Hello ladies and gents,
So I'm a total noob and I think I bricked my phone.
I got root by using the motochopper tool
then I went for custom recovery, but I think I flashed the verizon version instead of the ATT version (I was trying to install the Google Wallet fix with a custom rom)
Rebooted the phone, I get an unlock symbol and samsung custom
I can boot into recovery mode and I still have root access / command line.
The phone either boots to black screen with a oscillating blue light or if I go into the other mode it says 'downloading'
Anything I can do to get my phone back working? Did I totally brick it?
Yes, if you see anything on the screen, that would be a soft brick, you are getting the unauthorized screen, then you need another kernel for sure, lets start there...
You really should either put your device in your information screen or tell us what type of device you have, that is very important.
I can not tell you what kernel, not knowing what device has the problem.
I see you mentioned att, is it US or Canadian version?
These are a must when you are seeking help.
I have the AT&T US Version of the S4, 1337
And now it seems I've made it worse, I reinstalled a new Rom, now I can't boot into recovery at all. It goes blank after the Samsung custom screen. Still can ADB into it though.
TheAxman said:
Yes, if you see anything on the screen, that would be a soft brick, you are getting the unauthorized screen, then you need another kernel for sure, lets start there...
You really should either put your device in your information screen or tell us what type of device you have, that is very important.
I can not tell you what kernel, not knowing what device has the problem.
I see you mentioned att, is it US or Canadian version?
These are a must when you are seeking help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any type backup? Have you tried, power off phone. hold down power button and volume up at same time, when it vibrates, let go of the power button, it should go into recovery, and lets try restoring your backup.
Your problem is you have the wrong kernel loading, flash a ATT kernel once in the recovery, it will boot.
willenglishiv said:
I have the AT&T US Version of the S4, 1337
And now it seems I've made it worse, I reinstalled a new Rom, now I can't boot into recovery at all. It goes blank after the Samsung custom screen. Still can ADB into it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just ODIN flash the stock firmware for ATT I337 and re-root? That's what I would try.
blyndfyre said:
Just ODIN flash the stock firmware for ATT I337 and re-root? That's what I would try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually Ax has the best solution if he can get to recovery... your way will work but by far to many steps for something that simple...
just saying!!
sloanster said:
Actually Ax has the best solution if he can get to recovery... your way will work but by far to many steps for something that simple...
just saying!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree Ax's solution is simpler, but OP said that he cannot boot to recovery.
And now it seems I've made it worse, I reinstalled a new Rom, now I can't boot into recovery at all. It goes blank after the Samsung custom screen. Still can ADB into it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
blyndfyre said:
I agree Ax's solution is simpler, but OP said that he cannot boot to recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But he can adb so he can push the kernel onto his phone and flash in recovery
Edit: my bad, he did say he can't boot into recovery. Odin is his best bet.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app
he hasn't answered the get into recovery yet, nor has he said he has a backup. I was trying a simple solution. Then we can move on to the odin back.
TheAxman said:
he hasn't answered the get into recovery yet, nor has he said he has a backup. I was trying a simple solution. Then we can move on to the odin back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope it gets it worked out!!!
The main thing is he's got options...:angel:
Related
I just tried flashing the Gingerbreadime.zip and followed the directions to the letter and I experienced my first soft brick. The phone went into a boot loop at the mytouch screen. Luckily I was able to go into Recovery and restored the backup I had made after rooting and turning s=off. It appears to have restored okay as I still have root etc. Does anyone have any idea how or why this happened ? This zip was posted in Droid-Life and was advertised as good for all android 2.2 devices. I have never used adb but have it set up on my phone so I guess I had better get more familiar with it. I have flashed my Vibrant numerous times using Odin and Rom manager but I don't believe that there is a similar program for the Mt4g (Odin that is) I guess I have been spoiled by my Vibrant as it seems to have more options to recover with and are easier to use from what I can tell. I do love this MT4g though It is probably the best all around phone I have ever owned. Any and all info and help is greatly appreciated.:
to my knowledge there has been no gingerbread port for our device yet. Your lucky you didn't brick your device.
