[Q] The mystery of the Stock ROM with 0 system partition - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Okay.
So I'm very new to all this, but I managed to get safestrap (3.75) working on my Galaxy note 3 (AT&T) and attempted to install a custom rom. However, in my ignorance I somehow managed to screw something up majorly and cannot restore to my stock rom nor can I seem to use the method in the guide that involved Odin and Heimdal to do so. Using safestrap I am able to enter download mode and still create ROM slots, however I have noticed system errors when I do so. Most confusing of all however, when I use safestrap to check the stock rom and why I cannot copy system files to it, it says that there is a system partition size of 0. I would appreciate any advice on where to go from here.
If this is actually very simple to solve, please forgive me.

Related

[Q] AT7T GS4 Softbrick help

Hello, and thanks for reading this. I know it's long, but I wanted to be specific.
I got a brand new AT&T Galaxy S4 yesterday, and decided I wanted to run CM. I easily rooted using this
method, but ran into problems in multiple attempts to install CWM. I found out about the MF3 software version, which I have, so I installed safestrap.
In safestrap, I factory reset, installed CM 10.2-20131102.zip
snapshot, and then installed loki-doki.zip as mentioned in this thread (there were some mentions in the xda forums but I can't find the one I was looking at earlier.) The problem is I forgot to make
a new rom slot/partition thing, so I think I wrote over the stock rom.
Now, when I turn on the phone, an option for safestrap comes up. If I choose to not go through safestrap, the screen goes blank black, but the phone stays on until I
hold the power button and it vibrates, indicating a power down. Safestrap's recovery mode still works as expected.
What I've already tried:
1. Factory reset. Nothing changed.
2. Create rom slot for CM, install, and boot (Has since been uninstalled). Nothing changed.
3. manually put stock rom zip into phone. Computer did not recognize device.
4. Use adb to push same stock rom zip onto phone. ADB did not see device.
5. Change PIT via ODIN as per a thread I can no longer locate. Nothing changed.
6. Take a stock rom and flash it from ODIN (I used the PDA, then bootloader, option because I wasn't sure which to select.) Both failed.
Is this something y'all can help me with? What do I do? If you have any ideas, questions, comments, please ask. I know I need more information.
Thanks for the help.
FalseAim said:
Hello, and thanks for reading this. I know it's long, but I wanted to be specific.
I got a brand new AT&T Galaxy S4 yesterday, and decided I wanted to run CM. I easily rooted using this
method, but ran into problems in multiple attempts to install CWM. I found out about the MF3 software version, which I have, so I installed safestrap.
In safestrap, I factory reset, installed CM 10.2-20131102.zip
snapshot, and then installed loki-doki.zip as mentioned in this thread (there were some mentions in the xda forums but I can't find the one I was looking at earlier.) The problem is I forgot to make
a new rom slot/partition thing, so I think I wrote over the stock rom.
Now, when I turn on the phone, an option for safestrap comes up. If I choose to not go through safestrap, the screen goes blank black, but the phone stays on until I
hold the power button and it vibrates, indicating a power down. Safestrap's recovery mode still works as expected.
What I've already tried:
1. Factory reset. Nothing changed.
2. Create rom slot for CM, install, and boot (Has since been uninstalled). Nothing changed.
3. manually put stock rom zip into phone. Computer did not recognize device.
4. Use adb to push same stock rom zip onto phone. ADB did not see device.
5. Change PIT via ODIN as per a thread I can no longer locate. Nothing changed.
6. Take a stock rom and flash it from ODIN (I used the PDA, then bootloader, option because I wasn't sure which to select.) Both failed.
Is this something y'all can help me with? What do I do? If you have any ideas, questions, comments, please ask. I know I need more information.
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few things...
CM will not work on SafeStrap as of right now, it's AOSP-based whereas SS currently only supports TouchWiz-based ROMs.
Is your stock ROM-slot intact, or did you flash over it as well? if so move on to the next bullet.
Your need to take these files and use ODIN to flash back to stock MF3 (I don't know what stock files your using) and start from scratch.
Alternatively, you can try to flash a TouchWiz-based ROM (look here) in a ROM-slot other then stock in SafeStrap and see if it works, just don't forget to flash the MF3 modules afterwards.
NighthawkXL said:
A few things...
CM will not work on SafeStrap as of right now, it's AOSP-based whereas SS currently only supports TouchWiz-based ROMs.
