Phone rebooting, can't flash modem, other problems - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

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.

Related

[Q] Seems like I've got corruption of some kind...

ATT Galaxy S4 currently running Goldeneye 6.0 and TWRP 2.6.0.0 (never installed MF3 base, but have tried both MF3 and MDL modems)
First odd thing...
[About->Status->Device Status] is listed as "Sd card" instead of the more common "Official" or "Custom".
Anybody know what that means or is telling me?
This is the latest thing I've noticed with my phone, which has been having all sorts of issues lately that I cannot seem to figure out. My main problem is, I can reinstall a new ROM, boot into the ROM, change settings around, reboot just fine, but, as soon as I install anything from the Play Store, the next reboot will hang on the initial Samsung splash screen. Wiping is the only fix I've found, and fixing permissions in TWRP errors out with an error that it cannot chown one of the new/updated .apk files.
Both Goldeneye 5 and 6 are doing this now (5.0 was installed and rock solid for several weeks before this all showed up...it started sometime after I decided to try out a couple of the aroma roms and then came back to GE).
Used ODIN to go back to factory rom, re-rooted/installed TWRP, then reinstalled GE6.0, but the same thing happened. Everything looked good until I ran updates from the store, then I was stuck again (note: used Root Explorer to check to permissions on the updated apks before rebooting and they were all correct (755)).
Other things I've noticed are:
1. Sometimes, on any reboot, the startup locks at the initial Samsung screen and I have to long press the power button to get it to reboot. It usually boots the second time around (this is before I install any additional apps and am completely unable to reboot).
2. Sometimes when wiping cache, davlik, and/or data, TWRP will seem to hang for up to a minute when trying to initialize the partition. A couple of times it even hard reboot my phone when I did a cache+davlik wipe.
3. I rolled back to a recovery image just fine; however, it was a couple months old. Everything started off looking great, but once I updated to a new ROM, my issues returned.
Trying Heimdall to go back to factory; however, I'm having issue with my laptop and getting the Zadig drivers installed. While I'm working that out, figured I'd see if anyone else has any suggestions on what else I should be trying or looking out.
thx
I would flash your phone back to MDL stock with odin using the mdl tar. This should format your paritions correctly. You could also reinstall MDL using kies since they still don't support MF3.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Major issue with Australian SM-9005, help!