tenbeau said:
I just tried flashing the Gingerbreadime.zip and followed the directions to the letter and I experienced my first soft brick. The phone went into a boot loop at the mytouch screen. Luckily I was able to go into Recovery and restored the backup I had made after rooting and turning s=off. It appears to have restored okay as I still have root etc. Does anyone have any idea how or why this happened ? This zip was posted in Droid-Life and was advertised as good for all android 2.2 devices. I have never used adb but have it set up on my phone so I guess I had better get more familiar with it. I have flashed my Vibrant numerous times using Odin and Rom manager but I don't believe that there is a similar program for the Mt4g (Odin that is) I guess I have been spoiled by my Vibrant as it seems to have more options to recover with and are easier to use from what I can tell. I do love this MT4g though It is probably the best all around phone I have ever owned. Any and all info and help is greatly appreciated.:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are people experiencing the same thing in the Nexus forum. Personally I would stay away from anything that is not specifically built for this phone as its a completely different OS than Vanilla or Moto Droid or etc. etc.
bobsbbq said:
to my knowledge there has been no gingerbread port for our device yet. Your lucky you didn't brick your device.
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Click to collapse
yes I a sure am. I trusted the Dorid-Life site and should not have. Thanks for the swift response...
setzer715 said:
There are people experiencing the same thing in the Nexus forum. Personally I would stay away from anything that is not specifically built for this phone as its a completely different OS than Vanilla or Moto Droid or etc. etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sure intend to and I should have got on this forum before I even attempted to flash it. Right now everything seems fine except I cannot get into recovery only clockworkimode recovery. I am holding down the volume down button and pressing the power button at the same time and the device just reboots. Any ideas and what could be causing that? I am embarassed to say that my ignorance that pushed me to flash that zip is probably at the root of it. Any steps that I can take to enable me to get into stock recovery to check and make sure S=off?
Edit: Just pulled battery and sim card and than put them back in and the device went into stock recovery and s=off so I hope that all is okay and I did not create some ghosts that will show up when I attempt to flash a rom later on.
Please post questions in Q&A section.
I did the same thing. I flashed the .zip file from droid life forum and got a success message when I installed it through recovery and mine never bootlooped. I didn't get the gingerbread keyboard but it didn't bootloop either
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
tenbeau said:
I sure intend to and I should have got on this forum before I even attempted to flash it. Right now everything seems fine except I cannot get into recovery only clockworkimode recovery. I am holding down the volume down button and pressing the power button at the same time and the device just reboots. Any ideas and what could be causing that? I am embarassed to say that my ignorance that pushed me to flash that zip is probably at the root of it. Any steps that I can take to enable me to get into stock recovery to check and make sure S=off?
Edit: Just pulled battery and sim card and than put them back in and the device went into stock recovery and s=off so I hope that all is okay and I did not create some ghosts that will show up when I attempt to flash a rom later on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you mean bootloader? You only have 1 recovery. If you flashed clockwork you no longer have stock recovery. Vol Down + Pwr gets you to bootloader or SPL where it shows S=off.
I did not flash the zip (sounds like an overkill to flash a zip for new KB). I ADB pushed both files and got a FC on multi-touch KB... oh well, I like HTC_IME better anyway
tenbeau said:
I sure intend to and I should have got on this forum before I even attempted to flash it. Right now everything seems fine except I cannot get into recovery only clockworkimode recovery. I am holding down the volume down button and pressing the power button at the same time and the device just reboots. Any ideas and what could be causing that? I am embarassed to say that my ignorance that pushed me to flash that zip is probably at the root of it. Any steps that I can take to enable me to get into stock recovery to check and make sure S=off?
Edit: Just pulled battery and sim card and than put them back in and the device went into stock recovery and s=off so I hope that all is okay and I did not create some ghosts that will show up when I attempt to flash a rom later on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
make sure fastboot is checked off otherwise you cant get into the bootloader. to make sure it is off go to: menu, settings, applications and uncheck fastboot. you're good to go then. to get into recovery, you can do it thru bootloader or by opening up rom manager and clicking on the "reboot to recovery" option
setzer715 said:
There are people experiencing the same thing in the Nexus forum. Personally I would stay away from anything that is not specifically built for this phone as its a completely different OS than Vanilla or Moto Droid or etc. etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the website was not specific enough. the port at the current moment is for motorola droid devices. they should have been more specific instead of saying any rooted 2.2 android phone. even if you do get it on your phone, its only going to force close every time you try and type something. thats what happened to me, so after about 24 hours i said **** it and removed it. swype in my opinion is better anyway. im trying to port the g2 swype to our phone so we can have a swype with a mic on the keyboard. oddly, ours didnt come with one.
