Bricked? No custom or stock rom? - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

ive had my note 3 for awhile and have avoided rooting or modding it in any way for quite sometime, but i rooted the stock firmware i believe it was 4.4.2???? im not 100% with towelroot and i was able to install safestrap thats where my success ended I didnt make any backups for whatever dumb reason and also it has been quite sometime since modding any phones, now my phone wont boot into any rom ive tried i have tried two so far and i cant get the factory one back, half the time i cant install roms and the rest of the time they work but they wont boot ive tried creating rom slots but those dont work, read somewhere they arent supported in 4.4.2 ???? and when i tried overwriting the factory it still didnt work, now my phone wont boot into anything anymore and im not quite sure what i did wrong and if there is any way to fix it, i would have like to install knoxraid on this phone since it supposedely fixes the gps issues lots of people have when i try to install that particular rom i get a successful message but then when i wipe cache/dalvik it work and then i hit reboot nothing happens, all i get is a black screen oh and its says that safestrap is disabled
can anyone help i could really use some help here

ecuadorche said:
ive had my note 3 for awhile and have avoided rooting or modding it in any way for quite sometime, but i rooted the stock firmware i believe it was 4.4.2???? im not 100% with towelroot and i was able to install safestrap thats where my success ended I didnt make any backups for whatever dumb reason and also it has been quite sometime since modding any phones, now my phone wont boot into any rom ive tried i have tried two so far and i cant get the factory one back, half the time i cant install roms and the rest of the time they work but they wont boot ive tried creating rom slots but those dont work, read somewhere they arent supported in 4.4.2 ???? and when i tried overwriting the factory it still didnt work, now my phone wont boot into anything anymore and im not quite sure what i did wrong and if there is any way to fix it, i would have like to install knoxraid on this phone since it supposedely fixes the gps issues lots of people have when i try to install that particular rom i get a successful message but then when i wipe cache/dalvik it work and then i hit reboot nothing happens, all i get is a black screen oh and its says that safestrap is disabled
can anyone help i could really use some help here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I know which variant on Note3 you are using.
and what's the OS version? 4.3? or 4.4.2 or 4.4.4
what's your region (CSC).??
I would suggest you to go into download mode and download appropriate stock firmware from SamMobile or from Samsung Updates (Link for N9005) and flash Stock ROM using ODIN.
Thanks.

Related

Recovery / Bootloader

Ok, i realize i have a different phone from this thread but it is close and my problems closely reflect the issues ive seen with the Galaxy S.
A little background. Im no perfect i know what im doing when it comes to rooting. I have an HTC Tbolt and rooted many of those, an older touch pro 2, and this is first time doing a samsung. I am getting the hang of ODIN (i wish everyone would just use this program instead of bouncing back and forth between heimdall and ODIn but whatever) Im liking ODIN cause it works well. I was successful at flashing a new rom into this Samsung phone. 95% of it worked, wifi i think didnt but everything else worked. While trying to fix the phones wifi somehow i have stopped the phone from booting into CMW recovery unless forced or booting into a rom. I can get into CMW but i must hold down the Vol Down button to get there, otherwise a clean basic boot takes me to the stock android system recovery screen and will not boot a rom.
I have something backwards or out of order. I am just trying to get the rom to identify the installed CMW and the installed ROM through CMW but it wont do it.
Any help would be appreciated, i dont want my GF to find out i jacked her phone lol
Which phone do you have? SGS? I can just talk about SGS+ but I guess its similiar.
Try to install CWM with Odin, normally it should replace the stock recovery (haven't heard of both running at once).
Once you have installed CWM you can install your custom ROM with CWM (look at the install instructions).
If you want to install stock ROM with Odin it will replace your CWM with stock Recovery.
Post the link of the thread/recovery you want to flash.
annqx said:
Which phone do you have? SGS? I can just talk about SGS+ but I guess its similiar.
Try to install CWM with Odin, normally it should replace the stock recovery (haven't heard of both running at once).
Once you have installed CWM you can install your custom ROM with CWM (look at the install instructions).
If you want to install stock ROM with Odin it will replace your CWM with stock Recovery.
