Database Users

[Solved] Cannot recover MJA system image

Hello,
This is will be my first XDA post ever since I always fix the most "brickiest" problems with all the Android based devices I have ever owned but not this time.
My Galaxy S4 has been updated to the latest MJA OTA (with successful CF root) and I have attempted to re-mod the hotspot service but this caused the annoying knox message to show. When attempting to restore the JAR and ODEX files, I think I have either overwritten the files in the incorrect order (ODEX -> JAR) and the phone rebooted as FX was trying to do that. So services.odex got corrupted and it was time for my to ODIN flash the MDC full stock rom as that USED to be my solution until Samsung's brand new knox protected bootloader. ODIN is not an option for me now, since the bootloader will prevent me flashing things like the pit, aboot and probably most of the other files inside the tarball. I can flash custom recovery and the MDC kernel successfully and that's about it. With custom recovery I have flashed rooted MF8 for the base operating system, and they applied the rooted MJA rom on top. The phone shows the S4 branding but then it reboots; It cannot boot into the operating system. I do not know the condition of the flash counter atm since I cannot check that in TriangleAway but it will stay "Official" under download mode, I think. I also do not know the versions of the firmware installed either in case something from MDC tar had an succession in replace some of the partitions. I am pretty sure the kernel however is still at MDC while I managed to install the system image of the MJA stock rom.
So my question is, what can I do bring back the working MJA stock rom image (/system and kernel) using TWRP recovery? Else I will have to go to Sprint and saying that the update from OTA has bricked my phone and that I have no idea how phones work.
Thank you.

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Sorry, I forgot to add that I know that once you have MJA flashed, you cannot downgrade back unless of course someone figured out how to disable all the bootloader security but I really do not see that happening.

Fixed my own problem. Downloaded the official MJA stock tar.md5 rom from sammobile and flashed it, and managed to restore all my data using Titanium backup. This thread can be now closed.

sgh-i337m 4.3 to 4.2.2 emergency downgrade POSSIBLE!!!

Last night i flashed back to stock 4.2.2 and reset my flash counter to get the bell update to 4.3.
All went well with the update. Untill i started playing.... Removed too many bloats... Wanted to start again...
FORGETTING that ATT users and others have been unable to flash back to 4.2.2 after installing 4.3
Trying to ODIN back to 4.2.2 was a mistake, it flashes the bootloaders, then fails at the kernel...
Phone stuck without the 4.3 odin file.... (not posted on sammobile or samsung-updates yet)
Long story short, we are able to flash back to 4.2.2 by flashing I337MUMUAMI1_I337MUWAAMI1_CDR from the domnican republic, then rooting by cfautoroot, installing recovery thru rom manager, then flashing a custom rom/restoring backup.
KNOX warning at bootscreen!!!!
Waiting for odin flashable file of bell 4.3 to be proper again.
Link to Dominican republic 4.2.2 http://samsung-updates.com/device/?id=SGH-I337M&details=Galaxy_S_4_Canada
WARNING!!!! Microphone and wifi no longer work without proper modems.

[Q] Cannot flash i9505...no boot loader

Hello,
I have an unsuccessful firmware update.
First flashed the last stock rom, cf-autoroot. After it I try to flash the CWM, and this is the end,
Now there is no boot loader, no recovery. I see the "Firmware update encountered an issue...".
The knox is 0x1, Writeprotect enabled.
The only thing is working on the phone is the download mode, but every attempt to flash in Odin fails. (aboot.mng..Fail)
I tried to flash another bootloaders, repartition with pit file, but not works...
Done it on other PC, usb ports...
Now I know what was the wrong with the installation, but I need a solution for this situation.
Please, help me...

You will have to flash through ODIN Kit Kat. You cant come back to 4.3 or 4.2.2 if ya flashed android 4.4.2 and u updated the bootloader. Select one android 4.4.2 firmware in SamMobile for you and update ur phone :highfive:

Thanks for the reply...
The last firmware I flashed was 4.3, and I cannot reflash it.
But I will try a Kit Kat, which one is good for me? I have an unlocked phone and my country (Hungary) does not have it yet.
Can I flash it with knox 0x1?

