Database Users

Desperately trying to get Fascinate unbricked!

I have a huge problem.
I rooted my wife's (yea...my wife's...) Fascinate last night. The root method I used worked like a charm. I installed ROM Manager. Again...no problem. Flashed ClockWork Mod no problem as well. I selected "reboot to recovery" to do a nandroid as I've done on numerous other phones. In fact, ALL of this I've done on numerous times on half a dozen different phones.
When it rebooted, instead of it being in Nandroid, it was in the regular stock recovery. My stomach sank...lol
It would just reboot...that's it. Is there a loop with the fascinate? How do I get out of it if so?
At one point, the phone wouldn't do ANYTHING...all that would happen when I plugged it in was a little computer and cell phone would pop up on the screen. No recovery, no nothing. So, after lots of digging and reading, I found the files here that I thought I'd need to reflash the system using odin. I got the /system file, the kernal and the recovery. I flashed the kernal...worked perfectly. Flashed the recovery...again, perfect (and recovery is back but still in a reboot loop...) When I try the .tar.md5 system file, it says md5 is invalid so I changed it to a straight .tar file and it worked all the way up to the very end, then it stops. That's it.
I just need the phone to work again for my wife. I don't care if I even flash a new custom rom (which I can't fine one of that works!) or if it's just simply restoring the stock system files.
ANY AND ALL HELP GREATLY appreciated, guys. Thanks!!

To get to cwm, you have to select "apply update.zip" from stock recovery. This is how fascinate and a few other galaxy s cwm works. Also don't ever delete the update.zip file from sd card.

But to start out....
Step 1: Start with Odin:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=782204
A. Flash system and pit together
B. Flash kernel
C. Flash recovery
*Important note: in Odin, always use PDA!!!! Using phone will cause huge issues.
Step 2: Flash cwm:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/458252/CWMrecovery.tar
*note: this is an Odin file, again flash using PDA
Your phone will end up stock, rooted and with cwm.

That's very interesting. Here's why:
A) It tried to flash the update and the update failed.
B) My Vibrant didn't require this step.
So...as I was typing that, I had the tar.md5 downloading again. Apparently 4th time was a charm because it worked and I'm back up and running.
Thank you all SO MUCH for the STUPID fast replies. Very very cool!!!

Rooting aside if you want to just fix it, I can help you with that. Nothing more though. Interested?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

rmp5s said:
That's very interesting. Here's why:
A) It tried to flash the update and the update failed.
B) My Vibrant didn't require this step.
So...as I was typing that, I had the tar.md5 downloading again. Apparently 4th time was a charm because it worked and I'm back up and running.
Thank you all SO MUCH for the STUPID fast replies. Very very cool!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean for the "stupid fast replies"?

tats_06 said:
What do you mean for the "stupid fast replies"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he means that your replies were just as fast as geeknik's kernel. The only other interpretation is that although your replies were quite quick, unfortunately they were also stupid. But thats obviously not true, so it must be the former. ;-P
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

I think some of us are showing our ages, "stupid" is the new "awesome."
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Hey dont worry i had same problem
http://www.mobilephonenews.info/and...fascinate-restore-is-it-really-that-easy.html go here and follow instructions!!!
then update phone manually to get latest update!! might take a few times or many times because it failed to get update many times but eventually youll get it!!
goodluck

Sherwood, in his case he needs all Odin files, not just system.

Fallingup was first to put this up, credit to his post!
Download:
Odin: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/458252/Odin%...in3 v1.3.exe
Odin Restore file for /system: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/458252/Odin%...System.tar.md5
Odin Restore file for kernel: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/458252/Odin Files/Stock-i500-VZW-Kernel.tar.md5
Odin Restore file for recovery: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/458252/Odin%...covery.tar.md5
PIT file for use in Odin Restores: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/458252/Odin%...00-VZW-pit.pit

Yea...I mean it's almost stupid how fast I got good, meaningful, educated replies.
In other words, you guys kick ass. Thanks again!!

