Database Users

[Q] Help me unbrick my S4

Here's the story:
I got my S4 late last year, and decided to use qbking77's root technique to root my phone. After the 4.3 update, I no longer had root. Also, I had the wifi issue plaguing many S4 users at the moment. So I thought maybe re-rooting would solve my problem, but apparently qbking's method no longer works. So, being a crafty individual, I decided to revert to 4.2.2. I downloaded L720VPUAMF9_L720SPTAMF9_L720VPUAMF9_HOME.tar from samsung-updates and used ODIN to load it. Soon after starting the download, I received a FAIL notification in ODIN and an error in the download screen on my phone as follows:
SW REV CHECK FAIL : FUSED : 4, BINARY : 1
I have tried many versions of ODIN but cannot get the file to load. I really don't want to deal with Sprint over this matter, so any help would be appreciated.
[I am also downloading the 4.3 version from samsung-updates at the moment, but I have to get to bed, so I will try tomorrow.]

copulat0r said:
Here's the story:
I got my S4 late last year, and decided to use qbking77's root technique to root my phone. After the 4.3 update, I no longer had root. Also, I had the wifi issue plaguing many S4 users at the moment. So I thought maybe re-rooting would solve my problem, but apparently qbking's method no longer works. So, being a crafty individual, I decided to revert to 4.2.2. I downloaded L720VPUAMF9_L720SPTAMF9_L720VPUAMF9_HOME.tar from samsung-updates and used ODIN to load it. Soon after starting the download, I received a FAIL notification in ODIN and an error in the download screen on my phone as follows:
SW REV CHECK FAIL : FUSED : 4, BINARY : 1
I have tried many versions of ODIN but cannot get the file to load. I really don't want to deal with Sprint over this matter, so any help would be appreciated.
[I am also downloading the 4.3 version from samsung-updates at the moment, but I have to get to bed, so I will try tomorrow.]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you CANNOT got back to MF9 or ANYTHING before MJA.
Grab the MK2 tar (OR MJA) - THERY'RE HERE LOOK.
Flash that in PC Odin and you'll be fine
Spend some time and read and you'll be Okay.

leaderbuilder said:
you CANNOT got back to MF9 or ANYTHING before MJA.
Grab the MK2 tar (OR MJA) - THERY'RE HERE LOOK.
Flash that in PC Odin and you'll be fine
Spend some time and read and you'll be Okay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news! I got the update installed back to 4.3 and my WiFi is back on! talk about 2 birds. thanks for the help leader!

copulat0r said:
Great news! I got the update installed back to 4.3 and my WiFi is back on! talk about 2 birds. thanks for the help leader!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANK you for reporting back! That is what this community is all about.
Since you have the lates firmware (MJA or MK2) you can now go root, install recovery (via PC Odin or goomanager) and then flash what you wish.
BUT please take some time to read through the developers OPs and followup posts - different ROMs require different recoveries and wipe methods. Recoveries can be switched in recovery too.
Good luck

Hi guys,
I came across this post while searching XDA as I am getting the same error (SW REV CHECK FAIL : FUSED : 4, BINARY : 1) when I try to install "L720VPUAMF9_L720SPTAMF9_L720VPUAMF9_HOME.tar" via various versions of ODIN.
A little background on my phone:
Sprint GS2 L720 that I bought used.The phone gets stuck on the yellow Sprint screen during boot-up. I don't have the whole story but apparently he tried to flash the phone and did so with the incorrect ROM. Rather than try to fix the phone he decided to sell it for cheap so he found a sucker (me) to buy it hoping that I could fix it. I don't have a problem getting the phone into download mode, just can't get the TAR file to install correctly. Since I've never had this phone in working condition I don't know what firmware is on the phone.
I'm sorry if this is a dumb or basic question but I'm completely new at this so any help you can give me in laymen's terms (or links to threads I should read or files I should install) would be greatly appreciated.
LeaderBuilder- You mentioned installing recovery via ODIN? Would you mind elaborating on this. I Googled "Install Recovery with ODIN S4" and came up with videos and links using ClockworkMod and TWRP but I'm not sure if this is what you were referring to. I just hesitant because I don't want to make matters worse or hardbrick my phone.
Anybody willing to respond and help me out- THANKYOU!!!