Post the link of the thread/recovery you want to flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a stratosphere. Im using the root and / or stock files in the root method. I use ODIN to flash the StratCWMRecovery.tar.md5 and if i tick "reboot" then it reboots into CWM i install a rom or stock rom and it finishes. I reboot the phone and it instantly goes back to android system recovery. If you like ill make a short video to give you an idea of whats going on.
I will note that im close to making a jig but its not 100% bricked obviously. 3 button method still works (and unecessary at this point since all the phone does is go straight into the stock bootloader) and then after i install CWM i can force it in to CWM but it wont actualy boot into it.
From a programing standpoint i feel the pointers or partitions are incorrect. Its like booting a computer that has a hard drive with windows installed however getting the bios to tell it to boot from the hard drive isnt working. THats the easiest way to explain this.
One thing i want to note is the only errors i am getting are when i try to partition the SD card from CWM. I get an error saying sdparted is not found.
I am not getting a full understanding of how the root system works on this phone.
Again any help is appreciated.
Made a short video. Its uploading now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFZ5Adm5AdQ
So whatever i did i was able to fix. I think me being a very visual person and normally having access to all files i need or could use in a situation is always nice. Here, i didnt but i found them. Here's the link. Its obviously for stratosphere but i took about 10 minutes and let ODIN install all these files and it worked.
original posting but the link doesnt work for download
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/11183-eh2-full-factory-odin-restore/
where i downloaded it
http://www.fileswap.com/dl/t4D235pUTO/SCH-I405.EH2_rel.md5.html
Again this is for stratosphere. Since it really helped me return to stock and allow me to re root in about 15 minutes this thread should be moved but there is no stratosphere area

[Q] gt-i9500 and kitkat custom roms incompatibility? HUH?

As the title says I have an International GT_I9500 unlocked
Until now I was always able to install any custom rom I wanted , no problem, just wipe and install and away we went.
Now with KitKat, I AM COMPLETELY UNABLE TO INSTALL ANY OF THE CUSTOM ROMS FOR 4.4.2 -0 NONE WORKS. I can't believe i am jinxed.
I wiped everything, cache, dalvik, system and internal and also did a full wipe - NOTHING WORKED, There are 3 custom roms for 4.4.2 so far and NONE = NOT A SINGLE ONE WANTS TO INSTALL.
I downloaded one of Samsung original 4.4.2 firmware and using Odin I WAS ABLE TO INSTALL AND MAKE IT WORK, yet after doing this, I tried to install any of the 3 customs roms and BOOM, COMPLETE FAILURE
Can anyone help PLEASE GUYS, I feel like BROOMHILDA LONE PERSON WITH A CLOUD ONLY ON MY HEAD
I am curious as to why this is happening
maybe its a i9505 or i9506 rom
provide the Odin messages here.
custom roms failure, huh?
spamtrash said:
provide the Odin messages here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I loaded the custom roms via recovery, not via odin,
so i go into recovery mode via TeamWin, wipe everything and load the custom rom, message says "successful" and i reboot system, that's it
the phone hangs into one of the boot animations and never finishes, left it for longer than 30 minutes, all of them , nothing loads.
go back the same custom roms but with android 4.3 and first shot, loads fine, all of them, same ones that won't load the 4.4.2 load the 4.3
most custom roms load via recovery not odin -
last try was load samsung original firmware 4.4.2 via download Odin, then root then install teamwin recovery. - worked fine
now removed it and reinstalled Thor 4.3 (thor 4.4.2 doesn't work) but tomorrow i'll wipe it and reinstall the samsung 4.4.2 unless you have an idea
*i hope)
sorry about the capitals - NO IT IS AN EXYNOS UNLOCKED GT-I9500 - almost a year after playing with nova settings, xposed and about a dozen custom roms, i THINK i know it's a 9500 - skip the silly suggestions - we're all noobs but not necessarily all boobs
thanks for your help - appreciated if we can solve it
custom roms failure, huh?
