Database Users

[Q] Is it possible to go 100% stock with update

Here is my problem. I would like 100% stock with update.When I first got the phone I rooted with motochopper and installed SPH-L720 OUDHS Recovery. I tried ForceRom 1.0, but went back to my original Nand. Everything worked fine. I used odin to go stock and factory reset data and cache, im good to this point. When I install the sprint update I get the error "Prevention information: This device has detected an application attemping" blah blah blah. Also when i try turning on WiFi the error message pops back up. I checked and the phone is not rooted. I have tried every back to stock thread in these forums. One thing I found in settings: about phone: Status: device status: This still say's custom, even after all the attempts to go stock. Thanks for you help in advance.

How to unroot Galaxy S4, restore to stock and reset the flash counter
Or you can go to the Developer's section and find some threads about restoring. The security thing sounds like you still have Shabby's custom kernel installed. (I could be wrong.)
But the official stock MDC rom from Samsung includes the official kernel. I've restored a couple of times with the official ROM, and I was always back to the original stuff, including kernel. To completely restore, you can always also do a factory reset from the stock recovery (after you flash back the original rom). It will wipe all your data and settings, of course, so be warned.
Edit: A Local Thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=40947712&postcount=6
Also, I forgot to mention, but after this, you'll either just have to wait for Sprint to push the MDL update to you (since you say you want to be updated), or go find the thread (in dev section) from crawrj (I think him) about how to install it manually; but I think that will require a custom recovery, and you are trying to avoid customizations, so...

I have done exactly what the video posted said, even wiped data factory reset. The problem is after i install the OTA update I get the error message and my WiFi does not work. When I try and turn on WiFi it keeps popping up the error. Unrooted I should not get the error and WiFi should definitely work either way.

(At this point, then, this is somewhat like the blind leading the blind, so hopefully a more seasoned ROM manipulator will respond soon to help fix ya up, but until then...)
Maybe you can try crawrj's "Wipe All" script first before flashing the stock ROM? *shrug* (Link: [SCRIPT]Wipe All Zip)
I mean, if you wipe everything and then flash the stock ROM, I would be puzzled as to why something you installed before the wipe would still be lingering around to mess up your system. Again, though, I make no claims this will fix you up--it probably won't. Just throwing out ideas until someone more knowledgeable comes along to help you.

vertualrod said:
I have done exactly what the video posted said, even wiped data factory reset. The problem is after i install the OTA update I get the error message and my WiFi does not work. When I try and turn on WiFi it keeps popping up the error. Unrooted I should not get the error and WiFi should definitely work either way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had same problem when following the steps to return to stock after flashing custom kernel, Wifi wasn't working and was getting nagging Update and Information notifications. However I did notice after flashing Stock rom via Odin when checking 'about phone' that the Broadband Version was still MDL while Software Version did revert back to MDC. I was also under the impression that flashing the stock rom would restore stock everything, including Broadband Version back to MDC. However wasn't a big deal, I went ahead accepted the OTA update, which downloaded and went through the install process. Afterwards I went ahead and flashed ForceRom 1.0 and the 1.1 update, followed by flashing shabby's custom kernel to get Wifi working. I'm now completely happy with my setup, no nagging notifications and showing Software and Broadband Versions running MDL with shabby's custom kernel. Been running smooth for a couple of days now without any issues..

Figured it out! Had to reset the Flash counter with triangle away in order for the Device status to become official. Then i did data factory reset then flashed the stock .tar with odin. I installed the update on the phone and Viola! device official and everything is stock and working. Thanks for the help.

Good info, there, about Triangle Away. Glad you sorted it out!