Is your stock ROM-slot intact, or did you flash over it as well? if so move on to the next bullet.
Your need to take these files and use ODIN to flash back to stock MF3 (I don't know what stock files your using) and start from scratch.
Alternatively, you can try to flash a TouchWiz-based ROM (look here) in a ROM-slot other then stock in SafeStrap and see if it works, just don't forget to flash the MF3 modules afterwards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really appreciate the help. I had no idea CM would not work with SafeStrap. Is it possible to get CWM through SafeStrap? If not, I'll just have to do some research to see if I want one of the TW-based ROMs, I've never looked into it before. Actually, just before you posted, I started the Odin flashing in this thread, which seems to be another thread pointing to the same file downloads written by the same guy as the thread you posted. The phone is back to perfect stock; no root, no SafeStrap, still MF3 software version. I'm going to reroot and reinstall SafeStrap, and not be so reckless this time. Thanks again for the help!
No CWM won't run on the locked MF3 bootloader. SafeStrap is "recovery" itself designed specifically for MF3 devices. Just use a TW Rom and br careful!
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
NighthawkXL said:
No CWM won't run on the locked MF3 bootloader. SafeStrap is "recovery" itself designed specifically for MF3 devices. Just use a TW Rom and br careful!
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you think you could help me install a ROM? I tried to get GoldenEye, but it didn't work. I made a new ROM slot and didn't change any of the default sizes. Then I activated that ROM slot, wiped the data, and intalled the GoldenEye zip file from the /sdcard folder. The I rebooted, and installed the MF3 modules on the same ROM slot. Then I rebooted again, but all I got was a black screen. I was able to get back into SafeStrap and the stock ROM still works, but what did I do wrong installing GoldenEye?
I deleted and then remade the ROM slot, and tried installing the two files again without rebooting in between, but it didn't change anything. But I did notice the following when trying to install the MF3 modules:
Installing 'sdcard/jflteatt-MF3-modules.zip'..
Checking for MD5 file...
Skipping MD5 check: no MD5 file found.
Updating partition details...
E:Unable to mount internal storage.
SafeStrap says "Successful," but this text doesn't sound like it. I couldn't find any in-depth tutorial on using SafeStrap, so I'm not sure what to try next.
Thanks for the help.
FalseAim said:
Do you think you could help me install a ROM? I tried to get GoldenEye, but it didn't work. I made a new ROM slot and didn't change any of the default sizes. Then I activated that ROM slot, wiped the data, and intalled the GoldenEye zip file from the /sdcard folder. The I rebooted, and installed the MF3 modules on the same ROM slot. Then I rebooted again, but all I got was a black screen. I was able to get back into SafeStrap and the stock ROM still works, but what did I do wrong installing GoldenEye?
I deleted and then remade the ROM slot, and tried installing the two files again without rebooting in between, but it didn't change anything. But I did notice the following when trying to install the MF3 modules:
Installing 'sdcard/jflteatt-MF3-modules.zip'..
Checking for MD5 file...
Skipping MD5 check: no MD5 file found.
Updating partition details...
E:Unable to mount internal storage.
SafeStrap says "Successful," but this text doesn't sound like it. I couldn't find any in-depth tutorial on using SafeStrap, so I'm not sure what to try next.
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of this is covered in the "SafeStrap" thread.

KK update or JB Rom

Hey guys, been looking through the forum all morning at different ROM's. I considered the KK upgrade, however can't find a working link to a DL, my telco still have not released the KK update.
I have N9005 model, on 4.3 rooted using Chainfire, have CWM. I DL a 4.3 ROM, but can't figure out how to get it on my phone from PC (I sent the zip file over, but it does not show up on CWM), I found a few KK ROMS that interest me, but can't find a working link to a DL of 4.4.2 it for me to flash. I would post in the respective thread, but I cn't post in the developer forums yet.
As I understand to do most roms on here now, I need to flash 4.4.2, Root it, install new version of CWM, then install the rom.
However if I have used CWM to do a nandroid backup, is it possible to flash it back to that, or is any chance of 4.3 gone once I flash 4.4
I know this is very noob, but we all gotta learn some day.
Any help, even a link to 4.4.2 DL would be awesome.
Spudz30 said:
Hey guys, been looking through the forum all morning at different ROM's. I considered the KK upgrade, however can't find a working link to a DL, my telco still have not released the KK update.