similiar issue, please help me out.
spent 90% of the last few days of my life trying to "unbrick" my phone. i kno some of you will argue that its not really bricked but hell, a screen lighting up does not mean its more useful than a brick. anyway my problem is as follows:
the one and only thing my phone will boot to is download mode. absolutely no recovery. i have flashed via odin the stock modem system and recovery files countless times, sometimes successfully sometimes with error. even when doing so succesfullly the phone gains absolutely no functions. still download mode or black screen. only real thing i can mention that may have led to this issue is that i flashed stock kernel over voodoo lag fix without doing anything to it first. Please help.
Thanx

aabfalter said:
spent 90% of the last few days of my life trying to "unbrick" my phone. i kno some of you will argue that its not really bricked but hell, a screen lighting up does not mean its more useful than a brick. anyway my problem is as follows:
the one and only thing my phone will boot to is download mode. absolutely no recovery. i have flashed via odin the stock modem system and recovery files countless times, sometimes successfully sometimes with error. even when doing so succesfullly the phone gains absolutely no functions. still download mode or black screen. only real thing i can mention that may have led to this issue is that i flashed stock kernel over voodoo lag fix without doing anything to it first. Please help.
Thanx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sam problem here, i can get to cwm recoery and thats it. someone please help

justin94 said:
sam problem here, i can get to cwm recoery and thats it. someone please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem when I flashed the non-voodoo over voodoo and spent hours trying to fix the boot loop. I followed the instruction here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=782204 but still running into the boot loop (recovery mode) then I flashed with the file from here via ODIN http://adrynalyne.us/files/kernels/DI01package3.tar.md5 and it restored my phone back to factory. From there you would have to do the root procedure again. Hope this helps.

anyone know where to get the update zip besides the dropbox link thsat has been dead forever??? every site i hunt on post that link. is there anywhere else to get it. both my pc get c++ runtime floating point errors when i open odin so i cannot flash with that. so i want to use the update zip but cannot find it

The update.zip to get to clockwork??
http://sharesend.com/g2jbl
First time I've ever hosted a file so let me know it if works lol.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

This could be one of the rosiest phone ever to unbrick, unless you are a noon of coarse.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

tswtech2 said:
anyone know where to get the update zip besides the dropbox link thsat has been dead forever??? every site i hunt on post that link. is there anywhere else to get it. both my pc get c++ runtime floating point errors when i open odin so i cannot flash with that. so i want to use the update zip but cannot find it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no update.zip method to unbrick. You will need to re-download a working copy of Odin or figure out how to make Odin work to do a factory restore with it.

Download the di01 complete package and use pda in odin to restore it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=867648

dun bricked myself good this time..

borked up the fascinate whilst trying to update to the devs 2.2.
i know exactly what i did wrong. i was running voodoo5, and i clicked to disable lag fix, but i forgot to restart to let it *actually* disable before trying to load the new stuff. STUPID!
when that happened, it hung on samsung screen, then after battery pull all the phone will do is boot loop.. samsung screen, then goes to robot and screen says says "wiping cache, data, ect.." and then back to samsung screen to reboot and reboot.
i have literally 30 tabs open with articles from here and other forums, nothing seems to be working. here is what i have tried.
1. tried booting back to red cwm and playing with the lagfix (enable and disable again) to see if it would work, no go. i ended up losing red cwm - had to ODIN red back.. i cant get green to flash.
2. tried flashing DL09 both the full package and each individual part via ODIN
3. tried flashing the stocki500system.md5 (from the board) and kernel via ODIN, and nothing.. same boot loop. everything i have flashed via ODIN still gives me a boot loop..
4. tried to connect via ADB but it wont let me access the phone.. NOTE: i just downloaded ADB as a last resort and know nothing about it..
the only thing i can seem to do is get to red cwm. i have several backups in the restore section, but none of them seem to work - either i get a "no file found" even though i can see the file(s), or i get an error after it does load that says ".android_secure.img not found. skipping restore of /sdcard/.android_secure"
any ideas?

Okay follow these steps. Make sure you follow them step by step. Even though you have the lagfix installed this removed it for me.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=782204
Place the PIT file where it belongs. Then ODIN the system, kernel, and recovery in that order. Don't restart the process every time. Just ODIN them one after another.

thank you very much for taking a moment to answer. i did follow that thread, however
i managed to get the stocki500 recovery but the other files (recovery, PIT) are all 404 not found errors.
ive tried that stock md5 and it still boot loops. i actually have that tab open from when i tried that route..
any other ideas and thanks again

Thats why its not working. Try this restore by adrynalyne. The file is there and everything is in one. Just ODIN in the PDA section. This should work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=867648

I got myself into a bit of pickle too. Kept getting errors on the new_cwm file. After numerous attempts. I figured out the file hadn't downloaded correctly and the archive was damaged. Folks who havent installed Froyo yet, do yourself a favor and check the files before you save it to your sd card.

