Database Users

I'm Screwed!

I have to return my Vibrant to T-Mo and need to unroot. But I don't think I'm really rooted in the first place. I downloaded the RyanZas lagfix app. I clicked on root phone. I went into recovery and reinstalled packages. My phone says it's rooted, but there is no update.zip file anywhere. I can't even find a "download" file in Astro. I have the Superuser icon in my apps, but can't delete that either. I just want to get this phone to where I can send it back to T-Mo without voiding my warranty. Also in the lagfix app, it says I am rooted. I don't even have the option to root, only to unroot. When I try that, it just reboots my phone, but never "unroots".
Another thing...when I look at my free space, I have 1754 mb out of 1917 mb available. If I was rooted, would I have less space available?
I'm sure it's VERY obvious that I'm a newbie to all this, so if you have any ideas for me, please talk to me like I'm a 1st grader ;-)

Well if you unroot.. the superuser icon will disappear

hospo said:
I have to return my Vibrant to T-Mo and need to unroot. But I don't think I'm really rooted in the first place. I downloaded the RyanZas lagfix app. I clicked on root phone. I went into recovery and reinstalled packages. My phone says it's rooted, but there is no update.zip file anywhere. I can't even find a "download" file in Astro. I have the Superuser icon in my apps, but can't delete that either. I just want to get this phone to where I can send it back to T-Mo without voiding my warranty. Also in the lagfix app, it says I am rooted. I don't even have the option to root, only to unroot. When I try that, it just reboots my phone, but never "unroots".
Another thing...when I look at my free space, I have 1754 mb out of 1917 mb available. If I was rooted, would I have less space available?
I'm sure it's VERY obvious that I'm a newbie to all this, so if you have any ideas for me, please talk to me like I'm a 1st grader ;-)
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Click to collapse
if it bothers you that much why dont you use odin and go back to stock jfd?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475
Seems a bit extreme but that will do it for you, its easy also

Well, like I said, I'm totally new to this and that thread is like trying to read Chinese for me. It doesn't bother me to be rooted. I just need to unroot because I have to send it in to T-Mo for my warranty replacement.
I never flashed any ROMs. I only rooted and applied the lag fix. But now the update.zip file is gone and my phone still says it's rooted.
When I go into the terminal on the phone and try to remove Superuser.apk it tells me it can't because it's a read-only file.
Again, I don't mind that these things are there, I just don't want to have to pay for my phone...again.

hospo said:
Well, like I said, I'm totally new to this and that thread is like trying to read Chinese for me. It doesn't bother me to be rooted. I just need to unroot because I have to send it in to T-Mo for my warranty replacement.
I never flashed any ROMs. I only rooted and applied the lag fix. But now the update.zip file is gone and my phone still says it's rooted.
When I go into the terminal on the phone and try to remove Superuser.apk it tells me it can't because it's a read-only file.
Again, I don't mind that these things are there, I just don't want to have to pay for my phone...again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sent in a phone with bionix final on it rooted and they didn't charge me for it I was having problems with other people not being able to hear me but once I sent it in and got my new one I was not charged any additional fees I'm not even sure they really check the phone they probably just reprogram everything back to stock hell they might not even be looking at the screen you never know, but this is my third vibrant and ive had something on all of the ones I've sent back never heard anything about it you could always try to claim it was refurbished and there was something wrong with it already best of luck anyway
Times never wasted when your getting waisted

seriously, using odin is really very simple, i used odin 1.7 ( no it dont have a virus before anyone says it) only a couple of nights ago after flashing one of eugenes kernels, long story short i was stuck at the boot animation, hadnt backed up like a noob and was stuck, i followed that thread and the hardest part for me was download mode on the phone and thats really simple, seriously if you need it back to total stock have a go at odin

I'd love to have a go at odin, except seriously, when I say I have no idea what I'm doing...I REALLY mean it! Someone has given me all the steps to use odin, but quite frankly, I still don't know where to start. Do I download part on my computer, then move it onto the phone? Where do I put it on the phone? How do I get in download mode? See...NO CLUE. I really shouldn't have ever rooted for the mere fact that I have no idea what I'm doing, lol.
I think I may just go back to factory reset (again) and roll the dice hoping they don't charge me.

