Database Users

[Q] Is this what they call a soft brick?

Hello ladies and gents,
So I'm a total noob and I think I bricked my phone.
I got root by using the motochopper tool
then I went for custom recovery, but I think I flashed the verizon version instead of the ATT version (I was trying to install the Google Wallet fix with a custom rom)
Rebooted the phone, I get an unlock symbol and samsung custom
I can boot into recovery mode and I still have root access / command line.
The phone either boots to black screen with a oscillating blue light or if I go into the other mode it says 'downloading'
Anything I can do to get my phone back working? Did I totally brick it?

Yes, if you see anything on the screen, that would be a soft brick, you are getting the unauthorized screen, then you need another kernel for sure, lets start there...
You really should either put your device in your information screen or tell us what type of device you have, that is very important.
I can not tell you what kernel, not knowing what device has the problem.
I see you mentioned att, is it US or Canadian version?
These are a must when you are seeking help.

I have the AT&T US Version of the S4, 1337
And now it seems I've made it worse, I reinstalled a new Rom, now I can't boot into recovery at all. It goes blank after the Samsung custom screen. Still can ADB into it though.
TheAxman said:
Yes, if you see anything on the screen, that would be a soft brick, you are getting the unauthorized screen, then you need another kernel for sure, lets start there...
You really should either put your device in your information screen or tell us what type of device you have, that is very important.
I can not tell you what kernel, not knowing what device has the problem.
I see you mentioned att, is it US or Canadian version?
These are a must when you are seeking help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Do you have any type backup? Have you tried, power off phone. hold down power button and volume up at same time, when it vibrates, let go of the power button, it should go into recovery, and lets try restoring your backup.
Your problem is you have the wrong kernel loading, flash a ATT kernel once in the recovery, it will boot.

willenglishiv said:
I have the AT&T US Version of the S4, 1337
And now it seems I've made it worse, I reinstalled a new Rom, now I can't boot into recovery at all. It goes blank after the Samsung custom screen. Still can ADB into it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just ODIN flash the stock firmware for ATT I337 and re-root? That's what I would try.

blyndfyre said:
Just ODIN flash the stock firmware for ATT I337 and re-root? That's what I would try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually Ax has the best solution if he can get to recovery... your way will work but by far to many steps for something that simple...
just saying!!

sloanster said:
Actually Ax has the best solution if he can get to recovery... your way will work but by far to many steps for something that simple...
just saying!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree Ax's solution is simpler, but OP said that he cannot boot to recovery.
And now it seems I've made it worse, I reinstalled a new Rom, now I can't boot into recovery at all. It goes blank after the Samsung custom screen. Still can ADB into it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

blyndfyre said:
I agree Ax's solution is simpler, but OP said that he cannot boot to recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But he can adb so he can push the kernel onto his phone and flash in recovery
Edit: my bad, he did say he can't boot into recovery. Odin is his best bet.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app

he hasn't answered the get into recovery yet, nor has he said he has a backup. I was trying a simple solution. Then we can move on to the odin back.

TheAxman said:
he hasn't answered the get into recovery yet, nor has he said he has a backup. I was trying a simple solution. Then we can move on to the odin back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope it gets it worked out!!!
The main thing is he's got options...:angel:

Stuck in Boot Recovery

I tried to use Yemenroot to root my phone and ended up stuck in a Boot recovery and no matter what I try I cant get out of it. What suggestions could anyone give me? Ive tried the factory reset option and the clear cache. neither helped. Thanks in advance!

Not sure exactly what you mean by "stuck".
Are you saying that every time it reboots it boots into the recovery?
If so, then:
- Pull the battery
- Reinsert the battery*
- Boot the phone by holding down Vol-Down+Home+Power*
When it asks you if you want to go into Download Mode, select Cancel (Vol-Down iirc)
The phone should boot into the regular ROM, albeit completely unconfigured, as you have already performed a factory reset (which wasn't needed btw).
If the Stock ROM won't boot you will have to flash the Stock ROM in Odin
*don't have the phone plugged in to a PC at this point or it will spontaneously reboot.