Hey guys, so I've had my Aussie Telstra Note 3 (SM-9005) for just under a month, rooted it with Knox 0x1, installed TWRP 2.6.3.5 and have tried out a few custom ROMs - all went fine. (Last ROM that worked properly was Foxhound 1.0.)
That is until I flashed X-Note Transformer Edition (MJ7). I flashed this through TWRP 2.6.3.5, everything was successful and standard as any other flash, rebooted into the ROM only to find a message saying "Can't play this video" on the very first Interactive Tutorial (Language Select) page. This message appeared multiple times, then more messages saying the system has crashed. Also, everything is extremely slow and barely anything works - including sound, camera, settings, etc. Also Wifi detects networks but cannot connect to them (system crashes). Any time I try to do anything settings related the system bootloops, and I cannot get a mobile signal at all.
Now here's the weird thing, I thought it was just an issue with the ROM not being compatible, so I rebooted to recovery, tried to reflash the previously-working Foxhound 1.0 ROM - SAME ERRORS. Tried a full wipe/format/rm -rf - and install stock ROM from zip - SAME ERRORS. Downloaded the completely stock Telstra Odin ROM, flashed through Odin successfully - SAME ERRORS. Tried to restore EFS (It said successful) - SAME ERRORS... hope you can see where I'm going with this. I've also tried CWM, flashing with different versions of TWRP, full wipe before installing any ROM, etc. tried basically anything I could find on xda without any luck - the ROMs all boot up, but as soon as they load it pops up with the same "Can't play this video" message and everything starts locking up.
This has me really worried since I tripped Knox at the very beginning before Root de la vega, I'm only hoping whoever Telstra use to fix these doesn't care about the counter.
I have literally spent two days without sleep trying everything to fix this and completely failing, so If anyone could help me out I would be forever in your debt, cheers.
zuuus said:
Hey guys, so I've had my Aussie Telstra Note 3 (SM-9005) for just under a month, rooted it with Knox 0x1, installed TWRP 2.6.3.5 and have tried out a few custom ROMs - all went fine. (Last ROM that worked properly was Foxhound 1.0.)
That is until I flashed X-Note Transformer Edition (MJ7). I flashed this through TWRP 2.6.3.5, everything was successful and standard as any other flash, rebooted into the ROM only to find a message saying "Can't play this video" on the very first Interactive Tutorial (Language Select) page. This message appeared multiple times, then more messages saying the system has crashed. Also, everything is extremely slow and barely anything works - including sound, camera, settings, etc. Also Wifi detects networks but cannot connect to them (system crashes). Any time I try to do anything settings related the system bootloops, and I cannot get a mobile signal at all.
Now here's the weird thing, I thought it was just an issue with the ROM not being compatible, so I rebooted to recovery, tried to reflash the previously-working Foxhound 1.0 ROM - SAME ERRORS. Tried a full wipe/format/rm -rf - and install stock ROM from zip - SAME ERRORS. Downloaded the completely stock Telstra Odin ROM, flashed through Odin successfully - SAME ERRORS. Tried to restore EFS (It said successful) - SAME ERRORS... hope you can see where I'm going with this. I've also tried CWM, flashing with different versions of TWRP, full wipe before installing any ROM, etc. tried basically anything I could find on xda without any luck - the ROMs all boot up, but as soon as they load it pops up with the same "Can't play this video" message and everything starts locking up.
This has me really worried since I tripped Knox at the very beginning before Root de la vega, I'm only hoping whoever Telstra use to fix these doesn't care about the counter.
I have literally spent two days without sleep trying everything to fix this and completely failing, so If anyone could help me out I would be forever in your debt, cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What was the last version of firmware flashed?
You might need to flash the gsm modem for that firmware version to get it to work especially considering you have bootloops and no reception.
You might also need to use Megawipe to clear any errors that stay on your device after flash.
ultramag69 said:
What was the last version of firmware flashed?
You might need to flash the gsm modem for that firmware version to get it to work especially considering you have bootloops and no reception.
You might also need to use Megawipe to clear any errors that stay on your device after flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mate, last version of firmware was the Stock Telstra SM-N9005 / TEL ROM I found on www . sammobile . com/firmwares/2/
I have tried at least 10 different ROMs with no luck, every single one does the same thing.
I did send it off to Telstra to try for a repair, they sent it back to me unrepaired due to nothing to do with the software but a 1/4mm scratch my keys made in the chrome plastic around the edge with the words "unable to be repaired due to physical damage" with a little sticker pointing to the scratch. ****ing ridiculous if you ask me.
Honestly I don't know all that much to do with the modems and csc's so it might be that causing my problems but I have tried a bunch of different ones without any change.
At my wits end here, phone is just over 30 days old and I can't use the damn thing.
try odin back to stock, then use kies to "emergency firmware restoore" Kies can be a life saver in some situation, make sure you use beta 3 version