Thanks for the advice, the phone is working now....
The whole story:
- the phone had 4.3 custom ROM before.
- I flashed the new version with 4.4.2: new recovery, modem and ROM.
- From here I had no sound. I tried to flash everything 3 times, an no sound.
- I searched for this, threre were many good advice, I tried some and the phone not booted.
- Downloaded the latest Samsung firmware (I9505XXUEMKF_I9505OXXEMK3_I9505XXUEMKF), flashed and no sound.
- extracted the modem.bin, flashed, and flashad the ROM again, sound is good, I was very happy.
- CF-autoroot, I saw it was working
- Flashed the CWM recovery, Fail in Odin and...no boot, no recovery, only download mode.
- Flashing the original downloaded firmware (I9505XXUEMKF_I9505OXXEMK3_I9505XXUEMKF) is failed. I don't understand, it is not downgrade...
- Flashing a new Kit Kat (I9505XXUFNB9_I9505EURFNB1_I9505XXUFNB9) was successful.
How can I use a custom ROM again?
I am afraid, if I make an error, cannot flash again the same, I have to wait a new one?

[Q] Odin Flashing Problems with Note 3 and Kitkat

I have rooted my Samsung Note 3 with a custom rom running Jellybean 4.3 with clockwork mod recovery. I have tripped knox due to rooting it. When Kitkat came out March 17th 2014, I wanted to upgrade and go back to official firmware with Kitkat to try it out. Since I have rooted my phone to run viper4android audio kernel I am unable to do an official OTA or Kies update. That said I went about downloading the new Bell Canada Note 3 firmware 4.4.2. I was told to flash a Jellybean Bell Firmware first before flashing the Kitkat version to avoid boot loops or other problems. Trying to do so with Odin in download mode ended in failure just trying to flash jellybean stock. Didnt get that far really. It showed a fail in the Note 3 screen to this effect in read this message (sw rev check fail : sbl1 fused 2 binary 1) . Odin didnt load like I am usually use to seeing by unzipping the firmware into a folder and adding it to the PDA field. After I loaded the .tar file (md5) file into pda it checked it and then told me its finished successfully but the next line it said CS Fail. After hitting start it said fail instantly in the odin window and on the Note 3 I did see a bar showing me the progress of install for 1 second until odin told me of the fail. Now my Note is in download mode and can't get past this problem to get it running again! Please any help would be greatfull to getting me past this problem and onto Kitkat or even back to Jellybean. Any other questions you may have I will supply you the info.
Thanks
Nervous Android user!

weston109 said:
I have rooted my Samsung Note 3 with a custom rom running Jellybean 4.3 with clockwork mod recovery. I have tripped knox due to rooting it. When Kitkat came out March 17th 2014, I wanted to upgrade and go back to official firmware with Kitkat to try it out. Since I have rooted my phone to run viper4android audio kernel I am unable to do an official OTA or Kies update. That said I went about downloading the new Bell Canada Note 3 firmware 4.4.2. I was told to flash a Jellybean Bell Firmware first before flashing the Kitkat version to avoid boot loops or other problems. Trying to do so with Odin in download mode ended in failure just trying to flash jellybean stock. Didnt get that far really. It showed a fail in the Note 3 screen to this effect in read this message (sw rev check fail : sbl1 fused 2 binary 1) . Odin didnt load like I am usually use to seeing by unzipping the firmware into a folder and adding it to the PDA field. After I loaded the .tar file (md5) file into pda it checked it and then told me its finished successfully but the next line it said CS Fail. After hitting start it said fail instantly in the odin window and on the Note 3 I did see a bar showing me the progress of install for 1 second until odin told me of the fail. Now my Note is in download mode and can't get past this problem to get it running again! Please any help would be greatfull to getting me past this problem and onto Kitkat or even back to Jellybean. Any other questions you may have I will supply you the info.
Thanks
Nervous Android user!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you cant flash back to 4.3 when you on 4.4.2 and did you succeed when flashing 4.4.2?