I have N9005 model, on 4.3 rooted using Chainfire, have CWM. I DL a 4.3 ROM, but can't figure out how to get it on my phone from PC (I sent the zip file over, but it does not show up on CWM), I found a few KK ROMS that interest me, but can't find a working link to a DL of 4.4.2 it for me to flash. I would post in the respective thread, but I cn't post in the developer forums yet.
As I understand to do most roms on here now, I need to flash 4.4.2, Root it, install new version of CWM, then install the rom.
However if I have used CWM to do a nandroid backup, is it possible to flash it back to that, or is any chance of 4.3 gone once I flash 4.4
I know this is very noob, but we all gotta learn some day.
Any help, even a link to 4.4.2 DL would be awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First thing, if you go to KK you can't come back. Nobody has yet found a way to reset Knox or to revert the bootloader from KK. Go to it and you're stuck with it. May not matter depending on how you use your phone but there's a thread on here where the poster actually got his phone replaced because KK update meant he could no longer use it as he wanted and as he had it set up under 4.3.
(see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2709623 )
You've already tripped Knox using Chainfire's autoroot so you're free to do pretty much whatever you wish. I have stayed with 4.3, using Alliance ROM, Philz recovery and Lean kernel because the phone is awesome using them and KK seems to be generating lots of problems even now and doesn't appear to offer anything really worth having to make up for the troubles... IMO.
If you can't see the zip in CWM the most likely reason is you're looking at the wrong 'card' - in Philz recovery for example, the external SD card is SDCard1, not SDCard. At a guess you have copied the zip to the external card and CWM is looking on the internal memory.Not sure what the options are for plain CWM but look for another card option or move the zip from where you have it. Given the best flash is to wipe everything on the internal memory, the external card is the best location - it won't be wiped.
Another way to do it is to use Odin - extract the zip till you get the MD5 file and flash that via Odin to the phone - you need to put the phone in Download mode to do it. (hold Menu + Vol Down + Power to get to DL mode) There are threads on here with instructions on how to use Odin.
Journyman16 said:
First thing, if you go to KK you can't come back. Nobody has yet found a way to reset Knox or to revert the bootloader from KK. Go to it and you're stuck with it. May not matter depending on how you use your phone but there's a thread on here where the poster actually got his phone replaced because KK update meant he could no longer use it as he wanted and as he had it set up under 4.3.
(see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2709623 )
You've already tripped Knox using Chainfire's autoroot so you're free to do pretty much whatever you wish. I have stayed with 4.3, using Alliance ROM, Philz recovery and Lean kernel because the phone is awesome using them and KK seems to be generating lots of problems even now and doesn't appear to offer anything really worth having to make up for the troubles... IMO.
If you can't see the zip in CWM the most likely reason is you're looking at the wrong 'card' - in Philz recovery for example, the external SD card is SDCard1, not SDCard. At a guess you have copied the zip to the external card and CWM is looking on the internal memory.Not sure what the options are for plain CWM but look for another card option or move the zip from where you have it. Given the best flash is to wipe everything on the internal memory, the external card is the best location - it won't be wiped.
Another way to do it is to use Odin - extract the zip till you get the MD5 file and flash that via Odin to the phone - you need to put the phone in Download mode to do it. (hold Menu + Vol Down + Power to get to DL mode) There are threads on here with instructions on how to use Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will stick with JB for now as I like my setup anyway. I know how odin works and CWM was definitely looking at my External SD as my backup was on it. This is the ROM I was trying http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2541304 I DL, extracted to a folder on my PC, put onto my micro SD, but alas, nothing to choose from to flash.
Found the Alliance one for N9005, looks real nice, so will give it a shot.
Deleted
Urghhhh why is it after hours of trawling and googling I can't find my answer. I did the alliance ROM (and now know how my first rom stuffed up) how do I get rid of the icon in the top left which shows download rate? Can't find the option anywhere on phone
Edited: Found it myself.
Final bit of noob from me for now. I tried to restore my CWM backup after installing Alliance, alliance overwrote CWM with TWRP, I did a factory reset, but could not restore from backup. It noted my CWM backup, but I could not restore it. Anything I did wrong here?
Edited: Once again from learning I fixed my own issue. Reflashed CWM, restored from todays backup, phone has gone from factory reset to how it was earlier today. Love the nandroid backup.

