note and it is completely fine, my friend with a Note as well hasn't told me about his phone being bricked either. But I'm not sure about all the others though, since mine is the Hong Kong official one, and I never use the leaks so they don't really bother me.
Sent from my Galaxy Note

leppo said:
From what I understand, you should be fine with official ICS as long as you don't do factory/data reset with the stock kernel. What are you using now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say factory reset you mean going into settings and then "data factory reset"? I normally do that after a huge update and format my SD card too. So that is a no no on ICS?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Hagow said:
When you say factory reset you mean going into settings and then "data factory reset"? I normally do that after a huge update and format my SD card too. So that is a no no on ICS?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is correct.

leppo said:
From what I understand, you should be fine with official ICS as long as you don't do factory/data reset with the stock kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bull****. I have tried to do wipe from CWM and MobileOdin over and over again more than 15 times at ICS leaks and ICS stocks and custom kernels and custom ROMs. Never got any problem.

anonymous572 said:
Bull****. I have tried to do wipe from CWM and MobileOdin over and over again more than 15 times at ICS leaks and ICS stocks and custom kernels and custom ROMs. Never got any problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to read the stickies in this forum regarding the fact that it's not an issue that effects all users. But it effects some by bricking their phones.
Along with the advice to not tell others that the problem doesn't exist based on your experience.

diji1 said:
You might want to read the stickies in this forum regarding the fact that it's not an issue that effects all users. But it effects some by bricking their phones.
Along with the advice to not tell others that the problem doesn't exist based on your experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please don't tell others that all N7000 have problems with wiping on ICS roms. I never saw anyone who have this strange wipe "problem".

anonymous572 said:
Please don't tell others that all N7000 have problems with wiping on ICS roms. I never saw anyone who have this strange wipe "problem".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can you say that man,,,thr are so many ppl on Xda here that are reporting to have bricked thr devices......or are you saying that as long as you r not rooted , this bricking thing just wudn't happen?

anonymous572 said:
Please don't tell others that all N7000 have problems with wiping on ICS roms. I never saw anyone who have this strange wipe "problem".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and I never saw anyone without this strange wipe problem, want to know for sure? go install an app by chainfire called got brickbug?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1693704
maybe you are lucky to have an unaffected chip ,but 99.9% of users have a known damaged chip fw.
I suggest you go read the sticky in which it says that some people have wiped 19 times and got a full brick on the 20th attempt ,some even more .
I myself have wiped once safely ,but the second wipe made the emmc go nuts ,luckily however it was not fully dead ,and I restored it ,barely .
besides ,samsung and Google have both confirmed this bug ,so who are you to state otherwise?!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27137024
so I would like to suggest that you stop spreading dangerous miss information to the noobs or I'll report your post next time.

MR.change said:
besides ,samsung and Google have both confirmed this bug ,so who are you to state otherwise?!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27137024
so I would like to suggest that you stop spreading dangerous miss information to the noobs or I'll report your post next time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
The source of the problem has been found and confirmed...how can people still be ignorant and spread bad advice.
As Mr.change said above, yes there is a problem even with official ICS, you may get lucky but you will run into a problem eventually if you keep wiping data/factory reset with affected ICS kernels...so best not to do so.

What would be the alternative to a factory reset then? I'm waiting to receive a new Note and intend to install stock ICS straight away but I worry that I'll mess up my first ever Android install and have to start again. Could you re.install the update without a wipe?

solarboy said:
What would be the alternative to a factory reset then? I'm waiting to receive a new Note and intend to install stock ICS straight away but I worry that I'll mess up my first ever Android install and have to start again. Could you re.install the update without a wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are new to this then I would advise that you stay way from it till you learn your way around the basics of flashing using PC ODIN ,mobile ODIN ,and recovery.
then flash stock ICS with a safe custom kernels and you should be safe.
besides ,samsung stock ICS isn't that different from GB ,same look and same performance . you'd want to install CM9 to get a taste of true ICS.
so like I said ,take your time ,bricking your new shinny phone can be devastating .