Flashing
hhai2pth said:
you cant flash back to 4.3 when you on 4.4.2 and did you succeed when flashing 4.4.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I havent been able to do anything. I was on Jellybean 4.3.2 custom rom with a custom recovery and tried to flash it back to a stock version of Jellybean before the update to Kitkat. I didnt get that far to even try flashing Kitkat because flashing Jellybean Canadian stock rom was unsuccessful with the errors I mentioned in my earlier post. Now I am stuck in download mode and unable to flash using odin.

weston109 said:
I havent been able to do anything. I was on Jellybean 4.3.2 custom rom with a custom recovery and tried to flash it back to a stock version of Jellybean before the update to Kitkat. I didnt get that far to even try flashing Kitkat because flashing Jellybean Canadian stock rom was unsuccessful with the errors I mentioned in my earlier post. Now I am stuck in download mode and unable to flash using odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you can power if off by pressing the power button for a few seconds. And then flash a custom recovery, reboot and flash a Kit Kat custom rom via Odin or Custom recovery. Hope it helps.

weston109 said:
I havent been able to do anything. I was on Jellybean 4.3.2 custom rom with a custom recovery and tried to flash it back to a stock version of Jellybean before the update to Kitkat. I didnt get that far to even try flashing Kitkat because flashing Jellybean Canadian stock rom was unsuccessful with the errors I mentioned in my earlier post. Now I am stuck in download mode and unable to flash using odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Knox was tripped. You said it yourself. Go and read up on Knox.
The answer will be very clear afterwards. It's quite clear to me.
Also, don't take this the wrong way.... but you probably should not have done any of this my friend. Your skill level makes this obvious.
I suggest not getting a Samsung phone next time as Knox is hard to get around (it's possible, I was rooted on 4.3 and I am now on 4.4.2 stock flashed with Odin and Knox is still 0x0).

weston109 said:
I havent been able to do anything. I was on Jellybean 4.3.2 custom rom with a custom recovery and tried to flash it back to a stock version of Jellybean before the update to Kitkat. I didnt get that far to even try flashing Kitkat because flashing Jellybean Canadian stock rom was unsuccessful with the errors I mentioned in my earlier post. Now I am stuck in download mode and unable to flash using odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what's the CSC of your phone? you should try the one newer vesion of 4.3 cause if it's an older firmware it refused flash

Whoops

I was attempting to revert to stock from pac rom 4.4.2, and made the mistake of attempting to flash 4.3 stock fw via odin. Obviously it failed. Flashed my custom recovery back thru odin and recovered a nandroid. Everything is working, wifi, data, lte...but no sound. Zip. Not even in calls. Guessing maybe flashed old 4.3 modem or kernel over the 4.4.2 stuff. Anyway, I'm downloading 4.4.2 RWC firmware for my i337m (canadian), but has anyone had this happen to them before? I've read similar scenarios, however no actual fixes. Anyone out there recover from this?

azuziel said:
I was attempting to revert to stock from pac rom 4.4.2, and made the mistake of attempting to flash 4.3 stock fw via odin. Obviously it failed. Flashed my custom recovery back thru odin and recovered a nandroid. Everything is working, wifi, data, lte...but no sound. Zip. Not even in calls. Guessing maybe flashed old 4.3 modem or kernel over the 4.4.2 stuff. Anyway, I'm downloading 4.4.2 RWC firmware for my i337m (canadian), but has anyone had this happen to them before? I've read similar scenarios, however no actual fixes. Anyone out there recover from this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since this is Canadian version try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1984717 This should work.

norbarb said:
Since this is Canadian version try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1984717 This should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I downloaded the stock firmware from samsumg-updates.com , a little painful as the mirrors are slow. I was correct, it was failing on flashing the last step, modem.bin file before when running kitkat pac 4.2.2 with clockworkmod recovery and attempting to revert to stock 4.3. So used stock 4.4.2 firmware to flash with odin, and now getting a successful flash. Thanks for the help.
And I have sound!
Az