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[Q] Weirdest problem - flashing anythin thru ODIN does not change anything in my S4

Alright, So I bought a brand-new Galaxy S4 i-9500 a couple of weeks back. Ever since day one, the phone has major problems working with my Sandisk Class 10 64gb sdxc card, which I was using in my Galaxy Note N7000, without any problems. The card also works perfect in my wife's Galaxy S3 i9300.
The problems include:
-> The phone showing card as "Damaged" and not mounting it.
-> Sometimes it mounts the card, but shows the card as 'Blank' or 'Wrongly Formatted'
-> And yet sometimes, it mounts the card, but does not read some specific files. Opening those will give a message which says "File format not supported". In the process, the phone heats up to pretty nasty levels, and the battery drain will be massive. The phone also becomes very slow, gets stuck, and sometimes even restarts, and the problem keeps continuing.
If I remove the memory card, the phone works like a charm. I tried a 16gb memory card which also produced more or less the same results.
Now, the real problem is this. Recently, I had tried to root the phone, and for that purpose, I tried flashing CWM from cofface, through ODIN 3.07 and 1.85. Both the times, the flashing process was successful, with ODIN giving the green "PASS" message. However, nothing seemed to change on my phone, and CWM was never installed. I could never get the CWM screen no matter what I tried (every instruction on the net, literally). I then left the matter.
When my aforementioned card problem bothered me a lot, today, I decided to re-flash the stock firmware to my phone. So I downloaded the stock ROM from Sammobile, the correct pit file from XDA and started the flash process. Flashing was successful, as shown by ODIN, and the phone rebooted. But to my horror, the phone was exactly in the same state, when I had switched it off. Nothing was ever changed, all my files and everything were intact, and nothing had happened at all!!!!
How is this possible??? The bootloader shows "Downloading" and the blue bar while flashing, ODIN shows everything and even says it succeeded, but then how come things on my Phone remains absolutely unchanged??? So then what did it re-flash and where to?? And is there any way to get rid of this memory card problem??
I googled a lot to see if anyone else is experiencing the same problem as mine, but never found anything, which leads me to believe that my device is one weird thing!

vivz990 said:
Alright, So I bought a brand-new Galaxy S4 i-9500 a couple of weeks back. Ever since day one, the phone has major problems working with my Sandisk Class 10 64gb sdxc card, which I was using in my Galaxy Note N7000, without any problems. The card also works perfect in my wife's Galaxy S3 i9300.
The problems include:
-> The phone showing card as "Damaged" and not mounting it.
-> Sometimes it mounts the card, but shows the card as 'Blank' or 'Wrongly Formatted'
-> And yet sometimes, it mounts the card, but does not read some specific files. Opening those will give a message which says "File format not supported". In the process, the phone heats up to pretty nasty levels, and the battery drain will be massive. The phone also becomes very slow, gets stuck, and sometimes even restarts, and the problem keeps continuing.
If I remove the memory card, the phone works like a charm. I tried a 16gb memory card which also produced more or less the same results.
Now, the real problem is this. Recently, I had tried to root the phone, and for that purpose, I tried flashing CWM from cofface, through ODIN 3.07 and 1.85. Both the times, the flashing process was successful, with ODIN giving the green "PASS" message. However, nothing seemed to change on my phone, and CWM was never installed. I could never get the CWM screen no matter what I tried (every instruction on the net, literally). I then left the matter.
When my aforementioned card problem bothered me a lot, today, I decided to re-flash the stock firmware to my phone. So I downloaded the stock ROM from Sammobile, the correct pit file from XDA and started the flash process. Flashing was successful, as shown by ODIN, and the phone rebooted. But to my horror, the phone was exactly in the same state, when I had switched it off. Nothing was ever changed, all my files and everything were intact, and nothing had happened at all!!!!
How is this possible??? The bootloader shows "Downloading" and the blue bar while flashing, ODIN shows everything and even says it succeeded, but then how come things on my Phone remains absolutely unchanged??? So then what did it re-flash and where to?? And is there any way to get rid of this memory card problem??
I googled a lot to see if anyone else is experiencing the same problem as mine, but never found anything, which leads me to believe that my device is one weird thing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same problem for me... i wanted reinstall the stock firmware completely but when i flashed it with ODIN nothing happened...