BSayre18 said:
Thats why its not working. Try this restore by adrynalyne. The file is there and everything is in one. Just ODIN in the PDA section. This should work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=867648
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
downloading now.. thanks for the point to this file.. i hadnt found that one yet

no problem. it should work out good.

mailaliasgar said:
I got myself into a bit of pickle too. Kept getting errors on the new_cwm file. After numerous attempts. I figured out the file hadn't downloaded correctly and the archive was damaged. Folks who havent installed Froyo yet, do yourself a favor and check the files before you save it to your sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i soft bricked doing that with a corrupt file before.. however that time i was able to restore using my backup.
this time, every time i try a method, it kicks me back to boot loop. if the file that im downloading now doesnt work, i will have to try and figure out ADB as a last resort..
thanks much for the help!

BSayre18 said:
no problem. it should work out good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
problem
thank you for all your help

mrjake1970 said:
problem
thank you for all your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So this worked for you? You just re-rooted as normal?
def

Thank you all for your help. i applied all the info i got here, and one of them worked it finally took the ODIN flash to stock and i recovered into FROYO from there.
seriously thank you all.. its great that the community is so supportive

I did the exact same thing a couple of days ago, and recovered a similar way, odin back to D101, flashed DL09 & superclean, then restored a backup, then disabled voodoo and finally flashed DL30. I've got a couple of questions.
1: Is voodoo completely off my phone or is it just disabled (is there a difference)? When I apply update.zip from the blue recovery I get green cwm.
2: Each time I backup, restore, flash a different rom I apply update.zip, then from green recovery I flash "new_cwm.zip". Is this necessary?

Joe T said:
I did the exact same thing a couple of days ago, and recovered a similar way, odin back to D101, flashed DL09 & superclean, then restored a backup, then disabled voodoo and finally flashed DL30. I've got a couple of questions.
1: Is voodoo completely off my phone or is it just disabled (is there a difference)? When I apply update.zip from the blue recovery I get green cwm.
2: Each time I backup, restore, flash a different rom I apply update.zip, then from green recovery I flash "new_cwm.zip". Is this necessary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i followed all the hints i got, and i think that the one i got about formatting helped me get out of the boot loop from hell.. it finally took my flash from ODIN, it wouldn't until i did the format(s)..
mind you i am NOT an expert, however from what i read and talked about offline, voodoo is still resident on your phone but disabled (check to see if you have the voodoo file still on your card).. if DL30 is running fine, you are ok..
from what i have read, yes.. the new cwm is required in order to get it to mesh properly with 2.2 leak.. i havent had any issues and i loaded that as well.. from one of the posts i read, if you are a serial flasher, then you need to make sure that not only you download the new cwm zip, but also should have deleted the entire clockworkmod folder from your card for best results..

I love this threadd.... I did the same damn thingg...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

You guys are not alone. I'm just glad the peeps that know what's going on have the patience to put up with us.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

adrynalyne's di01 odin package covers a multitude of sins.

upsidedownaaron said:
adrynalyne's di01 odin package covers a multitude of sins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will literally bring any phone back from the dead as long as its a software issue. I recommend keeping the di01 package, samsung drivers and Odin 1.3 on your computer at all times...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

godihatework said:
It will literally bring any phone back from the dead as long as its a software issue. I recommend keeping the di01 package, samsung drivers and Odin 1.3 on your computer at all times...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ABSOLUTELY!! I have those on my computer at all times, adrynalynes d101 brought me back a few times.
Sent from my stock 2.1
unrooted, fully bloated (for now) Fascinate

help(resolved)

Hey I just seriously screwed my self over bassicly I tried to get miui to boot from the samsung fascinate however when I installed it in cmr it spassed out then powered of then went to the bootloader and I get a red error message saying can't mount data or something so then I tried to reinstall Eco 3 Odin using Odin and it worked it booted but it says I have zero data on my phone and I can't install anything. I also tried the oneclick soft unbricker but it fails saying adb divers are not installed when they are. I'm doing this on my phones browser witch is the only thing that seems to be working right now I also tried a band restore but I got the same data error message.

Have you tried restoring to DL17 and then re-upgrading to 2.2?