hospo said:
Well, like I said, I'm totally new to this and that thread is like trying to read Chinese for me. It doesn't bother me to be rooted. I just need to unroot because I have to send it in to T-Mo for my warranty replacement.
I never flashed any ROMs. I only rooted and applied the lag fix. But now the update.zip file is gone and my phone still says it's rooted.
When I go into the terminal on the phone and try to remove Superuser.apk it tells me it can't because it's a read-only file.
Again, I don't mind that these things are there, I just don't want to have to pay for my phone...again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't you root it again and then unroot it...
The thread that has the Odin instructions is only 6 steps...well 5 steps since the last says "wait for it to complete". It's not as daunting as it seems...
I'd love to have a go at odin, except seriously, when I say I have no idea what I'm doing...I REALLY mean it! Someone has given me all the steps to use odin, but quite frankly, I still don't know where to start. Do I download part on my computer, then move it onto the phone? Where do I put it on the phone? How do I get in download mode? See...NO CLUE. I really shouldn't have ever rooted for the mere fact that I have no idea what I'm doing, lol.
I think I may just go back to factory reset (again) and roll the dice hoping they don't charge me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You download Odin to your computer with the .pit & the .tar file then run it from there. There's a video tutorial in the Vibrant Bible sticky in the Dev forum.
~SB

You don't understand because you aren't TRYING to understand. Odin is as simple as a few mouse clicks. Seriously.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

video how to odin...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=810130
video how to download mode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqxearzXrVY

okay, I sucked it up, got over my fear, got everything downloaded. Phone was in download mode, then went black. Now all I can get on it is a picture of a cell phone, then an exclamation point, then a pic of a computer.
I really am trying to understand. I did get the files needed and the phone in download mode. Opened odin, put the files in while my phone was in download mode and plugged in. Then the above happened.

OMG!!!!!! I think it is finally working!!!! Thank you for your help!!!
Even after all this, I'm sure I won't stop tinkering, lol.
Who knows, maybe I won't have to trade in my phone after doing this? I was really worried about getting the refurb. I'm supposed to get it today, but I'm going to mess around with mine to see if it truly is back to its old beautiful self!
Thanks again everyone!!

That is SUPPOSED to happen. Now click "Start."
Edit: I see you got it now. Congrats.

hospo said:
OMG!!!!!! I think it is finally working!!!! Thank you for your help!!!
Even after all this, I'm sure I won't stop tinkering, lol.
Who knows, maybe I won't have to trade in my phone after doing this? I was really worried about getting the refurb. I'm supposed to get it today, but I'm going to mess around with mine to see if it truly is back to its old beautiful self!
Thanks again everyone!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it worried me using odin at first, but when you actually use it, its really very simple, now im hooked on flashing roms lol and using odin to go back when i stuff something up lol

kangxi said:
You don't understand because you aren't TRYING to understand. Odin is as simple as a few mouse clicks. Seriously.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah exactly, i was a totally new to odin and thought it was some hard thing to use, it was so simple, i couldnt believe it, get your pantys out of a wad and actually look it up

[Q] MF3 Need to Factory Reset & Root!

This is my first post on here, but I've used these forums before to root my S3 and at one time my current S4. My problem is with MF3... I used
this post [http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2387577] to root my phone once, but since I couldn't install TWRP or CWM, I thought I could downgrade the software version with Odin. Well, I was wrong, and I unrooted my phone in the process... Upon trying the same technique I mentioned earlier, it now says "permission denied" upon entering the first prompt <<cd /mnt/extSdCard>>
AND, I can't use Odin to factory reset. Using posts such as this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZTTTk7vbVM] doesn't seem to work either. When putting my phone into download mode, I pull up Odin, and select the file in the link (the software file .tar I think), it says it fails shortly after starting.
Really, I need help with two things:
1. Obtaining root access
2. Resetting phone to factory settings
I might not have to do a factory reset, but I've noticed my wifi will NOT enable since I unrooted and this is a big concern for me. I know that all my troubles are because the bootloader is locked (and I'm messing with stuff I don't fully understand...), which is why I'd like help obtaining root again in the final hope that Safestrap [http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2448925] is the answer I'm looking for so I can use my favorite ROM, LiquidSmooth!
PLEASE help me any way you can! I've tried to provide as much information as I can think of, but I'm new to this stuff, so bear with me. I have no real experience in rooting and whatnot, but so far, I've followed directions by users of this forum, so I have faith that there's a solution to this mayhem. Thanks for any help you can provide! =)