You install recoveries by using tar files of them
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Daniel,
Thanks for your reply. Do you know specifically which recovery TAR file I should install? Also, where can I download them?
Thanks,
Matt

MMcCawley said:
Hi guys,
I came across this post while searching XDA as I am getting the same error (SW REV CHECK FAIL : FUSED : 4, BINARY : 1) when I try to install "L720VPUAMF9_L720SPTAMF9_L720VPUAMF9_HOME.tar" via various versions of ODIN.
A little background on my phone:
Sprint GS2 L720 that I bought used.The phone gets stuck on the yellow Sprint screen during boot-up. I don't have the whole story but apparently he tried to flash the phone and did so with the incorrect ROM. Rather than try to fix the phone he decided to sell it for cheap so he found a sucker (me) to buy it hoping that I could fix it. I don't have a problem getting the phone into download mode, just can't get the TAR file to install correctly. Since I've never had this phone in working condition I don't know what firmware is on the phone.
I'm sorry if this is a dumb or basic question but I'm completely new at this so any help you can give me in laymen's terms (or links to threads I should read or files I should install) would be greatly appreciated.
LeaderBuilder- You mentioned installing recovery via ODIN? Would you mind elaborating on this. I Googled "Install Recovery with ODIN S4" and came up with videos and links using ClockworkMod and TWRP but I'm not sure if this is what you were referring to. I just hesitant because I don't want to make matters worse or hardbrick my phone.
Anybody willing to respond and help me out- THANKYOU!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are trying to install an older version of the stock tar. Once your phone has been upgraded to MJA or newer you cannot install older tar files. You can download the newest stock tar for are phone from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2601443
Install using odin 3.07 or newer. Good luck.

Thanks Cruise,
I read through all of the posts on the link that you sent and according to the original poster, flashing that TAR will trip the KNOX which sounds undesirable and potentially dangerous (at least according to the second poster). Is this my best best or only option? Sorry if that's a dumb question but like I said, I'm new to all of this and I really don't want to hard brick my phone. Ideally I'd like to get this to boot properly and bring it back to stock but it sounds like bringing it back to stock might not be an option at this point. Thanks again for your input and the link!

MMcCawley said:
Thanks Cruise,
I read through all of the posts on the link that you sent and according to the original poster, flashing that TAR will trip the KNOX which sounds undesirable and potentially dangerous (at least according to the second poster). Is this my best best or only option? Sorry if that's a dumb question but like I said, I'm new to all of this and I really don't want to hard brick my phone. Ideally I'd like to get this to boot properly and bring it back to stock but it sounds like bringing it back to stock might not be an option at this point. Thanks again for your input and the link!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is it dangerous to trip knox? I personally have it tripped and have really ran into any problems once I rooted. I couldn't install kernels for some reason but I think that was something o was doing wrong .
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 09:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 AM ----------
And it will NOT trigger Knox because it is a stock unmodified tar straight from Samsung/Sprint.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

MMcCawley said:
Thanks Cruise,
I read through all of the posts on the link that you sent and according to the original poster, flashing that TAR will trip the KNOX which sounds undesirable and potentially dangerous (at least according to the second poster). Is this my best best or only option? Sorry if that's a dumb question but like I said, I'm new to all of this and I really don't want to hard brick my phone. Ideally I'd like to get this to boot properly and bring it back to stock but it sounds like bringing it back to stock might not be an option at this point. Thanks again for your input and the link!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got news for you, your Knox is already tripped. If the previous owner had already tried to root and install a custom rom that ship has sailed. Installing a stock tar does not trip Knox, installing a custom recovery does.
Sent from my icrap 2 using Tapatalk HD

Hey guys,
Just wanted to follow-up and let you know that your suggestions worked and that I'm now up and running. THANK YOU ALL for your help and suggestions!

Help with 4.2.2

So I had a stock 4.2.2 rom on my phone, I eventually rooted it with QBking's method and also used his wifi. Recently I was having issues so decided to unroot my phone. If I need the links I'll pull them up but the rom used was L720VPUAMDC_L720SPTAMDC_L720VPUAMDC_HOME.tar.md5.
I checked the md5 and everything was fine. So I booted up odin everything was smooth then I noticed the bar wasn't moving so I left it for awhile came back about 20 minutes later it still was in the same spot so left it again and still same thing. So in the end now it just fails everytime I try to odin the tar. Not sure what to do from here but can't do anything. Yes I know search is my friend but I've looked through about 50+ threads and I'm still clueless usually I have no issues following this stuff. Any help is appreciated.

