Database Users

fix for semibrick with no 3 button mode(black screen and vibrate)

hi all thought i would share my experience with SGS semi brick in the hope that some of you would find it usefull.
firstly i would like to thank everyone in the dev community for all the information and hardwork going on out there.
secondly thanks ryanaz for the great software Z4Root and oclf they worked great (once i used them properly my own fault)
thirdly if im repeating information thats already been covered elsewhere then i apologise in advance but i couldnt find it
back to topic: stock SGS with 2.1 on tmobile uk connected to windows 7 pc
last night i managed to semi brick my phone in the following way:
1. updated to froyo using official method via kies
2. ran z4root and executed temporary root
3. ran oclf seemed to work ok but following oclf reboot i ended up with black screen and occasional vibrate with glowing softkeys if touched and nearly crapped myself as i broke my phone
from research it seems that this problem indicates a fooked partition screwing up the internal sd and logically it is probably because i used temporary root as the root is removed following a reboot so during oclf reboot memory may have been corrupted.
i have since used permananent root and oclf and it worked really well no problems
my phone does not have the 3 button recovery mode and i was gettin a bit concerned after hours trawling the net it seemed i was going to have to go for the 301k resistor jig which i didnt really fancy.
fear not i figured out a method of getting into download mode without 3 button method or 301k jig using odin and adb commands.
its a combination of different methods for different things and it may not work for everyone but it worked for me. maybe some of the more experienced dev's can shed some light on it or refine the process.
required:
odin
pit file
rom files
adb
slight dos command knowledge (easy to find on net if you dont have it)
its important to say at this point that the phone wasnt fully bricked as the fault indicated the bootloader was intact and if the following works for you then the procedure should work.
quick check to see if it may work connect phone via usb with battery out, boot up odin, put battery into phone and switch on. if its recoverable then it will show a connection in odin in yellow with a com# (# will be a number indicating a com port. the number isnt important so long as theres one there)
if you try and flash the phone it will fail no matter what pit or rom you use as you cannot get into recovery or dowload mode.
to get into download i had a play with adb (search adb for how to use it. i hadnt heard of it before yesterday it requires knowledge of command line use in dos mainly just to navagate to the adb folder and execute adb. search dos commands if you cant figure it out and look for CD for change directory and dir for dir list)
important bit:
follow the procedure earlier to get phone communicating with odin then start adb. once in adb i used the command:
adb reboot recovery
and hey presto my phone went into download mode i was then able to reflash the phone using the normal Odin methods.
now i have my lovely phone with a faster operating system, streamlined rom and root access happy days.
just as footnote i had never messed with android before yesterday as i had always been on windows mobile so with a bit of research its amazing what you can learn. and i know this guide isnt very n00b freindly but its how i best remember it from last night after searching various things for 5 hours(ive slept since then) if any of it is incorrect then i apologise in advance but ive left it intentionally vague as the experienced dev's will know what im talking about and the n00bs(like me yesterday) it wont hurt you to go and research the topic and you might learn something instead of just posting questions all the time
peace out
p.s. forgot to mention ensure that you kill any kies processes running on your pc before attempting this and ensure you have internet connection so windows 7 can obtain drivers if required. xp or vista may require drivers to be manually installed though not sure

thank you so much!!! you just saved my phone. I was going to send it to a service, but now I can flash it with odin

Or, the morale of the story, always make sure you have 3BR

[Q] SGH-I337 Download Mode Problem?