[Q] S5 Reflash - acore has stopped working REBOOTS

Hi
I reflashed my S5 with a stock rom to remove all the Carrier blocks and extras. After the flash the device booted up and instantly came up with the error saying acore has stopped working and then around around 5-10 seconds the phone reboots and does it again. What can I do?
Thanks
Wildey1771 said:
Hi
I reflashed my S5 with a stock rom to remove all the Carrier blocks and extras. After the flash the device booted up and instantly came up with the error saying acore has stopped working and then around around 5-10 seconds the phone reboots and does it again. What can I do?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data factory reset in recovery.
Wildey1771 said:
I reflashed my S5 with a stock rom to remove all the Carrier blocks and extras. After the flash the device booted up and instantly came up with the error saying acore has stopped working and then around around 5-10 seconds the phone reboots and does it again. What can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard to answer since you provided no crucial details about your phone, configuration or how you flashed it.
You didn't tell us which S5 model you have or your carrier. Nor what firmware file you flashed, so we don't know if it was a compatible file. No Odin log, so we don't know if the flash had errors or not. And you didn't describe how you flashed step by step so we don't know if you missed essential steps.
At a guess, try wiping the partition cache from recovery mode. Then if necessary, do a factory data reset as well (will delete user files!). If you have ongoing problems, then you should restore your backup and try again from that stable condition.
No backup? That is a bad habit to say the least. In that case, flash a full stock firmware image that matches the carrier that the phone was originally sold for.
.
fffft said:
It's hard to answer since you provided no crucial details about your phone, configuration or how you flashed it.
You didn't tell us which S5 model you have or your carrier. Nor what firmware file you flashed, so we don't know if it was a compatible file. No Odin log, so we don't know if the flash had errors or not. And you didn't describe how you flashed step by step so we don't know if you missed essential steps.
At a guess, try wiping the partition cache from recovery mode. Then if necessary, do a factory data reset as well (will delete user files!). If you have ongoing problems, then you should restore your backup and try again from that stable condition.
No backup? That is a bad habit to say the least. In that case, flash a full stock firmware image that matches the carrier that the phone was originally sold for.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Model is SM G900F. Its On Three Carrier. I Flashed A STOCK (From SamMobile) Firmware 4.2.2.
The Flash Process Was Successful. No Errors.
Put Device In Download Mode
Connected To Computer
Loaded Firmware Into PDA
Ftime reset
Auto Reboot
Started The Flashing.
Completed.
Phone rebooted. Got Acore has stopped. Then the phone reboots.
But since I needed my phone working quickly I took the path of factory reset and that seems to have fixed it. I did try clearing the cache but no effect.
I believe I know the issue. I used a launcher called Themer. I have reasons to think that was causing the issue because as it was loading in the background I managed to quickly hit the continue button to close the crashed process boxes and as the Launcher finished "Loading" it when it rebooted.
WARNING FOR OTHERS. Always Remove Other Launchers Before Flashing As A Precaution! (Warnings From Newbies Hehe)