Install Recovery and CM on Locked I9500

Hi All,
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this as I'm relatively new to posting on XDA. My girlfriend has a Galaxy S4 (I337) that I quickly and easily installed Cyanogenmod on. It's awesome and significantly better than TouchWiz. So, I bought an S4 off Ebay assuming it would be similar enough. It turns out this new S4 is an I9500 and before shipping it was updated to 4.3, which appears to lock the bootloader and prevent downgrading. I've tried Odin, Heimdall, ADB, Philz, Chainfire, Cofface, stock ROMs, etc with no luck. Today I did manage to root the phone and confirm root with TowelRoot. I'm wondering/hoping someone might have some resources to get CM on this thing. While I'd prefer not to brick it I am willing to take risks as I have a Razr (soft-bricked and unbricked) running CM and am relatively comfortable with computers/Linux.
I've been Googling and trying things for a month now and can't even find that much information on the locked bootloader. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
--
SL
The I9500 doesn't have a locked bootloader. You just can't downgrade from 4.3 to 4.2.2 with official roms. Same applies when you are running 4.4, then you also can't downgrade officially.
Just flash a custom recovery true Odin and flash away.
Why would you even want to downgrade? Are you sure you are picking the right files? You cant flash the files for the I337 on the I9500. So just go to the section for the I9500 roms and flash away.
Hi Lennyz1988,
Thanks for the quick reply. I don't specifically want to downgrade but that's the last option I've tried. Ultimately the goal is to put Cyanogenmod on the phone. When I attempt to upload any file via Odin I get "secure magiccode check fail : boot" (or fail : recovery) depending on what I'm flashing. All the reading I've done says that when these phones are updated to 4.3 a fix has been applied that stops Odin from working. Thus, I my last resort is/was to try and downgrade. As I said, I've been Googling for the last month and while few people have posted about this I have not found any solutions.
Hoping someone might have a solution or anything new to try that I haven't tried already, thanks again,
--
SL
Download the latest TWRP recovery:
http://techerrata.com/browse/twrp2/i9500
Fire it up in Odin under PDA. You need the .tar (DON'T EXTRACT IT).
If it fails:
- Different usb port
- Different cable
- Different pc
- Reinstall drivers
- Make sure Kies is not running the background.
Or you can use heimdall to flash it. Use the command line though:
heimdall flash --recovery nameoftherecovery.img (you need the .img instead of the .tar)
No luck there, Odin still fails with the same message. I have tried Heimdall on 2 different computers (4 different usb cables) and always get the libusb 12 error.
Since I have root access I figured I might be able to wipe the recovery partition from a terminal emulator. I copied recovery.img from the I9500 CWM to the internal sd card. I then went to /dev/block/msm_sdcc.1/by-name to figure out what partition is recovery, turns out its 21. I then did “dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p21”. I then booted into recovery and it just hung up. I had previously found a stock recovery partition so I flashed that via Odin (the only file I have found that works flashing via Odin). I could then boot back into the normal recovery. I then tried flashing both recovery and cache with the CF Auto files (cache is partition 18). Same result, it just hangs when trying to boot into recovery. At one point I did manage to flash a recovery that then came up with a warning about “software installed that is not supported by AT&T” and I couldn’t get past that so had to flash the stock recovery again.
On a side note, I accidentally wiped the EFS partition in this process (if found a tutorial that shows the S3 had recovery in partition 10, which is EFS on the S4). As a result 1.) the menu didn’t pop up when I hit the power button and 2.) wifi didn’t work. So, I made an .img of the EFS partition on my GT-I337 and moved it to the I9500 and that worked restoring both. In case anyone makes the same mistake.
I have now also used CWM ROM Manager and GooManger and tried installing recovery that way with no luck.
Just check if the internal memory partitioning is correct ( number, size and format) (use fdisk or parsed).
ODIN will install according to the PIT file and if drivers and cables are OK it is no other explanation than that.
PS: do not trust heimdall data because it just read the PIT file and do not give the true info from the memory part.!
Uhm on the TWRP website they say that the I9500 has it on partition 10.....
This would be the proper partition based on their website:
mmcblk0p10
Are you absolutely sure you have an i9500? Because my guess is that you don't.....
Boot into download mode. What does it say your model is?
Because on the AT&T it's partition 21.... So my guess is that you are messing up....