Before I get jumped, YES, I did do countless readings to the point of going blind with information overload! Rooting phone was a confirmed success after the OTA update, and I did not do any bootloader roms, but now I can't get pass the download screen while booting up the phone. When I was trying to boot into recovery mode after I did a few quick restarts in a row after rooting phone, to install a debloater .zip, it came to this screen only (see screenshot), quickly (Samsung logo comes up before with the blue corner text) before this, and it's all that it does now. I think I might have pulled the battery a couple times when I saw the first image, my dumbass fault, as a quick power button push wasn't doing anything to reboot. Thinking it's a soft brick as this screen is the only thing that keeps coming up after Samsung Logo with no unlock/lock symbol, when I try to reboot the phone in various ways. I know I can't use Odin to reflash back to stock MDL after the June OTA update, as I tried with no luck came up failed like I knew it would. Plug in via usb to computer, PC doesn't recognize it, so I can't check / access anything on the phone. Pulling straws here. Just looking to get her back to normal
UPDATE
Plugged stock USB cable/Phone in another USB slot, Odin picked it up (See pics), of course I can't downgrade to MDL from MF3.... failure.
US ATT SGH-1337 Jelly Bean 4.2.2
(Last night) Stock Firm: I337UCUAMDL
(This morning) OTA Firm: I337UCUAMF3
You tried to install a custom recovery from what you are describing, yet not really saying.
You wanted to flash a debloat zip... How would one go about doing that? A custom recovery. Unfortunately, there is none for the MF3 update. The only way you would be in this situation is by trying to flash one. So... You're screwed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
graydiggy said:
You tried to install a custom recovery from what you are describing, yet not really saying.
You wanted to flash a debloat zip... How would one go about doing that? A custom recovery. Unfortunately, there is none for the MF3 update. The only way you would be in this situation is by trying to flash one. So... You're screwed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured I was, was hanging on by chance for a bypass, that I might have a chance on getting the phone to boot normally again, by trying a method I hadn't tried / known yet... :crying:
l33t_killa said:
I figured I was, was hanging on by chance for a bypass, that I might have a chance on getting the phone to boot normally again, by trying a method I hadn't tried / known yet... :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try what this guy did and see if it helps...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=44433724&postcount=11
If it doesn't work i would say you screwed yourself.
Maybe when you "read yourself blind" you missed the Numerous warnings throughout the MF3 root thread and the rest of the forum about MF3 not being able to use custom recoveries or flashing anything?
Good luck.
scott14719 said:
You can try what this guy did and see if it helps...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=44433724&postcount=11
If it doesn't work i would say you screwed yourself.
Maybe when you "read yourself blind" you missed the Numerous warnings throughout the MF3 root thread and the rest of the forum about MF3 not being able to use custom recoveries or flashing anything?
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
,
Yep, I missed that tidbit of info, I did try your suggestion from another member via this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2407443 as I'm getting closer as per my updates there. Going to try out ou812bkewl's method here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2360859
MF3 Nandroid Backup
I was able to get a full Nandroid Backup for AT&T S4 with the MF# firmware using an app called OBackup. Im not real sure if any of the files would be helpful to those stuck after trying to install a custom recovery. I think if you could get into download mode and in Odin, these .tar files might be helpful.
I have the att s4 with the mf3 build which I received via an ota update. I recently did the root for this build which worked perfectly, afterwards I read through 47 pages of forums and was trying to do the work around djrbliss put out, around page 40 someone says if your phone is rooted just download goomanager and installscriptrecovery. then reboot recovery. I downloaded goomanager then installed script, after this I hit the reboot recovery and the phone went into download mode. and it will stay there. If i restart it returns to download mode. Any Ideas?
Im not 100% but u may hve read wrong. This has happened to everyone who has tryed to flash a recovery on mf3. You can only have root there is no custom recovery for this build. Ok now this is wat you do take your phone to bestbuy tell them kies f'd ur phone up nd they can reflash mf3.at this moment mf3 isnt available to general public
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Yeah, read the forums. I mean seriously, almost every other post, including the one you read, tells you that drjbliss's exploit was patched in mf3, and can brick your device if you attempt to install a custom recovery. It is, quite literally, the biggest topic in the S4 forums. Also, there is no odin flashable image for mf3, so you cannot return to stock without taking it to bestbuy. Read more in the q&a section, as this same mistake has been made and asked about at least a hundred times. Literally.