KingOfDope said:
maybe its a i9505 or i9506 rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
roms were downloaded exclusively from GT=I9500 AREA -
i don't go anywhere else because i know beforehand that they won't work - so why bother
thanks for your suggestion but obviously out of context - i don't live in the US in addition
Maybe wrong recovery ¿?
funny 4.4.2 roms
robertostorm said:
Maybe wrong recovery ¿?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i usually use teamwin version 2.6.3
and funny thing in one of the wipes even the teamwin was wiped so i wound using the regular android recovery, with the tiny tiny blue characters
that doesn't have all the teamwin recovery options - so even then it failed
after installing the saunsung 4.4.2 i downloaded a fresh teamwin version and installed via odin/download - like starting from zero. guess what
nope even then the roms freeze at the bootanimation - but the joke is ONLY IF THEY ARE VERSIONS 4.4.2 -they work fine with version 4.3
and when i mean wipe i mean wipe - cache/dalvik/system/internal - and even the other option where you have to type YES for the wipe to go on.
short of reformating the whole memory which i think is excessive, i THINK i tried with a clean clean memory install (according to me)
thanks for your patience
btw most of the custom roms install via recovery so there's no way to get a download install version
exlaval said:
i usually use teamwin version 2.6.3
and funny thing in one of the wipes even the teamwin was wiped so i wound using the regular android recovery, with the tiny tiny blue characters
that doesn't have all the teamwin recovery options - so even then it failed
after installing the saunsung 4.4.2 i downloaded a fresh teamwin version and installed via odin/download - like starting from zero. guess what
nope even then the roms freeze at the bootanimation - but the joke is ONLY IF THEY ARE VERSIONS 4.4.2 -they work fine with version 4.3
and when i mean wipe i mean wipe - cache/dalvik/system/internal - and even the other option where you have to type YES for the wipe to go on.
short of reformating the whole memory which i think is excessive, i THINK i tried with a clean clean memory install (according to me)
thanks for your patience
btw most of the custom roms install via recovery so there's no way to get a download install version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you flashed stock 4.4.2, your bootloader gets updated, so you can only use 4.4+ roms, also TWRP is full of bugs, just use cwm 6.0.4.5 and you're set.
Also, did you root the stock 4.4.2?
custom roms failure, huh?
robertostorm said:
Once you flashed stock 4.4.2, your bootloader gets updated, so you can only use 4.4+ roms, also TWRP is full of bugs, just use cwm 6.0.4.5 and you're set.
Also, did you root the stock 4.4.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as i said in a previous message - i used odin in download mode and flashed an original samsung 4.4.2 and it worked, i rooted and reinstalled teamwin
AFTER ALL THIS I tried to install one of the 4.4.2 custom roms - IT FAILED CONSISTENTLY - BY THIS I MEAN ALL ROMS DIED AT BOOTANIMATIONS - AND ALL FAILED TO START
thanks so much
Try with latest Philz recovery or any up to date CWM recovery.
And when coming from stock, you generally have to FULL wipe you phone
custom roms failure, huh?
ayedarts said:
Try with latest Philz recovery or any up to date CWM recovery.
And when coming from stock, you generally have to FULL wipe you phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just downloaded cwm version 6.0.4.6 installed via recovery. launched recovery installed latest wanamlite for 4.4.2 - message was "installed successfully" please reboot
i rebooted and for the last 15 minutes all i have is a BIG SAMSUNG on the screen - nothing beyond
just another hitch with kitkat - i have a SONY XPERIA Z TABLET with wifi and sim - a couple of weeks ago i rooted it but the cwm version is not good because it's on the vertical side and you cannot see the bottom of the menu so it's useless - anyhow. i rooted it and left it at that.
i got notice from sony that a new os version (kitkat) was ready for install - so I just told the tablet to start - and the os install screwed the tablet,
there was no way to reload and it completely deleted the memory , it went to sony to reload - so i have a big hunch there is something not right somewhere -
anyway the phone still has the SAMSUNG and it ain't going anywhere while i am writing all this
very discouraging = sure as heck i ain't buying no more galaxys of any sort, i was ready to preorder the s5 at 455british pound, unlocked - but since this i am dropping samsung, i like very very much the xperia tablet it's faster than the s4 so perhaps i'll jump to the sony xperia fone and bbye korea
maybe i9505 rom
custom roms failure, huh?