bftb0 said:
Not sure exactly what you mean by "stuck".
Are you saying that every time it reboots it boots into the recovery?
If so, then:
- Pull the battery
- Reinsert the battery*
- Boot the phone by holding down Vol-Down+Home+Power*
When it asks you if you want to go into Download Mode, select Cancel (Vol-Down iirc)
The phone should boot into the regular ROM, albeit completely unconfigured, as you have already performed a factory reset (which wasn't needed btw).
If the Stock ROM won't boot you will have to flash the Stock ROM in Odin
*don't have the phone plugged in to a PC at this point or it will spontaneously reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for responding! Yes you are correct that it boots in recovery. Home+Power+Vol Down brings me up to a Warning screen, says if i want to download a custom OS to hit vol up, if I want to cancel press Vol Down. I press vol down and it puts me back into recovery boot again.
If you are familiar with YemenRoot maybe I just screwed up doing that and can still continue with that to fix it? I ran the program, choose Tar.1 in Oden and hit start. Went back to the command prompt and "pressed any key" to continue. It went to 2). Rooting, but never went any farther. The phone automatically rebooted but into recovery mode. That was where I thought something went wrong and stopped.
EDIT: I went back again and pressed vol up to see where it would take me. It takes me back to the downloading screen like it showed in one of the steps for the root. I ran tar.1 and tar.2 and was able to get the phone usable again. No luck with the YemenRoot though Tried going through to do it a second time and came up with the same issues. It just sits on (2) Installing root forever and the phone eventually reboots into Recovery again. Im not sure how to get Yemen to work correctly, and no one seems to respond in the yemenroot post that I found on here.

trizzypballr said:
Home+Power+Vol Down brings me up to a Warning screen, says if i want to download a custom OS to hit vol up, if I want to cancel press Vol Down. I press vol down and it puts me back into recovery boot again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's a little odd & unexpected.
[Edit] - Oops, I didn't initially see the part about you getting it working [Edit]
I can't help you out with Yemenroot, I've never used it. (But I suspect the stock ROM needs to be booting in order for it to work, so you are going to have to do the Odin Flash no matter what)
I can suggest that if you are going to keep trying w/ yemenroot, I would only minimally configure the (factory reset) stock ROM in case you end up back in the same spot again.
PS if you know how to create Odin .tar.md5 files, you could create a "reduced" stock flash for Odin containing only boot.img & system.img. That way you could "dirty flash" those two in Odin if you got in the same situation again... without needing to do a factory reset.
good luck

I flashed using odin N900VVRUEOF1_N900VVZWEOF1_VZW. It took the flash but is now stuck on RED Verizon screen. Ity is like it is doing something but not fully recovered?? Any suggestions?

bftb0 said:
I can't help you out with Yemenroot, I've never used it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then how in the world did you root your phone? I thought those were the only ways to get your device rooted?

RaaidR said:
Then how in the world did you root your phone? I thought those were the only ways to get your device rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used Kingo root when my phone was on MJ7 and I never upgraded thereafter.
Even now my phone is only on the MJE bootloader (it can be rolled back to MJ7).
The version of TowelRoot that I have (v3?) currently seems to work on all stock versions from MI9-NC4, but it wasn't yet released when I rooted.
I'm not planning on upgrading my bootloader past NC2 until such a time as I am going to sell the phone, or there is a way to upgrade only the bootloader components while preserving root in the ROM.* My motivation for that is quite frankly to avoid using the yemen root tool.
*So that the bootloader unlock can be performed immediately thereafter, to regain bootability of a custom recovery. IMO this should be trivial so long as OB6/OF1 bootloader will boot a rooted-stock kernel+ROM from 4.4.x (NC4, NJ6, NK1). Frankly I believe that to be more likely than a 4.4.x bootloader booting a 4.3.x rooted-stock kernel+ROM (MI9/MJ7/MJE).

bftb0 said:
I used Kingo root when my phone was on MJ7 and I never upgraded thereafter.
Even now my phone is only on the MJE bootloader (it can be rolled back to MJ7).
The version of TowelRoot that I have (v3?) currently seems to work on all stock versions from MI9-NC4, but it wasn't yet released when I rooted.
I'm not planning on upgrading my bootloader past NC2 until such a time as I am going to sell the phone, or there is a way to upgrade only the bootloader components while preserving root in the ROM.* My motivation for that is quite frankly to avoid using the yemen root tool.
*So that the bootloader unlock can be performed immediately thereafter, to regain bootability of a custom recovery. IMO this should be trivial so long as OB6/OF1 bootloader will boot a rooted-stock kernel+ROM from 4.4.x (NC4, NJ6, NK1). Frankly I believe that to be more likely than a 4.4.x bootloader booting a 4.3.x rooted-stock kernel+ROM (MI9/MJ7/MJE).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you not want to use the yemen tool? The one for Windows 10 worked flawlessly for me.