In conclusion, you have a paperweight till you take it to get it flashed back to normal.
ok thanks for the help
cooljg said:
ok thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read this thread. Best buy can flash the stock mf3 firmware and get your recovery back. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=45457012
Either that or J-Tag.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Hey guys thanks for chiming in. I want to give a thank you to those who have gave me a serious answer. I will go back to best buy and try again, but I sent my wife up there and she said the cell phone department told her they do not flash firmware there. She said she asked them if the service section did and the lady told her no again. I am fairly familiar with flashing the firmware on an s3 I just haven't messed with the s4 that much,and obviously I didn't read as well as I thought I did or it wouldn't be bricked. I do have one other question tho if Best Buy can flash it back to stock firmware, is it safe to assume at some point I should be able to flash it back via odin when the mf3 build is released by sammobile? Either way if best buy doesn't flash it back i'm screwed on this one and i'll just have to pick up another s4 tomorrow. I just want to know if this one can be fixed i'd really hate to waste a perfectly good phone.
If and when mf3 firmware is available you should be able to flash with odin. Best buy seems to be using a new software package other than Odin so who knows if an odin package will be available.
I believe at best buy they have to have a "Samsung Experience" booth or area to do the flashing. The normal best buy service counter can't do it.
~wolverine~ said:
I believe at best buy they have to have a "Samsung Experience" booth or area to do the flashing. The normal best buy service counter can't do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct
Question on brick fix
Hey guys thanks for the helpful info. I took it to the samsung experience part of best buy and the guy fixed it. He didn't have to flash the firmware tho, he took the back off and replaced the battery then I don't know what combination of buttons he hit or what but he held something and it was able to reset the phone and came up normally. Does anyone know what he could of hit? The phone was stuck in download mode no matter what you hit it would only reset to it. I had tried booting and holding volume up and home and releasing home for the recovery boot. As a recap of what happened I had rooted the phone and then downloaded goomanager and ran the installed script option under settings then I reset and was stuck in download mode. I just found it crazy that he never had to hook it to his computer to fix it.
cooljg said:
Hey guys thanks for the helpful info. I took it to the samsung experience part of best buy and the guy fixed it. He didn't have to flash the firmware tho, he took the back off and replaced the battery then I don't know what combination of buttons he hit or what but he held something and it was able to reset the phone and came up normally. Does anyone know what he could of hit? The phone was stuck in download mode no matter what you hit it would only reset to it. I had tried booting and holding volume up and home and releasing home for the recovery boot. As a recap of what happened I had rooted the phone and then downloaded goomanager and ran the installed script option under settings then I reset and was stuck in download mode. I just found it crazy that he never had to hook it to his computer to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, that is interesting. Did he replace the battery temporarily while 'resetting the phone with combination of buttons'?
Or did he place the battery inside and let you have it?
Sounds like a simple factory reset...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
haremmon said:
Hmm, that is interesting. Did he replace the battery temporarily while 'resetting the phone with combination of buttons'?
Or did he place the battery inside and let you have it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He originally plugged my phone up when I gave it to him but it wouldn't come on so he unplugged it and replaced the battery. The battery I had was completely dead. After he replaced the battery he turned it on and it went to the download screen with the little green alien. After that he held some buttons and kept looking at the back and then the front of the phone. I couldn't really see what he hit but shortly afterwards it came up with my lock screen picture. After that he said it doesn't need flashing but he would flash the firmware if I wanted so I said ok and he did. I have the phone now working great but it doesn't show rooted anymore.
Omg how do people not know this already. I have had my S4 for 2 days even i know better and I cant believe people dont read
I need help!
I tried to put TWRP on my Galaxy S4 using Flashify. I just followed the instructions and it downloaded the .img file. I then pressed flash and it flashed fine. Then it said reboot so i rebooted it. It came up with the "Samsung Custom" with the unlocked padlock like it normally does, but then it changed to a screen that said there was an error with the kernel and that i needed to connect the phone to my computer and run some Android recovery. I took the battery out and then rebooted into the page where you go to flash a custom OS. (Tried to go to recovery mode, wrong button combo). I then hit cancel and suprisingly, it booted up just fine. Kinda. After i unlocked the lock screen, I noticed that most of the apps are gone, system and downloaded. I also was bombarded with "Unfortunately, ________ has stopped." Messages. Most of the apps that are left work, except for messaging for some reason. I am writing this thread from the phone, actually. The Internet works fine, except that some apps i reinstalled via APK don't want to connect to the internet. Phone, contacts, internet, and camera still work. I know i am a noob and i shouldnt have tried to do this without help or more research. I will encolse screen shots of my phones specs if needed. If anyone reading this could just point me in the right direction, i would be extremely grateful. I can post any extra information and answer any questions you may have. Sorry for being a noob but i dont know where else to ask and i cant find any similar threads. Thank you in advance!