So...
you didn't read, search or look through the forums as much or well though.
If you had 4.4 on you're phone you'd have found out that you CANNOT go 'back' to a version before your current firmware version you show you used MDC - that is WAY before kitkat/NAE. There are dozens of posts about this. I know I've personally responded to many of them.
Do some more reading and searching look for the NAE .tar and PC Oding that. You will get back to 'zero' - stock unrooted. Then read a whole lot more and you'll find this is a great device.

leaderbuilder said:
So...
you didn't read, search or look through the forums as much or well though.
If you had 4.4 on you're phone you'd have found out that you CANNOT go 'back' to a version before your current firmware version you show you used MDC - that is WAY before kitkat/NAE. There are dozens of posts about this. I know I've personally responded to many of them.
Do some more reading and searching look for the NAE .tar and PC Oding that. You will get back to 'zero' - stock unrooted. Then read a whole lot more and you'll find this is a great device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you READ the above I didn't have 4.4 I had 4.2.2, I haven't updated my phone in quite sometime because what I had was functioning well for me until recently , I had some issues and need the phone replaced. Anyways since I apparently didn't read at all /sarcasm I tried on a different pc and got it to actually odin back to stock 4.2.2 no root. I appreciate your comment though uncalled for, anyways thanks for your time.

Applogize for the mis-read of 4.2 vs 4.4. My bad.
But my sarcasm does stand.
The 'different PC/different port fix/suggestion has been suggested many, many, many times.
My ire is not directed at you personaly, but the throngs of folks who dont look and won't respond back to the forums on how/if they fix their problem so that other can learn.
Fantastic that you got it working and thank you for posting back! Most don't seem to when they get it working, thus not contributing to the groupp knowledge.
Good luck on new phone.

You should always post the links if you're looking for help so we can help better.

[Q] Help with Durn updates!

my Computer crashed on me a few weeks back and I lost pretty much all my files. Thankfully my personal files were all backed up, but none of my phone modification files survived. I meant to post here to ask for links and such, but couldn't remember what exactly I had. Then an update hits my phone. Never ever had luck updating a rooted phone. Always just ended up ignoring the icon until I got a new one. Well now there's TWO updates that I've fallen behind on......Better figure it out. So. Please. Help.
Info on phone:
Sprint L720T on MK5 Rooted stock rom.
My Question(s)
How to either un-root to get the updates OTA,
OR
How to flash updated stock roms
I've used odin, obviously, to flash the rooted stock. Pretty sure I used cf's autoroot. I just need a Link to Odin and a brief run down of what I'm trying to do. I may fire back a question or two.
I saw a post on flashing what I believe was a stock 4.3 and then up to 4.4.2. Well that's awesome, but I've TWO updates. Is 4.4.2 the newest? And why am I seeing numbers for jellybean, when I typically see things like "NAE" or "MK5".
And why is it sooo easy to root a bloody phone, but a nightmare to UNROOT said phone? Would think that "click, click....and bam. back to normal". Unfortunately, either I'm looking at the wrong things or I really do have to track down stock files for my specific model to re-flash with odin, then accept OTA, then re-root....?
If so, that SEEMS simple enough, but finding stock for my SPECIFIC model is....frustrating. So please, kind folks, help me out with some direct links to what I need?

Pretty sure answers to the question posted above exist on XDA
Use odin to flash L720TVPUAMK5_L720TSPTAMK5_L720TVPUAMK5_HOME.tar.md5
Use the stock recovery to factory reset.
Phone is now unrooted.
.

This^^ there are tutorials and videos on YouTube that show how to use Odin. All you do is place the tar on the PDA section.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

8er said:
Pretty sure answers to the question posted above exist on XDA
Use odin to flash L720TVPUAMK5_L720TSPTAMK5_L720TVPUAMK5_HOME.tar.md5
Use the stock recovery to factory reset.
Phone is now unrooted.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all I needed. Ty!

wait. i cant seem to come up with that file.

Got the stock ROM from sammobile.com.
http://www.sammobile.com
Ralamzull said:
wait. i cant seem to come up with that file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hit the thanks button if this helped.

SPH-L720 No sound after rooting

I did my first rooting blah, blah, blah and it was a success on the exception I have no sound now. everything works fine except I can't call anyone and or listen to music. I did tons of research on this before posting this, but I still didn't get my problem resolved which in turn forced me to pester ya'll. I found a thread of others having this problem and tried a fix about trying to install a different modem with odin and it keeps failing.
I installed the MJA upgrade (how to root sph-l720) I saw on youtube. after the rooting etc.. is when I lost sound. everything else worked (data) (wifi) (texting) (googleplay) etc......
I could only find one other modem to try, but like I said it failed to install.
after 3 days of browsing and getting things done by myself, I'm burned out and could really use help on this. I'm very new to this phone thing so please, if there is a way to fix this, be as detailed as possible.
I didn't have time to read forum rules so I didn't post any links cause I was not sure if I was allowed to. If I am and ya'll would like me to post where I learned the rooting and a so called fix to my problem. I can do that. just let me know.
Thanks!