i know you're trying to help - but if you read all the previous (long and boring) messages - there's no mistakes, there's no 9505
ALL THE ROMS I DOWNLOAD AND USE - ALL OF THEM WITHOUT EXCEPTION come for the i9500 development area, I DON'T BOTHER WITH
9505 - MOSTLY BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A 9505
UPDATE - today after loading the latest cwm recovery i got lucky to be able to load ONE - READ IT - ONE CUSTOM ROM ( rom from HASAN)
this is the very only that i got to work, the other two just refuse to finish the boot - i don't know where they freeze.
even the wanamlite custom rom for 4.4.2 freezes - this is really annoying and a puzzle - this is my fourth samsung fone and never ever did i
find the bug that freeze everything. I hope that some of the other developers will come up with new kitkat versions for the 9500 and see if the bug persists or not -
any help will absolutely be appreciated, guys, some sort of boot log that can help pinpoint,
thanks again
You know the fact you keep using capital letters (so you might be trying to scream) is a little annoying.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500. I live in Costa Rica (so not in the US obviously).
I installed stock 4.4.2 using ODIN, then flashed ROOT and finally installed a custom CWM. First I tried Philz and ended up with 6.0.4.6.
I have already tried 2 different custom ROM's but I didn't like them so I went back to stock. I am very satisfied with the performance of my phone with stock, but that's not the point.
The thing is that I have the same phone you have, i installed the same software you installed, I followed the same steps you have followed yet I am able to install any custom ROM i like.
Maybe it is your phone, or maybe you're just looking for an excuse to quit Samsung and you're simply blaming kitkat your inability of installing ROMs now.
I'm just saying... there are several options you can tried if you quit being angry and actually try them.
Personally, I would start from scratch. Flashing via ODIN again, rooting accordingly with the right files, using a recovery that is recognized to work with 4.4.2, and finally using the right custom ROM.
custom roms failure, huh?
pinktheater said:
You know the fact you keep using capital letters (so you might be trying to scream) is a little annoying.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500. I live in Costa Rica (so not in the US obviously).
I installed stock 4.4.2 using ODIN, then flashed ROOT and finally installed a custom CWM. First I tried Philz and ended up with 6.0.4.6.
I have already tried 2 different custom ROM's but I didn't like them so I went back to stock. I am very satisfied with the performance of my phone with stock, but that's not the point.
The thing is that I have the same phone you have, i installed the same software you installed, I followed the same steps you have followed yet I am able to install any custom ROM i like.
Maybe it is your phone, or maybe you're just looking for an excuse to quit Samsung and you're simply blaming kitkat your inability of installing ROMs now.
I'm just saying... there are several options you can tried if you quit being angry and actually try them.
Personally, I would start from scratch. Flashing via ODIN again, rooting accordingly with the right files, using a recovery that is recognized to work with 4.4.2, and finally using the right custom ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-------------------------------------------------------
First - The capitals I used were ONLY to emphasize certain aspects and not intended as screaming, which is the usual sense - That was not my intention,
Second - I have being using Samsung for the last 7 years, I was not intending to leave until I hit this brick and further I nearly went to Clove, UK (where I usually pre-ordered my last 3 Galaxy's - months ahead of delivery) so thumping me by saying I am looking for an excuse to dump Samsung, is way off base, so much so, that if that indeed was my intention, why for all heavens would i bother to find a solution, and waste so much time and effort to make it work
Third - I have being as polite as any person can be, with or without, this hitch, don't judge, about being angry or not, you don't know me well enough to know the difference, just stick to the point in question without getting personal.
Fourth - What I have described is EXACTLY to a tee what is happening to me, what happened to YOU , is IRRELEVANT, you may be one of the lucky ones who has no issues installing the roms in questions. so unless you do have a suggestion as to finding the reason the fone loops on boot, skip what you did or didn't do, they are IRRELEVANT, because they don't provide a solution.
Fifth - If you read my descriptions you will notice the many times I installed customs roms on the many galaxy's and Note's I have/had.That ought to clue you that i know a basic way on how to do the installations (Odin, recovery, teamwin. cmw,) you name it I've done it, and i've unbricked more than once my fones. so yes i do know how to use Odin
Sixth - For some reason I was able to install the "HASSAN" rom (the ONLY and ONLY) 4.4.2 custom that worked. the others they just won't, PERIOD
So if you have a technical solution as to how to get a log of the looping so we can tell exactly at what point the fone loops. or some other technical solutions, please let me know them asap I am dying to see my fone with a custom 4.4.2,
Seventh - Yes I am extremely disappointed that the S5 is just not fantastic enough to lay 455GBP to pre-order. there are a few more advances but it is "ALMOST" good = the bezel didn't disappear - the 2K display isn't there - the sharper casing is still missing - the better battery is still not there - the wireless charging - To have 2000 horse power engine under the hood of a beat up VW beatle. doesn't make you good looking enough to go cruising on a saturday nite and brag about your "car" -
BTW = I am absolutely no fan of the Iphone (yuk) nor of Sony (which is as restricted as apple)
Can you help solve my issue - thanks

[Q] My device won't boot anymore (bootloop?)

This is the first time I tried to root my phone. My phone is a Galaxy s4 GT-i9505
I followed this guide to the letter and it was supposed to be easy peasy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlVCjtRUrgs
Well when I was doing all that I got to the last step where I had to update my binaries but that didn't work and superSU kept closing itself down.
Someone recommended I do an factory reset and repeat all the steps, but then when I got back into my system I kept getting errors saying SuperSU has stopped and Youtube has stopped.
Those were really annoying and I tried another factory reset but I couldn't get rid of them, somehow they kept inserting themselves in my app list eventhough the apps did not work.
So I used TWRP to do an advance wipe and that's when things went horribly wrong since I had no clue what I am doing :S
I ticked the boxes Dalvik cache - Internal storage - Data and something else I can't remember.
After that was completed I could not boot up my phone anymore and now I'm freaking out trying to follow guides to fix this.
like this one : http://trendblog.net/fix-soft-bricked-android-device-first-aid-guide/
I installed this toolkit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2226263
But the problem is that my computer is not opening the device anymore through the USB port, and when I try to install these drivers : http://androiddrivers.net/samsung-android-drivers/galaxy-s4-windows-drivers-3264bit/
there's an error when installing it fails on mobile device MTP or something probably since my computer does not reckognize the mobile device anymore.
I don't have a SD card atm I never owned one. I might need to get one in order to fix this?
I'm totally new to this and totally regretting ever trying this and being so stupid and impatient as to try an advanced wipe before informing myself well enough.
I'm freaking out like mad here and now I have to go to sleep which I won't be able to catch ofc I'm so afraid I need to toss my phone and when I think about the $$$ .. well you know what I mean.
I've tried looking through these forums and guides but I just don't understand most of it and I can't get it figured out it's driving me insane.
Just chill, there is nothing wrong with your phone. You cannot kill your phone doing the things you did.
Just flash a stock firmware true Odin and everything will be working again. Pick a 4.4.2 rom though.
The reason why you are messing up is because you tried to use a year old rooting method.
So the steps you want to take:
- Flash a stock firmware
- Flash cf-auto root http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2219803
- Flash TWRP
- Flash this script in TWRP http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/general/scriptknoxout-complete-brutal-knox-t2807172
done.

[Q] Phone has no recovery and other issues.

First want to say hi and that this site is full of knowledge so any help with my subject will be great.
Got a att s4 sgh-i337 phone. I rooted it before the lollipop ota update was out and everything went fine. Then the lollipop update came out and I followed one of the methods on keeping root and updating to 5.0.1 lollipop on the phone. Everything went fine with that. Still showed root status and never did the phone brick or have any issues in the updating.
At some point though, I did run triangle away because I would have the custom logo and opened padlock when the phone would boot up. I knew it wasn't a huge deal but the counter showed correct and never could just figure out how to get it to go away. Either way, I did run it and I think rebooting twice, the factory loading image came back to it. Now it shows my current status as 0 for the counter and the binary is Official.
I have not tried to load any roms or nothing like this to the phone, just followed the instructions to give it root access so I could run a few different apps and adaway for when I listen to Spotify.
One day, I was trying to install a new version of Words with Friends and it failed because I think wwf was open, but I did go back and install it. For some reason now, my phone never notifies my with a wwf notification when somebody plays me. Every now and then, it might pop up when I restart the phone but that is it. I don't think facebook notifies me everytime also but was more worried about words with friends.
Searching google, it says to go into recovery mode and flash the cache of the phone there. I have done the cache memory in the phone but that has not fixed my problem. When trying to go to recovery, it never works, it would always show, recovery booting and then load the phone up as normal.
I have download quick boot and rom manager since they all have an option to boot into recovery rather than pressing the buttons but it always does the same thing. Reading the web though, it seemed like I needed to install a different recovery than the factory I guess, so using rom manager, I tried twrp and that didn't work so I installed ClockworldMod 6.0.4.7. Rom manager shows that as the current recovery method.
When I try to boot into recovery, it still shows that recovery is booting and then goes straight to loading the phone as it should normally.
Now though, every time I restart my phone, it says recovery is trying to boot but never does.
How do I fix my phone to be able to boot into recovery and it not try to boot every time it powers on. I have tried searching google but I just just can find an answer to my direct problem. I know how to hold the buttons and go to recovery but does not work, and I also know how to get to it from the different app programs(rom manager and quick boot) but they do not work either. It would be nice to get the wwf notifications to work properly again also.
If you need any information from my phone, please ask. Thanks for any help on my matter,
Charlie
Odin stock and start over.
Apparently, you are not aware that the boot loader is locked, preventing the installation of a custom kernel. You can not use twrp, or rom manager. Rom manager itself may cause issues.
I agree you should flash back to stock and start over to get a clean install. Hopefully, this will solve the issues with notifications as well. You can use the "[GUIDE]Odin to Stock, Updating, Rooting, and Installing Safestrap" by guut13 in the general forum for files and instructions.
creepyncrawly said:
Apparently, you are not aware that the boot loader is locked, preventing the installation of a custom kernel. You can not use twrp, or rom manager. Rom manager itself may cause issues.
I agree you should flash back to stock and start over to get a clean install. Hopefully, this will solve the issues with notifications as well. You can use the "[GUIDE]Odin to Stock, Updating, Rooting, and Installing Safestrap" by guut13 in the general forum for files and instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the replies guys, I really don't know a whole lot about rooting other than following instructions about it. I was unaware you could not use the twrp or cwr as a recovery. My recovery did not work before so that is why I was trying to install those. I knew you could not install custom roms but I did not know that you could not use rom manager to install custom recoveries.
I appreciate the help so far and I will look into that thread you mentioned. I haven't read it but will this take me back to stock lollipop 5.0.1 and I just reinstall apps or will I have to re-root the phone.
Charlie
please delete, sorry
Charlie
You have to go back to 4.4.4, to the nb1 base, root with towelroot, and then use the keeproot method to get back to 5.0.1 rooted. The instructions are in the guide, and also a link to the keeproot thread is there.
By the way, for future reference, questions, help and troubleshooting issues should go in the Q&A forum, not the general forum.
not having any luck
Ok guys,
I am trying to follow the guide but not having much luck.
I downloaded the I337UCUFNB1_4.4_Stock_Odin_tar and put it in the AP Odin file. I'm not sure if I should be using it or the other file named I337UCUFNB1_4.4_Rootable_Stock_Odin_tar to begin with. The instructions said to use the first one so that is the one I was trying to use.
After putting the first file in the AP slot of Odin and hitting start, it begins to try to do it's thing and then says it fails!
What do I do now? Am I doing something wrong or what because I'm trying to follow instructions but not having much luck.
Please help. Sorry for posting in the wrong area also in the beginning.
Charlie
I'm screwed
Now when I turn my phone on, it says Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies and try again?
doing better now
Pretty sure I got it going finally. I changed cords and then changed ports on my computer and it finally did go back to stock without an error. I'm currently back on Lollipop and rooted so now is the fun of reinstalling contact info and anything else. So far I have not rebooted but it was not showing the recovery booting option when it did reboot. Hoping my notifications work properly now also!
Thanks!!!
Charlie

[Q] ANNOYING S4!! Help needed

Ok guys, here's the deal. i bought a secondhand s4 which was advertised as a google edition. it has a couple of annoying issues, first i noticed it switching itself off and on. the worst problem with it is that when my battery goes reeeally dead it just bootloops when i have recharged. the only way i can get it back on is to start it in recovery mode (which is clockworkmod v6.0.4.4) then do a factory wipe. so yeah thats a major pain. the s4 itself is a red model and behind the battery it says its a gt-19505, however in the settings on the phone it says its a gt-19505g.
my goal is to install an official firmware if possible that i may be able to update easily, the worry that i have is that i dont know if it would then accept my network as although it appears to run google edition custom firmware it may not once i install something official on it. this may be a nooby statement i know but a noob i am lol.
if its at all possible could i keep the cwm recovery?
and if its any help when i load the other boot loader thingy (with the green android on it) in the top left it says gt-19505, im just sayin cus im sure its vital which ever this phone actually is.
here are as many details as i can give but please ask if im missing anything
ANDROID VERSION 4.4.2
KERNEL VERSION 3.4.0-faux123-KK44-GE-Custom
[email protected]omain #20
Sun Dec 1 02:30:28 CST 2013
BASEBAND VERSION 19505XXUFNA1
BUILD NUMBER KOT49H.S001.131204
also upon booting in the top left it says "kernel is not seandroid enforcing
set warranty bit:kernel"
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME And please tell me where to start as i tried updating it via kies to fix it but it just wont connect, i assume due to custom firmware.
The Google Play Edition S4 devices didn't come in any color but white. Therefore, this is an I9505 with a custom ROM on it. The download mode screen reading GT-I9505 confirmed it.
Since this is an I9505 and not an I9505G, the main question is whether this device will work with your SIM card. For that, simply insert your SIM card and boot the device. If you get signal, you're good. Otherwise you'll have to unlock the device, either by purchasing an unlock code from one of the sites that sells them, or by trying the unlock methods available on the forums.
This will also help answer the question of which stock ROM you can install on the device. If the S4 doesn't prompt you to unlock the device, then you can install one of the unbranded S4 ROMs available on sammobile.com. After that, you can put the recovery of your choice on the S4, though I recommend TWRP over the other options.
Thanks for your help. I'm a little confused though, at the moment with this custom google edition ROM it does take my sim, in fact I bet it takes any sim, I heard that was a feature of google play devices. What I meant was after I install the stock ROM will it then not take my sim. So if it has already been unlocked How would I know which ROM to install? As I now know its not a google edition, is it possible to install an official google edition ROM? Do i use this download mode, Odin, or cwm to install a firmware. I'm just not sure what my starting point is. I don't wanna follow someone's guide yet to installing something just in case I'm jumping the gun and need to uninstall this custom ROM somehow.
Sorry for asking questions that I'm sure seem dumb I'm really just trying to learn at the moment I'm green as they come with android. BTW thanks for your suggestions so far, you def seem like you know what you're talking about, cheers
Google Play devices are carrier unlocked, but this is not a Google Play Edition S4. Therefore the device was carrier unlocked at some point in its past. The unknown here is how the original owner unlocked the device. If he or she used the unlocking methods found on XDA there is a chance the lock will be lost when installing a stock ROM.
If the S4 is unlocked, you aren't restricted to a particular region and can install any I9505 ROM using Odin, though I recommend the carrier unbranded ROMs. You cannot install a stock Google Play Edition ROM on the device as the model number of a GPE device is not the same as the device you have. However, you're already rooted and have a custom recovery installed. In I9505 Development here on XDA there is a Google Play Edition ROM that can be installed on your device. Download it to your S4, wipe everything in recovery, then flash the ROM's flashable zip in recovery. I've used said ROM and it works quite well.
OK I have found the 5.0.1 ge ROM , but in there it says I must use latest recovery or whatever plus it recommended one different to mine, is it safe to install using my version of cwm or do I need to learn how to change it??
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TWRP is recommended as there are people who are still maintaining it, unlike Clockworkmod and Philz. While you probably can get the ROM installed using the version of Clockworkmod you have, learning how to change recoveries is useful.
OK thank you for all your help my friend, I will now find out how to do this, I'm sure there is a section on this somewhere, BTW I think you are right about my device being rooted, but I wanted to check and I followed a guide and used super su but apparently its not rooted so I guess something must've gone wrong. Bit scary if I try to change my recovery or my firmware and this causes a brick hmmmmm
It's virtually impossible to brick the S4, especially as the recovery is flashed through Odin.