Thanks everyone for the input/feedback,
Something I think I had forgotten to mention previously, when the initial root/recovery attempts didn't work I downloaded an app to verify it is a genuine Samsung as I have heard of very good knock-offs. It is genuine according to the app.
Good point/catch regarding the location of the recovery partition. Under About Phone it shows as an I9500 and always has. When in download mode it currently shows as I337 but I wasn't sure if that was simply a result of all my attempts so I figured best to go with the one I am certain has been the same since I bought the phone. I had been hesitant to try wiping the recovery with for the I337 as that is how I soft-bricked my RazrHD (ultimately un-bricked it).
Tonight I will try the I337 files and see if Odin is successful. Thanks again.
Damn! Turns out my phone is an I337. The hardward (under the battery) says I9500 and when I plug it into a computer it shows up as I9500. On the weekend I thought I read that there is now the ability to flash recovery and install CyanogenMod on I337 if its updated to 4.4.2. So, I donwloaded the firmware and flashed with Odin. It flashed successfully but now I realize I am mistaken and 1.) cannot flash recovery, and 2.) cannot downgrade. For the time being I have installed Nova Launcher and removed as much of TouchWiz as possible. It's not perfect but at least usable. I'd like to start researching what it would take to flash recovery on this phone but I suspect I'm too busy at this moment.
Thanks everyone for the help,

[Q] Noob loses root on Safestraped 4.4.2 custom ROM. Now what?

Oh boy, I really screwed this one up...
I purchased a used Note 3 from eBay, hoping to be able to root it after it arrived. Much to my surprise, it arrived rooted with Safestrap, Hyperdrive ROM in Stock slot, and a different Hyperdrive ROM in Slot1. I was also impressed that KNOX had not been tripped. (It said Custom, but the KNOX flag showed 0x00)
Sweet looking phone in hand, I was thrilled! I wasn't going to have to cut my teeth on rooting the device myself prior to having an opportunity to explore a rooted Android and a custom ROM. The very first thing I did was to use Safestrap to backup both the Stock slot and Slot1. After the backups, I booted the stock slot first, to see how a factory Note 3 should look. Surprise again, the stock slot booted a Hyperdrive ROM. I was a bit nervous that I didn't have a truly stock ROM, but wasn't too worried about it because I had no plans to resell or seek repairs under warranty.
I then spent a couple of days tinkering with the device. Unfortunately, half asleep during the wee hours of the morning, I was tinkering around with SuperSU -- setting grant/deny/prompt flags for different apps. Somewhere in the midst of that, SuperSU informed me that I had lost root. I checked with RootChecker, and sure enough NO Root.
Things got worse from there, as I'm sure you can imagine. RootChecker had a button to relaunch SuperSU, so I tapped it. This time, SuperSU wanted to re-install itself. Being the ignorant noob that I am, I told SuperSU to proceed, and crossed my fingers. After a few seconds of thrashing around, SuperSU wanted to reboot, so I said okay...
Now the device attempts to go into recovery, reboots itself, attempts recovery, reboots, again, and again... boot loop... and no way to charge the battery... I believe I am around 55% to 60% charged at the moment.
So I read great things about Odin and downloaded a copy -- not yet sure exactly what I was going to do with it. I have been trying to wrap my head around this for a couple of days now, but I have several questions that I hope somebody can shed some light on.
Does the rooting take place in the boot image, or in the ROM image? I am assuming it has to be in the boot image, but then I've heard you can have rooted and unrooted ROMs in different slots.
If I use Odin to flash fresh firmware, will this firmware will have a functional recovery tool bundled with it?
Since the phone is no longer rooted, the recovery will not be able to re-flash a ROM onto the device?
If an Odin installed recovery can't re-flash a ROM due to being unrooted, am I faced with JTAG options only?
If I were to use Odin to flash this firmware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2726558 , could I perhaps get SafeStrap back and be able to restore the backups I made? The links on that page appear to be to the same (or very similar) firmware that was running prior to this disaster. NC2, Safestrap, etc.
If I can't use Odin to flash the firmware linked in the previous paragraph, and get Safestrap to restore my backups, can I use the firmware, ROMs, and PIT file linked here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2576104 to restore the phone to factory conditions and re-root from there?
Finally, is there any way for me to avoid tripping KNOX at this point? I'm not really sure I care if it gets tripped, but if I can avoid it then I probably should. Am I likely to need KNOX container support on a private device in the near future? Is there any other reason to be spooked about losing KNOX? I really don't care much about the warranty.