And how about a good old odin flash?
In worst case, I would ask imnuts for the full odin package, or use a fascinate full odin package to get you off your feet, then reflash the modem, and recovery, then wipe In recovery cyan cwm... Then flash ec03
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA Premium App

wait wait, is this on a Continuum or Fascinate?

Nuckin said:
wait wait, is this on a Continuum or Fascinate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He is on a Continuum, but you can use a fascinate Odin package to reformat partitions if they get messed up, then just reflash recovery and start fresh if you can get in then... That wasn't a really good thing though to suggest to a newcomer necessarily, so thank you for pointing that out

okay heres what happened firts i wanted to see if i could get the miui rom for the samsung fascinate to boot on the continuum there pretty much the same phone minus the ticker and screen size so i went into clockwork mod and wiped everything then went to install zip from sd card and clicked on the miui rom witch was the process we always used on the hero. then after i clicked on it, it started to install then my screen started shacking and my phone turned off. when i turned it back on it when to the bootloader and a red error message poped up saying
e:cant mount /dev/blockstill(invalid argument
and when i go to recovery it says the same thing when i try to wipe/restore nand it says the same thing. so at that point i powered off and went to download mode and reinstalled eco3 odin using pda mode on odin and it worked then it rebooted and i got to the set up screen and i got 2 force closes daily brefeing and something else i went ahead and skipped all that stuff and it loaded fine after that. however now for some reason it says i have zero system memory so i cant install any apps or save data however it does recognize my sd card but i cant install to sd card. so bassicly the phone functions just no internal memory. at this point i honestly dont know what to do everything on the hero was simple and straight forward and we never ran into these kind of problems. ive also tried to restore my nands and reinstall clockwork mod but still no dice. what i need to do now i guess is get the necessary files to go completely stock and see if that helps. and if someone could point me in the direction to those files i would really aprechiate it. oh and i tried the one click unbricker it sayed success but didnt really do anything.
oh and i know trying to install miui was stupid but i was just wanting to see if it would boot lol.

Download the PIT file in the Development forum, as well as the DL17 Odin package from the FAQ of the EC03 post I made. Flash the DL17 in PDA, with the PIT, and re-partition selected. After that, you should be back on DL17, and can do whatever you want from there.

huzzza!!!
thank god that worked thank yall so much i still cant believe that just happened but restoring the stock odin image worked and all is well. so i guess tommorow i can reroot and restore my nand.
once again thank yall for the help.

[Q] S4 Bootloop, Can enter download but not recovery

Hi,
I have been searching and searching. I tried to install a kernel to my phone, its been forever so i don't remember which one.
It just reboots every 5 seconds without any screens coming up. I can not get into recovery mode
I can get into download mode and have flashed stock I337UCUAMDB_ATTAMDB_I337UCUAMDB with odin, but it doesnt fix anything.
What can I do to get to stock recovery and fix my phone?

What happens if you put it on download mode and then cancel with vol down

It falls back into the bootloop of restarting every 5 seconds with no screens coming up. No entry into recovery.

And if you pull the battery and put it back in does it try to boot?

What firmware were you on and was it loki'd if you were on mdl?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

I have taken the battery out and replaced it. It does not automatically try to boot. After pressing power it goes into the same boot cycle. Also, thank you for your quick attention!

megatilter said:
I have taken the battery out and replaced it. It does not automatically try to boot. After pressing power it goes into the same boot cycle. Also, thank you for your quick attention!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When did it start doing what's it's going. Did you do anything before hand? Do you know what firmware you where on before you tried odin? Was it mdb?

"What firmware were you on and was it loki'd if you were on mdl?"
Previous to my obvious blunder with the kernel download, I was using goldeneye rom from android develepment, sucessfully.
Dont know if that answers the question but i have also tried to flash AMDL with odin but have the same results.

megatilter said:
"What firmware were you on and was it loki'd if you were on mdl?"
Previous to my obvious blunder with the kernel download, I was using goldeneye rom from android develepment, sucessfully.
Dont know if that answers the question but i have also tried to flash AMDL with odin but have the same results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you used odin did you only have f.reset and auto-reboot checked and flashed the md5 file in PDA

jd1639 said:
When you used odin did you only have f.reset and auto-reboot checked and flashed the md5 file in PDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have done it multiple times, perhaps panicking, I checked the re-partition button. I have tried to get a PIT file downloaded and tried to use that.
However, this behavior was happening before I did that. It started boot looping as soon as i tried to use TWRP to flash the kernel (I know i am an idiot, and didn't read first). As soon as this started happening, that's when I immediately tried to flash AMDL (exactly as you described with only those options checked) through odin and it didn't do anything different. That's when i tried other options. I fear i may have broken my phone. Again thank you for your attention.