Markz88 said:
Same problem for me... i wanted reinstall the stock firmware completely but when i flashed it with ODIN nothing happened...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin doesnt wipe your device or delete anything of your data...
If you flash the same firmware with your device firmware then nothing's really happened..
But if you root or change anything to system - boot - recovery - modem partition then simply is going again to stock or to the version you flash..
Thanks

Maybe there is something wrong with flashing memory (emmc).
There is an app on play store to check it, but i dont know if it works on s4.
I suggest to replace your phone. Or send it to service center
Edit: flash another different stock firmware, and check pda and csc if has changed
sent from my galaxy

vivz990 said:
Alright, So I bought a brand-new Galaxy S4 i-9500 a couple of weeks back. Ever since day one, the phone has major problems working with my Sandisk Class 10 64gb sdxc card, which I was using in my Galaxy Note N7000, without any problems. The card also works perfect in my wife's Galaxy S3 i9300.
The problems include:
-> The phone showing card as "Damaged" and not mounting it.
-> Sometimes it mounts the card, but shows the card as 'Blank' or 'Wrongly Formatted'
-> And yet sometimes, it mounts the card, but does not read some specific files. Opening those will give a message which says "File format not supported". In the process, the phone heats up to pretty nasty levels, and the battery drain will be massive. The phone also becomes very slow, gets stuck, and sometimes even restarts, and the problem keeps continuing.
If I remove the memory card, the phone works like a charm. I tried a 16gb memory card which also produced more or less the same results.
Now, the real problem is this. Recently, I had tried to root the phone, and for that purpose, I tried flashing CWM from cofface, through ODIN 3.07 and 1.85. Both the times, the flashing process was successful, with ODIN giving the green "PASS" message. However, nothing seemed to change on my phone, and CWM was never installed. I could never get the CWM screen no matter what I tried (every instruction on the net, literally). I then left the matter.
When my aforementioned card problem bothered me a lot, today, I decided to re-flash the stock firmware to my phone. So I downloaded the stock ROM from Sammobile, the correct pit file from XDA and started the flash process. Flashing was successful, as shown by ODIN, and the phone rebooted. But to my horror, the phone was exactly in the same state, when I had switched it off. Nothing was ever changed, all my files and everything were intact, and nothing had happened at all!!!!
How is this possible??? The bootloader shows "Downloading" and the blue bar while flashing, ODIN shows everything and even says it succeeded, but then how come things on my Phone remains absolutely unchanged??? So then what did it re-flash and where to?? And is there any way to get rid of this memory card problem??
I googled a lot to see if anyone else is experiencing the same problem as mine, but never found anything, which leads me to believe that my device is one weird thing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to this link....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2219803
get rooted from here ( even if u are)
in the same page u get a link to flash back to stock recovery. get that flashed
boot into stock recovery and get a factory reset done.
pull battery and back in...
turn on ur phone into download mode and flash ur stock rom using odin....
this is how i got mine working.... i had ur similar issue....

kiwimalayalee said:
go to this link....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2219803
get rooted from here ( even if u are)
in the same page u get a link to flash back to stock recovery. get that flashed
boot into stock recovery and get a factory reset done.
pull battery and back in...
turn on ur phone into download mode and flash ur stock rom using odin....
this is how i got mine working.... i had ur similar issue....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok..will try this now...my last resort

vivz990 said:
ok..will try this now...my last resort
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i assure u its gonna work perfectly...

I am literally having the same problem on my S4 I337M, I'm gonna try what was suggested on here, maybe it'll work lol

i have exactly the same problem right now, i searched for a solution and i found ur thread.
going through the thread to see a solution

vivz990 said:
ok..will try this now...my last resort
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
was ur problem solved after flashing cf-auto_root? i mean were u then able to flash custom recovery via odin?