Your first mistake was not reading about what you can and can not do while on mf3. Your second was trying to put a recovery on. And your third was trying to use Odin to down grade your firmware.
I'm surprised your not having issues booting. The only way right now to get your phone back to normal is to see if best buy will flash the mf3 firmware for you
Edit, read this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=45359306

jd1639 said:
Your first mistake was not reading about what you can and can not do while on mf3. Your second was trying to put a recovery on. And your third was trying to use Odin to down grade your firmware.
I'm surprised your not having issues booting. The only way right now to get your phone back to normal is to see if best buy will flash the mf3 firmware for you
Edit, read this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=45359306
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Click to collapse
I guess you're trying to be helpful, but your condescending tone isn't helping. I READ everything, I just don't UNDERSTAND everything... The second paragraph actually provided some help, so thanks for that. I was just hoping for something I could do myself to re obtain root so that I can try the Safestrap method I provided in my original post. I will post a reply to the root method post and see if anyone can help me there, since that's my main issue is not being able to get root access back. I don't have any problems booting though, only when I boot into recovery mode do I get a loop in which I just have to get to the Samsung warning screen and select "cancel (reboot phone)". Thanks for reading this and providing some direction.

jeremythetree said:
I guess you're trying to be helpful, but your condescending tone isn't helping. I READ everything, I just don't UNDERSTAND everything... The second paragraph actually provided some help, so thanks for that. I was just hoping for something I could do myself to re obtain root so that I can try the Safestrap method I provided in my original post. I will post a reply to the root method post and see if anyone can help me there, since that's my main issue is not being able to get root access back. I don't have any problems booting though, only when I boot into recovery mode do I get a loop in which I just have to get to the Samsung warning screen and select "cancel (reboot phone)". Thanks for reading this and providing some direction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, your main issue is that you don't understand what you are reading and you shouldn't be doing anything to your phone until you do. Dozens of people just like you pass through this forum everyday with similar issues because they didn't read or take the time to understand what it was that they did read. Someone takes the time to tell them to read and learn and they don't listen or think they don't have to. Then, they screw their phones up and come back here crying for help. So it's not a condescending tone, it's people getting tired of the same crap. You admitted that you didn't understand everything you read so why would you do anything to your phone before you do understand it? Can you not see the problem?

[Q] New to putting roms on phones

Hey guys I am new to the whole idea of putting a rom on my phone I am using the Sprint Galaxy S4 and I am not the most tech savy person in they world. I have tried installing Goomanager and following the instructions of pressing install open recovery script. When ever I do that i get a message saying "No Recoveries were found for your device" I have seen some other posts about this but like I mentioned I am new to this whole process and the other posts were a little over my head. Any suggestions on how I can fix this easily? Thanks in advance for any help.

Gomerkyle said:
Hey guys I am new to the whole idea of putting a rom on my phone I am using the Sprint Galaxy S4 and I am not the most tech savy person in they world. I have tried installing Goomanager and following the instructions of pressing install open recovery script. When ever I do that i get a message saying "No Recoveries were found for your device" I have seen some other posts about this but like I mentioned I am new to this whole process and the other posts were a little over my head. Any suggestions on how I can fix this easily? Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First question, are you rooted ?
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

daniel4653 said:
First question, are you rooted ?
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes should have clarified. I am rooted

Try this! http://teamw.in/project/twrp2/178 or this http://www.android.gs/how-to-instal...ies-for-rooted-sprint-samsung-galaxy-s4-l720/
Should be what you need! Enjoy! :fingers-crossed:

Hey ThaDarkside79, if you're going to point someone to a site for help on xda why not start with XDA?