anonymous572 said:
Please don't tell others that all N7000 have problems with wiping on ICS roms. I never saw anyone who have this strange wipe "problem".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is you don't know if you will hit the problem until you find out the hard way.
Once you've hit the problem there is no recovery.
So stop telling everyone that they are safe because you got lucky.
People who want to run ICS should use a kernel that has a safe configuration (MMC_CAP_ERASE removed from drivers/mmc/host/mshci.c) - This includes, but is not necessarily limited to (check the kernel's info) the CM9 included kernel, Hardcore's Speedmod ICS, and Franco.kernel r3 and above. Be sure to verify that you're running a safe kernel with CPUSpy before dropping into recovery - a few people had Mobile Odin fail to flash a safe kernel when they were on a dangerous one and then bricked because they didn't verify.

شكرا

solarboy said:
شكرا
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are most welcome my friend
لا شكر على واجب

nandihno said:
The official can brick the note muaaahuahuahuahuuaaa
Seriously as the previous poster said only if you are into wiping and restoring you MAY be in danger
What do u mean..? doing a factory reset is a common thing.. who on this earth doesn't do a factory data reset at all on their phone.. and if u ask me we must do a factory reset after updating to a new rom.
Pity on samsung.. their official builds destroy the phone. I can't believe.. how they released it without testing.. and why didnt the stop their ****ty ics update from being live till now..
i also have a question .. Has Samsung acknowledged the fact that their stock ics can cause bricking issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

XXLS1 JB leak and eMMC "brickbug" safety

I was going to put this in the JB thread, but that has apparently been locked due to flaming.
As mentioned in other threads on the eMMC "brickbug", Samsung's official patch for this issue is NOT to remove MMC_CAP_ERASE, but to only disable secure erase in the kernel.
See: https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/1383661/
Now, we've been highly disappointed that Samsung hasn't included this patch in many updates for a variety of devices. However, on analyzing the kernel, it appears it *might* be safe due to having Samsung's official patch.
If you unpack the kernel, and then run "strings" on the unpacked image, you will see the following:
Code:
M8G2FA
MAG4FA
MBG8FA
MCGAFA
VAL00M
VYL00M
KYL00M
VZL00M
e.g. the exact list from the above patch, in the correct order.
So it looks like the XXLS1 JB leak is *probably* safe from the Brickbug - unless Samsung is wrong about nonsecure erase being safe.

+1
Good news for Note Community

I agree..... thanks for taking the time to share your findings with us.
:good:

Good to see some improvements from Samsung! Thanks a lot Entropy.. without your precious help this wouldn't be possible

Many thanks Entropy..
So now we can do full wipe without any fear...??
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app

Brilliant..thanks mate!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

thanks for the update.
Its great to see people like you care for the rest

Entropy512 said:
I was going to put this in the JB thread, but that has apparently been locked due to flaming.
As mentioned in other threads on the eMMC "brickbug", Samsung's official patch for this issue is NOT to remove MMC_CAP_ERASE, but to only disable secure erase in the kernel.
See: https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/1383661/
Now, we've been highly disappointed that Samsung hasn't included this patch in many updates for a variety of devices. However, on analyzing the kernel, it appears it *might* be safe due to having Samsung's official patch.
If you unpack the kernel, and then run "strings" on the unpacked image, you will see the following:
Code:
M8G2FA
MAG4FA
MBG8FA
MCGAFA
VAL00M
VYL00M
KYL00M
VZL00M
e.g. the exact list from the above patch, in the correct order.
So it looks like the XXLS1 JB leak is *probably* safe from the Brickbug - unless Samsung is wrong about nonsecure erase being safe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, well.
Samsung finally at last!
Thanks Entropy for the good find.

Lets hope Samsung did a good job !
Now to download that leak.......