Any help with this mess will be **greatly** appreciated!
lintex said:
If I were to use Odin to flash this firmware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2726558 , could I perhaps get SafeStrap back and be able to restore the backups I made? The links on that page appear to be to the same (or very similar) firmware that was running prior to this disaster. NC2, Safestrap, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, if anybody comes across this thread looking for answers -- I did successfully use Odin to get this firmware back onto the device. Upon booting, I had Safestrap, was able to boot Slot1, and had root. When I boot from the Stock slot, still no root.
I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup, because I first want to see if I can boot Slot1 (to get root), and then find/mount the Stock slot image and see if I can find a way to re-root it manually.
lintex said:
Ok, if anybody comes across this thread looking for answers -- I did successfully use Odin to get this firmware back onto the device. Upon booting, I had Safestrap, was able to boot Slot1, and had root. When I boot from the Stock slot, still no root.
I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup, because I first want to see if I can boot Slot1 (to get root), and then find/mount the Stock slot image and see if I can find a way to re-root it manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using any other slot other then stock is going to be problematic. So use the stock slot. You are using the nc2 firmware if you have the reboot to recovery bootloop issue. You can flash the nc4 patched firmware in beans firmware thread if you want. Reboot to recovery is not the same as reboot to safestrap. Download a fresh rom. Wipe everything but external sd under the advanced wipe button in safestrap. Flash your new rom making sure stock slot is the active slot. Setup phone like normal. Make a backup with your now freshly setup rom. Rinse and repeat for new roms. Label your backups if you want to rom jump. Always use stock slot. Odin the nc2 kernel if you have a blackscreen on first boot of a new rom.
RomsWell said:
Using any other slot other then stock is going to be problematic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case, Slot1 is simply a rooted ROM that I can use when the Stock slot gets messed up. I have no desire or intent to tinker with Slot1. I consider it as an emergency tool only. It does seem to have an issue though. It never seems to want to power all the way down for some reason.
RomsWell said:
So use the stock slot. You are using the nc2 firmware if you have the reboot to recovery bootloop issue. You can flash the nc4 patched firmware in beans firmware thread if you want. Reboot to recovery is not the same as reboot to safestrap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using the NC2 firmware, but I no longer have the bootloop problem. After using Odin to re-install the NC2 firmware from BeansTown, the device was once again able to boot to Safestrap. From there, I was able to select and boot either of the existing slots. Slot1 still boots to root, Stock slot is still unrooted. I should be able to use Safestrap to restore my Stock slot backup and regain root on Slot1, right?
The only reason I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup is because I hope to boot my rooted Slot1 ROM, mount the Stock ROM image, and fix the Stock ROM image. If not, then I will try to restore the Stock slot backup.
RomsWell said:
Download a fresh rom. Wipe everything but external sd under the advanced wipe button in safestrap. Flash your new rom making sure stock slot is the active slot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely plan to flash a new ROM, soon. I want a fresh clean ROM for personal use, and I also need to find a ROM that supports HDMI -- because I want to get Debian to display on a larger screen. My ultimate goal is to create my own ROMs. I have a bit of experience with kernel tweaking/building, and created a bootable Linux-based DVD image by hand. I believe I will someday be able to tweak phone ROMs as well, but I'm still fuzzy about much of the Android system. Stuff like locks and KNOX seem like quite a mine field and make me very nervous. A blank DVD coaster is one thing, an expensive smartphone is scary.
lintex said:
In my case, Slot1 is simply a rooted ROM that I can use when the Stock slot gets messed up. I have no desire or intent to tinker with Slot1. I consider it as an emergency tool only. It does seem to have an issue though. It never seems to want to power all the way down for some reason.
I am using the NC2 firmware, but I no longer have the bootloop problem. After using Odin to re-install the NC2 firmware from BeansTown, the device was once again able to boot to Safestrap. From there, I was able to select and boot either of the existing slots. Slot1 still boots to root, Stock slot is still unrooted. I should be able to use Safestrap to restore my Stock slot backup and regain root on Slot1, right?
The only reason I have not yet attempted to restore the Stock slot backup is because I hope to boot my rooted Slot1 ROM, mount the Stock ROM image, and fix the Stock ROM image. If not, then I will try to restore the Stock slot backup.