Well this section is for not for your version of the S4. So you would probably have more luck in this section:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-sprint
You give way to few details to help you.
- What rooting method did you use?
- What is the excact file that you used for rooting (filename is good enough).
- What is the excact firmware that you are using?
My guess would be that you flashed the wrong file for rooting (if you used cf-root). Just try to reflash the firmware you are on with Odin. That should probably fix it.
You don't need to flash a different modem. I don't think that thats the problem.
Give us more then a name to a youtube video (I can't even find it). Be specific. The more details the better.

Lennyz1988 said:
Well this section is for not for your version of the S4. So you would probably have more luck in this section:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-sprint
You give way to few details to help you.
- What rooting method did you use?
- What is the excact file that you used for rooting (filename is good enough).
- What is the excact firmware that you are using?
My guess would be that you flashed the wrong file for rooting (if you used cf-root). Just try to reflash the firmware you are on with Odin. That should probably fix it.
You don't need to flash a different modem. I don't think that thats the problem.
Give us more then a name to a youtube video (I can't even find it). Be specific. The more details the better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Lenny,
thanks for responding
I reposted this in your link, but heres the answer to your question anyways. the exact name of the youtube video is,
(How to Install Android 4.3 Custom ROM on Sprint Galaxy S4!) this video has all the exact files i used on my rooting. I did however use a more updated philz touch recovery. 6.15. something. not sure if that matters or not.
Thanks in advance.

Verizon Note 3 Wifi Problem (Greyed Out)

I have Verizon Galaxy Note 3, and my problem is that Wifi button is greyed out and simply wouldnt turn on.
I have done a lot of homework so far, and before, I had 4.3 Jelly Bean, and Wifi being greyed out started around 2 weeks ago (early Dec/2014 - until then, it worked fine).
So I updated to 4.4.2 Kitkat thinking software issue, but wifi is still not working.
I had already searched for hours, and did many things to try to isolate the problem.
*I tried Safe mode
*Reset Cache/Factory several times
*Battery in-n-out, SD card in-n-out, any external peripherals i had alrdy taken everything off and tried
*Tried Alliance/Jasmine/Eclipse ROMs, but still same
*Not router issue @ home since Phone Wifi simply wouldn' turn on
I thought of downgrading back to 4.3 Jelly Bean, but there were many articles saying I can not downgrade, so I think it's out of option.
I now think it's hardware issue, but can not confirm... went to Verizon store too, and the guy just feels it's more software by 51/49, but the ultimate problem is that I just can not 100% ID what the exact problem is - software or hardware.
I really don't want to spend $ for another phone... I also feel it is Kitkat since I also found many articles with Note 3 Kitkat wifi problem, and I read a lot of them, but couldn't really find any solution to my specific issue.
My understanding is that I have 2 options - wait for proper fix by Dev/Samsung for Kitkat firmware or get a new phone
I really did everything I can within my power, and making this post is my last resort...
Hope I can shed some light from experts or anyone who knows any more beneficial details so that @ least i can try to sort my options and situation more clearly...
Thanks much in advance!

Have you tried using Samsung Kies to return to complete stock? Why didn't the Verizon tech offer this choice and flash stock firmware?
My guess is you have a baseband/firmware mismatch somewhere. 4.4.2 firmware and baseband can be found in this thread.

Or flash nc4 in odin.

KennyG123 said:
Have you tried using Samsung Kies to return to complete stock? Why didn't the Verizon tech offer this choice and flash stock firmware?
My guess is you have a baseband/firmware mismatch somewhere. 4.4.2 firmware and baseband can be found in this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmm no, and i got this phone from Amazon (not from Store), and the store workers really didnt know how to Root nor XDA forum, so it was talking to a wall...
Lemme check our your link and see

Gl2u81 said:
mmm no, and i got this phone from Amazon (not from Store), and the store workers really didnt know how to Root nor XDA forum, so it was talking to a wall...
Lemme check our your link and see
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, i did already check out your thread before, and when i had tried to download 4.3 (1st one), it had me download like .exe file, and these kind of files tend to be virus/spyware so i just didn't... i also read many posts about how i can NOT downgrade to 4.3 from 4.4 so software wise, my current understanding is that I am **** out of luck until someone fixes firmware... or am i wrong? I guess I am trying to be proven wrong, and hope someone can show me a solution to my weird unique problem...
Btw, already on NC4 (I had updated to NC2 firstly, and Jasmine got stuck on bootloop, so I got NC4 and used Odin, then it fixed the bootloop)
Merry Xmas, huh?
P.S. Thanks for replying on Xmas day, lol