leaderbuilder said:
Hey ThaDarkside79, if you're going to point someone to a site for help on xda why not start with XDA?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, another noob so be nice I followed all the directions on how to use GooManager, but it says "no recoveries were found for my device". I recently got the OTA 4.3 update, so I wonder if that is what is causing it to not recognize my device?
I saw on one of the links that I can use Odin to install it as well? I used that to root my Sprint Galaxy S4 originally. Do I just use the same PDA button to select the twrp file that I downloaded to my laptop? And then I just follow the same directions as rooting (to plug it in, wait for it to turn yellow, hit start)? After Odin is done, do I just click on the reboot recovery (so I can install CM)? Any and all help is MUCH appreciated! Really don't want to brick my device so want to be careful and follow ALL directions. However, I've been googling this for the last 2 hours and having found any posts that speak to why GooManager doesn't recognize my device like all the posts and videos say it should

ChrisWoods1977 said:
Ok, another noob so be nice I followed all the directions on how to use GooManager, but it says "no recoveries were found for my device". I recently got the OTA 4.3 update, so I wonder if that is what is causing it to not recognize my device?
I saw on one of the links that I can use Odin to install it as well? I used that to root my Sprint Galaxy S4 originally. Do I just use the same PDA button to select the twrp file that I downloaded to my laptop? And then I just follow the same directions as rooting (to plug it in, wait for it to turn yellow, hit start)? After Odin is done, do I just click on the reboot recovery (so I can install CM)? Any and all help is MUCH appreciated! Really don't want to brick my device so want to be careful and follow ALL directions. However, I've been googling this for the last 2 hours and having found any posts that speak to why GooManager doesn't recognize my device like all the posts and videos say it should
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had this same problem. what I did was download ROM manager from play store and have it install the newest clockwork mod. Then i looked for the flashable version of TWRP (its on this site somewhere, if i could find it i would link it) and then boot into clockwork mod recovery and flashed the TWRP from there which will overwrite CWM. Im sure the more experience guys will have an easier answer but i ran into this same problem like 10 times in the past few days and this worked every time.

[Q] SGH-I337 Download Mode Problem?

Greetings everyone,
So will not try to type out a book here, but want to try to include all the info/everything I have done do this point. I recently purchased a Galaxy S4 ( SGH-I337) ATT model. My end goal was to have it rooted with CM 11 installed on it. This is only the second phone I have attempted to root ( First was Atrix HD which went overall fine). I'm basing my end goal off of it, in that I am wanting to have it rooted with CM 11 installed. I started off by downloading Odin and used towel and was able to get the phone rooted. That seemed to have gone without too many problems. I tried to do as much reading as I could, but I'm sure I either misread or overlooked where I went wrong next. I then installed TWRP in the hopes of getting CM 11 installed. This is where the problems start. After installing TWRP ( later reading I saw I probably should have used Philz soft touch??) and restarting my phone it would only go into " Download Mode" and would forever just sit there. I did some searching and saw how to get past this simply by just restarting and holding the volume up and selecting now that I did not want to enter into Download mode. At this point I decided to go download the stock ROM and start over. I downloaded and followed the instructions from
Greetings everyone,
So will not try to type out a book here, but want to try to include all the info/everything I have done do this point. I recently purchased a Galaxy S4 ( SGH-I337) ATT model. My end goal was to have it rooted with CM 11 installed on it. This is only the second phone I have attempted to root ( First was Atrix HD which went overall fine). I'm basing my end goal off of it, in that I am wanting to have it rooted with CM 11 installed. I started off by downloading Odin and used towel and was able to get the phone rooted. That seemed to have gone without too many problems. I tried to do as much reading as I could, but I'm sure I either misread or overlooked where I went wrong next. I then installed TWRP in the hopes of getting CM 11 installed. This is where the problems start. After installing TWRP ( later reading I saw I probably should have used Philz soft touch??) and restarting my phone it would only go into " Download Mode" and would forever just sit there. I did some searching and saw how to get past this simply by just restarting and holding the volume up and selecting now that I did not want to enter into Download mode. At this point I decided to go download the stock ROM and start over. I downloaded and followed the instructions from
androidrootz.com/2014/03/how-to-unrootunbrick-at-galaxy-s4-sgh.html . From that point is where things went to hell in a hand-basket. My phone will load but whenever I try to turn on Wifi to try to re-root I get a Security Information message saying that it has blocked Wifi from turning on. Quick Google search says this is built in security "Knox"? that is causing this. Posts say that I have the wrong firmware for this phone? The bigger problem seems to be that now when I try to boot into recovery, I get a background that says "No Command" and red lettering at the top that says " Android system recovery <3e>. I have options to reboot system now, update from ADB and others. At the bottom it says #Manual Mode# Successfully applied multi-CSC. So somehow I think i have corrupted the boot loader. Of course Odin will not recognize the phone in this state to try to push any kind of firmware or boot-loader to it. At this point I truley am clueless and lost. Not at all above saying I'm above my head and need some guidence or help from someone who knows a lot more about this then I do. I really thought I had read and done plenty of research before I tried this, but non the less I have a phone I can't get into recovery and once booted, I can't get wifi to work. Thanks for your time and insight. From that point is where things went to hell in a hand-basket. My phone will load but whenever I try to turn on Wifi to try to re-root I get a Security Information message saying that it has blocked Wifi from turning on. Quick Google search says this is built in security "Knox"? that is causing this. Posts say that I have the wrong firmware for this phone? The bigger problem seems to be that now when I try to boot into recovery, I get a background that says "No Command" and red lettering at the top that says " Android system recovery <3e>. I have options to reboot system now, update from ADB and others. At the bottom it says #Manual Mode# Successfully applied multi-CSC. So somehow I think i have corrupted the boot loader. Of course Odin will not recognize the phone in this state to try to push any kind of firmware or boot-loader to it. At this point I truley am clueless and lost. Not at all above saying I'm above my head and need some guidence or help from someone who knows a lot more about this then I do. I really thought I had read and done plenty of research before I tried this, but non the less I have a phone I can't get into recovery and once booted, I can't get wifi to work. Thanks for your time and insight.