megatilter said:
I have done it multiple times, perhaps panicking, I checked the re-partition button. I have tried to get a PIT file downloaded and tried to use that.
However, this behavior was happening before I did that. It started boot looping as soon as i tried to use TWRP to flash the kernel (I know i am an idiot, and didn't read first). As soon as this started happening, that's when I immediately tried to flash AMDL (exactly as you described with only those options checked) through odin and it didn't do anything different. That's when i tried other options. I fear i may have broken my phone. Again thank you for your attention.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you've broken it too. Sounds like you flashed the wrong kernel and at that point you were more or less hosed. Look into jtag, mobiletechvideos.com. They can probably fix it. It'll cost you $60.00 +
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using xda app-developers app

jd1639 said:
I think you've broken it too. Sounds like you flashed the wrong kernel and at that point you were more or less hosed. Look into jtag, mobiletechvideos.com. They can probably fix it. It'll cost you $60.00 +
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've never seen a kernel hard brick a device or corrupt the recovery partition. i also rarely see a user flash a file and not remember what they just flashed. he/she possibly flashed an incompatible kernel or flashed a non-loki'd kernel without flashing loki-doki. either way, recovery would still be accessible to correct this issue. i feel that there is more to this.
OP, see jd's jtag post above.

megatilter said:
I have done it multiple times, perhaps panicking, I checked the re-partition button. I have tried to get a PIT file downloaded and tried to use that.
However, this behavior was happening before I did that. It started boot looping as soon as i tried to use TWRP to flash the kernel (I know i am an idiot, and didn't read first). As soon as this started happening, that's when I immediately tried to flash AMDL (exactly as you described with only those options checked) through odin and it didn't do anything different. That's when i tried other options. I fear i may have broken my phone. Again thank you for your attention.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I finally was able to get Kies working and did a firmware update. That gave me back regular recovery. Now Im stuck at bootloop att screen.
I then re flashed AMDL stock via odin and VIOLA!
Im back to stock baby!
And from there ill probably go back to Goldeneyes Rom and never think about this ever again. Thanks for your time. My phone is working again!
Also
Thank you for helping me at least by giving this thread attention. So much appreciation to the fine people here at XDA

megatilter said:
Well I finally was able to get Kies working and did a firmware update. That gave me back regular recovery. Now Im stuck at bootloop att screen.
I then re flashed AMDL stock via odin and VIOLA!
Im back to stock baby!
And from there ill probably go back to Goldeneyes Rom and never think about this ever again. Thanks for your time. My phone is working again!
Also
Thank you for helping me at least by giving this thread attention. So much appreciation to the fine people here at XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news! You got lucky, make sure you read and learn on xda. And always know what you flash.

megatilter said:
Well I finally was able to get Kies working and did a firmware update. That gave me back regular recovery. Now Im stuck at bootloop att screen.
I then re flashed AMDL stock via odin and VIOLA!
Im back to stock baby!
And from there ill probably go back to Goldeneyes Rom and never think about this ever again. Thanks for your time. My phone is working again!
Also
Thank you for helping me at least by giving this thread attention. So much appreciation to the fine people here at XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to share how you got Kies working? I have a similar problem and I can't get Kies to recognize my phone.

Fix!
So What you gota do
1. Pull Out Battery Put back in
2.Go To Download Mode
3. Download The TWRP.tar For Your Phone
4.Run Odin as Admin, Tick Pda, for pda select the TWRP.tar
5. Hit Start, Then Pull Out battery put it back in
6.Get A Micro Sd And Put The Cyanogenmod Rom, and the gapps the ones for your phone
7.Insert microsd in phone
8. Boot Recovery and go to mounts and mount the microsd
9, Go Advansed, file manager, ext sd, And Copy the cyanogenmod and the gapps to internal storage
10. Flash the cyanogen mod and the gapps. DO THIS PART CAREFULLY OR MIGHT HARD BRICK!
11. Reboot And youl boot to cyanogenmod! OH yeah! Replay if this helped or if you have any problems