Greetings everyone,
So will not try to type out a book here, but want to try to include all the info/everything I have done do this point. I recently purchased a Galaxy S4 ( SGH-I337) ATT model. My end goal was to have it rooted with CM 11 installed on it. This is only the second phone I have attempted to root ( First was Atrix HD which went overall fine). I'm basing my end goal off of it, in that I am wanting to have it rooted with CM 11 installed. I started off by downloading Odin and used towel and was able to get the phone rooted. That seemed to have gone without too many problems. I tried to do as much reading as I could, but I'm sure I either misread or overlooked where I went wrong next. I then installed TWRP in the hopes of getting CM 11 installed. This is where the problems start. After installing TWRP ( later reading I saw I probably should have used Philz soft touch??) and restarting my phone it would only go into " Download Mode" and would forever just sit there. I did some searching and saw how to get past this simply by just restarting and holding the volume up and selecting now that I did not want to enter into Download mode. At this point I decided to go download the stock ROM and start over. I downloaded and followed the instructions from
Greetings everyone,
So will not try to type out a book here, but want to try to include all the info/everything I have done do this point. I recently purchased a Galaxy S4 ( SGH-I337) ATT model. My end goal was to have it rooted with CM 11 installed on it. This is only the second phone I have attempted to root ( First was Atrix HD which went overall fine). I'm basing my end goal off of it, in that I am wanting to have it rooted with CM 11 installed. I started off by downloading Odin and used towel and was able to get the phone rooted. That seemed to have gone without too many problems. I tried to do as much reading as I could, but I'm sure I either misread or overlooked where I went wrong next. I then installed TWRP in the hopes of getting CM 11 installed. This is where the problems start. After installing TWRP ( later reading I saw I probably should have used Philz soft touch??) and restarting my phone it would only go into " Download Mode" and would forever just sit there. I did some searching and saw how to get past this simply by just restarting and holding the volume up and selecting now that I did not want to enter into Download mode. At this point I decided to go download the stock ROM and start over. I downloaded and followed the instructions from
androidrootz.com/2014/03/how-to-unrootunbrick-at-galaxy-s4-sgh.html . From that point is where things went to hell in a hand-basket. My phone will load but whenever I try to turn on Wifi to try to re-root I get a Security Information message saying that it has blocked Wifi from turning on. Quick Google search says this is built in security "Knox"? that is causing this. Posts say that I have the wrong firmware for this phone? The bigger problem seems to be that now when I try to boot into recovery, I get a background that says "No Command" and red lettering at the top that says " Android system recovery <3e>. I have options to reboot system now, update from ADB and others. At the bottom it says #Manual Mode# Successfully applied multi-CSC. So somehow I think i have corrupted the boot loader. Of course Odin will not recognize the phone in this state to try to push any kind of firmware or boot-loader to it. At this point I truley am clueless and lost. Not at all above saying I'm above my head and need some guidence or help from someone who knows a lot more about this then I do. I really thought I had read and done plenty of research before I tried this, but non the less I have a phone I can't get into recovery and once booted, I can't get wifi to work. Thanks for your time and insight. From that point is where things went to hell in a hand-basket. My phone will load but whenever I try to turn on Wifi to try to re-root I get a Security Information message saying that it has blocked Wifi from turning on. Quick Google search says this is built in security "Knox"? that is causing this. Posts say that I have the wrong firmware for this phone? The bigger problem seems to be that now when I try to boot into recovery, I get a background that says "No Command" and red lettering at the top that says " Android system recovery <3e>. I have options to reboot system now, update from ADB and others. At the bottom it says #Manual Mode# Successfully applied multi-CSC. So somehow I think i have corrupted the boot loader. Of course Odin will not recognize the phone in this state to try to push any kind of firmware or boot-loader to it. At this point I truley am clueless and lost. Not at all above saying I'm above my head and need some guidence or help from someone who knows a lot more about this then I do. I really thought I had read and done plenty of research before I tried this, but non the less I have a phone I can't get into recovery and once booted, I can't get wifi to work. Thanks for your time and insight.

Tl,dr sure looks like a book to me. If you just got an s4 I'm sure the bootloader can't be exploited and you can't use cm. Look through this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53758227
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

jd1639 said:
Tl,dr sure looks like a book to me. If you just got an s4 I'm sure the bootloader can't be exploited and you can't use cm. Look through this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53758227
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link. Very helpful info. Problem I can't seem to get around is that since any ROM i download will not pass the signature inside the recovery mode, I don't know how to get to where I can flash any kind of ROM to it. Yes sorry for the book, I just see too often people don't ever post enough info on what they have or what they have done. In essence how do i use Odin if i can't get into download mode and recovery mode will not accept any file cause it says it fails the md5 signature? Thanks for the help

bryantjb said:
Thanks for the link. Very helpful info. Problem I can't seem to get around is that since any ROM i download will not pass the signature inside the recovery mode, I don't know how to get to where I can flash any kind of ROM to it. Yes sorry for the book, I just see too often people don't ever post enough info on what they have or what they have done. In essence how do i use Odin if i can't get into download mode and recovery mode will not accept any file cause it says it fails the md5 signature? Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to give you useless information, but make sure you're using the right steps to get into download mode.
1) Power off your device
2) Remove battery for 10 seconds
3) Replace battery
4) Hold POWER + HOME + VOLUME DOWN until you see the "Warning" Screen
5) Quickly hit the VOLUME UP button.
Then you can connect to ODIN, and go from there.

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.

Samsung Galaxy S5 (G870A) Bootloop Fix!