Is solved?

vivz990 said:
... I decided to re-flash the stock firmware to my phone. So I downloaded the stock ROM from Sammobile, the correct pit file from XDA and started the flash process. Flashing was successful, as shown by ODIN, and the phone rebooted. But to my horror, the phone was exactly in the same state, when I had switched it off. Nothing was ever changed, all my files and everything were intact, and nothing had happened at all!!!!
How is this possible??? The bootloader shows "Downloading" and the blue bar while flashing, ODIN shows everything and even says it succeeded, but then how come things on my Phone remains absolutely unchanged??? So then what did it re-flash and where to?? And is there any way to get rid of this memory card problem??
I googled a lot to see if anyone else is experiencing the same problem as mine, but never found anything, which leads me to believe that my device is one weird thing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG. I just experienced the EXACT same issue with a Galaxy Exhibit (MetroPCS) SGH-T599. I picked up this phone 2nd hand. It has Philz Touch v6.25 recovery already installed on it. But the phone is stuck in a boot loop. So I decided to flash the stock ROM, a custom ROM via ODIN and later even via flashable zips from the Philz recovery! I even tried to flash TWRP to replace Philz Touch thinking there was something wrong with Philz recovery.
No matter what I did, EVERY TIME, the phone remained in EXACTLY the same state, i.e., with Philz recovery still on there.
I have searched everywhere for the last 3 days including XDA but never found anyone else with the same ODIN flashing issue. Thank goodness I found your post. I'm reading the thread now looking for a solution.
I've noticed a couple other things beneath the surface. When I flashed a CM custom ROM for the phone, the default.prop indicated that there was a new system on the phone (I can access the phone via ADB and look at the files including the system files). It also appears the phone was rooted by the previous owner. Another thing I noticed is that some cases when I tried to install a custom ROM via the custom recovery, the phone would suddenly reboot just at the point the recovery attempts to write the ROM.
Yes, it is clear the phone is good and bricked. But how on earth to unbrick it if ODIN isn't actually changing ANYTHING on the phone and installing a ROM via Philz recovery changes little to nothing either.

CVAngelo said:
OMG. I just experienced the EXACT same issue with a Galaxy Exhibit (MetroPCS) SGH-T599. I picked up this phone 2nd hand. It has Philz Touch v6.25 recovery already installed on it. But the phone is stuck in a boot loop. So I decided to flash the stock ROM, a custom ROM via ODIN and later even via flashable zips from the Philz recovery! I even tried to flash TWRP to replace Philz Touch thinking there was something wrong with Philz recovery.
No matter what I did, EVERY TIME, the phone remained in EXACTLY the same state, i.e., with Philz recovery still on there.
I have searched everywhere for the last 3 days including XDA but never found anyone else with the same ODIN flashing issue. Thank goodness I found your post. I'm reading the thread now looking for a solution.
I've noticed a couple other things beneath the surface. When I flashed a CM custom ROM for the phone, the default.prop indicated that there was a new system on the phone (I can access the phone via ADB and look at the files including the system files). It also appears the phone was rooted by the previous owner. Another thing I noticed is that some cases when I tried to install a custom ROM via the custom recovery, the phone would suddenly reboot just at the point the recovery attempts to write the ROM.
Yes, it is clear the phone is good and bricked. But how on earth to unbrick it if ODIN isn't actually changing ANYTHING on the phone and installing a ROM via Philz recovery changes little to nothing either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totaly same problem with my Galaxy Note 10.1 (N8010). Tried flash stock ROM over Odin a totaly nothing changed. It is in bootloop everytime with totaly same Marshmallow logo, even if I flash stock ROM which is KitKat... Only sometime it boot to system where it say to me "Encryption unssucessfull" - WTF? i never have password, and when i click on something it just reboot to BootLoop...
I have TWRP recovery on it, but when i want to flash some ROM it flash it but nothing change... Maybe EMMC memory chip is death or I dont know...

Fellas, try on other PC/Laptop or reinstal Windows/Ubuntu whatever you use... That helped me..

[Q] GT-i9500 has no OS installed.