Tl,dr sure looks like a book to me. If you just got an s4 I'm sure the bootloader can't be exploited and you can't use cm. Look through this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53758227
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

jd1639 said:
Tl,dr sure looks like a book to me. If you just got an s4 I'm sure the bootloader can't be exploited and you can't use cm. Look through this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53758227
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link. Very helpful info. Problem I can't seem to get around is that since any ROM i download will not pass the signature inside the recovery mode, I don't know how to get to where I can flash any kind of ROM to it. Yes sorry for the book, I just see too often people don't ever post enough info on what they have or what they have done. In essence how do i use Odin if i can't get into download mode and recovery mode will not accept any file cause it says it fails the md5 signature? Thanks for the help

bryantjb said:
Thanks for the link. Very helpful info. Problem I can't seem to get around is that since any ROM i download will not pass the signature inside the recovery mode, I don't know how to get to where I can flash any kind of ROM to it. Yes sorry for the book, I just see too often people don't ever post enough info on what they have or what they have done. In essence how do i use Odin if i can't get into download mode and recovery mode will not accept any file cause it says it fails the md5 signature? Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to give you useless information, but make sure you're using the right steps to get into download mode.
1) Power off your device
2) Remove battery for 10 seconds
3) Replace battery
4) Hold POWER + HOME + VOLUME DOWN until you see the "Warning" Screen
5) Quickly hit the VOLUME UP button.
Then you can connect to ODIN, and go from there.

Failed to flash GApps, soft brick, nightmare.. A novel with a solution.