I definitely plan to flash a new ROM, soon. I want a fresh clean ROM for personal use, and I also need to find a ROM that supports HDMI -- because I want to get Debian to display on a larger screen. My ultimate goal is to create my own ROMs. I have a bit of experience with kernel tweaking/building, and created a bootable Linux-based DVD image by hand. I believe I will someday be able to tweak phone ROMs as well, but I'm still fuzzy about much of the Android system. Stuff like locks and KNOX seem like quite a mine field and make me very nervous. A blank DVD coaster is one thing, an expensive smartphone is scary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you stick to the known exploits like safestrap and towelroot then theres no worrys about knoxs. And no real way to perma brick the device. Make sure you stick to offical firmware when using odin and abuse your device like you would any other.

Help before I break it....

Have S5 SM-G900F - 16GB with PhilZ Touch 6.26.2 and Clockworkmod V6.0.4.7
Was using XtreStoLite_ROM_v2.2_LP_XXU1BOD3 and Blaze.Kernel_ver15 that I installed through SD card and Recovery.
As my S7 has shipped (finally) I want the GF to have my old S5 but need THL (Thailand) system support (I.E. not just thai language but also on the system menus).
I downloaded what I thought was a ROM for this but at the end of Odin flash I had Bad EXT4 flash and on phone 'invalid ext image size is too big'
Reading through the thread someone stated you need the .PIT.
I have ALWAYS avoided these but tried the SM-G900F_pit_16GB file. Yes I need a slap, I know better.....
OK so here it is, I do not know if NAND is corrupt as I do not know the symptoms.
Also, if I only have a soft brick, what is the best approach for recovery / ROM flash ?
Do I always need to do it from SD card / Recovery using a .zip?
Current state of phone.
Seen in Odin.
Can go into download mode.
Can now go into Recovery mode after flashing philz_touch_6.26.2-klte.tar.md5 in Odin.
Reboot loop (obviously, not valid ROM on it now).
I am assuming all is good and it's not a BAD brick, but still have not had a successful flash.
Many thanks
Yes I don't have many posts because I have always searched and found answers, but this time I am a little unsure and don't want to royally screw it up.
Help is much appreciated.
FizzerUK said:
Have S5 SM-G900F - 16GB with PhilZ Touch 6.26.2 and Clockworkmod V6.0.4.7
Was using XtreStoLite_ROM_v2.2_LP_XXU1BOD3 and Blaze.Kernel_ver15 that I installed through SD card and Recovery.
As my S7 has shipped (finally) I want the GF to have my old S5 but need THL (Thailand) system support (I.E. not just thai language but also on the system menus).
I downloaded what I thought was a ROM for this but at the end of Odin flash I had Bad EXT4 flash and on phone 'invalid ext image size is too big'
Reading through the thread someone stated you need the .PIT.
I have ALWAYS avoided these but tried the SM-G900F_pit_16GB file. Yes I need a slap, I know better.....
OK so here it is, I do not know if NAND is corrupt as I do not know the symptoms.
Also, if I only have a soft brick, what is the best approach for recovery / ROM flash ?
Do I always need to do it from SD card / Recovery using a .zip?
Current state of phone.
Seen in Odin.
Can go into download mode.
Can now go into Recovery mode after flashing philz_touch_6.26.2-klte.tar.md5 in Odin.
Reboot loop (obviously, not valid ROM on it now).
I am assuming all is good and it's not a BAD brick, but still have not had a successful flash.
Many thanks
Yes I don't have many posts because I have always searched and found answers, but this time I am a little unsure and don't want to royally screw it up.
Help is much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried to flash a stock rom from sammobile ?
Soufiansky said:
Have you tried to flash a stock rom from sammobile ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah!
I tried various and get EXT4 file size incorrect errors.
It was the .PIT incident that was lead from that error.
I have since re-acquired the original de-oxed ROM and flashed that from .zip on SDcard.
All good now, I just thank god I didn't screw it up with a .PIT file.
I was lucky! Leave them files for the DEV's and ignore posts that suggest getting a .PIT file and trying that for .EXT4 partition errors.
Reading posts later, chances are that your getting that error because you have the wrong ROM to flash, having a hidden partition in the ROM, from someone like the UK EE provider.
Hope you remembered to disable reactivation lock during first boot
The reason the ROM was removed in the first place...

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