Hi everyone I just recently purchased a used S4 the GT-i9500. Everything seemed fine until I got home. It detected my T-Mobile Sim fine but I could only access 2G data and could not connect to any WiFi network I came across. The rom was stock 4.2.2 and the phone was rooted pre purchase. So after fiddling around for a few minutes I discovered the previous owner had flashed TWRP v2.4.1.0 as his choice for a Custom Recovery. Now at this point I had decided to flash on a Custom Rom and of course I first made a backup before flashing on WanamLite. Now after attempting to flash it I immediately received a failure. I tried turning off the signature verification and it did not flash. Now in my frustration i attempted to wipe everything and tried flashing Omega Rom v14. Now i was able to go through with the installation and choose what I wished to install and when I pressed Install things went along smoothly until I hit the app SecSafetyAssurance.apk where it freezes. This is a bump that I've run into at least 5 times already. I changed certain options I wanted to install and eventually made it past this and I am prompted to reboot. Now when I do this to my dismay I just receive a black screen. Upon pulling out the battery and attempting to reboot I still receive a black screen. when I boot back into the Recovery and attempt to reboot the system from within TWRP it warns me saying No OS Installed Are you sure you want to reboot. Im at a loss of what to do. I have read about other members suggesting to use ODIN but I am very confused about how to access Download Mode in order to flash a stock rom from SamMobile.com. I could use a few tips or maybe a few options that I'm left with in order to obtain the operation of my phone again. I would like to get my phone back and Im sure some users can relate to how Im feeling so any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advanced!

JmastahJay56 said:
Hi everyone I just recently purchased a used S4 the GT-i9500. Everything seemed fine until I got home. It detected my T-Mobile Sim fine but I could only access 2G data and could not connect to any WiFi network I came across. The rom was stock 4.2.2 and the phone was rooted pre purchase. So after fiddling around for a few minutes I discovered the previous owner had flashed TWRP v2.4.1.0 as his choice for a Custom Recovery. Now at this point I had decided to flash on a Custom Rom and of course I first made a backup before flashing on WanamLite. Now after attempting to flash it I immediately received a failure. I tried turning off the signature verification and it did not flash. Now in my frustration i attempted to wipe everything and tried flashing Omega Rom v14. Now i was able to go through with the installation and choose what I wished to install and when I pressed Install things went along smoothly until I hit the app SecSafetyAssurance.apk where it freezes. This is a bump that I've run into at least 5 times already. I changed certain options I wanted to install and eventually made it past this and I am prompted to reboot. Now when I do this to my dismay I just receive a black screen. Upon pulling out the battery and attempting to reboot I still receive a black screen. when I boot back into the Recovery and attempt to reboot the system from within TWRP it warns me saying No OS Installed Are you sure you want to reboot. Im at a loss of what to do. I have read about other members suggesting to use ODIN but I am very confused about how to access Download Mode in order to flash a stock rom from SamMobile.com. I could use a few tips or maybe a few options that I'm left with in order to obtain the operation of my phone again. I would like to get my phone back and Im sure some users can relate to how Im feeling so any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well first thing is get the latest stock firmware for your variant from my sign and get odin 3.07
For download mode power off phone unplug,, press volume down home and power all together till something pops up and release then press volume up and connect to pc
Open odin click pda and select that firmware u downloaded start the process
For more info check my sign help thread link it has more options on the same
.

JmastahJay56 said:
Hi everyone I just recently purchased a used S4 the GT-i9500. Everything seemed fine until I got home. It detected my T-Mobile Sim fine but I could only access 2G data and could not connect to any WiFi network I came across. The rom was stock 4.2.2 and the phone was rooted pre purchase. So after fiddling around for a few minutes I discovered the previous owner had flashed TWRP v2.4.1.0 as his choice for a Custom Recovery. Now at this point I had decided to flash on a Custom Rom and of course I first made a backup before flashing on WanamLite. Now after attempting to flash it I immediately received a failure. I tried turning off the signature verification and it did not flash. Now in my frustration i attempted to wipe everything and tried flashing Omega Rom v14. Now i was able to go through with the installation and choose what I wished to install and when I pressed Install things went along smoothly until I hit the app SecSafetyAssurance.apk where it freezes. This is a bump that I've run into at least 5 times already. I changed certain options I wanted to install and eventually made it past this and I am prompted to reboot. Now when I do this to my dismay I just receive a black screen. Upon pulling out the battery and attempting to reboot I still receive a black screen. when I boot back into the Recovery and attempt to reboot the system from within TWRP it warns me saying No OS Installed Are you sure you want to reboot. Im at a loss of what to do. I have read about other members suggesting to use ODIN but I am very confused about how to access Download Mode in order to flash a stock rom from SamMobile.com. I could use a few tips or maybe a few options that I'm left with in order to obtain the operation of my phone again. I would like to get my phone back and Im sure some users can relate to how Im feeling so any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing through odin is one option.... some users have reported that there were some hiccups when installing omega 14 because of the aroma script.....try a different rom...there are many others to choose from....or you could flash stock via odin as said on the earlier comment good luck