Correct you can not downgrade. Flash nc4 in odin.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23487008491963309

Gl2u81 said:
mmm no, and i got this phone from Amazon (not from Store), and the store workers really didnt know how to Root nor XDA forum, so it was talking to a wall...
Lemme check our your link and see
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You specifically stated in the OP that you went to the Verizon store. They should have just flashed the most recent firmware/OS at that time.
You need to just Odin the latest stock tar or use Kies to do the same. Somewhere along the way the baseband, firmware and ROM OS have been mixed which causes the wifi problem.

drewcam888 said:
Correct you can not downgrade. Flash nc4 in odin.
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23487008491963309
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, running nc4 right now
KennyG123 said:
You specifically stated in the OP that you went to the Verizon store. They should have just flashed the most recent firmware/OS at that time.
You need to just Odin the latest stock tar or use Kies to do the same. Somewhere along the way the baseband, firmware and ROM OS have been mixed which causes the wifi problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i did go, and i feel we are getting somewhere...
iam not like total expert on micro details on flashing, but from what i understand, baseband version and firmware are same, and firmware is like BIOS for computer while ROM is like Windows, Linux or an Operating System.
so wut i understood is that u are saying that my firmware (BIOS) and ROM (OS) are incompatible?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2553357
I am running this Alliance rom, and also NC4 i got from XDA forum for my phone... so i think I am on Kitkat firmware running ROM that was made to run on this firmware?
Please point anything out to me if i had something wrong - open to anything to try to resolve this so that i dont have to dump $ for another phone...

Gl2u81 said:
Yes, running nc4 right now
Yes i did go, and i feel we are getting somewhere...
iam not like total expert on micro details on flashing, but from what i understand, baseband version and firmware are same, and firmware is like BIOS for computer while ROM is like Windows, Linux or an Operating System.
so wut i understood is that u are saying that my firmware (BIOS) and ROM (OS) are incompatible?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2553357
I am running this Alliance rom, and also NC4 i got from XDA forum for my phone... so i think I am on Kitkat firmware running ROM that was made to run on this firmware?
Please point anything out to me if i had something wrong - open to anything to try to resolve this so that i dont have to dump $ for another phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In your phone settings, what does it say in about phone for baseband and software versions? It should all end in NC4 then.

I directed you to a link for nc4 then flash in odin. That is the correct step to try right now

Gl2u81 said:
Yes, running nc4 right now
Yes i did go, and i feel we are getting somewhere...
iam not like total expert on micro details on flashing, but from what i understand, baseband version and firmware are same, and firmware is like BIOS for computer while ROM is like Windows, Linux or an Operating System.
so wut i understood is that u are saying that my firmware (BIOS) and ROM (OS) are incompatible?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2553357
I am running this Alliance rom, and also NC4 i got from XDA forum for my phone... so i think I am on Kitkat firmware running ROM that was made to run on this firmware?
Please point anything out to me if i had something wrong - open to anything to try to resolve this so that i dont have to dump $ for another phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have lots of things wrong in the above. So to keep it simple just get OFF of the alliance ROM, get back on the NC4 ROM and modem. If nothing else...go back to the Verizon store and have them totally wipe and reflash the phone. You can also do that at the Samsung section of a Best Buy store.
Sent from my Note 3 via Tapatalk

KennyG123 said:
In your phone settings, what does it say in about phone for baseband and software versions? It should all end in NC4 then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
baseband ends in nc4 and base version also nc4...

drewcam888 said:
I directed you to a link for nc4 then flash in odin. That is the correct step to try right now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I successfully flashed this via Odin, but wifi is still an issue... and safestrap 3.75 doesnt work any more

Gl2u81 said:
I successfully flashed this via Odin, but wifi is still an issue... and safestrap 3.75 doesnt work any more
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you successfully flashed Odin and factory reset the phone (important), and tried wifi immediately after and it still will not turn on (without adding anything else) then it must be some hardware failure.

KennyG123 said:
If you successfully flashed Odin and factory reset the phone (important), and tried wifi immediately after and it still will not turn on (without adding anything else) then it must be some hardware failure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah... wifi doesnt turn on... i'll settle as hardware issue, not software and move on with my life...

Warranty replace it and be done.