[Q] TWRP Asking for a password - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshoot

But it's more than that
I need help pretty badly. I flashed cm 10.2 on my Sprint GS4 (from cm 10.1) (Sidenote: I did it because the cm updater offered 10.2 to me inside my 10.1 install), after having made a nandroid in twrp.
The camera is lolbroke in cm 10.2, so I just did a factory reset in twrp and attempted to restore my backup. << This is where everything goes failshaped.
All seemed to go well, although I didn't pay a ton of attention to it, but when I rebooted it, it just stayed on the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen. For like 5 minutes. ok I thought that was odd, so I pulled the battery and booted into recovery. Now TWRP wants a password in order to decrypt the internal sd card, which is new, because I never encrypted it.
I cannot flash anything nor restore my backup until I have this fixed. So I read somewhere that reinstalling twrp would generally fix it. Ok well I'm on 2.5.0.2 anyway, so I figured I would upgrade to 2.6.
Figured out how to update twrp to 2.6.0.0 via download mode and odin, but still it was asking for a password.
So I read elsewhere that others have fixed it by flashing completely back to stock via download mode and odin. So with the help of this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357471 I flashed "Download Odexed No Data Wipe Tar" (because the Deodexed one refused to pass an md5 check).
I don't care if data is wiped, in fact, at this point I would prefer it, but it seems that all of those are zips, and if I try to run one through twrp it'll just say "failed" again.
I don't know what to do at this point. Please help :crying:

So since I've been in never give up never surrender mode, I have been able to fix this, 3 hours after the initial problem. This is how I did it.
[02:05] atm I'm using odin to flash stock everything again, and I'm going to go into the stock recovery and do a factory reset and I hope that that somehow has power over the internal sd or something
[02:05] From what I understand a repartition in odin can do the trick, but that checkbox also seems to be the great destroyer of android devices
******* HUGE SIDENOTE HERE... I DID NOT DO THE REPARTITION IN ODIN AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU UNLESS YOU ARE A FAN OF PAPERWEIGHTS!!!*******
[02:14] I fixed it
[02:14] oh thank you jesus
[02:14] I was almost to the point of tears tbh
[02:16] Stock recovery reported that it could not mount /data due to an stale NFS handle or some ****
[02:17] SO I told stock recovery to do a factory reset and it worked
[02:17] SO now I'm going to go back into download mode, install twrp, and recover my backup
[02:27] Woot, it worked
[02:27] Sigh of relief
[02:29] I flashed twrp via odin and booted into recovery and restored my backup, but when it rebooted the phone took a solid 10 minutes to un**** itself before showing the cm boot animation. I was about to pull the battery when the boot anim showed up.
Hopefully this thread helps someone else later on down the line.

Great work
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

Here is what i did. I got TWRP. TAR and loaded it with ODIN. that reset the need for a password and all is good now!!!

enricay said:
Here is what i did. I got TWRP. TAR and loaded it with ODIN. that reset the need for a password and all is good now!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few times I had TWRP 2.5.0.2 ask me for a password. I just hit back and it took me right to the main recovery menu. No password was ever needed which is good since I never set one to begin with.

Stock Recovery
Having same problem and Stock Recovery worked for me. Just did what you said and factory reset. Thanks!

This is the most helpful post I've found.
Forboding Angel said:
So since I've been in never give up never surrender mode, I have been able to fix this, 3 hours after the initial problem. This is how I did it.
[02:05] <Forboding> atm I'm using odin to flash stock everything again, and I'm going to go into the stock recovery and do a factory reset and I hope that that somehow has power over the internal sd or something
[02:05] <Forboding> From what I understand a repartition in odin can do the trick, but that checkbox also seems to be the great destroyer of android devices
[02:14] <Forboding> I fixed it
[02:14] <Forboding> oh thank you jesus
[02:14] <Forboding> I was almost to the point of tears tbh
[02:16] <Forboding> Stock recovery reported that it could not mount /data due to an stale NFS handle or some ****
[02:17] <Forboding> SO I told stock recovery to do a factory reset and it worked
[02:17] <Forboding> SO now I'm going to go back into download mode, install twrp, and recover my backup
[02:27] <Forboding> Woot, it worked
[02:27] <Forboding> Sigh of relief
[02:29] <Forboding> I flashed twrp via odin and booted into recovery and restored my backup, but when it rebooted the phone took a solid 10 minutes to un**** itself before showing the cm boot animation. I was about to pull the battery when the boot anim showed up.
Hopefully this thread helps someone else later on down the line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, just to confirm, you didn't mess with the PIT check box at all? You only loaded the image file in PDA and ran with it?
---------- Post added at 03:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:57 AM ----------
Forboding Angel said:
So since I've been in never give up never surrender mode, I have been able to fix this, 3 hours after the initial problem. This is how I did it.
[02:05] <Forboding> atm I'm using odin to flash stock everything again, and I'm going to go into the stock recovery and do a factory reset and I hope that that somehow has power over the internal sd or something
[02:05] <Forboding> From what I understand a repartition in odin can do the trick, but that checkbox also seems to be the great destroyer of android devices
[02:14] <Forboding> I fixed it
[02:14] <Forboding> oh thank you jesus
[02:14] <Forboding> I was almost to the point of tears tbh
[02:16] <Forboding> Stock recovery reported that it could not mount /data due to an stale NFS handle or some ****
[02:17] <Forboding> SO I told stock recovery to do a factory reset and it worked
[02:17] <Forboding> SO now I'm going to go back into download mode, install twrp, and recover my backup
[02:27] <Forboding> Woot, it worked
[02:27] <Forboding> Sigh of relief
[02:29] <Forboding> I flashed twrp via odin and booted into recovery and restored my backup, but when it rebooted the phone took a solid 10 minutes to un**** itself before showing the cm boot animation. I was about to pull the battery when the boot anim showed up.
Hopefully this thread helps someone else later on down the line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to follow your plan even before I read your post... except for the part about factory resetting from stock recovery. I would have been quite distraught when my phone wouldn't boot up after an Odin. I followed your method with a wipe from the factory recovery, and I'm golden!
THANK YOU!