I am still wondering about the update. If we have the brick bug in ics how are we able to flash ota jelly bean?? Wont there be chances of bricking while updating our phone to jb.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app

qazibasit said:
I am still wondering about the update. If we have the brick bug in ics how are we able to flash ota jelly bean?? Wont there be chances of bricking while updating our phone to jb.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The usual applies... Flashing anything via Odin is safe. Flashing anything from a safe kernel is safe. Flashing something with a "safe" update-binary should be safe even on a dangerous kernel.
I'm not going to guarantee the safety of the XXLS1 kernel, as it's hard to guarantee that it is doing what we think it is, but it is PROBABLY safe as opposed to definitively dangerous like any previous official ICS kernel binary. We won't know unless people take risks unfortunately...

ok using the jb rom i did indeed soft brick has taken 5 hrs to get my note working, i had a custom rooted 404 rom on with hydracore install the jb with cwm and that was it stuck on samsung logo ,so i then tried to flash stock 404 with pc odin and was stuck on flashing fs image,finally got it working with the pit method and by updating bootloader and clear efs, this has kinda scared me as after a cple hrs trying that it would be sent to repair
be aware this worked for me it may not for anyone else

[/COLOR]
anubis1126 said:
ok using the jb rom i did indeed soft brick has taken 5 hrs to get my note working, i had a custom rooted 404 rom on with hydracore install the jb with cwm and that was it stuck on samsung logo ,so i then tried to flash stock 404 with pc odin and was stuck on flashing fs image,finally got it working with the pit method and by updating bootloader and clear efs, this has kinda scared me as after a cple hrs trying that it would be sent to repair
be aware this worked for me it may not for anyone else
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to write a sarcastic post but... that sucks
This means the Samsung work around did not work.
Either that or you might have repartitioned for no reason.
Did you try a nandroid restore first?

anubis1126 said:
ok using the jb rom i did indeed soft brick has taken 5 hrs to get my note working, i had a custom rooted 404 rom on with hydracore install the jb with cwm and that was it stuck on samsung logo ,so i then tried to flash stock 404 with pc odin and was stuck on flashing factoryfs....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you bricked bricked flashing on Hydracore? I thought that was safe!

shoey63 said:
So you bricked bricked flashing on Hydracore? I thought that was safe!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He already flashed the jb leak, overwriting hc with its own kernel in the process. Flashing back to 4.0.4 on the leaked rom caused the soft brick, NOT hc.
Sent from my Asylumized shopping cart.

randomtext said:
He already flashed the jb leak, overwriting hc with its own kernel in the process. Flashing back to 4.0.4 on the leaked rom caused the soft brick, NOT hc.
Sent from my Asylumized shopping cart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He used PC Odin to "flash back". I thought that was safe too!
Anyway odin stuck on factoryfs and needing PIT file method to revive Note is SUPERBRICK, not "softbrick"

Entropy512 said:
The usual applies... Flashing anything via Odin is safe. Flashing anything from a safe kernel is safe. Flashing something with a "safe" update-binary should be safe even on a dangerous kernel.
I'm not going to guarantee the safety of the XXLS1 kernel, as it's hard to guarantee that it is doing what we think it is, but it is PROBABLY safe as opposed to definitively dangerous like any previous official ICS kernel binary. We won't know unless people take risks unfortunately...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried it a dozen times and seems to be ok
Ran the check and lost no memory at al
Thanks would be nice for my daring? Stupidity ? Did full wipes etc
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

howard bamber said:
I've tried it a dozen times and seems to be ok
Ran the check and lost no memory at al
Thanks would be nice for my daring? Stupidity ? Did full wipes etc
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it's the same as wiping on stock ICS recovery. Well done for trying to verify :thumbup:

what can i say i am a flashaholic flash at least once a week trying varied roms themes etc this time it just happened to me
redone pit file and gained a bit more space

anubis1126 said:
what can i say i am a flashaholic flash at least once a week trying varied roms themes etc this time it just happened to me
redone pit file and gained a bit more space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happened to me too useing stupid Cwm.zip - accidentally hit factory reset and BANG! Superbrick! Thankfully grey retailer replaced it.:thumbup:
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app