This started as a beg for help thread, but since the GS4 is coming up on 3 generations old, help is quite slow, yet does still exist as of this edit (3-20-15).
None the less, I will try to explain what happened so that people searching for similar problems might find this thread and resolve their issues.
I soft bricked the phone flashing PacMan. ... The instructions CLEARLY stated that you need to flash the rom, then flash GApps. Well, I forgot to Flash Gapps because I was so excited that I had a successful root and new rom to test that I finger ganged the phone.... The phone booted just fine and worked just fine, but I did not have ANY google apps, and went into a panic... LESSON #1 DO NOT PANIC......
What I failed to realize is that Android Lolipop (at least PacMan's version) requires the user to select options in the developer section of the settings menu to enable you to boot into your custom recovery after you have flashed your custom rom.... I DID NOT KNOW THIS and the information was NOT readily available. So what happened was I panicked and tried to flash another recovery which was apparently NOT the correct recovery for my phone.. (the cascade of errors began here). My phone was soft bricked and NOTHING I did would get me out of it.
So, after at least 50 attempts using Odin to try and flash a good recovery, re-root the phone, whatever I could think of, I finally got out of soft brick, and back to a working phone, yet still no google apps, and no recovery (or so I thought).
By this time, I had asked ....no. begged for help on 2 or 3 different threads to no avail when what I thought was a brain storm came to me.... I googled and located the google play store apk, and google play services apk and thought that if I could just get these 2 things installed, I would be able to log onto the google play store and download the apps I need and all would be right with the world....... Yeah.... Remember the cascade of errors thing I mentioned a few lines up ^^^ ?
Once I installed those 2 apk's and rebooted the phone, I was in nag screen hell with no way out, no custom recovery (remember...or so I thought) and no way to access ANYTHING on the phone because literally the second I hit "ok" on the nag screen, it would immediately pop back up...This "nag screen" was the one that pops up and tells you that "google play services has stopped working".. I came inches away from launching the phone against the wall and buying another one... something... anything but a Samsung GS4.
So here we are, 14 hours (of actual face in the phone, Odin, XDA, Google, YouTube) frantically searching for ANY solution.....and NOTHING presented itself, when I decided to take a step back and walk away from it for a couple of hours.......
The next thing I tried was pounding my way through the nag screen... Literally hitting the "ok" toggle to clear the screen, while instantly trying to hit any other button on the screen to get me into the settings menu, because during my little self imposed time out, I had an epiphany.... of sorts..... What really happened is that I remembered seeing a "factory reset" toggle in the settings menus somewhere.....and I was determined to find it........ SO....... 13,386,329 clicks of the "ok" button later, I managed to engage the factory reset switch at the exact right moment, followed by another 4,388 presses of the "ok" button to get to the "confirm" button.......... and like a beacon from heaven...... My phone rebooted, and factory reset, and the #%g^7**&^|@# nag screen was GONE !!!!! Oh my GOD it was GONE !!!!!!! After recovering from my full blown conniption, catching my breath and feeling like a raver must feel after a good night of Molly and glow stick euphoria, I had a working phone again..... almost.
What I did next was go immediately to Odin, re-root the phone, install a DIFFERENT rom, and the latest version of TWRP and like another beacon from the gods I had a wonderfully functional phone with all of the google apps I needed.... and all was good with the world........Pretty much....
I am nearly certain that I cost myself 5 years of healthy living with the stress I imposed upon myself throughout this ordeal ---- The following are lessons learned. Hopefully they save you from madness...
(1) Do NOT use a USB hub to connect your phone to the computer. The phone MUST be connected directly to a USB port on your machine.
(2) Understand the workings of the rom you are going to flash BEFORE you flash it.
(3) DO NOT PANIC
(4) DO NOT randomly install apk's just because you think you are smarter than a 5th grader, and you are so mad your phone doesn't work, you are going to try anything regardless of how retarded it might be.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST and actually probably the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is locate, download and CONFIRM GOOD a stock firmware for YOUR phone BEFORE YOU ROOT or flash a new rom..... If you get to brick he11 like I did, you will spend more time searching for the tools to get back to zero than you can imagine. You will be revved up, angry with the world, and your google fu will fail you......miserably I might add......
Get all of your ducks in a row BEFORE you root, and before you flash a new rom. That means finding the stock firmware and opening it up in Odin with your phone connected to CONFIRM you have a good firmware to go back to should you fail miserably.... Your very sanity could depend on it...