Feedback
Today I attempted to use ODIN to flash now I am still currently attempting this. When I press the volume down key, power, and home button it takes me to the custom recovery TWRP instead of download mode. The phone did this when I first purchased it. When I still had what appeared to be the stock rom it would always take me to the recovery. When I would use the volume up instead of down it would take me to the factory test mode now mind you this happened when the OS was still installed. When i try that combination now i just receive a blank black screen. Are there any other ways to boot into download mode?

Slimbean 4.2.2 Build - media issues

Hi all,
I recently installed the newest build of Slimbean. I am having a few issues: I am unable to play any media... Music, videos (youtube). My phone app does not work. I cannot receive nor send any calls. And my phone produces no sounds at all.
I tried installing build 7 to see if it was an issue with the build I was using... didn't help.
Internet and wifi work without any problems.
Galaxy S4 i337m
Baseband: I337MUMUAMDL
Version: Slim-4.2.2.build.7-OFFICIAL
Build #: slim_jfltecan-userdebug 4.2.2 JDQ39E eng.blk_jack.20130706.15730 test-keys
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance

Update: Any ROM I install... Phone and sounds do not work.

Talabis said:
Update: Any ROM I install... Phone and sounds do not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd Odin back to stock and see if you still have the issue. If you do it's a hardware issue.

jd1639 said:
I'd Odin back to stock and see if you still have the issue. If you do it's a hardware issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did just that... But it's a bit of a story.
I had just fixed another problem I was having yesterday. Was getting stuck at the S4 splash screen right after powering on the phone. The problem was caused by TWRP 2.6 and formatting /data partition. Long story short, I installed CWM and used it to do a full wipe/format of partitions and then was able to install ROMs, restore backups without issue.
So today, since everything was working, I decided to flash a new custom ROM (which I installed) and the MG1 radio. Wasn't having any luck with the radio. Finally, I was able to flash a radio via mobile odin, but then I soft bricked my phone. Got stuck at the S4 splash screen (same issue I had yesterday, but this time, a different cause). So was troubleshooting it all day. Tried to go back to stock, no luck. Tried to restore the stock backup I had, no luck. Only thing I could do was install custom ROMs at this point to get into my phone (i.e. Slimbean, FoxHound, etc...). But, at this point, although I could boot into Android, I had no sound at all and couldn't play video. So after hours of trial and error, I installed CWM again (replacing TWRP 2.5.0.2), did a full wipe/format and tried to install a stock ROM. No luck. Still was hanging at the S4 splash screen. Then I tried to install this ROM again which I had luck with in the past; |ROM| |★VLUAMG1★| |CANADIAN||i337M||STOCK||ROOTED||July.26.13|. But his instructions said to install a wifi fix or fear soft bricking my phone. So I installed the wifi fix, but selected the wrong file (I know, stupid. Done a lot of stupid **** in the past couple days with this phone). Now, after the phone rebooted, I would see the S4 splash screen for a split second, and it would auto load into download (odin) mode. Couldn't get into recovery at all. So then I decided to flash one of the stock ROMs I tried earlier that didn't work, but this time, SUCCESS!!!!! Phone was booting and all sounds worked. I could make/receive phone calls as well... Everything seems to be working fine now. I find it funny that flashing a wifi fix that I shouldn't have seems to have fixed my issue in a sense. Since it allowed me to successfully flash a stock ROM. So I am making a backup of the stock ROM and will decide what I'm going to do from here.
Holy goalie!!! It's been a very vexing couple of days.