Hey scubamike! Glad you got it sorted. Sorry I took so long to respond.
No I did not do the pit thing. I'll update the op. &yeah... I have an s4 which I hate with an undying passion. The s3 was a lot better supported by aosp.
I should have gotten an oppo find 5. Anyway, yeah...
Cyanogenmod really really needs to fix 10.2 builds showing as nightly updates to 10.1 builds.
That's how I got screwed.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

I am totally going through what you did. I am completely flabberghasted.
I will never risk installing another CyanogenMod ROM for the rest of my life.
I have like 7 hours to wait to download the factory image due to my net being throttled....
I am just glad I have another device on hand.

What? Don't be silly! CM is awesome, but just like me, you should have known better than to try to dirty flash a completely different version of android over another different one.
I did know better, but it showed up in the update list, so with trepidation, I tried to upgrade it and learned. CM is fine and a great ROM.
We shouldn't really get mad at CM simply because we made a mistake
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

Forboding Angel said:
What? Don't be silly! CM is awesome, but just like me, you should have known better than to try to dirty flash a completely different version of android over another different one.
I did know better, but it showed up in the update list, so with trepidation, I tried to upgrade it and learned. CM is fine and a great ROM.
We shouldn't really get mad at CM simply because we made a mistake
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who said I'd dirty flashed? I certainly didn't. This is an encryption error that seemingly affects TWRP users.
It was not an error on my part as I've flashed this device numerous times and had zero problems.
I think CM and TWRP are not entirely compatible. I switched from CWM a while back due to a ROM that wouldn't flash in it.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

I'm having a similar issue on my gf's Kindle Fire I w/CM10.2, but without the prompt for password. So annoying! - http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2563695
Good idea about nandroiding and returning to stock - I suspect that's what I'll have to do. Also an interesting point about TWRP, although I don't think that's it. Might try CWM for good measure.
In my case I suspect a data wipe is really all that's necessary.

Phateless said:
I'm having a similar issue on my gf's Kindle Fire I w/CM10.2, but without the prompt for password. So annoying! - http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2563695
Good idea about nandroiding and returning to stock - I suspect that's what I'll have to do. Also an interesting point about TWRP, although I don't think that's it. Might try CWM for good measure.
In my case I suspect a data wipe is really all that's necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would. Once I switched to CWM on my Note III, I had zero issues with any CM/AOSP ROMs. I had done a full wipe in TWRP too. Don't know but that's just my experience. ^_^
Sent from my SM-N900T using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

Related

TWRP asking for password to "decrypt data"

I am going crazy with this damn phone as I constantly restore back to my previous states but every reboot it is asking for password and I have non. It has never done this before. I formatted the internal data and all that and it keeps doing this over and over again.
Any ideas? I cant restore anymore because I keep formatting the internal drive and then I restore then it goes back to asking me de DECRYPT DATA.
:crying:
Brava27 said:
I am going crazy with this damn phone as I constantly restore back to my previous states but every reboot it is asking for password and I have non. It has never done this before. I formatted the internal data and all that and it keeps doing this over and over again.
Any ideas? I cant restore anymore because I keep formatting the internal drive and then I restore then it goes back to asking me de DECRYPT DATA.
:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having a similar problem. As soon as I install a TWIZ rom and reboot it seems to encrypt it and it will not boot. I find TWRP allows me to bypass the password and restore to a backup but I have been unable to use any TWIZ roms.
Fixed it Odin stock rom and starting from the very beginning. Twrp was damaged somehow. Everything works now. Try that
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Brava27 said:
Fixed it Odin stock rom and starting from the very beginning. Twrp was damaged somehow. Everything works now. Try that
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you running a custom rom no problem? What ROM/Kernel are you using?
I took your advice and redid my phone from scratch. Now it works great! thanks for the recommendation
Awesome! I was surprised I didn't find any solution anywhere. I was reluctant to stay with TWRP and go with CMW but I'm still with TWRP and everything is smooth. I believe my problem was formatting my internal drive or Twrp was damaged somehow. Anyways, good to know we can always Odin stock, root and bring everything back to normal again.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Q] Soft-Brick Assistance