I assume you might have one of the models with a locked bootloader?
GDReaper said:
I assume you might have one of the models with a locked bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I belive i do but how do i find that out?
shannyholtz67 said:
I belive i do but how do i find that out?
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Click to collapse
Verizon and AT&T are the only ones as far as I know.
GDReaper said:
Verizon and AT&T are the only ones as far as I know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have Verizon :crying: . Is there anything i can do to fix my problem?
shannyholtz67 said:
I have Verizon :crying: . Is there anything i can do to fix my problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At this point you can only flash a stock rom.
Or somehow get recovery to work and then flash a custom rom. Safetrap recovery might work.
GDReaper said:
At this point you can only flash a stock rom.
Or somehow get recovery to work and then flash a custom rom. Safetrap recovery might work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thank you for your help. I am due for an upgrade anyway so i will just go to the S7.
if anyone has a custom recovery for this phone please send me a download link i need it badly. This phone is a samsung galaxy on5 Sm-s550TL simple mobile.
Heyabhay1127 said:
if anyone has a custom recovery for this phone please send me a download link i need it badly. This phone is a samsung galaxy on5 Sm-s550TL simple mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how can i get this for you ? i have the same phone .
rein013 said:
how can i get this for you ? i have the same phone .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have a custom recovery already installed, can you please give me the download link for the one you used?
thanks
Heyabhay1127 said:
If you have a custom recovery already installed, can you please give me the download link for the one you used?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude so I was scared to install TWRP backup because it wasn't for this exact phone carrier and I saw a lot of people were screwing up their phones doing the process so do you know of a process which I could get TWRP on this phone whileist not screwing it up like everyone else ?
Phone is brand new and I would have backed up and and installed debloated rom already but again with everyone having issues im kind of hesitant .
So I'm probably going to do it anyway ( my phone is my phone damn-it! ) but I need to read more throughout the forums and see exactly what's causing these issues because I do not want to brick mine and any insight you have as to what happened to yours during the process could be beneficial .
I already tried
rob.e.rein said:
Dude so I was scared to install TWRP backup because it wasn't for this exact phone carrier and I saw a lot of people were screwing up their phones doing the process so do you know of a process which I could get TWRP on this phone whileist not screwing it up like everyone else ?
Phone is brand new and I would have backed up and and installed debloated rom already but again with everyone having issues im kind of hesitant .
So I'm probably going to do it anyway ( my phone is my phone damn-it! ) but I need to read more throughout the forums and see exactly what's causing these issues because I do not want to brick mine and any insight you have as to what happened to yours during the process could be beneficial .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For samsung devices, the only method to flash a recovery seems to be odin. I did not find a recovery for my variant
I ended up returning the phone anyway since there is no recovery, its best you do the same. It was a good phone for $30 though. I ended up getting super desperate, and i tried to flash all the recoveries available for this phone, none of them worked. It did not brick my phone however. If you still want to give it a try you can. If it does brick you should be able to restore using power, vol UP and home. Just wait a bit and an android recovery comes up where you can reset to factory. Im not entirely sure about this process. Best of luck to you!
Heyabhay1127 said:
For samsung devices, the only method to flash a recovery seems to be odin. I did not find a recovery for my variant
I ended up returning the phone anyway since there is no recovery, its best you do the same. It was a good phone for $30 though. I ended up getting super desperate, and i tried to flash all the recoveries available for this phone, none of them worked. It did not brick my phone however. If you still want to give it a try you can. If it does brick you should be able to restore using power, vol UP and home. Just wait a bit and an android recovery comes up where you can reset to factory. Im not entirely sure about this process. Best of luck to you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i tried and failed as well . all i want is to be able to use the memory card as storage for apps and whatnot so that i don't run out of 8gb of space after installing only a few programs . what a shame because the phone is not too bad but by samsung removing this feature that's built into the android ecosystem , what a bunch of dicks .
much luck back to you my friend .
Same crap just happened to me sobi flashed a stock firmware thru Odin. Now whwnbi power I n the phonebir foes thru a factory binary loading screen and then all this factory crap. Anyvone know how to get it back to normal?
rein013 said:
how can i get this for you ? i have the same phone .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too! No cup. Help