Nice that you got it all worked out, I've found out that if your "status" is custom, it will sometimes give you problems when flashing a "stock" rom via odin.
So what I always do when reverting back to the stock rom, I use triangle away to clear the flash count and make my phone back to "Official". If you want the steps to do this, let me know, it's not hard, but there are crucial steps to get this right!
JP

Phone rebooting, can't flash modem, other problems

I have some related problems with my phone which started happening a couple of days ago after updating Google Maps and a few other programs from the Play Store (Twitter also). That may not be relevant.
It's an Australian i9505 from Telstra. I'm on an old version of Omega ROM - v12 - with Adam Kernel 3.4.0. It's the latest that (the currently stalled) jKay can run on.
The main issue is that the phone reboots frequently. It seems like a "soft reboot" - the uptime reported in System Settings - > About device -> Status doesn't reset, but the time reported by Battery, for instance, does (and the whole UI reloads, programs, widgets etc)
This can happen in my pocket, or can be pretty reliably triggered by uninstalling a program, sometimes installing/updating, and sometimes from using Google Maps (embedded or the program itself).
The first time it happened was after the programs updated on the 5th of Feb.
Related issues:
I can't update the modem in Odin or Mobile Odin.
I tried upgrading to the latest pre-KitKat version, v19, which requires updating the modem.
Flashing the modem I already have did succeed, but that doesn't prove much.
I can update the recovery though - but I haven't tried installing a new rom because of the modem problem.
Rebooting into Recovery or Download mode from software fails - i.e. any of the "boot menu" programs/features. The phone shuts down but then stays turned off.
I can boot into them using the hardware buttons though.
Things I've tested:
It's not the SD card - it happens with it removed.
It's not the battery - I've got 3 batteries, none of which suffer from bloat, and it happens with all.
It's not water damaged - the nearest it got to rain was a couple of days earlier
From what I can tell, rolling back Google Maps, clearing data/cache for Google Services Framework or Google Play Services, all don't fix it.
Any suggestions?
Is my phone toast? Is there a rom I can install with included modem, perhaps?
Or should I at try unrooting and going back to stock? Triangle Away currently fails too, so I'm concerned that if it's a hardware problem Samsung won't fix it for me anyway.

frogworth said:
I have some related problems with my phone which started happening a couple of days ago after updating Google Maps and a few other programs from the Play Store (Twitter also). That may not be relevant.
It's an Australian i9505 from Telstra. I'm on an old version of Omega ROM - v12 - with Adam Kernel 3.4.0. It's the latest that (the currently stalled) jKay can run on.
The main issue is that the phone reboots frequently. It seems like a "soft reboot" - the uptime reported in System Settings - > About device -> Status doesn't reset, but the time reported by Battery, for instance, does (and the whole UI reloads, programs, widgets etc)
This can happen in my pocket, or can be pretty reliably triggered by uninstalling a program, sometimes installing/updating, and sometimes from using Google Maps (embedded or the program itself).
The first time it happened was after the programs updated on the 5th of Feb.
Related issues:
I can't update the modem in Odin or Mobile Odin.
I tried upgrading to the latest pre-KitKat version, v19, which requires updating the modem.
Flashing the modem I already have did succeed, but that doesn't prove much.
I can update the recovery though - but I haven't tried installing a new rom because of the modem problem.
Rebooting into Recovery or Download mode from software fails - i.e. any of the "boot menu" programs/features. The phone shuts down but then stays turned off.
I can boot into them using the hardware buttons though.
Things I've tested:
It's not the SD card - it happens with it removed.
It's not the battery - I've got 3 batteries, none of which suffer from bloat, and it happens with all.
It's not water damaged - the nearest it got to rain was a couple of days earlier
From what I can tell, rolling back Google Maps, clearing data/cache for Google Services Framework or Google Play Services, all don't fix it.
Any suggestions?
Is my phone toast? Is there a rom I can install with included modem, perhaps?
Or should I at try unrooting and going back to stock? Triangle Away currently fails too, so I'm concerned that if it's a hardware problem Samsung won't fix it for me anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
A couple of things that you might try:
1. Look HERE
This should help with the flashing of the modem.
2.Do you have the knox-pox?
Check in download mode.
Is there anything about knox?