Team Scream said:
Does anyone have and is willing to share a stock Galaxy S4 rom so I can go back to stock on my phone? I am currently soft bricked and completely dead in the water...
I need to be able to flash the rom using Odin since that is the ONLY way I can communicate with this phone right now....I can flash whatever recovery I want using Odin, but I cannot boot into that recovery once successfully flashed with Odin. It boot loops and goes back to the completely useless PacMan 5.02 rom I flashed previously that repeatedly shows the "google play services has stopped working" screen.... and no number of attempts to clear it by hitting ok will get me to a working desktop
I bricked my phone by flashing PacMan and forgetting to flash GAPPS before rebooting, then trying to install google play services apk and google play store apk manually because I could not get back into recovery for whatever reason....
I have spent the ENTIRE day searching for a stock rom that I can flash with Odin so I can at least get back to zero with this S4 which is actually a brand new phone for me....
PLEASE do not link me to mediafire or rapidgator downloads because I have tried every one of those that google will reveal.. I need one that YOU know is good, and will work. NONE.... NOT ONE of the files I have been able to find online are legitimate .tar files... They ALL unzip with errors and I have tried them on multiple computers.....Multiple download attempts and NOTHING... I have literally been at this for 10 hours now and really need some love.
On a side note, if I can pull the stock rom from my wifes brand new S4 without screwing up her phone, PLEASE tell me how to do that. She literally picked up her brand new replacement S4 today...
Any help is genuinely appreciated... PLEASE.
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http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720)/Stock ROMs

KennyG123 said:
http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720)/Stock ROMs
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Man thank you! THANK YOU! I really appreciate it... I woke this morning to find this reply after leaving my computer running all night for another corrupted downloaded image file.... I have my fingers crossed !!! THANK YOU
P.S. how do I know which one of those files I actually need? I have no idea what the difference is in each of those folders.... Forgive me for noob but I really am pretty noob at this.....

I just looked at the link to help you and noticed that Wilco stops at the NAE baseband. A lot of phones are on the NG2 baseband and if you have a 720T, it could be even a different baseband. Go to settings, "About Phone". Look for" "Baseband" and "Model Number". Write that information down. Once you have that, the last three characters are what is in the list in the link KennyG123 sent you. (For example, I have the original S4 so I have a SPH-L720 and my baseband is L720VPUFNG2 (or NG2 for short. Which was not on that list.) If it is not on the list, go to www.sammobile.com and search for your model number (For example, I am on the SPH-L720. If you just bought your phone from Sprint, you probably have the SPH-L720 or SPH-L720T). You can download the tar file from there. It is a little slow but it will get it done for you. The tar file for both phones are here in this forum if you want to search but going to Sammobile would probably be a little easier from the sounds of it.

dyandell said:
I just looked at the link to help you and noticed that Wilco stops at the NAE baseband. <snip>
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Hey brother, thank you so much for the help and reply. I might have forgot to mention that I cannot get into the phone to read the model # or get any information from it at all. The nag screen telling me that google play services has stopped working is so persistent that I can't do anything with the phone once it boots.
Is there a way to brute force wipe the phone so that the only thing left when that process is done is a custom recovery like TWRP or Philz or anything other than stock?
If so, would you be so kind as to point me in the direction of a tutorial that would help me get through that process.... I am either not using the right search terms or I am just too old to be good at this and should have stayed home when the rooting lessons were being handed out...
Anyway, I genuinely appreciate your help... Thank you so much !!

Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
<<<<<<<< EDIT>>>>>>>>>
I was also able to pound my way into the settings menu and do a factory reset which removed the google play nag. From there I was able to root around in the developer options folder where I discovered that in order to be able to boot into recovery, you need to select the "boot options" tab and allow the device to boot into recovery....
I know this device is old now and most people have moved on, and I am pleased that there are some people who stick around here to keep this device alive. I only wish that someone would have advised me to check the boot options selection when I indicated I could not boot into recovery... That would have saved me 2 days of manic obsessive he11....... This was complete he11...... But I am on the other side of it now, and have reflashed another rom... I am back among the living.

Team Scream said:
Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint phones have always been able to downgrade and thinking that has not changed. You should be able to Odin the last one listed on the link I gave you...NAE...then your phone should boot...you can then take the Sprint OTA if you like then root and recovery as normal. Then you can get to the stuff on your SD and flash. The only issues I remember popping up these days is if you mismatch the modem and OS...which wouldn't be the case if you Odin'd NAE.