RaaidR said:
Why do you not want to use the yemen tool? The one for Windows 10 worked flawlessly for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ends don't justify the means.
No disclosure of method.
No prior or subsequent author activity on XDA
Use of a PC
No Windows 10 box that I am willing to expose to random executables from unknown authors on the internet.

bftb0 said:
The ends don't justify the means.
No disclosure of method.
No prior or subsequent author activity on XDA
Use of a PC
No Windows 10 box that I am willing to expose to random executables from unknown authors on the internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I for sure understand not wanting to risk it. I really didn't either but didn't have another choice other than to stay unrooted.

DjRenigade said:
I flashed using odin N900VVRUEOF1_N900VVZWEOF1_VZW. It took the flash but is now stuck on RED Verizon screen. Ity is like it is doing something but not fully recovered?? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Jasmine ROM 6.1, it is based on OF1 and works fine.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

D802: [720] Fastboot Mode Started

Hi All,
I realise you guys must be sick of these kind of posts but just thought that one of you would be able to point me in the right direction before I do something else wrong!
I was rooted on d802, Cloudy 3.3 with TWP 2.8.6.1 installed. I was trying to get magisk to work but after flashing the various zips etc I left my phone for a few minutes and a toddler came along and swiped the install superSU prompt on TWRP that comes up before rebooting :/:/:/.
So now I am stuck in this "[720] Fastboot mode started". When I plug it into my computer I get a few other things popping up and on device manager it comes up as "Android Bootloader Interface", Device type Kedacom USB Device.
Before messing around with all these things I made a full backup with TWRP so if I can just get back to that I am hoping I will just be able to restore it? At the moment I am unable to get to recovery mode, it just keeps rebooting quickly showing the LG logo and proceeding to fastboot mode. I have tried the holding down power and vol d button but it happens so fast and doesnt seem to do anything.
Where should I go from here? There seem to be a lot of different methods and various things, the more I search the more ways I find!! What is best in my particular situation?
Also could somebody definitively tell me if Magisk will work with cloudy 3.3? I can find no mention anywhere on the internet of someone saying they have done it/got it to work.

amishra123 said:
Where should I go from here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi!
This way > http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g2/help/fixing-fastboot-mode-started-t2930963
And if it doesn't work I would make this > http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g2/help/noob-friendly-recovery-download-mode-t3112805
And you can find a list with all fixes right here > http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=63327417&postcount=4
Good luck!

Thank you very much for your prompt reply !!
I kept trying with the power and volume down and managed to somehow get back into recovery, and then I recovered using the backup!! All back to normal now !
I've since updated to the latest twrp and that all went smoothly aswell.
Any word on whether magisk V9 will work with cloudy g2 3.3 ? I'm tempted to give it another go...
Use the unsu zip , uninstall xposed using the zip , then flash magisk , phh superuser and finally the cbump. I'm really tempted to try again but not sure if it was doing that , that messed it up last time or if it was twrp trying to install super su (Im quite sure it is probably the latter though). Any thoughts ?
EDIT: incase this helps anyone else, I think what I did was to keep the power and vol down held for a long time , if I remember correctly it seemed to cycle a few times through logo and then the fastboot screen until it finally switched off. Prior to this as soon as I thought it was off it would just start again. This time though it went through into the factory reset screen and then recovery.

amishra123 said:
All back to normal now !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice to here that. :good:
amishra123 said:
Any word on whether magisk V9 will work with cloudy g2 3.3 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a question for the CloudyRom-thread. I bet you're not the first with this question.

Phone will only boot into TWRP

So basically I am not smart and factory reset my phone in settings. The bootloader was unlocked and rooted. First phone I have ever rooted and this is all just a lot of information to take in. Trying to read and look into my problem but nothing I am trying is working.
When I turn my phone on it goes immediately into TWRP. When TWRP came up I wiped the data, cache, and dalvik. Not sure what all I have tried but I can't figure anything out. I am assuming I need to flash a stock ROM back onto my phone? Not sure how to do that. I have a stock rom downloaded. When I try to flash it just says 'waiting for device'. It is plugged in but I am assuming USB debugging is not turned on which is why it doesn't locate it?
Not really sure if my assumptions are correct but I am failing horribly here and would love if someone could explain this to me step by step like I am a cave person. Would even be willing to paypal someone $5 if that kind of thing is allowed for help. Thanks for helping a moron out.

hegro said:
So basically I am not smart and factory reset my phone in settings. The bootloader was unlocked and rooted. First phone I have ever rooted and this is all just a lot of information to take in. Trying to read and look into my problem but nothing I am trying is working.
When I turn my phone on it goes immediately into TWRP. When TWRP came up I wiped the data, cache, and dalvik. Not sure what all I have tried but I can't figure anything out. I am assuming I need to flash a stock ROM back onto my phone? Not sure how to do that. I have a stock rom downloaded. When I try to flash it just says 'waiting for device'. It is plugged in but I am assuming USB debugging is not turned on which is why it doesn't locate it?
Not really sure if my assumptions are correct but I am failing horribly here and would love if someone could explain this to me step by step like I am a cave person. Would even be willing to paypal someone $5 if that kind of thing is allowed for help. Thanks for helping a moron out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some more information please? Were you on stock rooted or custom rom. Best bet then is clean flashing a custom rom.

GtrCraft said:
Some more information please? Were you on stock rooted or custom rom. Best bet then is clean flashing a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure I was just stock rooted. How would I go about doing that? Like I said, I have a stock rom downloaded on my PC. Tried to flash it but all I get is 'waiting for device' in the cmd window after directing it towards the zip file.
Also as I said, trying to learn and absorb as much info as I can here, never done this before so I am a little slow. =/

just tried using THIS method but when I plug my phone in it is not recognized in RSD Lite. I keep reading I need USB debugging on. I can't turn it on from recovery screen, no? Is there anything I can do?

hegro said:
just tried using THIS method but when I plug my phone in it is not recognized in RSD Lite. I keep reading I need USB debugging on. I can't turn it on from recovery screen, no? Is there anything I can do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot to twrp and flash a custom rom zip like lineage os. Or a modified stock rom like stoneware

Yes, wiped phone, put stoneware on my phone, booted to twrp, installed stoneware, reboot, back to twrp. I have to be doing something wrong but I don't know what it is. I have tried doing this with multiple different ROMs, flashing in TWRP.

hegro said:
Yes, wiped phone, put stoneware on my phone, booted to twrp, installed stoneware, reboot, back to twrp. I have to be doing something wrong but I don't know what it is. I have tried doing this with multiple different ROMs, flashing in TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this issue when I did (like a idiot) a Ota update. Only fix I got was running g5 plus tool kit and flashing stock Rom though it by following instructions on the program..
Factory reset shouldn't have caused this issue.. Unless you formated your data in twrp.. But if the boot is altered or damaged and you just put a custom Rom on top I think you might find you won't have a baseband (no mobile network).. The original stock Rom is available via links in the windows toolkit 1.6 gig

Go into fastboot and just type fastboot continue
fixed

alevity said:
I has this issue when I did (like a idiot) a Ota update. Only fix I got was running g5 plus tool kit and flashing stock Rom though it by following instructions on the program..
Factory reset shouldn't have caused this issue.. Unless you formated your data in twrp.. But if the boot is altered or damaged and you just put a custom Rom on top I think you might find you won't have a baseband (no mobile network).. The original stock Rom is available via links in the windows toolkit 1.6 gig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I ran the tool kit and put on a stock rom. My phone turns on now! Except when I turn it on it says that the device is unlocked and can't be trusted. ID: bad key.

hegro said:
So I ran the tool kit and put on a stock rom. My phone turns on now! Except when I turn it on it says that the device is unlocked and can't be trusted. ID: bad key.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
boot into twrp again and reboot system
it should fix it
next time remember just go into fastboot and type "fastboot continue"
no need to wipe or reflash

power off your phone then volume down and power together until bootloader screen appearing than select factory mode and then press power button to select factory mode

hegro said:
So I ran the tool kit and put on a stock rom. My phone turns on now! Except when I turn it on it says that the device is unlocked and can't be trusted. ID: bad key.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's completely normal we all have that just means it's unlocked bootloader. Enjoy your device normally
---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 PM ----------
bornlivedie said:
boot into twrp again and reboot system
it should fix it
next time remember just go into fastboot and type "fastboot continue"
no need to wipe or reflash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would doing that remove the hard coded warning that the bootloader is unlocked? Op had a functioning phone now and just didn't know the warning boot is perfectly OK.

pretty sure my twrp got replaced? idk but when I try to go to recovery all I get is the little dead android guy with the red triangle.

hegro said:
pretty sure my twrp got replaced? idk but when I try to go to recovery all I get is the little dead android guy with the red triangle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's stock recovery

alevity said:
That's completely normal we all have that just means it's unlocked bootloader. Enjoy your device normally
---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 PM ----------
Why would doing that remove the hard coded warning that the bootloader is unlocked? Op had a functioning phone now and just didn't know the warning boot is perfectly OK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't know about "perfectly ok" but I had that bad key thing before, and read the rebooting into TWRP fixes the "issue". It's true, it works. I have N/A now and not "bad key".

LG V20 bricked/bootlooping/bootloader re-locked. How to fix?