malybru said:
Hi,
A couple of things that you might try:
1. Look HERE
This should help with the flashing of the modem.
2.Do you have the knox-pox?
Check in download mode.
Is there anything about knox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there,
Thanks - I'll try that, although I've attempted flashing the modem a number of times. I'll uncheck autoreboot, but it never gets there because it fails during Download Mode.
I don't have knox - I'm still on an earlier bootloader.

frogworth said:
Hi there,
Thanks - I'll try that, although I've attempted flashing the modem a number of times. I'll uncheck autoreboot, but it never gets there because it fails during Download Mode.
I don't have knox - I'm still on an earlier bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
If that fails , and you want to get back to stock, Google for the MGA firmware.
This is the knox-free version.
Bear in mind that this will wipe your phone clean.
It is flashed in odin , and will replace your ROM,kernel ,modem and recovery.
Triangle Away should also work and you could then send in your phone for repair.
One thing if you do that , they will probably upgrade your phone to the latest knox-pox version.
Good luck

I'm trying to flash the modem again, but I'm noticing this error:
There is no PIT partition.
Is it worth flashing with a .pit file?
Or can you *only* flash a pit file when flashing firmware, not modems or recoveries?

frogworth said:
I'm trying to flash the modem again, but I'm noticing this error:
There is no PIT partition.
Is it worth flashing with a .pit file?
Or can you *only* flash a pit file when flashing firmware, not modems or recoveries?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I would go for the stock MGA firmware flash.
Back up your stuff first.
If you still get errors , post your questions HERE
samersh72 is the expert in pit files.

UPDATE: so, at home I only have a Mac and I do my Odin stuff in VMware. 99% of the time it's fine, but updating my modem in order to flash the latest Omega ROM wasn't working.
At work, I plugged in my Samsung cable to one of the back USB ports, and had no problem flashing modem and pit file.
The problem with rebooting (into download, recovery or whatever) via software has gone away - *phew*
Then I installed latest Omega, same problem.
So I tried installing with full wipe - and from what I can see, it wasn't randomly rebooting - I could use Maps and remove Play Store apps with no problems.
Unfortunately upon restoring apps & settings with Titanium Backup, the problem returned. But I'm confident now that it's settings, so I won't need to restore to stock and take it back to Samsung at least!
I'll wipe again and post here when I resolve where the problem lies. Next attempt will be to restore user apps + data but not system data, or vice versa, and to be more selective... I'll crack this

I've now reinstalled the ROM again with a full wipe, didn't allow Google to reinstall my apps but instead got Titanium Backup to restore only non-system apps and data.
Of system data I've restored SMS/MMS messages, accounts, and WiFi access points only I think. I've redone the settings for everything else.
So far, all systems go - no reboots.
Oh and conversely, restoring ONLY system apps/data immediately brought the problem back.
I'm not that keen to keep restoring system data till I encounter the problem, since for now I seem to be back in business. W00t! :laugh: :good:

I have had similar issues. It seems like the internal sd has been formatted incorrectly. So i Google the I9505 pit file for Odin and stock firmware Knox free and everything worked straight away. Odin will format the internal sd with the pit file and then it will begin to flash stock firmware and you will have fresh s4 to work with.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

glennd said:
I have had similar issues. It seems like the internal sd has been formatted incorrectly. So i Google the I9505 pit file for Odin and stock firmware Knox free and everything worked straight away. Odin will format the internal sd with the pit file and then it will begin to flash stock firmware and you will have fresh s4 to work with.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - yes, I did flash a pit file for i9505 and it did help the problem with booting into recovery/download mode via software.
But the crashing problem comes back anytime I restore all the system settings, so it's some weird bug with some buried setting - it's not Google Play Services or Google Maps, even though it's related to them. I've just stayed away from restoring practically any system settings and it's working for me.