SM-N910G Stock - Contently freezing, restarting to download mode and data lose

Hey all,
I found few similar threads, but none of the solutions worked for me. So here's my situation
Problem : N910G Singapore Starhub, used for more than 1 and half years without major issues. Suddenly started to randomly freeze and then restart.
Got worse very quickly. Started to get freezed at Samsung logo. Most of the time had to remove the battery to re-try booting.
What I've done so far:
Cache cleared -> Didn't work
Factory reset -> Was ok with less lag (Freezing) for sometime, then same again
Installed TWRP. Flashed PIT file. Following an XDA post, flashed Samsung stock Android 6 released to India -> Was ok for couple days, was better than 5.1 in terms of responsiveness and battery life. After few days, again freeze. restart
Flashed with stock 5.1 released for the correct region. -> freezing, restarts. Wifi passwords are not getting saved (Have to re-enter upon restart). Restarts end up in download mode. very rarely passes the Samsung logo
Rooted and tried to change build prop ro.securestorage.support (or something similar) and see whether passwords are getting saved -> Still passwords are not getting saved. /efs is accessible.
Now the device never boots properly. Some apps are missing after restarts. Always ends up in download mode. Recovery is working fine though.
You guys have any idea what else I should try before throwing this away?
Thanks in advance.
cyclo.sl said:
Hey all,
I found few similar threads, but none of the solutions worked for me. So here's my situation
Problem : N910G Singapore Starhub, used for more than 1 and half years without major issues. Suddenly started to randomly freeze and then restart.
Got worse very quickly. Started to get freezed at Samsung logo. Most of the time had to remove the battery to re-try booting.
What I've done so far:
Cache cleared -> Didn't work
Factory reset -> Was ok with less lag (Freezing) for sometime, then same again
Installed TWRP. Flashed PIT file. Following an XDA post, flashed Samsung stock Android 6 released to India -> Was ok for couple days, was better than 5.1 in terms of responsiveness and battery life. After few days, again freeze. restart
Flashed with stock 5.1 released for the correct region. -> freezing, restarts. Wifi passwords are not getting saved (Have to re-enter upon restart). Restarts end up in download mode. very rarely passes the Samsung logo
Rooted and tried to change build prop ro.securestorage.support (or something similar) and see whether passwords are getting saved -> Still passwords are not getting saved. /efs is accessible.
Now the device never boots properly. Some apps are missing after restarts. Always ends up in download mode. Recovery is working fine though.
You guys have any idea what else I should try before throwing this away?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you know how, I'd use Odin to restore the factory image if you're running the factory software. Performing a hard reset is always the best way to go, however if you're still having problems then I'd download the latest firmware from Samsung's firmware site and then Odin.
Developers don't need no stinkin' signature!
If I've been able to help you, please hit the "Thanks" button. *
Android.Ninja said:
If you know how, I'd use Odin to restore the factory image if you're running the factory software. Performing a hard reset is always the best way to go, however if you're still having problems then I'd download the latest firmware from Samsung's firmware site and then Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply Android Ninja. As the last resort, I did flash the correct stock firmware which I downloaded from Sammobile. But it didn't really fix the issue. So should I unroot and use Kies instead? Because I can't find a way to download the fireware from Samsung, if that's what u meant. thanks

SM-N910F strange bootloop - only certain ROMs... ?

Hi!
Just got myself Note 4, and after rooting and installing TWRP I started looking for ROM that fits my needs. And here goes the strange thing - after tryign few ROMs, now the only ones that will work are Omega, Emotroid & CMRemix. All others after flashing keep rebooting. That is, system starts, and after 30 secs to 1 minute there is reboot. AND - they don't see the SIM card. Those that work do.
I tried to revert to basics - tried FULL erase from TWRP, reflashed via ODIN original roms (those started no problem), but when in tried again - the same. Other ROMs keep crashing.
So, does anybody have an idea how to totally wipe a phone ( I mean, totally, just leaving ODIN flashing capability so that I can reflash it)? I suspect that there must be somethign somewhere that stayed after one of the ROMs. And what puzzles me, those ROMs that now crash it, were working prevoiusly.
Any ideas/advice will be appreciated.
Thanks!
mjaxa said:
Hi!
Just got myself Note 4, and after rooting and installing TWRP I started looking for ROM that fits my needs. And here goes the strange thing - after tryign few ROMs, now the only ones that will work are Omega, Emotroid & CMRemix. All others after flashing keep rebooting. That is, system starts, and after 30 secs to 1 minute there is reboot. AND - they don't see the SIM card. Those that work do.
I tried to revert to basics - tried FULL erase from TWRP, reflashed via ODIN original roms (those started no problem), but when in tried again - the same. Other ROMs keep crashing.
So, does anybody have an idea how to totally wipe a phone ( I mean, totally, just leaving ODIN flashing capability so that I can reflash it)? I suspect that there must be somethign somewhere that stayed after one of the ROMs. And what puzzles me, those ROMs that now crash it, were working prevoiusly.
Any ideas/advice will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flash firmware with pit file and in odin option tick on.( nand erase all ) it will reparation your internal memory and completely wipe your device DONT TICK ON EFS CLEAR IN ODIN. download firmware from link below for your model , extarct file you will have repair firmware along with pit file, choose in odin AP for firmware and PIT for pit file and hit start,after odin pass make sure do a wipe data & data factory reset. hope that helps.
http://www.tsar3000.com/Joomla/inde...ader-csc-pit-files&catid=55:samsung&Itemid=82

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