I've recently found away to fix a Galaxy S5 Active stuck in a boot loop. (This method only works if your device is on lollipop 5.0! )
Note: This method only works on the OC5 update.
More firmware support coming soon.
What happened: I accidentally made my Galaxy S5 Active get stuck in a boot loop. I couldn't find a solution for the longest time because the bootloader is locked. Time passed and I eventually found away to fix the boot loop if your devices is running Lollipop 5.0!
Solution:
1. You should always try to fix the boot loop by booting into recovery mode by holding down the Home+Volume-Up Key+Power button. Once the phone logo pops up on the screen releases the power button only, but continue to hold the Home+Volume-Up Key. If it worked is should say "Booting into recovery." or something along those lines in blue letters.
Once you're into recovery use the volume keys to navigate Up and Down. Find wipedata/factory reset. Select it with the power key and navigate down to Yes. Wait till it finishes. Then see if that fixed the problem. If not proceed to next step
2. Since the boot loader is locked it's really difficult to flash any kind of Recovery, ROM, or Stock Rom unless your phone accepts it as a valid file. So here's what you do!: (Method 1)
Download this file and save it to your desktop: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3UBRFq3BojVQnBSc3lCSzloYUU
Download ODIN v(3.09): http://odindownload.com/Samsung-Odin/#.VgiJ_8tViko - Extract it to your desktop.
Put your phone in download mode. (Note: Before you do this, install the correct drivers for your phone to your computer.)Make sure your phone is completely off and Hold the Home+Volume Down+Power. You will get a warning message just press the volume up key to continue.
Go to desktop and launch ODIN. After ODIN pops up, plug in your device. (Make sure you have the correct phone drivers installed)
You should see a dialog box in ODIN that say 0:[COM6] in blue. Note: It might be different for everyone, just make sure it says COM.
After that, Under "File [Download]" click "AP" Then navigate to the file you downloaded earlier called "boot.tar"
MAKE SURE RE-PARTITION IS UNCHECKED!
Leave everything else alone then click start. Wait till it says PASS! in green letters in ODIN!
(Method 2):
Go to this link download it to your desktop and follow the instructions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3UBRFq3BojVdXlSUE43VzJPbEU/view?usp=sharing
Done! Your device shouldn't be in a boot loop anymore! If you have any questions let me know!
Note: Once this process is complete, your phone will permanently show a warning in your notifications saying "Unknown action detected." This happens because your phone will detect that your kernel was modified so if you don't want this to happen, then I suggest you wait for a official lollipop OS release.
UPDATE!: You should now be able to download the "Boot.tar" file. Sorry about that!
UPDATE!: New files and instructions added if the first method didn't work!

Having some major issues
First post so forgive me if this is misplaced. Before I was aware I'm unable to down grade from 5.0 or 5.1 version of sm-g870a I attempted to downgrade and apply root from version 4.4.2/4.4.4 via another XDA thread in a faulty attempt to root. At first this presented no issues until restart. At this point the phone is soft bricked and bootloops. Both download mode and system recovery ARE accessible and prior to this I had USB debug open. I have the factory cable and odin identifies the device easily. All other md5 files failed to apply OTHER than one. (4.4.4 ota) I presume because of bootlocks which I'm now aware of. I have attempted three different stock flashes via odin all from XDA all fail at authentication claiming error fused 2 binary 1. I attempted add data pull before all of this and the device ignored a request which prompted a factory reset which was odd. I have attempted installing 3 alternative stock and stock rooted 5.0 and 5.1 firmwares from XDAs threads. All of which failed, hiwever one granted me some precious Information when I slowed down the error message via recording. It states, "Package expects fingerprint of Samsung kltattactive/lteactive:4.4.2/kot49h/g870aucu1ang3:user/release-keys o0A1:user/release-keys this device has kltactive/kltactive. This tells me as far as I know that the device is showing no firmware installed and a double fed file making the attempting installation incompatible. At this point I want to start anew, I have how attempted every route accessible via XDA and feel my options are running very low other than attempting to randomly apply firmware in sequence until odin accepts one and it sticks. That sound like a brick plan however. I don't care what firmware is loaded as long as an OS is accessible. I think this is all available Information I apologize for typos I have been at this for a total of 20 hrs straight. This bootloop was a tired lapse in judgement and has cost me 5 hours of trial and error. Wiping cache fails, reformatting internally fails, as far as I know root was never successful and I THINK philz was successful installed although at this point I cannot recall. Thanks for reading and in advance for any available help. I have SOME c# experience and some java script which is zebra vs dolphin situation I only mention as to aide and explain my trainers of thought. All other languages are vague at best
Edit: I stopped bootloop with the file attached to this thread. It now boots into samsung display bht will not go further and stops there as though it still has no operating system.