Phew that's a relief. Thanks man.... Well I'm gonna just risk using cwm for now as I'm new to this........ Thanks a whole lot for your time I really mean that.
KlLLFRENZY said:
Phew that's a relief. Thanks man.... Well I'm gonna just risk using cwm for now as I'm new to this........ Thanks a whole lot for your time I really mean that.
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Use TWRP. CMW is outdated.
Lennyz1988 said:
Use TWRP. CMW is outdated.
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Click to collapse
I want to, I really do but I'm struggling here. Before I wrote that last comment I tried to find a guide on this forum for swapping to twrp, but couldn't and didn't wanna bug this guy as he had helped enough. Anyway I went to the place he told me and have hit another wall anyway because I don't know how to use the firmware the relevant kernel or the git. My life is so busy and I'm getting about an hour on this subject a day and its gonna take forever lol
If you can help me on my way even a little its much appreciated, I would like to use twrp and the 5.0.1 ge plus the right kernel of course
KlLLFRENZY said:
I want to, I really do but I'm struggling here. Before I wrote that last comment I tried to find a guide on this forum for swapping to twrp, but couldn't and didn't wanna bug this guy as he had helped enough. Anyway I went to the place he told me and have hit another wall anyway because I don't know how to use the firmware the relevant kernel or the git. My life is so busy and I'm getting about an hour on this subject a day and its gonna take forever lol
If you can help me on my way even a little its much appreciated, I would like to use twrp and the 5.0.1 ge plus the right kernel of course
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Click to collapse
https://twrp.me/devices/samsunggalaxys4internationalqualcomm.html
Follow the Odin guide. It's excactly the same when you flashed CWM.
@Lennyz1988: The S4 was bought secondhand and already had CWM on it from the original owner.
@killfrenzy: Follow the guide Lenny mentioned, but don't worry about the second paragraph. Our device isn't one of those that restores the original recovery on boot.
ok will do, i just tried the app install method but as i suspected, it said root is required for this app and promptly exited so i shall do the odin method, i heard that some people remove root or it could be that it was done wrong. also after reading a few posts here and there i found out that someone had similar issues with their phone random re-booting and they had custom ge with the wrong kernel so it seems once im done my issues should be history if i learn how to install fw + kernel, after this twrp thing i will be one step closer for sure. i also know ppl slate lollipop but once im all done with this im sure i will have picked up enough terminology to install cfw's to my hearts content. hooray for forums and people like you, sounds like im kissin ass but its just gratitude
so using the twrp install guide i gotta install using the odin method i have now got 3.07 odin but this is the next step.........
Odin Install Method (No Root Required):
You will need to download and install Odin on your PC. Once you have Odin installed, download the proper .tar file for your device from the download link above. Power off your device. Turn on your device using the proper key combo to get into download mode and attach the device to your computer via a USB cable. Use the PDA tab or button to browse to and select the tar file that you downloaded and flash the device.
lololol nothins ever simple i see the list of tar files in the link above but no mention at all as to which is the proper .tar for my device, i guess they assume the guide is for people who have done it before. more research tomorrow maybe i gotta be up early ugh
Lennyz1988 said:
https://twrp.me/devices/samsunggalaxys4internationalqualcomm.html
Follow the Odin guide. It's excactly the same when you flashed CWM.
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Think you misunderstood, I have flashed nothing yet I got it like this. I'm completely green
Don't suppose anybody knows which is the tar file for my device?? S4gt-19505
OK now I get it, the list of tars in that section are all the same just newer builds of the same version. Seems obvious if you have done this before, but I wasn't to know that and cannot assume things. I'm also gonna guess and say Lenny thinks my s4 needs this particular version for an international, am I right?? Anyway it would've made a lot of sense but how does he know. I have no idea what this phone was I have never owned it new.
Different devices have different codes. For example, jfltexx is the I9505. A T-Mobile S4 would be jfltetmo, and so on.The link Lenny provided is for the I9505. Download the 2.8.6.0 version as its the latest.
As to how you were supposed to know, having never owned one, you weren't. There are tutorials in the General forum though that can help.

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