[Q] Help a noob, cannot boot after trying to flash stock rom

So I'm pretty desperate and I apologize if similar info was posted somewhere else. I've been researching several hours but couldn't find anything.
I originally installed CM11 and decided to experiment with a different rom TriForce ROM [TouchWiz]. I put the zip file on my SD card and booted into clockworkmod it gave an error of bad zip. I tried different usb port to transfer the zip, downloaded it multiple times with no result. So I decided to try a different rom Stock_Rooted_Deodexed_MF9_Rom.zip. The installation finished but the phone would not boot.
Recently I flashed the stock rom from odin, it finished successfully but still not boot, Galaxy sreen lights up quickly and that's it.

rmngorelov said:
So I'm pretty desperate and I apologize if similar info was posted somewhere else. I've been researching several hours but couldn't find anything.
I originally installed CM11 and decided to experiment with a different rom TriForce ROM [TouchWiz]. I put the zip file on my SD card and booted into clockworkmod it gave an error of bad zip. I tried different usb port to transfer the zip, downloaded it multiple times with no result. So I decided to try a different rom Stock_Rooted_Deodexed_MF9_Rom.zip. The installation finished but the phone would not boot.
Recently I flashed the stock rom from odin, it finished successfully but still not boot, Galaxy sreen lights up quickly and that's it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Restore from nandroid backup. I hope you made one. Try going into recovery do a factory reset and wipe all cache and data and what not and then install a ROM from Odin.

rmngorelov said:
So I'm pretty desperate and I apologize if similar info was posted somewhere else. I've been researching several hours but couldn't find anything.
I originally installed CM11 and decided to experiment with a different rom TriForce ROM [TouchWiz]. I put the zip file on my SD card and booted into clockworkmod it gave an error of bad zip. I tried different usb port to transfer the zip, downloaded it multiple times with no result. So I decided to try a different rom Stock_Rooted_Deodexed_MF9_Rom.zip. The installation finished but the phone would not boot.
Recently I flashed the stock rom from odin, it finished successfully but still not boot, Galaxy sreen lights up quickly and that's it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you're using roms for your version of your phone. the MF9 bootloader is really old and probably wont install anymore. My phone did this before and I thought I bricked it, but I kid you not I took the battery out and removed the SIM card and rebooted and it booted up just fine. May not work for you, but I suggest you go back to update stock firmware then try again. If you're using the triband model, there's a post around here somewhere with confirmed roms that wont brick your device. I'm currently using the Google Play Edition Stock ROM and it's working GREAT.
Link for new firmware (NG5 Firmware): https://mega.co.nz/#F!0JdRkIZR!AqqKdbvba_Hpg5VrCmrbPw

i7vSa7vi7y said:
Restore from nandroid backup. I hope you made one. Try going into recovery do a factory reset and wipe all cache and data and what not and then install a ROM from Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I restored to this stock ROM before and everything worked well. Currently I can't boot into recovery, Samsung flashes once and that's it, that's why I'm desperate the only thing I can do is boot in to download mode for odin.

silentdeath631 said:
Make sure you're using roms for your version of your phone. the MF9 bootloader is really old and probably wont install anymore. My phone did this before and I thought I bricked it, but I kid you not I took the battery out and removed the SIM card and rebooted and it booted up just fine. May not work for you, but I suggest you go back to update stock firmware then try again. If you're using the triband model, there's a post around here somewhere with confirmed roms that wont brick your device. I'm currently using the Google Play Edition Stock ROM and it's working GREAT.
Link for new firmware (NG5 Firmware):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it matter that I can't get into recovery to clear the cache first before trying new roms?

silentdeath631 said:
Make sure you're using roms for your version of your phone. the MF9 bootloader is really old and probably wont install anymore. My phone did this before and I thought I bricked it, but I kid you not I took the battery out and removed the SIM card and rebooted and it booted up just fine. May not work for you, but I suggest you go back to update stock firmware then try again. If you're using the triband model, there's a post around here somewhere with confirmed roms that wont brick your device. I'm currently using the Google Play Edition Stock ROM and it's working GREAT.
Link for new firmware (NG5 Firmware):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'm doing something foolish but every time I try to download files from the link you gave I get a decryption error so I can't download them zip or original.