Team Scream said:
Ok I was able to pound my way through the nag screen to the settings menu and eventually got to the baseband and model #
baseband: L720TVPUBOA3
model #: SPH-L720
I have tried 3 times to download the only version I can find on the sammobile.com website using the baseband to search and the file fails to download after getting about 2/3 complete.... I have tried it on 2 separate computers from 2 different locations now...... This is horrifying ...... Every single force that can be working against me, is working against me.
Ugh...... If you have a link to a method I can use to force wipe the phone without a stock rom, but with a recovery I can boot into to flash a rom I have on my external SD card, I would love to see it...... im losing my mind here...
<<<<<<<< EDIT>>>>>>>>>
I was also able to pound my way into the settings menu and do a factory reset which removed the google play nag. From there I was able to root around in the developer options folder where I discovered that in order to be able to boot into recovery, you need to select the "boot options" tab and allow the device to boot into recovery....
I know this device is old now and most people have moved on, and I am pleased that there are some people who stick around here to keep this device alive. I only wish that someone would have advised me to check the boot options selection when I indicated I could not boot into recovery... That would have saved me 2 days of manic obsessive he11....... This was complete he11...... But I am on the other side of it now, and have reflashed another rom... I am back among the living.
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Click to collapse
Glad you got it fixed! I have had my phone for over a year now and never heard of a boot options tab. I guess you learn something new every day.

Also glad you got it fixed. But let's keep this open in case someone else has the same or similar issue.

KennyG123 said:
Sprint phones have always been able to downgrade and thinking that has not changed. You should be able to Odin the last one listed on the link I gave you...NAE...then your phone should boot...you can then take the Sprint OTA if you like then root and recovery as normal. Then you can get to the stuff on your SD and flash. The only issues I remember popping up these days is if you mismatch the modem and OS...which wouldn't be the case if you Odin'd NAE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well not being able to leave well enough alone, I locked my phone up again.
Because I was able to get out of soft brick without needing a stock firmware, I never bothered downloading NAE from the link you provided.
Turns out after 2 separate downloads (one using Chrome and one using Firefox) I have determined that the md5.tar files on that site http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S4%20%28SPH-L720%29/Stock%20ROMs are worthless.... BOTH downloads failed in Odin before I could even get out of the gate....
They failed the md5 check that Odin performs and would not allow me to continue.... IS there something I am missing?

Team Scream said:
Well not being able to leave well enough alone, I locked my phone up again.
Because I was able to get out of soft brick without needing a stock firmware, I never bothered downloading NAE from the link you provided.
Turns out after 2 separate downloads (one using Chrome and one using Firefox) I have determined that the md5.tar files on that site http://www.rwilco12.com/downloads.php?dir=Files/Devices/Samsung%20Galaxy%20S4%20%28SPH-L720%29/Stock%20ROMs are worthless.... BOTH downloads failed in Odin before I could even get out of the gate....
They failed the md5 check that Odin performs and would not allow me to continue.... IS there something I am missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remove the .md5 extension at the end and try again.

KennyG123 said:
Remove the .md5 extension at the end and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet baby Jeezes please tell me that is not all I had to do.... I spent 4 hours staring at the screen downloading files last night .... I waited 4 hours and finally could not stay awake any more but I finally got the OA3 firmware from SamMobile downloaded successfully. I left the .md5 extension and it is now flashing via Odin as I type this.... I could have saved myself a few more hours of misery if I had known you can remove the .md5 extension..... This learning curve is hard on an old man like me hahaha!
Thanks Kenny
<edit> Ahhhhh.... the sweet smell of success !!! I am now booted back into a stock phone!!!
Man I hope this thread can help save someone else from the anguish I have put myself through with this thing....

Team Scream said:
Sweet baby Jeezes please tell me that is not all I had to do.... I spent 4 hours staring at the screen downloading files last night .... I waited 4 hours and finally could not stay awake any more but I finally got the OA3 firmware from SamMobile downloaded successfully. I left the .md5 extension and it is now flashing via Odin as I type this.... I could have saved myself a few more hours of misery if I had known you can remove the .md5 extension..... This learning curve is hard on an old man like me hahaha!
Thanks Kenny
<edit> Ahhhhh.... the sweet smell of success !!! I am now booted back into a stock phone!!!
Man I hope this thread can help save someone else from the anguish I have put myself through with this thing....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sure it will! Glad you got it working and glad I helped! Some versions of Odin don't care about the md5 extension and others barf it up. With the way your luck went....well...don't buy a lottery ticket this week...hahaha.