Ghujii said:
First post so forgive me if this is misplaced. Before I was aware I'm unable to down grade from 5.0 or 5.1 version of sm-g870a I attempted to downgrade and apply root from version 4.4.2/4.4.4 via another XDA thread in a faulty attempt to root. At first this presented no issues until restart. At this point the phone is soft bricked and bootloops. Both download mode and system recovery ARE accessible and prior to this I had USB debug open. I have the factory cable and odin identifies the device easily. All other md5 files failed to apply OTHER than one. (4.4.4 ota) I presume because of bootlocks which I'm now aware of. I have attempted three different stock flashes via odin all from XDA all fail at authentication claiming error fused 2 binary 1. I attempted add data pull before all of this and the device ignored a request which prompted a factory reset which was odd. I have attempted installing 3 alternative stock and stock rooted 5.0 and 5.1 firmwares from XDAs threads. All of which failed, hiwever one granted me some precious Information when I slowed down the error message via recording. It states, "Package expects fingerprint of Samsung kltattactive/lteactive:4.4.2/kot49h/g870aucu1ang3:user/release-keys o0A1:user/release-keys this device has kltactive/kltactive. This tells me as far as I know that the device is showing no firmware installed and a double fed file making the attempting installation incompatible. At this point I want to start anew, I have how attempted every route accessible via XDA and feel my options are running very low other than attempting to randomly apply firmware in sequence until odin accepts one and it sticks. That sound like a brick plan however. I don't care what firmware is loaded as long as an OS is accessible. I think this is all available Information I apologize for typos I have been at this for a total of 20 hrs straight. This bootloop was a tired lapse in judgement and has cost me 5 hours of trial and error. Wiping cache fails, reformatting internally fails, as far as I know root was never successful and I THINK philz was successful installed although at this point I cannot recall. Thanks for reading and in advance for any available help. I have SOME c# experience and some java script which is zebra vs dolphin situation I only mention as to aide and explain my trainers of thought. All other languages are vague at best
Edit: I stopped bootloop with the file attached to this thread. It now boots into samsung display bht will not go further and stops there as though it still has no operating system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New method for you...

irontaco1 said:
New method for you...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright this stopped the looping now, to find a proper rom. I believe. Im going tohave to wait for 5.1 in order for it to be successful, however is having 4.4.2 still on it is a bit worrisome, I predict overwriting it should be fine though. Thank you for giving me a way to at least resolve bootlooping. I believe I shoulda have safestrapped the device, but hindsight is always 20/20 eh?

Ghujii said:
Alright this stopped the looping now, to find a proper rom. I believe. Im going tohave to wait for 5.1 in order for it to be successful, however is having 4.4.2 still on it is a bit worrisome, I predict overwriting it should be fine though. Thank you for giving me a way to at least resolve bootlooping. I believe I shoulda have safestrapped the device, but hindsight is always 20/20 eh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you got past your Bootloop! If you need anymore help let me know.

Is there a way to root my galaxy s5 active [G870A] on att with 5.0? I'm getting conflicting info and not finding the root.tar I need to flash in order to roll back to 4.4.2 so I can root. Right now I'm just trying to get root. Thanks for any help or direction.
S5 Active

I'd say hold off for a while I did that exact 5 Hong with the s5 active and it bootlocks it. You need to, if you're going to do this install and use safestrap to di so and BACK UP EVERYTHING with safe strap to SD. As long as you follow those method you SHOULD be able to even soft brick it and come back from it.

shadavis08 said:
Is there a way to root my galaxy s5 active [G870A] on att with 5.0? I'm getting conflicting info and not finding the root.tar I need to flash in order to roll back to 4.4.2 so I can root. Right now I'm just trying to get root. Thanks for any help or direction.
S5 Active
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't found any successful way to to go back to Kit Kat or 4.4.2 for this phone. In fact that's why this thread exist is because people who have tried to flash back to 4.4.2 have failed and got stuck in a Bootloop. So if you plan on trying to find away make sure you back everything up and if you fail you can use this tutorial to get your phone working again.
Make sure you have "USB Debugging" on
Make sure you have the drivers for your phone installed on your PC before you start the process of looking for a root.