Note: I may not use terms correctly, I have spent the past hour reading threads similar to mine in order to (hopefully) use the correct terms to describe my predicament.
I was using TriForce ROM 3.0 and I wanted to mix things up a bit because it was too much like the stock ROM. I found Negalite S4 and tried my hand at that, with devastating consequences. I booted my phone into TWRP did a wipe and then proceeded to install the Negalite S4.zip onto my phone. It got stuck in a boot loop. After a good 30~ minutes of it continuously rebooting I turned it off and booted back into TWRP. However, now that my phone was wiped, it is not a recognized device by my computer any longer. Since I wiped the phone clean the .zip is no longer on my phone either. So, all I have now is a phone that can boot into recovery (TWRP); which is a soft-brick (correct me if I'm wrong).
I have read other threads and the xda community informs the user to use KIES or ODIN (I have used ODIN once before). However, try as hard as I can to understand their directions... I don't know what to do with ODIN.
My computer does not recognize my device at all. It will only boot into recovery otherwise it's stuck in an infinite boot loop. I am really scared that I have ruined such a valuable phone and so I am not thinking clearly - which is only adding to my "noobishness."
Can anyone please help me out in a way that I can understand? All help is much appreciated!
_retro said:
Note: I may not use terms correctly, I have spent the past hour reading threads similar to mine in order to (hopefully) use the correct terms to describe my predicament.
I was using TriForce ROM 3.0 and I wanted to mix things up a bit because it was too much like the stock ROM. I found Negalite S4 and tried my hand at that, with devastating consequences. I booted my phone into TWRP did a wipe and then proceeded to install the Negalite S4.zip onto my phone. It got stuck in a boot loop. After a good 30~ minutes of it continuously rebooting I turned it off and booted back into TWRP. However, now that my phone was wiped, it is not a recognized device by my computer any longer. Since I wiped the phone clean the .zip is no longer on my phone either. So, all I have now is a phone that can boot into recovery (TWRP); which is a soft-brick (correct me if I'm wrong).
I have read other threads and the xda community informs the user to use KIES or ODIN (I have used ODIN once before). However, try as hard as I can to understand their directions... I don't know what to do with ODIN.
My computer does not recognize my device at all. It will only boot into recovery otherwise it's stuck in an infinite boot loop. I am really scared that I have ruined such a valuable phone and so I am not thinking clearly - which is only adding to my "noobishness."
Can anyone please help me out in a way that I can understand? All help is much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, download and install Samsung drivers from the Internet if your phone isn't installing them on its own. Download MDL stock. Open ODIN. Put your phone in download mode. ODIN should see your phone. Flash stock MDL. Use goo manager to install TWRP again after your booted on stock MDL. Or use ODIN to do it. Redownload the custom ROM you want and then flash in TWRP. Also wiping the phones dalvik, cache system ect shouldn't have erased your SD card in the first place. You mist have accidentally checked the wipe SD card in advanced wipe options. You never need to do that. So next time also have a nandroid backup on your external SD. I keep one on internal as well in case external card goes bad cause sometimes that happens. And never select that wipe SD card option. Unless of course you really do want to wipe your SD card. Don't do that and keep a full backup of your last working ROM and you'll not have this problem again.
3ncrypt3d said:
Okay, download and install Samsung drivers from the Internet if your phone isn't installing them on its own. Download MDL stock. Open ODIN. Put your phone in download mode. ODIN should see your phone. Flash stock MDL. Use goo manager to install TWRP again after your booted on stock MDL. Or use ODIN to do it. Redownload the custom ROM you want and then flash in TWRP. Also wiping the phones dalvik, cache system ect shouldn't have erased your SD card in the first place. You mist have accidentally checked the wipe SD card in advanced wipe options. You never need to do that. So next time also have a nandroid backup on your external SD. I keep one on internal as well in case external card goes bad cause sometimes that happens. And never select that wipe SD card option. Unless of course you really do want to wipe your SD card. Don't do that and keep a full backup of your last working ROM and you'll not have this problem again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank-you for the detailed response, I'll get started now! I did wipe the SD card, you're right. I'm so glad that you posted, thanks again.
If I need help I'll edit this post (no bumping within 24 hours). I'm hoping I have enough smarts to knock this out though. Again, thank you so much.
EDIT: Excuse my ignorance. I'm not sure what MDL stock is, I figured it was the default ROM - I have a nandroid of that. However, even after re-installing the samsung drivers, rebooting both my phone and computer - nothing happens. I don't know how to proceed from here. I can imagine I'm becoming a pain and do apologize.
_retro said:
Thank-you for the detailed response, I'll get started now! I did wipe the SD card, you're right. I'm so glad that you posted, thanks again.
If I need help I'll edit this post (no bumping within 24 hours). I'm hoping I have enough smarts to knock this out though. Again, thank you so much.
EDIT: Excuse my ignorance. I'm not sure what MDL stock is, I figured it was the default ROM - I have a nandroid of that. However, even after re-installing the samsung drivers, rebooting both my phone and computer - nothing happens. I don't know how to proceed from here. I can imagine I'm becoming a pain and do apologize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2375523
The link above is the tar file for stock MF9. If you just use the link for the from the first post you just need to download the first file (not the kernel). Once downloaded you need to extraxt that zip and you will get a .tar.md5 file from it. Later open odin and make sure only auto reboot is checked. Click on the PDA slot and find the .tar.md5 file you downloaded click on it. Next put your phone into download mode and connect it to your computer. Wait for it to install drivers and you will see a yellow box with "com:[some number]" once you see that click start and from there let it do its thing and whoola you have your phone back to MF9 stock. Good luck!
Sent from my SPH-L720
ROMANTiC KiD said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2375523
The link above is the tar file for stock MF9. If you just use the link for the from the first post you just need to download the first file (not the kernel). Once downloaded you need to extraxt that zip and you will get a .tar.md5 file from it. Later open odin and make sure only auto reboot is checked. Click on the PDA slot and find the .tar.md5 file you downloaded click on it. Next put your phone into download mode and connect it to your computer. Wait for it to install drivers and you will see a yellow box with "com:[some number]" once you see that click start and from there let it do its thing and whoola you have your phone back to MF9 stock. Good luck!
Sent from my SPH-L720
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you did it! That post is solid, I understood every-bit! My phone (most likely) is downloading the firmware now. I don't know how long it will take to get off the "Downloading... Do not turn off target !!" screen, but I'll edit this post after letting it sit over night! Thank you both so much.
_retro said:
Well, you did it! That post is solid, I understood every-bit! My phone (most likely) is downloading the firmware now. I don't know how long it will take to get off the "Downloading... Do not turn off target !!" screen, but I'll edit this post after letting it sit over night! Thank you both so much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome glad to help again, should take less than 10 mins. If its more than that just reboot your computer and repeat the steps from opening odin and finding your file. Another GS4 saved ;D
Sent from my SPH-L720
ROMANTiC KiD said:
Your welcome glad to help again, should take less than 10 mins. If its more than that just reboot your computer and repeat the steps from opening odin and finding your file. Another GS4 saved ;D
Sent from my SPH-L720
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were right, it was quite snappy. I cannot believe I was so panicked over this! My babies safe ... for now.
So how did Twrp wipe nor SD card? When by boot into recovery and immediately click on Wipe, it'll wipe everything Necessary except the internal and external memory. Did you click the option to choose what you want to wipe? Happens more than ya may think, cause I've done it myself lol. Good to hear it's back up, I still get freaked out by those occurrences
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2
reverepats said:
So how did Twrp wipe nor SD card? When by boot into recovery and immediately click on Wipe, it'll wipe everything Necessary except the internal and external memory. Did you click the option to choose what you want to wipe? Happens more than ya may think, cause I've done it myself lol. Good to hear it's back up, I still get freaked out by those occurrences
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wasn't human error through TWRP, it was an error while flashing Negalite. It asks if you want to wipe everything, data, or nothing at all. Silly me thought let's wipe EVERYTHING! Heheh
3ncrypt3d said:
Okay, download and install Samsung drivers from the Internet if your phone isn't installing them on its own. Download MDL stock. Open ODIN. Put your phone in download mode. ODIN should see your phone. Flash stock MDL. Use goo manager to install TWRP again after your booted on stock MDL. Or use ODIN to do it. Redownload the custom ROM you want and then flash in TWRP. Also wiping the phones dalvik, cache system ect shouldn't have erased your SD card in the first place. You mist have accidentally checked the wipe SD card in advanced wipe options. You never need to do that. So next time also have a nandroid backup on your external SD. I keep one on internal as well in case external card goes bad cause sometimes that happens. And never select that wipe SD card option. Unless of course you really do want to wipe your SD card. Don't do that and keep a full backup of your last working ROM and you'll not have this problem again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ODIN IS NOT RECOGNISING MY PHONE ...WHAT TO DO????:crying::crying::crying:
Ridddeathmetal said:
ODIN IS NOT RECOGNISING MY PHONE ...WHAT TO DO????:crying::crying::crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reinstall drivers, use different USB ports, used different USB cables?
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
romantic kid said:
reinstall drivers, use different usb ports, used different usb cables?
Sent from my sph-l720 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tried 4 ports...in different pc also but same result used 3 cables...but none recognising it.....drivers have been downloaded and reinstalled

[Q] STRANGEST ROM Flashing Symptoms and Issues. CALLING Flash, Recovery, EXPERTS!!!

Dear Friends,
I just bought a Sprint S4, and despite my half a decade experience of flashing custom ROMs and such, I seem to run into a whole lot of issues with this phone that I cannot solve or get past.
So some background first, on what's happened and been done to the phone:
1. Bought the phone (don't recall the original firmware), but Rooted it via the QBKing method.
2. Flashed TWRP 6.1 something from the GooManager
3. Have a Class 10 SD 64Gig SD Card that I formatted via S4, so I assume it's in the ExFat format?
4. Downloaded Sacs, put the ZIP on the SD
5. Booted into TWRP, Wiped, Data, Dalvik, Cache, and System
6. Tried Flashing Sacs ZIP from SD, Errored out: Something like: Flash failed, unable to read the Zip file. And some verbiage for Partition
7. I can't Mount my SD or INTERNAL via Recovery. Can read them from the Recovery file Manager, but nothing shows up on the computer, unrecognized drivers (worked fine for the same phone, later, when it was on, so I know it was the drivers that was the issue)
8. Ran straight for Odin after that, but after trying SEVERAL TARs and etc, the phone would NOT begin flashing with Odin even :'(! (Could still enter Download Mode)
9. After HOURS of trying VARIOUS Odin versions and TARs, I found a One-Click EXE with Odin Packaged with the MDC Rooted firmware this FINALLY brought the phone back to life!!
Now the issues remaining that I need your expert help and advice on:
1. Since the phone coming back to life, I went STRAIGHT for Sacs ROM again! MD5 checked it, everything looked good. Put it both on SD and Internal.
2. Made Backups of the MDC ROM
3. Tried Flashing and ran into the similar error that you saw in Step 6 from the Backgroun
4. Downloaded Stock, DeOdexed MF9 ZIP, downgraded TWRP to a stable version, and tried Flashing again and Step 6 repeated. Tried VARIOUS ROMs this way, same issue. Error flashing, something about Partition, and Couldn't read Zip. All these Zips were MD5 Sum CHECKED!
5. The lack of mounting issue as USB drives from Recovery continues
6. Then a FREAK discovery was, when the ZIP failure occurred, I opted for Flash Dalvik and Cache and tried Installing right after that, and BOOM! Sacs starts Flashing !!!
7. I broke Sacs quick, restoring things from Titanium Backup, and when I tried restoring my latest MDC Backup, it recovered with a black screen and bootloops, and NO recovery entry AGAIN :'(!! (I think I may have backed up Recovery with that Nandroid and restored)
8. So I repeated the One-Click again, the phone restored again... this time in FACTORY MODE :-/?? I ignored, and restored to an older MDC backup, which worked!
9. I downloaded TriForce MF9, this time, tried flashing and failure again with Failed Flashing, error reading Zip. And on and on it goes :'(! I can't run Odins with MF9, I can't flash ROMs, I can't mount my INTERNAL AND SD in Recovery and am just straight bummed :'(!!
I have a few hunches:
- Format SD Card as Fat32, using this one app. But I think you lose 32 gig space from your card, right? Also, why doesn't Internal storage mount from Recovery :-/?
- Maybe a I just have bad or corrupted sectors in my Internal AND External storage devices?
In either case, please treat me as a NOOB, and chime in with your thoughts and experience on what you think could be happening? I appreciate ALL your help in advance, thanks for your time !
I would try a new recovery, I have always had problems with the newer TWRPs, I recommend 2.5.0.2 or CWM
^ that, and do you have to update to mf9 before flashing an mf9 rom? That might be helpful. Are you just dirty flashing rom over rom in your attempts, that could be an issue. Wiping and factory resetting before flashing the Rom may help.
Just tossing out random ideas.
Edit: just realized I missed #5 in the first half. Sorry, and missed the stock deodexed part lol.
Sent from my SPH-L720
xchampx13 said:
I would try a new recovery, I have always had problems with the newer TWRPs, I recommend 2.5.0.2 or CWM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes Sir, I sure did downgrade TWRP, including the version you mentioned.
HPferoxCraft said:
^ that, and do you have to update to mf9 before flashing an mf9 rom? That might be helpful. Are you just dirty flashing rom over rom in your attempts, that could be an issue. Wiping and factory resetting before flashing the Rom may help.
Just tossing out random ideas.
Edit: just realized I missed #5 in the first half. Sorry, and missed the stock deodexed part lol.
Sent from my SPH-L720
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also a yes, Sir. MF9 kept failing, that is, it wouldn't be read by Recovery. Odin would fire the Tar either . No dirty flashing... almost EVER !
Any other ideas, guys ? Desperately need help here !
ProFragger said:
Yes Sir, I sure did downgrade TWRP, including the version you mentioned.
Also a yes, Sir. MF9 kept failing, that is, it wouldn't be read by Recovery. Odin would fire the Tar either . No dirty flashing... almost EVER !
Any other ideas, guys ? Desperately need help here !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why dont you just go to stock mdc and download the update and just do a normal ota?
Take your sd card out and try flashing it from your phones storage
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
ROMANTiC KiD said:
Why dont you just go to stock mdc and download the update and just do a normal ota?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's one of my plans RomanticKid, but I'm flashed to Page Plus, wondet if the OTA will still work? I get notifications for the updates though, next time I Odin EXE, assuming that also leaves me with stock recovery, I will give it a shot. Thanks for your idea...
churchey thanks for your idea as well, tried it, I get the Zip and fail flash error ! Appreciate all the help guys, keep it coming !
churchey360 said:
Take your sd card out and try flashing it from your phones storage
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just ran into a bunch of problems. Man.. You need to be careful what you flash. Not everything is on the up and up. Steer clear of this website and their firmware. ------> http://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-stock-firmware/ Unless you are intrigued by complex remote spyware. You'll be amazed with the phoney updates that inject things like a note 3 keyboard, Android device manager, and a bogus samsung hub. All of which will show AT THE BOTTOM, NOT THE TOP of your google play "all" list as installed apps.... but not in your installed apps list. They show as installed, but incompatible with your device. Go figure. Somebody had complete control of my device. It took me a minute to figure it out. Then finding a legit source of firmware here. ----->http://samsung-updates.com/device/?id=SPH-L720 I was able to get legit again. But not after encountering the problems you are having. I had to go in and manually delete a few partitions that did not belong and stayed after flashing anything. Once I did that... I flashed the MF9 firmware from samsung.updates.com (the second site I just listed above) and everything is legit now. No phoney updates. No bogus apps. Everything is perfect just like it came when I took it out of the box. Beware.... MANY of these ROM's have b.s. injected into them, and so do some of the firmwares. Take caution bro. I'd be happy to answer any questions if there are any.
Sleepycloud said:
I just ran into a bunch of problems. Man.. You need to be careful what you flash. Not everything is on the up and up. Steer clear of this website and their firmware. ------> http://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-stock-firmware/ Unless you are intrigued by complex remote spyware. You'll be amazed with the phoney updates that inject things like a note 3 keyboard, Android device manager, and a bogus samsung hub. All of which will show AT THE BOTTOM, NOT THE TOP of your google play "all" list as installed apps.... but not in your installed apps list. They show as installed, but incompatible with your device. Go figure. Somebody had complete control of my device. It took me a minute to figure it out. Then finding a legit source of firmware here. ----->http://samsung-updates.com/device/?id=SPH-L720 I was able to get legit again. But not after encountering the problems you are having. I had to go in and manually delete a few partitions that did not belong and stayed after flashing anything. Once I did that... I flashed the MF9 firmware from samsung.updates.com (the second site I just listed above) and everything is legit now. No phoney updates. No bogus apps. Everything is perfect just like it came when I took it out of the box. Beware.... MANY of these ROM's have b.s. injected into them, and so do some of the firmwares. Take caution bro. I'd be happy to answer any questions if there are any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear of your problems brother, indeed, such a pain and disappointing to go through this crap when all you want to do is enjoy the custom ROM goodness . ..
I think the key thing for me to do and understand is cleaning and or deleting partitions that you spoke of... but you'll see, I have so many issues that I keep hitting the wall one way or another . ..
I would LOVE your help if you can make some GTALK time for me?
My address is [email protected]
Appreciate your help in advance!
I just hit you up on hangouts bro.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 AM ----------
I will say this... Your problem could be entirely different than mine. There are other choices besides firmware that will fix many problems. Remapping yhe partitions with PIT files which are also flashed with odin. I wanted to be sure, so I manually deleted partitions, then flashed the good firmware I mentioned above.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Sleepycloud said:
I just hit you up on hangouts bro.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 AM ----------
I will say this... Your problem could be entirely different than mine. There are other choices besides firmware that will fix many problems. Remapping yhe partitions with PIT files which are also flashed with odin. I wanted to be sure, so I manually deleted partitions, then flashed the good firmware I mentioned above.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey bro... thanks for your request. .. I actually don't like Hangouts and still use Talk so I didn't get any requests . ..
Can I send you a request somewhere? Appreciate your help!
Just send it from talk. I'll get it. Its the same thing. I see you on there and it says message delivered.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Sleepycloud said:
Just send it from talk. I'll get it. Its the same thing. I see you on there and it says message delivered.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never got it man... may I have your Gmail to message you? Thanks!

Can't flash a stock rom..?

My device:
SPH-L720
Android 4.4.2
Baseband L720VPUFNAE
Kernel Version [email protected] #2 Mon Feb 24 14:19:28 EST 2014
Carbon Version: CARBON-KK-SHINYSIDE-EDITION-20140224-140
Build Number: carbon-jfltespr-userdebug 4.4.2 KVT49L e71e225082 test-keys
SELinux status
Enforcing
Interal space/free: 9.59/8.84
I have formatted my phone completely. There was no rom on it, nothing installed on the SD card. Formatted the system, data, cache, preload, etc. I installed the stock firmware NAE with odin, and it went fine. I booted the device, and it boots into a encrypted screen. When I try to press enter, it says failed. When I type in a previous password of mine, it fails. I shut down the phone, boot into download mode. I install root with CF-root via odin, and flash the NAE modem. I shut down the phone, and put it back into download mode. I install philz-touch recovery, and i install a stock, rooted Deodexed rom. It installs, and reboots. Once it boots, i get an ecnrypted screen.
If i install a different rom, anything Cyanogenbased (hellkat, cyanogen, carbon) then I do not have this problem. Does anyone know what's going on? I have formatted my phone 4 times now. The device was once encrypted, but I have removed that several roms ago.
Can someone tell me what's going on?
edit/
I'm seeing stuff about knox security. Is this what i'm seeing?
edit-fixed!
Alright, thanks to a user suggestion in this thread this is what I have done.
1) Install Unofficial Carbon and complete the initial setup.
2) Encrypt the device. Your phone must be plugged in, and at least 80% battery.
3) Then rebooted into Philz Touch recovery, and cleaned to install a new rom.
4) Installed 4.3 stock(ish) rom
5) I was then able to boot, and the device did not ask for an encryption password.
The only conclusion I can come up with is that since I re-encrypted the data, that it deleted it and the old partition when I cleared my system/data. I have no idea to be honest, but now the phone works.
I was not able to get any stock rooted firmware other than Stock(ish) to work with the modem. I flashed it, I used CDMA to write the PRL..but nothing. I may try to do that later, but for now i'm on an essentially stock 4.4 ROM with an NAE modem.
Sorry, but if your phone was encrypted before, you may be out of luck with out a password. If it was as easy as a factory reset to defeat encryption than your data would never be safe. You may need to take it into Sprint and see if the tool they use to force a firmware install can fix it. Also, if you have an sdcard installed remove it and try to odin the stock tar again and boot up. It may just be that your sdcard has been encrypted and without it in your phone it will work.
cruise350 said:
Sorry, but if your phone was encrypted before, you may be out of luck with out a password. If it was as easy as a factory reset to defeat encryption than your data would never be safe. You may need to take it into Sprint and see if the tool they use to force a firmware install can fix it. Also, if you have an sdcard installed remove it and try to odin the stock tar again and boot up. It may just be that your sdcard has been encrypted and without it in your phone it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Sdcard isn't in when I am experiencing the problem. The encryption before shouldn't matter, as it's been formatted and i've installed countless roms since.
Looking for a better answer
Nobody has had this issue or knows someone that has? A google search hasn't returned anything useful other than what i've already done.
Encryption has nothing to do with SD cards. You can encrypt your phone data. And without that password, no amount of flashing with get you back in.
Sounds like you need a visit to a Sprint store to help. They have tools that can get you back in to your phone.
Sent from my XT1080 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
VandyCWG said:
Encryption has nothing to do with SD cards. You can encrypt your phone data. And without that password, no amount of flashing with get you back in.
Sounds like you need a visit to a Sprint store to help. They have tools that can get you back in to your phone.
Sent from my XT1080 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see how me encrptying the device won't bring the storage area back. If i format an encrypted flash drive, i get all of my storage back?
I visited the spring store today, and they told me they couldn't help me..so i'm here again.
could it be possible that re-encrypting while your runnin on cyanogenmod rom would either over-ride or over write the previous encryption? (i have little knowledge of encryption, but just a thought)
bioshocked said:
could it be possible that re-encrypting while your runnin on cyanogenmod rom would either over-ride or over write the previous encryption? (i have little knowledge of encryption, but just a thought)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an interesting idea..will give it a go later.
backdown said:
I don't see how me encrptying the device won't bring the storage area back. If i format an encrypted flash drive, i get all of my storage back?
I visited the spring store today, and they told me they couldn't help me..so i'm here again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the issue is, once you encryrpt your device, its encrypted. Have you tried to ODIN back to stock firmware. You would probably lose your data, but you would get your phone back.
That's a guess. But this highlights a reason why encypting devices can be bad.
VandyCWG said:
I think the issue is, once you encryrpt your device, its encrypted. Have you tried to ODIN back to stock firmware. You would probably lose your data, but you would get your phone back.
That's a guess. But this highlights a reason why encypting devices can be bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have already flashed it to a 4.4.2 firmware. The problem only exists with stock firmware and stock rooted ROMs, not custom ROMs like CyanogenMod.
An update..
So I encrypted my device using the Carbon-rom, and rebooted into recovery. I wiped my device, and installed the Stock(ish) ROM. I was able to boot into the device, without any kind of encryption screen.
I am going to try a fully stock rooted 4.4.2 app and update this post.
backdown said:
So I encrypted my device using the Carbon-rom, and rebooted into recovery. I wiped my device, and installed the Stock(ish) ROM. I was able to boot into the device, without any kind of encryption screen.
I am going to try a fully stock rooted 4.4.2 app and update this post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely let us know how this plays out.
Like the other guy said though this certainly highlights the reason a lot of people are scared to encrypt. their phones. I hope you get it going again!
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
I was able to encrypt my phone while running carbon. Upon completion, I rebooted into recovery and wiped to install a new ROM. I installed the stock(ish) ROM running 4.3. I then updated my profile and the device activated. Everything works as it should.
I tried installing a stock rooted NAE ROM and it installed fine. The handset was taking ages to update though. I flashed the NAE modem, but that doesn't work either. All in all I'm still happy.
edit/
I have updated the original post with more information about what I did. If anyone faces this problem, let me know and I will try to help you the best I can.

[Q] Help! Phone bricked itself trying to update. Factory Reset isn't helping!

Last night my phone wanted to update to 4.4.4 because it's been wanting to for a while, but I know it wouldn't work because my phone is rooted. It had tried this at least 3 times before and everything was fine; download update, tries to install, fails, boots right back up. I wanted to get rid of the Update notification in the top bar, so I just ran it again thinking it'd be okay. Well, this time it bricked my phone, leaving me at a neverending loop at the boot animation. I first tried to wipe the cache and dalvik cache, which did nothing. Then I tried a factory restore, which also did nothing. Then I reinstalled the stock 4.4.3 rom I had been using, which did nothing. Then I wiped the SD card completely and reinstalled a stock 4.4.4 rom through sideload, which has done nothing. My phone just sits at the boot animation and taunts me. Worse yet, I have a 16-hour drive tomorrow and my phone was going to be the majority of my sanity during that time.
What should I do?? Is there anything I can do? Normally I would just contact Google to get a replacement (I've done this before when the 4.2 update was causing a lot of bricks,I think it was 4.2 anyway, I forgot) but I'd like to have a working phone for my 16 hour trip..... if possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Well, I never had heard of any devices that still stuck in the bootanimation after flashing the factory image. There is something really wrong.
Did you already tried flashing a custom rom? Can you boot into recovery?
CCody said:
Well, I never had heard of any devices that still stuck in the bootanimation after flashing the factory image. There is something really wrong.
Did you already tried flashing a custom rom? Can you boot into recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a Vanir 4.4.3 rom on my phone that I tried to flash as well, but for some reason it went right into "Optimizing Apps" after the first boot, something I hadn't seen before. Then it got stuck at "Starting Apps...", then after a restart, it too was stuck at the boot animation.
I can boot into recovery luckily, but that's all I can do. I have CWMR v6.0.3.5. I've tried just about everything I can think of. [edit] I was able to contact Google for some live chat support and am now #2 in the queue. Hopefully they can either help me or get a replacement going. Either way, I'd still love any help you guys can give me, I'd really like to get it fixed rather than waiting for a replacement.
Okay, try this: Wipe everything via recovery and with everything i mean really everything! Cache, dalvik, storage, your whole system. There must be nothing left on your phone. Then flash a rom of your choice. Wipe cache and dalvik afterwards and see if it works
CCody said:
Okay, try this: Wipe everything via recovery and with everything i mean really everything! Cache, dalvik, storage, your whole system. There must be nothing left on your phone. Then flash a rom of your choice. Wipe cache and dalvik afterwards and see if it works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done that already, Factory Reset + wipe cache + wipe dalvik cache + format system/data/cache/sdcard/data/media. The phone was completely bare and that's when I sideloaded the stock 4.4.4 rom (otherwise it's stuck at the Google boot screen). I'll try it again, though.
Okay right now I'm using the Nexus Toolkit to flash the stock 4.4.4 .tgz image directly from google and unroot my phone (checking the option that the phone is Soft-bricked/Bootloop.
....Okay that finished and I'm still stuck at the boot animation and now I don't have CWMR. ****. [EDIT] But I can still boot into a custom recovery through the toolkit, which is good.
RawrNate said:
Okay right now I'm using the Nexus Toolkit to flash the stock 4.4.4 .tgz image directly from google and unroot my phone (checking the option that the phone is Soft-bricked/Bootloop.
....Okay that finished and I'm still stuck at the boot animation and now I don't have CWMR. ****. [EDIT] But I can still boot into a custom recovery through the toolkit, which is good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, I really am stumped right now. That's really strange. Normally everything should be fine after a factory reset...
I've search several threads with bootloop problems, but none of them have this persistent bootloop. I believe you have damage your storage somehow, so that the system can't read the files and boot up properly. Maybe because of this 4.4.4 OTA update. Man, that's kinda sucks right now...
CCody said:
Damn, I really am stumped right now. That's really strange. Normally everything should be fine after a factory reset...
I've search several threads with bootloop problems, but none of them have this persistent bootloop. I believe you have damage your storage somehow, so that the system can't read the files and boot up properly. Maybe because of this 4.4.4 OTA update. Man, that's kinda sucks right now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah haha, it's really really strange. I appreciate you trying to help me, though! Lucky for me I'm getting a "One-time exception replacement" since my warranty is expired but they must be super stumped with the issue as well xD
I forgot something! Did you also flashed the 4.4.4 binaries?
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/drivers#makoktu84p
I also read somewhere, that the LG Fashtool may help.
Try this out!
CCody said:
I forgot something! Did you also flashed the 4.4.4 binaries?
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/drivers#makoktu84p
I also read somewhere, that the LG Fashtool may help.
Try this out!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, I didn't think I'd need to with the factory image, but I'll try that. I tried the 4.4.3 factory image as well but that didn't work either. I also can't find anything about the LG Flashtool that's Nexus 4 specific, but I'll try to look more into it.
Wait, how do I flash the binaries since they're .tgz files?
RawrNate said:
Hm, I didn't think I'd need to with the factory image, but I'll try that. I tried the 4.4.3 factory image as well but that didn't work either. I also can't find anything about the LG Flashtool that's Nexus 4 specific, but I'll try to look more into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is really strange man. Flashing stock ROM is the last resort but even that seems to be failing for you.
Have you tried downloading the stockRom again (just to make sure it isn't corrupted). Also, maybe you can try using TWRP instead of CWM this time.
Good luck.
RawrNate said:
Wait, how do I flash the binaries since they're .tgz files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to flash them, since you are on a factory image, sry.
Woah now, I've made progress! Maybe.... Anyway, in TWRP, I "fixed permissions" and mounted "system" but now I'm at the "Android is Upgrading, Optimizing Apps - Starting Apps" screen again (it only had to optimize 23 apps?). I was at this issue before when I was flashing roms last night trying to fix it, but going back to here is better than not getting it to boot at all. What else should I try next?
Note: I'm on the 4.4.4 factory image now and TWRP is just temporary through the Nexus Root Toolkit.
RawrNate said:
Woah now, I've made progress! Maybe.... Anyway, in TWRP, I "fixed permissions" and mounted "system" but now I'm at the "Android is Upgrading, Optimizing Apps - Starting Apps" screen again (it only had to optimize 23 apps?). I was at this issue before when I was flashing roms last night trying to fix it, but going back to here is better than not getting it to boot at all. What else should I try next?
Note: I'm on the 4.4.4 factory image now and TWRP is just temporary through the Nexus Root Toolkit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And? Did it boot up or just stuck in 'optimizing apps'? I would suggest to try another android version, like 4.3 or 4.4.2 at least.
CCody said:
And? Did it boot up or just stuck in 'optimizing apps'? I would suggest to try another android version, like 4.3 or 4.4.2 at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
30 minutes later and it's still at "Starting apps..."
I tried factory images of 4.4.3 and 4.3, still nothing.
RawrNate said:
30 minutes later and it's still at "Starting apps..."
I tried factory images of 4.4.3 and 4.3, still nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jesus!
What about custom ROM? Cyanogenmod maybe? Make sure to downlaod the M7-Release.
Hm, alright, I'll give that a shot.
On a side note, is there a way to lock the bootloader again while in either recovery or bootloader? I fear that if it's unlocked, I won't get the $250 refund for the replacement.
RawrNate said:
Hm, alright, I'll give that a shot.
On a side note, is there a way to lock the bootloader again while in either recovery or bootloader? I fear that if it's unlocked, I won't get the $250 refund for the replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbvuikfnks
CCody said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbvuikfnks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh good that was easier than I thought xD

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