rmngorelov said:
I restored to this stock ROM before and everything worked well. Currently I can't boot into recovery, Samsung flashes once and that's it, that's why I'm desperate the only thing I can do is boot in to download mode for odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just hold home power and volume up. Right when you see text at the top left let go. You have to have the right timing

i7vSa7vi7y said:
Just hold home power and volume up. Right when you see text at the top left let go. You have to have the right timing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After almost eight hours of troubleshooting I finally got it to work.
I've tried flashing clockworkmod several times to see if I could get into recovery with no result so I gave up on that and I flashed the newest stock rom I could find L720VPUFNG2_L720SPTFNG2_SPR and it was still not booting. Than I thought maybe twerp would make a difference and god almighty it finally booted! I felt as if I gave birth to a child after eight hours of labor!
Now I'm extremely paranoid about touching anything because it took me forever to do this. Does anyone know why flashing twerp would make such a difference? I know this sort of stuff can get extremely complicated but I'd like to try to understand.
I hope my foolish agony contributed to this community if not in any other way except by the comedic relief caused by my ignorance.

rmngorelov said:
After almost eight hours of troubleshooting I finally got it to work.
I've tried flashing clockworkmod several times to see if I could get into recovery with no result so I gave up on that and I flashed the newest stock rom I could find L720VPUFNG2_L720SPTFNG2_SPR and it was still not booting. Than I thought maybe twerp would make a difference and god almighty it finally booted! I felt as if I gave birth to a child after eight hours of labor!
Now I'm extremely paranoid about touching anything because it took me forever to do this. Does anyone know why flashing twerp would make such a difference? I know this sort of stuff can get extremely complicated but I'd like to try to understand.
I hope my foolish agony contributed to this community if not in any other way except by the comedic relief caused by my ignorance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends what recovery you had and what version. I personally like Philz touch recovery but TWRP is good. Now wipe and flash a ROM my friend or restore a backup

rmngorelov said:
After almost eight hours of troubleshooting I finally got it to work.
I've tried flashing clockworkmod several times to see if I could get into recovery with no result so I gave up on that and I flashed the newest stock rom I could find L720VPUFNG2_L720SPTFNG2_SPR and it was still not booting. Than I thought maybe twerp would make a difference and god almighty it finally booted! I felt as if I gave birth to a child after eight hours of labor!
Now I'm extremely paranoid about touching anything because it took me forever to do this. Does anyone know why flashing twerp would make such a difference? I know this sort of stuff can get extremely complicated but I'd like to try to understand.
I hope my foolish agony contributed to this community if not in any other way except by the comedic relief caused by my ignorance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im having similar issues. which version of TWRP worked for you?
thank you

fearthemarchx said:
im having similar issues. which version of TWRP worked for you?
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend flashing the newest one here using odin
http://teamw.in/project/twrp2
Then once you are able to boot into recovery go to wipe and perform both factory reset and format data. Then install whatever rom you like, I used Sprint Galaxy S4 SPH-L720 VPUFNAE (Androdi 4.4.2) found here
http://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-stock-firmware/ (or maybe find a newer stock rom if this one gives you errors)
Just copy the zip file to the phone, boot into twrp, do wipe factory reset again, select install then select the zip in whatever directory and you should be good to go. Make sure you do a back up in twrp once you get the phone to boot so you can always revert to stock.
I hope I was thorough enough that some of the information was useful. Let me know if you need any more help.

only certain recoveries will stick. ive tried the most recent twrp, with no luck. only a few versions of philztouch work.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app

fearthemarchx said:
only certain recoveries will stick. ive tried the most recent twrp, with no luck. only a few versions of philztouch work.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Format with philztouch that works then try flashing a new stock rom with odin. That should bring everything back to stock including the recovery.

ive tried. when i flash rom via odin i only get a blue "recovery booting" at the top of boot screen. even when i only power on, not into recovery. im going to attempt to flash rom provided in previous post via philz.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app

fearthemarchx said:
ive tried. when i flash rom via odin i only get a blue "recovery booting" at the top of boot screen. even when i only power on, not into recovery. im going to attempt to flash rom provided in previous post via philz.
Sent from my LGL34C using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're in download mode when you flash from odin right? If you your getting an error flashing, try a different stock rom after reformating/resetting to factory (it's crucial to clear the cache before trying a different rom). I had to try a few roms before I found one that worked.