Yeah I tried flashing back to 4.4.2 and it was a no go . I had the stuck on 5.0 issue where download mode says "downloading do not turn off ...... " but after I wiped my phone I was able to update to 5.1.1 successfully without any "download interrupted "errors . So at least I'm not stuck on 5.0 now lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------
Although I still have that "Downloading do not turn off target " thing when I try to enter download mode! Sheesh
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

shadavis08 said:
Yeah I tried flashing back to 4.4.2 and it was a no go . I had the stuck on 5.0 issue where download mode says "downloading do not turn off ...... " but after I wiped my phone I was able to update to 5.1.1 successfully without any "download interrupted "errors . So at least I'm not stuck on 5.0 now lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------
Although I still have that "Downloading do not turn off target " thing when I try to enter download mode! Sheesh
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should not be anything attempting to download when you boot into ''download mode'' if there is, its highly likely there are still particulates of the last bad flash. I would as he said above, enable USB debugging and the like, and install safe strap to be safe. After safe strap is done and youve followed the tutorial which you can find in another thread on this site, boot your phone down and then power it back on, safe strap should come up first, when it does so push the ''recovery'' option to enter safe strap( someone correct me if thats wrong, my phone is currently dead/charging so i cant check) From there you can back up to an SD card, make sure you enable compression when you do.
Once thats done, WIPE YOUR PHONE, and Cache,( maybe dalvik as well if you cant find it dont worry.)and its all on SD CARD, then attempt to dirty flash( I dont recommend), or clean flash your device WITH safe strap. This typically entails downloading a .zip file and opening it THROUGH safestrap, which is done the same way as backing up your data, only via another option in the menu. Simply put; Back up data with safe strap, after thats done push back and choose FLASH, it should show you all available items it can flash from/to, pick and pray. I didnt go this route when I tried, I attempted to brute force the Bootlocked S5A, and it caused some errors that I now have reversed after much pain. If I HAD safe strapped, It may have went smoother for me, and may for you. Safestrap for us Samsung users is the same as Clockwork Mod for the rest if you weren't aware.
I'll edit this when my phone charges and I can walk you through appropriately, if need be MSG me and Ill do it as soon as I receive the message via this thread if I have not already.

hi guys! good day! i have tried the new method twice! and odin fails everytime! the problem is with the modem.bin! is there any way to fix this?

Make sure you're running lollipop and not Kit Kat and make sure you have the correct phone model. If you don't meet both those requirements then it won't work.

it has on lollipop recoverymode comes up with LRX21T.G870AUCU1B0C5. ISNT that lollipop? download mode also says ;A2, P1

abatoir said:
it has on lollipop recoverymode comes up with LRX21T.G870AUCU1B0C5. ISNT that lollipop? download mode also says ;A2, P1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that information is correct. You might want to download the latest version of ODIN and try again. (Make sure you're putting the modem.bin file in the correct spot in Odin.)

I think I have the latest odin.. And modem can only fit in the cp field I think. Its just not working for me. I tried doing each part separately. And the modem flash always fail.
---------- Post added at 06:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:57 AM ----------
I used odin 3.10 and also tried with odin 3.7

Hey irontac. Since you came up with this fix. Are you able to tell me why those s5 go into bootloop like that? By the way mine is not in bootloop. It hangs on the AT&T logo (the glob) . I was thinking maybe I need to flash the system.img , but where can I find that. And how can I flash it by itself? Actually the phone belongs to a friend. He seems to have rooted it. But I don't know what else he messed with.

abatoir said:
Hey irontac. Since you came up with this fix. Are you able to tell me why those s5 go into bootloop like that? By the way mine is not in bootloop. It hangs on the AT&T logo (the glob) . I was thinking maybe I need to flash the system.img , but where can I find that. And how can I flash it by itself? Actually the phone belongs to a friend. He seems to have rooted it. But I don't know what else he messed with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to boot into recovery mode and try to factory reset it normally. If his phone is rooted you could also flash a custom rom to it and get it out of Bootloop.

I also forgot to mention you can't get ahold of the system.img because it's not released to the public.

Yeah. I wanted it back to stock. I downloaded the 5.0 cfg file. Opened it up and I realized that there is no system.img in there. Oh Well. You think it would boot if I used kitKat system.img?

abatoir said:
Yeah. I wanted it back to stock. I downloaded the 5.0 cfg file. Opened it up and I realized that there is no system.img in there. Oh Well. You think it would boot if I used kitKat system.img?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you flash the Kit Kat system.img you might have to downgrade the kernel also. I would give it a try and see if it works.