Hi all -
I have two US996 phones.
Luckily, my primary phone is fine (rooted stock Oreo ROM)
The "backup" phone was previously bootloader-unlocked and also had TWRP and a stock-rooted Oreo ROM on it - but not yet set up; it booted to the welcome/setup routine.
Well, I did a "full" Nandroid backup of my primary phone (TWRP 3.3.1.0) using the beta feature supposedly allowing backup of data as well as the internal storage and wanted to see if it really did fully restore the phone without need for re-entering all of the passwords and other info for all of the apps. So, I tried to restore it to my backup phone.
Well...I screwed up and apparently didn't do an adequate wipe before flashing. Now, the backup phone is bootlooping with a message saying something like "your phone failed a security test and will not boot". I am not able to get into recovery at all.
I am able to get into fastboot mode, and on "fastboot getvar all", I see that the bootloader has been re-locked!! So, of course, trying to unlock it via fastboot doesn't work, since I am not able to get into developer mode to re-enable OEM unlock...any way to re-unlock it and get into TWRP?
Looked at Medusa Flasher, which is supposedly free (1.1.0.1) but when I try to use it I get "card not found" and it won't open, and the file needed to fix this isn't available. It also appears that it's only good for Sony and HTC phones anyway, and some serious hardware dissection is necessary.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

dilligaf56 said:
Hi all -
I have two US996 phones.
Luckily, my primary phone is fine (rooted stock Oreo ROM)
The "backup" phone was previously bootloader-unlocked and also had TWRP and a stock-rooted Oreo ROM on it - but not yet set up; it booted to the welcome/setup routine.
Well, I did a "full" Nandroid backup of my primary phone (TWRP 3.3.1.0) using the beta feature supposedly allowing backup of data as well as the internal storage and wanted to see if it really did fully restore the phone without need for re-entering all of the passwords and other info for all of the apps. So, I tried to restore it to my backup phone.
Well...I screwed up and apparently didn't do an adequate wipe before flashing. Now, the backup phone is bootlooping with a message saying something like "your phone failed a security test and will not boot". I am not able to get into recovery at all.
I am able to get into fastboot mode, and on "fastboot getvar all", I see that the bootloader has been re-locked!! So, of course, trying to unlock it via fastboot doesn't work, since I am not able to get into developer mode to re-enable OEM unlock...any way to re-unlock it and get into TWRP?
Looked at Medusa Flasher, which is supposedly free (1.1.0.1) but when I try to use it I get "card not found" and it won't open, and the file needed to fix this isn't available. It also appears that it's only good for Sony and HTC phones anyway, and some serious hardware dissection is necessary.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried going into download mode?

Landloord said:
Tried going into download mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, @Landloord.
I can get into download mode. Can I use it to re-flash my stock rooted Oreo ROM (NOT the backup, but the original .zip) or do I have to flash a KDZ and start over?
Thanks!

dilligaf56 said:
Thanks, @Landloord.
I can get into download mode. Can I use it to re-flash my stock rooted Oreo ROM (NOT the backup, but the original .zip) or do I have to flash a KDZ and start over?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing a kdz would be your best option right now. It's safer to start from a rock-solid base

Landloord said:
Flashing a kdz would be your best option right now. It's safer to start from a rock-solid base
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashed the Stock Oreo KDZ. Thanks! phone boots now....but I can't unlock the bootloader in the usual way (using the unlock.bin file from LG) because somehow the IMEI number got nulled - all zeroes.
Edit:
Got the IMEI fixed with this method: https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/help/us996-imei-null-0s-how-fix-t3876980 - and now the bootloader magically became unlocked.
Now to flash TWRP and a rooted image and all should be well.
Thanks again, Landloord!

dilligaf56 said:
Flashed the Stock Oreo KDZ. Thanks! phone boots now....but I can't unlock the bootloader in the usual way (using the unlock.bin file from LG) because somehow the IMEI number got nulled - all zeroes.
Edit:
Got the IMEI fixed with this method: https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/help/us996-imei-null-0s-how-fix-t3876980 - and now the bootloader magically became unlocked.
Now to flash TWRP and a rooted image and all should be well.
Thanks again, Landloord!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear. Happy modding

Landloord said:
Good to hear. Happy modding
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you send me your unlock.bin, looking to try something crazy on my H910

Landloord said:
Can you send me your unlock.bin, looking to try something crazy on my H910
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, have been away from the forum for a while. Still need it?

dilligaf56 said:
Sorry, have been away from the forum for a while. Still need it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure

Hmmmm....couldn't find the file anywhere on my phone or the computer. I unlocked the bootloader on that phone when I first got it four years ago.