Did I brick my SM-950U1 XXA ?

Hello,
I tried to root this model using Odin, and now the only thing I can do is get in to the Downloading mode. If I escape that I have 4 options; Normal Boot, Factory Reset, Safe Mode and Turn Off. only the Turn Off has success, I can not boot, can't hard reset etc. The phone shows something to the effect of an update and tiny little lines of code that run, then it reboots and does this over and over and over and . . .
The first choice only gets me to a Samsung Galaxy S8 power by Android Splash screen, it stays there perpetually stuck or also reboots in it.
Factory Reset runs the lines I mentioned and this goes on cycling and never completes. (Erasing - failed to .....)
Safe Mode looks about the same but says something about installing updates and cycles.
I'm at a loss to find a FW to get this fixed, (tried to find the latest) I've read so many posts and tried so many differing FW, and all I get are "Failed! auth" "sw rev check fail [abl]fused 2 binary 1" and type error codes.
Can anyone with a little compassion and patience please give me some clear straight forward advice before I have to take this back to BB and spend $$ on swapping it? Please be specific, supply a url to a FW, m a y b e something I haven't done or found in the past 24 hours and 189 tabs I've opened?
Thanks in advance!

Don't think you can use Odin to root on snapdragon models

Let's revisit that once I get this recovered. I has no phone
On the HTC I had I was able to put many ROMs on it, never used Odin.
Anyone?

If you can get into download mode you can flash a stock or rooted ROM. Look for threads on flashing stock ROM. There are a few.

No offense but I just spent a day poking around here before asking for some very specific help. I don't know how to be more clear, I've tried things on these threads over and over.
I can't get in to recovery mode, I can't use ADB commands . . . I'm at wits end.
Telling someone to just go search through endless threads for key words isn't much help, and I've done that for about 24 hours now.

you are trying to flash a firmware with a v1 bootloader, your phone has a v2 bootloader..
try flashing this: G950U1UES2AQL1
https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?record=7990E6F5EC0F11E7A5F9FA163EE8F90B

Thx, downloading now.
I tried using > SM-G950U1_1_20170817082313_6u8ae5j9jh_fac
It contains:
BL_G950U1UEU1AQH3_CL11979009_QB14538295_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar.md5
AP_G950U1UEU1AQH3_CL11979009_QB14538295_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT_meta.tar.md5
CP_G950U1UEU1AQH3_CP7166652_CL11979009_QB14538295_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar.md5
CSC_OYM_G950U1OYM1AQH3_CL11979009_QB14538295_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar.md5
HOME_CSC_OYM_G950U1OYM1AQH3_CL11979009_QB14538295_REV00_user_low_ship_MULTI_CERT.tar.md5
Like the other ones, I get a "Fail! auth" message.

QH3 is bootloader v1. Like i tokd you QL1 has a bootloader v2, and try to flash using a usb2 some people had reported trouble using a usb3 port

Righto - DL still needs another 2 hours, not breaking any speed records. Indeed I am using a USB port. Until the phone was officially buggered, both Odin and Adb worked fine on this port - cable.
Is there a place where people can see or ascertain the nomenclature for how the FW is labelled? You have some instructions on that?
Cheers

Needs Help said:
Righto - DL still needs another 2 hours, not breaking any speed records. Indeed I am using a USB port. Until the phone was officially buggered, both Odin and Adb worked fine on this port - cable.
Is there a place where people can see or ascertain the nomenclature for how the FW is labelled? You have some instructions on that?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a little bit old but I hope it helps
https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-make-sense-of-your-samsung-firmware-number
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1356325

I had to go get a burger and get liquored up a bit When I came home the QL1 had completed and I added to Odin and ran it completely - successfully!
I'm back in the saddle again. Now to restore apps and test etc.
And thx for the links btw. I'll start a new thread on wanting to use Wi-Fi calling and get a rooted device if possible.
Cheers

Glad you got it working again, if you want to root..
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8/development/root-partcyborgrom-aqi6-deodexed-t3702988
That is the best option ti do it..

I was able to do this using the Previous Version set. It works, but the boot is some horrendous lines of code with lots of rd and the word fail in it. This build gives me the otion for Advanced Calling > Activate Wi-Fi Calling etc.
G950USQU2BQK5
Bootloader Version 2
AP_PartCyborgRom-G950USQU2BQK5_Part1.zip
BL_PartCyborgRom-G950USQU2BQK5_Part2.zip: